Sometimes, life is a fairytale, sometimes, farytales are sad

by **Nai'shee** on February 28th, 2012, 6:17 pm

68th and 69th of Spring, 512AV

"Once upon a time...", a old man begun his story. Nai'shee listened passionately, mostly because it's story about her next job, but because of curiosity, too. The old man didn't appear rich, but he certainly was. And he seemed wise. His gray hear and beard were too long, but it seemed like he didn't care. Like he didn't think that appearance matters. He invited her over that morning, to hear his story and help him if she could, for a good amount, he promised. His name was Chared.

"...there was one little girl. Much younger than you, even. She was seven, or eight, I don't remember. She was cheerful, pretty and emphatic kid. She was what any parent would wish for. Her skin was pale and her hair was dark brown. Her eyes were green as rose's leaf, as a wild forest, hidden by many layers of nature. And so she was. She was a kid made for wilderness, she loved Klevics and Inarta, in fact, every race that had respect for wilderness. Other kids adored her and played with her often, but nobody was close to her. For them, she felt like Goddess. However, there was one boy she was in love with. But he didn't share same feelings. He was a dreamer, oh, how much he dreamed. He wanted to be big, to lead a city, or start a war, or be a legendary warrior with many Gnosis marks. Of course his lover will be Konti, not silly little wild girl. Oh, how wrong he was.

Despite her feelings, they were friends. She loved listening to his stories, but she always used to lecture him about horrible dreams about being murderer or rich man who shares nothing. When they started school they both had perfect grades and started to compete each other. You know how it goes: friendship, rivalry, annoyance and in the end - love. It hasn't been a year since they started school and he was in love with her. It could be perfect - they got along well, they were friends, they knew each other, he was the fire and she was the water. But he was stupid, he was so stupid, he never told her.

Soon, he found out she was attacked by Zith.

Her parents gave him a stone, broken into four pieces, and they said that he should keep it. She had it in her pocket when she was attacked. There was his name on it. It was obviously a present, a present she went to pick up when she was attacked.

He begged her parents to let him see her body. That image sliced into his head for the rest of his life. She was still bloody, with fresh wounds, messy hair. But all of that didn't matter. What killed him, what torn him apart was her face. On her face she still wore a sign of her last smile. She was happy. She was happy to die and feed someone, to die for natural circle of life. She was happy. He cried so hard wishing that he never saw it, but he couldn't help it. It changed him. For the rest of his life he helped every being he have seen, forgetting all of his stupid dreams,
realizing that that way he'll be remembered. He'll always stay in hearts of those he helped.

And that boy, it was me."

As she listened nameless feelings gone trough her, tickling her every bone. She never heard a sadder story. She barely stand not to cry, whispering how sorry she was while man tried to calm her down. It was obviously long time since that happened and he probably, partially, got over it. His words were kind, he spoke with sympathy, nostalgia and with obvious anger whenever he mentioned little boy in the story. She just repeated how sorry she was, stunned by the story. It wasn't that this world held little amount of stories as this one, but the way this man spoke made it so much more emotional.

"Hey, hey, calm down. I have a task for you, remember?"

Yeah. Task. Work. It was only saver from this. She got serious, official. "Yeah. What is it about?", she asked, noticing that her voice was still low.

"Do you remember a stone I told you about? With the name on it?"

"I do", she answered, already afraid of what was coming. Could somebody do such a thing? Why do people always ruin each others lives?

"It seems like it has few gems in it. I'm not sure which, and I hope to never find out. For that reason, somebody stole it. I know who it is, too, I just can't prove it. That it was ever mine. Here's the man."

He gave her a picture and she immediately recognized him. He was one of the citizens, she often saw him around, especially around Market. She never spoke to him, except greetings. Could this man do such a thing for money? Yes, appearance was surely big, huge, enormous lie, a mask people carried with more or less luck. After memorizing his traits again she turned back to the old man.

"He didn't know what it means to me", he said as he could read her thoughts, "and he seems afraid to listen. My money might overcome his mask of good citizen. However, you already know that the stone had four pieces. If he holds them at home, you will have some hard time searching for it."

"Leave it to me", she said proudly. She stood up and said "Goodbye", without even asking about her reward or anything. The task was on. She will finish it immediately. There's no point to wait for tomorrow. She is giving this mans' treasure back tonight.

by **Nai'shee** on February 29th, 2012, 5:16 pm

After few hours Nai'shee was already inspecting the terrain. She had no idea how to find the man in the middle of the night, but luckily she spotted him calling his son from the backyard. She ignored all the anger boiling in her and kept watching. She wasn't hidden very well, but it was the middle of night and the man was extremely careless. You couldn't expect more from a ordinary middle class man in his own backyard. Yet, she thought he might be concerned about robbing a rich man who could obviously bribe or pay to get those back. It could have only meant one thing - he was sure his treasure was safe enough. His little son climbed the fence from neighbor's yard to come back home. He started lecturing him something about coming home late and jumping over again while they got into the house. It was impossible to believe this man was a thief. Same could be said for her, tho.

