How to be free (Ihnar + Eridanus)

[Ihnar]

Time stamp: Fall 40th

He opened his eyes. It felt like it had been an eternity since he had done so. Last time he had just seen the Syliras streets. Now he was greeted by a horrifying sight. Darkness. No, it wasn't pure darkness, like the safe blackness of being unconscious. It was too bright. He tried to move his body, and managed to do so, although stiffly. Yes, he was awake. After staring at the darkness for awhile, he managed to make out some walls. However they looked a tad bit funny to be walls. Ihnar lifted his hand and touched the nearest wall. His fingers felt something soft before they coiled around a steel bar. Shocked he withdrew his hand, as if it had been burned. He was in a cage. Apparently the darkness was caused by some sort of a blanket, that had been thrown on the cage.
But how on earth had he gotten in to this cage..?
The empty feeling in his stomach told him, he had been unconscious for a long time. For awhile he just laid there, on the cold steel floor.
Ihnar's rest didn't last long. A loud voice boomed somewhere. He sat up and listened, hearing, what appeared to be two people -male and female- discussing something. It seemed like they were discussing prices. Huh. Odd, Ihnar thought. Was he in a shop of some sort? But what would a cage be doing in a shop? As a loud laughter came bursting from outside, Ihnar raised his voice and cried a small 'hello'. The two voices stopped. After some silent whispers the darkness left. The sudden light hurt Ihnars eyes, and he placed his hands over his eyes. It felt more warm than it had been in Syliras. After gaining the courage he lifted his hands from his eyes. This.. was not Syliras.
He saw two humans stand on the other side of his cage. As soon as they saw he was awake, they left.
Ihnar peered out from inbetween the bars and saw a stage of some sort, standing menacingly next to his cage. What was happening was horrible to watch. Two tough looking guys, holding some Kelvic still, while the crowd of people in front of the stage shouted prices. It didn't last long. The good-looking kelvic was soon off the stage, taken away by some woman, who had shouted the biggest bid. Ihnar managed to complete the puzzle in his head. He was in a shop of some sort. Except.. he was for sale. This was a slave market.
Horror gripped his insides, as Ihnar turned his back to the stage and the crowds. He didn't know when his turn was to be. Trying to calm down, he curled up in to the corner of the cage and whined silently to himself. At least his scarf was still with him, like always when feeling bad, he seeked comfort from it.

OOC/ Let's hope I get better at writing with time... Have patience Eri. Haha.

[Eridanus]

