Closed Think twice...

[Amelia Cross]

Oh the drag, yet another person who is pushing Amelia towards becoming a citizen officially. Amelia knew she was not fully safe without the papers, but Amelia liked to think her father would protect her. Above other things, she was so often mistaken to be a part of the well-known Lark family she had gotten used to it by now. Honestly, she didn’t think that anyone would hurt her here as she did carry out clear attitude markings of a Ravokian or at least seemed to hide her Syliran nature. Then again, her daddy wouldn’t be around all the time and most of the slave makers around Ravok didn’t seem to be the type to ask questions.

”Broken beaks, another man who is pushing me towards becoming a citizen” she said rolling her eyes but chuckling as she found it a bit amusing, just a bit. ”My father has been pressuring me to doing that for years now…reasons should be clear” a statement true by all means. But truth be told, she was just rambling her way out of the question she didn’t like answering ”The thing is, I’m not around this city long enough to finish the paperwork, I am usually a few days short from the minimum time spent…I just don’t like to be tied down as you have probably guessed by now” ”stop rambling…You don’t have to excuse yourself to him” a slight loss of words, probably because this little speech had gotten her thinking, maybe it was time for her to settle in one city? Ravok was better by all means, and if she would set for life, it would be this city. Maybe when she meets up with her father next time, she will manage to finally make him happy, saying she is planning to get her papers done and stay in this city. Then again, she was terrified of the questions they might ask her regarding her mother, the gnosis.

Kelmar’s toast was interesting, and the way it was complimented by his voice would have found it to be rude or offending. Amelia however, found it to be sweet considering this man was a stone wall as she enjoyed thinking. Actually, if he had spat out something similar to her father’s lady killer lines, she’d be rolling on the floor laughing, potentially being clumsy enough to roll inside the canal. Above all Amelia wasn’t sure what to say as she didn’t wish to ramble about herself, but she had guessed that Kelmar wouldn’t be interested of rambling about himself either. ”Strangely, I’m enjoying your company Kelmar…despite the unusual for me awkwardness”

[Kelmar Hedos]

Apparently she forced imprisonment and lifelong indentured servitude amusing. Well, if she wanted to become the whore of some rich Lark, he would not stand in her way. She was certainly pretty enough for someone of that family to take an interest, and any slavers sent from those traders would slap her in irons the moment they found out she wasn't a citizen. And if the slaver was indeed a Lark, even the Black Sun might be careful about getting her back. "Sorry to bother you about it then," Kelmar replied, a hint of sarcasm permeating even his emotionless voice. "Listen, freedom here comes at a price, and if you're unwilling to become a citizen then don't expect your father to be able to get you out of every situation. I have no doubt he'll try, but some things are easier to do than others." That was all the warning he'd give her, and if she chose to heed in then all the better. If she was so bent on becoming some forced prostitute of a wealthy merchant then he would cut his losses and move on, though he hoped for the sake of finding a connection that she would at least consider listening to him. He would not push the matter though, too much and he would ruin the progress he'd made already. His gaze wandered to his glass, which he tilted to and fro. "The choice is always yours of course, but I would prefer it if you made the decision to keep yourself completely safe rather than live with the risk that someone may try to take you as property." He listened to her comment without much visual reaction, though there was the slight raising of his eyebrows. It truly wasn't that surprising, after all that had been what he was aiming for, but it showed that maybe he was making more progress than he had thought. If she was enjoying his companionship enough to voice the thought aloud, then he must be someone worth sharing that opinion with. He also found the encounter quite engaging, which was as close as he ever got to fun, and though companionship was never his goal of such meetings Amelia was interesting and clever enough to keep his mind occupied. Of course, it would only last so long as he needed her, for as soon as he was on the inside of the Sun she was out. Though it might make him appear better to her father if he continued meeting with Amelia, if only occasionally when she demanded it. Which, given her nature of seduction on the easiest prey, was not looking to be very often. "If you have the perspective of someone from outside of Ravok," Kelmar replied after a quiet moment, "then perhaps you could care to provide a comparison between this cities and the others? How does it compare?" It was an innocent question, but could very easily prompt some useful information. As a youth, Kelmar had studied every city in Mizahar generally and vaguely, just enough to have the basics ingrained in his memory but enough to tell the fundamental differences between various cities. As far as he could remember, Nyka was a divided monk city to the south and Syliras was an orderly religious city to the southwest. The latter were infamous for being worshippers of their namesake, Sylir, and were the source of the slang word "Sylirist" in Ravok. It would be interesting to see which of these two Amelia visited. They were the nearest, and even if her end destination was farther than either of these she would have to go through them to get there. Perhaps he could gain another slight advantage here.

