If Wishes Were Mizas.. (Orion)

by **Ana Sol Starris** on June 2nd, 2013, 2:39 am

Kova's Wishing Well
Summer 40th, 513AV

Ana had been wandering around the many crowded halls of Syliras, not for any reason in particular, but for something to do and see, explore, as adventure was around every corner when arriving to a new place. Shimmying past people, and watching her step to make sure she stepped on no feet, or accidently bump into someone looking rather authoritative. The knights, they were everywheres that Ana could see, though sparsely walking through the crowds, and some in small groups, she made sure to avoid those people as much as she could. Armor meant trouble, naturally, and she had enough brush ups with the law for now. The healed over burn on her neck and chest tingled, becoming accutely aware of consequences.

Not like she was looking for trouble, but her fingers just seemed to have a knack for finding peoples pockets and with such a crowded city like Syliras, well, everyone out and about near her was simply asking to have their pockets emptied. That was why she was searching for a place to get away from the people, temptation becoming stronger by the tick, she decided to attempt to break away from her small crowd and turned into another hall, and then another until finally she saw rays of light peeking from a corner. Rushing towards it, Ana could practically smell that fresh air, a more urgent step in her gait as she came up to it, through it, and finally..

Air, and sunlight, but also a weirdly designed well.

Walking up to it, now curious, it was small, and made of stone and wood, carved, and seeming quite old. Flowers adorning the bucket which hung from the frame. Drawing ever nearer to it, Ana would grace a flower with the briefest of touches, before leaning forwards to look at the bottoms depths perplexed. There was indeed water glittering downbelow, from what Ana could tell with the sunlight, and what was that? Something else seemed to sparkle in the depths, catching Ana's eyes quite easily, she leaned fowards a little more, squinting to see what it was.

"..mizas..?" The word was whispered under her breath, by now she could see a ton more just glittering away. Ana shook her head, looked around herself with bited breath before crawling ontop of the wells side, placing a foot there before continuing further and resting her cane sword on the walls side. Who was fool enough to put perfectly good mizas down the metaphorical trash basket? Ana looked down still, she couldn't tell what the depth of the water was... But the well itself seemed small enough for her to get a good footing on one side, and her hands on the other, she could climb back up..but then she could also use the bucket for some form of support.. Ana tugged the rope attached to the bucket to double check, feeling itself become tight in her hands.

So she pulled harder with tightly gripped hands, feeling something give.

by **Orion Michaels** on June 7th, 2013, 4:49 am

It was hard to wrap his mind around it. Things had been absurd, and despite his best efforts, there just weren't any answers. Ser Korus Lyndstrom was dead, and no one was any closer to figuring out who had done it. Who had murdered this paragon of justice? It couldn't seem like he could have any enemies in a city such as Syliras. So why did they all have to wander around wondering what had really happened? "And why did I have to see Dinah cry...?"

Orion sighed as he continued onward, his duty for the day quite simple. Patrol the Jordon district over and over, endlessly. Forever. Until time came to close. Dinah was somewhat distraught when he'd been sent off to do this work. The truth was, she just didn't want to deal with Orion right now. It wasn't the best manner to go about dealing with a traumatic experience, but she didn't want the squire there trying to play doctor and fix everything. "Go do some good," she'd said as he left her presence.

"What does that even mean?" He scoffed. She didn't want to trust him, that's what it meant. Scoot the old man squire out the door, pretend like everything was fine, when it most certainly wasn't.

People of Syliras walked by him as he strode towards his next checkpoint, but none of them really meant anything. They were all . . . faceless to him. No, it wasn't that they were nobodies. It's just that, there were so many of them. They all wanted something, some request for a knight to come save the day. All of these mundane things that didn't matter. It was a dangerous combination when coupled with the frustrations which had built up since Korus had passed. Everyone he knew professionally was just so . . . on edge. He couldn't handle any additional pressure. Related to that, the squire had decided he could get away without having to wear that blasted full plate for this patrol. Dinah wouldn't even check in on him...

