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Anaxas' main trade port; it is also the nation's criminal headquarters, home to the Bad Brothers and Silas Hawke, King of the Underworld. The small town of Plugit is nearby.

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Leander
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:21 pm
Topics: 16
Race: Passive
Location: Old Rose Harbour
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Writer: Dizzy
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Sun Feb 03, 2019 4:39 pm

2nd Day of Achtus
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Sunlight on his face woke him, but made him shut his eyes again; it streamed unhindered down the slope of the hill, a warm glow that would otherwise be comforting. Right now, it was anything but, the bright light searing his eyes through closed lids. It attracted swarms of flies, which flew low over his forehead, circled, sought to land, and were overtaken by fresh swarms. He raised a hand to whisk them away, and his fingers flapped against wetness.

He opened his eyes and looked down at his fingers and saw brown and red: dirt and blood. Was it his? He wiped his hand across his leg, cleaning it best he can before patting at his forehead again. He winced as his forehead protested against the hasty poke. Definitely his own blood, Leo thought as he pressed more gingerly against the wound before deciding to stand up. Drawing his knees up as far as he could, Leo rested his hands on the fresh grass and jerked himself to his feet.

A low-hanging branch stroked against the laceration on his forehead and the sun dazzled him. The passive collapsed to the ground again, half out of his mind with pain - or was it dizziness - and then he tried again. He went on trying until gravity won. They he lay still for a while, letting the sun and the flies do as they wished to him.

When he awoke for the second time, the tree had cast a shadow over him, and he vaguely noted the time as around noon. He dug the hell of his hands into the ground again and tested its stability. Struggling to his knees, then he managed to stand up almost without effort. Looking down on himself, he saw brown tainting what were once pristine clothing. The young forger gritted his teeth and set heavy foot in front of heavy foot, determined to get back to the Attic and clean himself up before he was spotted.

Hunger and lingering alcohol from the night before made him feel light-headed. Buildings were rushing past him as he walked unsteadily towards the shop he worked in and, thus, his home. Leo’s stomach began to churn as he reached it. The boy leaned against the edge of the building and leaned over, positive he was moments away from losing whatever contents were in his stomach.

The moment never came, and he spat the building saliva out of his mouth before straightening himself back up and dusting off the shoulder of his shirt. The gesture would make no difference to his dishevelled state, but it made him stand a little taller. His head was still pounding: a mixture of the cut and last nights escapades - if only he could remember what those escapades were. Dark thoughts on his mind, he rubbed at his eyes and pushed open the front door to the Attic, stumbling inside and preparing himself for the tirade in store from Resha.
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Ketziana Dimere
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:47 pm
Topics: 7
Race: Passive
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Writer: Rachel/jadeowl
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Thu Feb 07, 2019 11:09 am

Ketzi's Shop Old Rose Harbor
on the 2nd of Achtus, 2718 Morning
It was a remarkable day. Ketziana had actually managed to get out of bed well before it was time to open the store on time and the cold had done wonders for her mood. When she looked out the window and saw the streets covered in the year's first snow, she wanted to cry. The soft blankets of white made her feel at home, even though everything else about the city was wrong.

She felt like it would be a good day, the first in a long while.

After a quick breakfast, Ketzi made her way downstairs to the shop. Her stock was a bit depleted, so the first thing she did was open the kiln to take out the wares she had fired the previous day. The wares were nothing special – mostly inexpensive pottery, simply glazed since it was meant for humans and wicks who found their way to her store. Her non-magical customers had increased, since she had realized that Gauthier had greatly marked up his prices, effectively pricing anyone but galdori out of the store. When Ketzi had first looked at his books, she immediately understood how the fool had ended up in a ridiculous amount of debt to Hawke.

Ketziana had chosen to go in a different direction. She marked down the inexpensive pottery, knowing that the increase in sales would help counteract the loss of mark-up money. She had been right, and she found herself able to make both her tax payments and debt payments with just enough profit to survive. She still was uncomfortable around humans and especially wicks, but she had learned to hide her feelings and treat them just like a galdori customer.