It was day, and the light reflected the brilliant aurora highlights that distinguished the Vantha quite prominently from the other humans of Sunberth, and more than once was a crafty glanced directed his way, possibly considering him as a potential victim of the crime that infested the lawless city. This thought was probably more common now, for Eridanus was in the notorious slave market where poor souls who lost their freedom forever were unethically sold to others whose morals have descended equally low in chaining a fellow sentient being and denying him or her a stab at real life - a life of freedom. A being like Eridanus, with a physically fit body and features that were pleasant to look at would make an excellent slave, and that was if he was fully Vantha. He was not, for he was a fallen son of Leth, and his celestial identity would no doubt bring anyone who enslaved him a fortune. Normal slave-merchants generally lost interest in him when they saw the two long sword strapped on his backs, as well as the tone of the muscles on his arm that indicated a proficient combatant, for they preferred to prey on the weak and vulnerable. It was all about profits and cutting costs anyway, and no doubt the costs they have to resort to to obtain him would be rather high. Not to mention the potential body count. Eridanus gritted his teeth, for he knew what it was like anyway, having personally lived through it under the arrogant Ziths and escaping his fate only through months of planning, negotiations and alliances, culminating in a final act of massive bloodshed on both the revolting slaves and their Zith masters. It was not an ordeal he would want to go through again, and this personal trauma was the reason why he was so staunchly against slavery. This was Sunberth, however, and he knew that he could not go against the town by himself if he hoped of surviving. It was with some sort of morbid curiosity, however, that drove him here for he wondered about the plight of these modern slaves, for his ordeal happened so many decades ago that most of the people here probably were not born yet. In fact, some of their parents were probably not born yet. Perhaps their lives might have gotten better, maybe due to modern industry standards, but he knew he was probably kidding himself, comforting himself from the fact that he couldn't do a thing for these prisoners. As he passed the main auction area, an attractive kelvic had just been sold for quite an exorbitant price by a woman draped in luxury, though any opportunistic glances of her was met by glares from her several armed body guards forming a protective circle around her. Eri walked pass several tables and benches hastily set up with cages of varying shapes and sizes, probably temporary storage areas for slave-merchants to house their wares before bringing them up to the stage for sale. It was a familiar sight, for it was common practice to chain kelvics and keep them in cages in their animal shapes to prevent them from morphing to their human forms, for if they did so they would not have space to expand fully inside the steel cages and asphyxiate quite dreadfully. As he crossed a table, something made him stop, and look back. There was a cage, but inside this cage was not the usual creature that was the animal-form of kelvics. It was some sort of clay figure in a shape and size of a young boy, and when he was wondering which kind of idiot merchant would try to pass off a statue for a living and breathing slave, when he noticed the figure moved, curling up in a fetal position and clutching its scarf piteously. What is that thing? He wondered in curiosity, and he walked up to it, only to be stopped by a rough-looking thug from approaching nearer. "Ye ain't comin' closer. Master's orders", the thug drawled slowly, his eyes sizing up the Vantha to consider this potential threat, and Eri could see the man's gaze stop at the hilt of his two blades that stuck out behind his back out of his right shoulder. Eridanus tried to make himself look less threatening, and smiled at the thug, "Nah just wanna inspect the goods before they be sellin', y'know? Bloody crowds screaming there wrecks my concentration." He seemed to have found something in common with the hireling, for he nodded in sympathy and replied, "Hell yeah, I hate 'em too, that's why boss put me to guard his stuff away from them crowds." Eridanus thought quickly, trying to find what else he could to to lower the man's guard, and he tried to imagine what it was like to be a common thug finding employ as an opportunistic and calculative slave-merchant's guard. "Especially with the damn pay too. Ain't with the job, aye? But those rich buggers control the economy and so we poor folks gotta take what we're given. I've been there, buddy, horrible stuff", Eri took a stab in this direction, acting the part of the grumbling mercenary and wondering if the man would take the bait. "Aye, can't feed both my stomach and beer belly at the same time. Used ter pick on 'em caravan with my brothers when I was younger, but them idiots chose the wrong target and got slaughtered by them bloody Syliran Knights guarding the wagon", the grizzled thug shook his head, grinning good-naturedly at the Vantha. He did not know if it was his personality that managed to fool the thug, or the fact that his openly-worn blades and his muscled body as proof of his experience in combat that supported his story of being a fellow sword-for-hire, but he smiled silently in satisfaction. "Say, what's that little thing you got there anyways?" He ventured innocently, peering at the statue that was curled up in a bunch, suppressing any show of interest that he had to avoid raising suspicion. “Ahh... don’t really know, to be honest. Just got here to relieve them guards for my turn at the shift. From what I know boss’ just got kelvics for sale. Let me take a look”, the guard said, and the two of them approached the cage to peer closer at the pycon (which neither of them knew was one anyway). As the approached, a plan was slowly forming in the devious Vantha’s mind, and he hoped that the thing would stay still and not make a single move while the guard was inspecting him, for the success of his plan might very well hinge on that very instant.

OOC NoteThere, how's that for an example. What you can do is to convey your PC's thoughts, maybe have him think about his past in Syliras, his thoughts on the current situation, etc.

[Ihnar]

