Alariel is walking along the street, watching people and smiling. Now and then she waves to someone or stops to greet them.
Dalamar walks liesurely from the Jardin. A small smile is evident on his face as his eyes glance about.
Dalamar
Dalamar's black hair curls slightly at the ends as it loosely hangs below his shoulders. The irises of his eyes are so black that a pupil cannot be discerned within their depths. His skin is the paleness of one whose life exists without sunlight. There is a cruelty about him hinted at in the dark gaze and the sinister curve of his mouth. The rest of his tall body is fit and muscular, but not overly large. His grace of movement is eerily smooth. His voice is a deep baritone capable of masking or flaunting emotion and sound.
Dalamar's body is clothed in darkness. A silk shirt so black it shimmers snugly reveals the muscular outlines of his upper body. His navy blue pants are loose-fitting and flare slightly just before they are tucked into the tops of hard, black leather boots. Two daggers hang comfortably from Dalamar's belt, one over each hip. Each is curved wickedly into a half-moon shape. The hilts are ornate and decorated richly.
Alariel hasn't noticed Dalamar yet, to all appearances, but she stops briefly in front of the cafe while a very old man greets her and offers to buy her a sweet roll -- which she refuses politely.
Dalamar fairly glides along his steps are so smooth. His black eyes alight on the girl and he smiles a bit broader. He calls softly to her, "Hello and good day."
Alariel looks up at the new-comer with wide eyes. "Hello, m'sieur, and a good day to you also." She smiles happily.
Dalamar stops his feet as he regards the girl. "You seem quite happy."
Alariel tilts her head to one side and regards him with a particularly open, ingenuous expression. "Oh, but should I not be, m'sieur?" She waves her hand at the overhanging clouds. "It is a lovely day, people are out, though I think it shall storm later. And all my friends are here, and I may go to the clothier, Ophelie told them to put it on her account!" The smile never wavers, if anything it grows in intensity.
Dalamar can't help but smile wider with such an infectious one before him. "And you go about here alone?"
Alariel nods, and for the first time there is a faint hint of shyness in her expression - but the smile never wavers, and the shyness disappears quickly under the force of her joy. "Oh, yes, m'sieur, here on the Rue, because everyone here knows me." She pauses to wave a greeting to one of the cafe servers.
Dalamar nods as he watches everyone's greetings to the girl. "I see. You are quite safe then." He tilts his head. "And what was your name?"
Alariel nods and smiles. "I am Alariel. My friends call me Riel, though." She tilts her head. "May I ask your name, m'sieur?"
Dalamar says his name with little flare. "Dalamar."
Alariel nods her head slightly. "Pleased to meet you."
Dalamar nods his head. "It is, indeed."
Alariel considers him for a moment, still smiling; she appears to be waiting to see if he will say something else.
Dalamar looks back the direction the girl came and then back again. "Am i detaining you?"
Alariel smiles. "No, I stop and talk to everyone." She says it matter-of-factly. "I am to go to the clothier sometime today but it does not matter if it is a little earlier or later."
Dalamar aahs softly, turns his steps so that he's beside the girl. "May I walk with you for a short time?"
Alariel nods slightly. "Of course. Did you wish to go to a particular shop, or to walk along the Rue, or to go to the clothier?" She looks up at him and the infectious smile widens slightly. "They have such *wonderful* fabrics, this season, m'sieur!"
Dalamar raises an eyebrow and shrugs slightly. "Anyplace your feet wish to carry you, little Riel."
Alariel grins suddenly. "The clothier, then. I would like someone else's opinion on the dress I want, anyway." She turns to head in that direction.
Dalamar nods his head. "T'would be a pleasure."
Alariel smiles and leads the way to the clothier. Along the way, she waves to a couple people, though she doesn't stop to more formally greet anyone.
Dalamar watches the girl silently, then asks. "What do you do here?"
Alariel smiles happily. "Mostly I play, sir, and learn. And I draw!" She adds this happily, and in a tone that suggests that it is the most wonderful thing that could happen.
Dalamar blinks in some surprise. "And what do you draw?
Alariel smiles. "Oh, everything, m'sieur, but especially the people I meet! They are so nice!" The constant smile turns into a grin, and she adds, "And the trees. I love to draw the trees, but it is hard to get the --" Her face goes faintly blank, as if she is trying to remember something, and finally she says-- "the size right, at any rate."
Dalamar frowns at the pause, but says nothing about it. "Do you now a woman named India?"
