Closed Collision! ethos and pathos

[Gilva Snowsong]

80, Spring, 514

The boy was still mentally exhausted from his perilous journey, but he knew that it would have all been for nothing if he didn't do the responsible thing and apply for school. Unfortunately, the Spring season would be ending soon and he most likely wouldn't be able to catch up to the other students in terms of material. So, he decided that he should save up his Miza's so that he could take more classes during the upcoming Summer season in order to make up for the lost time. But the lack of a job made this somewhat difficult for the boy.

Gilva left his cottage on west street, and began to walk cautiously towards east street. He had previously overheard a conversation, in which the locals had mentioned that there was a loan shark on east street. East street itself seemed to be extremely crowded at the time, everyone had to push in order to get through. After he managed to maneuver through people all the way to the end of east street, Gilva turned to see that the rumor was true, an open doorway with stairs was present. The further down the stairs he descended, the worse the boy's stomach began to feel.

Passing through the doors and entering the office, Gilva helped himself to a seat across from a wooden desk that someone appeared to be occupying. "Hello, I am Gilva Snowsong, and I have heard that this place is where one would go in need of financial services."

"I am Mark, and you have come to the right place. In order to establish a binding contract, I will need access to very specific, personal information such as how many mizas you are looking to receive, for how long do you need the mizas, what do you plan to do with them and if not?"

The boy shifted uncertainly, for he was not entirely prepared for the man's inquiries. He answered warily, "I plan to become a student at the university in the Summer, but I fear that I do not have enough mizas to take the classes that I require. I recently arrived in Zeltiva, so I would like to receive as much as possible until I have acquired a certificate, if that is possible. I promise to acquire a job as soon as possible, so that I can pay off my debt!"

The moment the boy mentioned that he recently arrived, was the deciding factor in Marks decision. He had a strict policy where he would only consider giving out loans to foreigners after they resided in Zeltiva for a full year. Even though he sounded sincere with his request, Gilva was still a child, which made him even more untrustworthy. "Sorry kid, come back again next year, you need to build up some credibility for yourself first. Don't take it personal, I have a business to run."

Don't take it personal?! he thought. How could he not take it personal? His plea was rejected, which would end up setting him back further in his educational goals by at least a full season! Gilva's eyes changed from grey to crimson red as they became filled with tears and anger. He left the office in a hurry, ran up the stairs and exited the door. With his emotions clouding his judgment, Gilva threw his backpack filled with his possessions to the ground and began to pound on it unrelentingly with his fists. The area was still densely populated, and it was by pure luck that Gilva didn't unintentionally hit someone as they were passing by. Afterwards, his eyes shifted from crimson red to a luminescent green as he began to reflect on the sacrifices that his family had made in order for him to get to where he was today. If he didn't get enrolled in the university then it would have all been for nothing. The boy slumped to the ground beside his backpack and continued to silently weep.

[Black Onyx]

x

Black had been just across the street the moment the boy had entered into the loan shark with the hood of her black cloak pulled firmly down over her head. She knew that east street was not the greatest street to be lingering in, but it was also the street where the thieves, whores and gamblers lingered and she happen to know this street fairly well. After all, she was a thief herself.

Staying as silent as she normally did, her brown hues, shrouded in the darkness of the hood, kept an eye upon the street as she had her back pressed to the wall of a building, you could never know when you might catch a stroke of bad luck. However, Black often thought that she was the shadow that brought bad luck to others, especially when she stole their purse full of gold.

She wasn't much of a socialist, not really after the death of her parents, she was thrust out onto the streets at an early age and so she learned the hard way about how hard life could really be to those unfortunate.

So the moment that a boy who had previous entered, exited 'The Mark' began to throw his backpack upon the ground and beat it with his fists, she couldn't help the smirk that found its way to her lips. He seemed to be someone who hadn't had to do a hard day's work, or work for what he had. He looked like he was someone used to getting his own way by the way he behaved.

As she continued to watch, she spied him slumping to the ground and with the shaking motions of his shoulders, it appeared he was crying. Crying because Mark declined him probably, he was lucky that that was all he did she thought to herself as she shrugged her form off of the wall. Now was the time to strike.

Silently she navigated her way through the people, making sure not to push any of them aside should she attract attention to herself. Rule number one, do not attract attention. So as she neared the boy, she reached her right hand out, her fingers snatching up a strap of the back pack and lifting it up off the ground.

Not wasting any time after she had secured this back pack, she allowed the wave of people to carry her away from the boy and his location, slinging the backpack over her right shoulder as she continued to silently walk.

[Gilva Snowsong]

The tears continuously streamed down his face as if he were a newborn, it was clear that this boy's emotions were getting the better of him. Gilva reacted as if he had reached the belly of the whale; which seemed impossible for him to recover from. The boy slowly lifted his head, and his body initiated a fall in which he intended to land on his backpack and sleep away the grief, but this was interrupted by a cruel thud. The fall of his head had not been caught by his bag as he intended, and consequently the boy managed to disorient himself.

