Wolf Chronicle: Wolf out of Water

Eyes of a man rounded upon the vibrant array of floating orbs of light wafting through the air past his window. Thin pane of glass pressed upon by the bare palm of his hand as he stood shirtless in the multifaceted light. Scars covering his torso accented by the shadows and contour of his thin frame.

Thoughts raced through his mind, vagrant stories told him by a wise man at one point, told him to come, told him to remain vigilant. Said he worked too much and needed to relax sometime, maybe travel and find himself a girl. Feh.. no rest for the wicked.

Ever since Tristian had arrived some days ago he'd had a bad feeling about this city, and the festival only set him on edge further. What did he care of the lore behind it? The air was thick with the lust for blood. Someone, somewhere was going to die..

"And what has this stranger to my room so vexed?" Came the soft, affectionate tone of a woman even less dressed than the raven haired man in the window. Covered decently by the wool cotton sheets of the bed behind him, but sat up on an arm so that the sheets draped over her hips in a clearly provoking manner, Green tresses flowing in a green river of messy curls over her shoulders. She wanted him to return, lay with her once more and forget whatever constantly distracted him. No such luck.

"It's complicated, Natalia" An almost cold reply, eyes of striking blue only giving a fleeting glance over his left shoulder at her. "I need some air. Be back later. Maybe."

"M-Maybe!?" She sat up abruptly, affronted, but the man was already slipping out the door before she could stop him. Pouting, she was left high and dry, unsatisfied.

It was not until after Tristian had left the Inn that he noticed how simply beautiful the city looked in the light of the magic induced orbs and streamers, ribbons falling from the rooftops and the high windows of manors and apartment buildings falling to bunch on the cobblestone roads as people passed here and there with various carnival masks in honor of the sacrifice and blessings existing in the lore of the Festivals Origin.

Tristian's gaze wavered across the faces of the people around him, all were alight with smiles and the clammer of children playing make believe on the surrounding stoops and sidewalks aroused a slight grin of his own. What was he so worried about? He was on vacation right?

Tristians clothing was simple as he's just woken up, just pair of black light blue hakama with a horizontal stripped pattern, sandals, and a sleeveless black haori with a kanji for Okami inside a circle with a oekaki style moon and clouds on the back. Chest was exposed since he was simply too lazy to tie it shut, showing off a few remaining scars from a recent scuffle with some drunken bar Patrons the other night. Natalia's fault.

-Hands rose to adjust his scarf around his neck, crossing the ends and throwing them both over his shoulders as he stepped down the stairs of the inn to head out into the street's of Sylvanse, curious to see what the night would have in store.

Given how far he's traveled, Tristian never really had problem "blending in" when the time permitted it but in this city he couldn't help but feel out of place. From head to toe he wasn't dressed at all for a celebration, and his usual tendency to find a cute girl and join in the festivities for the night was dampened by the bad feeling he got whenever glancing in the direction of the palace.

Paranoid? maybe...

"Ugggggh, why can't i just relax like i was ordered to?" He complained to himself, running his fingers through his hair and throwing his head back a moment to take in a deep breath, clear his head of the ominous feeling of something possibly being wrong, and give a long exhale as he slouched his shoulders and dropped his hands to his sides.

"Life'd be much easier if I had a drink..Hm?" Tristian paused to looked around him, having heard of a Tavern from the Inn-Keeper not too far off. Only his need for a drink was cast aside when he noticed a pale blond haired woman exiting that same tavern. He frowned a moment, Natalia did seem to know when he was up to no good... and if he made a pass on this new girl...well.. Natalia would probably appear out of no-where to tease him about it.

Still, this woman looked just as out of place as he was, only in her eyes she seemed to have a relish in the marvel of the Festival that he somehow lacked.

Figuring she'd at least be good enough for some company, he looked around him, knuckled up, and approached her from across the way, giving a wave of a hand and a "Hello" by way of greeting.

After almost stumbling over himself from lack of grace, Tristian stopped just in front of the stranger as she adjusted her sleeves. When he straightened up however he took notice of her mild hesitation when greeting him. Tristian considered the possibility of him having done wrong by greeting her, but when she'd returned the gesture he discarded the thought and gave a large friendly smile.

"Heya..." He started, but paused to give an inward chuckle while raising a hand up to rub sheepishly at the back of his neck. "...Well I was gonna say 'What brings you to the Capital City?' but given the Festival, I think that'd be a pretty dumb ass thing to ask. HOWEVER, since I'm drawing a blank on what else to say to a complete stranger, What brings you to the Capital City?... BESIDES the Festival?"

"Oh i see..." Tristian replied, straightening up. "Doesn't really answer my question, but I suppose it'll do since we're all entitled to our own business."

He was about to speak again, but that bad feeling in the air... Tristian glanced toward the palace on the horizon every now and again. Something wasn't right, but just what could he do about it? Go bursting into the ROYAL PALACE of the CAPITAL CITY without any thing more than a hunch something might be up?

Sure, that wouldn't get him thrown in a jail cell for a few years. But then what? Should he just sit here and pretend like nothing was wrong though?

An uneasiness befell him all of a sudden just by standing around like this. He wanted to go to the palace, but for what reason?...Then an idea struck him.

"Well, if it's safe to assume you've nothing else to do, how'ed you like to show me around? Er.. Sorry, where's my manners, The names Tristian by the way." He introduced himself casually, stepping a bit closer so as not to see so astranged, and held out a hand for her to shake- "And you are?"

