Open Every Mans Land

[Adriana Sparrow]

Spring 62, 519 AV

The tavern was dimly lit and sparsely populated for this early in the afternoon. Just a few bells past high noon and night crowd hadn't quite gotten off work and stumbled into No Mans Land. Adriana wasn't here for the drinks or the company or the atmosphere. She checked in with the Tavern every other week or so, depending on how desperate she was. It was the large wooden public board that was maintained by the establishment that Adriana was interested. Upon the board many papers were posted about wants and needs of the citizens within Sunberth. Some required aid with specific task while others posted ads for companionship or requested help finding lost persons or animals. The board was always crowded, and it was a game to figure out what postings were recent and which were already out of date.

She headed straight to the board, she never dwelled within the taverns other locations. She did not sit down to order, or pause to chat, she was on a mission to find a job to help pay for her and her brother's gift of life.

She was dressed as she always was, breasts wrapped and hidden underneath the mangy and torn fabrics she called a shirt. Her coat was left at 'home' today as the weather was fine and cheery. Her boots were laced and tight, ready to run at any given moment, depending on the need. Her satchel hung across her chest, empty as always, waiting to be filled with things others found useless and she found life-saving.

She blinked her eyes as she entered the business. The day was bright and the tavern was dim, a more 'calming' atmosphere for those who decided to drink themselves to death. She did not slow her pace as she walked up the the job board, passed round tables barely occupied and at the far end of the bar, where most of the patrons chose to sit -- closest to the barmaid and the alcohol.

The board was filled, as always, with new and old postings. She looked at the topmost papers first, as they were always the newest. She scanned the different ads, one man was looking for his daughter. If she was beautiful in any way he could be assured she was already in the slave trade, Adriana thought, he would never see her again. Another poster expressed a need for more whores over at one of the many whore houses in Sunberth, Adriana's eyes passed over the name, it did not matter, they were all the same, and they were all not worth the money in the girls eyes. She would never stoop that low. A third seemed to be written in a child's writing, the letters scrambled and scribbled. It expressed a want to have their pet dog back. It must have been missing. There were many possibilities for this. It could have simply escaped and was now wandering the streets destined to become a street dog. Or it could have been stolen, depending on the type and usefulness of the animal, and currently being sold at the Kennels. Perhaps the child could go look there, and with any luck be able to purchase their own pet.

A final poster caught her eye. She read it carefully. Day laborers were needed over at the farm fields. It appeared to offer an honest wage for the day worked. It did not specify what duties were included in this job, Adriana thought it could be anything from shoveling farm animal crap to harvesting crops. She tried to think of a duty on a farm that she would somehow be against working, just in case that duty was assigned to her, but she couldn't think of something that wouldn't be worth a fair wage.

Agremmon Fields, it said it was named. She thought she might know where that was located, or at the very least heard the name mentioned by merchants in passing. Either way the ad had a little description of the location, 'outside city limits, slightly northwest of the Riverside district.' Well she certainly knew where riverside was, and it probably wasn't too hard to find massive farm fields either way.

Code credit to Itt.

[Vasin]

He pushed the door open with a creek and stepped into the still relatively quiet tavern. Vasin stood for a moment, his eyes adjusting to the cool dim lighting inside. Slowly the inside of the tavern came into focus. A small number of people occupied the bar and tables. This was the slow going calm portion of the day, so it made sense. He heard the door close behind him and would step to the side. Reaching up Vasin would lift off his helmet, the aventail brushing over his face as he positioned the helmet under his armpit. Blinking with a bit more in the way of a field of view he got himself a better look at the tavern around him. Breathing out he considered getting himself a drink while he was here. But, after another moment of thought, he shook it from his mind. Vasin was here for one thing and one thing alone and it sat towards the other side of the tavern. It was the job board, and he fixed his eyes upon it but took notice someone else was there. For a moment longer, he stood there towards the entrance before Vasin would start to make his way over. The sound of chain rustling and brushing against each individual link came with each step. Not overly loud, but something that could be heard in the quiet atmosphere of the tavern.

