Something Old, Something New

Something Old, Something New
Date of Scene:	08 April 2013
Location:	Traverse Town - District 1
Synopsis:	Matthew has returned to Traverse Town for another performance. A touch of magic, a bit of wonder... and perhaps, weaving a glimmer of hope from despair.
Cast of Characters:	Rena Laradyne, Emperor Mateus

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Emperor Mateus has posed:
Amongst the hustle and bustle of Traverse Town's First District, the street performers are at it again. And amongst their number is Matthew, the contact juggler who seems to be drawing attention to Dr. Facilier's storefront this time around. He is wearing a simple tight longsleeved and long-necked shirt, as well as slacks held up by a leather belt and what could almost be mistaken as loafers.

Apparently he has expanded his repertoire since the last time he was seen. Magic is in the air, light and airy like an unknown perfume, augmenting his contact juggling with moments of levitation. He even seems to be using what appears to be a cane in the acts, controlling the orbs' motion as if it was an extention of himself.

Despite the magic detectable by the perspective, however, it is clear that the majority of tricks are being done without the use of it. Only the instances of levitation, and those are not common.

Rena Laradyne has posed:
Rena has returned to Traverse Town on the heels of another disastrous adventure. The physical toll was neglible in contrast to the toll it took on her spirit. She bit the inside of her mouth to quell such thoughts, focusing on replenishing her supplies in a way she did not do in Narshe. She answered no questions, only vanished back into the snow as soon as she awoke.

Exiting the item shop she gathers her duster around her like a shield and wilts slightly as she rubs her arms. Her eyes scan the crowd and blink as she recognizes the street performer from before with another gathered assemblage. Rena manages the faintest twitch of a smile as she wanders over towards the performance. A hand reaches into her pockets, palming the crystal orb there but not drawing it out.

She drinks in the performance in silence, watching the spheres spin and dance and even levitate.

Emperor Mateus has posed:
If Matthew notices the tall young woman in the crowd, he gives no indication of it. It does not seem that he will be calling upon her assistance this time around. No, instead he finishes his current routine with a flourish, three orbs dancing around his shoulders bolting down his arms and into the air above the crowd's heads before imploding in sprays of harmless light confetti that fall over them.

As the small crowd cheers, Matthew bows with his cane sweeping in front of his form. Only when their applause calms does he move again, straightening with his head still bowed. His cane taps on the ground, then he steps to the side. The cane spins between his fingers to tap the cat-eye like stone on the ground. There is a pattern to this, and it almost seems to match a light tone in the background, like the beginnings of music.

Only then does Matthew lift his head, his eyes half-closed, and he softly begins to sing: "Come, little children, I'll ta~ke thee a~way. I~nto a la~nd of encha~ntme~nt." As he sings, his tenor voice soothing, he begins to spin his cane like a baton. One hand to the other, around his arms, all in time to the music. "Come, little children, the time's co~me to pla~y." The cat-eye stone hovers between his fingertips, held like one of his orbs. "Here in my ga~rden of sha~do~ws." Upon the last word as the music expands beyond the mere piano, the cane leaves his hands and spins around him rapidly as he twists in the opposite direction, dragging his foot behind him.

Rena Laradyne has posed:
Rena lets go of the crystal sphere in her pocket, withdrawing her hand and peering around at the small crowd. She was no longer possessed by the urge to leave because she knows what she will find there. Another quiet and empty room that is a passing memory.

Rena snorts faintly. It seems the nomadic lifestyle has found her again, despite the best intentions of all that sent her away. Again the Shivan bites down, drawing blood this time as she maintains a facade of pleasant interest.

She looks around, relaxing into the moment and using it to distract her as she finds a small bench to sit down on. She puts one hand carefully over the other, her armor packed away in the satchel over one shoulder that gives a muffled clatter as she sits down that disguises the creak of the bench.

Rena sits back, listening to the soothing tenor and trying to wrench herself into an enjoyment of the present instead of a castigation about the past. The past is gone and the future is not yet.

Under her breath she hums faintly pieces of the song, smooth even tones falling like spatters of rain as she picks out a place here or there to hum along as she watches performer and cane and song perform.

Emperor Mateus has posed:
The crowd seems mesmerized by the song, many seeming to almost stare past Matthew. There is an almost haunting beauty to the song itself, and the street performer's voice only adds to the entrancing nature of the performance.