Ihnar saw Eridanus and the thug from the corners of his eyes. Most likely more slave sellers, he thought. Both of them matched the pycons idea of mean humans. Being so much smaller than average humans made most of them seem mean anyways. Even in Syliras, he had had to constantly avoid being stepped on by bigger creatures. Even if the people had never intended to step on him, they had still enforced the image of humans as vile creatures who only cared of them selves.
Now two prime examples of this category were looking at him, possibly trying to buy him. Ihnar felt like saying something, to tell the two thugs that he was NOT some fancy lawn-ornament (or a slave as a matter of fact).
A small sigh escaped the pycons lips, too silent to be heard by anyone, unless they would have known what to listen out for.
He was about to get up, but decided against it on the last minute. The reason for this sudden change was the scary sight of two big looking swords the other person was carrying. Never oppose anyone with weapons. Ah how that phrase had been hewn to his mind. If he recalled correctly, it was one of the phases he had been told as a child, by his 'owner'. The phrase repeated it's self in his head as if to taunt him. Each time making Ihnar feel worse.
The feeling of being stuck doing something he didn't want to do, or happen, reminded him very badly of his childhood. Being forced to make sadistic people laugh on the streets, even if it meant hurting people... and the more he was forced to hurt people, the more it had hurt himself.
How could they have laughed at his pain? He for sure knew he would never laugh at someone elses pain.
Ihnar listened as a new person was brought to the stage. He wished the best to the person, whose pleads for help were already drowned by a wave of offers.
Apparently, here, money was worth more than life. This place he had been brought to while he was unconscious seemed like hell. The sooner he would get out, the better. .. If he was ever to get out.
So the little pycon remained still, trapped there by fear and despair, his cracked painted eyes still wide open.
He was still observing what the two men did.

OOC/ Getting better?

[Eridanus]

The two of them neared the cage and it seemed that the little figure had somehow caught Eri's thoughts, or maybe it was just pure coincidence. Either way, it went completely still, even keeping it's eyes open. In fact, it was so convincing that Eri began to wonder if he had not been hallucinating about the figure moving. Why would a clay figure move anyway? That was quite a strange observation to make. Still, the Vantha had not been drinking or ingesting any of Sunberth's famed hallucinogenic drugs and so he could not discount his anomalous observation by attributing his alleged hallucinations to that. "Strange lil' thing, ain't it?" Eridanus said, the two of them examining the clay statue. "Aye, no idea why it's in a cage", the guard nodded, scratching his chin. "Well, I kinda need a decoration for my master's house, grumpy bugger's been hinting to me that he'll give me a pay rise if his daughter gets a new toy to play with", the crafty Vantha began, attempting to play on the guard's sympathy for a 'fellow' mercenary and their supposed shared plight of having stingy merchant employers. "Say... sell me this statue and I'll give ya a little by the side?" He nudged the guard, winking as he did so. The thug hesitated, but it was obvious that his brain was running through the mathematics, considering his choices for he was clearly not loyal to his employer and was just out to earn as much mizas as he could. Besides, one's loyalty should be his brothers-in-arms and he sympathized with the plight of his fellow Vantha mercenary here. They deserved to get as much money as they could from blood-sucking merchants like their employers. Eri tried to sweeten the deal, adding, "I'll teach you how to re-balance the account sheets properly, been cheating my first employers since." The guard responded with a raised brow, to which he replied, "Well if they don't pay us well we gotta take the rest of our money somehow right?", ending with a wink. The guard chortled, for Eri had apparently hit the nail on the head and the guard agreed, looking around first to make sure no one was looking. Eri spent a few chimes giving the guard pointers on how making sure that whenever the receipts were passed from hand-to-hand, he had to make sure to intercept them by pretending to be his boss' employee - which he was in any case, just not the right employee - and do a little subtraction to cover the loss of the statue. This would require in-depth knowledge and experience of the trade, which Eri did not know but the guard would know having been around the scene for quite a while. For example, if the merchant had ten slaves for sale and expected to fetch about three hundred mizas each, the guard could cover the loss of one by charging a little extra for the rest of the goods and blame the customer's superior haggling abilities to make up the difference. In any case, the merchant would have already prepared for such an event and just attribute the day to poor sales, and even if he intervened to check the blame would not be placed on the guard but on the employee in charge of the retail side, or even the messenger, but never the guard. It was a fool-proof plan, and the mercenary began to chuckle, nudging Eri, "Devious little bugger you are, aren't you?" "All in a day's work for comrade", Eri said, lightly punching the guard on his arm, and he responded with a friendly shove. "You can do it for other things as well, y'know. Just try not to overdo it, that's when you get caught." The guard stood there thoughtfully for a moment, and he scanned his surroundings again to make sure that no one he knew was looking at him. "You know what, forget about the cut. Just take that bloody statue", he said to Eri, evidently in a good mood. There was no doubt that this newly enlightened mercenary was already plotting to fleece his stingy employer as much as he could, and just wanted the Vantha out of the way as soon as possible so he could begin his planning. "I'll take 'em off your hands, buddy. Take care!" Eri patted the mercenary casually on the back like they were old friends, and the man waved him off with a smile, before resuming his train of thought. Eridanus took the cage in an unhurried manner, strolling away from the area as naturally as he could. This was the crucial moment, the moment of escape. If he did not get caught or discovered now, success would be his. As he rounded a corner, he slipped into a nearby alley. His heart pounding in the aftermath of his success, he checked around him to ensure that he was alone, and he opened the cage, prodding the figure. Had he gotten what he thought he did? Or was it all a fruitless attempt to 'save' a mere clay figurine? If it was the former he imagined that he would have lots of questions, if the latter happened to be true instead, he supposed he could only blame the hot sun for inducing such hallucinations in him.

