A Pretty Face (Caela)

by **Lucian Hill** on October 15th, 2014, 2:50 am

Fall 17th, 514 AV - Early Morning

A slight chill was in the air that morning, touching the tip of Lucian's nose as he paced through the Castle Commons at a speed faster than walking but much slower than running. He stopped, peering from beneath his hood, whose only purpose was to protect him from the rather crisp air, and took in the Castle Commons. The cold kept the entire place from smelling as bad as it usually did, and even at this hour the place was occupied with a few people attempting to get food while gang violence was at a low point.

Syna's arms reached across the sky more visibly, and warmed the frozen bodies who slept in the streets that night. He drummed his fingers against his side and pulled down his hood, his white hair catching in the sunlight. He glanced around while moving, slowing down to avoid suspicion, and found himself in the center of the commons. His eyes fell onto a pretty face in the crowd, doing something or other this morning, probably for the same reason everyone else was out - to avoid the violence that was almost guaranteed to crop up later that day. He had a desire to catch her attention that was a mixture of curiosity and appreciation - it seemed a rarity that such a pretty face was found outside of a brothel, and even there they were scarce. He himself barely knew why he walked up to her, but he indulged this compulsion regardless. He walked up behind her, tilting his head in an almost bird-like fashion, and spoke, hoping to catch her attention.

"Syna ain't the only beaut'ful thing out this mornin'."

by **Caela Dorin** on October 17th, 2014, 11:12 pm

The streets were not safe. Sure, it was Sunberth and the streets were never safe but this was different. The gangs were ripping chunks out of each other and other people were taking advantage of the chaos by using it as an opportunity to deal out death and pain themselves. It had been going on for days and Caela had seen the evidence of it. Gangs encroaching on territory that wasn't theirs, people attacking others just because the time seemed ripe for it, rape, murder, robbery, a crime free for all. Yesterday, she'd been lucky enough to avoid bumping into a bunch of Daggerhands, the shattered gang out and about once more in what had previously been their territory she believed. That had changed the nature of the game.

Noven had agreed to help train her to defend herself but that had only been two days ago. Just because something had been discussed and the wheels set in motion didn't mean that she was now safe. The young woman was still frightened by the blood that she came upon in and around the Sunset Quarters, the screams that rang out in the night and the sobbing women and children who'd been unfortunate enough to survive horrific ordeals. Such circumstances would frighten anybody but for someone as vulnerable as her, who made such an appealing target, it was considerably worse.

There was safety in numbers she knew. If you were hidden within a crowd you were less likely to be picked out. People needed to eat and in Sunberth there was one main place to go for food: Castle Commons. It wasn't a place that Caela went to if she could help it. It wasn't a location that appealed to her, too noisy, too crowded, too smelly. It was one of the main centres of humanity in the city and thus one that she preferred to keep well away from. A busy tavern was usually more excitement than she would like but today, the Commons seemed a refuge. Violence wasn't likely to affect the trade in the place too much, the presence of hired guards a strong deterrent.

The dancer had made the effort to appear demure. The clothing was plain, opting for pants rather than a skirt because she didn't want to attract attention. The sight of her legs would certainly turn heads, even if she tried to hide them behind stockings she knew that that would probably only make matters worse. A cloak had been wrapped around her torso in an effort to obscure it. Her hair she'd tied back so that it was pulled from her features in a way that made her look more severe, a lock of hair carefully tied to hold the ponytail in place. Cosmetics were out of the question and she'd partially obscured her face with her scarf and also thrown it over her head as well. Before she'd left her room, she'd made the effort to disguise her normally confident and exaggerated walk. She tried to keep her steps small, to avoid swinging her hips as she was wont to do and to drag her feet a little too.

Once the blonde felt confident that she could go about her business unnoticed, she set out for her destination. It was still early but hopefully not too early to stop their being moderate activity in that marketplace. Her head was kept down, her pace unhurried as if she wasn't concerned about anything. She was in no hurry, didn't want to make herself conspicuous by appearing to be one. The expectation of being stopped was there though. Her nerves remained on end until the Commons came into view, the sight of people moving backwards and forwards and the sounds of activity were a welcome relief from her anxiety. Somehow she managed to keep up the pace she'd moved up thus far instead of running into the area that seemed to her to be sanctuary.

