• Solo • [Venora] Wild Child

Will's early days.

The seven Duchies of Central Rynmere and their respective baronies, cities, towns, villages, and landmarks each overseen by a Duke of one of the seven noble families and ultimately controlled by the King of Rynmere.
User avatar
William Dovecraft
Posts: 81
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:27 am
Race: Mixed Race
Profession: Mercenary / Smith
Renown: 50
Character Sheet
Plot Notes
Wealth Tier: Tier 1

[Venora] Wild Child

Image
.
Ashan 40th, 710

Cool, refreshing air filled young William Dovecraft’s lungs. It was Spring, and his mitts were dirty, playing around outside with what crawled in the mud, and chasing the neighborhood kids. They even played ‘Knights’ with swords, smacking each other with them. The boy’s chest was rising and falling quickly as he strode through the serenity of his father’s home. Every morning, he went out to play, but he had to come back to meet the tutor who would be teaching him in private the ways of the world of Rynmere men.

The man was waiting for him, with a dusty old tome under his arm. That grey, wispy beard was fascinating, his robes and balding head marking him as a member of the Rynalist faith. A spiritual man. Like Will’s father, but without the wealth being a well-to-do merchant offered. “Meister Horace!” Will chirruped as he sat upon the chair in the study, bouncing in his seat. “Can we do this tomorrow? I want to go out and play with Tuchalla!”

The smiling old man seemed to frown. “Be weary of these foreigners, these Sev’ryn,” he cautioned. “They have Gods that are not your own.”

“What do you mean?” Will asked with a hint of fright. “Are they bad?”

“Yes, William.” He set the book on the table, opening it to a later chapter. They were working through mathematical teachings. Graphs, lines, curves, and formulas. Will stared at the book, but he was stuck on the subject of the Gods.

But Tuchalla is so nice! “Okay...” he said in disappointment. He picked up the pen, and moved the papers aside, looking at his work from the day before as the tutor presided over him. “Meister Horace, I thought I had this one right...” he said, pointing to a long equation with an adjusted graph. “I did it with the formula like you said.”

Horace adjusted his small glasses and picked up the paper. “Ah, yes,” he said in a whimsical voice. “This number added to that one. It adjusts the curve of the line up by that amount.” He set it down. “Do you want an example?”

“No, I know what I did wrong,” Will said, jotting down the correct answer. Starting to work through a few more. It was all basic math.

“No so fast,” the tutor said, staying Will’s hand with an interjecting pen to circle one of his mistakes. “Don’t you remember the order of operation, William? Parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction?” Will had multiplied before dealing with the exponents. It was a mess.

“Okay, I remember,” Will said, even though he didn’t remember. Fixing his mistake, he continued, until the graph was perfect. “So now I get to plot it out, right?” That was the fun part.

“Mhm,” the tutor said, watching carefully as William drew the grid and plotted the points.

“Okay, I’m done!” Will said happily, setting down the pen. “Can I go play now?”

“I want you to practice this,” the tutor said.

“But... but it’ll be dark soon,” Will frowned. “Father doesn’t let me have visitors...”

Cold and astute, yet patient, the tutor nodded, “and then you shall play with them tomorrow. Balance your time, William.” The tutor began to jot down some practice arithmetic for William to work through, before setting the sheet of problems out before him. “These shouldn’t be too hard for someone of your caliber.”

Will nodded in defeat. It was the kind of pain that hung with him, that made him hate math. He already hated math. I don’t want to count money like father! Frustrated, he threw the pen down suddenly, and ran away from the study, and the tutor, slamming the door.

“Will!?” Horace called after him. “Don’t slam the doors, William! Pah!”

Feet moving before his mind, Will ended up in the Servant’s Wing, his racing form a blur as it crashed with the outstretched arms of his mother, the boy crying against her bosom. “Mother!” he wailed. “Why does being like Father wants me to be hurt so much!?”

Her hand fluttered to his head, stroking over his hair, her gentle words fluttering down his ears like butterflies. “You are who you are,” she cooed gently, broom pinned between them. Slender arms squeezed his frame with warmth, and then drew him to arm’s length, the fragrance of her flowery perfume thick in his nostrils as he stared up at her with those blue, watery eyes. “Your father will be cross with you, if you don’t go and finish your lessons,” she said, squeezing his shoulder.

