Open Crowds and Kids

[Trynne]

1 Summer, 519AV

It was around noon and Trynne had spent most of her day trying to clean dirt from the hem of her skirt and the bottoms of her pants, though now those seemed to have managed to dry, or at least her skirt had. Frowning at the slight stain that seemed too obvious to her, Trynne shook her head and pulled the item of clothing on, before making her way out of her home and into the streets of Sunberth.

There were a few things that she wanted to see if she could buy anywhere in the city, although she was doubting whether she would be able to find them but it was still worth checking.

Sighing to herself she made her way out of her house and started on her way through the sunset quarter towards the seaside market, her eyes regularly glancing around herself to make sure that nobody was too close to her or seemingly following her. The sight of the disheveled buildings that were barely standing made her grimace, reminding her of how little care was put into the buildings. Half of them looked ready to collapse at any point, though it seemed that people were happier to just ignore it until it happened.

She had been too absorbed in looking at the buildings that she hadn’t heard someone approaching and the hand gripping her arm startled her.

“Have you seen her?” a voice said and Trynne turned to look at the person to see a short woman with dark hair the woman's hand gripping onto her other arm slightly tighter than Trynne was comfortable with.

She was about to lash out at the woman and attempt to knock her back when she realised what the woman had said and Trynne blinked a few times realising that the woman was in distress, and just as the woman let go to continue on, Trynne called out to her.

“Seen who?” she asked.

“Larit!” the woman sounded exasperated, as though she’d explained this thousands of time to various different people and expected people to know now. “Young lass, about this tall, hair this long.” the woman continued to describe the girl.

“Is there any other family she could have visited?” Trynne asked and the woman looked as though she rolled her eyes.

“No! She’s an orphan!” the woman exclaimed and Trynne felt her eyes widen and she nodded.

“Shyke, how long she been missing?” she asked, beginning to realise the urgency of the situation.

“Since we woke up!” the woman said, before rolling her eyes and hurrying off, briefly turning around to call out to Trynne.

“If you find a little lass called Larit bring her to the orphanage!” the woman said before disappearing down an alleyway and Trynne paused for a moment before continuing her way to the seaside market, wondering if the child had made her way there to try and steal something.

Hurriedly she got to the market, seeing a mass of people there, and quickly she approached the nearest stall and glanced over things.

“‘Ave you ‘eard. Young lass at orphanage has gone missing. You ain’t seen her ‘ave you?” she asked the stall keeper as she looked through what they were saying, only looking up to see them shake there head and she moved along to the next stall.

[Kreig Messer]

Kreig yawned a bit, unusually for him he had slept in this day. Though he hadn’t mind it really, it was the first day of the new season and after all the unusually cheerful hubbub of Spring everything felt like it was winding down a bit. That fact saddened him slightly but before one can go back to happy times one had had to get to working he supposed, and endure the daily struggles of their lives. Here in Sunberth especially. For Kreig, who other than running errands for Tall Johnny and fighting in his arena, didn’t actually have all that much to do. The problem with being a fighter is that other than training or the occasional tasks, they had plenty of free time. And Gods above did Kreig have plenty of that. And so here he was at the seaside markets dressed in his usual gray shirt and brown trousers, smell of fish and sea filling his nostrils. It wasn’t welcome, but it was a familiar and so he bore it with the apathy that came from living in one city for so long. His eyes fell upon of the stalls and he found himself approaching the stall with all the curiousity of someone who didn’t expect to find anything but would just browse and see what curiosity brought him. This particular stall didn’t really have anything though that appealed and he didn’t pay attention to the sales pitch being given, they all sounded alike after a while. His ears perked up however at a voice coming from a nearby stall and he found himself frowning. ‘loss little kiddy, eh?’ And if his ears were hearing right it was an orphan kiddy, hardly unusual for one to disappear for a bit if he were honest, but still Kreig’s conscious shot out a pang of concern. The brawler held in a sigh, he really couldn’t feel he could ignore this… not like he wanted to. His head turned to glance and saw a young woman moving away from the previous stall onto the other… the one he was at. Conveniant he felt. Though he was kind of surprised by uh… how vertically challenged the woman was and there was a tug of amusement at the back of his mind. “Hey uh… miss, couldn’t help but overhear sayin’ a kid from the orphanage has gone astray? Ya know any more about the kiddy? Reckon I could give a hand”

[Trynne]

Trynne kept her eyes looking over the stalls as she continued asking the stall keepers if they’d seen a girl, though most had seen plenty of children around the stalls, but none that they thought could have been the missing orphan. So Trynne kept moving from stall to stall, always checking what they were selling while asking.

