Wonder in the Streets (Gia)

[Kel Ehmry]

4th Spring 513AV Here he was running about the streets of Sunberth again, eavesdropping on conversations, perusing Silvertongue's Silver Tongue, or contemplating learning how to fight. His adventures in Sunberth, if you could call them yielded the same result every time, which was absolutely nothing. But every time he hoped to find some bit of info that would get him started on his quest for knowledge...and riches, definitely riches. But rather then discussing the latest treasures, the merchants at the docks are too busy discussing their latest trip to the brothel. Instead of finding any leads at the shady silver shop, the owner refuses to talk to Kel, probably because Kel always goes in and never buys anything. As for learning to fight, well, he hadn't really come across the opportunity, nor had he really looked for it. One of these days that'll happen Kel thought. The sun was beating down on the town as Kel weaved his through the crowd. He was sure not to run into anyone, as he was beginning to see that the citizens of Sunberth were quick to draw weapons at the slightest mishap. Despite the bright sun, the air was cool, as Winter had just come to a close and Spring was not in full swing yet. If Kel looked for it, he could see the air exiting his mouth as he exhaled. After some time walking the streets, Kel stopped at a bench where could take a break and figure out what he was going to do. He refused to let today be another waste of time. Something had to happen. Hell, let anything happen. Let a riot break out or something for all I care Kel thought. Kel sat down on the bench, looked up, and watched the people of Sunberth go about there days. He left his ears open, and listened for anything that may point him in the right direction.

[Gia]

The day was bright and sunny – the type of day to make Gia’s heart sing, despite the nip of winter just past that still lingered in the air. It was still cool enough to merit wearing her cloak, and far from being hot enough to cause the city to reek as it did in the summer. The air was crisp, and she breathed it in appreciatively, happy to see the hard grip of winter being replaced by the rejuvenating energy of spring. Fairly skipping along, she chatted merrily with her two friends, Mercedes and Allen. Not only were they her friends, but her co-workers as well – part of the performing troupe that she belonged to. At the moment, though, they were just walking along, in no hurry to get anywhere and dressed in their ordinary street clothes. On a dare from Mercedes, Allen had just filched an apple from a vegetable cart, for upon joining them Gia had produced two apples from her pockets and Merc had complained that they needed one more for each of them to be in possession of this scanty lunch. Having melted into the crowds, escaping notice, or so they hoped, the three had pressed on no more than a few steps when Allen had playfully relieved Gia of her two apples and began to juggle the three. Gia had made a happy protest and chased after him, Merc on their heels. Reaching a clearer spot on the street, the three had begun a confusing game of keep away, the fruits flying in haphazard fashion through the air, being caught and quickly tossed again, in no real certain pattern. Occasionally one fell to the filthy ground, and over the course of a few minutes of such sport, each apple in turn was getting bruised and roughed up a bit. Tiring of this game, Allen began to simply juggle the three fruits, expertly tossing them up and catching and releasing them, over and over, as they walked. One handed, behind his back, over his shoulder, with almost no conscious thought he moved the fruit endlessly through the air. Mercedes and Gia were giggling behind him about some secret or other, when one of the apples went astray and came flying at Gia. She caught it and Allen whirled about and tossed her another as she tossed the first back to him. Of a sudden, they were now juggling the fruits together, back and forth, back and forth, with Allen now walking backwards. Gia was giggling and Mercedes kept throwing her hand before the other girl’s face trying to distract her. They were coming up upon a bench that blocked their path and Allen moved with grace to the far side while Gia came up to it from behind. Mercedes misjudged her swipe and this time actually hit Gia’s nose with her fingers. Startled, Gia let her attention lapse for a moment – long enough for one of the apples to slip off her fingertips. It flew up, and then down, and landed squarely on the head of a young man who was the sole occupant of the bench. From his head, it bounced up again and landed at his feet. Gia raised both hands to cover her mouth in a gesture of alarm and dismay, though Allen grinned cheekily and Mercedes giggled, as she bent to pick up the other two apples that had fallen more innocuously to the ground. Scooting around to the front of the bench, Gia said breathily, “I’m so sorry, sir! Very sorry indeed!” It was just an added misfortune that the abused apple had further deteriorated from the initial impact and left a few bits of its sticky, juicy self in his hair.

