[Kova's Wishing Well] Hide and Seek [Jokor,Closed]

[Seven Xu]

69 Spring, 511 AV

Teach me your mood, O patient stars. Who climb each night, the ancient sky. A poem that he and his sisters loved came to mind as the albino traversed the dwindling night crowd. Leaving on space no shade, no scars, no trace of age, no fear to die.

Oh, what a beautiful place Syliras' Stone Gardens were when twilight blanketed the city and Syna's warm light slipped over the horizon to make way for Leth and his Zintila's poetic cascade of stars. Maybe it was less that the place had become more beautiful in the late spring, but Seven's recent experiences that simply made his new life more tolerable.
Perhaps not every new experience. Seven winced a little as his fingers touched the black eye that was slowly fading. He couldn't stop picking at it. Touching it, just to know that it was there and that it hurt to touch. Then forgetting about it, and touching it again. It was an odd cycle. The quiet and lofty half-blood stared down the short street he had just turned on to. Every time his eyes focused, he had hoped to spot the Eypharian he had spent the day prior with, or Dimitri, or Ken. Seven was always too shy to ask to meet them at specific times, thinking that chance meetings were blessings in themselves.

"Oh." Seven's aloof gaze was drawn to a modest looking well sitting squat at the far end of the Stone Gardens. Kova's Well. Pulling a copper miza from the small pouch on his belt, he approached the stone well and flipped the coin over in his hands a few times, staring at it, engrossed completely in the bronze sheen that glittered in the low light of Leth. Was whispering your wish aloud bad luck? Seven didn't take the chance as he unceremoniously dropped the miza into the pool, waiting for the deft splash before turning his attention back to the sky above.

OOCPoem by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), from Poems, published 1884

[Jokor]

Jokor was walking through the sparse places in syliras that had an open sky a small smile on his face as he felt the wind rustle through his hair and he would never had thought that the simple common sight of syna making place for leth was actually something he would ever give a second thought to, but being almost constantly between four walls made even feeling the wind on your face or breathing air with no trace of smoke from the torches inside something to treasure. As he kept wandering his eye fell on a rather lean woman standing besides a well not to far away from him and noticed her throwing something small and shining into the well, and most times when something was small and shiny it was a coin of some kind, he wasn't sure about the value though. Still the fact that somebody would throw a miza, something of value, away irked him quite a bit. “Oy lass!” Jokor let out a yell to catch the woman's attention. “Didn't your mother never tell ya not to throw money away?” A grin crept on his face. “Besides if you really wanna waste yer miza's just throw em to me, I can use those more then a pit can.”

[Seven Xu]

"Oy, lass." Seven had not initially turned his head towards the voice, but when he mentioned throwing away money the half-blood knew this stranger had mistaken him for a woman. Perhaps a woman he knew, by the relaxed, flirtatious way he was talking. Seven turned with a soft smile. He was used to this. At least the stranger had not grabbed him from behind. That had happened before, and it was never pleasant to disappoint an eager grab-ass. Maybe I should start wearing tighter clothing, he teased himself. Seven could not help but blush and his smile turned to a frown as his eyes met those of the much shorter man. That in itself was a surprise, everyone he had met in Syliras had towered over him and made him feel rather inadequate, but the unpretentious stature of this flirtatious stranger threw Seven for a loop. The comment about Seven's mother hit him like a brick, and he had forgotten to even correct the man on his mistake in gender, although his flat chest and irate voice would do a good enough job of that for him. "It was not spent in vain, I made a wish." If I throw money at you, will you grant wishes?
It was impolite to scorn someone for not knowing that he would be so offended by such an otherwise innocent comment about one's mother, so he peered back into the well, hiding the candid frown with a forced smile. "If it comes true, perhaps my mother will teach me that throwing mizas down a well is a silly thing to do."

By now, he had only hoped the stranger knew he was not, in fact, a lass.

