The Written Tapestry

Rainalune sat back on her haunches atop the edge of the fountain, the odd glowing gaze of her people shifting between the still dark skies of the early winter morning and the sloppily scrawled words in her spell book. She made no sound, no conversation with those who scurried about the dwarven district, seemingly content to bask in inner silence for the moment as she read and re-read the components of each spell.

Convictus walked through the Dwarven District like it was any other day. A slightly disgusted demeanor gave away his disposition of the citizens of this city. He scowled as a drunken dwarf clumsily bumped into him as he passed by the fountain. He barked loudly at the drunk; "Watch your step you ignorant short-breed!" The dwarf just looked up at the tall elf and let out a hearty chuckle, walking off without a care in the world. Convictus sighed, exacerbated from the days work at the Mage Tower. He sat down on the edge of the fountain, not necessarily noticing the elven woman sitting nearby. "Such a pitiful excuse for a "grand capital"." He scoffed.

Rainalune blinked a few times over the top of her spellbook when she heard the exchange between one of her kin and a drunken dwarf. Watching the man settle near her, her elongated brows twitched slightly as the beginnings of a grin tugged at the corners of her lips. Slapping the book closed, she tucked it into her sack and pushed herself forward onto her knees. Crawling over toward him, one small fingernail reached out to try and tap on his shoulder in an attempt to gain his attention. "Hiya! Sounds like you're not having the best of mornings. Ya new here? Need somethin? Ale maybe? A good tickling? I'm good at tickling. So I'm told, I don't really know. Doesn't seem to work when I tickle myself. You ever tried tickling yourself? It might cheer you up!"

Convictus twitched slightly as the elven woman tapped him on the shoulder. His facial expression turned to one of near malice as he slowly, almost methodically, moved his gaze towards her. He just sat there, silent, as she rained down a waterfall of words upon him. His eyes widen with each passing second as she finally finishes her stream of thought. His voice is filled with both bewilderment and annoyance. "Do I know you, girl? I don't believe we've even been formerly introduced...and here you are spouting your gibberish to me like I'm supposed to care. Do you even -know- who I AM?! How -DARE- you!" He huffs and crosses his arms, looking forward and attempting to ignore her.

Rainalune tilted her head, one brow furrowing into an almost frown as the other perked in apparent shock that her 'charms' hadn't caused at least a hint of a grin on the man's face. Huffing right back at him, she crosses her arms as well and turns to face forward just as he had, a mockery of his own posture. "Well I do believe you're right, sir! We haven't been introduced! And with an attitude like that, we might very well never be!" Breaking character from the apparent mocked up version of him she'd thrown together, she hopped from from the fountain and bent low in front of him, arm outstretched. "How dare YOU! Shake my hand! Shake it!" Her lips were pursed, eyes narrowed in an almost child-like attempt at daring him to turn her down. "DO IT!"

Convictus tried desperately to ignore her advance, but could not resist looking at her as she spoke to him once again. His eyes once again widened as she spoke to him, mocking him with such accuracy. As she offered her handshake he broke down and smiled wrly. He nodded and stood up, towering over the elven woman. The cowl of his robe hid his radiant eyes ever so slightly, with only a faint hue of blue peaking through as the fabric shifted. He spoke with a serious but slightly playful tone. "Fine, you want a handshake? Here." He grabs her hand tightly, almost a bit too tightly. As a few seconds pass his hand begins to chill, turning a deeper shade of blue than normal. He clenches her hand and grins wickedly as his hand freezes over hers, causing no permanent damage but a severely cold sensation. He leans down and looks directly into her eyes. "My name is Convictus..." He pauses dramatically; "...a...-pleasure- to meet you."

Rainalune couldn't keep the pleased shit eating grin from her face when FINALLY after a whole half a minute she saw a smile from the man. That had taken a whole twenty seconds longer than usual! Rude! When he stood, the blinking started up again as her head tilted...and tilted...and tilted a tiny bit more to keep up with his towering height. Staring up at him for a long quiet moment, the grin finally returned when he grabbed her hand. A second later, it vanished when his grip was recognized as a bit too tight and suddenly the bite of cold was surrounding her hand. And his. She scowled as she tried to tug her hand away, then went still when he leaned down and spoke directly into her face. "Well jeez Convictus! If you wanted to be friends forever, you could have just said so! There are less painful ways! Now unha-...UN ICE ME!"

Convictus couldn't help but chuckle at the woman, whether it was out of satisfaction from her discomfort or her ability to maintain a cheerful attitude, no one will know. He slowly returned warmth to his hand and let go of her hand. "You know, you're painfully infuriating, and yet you somehow managed to make my day a bit brighter." He huffed and looked away as if ashamed of the words he was about to say. "Thank you...I guess..." He turned around and started walking away from her.

Rainalune winced and shook her hand for a long moment after it had been released, quite obviously fine but more than willing to milk it for all it was worth. She looked about ready to stomp her foot when he labeled her infuriating, then paused when he spoke of her brightening his day. Raising her nose in triumph and giving a firm nod of her head, she grinned and bowed. "My pleasure! You're more than welcome any and all of the time! Oh! AND!" She rose back up and gave a quick wiggle of her fingers at him. "I'm Rainalune. You can call me Raina for short if ya want! Just don't call me lune! People think I'm looney then, and it's just not true I tell you!"

