A meeting in the City {Artemis~StormKatz}

Okay, here we go. I'll be playing Leuan, my avian. Read the rules if you don't know them.
Setting is in the bustling capital of Didienne (C2)
Anyone wanna do first intro? If not, I will.

Leuan glanced around warily as he walked along, legs moving as fast as possible without resorting to a jog. A large and dark green cloak billowed on his shoulders from the air resistance he met, and sighing slightly in irritation he drew it closer around his body. A dirty- looking man sidled over, likely a pickpocket, and Leuan shot him a venomous glare. He quickly retreated into the crowds. The dense covering of people was thinning as Leuan neared the city's edge, and finally he emerged into a small alley where nobody shoved him aside- just a few others hurrying along, heads bowed and eyes flickering to the sides in case of attackers. Leuan unfastened the cloak at his neck and quickly pulled it off, smiling as he did so. He wore a white shirt underneath-one which oddly laced up on the back until about halfway down his back. But there was good reason. Folded under the loose cloak had been a pair of wings, coated in glossy black and green feathers. Leuan stretched them to their full span now, smiling, and fanned them gently. A few people gave him suspicious looks, but mostly the inhabitants of this street were used to their resident avian. Leuan nodded to the woman who lived in the house next to his, before jogging to the end of the narrow road and beating his wings in the larger space. He leapt into the air and hung for a moment before ascending and flying a short distance over rooftops and walls. Few people would see him; these parts of Didienne were mostly housing, and even then far less than other areas. That was why he lived here. He soon traversed the high outer wall of the city, and held his wings back to fall. He snapped them open just before he hit the ground and bent his knees to absorb extra impact, before carefully folding his wings again and drifting forwards to the grass and moist soil, the area hydrated by the river which ran through the Amelle forest to the south. Didienne behind him was now in the north; he preferred the grasses and forest to the mountains or ice plains which lay to the north and east, so he lived in the south and made most of his short trips the same way.

Ooc: There it is; I feel like I repeated myself and went on a bit, so sorry.

It was a warm and fragrant afternoon in Didienne, but one woman walking down the street was shivering. Her hair was immaculate – shimmering and curling gently down to her waist, but her face was wet. Her dress hung just above her ankles, avoiding the dirt on the ground, and two bare feet protruded from the bottom of said dress. They were also dripping wet, and were leaving damp footprints along the street, leading back into Amelle forest. Her dress was damp, and clung to her narrow waist wherever it touched, making the green, embroidered vines and pink flowers stand out further against the translucent material. Her face was soft and gentle, and all in all she looked quite beautiful (if a little out of place) walking down the bustling streets of Didienne. She was still near the gates when she stopped, apparently catching a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. She smiled briefly, and then began to follow her footprints back through the gates, dancing along the street to stop at the gates. Several people gave her unusual looks as she skipped around, and they avoided her like the plague. They went farther out of their way not to pass her when she smiled, bearing sharp, pointed teeth, and tiny purple strips of webbing at the corners of her mouth. In a blink of an eye the webbing melted away, and her teeth rounded slowly into white squares, but the effect had been made. She chuckled under her breath to see people so terrified, and settled her back into the curve of the outer gate of the city in smug satisfaction.

ooc;; sorry, it seems too long for what's going on xD I'll improve in my next posts Smile

Leuan stopped at a point about 100 metres from the city walls. It still seemed strange to him, the abrupt change between city and calm grass. It helped that the area behind the walls was deserted compared to most of the city, and of course that there were no gates nearby. He took a few deep breaths of the clearer air before reaching round to his back and yanking at the ties up his spine. As soon as they were all undone, he pulled the shirt off with a grimace, stowed it in a large pocket, and took off with several large and unrestricted sweeps of his wings and a leap into the air. He flew in large, slow circles for a while, passing over the city walls at times, until something distracted him. A young woman, leaning in the small gate on the outer wall and with people walking away in a large loop from her. Leuan couldn't see their faces, but he could guess the emotion which would be displayed on them: fear. Either that, or repulsion; perhaps a mix of both. He stopped his circle, wings wafting to keep him airborne and eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the people below What made people avoid the woman? He had seen some people do the same to him upon seeing his wings, evidently mistrusting the colour or simply the difference from them. Making a decision, he swiftly descended, folded his wings away and strode over to the woman, noting the dirty looks people gave him- being shirtless really didn't help, though he wouldn't have many less even if he'd kept the shirt on. He wondered briefly if he should put his cloak on, but realised he'd dropped it on the grass just before taking off, as was his habit- he always went to pick it up later. He watched the woman from a couple of metres away for a minute- she was quite attractive, actually, there seemed no reason to avoid her- before taking another step and addressing her.
'What's a lady like you doing waiting here alone?' he asked, noting with curiosity that she was damp. How strange.

