Title to be added - (Umdtaoc X Eldarwen)

Subject: Title to be added - (Umdtaoc X Eldarwen) Sun Aug 24, 2008 8:20 pm

Rules:
You should all know the rules, if you don't, then please read here.

Plot and Intro:
Over and over Selene kept telling herself that she had done the right thing. It had been good to leave home and to get things done her own way. Nobody understood her way of thinking anyway and most of all, nobody accepted her having her own free will. She was supposed to have been raised as the perfect housemaid, like her younger sister was. Already married when Selene was still fighting the ways of society, she had to listen to her younger sister tell her what she should be doing in life and taking her as an example. What was there supposed to be good about marrying some random guy you've never met? But instead of arguing, she had kept her mouth shut and kept her thoughts to herself. She knew what was important to her and if it didn't matter to anyone else, well then that was their fault. Only her parents had come to have to take the blame for having a black sheep in their family, a daughter that apparently seemed to behave like she wanted to be a man, simply because Selene wanted to do something more useful with her life than cooking and sowing.

Now here she was, trying to get a job to be able to survive without having to start thieving like every other person that had run away from home. She figured that her mouth would be able to get her some kind of mission, even if it was the crappiest thing around. As long as it fed her in the end, it would be a start until she knew what she finally wanted to do with her life. Strolling across the market place, dressed in a black coat, no emotion showing on her rather cold appearing face, she looked around for some kind of job announcement. How hard could it be to find something? Even for a girl this should be easy enough?

Suddenly a chill went down her spine as a dark voice behind her addressed her: "Looking for a job, missy?" She whirled around, fixing her cold eyes on the man standing behind her. He looked rather scary, very muscular, cigarette hanging down from his mouth and a vicious look about him. "Depends on the job you are offering." "There is either a yes or a no, so decide quickly," was the immediate reply, accompanied by an evil grin. Selene knew this could not be something that was very legal, but what if she didn't find anything else? She had run out of food, she had no money at all and she really needed to feed soon as her stomach would soon start asking for nourishment. "Alright," she simply replied.

Seemingly satisfied with that answer, the man gave her a piece of paper. "These is a map for where you have to go. Instructions are on the back. You can read right?" the man asked sarcastically. Selene simply pulled a face at him. There was no need to tell him that she obviously couldn't. She could decipher a few words but that was about it. Nobody had ever taught her; education was only something for the really rich people and she definitely did not count amongst those. "Once you have fulfilled your mission, you can come collect your reward. It will be great. Here is a little advance to get you moving, I don't want you to delay me. This needs to be done by Friday." And with that he turned on his heel and disappeared into the crowds. Friday? This Friday? Selene started to panic. It was Monday, she didn't know where to go, it would take her ages to decipher the instructions. How am I ever going to get this done?! What have I gotten myself into? I should have thought about this more, no, I should not have accepted the job! Now she stood there, in the middle of the market place, terror showing on her usually emotionless face.

Setting:
A town, late morning, just before midday. Busy and colourful market place as it was market day and everybody wanted to do their shopping at the same time it seemed to get fresh items to prepare lunch. Lots of people pushing others about, trying to get the good deals first. Some weird people hanging about. Some children waiting for the opportune moment to steal fruits and vegetables from the stands so they would have something to eat for the next few days. Outside of town stretched the mountains to the north, plains to the east and south and to the west there was a forest.

Guest

"You are king and king is glory!" Sudo sang to his ego as he skipped along the market's path tossing an apple into the air. His supposed win in the contest of "who has the biggest sword" really heightened his mood. He is known to make everything a contest, all of which he claims to be the winner.

Sudo continued down the path self-righteously when he saw the girl in black. "Damsel in distress! What a wonderful way to gain the upper hand!" he thought to himself after spotting Selene's figure still as stone with a face showing her obvious mental pandemonium.

he walked past her and acted as if he just noticed her and turned around. "Well, what is this?" Sudo exclaimed moving closer to his victim. " A beautiful lady such as you should not be in a place such as this! There are too many dangerous people that could get you hurt!" He lifted his hand to her chin, and in a soft voice suggesting he truly cared he added bending down to look up into her eyes, "why so afraid? Let me help you!"

