Aria
Wyvern Rider
Chewy's Caretaker
Posts: 190
Bern Fame: 1
Profession: Wyvern Rider
Affinity: Anima
Profile: Aria's Profile
OoC Alias: Twilightfairy
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Post by Aria on Aug 16, 2022 19:47:03 GMT -6
Somewhere between Bern and Macendew. ---
Aria and her wyvern Chewy arrived in some semi-large village in between Bern and Macendew. Aria was rather excited, since she knew the Wyvern Day celebrations would be soon. Wyvern day was one of Bern's unofficial national holidays. Every city, village, and province in Bern had some way of celebrating Bern's national animal. Regardless, of the world's issues with monsters, bandits, and lingering pockets of rebellious pro Illian factions. This village's holiday lasted for about a week. This gave plenty of time for neighboring villagers, traders, other high profile guests, and their entourage to attend.
The dynamic duo arrived four days ago, and have been camping out in the outskirts of the village ever since. They were waiting for the festivities to arrive in order to unwind. Well, at least Aria was. She spent the majority of the last three days signing Chewy up for all sorts of competitions. Wyvern racing, riding, petting, and a beauty contest. Aria knew that Chewy wasn't exactly the prettiest wyvern when it came to looks. Chewy was a mule when compared to some of the more pure bred wyverns. Wyverns that most nobility or high ranking generals toted. But, the two of them had spunk. And sometimes that's all you needed to win over the masses! Chewy on the other hand did not share Aria's excitement. Instead, the wyvern wanted to spend the days leading up to festival in blissful slumber.
Aria saw some wyverns within the grounds of the village. Wyverns of various colors, sizes, and ages. And Aria had to resist every urge in her body not to run up to each one and try to hug or pet them. Several wyverns within the confines of the grounds were very well guarded. Some sported some expensive looking reigns and accessories. Some of which Aria found to be rather tacky. She saw several other riders with their wyverns, and some breeder families showing off their prized wyverns. She saw the regular folks setting up booths for food and games. Banners and streamers were strung all over the village.
The day before the festivities Aria spent the day roaming the local woodlands. Trying to find a semi secluded body of water in order to spruce herself and Chewy up. As much as the wyvern hated to take a bath, Chewy understood that this was important to Aria. And that was enough for Chewy to begrudgingly behave. Aria examined Chewy for any new cuts, nicks, and parasites. She brushed Chewy's teeth with some special paste made of pumice stone and mint. She groomed her wyvern's talons and polished up her armor. She put a cute ribbon on Chew's tail and around her neck. And with Chewy's grooming out of the way Aria began to work on herself. She bathed herself, washed her clothes, patched up her clothes, shined her own armor, and sharpened her weapons.
On the day of the first set of festivities, Aria put her hair into a braid and threaded a ribbon through it. It was the same ribbon that Chewy sported. She wore her newly polished hand me down armor. And made sure to keep her coin purse and other belongings secure. She adjusted Chewy's saddle and hopped on. She tied herself securely to her wyvern and strolled into town about two hours before the first round of contests were set to start.
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Aria
Wyvern Rider
Chewy's Caretaker
Posts: 190
Bern Fame: 1
Profession: Wyvern Rider
Affinity: Anima
Profile: Aria's Profile
OoC Alias: Twilightfairy
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Post by Aria on Aug 17, 2022 19:06:47 GMT -6
Aria couldn't contain the big smile on her face. She loved festivals like this! She got Chewy to the designated wyvern grounds and hopped off her trusty steed. She grabbed the piece of cloth from out of her satchel and tied it around Chewy's armor. The cloth had a big # 5 painted on it. She then tied a second cloth on her own armor. Right in front of her chestplate.
"There you are Chew. Look we are Lucky Number 5." Aria patted Chewy on the head. The big red wyvern snuffed at Aria's hand before bowing down a bit and letting herself be petted.
"Aw.. come on. I know you aren't as excited as I am. But, I promise to get you some goodies. I saw a stall with sausages."
The big red wyvern perked up at the mention of food. Aria knew Chewy wasn't starving. Aria made sure Chewy had a whole goat the day before. That meat was more than enough to hold her over at least until tomorrow.
"But, I really need you to behave. We've got some really important events to do.. and I don't want either of us getting hurt. Did you know that the jousting competition comes with a monetary prize?" She asked Chewy. And the wyvern responded with bit of an eyeroll, as if she hadn't heard Aria talk about it all night.
"Come on.. think about it. That money could go a long way. We can take it home and give it to the family. We could expand the ranch."
Chewy pulled her head away and nudged Aria out of her petting range. She nudged Aria over towards the gates. Aria sighed.
"Not till I check the water alright." Aria walked over towards the water trough. The rider deemed it satisfactory for her wyvern and motioned for Chewy to come over. The big wyern walked over towards the trough and took a big gulp. She shook her head and splashed water droplets all over Aria. Aria sighed and wiped them off.
