[The Great Bazaar] Hunger and Poverty (Open)

[Alec Skywolf]

The Season of Spring, 90th Day, 511 AV. Evening/Night.

The usual sea of people in the Bazaar began to thin a little as the sun set. However there was one individual who would likely stay there all night. Longing for food to satiate an aching stomach. A large horned owl made his way along the food vendors. His hunger was apparent as much in his eyes as in his posture. The owl occasionally stopped and eyed a particularly tasty looking piece of meat. He was so hungry the meat almost seemed to call to him. It almost seem to beckon him.

'Alec Skywolf,' the meat said, ' come, snatch me up when the vendor looks away. I am so tasty. I am likely to go rotten and wasted if no body buys me.' It took every ounce of willpower the dusty owl had not to swoop over, snatch up a sizable chunk of cured ham and take off with it. He began to paced neurotically as if each step would somehow quell the hunger pains in his stomach.

His thought fell for a moment to the leather collar residing on his neck. If only, if only, he could get it off. Perhaps if he got the collar off and he turned himself into a human people might pity him. Perhaps people would give him money or even better some scraps of food.

The owl moved out of the crowds against an empty wall and began fussing with his collar. He tried to claw at it or catch it with his sable beak but it was in vain.

[Marc]

Marc walked through the afternoon streets for a stroll, as he often did, chewing on a stick of jerky he had bought from a vendor. He watched the people around him with a sense of detached observation. He was a third-party to their lives, and he wished it to stay that way. One always learns more when he sees the entire picture, and attachments and emotions only cloud judgement. That was what one part of Marc's mind was thinking as he walked by a particularly noisy section of the wall, and glanced out of the corner of his eye reflexively.

The other part of Marc's mind quickly asked the expected question of, 'What the hell is that owl doing?' A quick glance up towards the setting sun gave him a couple hours until darkness swept over the Syrilan lands, and he figured the owl wouldn't catch too many beasts in the bustling stone-paved streets. He let out a subconscious sigh as he made his way out of the crowd, and knelt before the peculiarly precise beast. From a distance it had looked like the bird had simply been twitching over on it's own, but now Marc saw the object it was desperately trying to remove; an especially tight collar. 'A pet owl? Maybe the owner has some connections I can use... This could turn out to be a fortunate day after all.' He wrapped up the rest of his snack in a leather pack, twine securing it shut, before setting it on the ground before him. With a crack of his knuckles, his precise fingers went in to aid the poor thing, wary of any sudden movements that would make the job wholly unworthy of the effort.

What aroused his curiosity further was the collar itself. It had only one latching, which was set as if to purposefully cut into the circulation. The owl also looked as ticked off as Marc could tell, what with his complete inexperience with actual animals. Studying them on paper and in books was one thing, but the staring eyes were a tad more daunting in reality. Figuring he may as well try and get on the thing's good side, he removed the collar and stood, hoping to get a glimpse of the sun's final moments before falling over the high Syrilan walls.

Marc thought aloud as he read the name on the collar. "Alec..." He raised an eyebrow as he thought about it for a moment, his gaze shying away from the sun's glare. "Don't they mean, Alex..?"

[Alec Skywolf]

Frozen for a moment in surprise, Alec's shining yellow eyes stayed locked on this new individual. The enormous disks that made up his eyes twinkled a golden tint in the evening sun and stood out all the more against the dinginess of his plumage. His surprise again continued as the stranger removed his collar. It was so strange to him that someone would help him with a problem that he had only wished solved moments ago. Alec thought to himself whether or not fate might be able to answer his wish of food too.

The owl's thoughts quickly shifted gears as he saw the new man take the collar into his hands. His eyes widened even more in shock and concern. With a few flaps from his strong wings the owl fluttered up to Marc's hands and a sharp sable beak clamped down on the collar and yanked it from the man's hands. 'How dare this person try to take away his only keepsake,' Alec thought. He let a small warning 'krrrraw' out to express his annoyance to this man.

A glint of silver on the collar shined in the evening sun. The shine came from a lock of beautiful silver hair tied in a tight loop around one side of the collar. The owl regarded the hair affectionately. Alec leant down and rubbed his beak against the silver lock and its scent comforted him. He was lost in reverie for only a few moments however. Alec's stomach reminded him of the harsh reality of his lack of food. His eyes fell again upon the meat in the vendors. He had completely forgotten about the man standing before him.

[Marc]

Marc cursed under his breath as the owl flew up to snatch his collar away. He also got a decent grip on the palm of Marc's hand, and the blood began to bead out from the scratch. Marc threw a devil's glare towards the beast, as his eyes began to glow a luminescent lime-green. His mind began to speed up, as he quickly pressed his other hand against the wound, lest more blood be spilled. After a few weeks of summoning sessions, Marc soon found out that his Djed had now associated a cut on his hand as a premonition for spell-casting. At first, it was only on his thumb, but now-a-days, Marc had to be careful when dealing with sharp things on his hands. Otherwise, his body began to prepare for a great deal of surging Djed that wasn't going to happen, and headaches would be the least of his worries.

He let the wound calm itself, and his eyes dimmed back to their dull green as he gazed out to the sunset. Owl be damned, Marc was done trying to play savior today. This just went to prove that he was best on the sidelines; a passive observer to the deeds of others. He pulled out the piece of jerky and resumed chewing on it as he began to stroll away. For some strange reason, his body waved behind him as he left, as if he had considered this angry bird-beast a friend.

