RP:Stranger Songs

Summary: Irenic meets another bard, another red head and gets another memory headache.

Riverbank

Apart from the wood-lined stone road that leads to the north and back across the bridge, slightly muddy ground is the only terrain here at the river's edge. The Vibrance is a fast flowing river, and so no plants have a chance in it. Most other rivers are sluggish, algae-ridden, but this river is alive! It rushes and roars, creating swirling vortexes at the bases of the supports for the bridge that leads to the east. The only fish capable of living here are the powerful salmon, and even they struggle against the current. The stumps of trees stretch out for two hundred yards to the west, where the forest abruptly resumes.

Raphaline had been staying at the clinic close by for the last couple of days to keep a friend company. Her other excuse (and a more personal one) is that she needed some peace and quiet for own thoughts. Since coming back, things have happened, people she wasn’t sure about had crossed her path. So, here she sits on the riverbank, her emerald eyes studying the whirls and swift current with not a whole lot of care. Beside her sits the infamous violin, its leather case already caked with a bit of mud from where the river has lapped against the bank. Usually, at a time like this, she would play until her thoughts had cleared up or otherwise found themselves a new person to annoy. Instead, she half-heartedly hums to herself a song that she had been working on ever since she had told Emilia that tale from another land.

Irenic swooped down from the skies landing stunningly at the sight of red hair, thinking it was a witch he knows and assuming it was so since Larket is her home. "Shouldn't you be resting?" The low gruff tone of his voice chides out at who he thought to be pregnant. Then he realized the height was off, the singing and figured maybe it was another red head he knows, more of the vampire type - also a bard and his bi-colored eyes look over the female; the brown left one unseeing, but hinting the magic about her and the silver right one appreciating her features. He cleared his throat while pushing the sleeves of his think black V neck sweater up his forearms, doing so reveals the hints of black tattoos decorating his tawny skin. "I, uh, thought you were someone else. Sorry." His eyes spot the clinic up the hill with a familiarity, but he mentally shakes it as his thoughts turn to the fact that he knows one to many red heads.

Raphaline is the oddest of red heads sir! She is a whimsical half-elf with a tendency to find trouble and a grin that is too charming and too secretive for her own good. As for his mistake, well, she isn’t all that bothered by it. To show as much, she rises from where she had been sitting and offers up a calloused hand, “No big deal.” At her full height, she stands just shy of six feet, her features a mixture of exotic (elvish) and common (human). Curious about the new companion, she inquires to whom she was mistaken for. “Who were you hoping to see?” Her voice has a certain dulcet tone to it, one that becomes more prevalent when she chuckles—which she does. “And you are?” She cants her head, causing fiery curls to tumble into her emerald eyes as they look over the strange tattoos (must be an avian thing), the bi-colored eyes and then wings.

Irenic was sure he would be departing to leave this woman with peace and quiet, but she stood and made her way to him and greeted friendly enough. Once she got close enough she would probably pick up on notes from her favorite scents, typical avian trait. He is too verbally callous for his own good as his own hand grasped the inside of her forearm - some sort of greeting imprinted from his home land. "Merry meet… I am Irenic… I thought you were my ex-fiance, Artia. She's pregnant." He doesn't even realize how bad that sounds, and probably doesn’t care either. "Then I thought you were a chanteuse I've met by the name of Eilyo." His mismatched optics take in the sighs of her hair and eyes, well, one of the eyes being able to really see at least. Since it seems he'll be staying around a bit he folds those ivory wings in close to his athletic form.

Raphaline knew neither of those women, or at least, had never made their acquaintance in person. As for his run on explanation, she can’t help but falter from a sense of politeness into a fit of laughter. Once she gets her laughter under control, the bard speaks up, “Oh goodness no. Not pregnant, not possible.” She dusts back a curl revealing a slight point to her ear. “Also, not much of a singer as of late. I much prefer the violin or dancing, so.” She shrugs, simply enough. “But, I will have to meet both of them. Honestly, I only know one red-headed female and she’s a long ways from here.” The bard studies him for a moment, squints her eyes for a beat before inquiring, “Do you like to sing, or play?” She turns from the avian to lean down and pluck the violin from the ground. “Or appreciate music?”

Irenic quirks a scarred brow at her laughing as he didn't understand why, he hadn't even attempted a jest as of yet. "I've not caught your name," it wasn’t posed as a question, more of a statement, but bear with him as he knows no social niceties being all memory wiped and all. His mismatched gaze follows her movements and when she asks of his musical inclinations he lets out a guffaw, "No, no." There was abrupt silence as he seemed to be thinking rather harshly, "I don't know actually, but I would not mind hearing something." He motions for her to go on and takes a step back while smoothing unruly graying hairs from his face, accenting those long pointed ears. His hands slip into his pockets while he leans himself against a tree so he may relax and enjoy this stranger's tune.

Raphaline is pretty sure this as a good time as any to play her new song, so she kneels down and begins to unlatch the violin case; inside is a well-loved, cherry wood violin. With a quick movement, she tunes the instrument, takes up the bow and stands at her full height once more. For a moment, she allows only the sounds of nature to settle around them before placing her bow to the strings and falling headlong into her music. The song comes swift, like a blast of cold wind. The notes dance and move as if on a great journey through ice and snow, bound by a desire to find something. As all seems to be lost, and the wind even more furious, somehow the traveler finds their way to their destination whereupon they are struck by a surprising sight. The next notes are feminine with a hint of strength, suggesting maybe a warrior of graceful sorts. And the first meeting, tentative, suggestive of things to come, of a lesson soon to be learn. As she finishes her song and what is just one part to the story she is creating, she finds her body a buzz with flickering magic and delight. “It’s a work in progress.” She says, finally bringing speech into the moment. “It is only the beginning of an epic tale I’ve got in mind.”

