Flashback Tut - kids, these days.

[Jayce Asher]

Jayce is 21 - 15th Autumn 508. Like most days in Zeltiva, there was a light wind, that made for a chilly atmosphere. Today was a particularly cloudy day, though, and it was dark in his garden, even for an autumn day. Alexander and Jayce were sparring in the clearing, they'd already knocked over several garden ornaments, and both were sweaty and uncomfortable in their armour. "Alright, we'll stop for a moment, Alexander." Jayce slipped off his breastplate and sat in his silky, white tunic on the cold wooden bench. He sat upright, having been instructed to do so by his tutor, so that his posture might improve overtime. He brushed some of the wet, brown leaves away and offered a place to his friend. "Sit besides me, we might talk of your cousin, Alexander." It was a touchy subject for him, although he decided that the closure was necessary, and took a place beside him on the bench. Alexander's tunic was purple, and not stained in any way, whereas Jayce's was mud laden, and in certain places, namely his back, the fabric was congested with blood. "She's feeling better, but she wants to talk to you, you know," Alexander began. Alexander came from a wealthy family, though not as wealthy as Jayce's, and his cousin Scarlett shared this fortune with him. "I know you, Jayce, and I know what you're like. If I didn't know you better, I'd say you were even a bit careless, sometimes. Scarlett doesn't trust men, Jayce, she felt something special towards you." While he talked, Jayce shifted uncomfortably in his leather breeches, a sweat growing on his forehead that hadn't been there during the fight. "I don't know what should be done about it, Alexander. I like Scarlett, but I didn't mean to make things as they are now," before he could finish, he was interupted...

[Manx]

Coming up to the huge metal gate around a large amount of open space, Manx looked through the bars infront of him with a curious glare of confusion. 'Why was there such a large open space in the middle of a city?' he thought and placed his face against the bars in an attempt to see further into the area of plant-life. Lifting both hands, he attempted to push the gate but found that he was locked and inclined an eyebrow as he thought not of why it was locked, but how he was going to get through the gate. Looking around for a few moments, Manx could see nothing but the wall and fence that made up the perimeter of the space he wanted to enter and so decided that he would have to climb either one of these things if he wanted to pass through. Pacing over to the wall, he lifted one foot and pressed it into a crack between two bricks quite firmly, grabbing a hold of the top of the wall after a light one-footed jump. Pulling himself upwards, the young Inarta found some difficulty even with his small weight but with a groan of determination and a scuffing of feet against cut rocks, he managed to pull himself upon the wall in question. Holding onto the side of the wall that he had climbed up, Manx stretched a foot down to the floor on the other side, grimacing at the strain on his arms as he descended downwards. Finally being able to descend no more under the control of his arms, Manx dropped down and staggered to a stop in this wide-open green space. Walking straight ahead, he heard voices faintly and saw some young males quite a few years older than himself on a bench; he decided to walk further past these males to a large elm tree. He tried not to look at them as he crossed in-front of the bench they sat on, so as to not invade privacy and walked beneath the tree he had been attracted to. Swinging down his rucksack, the young Inarta dropped down to the grass under him and leaned his back against the pack lightly, admiring the plant-life around him.

[Jayce Asher]

All conversation stopped then. They stared, quite surprised at the young Inarta, watching him cross from the left of them, to the right, where he placed his bag down as if it was his garden! Jayce, being prideful, but having never seen this kind of thing before, didn't know whether to be confused or angry. He desperately tried to make words, but is lips merely wiggled a little bit. It was Alexander that broke the silence in the end, and in a low whisper he said, "Jayce: there's a man in your garden." The stranger had settled himself about 15 metres away from Jayce's house. Melchior wasn't home, so the grand building was vacant, but it felt wrong that the teenager was so visible to it. He decided to speak himself, but it came out rather awkwardly, "Erm, boy, hello." He spoke, and that was simply it. He spoke too vaguely, and he didn't want to raise his voice, in case the Inarta took offense, so he just sat on his bench awkwardly. "He has a bow! And swords, and an axe! He's coming for your riches, Jayce!" Alexander was quick to figure this out, and sprung into action, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly. Jayce followed him, but neither of them grabbed their armour. Jayce clutched his shield in his right hand, which he hadn't been sparring with just then. He wasn't very familiar with the shield, as he was only introduced to it about two years ago, but it served him well at times. "You'll leave this place! You may only shoot one of us before we lop off that silly red head of yours, boy!" He didn't even stop to consider how stupid it was that he thought ill of a teenager, but this was a situation Jayce had never encountered. He stepped forward slightly, grasping the broadsword firmly, and swinging it around in a circle to intimidate the young Inarta. The wind picked up, and the two men were refreshed by the breeze in their shirts. "Be careful Alexander," He spoke, "We've not fought for real before." It was becoming quickly dark, and orange flares stuck out across the clouds as the sun set, seeping through their gaps like sponges, dripping wet. It was approximately 17 bells through the day, and Jayce's father would be returning from work in a couple more hours.

