Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen)

Last edited by Eldarwen on Fri Dec 16, 2011 8:53 am; edited 1 time in total

"Get out! Get out now, you scoundrel!" the barmaid, Gabby, yelled, clearly upset about something.
Zeke, whom the words were addressed at, looked at the woman in a completely uncomprehending manner, unsure what had brought on this sudden change of heart. Last night she had been talking quite differently to him and she had even told him the latest gossip about every single being in this small town. And now she was throwing him out? On what grounds? Yet, he did not particularly want to press his luck with the woman, who was holding a beer mug in her hand, which she was now brandishing into his face in order to underline her fierce will to get him out of her sight as quickly as possible.

"But.." - "No buts. I never want to see you in here again. Now get out before I throw you out!" Gabby was turning dangerously red and purple at this new outburst, and the young man decided it would be best for his own sake to follow suit. He quickly shoved the piece of wood and carving knife into his small pack, drained the glass he had been sipping on and hurried out the door before she could throw the mug into his face. The other customers were looking at the couple in fascination, some surprised at the outburst, others not quite so much - it did not seem to be such a terribly irregularly incident - but the general sentiment was confusion. Most customers were somewhat regulars and they had noticed the comradeship between Gabby and Zeke the previous night, some even rather annoyed at this fact because they knew that Gabby would be telling the young man every single secret she had to tell and they did not like knowing that they would be part of that particular discussion.

Once outside, Zeke took a deep breath and ran his hand quickly through his brown hair, wondering if not maybe one of the patrons had told her something to set her off like that, maybe on grounds of him now knowing everything about every single customer and others who had ever frequented Gabby's pub. Still, he could hardly imagine that to be a reason to throw him out in such a manner, mid-drink on top of it all!

What now however? He had not clearly decided what he had wanted to do after his stay here and now he was being thrown out before he had decided where his gut was going to take him. This had happened before but he had not liked it then, nor did he like it now. He preferred to have some kind of plan, even if it was a spontaneous one and the most ridiculous one anyone could come up with. So, in search of a plan, Zeke began wandering the streets at a slow pace, contemplating his options.

“Gather round, one and all!” Rhys called from his standing place at a street corner. He was ignored steadfastly, but he didn’t give up. Instead, he tapped a woman on the shoulder, and plucked a silver coin out of the air next to her ear.

“Madam, I simply do not know what you were doing with money in your ears. It’s a daft place to keep it. Now, would you care to use this new-found coin to watch my magic show?” he asked, in his lively voice. The woman grabbed the coin, and turned to march away, but when Rhys produced three eggs from somewhere above his head and started to juggle, she placed the coin in the unturned hat by his feet and started to watch. Score!

Rhys knew all manner of tricks, and ran through a good few, including the classic vanishing coin trick, and slowly gathered a small crowd. People loved this sort of rubbish, so he moved onto the card tricks. These were his favourites, and always seemed to be a real crowd-pleaser.

Just as Rhys was about to ask ‘is this your card?’ he heard a commotion a little way down the street. It sounded like someone being kicked out of a bar, from the raised voices, and Rhys was interested. He turned in the direction of the sound (he had to turn quite far, as the eye closest to the sound was covered by a deep blue, diamond-shaped patch), but the gasps of his little crowd brought his attention back.

“Look, that’s my card! How did he do that? Sir, you must tell me!” the woman exclaimed. Rhys shook his head and tapped his nose, before shuffling the deck of cards and slipping them back into his deep pockets.

“Show’s over, ladies and gentlemen. My thanks for your time. If you don’t mind leaving a coin or two on your way out to fund the continuation of the act, it would be much appreciated.” He announced, holding up the hat to collect the coins. There were a few gentle chinks as people tossed coins into the hat, before the crowd started to filter away Rhys pocketed the cash, and walked towards the noise he had heard, looking for the unfortunate soul that had just been turfed out. He had been there so many times himself, and couldn’t help wondering what had happened.

Zeke's advantage was that, despite having just been thrown out of a bar, he could still easily blend into the people on the streets, seeing that there was practically nothing out of the ordinary about him. He was of average hight, average built, average weight, and his clothes looked just as any other man's clothes would look. Sometimes, he was wondering if he should not do something about his appearance which would make him stand out more, but then again, he was rather grateful for the fact that he did not stand out. It made a quick get-away so much easier, and those, he needed to make use of quite regularly.

