Everything, Because of Nothing [Aello, Gural]

[Victor Lark]

Spring 12, 511

Hunger. Like a villain creeping at the center of his gut, it turned and growled silently among the chatter and chaos of the crowded plaza. The feeling could be easily remedied by a few coins lost or by retiring to the townhome waiting for him in the Nobles’ district, but it was not time to go home; it was not the point to spend money. This market had risen from the cobblestones this very morning and would be torn down by nightfall. The food was all around him, right here, right now. He might as well take some.

Three people—a man, his wife, and their daughter—stood at the center of a comparatively large kiosk, baskets of fresh spices stacked on all four sides. The merchants were as kind as they were loud, smiling at gracious patrons and haggling mercilessly with the stubborn ones. Signs in Common littered the merchandise, boasting a rivalry and superiority with some other great local shop that Victor did not recognize. It was this display of pride that attracted him.

After a few minutes in failed attempts at catching the girl’s eye, he decided that stealth would prove a better strategy than manipulation. He did his best to fade into the crowd while remaining adjacent with the side of the booth. He browsed quietly, feigning internal assessments and false price lists. And every so often, he glanced up at the merchants, waiting for the opportunity when all three faces looked away.

As he idly moved his fingertips over a section devoted to peppers, he thought he found his chance. Just when he looked up, however, he saw the corner of the father’s eye and hesitated. With a sigh, his gaze dropped again. There, among the red chilis, was a piece of contrasting color that he had not noticed before: a blue rod-shaped thing, no longer than his thumb, with a peculiar embellishment on one end. He picked it up, spun it between his fingers, and clenched it in his dropping fist. The trinket obviously was not a part of their inventory. They would not miss it.

Resolving to investigate the thing later, Victor quickly snatched one of its mother-peppers from the pile and turned around. He stepped hastily into the crowd and raised it to his mouth...

OOCAnyone who knows something about religion would recognize the item as a symbol of Ionu.
.

[Aello]

Aello was weaving her way in and out of the throngs of people that filled the plaza. Yune was sitting silently on her right shoulder, digging her tiny talons into the girl's cloak. The peacock feathers that lined each of the arrows in her quiver were fluttering softly in the breeze, tickling Aello's ears from time to time. As she walked, Aello's hands would swing back and forth, bringing the shortbow that was clutched tightly in her left hand back and forth with it. From time to time, it would jab one of the other Ravokians in the side, and they'd groan and curse Aello out as she passed. The girl, however, ignored them, having neither the time nor the patience to deal with their complaints. The possibility of a small bruise forming on their sides. Aello was in the plaza, looking for a shop that may sell a book or two on magic. More specifically, the two types of magic that she practiced: auristics and spiritism. Of course, the girl seemed to have found everything but the sorts of things she actually wanted. The air stunk of various foods and spices- from things such as your average sweet bread to all sorts of pies with apples and blueberries and peaches, to cinnamon and cardamon and so many things that the girl knew that she had smelt before but didn't quite know the name of. There were also things she had never smelled before; things that seemed to swirl just below her nose and tickle her nostrils, turning them to a light shade of pink. As the young spiritist continued to walk through the crowd, she began to notice where just about each of the smells was coming from. Especially that of the spices. There was a small kiosk, run by a family of three selling the things. Aello strode closer to it, and noticed that there was a man there, inspecting everything. As she continued to follow his subtle movements with her eyes, a pale mist came into view around him. If she looked closely enough, Aello noticed dark pink wisps of color popping up around the edges. It reminded her of a flower she had seen once, out in the wilderness. The flower was a pale white, with long petals that curled into themselves at the edges. Towards the center of the petal, closet to the stem, were tiny black dots, which were surrounded by the tiniest hints of pale and dark pinks. The color was always close to the edges of the petal... the color always looked like it was going to fall off, like a droplet of rain. Besides the oddities in the coloration in the man's aura, Aello found it to be a very simple one indeed. He is dishonest, her mind told her, as she simply stood, watching, from a few feet away. People passing her from both the left and the right, bumping into her, wondering why she stood awkwardly in one place. Despite its simplicity, the aura drew Aello in. She could see a series of coins nestled into the center, and oddly enough, a single red pepper. It was then that she realized the man must have stolen one from the stand, while the owners were not watching. Aello sighed, she had never been too fond of thieves, and she had certainly seen more than enough of them in this city. Chirp! Chirp! Yune had drawn the girl out of her trance, and the man's aura faded away. By this time, Aello's pupils had dilated, a dull throbbing pain was playing at her temples. But Aello ignored the pain as she strode over to the Victor. When she had reached his side, she said, "so what looks good here today? Do you know? The two of us were never good at picking out the good from the bad, unless of course we can smell the food rotting. Would you mind giving us a hand?" Chirp! Chirp! Of course, the girl had no intention of buying anything, but perhaps, if she engaged the man for a long enough period of time, the owners would notice their things missing, and demand payment for their wares. Aello was in such a mood. She wouldn't mind getting the strange man into trouble; if he was stupid enough to slip up. It wouldn't quite be as much fun if she simply said that she was pretty sure he had stolen something. OOCIn case it wasn't obvious, the aura belongs to Victor. I tried to play to my levels, so sorry about the awkward wording of the post. She merely suspects Lark of stealing at least the pepper, but she doesn't know for certain.