She finished emptying the kiln, placing the newly fired wares on the shelves carefully. She had to admit, in this moment where she was in a good mood, that her skills had progressed during her months of shop ownership. Her work had been up to par when she worked with her family but, as much as she loved and missed them, she knew their refusal to let her move past the most basic of pottery had held her back. Being forced to run a shop on her own and pay back debt that she had been saddled with against her will had pushed her ahead and being allowed to work on whatever she wanted had increased her aptitude for plain pottery. Advanced skills could just as easily move basic skills ahead. What would have taken her 2 days to do, she now finished in one, with no decay in the quality of the wares.

Ketzi was discovering new techniques all the time, playing with the tools and glazes that Gauthier had left behind. Ketzi was smart enough to know that she should be stretching the supplies she had to keep from incurring more debt. Deep down, she knew that it would be unlikely that she would pay off the ersehole's debts until she was old and grey, especially when she kept having to take on more debt from Hawke to keep up her stock of basic supplies. But the siren's song of true art was impossible to deny.

She still wouldn't say that Hawke giving her the store was the best thing that happened to her. She constantly felt as if she had a sword at her neck, one misstep away from landing in the whorehouse. The stress did no good for her mental health. But there was no denying that Hawke's decree had made a positive impact on her art.

Ketzi still hated the black-hearted wick with all her heart.

She looked at the clock, seeing that it was an hour before she was due to open. She went to her studio, setting her alarm and taking out a bisqueware sculpture of Alioe. The goddess was draped in a gown that fell in waves down her slender body. Her face, even unglazed, was kind and her hair flowed down her back. Her hands, precisely carved, held an hourglass, as if she was presenting it to the person viewing the sculpture. The statue was a larger one, about as tall as Ketzi's forearm was large. She had wanted to experiment with details and a smaller statue wouldn't have allowed her to do that.

Ketzi had added the basic colors of the deity's face the day before. Her aunt and uncle would have focused on adding more base colors to the rest of the statue, but Ketzi felt up to a challenge of finishing the face first. Using a brush with only a few hairs on it, Ketzi started working on adding details. White eyes turned into proper eyes in a shade of green that matched the first grasses of spring in the mountains of Gior. Once the base color of the eyes was set, she moved on to adding color to the deity's lips while they dried.

She continued like that, switching between the statue's eyes and lips as she worked with finer and finer brushes. Ketzi took a deep breath as she picked up a brush with a single hair. This was the finest work she had done so far, and she was determined to do it right. She bit her lip as she added layers of color to the irises, deep green and gold and reddish-brown. Each line was laid precisely down as Ketzi tried to make sure that the eyes weren't just life-like – she wanted to make the eyes worthy of a deity. It was a challenge to balance the eyes, and Ketzi found herself enjoying it. She had to make sure that she didn't lay down too many lines – it wouldn't do to lose the base color of the eyes. But she also had to make sure the lines didn't merge or smear.

She finished the second eye just as her alarm went off. She set her brush in her cleaning mug, swishing the paint off the brush's single hair and then carefully drying it off on a rag. Then she stretched and went to unlock her door and open for business. The morning was quiet, as most mornings usually were. A few people came in and some even bought pottery. But Ketzi had plenty of time between customers to work on her latest statue. She was just getting up to lock the door for lunch when a dirty, bloody man stumbled in.

"Imaan's light! What happened to you?" Ketzi asked as she grabbed a rag and hurried over to the man. She was hesitant to touch him, so she just handed him the rag so he could clean up some. "Please, sit down," she said as she waved towards one of the chairs that were kept in the store for people who were waiting for service. "Should I send for the… Oh, hells. What do you call the police in this Gods forsaken country? Seventen, right?"
Last edited by Ketziana Dimere on Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Leander
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:21 pm
Topics: 16
Race: Passive
Location: Old Rose Harbour
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Plot Notes: Plot Notes
Writer: Dizzy
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Sat Feb 09, 2019 8:46 am

2nd Day of Achtus
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It wasn’t the Attic that Leo had stumbled into. Rather, it was a shop found some ways down a completely different street. The passive blinked and glanced around, then at the girl who had exclaimed on his arrival, then back outside, then back to the girl. His mouth opened and then closed again. He glanced around the room. All the while, sluggish ideas crawled through his mind as he tried to piece together the series of events that had le him here. “I…” he began, but no explanation came to him. “Sorry.” The boy turned to leave, but the movement was enough to set the world horizontal and he clutched at the door handle as he waited for the blackened world to return into focus.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar sensation for Leander, neither was having no memory of the night before. The headache was like an old friend - albeit one you never wanted to see again. But he had never been in such a state that he had walked into the wrong building. His thumb and forefinger rubbed at his eyes before he blinked a couple of times. Dimly, he was aware of the woman scuttling about, still talking. Each footfall, each nudge against the shop’s furniture, was like daggers against his skull.

