Flashback The Magpie and the Seagull (Kirvan)

[Ray]

Summer 9th, 510 AV As always, Ray was looking for trouble. Well, that wasn’t what he always did; a good portion of his time was also spent causing and dealing with said trouble. But it seemed to him that it always took longer to find trouble than it took to take part in it, and then the trouble would be over far too quickly for his liking. Still, hunting for trouble was amusing. He noticed a lot of things when he kept his eyes peeled that he wouldn’t have otherwise. It was early morning at the docks. He’d spent the night on someone’s roof, as he often did these days, and was wandering the streets in an attempt to find something other than yawning Knights. Oh, he had enough money to rent a room at an inn, but if he had wanted to do that then he would have just gone back home and slept there. He didn’t sleep on roofs because he needed to; he slept on roofs to make a point. Granted, it was really only a point relevant to himself, but it was still a good one. The point was freedom; the knowledge that he could find himself somewhere warm to stay but that he didn’t have to was a fine thing to know, indeed. He kicked a stray bit of wood into the water. The earliest and most dedicated of sailors were out and about at this hour. Most of them were either captains or first mates, being sure to check their ships for undesirable occupants, be they rats, cats or stowaway children. Many of them had taken their breakfasts with them in little tin buckets, not yet possessed of enough time to eat. There were also early merchants and fishmongers stirring, moving about the places their stands would soon occupy and preparing for market. The day promised to be absolutely mediocre.

[Kirvan Deepseeker]

Kirvan sat on one of the piers, his gaze pointed seaward and his mind somewhere else entirely. Ever since his pod had dropped off the people they'd been escorting here a couple days ago, he'd been thinking about her and how she was doing and where she'd be. Leisa had said she'd be around in case he ever came back, but he wanted to see her now. Unfortunately, she was somewhere within one of the castle districts, and he did not trust himself to navigate effectively through what looked to be a maze of passages. So instead, he wandered by the docks, looking for something that he did not know of, glad to just be marginally closer than the place where his pod had beached a bit north of the walls. In this early morning, Kirvan knew that it'd be a while before any of his podmates came to gather more supplies for their return to sea. Only the most diligent and dedicated of sailors were up at this hour checking their boats, looking for any unwanted passengers or costly damages, and barely a handful of people were walking the streets nearby. Good. He'd come here to be alone, to think without scrutiny. He appreciated his podmates' attempts to cheer him up, but it wasn't that he was said. Despite his protest, that's exactly what they thought, but he really wasn't. He just wanted to think. Juvenile as it may be, it was what he felt and moreover what he wanted to do, and it wasn't much to ask for a little time alone. He'd go back soon. Staring down into the bobbing water, Kirvan was pulled from his thoughts by a loud grumble coming right from his stomach. That's right, he'd forgotten to grab some food on the way in. Maybe he should find something to eat now. He stood up and swept his gaze around the woodwork, looking for food. He could see none, but then something caught his eye. Over by one of the smaller boats, a man was eating away happily a a handful of bread, reaching his hand into a small bucket and retrieving more. Looking around, Kirvan noticed that these small tin buckets were more or less everywhere, at every ship, some having more than one. Were these food stations here in Syliras? Such a strange custom, but undoubtedly handy should one of the sailors get hungry and help themselves to a bit. Who kept them stocked, he wondered. Regardless, if they were for people to eat, then perhaps he could have some as well. Standing up and walking over to one of the buckets, he looked inside to see a loaf of bread and some tuna, not the best in the world but tasty looking enough. Picking up the fish, he examined it for a few seconds before sinking his teeth into the body, taking a large bite. "Hey!" called a rough voice from the ship. Turning towards the direction the voice had come from, Kirvan could see that one of the sailors was stromping towards him, looking none too pleased either. "What do you think you're doing eating my breakfast?" he queried, a storm on his face. His? This food belonged to him? Then why leave it out, why not take and eat it? If you left your food lying around, then were you really hungry? "I'm sorry," Kirvan began, but unfortunately the man was in no mood for apologies. It was the early morning, and this particular sailor had just come from a night of little sleep what with him working his boat until late. "Stealing's not a healthy habit mate..." the man said ominously, rolling up his sleeves and heading towards Kirvan in a threatening motion. Some of the other sailors had looked over as well, displeased looks on their faces as they probably wondered what the ruckus was about. "Filthy thief, I'll teach you to steal from me!" growled the one Kirvan had accidentally stolen from, and that beckoned a few more sailors to look up and start moving closer, murmurs going from one to another, spreading about. This was not looking good.