It wasn't long before she was mingling in amongst those who'd decided to brave the place despite the chill and the early stage that Syna's light was in. Many didn't notice her, she was just another face in the crowd and so she was jostled and pushed along with everybody else, the cloth covering her head dropping to her shoulders from where she didn't bother to retrieve it. The dancer tried to move with the current, no particular destination in mind as she tried to pick out individual voices, searching for snatches of conversation that interested her.

"Bes' yer gonna find roun' 'ere, I tell ya. If ya-"

"She 'ad 'er baby day afore yes'erday and it's a bonny-"

"Well those Daggerhands stopped me and told me that I had to join them." The dancer perked up at this latest voice, the information intriguing her enough that she tried to stay near enough to overhear of what it had to say, no easy task considering that she couldn't just stand still anywhere. She pretended to look over the contents of one stall, moving onto another when the voice seemed to change direction. "There they were throwing their weight around like they never left. You'd actually think that they were still a top gang, like nothing ever happened to them, I mean those of us in the Sun's Birth-"

A gap had opened up around her without her fully noticing it, too caught up in where the conversation was heading. It was this gap that someone chose to step into and address her. Just when what she was eavesdropping on was on the verge of being informative. How often did someone openly admit that they were a member of one of Sunberth's top gangs while out doing a spot of shopping? Not many. Worse still, he chose to come up behind her this complete stranger, his voice loud in her ears. She stepped forward and spun, staggering backwards into another person who shoved her forwards again, slamming her into the white - no blonde - haired man who'd spoken to her. It was a very fine how do you do being crashed into by the person you just complimented. There was a moment of confusion upon contact, the blonde immediately trying to get away even as she spluttered out a mixture of obscenities and ordinary speech.

"Petching- What are you doing? Will you, will you get away! Shyke!"

by **Lucian Hill** on October 20th, 2014, 8:03 pm

His hands were held up in surprise, a slight gasp escaping his lips. Such an adverse reaction should have been expected, and yet it was unexpected, at least in his case. She wasn't pushed into him particularly hard, but he felt a twinge of guilt for scaring her so badly. She was pretty, but on closer inspection it was obvious that she was trying to hide it. He was incredibly stupid for coming up behind someone now obviously trying to hide themselves.

"I'm sorry. I'm not going to hurt you." He forced himself to sound as genuine as possible. A hand almost reached out to touch her arm, but he stopped himself short as he realized it would only make this particularly upsetting situation worse. No one was watching them, no one cared. He was pushed from behind into her almost as soon as he spoke, and he stepped back just as quickly. He didn't want to scare the poor girl again. Lucian glanced around the Castle Commons, seeing a vendor selling nuts. He eyed the almonds in particular, and looked back at the girl.

"Let me buy you some food." He motioned with his arm, walking towards the stand. If the girl followed him, he'd buy her some almonds. Even if she didn't, he was going to buy some for himself. He quickly pushed his way through the crowd, standing in front of the stand with his hand in his pocket, counting his mizas by touch and size. There were 6 silver mizas in his pocket, which meant that he luckily had avoided getting his money taken while he was in the Castle Commons. He looked at the vendor.

"I'd like some almonds, a couple handfuls of 'em." His hand still rested in his pocket, touching the mizas as though if he didn't, they'd get taken from him. Knowing Sunberth, however, that was most likely true.

"4 silvers." Lucian pulled them out of his pocket, careful to hide them in his hand so as to not let everyone and their mother know exactly where he was keeping his money. He knew keeping money in his pocket was a stupid idea, but as he hadn't another place to hide it to begin with, he settled for carrying only a few silver mizas around in his pocket with him at the most, and more if he were so inclined - perhaps if he had an actual destination in mind or a specific purchase he was going to make. The man eyed Lucian as he placed the money on the stand, and the raven eyed him back, as the almonds were poured into a small and most likely dirty burlap sack. He didn't care, he was hungry. Snatching the burlap sack without so much as a thank you, the raven turned around to see if the girl was still there. If she was, he'd hold out the almonds to her as an offering and apology.

by **Caela Dorin** on October 22nd, 2014, 9:12 pm

She hadn't meant to shriek at him, the agitation in her voice sure to draw attention to herself, which was the very last thing that she wanted. The dancer stared at him, stopping herself from backing away any further in case someone else threw her into him. He apologised, his words seemingly genuine but his actions suggested otherwise. The words were hardly out of his mouth when he was lurching towards her. Another shriek issued from the blonde, wordless this time. The danger seemed to pass just as quickly as it had arrived, the man stepping away and leaving the dancer something of a nervous wreck. The young woman was torn between wanting to run and wanting to cry, the sudden appearance of the youth leaving her heart thrumming quickly in her ears.

