Doing Something Productive.

by **Archailist** on April 21st, 2015, 6:49 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

63rd of Spring, 515.

In all the districts of Syliras, there was only one that could possibly provide any excitement; the Nettle District. Open to the elements, free from the crowded and claustrophobic little hallways plagued by careless humans who barged into each-other and shouted and.. were generally unpleasant to be around, whether forced into it or not. Not to mention that there were actual buildings.. free-standing with their own roofs, perfect for bathing on when the days were particularly hot and sunny.. just like today. The White Swan had a particularly comfortable roof to perch upon while he ate a lump of clay - the stone warmed under Syna's light and shared it as his back pressed up against the surface, spreading down through his entire body.

The only problem was that people tended to shout and scream when they found a little clay creature sitting on the roof. Utterly inconceivable, of course; he wasn't doing anything wrong, wasn't damaging the building.. it was like someone getting particularly annoyed when someone walked into a house and didn't sit on the right spot on a couch. Some parts were just more comfortable than others.. all down to preference and nothing more. Even taking steps like hiding off into the small blind spots near the edges of the roof, where the overhanging lip would disguise his presence to all but those standing a distance away that had enough time on their hands to search over the roof and find the top of his head poking out over the top.

He'd learned this the hard way a few days ago, but at least he'd managed to finish off his clay before being ushered off the roof with a chorus of curses and insults. Unlike today. He'd spent too long simply enjoying the sights and the sounds of below, the people all passing on their daily work and the few idle conversations that he could nose his way in on. Just as he was about to take the first bite out of the refreshingly large lump of clay, a shout rose up from below. "Oi!" It could be aimed at anyone. "Squirrel!" There were plenty of squirrels around here. "I thought I told you last time not to come back here, eh?!" Alright, so there weren't many squirrels that sat on this particular ledge of this particular roof at this particular time of day on multiple days... but there were still a few, surely. "You hear me, petching pottery?" Well shyke.

Several attempts to satiate himself ruined, a quick glance down confirmed it was the same guy as last time.. apparently just a regular visitor of the place. Still, no point hanging around, lest he start throwing stones again. Reluctantly he rose off his backside, pressed one foot down on the lip and somersaulted once on his way down to the ground again.. where he nearly squished himself into a puddle, if not for a quick reshaping of clay back into his legs to reinforce them for impact. Another quick roll to minimize impact pressure focused solely on his legs and spread it down over the rest of his body.. and he was fine, if not an inch shorter than before because of the force. That'd come back later, though. What mattered now was that he could still get away.. because just as the thought entered his head, the shadow materialized overhead imposingly.

True, he couldn't do anything other than stand there.. but it still made the Pycon uncomfortable, given the sheer height difference between them. Better to just make a quick exit.. and that he did, narrowly slipping between several passing feet on his way back towards the oppressive darkness of the castle proper. Shyke, if the castle roof was less guarded, I'd take several long chimes to hang around up there.. If only. The roof held the Grandmaster Chambers though.. which were always heavily guarded, along with the skylight leading down towards the Windoak Courtyard. Even going near there and he'd probably ended up excluded from the Order as the lightest of punishments.. let alone if they tried him for conspiracy or some other nonsense.

Instead, on two legs and an arm, the Pycon struggled to see through the throng to a suitable little corner to sit down peacefully and have his meal. There were so many people however that it was like struggling to see someone on the other side of a forest.

by **Alexander Ross** on April 23rd, 2015, 4:02 pm

Alexander Ross

Alexander strolled through the Nettle district of Syliras, enjoying the more less crowded areas of the city. Most of the time, it seemed like the perfect place to be, given his antisocial nature and borderline claustrophobia. Even though the boy was used to it, crowds were complete and utter torture in his mind. Too many people screaming, shouting, chattering and not to mention the pushing and shoving of pedestrians... which seemed to take quite a toll on his short temper. It always seemed that everyone had somewhere to go, even even though some might have nothing to do.

For one reason or another, Alex felt as if he had more energy than usual. It was a bit strange, considering that his main mood was always so melancholic. Of course, he knew that in his mind that having a different attitude was always better for him. At least he could relax in the evening without feeling so lethargic and unaccomplished. He even walked a bit faster than he usually did, taking quick, long strides rather than his usual slow and brisk pace. His head faced forward with his eyes being more observant, instead of focused on the ground in front of him. Although he was dressed in his usual dark attire that said one thing, his mood at the time said quite another.