'Last time I help an owl' was the next thought that ran through his head, as he chewed on that tasty stick of dried meat.

[Alec Skywolf]

The owl's hungry eyes locked on the meat in Marc's hand. For a moment Alec considered snatching the meat. However he felt bad for cutting the man's hand. He hadn't meant to be so rude he had just been overcome by emotion. This man was the first to show him any kindness so Alec figured he was the best chance for any sort of food.

So the owl took up his collar in one claw and followed the man like a rat following a pied piper. His golden eyes fixated on the dried meat. The scent of the smokey meat filled his nose. His ears could hear each meaty fiber as the man tore into it. And so he followed the man like any sort of stray animal might follow someone who shows them even an ounce of kindness.

His gait was a bit of an awkward one. The owl's tiny legs wobbled at double speed to keep up with the man who was easily several times his size. He didn't wish to fly though, worried that he might startled the man. Clack clack clack, his talons went on the stone floor as he walked along. Quite a few people were staring now. It wasn't every day you'd see a great horned owl walking along behind someone as though it were perfectly normal activity. But Alec paid the onlookers no heed, he was dedicated to procuring some of that delicious dried meat.

[Marc]

Marc gritted his teeth against the jerky as the pitter-patter of avian feet crept behind him. He had hoped that if he ignored it long enough it would leave, but apparently the Gods denied him any such luck. It didn't help that the onlookers, going home after a day of shopkeeping, began to stare at the pair. It was the natural response of course, but that knowledge did not aid Marc in the least. Still, if there was one thing Marc had, it was mental endurance, and he would be ashamed if he lost a battle of will with a pitiful owl.

What Marc didn't count on was the possibility that the thing would follow him all the way back to his home. When his hand went to grab the doorknob to his quarters, he found his grip to be almost painful, and in a hasty motion he swung himself inside, pressing the door closed with his body. Marc smirked a grin of satisfaction as he slid down to sit against the door. A minute passed, and the grin began to fade however, as his conscience began to run through all the owl's possibilities now. Lost in the maze of rooms in the bowels of the grand castle that is Syrilas, perhaps a peasant will find this beast and think of dinner instead of companionship. A myriad of scenarios flooded his mind, until, a few minutes after he had proclaimed victory, he opened the door and knelt in front of the persistent owl who had won over his will. He let out a sigh as he held out a decent-sized square of jerky, an expression of resignation on his face. No actual pet would follow a man to this extent, even considering food, so he assumed it alright to begin to take a liking to the thing. Stray or not, he was at Marc's doorstep, and thankfully for the poor and hungry owl, Marc's gentlemanly traits extended past the lines of humanity.

"Alec was it..? Pleasure to meet you, I suppose..?"

[Alec Skywolf]

Alec's mind had been doggedly determined to get some food from this stranger. So he followed him, on foot no less, for what would seem like forever. His legs ached slightly, he had never walked so much before in his life. How could human beings do this all day long? A few times the owl considered flying but his willpower mustered up whenever he thought of the tasty, chewy, smokey meat just paces ahead of him.

The door slammed in his face dampened his spirits a little.

The owl waited a moment. Hoping at first it was just a joke. But he began to lose faith in this theory and his eyes watered in disappointment as he turned around. Just then the door opened. The owls eyes went wide in delight at the offer of food and he did a clumsy half lunge half flutter forward. A greedy beak tore up the meat and the owl downed it in seconds.

Grateful golden disks that, were Alec's eyes, looked up at Marc. At the cordial greeting the owl bowed in as courtly a manner as he could and smiled as much as an owl could smile. Alec was truly grateful for this kind stranger.

[Marc]

Deletion.

[Alec Skywolf]

Still clutching his leather collar and lock of silver hair in his talons the Owl accept Marc's invitation to enter. Alec decided that this man had reacted well to walking before so he would try to please him by continuing to walk when he could. So he walked into the room and looked around with curious eyes.

At Marc's remark of him being 'well trained' Alec was unsure how to react. His mind went to another place and his eyes showed it. He was snapped back to the present by the man calling him up to table. With an awkward flapping hop the owl skittered onto the wooden tabletop. With one claw bunched up tight around his collar the owl wobbled slightly and balancing was difficult.

The horned plumage on his head bobbed up and down on his head as he nodded to Marc's question. But soon his curious eyes returned the room scanning it - he'd never been in a room like this one before. He'd been in a cell - but that was quite different.

[Marc]

Marc grinned madly as Alec nodded. So this owl was intelligent after all. His mind thanked the gods as he spoke, his words carrying a hint of his scholastic excitement. "Fantastic. An Owl that knows Common..." He chuckled at his luck as he leaned back against his chair. A stray thought pushed it's way to the top of his mind however, and his brow raised in reaction. The test must continue, if only for science and professionalism.

"Alec, I've seen you flutter about, and I know it's a bit cramped in here, but can you fly?" Perhaps there was an issue with the poor owl's wings that made it only capable of tapping its way around. It would explain why he was scrounging around in Syrilas, but somehow Marc doubted it.

"Flying or not, I need to write my thoughts down. Here's your test:" Marc pointed towards his desk, a few feet away, and smirked to himself. "If you can fetch me my pen and parchment, I promise you will never starve Alec. Nod if we have a deal."

Marc looked forward to this new comradeship of his.