His offer seemed as abrupt as his appearance and he gestured her towards one of the stalls before setting off that way himself. Caela watched him go, too stunned to know what else to do. Someone knocked into her shoulder, jarring it and making her flinch away. Standing still wasn't an option and she wasn't going to hear anything now with her nerves gone and her cover blown so she crept towards where the man had gone. It took some pushing but she was soon within a few feet of him, the young woman standing off to one side of the stall he'd stopped at as she watched him.

He was just paying for something and so the seller was able to switch his attention to her. "Can I get ya somethin'?" he asked, waving his hand over his wares. The sales pitch was coming she knew so she interrupted him hurriedly. "I don't want anything, I'm with him!" Her head jerked in the direction of the young man who was offering her the contents of something in a burlap sack. The young woman didn't even know who he was yet she'd attached herself to him without a moment's thought. Her gaze went from the seller to the sack to the face of the blonde man. A hand was stretched out tentatively and dipped into the depths of the sack to draw out... a nut?

She was very much aware of the stall owner's gaze as she nibbled upon the morsel, suddenly paranoid that everyone was watching her as her gaze darted around her. He had her nerves completely gone. The rest of the nut was shoved into her mouth and she stepped away. The dancer had no intention of staying around and finding out who the man was or why he acted the way he did. Sneaking up on people, trying to give them nuts, strange man. Let him go about his business and let her go about hers. The blonde turned and attempted to mingle amongst the crowd once more, adjusting her scarf as she went. Hopefully the stranger wouldn't follow her but she wouldn't be surprised if he did. He'd approached her in the first place after all; he wasn't likely to let her go that easily.

by **Lucian Hill** on October 25th, 2014, 4:34 pm

The girl was eccentric. She yelled and squealed and turned into a nervous wreck at everything, the raven noticed. The girl yelled something about being with him to the vendor, which was a surprise, but she seemed to have different ideas today. He watched her take a single almond from the bag, nibble on it, and run away. The apology of food was apparently not enough today.

Some people.

Lucian watched her leave for a few ticks before going after her, clutching the burlap sack in his hand tightly to avoid spilling anything that he spent someone else's hard-earned coin. He followed her, bumping into people without so much as a 'Sorry.' or 'Excuse me.' This was Sunberth, and he'd probably be shanked for that language. The girl stood out just a bit in the crowd, even as she attempted to hide, simply because she was cleaner than almost everyone else around her. Her clothes were relatively clean, her skin t shiny with days old grime and sweat, and even when he ran into her, she didn't smell like a Sunberthian should. Her reactions made him think of her as a native, but her hygiene suggested foreigner. Either way, she was interesting.

He didn't want to seem like he was following her, and as such tried to keep himself from appearing like a stalker. He attemped to make his way beside her, running into spare shoulders and the occasional elbow into the ribcage, and made his presence known before speaking.

"Are you sure you only want one? I'm Lucian, by the way. You don't have to share your name." The curiosity was killing him, but he didn't want to scare her off again by asking for something as trivial as a name. If he saw her again after this, he'd be able to recognize her simply because of her appearance.

by **Caela Dorin** on November 1st, 2014, 11:48 pm

Sunberth was made up of all sorts of people. Some of them were quite strange and it seemed that that blonde haired man was one of them. Harmless perhaps but she didn't know. He'd approached her in what could be seen as an innocent manner but that didn't mean anything at all. No one in this city could be taken at face value. Yet he had seemed a little soft in the head perhaps, short a few faculties that might help him to realise that his attentions were unwelcome, even creepy.

The dancer wasn't willing to risk a glance back, afraid that she would draw the man's attention back to her if he hadn't made a move to follow her as yet. There was also the fear that she would find him right behind her. It was a terrifying idea and a distinct possibility as he seemed to have no qualms with appearing directly behind her; he'd done it once so he could do it again. If he had chosen to follow her then Caela could only hope that the crowd would hide her from view. It was growing busier with each passing chime after all and so the swelling numbers would keep her from that man's sight. Still it put her on her guard, which was probably a good thing considering where she was.

The tension that affected her posture was forcibly relaxed so as to hide her inner anxiety and better blend in. Again she tried to go unnoticed in amongst the shopping denizens. The woman become as ordinary and unassuming in appearance as she could make herself although she feared that some of the confidence that was normal for her seeped into her steps and the way she held herself. She forced her head to bow, scarf carefully tucked around the blonde strands that might have slipped into visibility as she muscled her way through the market. For all her attempts at acting and trying to hide herself, the blonde was horrified to hear and then see the stranger from before. The man was dogging her steps! Wide eyes were turned upon him as he made his presence known once again.

