[The Great Bazaar] A Herd of Humans (Open)

by **Asara Willow** on June 25th, 2011, 9:27 pm

Summer 21st, Early Evening, 511 AV

The Great Bazaar. A hive of human activity and a babbling brook of incessant voices. Never was Syliras wholly silent. Voices murmured, screamed, yelped, cried, whispered in all hours. Only in was there any hope of ignoring.

And then there was the teeming mass of humanity. Akalak dotted the human populace, the only real change among the lumpy crowd. It was a grave mistake to come to the Bazaar. She had only come out of curiosity. Curiosity killed the cat. She forgot that.

Slowly, with all the grace she could muster, Asara made her way through the humans. Bones like hers could be broken with the merest shove. Someone could trip her and she could be trampled. Her life could be extinguished without any remorse, and she'd become an uncaring corpse to be disposed of. She'd be dead, and her life goal would be unfinished. She wouldn't even be remembered.

As Asara slowly, cautiously, made her way through the Bazaar, tantalizing scents made their way to her. The smell of fresh bread was always especially delicious, but her venom was not adequate for the liquefaction of dough. She couldn't digest it. All the same, she couldn't resist passing by the bakery.

With a wistful sigh, she moved on to a place she could buy food she could actually digest. Fresh fruit. Apples and pears, along with the occasional peach, were her typical choice of proper food. Hunger was rampant in her stomach, her fangs were at full length, all signs of her neglect to eat something proper for over two days. But she had a good reason. She was sketching for mizas.

A particularly rough bump sent Asara into another person, and a flash of pain along her ribs told her she had met with a harsh elbow jab. The pain drew out her breath and she couldn't think for a moment, giving the person she had been unceremoniously shoved into had shoved her back. She stumbled to the ground and curled up, the image of a frightened spider trying to appear smaller in an attempt to save her life.

Pain burned her mind and made her hiss. It was her mistake to not protect her appearance in a human dominated location. Would her life end today? It was very possible.

by **Vadim Delethium** on June 26th, 2011, 1:47 am

Vadim had been looking around the bazaar looking for nothing in particular. He was thrilled by the smell of the bakery and the sound of merchants peddling their wares. He looked to the baked goods with lust filled eyes and licked his lips when suddenly he heard a thumping noise then be looked to his feet to notice one of his kind a female symenestra at his feet. "need some help?" it was rhetorical but it didn't matter he held his hand out ready to help the girl to her feet.

by **Sabrinaa** on June 26th, 2011, 3:30 am

Summer 21st, 511 AV

Sabrina had been wandering around the bazaar for quite some time now, browsing the goods and admiring the the smells that filled her nose. She had just arrived in Syliras today, and didn't spend much time getting settled in before coming here. The interesting sights and sounds caught her attention very quickly. Although, the many people that pushed and shoved her in the streets without apology quickly forced her into a bad mood.

She walked along the sides of the bazaar, backpack slung over her shoulder, making sure she saw everything in sight. If there was something that really caught her eye, she had to make sure she didn't miss it. She also watched as the other townspeople picked and prodded their way through goods. She pulled the hood of her cloak up, a self-conscious thing she always did when she was uncomfortable. She wasn't used to all of these people in one place, as when she was back home she was always working on a boat with two or three more people.

She sighed, lifting her other arm into her backpack. Suddenly, a glint in the corner of her eye caught her attention, causing her to stop in place and turn her head. A couple people shouted at her and nudged her, but she didn't care. What she was looking at was a beautiful, huge, gold ring with a beautiful diamond setting softly on a pillow of velvet. It was in a glass case of course, but she knew other ways to get around that. It had to be worth at least 100 Gold Mizas.Is it worth having to pack up and leave another town? she thought. But after a couple seconds, the obvious answer was yes.

She quickly saw that the shop owner was watching her admire the ring, and put her head down, casting a shadow on her face. She slowly but surely walked over to the shop owner, keeping her head down. "Hello.. How much for that ring over there?" I asked, jutting my head towards it. The older man squinted his eyes at her and scowled. "It's 110 Gold Mizas. Why do you ask?" he replied. Her face remained unchanged, but in her mind she was already thinking of different schemes to steal it. "Ahh, me and my husband are getting married and I'm looking for a ring for him to buy me." I said with a polite tone. The man looked at her inquisitively, but figured how much can a girl with small frame like that do? He nodded. "Would you like to look at it?" Sabrina's face turned into a big grin underneath her hood. This is all too easy...

