Some Alone Time [Alexander]

[Arianna Calanthe]

Arianna threw a quick last check glance over her shoulder as she hustled herself away from the kitchen door that opened on the western side of the castle. This was the first chance she had recieved all day to escape the discomforting heat of the castle and it was a relif when the fresh air hit her nostrils. The edge from winter was starting to wear off and she no longer shivered when she stepped outside. When she was a realatively safe distance away from the door she allowed herself to stop and taste the sweetness of spring. Instantly the intoxicating scent of wet earth hit her nostrils in a heady rush of smell and she reeled backwards. After the dry, hot smell of the kitchen that by now she was fairly accustomed to, this smell was like a drug. It ensnared her heart and made her want to just stand and smell forever, but she knew eventually someone would stick their head out the door in search for her, and if she wasn't in sight they would forget about her, dinner had already been prepared so most of the work was done. But if she was in calling distance they would summon her back and she would miss this beautiful sight that was the last waning streams of light before dark.

Casting a nervous look behind her she fled down the steps that led towards the town, but half way down detoured and bounded across the grass towards the woods. She had to spot quite a few times when her feet caught eachother and tried to send her sprawling to the ground. But she manged to reach the woods edge with barely a scraped palm and once she was safely tucked away in the secretive shadows of the trees, she allowed herself to stop. Cheeks flushed, chest heaving she sucked in deep breaths trying to experience as much as she could. Although she despised castle life the woods that surronded the ancient structure were beautiful, actually beautiful wasn't good enough to describe them. There was a certain aura around them that both mystified and frightened her. But whatever it was it gave her a sanctuary and after a long day of hard work a place of her own was just what she required.

Sighing she began to slowly pick her way through the scrub and over the fallen trees, now she was away from prying eyes she was free to take as long as she liked. As long as she was back by the time the Lords had finished eating and it was time to wash up, she was fine. A bird called to its mate from deep within the forest, its mournful cry echoed through the silent forest and Arianna felt a pang of jelousy at its relative freedom. Arianna closed her eyes and leant against a giant tree. The trees back was smooth and cool against her bare arms and it gave her a feeling of security, of safety.

Unconciously she had began to hum a tune that she had learnt when she was little and her soft murmerings reverbrated off the trees surronding her. She snapped her eyes opened, suprised by the sudden magnification of her own voice, but then slowly let her eyes slip shut again as she realized it was just herself. "If only life was like this.." She mused to herself. "What would life be like if there were no castle, no lords or ladies, just this forest, just this moment, these smells, sounds and feelings." She smiled to herself at this pleasant thought, she could think of nothing nicer than staying in the soft shady coolness of the forest. She could easily live with just the sounds of nature, no harsh words spoken by human tounges just the whimsical birds.

As this peacful thought overtook her she felt her eyelids getting heavier and heavier, she knew she musn't sleep, she would be beaten if she arrived back after all the work was complete, but this place had such an overpowering experience that she felt no urgency to return, the usual fear of Suzanna's harsh hand was replaced instead by an unusual peace. Arianna felt a soft sigh escape her lips and was surpirsed at her own behaviour, knowing it very unlike her to feel so complete. I guess that is what the forest does, you either fight it and die; lost in its depths forever, or you surrender to it and become a part of it. Either way this forest, with all the deep magic that intertwined its branches, stayed with you forever.

[/blockquote]

[Alexander]

An expression of sheer joy was plastered over Alexander’s facial region as he meandered through the forest, away from the havoc he had caused earlier in Bawleil, when pick pocketing a particular wealthy jewelry merchant. It had taken a matter of seconds for the stout man to realize the thin frame of the boy who had stumbled into him had sneaked his coin bag from the inner pocket of his fancily embroidered velvet coat. He had tried to stop the running lad but his plump build had rendered him breathless after a few feet and very upset for not being in better condition so he could give a worthy chase. 'Never had the chance' he laughed mentally.

A satisfied grin played at his lips as he mentally relived the excitement of dodging past commoners, trying to stop him, leaping over overturned barrels then mad dashing from the city to the woods where he now walked.

With every step he made a soft jingling sounded into the crisp spring air from the full pouch that hung from his worn leather belt. The heavily weighted silk coin bag looked terribly out of place on the raggedly dress youth who looked as if he had just awoken from a long night in the alley between some tavern and a taxidermist. His once white shirt was stained a greasy yellow shade with splotches of dried blood brown/red and his tattered vest, that once was a fine piece of tailoring, hung loosely from his thin frame in more of a drape fashion then an article of clothing. Boots and pants where both the muddy color of dried pig slop topping off his appearance with the view that would make anyone want to thrown him into the trash like a rotten piece of fruit.

