Completed The Streets Hit Back (Black)

[Jadlin Hayes]

66th day of Summer, 514 Jad had left the World's End Grotto bells ago with a list of names he intended to visit. His intent was only to establish which person on this list might be the person who had owned the ring he'd been given when he was released from the lock-up in Syliras more than a season ago. His short imprisonment stemmed from a raid by soldiers on a cell of manipulating, Sagallius-worshiping hypnotists, and the like. These villains had raised him from birth to be their servant, both as guard and djed storage vessel. As a result, he'd never been allowed a normal childhood. Most everything beyond the walls of the well-furnished, secure and somewhat isolated villa in Syliras was new to him. It was not that he had no concept of an outside world, it was simply that he was conditioned to consider it irrelevant to his place in the world. On those occasions when circumstances allowed him to see new things, hypnosis was used to make them unimportant to him. It took a good deal of counter-conditioning to bring him out of this mental and emotional haze, at which point it was his testimony that secured convictions against these criminals. Shortly thereafter, a gifted woman gave him a ring, telling him that "The Lykata" had told her that it belonged to his father, and that he should search him out in Zeltiva. After a voyage of near 130 days, he was ready to take the next step. For all he knew, his father was dead and his family would consider him a bastard, to be rejected and dismissed. But he would know the truth, regardless of its nature. Shortly beyond mid-day, he had found it necessary to bolster his optimism with a drink. His voyage had been of sufficient length to experience pretty much every prank a veteran sailor might play on one still wet behind the ears. And he had been wet indeed! But the traditional ribbing had provided him some training in gauging when a comment was sincere. In this case, however, it did not make the thought of the kelp beer, served at the Kelp Bar, any more promising. He'd heard the sailor's stories, but he could not deny his curiosity. It was his good fortune that there were a few shipmates from his voyage already deep into their mugs, and they welcomed him loudly and without much harmony. It was not his good fortune that they announced, on his unverified behalf, that he would be buying a round for the house. There was no question his shipmates intended this gesture with the same mischievous attitude as they had on the ship, when they'd dispatched him to find a left-handed gaffe. But there were not too many patrons this early, and his eight gold mizas bought an atmosphere of friendly acceptance. Some time later, he was back outside, getting used to Syna's glare after the dim light of the tavern. His taste buds were nearly as muddled as his brain after a second round, gratefully provided by his shipmates. He wondered if he'd ever taste anything but fish scales and brine again.

[Black Onyx]

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A sigh settled upon Black's lips as she leaned her back against a random building, her gaze drifting towards the sea, as she spied the sun finally making its decline. However, it wouldn't be sunset for a few more hours yet.

Only a few more hours and she still had to do a few things and out of those few things, she had to spend two bells waiting for people to show up, if they would at all. The people she would have to wait for, would be informants and so far, they hadn't managed to dig themselves deep enough into into the Zeltivian community.

Silently, she pulled out her dagger and began to inspect the blade's edge, making sure that it was still sharp enough to cut. It was normally hidden within the belt of her black pair of pants and that wasn't the only black item she wore. It was paired off with a black shirt, a pair of black boots and a black cloak. The hood of that cloak currently pull up over her head to keep straying eyes from paying too much attention to her.

Long black hair and brown eyes were not enough to go on to say she was kelvic, in fact she looked more human than any of her fellow kelvics. However, after the death of her parents, she had made it a mission to keep quiet about the fact that she was kelvic. Better that if caught they thought she was human rather than kelvic. She didn't want to be experimented on.

It was then that her brown hues took note of a male staggering out of the kelp bar and a smirk crossed her lips, he appeared to be drunk and drunks were the easiest targets of all time. Every thief knew this, because by the time they realized that you had stolen from them, you were long gone.

Leaning forwards, she placed her full weight back upon her feet, no longer leaning against the wall and she tucked her hand, holding the dagger, back inside her cloak as she began to walk towards him. Her brown hues keeping a clear view of the pathway before her as he shoulders haunched over.