Typically, he was not one to get into a lot of trouble, but he did end up in a pickle quite more regularly than he would like. Sighing, he halted in his very slow steps, still unsure on what to do next when he saw a small gathering not too far away from him, but just when he wanted to take a closer look, the group was already starting to scatter in all four winds again, leaving just one man behind, waving a hat in front of the locals' faces. As the man then turned into his direction and began to walk toward him, or so it seemed, Zeke began to feel a little uneasy. Did he come towards him? Really?

However, the fact that the man had been able to control a crowd, small as it might have been, and was on top of it all wearing an eyepatch, had him quite intrigued, and he was curious to learn more about this man. Taking a few more steps himself, he looked at the man questioningly. "Excuse me, Sir, but what occasioned this small grouping of people? I am quite curious to learn more about this, if you do not mind my asking?"

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sun Dec 04, 2011 1:34 pm

“Just a little magic act, really. People go nuts for them. Why?” Rhys replied, all friendly and kind. He wasn’t big for distrusting people – it had never been worth it, really, and he had nothing to hide.

He smiled warmly, and adjusted his eye patch gently. It had become a bit of a nervous habit for him, re-positioning the piece of stiff fabric, but he was quite pleased with the diamond shaped one. He had quite a collection of different patches hidden in his pockets, alongside the various bits and pieces he used for his magic act.

Rhys hadn’t noticed the man before he had been addressed, and had no idea that he was connected to the commotion a moment ago, but that had already slipped out of his mind. He didn’t like to dwell on things, and his memory was terrible, so it was quite easy to mentally airbrush out anything he didn’t care to remember. Well, generally.

“Well, what brings you to this place? This isn’t exactly the most popular of streets, after all.” Rhys added, just for the sake of small talk. He liked noise, and chatter was in his nature.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sun Dec 04, 2011 1:54 pm

"Oh magic, how very exciting!" Zeke's eyes sparkled in excitement at the news, as he was always interested in those sorts of things, whether they were real or not. He may not believe in curses but like many other people, he was easily fascinated and would have loved to see the tricks, but he did not want to impose himself on the man, who had just wrapped up his act. Maybe some time soon, he could ask him about the tricks again and maybe even see them for himself.

"Ah yes, I ask myself that very question in the meantime," Zeke confided in response to the eye-patched man's question. "But you see, on my way through town, I ran into Gabby, the sister of the owner, which practically makes her the co-owner, of this little bar here," he pointed to the door where he had just stumbled out of in a hurry, "and since I didn't quite know what to do and where to go from here yet, she offered to rent me out a room for a couple of days until I figured out where to go from here."

Zeke looked at the man, briefly wondering why he was telling him all this in so much detail, but he quickly forgot about that little question again as he looked at the man's friendly and open face once more. Like Zeke, he seemed to be a rather chatty man. "What brings you to this place then? As you've said, this might not be the best of streets but the whole town in itself is not really the most awesome place to dwell." Grinning lightly, he added: "My name is Zeke, by the way."

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sun Dec 04, 2011 2:11 pm

“”Lovely to meet you, Zeke. I’m Rhys. I’ve been near here for a few hours, but that’s just because there’s fierce competition for performing space on some of the nicer streets.” He said. However, he had noticed the way Zeke’s eyes had lit up when he had mentioned his magic act, and he decided one trick couldn’t hurt. He plucked a coin out of his pocket (the nice silver one, not one of the grimy coppers that had been thrown to him, and flicked it into the air casually. Then, as it turned, he caught it, and closed his hand. The trick was to hide it behind two fingers, but surprisingly no one ever seemed to notice that. He opened his hand, revealing an empty palm, and gave a little chuckle.

“Ah, not a great situation then?” Rhys said in response to his comment, deciding to continue the trick and talk at the same time. “Can I presume you were the unlucky fellow I heard from over there getting thrown out, by the sounds of it? Don’t worry, they let everyone back in after a day or two – I’ve been thrown out of bars countless times.” With that, he flicked his hand roughly, and produced the coin again, making it look as though he had plucked it out of the air.