"Alright.. Alright. I get it. I'm going." She waved at Chewy then walked off.
She found herself wandering over a few of the shop stalls. She bought an adorable wooden figurine of a wyvern curled over her clutch of eggs. Then she wandered off towards the line food stalls. She bought a few sausages and stuffed them into her small sack. There was another vendor selling fruits. Aria bought a few apples. She passed by a series of vendors all doing a series games. Like bobbing for apples, darts, or wyvern tail pinning. Some other patrons were busy drinking ale and swapping stories with other riders. So far she didn't see any one she recognized. Which was probably a good thing.
She kept perusing through the crowds and eventually made her way back out towards the wyverns. She returned to Chew's makeshift pen and whistled. The wyvern came forward and greeted Aria with a bit more of a spring to her step. Chewy could smell the sausages. She pressed her big ol head into Aria's chest trying to get at the satchel of goodies. Aria turned around dodged Chewy's playful antics flawlessly. This got a bit of a laugh out of the rider.
"I'll give you some but, you need to sit still for a sec." Aria pulled out a sausage. She bit into it herself.
"Oh they are real juicy. Yep you are going to love these." She spoke in between her chewing. Then she gave the other half to Chewy. The big red brute gobbled it up with glee. Then tried to weasel her way for more. This was starting to draw the attention of some of the villagers.
"No. I'm saving the others for later." She spoke and then put the sausages away in Chewy's carry on bag.
"That's both of our snacks. Okay." Aria knew that Chewy couldn't quite reach the bag herself with out some trickery. At this point the pair of them were fairly close to the single rope divider. A few children at this point were fairly close towards the divider and shouted out that they wanted to pet Chewy. Chewy herself was happy at that. She loved kids. Then shoved her big head out from under Aria and presented her head towards the kids.
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Thorne
Pupil
Posts: 29
Profession: Professional Nuisance
Affinity: Light
Profile: Thorne
OoC Alias: Ryder
Discord: ryderrocketship
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Post by Thorne on Aug 22, 2022 21:03:38 GMT -6
After Bulgar, Thorne found a wagon willing to let him ride. They were traveling merchants going to a festival of some sort, and if Thorne helped them out with setting up and helping out at the festival, they would give him a ride to Lycia. Thorne was perfectly fine with this, and a festival sounded fun. It was in Bern, it would last about a week, and judging by the greedy glint in the merchants' eyes, it was very profitable.
—
The wagon had arrived at a little town somewhere in Bern, and there were quite a few people. More than he expected. Even better, it was apparently wyvern themed, which piqued Thorne's interest. He had a soft spot for the flying beasts, partly because Thorne didn't enjoy walking. Besides, some of them just looked so cute and were basically begging to be petted. But, before he was allowed to run off, Thorne had to help the merchants. It was fairly easy work, mainly just carrying crates and organizing items. This group seemed to sell carvings of wyverns, some so intricate that there were probably worth more than Thorne had ever made in his whole life (though, that wasn't a large amount).
Soon the work was finished, and Thorne was done for the day. He wandered off to go look at what the other traders and merchants were selling. There were quite a few stalls, selling various pieces of art or accessories all themed around wyverns. And the heavy scent of salty meats and sugary sweets coming from the far side of town suggested that some were selling food. But with no gold, there was only one thing Thorne was interested in. Petting the wyverns.
Many people had brought all sorts of wyverns to the festival. Show wyverns, war wyverns, race wyverns, you name it. There were shiny wyverns, big wyverns and small wyverns, and wyverns in colors he didn't even know wyverns could be. Still, there didn't look to be many wyverns open for petting. Looking around, he saw a group of younger kids staring at a very happy-looking red wyvern. Thorne joined the children and joined their staring. The red wyvern was apparently number 5, and belonged to a light-blue haired woman. They both wore matching ribbons, which Thorne thought was a nice touch. Some of the other children had grown tired of staring and asked if they could pet the wyvern. The wyvern moved it's head forward within reach, and the kids began petting it, Thorne included. While this wyvern didn't look as fancy or as powerful as some of the other wyverns he had seen, this wyvern looked well cared for.
Thorne looked up at the woman. "This is a very nice wyvern you have. What's it's name?"
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Aria
Wyvern Rider
Chewy's Caretaker
Posts: 190
Bern Fame: 1
Profession: Wyvern Rider
Affinity: Anima
Profile: Aria's Profile
OoC Alias: Twilightfairy
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Post by Aria on Aug 31, 2022 19:16:07 GMT -6
Chewy practically let out the wyvern equivalent of a gaggle when she got closer towards the kids. Once she was close enough, Chewy, lowered her head so she was at eye level, with the smallest of the children.
