|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 1:22 pm
T H EXB E G I N N I N G
571 Words
It was beginning to get dark as Ariadne walked home that evening. Despite getting off earlier than normal, Ariadne wandered the streets of Ashen to leave herself to her own thoughts. Her parents wouldn’t be expecting her for another hour or so and that left plenty of time to walk the winding streets on her way home. The sun was setting creating a beautiful smattering of colors in the sky which she appreciated and tried to stay aware instead of daydreaming and walking even more aimlessly. Since she had gotten the position as the clock maker’s apprentice, things had been quite a bit different for the young orderite. There was income for her family which they desperately needed; her mother didn’t have to work as hard so she could have some time to take care of Ari’s younger siblings. When her father had gotten injured during one of his adventures they had all been shocked. Arnalt had been a warrior, a fierce one if you asked Ariadne. His adventures were often the star of her daydreams but she tried not to think of when he came home after his accident. When he came home, he could barely walk; the large gash on his leg had been sewn up and he had to support himself on a crutch. It had been a very terrible experience for the whole family. Despite that, her father was a hero to her and someone she would always look up to.
Ariadne often wondered what it would be like if she became an adventurer like her father. That was what the other half of her daydreams consisted of. She longed to see all the things her father had told her about and maybe become a famed adventurer since her father’s chance had gotten stolen from him. Wouldn’t her father like that? For her to bring fame and glory to their family in his stead? Surely he wouldn’t mind…right? Ari knew her mother wouldn’t like it at all and while she desperately wanted to adventure, she was afraid if she did her family wouldn’t have enough money. There was a middle option! She would have to go to school to learn the skills needed to go adventuring so perhaps since she had been apprenticing for a year or so the clock maker would be lenient enough to amend her schedule so that she could take classes and work at the same time. It would be difficult and Ariadne knew she wouldn’t have a lot of free time on her hands. She had to be honest with herself, and Ari knew she wouldn’t have it any other way. This way, she could follow her dreams and continue to support her family at the same time. It was definitely a win-win situation!
The only problem with it was…she would have to talk to her parents and the clock maker which was more than intimidating. Just the thought caused her hands to shake! At least she was nearly home and Ariadne contemplated just getting it over with and talking to her parents as soon as possible. If she did that, the sooner she could talk to the clock maker and the sooner she could start classes! It was definitely the best way to go she believed. Taking a deep breath, she turned the door knob and walked into the house to talk to her parents about the rest of her life.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 1:23 pm
G O I N GXP A R T - T I M E
648 Words
The talk with her parents had gone surprisingly well. Arnalt and Mirriam knew their daughter had always hung on Arnalt’s every word of his adventuring stories so it wasn’t much of a surprise when she told them what she wanted to do. While Mirriam didn’t support it 100%, she didn’t want to drive her eldest daughter away and therefore decided to support her where she could. Ariadne, with her parents’ blessing, went to work the next day with butterflies in her stomach once more. She wasn’t quite sure what the clock maker would say and if he didn’t allow for the change in schedule she could kiss her dream goodbye.
The door was unlocked which mean the clock maker was already in there, presumably at work. She knew she wasn’t late, she was never late…well…almost never late. Ari walked to the front desk and set down her small lunch bag and procrastinated as much as she could by straightening every little thing that was in sight. The whole front of the shop was cleaned up and spare parts the clock maker set down and forgot had been collected but not put away yet since she would have to go to the back to do that. She actually began to pace, her heart rate rose and her hands became fidgety. ”Ariadne?” The clock maker called out. Figuring she had procrastinated long enough, Ari grabbed her little box of parts and made her way to the back to where the clock maker sat working. ”Yes sir?” She asked as she stepped into his workspace and began putting parts away to try and calm down with work.
”You’re early today.” He stated, not looking up from his work.
”Yes sir. There is...um...something I wanted to speak with you about. She said nervously as she continued putting parts away.
It was then that the clock maker stopped his work and set his tools down to study his apprentice. ”Well, sit down then.” He laced his fingers and leaned on his elbows on the desk. The clock maker wasn't an old man, per say, but he was definitely aging. Most of his once brown hair was grey and his beard was long and completely grey. He was a nice enough man though, having agreed to take Ariadne on as he had no family of his own to pass his shop onto after he passed.
