Flashback [closed]Warmth Between Cold Stone [Engghaen]

[Amelia Cross]

[7th day of summer 511.a.v.]
[Syliras]
[The Great Bazaar]
[Middle-day]

Having to wonder around the city that was the citadel itself, was never something Amelia enjoyed greatly. For her, the city was full of scum. She hardly enjoyed the way the streets, or would rather call them…hallways, looked. She despised the lack of natural sunlight in the city, she hatted the way this place smelled, no amount of scented oils would help you get rid of the odor that wore on you as you lived here for longer than a few days. ”no wonder the cities bathhouse was so popular” the girl admitted to herself as she continued walking.

You couldn’t really take two steps here, without stepping in someone’s way, you would always be stepping on someone’s toe’s or be stepped one. For a girl of a small built like Amelia, a fragile frame and short compared to the tall and armor covered men walking around, she was nothing but a mouse that people would ignore. Sometimes she felt like falling, tripping…would be the worst thing to happen…you never knew just what was on the ground, no time to look under your feet, it was almost a safe death, the paranoid girl was sure you’d get stumped over.

Eventually finding her way through the market, the small shops, that not all held a welcoming smile to you….and only a few held products that actually looked worth the cost they toke from the girl. ”the price you pay for wearing good clothing” and that was true, ever since she returned from Ravok, it seemed that the city acted towards her a bit differently, nobody knew from where she came, but her wardrobe was filled with fine tailoring and her father’s behavior had worn off on her…making her act like she was of higher origins. Assumingly making people think she had more miza to spare than she actually had. The price of fine clothing.

Stepping in the bazar, the girl had already gathered most of the things she needed, including some meet and milk, bread and some sweets; now she just needed to find some herbs. Some herbal tea to be precise, from the white isle, she knew that this place held some of the best odds in finding those exotic goods.

[Engghaen]

Engghaen moved her way through the growd of people. Because she was low on the groumd, she was at high risk of being kicked or hit. And yes, there the first foot hit her and put her back some metres. Shaking her small head, she quickly tried to crawl up to avoid being kicked against once more. Petch, I'm not a ball of some kind! Go away! Put your feet on the streets instead of on me!

Why did she need to be here again? Oh. Right. She needed to go home and not talk to anyone else, her dad had told her. Stay away from other people and keep yourself on the roof! Roof, roof. She didn't like roofs! She could tumble off and hurt herself badly! That's why she was down here, anyway.

Now completely lost track of where exactly she was heading and had been coming from, the kitten sighed and searched for a place to stop. There was no place to stop, there were people everywhere. In a tiny spot in front of a bazar there was space and the kitten quickly ran towards it. She sat down, taking a breath, her small heart beating awfully quick in her chest and her breathing going nuts. This. Is. Not. Funny.

[Amelia Cross]

Amelia was knocked back once more by a young man, who appearing by the leather armor was a squire in training. ”Petchin Sylirists everywhere! Don’t you have eyes!”Amelia cursed in her mind, having enough common sense not to word her complain straight, she had learned the hard way, that a squire could do enough harm to a young woman like her, even now. ”so are you going to buy anything or not!?” the voice of an old woman called the Cross from her daze as she looked around, only to realize that she was resting against one of the bazar’s stands. Common courtesy asked Amelia to at least look around the offered things, but there was little that even caught her attention, for the most part, there were only plain looking sewing. And as much as Amelia appreciated hand-crafted things, she was not going o buy something just because she might have knocked a thing or two over, its not like it was her fault! It’s the cities fault tis too darn small and crowded! ”No, thank you, have a nice day” Amelia excused herself as she drifted into the river of people again.

Wondering off in her own world she continued to search for the tea, the tea known as the Notka rose. It toke her some time, less than half a bell, but even a chime spent in the halls was a chime more than Amelia wanted to spend in this city.