"I just can't quite..figure it out...Was it.? No. It couldn't be him. He was-" Orion's musings were cut short as he stepped out into the lovely open area around Kova's Well. This place held a lot of memories for him. Women wooed, friends found, friends lost, arguments had, and relationships mended. But this, this was new. Never before had he seen someone try and go down the well, but there was someone trying indeed. A young boy? He couldn't quite tell, but it certainly couldn't have been because they were thirsty.

Orion had a coin or two of his own floating at the bottom of that well.

"Boy, I wouldn't go through with that if I were you. I can't imagine anyone would be appreciative of you taking their wishes away." As he spoke, Orion strode over to where the offender was, and if they didn't comply with his command, he planned to just reach out and snatch their wrist to force compliance. He may not have his armor on, but the long sword that hung at his side could still get his message across with ease. "Why don't you get out of that well?"

by **Ana Sol Starris** on June 8th, 2013, 3:15 am

Placing her foot into the bucket she pulled down, she peered into the watery depths and felt her chest squeeze a little. How much water was down there? How deep? Would she be able to even dive underneath to get the mizas.. Or even get out afterwards? Sure, using the small space itself and the bucket, and rope to climb out was a good hypothesis, but Ana was starting to think maybe it wasn't a good idea to put to practice.. There was a step, or two, and a voice behind her that caught her attention. A boy had been called to, she was no boy so she had to assume that the voice was directed at some unknown male child near her. Pressing into the bucket a little more, with one foot in, the other out, and one hand on the rope.

The other hand's wrist had been grabbed by a hand belonging to the same voice, forcing her into looking at who was telling her to behave. On first glance he looked nothing more than a civillian, though the longsword spoke otherwise, simple peasents didn't carry around steel like that.

Rebellious, Ana glared at him, tryed to pierce through his real intentions before taking her foot out of the bucket promptly.

She would return for those Mizas, later.

With a harsh yank of her wrist from his hand, and another squinty eyed glare she poked at him with a chiding tone "who puts perfectly good mizas down a well? There must be over a dozen of them in there, lot of good thats doing for the pursebearer." Before, when he had called her a boy and mentioned wishes, she was now sure that had been directed at her "and what do you mean by wishes? You get nothing by just wishing." Perhaps the world had lead her to become this cynical, but at the moment she couldn't care, she snatched her canesword up and fixed her scarf to be tighter. Feeling extremely self conscience about the brand on the side of her neck, suddenly.

With a slow, and careful maneuver, she twisted her wrist that held the canesword by the handle and tapped the mans sheathed longsword with the middle of her own blades wooden sheathe "mighty fine sword you got there, by the way."

by **Orion Michaels** on June 8th, 2013, 11:17 pm

Well, didn't this one just have the greatest attitude. Sure, he wasn't a knight, but he still deserved some semblance of respect from what must be some ne'er-do-well here to cause trouble. Why else would anyone be trying to get down in a well. Still, the feminine voice which came from this stranger caught him off guard. The short hair and narrow build had betrayed this one's gender. "No need to look like at me. If you're short on Mizas, you can always get a job, rather than diving for them." He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes slighty, all in response to the defiant attitude he'd been receiving from this young woman.

"Oh you think it's a waste to use those like that, huh? A copper or silver could be better used elsewhere?" He didn't normally like engaging people in conversation like this, but he was annoyed by the way the blonde girl was acting. "Maybe the flick of a copper can give someone a little hope, and that's worth more than the coin if you ask me." She had't, but these young, arrogant types, they just loved it when someone told them what to do or think. Gods I sound old...

He gave the girl a half smile as he continued, crossing his arms in a challenging manner. "Don't believe in wishes, huh? A lot of people have tossed a coin down that well, said their wish, and then claimed to have seen a ghost which changed their lives eternally. A coin for all of that? Sounds like a deal to me."

