[Bay]

Thallominas 29th ≈ East-Side Market ≈ Kiel, Bay

"Curiosity killed the cat, but where people are concerned, the only thing a healthy curiosity can kill is ignorance."

Night had fallen, and with it the day's warmth was seeping away from the streets. It wasn't terribly cold, at least not yet, but the cobblestones under his feet were becoming increasingly cool. Bay was facing his usual conundrum - what to do with himself now that the streets were emptying. Being homeless was strange and new to him, even after the few weeks he'd been here, and so far he hadn't been able to find one spot that he could reliably sleep in. The fancy neighborhoods seemed the best and most inviting, but the Watch and their boots patrolled those a bit too eagerly for him to be able to get a full night's rest before getting kicked in the side and told to leave.

So tonight he had headed instead to the eastern marketplace, where the food merchants were packing up. They tended to leave - and waste - perfectly good food, something he wasn't opposed to helping them by cleaning up. He wasn't sure why people fussed so much when he did this. Surely if they left things in their stalls overnight, they meant for people to take them?

He crossed his arms, hand sliding into the sleeves of his tunic. The market square was still full of people when he arrived, and he spent a good hour or so sitting on the edge of the fountain, elbows on his knees and chin on the palms of his hands. There wasn't much to do at times like this, and so he contented himself with carefully reading the shop signs. His ability to read seemed to surprise people, but with the Library not letting him in, he didn't exactly have much chance to use it...

"Mag-elle's Sun-dries," he said, under his breath. The square was steadily emptying, the slam of stall and shop doors becoming more and more frequent...as was the grumbling of his stomach. "East End Arm-or-er's."

When the square was mostly dark, he hopped off the fountain wall, looking about. The fruit merchant was the best one for food, he'd found. The man was nice enough to leave his goods within easy reach if one darted under the cloth front of his stall. It was rather like a game, really - he simply had to slide under the tied canvas like so when the guards were on the other end of the square...

It was an hour after dinner (a pair of apples, today) that he finally found a place that looked promising - and comfortable. He nimbly hauled himself up the front of an empty stall, testing the striped canvas cover that formed the roof. It seemed steady enough and held his weight, and he quite happily slid onto it, finding his weight sank him down so he didn't seem visible to the rest of the square. Wonderful! Maybe they couldn't see him now, either.

Either way it was sheltered, and more comfortable than the stone streets. Bay was soon asleep, curled up in a ball.

[Kiel]

“Like, you know, but I'm just saying. How long are we gonna be on loan to the Guard, you know? Like, you know, I'm all for helping out and all and I soooo don't mind 'cause, like, the city's kinda in shambles and that's why I joined the League in the first place, you know? To help people, I mean. But, like, wasn't the quake back in Erimis, so, like, shouldn't they be back to how things were before? The Guard, I mean.”

Kiel rambled on as he and Mickey entered the market place on their rounds. The other guard nodded and uh-huhed occasionally but, like, otherwise let him talk. Which was kinda cool, or maybe he just wasn't listening. “So like, you'd think the Guard would be a priority, you know? Like, I know the economy went to Hel and all but, like, wah!”

Forced to hop on one leg and then the other to dodge being bowled over by a cat chased by a dog as they raced out of the alley to his right, Kiel wobbled and, like, almost fell flat on his face. Mickey's hand went for his weapon, but then he, like, stood and practically laughed his socks off.

“Duuuuude. That scared the freak outta me, man, for sers. Like, you heard those guys earlier about the gytrash in the tunnels, right? Like, or was it a naga?” He'd dealt with one of those before in the sewers and had been all, like, awesomed it to death and stuff. With Maaike's help. But, like, “They think a whole pack of them got disturbed outta their regular nest or den or whatever by the quake so they're being all, like, aggressive and stuff. The gytrashes, I mean. I don't think nagas have packs. Or nests. Do they have nests?”

Mickey made a non-committal noise, his head tilted slightly. “Hey, do you smell something?”

Kiel tipped his own head until he had to slam his hand against his head to stop his hat flopping off. “Ummmm. Oooooh, I smell smacks.”

