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 Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 9:52 am
Lying about where he was going during the day had been easier than Arden originally thought. He’d spent a good, long while coming up with a cover story about a tutor and studying for exams but turns out when you have chronically ill siblings and a fragile father it wasn’t that hard to slip under the cracks. So long as his behavior was ‘acceptable’ there weren’t any letters being sent home and that was good enough to keep the attention away.
It had been two weeks since he’d dropped out of the academy, and so long as he made sure to walk with Colm to the doors, then meet back up with him at the end of the day no one questioned it.
That day, as it turned out, just so happened to one where he didn’t have to work. As much as he would have loved to stay home and rest, Arden couldn’t afford being found out so he’d gone with Colm, as per usual, and found himself meandering toward the more ‘touristy’ areas of the city. He knew his parents weren’t likely to come this way during the work day, so it was safer, or so he assumed.
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 9:52 am
[Scar via Discord / 1]
That blasted healer had tricked him. Amon left his letter, like he was asked, but after days of anxiously waiting for an answer he returned to seek out the healer and found that'd he'd been fooled. The place he left the letter was empty, but the person working there had never heard of the man - and on interrogating the cafe staff he was promptly frozen out. Whoever that lying man was, the staff were in his pocket and Amon was at a loss.
Worse than that; if he wasn't lying through his teeth, then there was a chance the healer would tell his father about him and he might lose the trail, which was painful to think about.
So he was desperate, and had taken to debasing himself by questioning all over town for his father. Which brought him here, to a gaudy and brightly decorated entertainment district, chasing down any remotely ice person he could - which was slim pickings honestly, until he spotted a blue skinned hybrid from afar.
Puffing himself up, Amon quickened his pace to try and catch up to him, "You there! With the white hair - just a moment of your time!"
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 9:53 am
Oh, brilliant. Just what he needed; another Tendajian who had spotted his naturally foreign looks and assumed he was some sort of tour guide. Or worse, an empathizer. How many times had he been approached while just going about his day by someone looking for some sap to pour their life story out too? Arden very nearly didn’t turn around, but seeing as he was trying to keep a low profile he chose not to outright run away.
So, he slowed his pace and turned to meet – a Zenan? Now that…was a little different. He’d seen a few Zenan hybrids, but this man – boy? - looked pure and that was a little rarer. Still, it wasn’t enough to wipe the scowl from his features. “Anything you're going to ask is you gonna cost you one gold piece per question. I don’t have time to mess around.” Hoping the steeper price would deter the other, Arden stuffed his hands in his pockets and waited.
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 9:54 am
[Scar via Discord / 2]
When the hybrid turned around, there was nothing about him that sang out to Amon with recognition, empathy, or familiarity. There was no tingle of fate making him feel this person was special, or closely related to the one person he was searching for - so, at first, Amon met his cold stare and only felt relief. Because finally, someone he could work with - whose sympathies were tied to something Amon was familiar with: money. He drew himself up somewhat, but gave a single nod of his head, already reaching for his coinpurse, despite a skeptical part of his brain that told him that was reckless, and a cutpurse would just lunge for it-
"If you actually have answers, then that I can do." He responded with a sharp look, eyes dragging over him in what was meant to be an assessment of his lower quality clothing-
Instead, his eyes locked on the crystals scattered along his chest and collarbones, and without thinking he jolted forward, hands gripping the lapels of the hybrid's shirt so he could look closer. He'd stared at nearly identical crystals on his grandparents - and on the custom necklace he had, as a gift from his mother, for most of his life. "Where did you - how did you - your crystals." He stammered out, grace forgotten along with his shock.