As she drew nearer, her gaze fell upon a pouch that was tied to his belt, easily accessible and easily able to be cut, with a quick slice of the dagger. Then she would be able to disappear no worries with pouch in hand.

It was then that she bumped her shoulder against the male's own shoulder and her left hand grasped the pouch, while the dagger in her right quickly sliced through the cord that attached the pouch to the belt. Having previously just bumped into him, the drunk would normally be too busy trying to get their balance back to notice these actions.

It was then that she mumbled a quick "Sorry," that she took off at a run towards the Denvali quarter, where she would eventually turn to the left to head towards the university.

Upon reaching the steps of the university, she paused, glancing over her shoulder to spy that the man had indeed not given chase. Hopefully he wouldn't even bother trying to give chase once he had noticed the pouch was gone.

Sliding the dagger into the belt of her pants, she took the pouch to look inside, catching a glimpse of... What? This wasn't coin. Quickly she took out one of the items as a curse flew to her lips. What she held in her right hand was a packet of salts and she looked back into the pouch to see a bunch of other odd things.

"Petching hell!" She cursed in frustration as she tucked the packet of salts back into the pouch. Now she would have to sell these items in order to get some kind of profit, perhaps Hannibal at The General Store might be willing to give her something.

With a grumble, the woman pocketed the pouch and began to make her way round to the store. Hopefully, the drunk would have gone by now, maybe back to his room or a ship if he sailed to places.

[Jadlin Hayes]

"Sorry" came the voice on Jad's right. A woman's voice. And one that didn't sound all that terribly sorry. Accompanied by the sound of hastening boots he turned to see a dark figure bolting toward the back right corner of town...the...uh...northeast corner if he had his bearings correct. His eyes were more dazzled by Syna's reflection on the surface of the bay than he'd expected them to be. It may have lent him a greater look of drunkenness than he was truly afflicted with. But he still knew right away that a woman had bumped him, had immediately run off and that he was going to spend the next few moments checking his personal effects. "Damn it!" he snapped, discovering the missing pouch; one of three such that he carried. It had medicines and herbs in it, the same he carried with him wherever he went. Some were for preventative measures, like the wrap of dried Elentai root, and his 3-dose packet of Myrian Salts. 'Bilge buckets! those alone are worth two gold!' he growled to himself. He didn't worry so much about the small, wide jar of Arsyna cream, now that he was out of the Eyktolian heat; and the Acson syrup was only in case of poisoning. But the cheapest item, the Sweetblossom tincture, used to combat digestive distress, was starting to feel as if might become important, the way his innards were growling in revolt against the kelp beer. Mostly though, the loss of the pouch itself infuriated him. He could get the herbs replaced easily enough he imagined, but the workmanship of the leather was not a craft to be found just anywhere. He suddenly stopped with that thought. This was a theft, no doubt. And the thief would shortly be discovering that she'd gained no coin. Not directly anyway. But she may well try to fence them off somewhere. After he'd returned to his room and attended to his upset stomach, he quickly changed into some of his lighter clothes, the ones he'd purchased in the Red Bazaar of Yahebah. It was still cold enough to justify wearing his regular clothes beneath the colorful, billowing cottons favored by the Benshira. He did not know enough about this town to presume to go carrying his bow, or worse yet, the large, glaive-like skirmish sword he favored. But there was no reason not to keep his dagger at his side. He also slipped his knuckleduster into a side pocket. He asked around, posing his inquiries in the guise of seeking a match for one of his two remaining pouches and where he might find more of the herbs he replenished the pouch with. He did not want to appear to be looking for information that might bring retribution down on anyone. Some of his shipmates had mentioned rumors of some sort of thieves guild, or cult, or something in Zeltiva. He wondered if this woman had connections with them. He was given directions to a place called "Leila's Soothing Salves", which was apparently also a clinic of some sort. Another suggestion was simply the General Store not far in the other direction. Given that the unspoken alternative was to wander East Street, hoping to last more than a bell before his throat got ventilated, he decided to stake out the two locations he'd been offered. He considered the situation. The girl had run fast. And she'd run in the direction where the clinic was supposed to be. If she fenced the items there, she'd probably already be done. Maybe she'd be more likely to go to a place where she could unload the pouch as well. This suggested the General Store, and it was only a few blocks away.

