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 Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 7:10 pm
thief "Serr?
"Hm?"
"Are you showing off?"
As far as the Leaf boy was concerned, all he was doing was waiting for lunch. Hanging upside down from the top of the ice box by the crooks of his knees and repeatedly drawing his chest up to meet his thighs was hardly showing off. Showing off would be baking the best cake in town in under twenty minutes or writing a book or singing a youngling he'd never met to sleep. Something hard. If anything, this was... scratching an itch. It was boredom. It was a distraction from the little voice inside that regularly advised him to go leaping out of another high window just to see what would happen this time.
twenty-eight.
twenty-nine.
thirty.
He stopped, the backs of his hands slapping the floor to either side of his knotted hair as he relaxed.
"No."
Fiia chuckled. "No. Of course not. Well, come down from there anyway. My stomach aches just looking at you."
Within seconds Serr was by her side, a pair of meat pockets clutched in dirty fingers. They burned, both hands and tongue, but they disappeared into his mouth in a blink and he replaced them just as fast. It was only a little hurt, well worth the savory flavor of the pies. Aunty was a good cook. He didn't tell her that enough. He didn't tell her that now. It was difficult enough to keep himself from flinching away as she reached up to brush his hair back behind a pointed ear. He almost managed it. It might have been insulting had he not done it so often.
"Maybe later you'll let me give this mop a trim."
Serr's lids slid closed as he swallowed, humming his assent. He took another bite.
"Good."
He continued eating, opening one bright green eye when he realized Fiia had been silent for at least a full minute. She was watching him.
"Off with you," his aunt said, clicking her tongue.
With a sharp nod and a quick peck to her cheek, Serr slipped silently away.
- - -
This winter had been the strangest he could recall. Thanks to the uncharacteristically chilly temperatures, he was plagued by shivers and shakes most days, but he continued to refuse to wear shoes, throwing a fit worthy of his younger self when the baker tried tying them on. Serr would have preferred to go shirtless as well, but more often than not he deigned to wear a large, fuzzy cloak Aunty Fiia had found for him. It wasn't the best for climbing, as it tended to choke him when it slipped off of his shoulders and hung from its cord around his neck, but it made the perfect nest when he was still, curling around him in mounds of soft fur. It also had a multitude of pockets, making it the perfect inanimate accomplice to his newest pastime: robbery.
Reclining into the billowing folds of his cloak, Serr admired the dips and dents that dotted the walls of his secret nook. Most of them were occupied by colorful rocks and scraps of shimmering cloth, but there were one or two that housed real treasures, and his gaze lingered on them the longest.
True adulthood was fast approaching. Some told him it was already here, though he hadn't felt any different for a number of years now. Either way, he was getting too old to leech off of his aunt, true adult or not. He needed a job. Something he could do that would bring in enough to get him food and a place to stay when he wanted it. His shallow cave was lovely, but he couldn't live here all the time.
He had to wonder though... was stealing an occupation? The people he'd obtained his treasures from never seemed to miss them, but even he could admit the things he had taken weren't all that impressive.
Maybe he could try for something more impressive next time.
Maybe next time should be now.
His unbidden grin told him that some part of him liked the idea, even though it was nearing nightfall and Aunty would worry. Serr pushed himself to his feet and shook out his cloak. Either he was an adult or he wasn't. He shivered again as he climbed from the cavern, though whether it was from excitement or the chill, he wasn't sure.
- - -
It was fully dark by the time he'd found his mark. The house was dark too, but that wasn't why Serr had chosen it. He would have ended up here even if the place had been packed with revelers and lit up like a bonfire. The couple who lived here were traders who didn't trade, children of the wealthy who looked upon anyone who didn't have money as if they smelled slightly rotten. Fiia didn't like them. Serr didn't much care, he just knew they had pretty things. That there was sure to be a spike of resulting chaos when those pretty things went missing only sweetened an already satisfying fantasy.
He slipped around to the back of the enclosure, holding down his shivering as he peered through a window there. He'd left his cloak behind so as not to weigh himself down and it had probably been a mistake. Eager to get inside, Serr spun the window on its swiveling peg and hopped over the sill, oblivious to the possibility of anyone watching him. He wasn't yet a very good burglar, a fact further accentuated by the realization that he had no idea where to go first. Was his great haul nestled under their sleeping furs or hidden beside the privy? Under the stairs? In the icebox? He had no idea. The Leaf boy proceeded to wander from room to room, observing, leaving himself open to being caught at any moment. If anything, it only heightened his enjoyment.
It took him creeping along on his hands and knees to finally find something worth taking. It was hiding under a wardrobe arguably filled with items of clothing more valuable than it could hope to be, but Serr only had eyes for the steel mask beneath them. He removed it reverently, careful not to scrape it across the floor once he had it in hand, eyes wide as he brought it out into the moonlight. Laid into its matte finish was a spray of tiny purple stones with larger versions circling the vacant eyes. He imagined it staring down from one of the shelves in his cavern and it dawned on him that this whole 'stealing stuff for a living' thing might not be the most lucrative career after all. Not if he didn't want to give up any of the treasures he stole.