“And there you have it – the vanishing coin.” Rhys smiled, flicking the silver coin over in his hand experimentally. It had taken a long time to learn how to catch it again, since he had next to no depth perception since loosing his eye, but the weight of the coin always managed to bring it down correctly. His magic was maybe the only thing that never changed for him – it was his constant; his anchor, so it was a good thing he enjoyed it as much as he did.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sun Dec 04, 2011 3:13 pm

"The pleasure is all mine," Zeke replied happily. He seemed to have found someone who thought about the same lines that he did when it came to talking to strangers. He was not one to mistrust people most of the time, and even if he had made very bad experiences in the past with people who were not quite as trustworthy as they had appeared when he had met them, his enthusiasm for rapidly trusting people had oddly enough not taken a blow. "Really? I must have been blind, I have not seen a lot of performers, and I usually like watching, if only for a bit." When Rhys then performed a coin trick for him, Zeke smiled like a small boy, happy to have been shown a trick without even having asked for it. "That is quite brilliant!" He knew he was probably sounding foolish but he didn't care at that moment.

"Yes, that was me indeed." Zeke shrugged. "Unlucky, but no big deal in the end. I don't know what set her off suddenly, but it might be just as well. I wasn't really planning on sticking around for too long anyway. This just gives me a better incentive to actually be on my way again now." He smiled once again as Rhys produced the coin in the palm of his hand again. It was so simply, yet so fascinating. "Are you planning on staying here much longer?" Zeke didn't want to seem pushy but he was all of a sudden longing to be on his way again but he wouldn't mind a travelling companion seeing that he had been travelling on his own for quite a while and it would make for a nice change if someone were to be on the road with him for the next part of his adventure.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sun Dec 04, 2011 3:33 pm

“Well, I’ve got nothing tying me to this city, certainly, and I suppose going elsewhere would be a nice change of scenery. And there aren’t many performers, but the few that do hang around are never impressed if they have to share a street. It’s easier to find a new one.” He grinned, tucking the coin back into his pocket. He liked to see people fascinated by the ‘magic’, and almost envied them for being able to believe it. However, he reasoned, at least he was never denied an answer as to how it worked.

“I’m sure she will have had her reasons – women can be a little petty about things. Are you planning on sticking around here yourself much longer?” hew asked out of curiosity. He figured that Zeke wouldn’t have asked if he had been planning on staying here long-term, and the idea of traveling with a companion was not the worst one he had ever come across. In fact, it would probably do him good – walking alone in the woods was still bit of a fear for Rhys, after his last encounter, so he depended upon finding a well-know pathway to follow, or simply upon not traveling. And, of course, it would give him someone to talk too, and as chatter took his mind away from whatever darker thoughts were humming away deep down he welcomed that idea strongly.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more promising the whole idea sounded. He only hoped he had interpreted Zeke’s question correctly – he would probably be disappointed with any other scenario now that he had allowed the thought to enter his mind.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Mon Dec 05, 2011 8:11 am

Zeke had to laugh out loud at Rhys’ statement about women and could only heartily agree to this. “That is so very true. But no, I wasn’t planning on sticking around much longer. There is nothing tying me to this place either and I prefer travelling rather than being stuck inside city walls.” He was very glad to see that Rhys seemed to be just as enthusiastic about travelling in companionship as he was and there was not even a flicker of a doubt in his mind that he might have interpreted the man’s reply in the wrong way.

“If you have nowhere in particular that you might want to go we could head east? I’m not really sure where the road would take us but it is the general direction I have been going in for quite a while now,” Zeke explained, adjusting his small bag over his shoulder. He briefly checked whether he had really put his carving knife in there along with the small piece of wood because it would be a real shame if he lost either of them. The knife might be easily replaceable but the figurine he was currently carving had never come out this nicely, thus he did not want to have lost it.

Giving Rhys a smile, Zeke began heading down the street back to where Rhys had initially come from, beckoning for the man to follow him. “I am just going to buy some more provisions and then I am ready to be on our way.” He actually beamed at the notion of being on the road again, with a chatty companion at that. He could not have been luckier! “Do you need anything before we go? Or do you have something to take care of first?”

“Everything I own lives somewhere in these pockets, so I’m all set.” He replied, smiling. It was true – he had ten pockets in total in the long, black jacket (two at his hips, two at his chest and tow rows of three hidden in the lining of the jacket), and he never found them full. It meant he had pare places to store bits and bobs for magic acts, as well as his loose change as a small, pewter flask of rum.

He reached into one of the inside pockets and retrieved said flask, taking a swig from it carefully. He still wasn’t’ entirely sure about using the roads, but the fiery liquid helped calm his nerves. “Yup, all set.” He repeated, tucking the metallic bottle back into his jacket.

