On My Own (open)

[Fainne]

Eleventh Candlemark of Dianara
Brightening 2, First Cycle of Immanis
Winter of Era I of the Celestine Mandate
Era XV Post Fractum
Paradigm: Winter

Fainne woke from her first sleep in Demios with a pleasant sigh. Far from disturbing her sleep, the wind rattling the windows of her cozy little cottage had been comforting ambient noise. Her bed was quite comfortable, more so than her little cot above the restaurant in Portshire, and the stove in the living area was able to provide heat to most of the petite abode. Fainne still needed slippers to walk across the chilly stone floors, but perhaps that was something she would pick up from a store later.

Now that she was done traveling, it was time to relax. She realized yesterbrightening that in all her hurry to leave Portshire and start life anew in Demios, she had forgotten to celebrate her own birthbrightening! The 50th of Kalendryas had passed without Fainne batting an eye, and now here she was, 20 Ordinations old and without any cake or presents to show for it. What kind of celebration was that?

To make up for it, Fainne decided to take a walk around her new hometown. Exploring was one of her greatest loves, after all, perhaps second only to cooking. There was no greater treat for Fainne than to get acquainted with rows of shops, to find hidden alleys and back doors, to happen upon a long-ago lost location. So she set out from White Lily Cottage, which was in the northern part of the residential district, and made her way towards the mercantile district. Shops selling jewelry, clothing, pets, and--was she reading that right?--spiders lay in wait.

[Finnie]

On a corner of a street stood a male clown garbed in a black and white costume that could classify him as a mime, if it weren't for the voluminous rainbow colored wig on his head. From his sleeve he pulled out a bouquet of black and white roses of which he waved to Fainne. He bowed and smiled, revealing large pearly white teeth framed by black colored lips.

"Beautiful flowers for a beautiful lady." He tossed the roses in the air and each seven rose transformed into doves that flew toward the Demiosian skies.

[Fainne]

Fainne rounded the corner and gasped in surprise as she was greeted by a sudden fluttering of doves where roses had once been. The clown was just one of the many things setting Demios' streets apart from Portshire's. In Portshire she would have had one hand on one of her cooking knives and the other on her coin purse as she made her way across town. Demios was certainly a friendlier place, or at least it seemed to be.

"Thank you!" she laughed. Though 20 Ordinations old, Fainne was still a child at heart, so she took genuine pleasure in the magic trick. "How did you do that?"

[AGM Tempest]

"How did he do that?" a voice interjected, "Likely with some evil clown hoodoo."
The voice belonged to a well cowled figure, obscured by the overhanging of a brown hood and voluminous clothes that might have been Demiosian in style beneath a rough poncho.

The clown's black mouth contorted into a dramatic frown at the sour commentator, and he stamped his shiny shoes in mock annoyance. With a wink to the milling crowd, the clown opened his arms wide and grinned. Evidently, he felt someone needed a hug. But this someone was by no means inclined for such a thing.

"No! Don't you dare!"
The hooded observer raised a long fingered hand in severe caution, as if warding of unspeakable violence, but his voice was firm.
"Keep away!"

This protest only renewed the clown's vigorous insistence that they "hug it out". He took a large step towards the figure, which made it start, and another, which made the hooded person skittishly scuffle behind Fainne.

Thin hands clutched childishly at Fainne's shoulders, pulling at her like a drowning man. The figure rotated her like a shield towards the clown's approach, while murmuring into her hair.
"I hate clowns! Stupid terrifying grins and abnormal hair."
When the clown got too close, the figure gave low, spastic kicks at the air near the mime, trying to dissaude its approach.
"Back! Back!"

[Fainne]

Fainne turned to look at the surly skeptic, though whoever it was was well hidden beneath several layers of hoods and other clothes. The clown seemed willing to play off the newcomer's dismissive words, but the stranger wasn't going to back down that easily, it seemed. When the clown approached for an embrace, the stranger ducked behind Fainne and grabbed her, trying to put her between himself (or herself?) and the clown.

Now, Fainne wasn't the sort of girl who liked being grabbed. Spending the last era in a dangerous city like Portshire had made her wary of anyone coming out of nowhere and taking hold of her, and so when the stranger grabbed her, she tried to shake him off immediately. Just as the figure was doing his best to avoid the clown, Fainne was trying hard to get rid of him.

"Please, let go of me," she said firmly, her attention now not on the clown, but on the very odd stranger.