[Black Onyx]

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Black hadn't been in too much of a hurry, in fact she had made her slow way pressing through the crowds of people, making sure to keep her cloak wrapped tightly around her form.

It was then that she had stopped at the docks to pull out a carrot to eat, while her brown hues took note of the sailors moving about. Slowly, she moved to seat herself upon what appeared to be an abandoned wooden box while she chewed upon the vegetable in her right hand.

She had hoped for gold, or at least coppers when she had stolen that pouch, but instead, she had only gotten some odd assortment of things. She wasn't exactly sure what it was because they were things that Black had never used before in her life. So she hoped she could get something for them all at The General Store.

With a sigh settling upon her lips and a bite of her carrot, her left hand quickly flicked back the hood of her cloak, gently allowing the flow of black hair to tumble around her shoulders. She didn't feel threatened upon the docks, in fact she felt much more safer upon the docks than anywhere else. The docks was open, where as the streets were more closed, more places for people to hide in.

As the young woman finished off the carrot, she tossed the rest of it into the ocean and stood up, making her way to the store with a slow walk. She had most of the day to just simply relax before having to go out and meet informants. With the pouch she had stolen, she had hoped that for once she might be able to make some kind of profit for the season.

Too often, Black had found herself either giving back what she had stolen, or giving away the only profit she had made because she had caused trouble for another. At the rate she was going, she would kill herself, all because of her stupid conscious. A thief with a conscious didn't last very long and the thieves that she did know didn't have a conscious. In fact, they boasted about how much they stole on east street over a quick beer.

The young woman however, was beginning to find the lifestyle of a thief tiring, but it was her only way of surviving and the only way she knew how to survive. Pausing within her footsteps, she had stopped in front of The General Store's door, as a thought came to mind.

Perhaps she should go to Leila's Soothing Salves first, see if there was anything in there that she could sell to them and then sell the pouch and whatever was left to Hannibal. Why didn't she think of this before?

She ran a hand over her pale face as she shook her head, maybe it was because she was in two minds. Black had to get her head straight, she had to silence that conscious of hers before it was too late.

[Jadlin Hayes]

Jad hurried to the General Store and stepped in, confident that his radical change of attire would prevent recognition. Rather than scale mail, he was in light, colorful, desert style clothes, complete with the desert cowl and scarf covering his head and neck. His skin was not the olive complexion commonly found among the Benshira, but he did not expect that a native of Zeltiva would make that connection. He appreciated the no-nonsense, feel of the place, the lack of indulgent ornamentation giving way to solid simplicity. It spoke of reliable merchandise and honest prices. Jad made his way to the front counter and got the man's attention. "I'm sorry sir, for taking your time for something other than a transaction, but I was wondering if you'd seen anyone in here with a pouch of similar design to this one." He held up a second pouch, with the same workmanship and scrolling as the one the woman had taken. The man read between the lines in an instant. He looked the bag over appraisingly. "That's a fine lookin' packet ya got there, lad, but I'm afraid I'm not one to be takin' stolen goods. But sure'n I'll make a note of any man walkin' in here with one such." As he handed it back, Jad corrected the one incorrect assumption the storekeeper had made. "Well, actually, it was a woman took it, sir. I don't expect she'll be dressed the same as when she took it, but she was all in black at the time. Pants, boots, hood, cloak, everything." The man looked at Jad for a moment and chuckled, probably thinking that he was dressed just about as differently from the woman he was describing as was possible. He made a bit of small talk with the young man before him, but was soon distracted, performing a noticeable double-take in the direction of the window to the front street. "All in black, ya say? Sort of like the woman standin' out there as we speak, then?" he said, giving a pointed glance to Jad, and a nod in the direction of the door. The young man gave a look, and stuffed the second pouch inside his lose shirt, not wanting the woman to notice it in his hands. He stepped to the door and paused momentarily. The woman looked like she was about to to turn and head a different way. Jad decided to wait and see what she would do. She was still a fair distance from the store and might see him, in spite of his clothes. If that happened, she would probably run. And she'd have enough of a head start to lose him. But if she turned away, she would probably not want to bring attention to herself by running, in which case he could follow her.

