Open The Frost Fair of 1765

[Korya]

Korya writhed and wriggled in the snow fort's remains, coating her fur in a thick layer of insulating (and privacy-protecting) white powder.

"Hrmmm..."

She didn't really want new clothes. She liked her old clothes. They fit well and let her punch things, and were just light enough to let winter's bite thrill her. While she hadn't yet experienced a Vulpinsulan summer wearing the same things, they had been tailored to not cause over-heating... loose pants, a sleeveless shirt, and those she asked confirmed the style was ruggedly heroic and, most importantly, carried her Northland heritage and charm with her.

The big thing to worry about was the stick. Cryle had spent a while on the stick, and it was important... a physical manifestation of their friendship! That let her whack beasts!

She let out a little mewling whine at the idea of it being lost in the snow.

"I... I want fizzy drinks, but I want my old clothes and my stick! Cryle made me the stick! She would be so sad if I came home without it - we're roommates, by the way... she didn't have anywhere to stay except the ship..."

Korya perked her ears and leaned out from the ruined fort.

"Griblo? Is it truce time? Are we getting fizzy drinks? Do I have to throw more snowballs at anybeast? Do you see my stick and clothes? Oh! Freya!" Korya turned back and patted the larger feline's arm, then held her own arms up. "Uppies? Kitten-back ride? How is Willow doing, anyway? He remember anything yet?"

It had only been a few days since the ship had come back to port, but who knows what had happened in that time! A few days was like years when it came to stories to tell over drinks.

 

[Marble]

The Vixen gave a laugh as she darted through the hail of snowballs landing in the snow as she dove for cover, looking back at the bard she had saved.
"Always protect the bard, they do naught but bring joy and light to the world. Plus my patrons brother is the god of music so technically cousins" She laughed, seeing the other fox coming over to help the Bard up, wasn't intending to pelt them but it must have seemed that way to them.
"Ah, no not for you, for those blighters up there that dare strike our friend. Though seems I may have joined a little late." Standing up and dusting off the snow as she moved closer to the pair.
"Yes Swift of tail I remember. Have you been contnuing to practice since we last met? and yes bards are always dramatic have no doubt about that, you chose yourself."

Turning to the bard and gave a short bow
"Miothiyle of Thermodon at your service good sir" With a wide smile and perhaps a tad manic from the excitment of the brief exchange, turning her head to watch the beasts flee from their fort and the other combatants cheer the victory. At the offer of a rematch she flicked her paw and the already balled up snow into Swifts chest, having not let go of it yet, aiming to strike the fox before he could ball it up
"Be quicker than that, Cider does sound good though and I am not used to cold as much so best to call while I am not foxicle."

@SwifttailTheFox @Silvertongue Songfox

 

[Irene Rightsbeast]

Irene looked over the frigid ferret's head, and turned to look at the other beasts on the snowy battlefield. Unfortunately for her, while before the crowd was dispursed over the relatively large field, everyone has now gotten to the remains of the fort, where she was with her sneakily-gotten gains. The more eyes were on her, the more eyes could notice, and that big lynx could probably count for like 6 pairs of eyes, all lynx in the stories she read had supersight after all, and this wasn't just any lynx, this was a big lynx! The ferret didn't seem to notice her pickpocketing him, and was more focused on the small naked feline in the fort. She assumed that's what he was yelling about, because she couldn't actually catch any of the words he said, and she decided to just assume that he wanted her gone instead of asking him to repeat himself. For one, that was more convenient for her, and for another, she doubted she would understand him any better the second time.

"Oh, ok sir, well, Miss Big Lynx here, she can help you if you need..."

