Location~ Grand Masai Market Place
Feather ~ All/Tirian
Although she intended to leave before sunrise, the well-worn girl plastered herself into a bed well after the sun made its first appearance. Through the dirt textured window pane daylight pierced her sleepy vision. An unwanted wake up call she would rather ignore for an hour more - and probably would have, if the sound of clamoring feet outside the inn wasn't there to drum against her consciousness. A soft, nearly childish groan eluded her lips as the raven haired elfin girl slid from the bed sheets When she stood, the fabric pooled around her bare feet and exposed what was left of her body to the mild air. At home, in reality, cold air would have stunned her senses awake. But temperature didn't particularly -exist- in game; not in a way that made any difference to the players. It was with sluggish movements that she pulled her small collection of gear on and made ready to leave.
A half-hour later Feather found herself in one of the alleys, attempting to stay away from the busy square as much as humanly possible. But unfortunately the busy marketplace tempted her needs. She had materials to sell, and more materials to buy, and a rather small sum of money to manage everything with. The room and food itself cost her twenty GP; probably not all that much, in retrospect, but that left her only with 10GP and the three scraps of leather to make it through the day. In order to do anything she would have to seek out an NPC shop, which required marching out into the square that for some reason was alive with a strange amount of excitement. She had been a little too late to miss the first proclamation, but as the girl wove her way through the walls of the square she was able to catch stray bits of gossip and conversation.
"...found a field boss..."
"Front line... amazing!"
"...going to join..."
"Did you... last night? Pker was released..."
The last bit of words caught her fancy more so than they probably should have. Risking conversation for the sake of curiosity, Feather wandered closer to the two gossiping woman that spoke of last night's events. From their swell of exclamations she was able to deduce some of the story; how the victim had been injured, and how the PKer thought he was showing mercy to a death-marked child. Not that it really mattered, but Feather was a little relieved to hear that the lynch mob hadn't destroyed the lonesome boulder of a man. Klugh... was that his name? He reminded her in part to the monster from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - an outcast from society, handicapped by monstrous looks with the intelligence of a parentless child. She always had a little sympathy for the monster. But this was different; this was a game, and the people here were human players just like herself. Anyway, she shouldn't have been interested to begin with. She was solo player. A decent one, who didn't need the help of others. She was trying to convince herself of that when the two gossiping woman turned to look upon her with disdain and amusement.
"What's a kid like you doing in a game like this, ey?" A tall strawberry blond with sharp features inclined, stooping down melodramatically to reach her diminutive height. Something about the prideful glint in her eyes reminded Feather of a lion hunting prey - and guess who was the fresh strip of meat? Grunting under her breath Feather recoiled from the woman, earning a harsh chortle from the feisty blond. Her friend, a willowy brunette with the features of a hummingbird, looked down to Feather with a jealous and disgusted expression. She looked to be irritated by the elfin girl's presence. "There is no place of children in this game. She'll probably die before her naive eyes get to see the gates of level two." That jump started Feather's rage like a spark of fire, but rather than fanning out into a full blaze the young player pulled herself into a more collected stance and allowed the smallest smirk to trace her palepink lips.
"Are egos bruised so easily in this game? Perhaps you've already lost an older friend to the claws of this game. A lover, perhaps?" Not to her surprise the willowy woman flinched, as if Feather's words carried a fresh slap to her face. "The death of your friend reminds you how fleeting life is. You are scared, and wish for revenge. And the prospect of a child outlasting you or your companion is a threat - so you assert dominance over an insect to prove your own strength." From the enraged look the brunette cast her Feather could only assume she had it pegged. The blond, however, seemed unfazed by her prediction and bared down on Feather like a cocky little princess that flaunted her body as if to shout "Look at me! Look at me!" Before she could lash out with whatever prideful words that came to mind, Feather lifted one hand to stop her. "And you, miss insecurity. Are you really a gamer? Or are you another girl who joined this game to attract men? A girl who plays Super Smash Bros in her underwear and posts pictures online, claiming her reign over COD?"
Once more her words were responded to by rage. But Feather was no longer offended or upset by their meek comments. While they stood there sputtering, Feather cast them a slight smile and dissolved into the group of people around them. She escaped from the scene rather quickly, disguising herself among the other players until a line of shops came in sight. Although relieved, her expression sobered up as she approached one of the NPC shop keepers. The transaction took little time; she made sure of it, offering up the three leather pieces and coining the money they offered without so much as a word. And once more she disappeared into the marketplace full of people; having realized that a sea of faces provided better cover than alleys where one or two people stood, waiting for someone to fall within their midst.
40 GP left. That was enough to buy some herbs, probably, and make her first attempt at potion making. As she sought out another shop Feather pulled up a digital guide, searching through the list of potions to check what ingredients she would need. Her attention was diverted from the people, the streets, and somehow she managed to evade collision for a while that way. But eventually her distraction proved fatal - with unintended force the small elfin girl crashed straight into another player. Jarred to the side with a small gasp, Feather threw her arms out to catch herself before face-planting. The guide disappeared, knocked from existence by her fall, and she was left simply to look up at the man she'd crashed into. He was considerably taller than her, but then again that wasn't a hard feat to manage in the first place. For a moment curiosity got the best of her, and she looked up to a pair of pale blueish green eyes beneath a crown of white hair. The strange red adornment to his face was alarming - something from the fashion shop, which meant that to some extent he had money to waste on this game. That prospect hardened her expression, and as she lifted to her feet again Feather cast him a sidelong glance, lips poised to speak. "Sorry. Wasn't paying attention."