A soft sigh was released from his lips as one grubby hand landed themselves onto the pouch to work loose the strings that fastened it to his belt. His pace slowed momentarily as he worked the opening wider so he could pear in at the glittering coins. The tree filtered light sparked off the metals pieces like a well polished piece of armor or a thousand shards of a mirror laid out in the grass to be forgotten until some unlucky soul stepped onto one, slicing his or her foot. The glow they cast was addicting to his gaze, resulting in his eyes never straying to far as he plodded along, uncaring on where his boots led him. His mind’s focus was completely wrapped onto what he was to spend the money on or if was even worth to sell the shiny objects that he could easily stare at for years.
The soft sound of humming brought his mind back to the present time as he stopped, stock still listening for the harmonious tone, for he was unsure if he had heard it in the first place. The silence of the forest was broken with the humming again but instead with the simple twitter of a passing bird and the far off rustle of leaves in the breeze. “Must have been my imagination” he mumbled, brows furrowing slightly before he continued on his way again in no general direction, his gaze drawn back to the bag in his calloused hand.

[Arianna Calanthe]

As Arianna contined to quietly hum to herself, her ears were pricked listening to the sounds of the forest. She began to notice that the forest had a certain pattern to it, a bird would call, another would answer, something in the bushes would rustle and this pattern continued in a different pitched conversation. She felt as if the forest was speaking to her in its own secret language and if she listened just a little harder she might just be able to understand the magical words they spoke to her. She sighed once again and ran on long-fingered hand through her hair which was filthy from lack of hygiene. She suddenly felt the urge to find a stream and bathe in it, but hadn't the foggiest as to where she would find a stream. So she forgot that idea fairly quickly and plus the idea of a long walk through the woods didn't appeal to her either.

As she continued to listen and hum she began to pick up on a sound that didn't seem to fit. The pattern now began to change, the birds still whistled and the trees still whispered but every now and then a tinkling noise would fill the air. It sound unnatural...metallic even? Arianna let her eyes spring open cautiously, she was very aware that if this sound came from a human she was in a bit of a precaurious situtaion, a woman alone in the woods were noone could hear her scream was a tasty treat for a bandit. Biting her lip she cautiously stuck her head around the other side of the tree. She prayed that all she would find was some excotic bird but somehow knew this noise was to...solid sounding. Nature was usually soft, elegant almost, this noise definatly did not fit. Her eyes spotted nothing and she relaxed slightly realizing it must have just been her imagination, or like she was hoping, it was just another forest creature. But another sound bought her horror roaring back, although she couldn't define the exact words a faint mumbling reached her eyes, and this time she was SURE it was not her imagination.

Arianna snapped back to her original position, which she hoped was on the opposite side of the tree as to which the human was. From what she had heard of the voice it was male, and it wasn't a child, it was too deep for that. A deep fear stirred in her gut, she'd heard stories about women simply disappearing in the forests and never returning, and she couldn't believe that she was in a situation that was probably quite similar. Arianna had two options, she could either stay where she was and hope he didn't come this way, which was unlikely as the natural lie of the land slopped down towards her and the man would naturally drift that way, or she could try and silently navigate her way around the stranger and back to the castle.

Arianna used a few seconds to weigh up her options and decided option number two was probably the safest, she knew the woods fairly well and if the stranger did happen to see her and try and pursue her she could probably lose them, as long as her feet didn't betray her. So as silently as she could mange Arianna wriggled her frame around until she was facing the direction of the castle, steeling herself she leapt into the air, aiming to try and get behind the tree opposite the one she was at in one huge leap. She didn't mange that, what she did manage was to get halfway, land find her foot directly in the path of an upturned root and then find herself falling to the ground. The ground rose up to meet her rather fast and as she hit the ground Arianna found her breath leave her in a whoosh.

Arianna gritted her teeth as the wrist jarred painfully, refusing to let herself cry. She quickly looked up and to her abosolute horror saw a boy standing opposite her in the clearing. She had made the situation only the much more worse for herself, now there was no chance the boy could miss her. Eyes wide with fear she pressed herself to the ground wondering what to do, there was no point leaping up and running now, all element of suprise was gone and he would catch her easily now. All she could do was through herself at the boys feet and beg him to leave her go. Arianna suddenly realized with a shock that all this time she had assumed this stranger was her enemy, she had never once thought that this boy could possibly just be a lone boy walking through the woods. Now she was really unsure of what to do, this new thought had added more options to her little stockpile and now she was more confused than ever.