Taking a deep breath, the boy began to jog. This was not something he did often, but he needed a way to burn off some of the energy he had. And to his knowledge, there was hardly any place within the walls good for running, and the area he was in now provided enough breathing room for such exercise. He panted heavily with each stride and his heart pounded, and already seemed threatening to burst from his chest.
Up ahead, a cart carrying a dozen or so bags of grain had parked itself in the middle of his path. Of course, he had half a mind to run around it, but his mind craved something more... daring.

Planning as carefully as he could, he sprinted towards the cart. It did not seem that tall, and he figured he could possibly vault over it with little trouble. Once he was close enough, he took a deep breath and leaped as high as he could. With a yelp of surprise, he just barely made it over the side of the cart. He could have stopped right then and there... if his foot had not caught on one of the bags, causing him to stumble... which also caused him to trip head-over-heels over the other side of the cart. A strange chain of reactions indeed.

Before he could even yell out in surprise, Alex felt the solid impact of the ground collide with his left side, pain shooting up his ribs. If he had not used his arm to break his fall, there was no doubt that he would have had to deal with broken bones. Luckily, nothing seemed too injured... or so he thought. Rolling over on his back, he did not even care if anyone began laughing at him. All he cared about was waiting for the ach in his side to clear up. "Petching shyke..." He croaked, followed by a pained groan.

by **Archailist** on April 25th, 2015, 10:05 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Getting around the city in such restrictive corridors was a normality for the Pycon and quite simple.. when he had use of all four legs. With three, it became a bit of a different ball-game. Balance became so much more difficult to maintain through the constant flips and twists needed to weave in and out of the many legs of many people. There was never a simple, straight line through them either - every time there looked to be a clear way through, a nice neat little path, suddenly someone would shove another person and it'd all collapse into a cacophony. He wouldn't try his luck, even if it did end up holding out long enough.. there was always the risk of one foot straying, and that was all it took.

All it took was one mistake and he'd be done. Nobody would even stop and apologize, nobody would call for help. As far as they were concerned, he was nothing more than an insect - a fly, maybe even a cockroach struggling around on the ground. It wouldn't matter whether he was a squire, a knight, the Grandmaster himself, it didn't make him any taller than he was now. Not an inch. Didn't matter whether he rejected his physical form or openly embraced his height. All it took was one tiny mistake, one slip and his life would be over. Maybe someone would slip, fall and crush him. Maybe he'd misjudge a jump and land underneath a foot.

In and out, between legs he ran, swapping back from leg to hand to leg to hand in a spinning cartwheel barely held in check by his tail flicking all over the place to keep a direction going. It wasn't just tracking one person, it was literal hundreds as they came and went.. some went faster, others were more aggressive and kept pushing others out of the way. A few knights passed in heavy stomping plate-mail, making their presence well-known and giving the Pycon plenty of time to distance himself before they marched through, parting the crowds as if they simply weren't there in the first place. You were either stupid or extremely unfortunate to try and challenge a knight to a shoving contest.. stupider to try and get in their path.

Then came something that abruptly made Arch very happy for choosing the Nettle District. A wide, low-hung cart filled with produce slowly edging itself along between the thick crowds. In other words, a perfect ride. He could climb onto the side or the back.. even just walk along underneath it and immediately be freed from the effort of dodging around people's ankles. Heck, if he could find a good spot to sit on it, perhaps he could finally dig in to this clay he'd been carrying all the way there.

As he turned towards it and picked up the pace, a yell caught him off-guard. It wasn't even from Alex, but someone a few steps to the side struggling to get out of the way of.. a flying squire tumbling right towards the Pycon. You're not serious. A weird first thought but about the only one that Arch was capable of before instincts kicked in and he launched himself into the air in a rolling dive to try and escape the impact zone. If he'd not tucked his tail in tight against his lower back, Arch likely would have lost it as the impact slammed down mere inches away. Whatever excuse the boy had, it wasn't good enough. The squirrel could have died. Very quickly. Quite painfully.