Irenic listened attentively fixating his gaze on the violin and felt a shiver come on as if her music was changing the weather about them herself, the tune beautiful no doubt, but he doesn't have much of anything to compare it to. Once the tale was paused he shoved himself from the tree and offers a loud clapping with a devious smirk, "Very well, very well." He tilted his head a bit with his query, "What's the epic tale about, if I may ask?" He idly itched at a fresh vampire bite on his neck looking to nearly be healed already and any decent being would try to wear garments to cover up such a taboo act - Avian's even more so…. Something was off about this Avian, he wasn’t the typical righteous type, it seemed; white wings deceiving those around him. His brown left eye sensing the magic about in a aura around her, causing his gaze to focus more on the air around her.

Raphaline has seen many odd things, so vampire bites? Pft. Also, she notes, avians have got a thing for vampires it seems. As for the tale she pipes in with a, “Oh! It’s a tale I learned from another land. In their land this is the tale of how a warrior who was well known, traveled to a mountainous region seeking another warrior he had heard about. When he got there, come to find out it was a woman. During that time, women didn’t fight, so it was a bit of a shock. Funny enough, she defeats him in combat so many times that he sticks around to learn how she became such a good fighter.” She shrugs, tales always had a meaning behind them. “He learned that having a true reason to fight rather than fame or glory gives a warrior a greater strength.”

Irenic would have known where she was coming from had he kept his memories. A woman warrior didn't seem so rare to him as the woman who raised him from his near grave is a powerful necromancer and he still willfully serves under her out of admiration and respect. He will probably never remember all of the horrible things he's done, dishonorable things for selfish reasons, but most of his scars including the most noticeable ones on his face is the proof he has no tale for. "That’s quite the story… I await to hear it played out one day." This bi-colored eyes look about, "What are you doing around her by yourself, anyway?" His recent experience with one other bard he noticed she liked to frequent the more populated establishments like Inns, taverns, and restaurants.

Raphaline tucks her instrument back into its case while he speaks. When the question of her location arises, she chuckles with a silver-belled mirth, “Oh you know, to think? I love a good tavern too but sometimes, in order to create, I find I need a place of solitude in which to allow my mind a wide space to expand upon.” She extends her arms out and gestures to the wide, natural scenery around them. “Usually I’m near my home for something like that, but a friend of mine is a healer here, Sabrina?” She could assume anyone familiar with Larket might know the head of the Healer’s Guild. “As for the story, I’ve told it now a few times, but the music, well, I’ve got a little bit of difficulty coming up with a song that fits the moment they fall in love with each other. I’ve sung of love, but, I don’t know, the melody isn’t coming to me very easily.”

Irenic, again, looked perplexed as he wasn't trying to be funny in the least and he just sort-of nervously chuckles along with her. "Makes sense," he muses out loud and his gaze sets on the waters in making the connection of it's natural soothing properties. Something about this very spot was pushing a subtle headache into his mind, one of those strong memories come to be wiped out. He smooths his graying hair back once more as she mentioned the name, Sabrina, and all he did was shrug, no he didn't know her, not anymore. He scowls a bit when she said she was having trouble coming up with the love part of a song, objectifying and criticizing look in his eyes while he looks her over fully for the first time. "You're a pretty lady… I am sure someone will show you the way," he said in such a flat matter-of-fact tone that it almost didn't sound like a compliment and definitely did not sound like a come-on.

Raphaline seems to be full of the giggles today, because despite the tone he uses, his choice of words cause the bard to laugh just a bit more. “Well yes, that hasn’t been lost on me but,” she shakes her head, “there is a big difference between love and lust no? I don’t think beauty alone can cause love to happen.” And definitely not in the bard’s world currently. “You asked about my name earlier, you can call me Raphaline.” She dips her head just enough to almost be another introduction or greeting. “I don’t recall getting yours.” If he had given it and she had missed it, well he was in for a sight of blushes and gasps at having ever been so rude. “You happen to be the second avian I’ve met in my time here, both of you unique in your own manner.”

Irenic stuffed his hands back into his pockets once more, visibly able to hide the headache the memories were causing him. When she asks about lust and love he shrugs again shaking his head shortly, "I wouldn't know." He didn't seem upset about it in the least, again the low gruff voice just sounding factual and a bit bookly. "Merry meet, Raphlane." He gets her name wrong, as usual, typical Irenic. She asks his name again and he slips, "Edlin… Irenic. I don’t really care." Edlin had changed his name upon his arrival to Hollow, which he doesn't know why anymore, but he goes by both names. "You don't say…" he simply responds as she mentions more avians. He went quiet once more, he felt his master's call, "I've somewhere I need to be, terribly sorry. Merry part until we merry meet again." He takes a couple steps back in order to clear from the trees and he opens his large wings nearly blocking the path around them. The sun illuminates brilliant shimmers hiding in those ivory beauties like diamonds in the sand and with outstanding force he was up into the skies once more, making it way back to Vailkrin.

Raphaline shakes her head, he was such an odd person. As for the mention of needing to go, she doesn't halt him from such. "Then, we shall meet again Edlin. Go, you've business to attend to and so do I. The wheel will just keep turning, and soon enough new events will occur." She gathers up her own things, glancing towards the clinic for a few moments before watching as the avian departs. Once her is gone, she dusts herself off, headed back to the clinic to check on a few patients there before choosing her next move.