Eliza smiled broadly, her whole face showing nothing but good humor. “Oh, me? I just felt like seeing a new place. I left everyone I know back at home.” She said. In a way it was true – she had left everyone she knew behind, at home, but that was fifty years ago. Fifty years ago that day, in fact. She smiled. It was the anniversary of her human death, and her sylph’s birthday.

Still smiling, she asked, “And you? What are you doing here? I can see from the looks on those people’s faces that you aren’t close to them. Why are you here, in the capital, alone and shirtless?” The sweetness in her own voice almost made her wretch, but she had to seem kind and perfect to lure anyone else back to the pool. she even refused to mention the man's wings. Oh, she was going to feed well from this city, but no one could know that yet.

As she spoke, Eliza busied herself brushing the water droplets from her dress, and running her fingers through her wet hair to dry it. The puddle around her feet had stopped growing, but its presence still gave away that she had been ‘swimming’. She hoped that no one in the city knew any of the legends about her type to point the finger at her, and looked back at the avian.

“Anyway, I forget my manners. May I ask your name?” she stopped herself from adding ‘young man’ to the end, but she couldn’t help seeing the residents of the city as young. Young and sweet souls to prey on.

So, the woman was alone? It was strange; obviously some women travelled alone, but she didn't really look like the fighting type. In fact, Leuan really couldn't tell much about her at all. And why was she wet? He smiled at her words. Alone and shirtless- well, it was accurate.
'I live here. Most people think my wings are a devilish abomination or because of the colours they think I'm evil, so I'm not that popular. He didn't mention the girls who admired his wings and he took out for flights on occasion. Most of them he only saw once, anyway. 'So yeah, that's why I'm alone. Shirtless... Well, shirts don't exactly make for easy flying.' He grinned at her, wondering why she hadn't yet mentioned his wings.

He watched her as she combed her fingers through her hair to dry it, and swept the transparent beads of water from her dress.
'So why're you all wet?' he asked now. 'Did you fall into the river or something?' He wasn't expecting her to say yes to that- what reasons would she have for being near the river to fall in? Perhaps if she had been travelling along it... Whatever the answer was, he had a question asked of him now.
'I'm Leuan,' he replied, smiling again. 'And you?'

“Well, it’s lovely to meet you, Leuan. I’m Eliza – Eliza Hawthorne. I know I’m a little damp, but I couldn’t resist. There is a lovely, crystal clear pool near here, and I just decided to take a swim. Here, maybe you have heard of it? It isn’t far from here.” She said, smiling. She had noticed the wings before, but now that Leuan had mentioned flying she couldn’t take her eyes off them.

“It must be wonderful to fly.” She sighed wistfully, but secretly she knew that it would make her stomach churn. “I prefer the water myself, but it still must be lovely.” She smiled to herself, and looked around briefly. She needed to find a tavern somewhere to stay in – just because she would need somewhere to pretend to stay if she was going to successfully allure anyone to the pool from that city. She couldn’t just turn up every day without booking a room, she knew that.

Leuan was puzzled over this woman. She had decided to take a spontaneous swim fully clothed? Perhaps she wasn't fully human... Maybe something about her had alarmed the people to make them avoid her, much like him. However, he saw nothing from examining her and it wouldn't exactly be polite to ask, so he left it.

'Pleasure to meet you too,' he replied with a quick smile. 'I think I know the place you say, and I suppose I see the appeal there, but I'm always going to prefer the sky. Not very easy to fly with wet feathers. And I do love flying, nothing I'd give it up for.' He noticed her eyes roaming their surroundings and added, 'Is there anything you're looking for? I know this area well.'

