Hoping for Hearth and Home (Open)

Zaenaeyrs · December 31, 2007, 02:12 AM

10th Hour of the Second Brightening of Cryxatum of First Cycle the in the Season Summer;
Era II of the Celestine Mandate, Era XIV Post Fractum. The Second Era of the Regency of Milo L'Evienne

She brushed tears from her eyes. "So close and so far." she snarled as she walked along the streets of Paxia. She'd left the Adile's office in a half dejected state. "Neither fully slave nor fully free." she whispers in a quiet tone. "What am I to do, all I can do is to get that donkey at the moment.... but what bout food and other such things while I travel... M- Keldon's busy.... I should find them on my own... on my own...." she stopped and looked around the street. The world had suddenly gotten much larger and more complex than when she last checked. Going from slave to free, and yet being neither fully made the world much more terrify.

Zaenaerys covered her mouth with a small hand. "I won't cry... I won't cry." she told herself as small tears began to cloud her vision. Tears which she knew would bring a torrent, a deluge of emotion if she didn't control it now. She began to walk, though slowly... most people would probably notice her... an elf... but darker, an exotic elf, with skin like dark fertile soil, not black like an elf of the light-less world below, but dark like perhaps a person of the desert. With her small stature one might mistake her a child, an elven child at that.

She walked slowly trying to brush the tears from her eyes, but the came forth in small torrents. She hated it, the uncertainty, the feeling of not knowing, of not being able , the in ability comprehend. She was stuck she had no rights and yet she had them .Neither citizen or slave... not free but not owned either. She had nothing to her name... at all... She felts her feet slip from under her... she sobbed, her voice broken in deep sobs. They were those of a child. Maybe somewhere deep inside she still was a child, even by human standards.

Her sobs were long and hard, pent up for several years it seemed. The elf girl couldn't quite control herself. Free to do as she wished though it seemed foolish to cry on the street, it felt good to... but to find a place to call her own... that would be a dream, to find people to call her own that was a distant memory and far off dream. She began to walk slowly, and carefully as tears blurred her vision.

Dimnersti · December 31, 2007, 03:08 PM

The tenth candlemark of the day was early by most standards, by those of a vysstichi it was a practicly unholy hour, the suns rising and at just the right height to shine within the hood of his cloak nearly blinding him whenever he was forced to face them. But it was a necesitie if one was going to do buisness with lightborn, they all, be it human or elf, seemed to hold a primitive fear of the dark, it seemed rather silly, you didn't see many vysstichi with a fear of the light..

Stretching his neck slightly, it always seemed so stiff when he was out and about this morning, as if his body simply refused to function at such an hour, he caught site of a rather young elven woman sobbing in the street. Now it wasn't particularly unusual to find people sobbing in the streets of paxia, tragedy had a way of just sneaking up on people and hitting them at the oddest times. And given its close proximity to silorisa, it wasn't all that unusual to see those of elven heritage. To see one so young though, that was a tad unusual, elven young were usualy kept coddled in their homes till they neared adulthood.

"Excuse me miss are you allright? he asked in a simple quiet tone as he turned to aproach her. It wasn't that he was of an altruistic nature, he was simply a curious creature, and you never did know what opurtunities would arise from any given meeting. And well, any amusement in the city as it was was a gift from his lady carm. The ruins of a city wasn't exactly the most entertaining of places after all.

Zaenaeyrs · December 31, 2007, 10:23 PM

Turning at the sound of the voice. "This girl is fine, mast-" she paused, clearing her throat and trying to pretend that it had been the tears that had made her sound as if she were speaking those words. Zaenaerys exhaled and brushed tears from her eyes. Where tears had fallen there were small rivers, on her face, wet lines where her tears had flooded her small and slender face. She bit her lip a moment and looked away.

"I am sorry." she begins. "I didn't mean to address you so...." she looks a little more uncertain. "Please forgive my-" her dark eyes look towards the darkness of the cloak, unsure how to respond as she looked for a way to cover her spoken faux pas. She frowned though in her voice it was clear the girl was not a native speaker of the common tongue if anything it would elvish that was her birth language. She licked her lips. "I am sorry and I suppose I am... not as... alright..." she sniffled brushing tears from her eyes.

Dimnersti · January 1, 2008, 04:12 PM

"Not as alright? He mused in a soft tone tilting his head to look at her curiously. The tanned skin was evidence that she'd been out of silrosia or any other elven enclaves for a while, the forest canopy prevented most elves from forming much of a tan, it was actualy a bit of a mystery to him at least wether they generaly handled the sun well at all. Some races and peoples after all simply couldn't bear to much sunlight, their skin burning quickly. He'd always found it somewhat ironicily humerous that the ebon skin of the vystichi handled the sun so well.

"Whats wrong if you dont mind my asking? perhaps I could at the least help you calm your heart a lil." He continued in a melodic, but still slightly acented elven. It wasn't a language he spoke often, but it was still close enough to his native tongue that it had never been that dificult to speak.

