Closed The Happy Stryfer & The New Dancer (Artur)

[Amolina]

It was as usual in the Ravokian plays Amolina starred in once in a while. The performance was a wonder of drum music, innovative dancing, fantastic dialogue, evil foreigners and innocent ravokians maidens, farce and romantic comedy.

But at the end of the glittering, enchanting dream played out on stage, the Ebonstryfe scene always waited.

The actor in the dark cloak walked in on the stage. In the play this meant the unfaithful Belinda Boyle’s fiancée had returned from his long secret mission just to find his intended bride snatched away by an evil foreigner and believer in inferior gods. A profound silence descended over the audience and the only thing that could be heard when the black-clad actor marched in was the sound of the drum.

With dramatic gestures that made the black cloak swish around him he alternated between scolding the merchant and his mistress. Amolina made one of her better performances as Belinda Boyle, acting at the top of her skill, despite the kind of play it was. She kneeled on the floor and in an tearful and unusually convincing voice she held the long speech known as “Belinda Boyle’s Repent Rant”. In wild and highly emotional outbursts she did everything she could to prove her innocence and blame the foreign merchant.

After this it was time for the end. The foreigner was found guilty and got what he deserved, which was a somewhat unpleasant part of the play, but it catered to those in the audience who liked unpleasant things. And so the Ebonstryfer walked out with the fair Belinda at his side: obviously he was going to live happy ever after.

Right before they walked out, Amolina threw the rest of the lilypad wraps here and there on the stage floor and clapped her hands, which meant Artur and the other dancers were free to dance to their hearts content - they were playing the cheering crowds of Ravok, celebrating the happy end.

Always those happy ends. People in Ravok loved their happy ends.

Amolina and Seymor Essing had stepped down from the stage and watched the end of the dance from where they stood, a bit away from the audience. “He isn’t half-bad” Essing admitted, following Artur with his gaze. He paid Amolina for today’s work : 12 gold miza. “A very personal expression. And it seems to be a hit. How much did you promise to pay him?”

“Four gold” Amolina said. “And a place at our picnic, with free food.” She hadn’t exactly promised all this, just spoken about it. But it seemed adequate now when Artur had made a good job of his role.

“Free food?” Essing laughed. They were going to make a cooking fire on the shore and grill fish from the lake, so the free food wouldn’t cost them much.

The dancers were bowing and Artur seemed to be munching. The show was over and they headed to Amolina and Seymor, and so did Birine Telemnar. The audience clapped enthusiastically, while a new group of performers entered the stage - musicians, with a male singer who started to sing a languishing ravokian lovesong. The baby Pearl woke up and started to scream angrily. Small, pale, bare, kicking feet could be seen over the top of the basket. Amolina picked the child up and carried her and the little girl fell silent, occupied with tugging at Amolina's hair.

And so the group of people walked to the shore for picnic. They were eight in total: Seymor, Aydury, Alice Lark, Amolina, the baby Pearl, her nanny Birine Telemnar, the new dancer Artur and that secondary actor who had played the stryfer - and the drummer would soon come too and make them nine.

The other sounds were fading behind them as they walked further away from the crown. Soon the domination sounds were their own laughs and voices, the wind in the leafs of the threads and the sound of the water against the shore.

Artur had followed the group and she explained to him what was going to happen. They would fish, which could take time. They were going to make a fire, grill the fish, eat it with bread bought at the stalls, wine and beer and other things Essing had sent the drummer to buy for them. If Artur liked, he could take part in the fishing and the other preparations, or else he could just sit and speak with her while they waited for food.

She paid him the four gold mizas. Birine dropped the baby basket beside her and went to fish. Amolina sat down on the ground with Pearl in her arms, tired after the hard work at the show, but content.

