Oh, Look! Something Shiny

[Lasair Anubail]

((Closed))


It all looked so pretty! The intricate little twists and turns and the ways the colourful crystals embedded within them shimmered on so many different faces. Someone had taken hours and hours of painstaking work to make them look like that and no one was really appreciating it. Personally she preferred the silver to the gold, even though the gold would probably match her eyes and the streaks in her hair. But the silver was just so nice looking! She was rather certain that Aileen or even Tristram would just love one of these if she brought it back for them.

Blinking her large golden eyes, Lasair stood up straight from her bent over position practically falling upon the jewellery wares of the merchant and smiled at him. He looked friendly enough but he also seemed to be watching her like a dragon every time she picked something up to examine it. She just wanted to check the quality though! She couldn’t properly tell how good the silver was unless she touched it and the merchant wasn’t being very helpful. He kept saying they were all of the best quality, but that wasn’t true. Some of the really expensive stuff was not a very nice ore at all; it had lots of nickel in it. Yes it did, yes it did. He shouldn’t deceive people like that; it’s bad for business. She should know, considering she ran her own shop back in Dheathain. A shop she was greatly beginning to miss. But Aileen and Cian were looking after it, so she didn’t have anything to worry about.

Reaching out, the small Fae attempted to grab at a rather intricate looking necklaces seemingly made of vines. It was very beautiful. But before she could touch it, the merchant batted her hand away, smacking it with his own.

Cradling her hand, Lasair looked up at the tall human confused.

“If you’re going to buy something, buy it! Otherwise stop loitering around my stall.” The words were practically growled at her, though she couldn’t understand why. Were people not allowed to browse things before they bought them? Could she not try it on to make sure it looked good before she purchased it? People always had the choice in her shop when it came down to their synthesis.

Starring at the oddly dressed man in his flowing and overly decorative pants and shirt, Lasair pouted and then turned and walked away from his stall. All around her in this place known as Scara Brae there were humans, dozens of them, perhaps even hundreds. She had never seen so many before in her entire life as Dheathain rarely received human visitors and those that did come mainly stayed in Talmhaidh. They thought Dheathain was cursed because of the races that lived within, but it wasn’t cursed enough to trade with of course.

The area of the city she was in was extremely active with humans too. She guessed it was similar to the Caernaigh Criostal back home, which was the main shopping area. This appeared to be the same thing except instead of just stores it was filled with many little stands and stalls that men stood behind and offered their wares at. She loved the dresses that the women wore too, the long flowing material that flared out around their hips giving them much greater curves than they possessed underneath. Lasair would love that, for she was quite skinny and she didn’t really have any curves at all. But the tops seemed extremely constricting and uncomfortable and hard to breathe in.

As she moved through the crowd as best she could, her tiny bare feet kicking up very little of the dirt and dust on the ground as she nimbly moved between people. Her small form making her quite agile and able to easily get around others, not to mention she was quick on her feet. When she passed by one shop something rather good smelling caught her nose and made her pause. Turning to the left, she moved towards the large glass window, placing her hands on the glass and practically pressing her face in on it. Inside, there were many little things all neatly lined up in rows. She didn’t know what they were, round things with black spots in them, cylinder like objects covered in white fluffy looking goo and multicoloured…bugs? No, it couldn’t be bugs.

Once again interested in something, the folded wings on Lasair’s back perked up and moved at a speed barely visible to most human eyes. Their translucent surface shimmering in the light of the sun a rainbow of colour that was a stark contrast to her tanned skin and blood red dress. Not to mention the intricate black patterns woven all around them that looked like what this region called a butterfly’s wings.

“Hey there, miss.”

Upon hearing the voice, Lasair turned her head to the side and saw a rather bulky looking man standing a few paces from her. He was a bit rough looking, with long brown hair that covered his eyes a little too much and a shadow across his jaw and chin. Plus his clothes were a little worn and he didn’t smell the nicest. But she wasn’t judgemental; she’d met scarier looking Draconians!

“Greetings!’ She beamed at him, excited that a human would want to talk to her. Using Common instead of Dheath was such a strange experience. She had to keep reminding herself of how to pronounce things and how not to make her accent too thick. Otherwise no one would be able to understand her!