Guessing there was little more to do than try and talk her way out of it, she rose rather clumsily and attempted to brush the dust off her already filthy garments. She tried to steel her voice and sound braver than she felt, but to her dismay when she spoke her voice reflected her inner emotions, timid and scared out of her wits. "I fell..." She commented rather dumbly, before regaining herself and adding. "I hope I didn't disturb you, I was just taking a walk when I heard you...eh....jingling." Arianna added this last word with reluctancy, eyeing the boys attire, which was much the same as her own, she realized this boy was a peasant which meant her shouldn't be jingling, which left only one option left; thief, or bandit. Neither or which appealed to Arianna. "I, I work at the castle...I...I guess I should be getting back." She was hoping that this last added comment would assure the boy, that if he was indeed a thief as she suspected, she had nothing worth trying to steal.

[/blockquote]

[Arianna Calanthe]

OOC: Replied

[Alexander]

Lengthening and shortening his stride become almost as a game to the lad as he found when he did, the jingling of the coins changed in pitch and length. He smiled to himself fin amusement from the joy he found in it, for it kept his short attention span caught for several moment before he stopped dead in his tracks to watch a large robin go sailing over head carrying something glittery in its beak. He wished at that moment he had something to throw at the bird to knock it from the sky and capture what ever was in his beak, but just to his luck he was empty handed except for the coin bag.

A deep sigh left his lungs as he continued walking again, resuming his game of jingling through the woods and loosing himself in attempting to straighten out the thoughts in his head. ‘What to do with the coins?’ he asked himself then mentally began to shout answers at himself. ‘A bigger coin bag perhaps?’ ‘No, I need something better, a new belt?’ ‘A news shirt’ the more sensible voice commented, making him look down at the crusty garment he wore. ‘Yes a new shirt, and maybe a new pair of boots’ he replied to himself, noticing the hole in the sole.

A loud thud, made Alex rise from his thoughts and look wildly around. At first he had just thought that perhaps a tree had just fallen but then his gaze spotted a female figure across the way from him. One brow raised in confusion as he stopped his stride to stare dumbfounded at her. His thoughts for once in his is not very educating life were still, as he struggled to come up with any thought on what to do. He switched raised brows, giving the appearance of a man with the weight of the world depending on his one decision, the one he couldn’t quite figure out where it was. After a few moments of struggling for brain activity he managed to start debating on whether or not to walk toward the clearly frightened girl or just simply continue on his way, where ever that was.

After several seconds of vigorous thought he managed to decide ,with one distraction of a shiny stone to the left of his boot, on walking toward her a mask of mixed emotions plastered on his face. Not quite deciding on whether to seem nonchalant or intelligent. In result he had the slight appearance of being constipated but it quickly turned to a mirrored expression of timid fright for he was sure if she was showing that emotion there was something to be afraid of. Once again his emotion changed as she began to speak, his brows furrowed then raised as he managed a feeble nod then squeaked, “Y-you didn’t disturb me quite as much as I think I frightened you.” Again Alex nodded, this time to her comment on working at the castle, he quickly looked her up and down, wondering if anything valuable may be stashed into a hidden pocket or in a purse.

[Arianna Calanthe]

As the boy walked towards her Arianna, felt pure and raw terror rise in her stomach. Bile rose in her throat but she refused to do something as degrading and embarrassing as vomiting in front of a complete stranger. So once she had managed to tame her stomach, and by this time the boy was a mere few feet away, her mouth split into an o shape and a croak from the back of her throat echoed through the forest. This noise HAD been meant as a scream, but turned out to be more an incentive for someone to rob her, it seemed to just cement the idea that she was pathetic and helpless. As the boy drew closer and closer she attempted to scrabble backwards, but the ground provided no purchase and so all she ended up doing as tearing trenches in the earth with her fingers. She didn’t trust her legs to stand, and anyway running for her was a complete lost cause. Just as she was on the verge of attempting another scream, her ears caught the boy’s words and stopped her in her tracks. She blinked, confused for a moment.