“Oh, I would love to find a tavern – preferably with a spare room. I need a place to stay, that’s all.” She replied, trying not to let her relief show. It had been foolish to mention the pool – in many cities it was well known that there was a curse upon it, and even if the humans in the city weren’t intelligent to work out that she was the curse, they would probably avoid anyone who had swum in cursed waters. This winged man however seemed to have avoided the rumours about it – or if he did know he hadn’t let on that he knew.

The avian nodded slowly. Somewhere to stay... He was a little surprised that she'd come here with so little knowledge of the city, but then many people did and could just ask for directions. The way she was avoided, though, it might not work so well for her.
'There are a few decent places around,' he told Eliza. 'But this area of the city isn't really the smartest, if you want anything quality you'll have to travel round a bit. You can get a tolerable room at a reasonable price, though. I can direct you if you'd like, there's a tavern not far from here.' He scanned her briefly, wondering if the unusual woman actually had any money, before looking round the streets to plan the best route to the tavern in question.

“That would be marvellous. I don’t really need much, and the good price part sounds fantastic. I’m afraid I only have a little of my money on my person.” She said, before slowly starting to walk in a likely looking direction. Or rather, she took a step, then realised how little she knew about the town, and stayed put. She had only been out of the water for a short while, so her energy was at its fullest, but she knew that her cheery temperament would dry up before too long unless she got her bearings soon.

Eliza was starting to get a little annoyed with people walking so far away from her. She had loved the feeling of power that the terror in their faces had given her when she changed, but now that she was quite human it was another thing altogether. Hopefully they would be more ready to accept her the next day – in the new light of dawn – or even that night once she had settled. She would be ‘exploring’ as many bars as she could that night, and she had found that people could be most reasonable after a few drinks…

'I thought we were headed the same way for now?' A grin spread across Leuan's face as Eliza took a step in completely the wrong direction for the tavern.
'Come on, it's along here.' As they walked, Leuan pointed out a few small landmarks- it was obvious that Eliza didn't relaly have any bearing in the city yet.

When they arrived at the tavern, not entirely clean but better than many buildings around it, Leuan swung open the door and held it for Eliza, then followed her inside. The floor was battered and wooden, with tables scattered across it. A bar stretched along the length of the room, a man standing behind it looking bored, and the scent of alcohol hung in the air despite the fact that only a few drinkers were here so early in the day.
'Afternoon there.' Leuan greeted the man at the bar with a nod, which was returned.
'How c'n I help you?' inquired the bartender.
'Do you have a room free for this lady?' The man held up one finger, then disappeared through a door for about a minute. He returned muttering,
'Sorry fer the wait, I couldn't find the key.' He dropped the key on the counter and peered at Leuan and Eliza.
'It'll be seventeen silver pieces then, please.' His gaze flicked from Leuan to Eliza, obviously unsure as to who was paying.

Eliza turned red when she realised how wrong she had been, and felt a little intimidated by the number of landmarks that she didn’t recognise, and decided to explore thoroughly later. Or find a map. However, she wasn’t quite as clueless as she appeared, since she knew the older parts of the city like the back of her hand. After all, she had spent the whole of her human life here. It was just the new buildings that startled her now.

The tavern was exactly as she had expected however – a little small and dirty, and already containing a few people drinking hard. She was sure she would fit in fine. The barkeep seemed a little flustered, but found her a room no trouble.

“Oh, my thanks. Here.” Eliza smiled, pulling the payment from a white fabric pouch hung around her neck. She also kept enough money out to pay for a few drinks, and slid that into a small pocket in the folds of her dress. She turned to Leuan and smiled. “Thank you, Leuan, I’m sure I would never have found this place on my own.” Se slipped the key into the pouch at her neck and hid it in her dress again, before continuing. “Is there anything else I should see in the city before evening?” she asked, noticing that the bar wasn’t full enough for her to start ‘working’ yet, and it was certainly too early for her to retire for the night.

