Inside the Fading Light

[Xaious, Master of Time]

(OOC: I don't know if I'll ever continue thiis, so this is, as far as we're all concerned, PART 1. You can comment in here, just don't be too surprised if one day you see a PART 2. Thanks...and comments are welcome... Vrinn Perin is an original character from Vincent Silver, and the Fading Light is also thanks to Vincent Silver...Enjoy!)

 

The walls were covered in a light layer of smoke and the room smelled of ale and cooking meats. A long bar stood aginst the wall opposite the entrance, a fair number of stools running its length. On one side of the room was a luxurious fireplace, surrounded by multi-cushioned chairs and many tables, each of which with six chairs. On the other side of the room was a large staircase leading to the inn rooms upstairs.

 

As usual, the Fading Light was filled with people, all laughing, eating, talking, and generally enjoying themselves. In front and beside the fireplace danced a smiling bard in rich purples and luxurious blues, a feathered fedora upon his head, strumming a joyous tune on his worn mandolin. Some danced to his merry tune, tipped him in copper and silver, the occasional gold piece. Others sat singing drunken lyrics to a song that had none, eliciting more laughter from those around them. Behind the bar, a waitress was taking the place of the pub's owner, out sick tonight. The poor lass was having to deal with lecherous old men and their younger kind, as well as remember who had ordered what drinks, and which drinks were in which barrels. The same leches were giving the other waitresses some hard times, but such is always the case. Only three men in the Fading light on this night were not giving them problems, and two of them already had wives. The other was more actually entertaining the poor maidens.

 

"..and that's why not everyone can be wizards." The young man smiled, accepting another glass from his current waitress, who smiled back at him. The young ladies at his table didn't mind.

"You can't be serious!" one of them, with fiery red hair that stopped at her chin giggled at him.

"Don't believe me, do ya? Well, I don't suppose you know any wizards, do ya?" he smiled. This was turning out to be the best night since last night.

"Well..." She stopped to think. "I guess you got me there..no, I don't..." she sighed.

"No, but I do." a brown haired belle piped up. She never really did believe half the things he said, but he always proved to be worth listening to.

"And let me guess, he said that wizards had to spend their time studying a load of scrolls in some dark and musty tower off in a far away land, eh? Well don't believe it honey, because that's just a facade." He grinned, brushing back a bit of his rich brown hair.

"Where do you learn these things Isidor?! They're so fascinating!" This time it was a particularly busty young blonde, who was sitting across from him, resting her head in her hand and her elbow on the table. he lost his train of thought for a second, a ponderous look on his face.

"Yeah, where do you learn these things, Isidor?" The red haired one chimed in.

"Yes Izzy, where?" Belle had known him since childhood, so she knew this would be laughable.

"Well, you see..." He faltered. Belle always chose the wrong times to work against him. "You see..." Isidor looked thoughful a bit longer.

"Yes, Izzy?" The red haired Auraline decided she liked this nick name. Easier to say than his whole name.

"I've seen it."

Auraline and Pearl gasped in disbelief, while Belle just disbelieved.

"Oh? Wow, I never knew that." Belle's sarcasm almost caused physical pain, but it did make Isidor wish she'd not talk for a small while. "When did you see these things?"

"Well, you see..." He started again, giving the brown haired beauty a glance meaning he would very much appreciate it if she didn't ruin his stories anymore and thank you for keeping that in mind. "it was about three years ago. Sometime during the rainy season."

"But...I thought everyone had to stay inside at that time..." The busty blond was confused, which surprised no one.

"Yes, of course they did. And that's why I was able to find these things out." He smiled some more, and thanked the young dame who had just brought him another drink. Poor lass, some lech had just dumped his ale on her, and her shift was far from over.

"Oh? But how?" Auraline was quite fascinated.

"Well, with my crystal ball, of course." Isidor smiled: the two not Belle appeared to be buying his story. Even the waitress would take extra time when passing by his table.

"Oh? Crystal ball, Izzy? I don't"

"Yes, Crystal ball. The one I found a few years before then, you know, inside of that old hole in the ground?" This time his look told her that she remembered when he came back with a beautiful crystal ball five years ago, and it told the others that he couldn't believe she didn't remeber about his wonderfully notable crystal ball.

"Well, you see, during the rainy season three years ago, I learned myself how to use that thing. And in doing so, I learned all these things."

Smiling, and stifling a laugh, Belle decided that it would lead to more interesting stories if she went along with him for this one. But only after she made the mental note to kick him for gazing at Pearl's cleavage.

"So...Wizard's spells....are cast....with ordinary words...in the common language?" The thinking required for that one almost made the blond's head hurt.

