New Acquaintance [Valerius]

[Bunielle Birdy]

34th of Fall, 512 AV It wasn't quite what Buni expected, but Ravok wasn't bad city. Well if you don't count the slavery, the cruel people or the constant bad mouthing one could hear on the streets. The city by itself was pretty... well most of it. Buni had started to feel alittle better in the last couple of hours, she has started to get used to the city and it's pros and cons. Although, the girl wasn't very sure if it was because of the hottness of this particular day or because she stopped paying attention to the staring at her people, but her body stopped shivering. The huge fear had dissappeared from her blue eyes, leaving them clean and warm. She still tried to stay away from the more crowded places, not wanting to end up with broken bone or with colar around her neck. She was starting to feel so much better in the new city, so much more comfortable than at the beggining, but the lack of place to stay and the thought that she could easily end up as a slave to someone, was bringing part of her old fears appear again. It was noon and Buni was tired, having no more than half an hour of sleep in the last two days. She had no idea where she could sit for a rest, so she started looking around untill something caught her attention. It was a cafe. On big sign, over the wooden door was written 'Yae Varone's cafe' . The girls face lit up and she walked to the door, oppening it. The bell, hanging over the door jingled, showing the people sitting in the cafe that someone has entered. A couple pairs of eyes turned to the peculiarly looking, newly arrived girl. The blue eyes of the girl, shining in clean, innocent blue were wandering around the room as the people were staring at the chaotically scattered around her face reddish curls. The rather fragile, glass-like bone structure of the girl was pretty visible under her thin white dress. Buni ignored the weird looks pinned to her and stepped in, closing the door behind herself, walking towards one of the few free tables. By the table was standing tall boy, holding a pice of simple black cloth, cleaning the tables surface. More careful look, at his thin body, fragile looking frame, sharp black nails and greyish skin, confirmed that he was Symenestra. The girl carefully touched his shoulder, trying to get his attention and then fastly pulled it back, softly speaking in perfectly accented Symenos. "Can i sit here, sir?" The boy looked at her, surprised by the use of Symenos but then fastly stepped back, looking at the floor. It was forbidden for him to talk, or to even look at the costumers. His had to simply to clean the tables. Nothing more and nothing less. The girl frowned strangely, wondering what she did to scare him away but then, she noticed the faded pink lines around his bare neck and wrists. Buni realised why he acted like this... He was slave... It was painful to look at him. "Anything wrong miss?" The crude voice of a man sounded from behind her. She turned around to see bulky, muscular man, much older than her. His eyes were narrowed and pinned at the Symenestra, who was like shrinking on his place, staring at the ground. "Uhh no, i-i'm okey..." Her voice shivered softly as she moved eyes from the man to the Symenestra. She felt guilty, knowing she got the boy into trouble. It didn't even crossed her mind that something like that could happen. Her clear eyes settled on the men, hoping to distract him from the boy. The man turned his cold eyes to her, sliding his estimating gaze from her head to her toes. "As you say, miss." She opened her pretty mouth to say something but after a moment, she preffered to stay quiet. Carefully, the girl sat on one of the chairs, arranged around the table, still looking at the Symenestra. She didn't want him to get hurt. Although she didn't even know his name, Buni was too fond of his race to just pass by, without caring. Once again, the thick voice of the man, pulled her out of her thoughts. "My apologies for him. I'll take care of his bad manners. Anyhow, would you like something to drink, miss?" The man said with still cold voice, looking at the Symenestra. He was angry and it was sure that the spider-boy would end up badly hurt. The girls eyes widened as she heard the threat in his voice. It wasn't fair at all. Buni had the urge to stand against the man and just try to defend the boy, but she knew it would be useless. A soft, barely loud enough to be heard sigh, escaped her lips. "Nothing to apologise for, sir. Ummm... mint tea?" He nodded and turned to the Sym, narrowing eyes. His voice sounded even colder and Buni noticed the anger mixed with pure cruelty in his eyes. "You! Clean the ladys table and be carefull where you look!" After this, the man walked back to the bar, giving order to a girl, sitting behind the bar, to prepare the mint tea, and the boy fastly cleaned the table infront of Buni. She couldn't stop herself and softly whispered in Symenos, knowing that the words were useless and had no actual value for others, but the girl felt the need to say it. "I'm sorry..." Her voice was quiet enough to be heard only by the bent over the table Sym. He nodded . A soft, light gesture, only visible for the red haired girl, sitting by the table. The boy wasn't mad at Buni. He knew, he didn't deserve the apologize, neither the solicitude he discerned in her soft words, so he just walked away, not wanting to cause any trouble to the strangely concerned for him girl. People like her were rarity. It was better this way... or atleast thats what he thought. Buni was actually tearing inside. She hated this feeling. The burning guilt in her heart was making her eyes water and her nails dig in her palms. It was the worst thing she ever felt...