Of course, Rhys would also need to pick up one or two things from the market before the headed out, but if he was going along with Zeke anyway that could be arranged. His pockets were heavy with coins after that short performance, so he had no doubt that he would be able to find something to take along.

Chuckling, Zeke smiled at the man once more. “Alright then, we can be on our way in only a few minutes!” The excitement was ever growing and he could almost not wait to get out of this town now and be back on the road. It was so much more fun, yet he scolded himself a little for dwelling on these same musings over and over. He was usually not the kind to be reminiscent but it came over him once in a while after all.

“But, yes, I usually do carry most of my things around with me, but a little food would be nice, especially since I’m not a genius when it comes to hunting. I had an unfortunate incident with a bear not too long ago…” A shudder went through him when he remembered the honey related incident as it had not been pleasant to have a bear on his tracks but on the other hand, he had met a very nice man called Ixas through that tiny unfortunate adventure.

Zeke grinned as Rhys took a swig from his flask, before bracing himself to be thrown into the huddle of the market. “I’ll be quick! Just a few small things.” And he really was quick about his business. Seeing no further point in dwelling in this place, he made a few quick purchases and actually managed to sell one of his carved figurines as well, keeping a small reserve of coins in the deep depths of his bag, in case of an emergency.

“All settled now as well,” Zeke told Rhys as they made to leave the market. “Are you ready to commence an awesome adventure?” he joked. He had no idea what would be awaiting him on this next trip, but the fact that he had someone else with him assured him that he would not get into any more trouble with bears. Or at least he hoped so.

“Awesome adventure? Why not.” Rhys laughed, loosening up a little. Zeke seemed like a really genuine person, and Rhys had a feeling they would get on well.

“Ah, bears. They’re little buggers really, but I’ve always had more trouble with the people in the woods than the animals. They’ll probably keep out of the way if there’re two of us anyway.” He commented, more to convince himself that there wasn’t any danger than to reassure Zeke.

Rhys had managed to buy himself a small meat pie while Zeke was gone, which was wrapped up nicely in one of his lowest pockets, ready for later. However, he had a relatively small apatite at the best of times, so it would probably last him a while.

“So, off we go?” he asked, grinning broadly. The more he thought about it, the more he realised it was time for a change of scenery, and this seemed like just the way to go about it. And hopefully wherever they wound up would have more potential to perform that the last town – it hadn’t exactly been fine pickings.

“You might be right about that,” Zeke agreed, not even having thought about the people they might encounter along the road. With all those thugs running around freely, they could have easily run into danger, but Rhys was right. “It’s always easier and less risky when there’s two of us.” Storing the small loaf of bread he had bought last into his bag, he looked up at his new travelling companion. “Yes, off we go!” Smiling broadly, the young man marched off through the crowds to the edge of the market and quickly out of the main gate of the town.

Luckily, for the smaller towns, the areas around the outer walls were not quite as crowded with poor people begging for a coin or two, or for food, as was the case with some larger ones. It was not the case for every city, Dragon’s Cove was a nice place and took care of everyone, even the poorer ones and rarely let its cities drift into such poverty, but there were always a few beggars or other poor souls sitting along the trading roads leading into towns in hopes of receiving something. It was not so much the people but the smell they brought along with them that Zeke minded. He was simply not used to it and probably never would.

Breathing in the fresh air as they had left the outer perimeters of the town behind them, Zeke sighed. “Ah, I had not realised how much I missed the smell of clean air! And I have not even been here for more than just two nights!” Shaking his head in thought, he added: “I don’t think I’ve been made to live in anything bigger than a small village. I need nature, fresh air and everything connected to it in order to be truly happy I think. What about you, Rhys? How long have you even been in town for?”

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Mon Dec 05, 2011 4:10 pm

“Erm, I’ve been in town a while now. A few moths, certainly.” Rhys said, a little uncertainly. “I don’t travel much – it’s never really gone well for me in the past, so I tend to just hover places.” He said, holding his breath as they passed the stinking outer reaches of the town. That was another thing that put him off travelling: the smells near the gates.

“Do we actually know where we’re going?” Rhys asked, a little nervously as they got onto the first real road. He took out his silvery flask and took another sip to calm himself, and put on his best smile to cover his nerves. He had been more affected by that attack, almost a year ago now, than he would have liked to admit. Hopefully the nerves would pass once they got far enough out into the countryside.