Even after this revelation, there was a noticeable bounce in Serr's step as he exited the house, straight through the front door.
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Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 7:35 am
jyn For weeks after he'd made off with the medallion, Serr longed to choose another mark and get on with this robbing business. He knew, however, that such rash actions would ruin his career before it had begun. Although relying on anyone other than Fiia chafed, in time the boy admitted he needed some sort of guidance to continue. Weeks of running deliveries for a bake shop—even one owned by family—pushed him to it faster than he ever thought he could be pushed. Carrying pies and pastries from his aunt's kitchen to what felt like every lazy layabout in Yera was not his idea of fun.
Serr was careful to steer clear of those who were looking for him when he asked his questions. Eventually, his persistence paid off.
Jyn was a Shifter girl, small and pale, at least every time he saw her, and she said she "knew people." She also said her information wasn't free and that he was the prettiest little bud she'd ever seen. He hadn't come to her to learn how to hold his temper, but it seemed he might pick that skill up anyway. Since he had no significant source of income with which to pay her, Jyn told him he could work to get her information for himself by going on jobs. The first was simple. He was to provide a distraction while a more experienced crook nabbed an old family heirloom that had been stolen during a party. It had been taken, not by an underpaid maid, but from one. The little girl who had done so was wealthy, and once she had passed the trinket on to her father as a gift, it became a little more difficult to reclaim.
The day that they chose to call on him was sunny and relatively warm compared to some of the others this winter. He felt swift and capable in his plainest short pants and tied back hair, and as he waited he hummed an old song the merchants used to chant when he was younger. He had been given a description of the man that he deemed quite accurate once he had seen him. A mix of Wind and Shifter, he sported pale skin, pale hair, and blue eyes so piercing that Serr, in that instant, decided that the whole lot of them were going to be caught. There was no way a man with eyes like that couldn't see their crime before it had even been committed. Still, he couldn't back out now. And really, what was the worst that could happen?
With a resigned sigh that rattled his ribs, Serr stalked out of his hiding spot and crossed the road in front of the man, pausing once he was directly in the other's distracted line of sight.
"Mister Ega?"
"I'm sorry?"
"It has to be you. My father told me about a guy he fought with... looked like you do." Since joining up with Jyn, Serr had learned more than he wanted to about the southern war and how it had brought people together. He might not have cared about borders and politics himself, but other people did. This guy stank of patriotism. "Had the same sort of..." He straightened up and tried to look brave and capable. "Presence."
"Son, I..." Not-Ega smiled, his fluffy mustache twitching with pride. "I'm sorry I'm not the man you're looking for, but... you should be proud of what your dad did for us." Serr caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. His part of the job was done. The man's pocket had officially been picked.
"Oh. Well." He held out a hand to shake, clasping the man's in both once he returned the gesture. "It was still a pleasure to meet you. Sir."
"You as well."
Serr turned and strode away, slipping his hands—and his own pilfered prize—into his pocket. They hadn't gotten caught after all. Frankly, he was amazed.
- - -
Once he was out of the hybrid's line of sight, Serr pulled the rich man's golden cuff from his pants and closed it around his own wrist. It had been almost too easy to steal. He might have felt bad had he been someone else. It was several hours until sunset, just enough time to visit his cavern and drop off his newest prize before he was due to meet up with the rest of the gang. Serr scaled the wall and dropped inside. Just as he was settling in, someone landed on him from above, their knee jamming painfully into his gut.
"Thought you could do whatever you wanted and it wouldn't matter?" He didn't recognize Jyn at first, her skin a medium gray instead of the paler hue it took on at night. "Well it does, little bud." He squirmed and she countered with a dagger, pressing it lightly into his throat. "We were only meant to take what he wouldn't miss. And now you've gone and put us all in danger by nicking a bauble he wears every damn day." She moved her knife from his neck to his wrist, sliding the blade between the bracelet and his skin. "He knows what you look like, dolt. How do you propose we fix this?"
Serr squirmed again, raising his hips to try and dislodge her. Had they been in a larger space it might have worked, but here she just fell right back where she had been.
"I propose you get off!"
Jyn twisted her dagger and the cuff popped open. It also left a thin line of blood seeping from a shallow cut on Serr's arm. He frowned as he glared from the wound to Jyn, but didn't otherwise react. He'd had worse. At least he'd had worse until she stabbed him.
"I propose I take this back and return it before he notices it's gone. Hopefully that'll salvage this whole mess. As for you..."
The blade had sunk about halfway in, but that was more than deep enough to shock him into complacency, especially when she yanked it out again. His hands scrabbled at his side, spread fingers barely missing a second jab, this one much less forceful.