His forced smile turned into a frown as she thwacked her cane against his sheath. What exactly was she trying to do? "It's nothing special. Gets the job done if you know how to use it right." He looked down at the much shorter woman and sighed. "What are you getting at? I need to keep on my patrol, but you strike me as troublesome. What do you suggest we do about that?" She hadn't broken any laws, he'd stopped her before hand, but he had a bad feeling about this odd woman...

by **Ana Sol Starris** on June 9th, 2013, 2:36 am

Returning the tip of her cane to the stone ground, she listened, as it was the polite thing to do.. For now. Some of the things that came from his mouth made her raise an eyebrow, not entirely believing him. Coming from him.. She was starting to piece together he had never actually lived a life of hunger.. if he could talk of sqaundering mizas away so easily, where that one copper miza could have made a difference, food, shelter, clothes, all money was suppose to be spent on were items a person needed to live. Throwing them into a well and making 'wishes' was the stupidest thing anyone could have ever done, it wasn't hope that got people out of situations, it was luck, and the effort placed into the wishes..

That made said wishes, and dreams, come true. Not hoping, just doing that got no one anywheres. Ana knew that all too well, by now.

Shaking her head at him lightly, as if to say 'no, you're wrong' she gestured towards the well. Expression serious.

"People that rely on hope, are hopeless, because it is not hope that feeds a hungry mouth, it is not hope that protects you from the elements, and it is not hope that clothes you.. Anyone who relys on hope.." she didn't continue that sentence, not outloud at least.

Is bound to have their throat cut, like the fools they are..

There was a smile to accompany her silence, testing him, peeking from the corners with a glint of malicious intent shimmering in her eyes. As if she knew too well. "Think of it as this way... That silver miza could feed someone for a week, throw it in the well, and you've taken a weeks worth of food away from yourself.. Throw in a copper, just one, and lets say you had two before.. When you go to purchase a piece of bread that was two copper.. You only have one now.. and you're piss-broke.. No food for you, and you go hungry for another day, which could turn to seven, fourteen, half a season, until you finally scrounge up enough to pay for food."

She leaned towards the well, looking into the waters, trying to estimate how many mizas were in there.. "all those mizas down there, could be used to feed a group of starving people for a season.. Yet they lay there in the bottom of this well.."

"Useless."

"You said I looked like trouble, and you want my suggestion?" She leaned on the wells edge now, tapping her fingers on the cobble, looking at him with disbelief "Pardon my foreign ways, but if you think I'll cause so much, on a simple notion that I am, just because I tried to climb down a well for mizas.. Then run along with your tail between your legs, with your pretty piece of polished steel, and get a real person of authority.. Otherwise I'll just continue on my merry way, like a normal person."

by **Orion Michaels** on June 10th, 2013, 7:14 am

"Aren't you just adorable," he said, his jaw tightening slightly as she spoke. Wordplay with Orion? This was going to be fun. "So clever, aren't you? Looking at things through such a cynical filter?" He shook his head, circling the short haired woman slowly, processing each bit of shyke she spewed forth. "You're so smart, looking at things like that. Because life is just that simple. Everything just works out so perfectly. That one coin, by wasting it here, causes someone to go hungry for the season. Tossing that coin in the well is going to kill someone." Orion frowned, resting his hands on the stone well, looking down into its depths. Coins flicked as rays of light caught them from time to time. There was indeed a fair amount of coin at the bottom of the well. How many wishes had been answered by this place?

How many wishes had been ignored?

"You're a fool if you think hope isn't worth more than a copper. Worth more than a silver. Worth more than a bag of gold. What if that coin they tossed in here gave them the will to keep going on? What if they were ready to give up, but the refreshed spirit they got from that tiny chance that their wish would be answered kept them going. Don't underestimate what the will to live can mean to a person."

He paused, listening to the possible troublemaker as she retorted to his question. Sassy little shyke, wasn't she? He might not be a full knight, but when he was assigned to patrol, he acted with some amount of authority. Still, there was no need to pull that card on her yet.

"So here we go," he began, digging down into his coin purse to retrieve two gold Mizas. "This is the game we're playing. You take this coin and make a wish. A real wish. Toss this gold down in the well. Waste this gold coin."

Something about this girl bothered him, so he wasn't quite ready to let her go freely. He'd expressed that clearly enough. But the way she talked back to him and the way she argued with him? The truth was that attitude kinda got him going, and that belonged to be left internal.

