Allye/Performances/Icebound

Real Date	2023-10-20
Game Date	447-01-30
Event	Writer's Workshop
Point of View Character	Allye

You say, "So 'Icebound' is what I'm calling this one."

You nibble your lip thoughtfully.

Vixonia trills softly at you.

Nilme gazes at you.

(Allye sets her dulcimer across her lap, positioning her left hand at the frets as the pick on her right hand begins to strum the strings. A quiet, pensive tune fills the air.)

You quietly sing in a soprano voice:

   "Melting snow seeps down so deep,
    So far below, it approaches me.
    But I won't move, I won't disappear,
    I'm still here, yes, I'm still here."

You quietly sing in a soprano voice:

   "I won't send stalks to reach the sky,
    No stems grow green, no roots spread wide.
    Spring can come, but I'll be lost,
    Held in the dark, cocooned in frost."

(Allye's tune crescendos gently as the chorus flows forth. The dulcimer's notes ring out, clear and sweet.)

You plaintively sing in a soprano voice:

   "Don't let me thaw, no, don't let winter break,
    The warm light of dawn, it can't make me wake.
    It's still far too soon to relinquish this ache.
     
    Just leave me, icebound."

(Allye pauses for just a breath as the final word of the chorus lingers. Before the silence can register, her strumming resumes and the next verse begins.)

You softly sing in a soprano voice:

   "Every petal unfurls, one after another,
    To greet the kind sun, their nurturing mother,
    I will hold tight, and keep my heart clenched,
    No blossom will bloom, no mild rain will quench."

You softly sing in a soprano voice:

   "Time carries on, and seasons advance,
    But I'll find a way to bow out of this dance.
    Let every seedling shoot up now and sprout,
    I will stay here, in the cold world without."

(Allye's melody builds with a familiar crescendo as the final chorus looms. Her features are drawn in grim resignation, unconsoled yet determined.)

Vixonia gazes at you.

You plaintively sing in a soprano voice:

   "Don't let me thaw, no, don't let winter break,
    The warm light of dawn, it can't make me wake.
    It's still far too soon to relinquish this ache.
     
    Just leave me, icebound."

Useff slowly empties his lungs.

(Allye's refrain drops away once more as the last, breathy words of the chorus escape her lips. This time, no strummed tune dips back in to catch the melody. Instead there is only silence, jarring and unforgivingly final.)