Ariadne sighed and sat down at a stool across the bench from her employer. ”I have always dreamed of following in my father’s footsteps and it is with their blessing that I wish to start classes to follow a battler path. Your generosity will never be forgotten and I would still like to keep my job here if you’ll let me. If I could just…have the mornings and evenings off and come to work during the afternoon during my break between classes. I…I have loved everything about this job and I don’t want to lose this. I…uh…also need the income for my family.” She admitted sheepishly. She was asking for a reduction in hours, she might as well not hold anything back.
The clock maker leaned back in his chair and ran a few fingers through his beard. ”You’ve been a good employee, Ariadne. I would hate to lose you. Be careful during your classes, I don’t want my apprentice showing up to work injured.” He said after a few moments with a kind smile which was returned with a large one from Ariadne.
”Oh thank you Sir!” She said ecstatically and she had to resist going around the bench to give him a hug.
The clock maker’s smile grew larger at the girl’s reaction, ”Why don’t you take a paid day off and go sign up for classes, hmm?” He said with satisfaction as her smile grew larger and received more thanks before she raced out the door
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 11:09 am
T H EXC H O O S I N G
872 Words
Ariadne walked rather quickly to the place she had always wanted to go: the academy. She had to force herself to walk through the roads and not run. The clock maker had been gracious enough to let her sign up for classes today so she was going to make the most of it and see everything she could because she knew this was going to be a day she’d remember for the rest of her life. It took a little bit of walking, but with as fast as she was power walking she got there before she had expected. It loomed in front of her, large and grand and stirred up all kinds of emotions in her. Mostly, it was excitement, but also a little bit of worry. What if she failed utterly? She knew she was going to have to pick a weapon and there were always two she had debated between: the sword and the bow. Sure magic would be neat, but it just didn’t’ seem like something she could see herself doing. They would have people to help her figure it out, right? She nodded to herself with a smile before pushing the doors open with surprising ease for how large they were.
Ari’s eyes grew even larger as she inspected the inside. It was as large as she imagined and even more grand than the outside lead her to believe. Her footsteps made a slight echo as she walked to what she had to assume was the front desk and was hopefully where she would get to sign up for classes. ”Hello. Is this where I sign up for classes?” She asked kind of nervously.
She received a kind smile in return from the orderite woman behind the desk. ”It sure is sweetie. What can I help you with?”
”I want to sign up for all the classes I can! But they have to be in the afternoon since I have to work.”
”Okay, we can work with that. What weapon would you like training in?”
This gave Ariadne pause since she wasn’t sure how to answer. She bit her lip and looked away nervously.
”Not know yet? That’s fine. Plenty of apprentices don’t know until they start taking classes. If you’d like, I can have someone escort you to the gym to take a look at the weapons if you’d like to try and narrow it down?”
Ariadne nodded her head and smiled. This lady was so nice! An orderite man showed up a few moments later and motioned for her to follow and a short distance away was the gym. There were tables all along the wall on one side of the gym with all the different weapons sorted by type and even different kind of weapons from the major divisions! Ari’s mouth gaped as she stood at the entrance to the gym long after the man had started moving towards the tables. ”Feel free to look at them, pick them up, see what you like best. I’ll be over here in my office if you need me.” He said politely before stepping into a room to the side.
To her decision making dismay, the swords and bows were right next to each other all the way down at the end. She walked right past maces and wands and knives and stopped between the last two tables. Her hands reached towards a sword wondering if she could be like her father and wield a sword. The sword was rather heavy in her hands so she put it down to pick up another one only to make her frown. Putting the second down as well, she figured she’d come back to it and turned to the bows. There were ones of varying sizes and makes and at random, picked up a rather large one. She held it and faced the wall and started drawing the string, it was hard to pull and she almost gave up but then it started getting easier and easier until she had it pulled all the way back when the bow started to glow! It got so intense that she closed her eyes and released the string to hold onto her eyes and she heard the string thrum as it was released. That seemed to do it however as the light suddenly vanished and in her left hand was a different bow than she had picked up! It was…hers!
The orderite man clapped from outside his office. ”Take it home with you and tell Basi at the front desk you want to train in archery. I trust you can find your own way back?”
