Friends Made In The Most Odd of Ways (Chapiko, Wrenmae)

[Ana Sol Starris]

Winter 41st 511AV
Sunberth Streets

Typical, such a normal day in Sunberth and how oh so fortunant for Ana to spy an outsider walking around the streets. Looking as if she were ripe for the picking, hopefully the little theif would strike first before any others got the same ideas. It was only fitting, right? First sight, first dibs, right? Right. She affirmed to herself mentally, that was how it was suppose to be according to her book although real life held different answers, answers which annoyed her to no end. She would have to make it to the target first before another theif, cut throat or thug does, simple as that.

Why ever this woman came to Sunberth was beyond Ana (forgoing the fact she too was an outsider, it was an irrelevent thought to her) it didn't matter to her as the little thief just wanted the womans coin. Trailing after her by the walls and to the side, then making a veer into a group of people and moving quickly towards her but not so quickly the people around her would take any signifigant notice. Getting much closer, just behind the woman and out of her perephials maybe, Ana could almost feel the gold in her hands already, wait, her hands were already reaching into the womans pockets on their own accord. Suddenly Ana was paranoid she had been too straight foward, fingers were already tugging something out of the womans pocket it was too late now to back off, she only hoped she had a bit of luck to not be caught.

[Chapiko]

Cities were quite annoying. Wherever she went, her fingertips sensed garbled nonsense from all the ambling around the Sunberthians did. It felt like she had shoved her hands into a fast-moving stream, except without the wetness. Even when she didn't concentrate, the ridiculousness would seep through into her subconscious, causing her to want to punch everything that moved. The only upside to having these special fingers was that she could just barely pick out when someone or something was moving towards her. Why she was walking through the street was a mystery to even her, but at least it was light out. The downside was the freezing cold, so unlike the constantly hot desert sands of Eyktol. Her only reason to not wear gloves was the fact that having cold hands it much better than being pick-pocketed by petty thieves and any other strange beings living in this city produced. Yet, through the nonsense, she could feel a bit of someone moving towards her, a slightly constant force in the mess. Being in the City of Anarchy, that meant many things, none of them being a kind passerby coming to hand her a miza she might have dropped. More like, a random thief coming to take a miza she hadn't dropped. She attempted to ignore it, maybe it would go away. Ignoring didn't work apparently, because the next thing she knew her clay comb, which she had shoved into her pocket for no apparent reason earlier, was sliding out. Chapiko turned around, annoyed that someone would pickpocket her. Not that they wouldn't pickpocket practically everyone, but still. What about her stood out from everyone else? Other than the small black dots covering her finger tips, her abnormally long legs and solid black eyes, of course. The girl who was attempting to take from her was much shorter than Chapiko, with honey-amber coloured eyes that met her own solid black ones. She grabbed her wrist, above the hand with the comb, and pulled the comb from her grasp. She muttered a few annoyed words in Tawna, and then looked at the girl again. "I would prefer if you didn't steal from me," she half-whispered, staring the girl straight in the eye. The girl was obviously malnourished, and her clothes were almost torn to shreds. If someone like this asked her for a few mizas nicely, she would have given her some. Honestly.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Ana stared up into her targets, now captors eyes, the little thief froze in place as she stared in fear. They were black, completely, utterly, petching black orbs for opticals! Widening her own ambered colored eyes and holding her breath, her wrist jerked on its own accord while every sensor in her mind went off. Mentally, she was told to run, hide, this person was not normal, not normal at all and it scared her. Glancing at what she had grabbed (but now was taken away) a comb, a comb?! Then back to the woman holding her wrist, her fear turning into disbelief and frustration. Just her luck, even if she had succeeded she'd be left with a stupid comb! Not money!

Curiousity kept her from running now, between warnings to escape, to quell that undeniable choking feeling welled up in her chest, screaming for her to run from what appeared could be dangerous. Yet there were also questions to be answered; questions that were fueled by said curiousity, why did this woman have black eyes? Why was she not punishing Ana for her failure? Whats she doing in Sunberth?? Does she even have money?! Letting go of a long held breath Ana replied in a hoarse voice "was aiming for money" she tryed to pull off a confident smile, it turned out to be a shaky and uncertain grin to the woman, avoiding the black orbs for eyes as much as she could.

Glancing around her and her captor, making some of the slightest movements with her head to look around. People were watching, well of course they would be the two of them were just standing there in the street. Clearing her throat, Anas breath fogged in the rigidly cold air, she couldn't bring herself to look into the womans black eyes, they unnerved her "Why don't you cut me," she asked, not holding the question back any longer - it was damn near impossible not to "you're more than in the right to do so."