[Ihnar]

Ihnar had been listening to the two men ramble on and on about something, he did not care for at the moment. The stream of words caused him to grow very drowsy. The pycons mind soared around as he closed his eyes. For a while he just saw himself... flying. He had great big wings and he was as free as a bird. There was no limit, no walls around himself as he swooped around the sky. The joy of being free caused the pycons body to relax a bit while he was sleeping. Even if the two thugs would come, he could fly away from them. A pleasant breeze caused Ihnars scarf to whirl behind him. It had been truly such a short time he had been free. How old was he now? One year. Pycons however were mature at the age of six months. He counted. He had been free for just a few months. A blink of an eye.

Until he had been captured again.
His wings disapeared, causing him to plummet to a small cage. Two big humans glaring at him, the other one holding his swords as if ready to hack him to bits.
Ihnar woke up, as his cage started moving. Startled he tried to stand up, however quickly falling back down, as he was unable to balance himself. He felt so hopeless, lying there on the cold floor as he was being dragged to some new 'owner'. More flashbacks of his childhood raided his mind.
'Juggle this 'lil one!' accompanied by a laugh and his mothers arms thrown to him. Why? What kind of a sick person would want someone to juggle his mothers arms. Just because he was a pycon and made from clay didn't mean he had no feelings. Sure he could easily break his own arms off and not die, but the pain would have been intense... and the emotional pain even worse.

Ihnar was dragged out of his dark thoughts by a most welcome sight. He had been so in his thought, he had not noticed the door was open. For a while he wondered how long the door had been open. How long had he had the ability to run away from this cage..? Ihnar felt a bit embarrassed now. He peeked out of the cage. Of course. The one with the swords was looking back at him. Why? Why did it have to be the one with the swords. Would he hack him to bits just like in his dream...?
Ihnar swallowed and backed right away to the furthest corner of the cage, blurting out his usual phrase that had saved him a few times before.
'I-I will do a-all you wish I did and obey all you s-say' his voice sounded very childish. He would have tried to run away, but the emptiness caused by not having had anything to eat for a long time made him too weak to even manage to run a short distance.

That was when the pycon noticed something. His left arm was completely mangled. Clearly who ever had put him in to the cage in the first place had touched him a bit too roughly, causing his clay arm to become deformed. Just looking at his arm made him want to puke, had he eaten something, he would have done so.
'T-that.. swine touched-' Ihnar cried silently and broke down, curled back up and slowly stroking his left arm, trying to get it to mold back in to it's rightful shape. It hurt so much, even if tried to be careful to his arm. He remembered how many times his first 'owner' had made him mold himself. More pain. So much more pain.

Ihnar let out a choking sound as he was close to having a mental breakdown and fainting again, his little body shivering with panic.

