Closed A Stack Of Parchment

[Tsaba]

8th Summer, 513AV

Tsaba hadn't really been prepared for the sheer amount of note-taking she'd be doing when she first bought her supplies. But that was okay. She was going to solve that; she was going to make sure that the couldn't possibly run out of paper mid-chapter and interrupt the flow of her studies ever again.

She was going to buy an absolutely ridiculous amount of parchment.

The weather was lovely, a light wind tousling her mostly grey hair as she strode through the streets. She would have skipped, if she thought she wouldn't trip and probably break something. Instead she moved briskly, giving other people a wide berth when she could.

Judging by his stare, the shopkeeper also thought that one hundred sheets was a ridiculous amount of parchment for a student to buy. But he didn't complain as he counted them out while she picked out a few spare quills and some extra ink. Tsaba reflected that she probably should've brought a backpack as she balanced her parchment in the crook of her arm and carefully pocketed the smaller supplies. This thought was validated when, two steps outside the shop, she tripped. Tsaba landed hard on her knees, the vials of ink mercifully unbroken, but the stack of parchment landed heavily in the dirt and that wind that had seemed so cheerful began to scatter it, sheet by sheet.

BOUGHTBought: 100 sheets parchment (20GM); 2 quills (1SM); 2 vials of ink (4GM)

[Adoros]

Nothing satisfied Adoros more than wandering, both in mind and in body. Not cooped up in the orphanage, with crying babies and nagging adults to constantly interrupt his thoughts, but free to roam, free to go wherever he pleased. The young orphan was certain the adults didn't want the children roaming free, but until they stopped him, Adoros wasn't going to stick around. He couldn't think, couldn't function properly there. Here, though? Here was blissful. Where exactly here was, Adoros was uncertain, but that didn't bother the boy. He knew he was in some mercantile district of the city, where hawkers cried their wares and shopkeepers negotiated on their doorstep. Dozens of voices melded, forming a cacophony of noise that was music to Adoros' ears. So, shifting his backpack filled with his necessities, Adoros set off into the crowd. Adoros tried to stay on the edge of the crowd, so the masses of people wouldn't block his view. The child had no intention of buying anything this morning, but he enjoyed to look at the various wares, listen to the haggling of the merchants, witness the sealing of deal. Inspiration for a good story could be found anywhere, and Adoros didn't want to miss a good story ever. Sadly, a story was not to be found this morning for young Adoros. What he did find, though, was a gray-haired woman fallen over on the ground. From Adoros could draw from observing the scene, this woman had just exited the shop with her newly purchased supplies, and fallen over. The paper she had been carrying was being scattered by the slight breeze, and from the looks of it, no one was helping her. Several other individuals walked right by without little more than a glance. Adoros could just do the same; he could walk past her and continue his wandering. Instead, he squatted down and began to recover the parchment for the woman. Adoros didn't know what inspired this action, but he didn't stop and ponder it either. Using his right hand to hold the majority of paper in place, he would reach out with his left and grab the loose sheets, sticking it in the pile once they were retrieved. He didn't look up from his task to see the woman's reaction. If she were to help, he would gladly accept the assistance; otherwise, he would continue regardless. Once all of the paper had been collected, or atleast the majority of it, Adoros would finally acknowledge the woman, waiting to see what she wanted done about the paper. Recovering the paper was the easy part; the hard part of interacting with this woman would soon follow.

[Tsaba]

"Thank you, young man," Tsaba said appreciatively, taking the paper and climbing to her feet. "I don't know what I'd have done without you." She took a good look at the boy -- he was dressed well enough, but a little on the thin side. Poor, but probably not homeless. It wasn't always easy to tell, though; street rats took what they could get, and sometimes circumstances led to them being more nicely dressed than better-off kids. "I am Tsaba, by the way," she added, trying not to stare. It had been a very, very long time since she'd seen a street rat. Or any child at all, really, although she supposed there must be some running about the market that she simply hadn't noticed. By the gods, she'd never been that thin, not even after her parents had died; Craun may have never had much money but he'd always kept his foster children well fed. Anything else invited disease. But the kid looked more calm than hungry or desperate. Detached and watchful, she supposed; he watched her like the botany techs watched mosses as they poured philters around them.

"Say, how would you like to help me carry this stuff back to my dorm?" she asked, taking half the parchment stack and offering it back to him. "It's a little heavy for my knees. I live over at the university, and I can pay you two copper Mizas for your trouble."