No,” Leander’s mind finally processed what she was saying. The authorities - if they cared at all - would be nothing but a hinderance. Likely Hawke would find out and nothing good would ever come of reminding the King of the Underworld of Leo’s existence. “That won’t be necessary.” The passive was pleasantly surprised by how easily words came to him… he sounded nothing like he looked, that was for sure. But he sat anyway, leaning forward and placing his head in his hands, only to flinch back and look at his wet palms, as if just remembering the laceration on his head.

Taking the rag without so much as a glance up to the girl, he wrapped it around two fingers and gingerly dabbed at his forehead, checking it every so often and readjusting his grip. In silence, he worked around the wound, wetting the dried blood and dirt so that he could wipe it away. Leander made no effort to remember what events had transpired last night to cause such an injury, much less why he had woken up under a tree on the outskirts of the harbour town. It was uncommon for Leander to drink so much that the drink ended up taking him, but it happened on occasion. But, when he did get so inebriated that he had to hold onto the floor, the following morning was inevitably filled with clouded memories.

Do you have any water?” The question was asked in a monotone, and he still hadn’t glanced up at her. Leo was known in Ol’ Rose for his abrasive manner, and that was never more obvious than the ‘morning after’.
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Ketziana Dimere
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:47 pm
Topics: 7
Race: Passive
Character Sheet: Character Sheet
Plot Notes: Plot notes, including thread history
Writer: Rachel/jadeowl
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Fri Feb 15, 2019 4:04 pm

Ketzi's Shop Old Rose Harbor
on the 2nd of Achtus, 2718 Morning
Ketziana nodded as the bloodied man asked for a glass of water. "Of course. Give me a moment," she said as she made her way to her studio. For all the things she hated about Old Rose Harbor and Anaxas, she was infinitely grateful for indoor plumbing and a private bath. Her family had been one of the poorer galdori, living in the lower areas of Giorite and forced to use the public baths and pumps. Having her own water and privacy when using the bathroom was utter luxury.

Of course, the cost for that luxury was probably too high. But that didn't mean that Ketziana couldn't enjoy the luxury while she had it.

Ketzi took a spare mug and filled it up, bringing the water and a clean wet rag to the man. Her delicate lips turned downward as she got a whiff of alcohol off of the man now that some of the blood was wiped away. "Ah. Out drinking," she said, her voice ever-so-slightly disapproving as she plucked the bloody rag from his hands and dropped the clean rag into Leander's free hand. Her uncle, for as much as she loved him, was too fond of the drink. Kaius wasn't someone that drank daily, but his periodic benders were legendary, usually leaving Ketzi bloody. He never raised his hand to his wife or children, but Ketzi? Oh, yes, he occasionally raised his hand to her.

She never understood why he hit her but left the rest of the family alone, until she found out the truth of her parentage. Then it all made sense.

That was part of the reason she had left Gior. Both Tekina and Konnyth had moved out once they finished university and she couldn't stand the idea of a lifetime being stuck making child's pottery and taking care of a drunkard of an uncle. It didn’t help that he had been getting more violent during his drinking periods, the fact that he was stuck with a passive to take care of for the rest of her life angering him. Ketizana had taken it in stride for 10 years, telling herself that she was just a passive, so she couldn't expect much more, and she certainly shouldn't want much more.

But Ketzi did want more in life. While she often questioned the wisdom of her decision to leave, especially since she landed in such dire circumstances, she probably wouldn't have stayed in Gior. Her parents had nurtured her, up until her testing. Then she became an invalid in the eyes of her family and they started scolding her for things that she had done when she was younger and thought to be galdori, simple things like using a glaze or merely touching tools used to carve away at clay.

