RP:That's No Goat...That's an Ill Omen
Part of the The Ice Plague Cometh Arc
Characters: Satoshi, Josleen
Synopsis: After playing her first gig at The Frostmaw Tavern, Josleen finds Satoshi outside the pub feeding one of The Eyrie's transport wyverns, Viksen. The introduction is rife with slapstick, humor, misunderstandings, and assumptions. Notably, Josleen recounts her encounter with a "freaky goat" during her commute to Frostmaw and describes a creature known to Queen Satoshi to be the dangerous and sadistic Ice Devil!
End of the Frozen Road
Satoshi sits upon the frozen blockade, petite form leaning over the edge precariously with an arm extended. From the magus' clawed hand dangles a strip of meat, held above the waiting snout of the transport wyvern. Eagerly the blue-scaled saurian smacks its tail against the ground and shuffles its wings, causing Satoshi to laugh in delight, her own vulpine tail swishing lazily over the snow wall. "You're -still- hungry~?" the foxkin asks of the wyvern, voice a musical mixture of amusement and feigned admonishment. The wyvern squawks. Satoshi scrunches up her nose, an expression that makes her silvery whiskers quiver. "Drargon'll throttle us all, for making you fat, y'know that?" A blank stare comes from the wyvern. "Hah! You don't care! You just want more food, so here you go, you glutton~." And so the meat is released, never even having the chance to reach the ground before it's swallowed whole by fang-filled jaws.
Josleen exits the tavern with a jovial bounce in her step, fresh tips jingling in her coin purse. The bard's suited up for the cold, donning in addition to her fiddle case a travel sack, a plum wool coat, and on her head, a foxtail hat. A foxtail hat! She blanches at the sight of the blue fox before her, who thankfully has her back to the bard. What's worse, the humanoid, sentient fox has what appears to be a pet dragon. It is possible the gods have divined this to be Josleen's last day on this curious planet. Panicked, the bard pulls the hat off her head hastily, shoving it into her travel sack, hair pulling and standing slightly thanks to static produced by dry cold air. She cannot peel her big brown eyes off the pair, and as a result misses the fact that the tip of the foxtail hat peeks out under her travel sack's lid for the world to witness. Not so discreetly, she attempts to tiptoe past the two, predominantly inspired to flee thanks to the dragon. This is her first time this close to a dragon, and while she has heard of tame dragons as this one seems to be, she lacks the curiosity to investigate just how that works. In her side-long escape, she trips over a crate, slips on a patch of ice, and nearly misses the opportunity to catch herself on her hand and knees, releasing a hysterical yelp.
Satoshi pauses in the midst of tossing another piece of meat to the wyvern, attention captured by the riotous attempt at a stealthy flee. Two pairs of eyes, one the bronze of a saurian and the other amber-flecked blue, settle upon the fallen girl, and both tip their heads to one side in curiosity. Food forgotten, the wyvern shuffles over to the stranger, muzzle twitching as he sniffs at her and murmurs a questioning chirrup. Satoshi is less nosey in a literal sense, instead appearing beside the girl in a flurry of snowflakes and looking down with a lopsided grin. "Are you all right~?" If Satoshi notices the foxtail hat peeking out, she doesn't show it. But then, the magus herself is clad in a long coat trimmed in plush white fur.
Josleen lies as flat as possible when the wyvern approaches, turning her head to the side, shutting her eyes tight in a wince and bracing herself for what she assumes is a painful, grisly death. Still, as far as deaths go, eaten by a wyvern beats disease. There are worse ways to die. Much to her surprise, she lives long enough to be addressed. One eye opens and swivels towards the magus, who inspires considerably less fear. She's led a sheltered life where humanoids who talk and greet you are always nice, and dragons, only encountered in her songs, always kill. So far, she's half wrong. Hopefully, if her information maintains 50% veracity, she'll live to see another day. Although scared, the bard's profession calls for the ability to smile on command, and she flashes the magus a weak, frozen smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "Does he bite?" she asks with the polite timidness a stranger would ask of an unknown pet dog.
Satoshi blinks, exchanges a look with the wyvern, and looks back to the bard with eyebrows raised. "Well, of course he bites. He's not going to bite -you- however, if that's what you mean. Not unless you make an ass of yourself, or insult his good looks." A snort comes from the wyvern, large and near enough to ruffle the fur of Josleen's coat. Following the snort is a strange, rippling growl that sounds almost like laughter as the wyvern sits back on his haunches to regard the stranger. Satoshi settles back against the crate that had originally tripped up the bard, leaning against the wooden surface with hands propping her up. "This fellow is Viksen, one of the Eyrie's transport wyverns. It's his job to carry passengers from Frostmaw tavern to the academy west of the city. Perfectly amiable old boy~." Quite purposely, the foxkin doesn't introduce herself. Better to show the wyvern is not a blood-thirsty, mindless beast, first.
