[Grand District] Too Grand for a Pauper

[Shu Yi]

Timestamp: Mid-morning, 2nd Brightening of Cryxatum, Summer of Era II of the Celestine Mandate, Era XIV Post Fractum.

Shu was a tad confused. Not to mention overwhelmed. She had arrived in the city the previous afternoon, and after finding lodgings she had spent the rest of the remaining day in her room at Mrs. Wainthrop's, sleeping off her journey from Medonia. When she had awoken to the summer sun streaming through her window, she had arisen eagerly, strapped on her pinuti sword, and left the boarding house in order to seek out a teacher to show her the art of the blade.

That had been approximately two hours ago. Now the kemite girl found herself in the residential part of the grand district, and also completely and utterly lost and out of place. Her simple white dress seemed like nothing more than rags compared to the clothing of some of the women she had seen walking by, and occasionally she kept getting funny looks from the townsfolk, whether because of her race of her sword she was unsure. Neither seemed to be common in the strange city of Daltina.

Not only that, she had found nowhere to learn the art she required. The only potential place had been some kind of school for boys which had all but thrown her out without hearing half of her request. Not only that, but everything seemed to cost so much. Her stash of money was less than triple figures and she was beginning to realise that, at least in Daltina, if you wanted something, you really, really had to pay for it.

Her eager mood had changed into complete despondency, and her sandaled foot kicked unenthusiastically at a loose stone as she tried to work out how to get back to her lodgings.

[Surge]

OOC: Apologies for the wait!

The loose stone bounced, steel gray and smooth as it was, and tumbled over the foot of a small teenage human boy. He couldn't have been more than fifteen. He had scruffy brown hair, naturally unkempt given his age, and sported a pair of dark black trousers along with some fancy emblazoned jacket of some sorts. Shu Yi would notice the little gold crest stitched on the left breast, and the shiny glint of the silver ring adorning his right middle finger. His gaze drooped from the stone to Shu Yi’s face with an unreadable expression, hazel eyes studying her as if sizing her up for the first time. Which it was.

“Serale..” he began slowly, his mouth smirking slightly as the words spilled out of his lips. “Don’t I know you from somewhere? Wait a second… don’t tell me… weren’t you that girl the Headmaster refused to see earlier today?” he asked quickly, running an errant hand through his hair when he did so.

That’s where it would have clicked; Shu Yi had caused quite the ruckus earlier that morning amongst the idle chatter of the boys who’d been taking lessons, and undoubtedly he was one of them. Albeit he was missing a sword on his person already, the crest was unmistakable, and he crossed his arms in front of his chest and relaxed a bit before suddenly remembering his manners and holding out his hand.

“Oops – sorry. I’m Collin. So what was all that about, anyways?”

[Shu Yi]

OOC: No problem!

IC: Shu hadn't expected the stone she had kicked in frustration to hit anyone. When she heard the soft thump as it rolled over the foot of some as yet unknown person, her black gaze followed the stone to the foot, and then upwards to the face. She was surprised to see someone of her own age. Ever since she had left Zinn'Sunn her associates had been twice or even thrice that. It didn't particularly bother Shu that much though, since in her home town her peers had thought her strange and bothersome. Her curiousity was raised by the young man though - someone who was clearly of an age with her but led a life so different, judging by his clothes. Shu had no idea what the crest on his jacket meant, but it looked quite grand. The kemite girl was clothed in nothing but a simply spun white dress. All you could say about it was that it was relatively clean.

She made no reply as he greeted her in the allerian custom. Shu wasn't one to talk unless someone asked her something specific. She was about to shake her head, certain that she had never seen the boy before when she stopped. Clearly he had seen her, though at the time she had been too absorbed with hatred for the clerk on the desk to notice that anyone else was in the vicinity. She nodded, instead. Her usually pause for thought followed before she gave the boy any answer to the inquiring.

"I wanted to learn to use my sword." Realising that perhaps a little more explanation was needed, the girl added, "They wouldn't let me."

She paused again, awkwardly. She wasn't used to people just randomly introducing themselves to her. She supposed she had better return the curtesy.

"I am Shu."

[Surge]

“A sword, huh? Why would a girl wanna learn how to use a sword?” he asked, brow furrowing and arms crossing in front of his chest as if he was struggling to grasp the concept. Maturity extended only so far with age as far as adolescents were concerned, and teenagers really weren’t much different. He took a few steps back, and it was evident that Collin wasn’t much taller than Shu was – in fact, he was rather short – and although she was older than him, they had similar builds and physiques as well. Collin was sort of a lanky fellow, minus the height, and his limbs were of the slender variety with long lean muscles rather than the bulk most of his peers carried about. Then again, Daltina was no Gut of Port Alyxandrya, so necessities such as food weren’t exactly a problem for the charmed lives these people fulfilled.

