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 Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 12:59 pm
Voltaire grinned a bit and nodded, "You must come from a long line of skilled herbalists and such?" He commented calmly as he took a sip from his tea, "My mother used to entertain people eachtime my prior caravan made a stop. She was a dancer and at times she would read palms and the like. The young maidens in the towns always enjoyed the palm readings most."
Annjette didn't mind being it, she began to yet again to chase after Rojiza with the stubbornness of any child that is used to getting what she wants on her own if need be. This forced chasing was bettering balance on firm surfaces and gradually she was becoming less clumsy.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 7:06 pm
Caroline shrugs modestly, shaking her head in polite demur. "Ay, no," she says. "My mother was naught but a simple gypsy maid. Her skill lay in the dance, as does mine." She swishes her hips in a small illustration. "I'm no herbalist. I can just make tea." She grins, her cheeks rosy.
Ro scrabbles away, as usual, her small claws making a playful scritching sound on the wooden floor. She leaps and climbs the bedpost, landing with a bounce on Caroline's bed. She giggles and leans down, extending her hand toward her friend, game of tag abandoned. Time for a new game--bed bouncing.
|Yay for being ADHD, lol.|
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2006 9:31 pm
He laughed a bit and nodded, "Sorry, Miss Caroline, I had just assumed...I am sure you are a wonderful dancer. Mayhap one evening I will play a tune on my fiddle and you can dance. We will entertain our friends and family here in the caravan."
Voltaire seemed to find happiness in bringing others joy, this much was evident.
Annjette gave a laugh as she chased on, but soon as the hand was offered to her at Caroline's bed she knew that the game of tag was for the moment abandoned for a rampunctious bout of 'jump-on-the-bed'. Not to be outdone or left behind she took her friends hand and got up next to her and almost fell backwards on the faintly unsteady perch.
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:47 pm
"Oh, that would be lovely, Voltaire!" she exclaims happily. "I haven't danced to real music in ages," she says emphatically. "Not since Stephen and I used to perform as children. He only played the tambourine, though." She sips her tea, delighting in the minty bite.
Ro giggles and pulls her friend onto the bed. She then bounces, making the bedframe squeak and earning herself a cautionary glance from her mother. She grins and keeps bouncing, giggling.
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:22 am
Voltaire smiled and nodded, "I'd be honoured to offer you music to dance to then. Mayhap we can get a couple more to join in the music so as to give you a richer sound to dance to." He tilted his head after sipping again from his cup. "I couldn't seem to play the tambourine myself for whatever reason."
At first Annjette was still while her friend bounced and this almost was her undoing. So, she bounced a long, also ignoring the squeaks of protest the bed made. However, with both of them bouncing the squeaks seemed that much louder.
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:09 pm
Caroline smiles, girlish pleasure alighting in her eyes. "Yes, that would be grand." Her eyes become bright, thinking of her costume. What fun it would be, to wear it again! Her hips seem to swish of their own volition, simply from thinking about dancing.
Rojiza continues to bounce. The bed squeaks, but is in no danger of being harmed. The wagon is built soundly.
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Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 5:43 pm
Voltaire laughed lightly and nodded, "I am sure fun shall be had by all. I believe we shall take our leave for now so that way I can practice for that day."
Annjette continued to bounce for a moment until she heard they were about to leave which made her stop and fall onto her rear end, luckily still on the bed. The girl pouted a little.
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Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 9:58 pm
Rojiza, also hearing the sad news, joins Annjette's game of pouting piteously, brown eyes liquid and huge.
Caroline laughs. "It was time you were in bed anyway, ye wee besom," she says, picking up Rojiza. "'Twas a pleasure to have you here, Voltaire. Ye're welcome anytime you like."
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 1:40 pm
Lorelei hurried up to the door of the wagon, then knelt to place a note, weighted with a shell, on the step. She knocked, considering waiting to talk to the inhabitant of the wagon. In the end, though, she hurried away again before the door opened, going to the next wagon.  I would very much like to meet you - I know that I have been very reticent and have isolated myself. I want that to end. Please, take this gift as a token of my good will... and come visit some time.
~ Lorelei
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Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 3:30 pm
Menelie Rojiza, also hearing the sad news, joins Annjette's game of pouting piteously, brown eyes liquid and huge.
Caroline laughs. "It was time you were in bed anyway, ye wee besom," she says, picking up Rojiza. "'Twas a pleasure to have you here, Voltaire. Ye're welcome anytime you like."