"And so low that it just sounds like it isn't." The red-headed one seemed to understand.

And Belle just laughed to herself at how readily these two believed him. Or rather, how readily anyone believed him. But it was always a fun time.

"Right" Isidor stopped his story for a short while, thinking up the next tale he might tell and enjoying his drink. And watching his lady friends.

Belle was sitting back, enjoying her mug of ale. Never much of a drinker, she was still only on her second mug, and they'd been there for quite some time.

Pearl was leaning forward, sipping at her mug. By now she had drank a good five mugs, and was feeling good. She was also, unknowingly, resting her bosom on the table, much to the delight of Isidor.

And to his right, Auraline hadn't touched her drink. She had been too busy enraptured in Isidor's tales to drink. Which was good, because otherwise she'd have drunken herself drunk, and had to have been helped out of there, ruining everyone's fun. However, now that he ahd finished his tale, she remembered about her ale. And downed it in one go. And now that the tales of Isidor had finished for the night, no one was going to stop her.

Isidor looked around him. It seemed that the only people left in the Fading Light were him, Belle, Auraline, Pearl, the little halfling bard, and the waitresses. And the bard was finishing up his last song, which coincidentally happened to be the town's favorite drinking song. The lasses who had been working were now coming over to Isidor's table with more ale, and chairs too. Even the temporary bartender was on her way to the table. As they took their seats at the table, they passed everyone a new mug of ale, all breaking into smiles and laughter.

"Good evening, ladies. I hope there weren't too many problems tonight?"

"Well, except for this.." The soaked lass tugged on her shirt to unstick it from her.

"Nothing much happened tonight." one of the others finished for her.

"Other than the usual lecherous old bastards." chimed in the girl now sitting to his left.

"And the young ones. Can't forget the young ones." The bartender added.

"Well, yeah, but they should go without saying."

"I wish they would go without saying. One of them tried to grab me!" This time it was a new face.

"Oh, hello...You're the new girl, right?" Isidor put on his most charming smile, which caused her to blush.

"Y..yes, I'm new here." She spoke between choked smiles. "I'm... I'm...I'm Julie." She smiled at Isidor, who smiled back.

"Well Julie, it's a pleasure to meet you." He was wasting no time memorizing her face. And the rest of her, for that matter.

The halfling bard had finished picking up for the night, and walked up to the lass who had been in charge tonight.

"G'd evenin mate. Ah don't suppose it's too late fer me teh get a room, eh?"

Laura looked over to the bard. "Sure thing hon." She handed him a key. "First door on the left, on the house. But one thing."

"Yes?"

"What's your name, friend?" Laura smiled to him.

"Mah name is Vrin. Vrin Perin." He tipped his hat to her. "Well, I'll be off teh mah room then, and g'night to you all."

"Good night Vrinn!" The gathering bid him, and with that, Vrinn left for his room.

"You know ladies, I think our friend Vrinn has a point. It is getting late. We should probably get going sometime soon...." One of the waitresses thought aloud, attempting to sound as though she weren't infering what she was implying.

"You know, I think you're right." Pearl joined in, catching the innuendo--though a bit later than the others.

Isidor smiled. "Alright then, but where are we going?"

Everyone was standing up and pushing their chairs in, their empty bottles on the table.

Isidore kept smiling. His every night could go like this, and he wouldn't mind. Tonight he would be staying at one of these lovely lasses house, with all the lovely lasses, telling more tales until he was too tired to talk, or they were too tired to not sleep. If it had been anyone else, such would not be the case, but everyone knew of how god a person Isidor was. And he was glad too, because that meant free meals, free ale, and a free places to stay the night, whenever he needed it. And most importantly, all the pretty damsels in the town loved him. Once or twice, there were fights over him, until they realized that they could 'share' him. He never did anything more than kiss, anyways.

Isidor was always thankful for his ability to talk. He had even considered leaving the town and becoming a wandering bard. He knew how to play the lute, he could sing quite well, and he could tell tales like there was no tomorrow. But that would require leaving his life-time friend, Belle. It would also be dangerous, require a bit more money than he had--having never the need for it anymore, Isidore adopted the policy of helping out traveling bards--as well as leaving the rest of the towns-folk.

"Hey, Izzy, you alright?" Belle was right in front of him, holding his hands and squeezing them a bit.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm alright. Was just daydreaming a little bit there."

"Oh..You done yet then? " She was so pretty when she smiled like that.

"Yeah, I think I'm done then...So..Where we off to?" Isidore smiled back, and then turned to the others. "So ladies, whereto?"