[Black Onyx]

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Black finally decided on the 'petch it' idea and decided to just off load it all at The General Store and she began the rest of the way towards the building, her brown hues not really paying attention to the actual store itself.

It was only as she was about to open the door did she pay attention to the man standing in front of it, her hand pausing in mid-air as she had been about to grab the door handle. She was momentarily put off by the fact that she was trying to place him somewhere, it took a tick before she realized it was he who she had lifted the pouch from. Well petch.

The second thing to connect was the fact that he seemed like an image she was constantly faced with in the mirror. The brown eyes, the black hair, the thin figure and the pale skin. So when her own muddy hues widen, it was not only in recognition it was momentary shock. Was he like her? A kelvic? How did he even find her?

Taking a moment to regain her composure, she pulled the door open, pausing to view the male before her. Had he changed what he was wearing before? She then called out her usual greeting, her gaze drifting to the shop keeper. "Hello Hannibal! Two pounds of apples and two ounces of carrots if you can."

She didn't wanted the old man around when she began to talk to this stranger, who ever he was, he had most definitely taken the time to track her down. She actually respected that, which meant that the pouch that she had stolen from him, had more monumental value to him than any one else.

The moment when the old man disappeared out the back did she return her gaze to the man that had gone through the trouble of tracking her down. Taking a deep breath she would turn away from him as she made her way towards the counter.

"I see you took the time to track me down, it must be worth a great deal to you." Yes and it also presented a problem for her. She couldn't gauge whether he would attempt to kill her or if he himself was kelvic.

Her gaze drifted closed for a moment as she remembered her own father's words, 'Sometimes, you just have to take a leap of faith to get the answers that you need.' A leap of faith which could also mean someone's death. Gritting her teeth she opened her eyes to view the male once more before she turned to face the counter, dropping four gold coins upon the counter's surface.

"I tell you what, your pouch for an answer to my question." She lifted a brow at this as a smirk crossed her lips. "Tell me, are you a kelvic?" There, the leap of faith had been taken, now all she had to do was wait for a slit throat or just a crashing wave of disappointment. The heaven's knew that Zeltiva was full of them.

[Jadlin Hayes]

