RP:The Bard and The Alchemist

Cenril Forest

Dear Alvina and Hudson, I write to you both out of a matter of business, though I would much prefer to write to you in a more sociable term. However, I am in need of your expertise and services. As you may or may not know, I am a member of the Eyrie. A wing-leader to be precise. I feel that the Eyrie has reached troubling times in terms of members of our brood and I would like to expand that. But many people only like the eye catching and promising things of the world, which is where you two come into things. It is my understanding that Alvina can craft things and that Hudson is an alchemist. I would like you to both work together to craft me canisters that release plumes of colourful smoke to be used in air displays. I will reward you both handsomely for your services, should you both be interested in assisting me. Sincerely, Hildegarde the Silver.

Alvina sat on the edge of the Cenril woods, plucking her lute lightly while encircled by a few children from a village nearby. Their dirt stained knees were folded under dust kissed chins while they cheered and listed to the merriment the bard produced. Ribbons of Autumn’s Glory dangle from the woman’s crown as she bends to meet the eye level of her little audience, smiling with otherwise underwhelming pale features. Beings in the surrounding area knew her first by her metallic arm, which was now laced around the lute in it’s musical glory, and second, by her unmistakably bright locks and eyes. Small rumors had circulated to her own ear that she was composed entirely of metal; for no other substance would shine as bright or polished as her in the soft summer sun. The bard wouldn’t know it, involved as she was with her tiny but enthusiastic fans. Her voice called in to match the lute and together they chirped and chattered nonsense lyrics to a nonsensical melody.

Hudson picks his way along the Cenril woods, head down until he hits the coverage of trees. There's a backpack hanging loosely over one shoulder. He purses his mouth to float a whistled tune through the forest, but Alvina's notes reach him instead and he thinks better of it. Stepping over brambles and forest bracken, Hudson follows the sound, like a hound with its nose to the ground. Nearly there. His foot catches on an exposed root, and he staggers into the clearing where Alvina is giving her performance. He steadies himself on a young sapling as he faces Alvina and her audience, his expression turning in a wince as he considers the interruption. He holds up one hand in the universal gesture for apology. "Sorry!" he mouths the word, waving off any attention.

Alvina finishes her song just in time to catch Hudson’s apology. Sparkling green optics part the distance between the two as the woman shoots him a soft smile akin to “It’s quite all right”. Her pale frame weaves between the tiny dancers that claw at her dress and cloak for another tune or perhaps a very tall dance partner, but before she summons the courage to deny them a small group of mothers appear dressed in cloth rags and warm smiles to return the free range group to their home. After a few moments of goodbyes and some low resistance from their offspring, the elders manage to depart with all children accounted for. In the dust that’s left behind, there is only the female bard, fixing her eyes again on the stranger if he is still in sight. If not she would traverse the woods in search of him, as he couldn’t have gotten far. “Thank you, for attending my concert.” Her voice would chirp through the low noise of forest life. “It’s always a pleasure to be stumbled upon.” Alvina’s lips curl into a warm laugh before settling into a comfortable smile.

Hudson's self-deprecating smirk lingers until it's shooed away by Alvina's general good humor in dispensing with the situation. He releases his sapling, making to move further into the clearing, and presumably about his business, when a group of matronly ladies appears and promptly invades the space. Not about to be caught out at being the only grown person at a concert intended for children, he hangs back under the pretense of studying the forest floor for root vegetables and mushrooms. Which he would certainly not be able to recognize with any meaningful distinction if one beat him over the head with them. After the crowd has dispersed, it's then that he pivots to face Alvina, who appears to be plodding his way. It would appear she had the same idea. The young alchemist scratches at the shaggy cut of his hair as he receives her comments. "I'm afraid I was rather late, and I didn't realize it was the under 18 show," he says, his tone appropriately dry as he lifts his gaze to settle on hers. His expression mirrors hers, and he grins widely in response before shoving out a hand to shake hers, if she'll offer one. "What I heard was jolly good, though. Hudson Landon."