If her ears had not deceived her, the boy sounded almost as frightened as she was, and his words certainly were not of the threatening nature. She let her body relax just slightly, enough so her fingertips weren’t about to snap off from the force she was exerting as she pressed into the ground. Suddenly her sense seemed to come back to life, and she hadn’t realized just how paralysed she had been. Sound flooded back, and she was suddenly aware again of the dim green light that filtered through the treetops, aware of the birds that sung so enchantingly, aware of the damp earth so close to her nose. A breath of relief fluttered through her lips and her body thanked her for allowing oxygen back in. Still being on the ground, she looked up at the boy and took in the details of his face that she had been unable to notice before. His face was rather plain but gave the appearance of hardship and she wondered whether or own face held this same appearance. Shaking her head she brought her attention back to the present. Feeling a little safer now, she decided to test her legs; they wobbled slightly as she put her weight on them, but held her steady as she rose to her full height. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that…” She tried to keep her tones light and airy, but was unable to keep the quiver from her speech. This quiver intensified, as she caught the boys eyes search her frame, until it petered out her voice trailing off in a sentence unfinished.

Her heart beat sped up as her mind registered that perhaps she wasn’t out of the woods just yet, literally and metaphorically. She lifted her chin slightly and tried to look brave and defiant, an effect which was slightly ruined as the sun hit her eyes and she had to squint just in order to see. Deciding that perhaps this boy DIDN’T mean her any harm, perhaps she could gain a friend out of this ordeal? God knows she would like someone outside of the castle to talk to. Stuttering over her own words she attempted to introduce herself. “I-I’m Arianna…I work in the castle.” She blushed deeply as she realized she’d already stated this last bit. “Well actually, I don’t work there, I’m technically Property Of the castle.” She tried desperately to hitch the corners of her mouth into a smile to make this statement sound not quite so pathetic, but found the opposite happening. Her lips pulled into a deeper frown, she hated thinking of herself as owned by anyone. But it was true, the castle had purchased her as a servant and unless someone ‘bought’ her freedom, she would remain that way till the day she died.

Arianna scowled inwardly at her own stupidity, what a great conversation starter. I’m sure this boy really doesn’t care about the tragedy that is your life Arianna, you should have said something about the weather, something neutral like that. She pulled her lips into a tight grimace, wondering how on earth the boy was going to respond to that. She could imagine it, first would come the ‘your crazy’ look, then the feeble excuse to rid himself of her presence, or he might even just run away, that would be the easier option for him.

[/blockquote]

[Alexander]

Momentarily his attention was captured by a shadow that flittered by, caused by passing cloud over the sun. His gaze flicked from the maiden on the ground who had admitted some sort of odd scream like thing that just went in one ear and through out the other as he snapped his gaze form the moving shadow to a small sparrow that squawked at something then took off in a zing zagging flight across the canopy of trees.
Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, he mentally slapped himself several times and scolded himself, ‘pay attention she might say something interesting.’ He was able to pay attention long enough to hear her say something that sounded remotely like ‘I’m……sure…. About….that.” His face wrinkled in a sort of a grimace as he struggled to interrupt what she had said in depth.

Sighing softly, he pushed these unwanted thoughts form his mind and began to ponder the idea of what valuables she might have that could brighten his already gleaming day. His spying gaze hardened slightly as he noticed her take on a more defiant appearance, as if to tell him she wasn’t afraid of some rouge boy with half the brain of a fly. In a bored fashion, to try and confuse her of his original plan of robbing her of anything he found worthy, he tucked his hands behind his back and began to rock back and forth on his feet, from heel to toe and back again. I wonder if she has anything shiny, he questioned himself, a mental expression of sheer glee crossing his face in his imagination while in truth he held a mere witless grin on his face. Oh how stupid it sounds its true, he would rather be in possession of something shiny than expensive. Again he sighed softly, as she began to speak again and this time he struggled to pay deep attention to catch any important detail she might say. ‘She works in the castle, eh?’ He began to jump in his skin, thinking that possibly she could by chance, if he gained her trust she might beg able to sneak him into the chambers of the royal or something. But as she began to speak again he frowned slightly, ‘owned’ what kind of life would that be. Having to cater to what ever deed they told you to complete?
“Pitty” he mumbled, dropping his gaze to his filthy hands as he began to debate whether or not his true name was worth telling. “I would be, Alexander and I work.. Well… I… um work no where of importance” he sputtered, knowing he sounded like a complete idiot.