What he wore was simple and well-worn shirt and pants with old scuffed boots. This perhaps was hard to tell as over the loosely fitting clothing was a gambeson and over that a chain shirt. On the top layer of this was his studded leather armor. His arms clad in splint vambraces and his legs in splint greaves. Of course, under his arm was his nasal helmet with curtain aventail. A combination of protection he had purchased at the start of the season after a choice encounter. Vasin had made a habit to wear the armor on a regular basis to become used to its weight. Other than that at the hip, he had a scabbard which held his Cold Iron Longsword, and on the other side a holster for his throwing ax. Normally he would have taken his shield with him, but it would of proven awkward for carrying on his back into buildings. A picture in his mind he did not wish to act out in person.

Walking between tables he would wind up at the other side of the bar, approaching the board in a casual manner. Vasin gave a quiet glance to the girl here next to him. Were they looking for a job? Perhaps they had just posted something? He recalled coming here rather often not that long ago before he found 'stable' work."You looking for a job?" Vasin asked out of curiosity as he would then let his eyes run over the posting board. He wasn't here looking for a job, but rather was looking into making a posting."Find anything interesting?" he added on knowing how much of a non started his original question had been. But then again, he realized his addition could just as easily been answered. [/b]

[Adriana Sparrow]

The farm day job was certainly interesting, and by interesting she meant that is was simply a job she could actually do and wasn't morally opposed to it in any way. Other than that she was sure whatever the job actually was, was boring and laborious. She was still browsing the job board, looking for anything and nothing in particular. She wasn't sure even what kind of job she wanted more than the farm job. She did not know what she was interested in for a 'career'. She knew both her parents had jobs when they were around, but she didn't know exactly what they were. She guessed that her dad worked in some way for one of the gangs in Sunberth, may the Sun's Birth, but it was just a though and she obviously had no way to confirm that theory. Her mother, she honestly did not know what she did. It could have been child care to merchant to whore, she couldn't remember her mother ever mentioning it. She didn't work most of Adriana's life anyway.

She almost didn't notice when someone walked up to her side. She flinched when she realized his presence, automatically aware and on guard for her own safety, but she quickly understood the man was simply looking at the board, just like she was. She still did not feel very comfortable this close to a person, but she wanted to keep looking at the fliers.

She took a peek over at the man, careful not to stare for too long. It was not uncommon for the people around here to take offense at a random look from a random person, and she did not want to end up in that position. So her glance was simple, instinctual when something moves to look at it, and he had moved near her. She took him in quickly, he was dressed in armor, and she noticed a weapon on each side of his hip. Armed. His armor looked leather and metal made and he even had a helmet stuffed under his arm. He looked like he could be a guard, but he must have been something more than that. Maybe he was in the Sun's Birth gang, he stood out like a sore thumb with all this armor in a city full of the poor. She didn't think he could be one of the to-hire guards that merchants often employed, they were never armored this much, though they were usually, if not more, armed and weaponized.

She wondered if he was some kind of danger. He seemed to be minding his own business. He as very tall and so very imposing and it was possible she was simply overreacting. His hair was long and slicked back and matched a long beard of brown hair. He held himself high.

Suddenly, as she was contemplating leaving, he spoke, clearly to her. She jumped, ever so slightly. She didn't often talk to people, especially people who looked and dressed like this. It took her a moment for her brain to understand his question, trying to work behind the frightened and confused haze in her mind. "Uh..." she squeaked, her voice high until she cleared her throat and attempted to lower it to match her 'acting like a boy' persona, "Yeah, doesn't look like anything interesting though. But I might have found something that pays."

She lifted her arm and placed a pointer finger on the farmer's flier, locating it for the man. "Nothing you'd be interested, I'd guess. But its something, at least for me." She wondered what kind of job he was looking for. Was he some kind of mercenary? Maybe foreign? She had never been outside Sunberth and she was suddenly overly curious if he knew of the world outside of here. But she didn't know how to ask a stranger such a question.

Code credit to Itt.