[Eridanus]

Before Eridanus could prod the statue, it suddenly backed away from him, and a voice resonated from the figure, stuttering in a childish voice to serve him. It had an element in fright in it that made Eri wonder if it was just timid, or had he been quite frightening in his own appearance. As he continued his silent observation, the clay figure seemed to realize that something was wrong with its left arm, and it began to touch it, letting out a choking sound like it was in a seizure. Its body shuddered suddenly, and it seemed to somehow go into some sort of shock and was still again. All this happened while the Vantha observed in some sort of stunned silence, unsure of what he was supposed to do. He thought quickly, at least confirming that it was not his hallucination. If it happened in Alvadas he might have doubted his senses, but this was Sunberth and reality could not get any grittier or real in here than any other place. This was no trick on his imagination, and he suspected that some serious magic must be involved. He had heard some rumours of students being able to make golems move while he was back in the University of Zeltiva, and if these rumours were to be believed this little figure was probably one of these golems who was about to be sold in a slave market. This would be very interesting indeed. Eri examined the clay figure systematically, scanning it from top to bottom. It seemed like it was made out of fully clay and lacked any sort of automation or gears inside, and that was at least the little thing he took out of his informal gadgeteering classes from the University. The levers and gears he had seen available in gadgeteering workshops were too big to be able to form a complex enough machine in such a small size, and thus it was entirely possible that this figure was being entirely made of clay and controlled by magic. He sighed with frustration, for there was nothing much he could find out, this was not exactly his area of expertise. The fastest way would be to get it to talk, since it apparently could, and thus he reached forward again to gently prod the thing. If it woke, he would slowly and clearly tell it, "You are in safe hands, little thing. I will not harm you. Pray tell what are you?" The Vantha tried to be courteous, and he probably knew that the last bit might be perceived as rudeness by some cultures and races around Mizahar, but his curiosity got the better of him and he did not want to mince that bit. He wanted information, and he wanted to know more.

[Ihnar]

Ihnar felt something touch him, causing a new wave of panic. What if this was the person who had damaged his arm? It could have easily been him. He sure looked like someone who could easily have done it. Eridanus looked scary, even more horrifying were the two swords though. The pycon wondered why had he just messed his arm up, and not chopped it off, seeing as it would be easy to do with the blades. Although one could easily remove his arm with just bare hands. Clay was not the most durable material to exist. All this brought fear on to him, stronger than before.

'D-don't h-hurt me s-sir' He whimpered and clutched his scarf tightly. This time even the safety of his scarf couldn't make his panic lessen, like it sometimes did.
The scarf had been given to him by his mother, as gift, when they had finally escaped their miserable lives as freaks. The escape had been the first blissful thing to happen to him, besides being just a small clump of clay when he was born. Back then nothing seemed to exist. Everything must have been easy.

Ihnar heard the person he had considered a thug speak. His voice and the way he had spoken surprised Ihnar. He had been expecting an unsophisticated order accompanied by a firm slash of the sword.
But why would a half-decent person visit the slave market? There had to be something hidden in this person... or was he just pretending to win his trust, and then hurt him?
Sure, he had promised not to harm, but was this really the truth? Ihnar knew he had to unfold this mystery, or he could soon find himself reliving his childhood. It was a rather sick determination driving him.

'P-pycon' Ihnar said shortly, but firmly, trying to play brave. He sat up and turned to face the person. Of course still keeping a close eye on Eri's swords and hands. Incase this was the person behind hid mangled arm, he would rather not take his eyes off of his hands. Ihnar tried his best not to shake.
If Eri was to move one finger to his direction he was ready to bolt away from his touch.

[Eridanus]

The clay figure whimpered as Eri prodded its body, and he could felt it look at him as if trying to decide what exactly his intentions or motives were. Or maybe it was just considering its chances to escape. Either way, he had no intention of saving the pycon from one prison just to put him in another, and he was quite content to release the clay figure. From his observations, this thing had a sort of male tenor as its voice, and so it might appropriate to assume that it was a he, if that was the wizard's intent when creating this... magical phenomenon. From the Vantha's observations, the pycon seemed to get quite agitated by touch, and he was not sure if it was a behavioural trait or if his touched caused pain. One of the pycon's arm seemed pretty malformed, though, and he wondered if that might be the cause. Can they heal naturally? Was healing even a concept to them or were they just like objects in the physical sense? Was their body a real body to them like humans or merely shells to contain their souls or their sets of programmed instincts like Nuits or other more low-level results of quirky golem-makers? So many questions, but so little time. Though Eri was not one to give up information easily, it was against his ethical code to deny the freedom of another autonomous being, this belief being quite traumatically seared into the core of his very being by a rather painful event in the past. He stepped back, raising his hands slowly to show that he was not going to do anything nasty, for the pycon's very behaviour made it seem as if he was going to cut the little figure into two or something. "You can go, pycon. I did not rescue you from slavers just to enslave you myself. But take heed that Sunberth is a dangerous place, and so I would advise you to try to remain unseen as much as you can." Eri stepped further back to give the pycon more space, the open door of the cage and his actions making it clear that he would not stop the pycon if he chose to leave.