[Ray]

Ray had never come across a Svefra without their pod before. He couldn’t have been more than a few years younger than the brawler himself, and he bore the characteristic eyes and hair of his race to mark him as a child of the sea. Svefra were always amusing to be around; picking things up without regard for who was the owner was indeed an opportunity for trouble that was usually too rich to miss. Ray slowed and adopted a nonchalant gait until he found an discreet barrel to deposit himself on. Out of the corner of his eye, he kept an eye on the Svefra man. It seemed that he didn’t have long to wait. The man’s eye caught on a tin bucket belonging to an early sailor, and he made an intrigued amble towards it. And after some investigation of its contents, the Svefra withdrew a fish and began to devour it. Three. Two. One. “Hey!” Ray slid from his perch as the sailor noticed that his food was finding its way into someone else’s stomach. A number of nearby sailors looked up at the sound of the word “thief” in time to see the large sailor advance upon the offender threateningly. Ray stuck his hands in his pockets and casually made his way around the outskirts of the developing scene, keeping his head low and his features in shadow lest anyone remember him if guards decided to show up. As the sailor growled at the Svefra, Ray slowly reached into the bucket in question, now neglected by the hungry sailor in favor of his quarry, and pulled out the loaf of bread. He grinned at the Svefra from behind the sailor and waved the baked good for him to see. It was amusing, at least until another sailor shouted “Oi, another thief!” Shyke. Sailor Growley turned in surprise and Ray grinned awkwardly and began to edge around him. It took mere heartbeats before the surprise turned to livid anger, and Ray scuttled over to the Svefra. “Hey, seagull, I think it’s time to skedaddle.”

[Kirvan Deepseeker]

OOCSorry for the late reply, been busy. Let me know if the post is alright.

This was the first time Kirvan had been accused of thievery, him not being one to wander through the cities frequently. He had no idea how to react, what he should say nor how to deal with the nearing angry sailor. For a moment, the svefra considered reaching for the cutlass strapped to his hip, but that would not help things at all. Only bring more trouble as everyone else tried to match his arms, which was the last thing he needed right now. Dropping the fish, Kirvan began backing up along the dock, trying to keep the distance between him and the other man. He was a bigger than Kirvan, which did not make things look so good for the naive seafarer. He was considering to jump into the water to swim away - he wasn't that good a swimmer but he couldn't get around the sailor - when someone began waving from behind his to-be attacker. In the man's hand was a loaf of bread, the same one that had been in the bucket. It was a mean prank to pull, and Kirvan couldn't help but grin at the man's gall. Of course, it came around to bite him as one of the other sailors cried thief and the victim of all this turned around to see that he now had absolutely nothing to eat this morning. Whoever the second troublemaker was, he began to inch his way towards Kirvan, skirting around the increasingly furious victim. Skeddad- er, running sounded like a good idea, but Kirvan's nod was uncertain. "I don't know my way around the city," he warned his partner in crime. Then a thought crossed his mind, and one of his wild grins spread across his face. "I'll knock him, you lead then I'll follow." With a sudden burst of energy, he rushed the sailor, shoving with his hands towards the side of the pier. Not expecting the attack, the enraged seafarer was caught off guard and nearly fell into his boat. With the way momentarily clear, Kirvan took of, peeling after his new comrade.

