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 Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:16 am
Three boys had a distinctly unfair advantage over the young man who they had cornered against a wall. They laughed at their sport to have him so cornered against the cold bricks. They pummeled him with almost as many verbal daggers as they attended him with fist and knee. Every time that he tried to fight back, or slip free of their attentions they struck again, kneeing him in the ribs, kicking shins or delivering a smack.
Zachary, the target of the attentions of the boys who sought to teach him his place, landed a determined knee into one of the other boys, it was a fair hit but not perhaps a well advised one. He might have been better advised to go limp and let them finish their entertainment and leave him when they got bored.
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:02 am
This was a nice part of town; this was their part of town. Only about eight blocks from the Cockerel, and the houses thinned from closely-cramped buildings, families stacking on top of families, to fine stores and townhouses lined up into neat rows.
Ever didn't wander this way far. Usually his errands took him to cramped shops with low roofs, to quiet little homes where he stood in the doorway and played at polite until he had what he needed and got out. Today, though, was a venture uptown, and one that set him ill at ease.
His clothing patched and worn, his hair a tousled mess, his eyes narrow and dark and skitterish from behind a pile of fine, expensive feathers, he most certainly had a target on his back -- and when he saw the boys in their uniforms poking and prodding, the first thing to pass through him was a slow wash of relief.
They wouldn't even notice him. He could scurry past.
Common sense said to keep his mouth shut.
Ever was light on common sense.
So he paused, arms full of feathers, and squinted at the sky, at least grateful that it was dry. And then, carefully, he wrapped his bundle up in his battered jacket and set it on the ground, taking two steps toward the group.
"He must be pretty tough, hey?" It came out bright, amused, with a faint undercurrent of that dry mockery Ever never quite wiped away. And it got a confused look from the pack; he gestured vaguely, circling. "To take all of you on?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:21 am
One of the young men, blond hair, blue eyed and of a slightly lesser build than his two companions grabbed the smaller boy’s collar, dragging him forward for a moment to shove him backwards hard into the wall with intent to make a point. Likely he was the leader of this little troop.
“Are you talking to US?” He arched his eyebrows as though he had just heard a dog speak, or, from the look on his face as though a pig had just spoken. “You think you’re funny?” He flicked a hand. Motioning the other two towards the ‘impudent’ challenger. “Well, piggy let’s hear you squeal with the little fop.”
He gave the slight dark haired young man a hard shove, sending him sprawling to the pavement before joining the other two, determined to grind Ever into the pavement until their egos were satisfied.
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:28 am
Ever's mouth opened, again, to offer up some additional comment, some insult, some suggestion -- but he wasn't going to have time. Later, he'd come up with something brilliant he could have said, and would claim it had been on the tip of his tongue, no one the wiser. 'Oh, I had the best comeback, if there hadn't been three of them' -- or maybe even 'I could have taken just one'...
The truth, though, is that one of them probably would have been enough to smash his nose in, and as it was, his method of 'fighting back' was to close his mouth and tuck and roll, arms over his face and knees toward his chest. It'd protect from kicks and slaps, at least, would keep the tender parts of his body protected until they got bored and wandered off.
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 11:09 am
They delivered one more firm –kick- to Ever’s ribs, one of them spitting a thick glob of phlegmy spittle that landed less than an inch from Ever’s face.
A small cough and a spit from where they had left the boy, a hiss of breath as the boy got to his feet, “You Sir, are either very brave, or very foolish.”
He stepped closer and offered a hand to you to get you back to your feet.
He might have been a very pretty young man had he not been sporting a black eye, a split lip and a good deal of dirt from street and wall. Doubtless he sported more bruises under his school uniform as well. He was clutching a strap of books to his chest as though it were a shield from the dark ages.
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 11:15 am
"...are the feathers alright?" It was bleary, a bit dizzy; Ever was going to be bruised and battered himself for a few days. He reached up to swipe at his face, at his mouth, checking the seams of his clothing to make sure nothing had burst before taking Zac's hand. He was light, not hard to haul upright, though he wobbled on his feet...
It was hard to turn, to look around them for the glimmer of green that was his jacket. Harder still to get to it. He took one step, and then closed his eyes and waited for things to settle.