"Stay down," she hissed. "You'll be fine." Jyn rose, wiping her knife on the tail of her tunic. "Needless to say, you've failed the test. You are not a member of my company."
Serr followed her command involuntarily, only vaguely registering her rummaging around as pain and fear crowded out most everything else on his mind. When he finally realized what she was doing, it was too late. The Shifter had fled, along with half of his collection of treasures.
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 9:20 am
oat cakes He spilled through the rear entrance of the bakery, somehow managing to miss the vat of lard and trays of rising dough near the door, despite the fire lancing through his side. Serr sagged against an empty barrel instead, nose wrinkling at the faint whiff of sour milk that rose from inside it. It would be a shame if the last thing he ever smelled was Fiia's stinky cooking trash. The boy drew in a breath to call out for his aunt, but she was already there.
"Serr?" He didn't turn when she gasped, saving his strength to push himself back to his feet as she tried to help him. "What happened to you?"
"I got caught. Not even by the right person." He was so cold. Why had he gotten up? "I want to sit."
"Not here."
She led him upstairs and all the while he concentrated hard on moving his feet, knowing that if he stopped she wouldn't be able to move him. Fiia was well liked and there were plenty of people nearby who would help her pick him up were he to fall, but Serr didn't want anyone around here knowing his business, let alone that he'd given someone reason to stab him. Without her support, he dropped heavily onto his messy sleeping pallet, the resulting spike of pain pulling him from his thoughts.
"Sorry, sorry," Fiia whisper-hissed. "Here. Lie down."
He was eased back onto a nest of pillows and sometime later warm milk was tipped into his mouth, not the stinky, rotten kind from down in the kitchen, but something happy and green that made his eyelids heavy.
"Sleep. You can sleep now, Serr."
Hadn't he been doing that? Serr tried to pull a face. It was heavy too.
- - - - -
When his consciousness returned, it did so with no great urgency. His ears woke first, nestled between the fluffy bodies of two scorra, the world beyond them muffled and unimportant. His sight returned after that. He was disappointed to discover that the scorra had only been in his head.
Fiia sat in a cushioned chair nearby, writing in the small notebook she had taken to carrying around. He had rifled through it once while she slept, finding mostly recipes and to-do lists from what he could puzzle out. Reading was boring. He wasn't very good at it either.
He pointed his toes, stretching his legs under the furs and alerting Fi to his newly regained consciousness. She sat forward, marking her page with the stick of graphite she had been writing with.
"How are you feeling?"
Serr didn't answer in words. He raised his hand and fluttered his fingers at his aunt, feeling the pull of his injuries with every flex of his fingers. He must have made a face because Fiia inhaled faintly and leaned farther, easing his arm back down to his side.
"Try not to move so much," she urged. His aunt was concerned, as she always seemed to be when she spoke to him, but this time the worry had some competition with her irritation.
He watched her sleepily, eventually replying with the only thing he could think to say in response to her disapproving gaze. "What?"
"Serr..." she sighed. "How in Tendaji did you end up getting stabbed?"
Had he felt a little less fuzzy, he would have realized that laughing was probably the worse response he could have had at that moment, and yet he couldn't stop. The giggles trickled out of him, and he brought his hands to his mouth in an attempt to push them back in. Fiia rose, then sat again on the edge of his bed, seeming to forget the warning she had given him moments before. She grabbed his wrists and held them still just under his chin, leaning in until their noses almost touched.
"You can't go around doing things that make people want to stab you, okay?"
Serr's stream of laughter went dry under his aunt's scrutiny, frightened away by her proximity. All of his life she had used this claustrophobic tactic to hammer important lessons home, and it worked this time just as well as it always had. He swallowed and squirmed, but she only let him go and went back to her chair when he nodded.
"Good."
A few minutes passed in silence before he uttered, "Can I get out of bed?"
"Do you think you can?"
Obviously he did or he wouldn't have asked. Obviously Fiia had her doubts. He tried to prove them wrong, rolling onto his unaffected side and attempting to sit up. A sharp pain prevented him from getting anywhere near upright.
"You've been poked through. I doubt you'll be getting out of bed for some time."
Serr sighed but didn't move. He was still turned away from his aunt in what he hoped resembled sullen despondency. In truth, it was simple exhaustion. There was a rustle of movement and then a light pat on the crown of his head. He had nowhere to flinch of cringe away to, being flat against the bed as he was, so it was lucky that her touch was vaguely soothing at the moment.
"I can't help but feel bad for you, Serr, even though I'm disappointed."
The prentice frowned as he turned into his pillow. He didn't want to feel guilty, but he did.
- - - - -
The next morning, Serr was awakened by a weight depressing the furs beside him. His mind was clear again, but he had traded lucidity for pain. He would have tried to return to sleep had the weight not been accompanied by a nostalgic odor. It was the smell of skinned knees and split lips, and the comfort his aunt had provided in their wake. The grin he gave Fiia when he opened his eyes was laced with discomfort, but it was matched by her own.