Ledger-4 Gold Miza Dancing Wages for Artur

[Artur]

As he tried his best to grip his mind around what was truly happening in the play he could only find himself in wonder with what happened with the woman who "recruited" him so to speak. Her performance truly seemed to inspire as well as encourage him, make him feel inclined to be part of the act as he waited for the next que he was to follow. The story of the "Happy Stryfer" wasn't one he knew nor did he understand the concept of their acting in it, but all the same Artur was both intimidated and motivated at the same time. When it came to the part for him to dance one final time, along with the rest of the those who were in the crowd, he took a deep breath and went in for his next round of dancing.

There was a few skips around and some flimsy arm waves about but all in all he'd definitely started to pick up on the idea of the scene, the involvement of others in this act made it easier for him to rather blend in rather than stand out as the "butler" he played earlier. All the same he found it fun to the end and when the other actors did their bow Artur mainly just stood there foolishly, unaccustomed to the ways of the theater and distracted with the stuffing of his face with the free lily pads. They sure were some good wraps to chow down on, yet even so he still felt like he was starving.

Upon being given the mizas for the work and the information on what was going to happen next Artur nodded in compliance as he pocketed the money, he would have give it to Gyatt when he returned back home later on. Of course when they arrived at the place of the picnic Artur remained with Amolina, rather admired for what she'd done for him by asking him to play a part in the play. That must've been one of the "beautiful" things about Ravok Gyatt wanted him to see, and in truth Artur did come to understand how it would be considered so. Though hard work acting pleased the people that would watch and entertained them, it was an art refined by portraying things through... well... acting!

When she took a spot down with the child she held dearly he couldn't help it then, he wondered if it'd be just the same way for him... when he would hold his own. In truth he found himself not wanting anything to do with children, even looking at her and the child now he felt the urge to avoid the two... yet there was also the innate curiosity. The boundless desire to know and delve into that sort of unexplored territory, mainly because deep down he knew that the child... his child... would be his only child. After he'd learned what happened to him at KRF, he knew good and well that one child would be his first and last.... so it was important to not only save it, but in turn be ready to do whatever humans did to raise.

"If you don't mind me asking... what's it like to be a..." He first brought his hands up as though he were gesturing her period, then found himself a bit puzzled with what may have been a confused expression on her face. You know... the whatever you are of that thing- I mean... kid." He struggled to find the right word for whatever the term was, but all the same saying it would prove a more difficult challenge. For some reason he just didn't feel ready, there was too much... too much to think about, too much to consider. Yet the time he had was little, therefore he had to learn what he could while he can... before he saved his own from the clutches of KRF.

[Amolina]

Amolina was of course always prepared to speak about the one and only most important thing in this world : Pearl ! Like most first time parents she was able to chat about this to no end. But she seldom found opportunity to do it. Most people didn’t want to be told everything and more about her belowed little daughter and about baby caretaking.

Even Birine Telemnar could tire of it.

Needless to say, Amolina hadn’t dared to pester her colleagues at work with the topic. None of them struck her as particularly fatherly personalities. She doubted any of them knew what a baby was. Or how they were made, even, only in theory perhaps ... Come to think of it, bar that dark skinned slave Valerius had but never seemed to notice, Amolina had had never seen any of her colleagues with female company. Not in the whole time she’d known them. And she had never heard any rumors about it either. Both her colleagues seemed to live more than single lives, focused on nothing else than work and money.

It hadn’t been hard to abstain from speaking with them.

The kel...Artur, didn’t seem to be much of a fatherly personality either. More like one more to the gang. He was very childish and a bit lost in general, but that was only what could be expected from a furry. They weren’t people. They looked like people, walked like people and some of them even spoke like people, but they weren’t people. That was just how it was. They were animals who pretended to be people. She knew it. But at the moment Artur looked very human and was asking questions she itched to answer.

So. She had come to realize that with the kind of men available in Ravok it was a wonder the city had any population at all. Just think of it, there was like nobody a sane woman responsible for a child would find eligible ... She regretted now that she had offered Verin a test subject contract at NMSS. It had been before she had realized she might need to speed-evaluate the supply of bachelors in Ravok to see how they fit into her brand new standards for what she wanted in a man : a good father for Pearl, no less ! It went without saying that this would be hard to find. Utterly hard. Maybe even impossible.

