Completed sugar

[Chiaja]

. sugar fall 24 512av ❤ pillars of dust Moonlight filtered through broken pillars as if Leth were trying to illuminate the ruins and show what went on in this dark corner of the alabaster city. White sand looked like sugar in the moonlight, contrasting with the sharp angles of black shadows. Pure white sugar. As if anything here was pure. Larks' bells tinkled from the hems of colourful and alluring costumes, faces painted with makeup and perfumed with the irresistible Ahnatepian perfume. They weaved their way around dusty columns and caved-in buildings. Drunkards and Dusk Eaters slumped against pillars while Duskers provided the seemingly endless supply of Mirage, and brawls seemed to erupt every few chimes between Scorpians and who knows who else. Merchants shouted and sold wares that would never be accepted in the normal pavilion. I was leaning against a ruined wall. A woman shouted in my ear, making me flinch and recoil from the sound. I turned around. "You!" She shouted again, but this time more of a hiss. A child clung to her side with all six arms, tears on her dirty face. The girl looked much too young to have a child this old. She didn't wait for me to answer her. "Take her!" She thrust the little girl at me, prying the thirty golden fingers from her arm and body. The supposed mother had a swollen black eye. I didn't move. "Take her!" She hissed at me again, pushing the child at me. I didn't want her dirty urchin, and why would she suddenly give me a child? How would she know to trust me? But looking around, I noticed that I had one of the most trustworthy faces around here. Foreign, but not dangerous. The woman, 16 years of age I'd decided by now, threw the girl at me. It was only instinct and reflex that she didn't fall into a dirty pile in the sand. The little girl sucked one of her thumbs. We watched her quickly scamper off into an alley, before a muffled scream and two shadowy figures ran from where the woman just was. I walked over to the alley, child clinging so that not even death could pry her from me.

[Chiaja]

It was as I assumed. This bastard, orphaned girl clung to me, but she didn't cry. She just stared at the body, the dark pool beneath the slit throat. She looked at me, pulled the thumb out of her mouth for but a second to speak. "Mamw." Was that her mother's name? Or was, this girl, in fact her sister? Seeing the way of the Pillars, it was my best guess that this was her mother. 'Mamw' could even be her own name. It sounded boyish and odd, and not at all of typical Eypharian tradition. The girl flailed out of my arms and into the sand, running to the corpse without tears or even taking her thumb out of her mouth. Did this girl not mourn? Or was this woman a kidnapper, and she was happy to be rid of her? Questions were cut short when the girl was finished rummaging around the pockets of the woman's Lark-wear. She pulled out a small, woollen camel. She held it up to me. "Mamw." So this, this camel toy was Mamw. It seemed more important than this woman. I thought for a few seconds. Was this girl used to violence? I barely pondered on why or who killed this Lark. There were far too many possibilities and reasons and this woman meant so little to me that I didn't care. Ridiculous. I didn't even like toddlers though, and now this one was suddenly in my care. I'd had my fair share of taking care of young Chaktawe children, but with an additional four arms...what could I, would I be able to do? "What's your name?" I attempted to speak in my gentlest, most disarming voice in Arumenic. "Kassret. What's your name?" Kassret was a lovely name. It sounded alarmingly close to the Arumenic word for 'honey'. Was she named so because she was sweet? She seemed so. Her golden skin reflected moonlight, but it still was much different than my own shimmery skin, reflecting the same silvery light. She had the largest green eyes I'd seen in a long time, framed by her locks of black hair. Kassret - Kass, I'd decided to call her, looked adorable. I didn't ask for her last name...Kassret re Bisrat, re Ahnatep, re Naphu...did it really matter where her ancestors came from? The Pillars were almost a place where genealogy went to die. Bastard sons and daughters everywhere, mixed bloods and other abominations. This girl was lucky to be full-blooded Eypharian. "My name's Chiaja." Again with disarming. I didn't want to scare her, make her run off. Horrible things could happen to a girl this young. "How old are you?" Kass held up both her hands close to her face and counted. One, two, three, four. She was four. She held up her four fingers.

[Chiaja]

The girl peered up at me. She seemed transfixed by my moon-skin, staring at my pale, gold-spun hair and the creamy yellow horns curving from my temples. A race closer to divine than the Eypharians themselves, but cursed to fall from heavenly realms into places like this. It was like being born. You could be born wealthy, or you could be born into the dirt, and rarely was there a chance to change it for yourself. I pitied the girl for being conceived by peasants, by dirty foysha. Who knew of the disgusting inbred traits this girl could have? But looking closer at Kassret, with her sparkling green eyes and her six long arms, she couldn't have been inbred. She appeared as if she'd grow up to be beautiful, even lovely enough to be a concubine. Her clothes, on the other hand, were dirty and ragged, even torn in some places. She seemed as out of place as an Ethaefal in a slaver's caravan. I inwardly giggled at the comparison. "Want to come with me?" Without answering, she reached out and grabbed my hand, her golden fingers intertwining with my silver ones. She carried her camel in the other and I took her home with me. fin

[Colombina]

The XP Wand Is Waved! You show an excellent knowledge for the setting, dialect and customs, this is always muchly appreciated! I know first person can crop up in places for artistic effect, but don't let it be your standard. Chiaja is a lot meaner than I would have guessed! Haha, that's a snobby Eth if I ever saw one. Also, your thread title looks dope. PC's Loot 2 XP Observation 1 XP Persuasion A New NPC kid: remember you have to provide for her if you decide to keep her! PM me her stats and I'll add her to your SS Wool Camel Doll Lore of Pillars of Dust Lore of Larks Lore of Duskers