Open Shortage of Sustenance (Job Thread)

[Molly Barlow]

Day 70th of Winter, 514AV

Molly ran.

Her legs burned but it gave her focus. Up, down, up, down. Straight ahead, don't trip. Keep running. While she ran her eyes blurred with tears until she thought she'd faint from everything except running. It was all she did lately, torn between not being able to do a thing and having much to do and no will to do it. But the bees had long since been unattended. There was no telling what could be left or if her mama had time to check them considering how often Molly plagued her house.

Somehow or other her legs gave up, forcing her to slow until she was heaving and walking into the shop. Passed the empty story and fleeing to the solitude of the bees. Molly longed for the noise that came with summer, both of people and bees at constant attention now she could barely hear them let alone see their bright colors. What she could see though, was something entirely different.

Someone in a coat or cloak, blurred by her teary eyes with their dirty fingers poking and prodding in her hives. Frames on the ground, the entire colony probably lost with the way they were stealing into the unrefined honey. For a second she could not move until a rage, not all the fault of the their, filled her. With several quick steps she stopped in front of the thief and raised her hand to stop them, hand coming down to seal her cold fingers around their wrist.

"What is wrong with you?! How did you get in here, you little sneak!" Mollys voice was a furious, whipping thing. She had to consciously force herself not to squeeze the wrist and cause pain. "Drop that right now or so help me I'll scream until they arrest you for theft and more."

[Matthew]

The boy spun to face her, a muffled yelp leaping out from behind lips and cheeks stuffed with the stolen honeycomb. It only took a second for the thin child to realize what was happening before his surprised expression actually turned to one of annoyance. The pale child was now glowering at her with his light brown eyes, roughly trying to yank his thin wrist from her hand. "Let goff off mehf," he hissed/growled, seemingly angry that she had dared interrupt his feast. It was obvious he was weak though, much too weak to actually break free from her firm grip. He had been weakened by the current circumstances of Zeltiva, just like them all.

Bee stings were scattered all over his face, evidence that he had been attacked for his trespassing and simply hadn't cared. Even now, in the middle of Molly's rage and in the midst of his own visible annoyance, a loud growl rumbled out from between them. It was his stomach.

Suddenly though, the child was distracted. Those oddly-shaded brown eyes widened for a split second and then narrowed, the look on his face flickering between a dozen emotions at once before he just went utterly slack and let himself be captured. From behind Molly, a soft and polite voice quietly spoke, each word carefully and properly pronounced.

"Hello, Dorian." Matthew stood there in the doorway, an apathetic expression printed onto his face.

"Petch." The boy mumbled through his mouthful of honeycomb, looking more irritated now than ever.

~

The Harlot observed the scene carefully, reserved blue stare sweeping over the sticky carnage. To most, he was dressed surprisingly well, kept snug in a black pea coat and a matching ash gray scarf. His handsome face showed signs of malnutrition, but it didn't really take away from his elegant, almost femininely beautiful appearance. If anything, it merely pronounced his sharp jawline.

Eventually, a small frown crossed his face, the Harlot slowly stepping closer. His hands were bundled into his pockets, his focus returning the boy. Dorian didn't look up, merely stared at the ground with a sullen look on his honey-coated face. After a moment of observation, Matthew turned his steady gaze back to Molly, meeting her stare and slowly tilting his head to the side as he watched her. "I am Matthew. The boy is under my care. I apologize for his misbehavior. Is there a way to repay for the damages? I can try to cover it in coin, or perhaps work out some other solution."

For a brief moment, the air around him would shift, almost charge itself with something Molly might somehow recognize as an oddly sensual energy. But it would just as quickly be gone, Matthew quickly realizing that such a reimbursement wasn't at all acceptable.

[Molly Barlow]

The beekeeper hadn’t expected a child. For a chime she froze at the sight of the bee stings but the defiance clear on his face put to rest any pity. She tightened her fingers around his wrist persistently. “Where are your parents? How did you get in?”

The sudden voice behind them interrupted the silence and made Molly jump; she turned to face Matthew with a glare. He looked completely different from the child in some respects; well kept and nothing like she would have pictured at all. Her initial assumption that some East Street brat with drunkard parents. After a tick of clear inspection Mollys face reddened from something other than the cold, and she fought the sudden irrational urge to smooth down her hair.

“There is no ‘other solution’ and money won’t compensate for the bees. Unless you have a whole new colony on you.” She snapped, ire for the child leaving to be replaced by ire for the parent, “Don’t you watch your children? If he’d been allergic he’d be dead, and you! Everyone’s hungry, it doesn’t give you the right to steal, do you hear me? If you wanted some you can ask, you don’t get to take it.”

To add to her point Mollys stomach growled right along with her, and she gave Dorian a little shake and released him. Once more she face Matthew, her lips pressed into a thin line as the damaged continued to plague the corner of her eyes. “The only thing to be done right now is to clean up the mess. If you have to pay, you’ll take it up with my parents.”

It was clear from her stance that the beekeeper expected them both to help her, and quite obvious she wouldn’t be reporting it. Either way Molly turned away, furious with the strong desire to cry at yet another dying thing. The beekeeper couldn’t stand there for a tick longer, stormed into the store and came back out with three sets of bees masks and gloves. Once she put her own on she pulled out a small bucket of powder and threw a few handfuls over what was left of the angry bees.

“I’ll bring out new frames, you both get to clean up the mess.” Molly stared hard at them both through the mesh then sighed, “And I’ll find…Dorian was it? Something to help with the stings. You might even have some stingers left, which is no more than you deserve.”

[Matthew]

Intense blue eyes wandered over her, though not in a way that was offensive. He wasn't staring at her for his own pleasure, it was more as if he was studying her. He had to build a full picture of her in his mind so that he would be able to remember her in the future. He had to have a full physical description to match with the name, which he did not yet know. His gaze soon returned to her own though, the Harlot making eye contact as he nodded and acknowledged her words.

"He actually is not my child, not officially. I have yet to acquire official adoption papers. I am certainly responsible for him though, so I am genuinely sorry." He didn't reveal it to her to gain any sort of sympathy. He had just notice how Dorian's head had snapped up and his eyes had flashed at the insinuation that Matthew was his parent. The Harlot had figured it best to go ahead and get that little fact straight before Dorian was the one who angrily did it. The boy did calm down at that point, returning to staring at his feet with a mixture of anger and guilt written onto his young features. Matthew studied him a moment longer, not entirely sure how to handle the situation. Did he discipline him? How was he supposed to do that? Ground him from something? Hit him? Lecture him? Neither one seemed to be the right choice. He knew that Dorian understood stealing was wrong but still fell back on it every now and then during his more emotional outbursts.

The woman soon returned, offering them some outfits. Matthew took them, both him and Dorian giving the strange clothing appraising looks as they tried to figure out exactly how to put them on. As he struggled with it, Matthew glanced over at Molly again, tilting his head to the side in that curious way of his. "I work at a Touchy Subject. If your parents come up with a total sum or another method of repaying the damage inflicted, they can just come there and ask for me. I will let the front desk know that a visit from them may be a possibility."

Glancing over at Dorian, he spoke slowly, carefully, as if putting a great deal of thought into each of his words. "Stealing is one thing, but you also destroyed a lot of hard work today. If you are so hungry that you turn to this, please let me know first. I can share more of my portion with you or find another way to get additional food." It was the best he could offer. He didn't know enough about this to have any clue what else to try. Matthew returned his attention to the girl as Dorian shuffled his feet, looking more guilty now than ever. "What is the best way to clean all of this up? Do we simply dispose of it? Or can some of the product be salvaged? I apologize, I know very little about beekeeping."