“Do you travel often, then?” Rhys asked, trying to forget about the road ahead of them. He focused entirely on pulling himself together, so that he could eventually manage to walk free of fear, but that required noise and chatter. He was a city person, really. He just hoped he would be able to handle the outside world

(sorry, I'm getting shorter and shorter here xD)

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Tue Dec 06, 2011 8:38 am

“Wow, a few months already?” Zeke was surprised as he could himself not imagine to stay in that place for so long, then again, it was not a place for anyone seeking a real adventure or carving wooden figurines, even less a please for someone wanting to breathe the country air. For an entertainer however, it might be something completely different. Chuckling lightly at Rhys’ further words, the young man said: “Ah, but you know, travelling is not what goes best for me either, but I just try to make the best of it.”

Continuing the light banter between the two, Zeke almost felt like starting to skip, so lighthearted did he feel. “I’m usually too restless to stay in one place for too long, which is why I headed out onto the road in the first place!” Zeke replied to Rhys’ question. “I have been travelling for a couple of years now actually, much to the dismay of my family, but oh well.” He shrugged at this last part. He knew that his sister Selene would probably still not have forgiven him for leaving her behind without any moral support against their perfect younger sister but he simply had to do what he had to do.

Noticing how Rhys took another swig from his flask and tried to cover up his obvious nervousness, Zeke hesitantly prodded: “Did something happen on your last journey?” Reconsidering what he had just asked, seeing that it might be rather personal, he quickly added: “If I may ask. You don’t need to tell me, I was just curious.” Fixing his eyes back on the road ahead, Zeke forced himself to be a little less enthusiastic and try to show more concern for the actual plan, which did not really exist as such. “Well, no, not really. Apart from heading east, I did not have anything in particular planned. What about you? Is there any special place you might want to go? We could head to the capital?”

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Tue Dec 06, 2011 3:21 pm

“You can ask all you like – it’s no secret. Let’s just say I don’t wear this patch as a fashion statement.” Rhys grinned nervously. However, he was easing up a bit, and almost felt safe on the path. It was well trodden, and was clearly used often, so it was unlikely they would run into anyone undesirable.

“The capital? That sounds wonderful, actually. I don’t think I’ve ever been there. Do you know how far it is from here?” he asked, grinning genuinely this time. Now that the city was fading away behind them a little, his old love of the roads – the one he had always had as a child, at least, began to kick in, lifting his spirits.

“I’d forgotten how much I used to enjoy it out here in the open.” He muttered, half to himself, with an ever-growing smile on his face. It would take him a while to become as free and calm as Zeke, but now that they were actually on the way, he had no doubt that he would get there some day.

It had been too long since Rhys had seen the open sky – it was usually too flooded with buildings and smoke for his to see clearly. It was lovely and clear that day, with not a cloud in sight. This was what he’d been missing, cooped up in the grimy little towns he tended to live in. It was difficult to think it had been worth missing.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Thu Dec 08, 2011 8:37 am

“Yes,” Zeke admitted with his head lightly cocked to one side as he looked at Rhys, “I’ve been wondering about the eye patch and it would definitely have been one of my next questions. What exactly happened there? I mean it must have been pretty bad if you’re wearing that.” At this, he pointed towards the eye patch. “Did you lose your eye?” With a grin, he added: “It would be an interesting fashion statement though. Imagine everyone running around with eye patches in various shapes and colours. Now that would be a sight.”

At Rhys’ question however, Zeke looked at him a little sheepishly. “No, actually, I have no idea how long it will take us. From what I’ve heard it might be a few weeks of travel on foot. Maybe we can find some alternative means of transportation somewhere along the road, you never know. Plus, there are many villages and smaller towns along the way where we could stop for a while. I usually just go where my gut tells me to.” It had been a nice feeling to always just wander, following his nose and wondering where he would end up that time.