He led her over to the case and took a small key out of his pocket and swiftly unlocked the case, setting it gently down on the floor. "It's one-hundred percent gold... That's a solid diamond set in it too." he said, felling proud of his work. She nodded, her heart starting to speed up with every millisecond. "Oh really... Where do the diamonds come from?" she asked, trying to get the attention off herself. The man's face lit up, as he was obviously very interested in this process. "Well a lot of them come from..." but that was as far as he got before Sabrina took off running, the ring in her hand. "Guards!" he said frantically. "Get her! She stole my ring!"

Sabrina took off in a sprint trying to dodge as many people as possible. Her heart was going the speed of sound by now. The only faster thing could've been was her legs, speeding her along the pavement. "Stop! Stop right there, miss!" one of the guards shouted at her. She was fast, but so were the knights.

She quickly turned the corner, leading her by the fruits and vegetables. She looked back to see how far away the knights were, but was quickly met with a smash in the face as she slammed into a body and tumbled down. "Owww!" she squealed, feeling warm fluid seeping down her head. She put her hand to her head, now throbbing and looked behind her. One girl on the floor and one man standing there too. She quickly heard the clanking of the armor not far behind her. She got on her knees and swiftly crawled underneath a fruit cart.
She looked at the man and woman and decided that everything around her looked too suspicious. "Hey! You guys! Get in here! Hurry up!" she said, beckoning them with her hands.

by **Asara Willow** on June 26th, 2011, 4:05 am

Asara lifted her head when someone had spoken, the tide of humanity breaking around the upright form of a... Symenestra? Briefly, Asara was confused as she looked up at this male. He looked so familiar... Like Velarian? Velarian who, though? What was the face to the name?

With a wry smile she accepted his help, not bothering to answer such a stupid question, feeling stabbing pain where she had been struck. Was the racism here so bad that someone would try to hurt her so bad? It felt like something was broken, but Asara hoped not. A broken bone with no way to locate the only doctor she knew would be the worst kind of pain. She'd rather suffer than give in to a human surgeon, at least she could trust pain.

As she stood, she flashed her eyes around warily for the assailant who had so rudely jostled her already damaged body. From under a table a woman gestured wildly, calling her and the male over. It was at that moment that the roar of pain in her ears faded and Asara heard the sound of approaching Knights.

Panic coursed through her. Like a nightmare her day had turned into. Were the guards going to kill her? Were they going to beat on her and do what the crowd had failed? Had this male of her race saved a marked female? Without a conscious thought, Asara acted and took the male's hand in her own, curling her pale fingers against his, and literally dragged him to the woman hiding. Every movement hurt, sending blades of fire into her body and filling her with the desire to just lie still.

She ducked down beside the female, hissing angrily at her hurt, and fit her small form neatly into the compact space. At this moment, she was glad for being a dwarf in comparison to human females. She could fit into such little spaces. Of course, with the pain of breathing and moving, Asara doubted she'd ever want to leave hiding. Let her die here and startle some passing child who unwittingly investigated the depths of a table. Her grinning, eerily fanged skull would terrorize his dreams forever.

An amusing notion, but a quickly discarded one, for Asara turned her attention to the male Symenestra and the female. Her gold eyes narrowed slightly.

"And who might you be?" She asked them both, not even bothering with a thank you.

by **Sabrinaa** on June 26th, 2011, 4:38 am

Both of Sabrina's hands were pressed on her throbbing forehead to stop the small wound from bleeding out anymore than it already was. Seriously... I'm in this place for an hour and I'm already bleeding. she thought to herself, scowling at no one in particular. She quickly glanced at the two sitting scrunched up next to her and shook her head.

"And who might you be?"

Her eyes widened and she took one of her bloodied hands on pressed it against the woman's mouth. "Shut up!" she mouthed to both of them. She suddenly heard the clanking of the knights fast approaching and scooted in even more, keeping her hand hard on her forehead, and on the woman's mouth. The group of knights stopped directly in front of the cart, tossing their heads around, trying to find Sabrina. "Let's split up!" one of them suggested. She then heard the clinking and clattering start up again, all leading in different directions.

She let go of the woman's mouth, and a huge breath that she didn't even know she was holding, and started to take deep breaths. "By the Gods, have you lost your mind?" she whispered/hollered at the woman. "You could've got us all killed!"