He took a step closer to her, his dark brown eyes looking her over from head to toe in a way that was slightly uncomfortable, but humans were weird. It might be normal for them. “I noticed you were checking out that jewellery stall.” She nodded her head; her wings fell a bit as she remembered the rude man’s behaviour. “I know of one much better.”

“Really?” Her wings perked back up immediately. “Can you show me?”

He smiled, his teeth not exactly white. “Of course I can.” He gestured his body off to the side, spreading his one arm out in invitation for her to proceed ahead. “Just come this way.”

She practically skipped ahead of him she was so excited at the prospect of this store.

“Just turn down that street there.”

Nodding her head, the tiny Fae turned down the side alleyway. The bright light of the afternoon sun was cut off here by the tall buildings, creating shadows. It made the space look very thin and restricting and not inviting at all, nope, not at all. But this was where he said the shop was. After only a few steps into the alley, something suddenly enveloped first her head and then the rest of her body, casting her into darkness. Flailing around with her arms, Lasair tried to free herself from the scratchy, itchy material. Then a sharp pain exploded across the back of her head and she crumpled to the ground.

[Izvilvin]

It was one of the first days that Izvilvin walked exposed, in the daylight, along the streets of Scara Brae city with all of his weapons on his person. It was a strange feeling to be nervous so often, knowing that the world’s best assassins were gunning for him. Every citizen was a threat, but Izvilvin still didn’t want to look imposing, but between being frightening and walking unarmed, there was no contest.

He walked down the main road of the city, his breastplate bouncing like a feather against his chest. It looked tough, and truly it was, but the armor felt as light as cloth to him. From each hip dangled a short sword; on his right was Icicle, on his left was Mjolnir. Along the back of his belt were strapped his diamond and wind daggers along with his Cillu kukris, lined up in sheaths that barely fit in the space provided. Finally, on each thigh was strapped an iron sai, the weapons he relied upon when he truly needed to win.

With such an array of weaponry and taught, strong muscles, Izvilvin looked fearsome until one looked at his face. Black skin ran over his high cheekbones and sharp chin, surrounding lavender eyes that seemed so gentle.

He caught stares every few seconds, but times had changed in the years passed. He felt more accepted than he did when he first visited Scara Brae, and Izvilvin knew it wasn’t only in his head. The world was changing, adapting to the growing amount of mincing between the many races of Althanas. Perhaps before Izvilvin’s centuries were up, he would feel fully accepted.

The sun beamed as Izvilvin looked up, beyond the crowd. In the distance, he could barely make out the blurred image of a metal structure. Intrigued, he began to walk quicker.

[Lasair Anubail]

Ohhh, ouch, ouch, ouch!

Why did her head hurt so much?

Whimpering, Lasair reached her hand around to the back of the head but nearly cried out when she felt split skin and what was clearly her own blood, including the pain that went along with it. Opening her eyes, she brought her hand back around and looked at the thick, silver liquid covering it. Why was she bleeding? With tear filled eyes that couldn’t seem to focus on much of anything, the Fae began to look around her. The noise was the first thing that caught her attention once her head cleared just a little more. She could hear people talking and not just one or two but a lot of people.

Her eyes went from the grey and cold floor to somewhere ahead of here were she could see grey bars with not even enough space for her small body to fit through. But why were there bars? She looked to the other side and on that one she saw them as well. Did they completely surround her? Bracing her hands on the ground she began to move but the moment she did something clanked against metal and rang throughout her ears, making her head feel like it was splitting in two. Raising her hands to cover her ears she turned to see what it was and the quick motion made pain explode throughout her entire skull even more. Her vision went dark for a second and bile rose from her stomach. When everything finally cleared itself she’d thrown up the contents of what she’d eaten hours ago before her and the smell was horrendous.

Sniffling, Lasair shuffled away from the mess as far as she could, curling up into a little ball. Tears were welling in her eyes and running down her cheeks as confusion reigned over everything else. She didn’t understand what was happening or why. The last thing she remembered was walking down that alley with some human who’d offered to take her to another shop with shinnies and then… nothing.

