Out and About [Closed]

[Ash'eny]

DateDay 20 of Summer, AV 510

Two pounds of pork sausage. It would hardly be enough for four men, but they would be thankful, they always were, perhaps even they managed to get a little food themselves. Ash'eny smiled to himself as he moved into the alley, and as he expected, three homeless sat there, chuckling over stories they told, reminiscing about things they never really experienced, but for the hell of it pretended they did. Each of them looked up at Ash'eny and smiled, one of them giving some sort of garbled holler in triumph that turned into a fit of coughing. "It's not much, two pounds. Half a pound each shouldn't be too bad right?" Ash'eny slowly took a place within the four man circle, sitting on the ground. He took out his eating knife and slowly carved the two separate chunks of pork into four, very closely sized portions. As each was handed out to the others, they took it gratefully, but did not bother to breathe before starting to bite straight into the meat. They were, without a doubt, hungrier than Ash'eny himself. He ate slowly, taking his knife and carving off mouthfuls at a time, until it was finished.

[Grayzdo Briety]

Grayzdo wandered down the alley with Kita not following far behind him. Grayzdo's horse nowhere in sight. His hair he had disguised as black and his eyes gleaming their natural purple. He looked about this alley. He saw four men in the alley each other older then the next except one who ate slower then the rest he seemed to be the youngest. Grayzdo pulled the grey hood of his cloak over his hair for the summer was upon everyone but tonight was a windy night.

The disguised man approached the group of men. He was here to meet another thief and he was nervous about it. He kept his bow out for all the men to see incase one of them wasn't the man he was looking for. He tried to look intimidating. The hooded figure looked down on the beggars from where he stood and he looked at them all examining their faces.
He tossed some coins down about 5 gold rimmed mizas and then he walked back over to Kita.

[Ash'eny]

After several moments of eating, and afterwards chatting, a strange man, hooded (masked?) approached the group. None of the four took notice of him, that is until five gold-rimmed coins fell in the middle of the group. Each of the homeless men were quick to grab a single coin, leaving not one, but two for Ash'eny, probably as a thanks for the food he had given them. Each man gave out a series of thanks to the strange hooded man as he walked away without speaking a single word. The beggars were pleased and carried on their talk, they could each afford food for tomorrow. Ash'eny stared at the two remaining coins for a moment, locked in hesitation as he pondered. He was not as easily satisfied as the others, but then again, he wasn't as desperate as a starving homeless man should be (mostly because he wasn't anywhere near starving at all). Begging was a job, and even though it was discredited by the authorities, looked down upon by the wealthy (usually), and even caused a good deal of cruel treatment towards said beggar, it was difficult and deserved its place in the world. Not everyone had the ability to support themselves, most could, but not all. Ash'eny smiled to the other homeless men as he took up the coins in his left hand, his dominant hand, yet also the hand that lost the pinkie finger. This man, the one that actually approached beggars and not offered, but dropped money on their laps. This event was unheard of, and could not mean simple charity. Beggars had to target the kind-hearted to get anything, and for a beggar to be sought out and given currency, didn't seem possible. There was another reason. Ash'eny viewed the homeless men as his family, they took him in without consideration of his past, what difficulties he may or may not have seen, and without even needing anything from him. They were happy, simple, poor-educated, unfortunate folk, but they loved him and they grew on him. If this was a threat against them, or even just anything that could bring about any harm towards him or his 'family', he would face it before anything happened. Ash'eny separated from the group and followed the figure, his worn brown patched robe still giving him the appearance of a homeless man, a beggar, yet he seemed to magically lose his limp. No, the limp was an act, and he wasn't worried about acting at this moment. When the target he was following stopped, Ash'eny placed himself beside him. If Grayzdo was standing, Ash'eny would stand next to him, if he sat, Ash'eny would sit to his right, keeping Grayzdo between Ash'eny and Gray's companion. "Such act of charity is unheard of friend. From where does such a heart of gold spawn?"

[Aren]

((OOC: Asheny, don't know what's happening with the thread we met on, so... either pretend it never happened, or go on like it did. I'll leave my post vague so you can choose.)) "Charity isn't generally a thing people are suspicious of. Some would say it takes a wicked mind to see wickedness in such an act." Aren had simply overhead what the beggar had said, and felt the need to comment. "Then again, someone might tell those people that they're idiots." But, he had lived for some time and seen both sides of the coin, and so also felt the need to offer a dissenting opinion. "Of course, the fact that you're trying to conceal your features doesn't help any." The scythe wielding Akalak was forced to shrug a bit as he pointed out the suspicious nature of the man the beggar was talking to. A suspicious individual tended to incite suspicious reactions, especially when coupled with suspicious actions. That was simply the way the world worked. If the man had wanted to avoid attracting attention, he should have left his cloak and mask at home. He certainly shouldn't have given a bunch of beggars any money, either. At least, that's the way Aren saw it.

[Ash'eny]

[[OOC: I personally liked what happened in the tavern. Ash'eny actually respects Aren for his small donation, though it was more because of the scene Wystern made than actually giving. I'm going to act like this is almost directly afterwards.]]

Ash'eny's skin instantly trickled with a powerful tingling sensation. The voice he heard sounded familiar, and upon turning around to see the tall blue, and very intimidating man (Aren), Ash'eny both swallowed hard on nothing, and felt a sense of calm flow over him. He smiled lightly, for a moment thinking that his comment on 'concealing features' was directed at him, which meant he was caught. But a few more calm moments later revealed it wasn't him that the words were directed at, but the strange man that did not want his identity known. Suspicious indeed. Ash'eny continued to watch Aren as he smiled. "Akalak, I do not think I properly thanked you for before. You did wonderful service to me and my family." As he said family, he glanced over at the alleyway where three homeless men sat, and it was obvious by first glance that they were much worse off than Ash'eny, health-wise. Ash'eny, however, felt a need to explain himself, or at least partly, to the Akalak man. "I hope you are not upset for my lie about my daughter in the tavern. It was a lie, mostly, she's dead now. I only said lie to assist the rest of my family, over there. I know deceit isn't fair and seems cruel, but those men literally cannot work, and few would help support them if I were to say I was collecting coin for myself and three other homeless men." Ash'eny sighed heavily, realizing he was rambling and setting himself up for a deep amount of trouble, should Aren be angered with him. "If you wish, I have coin on me, I can pay you back your kind offering if you so demand it."