Mickey arched an eyebrow at him. Like, the dude hadn't even met Zeph so far as Kiel knew, so how the heck did they manage to pull off the same look? “Get your nose out of your belly for a second. Smells kind of like a Zanaryan, but not.”

Kiel blinked and tipped his head further. “Like, ewwww, but, like, is this a Therian thing? 'Cause, like, I'm not Therian, okay? All I can smell is food, okay?” Pause. Think. “Hey, hey, like, you wanna swing by Rosie's before they close and grab a snack?”

[Bay]

"Curiosity killed the cat, but where people are concerned, the only thing a healthy curiosity can kill is ignorance."

Bay hadn't taken long to fall asleep. At home in the Fae Forest, getting him to sleep had been one of his father's most difficult tasks - Bay had slept little and well, and then spent most of the day getting himself into trouble and then stayed up late into the night writing. But here, where he spent most of the day on his feet, was underfed, cold, and generally not in the best conditions...he'd learned to fall asleep as fast as he could, and the relative softness of the stall's canopy made this simple.

He didn't quite gotten into proper deep sleep when, suddenly, there were voices - and they weren't quite on the edge of hearing like the constant din of voices in this city usually were. For a few moments, Bay assumed he was dreaming - until the fact he was lucid enough to ponder that clued him in enough to realize he wasn't. Bay stirred from what had been a pleasant bit of sleep, blue eyes sliding open slightly to look at the striped canvas in front of him. He hadn't really heard most of what was said, but for some reason the word like seemed prevalent in his mind. He wondered why.

He moved slightly, causing the canvas to rock a bit. He instantly froze, holding his breath and listening - and all but willing himself to be small and still. They didn't sound quite like guards...well, any guards he'd heard yet. They'd - or one of them, anyway - had noticed his smell. He tried to resist the blush that came with the implied complaint in the man's tone, and failed. His smell was something his fellows back in the Forests had often commented on, but...it wasn't that bad, was it?

The other one didn't seem to notice it at least. He wished the man would shut up about food, though. His own stomach was starting to get around to reminding him that, no, two apples did not a dinner make...and the casual reference to snacks was not helpful. But somehow, sticking his head up and complaining about their conversational topic did not seem to be wise.

[Kiel]

OOC: Sorry this post is so long. x_x Most of it happens in a short space of time, it's just that Kiel's brain got away from me.

“Would you quit thinking about food for a second? I'm telling you, something's off.”

Kiel pouted but, like, drew out his hook swords and braced himself. His head twisted on his neck as he searched the marketplace. “Like, dude, sheesh, okay, okay. Okay?” Like, they were totally new to this whole guarding thing, but they'd already learned a few things, like that some of the street rats liked to be all, like, sneak out after dark to nab leftovers from stalls and stuff. Some of the stallkeepers even deliberately left food that was past its best, that they knew they couldn't sell or make enough of a profit on, to help out the homeless, family-less kids living on the street. Elysia was kind of dog-eat-dog, if-you-want-to-live-be-self-sufficient and all, but it wasn't completely charity-less. Especially, like, in a place like Alexandria where there were enough fat cats sitting pretty for a few dregs to trickle down.

Like, technically, Kiel was pretty sure he and Mickey were supposed to arrest thieves or whatever, but he kind of didn't see the point. The punishment was severe, like, really crazy harsh even just for petty theft, so he was really hoping Mickey's nose wasn't that great despite him being a Therian. But it might not be thieves, he guessed, so they should be on alert anyway.

“Like, off how? Like, week-old milk off or rotten eggs off or, like, gytrash growling from the dark off?” Because, like, he seriously really mega kinda hated those things. Like, for sers, man. He was totally thinking of petitioning Xanth to just, like, wipe them out of existence or something. Like, Xanthmas was coming up, right. Maybe he'd beg her then or, like, something.