"Oh no..." Her groan at the sight of him was a soft one, the words mumbled almost below her breath but if he could read lips he'd have some idea of her soft words. The woman shook her head, both a negative to his question and an effort to shake away his presence. The shaking stopped when she realised that it could mean that she wasn't sure about wanting another almond. She didn't want to encourage him to stick around to force more nuts upon her. Not that she disliked them or anything, just didn't particularly want his continued company. The blonde didn't want to know his name either. "Charmed," she murmured, the one word dripping with sarcasm. "What do you want with me? I've no interest in talking to you know. I told the vendor I was with you so be wouldn't bother me that's all. So what do you want from me, huh?" If blunt honesty didn't get the messages through that he was unwelcome then she'd just have to find some other way to lose him and stop him from following her from this place.

by **Lucian Hill** on November 2nd, 2014, 7:37 pm

Lucian sighed, sticking one of his hands in his pocket. He backed away from the girl after her sarcasm and anger. He had apologized, hadn't he? Though now he realized that his increasing efforts to apologize to the girl would be seen as creepy, and even unwanted, despite his best intentions. He shoved the bag of almonds into his other pocket, holding up the now free hand defensively.

She was angry, rude, and stunning to look at - though he knew that the first two were mostly likely his fault. People generally did not appreciate it when someone came up to them, out of nowhere, hit on them, and offered them almonds. Hai, he'd hate it if someone did that to him, for sure. He simply shook his head, running a hand through his hair.

"I jus' wanted ta say sorry." He turned around after this statement, meandering off at a casual pace, as to not draw any attention. It was strange for him to apologize, but he legitimately felt bad about scaring the petch out of this poor girl for no good reason. His mind wandered to what could've happened if he didn't act so petching creepy, but he quickly thought of something else, not wanting to dwell.

Sunberth was full of scary people. He didn't blame the girl for being so on edge - if someone had done what he did, he'd be on edge too. The raven thought about the situation, and realized it was one of the few situations in which he had done something truly, incredibly stupid, and in the city of anarchy no less. He rarely did anything without trying to think it at least part of the way through, and he did this without thinking of anything. It was something he hadn't done since he was incredibly young. And because he saw a pretty girl and wanted to be nice.

by **Caela Dorin** on November 3rd, 2014, 4:17 pm

.

Her manner towards him seemed to have done the trick. He started to back away, not intimidated by her but more resigned to the fact that she clearly didn't want him near her. It gave the dancer a sense of grim satisfaction to know that she could chase a man off even if she wasn't quite capable of flooring one yet. Soon, she promised herself silently as she watched impatiently for him to go his own way and let her go hers. It almost seemed as if he was going to try to engage her in further interaction. His parting words suggested that she might have jumped to conclusions about him. His intentions seemed to have been innocent enough but the dancer wasn't going to call him back now. Just because he hadn't been a pervert didn't mean that Caela wanted anything to do with him.

She watched his retreating back until the crowd closed around her and blocked him mostly from view and then turned her back on him and headed in the opposite direction. The young woman felt that her feeble disguise was well and truly ruined now, too many people likely to have caught sight of her natural manner during the interaction with Lucian and the brief exchange with the stall owner. However that didn't mean that she couldn't try again. Keeping an eye out for the stranger just in case, the blonde slipped out of the market as inconspicuously as possible and went on a circuit of Sunberth. A brief stop in a clear alleyway saw the readjustment of her disguise before she continued on her way, allowing herself to slip back into that walk that she'd devised earlier before making her way back to the Castle Commons. Her scarf was wrapped entirely around her hair this time to ensure that not a strand could be seen. The cleanliness of her locks was as likely to make her stand out as their colouring.

Avoiding eye contact with any people that she passed and careful to keep her scarf in place as she navigated the place, Caela continued her mission to overhear any tidbits of rumour that she might be able to glean although no one would surprise her this time. She was sure that she could pass within a few feet of that blonde man again and he wouldn't recognise her. She would only stay for an bell or two and then make herself scarce. Things would go as planned from now on.
.

by **Orion Michaels** on November 24th, 2014, 5:09 pm

Lucian :

Caela :

Notes
Delightfully awkward. Nice thread you two. Let me know if you have any questions!

Completed A Pretty Face (Caela)