[Kel Ehmry]

This...isn't what I imagined when I came to Sunberth. Here I am just sitting by myself on a bench, eavesdropping on random passerbys...oh how low I have stooped. I need to reevaluate this game plan of mine. Well, I better be going on, maybe a drink...or four might help. Kel let out a loud sigh and bowed his head. As he held his gaze with the cold dusty ground, his brooding was interrupted by laughter coming from down the street. Curious, he slowly lifted his head and searched for the source of the laughter. Finally, his eyes fell upon a group of three, who appeared to be juggling a few apples back and forth between them. Kel looked on, taking an interest in the three's antics. At first Kel assumed they were simply three friends having a bit of fun, but then they started becoming coordinated, as if it was rehearsed. Occasionally they would drop an apple but they were quick to scoop it back up. Kel smirked as he watched the three. He didn't know why, but watching them perform in the street gave him a bit of cheer, something that he needed at the moment. Suddenly Kel noticed that one of the apples had disappeared from circulation, but rather than search for the missing apple, he continued watching the three. Suddenly...thud. Kel winced as the apple fell from his head and finally rested at his feet. Kel reached up and ran his fingers through his hair, feeling for a bump. Instead he felt the apple's juices sticking in his hair. A look of slight disgust passed over his face. One of the girls who had been passing the apples around ran up to him, apologizing for the mishap. Good thing Kel wasn't your average Sunberthian, or else he may have drawn a weapon. The girl was short, slender, and petite, with dark blonde hair that stretched down to her waist. In a word, she was cute by Kel's definition of the word. Kel looked up and met the girls green eyes. "Don't worry about it. Accidents happen" Kel said politely as he shook some of the apple's juices from his hand. "You three were pretty good at that juggling stuff by the way. I was certainly mesmerized, at least to the point of not noticing an apple heading towards me" He said, kicking the apple to the side.

[Gia]

Gia noted the look on the young man’s face, and it didn’t bode well – though truly it was one more of displeasure than true anger. The eyes that came up to hers as she apologized with a genuine tone of contrition were not overtly hostile either – which was unusual, for this place. His words, said in an easy tone, brought a sigh of relief to Gia’s lips, and then a warm smile. So, he wasn’t going to leap up and scream in her face or try to shove her to the ground or chase after any of them with a knife – any or all of which might have quite reasonably come to pass. In fact, to the contrary, the young man seemed merely amused and even gave their now questionable juggling skills a nice compliment. He seemed willing to be the unintended butt of nature’s joke – gravity dictates that that which goes up, must come back down, somewhere. “It was truly an accident, sir,” she agreed, nodding vigorously. “We should have been paying more attention. You see, my friend was just trying to be playful….” She gave a little cry as he booted the apple away with a disdainful flick of his toe, and she pounced on the much sullied fruit as if it had been a precious gem tossed into the gutter. Rising, she looked at him, questioningly, and then her expression shifted to one of mild embarrassment. “I – this – this is my lunch.” Her brow then furrowed and she hesitated a moment, but then she hesitantly held the tattered looking fruit out to her unintended victim. “Unless…you want it? It…it would be only right.” Gia wasn’t sure why he had kicked the apple away, but she knew one thing – no-one would deliberately fling away food. Only a mad man or a rich man would do so, and this young man looked to be neither of those.

[Kel Ehmry]

Kel raised his eyebrow as the girl jumped after the fruit he had just kicked away. Then again he had just flung away one Sunberth's most precious commodities, food. The Winter was a forgiving one, and starvation had become a common cause of death. Over the Winter, Kel certainly grew accustomed to the dead. It was fairly remarkable that Kel had managed to stay afloat during the season in hindsight. There were days where he didn't eat, and there were days where he manged to get fairly lucky. So it all balanced out in the end he guessed. The girl told Kel that the fruit he had carelessly kicked away had been her lunch. And with that, Kel frowned. Oh petch! Now I'm the bad guy here... Kel thought as he looked at the girl. The girl then offered him the wretched looking apple to compensate for her mistake. Kel looked at the fruit, bruised and tattered. "Ummm no no, you hold onto that" Kel said. Truth be told, he probably should have kept it, after all it was free food. Even if he didn't eat it he could of used it as a bargaining chip. Maybe that arse at the silver shop would give him some information with a bit of bribery. "Right, well... he paused, "I'm Kel by the way. I'd shake your hand but its a bit soggy at the moment" He said, shaking his hand out once more. "And you are?"