Ariadne smiled and nodded her head quickly again before racing down the halls, not worrying about walking. Her footsteps made louder echos but she was too excited to care. ”Archery! I want to train in archery!” She said excitedly holding up her bow for the woman to see. With a smile, the woman wrote a few things down before handing her a piece of paper. Her classes would start next week! ”See you next week!” She said excitedly as she walked back to the entrance and out, holding her new bow in front of her to marvel at.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 7:42 pm
 D A N G E RXXB E N E A T HXXG O L D E NXXL E A V E S
Reflection
[Click 'HUNT' to be taken to the hunt] X
X
X
"I really hadn't meant to stray so far into the trees...but maybe it was meant to be! I wasn't exactly prepared for what happened, though it was definitely a learning experience! I encountered five borgnah! And without the help of a Khehora, the first one I've met, I probably wouldn't have made it out of the forest! It was a great experience even though it was kind of scary."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 10:06 am
 W H YXXH E L L OXXT H E R E ? !
Reflection
[Click 'ROLEPLAY' to be taken to the hunt] X
X
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2014 11:57 pm
AXD I F F I C U L TXD E C I S I O N
818 Words
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The repetitive ticking was enough to lure her to sleep, but even with the clockmaker out for the time being, Ari dare not give in. Instead, she traded sleep for dozing off. Despite the job being fairly boring and uneventful, Ariadne didn't mind it - she would even say she liked it at times! It provided a quiet time to daydream, which was one of her favorite past-times. The biggest part of the job was just sitting in the front of the shop keeping an eye on things and Aria couldn't deny getting paid to sit down! When he did give her something to do, the jobs he would give were interesting enough as to not be boring.
Today, though, it seemed the clocks ticked slower and the morning dragged by. Her thoughts turned inward, to what she wished she was doing instead of sitting in the clock maker's shop. She wished she was outside, with a quiver strapped to her back and a bow in hand, firing arrows at whatever foe decided to cross her path that day. A soft smile rose to the Orderite's face as she wondered if she would even be good with a bow. Perhaps a blade instead? She dreamily shook her head at that idea : no matter what, she always went back to a bow.
Ariadne was lost in her daydream when she heard the tinkle of the bell attached to the shop's door. 'Was the clockmaker back?!' She wondered before she had even had a chance to open her eyes; he wasn't supposed to be back for a few more hours! Her muscles relaxed as she opened her eyes and recognized the familiar frame of her best friend, Ilarion. He strode towards the desk with purpose.
"Ari. Ari are you here by yourself?" he said frantically, his eyes wide.
"Yes 'Lari. The master had an errand. Are you okay?"
Ilarion took a few steps to the left to look to the back of the shop where the clockmaker would normally sit.
"Are you sure? Is it safe to talk here? I need you to be sure." He gripped her shoulders firmly, but not tightly, with his hands.
"It is. There's nobody here except us. What's going on Ilarion, you're scaring me." At that, he let go of her and started pacing.
"I need a favor from you...a big one...you have access to the clockmaker's coin safe, right? I...my brother...Taka...isn't getting any better...he's getting worse really fast. We found a healer who could come quickly but we don't have the coin for it. If they don't come today, Ari, it could be too late for Taka! The clockmaker has enough money! He won't miss the small amount we need. And once Papa gets paid we'll replace it and he'll never know!" There were tears in Ilarion's eyes and his passionate speech even made Ariadne tear up.
"Ilarion...I could lose my job if he found out. I...I want to help Taka but...it would be stealing. I know he hasn't been in there in over two months but...what if he does?" She gripped Ilarion's arm tightly, afraid to make the wrong decision. Motioning for her friend to stay there, she went to where the clockmaker puts her wages. After counting through it once...twice...a third time, she sighed in relief. It was just enough for what Lari needed. her thoughts turned towards her family. Giving this money away meant they may go hungry, but giving it to Ilarion meant Taka would hopefully live. Making her way back to the front to where Ilarion paced nervously, she set the small bag with all the money she had down on the table. When Ilarion went to take the money, she grabbed his hand and he looked at her with confusion written on his face.
"I won't steal from the clockmaker for you. Even if your Papa will replace it when he's able. I will, however, give you what I have saved up. It's everything I have, 'Lari, but it should be enough." Ariadne gave her friend's hand a squeeze before releasing it.
"Thank you Ariadne! Taka will get better I just know it! I have to go quickly. Thank you!" He kissed his best friend's cheek with tears in his eyes before scooping up the bag and running out the shop.
Ariadne sighed. Her parents wouldn't be happy, but hopefully they'd understand. She couldn't steal. That would be wrong. Maybe if she explained the situation, (obviously not the part where Ilarion wanted her to steal), to the clockmaker he would understand and be reasonable and give her a small advancement on her next month's pay? It was the best she could do, though, and she was glad she wouldn't have it on her conscience. With another sigh, she gave in to the ticks and tocks andFell back to her daydreams once more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
