ooc :
23 Spring, 509 AV
“Stop that man! Thief!”
Wren was grinning, breath whistling through his clenched teeth as he tore down the Alvadan street. It was useless to memorize these things, so he simply followed the path laid out for his feet. Behind him, a large man with a shock of blonde hair and blazing blue eyes was having trouble navigating the crowded street to pursue his quarry. Blessed with a narrow physique, he took the opportunity to become the space kept between most people. Spinning on a foot, almost wrenching it, he twisted into another direction and ducked beneath two couples holding hands, winking appreciatively to the girl before continuing. Much of this was what he lived for, Ionu help him but it was fun to get into such mischief.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t the skill to get away without being caught, it’s that being caught was half of the fun. The sailor behind him, a Svefra he guessed, bore down on him with almost righteous fury. Of course, it might have been because Wren was wearing the disfavor of his god, or it might be the simple gold chain, a single pearl in delicately beaten silver as the central piece. In any case, both had a reason to be here. In the grand sense of narrative, they were the stars of their own story. Would capturing Wren reveal the boy had been sent by a Pirate King to steal the enchanted necklace? Or perhaps it was that Wren was freeing the imprisoned soul of a princess from her sea-mage captor. It was all up to the perspective of the audience…and of course, the way the storyteller spun it.
Wren dodged left, putting both hands on the railing beside the road and vaulting over it to the street beneath. The Svefra snarled above him, preparing to do the same, but Wren backtracked, leaped up and grabbed the railing again…on the other side. As the burly man came down, Wren went up, pushing himself over the top and taking off again down the street. Roaring, the Svefra followed, hauling himself back onto the street with the ferocity of an angry bear, clawing at the stones to give him hold.
Both men continued the chase down toward the docks, with the mage narrowly avoiding a dip in the ocean as he clattered onto the floating wood. The Svefra was fast behind him and, worse, Wren had led him right into his own turf. Spitting res into hands as he dashed and narrowly avoided the sun-shriveled sailors, Wren pulled back both palms and pushed them forward, jettisoning his res in a blast of wind that knocked the Svefra off the docks and into the water.
Wren took the immediate opportunity to leap into the nearest boat available, a casinor from the look of it…much like Sable’s. Now, he had little experience with sailing itself, so rather than strand himself in a domain that only wanted to eat him, he buried himself under the supplies, blankets, and other materials that the casinor owners had left out.
He could hear the snarling of the shopkeep somewhere on the docks above him, the swift chatter of Fratava as he asked the others where Wren had dashed to. Perhaps it was because it had happened so fast, no one had seen the mage duck into the Casinor. There was a moment, just one, where Wren could almost feel the presence of the Svefra looming above him…but eventually, the pound of footsteps and angry breathing retreated.
And perhaps it was because the chase had taken so much out of him…Wren inadvertently drifted into sleep, necklace clutched tightly in his right hand, buried beneath the supplies of the svefra who owned the boat.