Just off the path, was an unclothed man eying Sudo and studying the situation. Within his ramblings to himself he said, "a man of masked sadist pleasures and being completely out for himself, he doesn't have many that confide in him. Alone he walks through life, though contently. His ways leave those touched by him tainted with hatred towards him." Crippled, old and cane-bound, he walks in the shadows of Sudo.

Subject: Re: Title to be added - (Umdtaoc X Eldarwen) Sun Aug 31, 2008 5:30 pm

Completely lost in her own thoughts, Selene jumped in surprise as suddenly a voice started talking to her. And she absolutely did not like the way she was being addressed. It wasn't the kind of person she would immediately be afraid of, not like her new employee - so to speak. But there was something about the guy that was sending chills down her spine. It was not an obvious danger that was emanating from him, but the things he was hiding behind his sugar-coated words was what worried her.

"Who do you think you are?" She raged, getting her chin out of reach from his hands. She disliked being touched, especially by people she didn't know and that were suspect to her. "What makes you think I would need your help?" She spat, continuing to back away a little further with each word. Her eyes were glistening with anger but slowly, she got a grip on herself again, restoring her typical pokerface and thus hiding her emotions.

Then a thought crossed her mind. Not that she believed he genuinely cared for why she actually was in distress, but maybe he did have the means to help her. After all, he had offered it, so he surely would not break his word? Her face remaining the cold pokerface, the fire in her eyes started to die away a little, as she added the next words in a slightly friendlier tone of voice, though adding an arrogant after tone to it: "Well, I suppose, since you asked, you could read this to me." Without granting him another look, she held the piece of paper she had just received towards the newcomer, hoping he would not take it and run off with it. That would be bad for her, really bad. In a brief moment of panic, her hand twitched and it looked as though she wanted to backtrack her previous movement, but then her hand steadied again, still holding the piece of paper towards the man.

Guest

“You can’t read it yourself?” was all that came from Sudo at first. He stood their awaiting reply. Getting nothing he finally snatched the paper from her hand nearly ripping it. “Fine I’ll read it”, he finally said. After straightening up the tattered sheet of paper, obviously annoyed, he began reading aloud. The letter read:

Monday’s SAL Report

Subject: Fidel Finnel
Action: Acquire further instruction
Location: Malign Mountain
40

Sudo looked up when he was finished reading. “I know this Finnel family. They’re all crooked. You’ll need a strong alliance if you’re expecting to go through with this, and I think I can be just that!” He put his arm around Selene and added, “So how much did they give you?”

Subject: Re: Title to be added - (Umdtaoc X Eldarwen) Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:21 am

Would I give it to you if I could read it myself?! She flustered a little, as anger and embarrassment were flowing through her body. She didn't speak the thought though. She didn't want to come across as the uneducated, naive girl that was only trained to be a house wive, especially not since she wanted to build herself some kind of reputation as the tough warrior that was not afraid of anything and anyone. This was not in the least only because she had to do this, otherwise the whole adventure was bound to end with her trotting back to her parents and having to admit that she was a complete failure when it comes to standing on her own two feet.

While listening to the note being read to her, her cheeks paled a little. She had no idea of what to do with this information, nor did she know where to go from here. That's why her eyes lit up a little when he mentioned that he knew the family. She wasn't too pleased with the fact that he thought he would be the perfect company for this kind of thing. Hence, she said: "What makes you think I would want to have you around?" The look in her eyes betrayed the comment though, as she already started wavering and was thinking about asking him not to leave her and show her where to go. There was no one else and she needed to find her way through the unknown city and he obviously had been here more than once, if he was not even living here.

"Don't touch me!" Selene snarled as soon as his arm touched her shoulder, and she immediately tore away, glaring at him in anger. However, again, his next comment made her waver again. She had no idea how much her so-called employer had given her, she hadn't even thought of checking. Opening her hand, where the man had put her advance, she blushed, realising that it wouldn't even be enough to buy food and drink until Friday where she would hopefully get paid. It deflated her whole hopes of getting something decent on Friday after accomplishing the mission. "It... It.. is.. only...," she was reluctant to tell him. She was sure he would laugh at her, at her stupidity and naivety, for even accepting something like that.

Guest

Sudo, incredibly impatient, grabbed her hand and started counting, fingering the coins in her hand. It took a few seconds due to the recounting and his counting mistakes but, he finally exclaimed, “This isn’t even enough to buy our way ‘til Tuesday!” He threw down her newly clenched hand. “Luckily I have the ability to make a day’s pay ration last for a month. This is a little lower than what I’ve had before but, well, not everyone is as wealthy as I.” He stood up straight, as proud as he could be, as he finished his last sentence.