She could perhaps buy one at the slave market ? Somebody she could order to be a good father and who wasn’t in a position to say no? This thought made her briefly look at the spiffily dressed Artur who was nearly looking human... but she dropped the idea again. A kelvic was out of question.

It takes only ticks for the human brain to run through lots of stuff and it took her only ticks to think all this. But she wouldn’t think of it more. It was pointless. Instead she was going to have a nice picnic at the spring fair and speak about her favorite topic !

“Being a parent changes your life” she started. “It’s the most wonderful ... “

Pearl had tired of tugging at her hair and wanted something else. She started to scream and Amolina became absorbed in frantically trying to find out if the reason was hunger, anger, tiredness, stomach pain or “used” diapers. The baby screamed like a small monster of sound. Amolina’s brain seemed to have stopped, as she checked possible cause after possible cause, in a manner that could only be called desperate.

[Artur]

The start of her topic raised curiosity within Artur as he wondered just how exactly it changes one’s life, but then when the little… thing in her arms took to cry desperately while she tried to figure out what the reasons were, Artur soon found that his curiosity was soon met with intimidation as well as a refrained approach to the subject. He did NOT want to go through whatever she was going through now, the annoyance in the screams of that so called baby was something he hoped he wouldn’t have to face. If it were a life changing experience then he could see it all right, he could see the urge in wanting to be rid of the thing as soon as he freed it from KRF. But this was his child he was thinking about! Why on earth would he want to save it if he didn’t truthfully want it?

Because he was afraid. Deep down he was afraid since he had no idea how to be a parent, be that sort of caretaker a child would need in its life. Even now the sounds of Amolina’s child screaming put him on a mental edge, yet even when it did he wanted to reach out and help somehow. Make the crying cease by any means possible, though the alternative means the less liked one on his part. Still what to do now? Should he just drawback and let the mother do the work? No… he should try to help if possible. She helped him after all, provided him the opportunity to eat some food too. That just goes to show the graces of Ravok’s beautiful side, and if he were to repay that kindness given to him then he should in turn attempt to do the same. She… looked at her butt I think, He noted the things the mother did of course, felt the stomach…….. nothing there I assume. He raised his eyebrows off and on as he observed her patterns, aware that her desperation was growing while she tried to discover the problem with the infant.

Oriana help me this is pointless! I can’t help her! He admitted defeat a bit somberly, yet part of him wasn’t ready to give up. That part was enough to convince him to try once more, and so with a sigh the bear decided to ask Amolina if he could assist her by any means. "C-can I try? Holding her I mean, maybe I can help?" He offered nervously as he mustered up the courage to ask, he then remembered to ask for the thing’s name so he would know what to call it when he held her. "What is she called by the way?"

[Amolina]

Artur had offered to take over the screaming little one and at the moment Amolina had no qualms about handing Pearl over to somebody else. She promptly gave him the baby and showed him how to hold her properly. It was maybe the surprise of suddenly being carried by somebody new and unknown that made the child stop screaming. Nobody could know. But she stopped it and started to take an interest in the lace on Artur’s shirt.

Despite the warm weather, the baby wore a long sleeved tunic. Amolina took no risks with the faintly shimmering right arm of the girl. It was a totally normal arm. But it did shimmer a bit. Just a little. Amolina found it best to hide it under cloth, though the small right hand was a problem.

Amolina used to say the shimmer was a skin disesase, likely caused by herself being exposed to so many chemicals in the NMSS work while she had been expecting. Sadly it had affected the child. But it was inevitable for people in a research project to take risks. And one could hope the shimmer-disease would grow away eventually. It was unsure if the child had been affected in any other ways as well. She seemed healthy and strong, quite strong for her tender age actually, and Amolina took it this was a good sign, she used to tell people, with a brave but somewhat frail smile.