[Jokor]

Jokor raised an eyebrow at the woman as she frowned at him, did he smell or something or was she one of those stuck up woman who though they where better then anybody that was of a lower social standard then them? He narrowed his eyes at her before he decided to let it go, if she annoyed her a bit more he could always accidentally dump her in the well to cool her off. When she mentioned that the money wasn't wasted he couldn't help but let out a short mocking laugh. “Come on you think throwing a little miza down a well and wishing something will make yer life better then you are even more deluded then some of those dumb thugs back at home who always bragged that they where going to make it big in the gangs.” He looked down the well, intrigued by the inky blackness that lurked beneath there. When the woman continued to talk about if her wish came true maybe her mom would teach her that throwing miza in a well would be a silly thing to do Jokor just shrugged, figuring her mom was as dead as sunberth's morals. “Well even if there was some kinda magic in this pit I doubt they could bring back a person from six foot under and I doubt that she would come back anyway she got tha chance.” Jokor just answered her inquiry, though he did it in such a blunt and maybe even rude manner that even a hermit would have shook his head at his answer.

oocfor the mod that grades this, jokor doesn't know anything about the well or does even know that things like that could work so don't think I didn't do my homework on our starting location

[Seven Xu]

Deluded? Seven narrowed his eyes, loose hand tightening into a fist. "Who are you? Are you the archbishop of reality? I cannot make a wish, say a prayer, without you popping out of the shadows to tell me it will not come true?" The whelp was smaller than Seven was, maybe he could land a punch right between his big dumb eyes and not be worse for wear. Just a quick punch between the eyes. Rhode would have no problem doing it. But what if he was armed? Seven's hand relaxed and he took a deep breath before exhaling in a loud sigh, visibly annoyed. His heart was still racing in his chest, anger swelling up inside of him like a disease that made him sick to his stomach.

"And my mother is not dead," Seven spat, contempt in his voice. "You should not make assumptions about people's lives, a stronger, bolder man than I may be inclined to put you in your place for such comments." Like Rhode. Seven seemed to smile, an odd reaction after threatening the rude stranger. He would have no issue punching this man full of holes. That very thought turned the coy smile into an all-out grin, fangs poking out from between his lips. He could not successfully hurt the man without swift and painful retribution but he could insult him. "What do you know of Kova's well, anyway? Nothing, it seems. Are you new to the city, or are you just ignorant?"

[Jokor]

"Me the archbishop of reality? Nah, I'm nothing of tha sort but if you really want to put a name to my face you may call me jokor.” He gave her a mocking grin. “The little spark of cynism in this city filled with coddled naïve persons with no idea how most people act when there aren't knights around to keep them in line.” He ignored the woman clenched fists, if she took a swing at him he could probably easily dodge it or catch it anyway, she didn't really look like a fighter, hell she looked as if he could break her bones if he patted her on the back to hard. When the woman shot back that her mother wasn't dead jokor just shrugged. “How should I have known that, you stand there and say that if yer wish comes true your mom might teach you that throwing miza in a well is stupid, what else do I gotta think? That yer mom just left ya to grow up on yer own? Nobody with half a brain would even want to know somebody like that.” When dra-seven told him that a stronger and bolder man then himself would have already put him in his place jokor started to laugh. “Well better men then you have tried and failed at that.” He paused for a few minutes as something clicked in his mind. “Wait your a guy?” He looked at the feminine man in front of him as if he was trying to see if he was playing a prank on him. The man in front of him didn't confirm anything and just grinned and two fangs poked from in between his lips. “For your information I ain't ignorant, I got here just a season ago and I'm to busy with doing my job and trying to make the ends meet then to go and listen to the local storytellers and hear about that kovac's well.” He snorted before a malicious grin crept on his face. “Though now that I talked with ya for a few seconds I think your mom could see into the future and just didn't have the heart to wring your neck while she could.”

[Seven Xu]

He just realized I was a man, after all that? Seven pursed his lips and swallowed as he examined the shorter man. Jokor. Yeah, at least you're aptly named. "Of course I am a guy. I did not want to correct you, because I am polite, but I assumed that you would have figured it out when I turned around. Apparently I overestimated you." His voice dripped with venom.
When Jokor explained his reasoning for not knowing anything of Kova's well, Seven smirked, those fangs making an appearance again from between his thin, pale lips. "Yeah, you really look like you are busy making ends meet." Seven hissed, eyes snapping from Jokor to the well, hands tightening back into fists. "Her name was Kova, by the way. Not Kovac."

And then Jokor's last comment threw Seven for a loop, and that blinding, blood-boiling rage began to build up inside of him again. He had forgiven Jokor for the first comment about his mother. It was innocent. This one was based in pure instigation. The fists balled again and Seven's hands shook. "Take it back." The half-blood hissed, venom seeping from his fangs and into his mouth, bitter stinging his tongue. Do not hit him. If you hit him, a knight will throw your ass into the tank -- or worse, beat you into a bloody mess -- and he will get off easy. Seven's head swirled, his racing heart and rushing adrenaline making him dizzy. He could barely think clearly, let alone speak in his usual calm and admittedly absent tone. The words that came from the youth's mouth were based in pure, unadulterated passion. "You pestilent whelp, you clever-mouthed cur. Take it back, before I do something I regret."