[Arianna Calanthe]

<sub>Arianna blinked in surprise a few times at the boys almost, frightened apperance. She was inwardly shocked, but tried her best to keep her face a blank mask, why on earth would anyone have any reason to be even the slighest bit afraid around her? To herself, Arianna would appear to be the least frightening person in all of Falhid, she was slow, clumsy, timid, never raised her voice above a loud whisper and she bore the apperance of delicacy. In fact, since she had been moved to the castle and was eating less and less, and spending more and more time being worried about trivial things, she dropped weight, and now had a stick like apperance about her...no she was definatly nothing to be scared of. In fact Arianna would sooner be scared of death, bought by a falling tree than she would by herself. She nodded her head slightly as she decided that it must simply be the shock of seeing someone so far out in the trees...yes...it must have been shock.

When her ears caught his words of sympathy, she almost smiled, if her guess was correct and he was in fact a thief, Arianna supposed he would know how she felt, to be hated, scorned and rejected by those who were more powerful than herself. She wrinkled her nose in distaste when she let her thoughts run through the many Lords and Ladies she knew in the castle, as she thought of them, not a single fond or kind memory resurfaced. Only memories of disdain and being sneered at for simply being herself. But obviously herself was not good enough for society No matter how hard she tried, how meticulously she cleaned, it was never good enough. Suzanna would always find an excuse to belt her across the face. At the thought of going back tears welled in the corners of her eyes and she looked up at the boy, almost pleading with him to say something so she could think of other things aside from Suzanna.

As if he had read her thoughts, the boy blurted out his name and faltered as he searched for an excuse for his 'expertise'. As he spoke Arianna quickly reeled in her emotions, replacing it with the face she often used when she couldn't control her emotions. This face was blank, expressionless, often even cold. But she knew she had to maintain this facade if she wished to continue a semi-human conversation with this boy. "Your a thief?" She pointed out bluntly, gesturing to the coin purse hooked to his pants with her eyes. "It's ok, us outcastes have got to stick together, don't we?" She had placed a questioning tone on the comment about being a thief delibrately. If he chose, he could point blank lie to her face and deny it, which Arianna hoped he had the decency not to do. She hoped she hadn't scared the boy with her blunt assumption of him being a thief. Perhaps he might fear she would turn him in and run off? Arianna hoped not, she was quite enjoying this human interaction that didn't involve sneers and disdainful comments about her attire.</sub>

[Alexander]

Blunt her statement may have been, it surprised him greatly they she would of recognized his profession with little conversing they had had. He swallowed several times, struggling to swallow the lump of fright that lodged it’s self into his throat as he began to beat down the urge to run in fear of her calling someone of the law to kill or capture him to only rot in prison for his crimes. His nerves were calmed by her voice, speaking her next words that caused him to rethink this female that stood before him. “Aye, to both of it. I would be thief and the truth to the situation of the world is true, our kind has to look out for one another” he mused, his gaze flicking form the ground to her face, his expression matching his tone, uncertain and fickle. He began to fidget with the idea she wasn’t the type would try and do something noble to gain the trust of their owner by doing something as terrible as turning in a thief.

Alexander’s thoughts began to flick over the past memories he continued to fight to forget. The memories of being tossed in the street after failed pocket picking attempts in a store of out of the tavern because of something he had said or done, gesturing at that he may be the untrustworthy kind. The hard times where he had been pushed away by friends because of some simple mistake he couldn’t help but make because that’s the only way he knew to do something or because he had never been taught other wise and had to make a living some how. Why couldn’t people just understand that some are less fortunate then themselves and they had to make due some way other than the ways of others?
Her words about their kind having to stick together struck him hard with the truth of the matter. You never saw a noble befriending a slave just because they wanted to but you always see them treating their lower classmen as dirt beneath their, ordering them do complete tasks with no thanks or pay. What had civilization come to, claiming other beings at ‘property.’

Sighing heavily again, he let his wandering gaze rise form the ground where he had stationed it while he let his mind run amiss with his thought to heavily debate whether or not to make the excuse of him having to go or to try and strike up some more cheerful conversation, far from the topic of the smothering upper classmen. The thief began to chew at his lower lip before his tongue found its strength to talk again and voice be able to make audible noises. “So, out of curiosity, what brings you to the woods?” The question was simple and almost in a way blunt to the matter he was unsure of how to act. Out of some hidden law of respect to those in his level of Hierarchy he felt the need to strike up some sort of common ground conversation and nothing to extravagant in topic or hurtful for the matter.