Views from Above [Rayes]

[Gale Austin McCenry]

69th of Summer, 512 A.V.
Zeltiva's Streets and Roofs
A few Bells after Noon

"Here ya go lad." A customer said handing the artistic widower a small group of Mizas.

Gale didn't count them before putting them in his pocket and replying,"Thank you." He watched as the older man with a scruffy looking beard walked away with one of Gale's pieces.

Just finishing up his work portion of the day, Gale was cleaning up and about to take his portraits back to The World's End Grotto in which he lived in. He now had only four pictures he to take back. All pretty basic and none of them were very large. He tried to keep the drawings from touching each other because the charcoal would smear and he would have to do the picture again. Gale decided he would carry two of each of his drawings in each hand. Having the backs of the pictures against each other, it prevented smearing and a safe trip home.

After standing up from the tree he was sitting at, Gale spotted someone he recognized in the crowd. He even made brief eye contact. Oh no. It was that Vyke who had gotten him in a fight about a week ago.

Gale's face turned into a scowl but he started to walk towards home. Maybe the brawler wouldn't think anything of him and won't come by to say 'Hi'. Gale certainly wasn't on very good terms with this man and he had no intention of having a conversation of any sort with him. Unless he wanted a drawing. But for a man such as he? He doubted he would want one.

Turning around to head home, Gale hoped and prayed that he wouldn't interact with this man again. He would have liked to stay in the more active parts of the streets so he would be less noticeable but he wanted his drawings to stay smudge free.

[Ray]

Summer was an odd affair here. Especially at noon. The air was teased in a hundred different ways by a hundred different breezes, some from the sea, some from the sky, some from the mountains and some from the city itself, casting everything in a strange state of fluctuation, where one second a cold breeze might be blowing from one street and a stiflingly hot one from another. It was unpredictable. Rayes liked it. He had been in Zeltiva for less than three weeks and he was already finding himself in love with the city. It had airflow, for one thing, which was something the walled citadel had been lacking, and it wasn’t filled with painfully polite peace-planting people (Woah, Ray thought, say that five time fast). “Painfullypolitepeaceplantingpeople, painfullypolitepeaceplantingpeople, painfullypolitepleacepanting…” He shook it from his mind. Ignoring the odd looks people gave him, Ray shoved his hands back in his pockets and returned to his stroll. He was in the marketplace at high noon. The place stank of fish, but he supposed it couldn’t be worse than that kelp beer he found himself drinking again and again. People bustled by him busily, shoppers shopping, vendors vending, babies crying, dogs barking. It all blended into the familiar din of a functioning city. Here and there Rayes could see evidence of the infamous djed storm of spring, mostly just broken houses than had yet to be repaired, but from what he could tell the city was coping nicely. It was a very— —someone was glaring at him. Well, that in itself wasn’t particularly surprising, but the fact that it was in broad daylight when all other good little scoundrels were tucked away in their beds was rather perplexing. Rayes squinted. Was that…? … it was! The nice gentleman he’d thrown into a barfight! Rayes’ confused frown turned into a beaming smile as he started to catch up to the man briskly. “Bloodeye!” he said loudly, causing many people to turn their heads. His voice got lower as he neared. “Haven’t seen you round since that fight. Can’t say I blame you, though, this is a big city. How’d you hold up the day after?” He was referring to the tenancy of bruises to develop hours after a fight, remembering his own three days in near paralysis from stiffness. He couldn’t have been much worse off than Ray, as Gale had mostly been evading the conflict while Ray charged at it practically waving a little flag that said “hit me!” “Hey, are those paintings?” he asked, pointing to the things in Gale’s hands and still smiling.

[Gale Austin McCenry]

Gale's lips curled in anger when he was called by his stupid nickname again. He despised it actually. It wasn't just stupid, it made him sound like a cold blooded murderer which he clearly wasn't. But it seems he wasn't going to shake him off this time.

"The Gods must hate me." Gale muttered under his breath softly.

He didn't even turn to look at Rayes as he asked his petching questions. "Well, I managed to climb a tree but I'm sure that's not very interesting for someone who just throws others into a fight." He snapped. "And they're drawings. There's a difference. I wouldn't paint on plain paper." He rolled his eyes. "Not sure why you would care." Gale said, still not looking at the man who seemed to be very enthusiastic to see him again.

Even for someone who hasn't painted in their life would know the difference between a drawing and a painting, that drawing is done on paper and painting is done on a canvas. Painting obviously has more texture to it then charcoal anyway. Gale didn't consider the fact that Rayes might have not seen them clearly since they were moving, relatively quickly at that, and he was holding them by his waist. He just didn't have any patience with this man at all.