[Amelia Cross]

What Kelmar said made perfect sense to Amelia, she knew of the risk of this city. She lived here at the docks and saw how slaves and kelvics are dragged in leashes, but she didn’t think it could happen to her. Not to mention, she didn't like how much attention Kelmar was paying to it. Close to the edge of splashing the content of her glass in his stone hard face and leaving, the only thing that made her stop was the little phrase he ended the speech with. ”He…wants me to be safe?” she couldn’t help but question. What Amelia thought, was that just like every other person in Ravok, Kelmar spoke of citizenship to put her down, but could it be that he was actually worried about her? The idea didn’t seem to make sense to her, then again, if she was to become a slave she wasn’t of any use to the man ”If I’ll be staying for spring, then of course, I’ll get the papers done” she explained, her voice not exactly calm ”I’d like to close this discussion, if you don’t mind” she finished with a smile, played and far from honest, but polite.

The next question, as innocent as it was, wasn’t exactly pleasant. She couldn’t say much that wouldn’t get her rambling on about the bronze woods surrounding Syliras, the cobalt mountain and the horrible knights keeping order in Syliras. The big problem here was, too much detail and it would make it clear that she traveled to Syliras, here in Ravok, not a good thing to mention if you weren’t a merchant or a spy from Ravok. And even in those cases she had doubts. ”Ravok is, like a painting compared to them…it’s kept a lot better and isn’t half as crowded, people are honest for the most part and better mannered”speaking generally, trying to keep her words to a minimum ”But every city has their own beauty, let it be the port city Zeltiva or the city of k~monks” Amelia corrected herself before she managed to say the word ‘knights’, using the city of Nyak as it was the first reference coming to her mind. Even if she didn’t particularly know much about it, she had a light general gasp of the city from the men she traveled with. Though she was sure that most of the things she knew were folks tales.

”But tell me, how come you haven’t left the city even if just for the sake of seeing something else?” a question to purely re-direct the discussion more towards Kelmar, hopping he wouldn’t turn the table back to her once more. Not to mention, they needed at least some words in the middle of lifting a glass, of that she was sure. Otherwise it all seemed to be highly impersonal. Maybe Amelia was to blame, she started it all with flirting and then it all went 'puff', she was all collected and a ball of nerves now, but she liked to think the man set her off.

[Kelmar Hedos]

“Safety’s all there is to it,” Kelmar responded to her assurance she’d apply if she stayed long enough. “Being a citizen doesn’t open many doors on its own, there’s nothing better about being a citizen, all it does is keep you safe from slavers who might want to use your body and work for their own profit.” Again, pot calling the kettle black. At least Kelmar didn’t slap them in chains though, and his jobs usually benefitted more than just himself when they came to their conclusion. There was a strong difference between being a snoop with contacts and a slaver with slaves. However, it was clear that he hadn’t enough good grace yet with Amelia to broach the subject fully, as her insistence on a change of topic showed her distaste to his words. She was gentle about it though, putting on a polite smile instead of a disapproving frown. That was good. It meant that she found him worth being polite to and someone she didn’t want to offend, or at least not drive away. Or so he thought. During the entirety of her answer, Kelmar’s mind was constantly working, trying to piece together information she was giving and let slip. She kept her descriptions vague when it came to the other cities, referring mostly to Ravok to keep herself from needing to talk about the others for as long as she could. Eventually she elaborated though, mentioning the other cities in the Sylira region. Kept a lot better could mean anything, as it all depended on who was looking. Less crowded could refer to either Zeltiva or Syliras, both of which he’d read had high populations. Better mannered could easily refer to all three as the comparison was subjective, though he restrained from pointing that out to Amelia. What tipped him off slightly was her near slip-up towards the end. Before she said monks, he heard another consonant begin to play on her lips before the new word came through. It was hard to make it out and he could not recall the exact sound, but he knew she was nervous about something, wanting to keep something hidden. Syliras made the most sense as it was the one city in Sylira she hadn’t mentioned and was the only one that carried more negative weight than others, but then again she could have been easily referring to a city in another region that she’d rather not discuss with him. It was a fifty-fifty chance, and those odds weren’t good enough for him to make assumptions just yet, especially balanced precariously on the edge as he was. When she turned the conversation back to himself, Kelmar decided to relent and ease off the interrogation. He didn’t want to push too hard and risk earning her disfavor, more of it anyway, and the less comfortable she became the less reason she’d have to stick around. It did of course seem strange that a woman that was so openly flirting before had become so reserved, but he wasn’t going to press the issue. It could very well be his demeanor that shocked her into a different state, though the reason wasn’t very important at this point. The agent leaned back into his chair, relaxing his muscles but continuing to stare at the glass in front of him, thinking it rude to divert his attention entirely from Amelia. “I’ve never had the opportunity,” he answered honestly. “My parents imported art from all over Mizahar, so I got to learn about the various regions, but I’ve never had the chance to visit them. My mother was always out busy entertaining and talking to clients, auctioning off extravagant pieces and selling personally the slightly less impressive ones. My father had me study rigorously since I was old enough to read, and the farthest I got from my home was the Nitrozian Plaza. Once I was no longer under their care, I had to work my job hard and haven’t had the time – nor the desire – to leave. My work is here, I can get better here, I can live here, what need is there to go anywhere else?” It was a straightforward viewpoint, but one that summarized his thoughts on the issue, and he cared not to elaborate on what he had said. Already he had divulged a bit more about his past than he had been meaning to, but it could do him no harm. She already knew what he did for a living, and anything about his past was just window dressing as to who he really was. If she was curious, so be it, but at least honesty would keep consistency.