As soon as the scene had settled, he finished his roll by winding up onto one paw and balancing there as his legs swung back around in a half-circle.. and slammed straight into Alex's cheekbone from above, after a lot of clay gathered up into his foot to ensure a good impact. He needed to vent some anger now.. words weren't going to cut it by themselves in this case. "WHAT THE PETCH WERE YOU THINKING?!" He had just the right mind to land another kick but he didn't want to bring it too far. Not to say that it wasn't pretty intense already.. but the boy had brought that on himself by trying stupid shyke in a crowded street.

by **Alexander Ross** on April 27th, 2015, 2:56 pm

Alexander Ross

As the after effects of the impact settled in, there was an aching pain in the boy's ribs. Unfortunately, he had no armor on at the time, and it was likely that he may have actually cracked something, although he hoped with all of his being that he did not. It was bad enough that he had tried such an idiotic maneuver in the first place, earning an injury from it would only put a bad stain on his reputation... which was something that he would much rather live without. Of course, there was always being known for trying to jump over a cart, and failing in general.

For a moment, Alexander lay there in pain, not even caring if he was probably now the center attention of the entire street. The only thing that mattered in his mind was how much his side hurt, and how dazed and out-of-place his mind felt. It felt as if his body had finished flailing, but his mind had not. It was a good thing that he was already on the ground, or else he would have collapsed. Luckily he had not jarred his head too much, which would have made his day even worse. Better to have a few broken bones than a cracked skull and possibly a brain hemorrhage...

A second sudden impact to his cheekbone and an enraged shout in his ear was enough to snap him back to reality, and his eyes glanced around in confusion. He slowly sat up, rubbing the spot where he had been hit. "Ow... Seriously?" He demanded, searching for the culprit. Hit the living petch out of a man while he's already down... Real smooth... He thought, too confused to even be angry. Of course, he had absolutely no room to talk about what was "smooth".

It took a moment, but his greenish-blue eyes settled on Archailist, and the boy blinked. "Arch...? What the Hai is..." He shook his head and carefully stood up, using the low-hanging cart as support. He rubbed his arm, feeling most of the pain begin to fade away, but the pain on his cheek still lingered. The last thing he needed, another bruise, but at least he did not seem to have any major injuries.

by **Archailist** on April 27th, 2015, 6:18 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Arch was getting ready to launch another kick down onto the squire when Alex turned his head and stopped the squirrel mid-swing. Immediately he recoiled. "Alex?!" Alright, he had to admit it.. the last place he'd expected to meet the squire was trying to jump around wagons. He'd never seemed.. well, athletic. Then again, it made perfect sense for him slamming his face into the floor. The anger ebbed with a face to match the crime.. something more like sympathy bordering pity followed it as he tried to help Alex back up.. not that it did any good at all, but it was still the gesture that counted. "Come on, on your feet.. jeez, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you. What the petch are you doing?"

By now, he was struggling to make himself heard over the other passing people along with the wagon-driver that'd stopped to check whether the boy was alright.. and whether his produce was still undamaged and intact. Mostly the latter with how he only passed a few murmers of concern immediately washed back up into the backdrop of noise. His wagon was blocking the way. If Arch could help it, he'd rather get out of the way before any real shouting started. "C'mon, this way." Once it looked like Alex had composed himself again, the squirrel tugged firmly on his ankle to drag him around a corner and out of the way of the bulk of passers-by.

"You're petching mental, you know that." Now that he had time to compose himself, he felt like hitting the squire a second time as well. Some people might have called him excessively violent but he could be damn sure they'd do the exact same, if not more, if they were nearly killed.. by someone they thought was their friend as well, if not at least a good acquaintance. "You don't just run around, trying to jump over carts! You'll hurt people, never mind getting yourself hurt." Speaking of which. ".. How's your cheek, by the way? Sorry about that." He still felt a little guilty about smacking someone while they were down.. especially fellow squires with no intentional provocation.

He desperately needed to curb himself - last thing he wanted to do was to end up like Ball, smacking people around just because he could. That wasn't the kind-of squire that he wanted to be.. and because of that, it wasn't the kind-of knight he wanted to be either. Everyone knew stories of Mona Reeves and the like, constantly badgering their squires and testing them to new limits. Heck, Arch had caught signs of Eyris occasionally. Endless challenges and the like, testing his patience above all else. It might all have been for the better but that didn't mean that he wanted to do it himself to others. He could barely land a good kick on Alexander and not feel bad about it for chimes afterwards.