[Ray]

Well, climbing a tree was more of an accomplishment than Rayes had made anytime in his immediate history. “Good for you!” he said with a cheerful nod as he fell into step next to Gale. His spine was prickling with the heated, unmistakable urge to do something stupid, but he ignored it. Drawings. Not paintings. Rayes shrugged. “M’sure there is. Where’d you get them?” He rolled one shoulder, trying to shrug off the annoying tingle. He could keep it in check, at least until a good opportunity came along or he just got a really good idea. “Wait, there are trees in this place?” He had seen trees before. There were some in Syliras, but barely enough to keep a poor man’s fire going. The trip from there to Zeltiva had also shown him his fair share of foliage, but he hadn’t seen a lot of trees here. He supposed that might be caused by the fact that he usually walked around at night in a slum, but now that it was brought up he was curious. Well, not exactly, but he did want to make conversation until he could find a way to be properly reckless without any obstacles. Hmm…

[Gale Austin McCenry]

Ha! Good for you. Like climbing a tree was an impossible task. He supposed it was something to be proud of since he was so battered and bruised it was ridiculous. At least in his eyes. Then he fell out of it. The thought made him huff. Leigo wasn't the nicest either but he got a job from him and he was thankful for that.

But Rayes asking if there was trees here made him turn to Ray with a face that could easily read 'you're kidding me.' "You haven't been paying attention? I was just sitting at one!" Gale rolled his eyes with a groan and looking ahead of him, swerving away from a little boy who was running by. It just happened to be the tree that Gale and Hana sat at all the time. "And I made them myself." Gale told Rayes with a 'as a matter of fact' tone.

He didn't understand Rayes and his goals. Or what he saw when he looked around. I mean, how can you not have seen a tree? He was standing right in front of it! How could you miss it? It's like saying that you haven't ran into someone right after you did run into someone. It was completely bizarre. Everything that involved Rayes was. Everything he did was utterly random!

OOCSorry about the tree thing. I thought I mentioned he did his sales at a tree. But oh well. Play off it I guess, right?

[Ray]

Rayes automatically turned to glance behind them. Well, look at that. A tree. Gale’s mocking tone made him chuckle, but he cut if off quickly. “Made them yourself? Really?” He leaned forward slightly to get a better view of the artist’s work. “Well done. That there’s a flower, right?” Rayes had seen flowers before, too, and the marks on the paper looked like a flower. “So this how you pave your way?” he asked, gesturing the pieces. “Sell drawings?” Would explain the fighting instinct that had made itself known a few days earlier. The gentle ones didn’t get riled up often, so when it happened it was always interesting. It certainly had been with this one. It probably wouldn’t happen again anytime soon, though, so… wait. An idea started to form.

[Gale Austin McCenry]

Gale looked at Rayes when he asked if it was a flower. Ha! And the stupid questions keep coming! Sheesh! Was this guy blind?

With a scoff, he replied,"Noooo. It's a puppy." His mocking tone showing his dislike for the current conversation. It actually wasn't the conversation it was just Ray. "And yes, that's what I do. I'm an artist and that's all I am."

Gale was just ticked. That's pretty much the only way you could put it. He was just plainly ticked at Rayes. That fight could have ruined him! He could have broken his hand preventing him from drawing or painting, then where would he be? Probably homeless! He could have been locked up for crying out loud! Who would put someone in such a situation? Why would someone put someone in that situation? For fun? Pleasure?

[Ray]

Rayes kept himself from snickering. “Puppy?” he answered with equal sarcasm. “Then you’re not nearly as good as I was about to say.” A smirk was once again tugging insistently at the corner of his mouth, but it faded in the next few seconds. “Come on, you may be an artist but that’s not all you are. No one’s just one thing. You are an artist, yes, but you’re also a man that climbs trees. You’re a man that sits in a bar looking depressed. And you’re a man that pokes people’s eyes out.” He tilted his head. “And from the way you looked when I first sat next to you, you’re also someone who’s been sad before. But you look to have pulled through.” Rayes suddenly scowled. “Dammit. I hate getting insightful.”

[Gale Austin McCenry]

A low growl of anger vibrated in his throat as he commented back with equal sarcasm. What was he? An animal now? With a sigh, he let Rayes continue.

The climbing trees was off slightly since it was really only a one time thing and that was to avoid any human contact but also to be outside. Which that proved to have failed. But the depression comment opened his eyes. He didn't think he showed his sadness that much. Did he actually look like a sad, lonely man who lived in Zeltiva? Shaking the thought away when Rayes reminded him about the whole eye deal. He went to protest but Rayes, yet again, continued. He managed to bring Gale back to a thoughtful stage. Pulled through? Far from it. Faaaaar from it. A little too far perhaps.

" I'll have you know, I didn't wish to be so violent. That was a matter of self defense and nothing more. I did what I had too. I don't go up to random people and jab at their eyes." Gale replied, his tone not being as loud but not letting go of any anger.

[Ray]

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true,” he said with a shrug. “But sometimes you gotta walk before you can run.” Rayes could very plainly see the anger and hostility coming off Gale in waves, but he had never been one to try and change peoples’ opinions of him. He said what he meant and told the truth, rest of the world be damned. “S’good drawing, by the way,” he said, nodding again at the flower picture and then at the rest. “What’re the others of?” He didn’t want to do any violence today. It was fun and all, but he just wasn’t up for it after the bar fiasco. He still hadn’t seen all of Zeltiva, though. There was still a lot to explore and take in, but he wanted to do it in as much of an unorthodox way as possible. Maybe— “Hey, is this the way to World’s End Grotto?” They were on the familiar dirt path leading away from the thick of the city to a small set of hills right next to it. He knew this path.