But Mickey rolled his eyes and gave him a are-you-serious-right-now look, and Kiel shrugged and, like, totally raised his eyebrows in a what-yes-i-am-serious look, then verbalised it 'cause he couldn't help himself. “What? Dude, do you have any idea how creepy those things are? They're all, like, rawr and stuff, and they eat babies-” Maybe. “And they haunt my dad's farm and, like, this one time I was swimming in the pond on our land, and, like, suddenly. Gytrash! And this other time, like, me and Zeph were being all cuddly and stuff on the farm and then, like, suddenly. Gytrash! A whole pack of them! And they were dogs and had red eyes and do you know how creepy that is.”

As Kiel panted for breath because he'd totally said all that in one go, Mickey blinked, eyebrows flirting with his hair, and opened his mouth. He shook his head, looked Neme-ward, shook his head again. Totally at a loss for words. Which was fine, 'cause Kiel had plenty. Except, like, before he could spout any more, Mickey froze. Kiel followed his line of sight to one of the stall canopies, where a dark-skinned horned guy was watching them. “Huh-wah!” Kiel jumped and flailed and almost dropped his hook swords getting into a readied stance that was meant to shout "Come at me bro, I'm ready" but instead probably screamed more along the lines of "holy crap there's a dude". “Uhhhhh. Like, hey, hey, did you know you're on private property and, well, I guess it's technically council property or something when the stallkeepers pack up for the night but it's still illegal and you're not meant to loiter and dude, like, dude, were you sleeping there or something 'cause, like, that's so sad, man, for sers. And I seriously can't see that being comfy, you know, won't you get, like, a crick in your neck or something?”

[Bay]

"Curiosity killed the cat, but where people are concerned, the only thing a healthy curiosity can kill is ignorance."

Bay had laid still and listened to them as Kiel rambled. Bay decided to think of him as the Likey one, largely due to the fact it seemed to be the man's favorite word, almost like a...what was the term? Verbal tick? Either way, it certainly made him distinct...and Bay was realizing he may have discovered someone who talked more than he did, though the reception from the man's partner (the Silent One) was about the same one Bay usually got - annoyed exasperation.

Even so he found himself unable to not shift around, especially when he heard the odd metallic sound that he realized was a sword being unsheathed. He sucked his breath in, daring to raise his head ever so slightly and peer out over the top of the canopy. The two were below him, and didn't appear to have seen him yet-

"Uh, hey, hey!"

Bollocks! Kiel's tirade made Bay immediately duck down into the canopy again, as if his location would become secret if they couldn't see him. Obviously, it didn't do the trick, and the man kept talking. By Xanth, he had a sword! Two of them! With curves in them. Bay wasn't sure what the curve did, but he was equally sure he didn't want to find out. They didn't look like the other guards....were they going to rob him? Had they stolen the uniforms they now wore?

Still, Bay was never the sort to let statements pass without qualifying or correcting the other party; almost without conscious thought, he said, "It's - it's better than the street! Sleeping on the stone is like a crick in your entire body!" and then made a faint squeaking sound and covered his head with his arms, as if this would help.

"I'm not hurting anyone! Go away!" The words came out in a clear state of panic, rather than menace, and the canopy visibly shook as the small Fae curled up in a ball.

[Kiel]

“Oh. Well. Like. Okay?” Like, Kiel could totally see where the dude was coming from. The ground really was a major pain in the butt - like, wahahahahaha, for sers and literally, okay? - and he could totally see where the canopy might be more comfy. Like, he met a sailor once who slept in a hammock and that dude was, like, spouting all this stuff about how comfy the hammock was and swinging and like how it was like being back in the womb or something and Kiel had wanted to try it but then Zeph had been all, like, pouty and glarey and rawry and stuff and refued to let him string up a hammock in his own living room. Since he'd already ripped out the tree stump in the front yard (or, like, well, Pria had decided it would make a great scratching post and totally thrown it at him when he'd laughed his socks off at how cute and adorable and smooshy the dragon looked) and the space out back was all fields of gold and stuff (great for running in with Shane, not so great for trees), he didn't have any place else to try it and his dad had smacked him so hard up the back of his head when he'd suggested using the porch back home that he'd seen stars for, like, a week, man, for sers.