"Yes. Oat cakes. I thought they'd get you on your feet sooner."
It had been a very long time since she had made him oat cakes. Serr felt better already.
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Smerdle rolled 2 4-sided dice:
1, 2
Total: 3 (2-8)
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:38 pm
spring showers Quote: Spring Showers
Prompt 1
Solo or RP Format
Can be used toward Solo or RP req
After the frigid chill of the harsh winter had left Tendaji, it seemed that most were happy to just return to their normal routines, though the normal routine didn’t seem to be what the weather had in mind. It wasn’t long before almost everywhere noticed the way that the winter air had seemed to push precipitation onto the land in its place. Rain flowed seemingly non-stop, reaching all the areas of Tendaji, even frozen Zena saw its share of rain, though the temperatures were still much too cold to support such a thing and rain turned to hail, which froze over the ground.
The critters of Tendaji only wanted to seek shelter from their flooded homes and the wet downpour that surrounded them. They found their way into homes, huts, sheds, anywhere that could stay dry - and preferrably warm.
Roll 2D4
Roll 1: The type of familiar in the area you encounter.
xxxxxJauhar || 1: Illo, 2: Spitorog, 3: Maglardilla, 4: Nondwa
xxxxxTale || 1: Virma, 2: Merik, 3: Kuona, 4: Poscuta
xxxxxSauti || 1: Lerim, 2: Sailscale, 3: Moracker, 4: Capramel
xxxxxZena || 1: Parak, 2: Roati, 3: Awatta, 4: Raptrix pups
xxxxxOba || 1: Ward, 2: Perzi, 3: Impa, 4: Zore
xxxxxMatori || 1: Alol, 2: Sirenn, 3: Kehtra, 4: Zanteer
Roll 2: How many are encountered.
xxxxx1 || 5
xxxxx2 || 10
xxxxx3 || 20
xxxxx4 || 30
Quote: Virma (pl. Virma) - These tan-colored, grub-type bugs burrow themselves into the trees of Tale and live there for most of their lives. They come out for a month towards the end of summer to lay their eggs on the large leaves of the trees they spend their lives in. Their mouths work as a drill and harden at a very early age in order to gain the protection of the trees they inhabit. Seriffs and kinfa use these insects as a primary food source as they can reach nearly a foot in length and remain very plump soon after birth.
Almost overnight a mass of warm air overtook northern Tale, a welcome respite from the unnatural cold that had gripped the region all winter. But clinging to its back was a downpour that lasted hours, then days, then an entire week. He had tried to venture out into it on the first day, but all he had managed to accomplish was getting stranded in a sinkhole. Auntie Fi hadn't approved. He had stayed inside after that, wiling away the hours by braiding nearly everything in sight.
On the eighth day the rain tapered to a drizzle. Serr awoke from a boredom-induced nap to a shrill shriek he recognized as his aunt's.
"THEY'RE IN THE FLOUR!"
He immediately envisioned great, hulking brutes, bent on taunting and disfiguring their victims, brutes that he could fight in a flurry of kicks and slices, but then he—quite sadly—came to the realization that criminals didn't fit in flour pots. Serr hurried down the ladder that led to the bakery floor anyway, brows lifting when he saw what Fi was shouting about. A very large bug sat on one of her supply shelves, swaying one of its chunky forelegs in a lazy wave.
"Serr! Virma!"
Her eyes were so wide that their whites rimmed the entirety of her irises. It was rather distracting. Serr watched for a time, wondering if eyes had the ability to simply fall from one's head if they stayed constantly shocked. Eventually he followed her pointing finger, blinking at the bug. It continued to wave, but hadn't otherwise moved. The prentice stepped forward to take care of things, intending to maybe stick the bug under his arm and carry it outside... whatever seemed practical once he got there. Just before he began, however, the virma planted its feet on the shelf and clicked its jaws rapidly, producing an uncomfortable whir that vibrated the tips of Serr's ears. Seconds passed, the bakery silent save for the bug's eerie call.
He lifted a finger, stepping forward as he cautiously reached out...
And then there was chaos.
A lone, whirring virma burst through the nearest window to join its comrade, and as if that had been an invitation, a dozen more followed, spilling in from every available entrance. Their chitinous bodies were glossy, not only because they were bugs, but also because they were wet.
He hadn't thought it possible, but Fi's shriek was even louder this time. She slapped him on the back, hard, and when he turned to scowl at her, she was already doing so up at him.
"Virma. Puddles. Serr. Do something."
He pursed his lips. Fine. He had no idea how to get rid of—he raised his finger again as he made a quick count—fourteen angrily whirring grubs, but he'd find a way. Until then, his aunt really needed to get the hell out of the house. He couldn't plot at all with her hovering.
