Open City Boy

[Michael Kyber]

38th Winter. 516AV

The first thing that hit him was the smell.

Whilst his nose wasn't sensitive enough to make it particularly uncomfortable, after days of traveling out in the open the stale tinge to the air in Syliras was definitely notable. It was an unavoidable smell for a city to acquire that naturally came with having a large group of people living together in one area, but in Syliras the higher concentration of people-to-space made that smell all the more concentrated.

However all thoughts of the smell were soon put out of Michael's mind as he walked through the entrance gates into the city and the sight of the city in full was presented to him. It was, to put in bluntly, breathtaking. Whilst not exactly beautiful in the typical sense of the word, the sheer number of people and activities going on before him was astounding even to a city boy like him. Michael had never seen so many people packed into one place before, and for a moment his mind drew a blank at trying to figure out how so many people could go about their daily business without bumping into each other all the time. It almost seemed as if the city was somehow a living entity; the streets were its veins, the shop and houses it's organs, and the people bustling about from place to place its drops of blood.

As the knights at the gate had suggested, Michael headed over to the welcome center first. The secretary there had kindly informed him of the laws of the city and had given him a map with all the important locations, especially pointing out where the recruitment office was in the Dyres district when he'd expressed a desire to apply to be a knight. After that Michael had gone to the housing authority and sorted himself out with an standard room in the Bitten district, and then headed straight to the recruitment office, eager to get his application to join in.

At least that had been the plan. On paper the map looked easy to navigate, but in person... not so much. The flow of people moving through the streets forced Michael to go in certain directions before he'd had time to think about it, and it was difficult to get his bearings considering that most of the city was indoors and looked exactly the same wherever he went. By the time Michael realized that he was completely lost it was too late to retrace his steps, and being so new to the city Michael found he couldn't even guess at what district he was in, let alone make his way to the recruitment office.

The smart thing to do would be to simply ask for directions, but a stubborn pride made Michael reluctant to do so. He was a sailor damn it! He could navigate the bloody ocean, so how hard could it be to make his was through a glorified building?

"So I'm... here? No, I should be about here..." He muttered to himself under his breath, a faint scowl marring his face as he stared the map as if it had an insult to his mother written on it. "No but I took a... wait no I didn't..."

The people of Syliras continued to go about their daily business, either not noticing the obviously new arrival or smirking with mischievous humor at his display of stubbornness.

[Roselina]

A gentle smile lay on Roselina's face as she strolled around Syrilas that day. She had decided a day off was deserved, and so was wondering aimlessly. The constant trickery wasn't good for her, it made her feel awful at times, a twinge of regret about what she was doing. A break was neccesary so she didn't cause herself to go insane, or walk herself off a cliff. She didn't know why she had began to regret her actions after all these years, and it confused her greatly. Her cloak was carefully positioned over her arm to cover up her tattoo, not wanting to be seen with it like she had been recently. What if someone who wished her harm saw it, that wouldn't be amazing, seeing as she hadn't seen them for years. On the bright side, they could be dead. Roselina thought bitterly, a frown flickering over her face now. Stopping herself in her tracks, she tried to focus on something else, anything else. Leaning against a wall, she watched the people walk by, listening to the chatter and watching the commotion. Familiar faces walked past, some she knew and some strangers that she had happened to see often. Someone stuck out to her as an outsider, he wore a scowl on his face and muttered in annoyance. She stifled a giggle upon witnessing it, and contemplated helping him for a moment. Walking over, with a playful tone to her voice she spoke. "You look lost, new here?" A sly but not unfriendly smile covered her face, as she looked at the man.

[Michael Kyber]

Michael looked up from his map at the sound of a voice, noticing the woman who'd come over to talk to him. She was a little younger than him by the looks of her, fairly pretty and seemed friendly, but the smirk on her face led him to suspect she was the kind who'd take the micky out of him for getting lost in the first place.

Well it was his own fault for getting lost in the first place. He really didn't have many option right now if he wanted to make it to the recruitment office by nightfall.