“Of course, if that is not something you are willing to do, I understand.” Zeke was a little sad as the realisation hit him that other people might not share this enthusiasm of his and his newly found companion might jump ship at any second now, but he would definitely not hold it against the man. Holding his nose up into the wind, the young man inhaled deeply, savouring the air and enjoying the sunshine of this wonderfully bright day. It had been a good day to start a new adventure with the sun smiling down upon them and not a cloud in sight. They would hopefully not get into a shower for another few days, and if it were to happen, they would hopefully find a cave or similar before they would be completely drenched.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Thu Dec 08, 2011 8:15 pm

“Hmm, yes, I did loose it. You see this scar?” he asked, tilting up his chin to reveal the long, pink line that stretched from his forehead and down below the neckline of his shirt. “It goes right to my hip, and through the eye. It wasn’t nice.” He said. However the mental image of people wearing interesting eye patches for no good reason made him crack up. He doubled over, laughing.

“That would be ridiculous!” he grinned, smiling so brightly that he completely forgot his unease about travelling, and about his eye. He probably owned enough eye patches to manage that sort of a scene, and it was a very odd thought indeed.

“Oh, no, I’m fine with it. I do magic acts – we magicians can’t exactly demand structure after working anywhere that we aren’t shooed away from. I’m happy enough to follow our noses.” He shrugged. It was nice to see that Zeke was so enthusiastic about their ‘awesome adventure’, and he hoped it would be contagious. He was relaxed now, and quite happy with the situation, but he didn’t quite have the impossible enthusiasm that Zeke did. Maybe one day.

“Let’s hope the weather holds.” He said, shielding his face from the glaring sun a little. It would be a nuisance to travel in damp gear, so he honestly did hope they managed to avoid the rain as much as possible.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:00 am

Zeke’s eyes grew wide as Rhys explained how far the scar was going down. In all honesty, he had not really been paying a lot of attention to it. Neither had he inspected the man as a whole. Apart from the eye patch, which had effectively caught his eye. He wasn’t sure how to comment on the whole thing and he wasn’t very sure if Rhys actually wanted to talk about it. It did not seem all too likely, even if he had willingly replied to the question. In addition, the man then began doubling over in laughter, infecting Zeke with the motion, thus the young man did not want to interrupt the good mood and passed by any further commentary on the lost eye.

“It would be very ridiculous but it might just turn out to be epic. We should definitely give it a try at some point. Cause a fashion scandal in the capital, once we arrive. Now wouldn’t that be something. I can already imagine the guards chasing us for inflicting such an impossible fashion on them.” Even only imagining it was bringing tears of laughter to Zeke’s eyes. Many men and even more women – who were prone to enjoy their fashion – running around with eye patches of various shapes and colours over their faces. “Maybe that is what our true intentions are,” Zeke mused, winking at Rhys. He was glad the latter was finally easing up a little more, losing quite a bit of the tension he had been dragging around with himself at the very beginning of this journey.

As the magician commented on him holding his nose up into the air, he agreed: “I hope so too. But it looks like it, for now at least. The rainy season is still far away, theoretically, so hopefully we won’t be surprised by anything nasty along those lines any time soon.”

Not too long after, the path they were following came to a crossing, both of the pathways leading into the same direction seemingly, merely forking away onto two different lanes. However, they both managed to disappeared behind bends and trees after a while so there was no way of knowing whether they were really still heading east or not. One would definitely have to go somewhere else, what other reason would there be for the path to split into two? “Hmm, now what? Which one do we take? Left or right? What do you think?” Zeke looked at Rhys, leaving the choice up to the man to decide which road to take.

“Oh yes, that would be something. ‘Eye patch craze takes the capital by storm’ – what a headliner.” He chuckled to himself, shaking his head at the bizarre idea. That would certainly be one way to make an impression on the capital city, which would probably bring in a little more fame than a makeshift magic act.

“I’ve never paid attention to when the rainy seasons are really – they’ve never been a bother before, so when they arrive, they take me by surprise. If they’re still a way away that’s brilliant.” Rhys added. Even in his youth, when he had travelled as he pleased, he had never really been concerned by the rain – if his gear got damp, he could dry it over a fire, and there were always villages nearby to stay in to dry off. When he had started spending more and more time inside cities (he had grown away from travelling a little while before the attack) that feeling of indifference had only increased, as rain didn’t tend to affect stone walls. If he was going to get back into this adventuring business, it would probably be worth knowing a bit more about the weather, all things considered.

As they reached the split in the path, Rhys looked down each route ponderously. He had no preference – he didn’t know where either one went, and couldn’t see much of them anyway – and decided to toss a coin for it.