“Her name is Pearl. She seems to just have been bored” she said to Artur. “I guess she want’s to play. Not that she is able to do much when she’s this small, but she likes to grab things and look at thing and people.”

Artur was looking a bit awkward where he sat with the baby in his arms. But Pearl seemed to take interest in him and seemed comfortable. Amolina watched, feeling a little bit nervous. She suppressed an impulse to snatch Pearl back and hold her herself. It would maybe just make the screaming start again.

Now Amolina would talk. And talk and talk and talk and talk. Poor Artur, but the topic of Pearl was inagotable and now he’d get to hear it all and forever, whether he wanted it or not. There was very much to say about very many details. She spoke and spoke and spoke and spoke. If Artur said something she would pay heed to it, as it gave her opportunity to speak even more. There was no end to how interesting the topic of baby Pearl was!

It was Artur’s own fault, as he had started to ask questions. But after a while she had to stop to breathe and warm up for next round, and in a moment of silence she noticed that the drummer had come back, with wine and other beverages, fresh bread and other things from the food stalls. Some fish seemed to have been caught by the ones who had been fishing in the lake and the cooking fire had been started.

The atmosphere was cheery and relaxed and people had started to think of the food. Birine returned, stared at Artur, snatched the now sleeping baby from him and muttered a reproach at Amolina. She put Pearl in the basket and walked away with her.

Amolina looked at Artur.“It seems to be time to eat soon” she said. “But you can’t be so hungry, can you ? Not after all those lilypad wraps ?”

[Artur]

At first he was rather hesitant when she seemed to offer the wailing thing to him, but when Amolina was prone to hand the child over and help show him how to handle her, he somehow found himself rather all right in holding the baby afterwards. Sure it was strange and foreign for him but somehow he got her to stop that… annoying senseless crying she did. It was rather cute really, to see the baby of course. Now that it was in his arms and occupied with the new face that held her close, he could somehow actually feel a better sense of how it would be to hold his own child. In fact Artur really couldn’t help but wonder if it would actually be like this, be as serene and precious at it did with this little one here. Peal. So that was what she was called. A strange name to choose but certainly one that stood out.

Artur could’ve sworn he’d heard it mentioned before, but he couldn’t recall where exactly since he’d been several places. Hmm… Pearl. Pearl, Pearl, Pearl. Goddess! Where did he hear that name. Amolina… She said her last name was Moletta did she not? She did actually… So if Amolina had the last name of Pearl Moletta, then that made this baby the…. OH GODDESS! If this thing is the Pearl Moletta that the cane man mentioned, then Amolina has to be the mother of this child and… and… The connection made alerted him to the fact that the hunter that was with the cane man knew Amolina somehow, he mentioned something about a relative taking a liking to Pearl… It couldn’t be though, this rambling woman that spoke with no end was the mother of… this child?! She was annoying him… sort of. That didn’t matter though! What mattered was that someone from Ravok’s dark side knew about Pearl, and Artur wasn’t sure whether or not if he should warn Amolina about it or not.

Goddess! She deserves to know, she’s the mother of Pearl! He couldn’t argue with that. No, not when it seemed too important now. Sure enough the Kelvic failed to notice that the precious little thing in his arms was asleep up until the other person came and took her from him, though he was more or less willing to give it back with a nervous smile upon his blank expression. Then the word on food came next and Artur’s face seem to liven up some, a curious chuckle followed upon hearing the question Amolina sent his way afterwards.

"Believe me I can bleed a kitchen dry of food when I go without long enough, those wraps were delicious but more or less served as appetizers." He cheered with a blush to follow, only to remember that he had something important to say. He couldn’t distract himself now! He had to tell her something. "Amolina listen, I… I think I might know something I shouldn’t. Something that involves Pearl, and a dark man who walks with a cane." He warned her and he knew it would warrant an explanation, which is why he lowered his voice and leaned in closer so that only she would hear. "The other day I was… well I encountered this man with a cane and a hunter that knows um…" He nudged his head over to the person that took Pearl from him, and then continued on with the explanation. "They came after me because I’m a Kelvic, but released me since I have a master already. The hunter that was with this cane man mentioned Pearl, like he knew about her or something and… I’m not sure but I think the cane man might go after Pearl or something."