“I don’t care,” Will said, leering at the ground between them. “I just want to be with you.” Every other Trial, Will spent at least a Break with his mother. “I’ll do it tomorrow. I’m sick of it.”

“Maybe I shall tell you a story, my son,” she said with that soft voice, her own green eyes staring into his. Palms pushing him around, they started out the door into the gardens, the bright lush green of Ashan all around. “Can you keep a secret, dear?” she asked as they walked underneath the boughs of a large walnut tree, its cracked shells strewn about the ground. A squirrel darted across the path, ruffling the bushes as it scampered up the bark. William touched his elbow and nodded, comforted by a mother’s touch. “Ashan is not just a season.”

“It’s not?” Will questioned as they walked, the breeze of sweet wind billowing around them.

“My little darling, Ashan is an Immortal, a God. He is the God of Spring, Spirituality, and Freedom,” uttered her moving lips as they arrived before bench, and sat there, Will clinging to her side. Part of him felt insecure, for defying the will of his father again, but the comfort of his mother was a welcome distraction.

“Ashan is a God? I didn’t know that, I thought it was a season!” he rambled.

“Oh no, he is the Bringer of Flowers. All you see around you that is pretty and colorful here, in abundance. His passing through these lands in the Spring is to blame,” she smiled, her warm hair tickling Will’s face.

“Mnnh, what does he like?” William asked.

“I think he looked like a Sev’ryn... I’ve heard stories that he shows up during your time in need, as a doctor, or a guide through the forests.”

“Oh... is he nice?”

“I think so,” she laughed. “I pray to him sometimes, for comfort.”

“Is it bad to pray to other Gods?” Will asked.

“Maybe only the bad ones.” Her hand moved around his back, rubbing him with those calloused fingers. She worked her digits under his shirt, skritching those long nails down his spine until he was half-frowning, half-grinning from the embarrassing attention.

“Okay, okay, Mother,” he growled. “Stop that.”

Her hand drew away, and she chuckled into her palm. “So serious, my William.”

Will looked away, all pouty-faced and red-cheeked. “Father is making me study during the day. I want to go out and play with friends...” The boy was in a precarious position, his mother having no power at all over the whims of his father, but he still wanted his frustrations heard by somebody who cared about him.

“You have your own choices to make,” she said. “There are consequences to every action.” She tilted her head at him, trying to look him in the eyes. “Maybe you should pray to Ashan, for more freedom? That is what he stands for, my son.”

Pursing his lips, Will stirred there on the bench and ended up drawing his knees to his chin, hugging them. “Okay, I-I’ll try.”

“Shut your eyes. Just think about the wonder of Spring, being as free as the wind, and flying in the sky!” she said excitedly, happy to teach her boy a lessons since nobody was watching to judge her for it.

Will nodded, shutting his eyes, eyelids trembling as he fought to keep them shut. No matter how hard he squeezed his eyes, he couldn’t focus - just didn’t understand how, his mind preoccupied with other things. However, just trying stirred his imagination to the point where he was thinking about the flowers, running across the grass. Then, he jumped, but the world never called him down, the wind to his back. It was pleasant to think about, flying up there in the clouds - and then he lost it, the chirp of a bird startling him back into an awareness of the immediate world.

He kept his eyes shut, but he couldn’t quite get where he needed to be anymore. When a wandering fly buzzed against his nostril, he snorted and his eyes were instantly wide open. “Hey!” he said. “Stupid flies, buzzing on my nose all the time!”

The mother sighed knowingly. “I don’t like it when they try to fly in my nose either,” she said. “They say being close to Ashan makes the bugs less likely to sting,” she laughed.

Will grunted, crossing his arms together. “I don’t care, bugs are gross! Cool, but gross!”

“Oh my, William. You’ll learn so many things, just wait and see,” the Sev’ryn said in high hopes for his future.
word count: 1578
User avatar
Pegasus Pug!!!
City Moderator
City Moderator
Posts: 10449
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2016 1:08 am
Race: Prophet
Renown: 666
Plot Notes
Office
Templates
Point Bank Thread
Wealth Tier: Tier 1

Re: [Venora] Wild Child

Image
Pugasus says.... hold on!! Review is on its way!!
word count: 9
Image
~~Red in hoof and claw... ~~


Family visiting. Send help!
Locked Request an XP Review Claim Wealth Thread

Return to “Duchies”