[Gural]

OOCI am sorry that took more than expected. Stumbling through the mass of strange faces alike, Gural was forced to change his course more than once as he tried his best not to collide with anyone. All the humans around the plaza didn’t agitate him enough to throw them around like they were toys because he wasn’t Corak, but still he felt some resentment for such a weak race spreading over so much terrain. Once, twice, three times and then again, he got lost in his quest for a way out of the plaza. The Akalak was indeed taller than most people but he still had trouble navigating between the thickly dispersed groups that all seemed to mind their own business, or at least stalk their own shops and concerns. “Are we getting out of this sweaty group bonding anytime soon? Actually scratch that. I would like to get in on the action!” “You are just as weak willed and without focus as you were the day you sprung from my mind” Gural replied, evidently irritated. “I am still better looking than you!” Corak’s word, while they made no sense, provoked a reaction from the lighter twin. “Who cares? You aren’t even strong enough to take the body!” Gural shrugged his sentence off, almost as if it was the single most obvious thing in the world. As the duo kept moving the entire time they were arguing, they could hardly pay enough attention to notice that they were about to bump into two stationary figures. Bumping into the male was on purpose, as Gural indeed wished no harm upon the woman, even if it was an accident. Deciding to make the best of the situation, he apologized while trying to get help at the same time: “I’m sorry, it wasn’t on purpose. The crowd your kind organizes on the square makes it hard for anyone to move around. Truly idiotic, not that I’m calling your species lesser in general” he spoke awkwardly in a stern tone that did nothing but unravel his thick accent. “Great, just great, you are bonding with this lesser species. What’s worse you have even made contact with the wrong one you homosexual jakri. That what you bumped into is a male, hardly one, but still!” Gural ignored Corak to the best of his ability, as he resumed: “I was looking for a way out of the racket, could you two help?” he spoke to no one in particular, waiting for one of them to respond.

[Victor Lark]

The sharp smell of the pepper stung at Victor’s nose just as his hungry mouth opened around it, warning him about the perils of eating the thing alone and raw. He would have ignored his senses’ precautions if it were not for a woman who interrupted his meal mid-bite. He looked at her with a gracious smile and replied, “These are good. A bit hot, but a decent snack for a brave tongue.” He offered it to the stranger as if it were his. “Try it!”

In that moment, he decided that his turning stomach would have to wait. He was much more concerned with this mysterious young woman, who seemed as pretty as she was bad at lying. After a very brief pause, he added, “Pardon me, miss, but did you say two—oh.”

Then he felt a push on his shoulder and a voice in his ears. In the confusion, Victor first thought the man to be the second companion of whom she had spoken, but as he turned to see his aggressor he noticed a skin tone with which no respectable citizen would associate. His words complemented their status as strangers and his emphasis on the difference between the species, no matter how unintentional, did not help his cause. Lark’s guard immediately rose, but his face remained unflinching. With an acerbic smile, he answered, “I’m sure if you continue in one direction, you’ll find the edge.”

But suddenly another voice broke above the crowd’s noise: “Hey!” Victor turned to find the merchant’s wife looking straight at him. “That’ll be four silver mizas.”

Without skipping a beat, he glanced at the Human girl beside him. “Well, you heard the woman,” he said with a touch of jest on his amused smile. If she had not already taken the thing, he would have handed it to her then; if she did not take it, it would have dropped to the ground. The little blue symbol, however, remained clenched in his warm fist. He turned to the non-Human, his expression faltering. “I suppose I can show you that direction. Follow me.”

OOCFeel free to have him stop or continue all the way out of the plaza (or anywhere in between) as it fits your story.
.