He then turned to Caroline and nodded lightly, "Thank you for your hospitality, your company was quite enjoyed and you keep a wonderful wagon. May fortune always smile on you and your little one, Caroline." Voltaire dipped into a quick bow, which caused Annjette to stop pouting and start giggling. When he straightened up he left the wagon without further ado. It was better that way so that Annjette wouldn't remember that she still needed to pout.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 10:45 am
Not quite, decides Rojiza. She holds up her mother's magic bells that she'd been given by Oqaia. Caroline smiles. "What a marvelous idea, little one!" she exclaims, taking the bells and fastening them to her belt, "You are so clever, my dear." She ruffles Rojiza's hair, who looks quite pleased.
They set out, choosing a path and walking it deep into the forest. It's well-lit, and they expect to be home well before dark. They marvel at little things along the path, just meandering around. They hear a strange, but vaguely familiar sound. It's a soft rustling sound. Caroline stops. She picks up the toddling Rojiza and sets her on her shoulders. The rustling noise grows louder, closer, but is still soft and delicate. Then, from behind a grouping of trees, emerges that wonderful creature again! The royal purple and gold deer. Caroline sighs dreamily. "Oh...He's so magnificent." She remembers her bells. She takes one step forward toward the deer. The deer retreats a few inches. She stops.
Carefully she unfastens the harness from her belt. She doesn't exactly know how it's to work, but she presumes you have to put it over the animal. She jingles it experimentally. The golden bells wink in the sunlight filtered through the treetops. This light evidently intrigues the deer, or it senses friendly magic at hand, for it steps forward toward Caroline. Mildly surprised, Caroline jingles the harness again. The deer comes right up to her, sniffing at it.
Caroline swiftly slips the harness over the deer's head. Confused, the deer retreats. "What? What is this? Get it off!" He says.
Caroline clucks soothingly. "Hush," she says, "I'm a friend."
Surprised, the deer looks at her. "You can talk! I didn't know humans were intelligent creatures!"
Caroline laughs lightly, making Rojiza look at her as if she's mad. "My name is Caroline. That's my harness there, on your head. It's what enables me to speak with you."
"I have no name," says the deer. "My mother was k-killed by hunters for her beautiful coat. Since then I have taken care of myself--trying to stay away from hunters as well."
"I invite you to come with us, my daughter and I," says Caroline. "We belong to a gypsy caravan--there you'll have protection from hunters, ample food, and the ability to see all sort of wonderful places and things."
"I think I may," says the deer. "Especially to see more of you talking humans!"
They continue a little further into the woods, using the deer as their guide. Then, when they decide their journey is through, they turn around and return the way they had come, their party increased by one new friend.
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Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 5:49 pm
Valelldia Val opened the doors to WhistleStick, and in doing so, invited the night air to whirl inside, creating faint whisps of cold in and around the gypsy's heavy skirts. She only smiled at the fresh burst of river air, and sat back, a silver cloth laid atop the crystal sphere where it sat. Caroline Caroline pauses in her short walk to Valelldia's wagon. She'd seen the dark-haired gypsy open her doors, and wondered how she knew Caroline was coming. She pulls her shawl more tightly around her and keeps walking, the wind whipping through her light skirt and chilling her always-bare feet. Valelldia "Welcome in, Caroline," Valelldia said, stepping back from the open door. The floor creaked ever so slightly under her weight. She pulled the silvery cloth from the table, and it billowed deeper into WhistleStick with the aid of the wind. The brilliant crystal ball remained, glowing almost ominously in the moonlight. Valelldia took her seat behind it and beamed- her smile nigh brighter than the crystal.
"Do you have a question for me?" She said, dulcet tones against the wind. Caroline "Aye, I do," replies Caroline. "I'd like a reading for Rojiza. I've nothing specific to ask, really, I just want to know what the Meij has in store for my bonnie lass." Valelldia Valelldia nodded and focused on the deep tones of the crystal as its depths flowed and hummed in anticipation. She caught glimmers of the future and the past, all flowing together in snippets, like scraps of a quilt that had been discarded in a silver river. The gypsy coaxed them into the submission of her eye, beseaching themselves to float to the surface.
"I see a greedy hand. ...Much joy, much happiness... and envy. I see a child growing taller, and more beautiful, but behind her eyes are green- she longs for something. But one of her friends posesses it."
The ball went dark. "That is all I can capture." Caroline Caroline nods slightly. "I suppose the Meij doesna feel like being annathing but cryptic, mm?" she says with a wry smile. "Very well. I'll take it t'heart. Thank ye, Valelldia." She drops ten couplets onto the table.
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Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 5:53 pm
Last night I went to Valelldia's wagon to ask for a Meij reading for Ro. What she said...disturbed me. I know my little ball of energy is a selfish little bugger, but...I guess the way Valelldia spoke was so....chilling. I can't imagine what Rojiza might long for that she couldn't have. She's normally the go-get-it type.