Alvina laughs aloud at his jip about the age limit for her performance, covering her agape mouth with a quick hand. Once the chuckle settles in her throat, she replies “I tend to entertain those who are young at heart more so than appearances.” Nimble digits on the flesh-covered length of her right arm brush a few thoughtless strands of crimson from her cheeks while her eyes sparkled at his name. “Hudson!” She cried, in joyful surprise, “I dare say I just received a letter about you good sir. Fortune is kind to bring us together! Alvina Laidon!” The bard outstretched eager hands, flesh and metallic, to take one of his in an enthusiastic hand shake. Curls bobbing to and fro, she continues to grin. “Lady Hildegarde sent word that she had need of our combined skills, and here we are.” The idea of the two meeting in such circumstance dazzled Alvina; it was clear she was impressed by the timing of their accidental introduction. The woman continued to visibly nod as she looked him over thoughtfully in silence.

Hudson cants his head in a playful acknowledgment of Alvina's reply. The exchange, at least to him, seems to fill the space around them with warmth and familiarity, although they're strangers. Her surprise seems like a further extension of the feeling, and he gapes at her in mirrored astonishment. "I... have got the same letter, I think," he says, clasping her hand in both of his and giving her a firm shake. His hands return to his pockets once this introduction is made. "What a coincidence, I suppose this saves me some postage," he comments, mouth pulling into a grin as her delight becomes contagious. A small silence begins to unspool, with them grinning like maniacs at one another, and Hudson happily lances it: "So." He rocks on his heels as he faces her. "Let's do it, yeah? I think I can make some smoke. Party tricks are my specialty." (Optimistically put, he thinks with self-deprecating cheer. Party tricks are also his only tricks.)

Alvina gasps all the louder when he acknowledges receiving a similar letter. Someone knew enough about her to know she was able to engineer and then put in on parchment and sent it to another person!! By the time Hudson returned her hand shake, she was bobbing happily, smiling so hard that her normally pale cheeks were flushed with excitement and squishing her features together in such a strange fashion she appeared to no longer have eyes; just two thin lines below her eyebrows. The bard’s laughter bounces off her lips in high pitch at the thought of saving postage being the most astonishing joke. Once the silence settles, and Hudson speaks again, her chin drops quickly in nodding agreement. “I can fashion the perfect thing to house them! Though, I must confess, I am happier to put my skills to use in fanfare than weapon or armor crafting. The idea of crafting something for brute sport isn’t very flattering to my soft heart!” Her laughter spills out of her again; Alvina seems unable to help herself. Was it the children or this stranger who made her fill so high spirited? It felt like ages since she had this kind of excitement in her tone and warmth in just speaking to a person. “Do you have a lab nearby? If we head near a town, I can pick up a few scraps to start working on a model design until we know exactly what will prompt your chemicals to react. Should I include two chambers that combine when we twist them to set off the reaction? I’m so excited!” The last bit seemed more to be an accidental outburst from her internal dialogue.

Hudson's hand comes up to cup his chin, which he rubs thoughtfully as he gazes beyond Alvina's shoulder and begins to visualize the engineered result in his mind's eye. "I think it'll be fun, very unwarlike as you observe," he says, his expression tempered by good humor as Alvina laughs opposite him. His gaze roves over the woman, as if following the perimeter of an invisible aura of happiness emanated by her person. "A lab?" he suppresses a laugh that threatens to shatter his otherwise chill exterior. He does crack another grin, and resumes rubbing at his chin as he mulls it over. As a fully grown man, there is no graceful way to announce that one lives with one's mum, and that said "lab" is his bedroom. He decides to shift things a little, keep that under wraps still. "Well, er, not exactly nearby, no," he says, his hand shifting to rake through his hair in an anxious tell. "I haven't yet erm... well sorted the reaction... but of course as soon as I do..." Huds wonders if he should rent a lab somewhere, to be less embarrassing to women, and the thought conjures up the grim realization that this would mean less beers. Considerably less beers. "I can send word. I'm really looking forward to working together."