[Vasin]

Vasin noticed how when he started speaking to her it seemed to startle her. A slight jump and a nervous look about her. well, that certainly was not the first impression he had hoped to make. But it was understandable he supposed as he watched her start to reply to him after a moment. Vasin smirked at how she squeaked at first, and then after briefly clearing her throat tried to lower her voice. Was she trying to make herself sound tougher? It was rather curious, but soon enough she started her answer to his question."Something that pays is always good." he said with a pause."Well usually..." he said correcting himself, believing that not everything was worth the coin. What had they found? He glanced over the job board. There were a number of jobs or chores that she could be referring to. However, soon enough, they answered his internal question. They pointed to the flyer for the farmer's farm.

"Ah, I see." Vasin said rubbing his chin a little as he read it over."That is some honest work." he said rather pleased with her choice."Underappreciated sure, but honest all the same. Well, as honest as work in Sunberth can be." he said looking back to her."You are right, it's nothing that would interest me. Not exciting or interesting enough. Or I'm a job not the right kind of person for it." he said with a slight pause."Though, I'm not exactly here looking for a job anyways." he would say before he would glance back and start reaching into his bag. After a moment of searching through it, he pulled out a piece of folded up paper."Came here to make a posting." he said looking to her with a pause."Not exactly a typical job, more like helping me in my hobby really." he said as he would begin to unfold the piece of paper he had.

The piece of paper was a wanted ad for a Map Making Helper. It required that someone have a good understanding of the layout of Sunberth, a good eye, and a heart for adventure. Pay was negotiable as well mainly because Vasin was not sure how much such a thing was worth."I've been trying to make a map of Sunberth and it's outskirts. But doing so by myself has been slow going." he said as he began to look for a spot to put the posting."Can cover more ground with more people I reason." Vasin further explained before he would glance over to her once more."Not too many people are interested in such an endeavor. The map I found in the library was old and left a lot of stuff out. So, decided to take it upon me. Nice practice for when I decide to go on expeditions further out. " he said a bit disarmed by her demeanor and appearance.[/b]

[Adriana Sparrow]

She let her hand fall leisurely back to her side after a moment upon the poster. the man glanced at the job posting and nodded his head in agreement. He seemed to approve of the job, and she thought that was respectable. People who had money and real careers like she assumed he did often looked down at those who had to live day by day and work on farms and other manual labor commonalities. She also thought it was smart of him to agree that money paying jobs were good, but not always good. Her mind flashed to the whorehouse she often felt the universe was trying to push her towards, with her every being fighting against it. That was a paying job, but it wasn't worth the pay.

the word 'honest' was a strange word in this city. Sunberth was lawless and therefore that rule applied to the everyday actions of the people. No one, not even herself, often told the truth, already tainted by the atmosphere. But she was always trying to be honest. Despite being a pickpocket and a thief. She did not want to live that way forever. Perhaps the man was right, one day doing 'honest' work on a farm was one day closer to her being an honest person.

She relaxed a bit as the man seemed to prove himself a decent human. Unlike most people here he showed, even the slightest, interest in her. He probably did not care about her name or her lifestyle, but he cared, just for that one moment of curiosity, on her presence in the building and at the job posting. It was nice.

She had to remind herself that just because this man was here and now a good person, did not mean he was always a good person. She gave a glance at the weapons to his sides again. Was that honest work? Violence? Even in the pursuit of crime? It was a deep question and one she couldn't answer, but for now she stayed on the safe side. She relaxed, but not enough to remove her guard and awareness.

It was clear the man beside her had risen in the ranks enough to not even take a glance at a farm job. His words of disinterest in it proved that fact. He got paid to do bigger and better and higher paying jobs. She wondered why he was here then. The job board did not get too many big and better and interesting notices. Mainly they were little people looking for even littler people to do a menial task they could afford to not do. That's where she came in.

The man continued his small spiel of voiced thoughts and continued into sharing his real purpose for his visit to No Mans Land. It quickly clicked into place ass he said he was placing a posting. He was looking for a little person to do some menial task for him. That made way more sense considering his attire and way of speaking. She was suddenly curious about what he could need help with -- and how much it paid.