On the other hand...a child growing taller. Perhaps Rojiza will grow soon. And be able to speak. Oh, to speak to my daughter! I so wish to know the sound of her voice.
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Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:11 pm
Caroline Pausing to see what the disturbance in the easy travel is, Caroline hops off of the seat. She pats Cornelius lovingly on the rump. "There there, chiquitin," she says. "I'll find ye a friend yet." Accompanied by Majesty, the wonderful royal-purple deer she'd found deep within the Sheulan Woods and charmed with her magic bells (that she now constantly carries with her, tied like a sash 'round her waist), she wanders toward the magnificent honeyed smell that wafts from the cool water while Rojiza sleeps peacefully within Mountain Air.
Encountering Twinket, she pauses. "Well!" she exclaims, smiling genially at the beautiful mer, "I've never laid eyes on such extravagant beauty," she says, dropping a friendly curtsy. Majesty just stares, unsure whether this creature be man or beast.
"A trader, are ye?" inquires Caroline. "Might I have a look at what ye have, then? Certainly I'll never again come across such things as you might trade." Twinket The Mer-swift blushed a shade of pearl-green- for her jade-colored blood was diffused through her fish-like skin. "Your kind words are enchanting, friend. I'd be happy to show you my wares, though I don't know how unique they are. I tend to do most of my trading with gypsies such as yourself- and the islanders of the Dark Banes- so you may be familiar with some of it. But what I have, you're welcome to see." Caroline Caroline stoops low to examine the assorted trinkets and random...things. She pokes about, coming across a small vial-like bottle. "What's in this, then?" she inquires, holding it up for Twinket to see. Twinket "Oh that... is a vial of Filor perfume." She also gave her the price. "Personally, I always feel embarassed to peddle it," she admitted, that pearly-green flush rising to her cheeks again, "because it's essentially... just a secretion of our scales. This one is from my sister. She makes most of her trade off of peddling her enzyme. But I really have no choice but to stock it. So many land-dwellers ask for it." She took the small vial from Caroline and pulled the shell-like stopper from its delicate neck. "Here, you may have a smell." She handed both back to the woman. Caroline Caroline takes the vial and, after admiring the beauty of the vessel itself, sniffs delicately at the liquid inside. She blinks a few times. "My," she says, awed, "What a....an exquisite smell that is. Does the smell of the purfume carry as your own lovely scent does?" she asks, thinking that exotic purfume such as this might be a valuable addition to her costume. After all, what better to enhance the beauty the eyes see than something the nose can smell? "We are headed for the mountains, I believe," she adds. "I expect nobody there will have such an exotic scent." Twinket The Filor answered Caroline first. "I don't believe it would be quite as strong- after all, we produce the scent at all times. But it would be rather potent in comparison to other perfumes." Caroline "Potent, ye say? Well then, I do believe I'll take it." She smiles broadly and drops the couplets into Twinket's hand.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:52 pm
The first one we found was at Whistle Stick, Valelldia's wagon. It was orange with green stars. When Ro picked it up, she found a word scripted on it--'bangles'. Delighted, we picked them up and put them in my skirt while wandering 'round camp, looking for more.
We found Despiros, a blue egg with a fish-like symbol, at Daggerheld.
We found PanVal, a pretty pink egg, at Spotted Sage.
We found Enchanted, a black and grey egg, at the edge of the ashes from last night's fire.
We found Water, a lovely dark pink egg, at Rhythmique.
We found Erste, a plain, metallic grey egg, rolled up in a canvas map.
We found Veil, a blue and green egg that reminded me of water and earth, in a blue water-pail.
We found Arfunkle, a purple starry egg, at Blessed Change.
We found Raccoon, a shiny blue egg, at the spot where Twinket had met us.
We found Example, a vibrant pink egg, beneath a tree, not even camouflaged.
We found Dance, a rich golden orange egg, in a pile of my costumes outside Mountain Air.
We found Snake, a blood-red egg, inside a coil of rope.
We found Rose, a soft yellow egg, hiding in the woodpile.
After we found all the eggs, Rojiza expressed the idea that we should put them back. So we decided to get sneaky. We wrote down their names and colours and hid them again, only a little differently than we'd found them.
It was a lot of fun.
And then...hooboy. Valelldia decided it was time for Rojiza to grow. In order to tempt the Meij away from her selfish, darker side, she had to give away five of her precious horde. She wasn't happy about it, but she did it. She gave things to Voltaire, Annjette, Leshaye, Kale, and Ani. After that, we went down to the river and she transformed into a beautiful girl-child.
My heart swells with happiness.
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