The extent of the fall was so great that the boy's vision became slightly blurred and he was extremely confused as to what had just occurred. He had went from emotional trauma to physical pain within a split-second. His emotions were so extreme that he had inadvertently inflicted harm onto himself. But the question did remain, where did his bag go? It wasn't a feasible option for his possessions to walk away on their own. The boy then reflected on his surroundings, after all he had managed to wander onto east street. Even though his vision was still impaired, Gilva's ears worked just fine, and he was able to decipher some legible words through the chatter of the crowd. He was able to hear the negotiations between public sexual liaisons, which caused him to assume what type of area he had wandered into.

Unfortunately, the boy was unarmed because he had left his spear at home, and his only other form of protection had been his eating knife which was within his backpack. As his vision returned to him, Gilva scanned the crowd quickly noting the obvious characteristic that they seemed to share; they didn't have a conspicuous backpack. Even the more formally dressed individuals, seemed to have been carrying their items outside of plain sight. This caused Gilva to feel as if maybe he should have taken more time to get to know his surroundings before venturing out, but he had been urged into doing so because his judgment was clouded by his guilt for the occurrences that had befallen his family.

His possessions were moving further and further away from him with each passing second and the likelihood of him finding them were becoming slim. Then with a stroke of luck, he noticed a hooded figure walking with a backpack. Gilva bit his lip, it was only a slight possibility that the bag belonged to him, but since no one else seemed to be carrying a bag he deduced that this was perhaps due to ignorance on his part. And if such were the case, then no one else would have knowingly carried their bag into this neighborhood.

Reaching a definitive conclusion that this was indeed his bag, Gilva began to navigate through the crowd towards the hooded figure. "Hey! Stop! I think there's been some sort of misunderstanding. I'm pretty certain that you have my bag!" yelled the boy in the common language.

Because of his age and cultural experiences, the young and naïve vanthan had honestly expected for his belongings to be returned to him once everything had been explained. After all, a life where everyone welcomed each other and did what they could to help was what he was accustomed to. Avalthan and Zeltiva couldn't be that different, or so he thought.

[Black Onyx]

x

Black had wondered how long it would take the sobbing boy to realize that his backpack was no longer there. She had originally figured that it would take him the time it took for her to turn a corner and disappear completely.

Did she feel remorse for the boy? Hell no, she was a thief and a thief with a conscience didn't get very far. Besides, if he hadn't learned by now that letting go of items in east street wasn't a great idea, than he probably would never learn until another thief came along and snatched up the opportunity. A thief never walks away from an opportunity that could make them money.

Keeping her head down, she heard the boy's voice rise over the throng of people and she silently told herself to remain silent, do not react, do not draw attention. At this point, he could have been yelling to anyone if a person so bothered to look around to help him, which was highly unlikely.

She continued her path down east street, a firm hand upon the strap of the stolen backpack. Her direction was towards west street, but she would turn off just before then and once line of sight had been broken she would disappear into the back streets and alleyways

How long she would keep walking would be decided upon how long the boy would continue to keep chasing after her. She just hoped that once she was able to get clear of east street, she would be in the clear to just start running. The faster she lost her pursuer the better.

In hind sight, how ever, she might have had enough time to rummage through the bag, grab what ever gold was in there and anything that could be sold for mizas and have disappeared without this boy raising such a noise. Oh well, the important thing now was not drawing attention to herself as she was almost at the end of east street where she could break his line of sight.

[Gilva Snowsong]

Gilva didn't understand why the person didn't stop walking, but he quickly began to reflect on his current situation. A hooded figure was walking through the crowd with his belongings, without paying any heed to his calls. The key factor being, walking. He recalled his father's words during their journey, One way for a hunter to catch their prey, is to catch them while they are unaware. With that in mind, Gilva took the opportunity to run and apprehend the person.

Running was a lot more difficult than he had expected, but he was making progress to catching the person. In order to speed up, he had to rudely push through people rather than asking them to make room for him. This of course, made him feel guilty, and he knew that he would have to go back and apologize to everyone once the situation had become resolved. He felt somewhat relieved that he was running towards west street since that was where his house located, especially since the person's appearance was causing him a sense of discomfort.

For what purpose was there to wear a hood in the Spring? he wondered. Finally catching up to the figure near the end of the street, Gilva jumped in front of the person so that he could get a look under the hood. He suddenly felt a knot develop in his stomach as he tried to gather his breath. Running had taken more out of him than he had expected, probably because he had lacked the endurance for it.