She have actually been looking from the roof of the house which was behind their, from the position she was turned at. She got over balancing and height fears long ago, so she was perfectly quiet. The only mistake was position, a little one could have easily spotted her, but she counted on him considering her shadow an imaginary friend. Now that she was finally out of danger she slowly approached their house to get better view. Only after her enthusiasm was replaced by realism she understood that she will never manage to do it just like this. She had to find all four pieces, obviously well hidden, which maybe weren't even in house. She had to think of something. Trough window she saw a little kid, obviously apologizing and being sent into his room. The house had only ground floor, and she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. But when she saw a kid walking to his room idea which appeared was too good to be wasted, even with whole risk that gone with it. She glanced on the ground, looking left and right for witnesses. If anybody saw her running off it would look like an adolescent sneaking out for a secret date or running back home to eat her favorite dinner. It was a bit late dinner, but it was just perfect.

by **Nai'shee** on February 29th, 2012, 7:16 pm

She was back in quarter of an hour the most. She just grabbed things here and there, to make a proper mask in which she'll show to a child. Her mask was just supposed to be a cover, but after a while she found out she looks like a pirate. Perfect. Just what any Zeltivan kid dreams about. She actually robbed the man sleeping on the street completely drunk. It was obviously her lucky night. And she never had as much fun on the job. She took his big hat and torn cloak, sad because he had no eye patch, so she just torn a bit of material that she could use. She thought should she come back and leave his things here, but she decided not to. It might teach him something. Now she was approaching the house again and she seemed like she jumped out of some illustrated book for kids.

After a while she succeed to locate boys room and she found him sleeping peacefully. She smiled and knocked the window. It took her a while to wake him and not make too loud sounds at the same, but when he was finally awake she could read 'Who are you?' from his lips at the other side of a window. She moved her lips to formulate 'open it' and pointed at window. The boy was still sleepy and it took him few blinks to see her properly, but after that he hurried to open a window for her.

"Hello, buddy", she said when he was done, "sorry to wake you up."

After looking at her for few seconds he got courage to ask: "Are you really a pirate?!"

"Shhhhush, quiet down, I must not be seen. I knew I could trust you, that's why I'm talking to you. Am I a pirate, haha? Of course I am, what did you think?" The boy was, obviously, amazed. She barely felt bad for using him in such a way, he was really happy. She might could pay him a visit again sometime.

"That's awesome!"

"Isn't it? Now, my fellow friend, I have a task for you. Do you accept your mission?"

He got all worried and confused, so Nai'shee realized she should pay more attention on manipulating him and less on being so cool. It was already amazing that he bit it, she can't lose him now.

"No worries, no worries, I know you're brave little warrior, but it's nothing dangerous this time. You only need to bring me something from the house."

"Oh", he seemed relived, and fired up again, too, "what is it?"

"Do you remember your father showing you some stones he carried few days ago? Yes, that ones! You really are little detective. Well, did you know the story behind them? They're cursed! Only generations of my family can carry it for longer than few days and survive it! But my stupid brother sold those stone pieces and now your family is in danger! If you want to save them you must give me those pieces!" She spoke with confidence and mystery in her voice, hoping for the best. But, what came, wasn't as good. Now she will need to improvise.

"I don't know where they are..."

What now? If he doesn't know he can't really help. Maybe he could help her hiding, but she can't be sure little kid won't betray her and change his mind all of the sudden. Which is more the case if she gives him time to think. Yet, she had no choice.

"Fine then, little one. Promise you'll keep this meeting a secret."

"Will you come again?"

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"Fine, you're a good kid. Then I'll pay you a visit tomorrow night too. Try and find those stone pieces before that."

She gave him a quick and unsure smile and jumped up, pulling herself on the roof, even using Flux a bit, just to impress him. It was the most important thing right now.

by **Nai'shee** on March 20th, 2012, 2:07 pm

When she approached his house tomorrow night, later than last night, she wasn't confident at all. All confidence and most of enthusiasm she had last night were killed by time and cool-headed thinking. However, she had to keep playing her role and at least keep this kid at her side for now. Knock, knock. This time the kid was ready. She was afraid that he haven't slept at all. He jumped out of bed, straight for a window.