The years spent in this city haven’t done a thing for her orientation skills, she found herself walking in circles, simply due to the fact she barely saw anything, and more often than not she was distracted by the odd feeling that she was stepping on something...or someone. The thought alone made the girl do the possibly worst thing thinkable in the hallways of the citadel, stop. Yes, she was just so worried, she stopped in her steps and looked around, that didn’t do much. She looked down, and finally, she noticed a small, creature that seemed to be just as lost as she was, possibly even more hurt. A poor little white kitten.

She couldn’t let the poor creature be stumbled to death here, so in a brief opening she saw when nobody seemed to be stepping on her or the cat, she kneeled down and picked the fluffy creature carefully up with one hand. The cat was small, she wouldn’t really give it more than one year, and even if it was a domestic creature, the stepping and kicking had worn off on it and Amelia assumed it to be a simple scoundrel of an animal, somehow escaped its masters…potentially long ago. ”you poor thing, let me take you home” she somehow felt sorry for the creature, maybe even saw herself in it.

oocso, I was a bit stuck on this part and worried about not over-playing, so if I assumed too much, let me know and I’ll fix it up.

[Engghaen]

The kitten looked up painfully. Ow! Watch out with those shoes! Someone had stepped on her, again. She looked up and saw a girl kneel next to her. Carefully, she picked her up. Engghaen was rather happy she did that: now the chance of being stepped on was much smaller. Why she was picking her up, the cat had no idea. Then the answer came. She wants to take me home. Home? My home or your home? I want to go to my own home! Nonetheless, the kitten didn't struggle and allowed her to hold her. The kitten's heartbeat and breathing rhythm had now been almost fully restored and she looked up into the girl's eyes. Did she know she was Kelvic and tried to go home? Most people didn't talk to a random white cat, did they? Or she did just like cats. Or animals.

Then Engghaen noticed her tail had been stepped on and started licking it. When she was done, it went all puffy again like a healthy kitten's fur needs to be. But there was a sticky brown goo in the tip, which she could not get out by licking. She sighed. Apparently that had been under someone's shoes and landed on her tail. Her perfect, fluffy, white cat-tail. Checking the rest of her small body, sge could not find anything else. Well, yes, her back hurt and her tummy where someone had kicked her. Apart from that, she was fine. She hoped.

The kitten wondered what this girl had been doing. Why she was here. Why she had picked her up. Where she was going to take her. She did not know and the chance was small she would ever get to know it. A tiny, meaningless miauw escaped from her muzzle and she licked her beak. Did she look like a regular kitten?

oocIt's perfectly fine, don't worry! You're doing well

[Amelia Cross]

It was strange how the creature didn’t even seem to be the slightest bit frightened by Amelia. It seemed to only be common sense that an animal, who was not your pet, who you were not familiar with at all, would be frightened, no? Maybe she was paranoid from spending too much time in the wilds, there everyone was scared of everyone and that was just the way things were. ”You are one really cute kitty, just looks like the halls around here haven’t done you much” Amelia smiled and tipped her own nose against the kelvic. She liked animals, and never would she lie about it.

She toke the white, soft furred creature closer to her body, making sure that people don’t knock her or Amelia down as she walked. The shopping bag of the girl was in her free hand, occasionally hitting against someone and earning Amelia an angry glare, even a few not so pleasant whispers ”so much for the city of peace, shinning hope and whatnot…people here can’t even be bothered to be polite for one and other...I swear the maker has a sense of humor to call Ravok the city of evil compared to this” Amelia growled in her mind as she continued carrying the cat, lightly nibbling behind its ear, trying to make the creature feel a bit more welcomed in her arms.

As soon as Amelia got out of the main stream of the people heading towards the center of the citadel, it gave the girl enough time to sneak away into the mazes of the halls, into the one that led towards the living area she shared with her mother. Nothing much really, just two rooms …but it was enough for the two women. Amelia opened the door ”Mama!” she called, but no answer came, identifying that the older woman must have left for some personal business of her own. ”feel at home kitty” Amelia said as she let the cat down from her arms, closed the door behind her and put the bag away.