[Amelia Cross]

It was nice to see that Kelmar didn’t push the questioning further. If He had been asking questions regarding the travel, she’d probably had come to a dead end sooner of latter, leaving her to face the past. Then again, Kelmar didn’t really seem to be one of the Ravokians that would have an undefeatable desire to cut off Amelia’s head just because she has lived in Syliras. Oh these thoughts twirling all around didn’t seem to give her to a steady conclusion anyway, so she decided to let it drop just as easy as the man did. After all, the topic wasn’t as interesting as it appeared.

Amelia listened carefully to his story of childhood, not wishing to have any words slip unnoticed. She wouldn’t exactly claim to be that interested in him or what people his parents were, but it was a nice change of topic and mention of childhood always brought up a sort of familiarity to the conversation and between the two parties in question. From what Kelmar said, she could really see the reasons behind his rather cold persona. A young boy that is forced to study, a mother that finds more time in others than her child, no wonder this little guy doesn’t exactly have ‘hug me’ written over his forehead. For a moment Amelia was left wondering, if she didn’t have a friend like Tia, would she have ended up just as cold as Kelmar? But it was nothing but a wild guess, he hadn’t said anything much and there was little she could assume from the things he had. Not to mention, if she’d put a bit more thought in it, her situation was far from similar to his.

”there is always somewhere else my dear friend” she finally said, to his last statement. ”at the other side of the lake there is dry land, there are forests and beasts…a lost road if you wish to find it…Adventure and love if you let it in, sea and ocean if you walk long enough” she spoke, general and not exactly mentioning the actual dangers of the wilderness, but her eyes seemed to shine with joy as she was talking. ”visit Zeltiva to study, knowledge seems to be your thing, no?” Amelia finished with a light giggle as she winked at the man. No she wasn’t flirting or attempting that, she was just in a good mood now that she felt a bit familiar with the man. It was only a shame that the darker hours of the day were gaining on them close, maybe Amelia should just end it here.

”the shadows are gaining on us love, I think our lovely meeting should end here, while I’m smiling and you’re not frowning”

[Kelmar Hedos]

What happened, happened. He felt no melancholy after telling his story, nor did he feel it necessary to mention any details. The one unimportant detail he’d left out was his parents’ murder, though at this point he believed it was an assassination. Well, unimportant was a relative term, it wouldn’t hurt him to have her know about it yet it would probably be a significant event in anyone else’s life. Once or twice he’d considered trying to follow up on his parents’ death, but any evidence or information about it was likely cold and withered or locked away so tight prying it open again would be more trouble than it was worth. Amelia seemed only mildly interested though, so he wouldn’t have to broach the subject. It was clear that Kelmar’s companion had a passion for the outside world, the look on her face as she described it said as much, but she was still a long way off from convincing him. “I know what is there,” the snoop confirmed, “but why should I go there? What can I do in the forest that is worth my time? The road leads to the other cities, but none have the right environment for someone of my profession. Zeltiva may have a lot of knowledge of magic and the old world, but I am not interested in corrupting myself for a few shiny powers. Ravok is the place that I have adapted to, and it is the place where I will stay until somewhere else looks more inviting. At the moment though, that is hardly the case.” He was glad that she felt comfortable enough to speak so openly, and he didn’t want to ruin the goodwill he had earned, he was just stating things the way he saw it and his reasons for not leaving. Nodding his agreement, Kelmar stood up and offered his hand for Amelia’s glass, picking up the pitcher in the other. “I will make sure to see you again, Amelia,” he said to her, something that was between a promise and a farewell.