[Adoros]

Thankfully nothing this woman said to Adoros required a verbal reply. She did give her thanks to the child, which Adoros merely nodded in response too, but other than that, she seemed to just ramble on. That didn't bother Adoros much; it seemed people didn't stop talking just because somebody around them couldn't converse along with them. Not that this woman even knew Adoros was a mute; she talked so much that even a well-spoken individual would struggle to get a word in. The woman did give Adoros her name, Tsaba, but Adoros gave no response to this. Hopefully this woman wouldn't mind that he left out his own name. Standing there, Adoros definitely felt this woman's eyes on her. It wasn't just as if she was looking at him; she was analyzing him like an animal or something. This part Adoros was used to; he was often stared at by the other children at the orphanage, even before they knew he couldn't talk. Those kids knew he was different without even asking, and differences are what gets people noticed. No, it was the words that followed the stares that tensed Adoros' up. Did he want to help her carry this stuff back to her home? It was a statement like that that a kidnapper would tell a kid, and Adoros was definitely a kid. After living at the orphanage for a year, he had heard plenty of tales of the dangers a kid can face in Zeltiva. East Street was definitely the breeding ground for such danger, but danger could lurk anywhere. Was this lady a danger to Adoros? For the first time since he helped Tsaba, Adoros actually looked at her. She wasn't a big woman, gray-haired. She reminded Adoros a little of his grandma, who by no means was a ferocious woman. Oh, she could smack Adoros up his head if he was trouble, but only if she could catch him. The woman said it herself that the parchment was difficult on her knees; could she possibly wrestle Adoros to the ground if an altercation were to occur? Part of him told him to run now, and the other part told him this situation was safe enough. Adoros finally accepted that he could outrun this woman if the situation arose. He was hoping, though, that it wouldn't go down like that, since this Tsaba seemed innocent enough. With a slight shrug of the shoulders, Adoros accepted the stack of parchment Tsaba handed to him. Again, no words were needed in this situation. Tsaba didn't know he was in fact a mute orphan. To her, he was only a street rat. And Adoros was completely fine with that.

[Tsaba]

Tsaba smiled and led the way back towards the University. The kid seemed cautious, as anybody in his situation should be -- if he was homeless, he was in constant danger. And if not, well, somebody still might hurt him. "My name is Tsaba, by the way," she said as they walked. She took his silence as yet more caution. Fair enough. Perhaps opening up a little would help? "I'm new to Zeltiva. Came here to study. Thus the, uh, parchment."

Nothing. Okay then. She let the silence stretch as they moved through the marketplace, then down the road towards the university. She was careful not to do more than glance at the boy, not wanting to seem threatening. Not for the first time, she was pleased with her habit of choosing middle-aged bodies; not only did people not look at her oddly when the joints started to wear, but she was generally assumed to be fairly harmless. At least, in comparison to big, burly male bodies. Women her age were expected to be harmless, and hobble a little when they walked, and rambling on about nothing or slipping into silence were both tolerated. Women, that is, her body's age -- Tsaba had considered trying to reflect her own age in bodies as accurately as possible, but they were already so worn out by the time they died that there was no point.

As they reached the dormitory building, Tsaba handed the boy a couple of CM as promised and held the door open for him. "Coming in?" She'd really rather not carry the entire stack up the stairs herself, but honestly, she wouldn't blame the kid for leaving.

"Bought"Adoros' assistance -- 2CM

[Adoros]

Adoros was by no means a big child. He wasn't that tall, heavy, or strong. Add all of that together and you get an awkward trip through Zeltiva carrying a tall stack of parchment. All of the paper was pressed against his face as he walked, so he had to crane his neck to see Tsaba walking beside him. The musk of the paper was filling his nostrils, causing him to sneeze several times during the trip from the market to the dormitories at the University. Furthermore, he had to practically waddle the entire way because of the size of the stack, making each step uncomfortable. Overall, the trip was not fun. It would've been better if the old woman had continued her rambling; atleast then he would've had something interesting to listen to. Alas, she fell as silent as a mute along the way, so Adoros entertained himself by watching his surroundings. Eventually, though, the duo did in fact reach the woman's dorm. The woman asked if he was coming up. Adoros looked at her, contemplating what to do next. He could just leave now, leaving the woman to fend for herself. To a point, that was a wise decision, since Adoros knew little about this woman. But looking at Tsaba, who tripped on solid ground, couldn't possibly walk up stairs easily with so much parchment to carry. She would certainly fall, probably break her neck. How bad would Adoros feel if he heard later about the death of a student who fell down stairs? So Adoros shrugged, and waited for Tsaba to head up the stairs. He didn't know where her room was, so for now, Adoros was following her lead.

[Tsaba]

Tsaba smiled as she led the boy up the stairs and into her room. She put her stack down on the desk, and only then did it occur to her that the kid was quite frail and may have had trouble with the distance himself. It wasn't really fair of her to ask so much of him, especially for a couple of copper Mizas. She took a good, proper look at him, this time not through the eyes of a curious stranger, but through the eyes of a doctor's assistant. He wasn't sick, nor was he starving... but Zeltiva's frequent food shortages and plagues put hi at risk of both. She, of course, didn't have food in her room; she'd never had need of it. She glanced about.

"Thank you so much for your help, young man -- I'm not sure I could have managed without you! I really should do something to show my appreciation. How about I buy you dinner? Are you hungry?" After a moment, she realised she didn't even know the boy's name. "I'm Tsaba, by the way."