Alvina blinked curiously when Huds coughed through the minor flaw of a lab no where nearby. "That won't do!" she cried, reached out to take his hand as if to comfort him. "You are welcome to come with me, to my teacher's lab! It might not have all you require but I'm sure we can find most everything!" The bard's optimism was almost nauseatingly adorable. Boundaries and personal space did not seem to exist in her realm of thinking. "Come!" she said merrily, "We should make good use of this time. Her lab isn't far from here. Just on the other side of Kelay." Alvina's engineering teacher might just be the only thing that caused her to lose some of her otherwise boundless sparkle. Since Cerinii's passing, the bard had been back to the house and did her best to keep things in the order she was use to seeing there. Beakers, liquids, and vials were beyond her measurable use but that small lab housed all the metals Alvina would need. "Maybe we could create a thin barrier using...a Material that would be thin enough to puncture it but hold the components in their separate compartments until the button is pressed?" One of the bard's hands remaining on Hudson's, almost dragging him behind her in thought. The other twirled a loose strand of hair 'round her finger thoughtfully as she kept a slow pace. Alvina only managed a small distance before she thought to ask her counterpart for the project for his opinion. "Would that be all right?" She asked, smiling and titled her head to await his answer, catching specks of sunlight that broke through the trees overhead in her bright, ever-beaming emerald optics.

Hudson feels his face catch fire as Alvina touches his hand out of nowhere. That was unexpected. He rather pointedly thinks about kickball lest the situation inadvertently becomes more embarrassing. "Oh, if you insist," says Huds, the words uttered dryly as he tries to recover from the sudden touch. She is leading him somewhere, ostensibly either the most forward woman he's ever met or of a single mind to develop this project this very instant. He cannot tell. "I don't want to put you out or anything," he protests with politeness somewhat uselessly, "But, yes, that would er, well that would be fine. Here, I can keep up, erm, if you direct our way. Sure, yes." He gives her hand an awkward squeeze before releasing it. The alchemist tucks his own back into his pocket, still unclear on what exactly what transpired there. He needs a bit more beer to process the situation appropriately. In any event, he feels his flush receding, and he nods agreeably to Alvina. "Hot day, isn't it," he comments, awkwardly.

Alvina released his hand with a waving of her own. "I'm so sorry!" the bard blushed. Her one track mind got the better of her and she'd neglected to think that he might have other obligations to tend to or maybe he would want time to ponder things without her involvement. It was difficult for her to tell sometimes; so passionate was she when the notion took her. "it wouldn't be any trouble," she finally answered, cheeks still flushed with mild embarrassment. "But here, let's try this instead." Reaching into her satchel, she moves a small quill and some parchment. The paper unravels to reveal a small ink well for the quill and she takes the ink to the paper promptly. "Here's a rough map of where the lab is. It's in a house on the forest's edge before you reach the plains." Her shoulders turned so that she was beside him now, pointing to the structures she'd sketched to explain how to find it. "If you don't mind to knock before heading in, so I don't take off my other hand, I would appreciate it!" She laughed, awkwardly wiggling her metallic left arm as if that was the cause for her injury and then feeling foolishly strained she folds the parchment with pink cheeks and hands it to him once the ink is dry enough to no bleed. After a small silence passes between them, the bard finally breaks it with a bright smile. "Excited does not fully cover how I feel to be working with you on this project. I'm thankful we were chosen. I think we will get on just fine. You can come to the house whenever you like, and if I'm not there feel free to make yourself at home. I only ask that you don't go into the bedroom spaces towards the back. The lab is the front half, so we should stay to that area." Her palms come to her cheeks to rub them slightly, feeling the flush fading. "It is rather warm today!" She smiles, oblivious to the fact that he too was feeling a bit awkward.