[Valerius Nitrozian]

It had been a while since Valerius had visited his favourite cafe. Things had been exceptionally busy at the Kelvic Research Institution where he worked. His aunt, the head researcher, had kept him busy nearly all day long, a circumstance that he didn’t entirely appreciate. He was her nephew, not her slave, but criticising her was unthinkable if he wanted to learn from her. So he’d cleaned cages, fed the creatures and occasionally tortured them when they didn’t obey, sincerely hoping that none of his rich and famous acquaintances would ever find out what exactly he was doing. He’d told everybody that he was his aunt’s assistant, that he helped her with her experiments since no Nitrozian in his right mind would ever voluntarily clean cages. As always Valerius used a small boat to reach the cafe. Walking was for commoners, for servants and slaves such as the one that drove the boat and made sure that nobody bothered his master. While Valerius entered the cafe, the slave – a dark skinned man who’d originally come from the desert – remained in the boat, without food or drink. It wasn’t particularly warm that day, so Valerius had decided that the slave wouldn’t suffer too much if he didn’t give him anything until they were back home again. Yae Varone’s cafe catered to the richer citizens of Ravok. Most of the patrons were finely dressed, but Valerius was more elegant than most of them. He wore a fine suit in black and silver, cut after the newest fashion and shimmering black leather boots. A few patrons turned their heads towards the door as he entered, recognizing him. He nodded at them and made his way over to a table at the back of the room – and then he abruptly froze. He recognized that language! Volinir, the useless creature that had once been his slave, had spoken it (and most likely secretly said bad things about him). He turned around and looked at the young woman, ignoring the Symenestra she had talked to completely. He wasn’t worth his attention. „You speak their language, miss?“ he asked as he approached her table. His surprise was obvious. „Where did you learn it?“ As he waited for her answer, he studied her. She didn’t seem to be of mixed blood – she had red hair, just like him – and neither did she look like the kind of low life that willingly associated with such creatures. She looked normal. So how was it possible that she spoke their language so well?

[Bunielle Birdy]

As a matter of fact, Buni still felt incredibly guilty. Although after she though about it, maybe the nod she got from the Symenestra was meant to show her he wasn't mad... Some part of her was still wondering why does she care so much but she didn't really payed attention to this particular part. She sighed softly and shook head, trying to free her mind from the heavy thoughts, causing a couple of her curls to fall infront of her face. She stopped digging nails in her palm and her gentle fingers entwined with the necklace around her neck, as the fingers of her other hand traced the lines on the wooden table, trying to distract her mind. She didn't even noticed the elegant man, walking in, untill he stepped near her table and spoke to her. "You speak their language, miss? Where did you learn it?" Buni turned her crystaline blue eyes to him, slightly startled and frowned alittle. The man infront of her seemed rich and she wondered why would someone like him, talk with someone like herself. A minute passed, untill the girl realised that he was asking her question and the only thing she was doing, was to stare, so she nervously pushed one of the fallen infront of her eyes curls behind her ear and answered him quietly. "Y-yes i... i do speak Symenos... Sir... I learned most of it from a Symenestra girl, that i used to know when i was little..." The girl voice faded as she said the last words and with an efford she managed to look away from his eyes. Normally, she wouldn't answer a strangers question but something in him untangled her tongue. She always felt this strange timidity when having to talk with people from the higher class. Her hand, the same one that was playing with her necklace a moment ago, slid over her pale, bare shoulder, gently rubbing the place where her glass-like bones were gently sticking out, hardly standing the urge to look at his eyes again.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

As the woman just stared at him for a while instead of answering his question, Valerius made a face and secretly wondered whether she was deaf or whether there was something wrong with her brain. She wasn’t entirely unappealing with her curly hair and her blue eyes, and she seemed to have decent manners – which was something that a lot of people were lacking - but unfortunately she seemed a little mentally challenged. There was always something wrong with people. It was unfortunate. „Symenos“, he repeated and nodded, relieved. Not deaf then, not retarted, just a little slow and lost in thought. It wasn’t perfect, but he was willing to tolerate it for now. „Was that girl your slave? Your servant?“ he wanted to know. He needed to find out how far her association with that creature had gone. Having slaves teach you was entirely acceptable, but friendships between members of different races were frowned upon. Valerius himself had played with a child of mixed blood that had been a slave in his father’s household, a long time ago, when he had been a little boy, but he had quickly stopped once he had learned the truth about this world and that he belonged to a superior race. „I owned a Symenestra once. All he did was drink. He was rude, he didn’t obey, and he had absolutely no manners. He would sometimes say something in that strange language of his, but he never translated it for me, not even when I threatened him. I’m almost glad that he ran away. He was nothing but trouble.“ „I still wish I had understood him though.“

[Bunielle Birdy]

The girl suddenly felt shy and her cheeks turned pink. She wasn't used to being included in conversations... especially with people like him. He seemed very serious and by the way he talked, she could see that he is very well mannered and has his own opinion about the world. „Was that girl your slave? Your servant?“ It took just a couple of secounds for the girl to answer this time, in fear that he would get annoyed. He seemed very smart and was pleasurable to talk with him. "N-no... she was... i guess i could say friend...." Her voice shivered as she spoke quietly. It felt good talking with someone who actually listens... A soft smile appeared on her lips and her eyes shined softly illuminating the room softly. She liked his voice... It sounded gentle and calming. The human found herself wandering again and got scared that he could have asked her something and she didn't heard him again, so she turned her shining eyes to his face, studying him. There wasn't any sign of question in his eyes and she calmed down abit. Her lashes fluttered softly and her fingers found the silver delicate silver chain around her neck. Not knowing why, the eyes of this stranger, staring at her, made Buni blush . Feeling the soft chill up her spine, made her fragile body shiver... Strange... She felt different... There wasn't any trace of guilt in her mind anymore....