“Head we go right; tails we go left?” he asked, holding up the copper piece. He didn’t want to scratch his ‘vanishing’ silver coin, since it was not only his nicest coin, but one of his only trick ones, which meant he could easily trick people out of an extra coin or two. He never pretended he was an honest gambler, and took no shame from dealing the occasional trick round. You did what you had to, to get by.

The coin sailed into the air with a little chinking noise, and spun elegantly upwards. It took all of Rhys’ attention to catch it again, but he managed to flip it over onto his wrist easily enough. “Now for the moment of truth.” He muttered, lifting his hand slowly. He felt like this was a big decision, all of a sudden, and that a lot was weighing on that simple coin toss. It was a strange feeling, to say the least.

"Tails." he declared, as he removed his hand completely, looking at the coin carefully. He hoped it wasn't going to lead them astray, but there was nothing else to be done.

"Absolutely fine by me," Zeke replied, not too fussed about how exactly Rhys decided where they were going to go. He had figured the man would use some kind of magic trick to make a decision and he was happily observing the magician as he did so. It was almost disappointing to realise it was simply a normal coin toss and nothing more intricate than that, but the young man wasn't making a fuss about it. Of course not. What he did wonder however was how on earth Rhys caught the coin again with only one eye, which should generally put off his point of view a little. It was rather impressive and Zeke was not afraid to mention it. Credit, where credit was due, right?

"You know," he said while he was excitedly waiting for the moment of truth when the magician would reveal which side the coin had landed on, "it is actually quite amazing that you can still catch that coin seemingly without trouble despite just having one eye to keep track of its trajectory. Very impressive." He himself was currently practising a similar thing with his carving knife, though he was obviously not throwing it as high up and he was usually quickly retreating his hand when he noticed the knife was coming down blade first. He didn't want to have his hand or a finger cut off after all.

"Tails? Alright, left it is then," Zeke grinned and began trotting into the direction the coin had told them to pick. "Now, let's see where this will take us. Hopefully this is not going to be the one to lead off into a completely different direction. I don't even know what exactly we might encounter on our way to the capital. Maybe we will find something even more extraordinary than a buzzing city. Maybe we could find mythical creatures or a treasure map? Or quite simply an architectural wonder nobody has ever seen?" Zeke realised he was beginning to babble in excitement and probably not making all too much sense by listing random incidents which might or might not - he was betting on the latter - happen to them and they were by no means very creative either. "What do you think might await us? Nothing scary of course, just, random thoughts about fantastic occurrences which might make us famous or at least provide us with one hell of an adventure. I could really use something more exciting in my life." The last words were merely whispered and Zeke said them more to himself than to his companion but the latter might have heard nevertheless.

“If you have enough time on your hands, you can teach yourself to do almost anything, and I have had a lot of time. I spent maybe a month teaching myself to judge distance based on the size of my thumb nail.” He commented, suddenly realising that, if he couldn’t see his nail, he would never have caught the thing. It was strange that he had managed to forget quite how he had gotten his depth perception back to an acceptable state, but it worked, and that was what mattered.

“Hmm, treasure maps and mythical creatures sound fun.” Rhys smiled, playing through each scenario that Zeke listed in his mind. “In fact, why not have all sorts of things beginning with ‘m’. We could find a map, to take us to the middle of a mythical marsh, with all manner of mesmerising misadventures lurking at every corner.” He laughed, finally running out of words beginning with ‘m’. He didn’t know many really, but he was sure he had managed to use them all there.

“Adventure sounds good to me – I seem to have done surprisingly little in my years so far.” He added, realising that he could count every interesting thing he had done on one hand. However, as he heard Zeke’s murmured words, he suddenly felt uncertain. Zeke travelled, and seemed so full of life that it was difficult to imagine him feeling a need for extra excitement. Maybe that was just because Rhys was so utterly boring that anything seemed like excitement, but he was worried that something was up.

“You alright, Zeke? You didn’t sound so happy there.” He said light-heartedly, deciding it was better to just ask than to stew over it for hours. There may not even be any reason for him to worry.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Wed Dec 14, 2011 1:07 pm

“That is very true,” Zeke replied. “You could teach yourself just about anything.” The thought was an interesting one and even though he had done this himself with his carving, it was always something to consider. Maybe he should try his luck with something else now that he was mastering the carving fairly well.