"Fo~llow sweet children, I'll sho~w thee~ the way." He spins and the cane spins around him, his movements matching the flow of the song. "Through all the pain, and the so~rro~ws." Orbs appear out of sleeves, weaving over his arms and shoulders and only adding to Matthew's almost-etheral movements.

"Weep not poor children, for li~fe i~s this wa~y." His violet eyes almost seem to focus on Rena's sitting form for just a moment in mid-motion. Did he see her? Hear her humming? "Mu~rdering beau~ty and pa~ssio~ns." Whether it was happenstance or not, he continues the dance with orbs and cane alike as if nothing had happened.

Rena Laradyne has posed:
Rena rubs the side of her head and frowns slightly, looking over at the crowd although she finds it difficult to wrench her eyes away from the hypnotic movements of the performers. She grunts softly, the lyrics suddenly calling up..what she was trying so hard to forget and so the moment of trance is lifted. She moves to her feet and puts out a hand to steady herself as she stares out into the crowd. Her expression glowering slightly at the mesmerized faces. Her fingers trail across the wood as she walks around the side of the bench to move away into the town.

At the last moment her fingers catch on the wood, anchoring her as surely as shackles before falling away. Slowly she turns around and leans her weight very lightly on the back of the bench. The Shivan's eyes return to the performer and then the orbs as her fingers flex once and then relax as her shoulders relax. She catches his eye and stares flatly back into them, eyes narrowing slightly.

Relax, she scolds herself.

She looks away, shoving the painful memories back into their box and lets herself be soothed by the music. Slowly her eyes unfocus and begin to drift back to the performer and after a few moments she begins to hum again.

Emperor Mateus has posed:
Rena's movement to a more distant point is unnoticed by Matthew. She is not being kept here against her will. If she wishes to leave, she could do so... and yet she remains.

"Hush now dear children, it must be~ this wa~y. To weary of life, and dece~ptio~ns." The orbs arc into the air as the cane anchors on the ground in front of him, the cat-eye gem glowing as his hands arc to the sides. "Rest now my children, for soo~n we~'ll awa~y." The orbs spin around his head like a planets around their sun. "Into the ca~lm, and the qui~et..."

His singing almost trails off to silence as haunting echoes of accompaniment overtake his voice. In tune with the melody, the cane rises above his head and spins in perfect time, the orbs almost dancing around it. The crowd's eyes are drawn upwards to the cane and orbs as they fluidly weave around each other, up until the music quiets once more to match the beginning.

Rena Laradyne has posed:
Rena snorts very quietly, muttering something in Shivan as she seems to snap out of her reverie. As the performer fluidly weaves song and sight, she can't help but be impressed (and much more so than the first time) but she can't shake a nagging feeling of disquiet.

The cat eye gem and the spinning, dancing orbs. The soothing tenor. It was pretty.. but as shiny and useless a bauble as the crystal sphere in her pocket. What did she ever get by holding on to meaningless trinkets?

Heartache at best and clouding frustration and anger at worst. It was a lack of cous, a lack of attunement that had cause so many problems before. She was standing around moping. Sitting around a sealed city because she had nowhere else to go and not allowed to do anything useful.

Rena sighs and gives in, letting the memories roll over her mind like a fitful blizzard. She was draining valuable energy entrenching herself and snapping at herself. She let the hurt flail, and gnash, and then boil away as she watched the performer. She would wait until he was done, and give it back to him, and be done with it.

Emperor Mateus has posed:
The cane settles in his hand and Matthew casts his gaze down at it in a moment of thoughtful wonder. As a result, when he sings once more, the tone is even softer--barely above the volume of the music itself. "Come little children," he steps with each piano note in a circle, the staff tapping on the ground in perfect time, "I'll ta~ke thee a~way. I~nto a la~nd of encha~ntme~nt."

The orbs slowly spiral down around him as he stills, lifting the cane and almost experimentally twirling the cane in front of himself. "Come little children, the time's co~me to pla~y." The orbs settle onto the ground in a pyramid-like formation in the center of the circle he had created from his footprints. "Here in my ga~rden of sha~--" The orbs on the ground become opaque with swirling black shadow, "~AA~" the formation brightens into blinding light, "--do~ws..."