Edited January 4, 2005 by Xaious, Master of Time

[Wyvern]

I really like this story, Xaious. The dialogue is fast-paced and entertaining, the situations are playful and humorous, and the conflict introduced at the end of the segment is intriguing (I'm looking forward to a Part 2). You paint a nice picture of Isidor's character by showing the details of his personality through his dialogue and gestures, as well as through those of the waitresses and his friend Belle.

 

There was one minor thing that caught my attention which could potentially be improved, which is the point of view. By the end of the piece, its obvious that the point of view focusses on the perspective of Isidor, with his impressions of Belle's smile and his inner-conflict revealed. At the beginning of the piece, however, the second paragraph seems to suggest that the perspective focusses on that of one of the waitresses. This made the reference to "This was turning out to be the best night since last night" a few lines down from the second paragraph a bit ambivalent to me in terms of who's point of view it was the first time I read it, and you could clarify this by maintaining a focus on Isidor's perspective in the first paragraphs (he could notice the waitresses having to deal with lecherous men).

 

That minor complaint aside, I definitely enjoyed this piece and look forward to any sort of continuation.

[Xaious, Master of Time]

Sort-of Secondness in Story (Part 1.5):

 

 

"Well, I think I've got it!" The girls were all smiles and giggles, gleefully awaiting to know where their dream would be sleeping this night. Hopefully it wasn't Pearl's house-she had the most comfortable beds, yes, but her parents were not so keen as to allow so many visitors in one night. Teeka's house was cozy, but with only two rooms, it was very much lacking the privacy some might like. Laura's house was not much better, but was the closest to the Fading Light. Julie didn't have a home of her own yet, and was staying with Auraline, who lived a few streets away. Most of the other waitresses usually stayed in the inn itself. And Belle, she had a strong tendency to stay where-ever Isidor stayed, regardless of the well-hidden fact that her house was one of the best in town.

"Ooh?! Where are we going tonight, then?" Belle smiled to him, and he grinned back to her.

"Follow me, ladies, follow me!" he walked out of the door, picking up the lute he had left at the entrance that morning, followed by a procession to make kings jealous.

As they walked about, the girls walked all around him, listening with great joy as Isidor began plucking the strings, a musical piece to emphasize the beauty of the stars above and the damp grasses below. Then Belle began humming along, followed shortly thereafter by the other ladies-who all stopped after a few minutes of failure to keep up with his song. This amised Isidor, as he was quite aware that only Belle knew the song. And her hums were beautiful, much as she herself was. In fact, there was only one thing he knew of to match her voice in that respect: his. The other girls began to glow with excitement when Isidor joined belle with the humming-although Teeka was also shivering, cold in her shirt.

As the procession moved through the streets, some villagers lit window candles for the musical blessing, others smiled in their sweet dreams for the joyous symphony.

The song ended just in time for them to reach a decent looking home, if not the largest. Walking up to and then opening the door, Isidor held open the entrance, bowing to the lovely damsels in the most gentleman-like manner possible.

Closing the door, he looked to his lovely roommates and smiled.

"I hope you don't mind my choice for tonight? I think it's rather..." He looked around the room, to the bed, to the old rocker set beside the large desk and even larger mirror, to the door to the other room. "Comfortable."

"Hey Izzy..."

"Yes, Aury?" If they could use a shortened name for him, then the inverse must be true as well.

"Where's everyone going to sleep at? There's only one bed."

"Well, you see..." the lovely Belle knew an answer for this "..That bed's got two mattresses."

"And....?" the slowest of thought spoke first.

"I think I understand. We pull the top matress off of the bottom one, and we can all sleep on mattress...right?" She wasn't too sure of her solution, but the smile elicited from Isidor told the new waitress that she has the answer.

"but..But what if it gets cold? There's only one blanket in here!" Laura felt she had a point, and so did most everyone else.

"Well ladies, I think you'll figure something out." A grin told them to use their imaginations, and that he was going to get started with the mattress moving, and that he would appreciate it if anyone would like to help him, please and thank you.

Within a matter of minutes, the two mattresses were seperated, and everyone was picking their places--unsurprisinglly, the spaces nearest Isidor were first chosen.

As always, Belle had first pick, wrapping an arm around hin, sharing his pillow as well. Auraline jumped on the opportunity to use his arm as a pillow, and as such lay in front of him. Teeka had changed her shirt fast enough to land the spot right beside Belle, and Laura had managed to keep that area right behind Auraline. Unfortunately for the others, this filled up the mattress, so they would have to share the other one.

"Well ladies, when the sun arises, I'll see you then. Sleep well, and pleasant dreams."