He expressed his concern sincerely in hopes that he was doing the right thing, forewarning her of a possible problem should there really be one. He wasn’t aware of the connection between Amolina and this cane man, but he more or less felt it best that she knew what he knew even if were little in regards of information.

[Amolina]

Amolina listened to Artur while he spoke about how much food he could eat and called all the lilypad wraps just an “appetizer”. Her reaction was awed silence. And she was also starting to worry about him not wearing a collar ... if he could eat that much, what kind of animal form did he have ? A wolf or some kind of lion? If his other form was something big and ravenous he could be dangerous.

The kelvic had more to say, though he didn’t speak too clearly. But like all new mothers Amolina was constantly looking out for potential dangers to her child in a slightly paranoid way. She got that for some reason, Artur believed her child was in danger. It was apparent that he was trying to warn her and she felt fear stir in her like a palpable thing ... when she heard him say he thought somebody had evil plans for Pearl she forgot everything else and her mind focused on only one single thing : the need to protect the infant.

The things she had learnt about intelligence once upon a time came to her mind. She was going to use this knowledge now ! She went through the facts she had so far. Artur was kelvic, he had confirmed it now. And if she understood him right, two men had come after Artur because he was kelvic. One of them was called “the hunter” and the other one was called “the cane man”. Artur said “the hunter” was aquainted with Birine Telemnar and knew she was taking care of Pearl. He also knew the baby was Amolina's. And this hunter was in league with “the cane man”, who Artur believed was a threat to the child. And they had let Artur go because he already had an owner.

They seemed to be slavers, was the conclusion she came to when she analyzed these facts. Slavers looking to catch interesting kelvics and other interesting beings to sell for shocking prices. A baby with a shimmering arm ... perhaps they thought of this as exotic. If the things Artur said were true, that was. She couldn’t know.

Amolina was from Ravok and always used to be cautious and watch out for fraud and betrayal. So despite how innocent and sincere the kelvic seemed, she didn’t want to jump to conclusions based on the things Artur had said.

Birine had become her friend and confidante. Now Artur accused Birine of giving dangerous people information about Pearl. Amolina didn’t even know anything about Arthur though. And she wasn’t into just trusting unknown people quickly. She needed to know more about him before she could decide if she would pay any heed to his words. Besides, the kelvic must have more details to tell her, she felt sure.

She felt a need to start with a closer investigation of who she was talking with.

She decided to interrogate Artur.

She looked at him with a determination that was unusual for her. All her life she had coped by giving like water as soon as any kind of pressure was put on her. But in this moment, when she looked at Artur, she realized that all her previous spinelessness wasn’t an option anymore.

Her calm demeanor was only created by acting. Beneath this, she was shaking. But as she was a skilled actress and put in all the effort she could, she was able to keep her voice steady when she started to ask questions. “I’m grateful that you are telling me about this, but I need to know more. So I will ask you for details. But we will take one question at the time Artur” she said, trying to force herself to be systematic.

“First of all I want you to tell me about yourself and what you are doing in Ravok. Who do you belong to and why aren't you wearing a collar?”

[Artur]

Artur knew good and well he was taking a big risk when he would share this bit of information, but Amolina could've very well been in a spot where trouble waited from the shadows. If that were the case then Artur had to try and do what he can to help her, for Amolina and Pearl's sake seeing as how it involved the both of them. She then appeared to be calm as she adopted a whole new demeanor that looked similar to the acting role she held before, though this one more or less realistic compared to what Artur witnessed on stage. It intimidated him all the same, made him nervous to think about how she would act when her own daughter was literally threatened or endangered.