[Chapiko]

She blinked a few times, wiping an extra-long eyelash out of her eyes. "Cut...you? Why would I do that?" Said as a half-whisper once again, her chosen tone of voice for the moment. She didn't understand the point of cutting the girl. Was there some weird tradition here, to cut thieves that had been caught? This city was even more confusing than it had been a few chimes ago. Sunberth was...interesting. The sight of a half-starved girl wearing ragged clothes was a sad one, one that she had seen many times in the city of anarchy. She never saw it back home in Eyktol, with the Tatsuwaat tribe, because there everyone was taken care of, with enough food and clothes so long as they did their part in the upkeep. Chapiko backed up against a wall to avoid clogging up the awkward flow of the street, dragging the girl with her. Leaning against the wall of one random building or another, she drew her exceedingly warm fur cloak around herself. The girl was definitely poor, and could most likely use a miza or two. But in her eyes, you don't deserve anything for free. You have to work for it. "Tell me about Sunberth...major locations, groups, buildings, landmarks...anything. Please." She looked the girl straight in the eye once again as she said this in the half-whisper she had been using. Even the sight of a poor little thief on the street wouldn't be enough for charity, but work, yes, would be enough for money.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Glaring up at the scary woman with black eyes, as if this was some kind of cruel joke that Ana wasn't getting. Usually people who repremanded thieves, usually dealt harshly with them and the outsider seemed confused about what Ana had just said. Maybe because shes an outsider she is squeemish perhaps? Shaking the thought away, no one came to Sunberth if they were squeemish with violence or blood (not to mention her own fear of the red liquid.) That didn't matter right now, what did was her captor still held her captive and she was now dragging Ana off the street "you seemed the type to knife a thief," she said lowly, and then in a mutter "pitch black eyes.."

The wrist that was held still, the hand attached formed a tight fist; it was more to stop the shaking rather than to do combat. Because she kept glancing at her eyes, Ana chose the cloak that the woman was wrapping around herself tighter to look at "well, theres the slave markets.. I don't reccomend going near there," Ana wanted to touch that fur cloak so badly, even her eyes seemed to cringe at resisting to bring her hand to pet the matirial "Stumble Alleys a freaky place, no one really goes down it.." Remembering her first encounter with Wrenmae there. Anas voice was quieter, she wondered why the woman was whispering "and theres the slums, and the castle commons is usually where you can get food.." Ana didn't specify on that last part, whether you bought, you stole, or you got it for free. She didn't want to be turned in by this woman, however likely that may seem.

Something tugged at her mind though, to go a little further. Ana had an inkling that if this was the womans first time here she was most likely going to get conned out of her money and posessions. Looking her straight in her eyes and shuddering at the blackness of them, the warnings returned to run but she kept eye contact as best she could, one outsider to another "if this is your first time here... I'd be careful about not getting jipped or caught in alleys, or even at night in the streets," it was a warning, Ana hoped she would follow the little bit of advice she gave to the woman.

Grimacing, Anas lips became tight "what the heck is wrong with your eyes?" If she had offended, well she didn't really mean to, she was just curious.

[Chapiko]

Chapiko nodded, soaking up the information. She didn't doubt the information she was given, because she had heard of these places before. Anything named 'Stumble Alley' or the slave markets was of course a place to be avoided, unless there was an extremely good reason to do go. And the warning of staying out of alleys and streets at night was a given. "My...my eyes?" She reached her hand up to her face, only to realize that this girl had probably never seen a Chaktawe before. Likewise, she had been confused at why everyone's eyes were coloured when she left the Tatsuwaat tribe. She had seen Benshira and Eypharians before, but she thought that it was normal for people to have solid black eyes and that the Benshira and Eypharians were special. How wrong had she been. "Oh...right. There's nothing wrong with my eyes. Haven't you ever seen a Chaktawe before?" Asked, but rhetorical. She didn't feel offended or really care whether this girl had seen one or not. She wasn't all concerned about the girl's permanent well being either, but for a moment she felt like being nice. She pulled a single gold miza out from under her cloak, and pressed it into the girl's palm. Then she realized how cold the girl probably was, and lifted up a side of her heavy fur cloak. She pulled the girl next to her, and wrapped the cloak around them both. Why Chapiko was being so nice, she didn't know. Maybe it was the fact that the girl was being nice to her, but there wasn't really a reason. The girl was freezing cold, but began to warm up considerably with combined body heat and the thick fur of the cloak. She felt that she had done something nice for someone who appeared to have no kindness directed to their person at all, and it was a good feeling. But not something she would do all the time, because she didn't want to be a walking charity. Caring for other people wasn't really her specialty, either.