“Well… why’d you wanna learn a sword anyways Shu? Shouldn’t girls… I don’t know, sew or something?” he asked, shrugging his shoulders and looking to the side uncomfortably, as if she’d confronted him with a personal question he was embarrassed to answer. His gaze snapped back towards her, “You cook, right?” He asked the question quite sudden, quite abruptly, as if the thought had just occurred to him, before staring back off into space and not really focusing on anything at all, merely content to wait it out and listen to her response.

[Shu Yi]

Instead of getting over idignant at the boy's question about why she wanted to use a sword, Shu examined it thoroughly. Why did she want to use a sword? Forgetting about Collin for a moment she looked down at her waist and slowly drew the pinuti out of its sheath and held it up to the height of her eyes. The fact that she had forgotton about the boy probably didn't mean that he had forgotton about her, and the action would have looked rather threatening if not for the frown of puzzlement that had appeared on Shu's face. She was jerked out of her reverie when Collin repeated his original question. Her dark eyes flicked to and fro between the sword and the boy. The former she eventually lowered to a less concerning height.

"I don't know. I just do." The thought had never occured to her before. The kemite culture had never had much to comment on women using weapons and the question had never arisen - mainly because Shu had hidden the fact that she owned one from her parents. They would have distinctly no have approved - but not because she was a girl. She blinked at Collin when he mentioned sewing.

"I don't know. Should I be sewing?" Shu pondered. She had never considered a career in that trade before. She knew that her mother knew the rudiments of sewing, enough to mend a tear, but Shu herself had never been taught and never been interested in it.

She gave Collin a sharp look when he mentioned cooking. The fact that most young ladies of less than a suitable fortune should know how to cook completely failed to grasp her comprehension, and suddenly the boy seemed to know things he did not. "I cook. How did you know that?"

[Surge]

Collin eyed her carefully, stroking his chin as if debating something albeit his young age. He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and grinned, shrugging his shoulders at the same time and scuffing the dirt beneath his boots while he was at it. “All women cook,” he murmured, eyes averting to the ground as he confessed the atypical stereotype. It wasn’t like women did much else. Besides sew. And take care of the house. And clean things. Yep, cooking, sewing, housekeeping, and other feminine duties were pretty much the norm around Daltina, and Collin was just a fish to the hook when it came to believing it.

“I could teach you. Maybe,” he began again after a long pause, eyes guardedly rising to meet her own as he stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned forward, the slightest of smirks present on his face.

“Whatcha gonna do for me if I do?” he asked, suggesting in the most rudimentary of terms something along the lines of a fair trade. He glanced over to the small rooftops and chimneys already bustling with smoke, preparing for lunch. Two dogs were busily running around chasing each other in the small prairie of grass the pair were standing on beside the residential district. Far to their left, they could just make out the peaking towers of Daltina’s Brightshadows Academy, where those who were both lucky in wealth and blood could afford to learn an art slightly more fanciful than swordplay.

The day was rather nice out, he decided, waiting for her answer yet inexplicably looking at everything but her. Adolescent boys were like that sometimes, weird and unexplainable.

[Shu Yi]

Shu pondered this piece of wisdom. She cooked, her mother cooked, her sisters cooked, her grandmother cooked. She concluded, then, that the boy could be right. True, she was sure there were plenty of people that she did not know, and thus their cooking status could not be assessed.

"I suppose you could be right..." Shu offered hesitantly, rather concerned about her skills of deduction. But clearly Collin seemed to know what he was talking about. The conversation was taking a turn that wasn't too enthralling to her and she idling kicked a small pebble on the ground again, sending it skittering past Collin's legs into the distance. She looked up sharply when the boy offered to teach her the use of her sword, dark eyes filled with suspicion, which left as soon as he followed it up with his next line. That was more like it. Shu was not naive enough to expect that people gave things away for free.

Of course, at this, Shu paused for thought. What could she do in return? She didn't have any discernable skills she could teach Collin in exchange, since she was not proficient enough in the art of cooking to teach it to anyone else... yet. She had no money, and no interesting possessions that she could exchange for the knowledge. Her eyes looked up at the sky for a few moments, as if looking for inspiration up there, but ultimately she could not think of anything she had that her potential teacher would want. It would be much easier, she decided, if he gave her a few suggestions.

"I don't know. What do you want me to do if you do?"

