After a little while of walking Johnson and Katrine finally arrived at the young wife's house. It was small and humble but pretty warm and comfortable. They managed to lay Michael down on a nearby couch.
"There he is... I'll try to wake him up before the festival starts. Thank you for everything Johnson" Katrine said with a smile "As I promise let me look for my sister's sweets"
As the morning progressed and the sun made it's way to it's highest point on the sky preparations for the festival became more frantic in the town's square which conveniently could be found a few streets away from the market. The priests and priestesses were hard at work with the setting up of the main stage, their little stands and with setting up the decorations everywhere. They were helped by a large group of volunteers supervised by the Ridge family.
Alan showed up to the training grounds a bit past noon. His family had stubbornly disagreed to going to the festival. His father had shouted a few colourful expletives, his sister had shouted less swearing but more legitimate threats and in the end, he was the only one who was willing to go, and even that took a good deal of arguing as his father did not approve of him skipping work. Only with the threat of running away to live with a friend did his father finally approve.
"God my family's stubborn." Alan pushed his bangs up, contemplating why his family was so antisocial. Surely, it couldn't be genes, could it?
As he entered the usual training grounds, Alan spotted Mela already in the middle of practicing her swings. He called out to her, "Hey, over here! You ready for this? I just got a new buckler. I've been wanting to have a go with it for a while."
"Ready? I've been waiting for you sheep boy!" Melanie said, throwing one of the wooden practice blades over to him. She was wearing a light padded armor to lessen the strength of the blows and there was another suit on the ground near her among other things.
One of those things was another blade which the mage promptly picked up. She then turned to face Alan and held her blade right in front of her as she stepped into a low stance "Are you ready?"
"You know you're a man worth a thousand gold for me..." She smirked. She did not mean this figuratedly, but literally, as she was rather fond of squeezing him dry of money. "Well, you heard the lad, one honey, cheese, bread and milk breakfast coming up" Mina answered the couple hastily, not giving time for the Guard to ponder how much of a hole she was going to dig in his pockets. Although her mood was somewhat darkened by the half-cat woman. She did not like cats. Fickle, playful, they stole food and they never carried any money.
"...hm" She did leave the broom in a safe place."Let's see... we have fresh goat milk if you're interested. Or you could also try mead." She said, coming out of her mouth as oddly plain in comparison. She still had her doubts about her.
Johnson smiled a little, "You are welcome, Katrine." The words felt a little...hollow. He felt bitter on the inside, look at that drunk, snoozing away on the couch.
Katrine was just...Johnson could not place the exact quality that made her so appealing to him, but he did definitely like her, and he only wished she could reciprocate the feeling without it being a bad thing.
"Hmm... well, alright," Lilia said, agreeing to let Delian pay for her meal.
"Though, I guess this means I'll owe you later. Don't worry; I'll find some way to repay you during the festival, okay?"
Lilia smiled innocently, thinking that Delian's laughter reminded her of Anthony's more friendly side.
After informing a guard about the collapsed house ("It really wasn't me, I swear," he insisted after said guard gave him some dirty looks), Anthony headed into the town square.
"Ah, Anthony!" A certain redheaded priestess spotted the adventurer walk into what would soon to be the hub of the festival and finished up hanging her banner, before hopping off her ladder. "Back in town to cause more trouble, eh?"
"Rosemary." Anthony walked over to the clergywoman. "It was just a friendly brawl between brothers; no one got hurt."
"Right." Rosemary carried her robe above the ground as she met Anthony halfway... then proceeded to land a swift kick to the man's head. "That's for taking Lilia off without my permission!"
Tumbling to the side but keeping on his feet, Anthony groaned. "Ow... why does everyone feel the need to greet me with physical assault?"
"Because we know you can take it!"
Anthony sighed and heard the giggling of several young priestesses to be watching the spectacle. Well, when a man earns my reputation... he mused.
Looking directly into the tavern wench's eyes, Delian said "Oh, Mina, you gold-digging woman, I could just kiss you sometimes! But I'm afraid of how much that would cost me!"
Laughing once again, he turned back to his companion. "Thank you very match, milady! Don't worry too much about paying me back in money!" Winking, he added "After all, you do have some capability in magic, correct? But enough of talk about payment, tell me of your travels!"
Support Gravitaz on Kickstarter!"Really? They don't have them where you're from? I'll have to make sure to show you a good time then." Andrew tapped his chin in thought, "Where are you from anyway? Is it somewhere exotic?"
You must agree, my plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity! My TumblrAfter a little while looking through her cabinets Katrine finally found what she was looking for. The young wife brought to the table a jar filled with little and colorful sweets "Feel free to try as many as you wants"
"Ah..." Melanie let out a long sigh as she dropped to the grass, covered in sweat from the long sparring session.