All of a sudden someone’s face came into view almost right beside her. A rather pampered looking man with cold, icy eyes and clothes that seemed rather impractical to her, reached into the cage and tried to get her.

“Ianstad!” She cried at him in a rather pathetic voice.

His hand paused for only moment then kept coming towards her, so Lasair crawled to the back of the cage as much as she could but her legs hit bars and could go no further. With a rather annoyed looking expression, he stopped reaching for her and turned towards a man the Fae had not noticed standing there before. He was dressed simply, much more so than the other man, but his eyes were just as cold looking, not that he ever really looked at her.

“What is she?” The man who tried to grab her asked.

“A mythical race from a far off land with great dangers and creatures that lay within. She is quite the catch.”

For the first time, Lasair realized she was still in the shopping district of Scara Brae, but instead of her looking at all the wares on display people were coming up to her and looking at her as if she were on sale.

“She’s injured though and she looked a lot like a human for some mythical race to me.”

Why wasn’t anyone helping her? Why were they just standing there staring at her as if she were nothing more than an animal?

“Lig amach…” She said softly at first, not entirely realizing she was speaking Dheath instead of Common, “Lig amach!”

Screaming hurt her head but she didn’t care. She wanted out. Yet no one came to help her. They looked at her with curiosity and interest and even some sad faces that seemed sympathetic but did nothing. Why wouldn’t they help her?

[Izvilvin]

It took some gentle pushing to make room for himself, but Izvilvin was soon observing a debacle that put an iron lump in his gut.

The Scara Brae population was doing its best to ignore the cries of a caged creature, who looked about as scared as her narrow, innocent face could allow. Izvilvin had never seen anything like it, and wondered whether it was a public punishment or a sick sale. By the look on the Fae’s face, it could have been either.

On one side of the cage, two men stood together. One was slightly taller than the other, easily four inches higher than Izvilvin, and wore a plain grey shirt tucked into black trousers. His eyes didn’t move much, simply observed a single point of focus at all times. The other wore a shirt and a pair of pants that were both too long for him, with a colorful shawl over his shoulders that fell down past his hips.

She screamed more, drawing the taller one away from the oddly-dressed man. Izvilvin sped up his run, reaching the cage before any discipline could be handed out. Their attention was drawn toward him, but the Drow’s eyes were on the strange faerie.

“In pristine condition, this specimen is!” called the shorter man. “Colorful, strong wings, those dove, ‘hold me’ eyes, that innocent little face! Yours to keep, sir, just make us a fair offer for this fine creature!”

Izvilvin’s eyes moved from the Fae to the man. He hadn’t understood the human’s words, so he didn’t know to bargain. The man didn’t press him, not with all of Izvilvin’s weapons in plain sight; he just stood patiently, as if the Drow was considering a price.

Then the taller man stepped in, looking directly into Izvilvin’s gentle eyes. Enunciating carefully, the human said “Four thousand gold.”

This, the Drow understood. He reached into a pocket, causing both men to look at each other incredulously. Would this elf pull so much money out a single pocket?

Then, with swiftness neither human could match, Izvilvin’s fist flew out from his side and cracked the taller man in the jaw, nearly lifting him from his feet and sending him sprawling. The Drow’s other hand came out, a black blur, snatching the shorter, portly human by the throat and forcing him hard into the side of the cage. A gurgling, struggling sound spilled from his mouth as Izvilvin searched his pockets for the key. When he found it, Izvilvin released the man’s neck and moved to the door, the human’s eyes staring daggers the whole way.

Izvilvin’s eyes were soft as he opened the cage door, backing away to give the Fae room to exit. “Free,” he said, knowing he probably looked even more frightening than those two humans had. “Go!”

He backed away and kept his eyes on the two humans, one of them dazed on the ground and the shorter one promising revenge. The citizens that had been around them were watching intently, intrigued but frightened. This could be the Scourge that the Drow was dealing with, after all, and they could bring pain to the entire town as punishment.