With calm nod, Tristian shook her hand with a charming grin. "Sounds fair enough, Then this'll be our first date then, eh?" He said in a humorous tone.

"Laecora, it's a pleasure to meet you" He said before she could object. "How about a trip to the Palace? since it's not somewhere either of us have been?"

She hadn't fought it? A surprise, most girls he would have had to persuade a bit further. Perhaps she caught hint of something being wrong too? Possible.. Still. If he had a chance to get there soon, who was he to complain?

Tristian noticed Laecora's hesitation, but didn't say anything on it just yet. With all that was going on on the streets, he'd need a pretty damned good reason to want to go someplace else. What could he say? Ugh...too bad Natalia wasn't here, she'd be able to spin a passable lie.

"Do you?" He looked excited, eyes lighting up a bit as he took a few steps up the road, gesturing toward the palace with his thumb. "Mind if I follow then?"

When she passed him to lead the way, Tristian followed close behind. Weaving through the celebratory hussle and bussle on the streets.

Fire-Eaters, Jesters, Frolicking children chasing the orbs of light, and Merchants trying to make an easy buck off their party-wares were all passed up with out much more than a second glance. His mind was locked on the palace, he needed to get there and he felt he needed to get there fast.

With a chanced glance though, he looked to the setting sky, auburn and violets painting the horizon a beautiful and glorious work of art as the orbs of light stood still against the canvas like droplets of flourishing embers on the page. Bathing the surrounding buildings with the refracting hues. It was wonderful, he wanted to enjoy himself, but suddenly began to feel guilty. What if he was tearing this woman from enjoying this? What if something bad happened to her?

He wouldn't allow it. Not to an innocent bystander.


"Me?" He was brought from his stupor to reality in a flash when she'd questioned him, he picked up his pace when he realized he was falling slightly behind. "Well...I'm here on vacation. By order of a... friend of mine, actually." Tristian admitted with a sheepish grin, eyes down cast for a moment. "She thinks I work too hard and should learn to enjoy myself every now and then at least."

"I guess you could say that... this is beginning to be a bit more difficult than my day job." Tristian complained a bit openly, rolling his eyes with a rather animated swinging of his arms in an exhausted fashion.

It was as they were crossing a bridge that the answer to her question seemed to fail him. Unsure of what she'd make of "I kill people for a living" he lied.

"I'm... a... wandering musician. It gets hard getting a good gig in some towns, you know?" Tristian smiled. "Sometimes I help teach those who are interested though, so it makes the traveling worth while in the end. Still, my friend thinks I should relax for once, so here I am." He tried, then switched subjects quickly. "And what about you? Do you have anything to keep you busy when you're not befriending complete strangers you meet on the street?" He grinned

He didn't need to be told. With the lack of patrons surrounding the castle the grounds seemed eerily still, Guards having rushed off to someplace else as they weren't at the gates to keep them out.

Towering tier's of the castle walls dwarfed even the largest of buildings by comparison as they approached the main gates, but that ominous cloud he'd sensed before had thickened. His senses piqued by the stench of something horrid, filthy, and sickening to those unaccustomed. Death. Blood..

Something was wrong...

He stopped at the palace gates when they'd reached them, still shut to keep the outsiders from entering, but the guards (as before noted) were no where in sight. As if that weren't unsettling enough the sudden stillness that befell the grounds bothered him. Why weren't there horn sounding or some kind of alarm if there'd been an infiltrator? Was said person still here? and were they the cause of the ominous aura surrounding the palace halls unbeknown to the townspeople blissfully enjoying the festival?

"Sorry 'Cora, I'm gonna have to cut our little date short. I'm not getting a good feeling from this place, so I'm gonna do the stupid thing and go check it out. You should probably head back to town where it's safe." Tristian suggested, turning his head only slightly to speak back to her as he approached the gate to rest his hand against the cold iron, seemingly looking for a way to get around it, maybe he'd just climb over?

Tristian looked over when Laecora didn't leave, but in fact knelt over a pond. Curious, he removed his hand from the chilled iron to cock his head to the side and watch as she returned with water cupped between her hands. His odd look at her was returned by an even more odd look FROM her as if she knew what he'd been considering.

Alas, "butt-power" was a hard force to combat as he was bumped to the side by the hip of this woman so she could get a better place in front of the padlock. Tristian almost fell, but caught himself with a slight stumbled 2 steps.

"What are you....?" He started to ask regarding the way the woman cupped the water. What was she doing? It'd been quiet for a few moments, the girl looking at the water dripping from her hands and Tristian watching as if he expected something incredible to happen from the nearly emptying pool. Nothing happened, not for a little while, and just when he was turning to climb the gate, sudden arcs of light from the pool in Laecora's hands caught his attention at a side-glance.

When the lock was undone and fell uselessly to the one side, Tristian smiled approvingly, walking up to Laecora's side and pressing the gates open with an unsettlingly loud whining creek of the retorting weathered iron hinges so seldom turned. "Now that's a trick you'll have to teach me sometime. What kind of 'odd jobs' did you take on, Hm?" He asked, curious.

"Right, and i suppose they teach you sorcery at this Tavern?" He said calmly, not accusing or anything. Tristian thought it was cool, hell with someone like this around he'd be able to break into a lot more places, actually. Still, he couldn't help but lose track of his focus for a moment.