Less than common roots (Casper)

[Cale Fletcher]

Summer 20, 512

"You probably killed your filthy mother yourself!" Cale fought the urge to slap the taller male in front of her. He lived near her flat and would always treat her mother with contempt while she was alive. It was no secret many of the younger dock workers thought that Cale had come from less than stellar origins, thinking that her father had taken off and her mother working as a barmaid at the time. It wasn't a highly respected position in Zeltiva with the only drink besides water being Kelp beer, but it had paid. However, no one had ever gone so far as to insinuate her mother selling herself until the apearence of the Neanderthal that stood in front of her now.
"Get out of my way," she swallowed her indignation, "please." Nothing in the world would make her happier than pushing this man off the top floor of the university, but she had been taught better. Or at least, she told herself this so not to attempt strangling him. The young man stood in mock thought before grinning, a baring of crooked teeth. "No." Cale shrugged and sidestepped, attempting to get past. She let out a yelp as the man yanked her back by her braid.
"I said no." He laughed as tried to kick him. All she attained from that was a sore head from attempting to break free. She reached back and dug her nails into his wrist. The man grunted, but his grip did not weaken.

[Casper]

oocPlease timestamp the post Casper was tired of sitting around in the tavern all day. Without a job to work, he was being left alone with his thoughts and disturbing dreams from day to day. Every day he planned to take the first ship back to Sunberth, but he was left hesitating, wondering if the rotten place was really where he intended to settle. Anyhow, he did know that he didn't want to stay cooped up in his room, so on this particular day he decided to take a walk through town without any destination in particular. The sun was warm and the breeze cool, a rare balance that blessed those out for a stroll. He followed crowds into the old quarter and then, looking up, wondered what the view would be like from atop one of the stony towers. With new, though not incredibly important purpose, he trekked up the uneven spiral staircase without stopping, his breath a little heavy when he reached the top. The air was a little colder here, and if Casper took any interest in scenery he would have found the view picturesque, the city stretching across the coast with a various mismatch of old and new buildings. Instead, all he saw was that he was not alone, quite the disappointment when he expected the silence to be broken only by the sound of seagulls. It was a gruff, intimidating voice that perturbed the scene, one that Casper could hear coming from around the corner. "You probably killed your filthy mother yourself!" It was the kind of comment that made Casper wrinkle his nose in disgust at the gall of some people. He walked over with an air of investigation, but his already clenched fists suggested that he was already planning a course of action. It was a rather young girl that stood in front of the aggressor, his back turned to Casper. Her voice was small when she spoke, but much more controlled than Casper would have expected from a girl in that situation. Still, as fearless as she was, walking away was not an option for her as the man grabbed her by her hair, which was when Casper decided to step in. It was a natural thing to do, and there was no hesitation in his movements to speak of. Casper understood the conflict all too well. He was smaller than average as a child, but fought fiercely whenever the bullies started tossing rude comments about his own mother. He wasn't going to let someone else get pushed around the same way. The man noticed Casper coming a few moments before the distance was closed between them, and swung his free hand at him,. Casper saw it coming, lashed his left hand out and caught the swing on his forearm to deflect it, then swiftly sent a punch of his own successfully into the man's face. He staggered backwards and dragged the girl with him for a little before finally letting go of her braid. Before he could recover, Casper shoved him towards the ledge that stood right behind him and caught him by the shirt just as he was about to fall headfirst off the tower. He looked down, yelped and grabbed onto Casper's forearms desperately. "Pull me back up!" "Whoever taught you your petchin' mannerss?" He loosened his grip, and the brute whined even louder when he could feel himself slipping. "Gods, stop! Please!" "That'ss a little better. And now that you know to mind your tongue around me, how about you give the girl a little resspect, too?" "Yeah, I'm sorry about too, now will you please let me up?" "Don't tell me ssorry, tell her," He did as Casper asked, and turned his head nervously to her."I'm sorry," he said in a mumbling tone. Casper wasn't going to ask for more. With a small heave, he pulled the man back onto the cold slabs of tower stones, and took a step back. The man had a fiery look in his eyes, one looking for revenge. Before he could make any moves though, Casper firmly placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Move along," he hissed, in a voice much darker than earlier,"Before thingss get out of hand." His eyes went from the sword to Casper, and deciding it wasn't worth it, marched away with one last glare at the girl, the sound of his steps disappearing slowly down the stairs.