While Eliza paid, Leuan leant on the counter and looked around the room, a little bored. He turned his focus back to the girl as she put the extra money in her pocket, then stood up straight. Whether or not Eliza was coming with him, he was going to be leaving soon- the hot and cramped bar wasn't really his sort of place. He preferred to do any drinking of his own either outdoors or in a more spacious area.
'Oh, no problem. I never mind helping out a pretty girl,' Leuan replied to her thanks with a grin.

At her question, he tapped his fingers on the bar in thought.
'Well, of course this is the capital,' he told her as he did so. 'So there's plenty to see.. Didienne is a wealthy city, we're just in the cheaper outskirts now. The palace is impressive, though the gardens can't compare to Racksom. There's a lot of art around, the Victory Column is worth seeing too... It would take a while to look at everything here, though it'll help that I know most of the quickest routes around; you can see the fastest ways to get to places really easily from the sky.'

“Victory Column… that sounds nice. I’d love to see it. If you could just point me in the right direction…” she said, batting her eyelashes. She thought she knew the location of that particular landmark already, but she couldn’t be sure if the old roads still stood. It had been a long time since she had last seen that city…

She looked out of the grimy window – clearly no one in that bar liked light well enough to let any more inside – and saw the outlines and shapes of the streets. This must be a new part, she thought – the city she knew had been very compact – but that meant she may recognise the town centre still. She would have to do some serious acting to continue her lost and vulnerable act, but after all, acting was a serious part of her lifestyle.

Looking back, she smiled at Leuan and waited patiently. Patience came easily so soon after leaving the water, but as her skin dried, she would become less and less mild mannered. Hopefully Leuan wouldn’t notice her irrational tempers.

'Sure. If you're done here, we can go now.' Assuming that Eliza had no more business in the bar, Leuan strolled towards the door, fanning his wings to dislodge the stench of smoke and beer from the feathers as he stepped outside. 'It's fastest to go along here,' he told Eliza. 'It's right in the centre of the city, so a while from here, but we can travel in a relatively straight line. Of course, there's plenty to see round the middle of Didienne. You need to watch for thieves, it's one of the most corrupt places I've been to, but it's definitely worth a visit. Do you know about the Victory Column?' He glanced back at the girl, adding, 'You'll want to keep an eye on where we're going, so you can get around in the future.' He couldn't help but wonder what had brought her here... Was it really just a change of scene, as she claimed? It seemed like an odd thing to come all the way here for. Then again, he himself had done things not too different before.

“Oh, thank you.” Eliza smiled, batting her eyelashes again, and following along nicely. She was keeping a meticulous lookout for the older parts of the city, but so far could see nothing. “I’m really interested in history,” she lied, “and I was wondering where the oldest part of the city was. Near the centre would make sense, but do you have more of an idea?” she said, hoping it would pass off as an innocent question. But then again, no one was going to guess that she was looking for signs of the old town she grew up in all those years ago – why, she still looked around 20! With that thought she let herself relax a little, and resumed her search for clues. Although she had hated this town – and the people in it – she did sort of miss the familiar place, even though she could never admit that.

The girl was interested in history, was she? Leuan regarded her, intrigued. She certainly wasn't the average woman. He was hardly an expert when it came to the city's past, but it would be hard not to realise which parts of the city were the oldest.
'The city was built around the Victory Arch,' explained the avian. 'It was constructed to celebrate the victory of Dragons Cove's first ruler over all the people who wanted to keep their land how it was. He then built the circular courtyard around it, Victory Circle. All the streets branched straight out from it, evenly spaced, and everything was really neat and tidy. I guess from above, it would've looked a little like a clock. But of course everything got moved around over time, it's been a couple of centuries since it was just that. A lot of the oldest buildings aren't there anymore, but some of the oldest stuff's there still. There's also what used to be a much smaller place, a village I think, which got absorbed into the city at some point.' Leuan had surprised himself with his knowledge; it was the sort of thing which all the city's inhabitants knew, but only now did he realise that there was indeed quite a lot of information there.

Ooc: All the history stuff is just made up on the spot... Sorry if there actually is a history to Didienne!

