A favorite side hobby of mine is playing Amber Diceless RPG with friends. As a part of that hobby I would keep journals of what happened each week, but now I'm fleshing out these journals and am sharing my characters adventures, drama, and romance with you! I've decided to update exclusively over at Deviantart (aluckymuse) these days, so if you enjoy this story look there for more!
Life is a strange beast. We are given no guidebook, and our choices will always catapult us into unforeseen directions. My name is Alaric Bontaire, and for my story, I must backtrack to the time when the brightest star fell from the sky of the wild unknown, and began her work on peeling away the layers of who I believed myself to be.
Politeness, subtlety, a smile there, a nod here. I lived in between the unsaid things. Those we would hold internally as our mouths move and the opposite words are invoked from our lips. Because I showed talent in this particular way, I was chosen, molded, and groomed to occupy a rather dull corner in the life of espionage. The mantel I was given was bartender, and I would report on all the scenes and memories my senses allowed me at the end of each day. My loyalty afforded good status and station in my Guild that I treasured highly, for I felt I earned such things. I lived a practiced rhythm, my function in the larger schema preordained. It skipped a beat however, when the news came of my relocation. Boxes commenced the process of being filled and packaged, and long goodbyes from those who knew me would pass through our conversations. Friends would flash their sorrow in front of me, and by empathetic reaction, draw my own forth. I would miss them, but where they saw a potential loss, I saw a deep appreciation of the capacity to move at all. Perhaps even, I saw a potential for adventure, if only one that paled in comparison to the ones read in stories.
It was during the afternoon when she appeared. Long flame red hair flowed around her form and shades of purple hung from her. Lashes fluttered to touch her cheeks and everything changed color. Is that possible? I just met her and yet, I felt as though something significant had happened. Her eyes, deep green, opened in my direction as recognition swelled to fill her. She immediately tried to melt into shadow behind the shorter woman who had come in alongside her and then quickly with a whirl of warm hues she attempted to run away.
The short woman grabbed the timid one by the collar, preventing escape, and then her steady even stare locked onto me. The clue to everything one should fear in her was primed and loaded into a wry smile. I raised an eyebrow in silence as the two walked over to the bar. As they neared, I immediately became aware that the smiling one had a Guild pin I had never seen before, and the timid one seemed unaffiliated...a very dangerous thing in public, practically illegal.
"Greetings and welcome. Can I help you ladies?"
The timid one seemed lost, flush faced and treading in a sea of her own conflictions. I paused on her for a moment and then moved my focus to her companion. Her hair was also warm, but trimmed to cling to her head. She wore science fiction styled black clothing with bright green and purple accents; what I had initially presumed as her Guild pin, a ring of snarling wolf heads, also sported these colors. "Is there a convention in town I did not know about
She gave me a toothy grimace as she released the timid one.
"Yea, sure. ...You can call me Shade."
"Such a strange accent."
She slid her arms onto the top of the bar, "I'll have your strongest stuff, and hmmm..." her gaze shifted sideways to the standing menu, "...and, why not," she looked right back at me in the strangest fashion, as if she knew the biggest of secrets. Dark, pointed, uncomfortable, and she lay in waiting like the calm before the storm. "I'll have the daily special too. Oh," She thrust a thumb behind her, "This is my cousin Naddia by the way." Shade then turned around to face her, "I'm going to go get a seat. Have fun."