[Ray]

This was not looking good. This was not looking good at all. Ray nervously tried to hide the bread behind his back, as useless of a gesture as that was, but the sailor was having no more of it. He looked, quite frankly, like a wild boar that should be fled from very, very quickly. He turned as his companion spoke. Did the Svefra have something in mind? “Don’t worry, gull, I do.” The plan that the child of the sea then put forward made a grin snap onto Ray’s face. He liked this man. The sailor was advancing. “Camel!” Ray shouted. The sailor stopped in confusion, allowing a prime opening when the Svefra shoved him and almost sent him into the sea. “I suddenly grow weary of such surroundings,” Ray said with his most sophisticated voice. “I do believe that we should seek company elsewhere.” And with that, he took off as if he Valterrian itself was at his heels. He dove into the nearest alley, unwilling to take the open streets and risk an encounter with the knights. He didn’t know whether or not the sailors were following them, and he really didn’t care. He bit into one end of the leaf of bread to free both his hands as he spun into another branch of alleys. Somewhere around here there should be… There. Some garbage was piled against a wall. He gestured towards it, and with some scrabbling he clumsily used it to jump and catch the edge of the roof. He manage to pull himself up, then turned and held out a hand for the Svefra.

[Kirvan Deepseeker]

Looking behind him at the receding crowd of sailors, Kirvan faced forward and made an effort to not look back as he focused on the man in front of him. Realizing that the fish was still in his hands, he quickly shoved as much as he could in his mouth before rushing after his new comrade. The giant fortress city stood there imposing as always, but the route that his fellow thief followed took them away from the towering stone walls. Instead, he led Kirvan down a side street into an area where the roofs were generally lower than the tall castles of Syliras. At this point, the svefra lad had no choice but to follow his guide, hoping that he could get them away from anyone who may be following. It quickly got worse as they ran down ever more side streets and alleys, and any hope Kirvan had of finding his way out was hopelessly lost back at the entrance. To him, it was all one convoluted maze of identical streets that bore no distinction from each other. Luckily, the man leading him seemed to know where he was going as he confidently continued down another mess of tangled streets before finally stopping at a pile of garbage. "What's here?" Kirvan asked just as his comrade started climbing the small pile and jumped onto the roof, pulling himself up on top of the building. He'd offered a hand, but the svefra wasn't waiting for that. A moment after the local had climbed onto the roof, Kirvan was scaling the pile of garbage, his hands on the edge of the building and pulling himself up onto the roof. "Not quite jumping from rigging to rigging," he said aloud, "but similar enough."

[Ray]

The Svefran man he had drawn into this lovely mess ignored his offered hand entirely, opting to instead pull himself on the roof alone. Ray didn’t give it a second thought, and instead scooted backwards until he came to lean against a chimney. He switched the bread from his mouth to his hands and rolled his jaw experimentally. A bit sore, but not exceedingly so. He looked up when the Svefran spoke. “Yeah,” he said after a moment, tilting his head. “Guess that’s what you’d be used to, eh?” Ray jerked his head towards the now-distant docks. “Seemed pretty quick on your feet back there. You used to stuff like that, then, Seagull?” He jammed his thumbs into the center of the bread, and with a bit of working at his he managed to split the thing in half. “Still, a spat’s a spat and you pulled your weight just fine in that one. You get half the prize, then. Here.” He offered one half and took bite from his own. “You’re Svefra, right? Children o’ the water and all that?”

[Kirvan Deepseeker]

"Jumping and climbing, yes. The ships provide ample opportunity for that, and you have to be somewhat dexterous if you want to have any hope of boarding another ship." Kirvan looked across at the Docks, unable to see the crowd of sailors anymore. "As for running, not so much. Especially from mobs." Using his teeth to tear out some of the fish, he offered it in exchange for the half-loaf of bread that was being pushed on him. "Prize? I picked up what was left unused. Hardly call that winning, just life. You want it, you hold onto it until you're done." That was as much thought as Kirvan put into the subject of ownership. To the Svefra, a claim that something was yours was only as powerful as your ability to control it and keep it. If you left your stuff lying around for the taking, then you must not care for it very much. Of course, Kirvan knew it was different for the land-dwellers, something about keeping what you traded for, but it was too complicated. Grinning at the stranger's question, the young man beckoned to the open blue beyond the rooftops. "Son of the Sea Father, born and raised. Kirvan of the Deepseeker pod, devout zealot of Laviku. And you?"