The questions that followed were ones that led Artur to appear thrown off, not so much as offended as he would've been if he weren't as considerate to the situation before. The idea he would've had a collar didn't cross his mind under she'd mentioned it, and upon hearing the word the bear scoffed and felt himself rather stupid in that particular moment as he discovered that she'd suspected what he was. "So you know then, was it that easy to tell?" He quirked eagerly in hopes that he didn't give it away so easily, Oriana knows he didn't want the whole of Ravok knowing a Kelvic was loose and about in the city. It mattered little now of course, she knew and in turn needed to hear the rest. He could only hope she would keep his identity as a Kelvic a secret, although some might already be aware that Gyatt had himself a "show fur" around his estate.

"I didn't choose to come to Ravok," He murmured low enough to where only Amolina would hear, "Some bad men took me by force and brought me to KRF, all the way down from Syliras too. The worst part was being inside KRF, they treated me and every other Kelvic like dirt no less." He pointed out bitterly as he felt his emotions begin to spur, Amolina would easily see the heartache in his eyes if she paid close attention. "I wasn't of any use to them anymore because of some operation they did to me around..." He gestured to his lower frame of body to hint what he was pointing out, and then continued onward with the details of his story. "So Master Gyatt bought me and saved me from there, and that's why I'm out here now. To learn what I can of the Ravok's beautiful side, all the while avoiding he dark side like the cane man and those he works with..."

He looked to the side with a lesser form of a smile on his face, the naivety he once held all but gone after his misbegotten adventure to this place. "As far as the collar is concerned Gyatt said I don't really have to worry about wearing it, although I need to start doing so since I've already had some trouble with others like the cane man. I honestly can't tell you who he is, just that he knows a lot about poisons or so he claims... He took some of my blood because he needed it for something, likely whatever they use on Kelvics to make us lose control of our shifting." He added with a finish to the story, rather hopeful that was informative enough for the actress. He waited furthermore to hear what other questions the woman might have, hopeful that he could be use in the attempt to answer them thoroughly.

[Amolina]

The golden afternoon sunshine glittred on the surface of the lake. Birds sang among the fresh light greenery of spring and faint sounds from the market could be heard. The cooking was ongoing and tempting smells were spreading in the air. The whole group of people would soon gather near the cooking fire to eat and drink. The theater director, Seymor Essing was laughing at something Alice Lark was saying - maybe she was telling him a story. Birine Telemnar was grilling fish and the theaters drummer was cutting bread in slices while Aydury Hines carefully put an assortment of small delicacies from the marked stalls on trays.

“You told me you are kelvic. You said you were hunted because you are kelvic. That’s how I can know you are kelvic.” Amolina spoke in very short sentences. She didn’t roll her eyes, but she felt like doing it. My. Artur told people he was kelvic and then he was surprised it was so easy to guess ... this confirmed the opinion she already had about the kelvic intellect. They were stupid. Artur didn’t seem to be an exception.

“You seem so negative”. Amolina had rarely heard the kelvics complain. “As far as I know the kelvics at the KRI are well taken care of in all ways. They have cages to live in. They are indoors and with people to supervise them, so they are safe from all the hardships of the life of wild animals. They are given free food without needing to work for it. The only thing that they are required to do is eat, sleep, mate and breed. All in all, it’s an easy, safe and convenient life they lead.”

As she had spent a year with KRI, she understood at once what he meant with an operation that had made him useless. It wasn’t possible to work at KRI for a year without learning a bit about their breeding program. She didn’t know so much, but had grasped the basics about how the researchers were breeding individuals with the wished properties and weeding out defects.