“Thank you. Yes, I do think I rem- I mean, heard, that it was once a much smaller town. I’ll keep an eye out for the old buildings.” Eliza said, inwardly cursing herself for that slip-up. She was getting seriously close to messing everything up, but luckily Leuan didn’t seem to know any of the lore about Sylphs, or the ancient pool just outside the town. She took a deep breath to loosen herself up and tried to relax as she followed along, keeping a fast pace. The occasional house looked familiar, so she figured they must be getting a little closer, but she couldn’t yet place any of the building they were passing. When she did, she would have to be very careful about what she said.

Leuan didn't make any comment on Eliza's correction, assuming that it had just been a stumble of her tongue.
'I don't know which ones are the older ones, but I guess you'll recognise the building style or something if you're into history.' The avian casually slipped his hands inside his pockets. While he wasn't generally interested in the past, Eliza was an attractive- if wet- girl, and he was going to try to make conversation with her. 'So are there any, uh, particular areas of history that you're interested in?' he asked her.

Ooc: Argh, tiny reply... Sorry!

“Well, I guess it’s relatively recent history that I’m into – I like history from around one hundred years ago. I like to track the changes.” She said, quite honestly for once. “I also quite like ancient mythology, but that’s a different topic altogether.” She added, smiling. Leuan seemed not to have noticed her lapse, so she didn’t appear to be in much danger around him. It was a new sensation for Eliza, but it was quite a pleasurable one, and she was going to enjoy it while she could.

'Oh, right. Yeah, myths can be quite interesting.' Leuan grinned. 'You get some strange ideas about things in there.' He wasn't especially interested in their topic of conversation, but he'd discussed far less interesting things before and it was easily tolerable. Besides, they were approaching the Victory Column now, so maybe she would do some of the talking for a bit... About some historical stuff.
'It's just at the end of this road,' he told her, gesturing along the street they were now on. The cobbles underneath their feet were worn completely smooth from the many feet that had walked on them, the buildings built with less evenly shaped stones. 'I guess that this is a pretty old part of the city,' he offered.

As Leuan spoke, Eliza fell completely silent. Indeed, the buildings there were much older, and in the very back of her mind she could almost put names to the people who used to live in each building. She made sure not to let her jaw drop, but she felt a slight pang in her chest as she realised that most of the people she remembered would be dead by then, or so ancient that they could barely move anymore.
“Thank you, Leuan. This does look old – I recognise the brickwork from some of the less modern places I’ve visited.” She spluttered after she finally regained the ability to speak. She was beginning to think that returning to the town she grew up in had been a bad idea, but when she looked around the street it was heaving with fresh humans. Each and every one throbbed with life, and Eliza knew that she could drain it from a good few before moving on again. It was a promising thought, but she hoped that the grin on her face could be passed off as a simple love of her surroundings.

This woman was certainly odd. She seemed speechless as she stood staring wide-eyed at their surroundings. Her words, when they came, seemed to be forced out with some difficulty. And then she started grinning. Leuan felt a slight wave of unease- an instinct that all was not right with Eliza. He frowned slightly, puzzled, as he replied,
'No problem. I guess you, uh, really like history?' She seemed overly happy, considering she was just looking at a few old buildings- not to mention the fact that she hadn't seemed all that pleased at first. Oh, well- he didn't have to stick with her if he didn't want to.

“Oh yes I love it.” She sighed, before pulling herself back together properly. “And yourself? What are you interested in, Leuan?” She was enjoying his company more that she had intended to, really, and made a mental note of his kindness for future reference. After all, she couldn’t go around killing friends. Well, she could, but she probably shouldn’t.

As they passed another row of untidy buildings that felt far too close to home, Eliza noticed something. There was a large group of people amassing on the street ahead and around the corner. She quickened her pace, not looking to see if Leuan was following her, and made for the crowd. As she turned the corner, she fell still, and felt her jaw drop. Ahead was the town square, and one she remembered quite well, but in the middle was a heap of rubble. The promised column wasn’t present, but in the centre of the heap of shattered marble, there was a rough block pointing upwards. Some people were screaming, and some were sobbing, but it seemed that the ominous pile of stone was quite important.

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