[Aello]

Aello never took the pepper from Victor, "don't you mean that you heard the woman?" Aello asked, as she raised her right brow into a gentle arch. "You're the idiot who picked up the pepper in the first place, and burned your tongue," she added, as she looked past Victor and towards the Akalak. "Hello Akalak," was all she said to him as she glanced back at Victor, who was already walking past her. Their shoulders brushed for an instant, before the girl managed to turn swiftly on her heels. "Oh no you don't," she said, as she extended her right hand towards Victor's shoulder in an attempt to grab him. As her fingers began to curl, Aello found that they failed to trap anything other than air. Aello clenched her teeth as she retracted her hand, and trailed slowly but steadily behind Victor. "And just where do you think you are going?" she inquired, ignoring the Akalak entirely. "Surely leading the man out of the Plaza will not take long. And surely that woman will come after us and expect you to pay for that pepper," Aello continued. A bloody rip off too, four silver mizas for a pepper! Our family must be rolling over in their graves! As soon as her mind whispered the words, Aello's face turned white. Even more so than usual. She didn't like thinking about her family. How they were all lifeless now. She had practically forgotten them now... "So, where are you leading us?" Aello whispered, finally referencing the Akalak. Before adding, "turn right down that side street, the one on the left is always busy and packed with street rats."

[Gural]

OOCI am sorry that took more than expected. It would normally be quite amusing to watch lesser races bicker about unimportant things, but as he was trying to get away from the racket of this strange world the additional noise failed to pass up as anything but annoying. Still, he rolled with it, hoping that his patience would get him away from the crowd. He found it funny how the woman ignored him, the uncertain feeling almost made him smile briefly. The man on the other hand (boy actually) was hardly impressive by both appearance and manners. The Akalak was sure that the child held some resentment for him, but he couldn’t know if it was driven by the color of his race, his snarky remarks or the simple fear of the unknown. If only for a moment, the blue warrior thought about telling the human to pay for what he has taken, but he wanted no quarrel with the man, at least not before he got what he wanted. Following after the humans, he could not help but wonder what drove them into stealing? The woman that stood somewhere behind his back was as important as sand in Yahebah; she was there yes, but ignoring her held much more merit at the moment. And then, suddenly, Gural had a change of heart. Even this far north, actions that brought dishonor weren’t something he could tolerate; not even in the one city that actually markets these things openly. Reaching out for the two humans, he would pull them back in front of the female merchant unless they dodged his arms. “You will pay the woman, I don’t care who does it and how you do it; but you will. It is only because you are helping me that I am asking nicely!” he did his best to sound casual, but truthfully, he wasn’t. Nicely? If that’s nice, you are much more incompetent at the whole seduction feat than what I have originally thought. Even while Gural hardly thought about it at the given moment, ruckus was the last thing he needed. Still, he was more than willing to cause some if it felt like the right thing to do.

[Victor Lark]

As it hit the ground, the red pepper sparkled with the faintest green djed. He laughed at her. “You think you know better than—”

The merchant woman cried out angrily at the quarreling trio, who she assumed would flee after spoiling her valuable merchandise, but the same syllable turned into a sigh of relief when the wise akalak stopped them. “Thank you,” she said flatly to the foreigner, then looked down at the boy. She had not been fooled once by his poorly planned tricks; she blamed only him for the mishap. “Sir...” she spat sardonically, and Victor understood her heated gaze as it flicked between him and the ground.

Rolling his eyes, he shrugged Gural’s hand from his shoulder and bent to pick up the thing. He begrudgingly shoved it back to its rightful place. “Wouldn’t have tasted any good any way,” he replied rebelliously.

To which the woman laughed and retorted knowingly, “Sure wouldn’t’ve!” and turned to face another customer.

Victor frowned and cut his losses. He still had the little toy. His fascination with it stifled his hunger, as many other curiosities had in the past. He would suffer later for it, he knew, but he was a creature of the present. It could not possibly worry him when there were people to be met, and things to be learned.

He decided he did not like the girl. She was pretty, but no fun. He turned his back to her and faced the man, suddenly free of all prejudices now that he thought he could be of use. He produced the faceless idol and twirled it deftly between his fingers, raising it to Gural’s eye level. (Somehow, he did not think it belonged to the family, and their glaring disregard affirmed the guess.) As it moved, he made sure that Aello could see it as well, just in case she had the knowledge he did not think she had. “Since you’ve deprived me of my lunch, it is only fair that you offer something in return for my guidance.” He reasoned, “This is blue, and you are blue. Do you know what this is?”