Fast as shooting stars and in perfect time with the hauntingly delicate accompaniment, the orbs leap back into the air like bullets as Matthew almost seems to use his cane as a wand, directing where they fly. Swooping over the crowd as the voices surge the first time, then seperate and float back to him at the second surge while his hands move to each end of the cane to 'hold' it levitating in front of him. The moment the music ends, with that final tone, he brings his hands together to enfold cane and orbs together with no sign of either disappearing in the movement.

And in the silence following the music, he draws his clasped hands to his chest and bows deeply to the crowd, who immediately clap and cheer as if they had never been under his proverbial (and perhaps literal) spell.

Rena Laradyne has posed:
Rena doesn't cheer but she does smile and clap appreciatively at the grand finale and the performance. When it seems like the man is completely finished, she approaches through the crowd.

Rena inclines her head, making a gesture of respect to the performer. "A.. haunting performance, Matthew. I didn't know you were a singer as well. You are apparently a man of many talents." she takes the crystal sphere out of her pocket.

"It's a pity. But.. I don't think this orb likes me as much as you thought. I think I should give it back to it's proper home."

Emperor Mateus has posed:
The crowd disperses easily enough once the performance is over, some leaving behind a tip--a few quite generous, it seems. Matthew does not seem to gather up anything, just a wave of his hand and anything used in his performances disappears in poofs of various-colored smoke. Apparently his belongings and/or equiptment were conjured.

As Rena approaches, Matthew rakes one hand through his platinum-blonde hair to try to get the strands back into place and gives her a warm smile. "Ah, Miss Rena. It has been some time." He bows to her. "I thank you deeply for your praise. I had feared for a moment that I had wounded you somehow." So it seems he had noticed her distress during the performance after all.

His eyes shift to the crystal sphere, his smooth brow furrowing noticeably. He makes no motion to accept it, however, instead just returning his gaze up to her eyes. "May I ask why you would believe such a thing?"

Rena Laradyne has posed:
"That power I do not think I can grant you, I wound only myself." Rena pauses for a moment and then continues. "It was a foolish moment. An old habit of mine, I guess to keep mementos. There is far too little left for me to remember things by, but it is a crutch. It's one that I'm going to have to start somewhere to break. It might as well be here."

She extends the crystal to him. "To new beginnings, not old wounds."

Emperor Mateus has posed:
Matthew tilts his head to the side, his lavender eyes never leaving her face, but he simply listens in silence. When the orb is extended to him, however, he regards it with thoughtful ponderance. His hand slowly reaches out towards it...

...Only to gently close her fingers back around it to obscure it from view.

He does not release her hand, though she could pull away at any time. "Whoever said that my gift to you is a crutch of times past, of which I held neither part nor knowledge? Why can the orb itself not be the sign of a new beginning?" He looks up to her, his gaze surprisingly piercing yet somehow calming at the same paradoxal time. "I know not your circumstances, Rena, nor how you came to wander the worlds. But it seems quite clear to me that you have already lost all you have known. Perhaps even under constant assault by reminders of the past."

He levitates just a little bit off of the ground to even their heights somewhat, though she still stands taller than himself at the moment. "If you wish to continue wandering, 'tis your choice..." His chin tilts downwards, towards his chest, and his lavender eyes almost flicker in consideration. "...But... Perhaps I can offer you a new path instead?"

Rena Laradyne has posed:
Rena's bearing straightens and her smile becomes the same mocking but not exactly condescending thing that it was in her first meeting.

She slowly raises an eyebrow at the levitation and reaches out a hand to put it on top of Matthew's. She looks down at the sphere obscured from sight, hair falling down in a cascade from her shoulder

. "Thank you, Matthew. I know nothing about your own wanderings, so I will not besmirch them with scorn. I just do not know what it is that you can offer me that I can accept. If my wanderings continue, it is my feet that drives me, not anyone elses. But for now, I'll give you the courtesy of listening, as I have before."

Emperor Mateus has posed:
Matthew smiles. It is not as warm as before, but neither is it cold nor mocking. Thoughtful, perhaps. Or something else entirely. "Then let us depart this place to a location more quiet. I shall show you what I have to offer, what I have left, and we shall speak further."

He does not release her hand, as it seems to be a comfort to her, and lowers himself back to the ground. "'Tis the least I can do."