She leaned in to watch as he placed the flier. The mention of paying for someone to aid in a hobby was even more surprising. How could someone in this city afford a hobby? She had never even thought of such a thing. After a moment she guessed that if she had a hobby it might be reading at The Library. That didn't cost anything. Maybe walking around the riverbeds? Also free. This man must have some serious money.

'Map Maker Helper'. What? She read it again. What did that even mean? Was he making a treasure map? No, she had heard that in stories but common sense told her that that's not primarily what maps are for. Any place, like a city, could have a map. She didn't need a map though, she knew Sunberth like the back of her hand. All the streets, alleys, businesses. She knew it all.

She read more on the paper. 'Knowledge of Sunberth layout'. Well she certainly knew that as she was just thinking about a half a second ago. 'Good eye and heart for adventure' it continued and to be honest she did not really know what that meant. Maybe good eye sight? She thought hers was fine? And heart for adventure... she liked adventure? She never had time for it though. Sometimes with Taris it felt like an adventure, but nothing very interesting ever happened. "I know Sunberth better than anyone." She stated matter-of-factly. Not really in reference to wanting the job, but more of a bit of competition to anyone else who might they they were better suited.

She skimmed the flier for how much the job paid while the man continued talking, she heard a bit of it but she was more focused on the price. She looked a couple times but couldn't find it, until she saw 'price negotiable'. "What's negotiable?" That was a word she was unfamiliar with, and in this case it seemed very important. She might have even interrupted the man speaking, but sh wasn't listening very hard.

Code credit to Itt.

[Vasin]

Vasin took a deeper interest in the girl after she had spoken, boasting of her knowledge of Sunberth. Was she trying to make a sales pitch? If so he admired that, but she said it in such a matter of fact way. Vasin knew he was not the best at reading people, so reigned himself a little back."Oh? Is that so?" Vasin asked her with curiosity in his tone."If that is true then you could be the person I need for this." he said gesturing with his flyer to punctuate his meaning."Someone who can correct the details I miss or just simply overlook..." Vasin started to say glancing to his own flyer."Would be greatly appreciated." he concluded looking back to her."Name is Vasin by the way." he said introducing himself realizing he had forgotten to do so at first."What's your name?" he would ask her having a kind of good feeling about this one. He wasn't sure yet, nor was he sure that she was actually interested in helping him with his hobby.

"Negotiable?" he asked her with a small blink."Oh well... It means that the pay is up to talk. We would decide together how much you would get paid. Or even what you want to get paid in. Never paid someone for work before, so I figured it was the best way to be fair." he said with a shrug."In my line of work, I get paid per job. So, in this case, I suppose whoever helps me would get paid per outing." he reasoned out to her. His work with Goldfinger saw him getting paid whenever he corrected the mistakes of a debtor and got Goldfinger his money back, one way or another."Oh, I just realized something." Vasin would say reaching back once more and began to reach through his bag. After a moment he pulled out another piece of paper putting away the flyer.

"Here we go..." he would say before turning it around after unfolding it. Displaying the large sheet of paper to her it was what he had been working on. A rather crude and rough map, the beginnings of his map of Sunberth."This is the map I have been working on." he would say before pointing to some of the drawings on it."So far I have worked on the southern outskirts." the map had the general rough shape of the tent city in the southern outskirts. Little drawn on bumps indicated hills. Two squares that indicated the Southwatch Tower & Westwatch Tower could be seen along with the Aquillar Hot Springs not too far away. Roughly the map tried to detail things as best it could. Each item on the map was named and titled. Paces away from the tent city were numbered. The tent cities diameter was counted in paces as well. Vasin was not exactly an expert cartographer, but he was trying his best."What I want to do is fill out this rough map as best as possible. Make it to where people who are perhaps unfamiliar of the city can look to this and not become lost." he said rather optimistic of his creation in progress."I want it to be more accurate then the one I found at the library." he added on at the end.

