Floating lives (Closed)

[Akion]

Alex staggered to his feet, his body now feeling less exausted. Thinking about it it was a feeling similar to being winded but one which stayed with you for alot longer.

Walking behind the man Alex took time to look around and observe the surroundings the buildings were all built of stone with wooden panelling along the sides of them held on fast by metal rickets. Alex couldn't see a point in the wood and metal, the houses were made of well cut stone, the extra additions to the houses seemed purely athetic. Each house also had at least 2 windows, looking out into the street and allowing for brief glimses into a person's life, a foriegn concept to him.

"Why is every house allowing for us to peer inside as we pass, does no one like to live in privacy behind their stone walls?" Alex asked Shay as they walked, surely having stone walls meant you wanted to keep people out but the windows allowed people to see in.

[Saloo]

"Why is every house allowing for us to peer inside as we pass, does no one like to live in privacy behind their stone walls?" asked the boy as he followed behind.

"Hmm?" asked Shay, looking over his shoulder. "The windows? Don't know. Never really thought about it. I guess people do it to make the insides seem bigger. You know, big windows can do that." Shay thought about it for a moment.

"On the other hand, we're pretty far down in the south. It gets really hot around here in the summer. People need the windows to keep their place cooler during the hot days." Shay laughed to himself. "Sorry. I don't really know anything. I'm bullshitting here. To be honest, I've never really thought about it. It's always been like this." Shay paused.

"You must come from a weird place kid." Shay found himself outside of a slightly rundown building in the outskirts. The buildings around them weren't as nice as the ones further in. Most of these places were made of mostly wood, not stone and many were starting to fall apart. Shay pointed at the building.

"This is the place. Just stay close to me and you'll be fine." Shay walked into the old bar. The inside was more elegant then the outside led people to believe. The owner, a plump, grey haired old man wearing a fancy red tailcoat, stood behind the polished redwood bar. He washed a glass with a clean towel as he watched over his customers like a hawk. They paid him for a drink and that was it. He made sure that it was all they got in his bar.

The room was brightly lit by the firelight of countless candles, many of which were glowing pleasantly from the crystal chandelier that hung from the vaulted ceiling in the main drinking hall. Shay walked casually up to the bar. Strangely enough, no one around seemed to notice him.

"What can I get for you, Mr. Master Thief?” The old owner turned, showing his rounded cheeks and neatly trimmed mustache.

“Hey!” said Shay in an urgent whisper. “Not so loud! There are people here.” They stared at each other for a moment.

“Who in their right mind you believe you are the Shade Fox?”

“True, but I’m often surprised by what people will believe if they hear it often enough.”

The owner noticed the boy standing behind him. "Shay! I never thought you to be the fatherly type. Or did one of those one night stands of your's catch up with you?"

"No, no, no... It's not like that! I found the kid on the street and I thought I'd help him out. He seems kinda lost."

The owner gave him a questioning look. "You? Help? Come on, what are you getting out of this?"

"Nothing, for your information. Now, I just need a room for the night, if you don't mind."

They paused, staring at each other again. The owner sighed. "Fine. Just be careful what you get yourself into." He handed Shay a single key on a ring.

"I'll keep that in mind old man," said Shay, as he made a gesture similar to a salute. He turned to Alex. "Come on. This way," he said, leading him upstairs to a room.

[Akion]

As they entered the room Alex gave Shay a quizical look; "What'd that man mean? Master Theif? Shade Fox? are you some kind of petty theif who has an over active ego?" Sitting down on the bed he looked around, it really was alot nicer inside than the outside portrayed.

Picking up a small etched glass and rolling it inbetween his hands he thought about the other people who'd been inside of the bar. He'd noticed a few of them had been looking at Shay funny even before the name Shade Fox had been mentioned and when it had been 2 of them had rested their hands on their knife holds, the rest just laughed. "Do people always carry around big knifes around here?" Alex asked still half in thought "Just two people downstairs didn't seem to like the idea of you being this Shade Fox thing."

Getting up Alex walked over to the window and opened it looking out across the poorer section of the town, from what he could see it was almost as big as the city near his home town. "wow this place is huge." he said quietly as he allowed his gaze to drift from building to building, the roof tops so close togeather a person could move along them if they knew how.