[Cale Fletcher]

Cale let herself lean against the rock wall for a moment, calming herself. "Thank you, Sir." She nodded at the stranger who had come to her aid. "And thanks for apologising once you had no choice!" She called out cheerfully towards her assailant, "I can't tell you how proud of humanity you make me! March on brave soldier! Make your parents proud you lumbering Vagik!" She made a rude gesture at his retreating form before turning back to the man who ha helped her. "I know it's rather cowardly to curse and taunt your enemy once he's no longer a threat, but honestly it does a wonder for my ego, and I need that inflated after having his greasy paws all over me. So, anything you want in return for the rescue? I don't have much coin saved up, and I doubt you'd like a free round of kelp beer, but it's worth asking. Barter is the law of everything after all! Especially in Zeltiva. You know, we- wait. I'm waxing on a bit much. I always do that, sorry." She offered an apologetic smile. "Anyway, first things come first, my name is Cale Fletcher. That brute we just met Is an old acquaintance. I like to call him, 'drunk lug who needs to move far away'. Now it's your turn to introduce yourself."
Cale looked up at him expectantly, hand thrown out and awaiting a handshake.

[Casper]

As the problem disappeared around the corner, Casper finally allowed himself to get a closer look at the girl he had just protected out of instinct, who was busy hurling insults after the brute. He couldn't help but chuckle at that, how she had not lost her spunk after all the commotion. As he had noticed earlier, she was merely an adolescent, small and fair skinned, with clearly no means of defending herself. Well, it wasn't that much of a problem, if she lived in Zeltiva and didn't go out too late at night. Then she turned to him and started speaking with no signs of stopping. She seemed energetic, and he wondered if it was because the fight had excited her or this simply was a part of her personality. Either way, he couldn't tell and couldn't come up with anything to say in reply, so when he was suddenly prompted for his name he replied a little awkwardly, "Uh, Cass. Cassper Verselis." He felt strangely obliged to give her his full name when she had given him hers. It took him an extra moment to look down and realize she was waiting expectantly for a handshake, which he gave as well, though a little coldly. "You shouldn't be alone," he said apprehensively, but he wasn't one for lectures and only said it as a passing remark. "That one'ss a weakling, though. The ssize is jusst for show." He knew a few battles, and he knew from the first moment that the bully was no fighter, and did nothing but intimidate those smaller than him. "I'll walk you home," he said, contemplating the possibility that the bully might just wait for her to be alone again. Bullies had a knack for revenge, and his childhood memories were all too vivid to forget that. He didn't have much better to do, anyway. "And maybe we could discusss payment on the way," he said with thin smirk. He couldn't have her believing he was simply a heroic do-gooder, after all. He didn't even have a job in this rotten city, so a few extra mizas could help.

[Cale Fletcher]

"Right then! It's nice to make your acquaintance." Cale walked over to the steps. "It's nice if you to offer to walk me home, but I have a sinking feeling that my pocket will not be so thankful." She threw a rueful smirk over her shoulder at him. "There goes my pocket money. Well, I have to applaud you for your cutthroat business attitude. This wouldn't be necessary if I could actually fight." She groaned and hopped down the steps two at a time. 
         "I really should just take up learning to use a weapon or some such concept. I could hunt wildlife, I could get idiots like him to stay far away, and I wouldn't have to pay strangers to frighten overgrown bullies. It'd be a fair deal." She pondered aloud.
              Once reaching the bottom of the steps, she turned and narrowed her eyes at him. "You seem to be a bit new to these parts. You don't look like the usual type that settle  in Zeltiva, especially since you appear to be more likely to go out and do something as opposed to waiting in a class and memories the theory behind it. Unless you're a fisher man, but I doubt it. They're usually the patient types. You don't seem to like rules much, seeing as you just pulled a sword on a native, so not Syliras. I'm going to guess either Ravok or Sunberth, seeing as you don't appear to be overly religious or a nuin. Am I right?" 
   She let her self satisfaction show. If there was one thing she prided herself on, it was her reasoning. She would have liked to ask more questions, but many people are known to dislike answering several questions at a time. Although interesting, she'd decided not to ask anything about his odd colouring. Few things were beyond her whenever she wanted an answer, but anything physical or Familial belonged to a line of questioning she refused to pursue.

[Casper]

Casper followed behind her after she started walking, keeping silent as she talked on. So she did want to learn how to fight? He wondered how much she meant it, clearly not enough seeing as she hadn't gotten around to it yet. It was funny to him that she seemed to believe that handling a blade would grant her mastery in hunting animals as well as murdering humans. The two were entirely different things to Casper, as he was well aware that hadn't the faintest clue on how to hunt, yet killing felt like second-nature to him. Had he not been able stop as abruptly as he did, he would have bumped right into her when she swiveled around to meet him. He even stepped back a little as he looked into her analytical grey eyes with moderate confusion. She seemed to be thinking aloud as she ran through possibilities. He was feeling more and more uncomfortable as she took apart what she had learned about him in the past two minutes, but his face returned to his almost condescending smirk when she crossed off Syliras. He let the silence hang when she asked whether she was right and finally responded with a jeering laugh before he sidestepped her and started walking again, expecting her to follow. "It's Ssylirass," he said after pondering whether to actually let her know the truth or not. He had concluded that he didn't have to be closed and secretive to a Zeltivan teenager, she couldn't cause him any harm. "If it makess you feel any better, I wass a bit of a black sheep in that blassted city." They reached an intersection of roads and Casper looked at her expectantly to know which direction to go in.