Amelia was sure the little creature was at least a bit hungry, so she quickly looked over the cupboards the two Cross’s held in one of the rooms, looking for a dish that would be fitting for giving some milk to the cat. Everything seemed to be too deep or too shallow, until Amelia finally stumbled upon a clay bowl, decorated with paintings of flowers. It was clean and Amelia poured in some milk and set it on the ground, then stepped away a bit ”come now, don’t be shy, don’t worry” the girl really hopped that the cat would take her offering, and then when the kitty has had her drink, she could clean out that mess it had in its tail.

[Engghaen]

Engghaen looked up. Cute? Am I cute? I always thought I was terrifying! the girl grinned in herself. Wait... Where are we going? That's not where home is! Um.. Hello? Hello-ho? Wrong home, wrong house! I find it very nice of you to take me out of this crowded place, but I need to go to my own dad! Hey! Stop it! The kitten was held too tightly to jump out of her arms and escape. She started meowing, but apparently the girl didn't care enough.

The kitten looked at the halls. She had not been here yet... Curiously, she stopped meowing and now payed more attention at where they were going. "Mama!" the girl exclaimed. So she lives here with her mother? The kitten jumped off her hand and landed a bit clumsily, with her paws spread.

What is she going to do? Food? Food! She sniffed. Yes, food indeed. Milk. W..wait... Dad told you not to trust other people. And now this girl has taken you home and puts down milk for you and you don't find that suspicious?

Carefully, she walked towards the bowl, staring at Amelia with a bit of a confused look.
Sure there's nothing wrong?
I'm sure. Very sure.
Uh-huh, it makes sooo much sense...
Shush! It's just milk okay? Who's going to poison a cute fluffy kitten?

Finally at the edge of the bowl, she stared at it. It was indeed just milk. Internally, she shrugged and bowed her head down to lick some of it up. Since she was quite hungry, the kitten started licking up all of the milk carefully. When she was finished, she pushed her nose in the bowl to lick up just a tiny bit more. Then she stepped back and sat down, staring at the girl in front of her.

[Amelia Cross]

Back while Amelia was bringing the cat to her ‘home’, she couldn’t really tell the cat didn’t have the desire to be brought there, for the simple reason of the crowd. She was so concerned on the way people bumped on her and the kitty, that she held her tight and each sign of protest was illustrated as fear of the crowd, rather than fear of Amelia. After all, she had no idea the cat was a kelvic, and the logic mind told her a scared cat should be glad someone showed them some love. Well, at least her mind told her so.

She could see that the cat didn’t however trust her, especially with the offering of food. ”Maybe the cat was hurt I the past?” was an instant thought that came rushing through the girls mind, as it was so reasonable to mistrust when someone had kicked you out before. She just couldn’t imagine who would be interested in kicking out such a cute, and clearly young creature…above all else, she didn’t know much people who kept animals at all…considering the little living space you had on average, it was not common to spare some for animals, even if they were small and adorable.

Amelia smiled as the cat finally came closer and began licking up the milk. From the looks of it she had picked up some good milk because it didn’t take the cat long to get through the bowl. The white fluffy thing then just sat there, looking up at Amelia, the girl couldn’t really understand what the cat wanted ”do you want some more?” she asked, as if she was waiting for the cat to actually answer. ”congratulations Amelia, you have gone insane, you are talking to a cat, guess loneliness does that to you” she couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she picked up the bowl and placed it on a cupboard.

She came closer to the snow white kitty and picked it up again, this time lose enough so the creature could escape if had the desire to. ”what in Rhysol’s grace were you doing there in the crowd all alone” she said while patting her head, then gently starting to scratch under her chin and behind her ear ”My mother will like you, she always wanted a cat” the black haired girl said with a smile as she placed a light kiss on the white cats head, just between the ears.