Bandits were one thing. They wanted to kill and steal and all that shyke and they deserved everything they got, from a life in the mines to an arrow through the throat. Squires and other civilians were something else. "I think I know someone who's good with salves and herbs, if you want me to take you there?"

by **Alexander Ross** on April 30th, 2015, 3:16 pm

Alexander Ross

Taking deep breaths to slow his racing heart, Alexander allowed Arch to lead him away from the bustling crowd of people. As it turns out, his little stunt had not captured too much attention. If anything, most of the people that walked by only regarded him with nothing more than a surprised glance, before continuing on their way. The only other person who seemed concerned besides Archailist was the driver of the cart, and even he seemed to be worried more about his supplies than the boy's well-being. Unbelievable... He thought, rolling his eyes. It was almost as if the people in this city cared for no one but themselves. Of course, he would most likely just shrug it off if someone began worrying about him, but it was hard to believe how inconsiderate the people of Syliras can be.

As Arch began to apologize, Alex shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It happens all the time. I can't exactly say I didn't deserve it." He said, shrugging his shoulders. He had never seen the Pycon that angry before, and truth be told, he had not expected him to get so apologetic all of a sudden.

"Mental?" He chuckled at this. "Oh, yeah. I know this. I guess it comes from a difficult childhood... or just feeling hyper out of nowhere. I don't petching know." He replied. The sad thing is, Alex had most if not all of the requirements that would catagorize him as insane, or at least very mentally disturbed.

Instead of rolling his eyes like he usually would during a short lecture, he listened and nodded when the Pycon began questioning him. "Yes, I know. I'm sorry, I just... have a lot more energy than I usually do at the moment, and well, I need to do something productive." He said, glancing back at the cart. "I guess... on the bright side, no one was hurt. At least, not seriously." He shrugged again, turning back to the squirrel statue. "I don't suppose if it's much to ask, but... do you think you could help me get better at..." He gestured awkwardly with his hands toward the cart he tried jumping over, not knowing how to but it in words without making himself sound like an idiot. "That? You know, jumping over things? Well, that is if you have time." He said, then shook his head at the final offer. "No, thanks. I'm fine. At the very worst, there might be a bruise there later on, but I'm sure it's nothing serious." He replied, rubbing his cheek.

by **Archailist** on May 3rd, 2015, 6:54 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He never had a problem telling when people were joking about something - he wasn't some social reject. However, when Alex tried to pass his injury off as nothing, Arch spend chimes mulling over the words in his head but they still didn't make sense. "You... you get kicked in the face by clay squirrels often?" Whatever Alex decided to do in his social life was none of Arch's business but for several long ticks of staring, he wished that he knew more about Alex.. or maybe nothing at all.

"Well.. look. If you feel that way maybe you should try getting rid of it.. somewhere outside the city where you're not going to end up injuring people and nearly squishing Pycons to death, intentionally or not." Maybe he'd slipped a little there by pointing that out but Alex's 'nobody got hurt' mentality really struck a chord in the clay squirrel's nexus.. because if someone did get hurt, by hurt meaning squished to a little clay pancake, then they'd all regret that they'd not done something sooner. Ignoring the damage that could've been done until it's actually been done.. well, that just wasn't going to end in anything other than misery for everyone.

And speaking of damage, there was going to be plenty of it if Alex was actually serious about wanting to learn acrobatics. "Woah, woah woah woah..." Immediately he raised both paws and backed up a few steps. Truth be told, it was the first time someone had actually asked him to teach them anything.. but then again, he wasn't good at teaching and there was one big, glaring problem that stood between them. "You want me, to teach you, how to jump. You think I could teach you if I wanted to?" In case Alex didn't yet have the picture, the squirrel gestured down his entire body with both paws. "I'm a Pycon, you're a human, I'm a squirrel, you're a human.." The list went on and on and on but those were some pretty big hurdles to cross regardless.

"I mean, look, it's not that I wouldn't like to..." A big, bold-faced lie. He was a terrible teacher and he knew it. ".. But I don't think I can teach you because.. well, I usually use my tail to help balance.. I shift my body weight by moving clay. You can't do any of those things, I don't think, shyke I've never seen any of you people grow a tail so if you can then that's great.. if not, I don't see how you're going to really benefit from what I have to offer." By the end of his little speech, his shoulders were shrugging, arms stretched out and a small frown stretching his muzzle.

by **Timothy Mered** on February 22nd, 2016, 1:22 am

Your Righteous Reward!

Archailist (a.k.a Squirrel)

XP :

Lores :

Alexander Ross

XP :

Lores :

Note: I am not 100% sure about what I did with the shield points. Then again, they're both citizens so if Archailist is assaulting Alexander, I guess that ought to count.

If you have any questions, concerns, remarks, or comments regarding the grade, please send me a PM and we can work something out.

Closed Doing Something Productive.