"Can you go? Please?" Clearly she was too freaked out to lecture him on manners, or maybe the 'please' had blinded her to his tone. Fi nodded sharply and pecked him on the cheek, then grabbed a tightly woven tarp, draped it over her head, and hurried out into the rain. He would bet good coin that she was going to Marron's house, but he couldn't dwell on that now. Dragging his thoughts away from his aunt's bad life choices, he focused back on the bugs.
All right. Serr extended his arms out in front of him, stretching as he pondered his approach. The virma didn't bother him. He found them rather fascinating. But Fi made her living making food for other people, and there were plenty of them who didn't want drippy bugs near their bread. At least the ones that were still alive.
He decided it would probably be a good idea to stop the whirring first. It seemed to be the way the bugs called to each other, and he didn't want any more of them showing up if he could avoid it. Green eyes scanned the kitchen, finally settling on the most obvious place to begin.
"You like flour, huh?"
Serr kept his voice low as he backed against the wall where he knew Fiia kept her extra supplies. He reached blindly into one of the bags behind him and pulled out a double handful of white powder.
"If you like it so much then... here!"
The boy let out a single bark of laughter as he flung flour at the leader bug. He turned and grabbed more in a blink, tossing it at the rest of the pack. The whirring ceased almost immediately, but there was no time to celebrate. The virma practically launched themselves at their attacker, putting him on the floury defensive before he could adequately defend himself. Serr yelped and batted at the creatures as they skittered around his feet, their leader firmly latched in his hair. This was not how his ambush was supposed to have gone.
With a growled curse, Serr fled from the bakery out into the rain, a trail of furious bugs in his wake. Well... at the very least he had gotten them out of the shop.
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Posted: Thu May 14, 2015 5:31 am
escape Serr burst into his aunt's shop, eyes wide and chest heaving. Even though it was very, very late, Fiia was awake, nursing a cup of tea and writing notes in a tiny book. She shot to her feet as he entered, eyes finding the blood smeared on the outside of his hand. Her lips parted with an unvoiced question, pressed together, then parted once more.
"Serr..."
"No one's dead."
He wasn't quite sure of that, but he sold his dubious certainty convincingly enough for her to believe, though that might have only been because she wanted to. Fiia nodded, but remained unmoving where she stood.
"What's the ruckus then?"
"We have to go. There will be people looking for me. You too."
"Are we just... running? With no destination in mind?" She looked around at her shop, taking in all she'd gathered and worked for, and by extension her clients, friends, her very life. She sighed. "I know I've been lenient with you, but this is suicide."
"Staying is too." He swallowed. "We should go south." With the land so new to them and its susceptibility to crime unknown to outsiders, the likelihood that Jyn's people would follow them there was low.
"South? Oba?" Fiia, one of the most talkative people Serr knew, was close to speechless.
He nodded. "We'll come back someday. I promise."
It took upwards of a half an hour for his aunt to pack her essentials, and there were several moments during those thirty minutes when Serr was pretty sure she was on the verge of tears. But on top of being talkative, Fiia was tough, and she eventually walked out of her shop with dry eyes and a straight spine. Despite the strength he knew was inside her, she still started violently when Thess darted up behind her and tried to take her bag.
"By the gods—"
"Fiia." Serr held up his hands, palms out, as if he was facing a wild creature and trying to talk it down. "This is Thess."
She turned to face the boy, smiling thinly but warmly.
"He's... um... helped me out a lot. I promised he could come with us."
"Thess." She held out a shaking hand. "Welcome to the family."
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Smerdle rolled 1 100-sided dice:
56
Total: 56 (1-100)
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Posted: Thu May 14, 2015 1:27 pm
fight in the marketplace Quote: Prompt 2
Solo or RP Format
Can be used toward Battle req (or RP req only if done with a friend)
Solo word minimum is 500, RP post minimum is 7
The people of Tendaji seem to be settling in - and some in places far from their homeland. The tensions are high, and with the whispers of the Alkidike planning an offensive… well, some have been on edge and ready for a fight. Were the outsiders going to help their people when the time came to fight the extremist Alkidike? Most of the natives to the area had their doubts.
An argument had broken out in the market, verbal at first, but it wasn’t long before it became a physical confrontation.
This prompt can be played from either side: your character can be the instigator, or on the defense.
This battle prompt will be resolved by rolling 1D100.
xxxxxPrentice must roll 70-100 for success.
xxxxxStage 2 must roll 60-100 for success.
xxxxxStage 3 must roll 50-100 for success.
xxxxxStage 4 must roll 40-100 for success.
|| Success will result in 50exp in addition to the versatile point
|| Failure will only allow for the versatile point credit.
They stopped at an inn that night as they did most nights, Serr and Thess unloading the cart while Fiia haggled for a room. There was never more to it than that, which was why Serr was so surprised to hear shouting coming from the common room several minutes after they'd gone their separate ways. He motioned for Thess to stay put, but as usual, the boy did the opposite.
