[Memory] Escape

[Arkash]

Eventually, the warmth in Arkash's body built to a point that his breath became visible; clouds of wispy white condensation flowed in puffs from his jaws. They were small at first, but they steadily grew as his body warmed.
Arkash appeared strangely at ease among the collective of homeless humans. Some might have been more on edge in the presence of all the scraggly men and women, but he was conditioned to it. Arkash found that the people who had the least to lose had the most to offer, more often than not. Even though he'd never really held any moving conversations with the gathered humans, they never denied him the bounty of warmth they had to offer. More than once, the generosity of a homeless man had saved him from freezing.
Subconsciously, even, Arkash knew he was safe among those people. It reflected in the way he spoke what he desired while he still struggled with his consciousness. The barrel fire. His salvation. That wasn't to say they were completely harmless, no. There was a reason that they formed a sub-community in Nivenhain's alleys, and safety in numbers was only part of it.
Arkash didn't consider the homeless people much after his thoughts began to run more coherently, with defined starts and stops to each consideration. The lady he traveled with; was she okay? He couldn't recall if she'd been hurt in their journey, he had to make sure. A quick nod followed her declaration. It was good that she was well; he didn't know any doctors. He smiled a little at her reply, and she asked if he was injured. Arkash pursed his lips, then looked to both his claws while they thawed.
The digits were almost functioning properly again, but he saw some difficulty in coordination from the deep-set cold. Nonetheless, he began to pat down his arms in search of a wound and found nothing. Across his chest, however, he found something wet, clammy. when he pulled his fingers away, he lifted his fingers to his nose and carefully sniffed. There was no mistaking the rich iron scent that flooded his lungs; he had blood on him. His other claw came up to the neck of his furs and he felt around for any cuts or wounds that might have been, but he felt none. The blood wasn't his.
The young rath wasn't sure if that was better or worse, for he couldn't remember who's it was, or how serious the wound inflicted could have been. Arkash seemed to stare for a long moment, then moved his gaze back to Mannon. "Yeah... am fien," he spoke in assurance, though his eyes remained worried. Arkash resumed staring while he recollected his thoughts. There was a knife, an attack, gunfire, and ethereal blasts from the runeforged casings. They'd been in a shoot-out, they attacked someone? No, someone attacked them.
Arkash snapped from his thoughts when his front became too hot, and he turned around again to warm his back. The Lady's name was Mannon, as she informed when Arkash offered his own name. "Mannon..." He spoke aloud, as if in contemplation, then brought his lips to smile after a moment or two "I'ss nice! Suit's 'ew well," he chimed. He'd not heard such a name before, she must have come from quite far away, he surmised. She spoke with gratitude in a tone that was quite alien from when she threatened to rot his body, and Arkash bowed his head with a grin, only to grimace a little. Unspoken guilt twisted his features. After all, it was because of him that the lady had been subject to the horrors of a shootout.
When her question came, Arkash was in the middle of warming his fingers; he at least wanted them to work properly again before he went back out into the cold. "Hm?" He asked in response, then looked about where her eyes trailed. "O! Naw, no' 'round 'ere. I'm kin'a lucky, live in th' nice par' a' town." Of course, that wasn't saying much for Lower Nivenhain, but it wasn't as dangerous as the particular street they rested on.
It was only then that he realized that he assumed she was from Outer Nivenhain. Given the way she dressed, that seemed to be the most reasonable assumption; that, or one of the higher districts which he wasn't overly familiar with. "You's stayin' in Outa, yeah? Sorry, kin'a jus' thought-" he winced a little, then shook his head as he rubbed his palms together. "You bin in Nivenhe'n long?" He asked after a moment's pause, then smiled brightly. That was the moment of truth, even if he already had plenty of reason to suspect she was an immigrant, he would be certain with her answer, or so he believed.
"An'... I'm sorry I tuck us throu' Charga turf. I' musta bin awful fright'nin." Another pause came, and Arkash looked to the flames as they flickered for a long moment, then he looked at her again with a tilt of his head. It was only then that he noticed that she was quite close to the fire. "Thanks f'r no' leavin' me, too," he spoke with a smile.

