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Nyx
04-09-07, 02:16 AM
Open to all. XD

Forty years of life.

She had lived fourteen and lost twenty-six, murdered a man and plotted the murder of another. Somewhere in this world, she left a widow and two orphan boys, and they would sob with running noses, asking, oh mama, wouldn’t daddy come home today? And somewhere else, there was a mother and a father and three brothers, waiting for the precious little girl to come home. But the girl never did, not for twenty-six years.

Nyx offered the rat a greasy crumb of bread.

It wasn’t a new life, but it certainly felt like one. Master was dead. She was free. And if the elf really tried, she could almost pretend she didn’t feel the iron collar snaked around her neck.

The rat sniffed at the offering, sniffed her fingers, and grasped at the offering with wicked yellow teeth. The teeth nipped her skin. Nyx didn’t quite mind. The rat nibbled. The elf smiled. She laid the rest of the bread on the ground.

The barkeep looked at her in disgust. “That’s a rat.”

No reply.

“You know, a rat. Disgusting thing, that. Disease and all. Dirty.”

Nyx looked at him with blank eyes.

“You speak tradespeak, stranger? Hell, you talk at all? Ha. Prolly don’t get a word I’m sayin’. Unnatural. Feeding a rat with damned good food. But then, what did’ya expect? Goddamn unnatural things. You’re goddamned unnatural –”

“Are you done yet?”

The barkeep shut up, eyes flashed something threatening, and moved away to another customer, huffing at the indignity of it all. She ignored him, just as she ignored the others peering at her in naked curiosity. A dark elf looking like death warmed over, sitting at the counter of the Peaceful Promenade, it was bound it draw some attention. None approached, because her hunched shoulders and glowing eyes screamed hostility, screamed isolation.

The rat scrambled away. Nyx stirred at her drink.

How did one continue the life one left at fourteen?

Fia
04-30-07, 08:40 PM
"It's not so strange. I had a pet rat one time. They can be quite nice."

It was a child like observation given calmly with no distinctive tone to color its intent. Fia could have been remarking on the state of the morning clouds, for all it expressed. But she did choose to sit near the dark elf, quietly aligning herself with the strange and heartbreaking creature. Fia's presence was quiet and her looks common and parochial. She was a shade prettier than most peasants, but nothing to draw the eye.

Most people of worldly wisdom and experience knew to give the dark elf wide berth. She seethed hostility and crouched over her meal like a caged animal. City people were used to overlooking human refuse, especially if it looked like trouble. They stepped around or looked straight ahead, pretending it was nothing more than a smear in the road. The burden of taking on every bent soul they came across was too heavy for a city-dweller's heart. But country bred Fia hadn't built the resiliency or the wisdom to know when things were better left alone. She looked at people with a kind and careful gaze, slowly taking them in. They were all locks to her. Dangerous, complicated and sometimes, wonderful locks that could perhaps be opened.
And there had been a familiar tang in the air around the dark elf, something Fia could identify with: no matter how different they were, they were both alone and far from home.

"I'm Fia. What's your name?"

Taskmienster
06-02-09, 03:52 PM
This thread has been sitting since before the beginning of this year (2009). Since no response has been made to create activity I am going to be moving this. If you would like it to be reopened please feel free to PM myself or another admin and they will be able to move it for you back to the Peaceful Promenade.