[Aello]

A slender smile crossed Aello's lips as she walked up to Victor. When she reached him, she would walk by his left side, extending her right hand towards the center of his arm. She intended to wrap her fingers around his flesh and draw him into her. Their shoulders brushing. Her eyes locked on his, she had no idea how else to get the man's attention. Perhaps if you can grasp a bit of him, he won't ignore you quite as much, Aello hoped as Yune chirped once in her ear. The girl ignored the sparrow however. As soon as the girl was near, she leaned forward a bit, as close to Victor's ear as she could get. She would tighten her grip on his arm, and grit her teeth, whispering, "you may not wish to be quite so rude. The Akalak, after all, is ruled by two souls, and not one, like man." There was a slight pause, as she glanced nervously over her shoulder at Gural, and then back at Victor, "if you insult him, you may let the mean one out. We wouldn't want that, especially when he could easily beat each of us into the ground at such a close range." There was another slight pause, "certainly you. After all, there would be no reason for you to receive help of any kind. You're a man of Ravok, surely you can handle yourself," she'd finish, pushing his arm away, assuming she had ever caught it. Aello would then back up a few steps, and turn back to the Akalak. "Perhaps he would know street rat," Aello began, "the shape of that thing, whatever it is, is not familiar to us." She was referring to herself and the bird again. Aello knew that Victor had not addressed her, but she didn't care. Her speaking would surely piss him off. And then maybe there would be a fight... blood. Maybe he already knows what it is, but is asking anyway? The girl shook her head lightly as she looked into Victor's eyes. For whatever reason, even without the use of her magic, it seemed doubtful. OOCSorry for the odd wording of the post, and its crappy nature.

[Gural]

OOCI am sorry that took more than expected. Kill him! Was the first impulse inside his head even if it sent by Corak. Kill him, I say. Don’t you see he is mocking us? I know you don’t care about him insulting you a bit, but he is referring to the color of our skin; don’t you know how many people in this world just got offended by that? How many Akalak warriors? Be quiet! Gural still had control over his darker half, but he was far from a stoic. So many humans in once place, that sight just rubbed him wrong. From his early youth he always disliked crowds, maybe it was because of his brother and maybe it wasn’t; no one could really be sure. Turning towards the male human, Gural was able to tower over him even with his exceedingly short stature for an Akalak. Assuming the man did not move; Gural would pick him off the ground and raise him about a foot and a half above the ground by the shoulders. Then, he would ask again. “No, I don’t know what that is!” “You were leading me somewhere human?” he asked, his tone similar to growling. Then he would put the human down, assuming he had ever caught him at all. Maybe intimidation wasn’t the best tool to be used against street rats, but his patience was far too thin for any compromises.

[Victor Lark]

He felt a pressure on his arm. His gaze moved from her unimpressed stare to her hand and the corners of his lips flicked into a smile, eyes mocking fear. “Perhaps you do not trust your legs,” he replied, whispering loudly, “But I think mine are fast enough.” He rocked excessively at the shove she gave, allowing her the satisfaction of seeing him weak. Then he leaned toward her in the rebound. If she so desired to touch him, he would oblige. He winked at the bird on her shoulder, then slowly turned his chin to the man who she had called akalak.

There, he found the blue man had closed the space between them. He could almost smell the rage. His smile widened. He fed on the energy of emotion, relishing in the expressions on their faces, the frustration in their stiff jaws. This was not the first time he had risked the idle comfort of bruiselessness in order to satiate his thirst for that energy. He would not have to crane his neck for long. “Oh-ho!” he exclaimed as his arms were pressed to his sides and his feet departed from the ground. He could see the merchant woman chuckle behind the safety of her kiosk. His legs could not save him now.

If he were smart, he would have been intimidated. But he could only smile, trying to weigh the advantages of learning about the so-called mean one with the disadvantages of being beaten to the ground. As his feet found the firm stone again, he glanced at the little thing in his hand and proclaimed, “To the library, then!”

Right before he began in the opposite direction, he leaned close to Aello’s ear. “I don’t know who us is, but you might want to talk to someone about the other you. Maybe you’re a Kalakack!” Then he waved an eager hand to Gural and skirted swiftly through the plaza, without looking back to see if they were keeping up (and assuming neither of the two dared grab hold of him). He reached the edge in a matter of chimes, climbing to the center of a deeply arched bridge. There he had to stop, to encourage them to continue with him. Keeping a few steps ahead, he said, “Come on, come on.” But he would not cross without at least one of them in tow. Even in the face of his curiosity and lingering hunger, he would not ruin the fun of their company.