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 Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 6:44 pm
With the festivities having wound down to a close, the town of Shinganshina had consequentially gotten a little quieter as visitors began their trips back home. While Elliot appreciated the fact that he no longer had to fear the loss of his hearing as he walked down the streets, what he would have liked even more was returning to his home in Trost. For whatever reason, his parents had decided to extend their stay to a week after the celebrations ended--something about "experiencing a new place".
Except it really wasn't all that new. Sure, they were within different walls, but it really all looked the same to him at first glance. There were the well-off places--obviously not as well off as those in Sina, but decent--and then there were the poor places. The latter just seemed...a little more pronounced out here than it did at home.
And somehow, in his casual, late afternoon stroll, Elliot had found himself wandering into the poorer parts of town. Although not particularly worried--it wasn't like he was carrying anything of note, and he usually kept to himself--the boy paused and immediately tried to find his way out when he realized he had ended up somewhere he probably shouldn't have been.
Too bad his sense of direction in this place sucked. Whereas he wanted to find his way back to town square, he only ended up wading even deeper into the poor area of town.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 6:52 pm
Orientation hadn't quite come up just yet. But in the very least Shun knew that he was to go in for a physical and some other exams soon. Things were moving slowly on that front, but some progress was being made. Better late than never as well, he supposed.
He sat upon a broken brick wall that may have served as a gate of sorts at one point. It wasn't too high up; being roughly ten feet tall, but it gave him a small vantage of the area immediately around. Not nearly as good as if he were to climb up to the rooftops, of course. He wasn't scouting for opportunities. Not now, anyway. The man had managed to scrounge up a small meal earlier so he wasn't quite starving at the moment. That didn't mean he wasn't keeping an eye on his surroundings. There was no telling when something would come up.
A head of pink hair caught his attention. When he focused in on that, he was surprised to see that he recognized just who it was. The flower boy, Elliot.
"Dangerous wandering around this part of town alone, especially with night on the way," he said quietly. He didn't particularly care if Elliot heard him or not.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 7:10 pm
Ah, now he knew that voice. quiet as it was. Tilting his head back, Elliot peered up and let out a flat little "ah" as he spotted Shun. Folding his arms across his chest, the boy shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah...actually, I was trying to find my way out, but I must have taken a wrong turn." Or two. Or eight. The point was, he had gotten very, very lost.
Since Shun was sitting up there like some kind of cat surveying its territory, Elliot was going to guess that the other male was more familiar with this place than he was.
"You know your way around here? I'd appreciate a hand getting back to town square," His mental comparison between Shun and a feline (like his own cat, Seren) must have carried on, as he found himself adding, "I'll buy you dinner for the trouble."
If there was one thing the boy had learned, it was that bribery worked best with cats. That, and hell, his parents had given him a decent bonus for his work during the festival--might as well do some good with it.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 7:50 pm
"I know these streets well, that's for certain," he stated. Elliot must have really gotten himself lost if he ended up in this crapsack part of town. The man tilted his head at the offer given. It certainly wasn't a bad one to say in the least. Shun went ahead and hopped down from his perch, landing on the ground below with a light thud.
"Deal. Besides, I doubt your flowers and hairpins would help you if someone decided to try and mug your pink haired a**."
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 8:35 pm
The look Elliot gave Shun was one devoid of amusement. "Excuse you. I'm not sure why anyone would try to mug me considering I'm not carrying that much. Not unless, as you said, they suddenly had a desire for flowers and hairpins." And somehow, he didn't think the eyes he had sense tracking him as he walked around these parts had been interested in those things.
"Then again," The boy added slowly, his voice careful as he watched Shun, "You seem to know this place a lot better than I do. Not many would hang around here for fun."
He was going to take a wild guess that Shun was from around here. What little he knew of the man would certainly add up.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 8:52 pm
"Not everything is as it seems. Someone desperate enough may take the chance of picking you, assuming you'll be wealthier than they," Shun stated plainly. He took a quick look around as he placed his hands into his pockets, then began to move off in one direction. He didn't pause to see if Elliot was following, assuming that he would, given his situation. With luck, they won't run into any other unsavory folk, but there was not guarantee of that. Some thug somewhere could very well be feeling bold and or needy and try to take on them both. Worse yet, a gang.
"I don't hang around here for 'fun'," he huffed. Not that.. fun was ever really something he did in the first place, "I do spend a fair bit of time around here, though, however."
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 9:46 pm
Point taken. Elliot certainly wasn't going to argue about that, particularly since he could hardly claim to know what it was like living in this kind of place. He could sympathize, but he couldn't quite empathize. Shun, though...
Trying to match the man's pace as best as he could, Elliot kept his gaze straight ahead, letting it stray for only a second as he shot a side-eyed glance at Shun. "Sorry, didn't quite mean it that way," He apologized with a small shrug, "I just meant...this doesn't seem like the type of place most people would choose to hang out in if they had a choice."
Turning away, the pink-haired boy found himself absently scanning their surroundings, noting a few figures skulking around. Adults, teens, children--poverty didn't play favourites about who it claimed.
"This is one thing that's a lot like the town I'm from," Elliot suddenly noted quietly, "Trost's not much different."
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 9:53 pm
"Not typically. Those that do come here by choice are most likely looking for trouble, one way or another," Shun replied while keeping his eyes ahead. He took a turn around a building, keeping a steady pace as he moved about through the slums.