[Wystern]

"I'm sorry about that." Wys said moving towards the beggar, sounding serious. The men in the alley way saw him, but pretended not to notice. Wys sighed, another place in Syliras where Knights weren't welcome. He wasn't even identifiable as one of the order, he rarely is. The beggars see, what others do not, they are there, but invisible. They saw his face before. People wouldn't approach them thinking that they are contagious. They are generally sick from something that can't be transfered, marked to die. Crow never found a solution to their problem, there wasn't one.

"Keep the money I gave you. By the way, I've seen begging done before, but yours really put my judgment in doubt. My experience told me you were lying, but the way you reacted...you made me think you were honest. You were, in part. I have to say, very well done."

[Aren]

Aren gave Asheny a simple smile. "The limp was a nice touch, though." It was this fact that had prevented him from properly identifying the beggar as the man he had met before, even after hearing his voice. At Asheny's mention of returning the coin Aren had given him, the Akalak raised his hand, almost insulted. "I didn't give you that money because you begged for it." Now, the smile disappeared from his face, replaced by a more stern expression, "That's the last thing I would ever give a beggar." The statement did not seem to be spoken with any scorn or disdain, put with more pity than anything else. "A few coins might allow him to eat today, but tomorrow he'll just be hungry again. The only thing you're doing to those men is crippling them, even more than they already are." What Aren said might have sounded cruel, but to him, the alternative was even more cruel. "What do you think would happen to them if you died tomorrow, if they can't even feed themselves?" Aren looked to the men he spoke of. They were pathetic shadows of what they once might have been, not fit to be called men anymore. "The only thing your help has brought them is misery. They live without dignity, happiness, or purpose. Is death, to humans, not preferable?" He gazed at them with eyes full of sadness, but believing that to help them was to cut off their heads himself.

[Kita]

Kita followed Grayzdo into a dark alley, she would follow him anywhere. Before they got into the alley Grayzdo handed her green contacts and a black robe. She had to hide her yellow eyes in case anyone in the alley would be startled by her Kelvic nature. She quickly pulled on the robe and slipped in the color contacts.

Kita was apprehensive about going down this alley. She had not been around this many humans since her family was killed. Still, she followed Grayzdo loyaly. When they reached the group of humans Kita stood back as Grayzdo approached them. She was very scared but she knew she had to be brave for Grayzdo.

Soon he returned to her side and she moved closer to him. She felt safe when he was near. "What are we doing here?" she asked quietly. As she talked she tried to speak so her fangs were hidden. She didn't need the humans freaking out because she was Kelvic. There was always the chance they wouldn't and they would accept her like Grayzdo did but she had learned not to take that chance.

[Ash'eny]

Ash'eny listen to Aren, he knew it was true, mostly, but he saw the other men. They laughed willingly at each other, gave each other comfort. They hardly felt physical pain anymore. They were all that they had left, and that's why they chose to live, to not leave the others behind. "You may be right, as difficult as it is to accept, you may be right. I have a weak spot for the helpless, the wandering souls that cannot find their place, or those that do not have one. My daughter passed away almost a year ago and I did everything I could to help her, but her body was destroyed by illness. I had to leave Sunberth because of how miserable it made me." He couldn't feel like Wystern's compliment was something to take pride in. Sure, he may have meant it, but it WAS for his job in begging after all, and he was even dishonest while he did it. Perhaps he was the worse Beggar and Thief of all time, but he actually felt close to these two men, complete stranger, one that could literally ruin his life because of his actions, and the other could probably snap his neck with little effort. He continued to watch Wystern, nodding slowly. "Your judgement is a good one. Anyway, Sir Knight, I believe I owe you an apology for earlier. Blatant lies, rude behavior, and threatening against your life." Ash'eny smirked, that threat earlier was purely a bluff. He was weak, no skill in a brawl or sword fight, even a wrestling match would prove impossible for him. "If you could give me another chance, I would like to take your offer in helping me obtain a respectable place of employment here, that is if your offer is still available." Ash'eny had a hard time believing he said that, he had done a few jobs in the past, but never had he devoted himself to daily work with a wage, never had he labored for hours at a time for a few coins at the end of the week, but he was willing to give it a try.

[Wystern]

"The only thing your help has brought them is misery. They live without dignity, happiness, or purpose. Is death, to humans, not preferable?"

"So, you want to mercy-kill them, Aren? Who are you to make that judgment? If a person is willing to die, they would find a way." Wystern said with a sad expression on his face. Wys couldn't bring up the sword to take a life of someone like them, it would just stain him, stain his sanity. At the same time, he couldn't bring up to feel so sorry for them. Welcome Center was not far away, within easy walking range, even for them. "You don't work, you don't eat," Wystern's master told him back in the squirehood.

"If you could give me another chance, I would like to take your offer in helping me obtain a respectable place of employment here, that is if your offer is still available."

He turned to Ash'eny with a smile. "Gladly. Though, honestly, I have no idea what you will be doing, they just find a person a paying job, and it should fly from there."

"What are we doing here?"

Wys heard a soft voice, turned around and saw a girl in a green cloak. "Discussing principles of life, care to join?" He said with a slight smirk.