Adventures in Swords and Sorcery

[Thomas_III]

Ilena pops the rejected chocolate into her mouth, waiting for Tempo to say something about himself. She's just about to argue that everyone has a story when he catches her off guard with a very flattering compliment. Her cheeks flush brightly as her shy nature gets the better of her.


“Me?... Worldly and beautiful?... Well, I wouldn't know about all of that, but I do have a few stories to tell.”


She tries to avert her gaze, giving her face a chance to cool down before she says anything else. Although one wouldn't know it simply by looking at her, Ilena is actually very shy about her appearance, at least when words like “beautiful” are attached to it. She tries to look her best, but never really thinks of herself in that fashion. Once it feels like the blood has drained away from her cheeks, she takes another deep breath and turns back to Tempo.


“Okay, how about we make a deal? I'll tell you a little about myself, if you promise to tell me about you when I'm finished. How does that sound?”

[Passionate Shadow]

Tempo nodded gently. "Sure." he offered gently. He thought that way he could learn more about her and her personality band have more time to think over just how to say things with out exactly telling her lies. Partial information would do perfectly if worded correctly!

[Thomas_III]

“It's a deal, then.”


Ilena smiles brightly, a mild blush still lingering on her cheeks as she walks along with the boy towards the guild district. They still have yet to even reach the port district, so they have a good bit further to walk. It would give both of them ample time to share a bit about themselves.


“Well, I come from Procampur, which, if you're not familiar with it, is a walled city, not unlike Bellefonte, but much more rigid. Nothing like the adventurer's guild would ever last for long in my hometown. The Diamond Legion wouldn't tolerate the rabble. Everything is very strict and regimental, and tradition is held in high regard.”


Ilena ponders going into detail of her city's beauty and treasures, but she doesn't want to give Tempo any ideas, given his apparent choice of careers. Procampur is not a kindly place for thieves to take root. It would be a fast way for the poor boy to have only one hand.


“I'm the only daughter of the current Lord Whitethorn, my father. As his child, I'm the heir to that title when the time comes for it to be passed on. It would normally go to the oldest child, but Justamir chose to forsake his claim to the title long ago when he ran away from home. That responsibility now falls upon my shoulders to one day be the head of our household.”

[Passionate Shadow]

Tempo's interest was sparked by this and he wanted to talk to her more so now seeing as they had shared backgrounds. He wanted to explain to her that he'd run away from home to desert such traditions and responsibilities. Hi story varied slightly in the idea he was 'breed' for his position as heir rather than it being handed over to the eldest of kin. His Father was a general in the imperial arm and his grand father had taken on the responsibility of enforcing laws and traditions. Rex was the one who really ran the inner working of what got done. Marquises the current ruler and Tempo's great grandfather Was the ruler and he had a council and advisers. Along with being Guardian of tradition Rex was in charge of several other farthing taking up the role of major Domo over the servants of the palace, He had a hand in monetary stock as well as taking care of the concubines.His own mother was a concubine given over as a gift of peace and she was treated well. She was a warrior from an elven race and his Father and she got along nicely. Tempo's eldest sibling was a half sibling and went by the name of Rythm and was given jurisdiction over the city guard. He and his eldest brother didn't get along seeing as Rythm wanted the position Tempo had and yet Tempo didn't want the weight of such responsibilities. He had several other brothers and a few sisters being the youngest of his siblings. He'd had Rex and a few others watch over him closely and hated the armored watch dog types of baby sitters he generally had. From his Mother being a different race- a race that had more longevity he did gain that aspect but also gained a stunted growth pattern and a strong handi cap on his empire's natural racial abilities of poly-morph. He was placed in the stage of whelp due to his lack of racial abilities which was hardly over a hatching or a human's baby or toddler! He wasn't treated well by his peers both due to his being a halfbreed, not possessing a skilled racial set of abilities and not being as tall- not to mention his coloration were extremely odd even for his race! He'd been set to an arranged marriage to a woman of a different race that was older than him in some sort of peace treaty and he had stood her up on their wedding night having only met her once he chose that large event to sneak away in to the night whilst others were distracted. However he bit his tongue quit literally as he listened intently. "I come from a small Empire that resides with in a mountainous region. I used to live in the City of Havenlynn. My family was of high class and my family has high political standing... My gran father and father are both important people in the eyes of our people. " Tempo explained. "My eldest brother isn't very nice but he seems to be working his way up the ranks to join my Father one day... Kova decided to become a great scholar of the magical arts. And Melody is a wonderful harp player and signger... Then there's Raziel- He's often very nice and tends to keep to the simpler things of life. I used to be in school- I didn't like it much and I was teased often by my class mates and peers. They called me things like smoke spitter, coal choker, flightless, chick, puff,burn out, and ground sucker. I had a lotta problems there so... now I'm here." he explained and offered her an award grin flashing her his sharpened fangs. The nick names would be very queer for an elf-ing child and yet they stuck towards a different race. He was a dragon-kin of sorts so being called a coal choker wasn't considered a good thing.