"Hold on kids. Let me show you how to pet her." Aria smiled softly at the kids. Then gave an example of how to pet Chewy.
"She really likes it when you pet her on her chin." A little boy probably no older than five. The little boy was afraid for a moment. But, the older sister, a child of about twelve, smiled and went to pet the big red wyvern. She was careful not to go for the eyes and went to scratch Chewy's chin. Chewy enjoyed it. Then the other kids came to join. But, one of the smaller kids accidentally poked Chewy in the eye. Chewy let out a large snuff through her nose and onto the child's face which caused them to back away.
"That's wyvern for.. 'hey I didn't like that.' Er.. well that's the nice version of it. Keep making that mistake and she will show you her teeth." Chewy pulled herself back up. She went ahead and let out mock roar. The kids let out a bit of a startled shout then a laugh. Aria smiled. It was at this point she noticed the young man within the group of children. If Aria had to make a guess he was probably about 12 or 13. He was about the same height as one of her nephews. He had pinkish purple hair, Aria wasn't quite sure which. And if Aria had to guess, he was some kind of magic user. She wasn't too familiar with magic folk but they usually wore elaborate robes. Either that or he was part of the circus, Aria didn't know, and Aria didn't care. He was talking to her about Chewy and that was all she cared about.
"Her name is Chewy. And she's been my partner for very long time. Isn't that right?"
Aria turned her head to look at Chewy's face. Chewy at this point went right back to hamming it up with the children.
"Clearly.. she's part ham. Anyway, welcome to the festival! Are you from around here?"
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Thorne
Pupil
Posts: 29
Profession: Professional Nuisance
Affinity: Light
Profile: Thorne
OoC Alias: Ryder
Discord: ryderrocketship
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Post by Thorne on Sept 1, 2022 16:11:32 GMT -6
"Chewy? Awww, aren't you just the cutest wyvern? Yes you are! Oh, yes you are…”
Chewy seemed extremely happy to be pet. Thorne was extremely happy to pet Chewy. Times were good.
“No, I’m just a traveler. I’m helping some merchants out for the festival, and in exchange, they’ll take me to Lycia.”
Thorne continued petting Chewy until one of the children shoved past him and promptly poked the wyvern’s eye, which sort of felt like an obvious no-no, but Thorne kept that to himself.
Thorne wanted to make some friends, so he introduced himself to Chewy and her rider.
“My name is Thorne. I’m a…” He realized that announcing himself as an Elder spellcaster may not be smart, seeing what happened in Bulgar. “...mage.” Ooo, that was really obvious. “Well, uh, mage in training. I’m looking for someone to teach me how to wield magic.” Well, Thorne supposed it wouldn’t be too big a deal if anyone found out, as long as they didn’t see his tome. He quickly changed the subject anyway and addressed the rider. “U-Uh, what’s your name? I assume you probably are from around here, if you’ve got Chewy.”
Thorne saw the market stalls start to get busy. He didn’t want to leave yet, but he would probably be wanted by the merchants soon. Besides, he would probably be able to return the next day, if the festivities were on for a week. Right before he was about to go, he saw Chewy’s number 5 again and it clicked in his head. “Hey, are there going to be wyvern competitions? If there are, I’ll make sure to cheer for the two of you!” Thorne turned his head back to the stalls and saw one of his merchants, beckoning him over. “Oh, I gotta go. I’ll be back to pet Chewy again later! See ya!
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Aria
Wyvern Rider
Chewy's Caretaker
Posts: 190
Bern Fame: 1
Profession: Wyvern Rider
Affinity: Anima
Profile: Aria's Profile
OoC Alias: Twilightfairy
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Post by Aria on Sept 2, 2022 18:15:23 GMT -6
"Chewy? Awww, aren't you just the cutest wyvern? Yes you are! Oh, yes you are…”
And just like that, this random mage, just became one of her top favorite people. She loved it when could immediately see the cuteness Chewy has... even though she is a technically a mutt. And Chewy was loving every single moment of all the petting even when the rest of the children that were with the mage went off to do other things.
"It's very nice to meet you Thorne. My name is Aria. And allow me to be the first one to formally welcome you to Bern." She followed up her introduction with a small commoners curtsey.
"Be sure to tell Lycia how we like to party." She smirked.
"I'm from Lucerne. Which is the second largest city of Bern.. and kind of way more south from here. If it doesn't work out with your merchant friends, let me know. I can probably give you a lift to the northern Bernese Lycian border. I was heading up there any way." And there we go. Offering rides to children who probably don't have any money to pay her for her services.
"Oh yeah, there's going to be plenty of competitions. I think the one for this first day is the beauty and talent competition." It suddenly dawned on Aria that she had no idea what kind of talent Chewy had.