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 11:33 am
“Feathers?” He blinked and glanced around, spotting the bundle, it had a scuff on it, a dirty shoe print that implied it had been kicked though it didn’t look –terrible, so he’d hope it was ok. Scooping up what he found on the ground with a wince he delivered it to the swaying, rather more harshly treated young man. He handed them to Ever, waiting for him to open his eyes and take them before he dabbed gingerly at his swollen and bloodied lip.
His ribs ached, his jaw ached, and so on, but he hadn’t been on the ground in the way of feet. A gentleman paid his debts. But how was he to do that? He hadn’t much coin, and he didn’t want to remain indebted to anyone. If his father ever heard about it, well, he’d never hear the end of it, let alone feel the end of the belt leather.
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 12:48 pm
Ever reached out slowly, fumbling, to grab the bundle from Zac, and almost succeeded in dumping it all on the ground again. His stomach flipped and he closed his eyes, just leaning against the kid for a long moment.
"I'm an idiot." This, at least, was certain -- if unabashed, unashamed, unconcerned. He wobbled and thought about it for a moment, "Give it here, I can maybe stumble back..."
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:21 pm
Hesitation, he thought for certain his clothes would get him mugged if he went anywhere that the Man who saved him might look like he belonged. But he did… owe him. And he doubted that the man would make it –anywhere- of his own accord. Consider it then, an adventure, consider it building character, well, he just needed to consider anything that would help him avoid further beatings as a source of motivation really.
“I’ll, I’ll help you back if you tell me where.” He said offering to take the bundle, light as it was. If you take my shoulder I can help keep you…upright I think.” He hoped he could anyhow, the man looked thin enough that even he should be able to manage in good order.
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:31 pm
Dark eyes flashed over Zac, taking in the threadbare uniform, the guileless expression, the fluttery nerves -- and a good man would have said, 'no, you go on home, and I'll be fine'. He was not, however, a good man, and Ever couldn't quite resist the allure of seeing how this proper, awkward young man would react to even the front door of the Cockerel, let alone the interior.
At this hour, they were probably preparing the stage; were probably getting into costumes; were probably warming up. It made his eyes flash, amused, and straightened his spine just a touch.
"...are you sure?" He asked it even as he settled an arm around Zac's shoulders.
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Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 11:15 am
The obvious answer was ‘no’ he was not sure, though he said quite the opposite. “I’m sure, I… owe you at least this much sir.” He said carefully. Probably he should turn over what few coins he had as well, he wasn’t clear what the ‘honorable duty’ was for saving a man from a profound beating.
“Might I have an address sir?” he asked carefully.
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Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 8:06 am
His lip was bloodied, but there was nothing new there; beneath some of the swelling were older discolorations which meant -- well. He probably did this often. Or, at least, got into these kinds of one-sided fights often enough to leave their mark, a memory map on his face. Zac didn't need to know that he usually deserved it...
The address likely wouldn't ring any bells, other than being somewhere a bit into the less savory part of town, over the respectable line, and in a section of town that was largely a font of alcohol. But at least it wouldn't take them long to get there...
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Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 8:21 am
He was so glad that there wasn’t anyone there left who knew him, or at least he was fairly certain there wasn’t. The idea of being caught stumbling into a den of alcohol and likely debauchery would do nothing but give them more fuel to abuse him.
More especially so, since they’d taken to calling him fop, not that other boys in the school didn’t ‘dabble’ with some of their class mates.
All the same he still hesitated, a stumbling step when he realized that it wasn’t simply a ‘bar’.
“…here?” he asked nervously.
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Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 8:46 am
"We'll go in the back, to the kitchen, we have an ice box..." Zac could hesitate, yes, but Ever was going to give him a nudge to keep him going, licking his lip and wincing at that lingering taste of blood. They still had feathers, held delicately and mostly undamaged, the package to be delivered, but surely they would tolerate a little delay so that Ever could wash his face and press something cold against his poor face.
"There's likely no one here yet except the girls." Offered like reassurance, except that alone would probably put Zac more on edge.
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Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 8:57 am
“…Great.” He said with a small grimace. “Around the side?” he murmured. Still he helped the man onward with his odd but ‘precious’ cargo. “Gods I hope there isn’t anyone I know.” He hissed more to himself than to Ever.
He tried the door to see if it would open, trusting that Ever’s face would forestall any protests about him entering.
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