"W-wait." The boy panted as he tried to force the words out of his mouth. "I'm sorry to have stopped you like this, and I'm sure that you are most likely busy, but I believe that you may have mistakenly took my bag. I had set it aside and it may have looked as if I didn't want it anymore, but the truth is I still need that bag."

He continued to gasp for air, but not without noticing how extremely short the person was in comparison to him. He towered over the person, which didn't allow him clear access to see the face under the hood. But alas, the lust for oxygen was so great, that he was forced to bend down and clench his knees. This action brought him down low enough to peer into the hood, and see that the figure was female. He peered at her with his green eyes, reflecting his grief from almost losing his belongings forever. Though he was certain that it was just a simple misunderstanding.

[Black Onyx]

x

The moment the boy jumped into her path, Black couldn't help the sigh that settled upon her lips, watching him try to catch his breath. What did he do? Sit around and sleep all day? He was clearly out of shape, maybe he should do more exercise than sit around being pretty.

A clean cut glare was shot towards the male as he made the effort to peek under her hood, feeling rather more defensive now. Who ever he was, he was beginning to get under her skin and she had to quickly put him back into place.

"Now you listen here, pretty boy. Here on east street, if you let go of something, it's there for the taking. I guess your mummy forgot to tell you that." Giving a soft snort, she stepped around the male and turned right just before west street.

A thought then occured to her that he being a pretty boy, he might be privledged to information that she, as a street rat wasn't and she turned back to view that boy once more. "I tell you what, seeing you're not familiar with it all, how about you take a walk with me and we can make a deal. Your backpack, for something I want."

Silently, her brown shadowed hues watched him for a brief tick her gaze flickering over the male's form. He didn't seem all that strong, in fact he seemed pretty slender. Perhaps he was a scholar? They did get their noses into a lot of things. Plus, they probably hear a lot they probably shouldn't have.

She then angled her head in the direction she was going, a smirk rising to her soft lips as she waited for the male's answer. He was dumb enough to think that she had mistaken his backpack for her own, perhaps he might be dumb enough to make a deal.

[Gilva Snowsong]

The girls words seemed to indicate that she did intentionally take Gilva's backpack. However, it was the comment about his mother caused him to twitch for a split-second. Within that moment, his eyes had flashed a mixture between green and red. But when the girl had turned to walk away; they reverted back to green. When she offered for him to join her on her walk, the boy began to feel slightly uncomfortable. She didn't seem like she intended to walk in the direction of his house, which meant that he wouldn't be able to acquire his spear. But on a more positive note, this meant that he wasn't at risk of losing his heirloom.

Since she had proposed that she wanted to make a deal with him, Gilva wondered what kind of trouble she was in. After all, it seemed to make sense to him that she had taken his back pack in order to get herself out of some sort of predicament. But how would he be able to help her? Gilva was still learning and adjusting to Zeltivan life. But nonetheless he was a Vanthan, who was he to turn down someone that required assistance?

"Sure, I could go for a walk." he said. "What exactly is there that you would want?"

It was ironic that there was something that she wanted from him. For it would seem that it was he that needed her. Even though Gilva didn't know it, the girl was taking his mind off of what had transpired during his journey, and provided him with a new stimulus. His emotions didn't differentiate between the situations however. It didn't matter whether he was mourning the curse that had befallen his family, or the opportunity to lose his belongings. Either way, his eyes would remain green.

[Black Onyx]

x

Her brown hues watched the male before her silently, taking note of his colour changing eyes. He really was something different, he was nothing this young kelvic had seen before. In truth, he was probably lucky that it was she who came across him, otherwise, he would never see his backpack ever again. The moment he agreed to come with her, she gave him a genuine smile, for some reason this kid was beginning to grow on her.

Lifting a hand to press a finger to her lips, her eyes quickly flickered around them, taking note of the people around them and doing a quick assessment. Those that were nearby were either coming from west street or heading into east, after all it was just beginning to grow dark business was beginning to pick up in east street.

Pulling the backpack from her shoulder she quickly opened it and pulled out his grey cloak, throwing it at him and closing the back pack up. "Put that on and be quiet, do not talk until I tell you to."

Waiting for the male to quickly put the cloak on, she kept an eye out for any trouble, tugging on the edge of her own hood. Once she was sure he had pulled on his cloak, she slung the back pack, back over her shoulder and grabbed his hand, tugging him back through the throng of people going the opposite direction that she had been previously going.

When they made it through, she let go of his hand and made her way towards the docks, remaining silent, her hues flickering around to make sure that they were some what along, except for the a few men, standing upon the docks as the waves gently lapped underneath the docks.

Black visibly seemed to relax as a sigh of relief settled upon her lips, finally she was kinda away from the crowds and could breathe for once. She didn't feel like she was choking anymore, or conciously looking over her shoulder.