Josleen shakes her head furiously against the cold ground at the insinuation that she would make an ass of herself or insult a wyvern. The snort incites another quiet yelp, a knee-jerk reaction more than a genuine fear for her life given the fact it has already been proven that she is safe. "No, no, he's very handsome. Very handsome indeed." As the wyvern backs off, the bard sits up sheepishly, a smile still frozen on her lips and incongruent with the rest of her expression. However, as Satoshi goes on to explain Viksen's purpose, her jaw goes slack. "W-what?" she stammers. "There's a ferry up here?" Hands lift and open on either side of her head, silently releasing frustration. "I followed the goat paths up here! It was a damn hard climb. I couldn't believe anyone would come up here to stock this place, started thinking Frostmaw had to have a brewery! Was a dangerous climb too. And freaky. I saw the freakiest goat. I swear he was taller than the tallest man," she raises an arm high overhead for emphasis. "He had a tail shaped like a snake, the torso of a man, horns on his head." She shudders fiercely. "He just stood there, staring and staring at me until the snowfall washed him out and I couldn't see him anymore."
Satoshi's smile widens with the bard's tale, up until she describes the 'goat'. As swiftly as snowstorms descend on Frostmaw, Satoshi's face hardens into a frigid mask, at odds with the blazing amber specks in her eyes. "That was no goat. You're lucky to be alive, for what you saw was an Ice Devil. They take great pleasure in tormenting their prey for days on end before feasting on its still-beating heart." A sigh escapes the magus then and the hints of weary lines appear at the corners of her eyes. So much for taking a moment to rest and recover, at Eliason's suggestion. When Satoshi's gaze falls on Josleen again, she offers a thin, watery smile and extends a hand to help the girl to her feet. Despite the gloves the magus wears, touching her hand is like grasping snow, chilled and biting. "You say you saw it on your climb here? That's ill news, but I thank you nonetheless for it. To answer your earlier question however, no there is no ferry to reach Frostmaw. The cliff paths are it. You have to pass through the city to reach the academy, and that trek is a harsh one."
Josleen accepts the hand gratefully, unprepared for the icy grip but too well-mannered to let her surprise show beyond a jerk of her brows. It would seem her lips and better trained than her eyes when it comes to masking her feelings and reactions. The bard pales a second time in the span of a few minutes as the magus describes what Ice Devils do to their prey. Indeed, she does feel lucky. She feared the wrong creature today, and now somewhat accustomed to the wyvern, the halfling manages to send Viksen an apologetic smile. Her attention soon returns to the fox, a better conversationalist than wyvern for sure. The two women share a reluctance to divulge their names and the bard is so new and ignorant to Frostmaw, she hasn't the slightest inkling who Satoshi could be. Her lips pull into a comical, self-deprecating simper as pieces of this ignorance come to light. "Uh... what's The Eyrie?"
Satoshi picks at a splinter jutting out of the crates frame, something for her hands to fiddle with while she puts her mind to the conversation--and the dark foreboding Josleen's Ice Devil comment has created. "The Eyrie is a band, a sort of military force and family, if you will. Stationed in Frostmaw and Gualon. We're all partnered with a winged creature, assisting each other, learning together, and the sort. We have all kinds among us, new flyers and old, great dragons and proud gryphons, if they love the skies there's a home for them among the Eyrie. I raised Viksen here from a hatchling, and he spends his time playing transport to travelers." Satoshi leans forward then to add in a falsely conspiratorial whisper, "Don't let his puppy-dog eyes fool you, however, he's an imp who loves to show off his aerial skills in ways that leave his passengers clinging for dear life." Said wyvern is curled up in the snow and pretending to sleep, innocent as can be, when Satoshi says this. With a chuckle, the foxkin settles back once more, gaze steady on Josleen. "What brings you so far north, to such a dangerous land, anyway~? Not the best vacation spot, I assure you. As they say, 'If it's Frostmaw, it's trying to kill you'."