"If you do that, then I'll give a gold coin. You'll be a coin richer, but that coin, which could have purchased so much for a hungry family, will remain at the bottom of that well." He set the first coin down on the well beside him, smiling at the blond woman. "What do you say?"

by **Ana Sol Starris** on June 10th, 2013, 8:38 am

Taking the miza he had set on the wells edge with a thoughtful look, his proposal for a small game wound her up, because up until then she had been pleasently tolerating his own foolishness. Pleasently, being the nice way to put it. There were many a few words that she wanted to stab him with, skewer with verbal barbs, but she kept her facade up. Quietly, displaying a type of long winded patience, she normally wouldn't have; for having brought the topic 'the will to live' up had been too much. Ana needed to think, contemplate, for there had been times... When she had almost given up, had almost went through with her suicidal thoughts, and she doubted in herself that those moments would not be the last, for future moments.

The gold miza rolled itself in her palm, flickered between her fingers, and hid within her palm, slowly revealing itself as she thought.. Would she play this game? She had never been very good with gambling in the first place, but luck seemed to be around the corner, for whenever she had perfomed risky moves.

Without looking at him, she mumbled lightly "you still don't get what I'm saying.."

Hovering her hand above the water, humoring him, she would bend her arm and arch it backwards, turning her body and hurling the miza into the air, towards a hallway as hard as she could. There was a satsifying 'tink' that echoed, becoming lost and yet found by a lucky soul. With every tumble that miza took, it was closer to being put to use, and giving hope, than being in the bottom of that well. "That miza I just threw? Someone whos down on their luck, believing nothing will ever change, will look down and see that gold miza... That pure chance of finding a miza, the luck it takes to see just a gold one rolling about in front of your feet.. Will lift ones spirit more than it would by tossing it into a well making hopeless wishes."

Ana looked at him.

Grinning at him, a very cheeky, taunting, grin "and I'm not the one needing my spirit to be lifted, I'm perfectly fine."

That was a lie. In truth she was worried, about anything, and everything. Whether she would succeed, or not, if perhaps she was too late in reaching Zeltiva.. There was just some noticiable force that attracted her to the city. Maybe it was the oppurtunity in the crowded halls? Or the prospect of finding kin within the heavily gaurded cities walls.. The destination.. So many years ago.. So many, the mentioning in a whisper 'Syliras' by Oreia's lips, when mother had been on her deathbed.

"That was a very fun game though, but don't get angry because you of all people lost one measly miza. I just so happen to have a gold one to spare." Ana, as if to mock him further pulled her own purse to the forefront, she hadn't put much inside, but there was definitely a gold one in there. Plucking it from its container she flicked it up between her index finger, and her middle finger, folding them, and encompassing the miza into her palm, turning her hand so that it would look like as if she were going to drop it into his hand if he outstretched it, and she would if he did "I don't need to throw a jewel into a well, just to be able to wish.."

Discontinuing her setence into silence, she looked back towards the hallway she had thrown the miza in, and then to the sky with a thoughtful expression, the beautiful blue, and cloud white speckled sky. My only wish..

by **Orion Michaels** on June 11th, 2013, 3:35 pm

Orion watched silently as she went through her motions, a slightly amused smirk on his face. It was curious. Orion had been to his own rock bottom, and he could have given up hope so easily. Something about this place, however, always seemed to have a pick me up for him. Even fights and arguments would end up well. It was probably just coincidence. The people he came here with were logical and they could work through pretty much anything they had to if it was needed. Still, this place held no bad memories. Sad, perhaps, but none were bad.

What he couldn’t shake, though, was how simple she viewed things. Sure, she had all of the explanation for why she said what she said. Pretty words, but so very plain. So very black and white, in a world made up of so much color. It would take something pretty harsh happening to a person to leave them jaded so.

