Advisory Unneeded (semi-lit+)

[zippyzoo77]

Zaire Fontell

I rolled off my bed this morning. I stood on the dirt floor of my cottage, made myself a nice cup of tea and sat at my kitchen table. It was a small little house of mine, but mine it was. I may have been only seventeen, but that didn't matter to anyone, I was respectable. I didn't cause trouble like the advisors did. I didn't fight the new King like some did. Nor did I really care who the king was. I was here to train new knights, and that's exactly what I would do. After finishing my tea, I grab a wooden staff and walk out to the training fields. I set up one of the practice dummies, and begin my morning routine. I start with the staff, for even though it isn't a bladed weapon, it can easily be used to knock a person out. In other words, good for dealing with disobedience. The dummy takes it's hits well, it is meant for it anyways. I start my routine by closing my eyes, it was strange the way I did this, it was almost like meditation in a way. I begin my breathing pattern, in, hit, out, hit, in, hit, out, hit. And so I continued until the sun peeked it's way over the horizon. I could tell the instant this happened, as even with my eyes closed, things became much brighter. I slowed to a stop and put away the staff. Time for breakfast.

((I'll be doing these one by one, so here's the first one. My more frequent posts will probably be in third person, but I was feeling like first person right now, so that's what this one is in.))

[Noel]

((I'm back, we can start now. (: I'll be touching things up and such, but post for my characters will be up soon enough.))

[Noel]

Ren & Adelle

Ren winced as the stone cut into his hand, but disregarded it; it would just leave another small little cut on his palm, unimportant and among many others. He loved that his advisors had yet to realize that he could pick open the lock on the window of his cell, aka 'room'. True,it was lavishly decorated, annoyingly fancy, and other such things that made it seem like it had a different purpose then it did, but there was no covering that fact that the door was locked from the outside, with him inside, every night. It had taken a month of practically clawing at the walls to discover that all it took was a knife blade shoved into the side of the metal to pop open the window. Having also had the luck to only be on the second floor of the fortress, it wasn't too hard to climb down. It was no surprise he always looked tired in the morning; almost every night, for hours, he snuck out and enjoyed the brief freedom.
"Going somewhere, Your Majesty?" Ren winced, could she be any louder? Of course, it was to scare him, which Adelle was very good at. As usual, he flipped her another silver coin, watching it sail through the air to land in her palm. It alone wasn't much, but Adell and her squad of the Royal Guard had accumulated quite a large amount of the coins; every night he snuck out either the irritating girl herself or one of her men was there waiting for their pay. Adell smiled, shoving the coin into a pocket. Ren rolled his eyes and turned to leave the passage way, when her voice rang through the air again, but this time sufficiently quiet.
"Rei" -that was his false name during his nightly escapades- "Push your hair down more, your eyes are too visible." 'Rei' obeyed, shoving his hair to obscure his ever-annoying blue eyes. He was dressed as a stable boy, having changed from his usual hated formal dress before leaving. Having messed around with his hair, which looked as if a very large animal had attacked it by the time he was done, and added a bit of dirt on his clothes and face, he looked very different. Of course, most of his guard and advisors would still recognize him, but most of the people in the cursed place didn't, much to his relief. This particular night, Ren didn't have any plans. Often, he brought a gun with him rather then the two knives hidden on his person; those were the nights when he was going to kill one of his potential successors who would bring his kingdom chaos. This night though, he just wanted some peace, a moment of freedom without any weapons aimed at his head. So, putting as much distance between himself, the castle, and all of the people he was surrounded by all day and wanted dead, Ren simply paced among the buildings. He wanted so very much to just run off, but of course that wasn't an option for more reasons then he could count. With another sigh, he flopped down to sit on a discarded rock, hoping the shadows would conceal him.