[Amelia Cross]

Amelia just chuckled as he spoke. It amused her, he was still so calm and calculating, does this man feel anything at all? ”I know your mind knows, I’m not saying your shallow enough to not know those things Kelmar…” she said with a bright smile, as she pointed her index finger towards the man’s chest ”but your hearth doesn’t…That’s what you need to seek things outside of this city, knowledge for your heart and soul, let it be the shiny magic or not” eventually her extended finger began drawing things in the air again, playfully doodling around his figure, but suddenly she stopped ”but then again, you’re not interested in that, you are a man of cold hard numbers, not warmth of words and the pleasure of hearing birds sing, to you those are meaningless” still she was smiling, making it clear that the comment was not intended as rude.

Amelia wasn’t exactly used to a man agreeing to part this easily, but Kelmar was different. She wasn’t sure was it good or bad, but it was clear as the water of the lake, she had yet to get to his core. Amelia stood up and she cattishly glided closer to her unusual companion, letting her finger tap on the table lightly ”I'll take that as a promise, love” she began while her eyes were looking for a sign of life in Kelmar’s, but failed as she saw nothing, empty skies ”but you should consider traveling, I could take you to places you can’t imagine…places I could teach you to enjoy”

As she was leaving, Amelia let her palm slide across Kelmar’s shoulder. No extra farewells, she was never good at those and she never liked them to begin with, she toke them as proclaiming the end, before something began. Only once she turned around to look at the man who managed to find her in Ravok. Amelia smiled a bit mischievously and blew a kiss towards him. What had begun as a simple job, evolved as a game she decided to forfeit…now it held the potential of a friendship in her eyes, until her desire to play came out. Potentially even worse, she might start looking at him as a lab rat, because he is just so different.

[Kelmar Hedos]

Listening to Amelia's lecture, Kelmar only stared ahead at her. He heard her talk of his heart like it had a mind of its own, how he had to find knowledge for his heart and soul, to satisfy them as the implication seemed to be. What was she referring to? There was nothing that his soul hungered for, or at least it had lasted this long without it, and his heart could not want for anything. Besides, how would a trip to the forest satisfy that? She was absolutely right, Kelmar was not interested in it, anything that didn't give him power was meaningless. When he stood up so did she, though while he was collecting the glasses, Amelia took the opportunity to move in closer, her fingers tapping on the table as she looked into his eyes and he into hers. Her offer was a further sign of how much success he was aving, and it was all the proof he needed that thise venture had been successful. The offer itself sounded strange though; he had not enjoyed anything in a good long while, not for over five years, so long that he had forgotten what it felt like. However, instead of eager to remember, he was in no great rush to rediscover the feeling, and Amelia's offer fell a little flat in his head. Still, it was a benchmark in his success, and he would be sure to make sure she enjoyed herself. In fact, now that he thought about it, Kelmar may just take up the offer simy because Amelia would probably enjoy herself, and if he was there then that would be all the better. Her touch was oddly relaxing, just the brush of her palm across his shoulder. kelmar did not linger though in shock of the contact, immediately heading towards the bar to return the bartender's tableware while she headed for the exit. The snoop turned just in time to see Amelia blow her kiss before walking off, the irony of the timing and action not altogether wasted on him. While the expression may not have had the desired affect on him, it was yet another milestone in his progress. Maybe he felt something else, maybe he didn't. It was hard to tell, but whatever he felt was too insignificant to tell. With a set course in mind, Kelmar left the tavern with the docks as his destination, planning to spend what was left of the day combing for information there before returning here at night to listen to drunk talk. For the moment, Amelia was already out of his mind, the focus of his attention learning more about what he could.

[Verilian]

. . Thread Award . . Amelia Cross +1 Rhetoric +4 Seduction +1 Observation +1 Subterfuge +2 Interrogation Lores: Remembering Kelmar, A game of Questions, Kelmar is a Merchant Informant, Kelmar likes a Challenge, Jeb the Bartender Kelmar Hedos +3 Rhetoric +1 Seduction +1 Observation +1 Subterfuge +3 Interrogation Lores: Attempting to be Seductive, Treating a Girl to a Meal, A Game of Questions, Amelia the Fortune Teller, Amelia has familial connnections to the Black Sun, Jeb the Bartender, Amelia is not a Citizen Expenses: -2 silver mizas You Question My Logic? : If there are any questions about your reward, feel free to PM me. Notes: Good thread, guys. I like how Amelia seems to be getting to Kelmar, even though he refuses to acknowledge it. Anyway, have fun, and keep writing! Notice As per the request of the Founders, threads cannot be graded unless your CS is up to date. This means you need to add threads to your thread list when you make new threads, keep your skills up to date, ledger, living expenses, ect. If you aren't up to date, you'll get a PM from me before i grade your thread. If you are up to date, disregard this notice.