"Hello, my fellow helper. How was it?", she asked, now without that hyperactive attitude she had last night, she was only pretending to have it this time. But in few moments it was really back, anyways. The boy opened his palm and showed her three precious pieces of stone. He was so proud that she didn't want to take those away.

No. Wait. In the first moment she thought that it wasn't that important that he haven't found fourth immediately, but then she realized that that means she has no more time to act. Tomorrow, morning or afternoon, boy's dad will probably check on those and if he sees they're gone she will never get a fourth one. The boy probably saw her disappointment and got stunned for a second, but she noticed in time and reacted.

"Oh, God, it seems like I forgot the candy I bought you! I'm so sorry, you took time to find those for me and I couldn't even remember such a thing!", she said, angry at the pirate-self. "You're really hard-working young man, you know. I'm sure you'll be a pirate one day, just like me - just wish for it!" Oh, if things were so easy. She took three stones and placed them in safety of her pocket, thanking him and praising him some more. "But... what about the fourth one?"

"My father keeps it here", he punched himself in chest, "in the inner pocket".

Now it got serious. Fear was obvious on her face and it took her more than she should allow herself to come back and face reality. "No... He shouldn't...", she murmured to completely confused boy. "It's dangerous!", she finally added, pretending that she was worried about the man. "The stones are cursed, if one piece is alone like that it might fight it's way to his siblings". She decided: she is going to become a writer. "We must not allow that. Can I please come in and help you with that?"

"Of course!", the boy replied quickly, now really afraid of whole story, making his way to the side of the room to allow her space to climb in.

by **Nai'shee** on April 17th, 2012, 9:04 am

Despite enormous guilt towards using a little boy she was now in front of his father room, peeking in, quiet as a shadow. She calculated her chances. Man doesn't have deep sleep, or at least not right now, when he's afraid for his stolen treasure. However, his breath was deep, so she was at least sure he was asleep. She might be able to come in without making a sound, but he'll feel her presence. She wasn't worried about stealing itself, she was at least able to take something from person's pocket without touching the person, but it was different now. He was laying down and the pocket was on his chest. She felt as if she was in deadlock. Oh, how mice Kelvic could be useful at time like this... She sneaked in the bedroom without any concrete plan. If she was improvising this mission she was improvising until the end. Sometimes she really lacked logic. For ordinary mission she planned out everything in details, but for this one, emotionally important for her, she felt it was wrong. She felt as if she had to improvise. This was probably her wild nature speaking from her. She hated all fragments of her job, except the fact it's usually fun, especially to run away. She didn't want to steal from others, she hated waiting, planning and being useless in other things. But she had no other choice.

She quickly removed the blanket from top of the man's chest. It made him frown for the moment, but every time he reacted she just paused with her hand in the air until he continued his sleep normally. After few moments of silence she was dying to let a deep sigh. Hard part done. Or was it the easy one? She was about to find out. She touched soft white cotton by her nail, slowly opening man's pocket. She opened it the most she could without pulling the shirt itself and then carefully put two fingers of the other hand into it. She barely touched the stone before she stopped. It was impossible. It was to heavy, it will wake him up. She bit her lip, almost got it bleeding. Time for plan B. She now positioned her hand on the top of the pocket, pulling up the part of the shirt at the lower part of the pocket. Stone slid right into her hand and she rose it up proudly.

Suddenly the boy cheered happily. "You did it, you did it!", he whispered loudly, he didn't really care about waking his father. She showed him to stay silent, but it was too late, his father already blinked one time and put his hand on his forehead. He obviously thought he was still dreaming, because Nai'shee was still in her mask. She used this moment of weakness to disappear. She quickly sent all of her Djed into her legs, carefully making her way out of the room. She hoped he'll think he was dreaming, at least for a moment, until he notice the stone was missing. She took other three parts and headed straight for boy's room, leaving him over there. Gosh, poor thing. She should really buy him some cool toy or something when she gets rich. Or, perhaps, some weapon or animal, because he'll grow up before that happens. She jumped out of the window and headed straight for old man's house, both looking for a shelter and proudly delivering his precious stones.

by **Echelon** on April 18th, 2012, 3:20 am

Adventurer's Loot

A Gift
Experience is it's own reward.

Nai'Sgee's Loot :

(This was a real joy to read. Next time please put some explanation of how she got her contact to begin with. How does she advertise, and how does she find out about these sorts of things? Enjoy your heap of lores and XP, look forward to the next thread like this. Way to be a jack of all trades!) - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, please PM me.