And just as quickly as she appeared, the red vixen let go of Griblo's shoulder and ran away, the snow slushing under her paws. She was already forming her plan for the rest of the evening: get something to eat, get a place to sleep, and then eat and sleep in that place until next morning, where fortunately tomorrow's Irene will be ready to figure out what needed to be done on her day. She was running once again, her mind flowing at 17000 barrels of thoughts per second. She could look at what's around her, dodge other people, make sure she wasn't going into any place where she could be easily caught or discovered, and have some thoughts left over for what just happened. Why was there a naked cat in that snow fort? Who would take off their clothes in this terrible winter! Where would their clothes be? Weren't there some clothes around? Wait, yes, they were, until she took them! And didn't she also mention a stick? Yes, she got the stick too! And she was looking for that stick! And she told the big lynx! And the ferret was looking at her, they were all in cahoots, and they were going against her!

She looked around for the big lynx or any of her friends, still running ahead. There weren't many lynxes, none of them were as big as the big lynx though and they weren't chasing after her. There were more wildcats, but none of them were naked. And there were a gates bunch of ferrets, but no ferret icicles. Ferretcicles. Yeah, that sounded funnier. Before she could giggle at the word she just invented however something bad happened.

She tripped on something in front of her as she was looking at a squirrel to the left, and she fell straight ahead over the opsticle and would have fallen straight on her face if she didn't turn mid-fall on her side and land on her back. Apparently falling on the rump was best, followed by the back then side, but it always hurt to Irene. At least it was easier to get up when she was on her back, which she forced herself to do to look at what she tripped over. She was standing on a small gecko's tail, which must have been the explanation for her fall. A part of her wanted to yell at the gecko for being their while she was running, but her mood was improved a lot by the smell of soup and bread prepared only a leap or so away from her. She was now stuck between the long-tailed reptile, an imposing important-looking squirrel with a strange footpaw, reminding her of pirates and their wooden legs, and a white vixen who didn't seem to have a thing noteable about her. Irene's eyes darted around, as if she was in a mousetrap, putting her paws on her snout as if trying to bend it so it would look straight, but like every other stressful time she resorted to it, it just wouldn't budge.

"Uh, I... I'm sorry, I need to get something to eat from the stand over there..."

She was looking at the squirrel, as if asking for her to move even though there was plenty of space for her to get past.

@Griblo Jankweed @Freya McFjorl @Korya @Amnesty Greysoul @Cricket @Orina Emberkin

 

[Rosmakh W. Dowganosyv]

It was as dark as a starless night in Professor Dowganosyv's apartment. This wasn't as much trouble for the two Northlander residents in it, who often had to work in less than favorable lighting conditions and thus relied on their night vision and other senses to work. Every beast had their limits though, or at least their physical manifestations did, since the wolverine professor lit four candles in a semicircle around the letter he was writing, a bit closer to the flammable paper than most beasts would feel comfortable with. He wouldn't have it any other way. The greater risk the greater the reward, and he wouldn't settle for anything less than greatness, in the spiritual, mystical and esoteric sense of course. Levin the Ermine watched him on with great interest, following every stroke of his master's paw and the stylus he held, like he would during his chemical experiments and demonstrations.

"The minister of commerce, just like I thought, has great knowledge of the commonly unknown", Professor Dowganosyv said without missing a beat in the narrative he was writing, "I am fairly certain he has listened to my lectures back in Caer Eira Haf, and is guided by them in his ministerial duties. The Vulpine imperium is the most fortunate to have one of my disciples among its ministers, and that one of his first acts as minister was to establish good relations with the winter spirits and the criomantic unknown ones through this frost fair. I will need to meet with him, and tell him how much I appreciate his work".

by the time he finished speaking he had finished writing the lettter, had gently and carefully folded it and placed it into an envelope, and had written the following words on it:

"To my colleague Nevali Waybird.
From Professor Rosmakh W. Dowganosyv.
Staying at 19 Vladimir Ullyanov street
Apartment lucky 7"

"Levin, would you please deliver this letter to Madame Nevali Waybird, whilst I get ready for tonights lesson?", Dowganosyv nodded at a thick tome he pulled out out of his suitcase that morning.