For someone who had been treated as if she could have the world, suddenly having it taken away had left her feeling trapped and hopeless. She knew deep down that, if she had stayed in Gior, she would have eventually lost her battle with her life-long depression. If Hawke's intervention had taught her anything, it taught her that she desperately wanted to live underneath the depression that often smothered her.

"You can stay here until you're sober enough to leave, but you need to come away from the door. I won't have your bloody erse scaring away customers. There's another stool back here that you can use if you can get back here," Ketzi said as she went back to her studio and picked up her paint brush again. "If you don't move, touch my wares, or raise a hand to me, I will call the authorities. I don't give a kenser's erse about you, but I protect what's mine."

She started working on the statue again, keeping an ear out to see what the man did. She didn't particularly care what the man did, either way, as long as he didn't waste more of her time by making her call the authorities.
Last edited by Ketziana Dimere on Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Leander
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:21 pm
Topics: 16
Race: Passive
Location: Old Rose Harbour
Character Sheet: Character Sheet
Plot Notes: Plot Notes
Writer: Dizzy
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Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:44 am

2nd Day of Achtus
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TThe boy scoffed, “What else is there do do in this forsaken pit?” He asked rhetorically as he accepted the rag and water with a nod of his head. “Anyone who remains sober is deluding themselves that something better is waiting for them. Well I have news for you, sweetheart, this is as good as it gets. This city will crumble, but at least I can enjoy watching it go down with a good drink.

He dabbed away at his heads the dried mud came first, then the blood. This caused more to flow, and the boy cursed, but it did not drip, as it had apparently done the night before. “Keep your tightly wound knickers on, love,” the passive hissed, affronted at the overt accusation that Leo was a potential cause for embarrassment, “your customers will walk through the door if they have need of you, but no doubt most will keep on walking,

He did as asked, however, and shuffled over to a darkened corner, out of the way of anything that looked cut or oiled. Never let it be said Leander Aguilar wasn’t courteous, after all. The continued threat was enough for him to scoff, “blood would make most of this shite look better,” he muttered under his breath, and a small part of him hoped she had heard. Much like he had been last night, no doubt, Leander often woke up after a particularly horrendous night still itching for a fight, this morning - if it still was morning - was no exception.

But he refrained himself from insulting her further. When she proceeded to ignore him, Returning to her work, only then did Leo become aware of the contempt she must feel for him. It was not uncommon: Leander’s manner often drove people to dislike, and if the excessive drinking wasn’t enough, the knowledge of what he was would push the rest over the edge. Not that he cared.

Quietly from his perch in the corner, still dabbing lightly at the laceration on his head, he watched her as she worked. Leo knew nothing of artisanary, but he could appreciate the skill, just as any man could respect the hand of a good scribe. The woman seemed to make it look easy, effortless. She tools in her hands looked like extensions of her very body, the way she wielded them. Despite himself, Leo couldn’t help but admire her as he enjoyed the peace of watching her work. “What time is it?” he finally asked.

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Ketziana Dimere
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:47 pm
Topics: 7
Race: Passive
Character Sheet: Character Sheet
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Writer: Rachel/jadeowl
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Thu Apr 11, 2019 3:17 pm

Ketzi’s Shop Old Rose Harbor
on the 2nd of Achtus, 2718 Morning
Ketzi rolled her eyes at Leander’s comments about the city and his need to cope with drink. She had heard the excuses from her uncle and she had no tolerance for what she thought was chroveshit. She wasn’t totally against alcohol – back in Gior, she was known to have a glass or two of wine with dinner. But drunkenness? To her, that was a sign of a weak soul. She bit her tongue, though, sensing that giving her opinion of the man’s drinking would do nothing but escalate the situation.

She looked up from her work when Leander made the snarky comment about people passing by her door. “I am not your sweetheart or love. But please do keep insulting me. I’d love to go get the Seventen because an annoying ersehole of a drunk is harassing me. I do believe there will be a patrol coming by soon.” Part of her sincerely hoped the man would become more belligerent so she had a real excuse to call the Seventen. She regretted inviting the ersehole to stay until he sobered up, resolving to not let her kindness get her in a similar situation again.

