RP:Alms for the Poor
Synopsis: After getting some extremely good news and a bit of training, Raevyn meets an elven beggar named Satora and decides to show a little bit of charity.
Date: Dec. 1st, 2017
Merchant Street
Particles of dust rise from the street that goes on both to the east and west, stirred up by the heavy traffic of passing people. To the north, a barred window can be seen, while in a southerly direction is a shop of some sort.
Satora has been lucky of recent – her encounter with Bastion put a few gold coins in her pocket, and its given her a few days reprieve from picking coppers out of a drunkard's purse to pay for a slice of bread. In fact, the slim, short elven woman is probably the best fed she's been in the week since she came to Lythridel, and she's using the time she has away from 'the job' to explore the city, and chase some whispers. Rogues in Cenril, she hears, and though she's not found any yet she can spot the signs of them in the city – people in the streets try to avoid brushing up against each other, and shopkeepers seem especially diligent and suspicious of any who might loiter between the shelves. Although Satora is a far cry from the city's beggars, she has taken her post among them, and its through their eyes that she explores this strange metropolis. She sits by the side of the road, slumped in some derelict doorway, her hood up and her cloak pulled around her, and occasionally makes halfhearted utterances of, “alms for the poor?” at those who go past, if only to try and blend in. Really, though, she's getting a feel for the people of Cenril, and watching in which direction the wealth seems the flow – on the trade road to Kelay, or down the docks?
Raevyn had been working hard all day. After the previous night, she knew that she had to gain her strength, and so she spent most of the day in the Mage Tower training with the enrolled students of the Guild. Not really wanting to study, the young woman set out for Cenril to continue her exploration of the once packed city streets; Although, with the events and curses as of late, it seemed for the most part the city was pretty desolate comparatively. Still, those that were out, for the most part, were observed now and again as she walked at a leisurely pace down the street of merchants. At her side, a shambling undead corpse strolled along, its grunts and groans met with one-sided conversation. "You know, it would be so much more helpful if you spoke. This whole grunting nonsense just does not tell me anything. Doesn't it bother you that Larewen sent you to watch over me? Surely you would prefer peace and eternal rest?" The one she dubbed as 'Rawr' grunted in reply. It was Satora's voice that caused the necromancer to shift focus, the asking of strangers for alms seeming to resonate within the girl. It wasn't exactly all that long ago that she too had been down on her luck, and with this realization, she thrust her well kept scythe in 'Rawr's direction. "Hold this, please." With the zombie taking hold of her terrifying weapon, Raevyn dug deep into her satchel and pulled free one of many rationed pouches, quick to offer it out to Satora. "It is not much, but I think this might help."
Satora 's ruse has worked too well! An imposing black-haired woman stops in front of her, and the thief on the ground is at once intrigued and afraid of the corpse that seems to share her company. She's seen the dead walk before (many of her family have practiced magic) but not often, and from a distance, where they couldn't be... Smelled quite so distinctly. “I... Wow... Thanks...” she takes the offered ration somewhat hesitantly, now feeling a little guilty for her full stomach. Satora lifts her head to show her face, and Raevyn will see the thief's eyes of sky-blue, and the snowy curls that frame her face on either side – she's also rubbed a bit of muck on her face to lend further authenticity to her pauper's play-act. “Blessings upon you, ma'am,” the elf gathers herself, and manages to conjure a bright beaming smile of gratitude, though it wavers when she gestures, with trepidation, towards Raevyn's shambling companion, and makes a lame attempt at a humourous quip, “is your friend all right?”
Raevyn turns to Rawr and makes a face, seeming to pick up on that humorous attempt. She smiles with the shake of her head. "No. He's been quite under the weather lately. Do you think it's something he ate?" While the undead man had very little of a face, you could see the disdain in his milky white eyes. "Grgthr." The young necromancer now takes a moment to observe Satora a little more closely, her features taken in with thought and care. With the passing of a cool autumn breeze whipping through the street, Raevyn pulls her own cloak tighter around her tiny frame and asks, "Do you have some place warm to stay? It is dreadfully chilly out in the evenings and I would hate to see you stuck out here all night. There have also been... dangers roaming the roads at night, and while I am sure that the guards are adequate in this city, I think it would be much safer indoors."