Listening to Rhys’ listening of words beginning with the letter ‘m’, Zeke got more and more excited again himself. “That is a brilliant idea! Maybe we should go hunt for a treasure map? Or just a normal map, it doesn’t necessarily have to be treasure, but what an adventure that would be! Maybe we could bump into a minotaur, eh?” Zeke was nodding his head wildly, happy that he thought of another ‘m’-word even though he was not sure those kinds of creatures even existed on Dragon’s Cove, but they definitely were mythical. “Or a mist hound or a magpie dragon? Or, or, …” He drifted off, wondering if there were any other dragons whose names began with an ‘m’ but unable to come up with another one, he merely grinned widely at Rhys, stating: “I seriously want to go on adventure now, rather than just trekking towards the capital city. That we can do every day anyways!”

At Rhys’s question, Zeke frowned slightly and replied with a brief “It’s nothing” before concentrating on the path ahead. He had fallen into musings again which he had preferably forgotten about but which he could never forget about because he would never be able to forget about Selene, or the way he had left her. After a few more moments, he realised that he had been rather rude towards his companion, so he decided to elaborate a little: “Being back in town now and seeing all these people, some more pretentious than others, it made me remember my own family, who are basically the reason why I am even travelling so much. We had a good relation, it wasn’t so much that than the fact that the parents wanted me and my two sisters to be their perfect children. They didn’t mind me so much because I was a boy and was supposed to do more adventurous things, but my sister Selene, she didn’t handle this all too well. The older we all got, the more they pressured her to do what it was they wanted from her, whereas our younger sister was the perfect child, my parents had always hoped to have. It made life hard on the rest of us and I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I left, leaving behind Selene in her misery. I still feel guilty about it, but there is no way I can return. Not yet at least. But I think about this far too much, especially when I’m amongst too many people who are supposedly well-functioning in a society. Anything to distract me from that is welcome now, though I do hope it will be a merry occasion rather than a morose one.” At the use of the last two adjectives, he grinned at Rhys, remembering their play with ‘m’ words. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring down the mood,” Zeke apologised, realising that he had sounded a little gloomy in places.

“Well, why don’t we then? Mystery and mayhem, here we come.” Rhys laughed. He wasn’t sure if he was being serious, but for the time being he was just drifting anyway. There would be no harm in going off on a little detour, would there? And the ‘m’ game was getting pretty funny, the more he thought about it.

As Zeke explained his less-than-pleasant family situation, Rhys stayed quiet. He felt for him – he really did – but it was a little hard to feel emotionally attached to the situation. He didn’t really have much to do with his own family, so he didn’t have quite the same grasp of brotherly/sisterly love. Well, by ‘not much’ he meant nothing – he hadn’t even met his parents, and didn’t know if he even had any siblings.

“That really bites. I’m sure she’ll be alright, though – people always find a way. Maybe your parents will loosen up about it all a bit if you’re out here for a while? You just gotta think about the best case scenario.” Rhys said supportively, before continuing to grin and laugh, thinking about the letter M.

Zeke brushed the thoughts away with a hand movement, not wanting to further think about family relations. “It is what it is,” he finally sighed, “but I thank you for your kind words. You’re probably right, she will be fine, one way or the other, though I’m counting more on her packing her things and leaving rather than the parents loosening up. They’re very uptight sometimes.”

“Anyways,” Zeke moved on to brighter topics. Just as he was about to continue that particular sentence, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, instinctively grabbing Rhys’ arm in his excitement to make him stop as well. With his other arm, he immediately pointed to something further along the path. “Do you see that?” he whispered, squinting his eyes to better see. He was also lightly leaning forwards a little in an attempt to make out what on earth it was he was seeing there.

It appeared to be some sort of.. blop. But it was multicoloured and shiny in the sunlight. “What on earth is that?” he asked, not sure Rhys could help him out on that one. He couldn’t distinguish a clear shape and he wasn’t sure whether it was an object or a being. In any case, it seemed not to be moving for the time being. “I seriously cannot see what it is,” he muttered, wanting to move closer to it. Hesitantly, he took a few more steps, inadvertently dragging Rhys along as his hand was still gripping the man’s arm. “Can you see?”

» Out On A Whim (Zay X Eldarwen)
» A meeting in the City {Artemis~StormKatz}
» Frost in the spring? (Spiritdragon & Stormkatz)
» Average Jilurian Antics. (Stormkatz, Artel and Zay)
» Eldarwen & bluemoonstonight {Title to come}