[Flashback] Out in the World (Abalia)

[Marius Valdemar]

27th of Fall 509 AV His woolen shirt was smeared with soot, a stench, and a thin line of blood. It was not his own, but he did carry the same blood through his body. And the flames of his mother's shoddy pyre were beginning to die down. He could not report her death, for then they would take the shack he and his mother had lived in his entire life. So the newly made orphan had hauled his mother's corpse out of the house at dusk, taken her around back to an alley filled only with uninterested cats, and created a makeshift funeral pyre from the bits of wood scattered about. The smell was terrible, but Marius's nose was stuffed anyway from the sobbing that shook his entire body. He was alone now. Alone to fend for himself. His mother had left a bit of coin when she passed, and Marius resolved to be as careful with it as possible. He would need it to feed himself, he realized. The clothes he had worn before now were soaking in some tepid water, and he had on something even rattier that no longer fit properly. Still, he was thankful they had not thrown it out now, or that moths had not devoured it completely. Marius decided he could not remain in the shack a moment longer, and burst out into the night. His eyes were still red and puffy and the stench had not entirely faded. He was in a sort of frenzy, not sure and not caring where he was going. All the illusions of Alvadas did not phase him now; Marius stumbled along the streets with no purpose but to put one foot in front of the other. The shops were just barely closing as the sun above made its descent downwards to be replaced by the shining moon. They paid the boy no mind and simply went about their business. Marius's pocket jingled with the coin he could not use now that there were no more open food vendors, but all the same his stomach growled loudly. He stopped then and put one hand on his belly and the other upon his forehead. He found a wall with his back, and slid downwards against it until he was no more than a huddled shadow against the streets.

[Abalia]

If one needed a constant companion and playmate, they need only learn to live in Alvadas. The city itself was company that never left, the promise of a sentience that never strayed. Of course, it was also a catty sort of friend, and could turn ugly in a blink, typically without much rhyme or reason. Abalia, who had never been in a city that didn't have mood swings and temper tantrums, knew no different. She had long since learned to skip along the streets with an open mind, treating the city as one might treat a friend who was not of stable mind. They would not be able to help their fickleness, but as a beloved she would not love them any less. Such it was with the city, her city, and the newly born night that she walked in. Tonight was special because Roxanne was supposed to meet her. Near the library, their nebulous plan had been set. They pretty kelvic wanted to show her something, and Abalia was smitten with the notion of a surprise. Being Alvada, little surprised her anymore. It was a novel idea, a tickling fancy that led her along twisting streets. She adapted to the changes of the city without even thinking of it, undeterred by the restless roll of concrete beneath her. It as one such detour that caused her to stumble upon the boy, crumpled and dirty against the wall behind him. She might have ignored it, gone on. She certainly was no superhero and entertained no grand ideas of saving her city or the people in it. Life on the streets could be difficult, and miserable, and there were orphans all around. She'd grown up as one of them, after all. This crumpled mass of humanity caught her attention, somehow. Perhaps it was the swollen red eyes, the pain in them. Or, maybe, it was that he looked lost. Utterly lost, in a way that didn't relate entirely to the confusing city. Either way, Abalia hedged. She really needed to be on her way, to meet Roxxie. With a contemplative glance over her shoulder, she gave a great sigh and turned away from her own good pleasure to crouch before him. It'd be impossible for the boy to tell that, as far as status went, she was little better than him. She was dressed in colorful layers, with soft, clean skin and a pretty smile that certainly seemed to elevate her out of the mire of his own filth. "You look lost."

[Marius Valdemar]

A voice sounded around him. Who...? Marius thought disjointedly. Was it truly a voice at all? Was it was one of Alvadas's many illusions, tormenting him in his hour of despair? Or had his mind cracked under the weight of all that had happened, when it simply became too much? Had he finally gone mad? Was his life at an end? Nope. When Marius lifted his tear stained face he saw the girl who spoke, looking cheerful and bright against the darkness around them. The boy blinked furiously, trying to clear his vision and drive the remaining tears from his eyes. He smeared on his signature smile and laughed lightly. The sound was empty, and hung awkwardly in the air like a hairless bat with no wings. Maybe I am crazy he thought when that particular image came to his head. "Lost? Nahh." He finally said. "How could I be lost? After all, there is no finding in this city!" Marius laughed again, this time with more confidence. He shifted his huddled position and propped one leg up with his hand hanging lazily over the knee and the other stretched out in a line. It was a laughable attempt at being smooth, even he knew it. But better to act like everything was okay than to evoke this stranger's pity. "I'm just taking a rest, you know? I had a long hard day's work, and the gutter seemed as good as any place to collapse."

[Abalia]

His coy observation of that very real truth made a bit of a grin quirk Abalia's lips upwards. Was anything ever really found in Alvadas? It became a way of life, really, the ever shifting city that was never the same from one moment to the next. Abalia knew nothing different, but she had seen enough visitors come and go to recognize that it apparently didn't sit well with a larger core of humanity. "Yeah?" She quipped, a bit of street rat seeping into her intonations, her tone. "What's that? Your work, I mean. The thing you've been hard at." It was obvious that he'd been working hard at crying himself all out of tears, as his eyes were still angrily red and puffy, and his cheeks were still damp from tears he'd neglected to wipe away. She wasn't about to point that out, though. It wasn't the thing to do. Abalia did not feel pity for the young boy, trying so hard to be strong, as much as a sad sort of kinship. She didn't know what had hurt him so, but she knew what that moment felt like. "Want to get a bite?" Random, yes. Especially with Roxxie still waiting. But it was hardly much of a surprise, this stranger showing kindness, when compared with the tricks Alvadas was always up to.

[Marius Valdemar]

"A bite?" Marius asked quizzically. The suggestion was not fully registering in the boy's swamped brain, and there were only blanks coming up when he searched for what she meant. Finally a break through occurred within his mind, and he began to think of legs of meat, pouring honey, and dancing olives. Quite suddenly, the legs of meat turned into his mother's legs dangling and dragging as he hefted her through the house, the pouring honey became the fluids that poured out of her as he did so, and the dancing olives turned into her cold eyes staring unseeingly up at him. Marius clutched his stomach, turned to the side, and retched all over the gutter next to him. Curiously, Alvadas decided to cast an illusion upon the mess of his stomach's previous contents. A multicolored daisy sprung up from the center of the pile, stretching and unfolding its petals in all of their bile encrusted glory. Marius took it for a sign, and if this was a sign it was to be trusted, for his beloved city had never truly lied to him before. He climbed to his feet before this kind girl could react and wiped his mouth on the end of his sleeve. "Alright, sure. I mean, now that I've got room that is." He said. Marius realized that the joke was in poor taste, but then just ended up laughing at the pun that such a thought conjured. "Lead the way." He exclaimed, grinning widely.