Satora fought down a wretch as she observed Rawr's change in expression. What a hideous creature! She could see a twitching in the muscles in its face, a whisper of what happens beneath her own skin whenever she herself scowls, and it is as fascinating as it is abhorrent. “Ergh...” Satora lets slip when the thing growls back at the taller woman (though the two would be equal in height were it not for Raevyn's heels), and her hand goes to her mouth in effort to keep her full stomach from spilling out onto the road. As the breeze passes over her Satora shivers, and for a second in her mind she panics at the impending crisis that is the encroaching winter – her cloak has seen her a long way, and now is worn almost threadbare. In spite of herself then, the inquiry as to her sleeping situation has her looking at Raevyn in a new light. A friend in a strange land is never a worthless thing, and this woman seemed to know a thing or two about Cenril as well. “Well, I've been kind of roughing it,” putting on a veil-thin act of cheeriness, “I'm new to the city... To the continent. I come from far away, and know nobody. I'm Satora,” she extends a leather-gloved hand to her new mark, I mean, best friend in the whole world, “Satora Lucindio.”
Raevyn's naievity would definitely play right into Satora's strengths. The ebon haired woman would take the hand of the elf, a gentle shake accompanying her own name. "Nice to meet you, Satora. I am Raevyn. Raevyn McGowan." Reclaiming that intricately designed malachite scythe from Rawr's grasp, Raevyn uses it to lean upon as she looks up and down the merchant street, her smile still held while she spoke. "I... can relate, in all honesty. I too am far from home. And much like yourself, I too am new to this city. In fact, tonight was a bit of an exploration venture, to map out the various stores and buildings that decorate the streets. Though, luckily, I have already come upon the location of the Inn not too long ago." She points to the east. "Right there, at the intersection, if you head north it will guide you all the way there. You can not miss it." Again that satchel was reached into, a small bag of gold coin produced and tossed to the elven woman. "I do not know the rates that they charge, but this should at least get you two or three nights of sleep, maybe more."
Satora 's hand snatches the purse deftly from the air with a catlike ease. Boom! Put this with the change left from her date with Poverty-boy (as she had named Bastion in her mind) and she'd be able to buy new clothes soon, and eat well for a month afterwards! “Oh, you're too kind, Lady McGowan,” Satora cries gushingly as she shifts her body around to come to a stand, then reaches out to grasp Raevyn's hand, sandwiching it between the wrapped ration in Satora's left hand, and the bag of gold in her right, “these gifts may extend my life!” She withdraws from the woman and bows low before her, before planting herself right back down on the ground and proceeding to unwrap and attack and ration with gusto. She isn't hungry in the slightest, but it's the role she has chosen to play, so she must play it with heart. Satora is consoled in thinking of times when she has been forced to go without food, and would gladly switch places with this present version of herself that is forced to eat food when she does not want it! “Hey Raevyn,” Satora asks between mouthfuls, “you said there were dangers at night, didn't you? What did you mean?”
Raevyn could not help but to blush at the sound of 'Lady McGowan'. Never before had she heard her name used in such a noble fashion- It was a both strange, and yet, nice upon her eardrum. Still, she would never see herself in such a light, and opted to correct Satora, "You can just call me, Raevyn. Really. Such formalities should be reserved for those of a higher class." There is a bit of a chuckle to escape, those blackened lips still imprinted with her warm smile. "I am hoping that they do. Sometimes all we need is a bit of a hand to get put back onto the proper path." When the line of questioning shifted to a more serious nature, the young woman divulged, "Well, there have been... attacks. Twice I have found myself, at night, thrust upon by the soldiers of some dreadful army. Once in a town called Chartsend, and another in a town called Larket. It was quite vicious really- Many casualties." She had yet to find out that these armies already made an attempt on Cenril. "They seem to come from nowhere, so it's just bet to be on one's guard. Somewhere safe where upon first invasion, you might not be immediately seen." Her gaze drifts toward the sky as she continues with her friendly warning. "There are also those out here, that may not be what they appear. I have heard stories of such creatures, such as vampires, roaming the land. So it's just a a matter of precaution." With the position of the stars observed, Raevyn realized it was now growing late into the evening- She would need to be going if she were to make it home at a reasonable hour. "Anyway, I must be on my way. It was nice to meet you, Satora. If... you run out of gold, and prospects of work don't pan out beforehand, there is a Tower to the east, past Kelay. The Mage Tower. They have plenty of cots available for travelers, so at least it would be somewhere warm to sleep without the need for payment. Keep that in mind, just in case." There is a slight bowing of her head before she turned and departed for the west with her zombified companion, a final set of words called out over her shoulder. "If you ever need anything, feel free to seek me in Xalious. May your belly be full and your rest peaceful."