Hudson has literally just recovered from The Touchy-Feely incident when Alvina blushes. Of course it causes him to realize, with a sinking feeling, that his embarrassment had not been so discreetly felt as that but had rather become contagious. He'd failed to contain it. So, now she knows he was embarrassed, and now he knows that she was embarrassed as a result of his being embarrassed. He manages to stop the feedback loop from continuing by flashing her a self-aware grin. "Erm, just usually don't have women snatching me by the hand to go frolicking through the forest. That said, I'm open to trying most things once..." he says, his tone tapering off as he glances at what she's about with the paper and quill. His eyes follow the markings she's committed to paper, and he receives the folded result when she passes it to him, tucking it into the breast pocket of his shirt, behind his glasses. He pats both to assure her that they're quite safe, careful to politely nod at her metallic arm and not stare (but he wants to stare). He looks thoughtfully into some foliage, and then back at her when she breaks the seal of silence that hangs over them. He expression settles into an easy grin, his head bobbing in agreement as the awkwardness seems to dissipate. "Thanks, yeah, no worries, I'm pretty housebroken and think I can keep to my assigned territory," he says, one heel kicking over a stone that's underfoot. His gaze catches on the glint off her arm but stays pinned to her face otherwise. "We should get beers sometime, though. Or I'll make us wine, if you don't like beer. ...But generally, if you like beer, it's better than what I'll create..." He ups an eyebrow as he struggles for seriousness. "Anyway, maybe our first check-in meeting, to talk progress? At the lab, since I've got directions now?"

Alvina nods in agreement to his suggestion. " I'll be at the lab most days so feel free to drop by when the urge strikes you! I can't say I've had much beer or wine but I wouldn't be opposed to trying either, especially if the master alchemist constructs something for my tasting." Her laughter flows into the space around her, "As long as it won't transform me into a frog or some such thing." The joke made her laugh a bit harder than it should have, especially when she was certain that wasn't Hudson's branch of alchemy. Otherwise Hilde might have requested they make orbs that release doves. "I would be very glad to have your company again. I promise to spare you the touchy feely contact next time." Her good humor weaves into her words, echoed by her smile and overall pleased nature of the encounter. "I can already tell that you are not quite like everyone else. I like that about you." Beaming, she tucked her supplies back into her satchel and offered her metallic hand as a hand-shake goodbye. "It's all right, it doesn't bite." She'd remark. It was common for her attachment to be regarded with question or suspicion as it was not common to see. "I had a bad run in with a slaver," She explained, without prompt or real need to. "My teacher granted me this, and her apprentice ship. It's sort of a calling card now..." The bard's speech wanes as she becomes aware of her inability to keep a conversation simple. With a genuine smile, she will take his hand offered in both of hers and shake it softly. "Until next we meet, Master Alchemist."

Hudson's hand paws through the forelock of his hair as he wonders, silently, whether it's advisable for Alvina to drink beer at all if she isn't exactly familiar with the stuff. He'd have a drunk bard on his hands, in no time, no doubt, he concludes. "Not a frog," he says dryly, watching her cackle beside him, "maybe just a clumsy person, at worst. He shifts his weight to the other foot, directing his gaze downward as she promises not to lay hands on them the next time they meet. "It's fine, it was just... well warn me next time," he says good naturedly, and with a shake of his head to dislodge some hair from his eyes, the alchemist spares her what he hopes is a winsome grin. "I'll say the same about you, Alvina," he replies, his tone subdued by a shared moment of seriousness as he takes her hand in his and gives it a shake. The laughter ebbs out of his gaze. "Sorry to hear about what happened. Glad that the technology exists, though," he offers, reaching to touch her elbow in a consoling gesture before his hand falls away to his pocket. "Until next week," he echoes with a playful cant of his head.

Alvina blushes as he turns to leave. "Until then," she echoes, striding through the dark that had fallen during their brief but strangely timeless conversation, all smiles. The bard hums an old familiar tune telling the story of a sailor lost at sea, pining for his lady love ashore. The classic ending of those parted spirits was always sung differently by the bard. She always had them meet again in the after life. No one should be without love forever, she mused, taking slow, thoughtful strides in her journey home.

Hudson's hand tips up in a subtle wave to acknowledge her departure, and he turns himself, weaving back through the trees, toward the path he'd come in on. Hands in his pockets, head down, humming nothing but thinking of the name of the water.