[Adoros]

The stairs proved treacherous with a tall stack of parchment laden in your arms, but Adoros managed to follow Tsaba without stumbling or falling. He followed the woman into her dorm, mimicking her actions and movements. When she set her paper on the desk, he put his paper on the desk. When she looked around the room, he looked around the room. When she thanked him for his services, he happily returned his thanks. . . Just kidding. Adoros actually shrugged it off, waving his hand nonchalantly as if to let the woman know that it wasn’t a trouble at all. When Tsaba asked him if he would like some dinner, Adoros knew the game was up; he couldn’t put this woman off with shrugs and hand gestures any longer. This woman was delving into conversation that mere body language couldn’t properly communicate with any longer. Immediately following the inquiry about his hunger, Adoros gave a quick thumbs-up to the woman, with a forced grin to go along with it, letting Tsaba know that food was in fact good. Adoros felt the rumbling in his stomach, knew that he was in fact famished. He had been walking a while before ever meeting up with this woman, and the walk from the shop to the university had taken its toll on the child. Dinner with this strange lady would be nice. That had to wait, of course, for Adoros to explain himself to this woman. Holding his index finger up to the woman, signaling to wait for a moment, Adoros walked over to desk. Picking up Tsaba’s parchment gently, he set it aside, opening up a small space for the child to write on. Once this had been done, Adoros reached into his backpack, which he always carried on him, retrieving a small black book, along with a quill and vial of ink. Setting all of his items down in an orderly fashion, Adoros flipped over to the first page (this was a brand new book bought only days before). Then, Adoros wrote. Dipping his quill into the ink, he meticulously wrote at the top of the paper “answers to commonly asked questions” in big, definite letters. This used up most of the ink on his quill, so he dipped once more, pausing to look at the woman for a moment, as if to judge her reaction. And with that, Adoros returned to his writing. He wrote a single sentence on the page, but with this once sentence, a story was told about this child. Returning the quill to the ink, vial, Adoros lifted the book carefully and showed Tsaba the sentence he had just written. “My name is Adoros and I am a mute.”

[Tsaba]

Tsaba silently cursed herself as she read the boy's words. She should've guessed. It's not like she'd never had to deal with worn vocal chords before, she should've known why he was so silent. She hoped that she hadn't offended him.

"Ah, I see. Well, Adoros -- did I pronounce that correctly? -- I'm sure we'll be able to find something at the market." She headed back out, holding the door open for him. Perhaps she should keep food of her own, for guests. But she probably didn't have enough guests for it to be worthwhile.

Tsaba lapsed into silence as they walked. It was sort of difficult to keep up conversation with a mute while on the move. She reminded herself to keep her pace slow enough for a human child to match easily. Once at the market, though, she hesitated; she had very little knowledge of the actual layout, let alone what to actually feed a kid. Bread? Porridge? She vaguely recalled eating a lot of porridge as a child, but her circumstances had been rather different. Did they even sell porridge in markets? She turned to Adoros and smiled. "What would you like to eat?" she asked, waving one hand towards the stalls in a 'pick anything you like' sort of gesture. She was content to follow him from there on out.

[Adoros]

It was always difficult for Adoros to reveal his inability to speak, since he knew any further interaction was definitely going to be different. Walking with Tsaba to her dorm earlier this day felt. . . normal. Just two people who didn't know each other, didn't know their limitations or their weaknesses. They treated each other as normal individuals, without changing who they were to accommodate them. Tsaba talked non-stop, while Adoros just nodded and walked along. Why couldn't a mute be treated normally? It started with Tsaba asking him if she had pronounced his name correctly. Granted, it couldn't be helped, since Adoros couldn't actually say the name aloud so she could hear it spoken properly. Despite this, Adoros often wondered why someone would ask such a thing; why ask the mute if they had pronounced their name correctly? If they had shaken their head no, were you going to wait for the mute to write out the proper pronunciations for the syllables in the name? Of course, Adoros merely nodded, but this was his inner thought process. And by no means did his mind slow down after Tsaba spoke with him. Adoros noted a few things when Tsaba headed to the door in search of food for young Adoros: 1) Tsaba didn't have any food in the house to give him and 2) she was holding the door for him. Adoros shrugged both of these realizations off in the end, though. For the food, this may have been her shopping day. As to the holding of the door, Adoros may have been thinking paranoid. Why, though, would Tsaba let the child walk up the steps loaded down with parchment before she knew he was a mute, but wouldn't let him open the door after she found out? Most likely, she was being nice, but Adoros was still making connections. Despite Adoros' brooding over the situation, he was still grateful for this woman and all she was doing. She had given him some money, and was buying him a meal too. Even when she gestured with her hands around the market once they had arrived- another one of those cliche actions that people do around mutes- Adoros was glad for this woman's generosity. With her offer to pick whatever he wanted, Adoros set off, in search for his food. Wandering among the stalls, Adoros found himself moving away from the grains and the meats, all of which were probably uncooked or unprepared for immediate consumption. His eyes locked on to a section of the markets where vendors were selling dried fruits and vegetables. Eyeing dried cherries resting in an open crate. A small-wiry man was watching over his wares noticed the child heading towards his stand, most likely with Tsaba on his heels. "Care for some cherries?" the man said in a tone that suggested that they were the best thing this duo could buy for the day. Pointing at the cherries while looking at Tsaba, Adoros waited to see how this woman would react. She had the money, not him. He just waited, ready to savor the taste of the cherries in his mouth.