[Ihnar]

For a while Ihnar just remained there, in the cage. This person seemed better than he had expected. Perhaps, Ihnar had been wrong about the scary looking human. Trying to be optimistic he figured that if this person really was as kind as he was at the moment, then it must have been the other thug who had damaged his arm. After all, maybe this person was just a stranger, who had been passing by the slave market and noticed him. The more Ihnar thought about it, the more obvious it was. This human had been rather curious about what Ihnar was... Maybe he had just wanted to know more about the pycon? Afterall pycons weren't exactly the most common race.
Ihnar himself had never met another pycon, besides his family.

The pycon decided to make his move, he walked out of the cage. At first he noticed his body was oddly stiff. Just how long had he exactly been in the cage, possibly passed out?
Ihnar glanced up at Eri, who was roughly six times taller than him. His instincts told him to take some distance to the tall character. Most bigger creatures rarely seemed to care for smaller ones, such as himself, and would try to step on him.

The tall person had mentioned Sunberth. Ihnar assumed he was in Sunberth then. The pycon had no knowledge of this place at all. He hadn't even ever heard of it. Even worse, it was apparently a dangerous place. Ihnar did not like the image of this town that had formed in his head. Slaves. Weapons. Danger. He found himself wishing he would be back in Syliras, as much as he had hated the place due to his childhood.

Ihnar decided it would be the best to find a proper hiding place now, since he was on his own at a dangerous city. He took some steps away from Eri, he did fine on the first few steps, but suddenly he found himself laying there, on the paved street. He realized, that his condition was far worse than he had thought at first. Being in the cage had not required any moving, but now as he tried to walk, he found himself to be weak. Of course the person who had caught him in Syliras, had most likely not been feeding him. Ihnar didn't know for how long he had been without eating, but the feeling inside him told him it had been a long time.

He tried to get back, up, but his strength ran out as he was doing so, making him fall back down rather painfully. After thinking for a while he realized, the person who had saved him, was most likely his only choice.
'H-help m-me' Ihnar cried silently, his voice sounding awfully weak and panicked.

[Eridanus]

The pycon decided to walk out of his cage, and he wobbled as he moved, possibly due to the lack of use of his limbs due to being caged for Leth knows how long. The little guy veneered off-course as his limbs failed him, and he fell on the floor, trying to get back up again but failing. It seemed that he was too weak to do so, and as he fell Eri reflexively moved forward to help him, but stayed his hands for he remembered that the pycon was not very welcoming to physical contact. After a moment, the pycon uttered a weak plea for help. "What can I do? What do you need?" The Vantha replied, for he was at a loss as to what to do. This was a completely new thing to him, for if the pycon were a living and breathing human, he at least knew what to do. Get some food and drink to fortify their strength, a little ale if he were an adult, inspect him for wounds and direct him to a qualified medical practitioner - though here in Sunberth it was better to find one through contacts than to visit the mad Doctor - and get him a place to rest. Regarding this block of animated clay however, Eri did not even knew if his kind ate, or if he was capable of sustaining injuries. He would have to wait for the pycon to let him know instead. An idea came to his mind and he almost smacked himself. He could try something! The Vantha began gathering djed and directing it towards his head, and he focused on the pycon, and a strong clay-like smell began a mix of other scents began wafting towards his nose. These scents were not physical in that they existed in reality, but was an expression of the pycon's aura, which was visibly displayed as a translucent mist hanging around the figure. However, he noticed that the aura was not consistent throughout the body like most sentient beings, but had a larger concentration in his head. As he continued reading the pycon's aura, he surmised that little fellow's center of control lied in his head, which controlled the rest of his body.