"Uh... We might not be number 5 all the time though. Different games might have different numbers. But, I we will appreciate all the cheers." She smiled for a moment. At this point it looked like the merchant Thorne mentioned was beckoning him back.
"Ah.. hey be sure to try the wyvern shaped hand pies. I think there this town's specialty. Have fun!" She waved. Chewy at this point picked herself back up. She rubbed her big head on Aria's chest demanding more attention. Aria had to shove her away.
"He seems like a nice kid. Anyway... Chew.. we have a problem!"
Chewy seemed confused at Aria's sudden shift in tone. Aria grabbed Chewy's reins and gently guided her towards the middle of the holding pen. Chewy took a step back once they were more towards the center and away from all the rope barriers.
"Uh.. we gotta come up with a talent for you girl. Quick! What are you good at?" Aria asked. Then made a bit of a thinking pose by crossing her arms and staring at the ground. Chewy's backside decided to answer that question with a very audible and stinky fart.
"THAT'S NOT A TALENT!" Aria spoke as she used her hands to try to fan the stench away.
"Ugh.. it's more like a curse." The noxious gas went up her nose and got caught in her throat causing her to cough. She took several steps away from her red behemoth and tried to regain her composure. When that didn't work, the rider was forced to take some desperate gulps of water from Chew's basin. All while this was going on, Chewy looked at Aria with a bit of a smirk. It was several minutes before Aria was able to speak again.
"Oh we are so screwed."
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Thorne
Pupil
Posts: 29
Profession: Professional Nuisance
Affinity: Light
Profile: Thorne
OoC Alias: Ryder
Discord: ryderrocketship
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Post by Thorne on Sept 6, 2022 12:10:04 GMT -6
At first, Thorne was happy to help out, but by hour two of fetching merchandise from crates, he realized he was just unpaid child labor. Thorne's bright mood dropped a considerable amount. By the time he was dismissed, they had sold 4 crates of little wyvern carvings. Thorne was exhausted. His merchants weren't the nicest, either. Something felt off about them, they seemed just a little bit too shady (as opposed to the normal amount of shady-ness that was socially accepted). Still, it wasn't Thorne's business, so as long as he didn't get too involved with them, he'd hopefully be fine. He had done a quick delivery favor for one of the other merchant groups and was paid a few coins, so Thorne ran to the market stalls to blow his money immediately on snacks and stuff. He found the wyvern hand pies Aria was talking about and tried one. They tasted alright. The filling was pretty good, and the bread quality was better than average. It was also shaped like a wyvern, so it got high approval from Thorne. He went to some other stalls, and bought some candies as well as a treat for Chewy for the next time he saw them (Thorne had no idea what was in it or what it tasted like, but it was shaped like a cute little pig, so he assumed it was fine), and went to go find a place to read in peace.
He found a nice tree a few minutes outside of the village to sit under and pulled out his Flux tome. He hadn't had a good chance to look at it since the morning after Bulgar, and it still hadn't been long before he saw the merchant's wagon coming. Carrying three books around instead of his usual one (his old tome, his Flux tome, and a library book he had forgotten to return from Bulgar) felt strange. One book sorta fit in his hip pouch, but he had to cram in the other two books just to get the buckle closed. Thorne really just needed someplace to stash his stuff, or at the very least a backpack.
Thorne soon remembered the wyvern competitions, and, not knowing what time they happened, shoved his Flux tome back into his pouch and returned to the village, looking to find out.
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Aria
Wyvern Rider
Chewy's Caretaker
Posts: 190
Bern Fame: 1
Profession: Wyvern Rider
Affinity: Anima
Profile: Aria's Profile
OoC Alias: Twilightfairy
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Post by Aria on Sept 10, 2022 18:24:20 GMT -6
Aria sighed. She had no idea how the hell she was going to make Chewy appealing to the public. Or at the very least appealing to the judges.
"Maybe I can bribe them?"
Chewy replied to that question with a bit of a grunt and tail swish.
"Yes I know! We are very broke.. But there are other forms of bribery."
Chewy let out a mildly annoyed growl.
"Well yes.. obviously am not going to do that."
Another growl.
"Or that."
Chewy pressed her face against Aria's chest and let out a slightly aggressive huff and snuff.
"Or that either. We are running out of options here girl." She sighed and gave herself an affectionate pat on the head. I don't even know who the judges are... and they are probably already being bribed by powers much higher than me. Aria just came to accept the fact that they were probably not going to win this talent competition. Aria went ahead and continued to let Chewy do her thing. So long as she didn't cause a disturbance she was free to roam around her designated space as much as she wanted. After a while, the town criers started to shout that the first round of the wyvern competitions would soon begin. And that all participants needed to start heading out towards the designated space near the church. Aria whistled and Chewy came running towards her. The rider, climbed up onto her wyvern's back and they both started to make their way over towards the church yards. When she got there, she was guided towards the competitors area. Although, she could see several crowds slowly coming together, to form the audience. All of this was guided by the city officials and guards.