Dipping his hand into a pocket Dimnersti pulled a small silken kercheif and handed to the young woman with a warm smile so that she could wipe her tears. She had a lovely doelike inocence that couldn't help but put a small smile on his face. Ever since he'd adopted his two daughters he'd found himself developing a soft spot for young girls, even the instinctual vysstichi desire to corupt tended to fade when faced with an innocent smile.

Zaenaeyrs · January 1, 2008, 07:28 PM

Her hands reached for the handkerchief. Dark and small as they were it was clear a mixture of time in the sun and natural color had given the small elf, child... though on further inspection. She wasn't exactly a child, no older, but an child by elven standard by human standards a young woman. She inhales, trying to stifle tears.

"Thank you." she says in elven. Her voice is pleasant as the tears come to a stop. She stands. "I was a slave sir, but I suppose I am free, and I'm learning still." she says. Her voice carries childish innocence and honesty. She doesn't seem to be lying and her previous reaction, very few could probably create a convincing slave response to a random person. "What is wrong?" she looks down at her ands and then down at the handkerchief and folds it back up neatly, and holds it out to the Vyssitchi. "Here you are, m-sir." she says with a slightly bowed head. "I am a bit... unsure how to go about getting citizenship. The small man in the Adiele's office said I must go to... umm... Nexus..." she says thinking slowly as she switches from Elven to common.

Dimnersti · January 1, 2008, 07:50 PM

"Please keep it. And forgive me for my rudeness, I"m Dimnersti, though you can call me Dim if you wish. And what should I call you miss?" He said politely following her lead and reverting back to common.

"Hmm, nexus prime? I imagine he must not currently have the necisary materials to properly process your citezenship and offer you a visa, so its understandable he would refer you to nexus." he stated quietly more thinking outloud than adressing the doe eyed young woman. "Though, Until you get a visa, any travel is a lil dangerous, slavers could just pick you up again. And the roads are a tad dangeorus of late, a lovely young woman like yourself would be at risk of slavers even if she had a visa. Perhaps you should look into an escort." He said with a slight tilt of his head.

Zaenaeyrs · January 1, 2008, 08:17 PM

"I know, that's why I am so... worried." she says softly. "I have such a chance of being picked up again." she looks sad. "I was taken once, all because I left the house.... and then..." she closes her mouth and summs it up rapidly in Elvish. "They came and caught me, and dragged me away, but I was far away from the house so no one heard me." she looks ashamed. "I'll never do anything like that again. It's be nearly five years now, I suppose since I was taken. My parents have probably given up."

She looks up at Dim. "I'm Zaenaerys, though you can call me Zae or Zaena, or Aerys or ummm." she seems a little lost as to how many more variations of her name she can give. "I really should look into what I should do or how to get there, and an escort would be nice, is that an offer Dim?" she asks. Seems the elf 'child' is quite as innocent as she portrays herself to be. She grins.

Dimnersti · January 2, 2008, 12:17 PM

Dimnersti simply nodded his head quietly as she explained how she'd become a slave. it wasn't a terribly unique story. Many of the slaves held by vystichi houses held similar stories, not that he'd ever bothered to ask them about it, for as much as he'd been a simple tool himself, he was a vystichi and above them. A mistake in afterthought, to simply disregard potential resources like that.

"If your overwilling to neglect the stigma of my race I'd be quite happy to spend two brightenings on the road with so lovely a young lady. Though I will admit beyond helping you find your way, I wont be of much help in nexus itself, I'v found the citezens arn't entirely accepting of the so called 'darker' races." he responded in a pleasent tone, the slight flirtation sliding in almost reflexivly in response to her very slight indication of intrest. Though dimnersti had a soft spot for young women, it was not a blind spot after all.

It was actualy fairly fortuatous that she'd asked, he was needing to head to nexus once again in order to do some simple buisness, not to mention restock his own simple suplies. though he wasn't about to mention this to the elven adolescent, it didn't seem as 'grand' a gesture if you admited that you were doing it for any reason beyond to simply help them, and while he didn't have any imediate desire to seduce the young woman, it didn't mean he wasn't going to ignore the posability entirely, it just wasn't in his nature.

Zaenaeyrs · January 2, 2008, 10:28 PM

She nods. "Well I can help, I'm not a V-y-s-tchi." her voice and words are careful though the unfamilar name is a little rough on the ears. It's similar to the sound a snake would make.. "If you'd like you can travel with me and no one will think the either way of it. You can be.. umm..." she ponders. "What's believable? You're a Vyssitchi, you said they don't like you. But if you're with me... they have sort.... accept it... you could be... my..." she young woman seemed quiet and lost in thought. "What do you suggest Dim?"

Zaenaerys looks around. "And the Adiele's aid said I could borrow the city's donkey..." she adds. "So we have to look at that too it could make it a shorter travel time. I have nothing of my own..."