Ketzi thanked Imaan when the man shut up, relieved to be able to focus on her work. She glanced up at the clock for a second when he asked the time. “14 o’clock,” she said, her voice distracted as she worked on laying down the base color for the statue’s hair, a color that was the sky aflame at sunset. “I was going to get lunch, but I can’t say that I trust you alone here,” she said, glancing at Leander.

“It’s not that I expect you to break things. You can barely stand up. But you’re looking a bit green around the gills, and I worry that I’ll come down with food only to find your dinner spread on my floor. Doesn’t do much for the appetite, you understand.” The smile that Ketzi gave Leander was thin, but not completely unfriendly. She didn’t like the man and would be relieved when he was gone, but she wasn’t interested in fighting. “If you need a bucket, I have a spare one by the kiln,” she said, waving at the back wall of the work room.
Last edited by Ketziana Dimere on Tue Sep 03, 2019 10:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Leander
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:21 pm
Topics: 16
Race: Passive
Location: Old Rose Harbour
Character Sheet: Character Sheet
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Writer: Dizzy
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Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:54 am

2nd Day of Achtus
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Despite the girl’s obvious disapproval, Leo was either too hungover, still drunk, or too absorbed in his own world to notice. Either which way, he fell silent in favour of dabbing gingerly at his head when the girl finally threatened him with calling the authorities. He had enough intoxicated run-ins with them to know they would not be gentle in hauling his arse out of the shop. Worse, the Seventen didn’t really rule this city. Hawke and his Brothers did. Now, Leo was a Brother, but that didn’t mean he would get an favourable treatment. He fact that he loathed the man and all of his pathetic followers would not do him any favours.

No, best to stay quiet... and probably leave soon. He wouldn’t put it past the girl to call the authorities anyway.

Fourteen hundred? That late? Leo’s hand paused its ministrations as he tried to fathom just how much he had drunk in order to miss that much of a day. Resha was going to murder him... assuming the alcohol poisoning didn’t finish him off sooner. “I ain’t gonna chuck my guts,” the retort barely had any bite to it, as though he doubted the conviction of his own words. “But if you’re that nervous, I’ll go out and get you something t’eat.

He paused, looking at the red-stained cloth. His face felt cleaner, he could probably go outside without making too much of a scene. And, though his head was pounding, his statement about nausea was true: he could get up and walk about without fear of collapsing again. Actually, the sound of food sounded quite nice right now. He imagined a meat-filled bun, hold the greens, and maybe a pint to wash it all down. He could just leave the shop and be done with it. But you never got something for nothing, and the last thing he wanted was for this woman to think he owed her a debt. “Least I could do.

He stood and dug into his pocket, checking for loose coins - he didn’t want to return to the Attic for money, lest he run into his employer in his current state. Luckily, he counted enough for the two proposed meals. Nothing fancy, mind, but what was fancy in this godbedamned town, anyway? Satisfied, he glanced over to the girl with an expectant expression, a playful smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. “Anything in particular strike your fancy, or are you willing to live a little and take the risk on my good taste?

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Ketziana Dimere
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:47 pm
Topics: 7
Race: Passive
Character Sheet: Character Sheet
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Writer: Rachel/jadeowl
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Fri Nov 29, 2019 5:06 pm

Ketzi's Shop Old Rose Harbor
on the 2nd of Achtus, 2718 Morning
Ketzi started to protest Leander's offer, but her stomach rumbled loudly and she sighed. If the pale-skinned girl was honest with herself, she wasn't eating enough. But it was more important to her to re-build inventory and clientele, so she could actually start paying more than interest on Gauthier's debts.

Ketzi looked at the statue she was working on, then put her brush down. "Suppose I should eat something more than a cup of tea and a heel of bread," she muttered to herself. She got up and stretched, her back and neck cracking loudly. She had tried to make the work table as comfortable as possible, but the shelf was built into the wall and Gauthier had been shorter than she was. The difference in height had been only a few inches, but it meant she spent too much time hunched over a bit.