Sudo stood still with his chin up as if allowing his newest aggravated company to take in his pride. A few moments sufficed. He then continued, “It appears as though we must be off to Malign. Let’s hope Fidel is not in his usual friendly Finnel state.” Looking at the paper again he said, “These directions are for today. We must leave now if we’re going to make it there before the family does their usual twenty-wound solute to hating what the world has to offer.” Sudo let out a laugh before he looked at Selene and said, “Don’t worry though. I’ve been through many of them and I only lost a few ribs.” He looked and then began walking to his right while he said, “Of course I did have protection.”

Strutting towards what could have been a booth for the lethal knives club, Sudo tripped. He crashed down onto a peculiarly placed sword on the ground. A gasp came from some that witnessed it. “How perilous this sword could have been for the average man!” Sudo raged with a hint of relief. “I’m fine people” He continued as he got up and pounded his abs with his fist, “abs of ste-“, he was cut off by the sound of his iron breast-plate falling to the ground. Sudo looked at the plate. Thinking he could revive with his ego he said, “Ah what a pathetic waste of iron. It couldn’t handle even my slightest pounds. There’s no way it could have held up in a fight.” He stooped to pick it up, “Sir,” he addressed the owner of the small metal shop, “have Jarne take a look at this” Sudo handed him the plate. Annoyed at the deepest levels, the owner obeyed.

Behind the shop and to the left was the old man. “Ah, so close” the man said to what seemed to be himself. He precariously crept toward the shop. “One failed to realize completely and adequately what was meant by his previous engagements. The fall was not unintentional and the blade was far more than a mere coincidence. Someone must have it out for him. It is only fair, to some.” He then crouched down into the long weeds like a cat ready to pounce. There he stayed to unearth more of Sudo.

Subject: Re: Title to be added - (Umdtaoc X Eldarwen) Sun Nov 23, 2008 9:03 pm

Selene let him count, too embarrassed to do anything about it. She knew well enough that this was not much, and by far not enough. He was being confident she thought as she eyed the pieces in her hand while his fingers were fiddling with them. Though she didn't quite believe him that he could make it that long with this less coins. Raising an eyebrow, but without letting out a comment whatsoever, she watched him adjust his pose. He was very confident, she had to admit, and she almost wanted to admire it but then again.. She wasn't sure whether it was too appropriate to be bragging about things like that. Rich, poor, in the end people were all the same and they were all going to die, so what's the use in making a fuss about materialistic ideas?

Her face darkened when the male started explaining a bit more on the family. "That doesn't sound too confiding, to be honest." The family seemed a little special, maybe too special for a first job and the fact that he hadn't gotten out of these encounters unharmed didn't make her feel better either. "Are you sure you can handle this?" she asked while she followed him towards a weird looking stand. Keeping her distance, she first eyed the thing up and down, uneasy about the shabbiness of it. Then curiosity got the overhand and she inquired as to who or what that protection of his might have been? "Seeing that you're alone... did you use to have a partner in crime?" she tried to joke a little, to play over the discomfort that had taken hold of her.

Selene's eyes were scanning the various merchandises spread out in front of the vendor, though she couldn't afford any of those anyway. Not with what she had anyways. A beautifully worked dagger with engravings along the insides of the blade caught her attention. Never had she seen anything like it. The dagger was catching the light in fantastic patterns and the writings didn't seem to belong to any language she knew or had heard of. Almost incapable of tearing her eyes away from this beauty, Selene finally overcame her attraction and looked at the man that was with her.

Taking in a short breath of air, Selene was too late in wanting to grab the man when he was already stumbling over a sword that seemed to have appeared out of the blue on the ground in front of him. For some odd reason though, the girl suddenly burst out laughing hysterically. Tears were streaming down her face while she was watching the male eyeing his breast armour that had suddenly fallen off like a foul apple from a tree. She couldn't take this anymore, but all the tension was releasing itself. Holding her side, she bent down and tried to catch her breath again. She wiped the tears from her face, still panting, before she looked at him with a huge grin: "Seriously, who ARE you?" She started warming up to him. He was not nearly as arrogant as he had presented himself. On the contrary, he seemed rather normal and a little clumsy, which made him so much nicer than his initial attitude.