"Damn... you're getting pretty good sheep boy. I only managed to beat you twice"
edited 14th Feb '11 8:05:51 PM by daltar
Alan dropped his weapons and took of his armour. His normally wavy hair was hanging straight down from the weight of perspiration. Alan grabbed two bottles of water, tossing one to his training buddy and pouring the other one over his head.
"Hah.... I told you..... I'm good......"
As his first bottle's contents emptied, Alan grabbed another one, this time drinking it all up. As he tilted his head up to quench his thirst, he noticed the sun's positioning. As a shepherd, he could generally tell the time with the sun and....
"PFFT" Alan spit out the water in his mouth. "Mela, it's time for the festival. It's either just started or about to start in a bit."
"Huh... it sure is..." Melanie said between sips of water "Aghh... too tired... Alan carry me there" The young age said laying down again in the grass.
And indeed the Spring Festival was just starting. Through the town square and a little ways farther the powerful voice of one of the priests of The Lady of the Hills resounded, giving everyone the welcome and starting the sermon.
"It's nothing Johnson" Katrine said, putting the sweets away until a particular voice reached her ears "Oh... I think that's old Frederic speaking... The festival is about to start!"
Andrew's head snapped in the direction of the town square, "Well that morning flew by, sounds like the festival is starting. Just let me box this stuff up and we'll be off."
With practised speed (the Ridge boys had been disrupting the market since before Andrew could walk) Andrew put everything away. Maybe in a bigger town he wouldn't have worried about goods being stolen but not in Lire. Besides, his father napping on the stall might pose as a deterrent. Andrew's mother hadn't reappeared from her shopping but presumably had gone home to get dressed up for the festival. Something Andrew was glad wasn't expected of him.
Andrew grabbed Kin's arm and started ambling towards the growing sounds of the festival, "There's no need to rush, unless you want to listen to the opening sermon. We just need to get there before he finishes for the blessing."
You must agree, my plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity! My TumblrAlan chuckled. Mela had been matching him pretty well in the mock battle. In fact, she had the upper hand until he figured out the best ways to use his buckler. "Carry yourself there. I'm just as tired as you are." Then Alan contradicted his words and pulled Melanie up, lending her his shoulder. "My god, you're drenched in sweat. You sure we can go to the festival like this?"
Kin went with him, this festival sounded like it would be some fun, he had never been invited to festivals in the past, mainly because in other villages he had foolishly revealed he was Not So Harmless and that he had some secret weapons. But here, he had not fought anyone yet and thus, he had not been forced to use his arm.
"A-Alright, so, is the blessing like some kind of ritual for prosperity or some such?"
"Yeah, we thank the Lady for nurturing us, and pray for a good harvest and stuff."
You must agree, my plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity! My TumblrSabina had declined the milk and ordered something at random, not knowing any of them. She'd ended up with something alcoholic, though she didn't know it. She'd never had the stuff before. That had been a while ago, and since then she'd been quietly sitting in a corner, getting slightly tipsy.
When the announcement came she paid and nearly skipped out into the town, a far opposite to her usual reserved self.She happened across the training grounds, spotting the pair of duelers. Somewhere along the way, she'd shifted and bundled her clothes into the bag as best she was able, tucking it away in secret. She'd stashed a few such emergency clothes around town, in case something ever happened. She bounded up to Melanie, brushing against her legs, jumping away, and falling over on her side in the grass beside her, grinning slightly.
edited 15th Feb '11 1:34:48 PM by Runic
"Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time...""I don't think he's in condition to go anywhere just yet... I believe I will be missing the start of the festival" Katrine said, slightly disappointed.
"Don't be silly... The master mage of this city has something prepared just for the occasion" Melanie said, as she stood up lazily with his help. She dug into her pouch and then took out her little book of spell. Folded inside there was a small scroll filled with scribbling on the strange letters mages used.
"I bought this a few days ago from a wandering merchant. Written here is a spell that will leave me as if I had just come out of a good bath in the river" Melanie said, awfully proud of her purchase.
It was at that moment that a certain tiger came out to towards them. Seeing her lying in the grass Melanie dropped to her knees at her side, rendering poor Alan's effort to lift in her vain. The girl giggled softly "Sabine? What's up with you? You're acting weird" The young mage said, unable to resist the impulse to pet her head and ears.
edited 15th Feb '11 2:48:12 PM by daltar

Laughing at how flustered his new companion was getting, Delian said "Don't worry about Mina, Lilia! As you can probably tell by her comment about last week, she always seems to be exaggerating my relationships with women! Personally, that and her constant flirting make me think she might be sweet on me! Thanks for the delicious-looking meal, honey!" He winked at the waitress and laughed again.
"But if money is the issue, then maybe I could pay for your meal. After all, you'll probably want a lot of spending money for the festival. Hell, we can say it's a date since I paid!" Delian laughed again, until he saw the look on Lilia's face. "Just kidding! I didn't mean to get you all flustered like that! Seriously, though, I could pay if necessary. Money is not a concern for me."
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