His frown lessened, but didn't entirely fade. "It's that obvious huh? Yeah I just moved here from Zeltiva this morning. I was hoping to make it to the recruitment office before the days end but... I guess I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. It is somewhere around here right? Everywhere looks the same."

With a sigh he folded the map up and shoved it back into his pocket. "But where are my manners? I'm Michael." He offered Roselina a hand. "As you've probably guessed I'm hoping to become a knight. How about you, what's your name?"

[Roselina]

The man looked up at her, his frown fading slightly. He explained that he arrived this morning from Zeltiva. She had heard of Zeltiva, it seemed like an interesting place, from what she had heard it was full of scholars. Probably not the best place for her to be, but maybe one day she would visit. She laughed slightly, "It's confusing here for outsiders, I'm surprised you managed to get this lost following a map though." It was hard for her to suppress the urge to mock him, because she was genuinely finding it amusing. However, she was in a good mood, so it didn't stop her from offering help. "Roselina." She introduced herself, shaking his hand when it was offered. She wasn't surprised when he said he wanted to become a knight, most people came here with some delusional idea of justice. "Knight huh? That'll be hard work." She grinned, covering up her slight distaste of the knights, she had met good people who were knights after all. She shouldn't let their career decide what she thought of them. "Need some help getting there? I doubt you'll be able to figure it out if it's your first time here." She offered to help him, her current good mood causing her to feel more inclined to. She was sure no one else would offer, and he would likely be left struggling to find where he was headed.

[Michael Kyber]

Michael's scowl deepened and his cheeks flushed a little red in embarrassment at the mention of the map. The defensive part of his mind argued what good a map supposed to be when you couldn't see the sky and figure out which way was north, but the realistic part was quick to counter that it could be that hard if practically everyone else in the city could do it. Still it was lucky for him that he'd come across someone willing to help him out. Roselina seemed nice, and had the courtesy not to take the piss out of him to his face which was always nice.

He gave a hum of agreement at her mention of hard work. "So people keep telling me, but I suppose that's true of any worthwhile cause. I guess an organisation powerful enough to build a city like this around itself is going to have a pretty strict entrance criteria."

Even so he wouldn't let that stop him. He'd already seen plenty of knights about the city, and if they could do it then so could he. He'd learn any skills he needed to and complete any task he gave to him if he had to. He may not have much experience with combat yet but he had drive, and that had to count for something.

His scowl relaxed when Roselina offered to guide him, and a slight look of relief passed over his face before he guarded it up again. "That would be great, thank you." He replied, giving her a short bow. If she started to lead he would follow, staying just a little bit behind her and looking around as they went with a sceptical sort of wonder.

"I take it you're a local to these parts then? Seems like I nice city, if not a bit..." he looked around at the crowd of people walking about around them, clearly uncomfortable with the sheer amount of them, "...cosy. Anything I should know about this place that they don't tell you at the gates? Is the famous fortress city all it's cracked up to be?"

[Roselina]

"Its fine, got nothing better to do anyway." She began to walk, thoughts of what this person was like going through her mind. A worthwhile cause... Those words made her feel like he was one of the ones who were here for some odd sense of justice. People often came here wanting to protect peace and all things good. It was delusional in her opinion. "I'm from here, lived here my whole life, it is a bit crowded though." She smiled, weaving through the crowds as she had done for her whole life Roselina pondered his question for a moment, before answering. "Well, I wouldn't say it's all its cracked up to be, but then again I'm used to it here." She paused for a moment before speaking again. "So why'd you come here of all places? Other than becoming a knight of course." It annoyed her when people came here just because they wanted to be a Knight, she had met people who were like that before, and the city was never what they had thought it would be.

[Michael Kyber]

Why did he come here? Honestly it was because he'd been ordered to, but that wasn't something he could go about telling people. The only goal he had was to become a knight, and moving to Slyiras was just a backdrop to that.

"There is no reason other than to become a knight." He shrugged. "I want to help make the world into a fairer place, that's all there is too it. Seems to me that the Syliran Knight's are a good way to do that. I mean wouldn't it be nice if the whole world could be united together under one banner like this?" He gestured to the city around them. "It may not be particularly spacious, but people are safe and happy here. Anyone can find work, and the knights enforce order and keep the crime rate low. Makes a nice change from the world outside don't you think?"