Turning around, she pushed the hood from her head, her straight black hair, tumbling down over her shoulders, her brown eyes looking to the male. Pulling the backpack from her shoulder, she held it out to the grey clad male, "Here, your backpack and just so you know, I don't normally do this for anyone, so count yourself lucky."

Shaking her head, she turned away from him , her gaze turning to the ocean before them as the sun's last raze dappled the ocean in oranges and pinks. "Helpful hint, do not let go of any valuables and if you can, don't carry them with you, ever."

[Gilva Snowsong]

The boy's eyes had a glimmer of hope in them, and quickly flashed a shade of blackened grey, but then settled back on green. The girl had smiled at him, so he was momentarily put at ease. "Surely this meant that she was not a bad person." he thought. "Just a victim of her environment? But if that's the case, then is Zeltiva a place where any Vantha would struggle?"

When she gave him his cloak, it wasn't lost on Gilva that she made it a point to establish her dominance. Though he was unoffended by it, after all she was the holding his things. Her behavior indicated that she was clearly more familiar with this side of town than he was. As Gilva put on his cloak as he was told, he noticed that the girl was continuously looking up and down the streets, at everything but him. If there was anything that Gilva craved in life; it was attention.

Suddenly, he felt her hand on top of his. It was warm, soft, and unexpected. She didn't look at him when she grabbed him, but she managed to know exactly where he was. Gilva deduced that even though she was scanning the streets, he had to have been on her mind in order for her to have successfully grab him. Even though the girl had previously stated that he should walk with her to establish a deal between the two, the boy's need for attention was temporarily appeased. His irises were finally able to release his grief, and reflected the image projected by his cloak.

The two of them had quickly reached their destination near the docks. It wasn't as populated as east street. "Huh, there's not as many people here as it was on that street." It dawned on him that because east street had so many people on it, it would probably be a great social hub. A place where someone could get more information on the streets. Maybe he could go there, to find and/or share stories for the sake of fulfilling more of his lust for attention.

Gilva became amazed at the spectacular view that unfolded before him. The girl had removed her hood, allowing him to examine her. It was shocking that so much hair could be held within her hood. He was a bit confused, because normally in Vantha, his people would have to tie their hair to prevent it from falling out of their hoods. But he didn't see her manually untie her hair, it just naturally occurred almost as if it were its own entity. "Is this a common trait that Zeltivan's share?" he wondered.

The boy accepted his bag, and quickly placed both arms through the straps so that it would be secure upon his back. A feeling of happiness swept over him when she revealed that he was "lucky." She was pointing out that he was indeed special, catering to his desires. It seemed that he was greatly benefitting from the result of this union, in that he had been completely diverted from thinking about the past. He was too busy being flustered within the present to be remorseful.

Upon hearing the girls advice, Gilva wanted to voice his opinion in objection. He opened his mouth, but quickly remembered that he wasn't allowed to speak yet. Since he didn't fully grasp the gravity of the situation he was in, he decided that maybe it was better that she had assumed dominance. He was fine with the way things were going, for it was feeding his ego.

[Black Onyx]

x

In truth, after they had reached the docks and given back his backpack, Black had paid little attention to him afterwards, her gaze focused upon the sun that had now basically disappeared over the horizon, giving way to the darkness that would blanket the whole sky once the last light had gone.

She had fallen silent because she was more or less used to her own company and the sunset had reminded her of her own parents. It was something she barely thought about anymore, but sometimes, reminders popped up and it sent her backwards into her own mind.

Once they had told her to be kind to those less fortunate, that sometimes if you showed one act of kindness to another, it would be returned to you in one form or another. However as she had found out when her parents had been murdered late one night, that not everyone wanted to help those less fortunate and she barely earned a gold coin while begging. So she had watched other thieves as they stole gold and took off running.

It was then when she began to wonder why the stranger was quiet, that she had realized that she had told him to remain quiet and she turned away from the sliver of sun that was left, to look back at him. Perhaps, the reason she had gone against her better judgement, was because of her parent's advice and indeed she intended to collect.

"You're fine to speak now. Anyone that's left here are mostly dock workers and half the time they are only concerned about the sea or their drink." She continued to watch the male for a couple of chimes, maybe this was a mistake, but she wasn't going to voice that to him.

Turning her back to him, she clasped her fingers together behind her back taking a deep breath. "Now what I want from you is information, I want you to be my eyes and ears where ever you are. If you hear something, or see anything, I want to know about it. Understand?"

She wasn't sure whether he fully understood her but if he did what she actually wanted him to, she would finally have taken a step into the information section. Luckily for her, she wouldn't have to pay him for it, for he already owed her for giving him back his back pack. She could have easily disappeared with it, even after he had chased after her for it.

"I'll be here every night just in case you have information for me." She turned to face him, her brown hues peering into his own odd eyes, "Can I trust you to do this for me?'