Ketzi gave Leander a half-smile, as she ran her hands through the stretching exercises she had been doing since she was a wee thing. "My… parents," she began awkwardly. Even though her aunt and uncle had sworn up and down that their relationship to her hadn't changed when she found out the truth of her birth, Ketzi had always felt an irreversible shift after that moment. She had felt uncomfortable thinking of them as her parents, even in her own mind. Her parents died when they were exiled from Gior. Her aunt and uncle were only the people that raised her.

When she spoke again, her words came out a bit quickly, as if she was self-conscious about the pause, even though Leander might not have even noticed it. "They always told me not to trust strangers with my money, and I'm already in debt enough. I'm not willing to take on debt from someone else, even if it were just for a bun and some soup. Plus I know what people sometimes like when they're hungover. I'll pass on that."

"Be right back," Ketzi said as she turned and head upstairs to her apartment. She grabbed the cloak that Gauthier had left and put it on. Most of the old man's clothes had been traded in at secondhand stores, Ketzi's weak skills in sewing making it impossible for her to even imagine how she could turn the clothing that fit her formerly wide master's body into something that would fit her slender, willowy frame. The cloak was the only thing of his that she had kept, simply because she couldn't have afforded a good quality cloak with what she would have gotten for trading in the threadbare thing. Luckily, the Gioran wasn't unused to the cold, so the threadbare status of the cloak wasn't a huge problem.

Ketzi made her way downstairs and to the kiln. She checked the coal chamber and then tossed a couple of shovels' worth of coal into it to keep the fire going at the proper level. Then she dug the keys to the store out of her pocket, locking the back door before turning to Leander. "You can come with me or head out. Either way, you can't stay here," she stated plainly. She moved to the front door of the store and opened it, waiting for Leander to leave. Once the hungover man had stepped outside, she locked the door of the store and turned, heading down the street. She didn't look back to see if Leander was following her – she didn't particularly care either way if he did. She spent most of her time alone and she wasn't sure that Leander was someone who would be good company. But she wouldn't tell the man to bugger off if he followed her.
Last edited by Ketziana Dimere on Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Leander
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:21 pm
Topics: 16
Race: Passive
Location: Old Rose Harbour
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Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:21 am

2nd Day of Achtus
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Leander watched the girl’s face initially twist, as she battled with herself over the perceived lesser of two evils. He, amusedly, was then privy to a little family tale of values and morals, which caused Leander’s brow to skyrocket. “I didn’t-” he stopped himself. Didn’t what? Whatever he would have said was plainly irrelevant when faced with such a headstrong girl who had made up her mind and passed judgement on him already. Not that it mattered. Leo doubted the girl would know what a good time was if it sneaked up and pinched her on the backside. He muttered as much under his breath as the girl excused herself.

He was surprised when she returned with a cloak in hand, apparently she had decided to head out to get some lunch herself, rather than allow him to do it. The answer comes to Leander with the kind of perfect clarity he never expects from the world anymore, not since he grew up enough to realise how complex and nuanced it was. She didn’t trust him, and not because of who he was, to what he was. But because of others. Life must have been hard on this girl if she couldn’t take his gesture as one of kindness, a ‘thank you’ for allowing him to recover in her shop… and as an apology for his poor behaviour all the while. It's different to be born a little girl… to know from a very, very early age that your entire world, your very existence, depends on the men in your life being good, kind ones. Leo had only half a battle to fight in the game of prejudice.


The passive’s mouth opened, planning on trying to explain his gesture to her, but he closed it again as he watched her busy herself with preparing to leave her shop unattended for a little while. It was evident that she would not accept it, even if she believed his gesture of goodwill. She was wrong about a lot of things, especially the notion that he would spend her money (not that he wanted her money, he was offering to pay with his own) on something other than lunch for her. But she was right about the sort of mood a hangover put a man in - he did not have the strength of will this morning to argue with her over his offer of buying her lunch.

They exited the shop in silence, and Leo wanted for her to lock the door. “I will head home. Thank you for your kindness and allowing me to recover in your shop. I hope you enjoy your lunch.” His own stomach felt like a fist was clenched around it, so he’d rather eat in the safety of his own room, where only Resha’s judgemental eyes could see him. The boy watched in silence, a small smile playing at the corners of his lip, as the girl walked away.

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