“So they didn’t breed you then” she said in a matter of fact way. “It was likely because you have some bad trait. Maybe an illness or other weakness that your offspring would have inherited and which would just have made them suffer. Or maybe they found traces of zith in you. Who knows. Lots of bad things could have happened if you had been allowed to breed.“

It was of course possible that the kelvic would get a bit upset upon hearing this, but Amolina was just telling him true facts. She for one, was constantly worried about Pearl and her shimmering arm and how to conceal it and prevent people from suspecting the child’s possibly mixed ancestry. Amolina only knew what Pearls biological mother had told her, which wasn’t much. And perhaps it was just fraud. Maybe it was just a delusive story the woman had told Amolina in order to fool her into helping with the abortion. There was a possibility that Pearl was a perfectly healthy human child with a slightly shimmering but otherwise completely normal arm, wasn’t there?

Wishful thinking. But sometimes wishes is all we have to get by on.

“My daughter for instance” she said, acting tragically brave now, as she always did when she spoke about her daughter’s right arm. “She was born with a skin disease. The poor little one. It’s impossible to know what has caused it, but maybe it’s something she has inherited from her father. Or maybe it’s because of a weird illness I had last year. Or because of the medical treatments I was given to save my life. I can only tell you it’s not easy for the child and I can only hope it won’t get worse for her.” She paused to deliver a forced smile of desperate hope. “Maybe there will be better medical treatments in the future and maybe she will be cured one day. Or it can grow away. One must hope.”

Thinking of Pearl, she came back to the questions about Artur’s warning. He had given her a few new facts and she made a new analysis. It didn’t seem like the men Artur had spoken about were slavers after all. They had let him go, and she didn’t believe slavers would let a kelvic without a collar go. And with the new facts Artur had added about how the man with the cane knew lots about poisons and used blood for crafting, it simply wasn’t possible to avoid thinking of Nolan Parnell. It sounded like him. In particular as the man had taken time to brag to the kelvic about what an expert he was at poisons and even told Artur about how the stolen blood would be used.

But this was just a weird theory. Everything was very vague. It seemed unlikely. Amolina was still not going to jump to conclusions about anything at all. Artur was warning her, but for what exactly? She could hardly start to just panic about threats that hadn’t even been described clearly. But she couldn’t just dismiss the whole thing either. If there was a threat to Pearl she needed to investigate it and get the details. So she continued to interrogate Artur in order to try to squeeze more concrete facts out of him instead of the prattle he was giving her.

“Tell me their looks” she said. “Describe them. Tell me if those men were tall or short, bulky or slim. Tell me the color of their hairs, eyes and skin. And tell me what they said. Tell me the exact words, as well as you can remember. And tell me what exactly you are warning me for : what did they say they were going to do ? And how would Birine be involved in this? ”When she mentioned Birine she made a gesture to indicate the person she meant.

She spoke slowly in the hopes that this would make it easier for Artur to understand that she really needed more details here.

[Artur]

Even with the smell of the tantalizing food that made his stomach long to be filled, Artur couldn't allow himself the chance to be distracted and caught off guard before the actress next to him. Of course when she mentioned that he did in fact mention he was Kelvic his mind spaced for a moment as he thought to recollect the instance he did, and when the moment reoccurred in his mind once more he looked to nearly speak about it but the words never came out. How silly. He'd thought she'd suspected him being a Kelvic this entire time and when he brought up the idea he'd already forgotten he'd mentioned what he was... Smart. Real smart. It was definitely one way to be caught in a trap if he weren't careful, he really needed to work on paying more attention to himself.

At any rate there was nothing he could do now, after he was finished looking rather stupid before her he looked to her with focus, a look of curiosity upon how she could say he was "so negative" when he spoke truly. Then of course her brief explanation upon KRF, no doubt based upon experiences of her own seeing as how she knew so much. Everything she said was true about it but that was just the simple outlook that they, meaning the lunatics there and her included, had compared to the ones they treated. He shook his head in slight denial, already in a bitter state of mind about the subject he felt he had the right to correct her part. Which was odd because he never actually felt such a thing before, then again he never actually had much to worry or think about period until his arrival in KRF. "That may be but that's the only good thing about KRF, the fact they look after their precious Kelvics is based on their need for what they call 'research'." He spat the word in disgust, a frown cast down to the sand before he continued.