It was here Aria could really get a better look at her competition. It appeared that there would be about seven wyverns within this particular competition. Some of them were green, red, and blue. But, there was one wyvern that stuck out, a brilliant white wyvern. And Aria couldn't help staring at that particular one. Now.. that wyvern.. is the result of perfect breeding. The scales are wonderful, the height, the weight, very few horns. And along with this brilliant white wyvern was a small army of armed guards. And very very expensive. But, wow. What a sight! And while Aria was fawning over the white wyvern, Chewy was glancing at another. A green one that belonged to a knight who was on guard duty. Chewy looked at the wyvern, who was also looking at her, and looking at Aria. Chewy nudged Aria and made a head motion towards the one guard wyvern.
"What no.. you can't go play with a guard wyvern."
Chewy let out another huff. Aria looked around some more. She saw several things that were laid out within the empty field around the church. Large wooden hoops, various streamers, some poles, So there were things laid around that could be used to help a wyvern with their talents. And what else Aria saw was a troop of musicians. Aria glanced at Chewy, then glanced at the band, she elbowed Chewy.
"Look Chew! Music. We can use that for our routine."
Aria went around and grabbed another bit of sausage from her bag and fed it to Chewy.
"Remember.. the wyvern pride song and dance."
Chewy seemed to perk up immediately. She greedily chomped down the sausage. The big red wyvern remembered that routine. And she seemed to be a bit excited to preform it.
"Alright girl. They haven't checked us in yet. So sit tight. I've gotta go talk to the music guys."
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Thorne
Pupil
Posts: 29
Profession: Professional Nuisance
Affinity: Light
Profile: Thorne
OoC Alias: Ryder
Discord: ryderrocketship
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Post by Thorne on Sept 16, 2022 21:48:51 GMT -6
Running into town, Thorne saw a crowd of people. Hoping he wasn't too late, he tried climbing on top of a nearby crate to see what was happening at the front of the crowd. As he thought, there were a group of wyverns and riders, which probably meant a competition. Thorne barely managed to pick out Aria and Chewy through the writing mass of human limbs between him and the event. A nearby banner told Thorne that this event was the talent show, which sounded quite interesting. One of the other wyverns looked extremely fancy and shiny, with a brilliant shade of white scales. Looking back, Thorne noticed that Aria looked a little.. panicky? He couldn’t quite tell, but soon after, she said something to Chewy and walked away. Hopefully it was fine, and besides, it wasn’t like there was anything he could to do help.
It looked as if the show was going to start soon, so Thorne dashed off to the stalls and spent the last of his coins on some snacks. It was a waste of money, but it was a festival, so Thorne decided not to feel too bad about it. He quickly ran back to the talent show and wriggled his way through the crowd towards the front (not without some angry shouts and grumbles) where he could easily see. The white wyvern looked even better up close; it was probably going to win by default if there wasn't a really good performance from one of the other wyverns. Still, Thorne was super excited, and he readied himself to cheer for when Aria and Chewy came on.
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Aria
Wyvern Rider
Chewy's Caretaker
Posts: 190
Bern Fame: 1
Profession: Wyvern Rider
Affinity: Anima
Profile: Aria's Profile
OoC Alias: Twilightfairy
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Post by Aria on Sept 27, 2022 19:07:09 GMT -6
Aria went ahead and introduced herself to the musicians. They were not happy to be addressed by a single woman. And they were less interested in Aria's request. Aria, who was completely used to this sort of treatment, male chauvinism ran rampant in the knight's barracks. Aria flashed them some coin and then they were suddenly very interested in what she had to say. She spoke her piece, they agreed to do the task for a fee. Aria paid half of what they asked for and stated she would pay the other half after the performance. And they agreed. Aria returned to Chewy's side and gave her another once over. Chewy was in a good mood. And Aria was humming the tune of one of Bern's national songs to herself.
They waited for a about ten minutes. As those then minutes elapsed, there were little shows in between. A troupe of circus performers were out in the field entertaining the crowd while the event planners spoke to the contestants. The performers were doing all sorts of tricks, juggling, tossing people in the air, cool flips, and such. They would return after the first round of talents were finished.
And then the mayor of the town took to the stage. He introduced himself as Mayor Rumson. And then went about making a bit of a stuffy speech about Wyvern Day, and the various traditions of the village. He thanked the food purveyors, town folk, guilds, and knights for their service to making this year's Wyvern Day a great one. Then he introduced the judges for this event. Himself, the archbishop of the church (who's grounds they were currently using), and the local knight captain. The captain's wyvern was resting comfortably behind it's master. The three judges then took their place at the side of the field and took their seats. A man with a large Wyvern shaped jester hat then took the stage, he explained that the judges would judge based on a point system of 5. 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. Audience participation was greatly encouraged. And safety was the top priority anyone caught trying to harm or rig the competition would be prosecuted by the guards. And went about introducing the participants.