[Manx]

At first, Manx's focus was taken up the by greenery around him, though he could still hear the conversing between the two people, it was not until the blonde-haired man said hello that he turned to look at the two of them. He regarded them with a faint curl to his lips and friendly, open eyes until the second man leapt to his feet and began reading out what sounded like an inventory for Manx's equipment and finally warned the first man that he was going to rob him. It was the first he'd heard of it, and the first he'd even heard of this man's riches. The young Inarta was not particularly worried, especially since the first man's expression was still one of confusion as opposed to menace, even as he span his sword in the air and threatened to kill him. Though uncertain, it still seemed that this man posed some threat to Manx and as such he sprang to his feet quite quickly, pulling down his bow and gripping a hold of it with his left hand. He hardened his look upon the man who threatened him and lifted two identical arrows from his quiver with his right hand. sliding them from his back, he moved them around on-top of his bow, not held perfectly vertically and pulled back the string. Both arrows rested on the string that was pulled back to the Inarta's chest and each pointed at it's own armor-less rich-man that stood in-front of him. Manx smirked and said "Is that so?" with a tone of amusement to his voice, though he was quite aware that there was only a slight chance either arrow would hit it's mark if he were to loose them.

[Jayce Asher]

Jayce was un-panicked, he had heard the stories of men surviving arrow shots, even stories of men fighting with arrows inside of them. Jayce also thought highly of himself enough to think that he could withstand a blow better than other men, and didn't think that an arrow could be very accurate if fired with another. He was pathetic, and still an amateur, but he wasn't completely stupid. Jayce knew full well that it took years of practice to become as skilled in something like that, and the boy looked no older than 15. "Fascinating, a boy who has more confidence in him than is necessary," this was hypocritical, coming from Jayce, but Jayce didn't know how overconfident he was, so it didn't both him. "Put that silly bow down, boy, how old are you?" Jayce held his shield in front of his body. He very much doubted the boy's ability, but he didn't think it impossible that an arrow could hit him. Alexander stirred in his boots besides Jayce, he didn't know what to do, because he was a little bit behind Jayce in his training, and he didn't have a shield. Alexander would always put Jayce before anything, they'd been best friends for almost 20 years. If anything was to happen in this fight, he'd definitely see it through 'til the end. While he awaited a reply from the kid, he continued to twirl his blade around in his hands. As skilled as the kid could be in the bow by this point in his life, Jayce was at least equally skilled in the sword, and his arrogance augmented that skill in his mind. He considered the possibilities of this fight - to him, there were a few things that could happen. Firstly, the Inarta could drop his weapons, and tell them that he wasn't out to rob them, or even admit to wanting to rob them. Failing that, the Inarta would fire both arrows, or even just one, with a small possibility of hitting both of them, but a good chance of causing a great deal of pain to one of them. If this was to be the case, they would have to fight him, and treat their injuries after killing the boy. Finally, Alexander would try to be heroic, and charge the Inarta, injurying himself gravely, but giving Jayce a good chance to destroy the trespasser. After processing this information, Jayce decided he'd wait for a reply, holding his shield in defense, and praying for the teenager not to make a move. He had already planned out a conversation in his mind, but had a hunch that it wouldn't go according to plan. At any rate, the Inarta was outnumbered, and Jayce was positive that he'd be the one with the deeper cut (figuratively speaking), after the fight.

[Manx]

Manx could see the man weighing up his option as he stood there, and his mind began to wonder about who this man actually was and he still had very little idea as to why they wanted him to leave this place, or what this place was. He looked into the man's eyes and waiting. When he spoke, it almost made Manx jump and he listened to the insult with a grin of gritted teeth. Speaking through his tense jaw, the word came like water pouring over hot coals "if we're speaking of the un-necessary..." leaving the sentence unfinished, he relaxed the string until the bow was completely un-drawn and then dropped both arrows from it's frame, letting them stick in the ground and protrude there boldly. Looking back up at the man, Manx spoke again "14, so what's with this massive open space?" being more interested in what he came here to see originally, the young Inarta managed to push aside his situation for the moment and a natural smile crept along his face. Banishing the smile as he spoke, Manx said "Why do I need to leave here? and what makes your friend think I'm some robber?" he let his words hang for a moment but not long enough for a response, "have I wandered into a garden for the paranoid?" he continued with some personality pungent in his voice. Manx was quite unsure of his situation, though he was putting on a confident stance to the conversation and two much larger men in-front of him, he doubted his ability to best them in melee combat and would have to resort to running and shooting. That probably wouldn't work either.