"Yes, professor", the snow ermine took the letter, put it in the pocket of his light coat he already put on, and with great speed, some excitement, and uncertainty that the student always felt when going out on his own, left the apartment, made two circles down the steps of the narrow building, and stepped out onto the snow-covered streets. Levin's walk to the frost fair was rather uneventful, there were so many kits walking around on their own it barely even registered for most beasts, especially when Levin looked like a very small adult by the seriousness in his step. He was hopelessly lost at the fair for a while, there were just so many things going on. Levin wanted to be at the fair, experience all the joys that it had to offer. There were beasts talking, there were beasts serving food and eating it, there were beasts throwing snowballs and skating on the ice. He put the thought of fun out of his mind though. Professor Dowganosyv told him that entertainment was just a distraction for simple beasts for appeasement of the unknown ones, and that he was destined to be much more than a simple beast. He could only do that through great struggle, study and work, and the frost fair was the exact opposite of those.

He finally spotted whom he was looking for. He was told what she looked like, "The most pudgy, least weasel, hahahaha" was what the drunk sailor said when he retold the rumor he heard about the knowledgeable witch, and then tripped over her name 11 times over. Levin counted it, he was taught to count everything, and Dowganosyv rewarded him greatly for it, since with a supposedly simple procedure involving a glass prism, green inc, a bright blue flame and a half spoonful of Natrium Chloride, he discovered the witches true name from the drunk's ramblings.

"Uh, hello...is this Madame Nevali Waybird?"

Levin pulled out his letter as he approached, stretching his paw out for her to grab it.

"it's from Professor Rosmakh W. Dowganosyv, he heard of your work and wrote you this letter..."

@Nevali

 

[Silvertongue Songfox]

The Vixen gave a laugh as she darted through the hail of snowballs landing in the snow as she dove for cover, looking back at the bard she had saved.
"Always protect the bard, they do naught but bring joy and light to the world. Plus my patrons brother is the god of music so technically cousins" She laughed, seeing the other fox coming over to help the Bard up, wasn't intending to pelt them but it must have seemed that way to them.
"Ah, no not for you, for those blighters up there that dare strike our friend. Though seems I may have joined a little late." Standing up and dusting off the snow as she moved closer to the pair.
"Yes Swift of tail I remember. Have you been contnuing to practice since we last met? and yes bards are always dramatic have no doubt about that, you chose yourself."

Turning to the bard and gave a short bow
"Miothiyle of Thermodon at your service good sir" With a wide smile and perhaps a tad manic from the excitment of the brief exchange, turning her head to watch the beasts flee from their fort and the other combatants cheer the victory. At the offer of a rematch she flicked her paw and the already balled up snow into Swifts chest, having not let go of it yet, aiming to strike the fox before he could ball it up
"Be quicker than that, Cider does sound good though and I am not used to cold as much so best to call while I am not foxicle."

@SwifttailTheFox @Silvertongue Songfox

"Mio- uh- Miothiyle." Silvertongue struggled to pronounce the name. "A pleasure to meet you. I am Silvertongue Songfox. You'll have to tell me more about these gods of yours. They sound intriguing."

 

[Orina Emberkin]

Orina raised a brow at the little gecko, momentarily unsure how to respond to the young beast's unintelligible exclamation. She had not expected the reptile to be quite so flustered. The squirrel glanced at Amnesty to see if the vixen had any ideas, given that it seemed she knew the gecko, but before either squirrel or fox had a chance to respond, another vixen entered the scene, tripping over the lizard's tail.

A Stealthblade wildcat who had been hovering within the crowd just off Orina's flank was suddenly beside and partially between the squirrel and the newcomer. Orina cleared her throat and tilted her head to the Unsmudgable who had stepped in to protect her from potential attack. The wildcat stood down, but not without a sullen glare at the vixen as she picked herself up and spoke.

The Minister of Niceties opened a paw towards the stand. "The food is free, courtesy of the Ministry of Niceties. Please, help yourself."