The first participant was a veteran knight and his wyvern. A big seasoned blue wyvern. One that was loaded with various battle scars and had paling skin. Together they demonstrated several movements of a knight's take down and several strikes with a lance on a prepared dummy. It was enough to earn him a solid mark of earn him a 11. A good start. The crowd seemed to enjoy it.
The second wyvern and it's rider were a duo dressed in green. The wyvern was green and clad in several ribbons of fabric on it's ends. It was a sleek green wyvern. It and the rider were going to take advantage of the hoops. Together rider and wyvern flew through the air and though the various rings. They showed off the various twist, turns, and tricks. It was very flashy and kinda awe inspiring. Aria was clapping with the audience as she watched. Chewy was tracking the wyvern with her head too. This guy got a good score of 13. That was going to be hard to beat.
The third wyvern was beautiful honey colored wyvern with some black patches. Across it's scales. It reminded Aria of like a calico cat. But, to Aria it also meant that this wyvern was like Chewy. Another mule or an accidental hybrid. And it was just a young wyvern too. A teenage wyvern and it's young rider. Together it looked like they were supposed to do another routine, showing off it's skills. With the various wooden poles that dotted the land. But the inexperienced or perhaps just plain playful wyvern decided that the best way to show off the poles was to grab it out of the ground and run with it. The poor teenage boy who was it's owner was running behind it trying desperately to catch the wyvern and the stick. This got a huge laugh out of the crowd and the judges. Eventually, the guards were called in to help corral the playful beast. Just for the sheer fact of comedy. they got a 8.
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Thorne
Pupil
Posts: 29
Profession: Professional Nuisance
Affinity: Light
Profile: Thorne
OoC Alias: Ryder
Discord: ryderrocketship
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Post by Thorne on Oct 4, 2022 21:21:12 GMT -6
Thorne listened carefully to the mayor, trying to actually hear everything he was saying and not just ignore him until it was time for the wyverns. Blah blah a good one, blah blah no bribing (Thorne was fairly confident there would probably be more than a few infractions of that rule over the course of the competition, but maybe that was just him), blah blah ok it’s wyvern time. Thorne stood completely still, fists clenched in anticipation of the wyverns.
And then they came.
The first wyvern looked gargantuan, with massive limbs and powerful wings. The rider looked equally intimidating, with a menacing stance and shining armor. In his hand was a noble lance, and in front of them was a target dummy. The rider mounted his blue wyvern and soon after began their performance, which involved attacking the target dummy using various moves and attacks. After the fact, Thorne decided that their appearance was very well done, though their actual performance could use a little work. Still, Thorne agreed with the 11 from the judge panel.
The second wyvern, a deep shade of green, looked sleek. It looked faster than the previous wyvern, though it lacked the aspect of ginormous that the blue wyvern delivered perfectly. The rider of this wyvern was dressed in green (Matching wyvern and rider = Thorne seal of approval), and he soon mounted up. As the wyvern flew up towards some hoops, Thorne noticed that the wyvern had ribbons, and while he didn't care for them, they certainly made the swift wyvern blurring through the hoops look all the more impressive.
The third duo looked… young, to say the least. The rider couldn't have been more than a few years older than Thorne, and the wyvern looked clumsy and untrained. Unfortunately, this was a fatal mix, and as Thorne had thought, the wyvern simply couldn't resist having a little fun. What surprised Thorne was the judge's score for the young wyvern and rider. While it wasn't great, 8 felt pretty good for a complete failure. The more he thought about it, though, the more it started to possibly make sense. What if they had planned to fail, instead opting for a comedic approach? They would get at least a few points from that alone, plus most likely some pity from the judges. And what about the bribery? Thorne just knew deep down that someone had bribed someone, and it could've very well been this duo.
Thorne shook off his paranoia and decided to simply enjoy the rest of the show. He readied himself for whatever was coming next.
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Aria
Wyvern Rider
Chewy's Caretaker
Posts: 190
Bern Fame: 1
Profession: Wyvern Rider
Affinity: Anima
Profile: Aria's Profile
OoC Alias: Twilightfairy
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Post by Aria on Oct 10, 2022 18:50:40 GMT -6
The fourth wyvern was a wonderful black, sleek, and healthy wyvern. It had a rather luxurious saddle on it's back and it's owner was a either some sort of lesser noble. Or perhaps a wealthier merchant. Aria wasn't sure which. And the man didn't exactly announce his profession. Instead he simply pointed at the beast and ordered it to do some tricks. It stood up on it's hind legs to further show off it's body design. The beautiful beast spun around slowly. Then returned to it's four legged position. The owner gave off a hand signal and the best let out an impressive roar. Then they took a bow towards both the audience and the judges. There was some applause from the crowd and a few murmurs from the judges between themselves. They ultimately decided to give the man and his luxurious wyvern 13 points.