A moment passed while Seven glared daggers at Jokor before he sighed, threw his hands into the air and turned his back on the shorter man. "Never mind. You are not worth my trouble."

[Jokor]

Jokor gave an affirmitive nod as the feminine man tried to insult him by saying he couldn't figure out he was a man on his own. “Your right about that, though who can blame me, I bet that if you put on a pair of false boobs nobody would be able to figure it out at all unless they saw you but naked.” he said in an almost infuriating tone of voice, completely turning around his insult. When the man began doubting him barely making ends meet Jokor's smile fell a bit. “Yeah I know being able to wander around in the evening when you work during the day is kinda strange isn't it.” Jokor shot back, the sarcasm almost visible. Once again not caring that the man's was tightening his hands in fists. “Sure, could be right about that I am the guy that never heard of her well before now isn't it?” Jokor shrugged, clearly signifying that he didn't care about the name of the well either way. When he slipped out the last comment about the strangers mother however it seemed that he did cross the line, because the rather collected man devolved into a quivering mass of unoriginal insults and he would have bet a day of salary on it that the man desperately wanted to hit him. If he expected to be insulted or threatened by his words though, he would have been quite surprised to see jokor laugh at it. “And what would you do that you would regret? Break your hand on my face?” Jokor wouldn't get an answer because the man just turned around and walked away from him, jokor would have followed suit and wouldn't even have bothered to remember the man if not for the fact that jokor caught sight of a book with strange foreign letters on the cover that drew jokors attention to it and even worse, at least for them mans possessions,tickled his curiosity, sticking out of his backpack. silently taking a few quick steps towards the man his nimble fingers picking open the strings keeping the man's backpack shut before grabbing a hold of the book and jumping back out of his reach. Quickly opening the book and looking it through, keeping half an eye on the man to see if he had noticed his loss and ready to leg it.

[Seven Xu]

Who was he to judge him? Seven narrowed his eyes. A woman? Sure, he had been mistaken for a woman before -- and it wasn't without merit -- but at least he didn't have to identify as a man before the bloke figured it out. This Jokor was utterly dense. And rude. And, he smelled terrible. Had he ever heard of hygiene? And how dare he speak so ill of his mother. Seven's hands were still shaking as he stepped away from the well and away from Jokor. All he wanted to do right now, was find a spot alone to stare at the sky and think.

Clasping his hands together and pulling his satchel up on his shoulder, he decided to do just that. I wish I knew where Rhode lived. Or, well. Anyone, really, would have done. He just needed to vent. The little rogue had really shaken Seven up emotionally. Everyone else he had met had beautiful souls, and if not outwardly friendly, at least they had decency. Seven attempted to keep his mind on this train of thought and not fall back into bitter thoughts of the pest -- Damnit. Seven groaned, and his stomach responded. "Oy. Hungry." He mumbled to himself as he slowed to a stop and pulled off his satchel to reach in for an apple, a banana. Something to sate his hunger. That's when he noticed that something was amiss. The Viratassa, Seven's coveted bible of the teachings of Viratas was ... gone. He blinked, dropped to a squat, and searched the pack frantically.

A cold sweat broke out on his skin and he felt faint. That ... that bastard. He was a thief. A petching thief. He was not going to get away with that. No, not that easily. Cinching the bag, Seven stood quickly and jogged back towards the well. "Jokor!" His voice resounded through the open streets just outside the Citadel.

[Jokor]

Jokor quickly made his way towards one of the alley's as he tucked the book under his arm, trying to get to another place to take a better look at the book. Sooner or later that guy will have found out that his book was missing and from the looks of it wasn't just a normal book that that feminine guy would forget about for to long. That was good thinking from jokor, because not to long after he sat down in the shadows of one of the less used alley's and opened up the book to take a look at what was inside, he heard an angry shout of his name. "Well it seems the little girl found out that he need to take a bit more care of his things." He closed the book again, aside from a few rough translation notes in the corners most of it was written in a language he couldn't understand either way, and tucked underneath his arm, carefully peaking out of the alley towards the man standing at kova's well.