Something about how worried the woman had seemed made her feel slightly uneasy. She was nearly certain that orphans disappeared all the time, but the way Jillene had spoke made it seem as though that wasn’t really the case.

Trynne had almost become lost in her thoughts when she heard another voice and she glanced towards the man who stood far taller than she did. She stayed quiet for a few moments, looking him up and down warily. Her time in Sunberth had lead to a distrust of people that approached and offered help so easily, though after a few ticks she spoke.

“Aye, Jillene was running abou’ the Sunset Quarter in a panic. Said I’ll keep an eye out an’ take the lass to the Orphanage if I find her.” Trynne shrugged her shoulders slightly. “No clue if she’s anywhere near ‘ere but plenty of people to make aware.” she said, briefly looking the man up and down, before she glanced around to see the amounts of people in the area and the sheer number of children that could be from anywhere in the city. Finding just one specific girl she’d never seen before would likely prove to be difficult.

“So many kids though, finding one’ll be tricky. Never even seen the lass meself. Apparently she’s called Larit, and is about this tall with hair this long.” she said making the same gestures that Jillene had made to her early. “No’ sure if you can work with tha’ a’ all.” she found a slight awkward chuckle escaping her as she began to realise how useless the information she had was.

Suddenly, perhaps too suddenly, she extended a hand as a greeting before realising how aggressive her movement had been, pulling her hand back a bit so that it was as uncomfortably close to the man.

“Suppose I should introduce meself if you fancy helping out. Trynne.” she said, her eyes shifting from the man to the crowds of people in the markets, wanting to try and make sure no pickpocketers managed to get their hands into any of her pockets before she let her eyes settle on the man for a bit as a slight frown came across her face. “Not often someone around ‘ere offers to help ou, so wha’ you wanting ou’ of this then?”

[Kreig Messer]

Kreig noded, eyes focusing as he took in the words being said. The description wasn’t all that helpful indeed, fact of the matter a ton of little girls could match that description. But if this Jillene lady was the dame of the orphanage he supposed the kid wasn’t’ the sort to wander on their. Again it wasn’t uncommon for orphan kids to disappear and show up again later, kids being kids they had a curious streak and a stubbornness to do the opposite of what they’re told. Worst case scenario though was that they ran afoul of a ganger or a slaver picked them upm but Sunberth had its own views on kidnappers and the abuse of kids to a degree…. Just like a needless murder wasn’t welcome without at least a semblance for a cause, and a child’s kidnapping wasn’t that occurred often. He accepted the proferred arm, not thinking too much about the aggressiveness of it. Her motions didn’t match of someone who was throwing a punch and nor did she have a dagger it, regardless he was certain he could have taken any punch thrown though perhaps a tinge of overconfidence colored it. He gave the hand a firm shake. “Ay, nice meetin’ ya Trynne. Name’s Kreig Messer” A name for a name after all and he couldn’t help but smirk a bit as she turned her head as if suspicious of something. What? She think he a distraction for some pickpockets before. “There ain’t really nothin’ in it, a kids missin’ an’ that’s all there is to it” And truly that was all there was, unlike many a folk he wasn’t apathetic to a disappearance of a child. “ An’ I reckon we won’t be the only ones lookin’ though if Jillene is runnin’ about talkin’ folks ears off. So we might find the kid faster” Problem was the descriptor given, a gain a girl of long hair and yey height wasn’t uncommon, at the very least they had a name. and he scratched the back of his head as he pondered what to do. “Anyway, we could ask the stall owners an’ folks all we want. Kids runnin’ about ain’t a strange sight in any city, better bet is to ask other kids, probably other orphans an’ maybe pickpockets” He looked to the folks wandering about the market, some kids walking with their parents, other kids of similar age, and of course…. Those kids who tried to be sneaky, but Kreig’s eyes could spot the mismatched clothing and wrong sizes a mile away. “ ‘Least we gotta name I suppose, question is if we can get ‘em to talk” He mentally chuckled a bit, feeling his coin purse might get a tad lighter.