[Engghaen]

No, she didn't need to get her any more, it was enough. She wanted to change while the girl picked her up again. Oh well. I can wait. Then she scratched her unerneath her chin and the kittens muscles relaxed automatically. A soft, purring sound was produced and her head went up.

There you go... Just a little to the left and.. Oh man, yes, there! She kissed her on her head and the kitten felt a bit sad for her. If she would know she was Kelvic and needed to go home, she would probably be very disappointed. She shook her head.

I have to tell her anyway, no matter if it's now or later. With that, she jumped on the floor and sat in front of the girl. Then she changed into a little girl with midnight hair and the same big, blue eyes. Her skin was slightly transluscent and you could see her veins running underneath them if you looked closely. Then she pushed her legs up, trying to hide a little behind her own legs. "I'm sorry, I... I was trying to get home."

[Amelia Cross]

It was clear that the cat enjoyed Amelia’s care. The girl was not all that familiar with animals, and she preferred dogs to cats, but she had to admit that any animal could earn love from her even if they just looked at her. And this one was so warm, it seemed like the cat understood everything she said and answered her back in its own manner, like the cat was human even.

When the cat jumped away from her hands, Amelia was not entirely sure whether it was for good or bad. She was confused though, because it felt like the cat was getting into the love the Cross offered, so why run away? Did the cat have owners careless enough to let the cat wonder off and now it was feeling guilty? Was it such a smart creature? These questions kept on roaming and roaming inside of the head the fortuneteller usually didn’t attempt bothering with such nonsense.

But for what happened, Amelia could have never been preferred for. She knew what kelvics were, after all, Ravok had the research center and Amelia herself had met the dire of the woods right outside the citadel. But what were the chances to find a kelvic inside of Syliras? Her mind had trouble working with that bit of information, as she was sure the race had keen senses…how could they live inside this city? Even more questions, Amelia didn’t even seem to care much of the girl being naked.

”i..it’s fine, I…I was the one who toke you, I thought you were a street cat..never could I have imagined to have picked up a kelvic” Amelia had not ever met a shy kelvic, so the sight of the young girl trying to hide herself was unusual. Kelvics seemed to be completely careless of themselves being naked, usually even preferring it that way, maybe that was the reason she didn’t react in the way that an average person would…by offering something to wear. Instead ”I’m Amelia,do you want something proper to eat? I don’t think a bowl of milk was enough for a growing girl”

Not that she was ignorant, she just was used to other behavior ”are you cold?”

[Engghaen]

The cat now tried to put a smile on her face. This person did not mean to do her anything. She had just mistaken her for a stary cat, that was all. Slowly the girl uncurled herself and sat down a bit more comfortably. She fold her legs underneath her body. It was rather cold without any clothing. The girl apologised to her and you could see something warm spead over her face. A smile? Was that it? Or maybe one of those things humans tend to do? Her eyes shone in a comfortable way. She was probably trustable, Engghaen concluded. There was no way she would want to hurt her.

"..Do you want something proper to eat? I don't think a bowl of milk was enough for a growing girl." Actually, she was right about that. It wasn't much, but it was good enough to fill her for a while. Though her stomach stilll rumbled, waiting for more. It was however not very polite to ask for more, so she shook her head to reject the offer. Then she slowly started to speak.
"I'm Engghaen. N...nice to meet you. Thanks for the offer, but I'll be fine."

Then she thought again. She was freezing here. Now sitting on her knees, she saw she was much smaller than Amelia. "You are good at petting. Cats like it when you scratch behind their ears. Or at least I do. I think you would be a really good cat owner if you care for them this well like you did with me.

Though... Though I don't really like asking, I'm a bit cold. It is cold. Do you have something for me to.. Wear? Y..you do not need to, I am just asking.... "
Stuttering and a bit shaking, she looked at Amelia as she wrapped her arms around her body. The girl was now showing very typical behaviour as she stared with her big blue cat eyes.

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