Alariel smiles happily. "Oh yes, she is the one who asked Ophelie to be my guardian. She is very nice."
Milistar arrives from the Quai.
Milistar wanders along the Rue, watching the storefronts and having his yo-yo make zig-zags.
Alariel has been watching Dalamar and smiling, but she turns to look at Milistar, and smiles happily at him. The yo-yo seems to enchant her.
Milistar
Milistar is a 6-foot tall, slender young man with a pearl-white complexion, who has the eagerness and the look of one under twenty years of age. Blue hair that flows over his shoulders contrasts with deep green eyes that are always shifting with unrest, looking at everything that surrounds him.
He wears a sky-blue tunic that matches with his hair; dark, twilight-blue trousers; black and shiny leather boots; and a green cloak, fastened in front by a navy-blue pentagram clasp. Not just any green cloak though: it fades from sea-green at his shoulders to dark green, almost black, at his feet. It's embroidered in such a way that when Milistar moves, it ripples like waves on the ocean. His embroidered garb with golden buttons seems right out of the tailor, and he looks proud of wearing it.
His right hand is constantly swinging a shining blue yo-yo adorned with a pair of sapphires. A slender golden dagger in a red scabbard hangs loosely from his belt beside a silver pistol.
Right now he looks in top shape.
Dalamar mumbles to himself. "A yo-yo man."
Milistar bows when he approaches both of you. "Bonjour Mademoiselle, bonjour Monsieur."
Alariel smiles shyly and performs a somewhat awkward curtsey. By the time she's finished it, she's smiling broadly again. "Bonjour, m'siuer, and a good day to you."
Milistar catches his yo-yo and keeps it in his hand, stopping his walk at the same time. "WOuldn't you, by any chance, know the lady India Barimen?"
Alariel looks slightly amused for a moment, before returning to her usual happy smile. "Oh, yes, m'sieur, it is she who made Ophelie my guardian. She has been very nice to me."
Dalamar's eyes gaze at Milistar very intently. "Popular question."
Milistar raises an eyebrow while glancing at Dalamar. "Popular? Why would it be so? I heard that she had appartments on the Rue Indigo, and I was searching for her before I leave the QUartier."
Dalamar does not deign to answer the man's question, but steps back a moment, squinting.
Alariel considers Milistar for a moment, still smiling. "She has apartments here, a studio, yes, but she is not always about. She often comes out to the Rue when she is, however, m'sieur."
Milistar still looks at Dalamar for a moment, seemingly at unease, then turns to ask Alariel: "Hmmm, so maybe my best bet would be to wait in the Cafe Balzac on an evening when she passes by...
Alariel nods. "That is a good time to find her, m'sieur. Or in the late afternoon also, if it is not raining so hard that nothing can be seen."
Dalamar watches, listens, but says nothing to add to the conversation.
Milistar nods and smile to Alariel. "So it seems I hapened to stumble on the right person, you seem like oyu know much about India's whereabouts..."
Alariel smiles shyly. "Well, of a sort. I don't know where she travels at all when she isn't here, but she speaks to me often." She blushes. "Or scolds me if I have been out where I oughtn't be."
Milistar listens intently to Alariel, but from time to time glances at Dalamar with curiosity. He continues speaking to Alariel. "Do you live around here too?"
Dalamar's eyes remain intent on Milistar. The blackness of them darkening slightly.
Alariel nods. "Yes, I live with Ophelie, near here." She is still smiling happily and seems unaware of any of the byplay.
Milistar nods, then purposefully turns to Dalamar: "And are you from Psris too, good sir?"
Dalamar gives a very non-commital answer. "I live here."
Dalamar says "For now."
Alariel looks up at Dalamar and blinks once, her smile never wavering, then glances back at Milistar.
Milistar ahhs after a moment. "I see..." He then waits for a moment, then. "Oh, yes, I should have introduced myself. I am Milistar, Yo-Master of Lorgrim."
Alariel looks at Milistar, her smile mostly gone as she frowns in puzzlement; then she shrugs and smiles again. "Pleased to meet you, m'sieur." Her tone of voice is also faintly puzzled.
Milistar says "Hmm, well, if you see India around here, please tell her that Milistar has been looking for her."
Dalamar nods his head. "Very well, Master Lorgrim."
Alariel nods slightly. "I will also, m'sieur, if I see her before you do." She smiles happily.