[ElementalInsanity]

Having fallen asleep earlier that day, Mark jumped awake, to find himself more or less in the same position as earlier. Sitting underneath a tree near a lake. Pushing himself up, his whole body sore and screaming at him, he gave a small groan, stretched, before leaning against the tree as his eyes caught a figure heading near. As his eyes drew accustomed to the nearing figure, he checked them out. Nothing more than what appeared to be a stable boy. Or something of that sort. No one really important. At least, in the eyes of anyone else. To Mark, it was a either a potential customer, or friend. Friend. Mark almost laughed at that. When being a street rat with no place to go and stealing everything just to live, no one was your friend. Flipping the hood of his cloak up, and flicking hair out of his eyes, he saw the boy sit down on a rock, hearing him sigh. A small smirk on his face he strode closer. "Now someone like you shouldn't be sighing so heavily." He said simply, eying the person. A boy. Around his own age. Nothing really looking like a threat. Of course, that wasn't to be trusted at all. Because a gun, if he happened to have one, could easily kill him. But this person didn't seem to be like he would carry a gun. Mark never did. Knives were easier and just...all around better. Sadly, it didn't look as he had anything valuable on him right now. So pickpocketing wasn't going to be an option. Maybe he would just have a simple chat, before going out. Whoever this person was, it didn't exactly look like they were very happy. But then again, no one ever looked happy anymore. With good reasons, of course. Quickly glancing at his own self, he wanted to make sure that no knives were showing. Not that he was usually careless enough to let them, but he had just slept for a few hours, then got up and walked over here. Just in case, he pulled his cloak tighter around himself, before crossing his arms to stare blankly at the person in front of him. Mark made it a practice to not talk to strangers. Never knew who was wanting to kill you, either for finding out you had stolen something from them, or just to get rid of a street child. However this was just another child like him. Who looked like they had had a tough life. Aha, if he only knew this was the king himself. He would probably gut him, if he knew. But thankfully for Ren, he did not. And so he stood there, quite unsure what to do or say. Because really, could anyone see Mark as being social? Him, talking to someone as if it were normal? He stole and killed for a living. It just didn't fit.

[Noel]

Ren had, foolishly, dazed off in thought. It was nice out, if a bit cold, and he was enjoying the momentary freedom. So, when he saw Mark approach, how he jumped. He calmed quickly, making himself slump like normal, but he might as well have just told his newcomer to his face that he was hiding something. He took a slow breath, and made no movement other then to be sure his hand rested close to a pocket in his cloak, where a knife rested. If needed, he might be able to get it out in time. "What do you want?" Ren asked coldly, ignoring Mark's comment. He was not liking the idea of meeting anyone that night. Ren was feeling even more weak and sick then he normally did, and was already regretting having snuck out that night. Despite the best efforts of his attendants, Ren was permanently thin and sickly, and looked it. Every day, it took incredible effort to just get himself to eat. Poison was the most favored method of assassination at their time, and he always expected to drop to the floor writhing in pain with every bite. Same with sleep; Ren knew there was a very unpleasantly large chance of never waking up again. That, and his nightly escapes, led to a very unhealthy child. And he looked it; pale, thin, a bit shaky, and there was only so much that could be done to hide that. If this other boy was a pickpocket or worse, Ren wouldn't be able to do much to stop him. Actually, his best hope was praying that Mark would think he had nothing of value on him. Which was mostly true; Ren had left anything valuable behind, save for a small ring hidden on an inside pocket of his shirt. With the King's Seal on it, it was to prove his identity should he be arrested or something of the sort. Losing that item to Mark would not be a good thing. So, crossing his arms to mirror Mark, he stared back at him flatly, waiting for an answer. He had no idea this was a person who wanted him dead, although there was no shortage of them. So, Ren had no idea that all it took was one moment of recognition and he was dead.
((Bleh, short. ): Very sleepy. Sorry Cavie. ))

[ElementalInsanity]