Convictus stopped abruptly as he walked away, turning around to face the woman again. "Raina?" He arched a silver brow in contemplation. He decided to melt the ice shield a little and actually give the woman a genuine smile. "You know that's a rather pretty name, rolls off of the tongue too. Not like these mongrels with their incredibly harsh and barbaric name structures." He shutters at the thought and sighs. "So...what is it you -do-, Raina? Aside from annoying random strangers that is. You seem like a girl with particular hobbies." He points to himself as he speaks once more. "Me? I'm glad you asked. I'm a professor of the Arcane Arts at the Mage Tower in this city, specializing in teaching students how to control and manipulate ice. If that wasn't obvious already..." He raised his nose up as if he was overly proud of his status.

Rainalune pouted when the man began to walk away, then instantly returned to grinning when he paused. At the compliment, the grin grew to an almost cheshire-like state. "Why thank ya!" She shrugged at his ideas about the folks around here being mongrels...barbaric mongrels to be specific. "I don't mind em so much, really! Spend most my time around here these days, so guess I'm used to em!" About to prattle on in response to his question, she stopped with her mouth agape as he flat out interrupted her. Her mouth closed as he explained his 'hobbies', causing her to perk just a bit. "Ooooo! Arcane icy manipulation! Guess that explains the handshake! I'm not into all that though personally." She shuffled over a bit closer to him then plopped back down onto the edge of the fountain, wiggling her fingers at him once more. "I'm a druid. Mostly take care of the healing side of things."

Convictus decided to sit back down on the edge of the fountain as she did, though he wasn't sure why. "A druid? Well...I suppose they -do- let women study druidism in this age, don't they? How...quaint." He chuckled pompously. "So you enjoy the simplicity of flowers and nature and whatnot? Fah, couldn't stand it myself. I enjoy the mysteries of the Arcane over there...predictability...of the natural world. Though that's just me."

Rainalune listened to what he had to say about her chosen path, and the smile and brightness in her face slowly melted away to a blank look. The only emotion left showed in those eyes, and it wasn't the prior light and joy for life. With a soft sniff, she stood from the fountain and looked out through the square of the dwarven district, deciding on a destination before she'd do anything else. Eyes narrowing on the tavern, she nodded mostly to herself, raising her foot and bringing the heel back down hard in an attempt to smash the man's foot. "Jerk." Whether or not she'd managed her feat of showing him who was the sniffling mother fucking boss, she started off at a quick pace toward the tavern.

Convictus watched her get up with a curious look on his face, expecting some sort of answer. He didn't expect the foot smashing to occur so quickly and had no time to escape it. He squelches a yelp as he began hopping on one foot. "MOTHER OF ELUNE THAT HURT!" He darted his eyes towards the woman walking away from him and with a snarl he barked back at her; "Don't you walk away from me, Raina! You didn't even answer my...AGH...damn foot..." He hobbled after her. "...question!"

Rainalune blinked when she heard him shouting from behind her, not having expected to have injured him apparently so direly. As he hopped around and shouted at her, she paused and turned rather abruptly back toward him, rushing over with flailing hands. "Stop hopping ya fool! Sit back down! I'm sorry!" She reached out, attempting to take hold of the man and guide him carefully back toward the fountain so she could examine the assaulted appendage, her face a distorted vision of concern and amusement. "Yes, I like nature. I respect it because it lives just as we do. Except...I've never seen a tree hop around like a child after having it's roots stepped on."

He grumbled incoherently at her. "A tree is also made from hardened bark, not soft tissue...so excuse me if getting stepped on by a crazy woman hurts!" He winces slightly and looks over at her. "Can you at least heal it...wrap some leaves around it...I have no idea what you druids do." He tries to calm himself as some of the locals begin wondering why the big scary mage got taken out by a short elven woman.

Rainalune scoffed softly, shaking her head at him as she bent down to begin examining. "So you admit to being soft then! Good! The first step is admittance! There's hope for you yet!" Reaching up to begin peeling back his boots, she began to hum softly, mostly for the sake of toning him out so she wouldn't injure him further in her attempt to mend the prior wound. "Leaves aren't necessary, though they are quite pretty to look at! I can put some on your boot if you want!" Once his foot was in the open air, she looked it over and shook her head again. "Cry baby. It's not even that bad. You're just gonna bruise a little." Still, she raised her hands to hover over his foot, a trickle of green light slipping from her palms out toward his flesh.

Convictus surprisingly had no problem with her removing his boot, letting her do what she needed. He scoffed at the "soft" comment. "Soft?! I'm a frost mage...I can be as hard as I want!" He winced slightly as he felt the healing energy pass through him. "Regardless...thank you for doing this. I've been refused of healing even by the priests in this city. Suppose that's my fault though..."

Rainalune blinked and held still for a long moment as he exclaimed about his own apparent ability to become hard. Slowly raising her head, she looked around the square at a few wanderers now staring in their direction. Clearing her throat, she fought off the blush of embarassment then grinned up at him. "I'm ever so sure ya can, magey! And you're more than welcome! Like I said, any and all of the time!" Hopping back up, she watched the glow slowly fade from his foot, shoving her thumbs into her belt loops. "Ya had breakfast yet? I got a couple spare coin. You can tell me all about why the priests hate ya."