Milistar steps back once and bows again. "I will not delay both of you any further then. Bonne journee."
Alariel smiles and nods. "Thank you, m'sieur, and to you also."
Dalamar nods his head in departure.
Milistar resumes walking towards La Lune Bleue, making an around-the-world with his yo-yo.
Alariel smiles up at Dalamar. "Well, m'sieur, shall we continue to the clothier?"
Dalamar nods. "Very well."
Milistar enters the pub.
Milistar has left.
Alariel turns back to the clothier....
You open a small door, setting a string of bells to gently ringing. Mannequins and displays line the walls of this store, showcasing the latest fashions of the Quartier. (Read +lhelp This Season for details.) The store is all dark mahogany, plush burgundy carpet, and brass-trimmed glass. Clothing, jewelry, perfume and other luxury items may be had here, for a price. Suave, modish salespeople smile attentively as you enter the clothier.
Dalamar opens the door to the shop, setting a string of bells to gently ringing, and enters the clothier.
Dalamar joins you.
Dalamar's eyes puruse the establishment.
Alariel smiles about the place, but almost as soon as she is in the door, a salesgirl has taken her cloak and another has pressed a mug of hot chocolate into her hand, for which she smiles her gratitude.
Dalamar's mouth curls into an amused smile as he watches the display.
Alariel smiles happily, and waves a hand at Dalamar. "This is m'sieur Dalamar, we have been speaking. I was wondering if I could see that dress again, perhaps?"
Dalamar nods to one of the salespersons greeting him, but shakes his head upon question of a new wardrobe.
Alariel smiles as a salesgirl comes back with a lovely dress of deep indigo, with silver embroidery at the throat. She looks at Dalamar. "M'sieur? I will be just a moment, in the dressing room...." She turns back to the saleslady. "If you will help me put it on?"
Dalamar nods at Alariel. HIs eyes move to puruse some of the fabrics and such.
Alariel slips into the dressing room with the salesgirl and comes back out some while later in the dress, turning slowly and looking to Dalamar and the salespeople to approve or disapprove of the look.
Dalamar nods in approval. "Very beautiful, Riel."
Alariel smiles happily as Dalamar and then the others approve, and she curtsies slightly, then goes back in to change out of the dress again. "Ophelie said I could put it on her tab if I liked it, could you please have it delivered to her place?"
Dalamar reaches a hand out to a very nice bolt of silk. A dark grey in color, not black.
Alariel emerges, dressed properly again, the salesgirl folding the new dress up neatly. Another salesgirl starts fussing with Riel's hair, straightening it out; she smiles at them both, then at Dalamar. "Thank you, m'sieur." She glances at the salesgirl. "Oh, and the two hair decorations you showed me, please."
Dalamar nods to the girl absently, his eyes suddenly caught upon a right handsome hat.
Alariel watches Dalamar, then looks to the hat. She looks back at him, almost questioningly. "It is a very nice hat, m'sieur."
A salesgirl walks over. "Can I help you, sir?"
Dalamar blinks, having not heard the salegirl approach. "That hat... may I see it?"
The salesgirl smiles professionally. "Of course, sir, just a moment." She retrieves the hat for him.
Alariel watches, interested. While she watches, another salesgirl is busily doing up her hair with a hair ribbon, saying something that sounds like, "Fille, you should put your hair up, it is too pretty not to put up!"
Dalamar smiles with a nod as he takes it in hand, as if weighing it.
Alariel tilts her head. "Do you like it?"
The elegant top hat sits easily in Dalamar's hand. Black silk wrapped around the velvet top. "Very nice." He hands it back to the salesgirl. "I shall return for it later."
The salesgirl smiles and nods. "Shall I set it aside for you, monsieur?"
Alariel smiles and nods to herself at Dalamar's appreciation of the hat.
Dalamar nods. "Pleae. The name is Dalamar."
Dalamar smiles again, watches the hat be put in hold, and then tilts his head. "I'm afraid, Riel, that I must be about other business... away from here."
Alariel nods. "Of course, m'sieur. I should be going home for lunch, at any rate. Ophelie will want to know about the dress, and to see me. It was nice speaking with you, and perhaps I will meet you again, however." She smiles happily, her eyes bright.
Dalamar bows to the girl and walks slowly out of the store.
Alariel wanders along the Rue toward the Boulevard...but slowly, as she stops to talk to people, glance into shops, and so on.
Dalamar walks swiftly away.