[Surge]

Collin looked down at the ground, his gaze averted, arms still crossed in front of his chest as he contemplated for a moment. He could teach her how to use that sword of hers, sure. He was one of the best in his class, and nobody had bested him since last winter in a fight. But what was going to do in return? She hadn’t come up with any suggestions, and Collin was rather clueless as to her abilities and what she was capable of, let alone what she possessed that could be traded, and this dilemma settled into quite the nice standstill as silence erupted between the pair and he kicked at the ground trying to figure out an arrangement.

Suddenly, an idea lit up his eyes and he glanced up at Shu Yi, a wry grin spreading over his lips as he had this all figured out.

“Alright. I’m gonna teach you how to use that sword,” he spoke, nodding his head candidly to the small metal weapon the young girl possessed, “and you’re gonna be my girlfriend. Sound fair?”

He was smiling as he asked, triumph etched so clearly into his facial expression as his grin turned into something of a smirk, his chest bulging out a bit now as he attempted to look macho. Just wait until he showed her off to his friends! Looking rather pleased with himself for the arrangement and his newfound negotiation deals, Collin eagerly anticipated her response.

[Shu Yi]

Shu watched Collin curiously as he considered his options and settled on a solution that would presumably suit the both of them. The fact that he took some time to think things over would have reminded Shu of herself, if she had ever realised that she took time to think things over. In her own mind, she did not consider that she sometimes kept people waiting ages for a reply while her thoughts wandered away on completely different tangents or analysed the subject matter entirely too closely.

She did not look away when Collin suddenly glanced up at her, having, unlike most other girls her age, no qualms at staring directly at a boy and being found out about it. No expression appeared on her face when Collin informed her he had decided to teach her how to use the sword, but presumbly she was pleased. However, at the mention of being Collin's girlfriend in exchange for the lessons, a small flash of confusion appeared on her features.

Oh, of course Shu knew about the birds and the bees and all that, but she had never really thought of herself in association with that sort of thing, and knew the facts of life as well, facts. They were cold, hard, technical things that were needed to ensure the survival of the species. Of romance, and feeling, she was dead in the water.

So, she concluded, she needed to learn how to use her sword, and here was someone willing to teach her. She wasn't entirely sure what being his girlfriend would entail, but surely it wouldn't be much? Probably she would just have to see him a little while she was still in the city, which she would be doing anyway, on account of the lessons. It seemed like a very small, trifling thing that he wanted. She nodded her agreement.

"That sounds fair. What... happens now?" Shu was merely concerned about the lessons, wondering if Collin was busy, and on his way somewhere else, and if they would have to be arranged for some other time, but unfortunately for Shu, another meaning could so easily be attached to her innocent inquiry.

[Surge]

Collin thought for a moment once more, surprised at her response and amiability with the proposal. He hadn’t exactly expected her to flat out turn him down – a slight hint of arrogance that whispered loads of his future personality through these turbulent years of adolescence – but he hadn’t exactly expected her to flat out accept him as her boyfriend either. Needless to say, he was mildly impressed, eyebrows raised and the sudden slackness found in his jaw obvious key features accentuating such. Bringing a hand up and ruffling his hair a bit, Collin stretched laconically before glancing left and right to ensure their privacy. The edge of the neighborhood they stood at was fairly vacant, though the excited shouts of children – at least, children younger than this pair – hummed in and out of hearing range.

“Alright. I wasn’t going anywhere anyways, so I guess we can start now?” he phrased the statement as something more like a question, not necessarily certain of what Shu Yi’s agenda contained but presuming she was willing to begin immediately. He lifted one of his feet up and balanced on one leg as he crossed his arms in front of his chest again, contemplation brooding across his forehead. “I can’t just bring you back to the school – they wouldn’t be happy if they caught me teaching a girl,” he explained, somewhat curious if she’d have any input on the manner of locations.

He considered again.

“I…guess we could practice here. Unless you, like, I don’t know… wanted to practice at your house or something. I’d have to go back to the academy and sneak out some practice swords,” he spoke, lifting the flaps of his schola jacket to show he was absent of his own blade. And he definitely didn’t want to be practicing with a real one, dark eyes flittering over Shu’s short blade for a second. Nope. She might be able to cook, but he was pretty sure he’d lose a finger or two if they just upped and practiced with it.

“Tel l you what. You give me ten minutes to run back to the school and get some blades, and in the mean time… I don’t know. Get us something to eat. There’s a bakery around the corner, here,” Collin reached into his pocket and squeezed out seven crowns. He emptied them in Shu’s hands, complying or not, and offered an awkward grin before he took off running. Extra fast, practically a dead sprint. He had to impress his girlfriend after all.