[Jayce Asher]

The tone of the teenager's voice made Jayce immediately aware of what was going on. The young Inarta had strolled in from a completely different world, and had little knowledge of peoples' properties. From what he could tell, too, the kid was travelling on his own, and didn't have much guidance. Jayce felt pitiful, and sheathed his sword quickly. He chucked down his shield behind him, though slowly, as if not to alarm the boy. "Alexander, back in your pants with it," he started. 'Back in your pants' was a running joke, that had some euphemism attached to it. "The kid's no harm, he's just lost." He turned his attention to the Inarta, ready to reply to his earlier statement. "I'd have guessed 14, you know. I mean, you could have been older, or younger, but if someone asked me to give a specific age, I'd guess 14. You're short for 14, but you're aged by the road you've traveled." He wasn't the best at talking to younger people, especially not males. "You honestly don't know what you're doing wrong, though? Young lad, this isn't your property, this garden, it's mine." He didn't quite know how to make the kid understand. He looked to the swords on the Inarta's back, "Where are you from?" He had so many things he needed to say. When he got a reply from the young Inarta, he realised that his friend still had his weapon out. "I said, tuck that away, you fool!" Alexander complied, this time. In fact, he didn't only put his sword away, but he pulled a key from his pocket, and left through the back gate. It was only Jayce and the boy, who for some reason, looked like an 'Aiden'. He took this alone time to observe the young Inarta's appearance. He noticed the flowing red hair first, which gave the impression of a fiery personality, but paired with his clothes, it seemed all the more likely that 'Aiden' had a habit of getting into trouble. He looked down at his own clothes, and then to the young Inarta. "I'm sorry, I don't seem to have worn suitable clothes for meeting a guest, would you come inside and make yourself at home while I get dressed?" Jayce wouldn't normally allow entrance to his house to someone he'd just met, unless it was an especially attractive woman. The thing that made this more unusual, was that the stranger was not only trespassing, but completely and utterly armed to the teeth. 'Oh well', he thought, 'It can't hurt to have a friend that looks like he's killed a man at the age of 14'. He didn't regret his decision, he felt sympathy to the boy, because it looked as though he'd never even been raised into a civilised society.

[Manx]

With the sudden disarming of the man, both in arms and in speech, Manx felt like the entire world changed and was quite overwhelmed by the sudden friendliness and complete lack of confidence about the man, it's as if he only knew about swords and people the same age as him. The young Inarta interrupted with some confidence "I'm not lost, just travelling." though he felt it didn't really get through to the man, who now just saw him as a child. Seeing the man leave without a word made Manx feel quite awkward, almost as if he himself had forced him to leave. The guilt was short-strung as he saw the man open the large gate and his eyes went wide as he thought 'How'd he get that thing open?'. "It doesn't really matter what you're wearing, and I wouldn't say I was a guest." Manx said to the man with a questioning tone. Leaning over slightly, Manx pulled both of his previously discarded arrows from the floor and held them parallel to the frame of the bow, his hand was clasped quite naturally around both arrows and the bow itself, though he let it spin in his hand until the string hung close to the ground: attempting to give himself a less battle-ready look if he was about to be entering the man's house. As if suddenly remembering human contact existed, he spoke to the man "I'm Manx by the way, who are you?", though this was quite a rude way of asking, the young Inarta was not schooled much in manners and was also quite blunt in simple situations like this one. "So this is a garden?" Manx added, feeling like he should converse more fluidly with the man as he was about to be entering his home, "I've never seen one so big" he added. Turning his head to look at the large space that almost extended over the horizon, he span around slowly on his feet, momentarily taking in every detail of every fore-ground plant, whilst also remarking on how far the garden reached at the back of his focus. 'The fortune that the other man spoke of definitely seems a plausible thing for someone which such a huge house' Manx thought in amazement. Maybe he did want to steal such a fortune in some way, not that he was going to, but it did indeed seem to be a huge sum of wealth. One that only the insane could even consider passing up on. Could he really get along with someone that's had it so easy in life? Manx began to consider how spoiled and pompous this person could be and had already begun to formulate a negative opinion of the man, even through his kindness, this opinion would be quite difficult to replace but he secretly hoped he was wrong about the man: having hardly met and talked with anyone for a great deal of time.