Josleen appreciates the information with a nod. As Satoshi leans, she returns the playful mood in kind, a more genuine grin warming her features. She glances in mirrored conspiracy at the wyvern and whispers back, "Him? I very much doubt that," she raises her voice to a stage whisper to that Viksen may overhear with easy, "Such a noble and handsome creature could have anything but the purest of souls!" The half-elf returns the chuckle as she too leans out of Satoshi's personal space. This is her element. A social creature whose profession involves employing inter-personal skills, cold reading, and an affable personality. "I was invited to play in the tavern and, well, rather stupidly agreed before investigating into just what the heck I was getting myself into!" She winks playfully, preemptively dispelling any concerns that she is genuinely annoyed. Being unagreeable is bad for business. "And you? Do you live here?"
Satoshi laughs, for while beneath the surface there is stress and anxiety, the magus is a creature of the present and is able to lose herself in the bard's easy conversation. Viksen can't help himself, he begins preening his wings at the compliment, staged or not. Satoshi simply shakes her head. "You mustn't let outward appearances fool you, Snowdust," the meaning behind the sudden nickname is explained when Satoshi reaches up then to shoo away the flakes still clinging to Josleen's hair from the fall. "One of Frostmaw's most flesh-hungry creatures is easily mistaken for a little white rabbit. If you stick to the tavern, however, you should be just fine. The crowd might seem a tad cold at first. Songs of war, conquest, and warriors winning fair maids tend to win them over like sweets to a child~. And ah, oui, I live here. They can't get rid of me. The last dragon who tried has her head mounted outside my throne room." The foxkin is smirking by this point, a playful expression filled with fangs and good humor.
Josleen scrunches her nose over a wide grin at the nickname, surprised by it but not opposed. Viksen's peacocking is met with similar excitement. This is going really well! New fox friend, new wyvern friend, some tips to get on with the locals, and - no! Throne! Josleen stills, her smile cracking at the word throne. What an embarrassing faux pas! First the foxtail, now this! The foxtail! She catches a sight of it in her periphery. With the stiffness of a glacier, the bard shoves her hand into her travelsack, burying the foxtail hat completely, her face turning beet red as she lowers herself into a low, ingratiating bow. It's unclear what portion of this gesture is borne of respect for royalty and what portion comes from an overwhelming desire to be eaten whole by the earth. Would that she could, she would melt like a icle in the spring and be no more.
Satoshi involuntarily lets a look of sorrow cross her features. She should be used to the sudden, frantic change in people when she mentions her position, yet it still carries a certain sting to the magus. Hurriedly, Satoshi gestures with both hands for Josleen to get up. "Non, non, stand, please." An earnest sort of emphasis is placed on the last word. "M'dear, if I wanted folks bowing and groveling at my feet, I'd travel about in crown, cape, and surrounded by royal guards, declaring all my statements with 'We'. But Frostmaw is not like that, nor am I a queen like that. Hellfire, I spent most of my nights trying to outdrink the Frost Giants in our tavern~." Satoshi is far from being a modest creature--she's fatally vain, in truth--but she prefers to speak with others on an equal footing, person to person, honest and light-hearted.
Josleen stands when told to stand, her color still flush. The explanation calms her somewhat. She recently met a noble in Chartsend of similar attitude towards their station. At the idea of this petite fox drinking with giants, the bard can't help but grin. She sheds her embarrassment in layers. "It's refreshing to hear, Your Ma-" she stops short before addressing Satoshi with a title. "How should I address you?"
Satoshi shrugs, heartened by Josleen's return to her feet. "Satoshi suffices, that's what most folks call me. I'll answer to just about anything, mind you. Insults included. You just might not like -how- I answer~." The predatory gleam that flickers through Satoshi's eyes suggest she's answers by tearing out throats. Yet just as quickly as the expression appears, it melts back into the amiable one. "I haven't gotten a name from you, however."
Josleen 's body tenses at the predatory flash in Satoshi's bi-colored eyes. Although she herself doesn't fear being on the short-end of the Satoshi temper stick, a look so carnivorous spurs survival instinct regardless of logic and social standing. Thankfully the hungry look is short-lived, and genuine smiles return to both. "I think I like Snowdust from you, Satoshi. I tend to use a lot of stage names, and perhaps that'll be my name in Frostmaw. I like it quite a bit!" A quick glance at the sun in the sky reminds her of the time. She clicks her tongue in disapproval at the natural solar arc. "I have to get going if I hope to make it back to Chartsend tomorrow at a reasonable hour. Hopefully I'll have reason to return to Frostmaw soon!" Forgetting the queen's predilection for casual encounters, the bard begins to curtsey, stopping herself short before completing the farewell. "Sorry, bad habit."
Satoshi waves off the apology with a laugh. "Farewell then, Snowdust, and hopefully I shall get to see you perform some day~. Mind your step on the path, ice is a treacherous creature to the unwary~."