[Saloo]

"What'd that man mean? Master Theif? Shade Fox? Are you some kind of petty theif who has an over active ego?" asked Alex. Shay twitched. It had been a long time since he had heard someone pair the name "Shade Fox", his alias, with the phrase "petty thief". He sighed. It had been a while since someone had pressed that particular button.

"Well... If you really want to know, "Shade Fox" is the thief tag I use. It's pretty well known actually." He smiled. "People say that there's nothing I can't steal. I've heard someone say that I could steal the moon if I felt like it." Shay sat down on the bed, leaning back and holding himself up with his arms.

"Do people always carry around big knifes around here?" Alex asked.

Shay shrugged. "I guess. The world is a little rough, you know? It's hard to get by if you can't defend yourself, what with the monsters that show up once in a while." Shay unsheathed one of the two long, curved knives at his belt. He slipped his index finger into the loop at the base of the hilt and held it up. "It's pretty standard to carry at least one weapon."

"Just, two people downstairs didn't seem to like the idea of you being this Shade Fox thing."

"I wouldn't be surprised. When I show up, it tends to mean trouble for certain people. It's a little strange for people to actually take the old man seriously though. My reputation is a little off, so no one who sees me actually thinks I could possibly be the legendary "Shade Fox". Not to mention that people my age don't tend to be this good, you know?"

Shay followed Alex with his eyes as he went to the window and looked out. "Wow. This place is huge," he said.

Shay nodded. "Yeah. Boas is pretty big. It's not as big as the capital, but it's pretty close." He paused, thinking. "Hey Alex, you have any ideas on where you plan on going? I'm not sure where you come from and I sure as hell don't know how to get you back."

[Akion]

"Plans? well I don't know where I am bar a name of a town, All i really remember was being at home, being in the ocean and then waking up on the street in the rain. I don't think I have had much of a chance to formulate many plans as of yet, maybe I'll do that when I know exactly what's going on."

Alex walked back across the room and looked at the single bed "So who gets the bed?" He asked once more sitting down upon it, "Also I'd like to see you steal the Moon, if I knew what a Moon was when it was at home."

[Saloo]

"I guess you're right," said Shay, looking out the window at the stars. The sky was, once more clearing up.

"So who gets the bed?" asked Alex. Shay laughed.

"You can have it. I'm used to sleeping on the rocks. Even a floor is better than that." Shay continued looking out the window. The moon was just coming out from the cloud cover now.

"Also I'd like to see you steal the Moon, if I knew what a Moon was when it was at home."

Shay froze. Did he just say... No...

"Hey, did you just say you didn't know what the moon was? How could you not know what the moon is? I mean, it's a bright light in the night sky." Shay pointed at the now clear moon through the window. "Do you just call it something else or something?"

[Akion]

Alex looked out of the window from the bed, staring for a moment he looked back at Shay. "Umm... nope I've never seen anything like that before. What is it?" Alex asked looking back up at it once more.

"Is that like a second sun? or just a really close star? Also how'd you steal it? does it belong to some one? and wouldn't it be hard to get to?" Alex pondered alot of these things to himself considering just what it could be that floated so well in the sky.

[Saloo]

"Umm... nope I've never seen anything like that before. What is it?" he asked.

"What is i-" Shay stopped himself, confused.

"Is that like a second sun? Or just a really close star? Also, how d'you steal it? Does it belong to some one? And wouldn't it be hard to get to?"

Shay sighed. "Don't tell me that metaphors don't exist in your world either? It's a figure of speech," he said, exasperated. And here, I thought I'd found a smart kid. I guess I can't really blame him. It's like he comes from another world or something.

"Look kid, I'm not sure what the moon is. From what I hear, it's something like a small world that floats around our own world. I'm not sure what keeps it there, maybe it's something close to what keeps us on the ground, I honestly don't know."

Sheesh... How would I know. There's not much point in knowing something like that, he thought.

[Akion]

"Well how'm I supposed to know you were speaking figuratively? This is a whole new thing for me to see, for all I know it could just be a giant lamp suspended above this town or continent. That's a therory alot of people had for the sun a long time ago where I come from."

Alex stared at it once more, before hearing a small scratching sound outside of the door "Umm... Shay... do you hear that?" Alex looked down and saw a shadow pass across the crack beneath the door, "Do you normally have visitors?"