Jad was indignant. The young woman called to the storekeeper as if there was no issue to settle with him at all. "Not so fast. You can't just walk past me, acting innocent, and expect me to say nothing. You stole that from me!" The girl was making no effort to slip by, but just went on with her transaction, making small talk about how much the pouch must be worth to him, and plunking down gold mizas that Jad assumed were her gain from selling the medicines and herbs that had been inside. "Yes, it's worth a great deal to me. Almost as much as the satisfaction of an Honest miza. But I suppose you don't have much experience with that!" A hint of triumph crept into his voice with this last comment. He felt that one must have stung. If it did, she gave no sign. If anything, his recriminations only netted him a smirk, and a brash proposal. "I tell you what, your pouch for an answer to my question...Tell me, are you a Kelvic?" This stumped his gloating. 'What in Dira's dungeons does being a Kelvic or not have to do with this?' he puzzled. He'd only seen one or two Kelvics in his life, as near as he could remember. The mental slavery he'd grown up with had not given him the impetus to evaluate the nature of a Kelvic's life. All he'd known was that they were willing slaves, always milling about, awaiting any errand to please their master. But this now effectively eroded the confidence he'd had in his moral position. Would someone have assessed his behavior any differently while he was in thrall? He knew he'd been manipulated, practically from birth, with hypnosis and those weird powers that Sagallius worshipers wielded. The only thing he knew for sure was that the older he'd grown, the more his "conditioning" had needed to be reinforced. He'd never seen these "Kelvics" undergo any such treatment to inspire their obedience. But he could hardly claim to have maintained a constant watch over them. The fact was, he'd been largely indifferent to them. Had they truly been willing slaves? Or were they victims like him? But now a new resentment sparked in his heart. This girl had still stolen from him. And he'd done her no wrong. If she was trying to justify her actions on the basis of some sort of assumed right to blanket compensation due to her being a Kelvic, wasn't she diminishing the misery of HIS upbringing by assuming it couldn't have been bad just because he was NOT a Kelvic? All of a sudden, he found himself having difficulty determining just who it was he was angry at. He cleared his throat. "No I'm not. Now, I'll admit, I don't have that much experience with Kelvics. I've only ever heard of ones that were either as obedient as slaves, or feral as beasts. I can only assume you to be the former. But having a master that orders you to steal for him is no excuse. It doesn't make it right. Just because you're doing it to please another doesn't mean that no one gets hurt. Not to mention the fact that you'll be the one that takes the fall for it. My childhood was very similar, so I'm prepared to only ask for my pouch back, and forget the things inside. But I'm sure you can find a better master than the one you have now, if you try." As he went on, he grew increasingly aware that the expression on her face was not what he was expecting. He thought she'd be grateful for his "understanding" and willingness to forego charges. In his defense, he truly thought he was being magnanimous. If he'd ever had the chance to learn that there WAS such a thing as a free Kelvic, he might have realized how pompous and ignorant his diatribe sounded.

[Black Onyx]

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Black indeed felt the sting of certain words. She didn't have experience with the satisfaction of earning honest mizas, but it wasn't as if she had the chance to either and a wince had crossed her features at this.

However, it seemed he wasn't finished, his next words left an even worse taste within her mouth. "No I'm not. Now, I'll admit, I don't have that much experience with Kelvics. I've only ever heard of ones that were either as obedient as slaves, or feral as beasts. I can only assume you to be the former. But having a master that orders you to steal for him is no excuse. It doesn't make it right. Just because you're doing it to please another doesn't mean that no one gets hurt. Not to mention the fact that you'll be the one that takes the fall for it. My childhood was very similar, so I'm prepared to only ask for my pouch back, and forget the things inside. But I'm sure you can find a better master than the one you have now, if you try."

Who was once an interesting man, was no longer as she pulled out the pouch and held it for a moment in clear view of the man's eyesight. She wondered whether she should let him know that it was all still there or to let him find out for himself. She decided on the former.

Silently, she tossed the pouch to the man before turning towards the counter, unwilling to continuing looking at the man. "It's all there, including the odd items," She said softly, her voice bearing the pain she felt within.

At last Hannibal finally returned with the apples and carrots within a paper bag and he slid it upon the counter, he also gathered up her gold coins. She hefted the bag into her arms and turned to face the male behind her, her lips pressed downwards. "And for your information, I don't have a master, in fact Zeltiva doesn't deal with slaves. So according to your logic, that makes me a savage vegetarian beast, seeing all that I eat is apples and carrots."

She seemed to glare at the male with her muddy brown hues before shoving passed him and out the door of The General Store. Who did he think he was? She would rather die than serve a master, in fact she would rather rot in a dungeon. So where did he get the nerve to assume things like that?

Black made her way back towards The Grotto, each step furious with the man's words. She was right, she got one of two outcomes and part of her wished she had gotten the other one instead of the crashing wave of disappointment.