She put her head in between her legs to calm herself down and continued to take deep breaths. That was too close for comfort... Oh no! Where's the ring? She quickly got on her hands and knees again and started searching. "Where are you, you stupid ring? Where are you?!"

by **Vadim Delethium** on June 26th, 2011, 6:07 am

Vadim was about to ask the girl if she was ok when suddenly he was dragged to a table by the girl in responce to the beckoning of another girl.
They smashed together trying to fit under the table when the pale symenestra girl begun questioning them. "My name is Va-" he was cut off when the one they'd came to the call to hush the girl and got noticibaly nervous as some knights passed by. The tension under the table eased as the knights passed and the girl begun her search for her ring. "So that was I've" he picked the ring up from under him it was uneffected by him sitting on it. He extended it out to her "I found it."

by **Asara Willow** on June 26th, 2011, 6:58 am

The human had touched her, had clamped her big human hand over Asara's mouth, hissing for silence. Hadn't Asara been speaking softly enough for the tramp of human feet and the babble of excited voices to keep them a secret? The instinct to bite overwhelmed Asara's head. She was hungry, irritated, in pain, and her this wasp of a human was being brazen and shoving an unprotected mass of flesh in front of her.

The woman would suffer painfully. Said the stabbing headache in the Symenestra's cranium Asara managed to wrench away before she obeyed that instinct. She cocked her head as the Knights stamped off, relaxing and turning a gold glare on her fellow female.

"Shove your hand on my face again, and I'll bite it." She flashed her fangs in a threatening hiss before slowly stretching. She had felt a faint tickle of recognition at seeing the woman. She'd been one of the humans spinning by her as the Symenestra fell. Unimportant unless she'd also seen Asara's assailant.

Asara was about to ask when the Symenestra male had lifted a ring for the human to look at. Such a clunky looking object. Scowling, Asara reached out to snatch the ring away before the woman could take it, lifting it to her eyes where she could give it a close appraisal.

"Such a big ring. Is it some form of heirloom?"

by **Sabrinaa** on June 26th, 2011, 7:13 am

Sabrina disregarded the Symenestra's snippy remark, as she was too busy frantically searching for the ring. She inspected every inch of the ground around her, running her hands along the ground. Her eyes were wide with anxiety as he got up from her knees and put her hand back to her bleeding wound. "Ugh, dammit!" she cursed, but was quickly taken aback by the sharp pains the coursed throughout her head. I must've hit it pretty hard... she thought while she tried to balance her now woozy self.

"I found it."

Her head snapped toward the voice, making another sharp pain go through her skull. It was the man that she'd just been huddled in with. She grimaced in pain as she took quick steps toward the man, ready to take it, but then the Symenestra's long and bony fingers snatched it up before she could take it.

"Such a big ring. Is it some form of heirloom?"

Sabrina nostrils flared with anger as the Symenestra spoke. "Give it to me you little wrech!It's mine and nothing else matters!" she growled. She attempted to grab it out of her hands as quickly as possible. She looked fragile, and it'd only take a small amount of force to hurt her if she didn't give Sabrina the ring. She wouldn't think twice if it came back to that either.

by **Vadim Delethium** on June 26th, 2011, 5:23 pm

"if you bit her I'll get the guards over here and I'm sure you don't want that" the symenestra took the ring "such a big ring is it some form of heirloom?" "it must be" replied Vadim. "unless she is soon to be married". Vadim noticed the pain in the human girl's eyes. "Do you need some hel-"" he was cut off by the human girl "give me that you wench" Vadim plucked the ring from the symenestra and returned it to the human. "I believe this is yours."

by **Asara Willow** on June 26th, 2011, 7:08 pm

Asara ignored the pain the human showed, feeling no compassion. She'd suffered a worse wound before, something she should have died from, and this woman had the gall to act like her little cut was life threatening? Very slowly true anger was brimming in Asara, and she hissed as the male pulled the ring from her hold.

Pain flared at the intake of breath for the hiss, and Asara felt the overwhelming need to get away from these two. Let them mate and have their fun or whatever. She had no desire to be in a confined area with two distinctly untrustworthy people. Who'd ever heard of a Symenestra offering help to a human? Disgusting.

Slowly, edging her way to peer out from under the table, Asara prepared to re-enter the crowd and perhaps escape from the Syliran Knights among the human mass. They had to be useful for something, right? Still, the pain of breathing and moving gave her time to hesitate and pick a small group of adolescents. They'd be perfect.