[Saloo]

"Umm... Shay... do you hear that?" Alex looked down. "Do you normally have visitors?"

Shay was already looking at the door. He started to move silently, motioning for Alex to stay where he was. He made his way to the door and listened. He could hear muttering, then...

s**t! Still moving without a sound, he made his way back to the bed. He started whispering quietly to Alex.

"It seems my bad luck is haunting me today. We're going to have to get out of here for the time be-" The door suddenly flew open and two men entered the room, armed with long blades.

"We're here to get that bounty on your head thief!" shouted one, pointing his weapon at Shay. By the time he was finished, Shay was next to him, ducking under the pointed blade. The man tried to reach from him, but his reactions were slow. Shay spun, avoiding the strike and hit the man hard on the back of the head with the hilt of his knife.

By the time he hit the ground, Shay was onto the next man, who hesitated after seeing his comrade fall. Shay's other knife appeared, slicing open the man's hand and making him drop his blade. He would have cried out from the pain if there hadn't been an already bloodied blade at his throat.

Shay's hand drew back a little and the man fled back down the hall. Shay let out a deep breath and, after cleaning the blades, re-sheathed his weapons. He turned and looked at Alex.

"Sorry about that, but it looks like we're going to have to get out of here. I guess you could say that you didn't exactly meet with the best company." Shay poked his head out the window. He could see a few of the town guard running toward their location. "It looks like we're getting out the back way."

[Akion]

Alex looked at the blood left on the floor by the cut mans as he stared down at it he heard somthing, somthing akin to the pounding of drums or like wate lapping at it's shore. Poking the blood slighly a small tingle ran down his finger he looked at it slightly confused for a moment

"It looks like we're getting out the back way."

Alex looked up "huh? sorry?" he got up and looked at the door way, now open to the world. noise eminating from the bar below, "so where's the back way?" from what Alex could see they were within a quite obscure and out of the way room.

Looking back at the man on the floor Alex picked up his knife and pulled the sheeth from his belt, attaching it quickly and sheething the blade Alex picked up the second blade but realised that carrying two would be too heavy for him, each blade weighted for a fully grown man not a boy of 16.

"Ready when you are."

[Saloo]

"So, where's the back way?" asked Alex. Shay turned and saw him taking a knife from the unconscious man on the floor. Shay smiled.

"You catch on quick, Kid. You're likely to need that." Shay slipped a hand into a pouch at his belt. He pulled out a set of thick gloves and a loop of something very thin, like wire. He looped it around the edge of the windowsill and gave it a few testing tugs.

He looked back at Alex as he slipped on his gloves. "You're going to need to hold on to me. I don't think you want to jump from the third floor."

[Akion]

"You catch on quick, Kid. You're likely to need that."

Alex laughed lightly "I'm picking it up because if you attract this kind of attention I don't want to be defenceless."

"I don't think you want to jump from the third floor."

Alex walked over and looked out of the window and at the three floor drop below him, "Umm no, no I think I would like to live a small while longer" He looked at Shay before looping his hands around Shay's waist "That wires going to hold the both of us?" he asked with a worried glance at it.

[Saloo]

"That wires going to hold the both of us?" he asked.

Shay laughed to himself. "Don't worry, you're not that heavy," said Shay as he slid out the window, leaving them dangling over the street. The extra weight made the wire wrapped around his hands cut into his flesh, even with the thick gloves. "I do have to say... I'm glad we're not going up."

He quickly lowered them down the side of the building, landing softly in a back alley, hidden in the shadows of the bar. With a practiced gesture, we unhooked the wire and it fell down to them. It wasn't everyday that he could leave no trace, but that room was always his and the owner left him a stray nail, so he could leave without a trace.

"Well Alex," he said, as he slipped off his gloves, revealing the small cuts in his hands. "It looks like we're going to have to get out of this town tonight. If you want to avoid trouble, you'd best avoid me, otherwise, I'd say we head east. You were talking about an ocean right? We might find something in Delterum."

[Akion]

Alex looked around "Well I'm alone in a strange city with seemingly one ally, I think loosing said ally would be a foolish thing to do. So care to lead the way to this Delterum place?" Alex noticed the noise of guards swarming the building.

Moving quickly and as quietly he could Alex followed behind Shay who was a credit to his title. Of all the noises Alex could hear not hear any noise coming from Shay as he ran ahead of him.