[Mannon]

Mannon continued observing Arkash. It was one of the few non-conflict spaces where she was able to rest her eyes, aside from the flame or the buildings. Now that they were not trying to survive, she was able to look at him openly. And she wasn’t quite sure what she was seeing. She knew this was a lizard Rathari. But much like with other Ratharis, Mannon always struggled to guess their age. Not that it mattered, but she found herself wondering.
The age question she wanted to ask was halted when he started patting around himself. She too noticed the spot on his furs. Unlike him, she knew exactly where it came from. The reality of it dawned on her, stabbing her insides anew.
We killed someone, she thought. And suddenly, she wasn’t trying to hand out the blame to any one party. They killed in unison even if it was not the intention. Yet, Arkash seemed more confused.
Doesn't he know? At no point, did Mannon see a spark of recognition in those yellow eyes. She took in a breath to tell him. The words formed at the back of her throat, but much like earlier, that's where they stayed. She wasn't able to bring herself to tell him. She didn't know why, but the sensation that his simplicity and honesty thus far did not deserve to be shattered. Unlike her or the men she knew, Arkash seemed almost too pure to ruin. So although the fault was theirs, the burden of the murder was hers to bear. For Mannon, it was just another dirty piece of herself to carry and she could live with that.
She then withdrew her gaze and turned to look at the flames. A wistful smile crossed her lips as she wished for times when she too was able to indulge in a luxury of innocence.
When he imparted on her that he lived in the nice part of town, Mannon didn’t immediately think that he was still referring to the Lower District. Though she had not seen the likes of him in the Outer, she hadn't travelled around enough to extrapolate that note to everyone. Which made her wonder - what was he doing in such devastated place like this?
“The nice part of town? So what brought you to this place?” And curiosity got hold of her. There were only certain types of people who would venture into desolation such as this one. Those who lived there, those who needed something unavailable on general market, and those who got lost. As far as Mannon understood, Arkash lived in the nice part of town, so not here. And he surely wasn't he lost. So what did he need?
Was he a dealer? Junkie? Or worse? She thought and the part of her that loved watching people and understanding their motives switched on. Arkash wasn't a threat. He now became a specimen.
She wondered about his question on where she stayed. Was she going to risk bringing a threat to Salem’s doorstep? There were plenty of open ears around them, after all. Mannon was certain she did not want to start this new era in her life off on the wrong foot. So she pursed her lips and if Arkash caught on her being a foreigner, then the expression could easily be confused with her trying to remember, rather than her measuring her options and choosing how to handle the situation.
“I’m staying in Outer, yes,” she said. “Quite close to the third district?” She added, figuring out that since security got better the closer one got to the center of Nivenhain, the amount of Hollows and knights was likely going to deter any possible stalker from following her home. Or so she hoped. Otherwise, her bluff was going to be called because Salem lived nowhere near the border with the third district.
“But I’ve been here a while,” she lied again. “Just never really had a chance to explore.” And Mannon chuckled lightly. The irony of the situation tickling her humour.
When he apologized and thanked her, Mannon shook her head. “Well, you said you’d help and I wanted to give you a chance to prove it. I mean, you wouldn’t be able to do that, if you were dead." Whether a false sense of security was settling in, or the flame thawed Mannon's cautiousness, somehow the joke slipped out of her before she was able to stop it. The fact of the matter was, that she still needed a guide. There didn't seem to be a need to threaten Arkash anymore, so it was better that she played a different tactic in order to get what she wanted.
Then one of the homeless decided to join them at the barrel. Without eye contact, without a word, the malnourished man extended his hands towards the fire. He was nothing more but a bag of bones with alarming blotches on the skin. Mannon couldn’t help it. She stared at them as she took a step to a side, away from the homeless and closer to Arkash. Fascination with the defect but also alarms set off in her head brought on a series of conflicting emotions and aims.
“You know, I don’t know Lower well,” Mannon stated the obvious, still looking at the bony man. “Is it far to the Outer from here?” Her voice wasn't distant, but neither was it focused. She was committing the man's disease to memory whilst wanting to be further away from him if possible. Inside the cape, she held her elbows in her palms and squeezed which brought her shoulder down, making her look to stand taller.

