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 Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 1:26 pm
Kalan shifted his pack as he looked down to the piece of parchment he held in his hand, his eyes scanning the chicken-scratch of writing as he was jostled this was and that, oblivious for the time being of the market hustle and bustle going on around him. He was even, for the most part, able to ignore the slightly unpleasant smells and the dwarves that busied this way and that for the time being.
The reason being, he was.. More than a little lost.. He had an item to deliver and a pretty few coins to collect for it. The trouble was, he had been in such a hurry to get going and get back to his barracks that he had failed to write down the collection point himself, instead accepting the scrap of parchment from the rather simple messenger. The messenger had also conveyed the location, and he had foolishly thought that he had committed it to memory..
How wrong the small male had been..
Bumping shoulders with yet another drow, he moved to stand between two stalls to look a little closer at the parchment with a muttered apology. It surely hadn't been all that complex of a location. He knew he was in the right area.. Just narrowing it down further was going to be a little tricksy, he glanced up, a worried, slightly perplexed expression on his face as he glanced over the nearest stalls, hoping to see the familiar face of the messenger..
He had no such luck, and ran his hand through his hair, adjusted his half-shirt and made to move back into the crowd again to try looking elsewhere..
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:41 pm
Haeldril felt uneasy. The city marketplace felt congested and close; the crush of people seeming almost suffocatingly plentiful. He shouldered his way through the crowd, his cowl pulled low, his shoulders slumped, his feet dragging in the guise of an extremely beaten-down male. The pitiful beggars would be ignored for the most part within this section of the city. Hael took full advantage of that fact as he struggled to make his way past the dwarves and other filth which had slowly begun to carve out their own existence amongst the drow civilization. It was difficult to keep his upper lip from curling, but eventually he neared the edge of the marketplace.
Turning a corner in his rush to escape, the toe of his boot caught a wayward cobblestone in the oddly paved street, and stumbled into another drow. Hael caught himself easily, but threw back his cowl as he automatically righted himself, drawing up to his full height as he snarled his displeasure.
"Watch where you're ..."
The words died in his throat.
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:56 pm
Kalan startled somewhat in his pre-occupied state, his hand automatically finding it's way to the pommel of his sword, ready to draw at a moments notice. The angry tone and the sudden height of the figure that had all but run into him as he had gone to move back into the crowds was enough to put him on edge in the split second that they had collided.
The grip on his sword tightened as he looked up, his pale eyes getting wider and wider as he found himself confronted with one hell of a ghost from the past.
He made an odd sort of noise, a cross between surprise, confusion and initially anger at the fact he'd been bumped into and the familiar figure hadn't apologised to him yet!
The slight male tried to give the giant of a drow a grin, "I.. I see you're as rude as ever!"
SO maybe that hadn't been the words he had wanted to say. He'd certainly had a long time to think about what would happen if he'd ever come across the infamous Claddepp once again.. Lines that he'd practiced over and over. Of course when it actually came to using them, his mind was pulling a wonderful blank.
It was at times like this he almost wished he had Vic by his side to supply him with something witty or just outright rude to say back.
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 3:32 pm
"I uh...I...."
Hael's eyes went wide, his hair and cloak askew as he struggled to regain his composure.
"Well, s**t."
Apparently, to no avail. Instantly his cheeks coloured, and his hand drew up, touching the back of his head as his tongued searched for the words.
"Um, uh... fancy meeting you here?"
His smile was equal parts embarrassed, apologetic and roguish. Slowly regaining his senses, Hael offered up his empty hands, and motioned gently that perhaps Kalan should remove his from the pommel of his sword.
"I apologize for bumping into you so... literally. I hadn't meant...well I did.. but I didn't realize it was... well you see..."
He huffed and sighed in exasperation.
"Look, I'm on my way to meet a contact, but I've got a bit of time. Can we go somewhere and talk? I... I'm really rather glad to have run into you."
A wide smile, if still slightly embarrassed, was all he could offer by ways of encouragement.
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:05 pm
The small male slowly raised his eyebrows, shocked and amused in equal parts as it was very much confirmed as to who it was that was standing in front of him.. Not that the height and the bright tattoo's were enough of a give-away..
He looked a bit of a state, as shocked as he himself was to have run into the other, evidently!
"Fancy, fancy!" He replied after a brief pause, also wondering on how best to approach the situation, his hand slipping from the pommel of his sword, giving Haeldril an apologetic look, "My apologies.. An old habit, I'm afraid. I promise I wouldn't have cut you, too badly at least!" He offered by means to start trying to lift the atmosphere of their exchange, giving the blue-haired drow a small but genuine smile.
He averted his eyes from the other males face at long last, pushing his hair back out of his face, looking back up at his long lost.. Acquaintance, was it? Looking back up at him secretly though his hair as a large portion flopped back down into his eyes. He hadn't changed much at all. Still as handsome as ever..