[Ana Sol Starris]

"Cha.. Chaktawe..?" Ana echoed the word uncertainly as her eyes flicked to the womans hand, it sounded funny, but also foreign to the little thief "whats a Chaktawe??" Feeling a tad stupid with not knowing what in the gods names a 'Chaktawe' was, if it was the womans reason to having all black eyes then so be it. Ana judged her though, and heavily, pitch black eyes were both weird and scary to see and it put her on edge even more when the womans hand had reached into her cloak. Only to pull out a shiny gold miza! Blinking, Anas eyes seemed to gleam with want and then taken a back by surprise as she placed the coin in her hand. Looking down at it, then back at the woman, then again to the coin; had Ana done something she could do again to gain more??

The womans pulls brought her out of her stupor, she had now brought Ana to her side and was wrapping the cloak around Ana with herself; bringing the two closer. Doing a bit of a sudden head jerk away to watch her captors movements better, the little thief looked up at the woman with deep suspicion, her head cocked at a downwards angle while her eyes snapped to the womans face. Cringing, Ana was on full alert even though Ms.-Black-Eyes movements were none-threatening. The touch however, she had touched Ana and the little thief considered that to be a big taboo "wh-what are you doing?" her voice was a slight octave higher than the quiet whispers they had taken to "going to do..." she added a bit, with an underlying darker tone, even though warmth crawled into her skin from the magnificent fur, it wasn't enough to make her relax.

Shaking, her mind was telling her to now run, something foreign had her in its grips and that should have been enough to escape right away. But no, she chose to not struggle away from these predicaments, well it wasn't like she could because if she did it would take more energy than necessary. There was also the matter of the coin, it had taken her focus around her away due to its shiny moneyness.. Wait.. If there is one, then there is certainly more where this came from... Ana thought to herself, only now realizing at what an advantage she was to take the womans purse. Her free fingers twitched ever so lightly at the thoughts and the hand that now held the coin, gripped it tighter in her grubby palm.

[Chapiko]

Being closer to the girl gave her more of a chance to inspect her. She was quite short, with pale skin and light hair. Malnourished. She had dark circles under her eyes as well, most likely from lack of sleep. But from what? Little questions tugged at her mind, but the girl had some of her own. "Why, keeping you warm of course. You must be cold." You didn't need to have half a mind to realize that a lot of people in Sunberth were cold, especially by the looks of the common clothes people wore, which were rags. The question of what bothered the girl at night still tugged in the corner of her subconscious, ever apparent but not necessarily wanted. She laughed, the laugh out of place in the conversation and on the street. Not even a musical, lovely laugh; a confusing, almost creepy laugh. Scratch that. Very creepy laugh. It wasn't that loud, but her heavy accent was more apparent than in whispering. Heavy accent from years upon years of speaking Tawna, which built up on her Common to make it almost unintelligible when spoken quickly. She realized that she had missed the question asked earlier, about what a Chaktawe was. Oh, how she could describe a Chaktawe, so many different things. But did this girl deserve to know them? No. Telling a few basic facts wouldn't hurt, though. "Chaktawe are my race. We have solid black eyes and hair, and we can feel movement in our hands. I can feel your fingers twitching, and I can feel if you even move to attempt to take my coin. So don't bother." She winked at the last bit, more of to herself than the girl. She didn't exactly exaggerate, but all the extra commotion around them would hinder most of the ability to feel the movement. But she didn't have to know that. "Now it's time for a question of my own. Why can't you sleep at night?" The question was out of place, but Chapiko didn't care. She was out of place herself, so why did it matter if she asked odd questions? It didn't. She pulled the cloak tighter around them both, not caring if the other girl felt uncomfortable or not. They just stood there, leaning against a building.

[Wrenmae]

Mornings always had a way of blinding Wrenmae. He awoke with it and walked with it, but never could he truly become one with it. As always, the morning and the glare of light denied him the ability of straight vision. The hypnotist, at least today, was himself.

Most people took their minds for granted, living off the assumption that the cohesion of thought they enjoyed in day to day activity was natural rather than a blessing. Of course, not a one of them had experienced what Wrenmae had...and, for the most part, even the mages that practiced such dangerous arts as he had mental preparation for such dark delvings, a means of hiding their personality away as they hurled lightning like gods. But him? He was a Hypnotist. The mind was his domain. And while his power against others was nearly encompassing, his own safeguards had worn away with use after use of the addictive practice. Now only ragged shawls hung between him and the 'others' within him. Erratic Weaver, Weak Egyptus...and Shroud. Oh had he but the ability to expunge one of his selves away it would be that.

The monster was a potent and ambitious opponent, a snake that waited within the mind's eye for a chance to seep out. Even now, as the sun rained down a paltry warmth upon his skin, Shroud plotted and watched, always observing and never asleep.