[Lasair Anubail]

The back of her head felt wet and sticky, she hadn’t really noticed it at first but as time wore on it became more and more apparent as it spread down to her neck. She knew what was matting her hair to her skull without bothering to touch it. It was her blood. The wound at the back of her head was bleeding rather profusely, a worry she couldn’t deal with at the moment. And every time she moved, it made her feel dizzy and threatened to throw her into darkness once more. She didn’t want to go into darkness, not again, not when she could wake up in a worse situation than the one she was already in.

With shaky hands, she wiped the tears from her cheeks even as more spilt down to replace them. Lasair couldn’t imagine how she’d got herself into such a mess. Humans were supposed to be intelligent creatures, kind and understanding to other races but this was proving them to be exactly the opposite.

From the crowd of people came running up a rather dark skinned man of a race the Fae had never seen before. His hair was as white as snow and his eyes were a beautiful lavender, and his person was covered in weaponry. It made her shudder, especially as he and the two humans seemed to exchange words over a price for her. Was he really going to buy her? What would he do with her afterwards? Surprising her and the two humans, the dark person threw a punch that hit one of them square in the jaw, sending him sprawling back. The other he slammed up against her cage. Scared beyond what any Fae could normally take, she tried to shrink herself and be small, small enough to escape. But when she opened her squished shut eyes, nothing had happened. She still found herself still her normal size and couldn’t imagine why.

Feeling her cage shift once more, Lasair turned to look as the strange man opened the cage door and stepped aside. Even as he said the words free and go to her, she still hesitated, not knowing if it was truly safe or if he was just tricking her.

Tentatively at first she began to move. When her head poked out of the cage and he had made no move towards her, her heart began to calm within the cage of her chest, but only a little. Standing on wobbling legs that threatened to buckle under her tiny weight, the Fae glanced around the area searching for something before she left. Behind the two humans and close to their stall, she could see what she was looking for. Her brown rucksack lay discarded on the dirt floor. Avoiding the humans as much as possible, she made her way over there, the small distance so much harder to walk when the world seemed to be tilting on it’s axis with every step. More than once she almost fell over, somehow managing to find her strength before doing that.

Leaning against the rough wood, Lasair reached down and grabbed one of the straps of her rucksack. Turning back towards the man who had freed her, Lasair gave him a small smile, not being able to muster anything else. Then she began to walk away from the marketplace, dragging her rucksack behind her. She didn’t know where she was going and she wasn’t even entirely sure she could make it there when the pain in her head blotted out everything else, but she just wanted to get away from all the humans. Not even noticing the silver anklet with it's archaic writing etched upon it's surface that now rested on her right ankle.

[Izvilvin]

Eyes burning with intensity, Izvilvin remained by the cage as the creature made her way off. He watched her go, wondering how her life might have mirrored his own when he'd first left Alerar.

"You'll regret this," the shorter human gasped, his breath finally returning. Izvilvin locked eyes with orbs that didn't back down. "You think we operate this kind of trade on our own? Heh. You're as good as dead."

The Drow showed no signs that he cared. He was already sought by the greatest assassins of Althanas. A low-level group of petty thieves and slave traders posed no threat in comparison, a testament to the danger he was in. A sudden desire to send a foot hard into the human's face rose up in him, taking all Izvilvin's heart to repress. He was slowly losing control.

Throngs of gatherers watched the elf as he left the scene, pushing through humans who were in his way as he moved toward a nearby tavern. Anything, he thought, to get out of the open. He'd be followed, he knew, but more by admirers eager to chat than by assassins. It would be a welcome change, though he had no desire to talk.

The tavern was dark but homey, a haven for the weary or starved - Izvilvin was neither. He bypassed the bar and headed for the stairs, climbing them as swiftly as he could, rounding a corner and escaping into an empty room. Heart racing, the Drow shut the door behind him and sat on the bed, hands clenching repeatedly.

This was not going to work. He couldn't run forever, but wasn't sure he had enough knowledge to take the fight to Step. Shaking his head, Izvilvin let his thoughts run over one another.

[Taskmienster]

This thread has been sitting for a full year. 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 staff member and they will be able to move it for you back to Scara Brae.