[Thomas_III]

“My, you come from such a large and talented family. I don't understand why you'd have been teased, though. You're such a little cutie.”


Ilena can't help but give one of his cheeks a playful pinch, truly thinking that someone as fair as him shouldn't have had a problem getting along with classmates. The nicknames, though, do strike her as odd for his apparent race, but she is gifted with enough higher education to form a hypothesis regarding his true nature. She won't ask him about it, though, as she's rather that he trust her enough to share that information on his own.


“I guess that talent tends to run in noble families, though. I guess that years of being so selective with who joins the family will things to that point. I was encouraged from a young age to study hard in both normal education and the arcane. On the side, I learned how to sing, and to play the lute, and I'm told that I've a very good dancer. Even though Justamir cares little for our family, the bloodline shows through in him. He would likely have risen quickly up the ranks of the Diamond Legion, eventually making it to general.”


Her mood seems to darken slightly when she starts to talk about her brother, as if sad memories are being stirred up inside of her.


“He didn't want to have anything to do with that, though, so he ran off when he was only ten. I blamed myself for it. I thought that I must have done something wrong for him to leave. I was just a kid, so I didn't know any better. I just missed my brother so much, and he wasn't there for me.”

[Passionate Shadow]

His ears twitched at the pinch and he just about flinched. he set a hand right to where she had pinched him and sighed softly not seeming to pay it very much mind. Tempo's ears flicked downwards sensing her shifted mood. "But-" he started almost a sif to continue. "You said he's with you now? Why is that? I mean... why are you two together? What is it you do? You're not staying in your home town so what's going on?" He asked softly. Once some one got him going he became quite the little pest with questions. he could ask over seven hundred questions in one day! Little children who are still learning lots and lots around the age four or five as over four hundred questions a day. Tempo seemed to like to learn new things no matter what the issue.

[Thomas_III]

Ilena seems lost in thought for a few moments, but she's able to bring herself out of it and put back on a smile. If there is one thing that she's good at, even better than magic, it's having a positive outlook and attitude.


“Well, it's sort of because of me that we're traveling together. When I finally came of age to venture out on my own, I convinced my father that seeing the world would enhance my studies. That much is true, but it's not the reason that I wanted to leave Procampur. I wanted to track Justamir down, convince him to come back home with me so everything could be back how it was before he left. I thought that it was going to be easy.”


She shakes her head from side to side, still managing to keep her smile, even though a hint of melancholy can be heard in her voice.


“He wasn't going to have it, though. There's a lot of bad blood between Justamir and our dad, and he had no intention of going back home and giving up the life that he'd found on the outside. Out here, he could be himself, so why would he go back to where he has to pretend to be someone else? So, since I couldn't bring him home, I just decided to stay with him and join in his adventures. That way, I get to stay close to my brother, and help to make sure that he's okay. I think that he likes it this way, too, because he's always been protective of his little sister. So, we're able to watch over each other.”

[Passionate Shadow]

Tempo nodded softly. "That makes sense..." he trailed gently. "What sort of adventures do you have?" he asked curiously becoming like a cat with so many questions. "Like do you explore the woods and look for fox dens? " He offered a cattish grin. "Or do you chase down wild rabbits?" He asked these were probably things he did and considered adventurous!

[Thomas_III]

Ilena giggles again, amused by the boy's sense of adventure. She would have imagined him trying to sneak into the castle to steal the crown jewels instead of hunting forest animals. Everyone has different entertainment, though.


“Not exactly. Our prey is usually something with a little more bite, like zombies or carrion crawlers....”


She stops and thinks about it for a minute, wanting to add in something that might impress the boy for sure.


“... or maybe dragons, but that's a rarity. They usually don't bother anyone outside of their territory, and the ones that do are too big for just me and Justamir to handle on our own. If we had a full party, maybe, but it's currently just the two of us while some of our friends straighten out some things of their own.”

[Passionate Shadow]

Tempo had some mixed feelings about hunting dragons so he figured he may as well ask. "Why dragons?" Tempo asked gently not being familiar with their type as much as his own species.