But, like, “Dude. Like, dude. You're not supposed to be all, like, loitery and stuff,” he explained, the concept clear as mud when it came from him. Like, he couldn't see the bad things in it, you know? He guessed something must have happened in Alexandria's history to make the thought of people lurking on the streets a bad thing, but he couldn't personally see the harm. Unless the dude was crazy heavy and the canopy fell off the wall or something, which was more likely since the quake.

“You should be showing more respect to us, too. Did your mother never teach you to be careful what you say to the City Guard?” Mickey's eyes flashed. Kiel would swear it was glee. Like, the dude was really getting in to this whole "I uniform, you bad guy, heel" thing. Kiel thought the uniform was way too stuffy so he spent most of his time - especially after dark - with the jacket tied around his hips by the sleeves and his shirt rumpled and dirt on the blue trousers from where he'd tackled creeps and, like, rolled around with his shadowkin before his shift.

“Like, yeah, dude, like, sorry but get down from there and find someplace else to sleep, okay? Before we have to be all, like, take you in to the Watchtower for loitering and...” Kiel flapped his hands, floundering because he was pretty sure there was another rule being broken here but couldn't remember what it was called.

“Trespassing?” Mickey wasn't too sure either, despite his glee.

“Like, yeah, trespassing and stuff or something.”

[Bay]

"Curiosity killed the cat, but where people are concerned, the only thing a healthy curiosity can kill is ignorance."

Their words were not assuring to the boy, who curled into a tighter ball and willed them to go away. His mother hadn't taught him a thing about guards! All she'd done was call them tossers and recommended that if he ever crossed them, he should know how to hide bodies. Bay didn't know how to hide bodies, and these bodies had swords! And probably wouldn't want him to hide them, either.

Bay took several deep breaths. He didn't want to go to the Watchtower. He'd seen others go there and not come back, and he was sure they'd show no pity on him no matter what he did to appease them. He was loitering! Trespassing! Both of those were crimes of the highest order, apparently.

Still his rarely used common sense prevailed, and he knew he had to get down and relocate to someplace that was likely to be cold and hard. He started to uncurl, a hand reaching up to grap the edge of the canopy -

One of the ropes supporting the canvas canopy snapped, sending the far side of it downwards. Bay lost his grip in surprise and slid down the cloth, beginning to spin even as he sought to control the slide and fall. In the end he didn't succeed, and fell from the canopy onto the street in front of the two men, landing on his feet - but only just. He automatically dropped into a crouch, the basic training from climbing (and falling out of) trees taking over where his conscious mind could not.

He sat on his hands and the balls of his feet, looking up at the two of them with his bright blue eyes about as wide as they could get. "I - didn't mean t-to-"

[Kiel]

Kiel totally laughed his socks off. Like, he knew it was kinda mean, but the way the dude just rolled and tumbled and crouched and made it look like he'd so meant to do that and then verbally countered that he hadn't just made him laugh so hard his guts ached. He swung an arm across his waist to try and hold them in because he was pretty sure they were trying to get out of his body, like if he laughed hard enough they'd just POP and be there on the cobbles, and how gross would that be? He glanced at Mickey, but the Therian wasn't laughing. He was not laughing so hard that Kiel needed to laugh even more on his behalf, and was practically on his knees by the time he recovered.

“D-dude, that was awesome, man. For sers, like, that should be a city sport or something, falling off stuff and landing like an acrobat. Like, are you an acrobat? I could so see you doing that in the coliseum, man! You should try out for a troupe or something, you'd be amazing! You could be, like, Maaike or something, she does this free-running thing where she uses the rooftops like an obstacle course, and hmm, I shouldn't be telling you about Maaike 'cause I'm not meant to know her and she's mean.” And also a fugitive, so definitely not on the list of things he should be talking about, especially to total strangers. “Wahahahaha, maybe they'll give you a place to sleep, though, you know? A dance troupe or whatever, I mean, not Maaike. Like, there's a Zanaryan troupe around here someplace, they'd probably take - well, but maybe not, 'cause they seem kinda mean, too, if you don't have wings, and you don't have wings. Like, how do you not have wings?” The horns and dark skin suggested he should totally have bat wings. “Did someone cut them off? Dude! That's horrible!”