"What's going on?" he whispered, tailing Serr at an acceptable distance. At least he'd learned that much—how to sneak and split up an present a difficult target—but the other Leaf could still be really annoying even when he was following the rules.
"I don't know," Serr muttered. If he knew what they were walking into he might have had an actual plan, something better than "wait and see." He might not have been alternately clenching his fists and rubbing his damp palms against his pants as he walked, like a love sick prentice. His brain knew the idea was a horrible one, but that didn't stop his legs and feet from carrying him inside, straight into a fistfight. Almost.
"She's a spy!" a young Matori lad shouted, brandishing a long spear at a frightened girl. The Matori was snarling. He looked as though he might have taken her head off had the barman not intervened.
"She's a child." That wasn't entirely true, Serr thought. She was about his age, and now that people weren't struggling to punch each other, he could see that she wasn't all Alkidike either, at least not from what he understood of them. He was used to Leafs mixing with Shifters and even Ice earthlings, but he had never seen a pureblood Alkidike before, let alone one who appeared to be part Wind. "She's a child and you're drunk."
Serr caught Fiia's eye in the short silence that followed, motioning that she should join him and Thess as soon as she was able. They would move on while everyone was distracted and no one would be the wiser. But Fiia's response was a firm shake of her head. She would stay and make sure that the girl was okay, just as she had done for him.
His eyes narrowed a fraction in irritation. He cared for Fiia more than he would admit and he quite liked Thess as well, but he wasn't laying down his life for some hybrid who hadn't done a thing for him. He stormed outside just as the true fighting begun, Thess scurrying after him with a yelp of concern.
"Hey! Are you just going to leave her in there?"
"Yes."
"But... how?"
"Fiia is staying as a witness. To take care of people when the dust settles. But I won't get involved. It's not about me."
He hadn't spoken to his aunt for a month after that. Now, almost a year later, the Alkidike were moving east, past Jauhar, toward his former home. It was about him now, and now he was ready to fight.
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Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 2:12 pm
idiot Serr had noticed subtle differences in the way he moved lately. He doubted he had gained any skill at true one-on-one fighting, but his ability to assess his surroundings and keep one step ahead in stealthier situations had improved greatly since the Alkidike conflict. His growing confidence in analyzing the spaces he occupied and his position in them was why he didn't hesitate to incapacitate the man that had tailed him to the fruit stall.
It was a warm, dry day, just a week or so after a great many people had vacated Sauti to head south, but he and Eziya were still here, nearly through to Matori but not quite. They were enjoying their trip back to Oba—at least Serr was—but from the young woman's frequent smiles and excited chatter, he had gathered she was having a good time as well. He valued her company more than anyone else's he had ever been in, and he wanted nothing more than to keep her smiling. To ensure her safety. Which this hooded b*****d was indirectly threatening.
When he felt the cool blade slide against his skin Serr turned, unafraid of the consequences of his actions. The way in which his secret attacker had chosen to threaten him was familiar, and when he tugged off the other thief's hood and gave him a smack that was a little harder than it needed to be, he saw why.
"Serr?"
"Yes. Idiot. You might have gotten something out of me if you'd drawn a little blood."
Thess grinned brightly and squeezed an arm around Serr's back, nearly impaling him in the process.
"Oo! Sorry." He returned his dagger to his belt. "How've you been? Guess you didn't go see the rebel bugs off, huh? Where's Eziya?" The way he said that last, coupled with the furtive glance he cast over Serr's shoulder drew a chuckle from the older thief.
"I'm fine. Eziya too. I came to the market to pick up some food and she stayed behind so she wouldn't be harassed by creeps like you." He continued his shopping with a smirk, picking up a bulbous green fruit he had never seen before. "You think this is any good?"
Before Thess could shrug, the stallkeeper interrupted. "Any good?" he bellowed. "They are the best and sweetest you have ever tasted!"
Serr shrugged and handed over the price the man had set, taking a pair of the strange fruits and stowing them in his bag. When he moved away from the market, Thess followed. "You don't just take stuff anymore?" he teased. "Your girl has got you changing your ways, hm?"
Serr froze, his stomach dipping as if he'd fallen from someplace high. "She's not... my girl."
"What would you call her then?"
Even though his throat was dry and his voice sounded like it was coming from someone else—someone who was doing a very bad job at hiding his irritation—Serr managed to respond immediately. "I would call her Eziya. My closest friend and traveling companion."
He could practically hear Thess roll his eyes and could definitely hear the boy's scoff. "Who's the idiot now?"
"What?" When Serr finally turned to look, Thess was no longer rolling his eyes. He seemed to be gathering his thoughts very carefully, however, and when he spoke again, the Leaf did so deliberately, so as not to earn another swat.