Well.. Looks like we found one of the bribes. Aria thought to herself. Despite that she did thoroughly enjoy watching the wyvern. She suspected the man paid quite a pretty penny for that creature. And from the looks of it it was well worth it. A wyvern of that caliber would have made a great stud wyvern. Aria took a deep breath in and then let it out. She looked up at Chewy.
"You ready?"
Chewy looked down at her partner. And let out a bit of a snort through her nose. Aria sighed, that was the only confirmation she needed. Aria signaled to the musicians and they got themselves ready. After a bit, the wealthy man and his wyvern left the stage. Aria and Chewy were announced and they took their place in the clearing. First thing they did was bow to the audience and then to the judges. Chewy took a few paces away from Aria so that she didn't hit her. Aria took a deep breath in.
And then then the song started to come out of her mouth. The musicians immediately picked up on their que and went along with the music. She sung a classic Bernese folk song. One that sung of Hartmut and his heroic deeds. This was a well known song that was common among most of the Bernese populace with a few regional variations. Aria's singing was exceptional, and Chewy knew her part well. She roared in tune with the chorus. She sung her body and danced along to the beat. When the duo got to the climax, the part of the song, that spoke of Hartmut "slaying the dragon", Aria raised her spear. And pretended to stab Chewy.
Chewy with all her dramatic flare, kept the spear tucked between one of her front "arms". She let out a "death screech" which was some how still in tune to the beat of the song. And fell backwards towards the ground. But, Chewy was back up as quickly as she could to resume singing and dancing until the end of the tune.
They finished their little song and dance. And got quite the applause from the crowd and some of the knights. Aria, Chewy, and the musician's bowed to the audience, then towards the judges. After a few moment Aria was given a score of 12. Much to the charging of the audience. Aria was actually alright with that. She knew she wasn't going to win past the obvious bribe. But, she was at least in the running to get second place. And second place, came with a crate of chickens. It wasn't gold. But, food that had the potential to make more food was it's own reward.
Aria went back to her place among the other contestants. She went ahead and paid the musician's the remainder of their agreed payment. They left. Aria gave Chewy a big hug and rewarded her performance with another sausage.
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Thorne
Pupil
Posts: 29
Profession: Professional Nuisance
Affinity: Light
Profile: Thorne
OoC Alias: Ryder
Discord: ryderrocketship
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Post by Thorne on Oct 14, 2022 12:04:45 GMT -6
The fourth wyvern, a brilliant shining black, looked stunning. From a gilded saddle to the way it held itself, Thorne could tell the owner was rich. And next to the wyvern was the owner, who didn’t look super crazy rich, per say, but didn’t look poor by any means. What really disappointed Thorne was the absolute lack of effort from the duo. All they did was stand and turn around in a circle because apparently they were ‘that glamorous’. And a score of 13? That was ridiculous! Thorne prided himself on being ignorant to most everything, but this guy very obviously bribed his way through. The young rider and his wyvern did better than this rich dude and his spoiled wyvern.
Ok, breathe. Thorne was getting very worked up about this. It was just a friendly show, it wasn’t a competition or anything (well…). And besides, the rich guy probably spent more on the bribe than he would earn for a reward, so ha, take that.
Soon after, it was finally Aria and Chewy’s turn. Thorne had never seen or heard of a wyvern dancing, so he was impressed in that regard. The song was sung well too, and while Thorne didn’t feel patriotic for any country in particular (he really liked the towns and geography of Ilia, he didn’t really feel indebted or obligated to support it), the music was surprisingly good. Chewy seemed to be enjoying herself, and even though the red wyvern wasn’t the most graceful one there, she was still very popular with the crowd. Thorne thought the 'stabbing' of Chewy was done especially well.
By the end, the audience had picked a clear winner in the song, though it was fairly obvious who the official choice would be. Thorne joined in with the booing of the crowd, but there was nothing to be done. Besides, Chewy would probably enjoy the second place prize over the first anyway. By then, the crowd started to clear up. Thorne wanted to go congratulate Aria and Chewy for second place, but they had left sometime when he wasn’t looking. Thorne decided to go find them later, and wanded back into the rest of the festivities.
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Aria
Wyvern Rider
Chewy's Caretaker
Posts: 190
Bern Fame: 1
Profession: Wyvern Rider
Affinity: Anima
Profile: Aria's Profile
OoC Alias: Twilightfairy
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Post by Aria on Nov 5, 2022 21:40:56 GMT -6
The crowd was not happy about the very clearly rigged results. But after bit of a yelling, then murmurs, and finally silence, the rest of the competition was allowed to proceed as normal. Aria and Chewy did end up winning second place. And for their efforts they got a crate of live chickens and a small monetary prize. With that event out of the way the dynamic duo returned to their place in the outdoor lot. Aria managed to wriggle out a live chicken and fed it to Chewy. Feathers and all.