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 9:55 am
As Arden stood his ground, shoulders squared against the stranger to prove a point, he couldn’t help watching his movements. That critical gaze was something that never failed to get under his skin – like one of his professors who gave him the ‘you could do so much more with your life’ speech before he’d left school for good. Who’d assumed he wasn’t worth the dirt under their heel just because he didn’t want to sit inside all day-
And just like that he was letting out a curse, arms moving up to the strangers shoulder and grasping down hard. It wasn’t the first time Arden had been jumped so he came prepared, but this was just- weird? The Zenan wouldn’t stop staring at his chest and it was making Arden uncomfortable.
Which was, possibly, what prompted him into slamming his forehead down onto the other man’s before pushing him back. “Get off me!”
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 9:56 am
[Scar via Discord / 3]
Amon's eyes flicked up to the hybrid's face just in time to see a blur of silver flying at him before, instead, he saw stars. He yelped and clutched at his nose and forehead, only somehow managing to keep his non dominant hand clasped into the hybrid's shirt, probably out of sheer desperation. Anger sparked through him, outrage at being attacked by a peasant - but the panic of letting go and having his one desperate clue run away forced him to tamp down his initial impulse to strike out, or yell.
He didn't know if his nose was broken, or if it was bleeding, and could only blink the spots from his eyes as he peered at the other boy, holding his free hand up in surrender. "I'm sorry! I was surprised - I'll let you go, just don't run I- I apologize. Look - see, look-"
Amon scrambled to hook a thumb in his necklace and lifted it up, hoping it would prompt the boy to see the familiar array of gems there.
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 9:57 am
Arden’s gut instinct was to push the Zenan as far away from him as possible and leave. His father had never spoken highly of his people so Arden had no reason to see them as anything other than vile. They’d been raised to treat each one of them as if they had ulterior motives, and to be especially wary of a Zenan in finery, especially if they randomly approached on the street. He’d never really known why, but there had been looks between his parents that let him know whatever it was went deep.
So, he’d lived with it buried in the back of his head until this moment when, out of nowhere, a Zenan in embroidered clothing started flashing around jewelry-
“Why do you have that?” Arden snarled. His hand came up to grasp the necklace; not hard enough to snap the thing, but quick enough that it couldn’t be pulled away. He turned it in the light, catching the particular hue and shapes.
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 9:58 am
[Scar via Discord / 4]
Amon's pulse thudded in his ears and through his face, and when he nervously licked his lips - yeah. Yeah, he was bleeding a bit - not a lot, thankfully. He gave a quiet grunt when his necklace was tugged, awkwardly leaning forward along with it, but true to his word he let go of the other boy's shirt and held both hands up innocently, allowing the necklace to be inspected. "My mother gave it to me. It's meant to remember someone by - they match his crystals. And his father's too - and so on. They are..." His eyes flicked down to Arden's exposed crystals then back up to his face.
"They're supposed to be genetic. I thought this person was dead, but recently learned he's here - in Belrea. I mean no harm, you have my solemn word, I only want to ... to make contact. That is all."
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 9:59 am
HIS crystals? Arden’s exhale had a bit of a shake to it as he inspected the necklace. The boy was sharp – deceptively so – and despite his brutish nature Arden’s mind was a whirl with thought. Disturbing thought. A necklace, meant to resemble a man’s crystals and they were genetic….crystals just like his own….like his siblings…from their father.
“His name – what’s his name?”
He wouldn’t believe it; not until he heard it. There was absolutely no way this could be tied to his family and yet the evidence was damning.
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 10:01 am
[Scar via Discord / 5]
Please. Please let this be a proper lead. Amon watched the boy think, those unnerving pale eyes narrowed beneath strange, furrowed rounded brows. He looked so... so foreign in his coloring, and yet the blue skin and those crystals were unmistakeable. "Asa. Asa Sargsyan." He breathed, watching his face for any flash of recognition. If he said it didn't ring any bells, he wasn't sure how he'd react.
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 10:01 am
“Sargsyan?” The name came out before Arden even had time to process it. Asa was unmistakable – there was no way to deny they were talking about the same man now – but that name. What was that to his father? To his family?