"Okay. So, you paused, right... no, you completely stopped walking when I called her yours. And all the blood left your face like I'd just guessed at your biggest secret. You can't tell me what you felt just now was nothing. She's more than your 'closest friend and traveling companion'." He held out his hands to appease Serr as he bristled. "And that's fine. Really."
Serr tried to calm himself. Instead, he thought back to when he'd first reunited with Eziya, when she had hugged him and he hadn't pulled away, how happy and frustrated it had made him all at once. "It's disrespectful and weak."
"Where did you even get that from? Spending time with girls is one of my favorite hobbies, and it's not either of those things."
Thess smirked. He didn't seem able to help himself, but it didn't make Serr feel any better. All of the distracted, starry-eyed couples he used to steal from back in Yera, whispers of his own mother and how she was taken advantage of... there was no room for that sort of vulnerability in his life. Before the Shifter had returned, he hadn't missed it. And now Thess was bringing it up, making him want to run clear across the country and jump in the sea to get away. Had he known their cheerful reunion was going to turn into this, and so quickly, he would have just let the boy take his purse.
"Wouldn't it make you feel... I don't know... nice if she told you she liked you, like a normal person? You wouldn't feel disrespected, I guarantee that."
"I'm not—"
"Just... try this for a while. For me. Try holding onto the sprites in your stomach when they happen and think about why they did. See how it goes. If you still think you're weak in a month, then maybe I was wrong."
"And if I don't?"
"Then tell her how you feel."
Easier said than done. But for Thess, at the very least, he would make the attempt.
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Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 2:13 pm
ulgo Serr's mind was packed with conflicting thoughts. He felt new, exposed, nervous, happy, relieved. He was as jelly-brained as those pairs of earthlings he despised, so tangled up in each other that they sacrificed their own safety. Somehow, against all odds, he was in love. It wasn't nearly as terrible as he'd expected it to be. Even so, coming to terms with a series of emotions that he hadn't ever experienced quite like this was rather all-consuming, so much so that he needed a bit of a break from their source.
The morning after his confession, Serr headed off toward the nearest settlement, looking for the most efficient way to shop, steal, or stab himself closer to exhaustion. Things would be easier once he'd had a full night's rest, when he wasn't up half the evening staring at Eziya's moon pale face and wondering what it might be like to kiss her properly.
Thankfully, it didn't take long to find a distraction. Serr caught sight of a Matori man bent low in the strange, reedy grasses that were common here. At first he didn't noticed the creature that crouched in the water beyond, but then the beast shifted, its bluish-green skin obvious in the sunlight. He didn't know much about the water tribe's animals, but he was decently certain that this one was known as a snapstroller. It was his favorite. Serr froze, concerned that he had already made more than enough noise to scare it off.
For a tense minute, nobody moved. Then the man was off like a shot, launching himself at the animal and climbing onto its back as easily as he would have if it was holding still.
"Good girl," he said, patting the creature's broad neck and cooing at her a little. A pet, then. The Matori raised his eyes, measuring Serr with his gaze. "You there! Like snapptrotters, eh?"
Snapptrotter. That was the name. Serr lifted his shoulders in a minute shrug, trying to seem less interested than he was. "They look like they'd be fun to fight."
The Matori chuckled. "They are. Wanna try?"
"Sure." He allowed himself to smile, or rather it broke through without his permission, the expression lasting until the man dismounted and the beast turned on them both with an angry hiss. Not a pet at all. Serr paused, which he quickly learned was a huge mistake when the creature's tail whipped around and slammed into his ankles, knocking him off of his feet. Serr scrambled to stand again, glancing at the Matori but finding no help there. He darted to one side before he could be struck a second time, and then, with much less grace than the other man had displayed, he clambered on top of the snapptrotter, holding onto fin and scale as tightly as he could. He didn't fight as he had implied he would, he didn't pat at the beast's neck of try to soothe it, Serr simply held on, lips drawn away from his teeth in manic joy. He was sure to sleep well tonight, if he lived.
It didn't take long for the snapptrotter to buck him off, and when he hit the ground the Matori was waiting for him, as if the man had known what would happen.
"Nice try, kid. Nice try. Now show me what you've got and run."
They sped away from the marsh, feet slapping through the mud until they reached solid ground again. The snapptrotter followed for a time, but Serr felt the moment when it gave up, trundling back into the grass with a huff. Even though it was a wild beast and he'd showed it no respect, he had the strangest feeling he would see it again.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2016 8:41 pm
reputable "Name?"
"Serr."
"Leaf, right?"
He nodded.
"And what sort of work have you done in the past, Serr, my silent Leaf friend?" The Matori's voice was rough but kind, the voice of a man who was only on your side until you did something wrong. Serr wasn't worried. He was startlingly efficient when he was being given orders. It was only when he was left adrift, without competition or guidance, that he got himself into trouble.