Mark gave a small chuckle upon seeing the boy jump. He hadn't meant to startle him so, and he just gave a smirk. The boy in front of him, now that he was closer, looked very....weak? To put it nicely? Mark wasn't the least bit surprised by the other boy's tone, and just rolled his eyes. "What do I want? I want many things. Do they matter? No. Now. Stop being so crabby and hateful." Mark said, his eyes flicking to Ren's hand. Yeah. The boy may have a knife, but looking at him Mark doubted he could do much. So unless he whipped out a gun from that sickly little body of his, Mark wasn't afraid. Reaching into his cloak, which thinking about it now was probably a bad idea, he pulled out a piece of bread, handing it out to the boy. God. And Mark thought that he had seen pathetic looking people. Which, sadly, he had. Some of the people in town...god he felt sorry for them. That's why he tried not to complain too much about his life. Because at least he had freedom and food, most of the time. "So. This is really out in the middle of nowhere, near a lake, far from any place I know of. You a street child, I am guessing?" Crouching down to be at eye level with the boy, Mark knew something was off. Something that didn't seem to fit this person at all. But he couldn't tell what, seeing as Ren had a very good disguise and act going on. However, Mark wasn't about to leave. This place was quiet and peaceful, with no one around, except for this lone boy of course. And since this boy seemed to be no threat and was alone, Mark was going to talk to him. Because being...well him, he never talked to anyone. Got lonely sometimes. But it kept him alive. And if this person was not wanting to talk...well then Mark would either go back to the tree and sleep more, or go for a swim in the lake. Had to get clean sometime. Might as well be now. And no, he really couldn't care that someone would be there on the rock watching. One learned not to care too much about really anything when in a situation like this.

[Noel]

Ren expression remained flat and uncaring as Mark smirked, forcing himself to stay calm, which was no easy feat. From the other boy's response though, he was then fairly sure that he was a street-child. Street-children forever saddened him; what with his advisors draining the kingdom of it's money, there were more and more of them. Not that he could do anything about it of course; anytime he spoke to the public, there was a gun aimed at his head from the shadows. He wouldn't even manage to finish a sentence to help them before he would be killed by 'unknown and uncaught' assassins. So... that blatantly wasn't an option. Ren was very effectively yanked from his thoughts when he saw Mark's hand move into the boy's cloak, and his own knife almost materialized in his hand. He was about to attack Mark when the boy pulled out bread, and he forced himself to slacken again. Nonetheless, he remained tense, but warily took the food anyways. It was a very strange moment; the king of the country, the one person who could never die of hunger, was starving more then the street child. He put the bread into a pocket, but mind you he would eat it later. In comparison to what he had every day, it was far safer. The chance of it being poisoned couldn't be larger then his typical meal. "I think I have a right to be crabby and hateful, thank you. You don't seem much better." Ren answered blankly, but his tone was light(er). Like Mark, he didn't get to talk much, and found this an opportunity to get out of that antisocial bubble for a brief while, if not for any reason. Just... to pretend he wasn't in the position he was for a brief moment. "Obviously, as are you, I'm guessing?" Ren answered, trying to keep his tone neutral. He was going to have to figure out this boy's loyalties, to see if talking to him wasn't risking his life. He didn't put the knife in his hand down, but he did loosen his grip on it a bit, trying to show that he wasn't planning on trying to kill Mark or something of the sort, but also that he didn't trust him. It would take a quite the idiot to relax near a street-child that had randomly appeared in front of them.

[ElementalInsanity]

Seeing Ren giving no emotion, Mark gave up on trying to make him smile and just put on his forever dark look back on his face. Because, really, if this boy wasn't going to smile, then there was no use in smiling. He had been expecting something to come from the boy's hand that he had been keeping close to his cloak. Mark wasn't an idiot. He could tell that the boy had been hiding a knife there. Another reason of handing him the bread was to find out if the other boy exactly had been hiding. A simple knife, nothing more. Even if this boy wasn't much of a threat, all skinny and pale and sick looking, Mark still wasn't wanting a knife in him today. Nor any day, at that. Dying from infection after staying alive all these years, would kinda be...sad. The boy took the bread, and Mark rolled his eyes. Perhaps this boy wasn't that great a thief. Although Mark had to agree that things were getting harder and harder now. A simple theft of bread...It wasn't much, but obviously made others quite angry. Mark made no comment to the boy's 'You don't seem much better' comment. There wasn't really anything to comment anyways. No, he wasn't exactly much better. But when coming across another child like him, he was slightly friendly. At least tried to be. Those down below had to stick together, make sure each one could stay alive somehow. Of course, unless it risked their own lives. Then the other person was far on their own. Mark gave a half-bow and nodded. "Mark, street-child, and will do anything for you at a small price, at your service." He gave a smirk before sitting down on the ground, watching Ren's knife very carefully. Hm. If he did manage to grab that from the boy, that could make a small price. Which could get him some new clothes or food. Which meant life for a few more days. But seeing as this boy was also like him, that small knife could mean the difference between life and death for him, and with the boy looking so weak... Mark did have a heart. It was rare, but for now he was going to let the boy keep the knife. Until the boy made a move with it. Then everything was free for all.