[Adriana Sparrow]

She thought about his words, her being someone who could help him with his 'hobby'. She could do almost anything for a decent price and map making seemed rather harmless. She knew, after the man -- named Vasin -- explained negotiable, that normal day jobs paid 1-2gm per day. She had no idea if this map making was the same, but she knew she wouldn't get less than 1gm, or else she could go to the farm instead of with this man, and earn more for herself and for Bea.

But the idea of mapmaking was interesting. She could visualize the entire city of Sunberth, walking down each street and building, all in her mind she knew the city like the back of her hand. She wasn't horribly familiar with the outskirts, but everything else was perfectly memorized.

"I'm Sparrow, like the bird." She said to Vasin when he asked. She was never shy when sharing her name as Sparrow was not her real name so it didn't matter that much to her. She had certainly grown in to it just a bit. And it certainly felt like a part of her now, but her real identity was with Adriana and with Bae, where it would stay a secret.

It was when he pulled out his scarcely drawn map that Adriana really took attention to him. He seemed less frightening after he spoke, despite his heavy armor and weaponry and she quickly felt more at ease in his presence. It was easier for her to lose interest or to get distracted and while she was somewhat interested in this man, her eyes tended to drift to others in the tavern, always on watch for any kind of danger.

But the map, despite it very limited drawings, was interesting to her. She had never actually seen a map and while she knew generally what they looked like from old kids stories her father would tell her, she realized it looked different than she thought. It was a lot less colorful and she understood her father probably made it sound more interesting to a child with colors. It mostly just a sketch, but Adriana could see a basic shape being pulled from it.

She followed his words with her mind, visualizing the parts of the cities he described on the map. The Southern outskirts she knew. Generally sparse but that was the side where the river exited the city and continued on its way into the wilderness. There was still a ton of stuff on the map that she did not know what they could be, a few squares and some curves that looked like bumps. But from how he outlined it she wondered why he had missed the river.

She lifted her finger and pointed at the map, careful not to touch it as she wasn't sure how fragile something like this was. "The river could be right here maybe. I dont know what all this stuff is," she motioned with her finger in a quick circle around the unknown icons, "But it looked like the river should exit the city here," she pointed at the southern edge of the city, "and should go straight through the city in the north," she drifted her hand in a straight line upwards, "it breaks, too, to the east, where it eventually hits the ocean." Her finger moved along with her words, tracing the flow of the river backwards.

Code credit to Itt.

[Vasin]

Vasin blinked a little at hearing her introduce her self and smiled a little as she very briefly explained what it meant."Interesting..." he said with a pause. He briefly wondered if that was her real name, but moved on in thought."That is a pretty nice name you know?" he commented with a nod. Vasin found it kind of funny, he had met Kelski the previous season. Someone who turned out to be a Kelvic, and a Sea Eagle at that. Though at first glance he doubted Sparrow here was a Kelvic, plus he didn't think a Kelvic would go around advertising what they were. Given was Kelski told him, he imagined it would draw unwanted and unfriendly attention from the denizens of Sunberth. It was something he did not understand completely, but he understood the people of this city to be a superstitious and sometimes downright cruel lot. So it did not entirely surprise him when thinking about it.

Vasin watched his eyes following her finger as Sparrow pointed to a spot on his map. She mentioned how the river should exit on that spot. As she explained further about the details of the river Vasin smiled, impressed by how casually she brought it up from memory."That is very good..." he said thinking for a moment."I have not added the river yet, but maybe that should be what is worked on next yes?" he said looking down at the map."The person who made the map at the library didn't detail the river very well." he explained recalling how it had seemed to him like whoever drew it put it there as if it was some minor detail."The river is an important part of the city. From there the rest of the map can be drawn on. Details going around the river." he said tracing where she traced."But, we cannot rely solely on memory you see. Will have to go out there and note the details, and count how many paces it is long."

He would say before looking to some of the spots she said she did not recognize."Have you ever ventured to the outskirts before? The farm that job posting is from is out there. Lots of places off the beaten path..." he said curious for a moment but then realized something."So, how much would you want to be paid in? Say we start today? Or if not today tomorrow?" he said curiously if she was interested..