Shaking the thought from his mind, or at least covering it up with more pertinent stimuli, Wrenmae threw himself into the market around him. Although Hypnotism itself was dangerous, Wrenmae elected to use it, piercing the auras of those around him without making eye contact and repeating a mantra into their heads, no more insistent than a gentle push. "Have a good day, have a good day." Why not? Sunberth itself seemed adamant about its status as city with neither morals nor joy. Damned if Wrenmae couldn't convince a few citizens to enjoy themselves between the rising dust and smell of drying blood.

The cloak around his body fluttering in the winter wind, drawn back against his skin and the behind him, a fluttering tail of waves in thick fabric. He walked without knowing, unaware completely of what Shroud had been setting up for him. There was a daze of memory...the Crimson Edge, he must belong to them now...or rather worked for them. It was hard to tell really, everything foggy and out of place, as though rising from sleep after far too long at bed.

It was perhaps by luck (fate) he spied Ana among the bustling bodies pushing along the street. At first he was surprised, almost panicked. Her face was familiar, the contours of her body, even her hair...but for a moment the name escaped him. Ana! It came back to him swiftly, dredged up from some far place, a quiet place where he'd been stored.

Hand to his forehead, knees suddenly weakened, Wrenmae shook his head groggily. How long had he been gone this time? What had he done? She may know...of course, Shroud would have taken that into consideration...so perhaps not. Even so, the city was wide and unfamiliar. She was the only thing that seemed of this world, of a world the storyteller understood.

"Ana!" he called out, approaching her, a wan smile on his pale face, "Good...err," He glanced up at the sun, squinting, "Afternoon." He offered a shrug, helpless, and noticed her companion...a black eyed beauty nonchalantly poised against the wall.

"I...I didn't mean to interrupt," Wrenmae apologized, giving a short bow to the woman, "My name is Wrenmae, Wrenmae Sek Wilmot."

[Ana Sol Starris]

Raising an eyebrow at the woman, she supposed it was a plausible answer; especially if Ana decided to run away with any item she may have put around her. It was very.. Warm, eh it was better than cold so she relaxed a tad bit. As long as she didn't try pulling Ana closer, she could stand with this for a bit longer and hoped trouble didn't come around them, two women, seemingly to be cuddling? Uh? Hello? Good targets there, it wasn't even the woman now who was making Ana paranoid. It was the ever looming threat of Sunberths streets.

The laugh sent a chill up Anas spine, jacking up the warnings now swarming like bees around her skull. The girls face muscles twitched on que lightly, trying to make her own person a tad smaller, the woman was tall, the cape large and Ana was small. Glancing both ways down the street, staying in place for too long could eventually mean trouble. Ana was about to say so when the woman talked again, so Ana remained quiet and listened. Breaking into a nervous grin at it she clenched both hands to refrain from the twitching. It was enough to make Ana think twice but she wanted to see if that was really true.

"Thats impossible! That would be like magic.." She interjected with disbelief, and challenge.

Even her face showed what she thought about that, the expression did not stay for long though. The womans question made Ana jerk, she wriggled out and took a step away, the little thief was getting too comfortable with this woman "thats none of your buis..." Then she stopped and thought a moment, the gold miza in her hand begging to be noticed again gave her an idea... She wouldn't have to tell much.. Would she? "Another miza and.." Ana never got to finish that sentence, a familliar voice had popped in from behind, one she knew well. Turning her head to look for where the source was coming from, Wrenmae was striding towards them, handsome as ever.

Handsome Ana's butt. The thought washed out of her mind, she wasn't sure what to make of Wrens 'kind' manner but she certainly knew to be wary of anything spontaneiously said or done, and especially of those daggers. Not looking directly at Chap, her head remained at a downward tilt as she glanced up at him "hi Wren, you're not intruding at all" she acted as if she were about to be hit, the cringe in her shoulders was enough to proove that (though there was a comforting feeling around him, she couldn't place why) his sudden movements were always bringing about her defencive reactions and his eqaully sudden appearence, well it caught her a bit off gaurd "was wondering when you would wake up.." But it was better, much better than having some thug or.. or something worse come up to them. Or it could be worse.. So much worse than a petty thug.

It depended on Wrenmaes mood that Ana had noticed change frequently it seemed whilst staying with him.. And he tells me I'm the one whos hard to keep up with.. She grumbled mentally to herself.

Then she felt the smack of dawning realization, inwardly gasping there was a detail she had forgotten, something crucial in socializing. Names, introductions, she let this woman get closer to her without knowing who she was! Shooting a look at her questioningly, then to Wrenmae- he had done it so openly, as if expecting her to reply to him with her own name, from what Ana seemed to understand.