[Noel]

Ren simply wasn't a smiling child, no surprises there. He had long since given up trying to be friendly towards anyone, and he had discovered awhile ago that as the tone of his voice grew less flat, the accent of the higher-classes of the kingdom grew more apparent. Therefor, he did his best to hide that. He had practiced removing it from his voice for a long time by then, but it wasn't easy. And all it took was one mispronounced syllable to give himself away. And he still had no idea where this street-child's loyalties lay, and did not want to have to find out. He held back a quiet laugh at Mark's brief speech and bow, restraining himself to a small smile. It looked almost identical to what countless people said to him every day. Except for them (although Mark might be thinking along similar lines for all he knew) it translated to: 'If you actually ask me to do anything, I'll kill you'. Add that to the list of things he didn't want to find out, but might end up learning. Seeing Mark's gaze on his knife, his expression darkened visibly again, grip tightening on it again. His health might have plummeted over the last year, but before that he was still technically royalty and therefor a target for assassination and had been taught to defend himself. Sill, he doubted he would be able to fend of Mark, but might manage to stick the blade into him first. He wasn't going to attack Mark, but he would defend himself. Still, not showing any of that, he once again smiled slightly and answered. "Unless you can kill everyone in there-" He gestured to the shape of the castle in the distance with a twitch of his head. "I need nothing, thanks." That was sarcasm mostly, trying to make it sound s as if was one of the growing number who wanted everyone in that castle tortured and killed. In all honestly, he was, save for himself of course. The purpose of the statement though was, of course, to see Mark's reaction, and more importantly to know if he should be getting very far away.

[ElementalInsanity]

Mark was a smiling person, if there was something to smile about. If it was worth smiling about, why not smile? Few things in life were actually worth the small effort, so when it came around might as well take advantage of it. Mark wasn't thinking that Ren could possibly be from anything higher then a simple street child or stable boy. Because who of the higher class would want to come out here, dressed like that? Plus this boy...just did not fit anything other then a low person. He looked too sickly and pale. Plus he looked hungry as well. Mark actually cracked a small smile upon seeing the other boy smile. First smile he had seen from the boy. It wasn't half bad. And no, Mark was thinking far from that. Someone asked him to do something, if the price was good enough, it really didn't matter what it was, he would do it. That's how one could live. Or at least how Mark had learned to live. Not a terribly hard life. Not exactly easy either. Especially in comparison to those living in the castle, or of higher standing then him. Mark saw the boy's expression darken, probably from seeing his gaze on the knife. As if confirming that suspicion, his hand suddenly tightened on the knife again. Mark said nothing, nor did anything except for the widening dark and sadistic smirk on his face. He hadn't been in a knife fight for a small while, and this person seemed an easy target. But he wasn't going to risk it. Not right now. Perhaps later, if he got bored of the company. "I probably can't kill everyone without getting killed myself. But, if needed, I can kill the main few that would send everything into panic." Mark said simply, as if talking about murdering the king and other higher persons was everyday chatter. And actually, depending on the persons involved, it was. "Seems you have the same mindset as me. I think they all should die. Especially that king. He doesn't even know or see how much damage he has caused, how many people he kills or puts out of work and housing, simply for him to live his fancy little stuck up life in there, with all his guards and his servants, his many royalties. The best food, wine, clothing, housing. While us people, who actually matter, are stuck down here. Starving and being killed by his idiotic actions. When the last king died, I wasn't exactly heartbroken, but it was....sad. He was a fairly good ruler. But then of course they shoved that one on the throne....What I wou-" Mark suddenly cut off, narrowing his eyes. "Of course....I wouldn't ever...do anything..." He added cautiously. Even with another child like himself, he wasn't wanting to say too much. Just in case.