[Syliras] New Beginnings [Complete][Awarded]

[Maya]

"Well, I'll take my leave, if you don't mind..." Said Kane, gathering his belongings.

"Not at all," Said Maya, curious as to why he thought she would mind. Perhaps he wants to spend the night. Blushing at the thought, she excuses herself, opening the top flap of her sack and taking out a bar of soap and a plush, cotton towel. This she throws over her shoulder, while her soap she grasps in her left hand. With forethought, she puts the soap down and firmly attaches the scabbard, along with its sword, to her plain, copper waistband, then grabs once more the soap and heads to the Public Baths, which are not that far from her apartment.

Glancing nervously about her as she walked, she began to think maybe she should not try to take a bath this late at night. However, she soon approached where she thought the Baths were. tried to open the door, and was met by a lock. Well, that's great. She thought, jiggling the doorknob. Maybe it's just stuck. After a few moments, she examines more closely her surroundings in the somewhat bright moon-light. Suddenly, she widens her eyes, reading the small plaque. '284' it read. It was someones room. She was about to turn when a large, burly fellow appeared behind the door, grasping a short-sword (though from the looks of him, he obviously did not need it). Maya blushed brightly, and the man looked around, possibly checking for anyone else. She placed her hand on the pommel of her Talon Sword, but the stranger said, "None of that, now," and she let her hand fall to her side.

Bringing up the courage to speak, she tries to explain why she is knocking on his door at such an ungodly hour of the night. "I, uh... Well, I was looking for... What I mean, is..." She tries to find the right words, contemplating at the same time whether or not she should scream for help.

"Poor lass," Said the man, grinning. "How about you come inside?"

A look of steely determination set upon Maya's face. "No, thank you, I was looking for the Baths."

"Two buildings down that way," Said the stranger, pointing in the direction she had been walking in originally. "But they're closed at this hour. Why don't you come in. I could show you another way to get clean." A wicked gleam shined in his eyes as he reaches out to her. She wisely backs away, running back to her apartment silently.

"We could've 'ad some fun," Said the man, shouting out to her, and attracting the attention of a nearby armor-clad individual.

"Is there some trouble here?" asked the knight, his hand resting on his sword, ready to take it out at a moments' notice.

"Not at all, good sir. A confrontation with a girlfriend, no more." said the stranger, trying to avoid the law. "She'll be back tomorrow, no doubt, asking for me." He grinned widely, looking at the quickly fading figure of Maya. A cloud passed over the moon just then, causing pitch blackness to encompass that part of the city.

"Very well, then," Said the knight, suspicious but unable to prove anything. He moved on, continuing his patrol, or his journey back home, whatever he was up to.

Maya had not heard any of this, of course, for she quickly ran out of earshot. She checked the nearest door, reading '352'. She had overshot in her attempt to get away from the stranger. Now you've done it. No doubt he'll be after you from now on, looking for a chance to snatch you. Her ne'er-do-good conscience played tricks with her eyesight, causing shadows and harmless inanimate objects to become gruesome monsters, out to get her. She quickly rushes back, and finds her apartment. Opening the door, she remembers she neglected to lock it on her way out. Quickly striking a match and lighting a lantern, which she had snuffed before she left for the Baths, she looks about her, checking for missing valuables. Seeing none gone, she- Wait, where is my necklace, She thinks, frantically searching her room for it. There it was, laying under the table, pushed over from the wind generated by her quickly opening and closing the door.

Disaster averted, and necklace saved, she puts her towel and soap back in her pack, grasping the brass key from the table and, for the last time that night, inserting it in the lock and turning, until she was satisfied with a click that sounded louder in the silence of the room. Outside, the chirping of insect life continued, as Maya stripped down, folded her clothes neatly on the chair provided with the room, and laid down on the single-sized cot, resting her head on the pillow, and thinking over the days events.

She arrived in the city, met Kane, walked about, was rejected from a store, almost died sparring, twice, and was almost raped. On the plus side, she had never had as much fun in her life. These things, at least the last three, were prevalent in Wind Reach, but she was never able to experience them, aside from a close encounter in an alley, which is another story altogether. Her doom-saying thoughts, for all their bleakness and negativity, were right. The city, any city, really, was a dangerous place. And if one did not learn their place in it, one could wind up at the bottom, or dead, in a heart's beat. Her eyes drooping as she thought, she felt herself being grasped by the sweet release of an exhausted, dreamless sleep.

[Leviathan]

Thread Award! Kane Exp +1 Storytelling, +1 Interrogation, +2 Weapon (Longsword), +1 Seduction Lore Inartan Culture (Basic), Syliran Culture (Basic) Additional Comments Very curious ending there. I hope there's a sequel to this in the near future so that I can find out about the mysterious voice. Very interesting. Maya Exp +2 Storytelling, +1 Interrogation, +2 Weapon (Talon Sword) Lore Syliran Culture (Basic), What Stalks in the Night Additional Comments (-5 SM for Rent) Very interesting thread, nice and long, plenty to work with. If you do intend to have Maya get a job at the Glassmaker's, you should post in the shop's thread with your PC applying and we'll get to it. If either of you have questions or comments, feel free to message me on here and debate with me on your results. If you think you deserve more, let me know what and why and if I feel I cheated you out, I will fix the problem.