[Jayce Asher]

Manx was an unusual name. Manx was a very unusual name, in Zeltiva. It sounded simple, and ugly, to the Zeltivan tongue. Jayce admitted to himself, he much preferred the name Aiden for this boy. Although he would now call the boy his true name, he'd still always refer to him by his more suited name, in Jayce's opinion. This is just how Jayce worked, he was fairly stubborn about things like this, and although he respected wisdom, he definitely thought he could do a better job of naming people. While he showed the boy into his house, he barely even kept an eye on him, compassion had led Jayce to believe that the boy posed no threat whatsoever. As he walked down towards the oak double doors, he kept his eyes in front of him, looking ahead at where he was travelling. Opening them wide, he realised that he had left his shield outside, and trusted in the Gods to prevent rain. He didn't actually know much about the Gods, to be totally honest, but he felt that he was so important, that the Gods would protect his beautiful shield. He wandered down into his 'conservatory' (which wasn't exactly as we'd expect it to look in modern times). It was a room that extended out of the back of the house, and had oak panes with little insulation and no windows, supporting an array of thin beams that made a roof. The walls did have patterns cut out in them, though, so the wind could still be felt inside here. This back room was full of coats, hats, utensils and ornaments, though nothing too valuable. It was a more personal storage for 'outside' gear, everything in here belonged to the Asher household, and guests rarely came into this room. Jayce remembered then, that he left his chestplate outside, and decided that it would be wise of him to collect it - he put it off, again, trusting in the Gods to keep the rain up above. He opened another pair of oak doors wide, revealing a spectacular room, much larger than the conservatory. Candles lit this room up brightly. They'd been burning ever since Jayce went into the garden; he assumed he'd be in the garden for much longer, because it wasn't completely dark outside yet, and the candles were intended as a criminal deterrent. In addition to the candles, an enormous, golden-glazed chandelier hung from the centre of the ceiling, projecting a vivid display of light on the roof, through the glass shards that dangled all around it. The sofas in the room were made for three or four people, and there were 4 of these, and a couple of rocking chairs. This room was usually full, as the Asher household liked company, at the best of times. The furniture was arranged around a fire, set into a colossal frame, worked with marble and chiseled impeccably. The carvings were of Gods and men, and generally nice patterns. At the moment, the fire wasn't burning. Jayce didn't know how to light the fire himself, and his father wouldn't allow the fire to be on, unless it was extremely cold or damp. 'It's a terrible waste of good materials', he'd say, referring to the wood as being otherwise made into ships. Aside from the furniture and lighting, the carpet covered most of the floor, especially where people sat and gathered. This room was, after all, the living quarters, and had to look the part. The carpet was a collection of tapestries, woven together to create a spectacular depiction of the Valterra. It was a red and gold tapestry-carpet, that matched the look of the furniture, and somehow the hue of the wood. Jayce waited for Manx to follow him inside, and stood proudly, gesturing at the grand room. He waved his hands towards the open space, as if allowing Manx to see it, or presenting it like a work of art.

[Manx]

Walking up to the huge building, Manx felt his head being lifted to look up at the huge wall stretching out before him, standing right next to the house truly placed him in awe of it's size and the interior of the house eluded Manx's imagination entirely. Walking in through the huge, oaken doors, Manx looked around at the large room covered in patterns and wooden beams and remarked on the design of it as much as a fourteen year-old could. In simpler terms, he was fixated at the pretty designs on the walls. Looking around the room more closely, Marx's brow furrowed reflexively as he noticed the entire room was host to outerwear and when the other huge oaken doors opened, Manx walked quickly over to look in, wondering what the next room could contain. Stopping for a moment as he saw the truly huge fireplace in-front of him, Marx was practically knocked-a-back by the grandeur of something that was usually so small and simple everywhere else. He saw the engraving on the side of the area containing the firewood and felt a pang of both jealously and a sort of anger as to why such a thing was decorated so massively, even though the fireplace was usually a more functional thing to him. Feeling insulted by fate and the class system itself, Manx felt his mind wandering to his parents' mention of the caste system in Wind-Reach and he thought whether the artisans and riders would have such pointlessly elaborate and huge housing but what little he knew of the Inarta's culture made him quite sure that their kind were more focused upon survival than pointless decoration, he felt a pang of anger rise up in him again against humans and their strange, elaborate ways. Squeezing his hands quite tightly into fists, Manx continued to walk into the room until he stood quite close to Jayce as he held his hands in the air. "Where's everyone else?" Manx inquired, quite prying-ly. He felt like he was giving not just Jayce, but the entire of the inhabitants of Zeltiva a chance to tell him that huge numbers of people lived here and that the space was all entirely necessary; Manx wanted Jayce to tell him of the hardships he and his family faced whilst living here, not because he wanted them to have endured such things, but because that is what he thought was natural because of his upbringing.