Someone would indeed find that coin. It could be a poor person, down on their luck, and at least for a day or two they’d be able to feed their family. It could as easy be a wealthy merchant who calls it his ‘lucky day.’ But once that coin was spent, it was gone. Once that meal was digested, your body and mind will forget you even had that coin. Maybe this was all because she wasn’t from around here. The well was magical, he was sure. He’d never had it react to him, but so many claim that it could. So many claim that they’d seen the spirit of Kova’s well, or whatever it was. Too many for it to not be true, right?

Orion didn’t move his hand out when she pulled out the coin purse. He wasn’t interested in her gold. She no doubt needed it more than he did. He would never miss one miza. She could toss that coin down another corridor for all he cared.

Me of all people? What the petch does that mean?

“You don’t have to throw a coin to get a wish, that’s true enough. But…it’s really an amazing thing that so many people get so much wonder out of the . . the ‘what if?’. What if this coin could change everything by offering it up to the well?” He chuckled and stood straight up, stretching his neck back and forth before beginning to walk towards the corridor his coin had disappeared down. “It’s been a pleasure, stranger, but I’ve got a patrol to finish. Try to stay out of trouble. And the well, while you’re at it.”

If she was a troublemaker, he had a feeling he would see her again. Or at least hear of some fool getting pulled, dripping wet, from the well and thrown in the Tank. Some people would do anything for a coin.

And some would do anything for a wish.

Orion paused thoughtfully, glancing back at the well once more. You’ve never answered my wishes, Well. Will you ever?

Orion nodded to the stranger and made his way for the corridor. These patrols would never end.

by **Ana Sol Starris** on June 12th, 2013, 7:06 am

When he did not take the coin, she held onto it for a little longer and retracted her hand, confused. Usually people became furious over watching money being chucked about, and she knew tossing a coin into a well of water infuriated her, so why was he not reacting? His words, his chuckle, the way how he talked about 'what if' unnerved her for there had been many 'what ifs' asked, and usually they weren't positive. How he went from righteous moron, to.. to whatever he had changed to, it made her curious, but wary, she had to ask herself... What if he was right?

All she could do was stay there, standing speechless, watching him turn his back to her and walk away. Off to do a 'patrol' as if he were some kind of authority, but if he was someone that had a vague sort of power, why had he not reprimanded her? The thought of another fool, one with armor, if someone else but him had came up to her and berated her for trying to climb into the well... Would there have been a conversation even? Would she have been tossed away.. It sent a jolt through her nerves, making her shiver, failure to arrive to Zeltiva in time was not an option.

What was she thinking? Doing? Staring stupidly at him... She snapped.

"Oy oy oy! OY!" She snarled at him loud enough in hopes of catching his attention, remaining firmly rooted in her spot waiting for him to look back at her, she had yelled at him just before he would enter the corridor.

Wait.. What am I doing..

There was a brief moment that left her confused, staring at him, panicking, trying to come up with an actual reason why she had yelled at him. There wasn't any need to proove him wrong, or continue to argue, for the sake of arguing. "Awww crap.." Ana muttered, with a quickly turned embarresed look, rubbing the back of her head in thought. She hadn't planned that out, she had only yelled for his attention because he had turned his back to her. Pocketing the miza she glanced to the ground for a moment, before looking back up at him, suddenly getting an idea. Ana would, with the most straightest of faces she could make, pulled one eyelid down while sticking her tounge out at him. Like petch she would let anyone get the better of her.

The action itself took no more than a tick, before she would turn on her heel towards the corridor adjacent to the stupid idiot, and with a light hop to her step, she walked down it and attempted to dissapear. Feeling.. Doubtful, instead of enlightened by her experience. That stupid idiot. Ana had now dubbed him that.

by **Radiant** on July 6th, 2013, 6:04 am

Orion :

Ana :

Notes :

My radiance is not bright enough?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, beam me a PM and we can work it out.

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+1 XP
Philosophy	+2 XP
Socialization	+2 XP
Persuasion	+1 XP
Rhetoric	+2 XP

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+1 XP
Philosophy	+2 XP
Socialization	+1 XP
Intimidation	+1 XP
Rhetoric	+1 XP

Completed If Wishes Were Mizas.. (Orion)