Beside him, Mickey groaned and facepalmed. Kiel was too horrified at the thought of being dewinged - because, like, c'mon, wings were awesome! If he had wings, no way he'd let anyone close enough to chop them off. Except he'd have to let them that close because he'd want his wings petting, so he could kind of understand how someone could get close enough to chop them off too - to really notice that Mickey was muttering about tactlessness.

[Bay]

"Curiosity killed the cat, but where people are concerned, the only thing a healthy curiosity can kill is ignorance."

Bay seemed about as reassured by Kiel's laughter as the man's partner was impressed, and he cowered on the street, bright blue gaze darting between the two of them in barely contained panic. They were going to kill him, weren't they? They were going to carve him up like some sort of rib roast. And then eat him, most likely! He tried looking to the Therian, attempting to glean some form of guidance from the man's expression, but he had no luck there; the man just looked annoyed. Should he run? They could probably catch him, but -

Then Kiel began to find words, and Bay's panic turned to was was probably best described as polite insult. "I'm not -" he started to say, quietly, but the man kept talking, and the Fae got his legs under him and cautiously stood up, backing up step by slight step until his hip his the fruit stand. The tiny impact made another board fall, and Bay jumped in surprise at that, too.

"I - I don't know any dance troupes," he said, still holding his hands up slightly in an automatic defensive posture. "And I never had wings ever, I swear! The Zanaryans think I'm worthle-" He cut himself off and shook his head, still looking at the two in fear - now because he was talking to much. Even so, his instinct was to talk some more. "If - if I go to a troupe, will you let me go? They, they probably wouldn't take me, but - "

[Kiel]

“Awwww, man, for sers? That sucks, it sucks!” Kiel had totally fixated on the idea that this guy had never had wings. Like, wasn't that the cool part about being a Zanaryan? The wings? 'cause they stank and had poles up their rear ends worse than Zeph when he was telling Kiel "focus, dammit!" And okay, so the horns were pretty cool, too, but, like, “Wings, man! For sers!” He spread his arms and clawed his hands in what was meant to be a totally awesome replica of having said wings but probably just made him look like a wannabe eagle with its head on backwards or something. “Caw. Caw!”

Mickey was doing that facepalm thing again. Not to be discouraged, Kiel started swanning around in small circles, lifting and placing his feet in exaggerated movements like the long-legged birds he'd seen on the beach in Espur. Every other step, he made cooing noises, as if they'd totally see the resemblance if he just did it enough.

“Whether a troupe will take you or not,” Mickey sighed raggedly. Kiel was by now pretty sure the frustration was aimed entirely at him and not, like, the non-Zanaryan dude. “You can't sleep on the streets. Got it?” The Therian was normally a bit nicer about stuff like this, but he was glaring at Kiel like he was an Ayad and could suck all the oxygen from his lungs just by sight alone, or, like, a Nereid who, if he stared long enough at the spot between Kiel's eyes, could set him alight from willpower alone.

Like, Kiel was actually starting to feel a prickle of heat there, you know? “Like, dude, was your mother a Nymph or something?” Because he totally wouldn't put it past Mickey to be a half-and-half with secret powers or something. Well, the dude's ability to completely ignore him had to rank up there, anyway.

“Please move on,” he was telling the non-Zanaryan, as if Kiel hadn't just asked him a very serious question or started smacking himself between the eyes to put out what he was pretty sure - almost sure. Like, sixty percent sure. Like, hoped - was an imaginary flame.

[Bay]

"Curiosity killed the cat, but where people are concerned, the only thing a healthy curiosity can kill is ignorance."