"I worked for a Shifter named Jyn in Tale," he said, frowning around the words. He hadn't been employed by her in any actual sense, but her actions had fueled his when he'd done his best work. It was almost the same thing.
"And she did you wrong, I take it." The man smiled, the scar on his lip spreading wide. Serr almost pointed out his own scar, smooth and only slightly pink where Eziya had tended to it long ago. That was what Jyn had done, and even though he had taken his revenge, it still stung. He shrugged, a small hitch of his muscled shoulders.
"I stole. She stole from me."
The Matori sighed, though it seemed it was more meant to stretch his lungs than express exasperation.
"Well, since this Jyn is too far away for me to check yer lies, and I'm in need of a fella like you, I'll take you on for now. If you ever feel the need to betray me, rest assured that I'll come after you and all you hold dear, blah, blah, blah, murder and pain. Just don't do it, all right? I don't like makin' a habit of ruining pretty little boys like you."
Somewhere along the way, Serr had found himself smirking at the Matori's toothless threats, but the 'pretty little boy' comment had his face falling back into harder lines. "What would you have me do?"
The man chuckled. "Aw. Don't be like that. Soon enough you'll be old like me and you'll yearn for the days people thought you were a handsome young thing." He stood and rounded his makeshift desk, holding out a hand for Serr to shake. When he did, he found the Matori's pleasantly warm and dry, his grip firm.
"Riev," he said, and then his hand was gone again, folded behind his back. "You would be on lookout at the docks, from midnight 'til sunrise, four nights a week. All you have to do is keep an eye out for guards and scare away drunks and the like. If you stand up tall and keep your surly face on, you should have that last part covered just fine. Jo and Indra will teach you the rest." His hand made another appearance, clapping Serr on the back before he could move out of the way. "So, what do you say?"
It was a simple enough job, even a blameless one if something were to go wrong. The perfect sort of position to have when one wanted to keep their loved ones safe. Maybe someday he could even advance, taking on ship unpacking or deck work, but for now, this would do.
"Yes. I'll take it."
- - - - -
Riev led Serr outside to give him a tour of the dock he'd be guarding as soon as he had agreed to do so, and along the way, they picked up a small parade of wide-eyed younglings, most of them brandishing wooden swords or thick jumping ropes. One even aimed a bow at the Matori's head, but she wasn't much of a threat considering she had no arrows. Riev appeared to be ignoring the troupe at first, but after an unpredictable step around a sharp corner he turned, holding up his hands and barking "BOO!" as he popped back out from behind the wall. Most of the children shrieked and darted off, all except two.
"That was a very good scare, sir," the smaller of the two—a boy—said. He was a hybrid, Fire and Water, and his features strongly suggested that he was Riev's son. The pure Water girl rolled her eyes at his game of flattery and approached warily, eyeing Serr up and down without even slightly trying to hide it.
"Where'd you find the sapling?" she said, her voice a sarcastic monotone. She couldn't have been more than fourteen, but she was trying very hard to come across as twice that. Serr, somewhere in between, was having none of it. He walked on, continuing toward the now-visible dock. When he turned to see whether or not Riev was poised to overtake him and continue with the tour, he found the three of them standing in a row, two wearing smirks and one blinking earnestly.
"Serr, my boy. I'd like you to meet my kids, Jo and Indra."
- - - - -
It would have been humiliating enough, learning the basics of his new job from a couple of children, but Serr's rocky, dismissive introduction to said children had made things even more uncomfortable. He had always considered himself a decent thief, and maybe he had been before he had admitted to himself that he was in love, but both Jo and Indra were leagues above him now, and they had no problem letting him know it. The siblings showed him what to look for while he patrolled and how to make it seem as though he wasn't actually looking for anything at all, and all the while they worked as a team to distract and collect bits and baubles from the earthlings wandering the docks. Their victims were distracted tourists, but like he had once been.
It was frustration that fueled him, irritation over feeling slow and stupid that spurred Serr to look for a mark of his own. He dismissed several for reminding him too strongly of Eziya or himself, eventually settling on an older Oban, bedecked with unnecessary jewels and a twisted smirk. The woman was tall, almost taller than Serr himself, and with her nose in the air like it was, she completely failed to notice when he swiped a gem-encrusted bracelet from her wrist. He felt equal measures of embarrassment and satisfaction upon presenting his prize to Riev's children: embarrassment because he sought their approval in the first place, and satisfaction at their reaction.
Indra plucked the bracelet from his palm and peered at it appraisingly, the corners of her mouth rising faintly before she spoke.
"The sapling spreads its roots," she said, handing it back with a measured nod.Quote: Recap and relevance:Half of Serr wants to settle down and provide Eziya with a stable home life. The other half wants to scheme and steal and sneak around in the dark. In order to reconcile the two, Serr seeks out a position with Riev, a Matori pirate and smuggler, and is subsequently hired on as a dock lookout, a relatively safe job in a dangerous line of work.
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