The teenager let the crystal necklace fall away from his fingers and for a moment his hand came up to his chest. His fingers ghosted over his crystals and his pulse quickened. “Does your…” He couldn’t bring himself to say it. “Was he born with an illness? In his lungs?”
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 10:02 am
[Scar via Discord / 6]
At any other time, Amon would have probably gloated over the obvious slip up; why would the other teen give away that piece of information for free? Better to have made Amon supply it, to confirm it, so he knew he wasn't going along just to seal the deal. But in the moment Amon could only thank Bergchi for finally granting his prayers and giving him a solid lead.
... Even if that lead came in the form of a b-- of a... of his father's--
No, it was uncharitable to think on it when this boy was also the one who would (hopefully) lead him to his father. "Yes - yes, one that I was raised to believe had claimed him." Amon would have sneered the words out, but he forcefully kept his features plaintive and hopeful. He could tell himself it was a mask of desperation to lull the stranger into helping him, but that would be a bald faced lie. He WAS desperate.
"Instead - I learned he... eloped. With a woman with silver hair." Which- obviously, was his mother. Think charitable thoughts, Amon--
"My mother has remarried so I don't - wish to drag him home or anything of the like, I just need to see him. That is all."
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 10:04 am
Snippets of his childhood were starting to make sense in a way that Arden didn’t want to believe. Their nomadic lifestyle – despite his father’s condition and clear lack of ability for it – the man’s penchant for finer things, his mother’s overbearing nature (beyond caring for an ill family) and the move to Belrea…Was that it? Was that the reason his entire life had been uprooted? Not because of his father’s health, as they’d been led to believe, but because of a wife and child the man had left behind?!
Two paths opened for Arden. He could lie – it would be easy enough to say, harder to dispute given his features – tell his family, skip town and keep running. OR they could face this head on. Someone was lying and as much as he wanted to believe his parents what other reason would this man have to come here, of all places?
“…If I believe you and take you to him, you’ll swear on your life that no harm comes to him?” Arden’s voice was level and his eyes, as clear as a still pond, bore into Amon’s. “I want answers same as you, but if so much as blink in a way I don’t like I’ll wear your jaw as a headband. Understood?”
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 10:05 am
[Scar via Discord / 7]
There was a dawning comprehension on the boy's face that led Amon to hope. He waited, with bated breath, forcing his hands to remain still at his sides instead of fiddling with his necklace, or wiping at his bloodied lip. His grandfather would scold him for being so easily read, so eager, but this was... the one thing Amon had wanted. To know his father. And now that it was within his reach, he for once didn't care how he came off.
Amon felt he should be used to threats, after traveling with Yngvara. ... He wasn't. But, at least in this, he felt he had nothing to fear - he was telling the truth. Asa returning home would find no wife waiting for him, no gratitude from Amon's grandparents - they had covered up his absence and moved on. It was only Amon who sought him out (or so he thought). What would his grandfather gain from harming the little family?
There were some motives Amon didn't know, and so while he himself had no intention of harming them - he was ignorant of what harm his mere presence could cause.
Regardless, he nodded, firmly, meeting those spirit pale eyes with his own golden ones. "I swear on my life. The last thing I want with my -- with... Asa - is to hurt a hair on his head."
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Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 10:06 am
“Then give me your necklace.” Arden held out a hand, palm up, and waited. “If you do that I’ll take you to him right now and if, after this meeting is over, you’ve held up your end of the deal you’ll have it back.”
And, for added measure, Arden calmly stated, “You’re a Sargsyan by blood, right? If you are then losing this won’t mean anything since you have his crystals already.” It was a bold statement, but little bits were still clinging in his mind. Such as why would someone, who was so hell bent on finding a man based on crystals he inherited from his father wouldn’t have them of his own?
While it might have been a genetic fluke for something that strong in the bloodline not to be present…Well, if it was the only hope Arden had he would bite into it.
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