Stone's Throw

[GamesMaster]

"Oh, play us something!" Pip urges. 

[Andreas Amell]

"Oh no, I couldn't-- I'm really not all that good," Andreas babbles, cheeks flushing. 

[GamesMaster]

"Better than any of us," says Cameron. "Go on, play."

[Andreas Amell]

"Well..." Andreas fidgets a little, eyes casting about as his nerves and lower estimation of his skill wars with his eagerness to impress his friends and show off. "Does anyone sing?" he hedges. "I couldn't possibly perform a solo right now, I'm far too out of practice for all focus to be upon me alone."

[GamesMaster]

"Scott's got the best voice," says Ezra, "or if you play something popular enough we could have a sing-along for everyone."

[Andreas Amell]

"Popular enough," Andreas murmurs, tapping his chin. "Do any of you know 'The Stars Drift Above us No Matter the Distance?' by any chance?" He'd love to go with 'Shield and Stone, Bread and Brew' as it's probably the song he does best but they almost certainly don't have a wiss-drill. Still, neither are super popular outside of certain communities given the meter only works in elven and dwarven respectively. There are lyrics for 'Stars Drift' in common, but they're shite.

[GamesMaster]

"Only in Common," Pip and Cameron groan, looking at Scott the merikos dwarf teasingly. 

"I know it in elven," adds Tadpole. 

[Andreas Amell]

"...how about Tadpole sings all of it and we teach the rest of you the chorus real fast?" Andreas suggests with a pained look.

[GamesMaster]

"That seems fine."

All agreed, they get to enjoying themselves. And Andreas finds that honestly... he has a good time. There's something about this group of near-strangers that invigorates him, drives him to perform better than usual. When they swap stories late into the night, Andreas sees himself over and over in their tales. Finally, he feels like he fits in, instead of being the weird cousin. 


The next morning, Charon meanders his way over to the Vallen household, looking for his uncle Carver. He brings a bag of meat buns with him, nervously crunching up the bag as he walks. It cost him a pretty penny, but he wants to make a good impression. 

Unfortunately, Carver's at work, and so are Lovan and Seli, so it's Aveline, who has been working afternoon to early evening mostly, that answers the door. 

[Aveline Vallen]

"Dreas," the tall redhead greeted him, a warm smile on her handsome face. She dusted her hands off on an apron covered in a wild mess of flowers, strange writing tools and... blobby lizards? With shields? stitched on it. "Your timing is a little off--  the first batch of loaves won't be out for another five minutes. And then another five to cool," she teased him, stepping back to allow him inside.

[Charon Tethras]

"Oh. I um, I brought -- I can't remember if you prefer pork or chicken so I got both," he says, awkwardly shifting a little. "Is Uncle Carver home?"

[Aveline Vallen]

Aveline gave a chuckle at his nerves, though a part of her mind made note of it, just in case. "Have a seat, I'll make some tea. We can have a bun and chat until the loaves are ready. I made my banana pecan ones again, but I'm trying a new variation this time; chai tea with a caramel drizzle. I'm hoping Cedric actually likes this one."

"Oh, and Carver's at work of course." Eyes narrowed, she gave him a very 'mom' look. "You've lost track of what day it is again, haven't you?"

[Charon Tethras]

He flinches. "Unfortunately. But maybe you can help?" He comes to sit at the table, unpacking the buns. 

[Aveline Vallen]

"If I can," Aveline agreed easily, not with seriousness or sincerity. Instead, it was spoken as a truth, an agreement with reality of how things simply are.

[Charon Tethras]

"I uh... I got into a rough spot yesterday," he admits. "Well, you can see, I ended up getting varnish all over my fur. Took ages to get out. Anyway. I thought maybe if I learned how to fight some, I'd be less clumsy and harder to pickpocket."