"Figures things would be similar in wall Rose. Wall Sina... no clue. But maybe they have shitholes like this too," he noted with a shrug. If there was, it had to be extra frustrating for the slum rats in that area, to see the nobility and rich flaunt about while they die of starvation. It was an unpleasant thought. Then again, maybe the Military Police swept up any vagrants on the street. He didn't know. Nor did he really care too much to put a lot of thought wondering about it.
"Unless we get a s**t ton more resources within these wall, that won't change. Even then.."
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 10:10 pm
He let out a quiet, non-committal hum at that, as if slightly unsure what to say about that. He could guess what kind of trouble people would be looking for here, but that wasn't exactly the type of conversation territory he wanted this to veer into.
Snorting at the comment about Wall Sina, Elliot shoved his hands into his pockets. "I wouldn't be surprised. I can't say I know a ton of rich people, but they don't seem to care about anyone but themselves and people who they can suck up to to benefit themselves."
Alright, so he sounded a little bitter, but what few interactions he had had with people who had dropped by his mother's store had left him with a bad impression. Coupled with what he had heard about the Military Police and the state of the poor sections of Trost, he was more than a little biased. It wasn't full fledged hatred by any means--he was sure there were some good nobles out there--but he definitely had something to say about the King and his lack of concern for the people out here.
But that aside. "We're pretty much screwed regardless since we're confined to these walls. Maybe not right now, but in ten years? Twenty? Another hundred? I'm sure the rich in Sina are happy with things now, but once resources start thinning..."
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 10:16 pm
A light scoff left the man as he heard Elliot's comments, "I wouldn't be surprised."
His eyes narrowed as he took another turn, heading further through the streets. A shadow caught his attention for the moment, though when he turned to see what it was, he saw it was just a stray cat. Nothing to be particularly concerned about. Shun shrugged and moved onward.
"I suppose we're not much more than caged animals in these walls, waiting to die out."
It might not happen in his life time or in many life times from now. It wouldn't surprise him if they eventually did starve out, however. Unless people stopped deciding to have so many children.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 10:25 pm
Perhaps it was a good thing he had gotten lost after all--this was certainly an interesting conversation (and conversation partner) Elliot had stumbled upon, after all. At least, they were both pretty cynical in this aspect, which was nice from the overly optimistic or dismissive things that he usually heard.
"Which is why I don't quite understand all the fuss about the Scouting Legion. Or, well...I suppose they haven't had any breakthroughs, but they're the only ones making an effort to find a way to take down those titans."
Ah yes, those elusive titans. Elliot had never seen one, and for that matter, he never planned on seeing one. Speaking of which. "Right You and the military, huh? I guess you'll be on the receiving end of all those scathing comments soon enough if you join the legion."
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 10:29 pm
To that, Shun only let out a 'hmph' initially, before falling silent for a time as he thought about the reason why the Scouting Legion received a lot of backlash. They certainly hadn't found anything really significant as far as he knew. It was also normal for them to come back with considerably fewer numbers than what they left the walls with. It did just look like people were being sent out to their deaths for no reasons, and with precious supplies most of the time.
"Wouldn't be too different from the way people see me now, honestly."
The likes of him were scum in the eyes of what he figured to be many. A waste of space who thieved resources.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 10:36 pm
There was a pause, and then, "Fair enough. You've obviously lived a hard life." This was said matter-of-factly, in the same voice that Elliot would use when describing the weather. He wasn't about to deny what Shun said, nor did he think the man would appreciate it if he started piling on the pity.
"Then again, you'll have comrades in the military. Maybe you'll make a couple of friends...or something." As they continued walking, he suddenly let out a quiet "ah" and tilting his head to the side, "Not to say that you don't have friends now. Or company. Can't say I know you that well, after all."
He was just covering his ground lest he unintentionally insult Shun. Fingering the coins in his pocket, he decided to turn the topic to something a little less heavy. "What do you want for dinner?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 10:43 pm
"What was your first hint?" Shun deadpanned. The area around was now becoming a little less decrepit as they were making their way out of the deep slums. It still wasn't the 'nice' part of town again, but progress was being made regardless.
As far as the comment on friends went, he said nothing in turn. He didn't feel any particular need to make any friends. He never really was big on that. The gang he ran with before, he was on somewhat good terms with a few of them but he wasn't really sure if he could really call the lot his 'friends', especially after what had happened. Perhaps Wolfgang would have fallen under that category. He wasn't sure.
It didn't matter now anyway.
"I'm not picky. Anything edible is fine. You don't need to spend a lot of coin on me."
That wasn't to say something fancy wouldn't be appreciated. He just really wasn't expecting a whole lot.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 11:07 pm
...Hm. "In that case, let's go check out the market and the local bakeries. If you're not picky about dinner, we can get you a warm pie or something, but I'm not that much of a cheapskate. I probably have enough money to get you some dried jerky too, and maybe some dried fruits or nuts. And water. You need things that keep, yeah?"
Since it seemed like they had gotten out of the shadier part of town, Elliot deemed it safe--or at least, safer--to pull out the coins in his pocket, counting them out to see how much he had.
"It'll do." Thank you, mom and dad, for that nice little bonus. It was almost worth all the fuss of running that booth, granted he hadn't been doing a very active job with that task.
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