Dimnersti · January 3, 2008, 04:43 PM

"Well everyone makes their own assumptions, its often best to simply let them beleive them as they'll choose whatever is most comfortable for them. Some may choose to envision me as your guard, others wont help but flush at the thaught of the taboo they imagine being broken. Try to push a cover when you dont need to and you'll only make people unduly curious." Wich was mostly true, people would simply assume he was taking advantage of the young woman and hush off or blush at the thaught, or assume he was simply a hired guard intended to intimidate people away. Assumptions were a wonderfull tool if you simply allowed people to hold on to them.

"Hmm, and it was quiet generous of the aedile to loan you a donkey, my poor horse is getting a bit on in the era's and wasn't likely going to be able to handle carying two, even with one of them being so slight." he added with a slight smile

The comments of having nothing braught a curious mix of thaughts to his mind, first was the simple reflexive response that those with nothing were often easiest to use. And an atractive adolecent elven lass, well a great deal of use could be made from them. At the same time, came the somewhat unatural desire to protect the young woman from others who would think the same thing. It would be far to easy for someone to seduce her into life at a brothel or other seedy buisness in nexus, cause she had so few options to fall back on. hating him or no, his daughters it seemed continued to affect his behaviour in rather drastic ways.

Rioshi · January 3, 2008, 04:49 PM

With an idle look at the strange pair traveling through the city jungle of paxia, still late in it's construction, a sole Katta grinned and walked towards them. He was ever curious, and the fact that Roland was not about to stop his men seemed to rest well on his person. To that fact, some might consider the Katta to be in a good mood.

Some might also consider having their heads checked.

Alas, but that a man must be as bored without revolution as any ever seen before. His intelligence had not led anything to these parts, but it had been a while since his last travel to Nexus, so he figured a new point was at hand. After all, he hand been born there, though his position tended to cloud his origins about publically. Funny, that.

However, his curious nature allowed Rioshi to look into this, so Rioshi went ahead and did just that.

"Serale. My name is Rioshi. Is everything alright?" , he asked, tail flicking lightly and ears pointed at the two travelers, a gesture of concern upon his features.

Zaenaeyrs · January 3, 2008, 11:34 PM

She nods. "So what do we say if someone asks?" she questions. "They will ask." she points out. "I was asked when I was outside walking why I looked so.... well less than kempt." she admitds, her clothing do look worn, not horribly warn but they certainly were not shiny and new. She looked down at them. At the voice of another person, the adolescent elf looked up, her dark eyes darting around a moment to figure out from where the speaker is speaking.

"Nothing is... wrong." she begins. Her voice is a little shakey as if having to reorient herself. She smiles at the Katta, then looks back at her clothing her hand running along the worn edge of a peice of dark colored fabric, cotton- which made up her skirt, dyed a dark shade of brown-almost black. Her shirt was white linen and looked newer as it still had all the buttons which were dark brown in color "Serale, I am Zaenaerys."

Rioshi · January 4, 2008, 04:27 AM

“While it is nice to see your smile, little one, your eyes are as red as the crimson moon, and you look a little worse for the wear. Well, no worries. Sometimes, struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If we were to go through our life without any obstacles, we would be crippled by our own fate. We would not be as strong as what we could have been, free to live our lives in whatever ways we deemed neccessary. Give every opportunity a chance, leave no room for regrets, even after escaping the worst of all possible situations.” , Rioshi stated calmly, noting that she had composed herself very well for one of her age.

"It is a pleasure, Zaenaerys."

Knowing her ears were probably as well tuned as his, he does not hesitate to speak openly with the other elf with a curious tone in his voice.

"Hmm... you seem familiar, but I'm afraid I havent made your acquaintence before, friend. What might your name be?"

Dimnersti · January 5, 2008, 12:05 PM

The katta was an oddly iritating creature. Trying to hard to play at the gentleman perhaps. An odd thing for a katta, though that was the reason so many of the wilderkatta he'd mat seemed to disdain them so, to much time trying to be human. There was also the simple fact he was interupting dim with a young woman, a very young woman he had no real intentions toward, but the gut reaction was still the same.

"Dimnersti, and I am quite confident that had we met previously, you would remember me." he said with a crooked smile.

Turning from the katta he looked back to the young elven woman. "Travel clothes dear, I'v found simply offering a breif statement of I'm sorry, I just arived in town and have not had the opurtunity to change out of my travel cltohes yet. Though at the same time I dont imagine many will be asking such simple questions while you'v a vysstichi traveling with you." He wouldn't have commented himself, though that was mostly do to the simple fact he prefered simple understated clothing, and hers caried the simple beauty of youth fairly afectivly. A young girl who's good schola clothes have quickly worn as she played with her freinds in the blindingly energetic way of youth.

Zaenaeyrs · January 7, 2008, 10:30 AM

She stays quiet, and listens, letting the Katta's comments fall on mostly deaf ears, in the direction of her friend. Zaenaerys let her eyes close. "How long would such a journey take, Dim?" she asks in a small voice. "A long time or a short time?" She looks at her clothing. "These aren't fit to tavel in, I don't think." she motions to the skirt and the frowns. "I suppose new clothing would be advisable, but I don't have any money..." she wirnkles her nose. "Maybe I should try and find work." The young elven girl seems to be thinking aloud.