"In KRF you're given nothing, nothing but cruelty. They don't care for you, they only use you until they're done with you. You're not Kelvic so you wouldn't understand what it feels like, to lose your freedom and in turn become nothing more than some object for another to use." It truly hurt deep down to recollect those thoughts and feelings, and yet he felt all the more liberated to say it aloud when he felt it no use before. Likely because he felt his voice was forever silenced by staying in there, but then again there were multiple factors to weigh into account that jaded Artur's innocent outlook on everything. Her remark on the breeding brought him to perk up as he remembered that day, the day where he was forced to breed earlier in the season... Yet she prattled on like she knew what had happened, assumed that they operated on him because he just had some terrible "traits" or whatever. He didn't care much about these traits really, just more or less about the fact at how this woman reasoned without knowing everything.

"Oh? No. I was forced to mate with another Kelvic against my will, not long after I arrived there in fact. Only happened once but that was enough..." His thoughts then returned to the wonder of what would be his own, the child he likely had waiting to be saved within the facility should it have been born by now. "No. They did something to me, broke me somehow. They messed up and in turn had no further need for me, so when they thought to be rid of me Master Gyatt stepped up and saved me. Bought me so I would have a second chance to see Ravok, both it's Dark and it's Beauty sides." Then of course was the story of how her little one had some sort of illness, which made Artur wonder just what exactly was wrong with her. By the looks of it Pearl was normal, apart from the loud annoying cries she would cause. It more or less looked to Artur that this woman Amolina was in a state of denial, something he could relate to a lot since he'd been in a few places enough times.

Then of course the subject of the hunter and the cane man returned, and this time Amolina wanted to know in greater detail too. Funny thing... Artur's memory was vague in the detail of their looks, but he couldn't very easily forget the face of the man that slandered the fact he could no longer have children. "The cane man is scary and dark, not too tall or too short either. Thin like he starves himself half the time... Oh! And his hair was dark too. The important things I remember about him was his eyes, they were cold when they stared at me. Cold green eyes." He pointed out as he remembered the sneer he got from the man, chills traveled up his spine once the memory played over in his head again and again."As for what they said...." He had to dwell on it for a chime, mentally dive into the moment from before, and tune into the words he nearly cancelled out that day out of pure fear.

Think think... think think.... The cane man said that he had no place to take me, and then remarked about not having to worry about brats.... His mind replayed the moment over and over as he tried to sort out anything useful, filter the details that would be necessary to answer what the actress had asked him. The hunter then mentioned his mum... mum... That's another word for 'mother' so, in that case he was talking about his mom when he mentioned that she'd picked up Pearl. His eyes popped open then, as he made the connection between said woman holding Pearl now.... and the hunter from that day. Oriana help me! The hunter's mother is that woman there! It all made sense for him now, yet the Kelvic wasn't done yet. He'd just finally made the connections he needed, and now it was time to explain in full what he knew about the hunter.

"The hunter that was with the cane man mentioned that his mother had taken in another "stray" as though she helps out children, and one of the recent ones she'd been watching was 'Pearl Moletta'. You're Pearl if I'm not mistaken. He noted with a positive nod to assure that what he was saying was indeed true. "I dunno what they might have planned for Pearl exactly but I think the cane man was surprised to learn of her, like he just caught on with the connection with you two. Since you two have the same second name after all." He pointed out as though it were overly obvious, even though his simple mind only caught on not that long ago. "My only concern is whether or not he might have something planned, though I can't say for sure since they focused on me once more... I only know that he likely now knows you are the mother of Pearl." He finished in a bit of a concerned state, thumbs twiddled about repeatedly as he waited further to hear what she might have to add or ask.


oocTwo things; first it is soooo painfully difficult yet highly amusing to write out how naive Artur truly is, and second I can't help but say "Mother of Pearl" each time I quote that in the post.