Bay stared at Kiel with an expression that was swiftly leaving fear. There was something about a grown...he wasn't sure what race the man was. A grown man running about acting like a bird that made it rather difficult to keep the edge on his terror, and so while he didn't quite relax, he certainly calmed down from near panic to careful wariness. "My mother had wings. I didn't," he clarified, voice carrying an edge that made it rather clear, though he'd tried at the last minute to change the tone, that Bay was a bit offended. He didn't have to wonder what his parents would have done, in this situation. But Bay couldn't light the man on fire. Or fly, like the Air-master Fae or his mother did.

He got to his feet a bit more, as the strange man's partner spoke again. He could have argued, he knew. But those words were reassuring in their familiarity - he'd heard them quite often in the weeks he'd been here...though not quite in this particularly exasperated tone. But they usually were delivered with a side order of a boot kicking him in the stomach to wake him up, and so while he might have a few bruises from the collapsed canopy his stomach didn't ache. That was a plus, he supposed.

"Er - thank you -" He stood up fully, and crept around the corner of the stall a bit. As strange as the two were, the one with orange eyes's antics also seemed to have dissuaded his partner, who had originally seemed rather aggressive. For that, Bay was thankful, and couldn't help but wonder if it was on purpose. He wasn't sure where to go from here, though away was a good enough direction for him. After staring at the two with his blue eyes wide for one moment longer, he gripped the wooden beam next to him, leaping up and over the stall with a blast of wind to said him, landing softly on the other side and bolting for one of the tiny side alleys.

[Kiel]

“Okay, so, like. Bye?” Kiel pouted, his elbows still tucked in against his waist and his neck poised in some, like, twisted semblance of head-bobbing that was meant to be a totally awesome mimicry of, like, every bird in the world, like, ever. Except neither the non-Zanaryan dude nor Mickey had bothered to be appreciative of his efforts or, like, commend him on his mimicry skills - which, like, he was pretty sure would be a big deal for Mickey because, you know, Therian - so Kiel decided to be a duck instead. Or, like, that's kind of what his lips were doing with the whole pouting thing. And, like, hey, ducks were still birds, right, so, like, you know.

The guardly twosome totally watched the non-Zanaryan dude leave. Kiel waggled his fingers and his hips in a friendly wave - the fingers because, like, you couldn't wave without hand gestures of some sort, and the hips because he couldn't stay still - and Mickey, like, doing something with his eyes that looked like he might have been taking lessons from Zeph on how to be not-friendly-at-all. Except, like, he wasn't a very good student or he'd only just started with his lessons - and dude, Kiel was so going to make Zeph include him in these hypothetical classes, for sers! - because he just kinda looked like a grumpy puppy instead. Which was probably kinda racist because of that whole "dog" thing and he wasn't even sure Mickey even had a canine form to begin with, so maybe he looked like a grumpy cat instead? Or, like, could ducks look grumpy? Why was he thinking so much about ducks?

“Dude, I so know what I'm cooking for Sunday roast, man, for sers.” These things took plenty of forethought, you know, because even in the city it could be tough finding roastable meat at the weekend unless it had been, like, pre-ordered or something. And also, ducky leftovers would be a thing, which was kinda cool in one sense but Kiel didn't think he knew nearly enough recipes to make use of that much duck. “Maybe I should get a pig instead.” At least he knew both he and Zeph liked pork sandwiches.

But that led him right back to that whole thing he'd been complaining about earlier. “Dude, I'm starving. Now we've dealt with the loiterer, lurker, sleepy-on-the-not-streeter, can we, like, go for food? Because I'm starving.” Because it bore repetition despite the amateur glare headed his way.

“You're paying.”

“Dude! Like, dude. That's so not fair, it's like, the extreme opposite of fair.” Because, like, Mickey ate so much more than him and how was it Kiel's fault if Mickey ate whenever he did? “But okay, I guess. Like, I hope that dude's okay. You think he'll go to one of the troupes like we said?” He babbled some more about the not-Zanaryan (was that a thing? What was he? Was he a new thing? Kiel didn't think so) in concern as they walked - right up until they reached the street where the heavenly, sinful smells were coming from. Then his brain gleefully handed over the reins to his stomach, and Kiel thought no more. Except about food. Because food was yummy.