[Arkash]

Oh, the nice part of town. It was one of the streets closer to the border of Outer Nivenhain, where the damaged buildings and broken windows had a sort fade where they bled into more promising, refurbished homes. Crime was scarce as the Chevalier sometimes wandered into the fringes of Lower Nivenhain, and though no Chevalier really stood in defense of a nameless in peril, their presence alone was a deterrent. So, the nameless killed and robbed from one another in the darker recesses of the slums, where the argent's light couldn't touch them. Arkash and his family were most fortunate to live where they did, even if Arkash had seen a number of unpleasant scenes growing up.
"O!" Arkash grinned in response to the question. "Well, I wuz on th' wey 'ome when I saw 'ew gettin' 'assled, but uhh... Yeah, tha's why I'm 'ere, more 'r less." The question confused him a little if he were honest. Had she forgotten that he brought her there? it didn't occur to him that she believed he hailed from the nice part of town, as he'd said. Of course, if she had forgotten, he couldn't blame her. Arkash's faculties always faltered when he got too cold. Maybe she was part lizard?
It was as he'd initially thought; she was from the Outer district. Arkash's heart swelled with pride at having guessed that so accurately. As he'd thought, she was near the more wealthy part of town too! Arkash was on a roll. "I knew i'!" he declared with a smile and curled one of his hands into a triumphant fist... but then came the bad news. "...I c'n only really taek 'ew as fa' as th' borda, tho'. I'll run out'a warm agen otherwies." It was disappointing, but those were the limits of his biology. it felt as though he owed her more, considering the nightmarish hell he'd led her through, but that would just see him drop.
She'd been there a while? That, he doubted. Of course, he didn't let any of his doubt show; he didn't want to be rude and label her more clueless than she might have been. "Oh, ye? " he asked with a believing nod. He briefly considered asking her again just how long she'd been around Nivenhain, but decided against it. There was no need to embarrass her if she wasn't comfortable with how new she was to the city. "How'd 'ew like it?" Was a fair enough response, he believed.
Her response to his gratitude for pulling him from the snow was... Unexpected. Mannon was rather blunt, he came to realize, but there was a sort of honesty to her attitude which he appreciated. "An act o' kin'ness is good, no matta how 'ew spin it. Sides, you's plen'y cepable, I think 'ew'd 'a bin fine." He was, of course, referring to her ability to rot people's flesh, which he'd witnessed for himself.
Proceeding a quiet, muffled clap of his claws, Arkash flexed his fingers and popped the trapped air in his knuckles. His scales were sore after the freeze, he didn't doubt he'd be shedding faster because of the experience of that day. He looked to Mannon as the clearly sick homeless man joined them around the fire, and Arkash pouted a little. She strafed away from the homeless man, perhaps out of fear? The idea saddened him. They were clearly quite far out of her element, he couldn't expect her to be comfortable with things she didn't understand. In a way, she was relatable to the young rath. He was often frightened in the higher districts, it never felt as though he belonged, but felt as though the people there weighed his worth with every glance.
Still, the way she kept glancing at the less fortunate human was bound to cause problems, so, he reached for her hand and tugged gently. It was time to go, which he motioned with a tilt of his head. "I'ss no' fa'. Twen'y minit walk, meby? We'll go th' saef weh, dun worry," he spoke in assurance. "We bes' ge' goin', me mum'll come lookin' for me soon otha'wise." Indeed, Liu never failed to track him down with her powerful sense of smell. Her maternal instinct was scarcely off, either. If Lady Mannon allowed him to take her by the hand, he'd lead her out of the alley.