[Adriana Sparrow]

She looked down when the man commented on her name. It wasn't very long ago she decided she needed a fake name around the city. It wasn't a pleasant memory, but it was a name she enjoyed. There were sparrows around Sunberth. Not in the cities perimeters really, those were crows and pigeons and other dirty scavenger birds, but sparrows lived outside the city walls, they were small and free and lived independently. It was a life she sought to have similarly some day. It was a testament to her dream, she would eventually be a true sparrow.

She wondered what the map of Sunberth that The Library held looked like. Vasin's map did not seem like much of anything, though it was clearly unfinished. If it really was inaccurate, she wondered if she would even be able to tell. She thought she knew the city pretty well, and Vasin seemed to agree with her, which was certainly confidence boosting. No adult had ever really been impressed with her. Not that she thought she had much to be impressed about when considering her skills and lifestyle, but it was nice, either way, to be recognized as successful in something.

Vasin continued and talked about the river, and how the river on the map should be drawn first, with everything else about Sunberth added around it. She nodded in agreement. "Well the river was here before Sunberth." She said, mostly to herself. She listened more as he lightly described this process of adding the rivers to his map drawing. Paces? that is what she thought he said. That's a ton of walking. Sunberth was big, and while Adriana could cross it back and forth multiple times a day, going that slow and counting steps seemed like a lot.

Suddenly she had a thought. She did not understand map making and why paces were important, but she maybe had an idea. She recalled last season where she found that shell in the pocket of the worry man on the Svefra boat. And how later on she discovered it turned into a boat itself. She had since them tried the process multiple times over to convince herself she was not crazy, but came to the conclusion that the shell was indeed magic. She had not, though, gone out on the boat into the river. She did not know who to steer or row a canoe and, honestly but a bit frightful of it.

But Vasin seemed capable, and maybe the boat would help him with this task. "Counting paces sounds like a lot... Would going by boat help any?" She wasn't sure if that would make anything easier, but it couldn't hurt to ask. "I know of a little one, with oars."

"I've been out of city limits before. I don't really explore I usually have a reason to be there, like the farm." She motioned back to the job board. "I know of all the businesses, but I cant lay out the and very well."

She was a little shocked as Vasin offered her a job. She understood quickly that it made sense, as it was what they were talking about. But she had truly forgotten about the job itself, and was actually interested in the work itself, or at least the chance to test out the magic canoe. She stuttered, "Uh, we can talk about money later, I guess. After we get some work done. And we can start today. This farm job is for any time throughout the season."

Code credit to Itt.

[Vasin]

"You are right about that." Vasin said with a brief nod."I seem to have made a mistake in trying to map the outskirts first then. It really does make the most sense to map the river first..." he said thinking it over. This map-making business was a time-consuming process, but he had enjoyed spending his time on it none the less. Though seemingly confirming his thoughts she spoke up about how it would take long counting paces. She then asked if going by boat would make it faster. He was about to say something but then paused thinking about it."You know what?" he started to ask."I think it actually might." he would say with a pause."Even if it is little, it would speed things up. Plus, if you are in the center of the river you can get the details better." he said really liking the idea."I don't really know how to operate a boat, but that can be part of the adventure." he said with a smirk having always relied on the multiple ferries around the city.

"Ah, so point a to point b kind of stuff?" he asked thinking that made sense. No doubt that was how most people treated the outskirts."But, there is more than just placing the businesses on the map of course. Like the river, there are other pieces of terrain. For instance, I drew on the southern hills." he said pointing to the bumps he had drawn on the map."I imagine that it will take some time to get all the outskirts. No boat to help with them either." he said remembering how long his first day of map making had taken to just do the southern outskirts."After taking care of the river I can work on the other parts of the outskirts." he said believing he had jumped a bit far ahead when he initially tried to map the outskirts.

"Great!" Vasin would say as he would start to fold up the paper in his hand. Neatly he put the map away."Glad to have you on board." Vasin would say putting his hand forward for her to shake."We can try the boat on the river and see where things go from there. If you don't think map making is for you, you are right that farm job is there any time." he said knowing it was a good idea for her to have a backup plan if she didn't actually end up liking helping him with his hobby.