As they continued their journey through the streets the sound of raised voiced coming from nearby caught their attention. They turned the corner to find a crowd of people gathered around in a circle, which in the middle of stood two men dressed in robes which gave them the appearance of merchants. Both of them were red in the face and screaming at each other, and seemed all but ready to start a fight.

"You crazy you hear! Crazy!" The first merchant, a man with an exotic accent and broken speech that suggested he was from somewhere far away, cried out.

"You think I wouldn't recognise my own work when I see it! You give it back right now!" The other merchant, a portly man who seemed to be a local, yelled back. Michael and Roselina had seen a patrol of knights pass by them not to long ago, meaning there could still be a few minutes before another patrol came across the area. The fight however seemed about to kick off any second.

Michael's brow furrowed in concern. "Think we should break it up? Things could get nasty if something isn't done."

[Roselina]

She had definetly been right on her judgement of him, he had a delusionary idea of uniting people. She supposed it was better than her pessimistic view of the world. "I suppose it is nice here, in terms of the low crime anyway." Her tone was cheerful as she walked, however she definetly felt like she was being hypocritical. Her attention turned to merchants arguing, a typical thing to see here, but the knights usually took care of it. They had passed a few minutes ago though. They seemed ready to fight, but in her opinion, it wasn't something for her to waste time on. The other who was walking with her seemed to have other ideas though. Her smile dropped, as she looked on at the merchants. "We could, I suppose it'd be nice. Is it really our problem though?" There were people who were payed for that, after all. He wasn't a Knight anyway, so why did he care if a fight broke out between them? It wouldn't affect him if it happened. "Besides, what could we do to put a stop to it?"

[Michael Kyber]

It was true that neither of them were under any obligation to help, but even so Michael had to admit he was a little disappointed by Roselina's cold behavior. Perhaps it was unreasonable of him but he'd expected the people in Syliras to be more like the knights that protected them.

"We've seen it happen, that makes it our problem." He replied, heading over to the commotion. "I don't know what we can do, but finding out what's going on seems like a good start."

He pushed his way through the crowd, drawing the glares of the merchants as he forced his way between then. "Cool it both of you!" He growled in what he hoped was a commanding tone. "You're making a scene. Now what's the matter?"

"What's the matter is that this thief is trying to sell off my work!" The local merchant yelled, pointing to a very distinct necklace displayed on a nearby stall. "That necklace was stolen from my shop two days ago, and now this foreigner has the nerve to sell it in the streets in front of me!"

"This is ridiculous! I bought this necklace months ago! You just trying to pick on me because I'm not from around here." The foreign merchant shot back. The local merchants tried to advance on him again, forcing Michael to physically hold him back.

"Uh, Rose? A little help here?" Michael called, struggling to hold the merchants back from each other.

[Roselina]

She watched him go with an annoyed sigh, it wasn't as if she could stop him. Honestly she felt sorry for him, as she was sure his dreams of what a great city this was would be crushed. It was true that Roselina's grim view of the city had been soured by the horrors she had witnessed, even she knew that. This city had been hell for her, but it was the hell she knew. So she stayed here. She watched the man interupt the argument, the seething merchants not happy at all about it. It seemed to her like they were having a disagreement about what they were selling, it seemed petty really. Either of them could be telling the truth, perhaps they both were, who could know? Michael called for her help, and she gave him a look, one that said that she had told him not to do this, but she walked over anyway. "What's going on here then? Hm?" She smirked, taking on the persona she often did when working. Playful and bold, rather than her usual rational self. At least she thought herself to be rational, that could be argued. "Now gentlemen, is that anyway to sort out a disagreement? Wouldn't you worry about the knights witnessing this? It'd be a shame if you got in trouble because of something so petty." She winked playfully at them, with a grin. Her tone that a younger girl would possess. Roselina positioned herself between them, hoping they'd stop, seeing someone who looked quite young. However her hand hovered discreetly on her skirt's pocket, where her dagger was stored, just in case this got out of hand. She hoped she wouldn't need it today.