[Mannon]

The fact that Arkash was on his way home did not help Mannon much in establishing which potential group of lost souls he belonged to. After all, he had no reason to bestow on her his whole live's story and perhaps her hopes of gaining a glimpse into it were too high. At the end of the day, she wasn't willing to divulge much about herself either. So it was up to her to continue wondering whether it was the black market, drugs or other clandestine activities that Arkash fell for. She had seen many people like that in the past who had fallen low. She lived with them for a few years. And though Arkash did not tick any of the other boxes, there was nothing saying that she had seen it all before.
When he told her that he was able to take her only as far as the border, Mannon nodded. As far as the border was going to work for her because surely there would be the knights with their ghastly monsters patrolling the streets. Maybe they were going to show her the way home. Even better, such a thing was likely going to deter any inquisitive opportunist from following. So she didn’t protest either voiced any concerns with his confession.
She looked around once more when the question was raised about her thoughts on Nivenhain. “You know, it is different and still the same to where I come from. Big houses for the rich, slums for the poor. The only thing that changes is the name of the place and the people inside.” But even that at times, at its very essence, was the same too. Systems like kingdoms, empires or republic seemed to work on same principles and once one knew the pattern, once one understood how the basic clockwork worked, it was easy to navigate the system if not the infrastructure. But rather than going more into the political or even philosophical side of it with a lizard, Mannon shrugged. “It can get extremely cold if I were to pick one thing. Colder than Atinaw and as far as I understand that’s how it is all year round.” She looked at Arkash then with the question in her eyes. If what Salem told her, again and again, was true, there was no way in hell she was ever letting the fire go out in her room.
Arkash calling Mannon capable elicited a smile on her lips. She saw that as a compliment and it stroked her ego well. Though she was not going to fool herself. She might have survived for a while, but who was to say what other dangers would have presented themselves if Arkash hadn't shown up.
In the silence that followed, Mannon continued looking at the spots on the homeless man's barren skin. Scab like formations were surrounded with reddened circles. Almost as though, he had a would and it was infected. She wondered if there was puss underneath. Her head gently cocked to a side as it always did when she was focusing on something, imagining things.
Arkash's hand on hers startled her at first, jerking her out of her fascination and she averted her gaze as though nothing had happened and she didn't just stare at a stranger. She directed her eyes up at Arkash instead and gave him a short nod, retrieving her hand. Sure hand-holding was necessary when they were dashing through the streets, needing to keep up with each other. But right now, if his words were true, Mannon was content to just walk by his side.
“Well then, lead the way.” And she turned her back to the diseased man, embedding the marks of death in her memory.

[Haldir]

Oh Dear, you seem to have contracted a REVIEW!

XP:

• Arkash - 8 {No Magic}
  Mannon - 8 {No Magic}

Pieces of knowledge:

Arkash

Gunslinging: You can't pull the trigger if you get too cold.
Gunslinging: The recoil of a pistol.
Gunslinging: Aiming from the floor.
Gunslinging: Firing at the environment to injure multiple targets with the blast.
Gunslinging: Assisted shooting.
Gunslinging: Your arm can absorb the recoil if it's cold.
Gunslinging: The appropriate grip.
Gunslinging: The sound of the blast can startle your target.
Gunslinging: Presenting the weapon can intimidate your target.
Gunslinging: Managing the weight of a pistol.
Investigation: Determining the source of unknown bloodstains.
Investigation: Start with yourself.
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[PC] Mannon: Claimed to live near Nivenhain's upper districts.
[PC] Mannon: Came from Atinaw.
[PC] Mannon: Claimed to have been in Lorien for a while when you met.
[PC] Mannon: Saw nothing special in Lorien.
[PC] Mannon: Frightened of others.
[PC] Mannon: Didn't rot your body.

Mannon

Deception: Divert attention
Deception: Hide weapons out of sight
Persuasion: Smile when no words are needed
Appraisal: Gauge the nature of the situation by the sounds
Appraisal: Recognize ill intent
Psychology: The strength of survival instinct
Psychology: Doing extremes when pushed to limits
Etiquette: Remain polite in the face of adversity
Deception: Hide the truth behind politeness
Appraisal: Reconsider earlier conclusions
Deception: Offer false information
Persuasion: Ask the right questions

Arkash: A lizard rathari
Arkash: Cannot deal with cold
Arkash: Needs an external source of heat
Arkash: Knows and lives in Lower Nivenhain
Nivenhain: Lower district is dangerous
Nivenhain: Charger territor in lower district is a no-go zone

Loot: Gun for Arkash to be buried in his backyard and dug up years later.

Injuries: N/A

Comments:

• If you have any questions, comments or concerns, let me know. Enjoy your rewards!