[Cale Fletcher]

"Shyke! Of course! You'd still be at a place that you liked so I should have guessed a place you would hate!" Cale grumbled to herself and Walked on with him until they reached the intersection."I hate being wrong." She complained, disgruntled at guessing the wrong city. "Northeast." She mumbled, pointing in the general direction of the road going towards the port. Her mother hadn't bothered to move from their flat near the docks after their father had died, so near the port she would stay. The smell of fish was constantly pervading the air, but it was a nice place.
She spotted one of the shops nearby and formulated an idea. "Continuing our earlier discussion, I don't suppose I could shave off any of my debt by directing you to parts of the city you'd enjoy? I'm fairly certain Zeltiva's been boring you to tears so far. I love it here but even I would rather be off doing something than sitting around waiting for something to happen."
As they passed one of the smaller docks, Cale waved at several of the workers. "Friends of my Da' back when he was alive.'" She explained. "If you're ever in need of a half decent mug of kelp beer or some fresh fish, they'd be happy to help" She brightened as they drew closer to the housing. "Shouldn't take longer than a Kelvec's change to get there now. If you want, you can just leave me from here."

[Casper]

Casper regarded her with mild interest as she talked on, rather enjoying her ability to carry the conversation on her own. He, meanwhile, listened to her silently, though he found himself unable to take the words of someone so young completely seriously. he let loose an overly faked cough to interrupt her talking."'Doing ssomething?' There isn't anything to do in thiss world but ssurvive, girl," he said with extreme condescension, playing the role of the more experienced, older man. Hundreds of narrow-minded thoughts swept through the half Dhani's head that told him he was right and she was just a girl. He wrinkled his nose at the talk of Kelp beer and fish. The former was flat-out disgusting while the latter he had grown sick and tired of. He came up with an idea, and said, "Alright, lissten up. You find me a place that ssells a proper ssteak, and I'll call uss even. How 'bout it, then?" He said with a grin. He knew full well that Zeltiva didn't have much of a choice when it came to food and drink, but perhaps the locals knew where to find some of the rarer items. He didn't mind paying the extra miza, and if the girl treated him, it was an opportunity that could not be missed.

[Cale Fletcher]

"Surviving is useless if your life means nothing!" Cale found herself snapping at the man, before reining back. "Sorry. I have a very-" she searched for a suitable word, "defined view of the world. Such as the idea that if you cannot make a mark on the world, your life carries no weight."  She calmed herself and turned back to the problem at hand. "If it's steak you want, the Cafeteria Hall usually has a broad selection of cuts. I was going to apply to the University soon, but the applications process has become a bit clogged recently. I have quite literally nothing to do with the professors not having as much work for me. Since I'm not a student, it's a bit harder to get a hold of food from the cafeteria. Let me consider this for a bit."

[Casper]

Casper found himself speechless from Cale's sudden outburst, staring at her with his jade eyes as though he did not understand why she would be so upset by his harsh words. She apologized, but he couldn't help but reflect on what she said. Make a mark? Casper never thought about that sort of thing. he had little ambition, if any at all. He didn't really know what he wanted from the future. A little disgruntled by this realization, he only nodded in reply at her suggestion to go to the cafeteria. She could easily pass for a student, he thought idly, but found that his mind quickly returned to what she had said earlier. "Well, what kind of mark would you ssay you're making on the world?" he finally asked, hiding the fact that he was genuinely curious with a challenging tone. "You talk big, but as far as I can tell, you're sstill getting pushed around by bulliess." He did indeed think less of her for not being able to defend herself. He was no scholar, and to him, reading a thousand dusty tomes would never help in the face of real danger. A historian or a scientist was worth nothing when all the knowledge they had gained throughout their lives was lost on a random thug's bloody knife. Casper had beaten down his childhood enemies himself, responding to violence with violence. So why did she need his help, and then reproach him for thinking the way he did afterward? He felt the all too common feeling of anger well up inside him, but suppressed it. The things that incurred his wrath were starting to become more and more trivial, and he had to make a conscious effort to keep the bad habit from developing further. It would get him killed, some day.