"Good Job Chewy." Aria praised her big beast. The chicken didn't even have a chance to let out it's death knell. Chewy and her jaws chomped down on the hapless bird and after two distinct crunches, the feathered fiend was down her gullet. And Aria kept doing this until the crate of chickens was about half empty. To some on lookers the act may have appeared to be grisly. But, Aria didn't care. Her wyvern was happy and fed.
"I'm going to give some to the farmer. And then the remainder will be dinner for a few days. Sucks that I don't have the resources to feed them and get free eggs." Aria spoke as she tried to close the opening she made in the crate with her cloak. Aria then tied the crate down onto a part of her saddle. She then got up on Chewy and returned to the farm for just a moment. The farmer wasn't at his home. However, his wife was more than happy to accept the hens on his behalf. With the little delivery done, Aria returned to the lot.
"Hmm.. I don't want to keep bothering the farmer. Maybe we can set up our camp for the night like the travelers do. I'm pretty sure there's a designated area for that." Aria mused out loud. And then she heard a small slew of tiny voices. It seems that Chewy had become a bit of a celebrity's with her earlier performance. Aria turned around a noticed a small crowd behind the rope calling out to them.
"Oh look we have some fans. Do you want to say hi?" Aria asked Chewy. And the wyvern immediately got up from her resting pose. She let out a stretch and started walking towards the group. Aria grabbed the reins and stopped her. Then climbed back onto the saddle.
"Safety first Chew. Safety first."
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Aria and Chewy spend about an hour hamming it up with the group of people. They seemed to enjoy it for the most part. But, Aria eventually had to dismiss herself from them. She wanted to ask about the next back of competition. If she remembered correctly the next day's events involved jousting. And Aria, needed to confirm Chewy's registration for that. She also wanted Chewy to explore more of the festival. So, she gently guided Chewy out of her penned in area and walked her around the venues. The town had done a great job planning and organizing things for wyerns and riders to enjoy things. Aria bought a few things with the second place prize she got. Charcoal and some vegetables for tonight's cook pot.
Aria and Chewy wandered around carefully, until they found the booth they were looking for. Aria was able to reconfirm the jousting registration for tomorrow with one of the officials. And with that taken care of, Aria and Chewy went to enjoy some more of the festivities. Chewy was happy to find a game that involved bobbing for apples and picking apart pumpkins. Aria picked up a small satchel of roasted chestnuts and returned towards Chew's holding grounds.
"I haven't seen that shop keep's kid yet. He's probably working the stalls." It was getting later into the day. Aria decided that she and Chewy had enough of the fair for one day. They did ask around and learned that they could set up a small camp within their enclosure area. And Aria spent a majority of the remaining daylight doing that. She had a small fire pit going by sundown and a small lean-to tent near it. She kept some of her more important possessions attached to Chewy. Few thieves would dare try to take the things off a wyvern's body. By sunset, she had a prepared chicken in her stew pot and some veggies.
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Thorne
Pupil
Posts: 29
Profession: Professional Nuisance
Affinity: Light
Profile: Thorne
OoC Alias: Ryder
Discord: ryderrocketship
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Post by Thorne on Nov 9, 2022 23:24:13 GMT -6
After browsing the stalls for a little while, Thorne decided to call it a day. Chewy seemed busy with other admirers, and it was getting late. The big question now was where Thorne was going to sleep. Everywhere in town had long been booked, and everywhere outside of town had some form of tent or sleeping arrangements already made. His employers probably wouldn’t help, so Thorne wandered quite far away from town looking for a spot. After a twenty minute walk, he found a cluster of trees that secluded him from view of monsters or bandits or other such unsavory creatures. It shielded Thorne well from the wind, though it wouldn’t do much if it started raining.
It wasn’t quite night yet, so Thorne once again pulled out the Flux tome and the library book. He was tempted to try using magic, as he had been every night before while he was traveling with the merchants. Unfortunately for Thorne, the one sensible cell in his body once again protested practicing an extremely hated magic not even a mile away from a very busy village. With a sigh, Thorne reread the library book, titled Beginner's Guide to the Use of Magic, which sounded nice and grand until you realize it was simply an extremely outdated guide on the use of Anima magic, with nothing on Elder or even Light and staff magic. With a half-hearted hope that using Anima was basically the same as Elder (it very clearly was not), Thorne read on, right until he couldn’t make out the words in the choking darkness. The sun had set, and with it, Thorne had fallen asleep.
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