[Jadlin Hayes]

Jad stood for moment, the pouch in his hand like a badge of shame. When she turned, with her bag of apples and carrots, and delivered her scornful rebuttal, the thing that stabbed his soul was not the recrimination in her words, but the pain in her face. It made her glare less hostile, but far more penetrating. Had he really been so wrong? He didn't know where his error lay, exactly. He really had no true memory earlier than two years ago, regardless of his age. In fact, he was not sure what his age even was. All he knew for sure was that there had been no deception in those eyes. He didn't think his thought that there could be a slave trade in Zeltiva was what had upset her. Why should it? in the one hundred and thirty days from Syliras, they'd made many stops, and the slave trade had been evident in several of them. He looked up to see the storekeeper giving him directly questioning look. The words seemed to form in his head of their own accord. 'Are you just going to stand there like an idiot?' He mouthed silent gibberish for a moment and then pivoted sharply on his foot and hurried out the door. He was afraid she was going to be as fast as she'd been after lifting the pouch, but it appeared the bag of goods was slowing her somewhat. Her jogged past her and turned, walking backwards, equaling her pace. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but I really was trying NOT to be a total ass. I mean you DID take my pouch, and right or wrong, my life has left me with the impressions I described. If they're so far wrong, then please, help me understand. I can only make guesses on what I know. Obviously, it's not much, but I don't have any life beyond a couple years ago. it's just a confused blank, with flashes of images that I don't really know whether they really happened or not." His expression grew pained. "The only truth I know about Kelvics was that they served the same monsters that controlled me for as long as I remember. But they seemed not to need the endless hypnosis and...Sagallius...puppeteering to be kept to where they...didn't question anything." his gaze grew unfocused, as if looking into a hazy past. "I finally did...and they made me suffer for it...Not the Kelvics! No, I mean my mas-..." he caught himself, a look of self-loathing on his face, "...the people that controlled me."

[Black Onyx]

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Black had heard the man's fast approach and she didn't want to ditch the food that she had just bought in order to free her hand, so she just kept walking. It was then as he caught up and began to walk backwards in front of her, that she almost rolled her brown hues. What did he want now? To insult her some more?

As he began to speak, her pace slowed to a stop and she simply listened to his words. A frown creased her features as he began to talk about how he didn't have much of a memory and the difference between right and wrong. He really hadn't experienced much of life?

When his words trailed off to an end, she lifted a hand to push back a stray strand of hair her gaze watching the male for a moment. "I take a lot of purses so I'm not that offended by it, but it's the simple fact that you assumed that I could have had a better life is what got to me. I'm a kelvic, life doesn't get any better for us than this, we are the lowest of the low. A lot of races frown down upon us and some just really hate us, especially..." She paused as she pressed her lips together and a sigh finally settled upon her lips. "Especially humans."

She paused as her gaze flickered over the male's form for a moment, he said he wasn't kelvic so he must be human. "From what it sounds, you had dealings with kelvics that were bonded. They are very loyal to those they serve, although I don't have much dealings with other kelvics. The free kelvics tend to try and keep a low key and we always live in constant fear of slavery or being shipped off to Ravok for experimental purposes."

Silently, she turned her gaze away from him as her free hand delved into the pocket of her pants, pulling out a silver bracelet with a ruby attached to the end. "Memories are important so I'm sorry that you cannot remember them, for they are mostly all that we are ever allowed to keep." Her voice had been soft as she said this and she then pocketed the bracelet once more.

The young woman turned her attention back to the male in front of her and she lightly bit her bottom lip. She kinda felt sorry for him, in a way he didn't know what this life could do to someone. Plus the loss of memory, it must be hard to not know things, to want to know them and not be able to. "I... Don't know what it's like to serve a master, or anyone for that matter. For it is my fear that drives me."

She then shifted upon the spot she stood on as she realized that she had just basically told the man, who was human no less, that she was a kelvic. A bad move on her part really. Now, if she was ever caught by the guards, they might just ship her off to Ravok instead of just locking her up in the prisons to rot. "Look... I'd prefer it if you didn't tell anyone that I'm kelvic. I haven't told anyone that I am one and I don't exactly want to be shipped off to Ravok either."