"A contact..? We seem to be in much the same boat.. I do believe, that you have a better knowledge of where to find yours.. Mine seems to be that little bit harder to find.." he gave a small shrug of his shoulders, resting a hand on his hip,
"Though.. I do agree." He continued after a moments pause, his voice quieter, "There are a few things that maybe we should be talking about.."
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Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:20 am
Relief flooded Hael's body, and slowly his muscles began to relax again as his familiar knowing smile found its way back to his lips. The moment Kalan looked away, he'd instantly begun to size up the smaller male. Much had changed about him; he'd obviously experienced much since their last... meeting, to say the very least. But it was also still very clearly the Kalan he had known so intimately; and as such it was with great effort that Hael restrained himself from reaching forward to brush the hair away from his former lover's face. He tightened the offending hand into a fist, and forced it to stay, rigid, against his side. A muscle in his cheek twinged from the effort, but outwardly Hael someone managed to appear calm.
"You always did pay attention to the particulars to such an extent that you lost the whole picture."
Hael grinned, laughing lightly as he turned, placing his hand gently on the base of Kalan's back to guide him further behind the stalls- or so he told himself- and into the back streets of the marketplace. Here was where the black market flourished under the guise of apothecaries and leather goods, where the crowd was sparse to the point that it was almost non-existent; scuttling drow in enchanted robes to hide their identities, speaking furtively with one merchant than the next in search of the forbidden. Hael inclined his head to a nearby masked man, who in turn nodded by way of acknowledgment. Their meeting would be postponed.
With his hand still hurrying Kalan along, Hael led them into an alleyway off of this street, and locating a certain door therein, knocked three times. There was a grating of metals as a slot opened on the door, two red eyes visible from within. A gruff voice asked them their business:
"What is the password?"
Heel rolled his eyes before crouching down to glare back at the owner of the crimson orbs; his height prevented him from meeting the gaze directly, the top of the door only coming to the nape of his neck.
"Welvjss, let me in you idiot, or I'll simply muscle my way in again. And this time I'm not going to replace any furniture or help to contain the fire."
There was a yelp from inside as the slot was hastily closed and the door opened to reveal a squat, almost pudgy drow dressed in stained leather armor. His crooked smile was equally congenial and offputting. He groveled pitifully as Hael and Kalan shouldered past.
"Master Claddepp! We weren't expecting you!"
"Quit the theatrics, Welvjss. I'll have my usual table."
In very little time at all, they were seated in a private booth behind an imported screen; shielded from sight and sound of the rest of the commonroom of what seemed to be a bar. Hael slid uneasily into his side; the table seemed a mite too small for one of his frame, and more than once he winced as his knees smashed the underside of the table top. Once they were settled, he seemed to take a more somber tone, his wide lips pursed and flat, his eyes hooded heavily.
"I suppose I owe you an explanation."
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Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:46 am
Kalan smiled a little more by means of a response at first, with a shrug of his shoulders, "Sometimes the particulars can be too important to lose sight of." He answered, arching an eyebrow fractionally at the hand to his back. It was a strangely familiar feeling, like when Hael had first led him through the encampment when they had first met.
He allowed Hael to lead him, though he could not help the slight look of concern at he was shepherded away from the bustling crush of the market and taken further into the quieter back-streets. They were not normally a place he would find himself, the unusual surroundings putting him just a little more on edge than he would usually have been.
His apprehension only increased when the pair halted in front of a.. Very secure looking door.. The apprehension only grew at the exchange.. The bolts of the door sounded heavy..
A little of his tension was washed away at the exchange between the two.. And he lifted a hand to cover his slight amusement as Haeldril had to lean down to growl at the creature on the other side of the door.. And even as they were admitted..
The small male spared the rooms a curious look as he was led to a booth, making a note of the interior, the ways out.. And the way the rather unsavory character kept looking at the pair of them.. He did not like him.. He just didn't seem quite right.. Part of him wished that had had his dearest friend for company at that moment, just in-case..
But that was not something to be thinking of at the time being.. His thoughts broken away as the he settled on a fairly comfortable seat and turned to face Haeldril at last.
He chuckled lightly, "Oh dear me.. It seems that you're still suffering the horrors of furniture for the average drow, Haeldril.. I would suggest that we pad your knees but I think that would make fitting your legs under the table even more of a task.."
He offered sympathetically as he shrugged his pack off his shoulder and set it close beside him. resting his small hands on the table, nodding to the others words.
"An explanation.. It's odd that it's something that I have wanted to know, but it has been so long in the coming that I'm not sure how I should react now. I suppose my imagination has been working up lots of fictional answers.. But if you feel the need to explain, Hael, I shall listen." He gave the blue haired male a little smile of encouragement.
"Things are very.. Different now.. But I can assure you that I do not loath you.."
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