Take THREE for Trilly. :D

[Trilly (18426 words)]

I've almost reached the amount for one day, but I was on fire at midnight and now I'm lagging a bit. Helps that I'm not entirely happy with what I've written so far, since it sounded really good when it was coming out and now it doesn't.

So I'm not even going to look at what is already put down, or I'll be tempted to get rid of it.

I'm really hoping this is just a new-story-drag and it'll get better once I introduce new characters. Hoping... >>

[Rikku]

=D Pah! It's meant to be terrible at the beginning. Means you get to be all kinds of delighted when things get awesome!

[Trilly (18426 words)]

Thanks, Rikku. ^__^ Today's kind of been an emotional roller coaster, what with midterms and 8 page essays and book reports and French and libraries that take up whole buildings and NaNo on top of it all. Kinda feel pulled in quite a few different directions here.

But on the bright side, I THINK this excerpt may be fit to be read by humans. ^^; I apologize for any severe vomiting or nausea that may occur as a result of reading this.

Seriously, though, the only warning for this excerpt is some drinking by adult characters. And copious amounts of my pitiful attempts at banter that somehow turn to goo and morph into some really weird flirting.

SPOILER: Click to show

The Broken Oar had been Aidne’s favourite tavern since before she had been old enough to drink. Her father had taken her there often when she was a little girl while he got a pint with his mates, often from both sides of the law. He had always insisted he brought her along to give her mother a bit of time to herself, but Aidne was beginning to suspect he had just wanted to show off his daughter to his coworkers, and also guessed that Pandora hadn’t had a clue where her husband was actually taking Aidne when they went out.

When Aidne had gotten older and had developed a taste for ale, she continued to frequent the Broken Oar partly out of habit, and partly because she had gotten to know the regular clientele there and could always find a friendly someone to drink with. The tavern was also smaller and out of the way, with a friendly atmosphere that may have simply stemmed from Aidne’s familiarity with it. She always knew what to expect there.

Which was why she would be particularly surprised at the events that would unfold there later on in the evening.

When she entered, the results were much as she would have expected. The barkeep recognized her immediately as he looked up, and he cracked a grin that showed off to great effect his lack of teeth. “Aidne, darlin’! It’s been far too long.”

Aidne smiled back, taking her usual seat at the counter. “Good to see you too, Seamus. How have you been for the last few months?”

“Be a lot better, lass if you’d finally agree to run away with me,” he teased as he put a mug down in front of her and poured her usual from a heavy jug. “‘Stead of all of this h’education and making a decent living tripe.”

“Ah, but Seamus, I know you only want me for my hair,” Aidne sighed tragically. “When I turn old and grey, you’ll leave me for some other redhead.”

The older man frowned thoughtfully. “Hmm... probably true, if not for the fact that your father would kill me. I quite value my remaining limbs, thankee kindly.” He waved his three-fingered hand for emphasis. “Been having fun though, I hope.”

Aidne took a gulp of ale, licking the foam off her upper lip. “Fun? Some, maybe. Honestly, it’s all starting to get kind of--”

“Excuse me, but might you be called Aidne Lilith?”

Aidne stared at the stranger who had just approached her. “Eh?”

“But of course you are--I was just asking for the sake of politeness. For some reason, people seem to get nervous when people they’ve never met before know things about them.” The newcomer grinned, showing white teeth that showed up vividly on his tanned skin. His appearance was, Aidne had to admit, interesting. He was tall and dark-haired, and wore a black overcoat with a fedora tipped on a rakish angle on his head. His smile was devilishly charming and his eyes were a warm honey-gold colour as he took a seat next to Aidne.

“As I was saying,” Aidne said with remarkable articulation considering the circumstances, “things might be starting to look up.”

Seamus, apparently, didn’t share the sentiment. “Lass, I’ve never seen this smilin’ nob a day in my life afore, and I’ll be betting that you haven’t either,” he warned, narrowing his eyes at the handsome stranger. “All fake, spit-and-polish--I don’t trust his type.”

Aidne shook a finger offhandedly at the barkeep, unashamedly staring at the stranger. “But Seamus, love, there aren’t any strangers here. Only friends we haven’t met.”

“Would you like to meet me?” the young man asked reflexively, his smile growing wider. “I’m told I can be quite charming.”

“Hmm, well, that’s a rather high claim,” Aidne deadpanned, sipping her ale thoughtfully without breaking her gaze. “All depends on who thought you were charming. For example, if you’re referring to your mother, I might just be disappointed.”

He swept a bow. “And what may I do to prove myself to you, dear lady?”

“Buy me another drink, and maybe we’ll see.”

“All right then, your wish is my command. Barkeep!” he shouted, forgetting the fact that Seamus had not moved from his spot next to them and was looking at the other man with an expression one might direct towards something particularly nasty on the bottom of a shoe. “Drinks for the lady and myself!”

“Your wish is my command,” Seamus grumbled sarcastically as he poured a new mug of ale for Aidne and one for her makeshift drinking companion. “Don’t trust him lass-- that’s a false face if I ever saw one.”

“You worry too much, Seamus,” Aidne chuckled. “I’m not a child anymore. I can take care of myself, and I even got a free ale out of the deal. Life is good.”

Seamus sighed, evidently defeated. “Aye, you’re all grown now, I’ll give you that, lass. Just be careful. And you,” he turned a deadly glower on the stranger. “I’ll be watching you, boy. Make one move on that girl that I don’t like and I’ll be throwing you out of my pub and into the bay with an axe stuck in your skull. Got it?”

The stranger put his arms up in a nonthreatening manner and beamed toothily. “We understand each other perfectly, sir.”

Seamus snorted and moved away to deal with some customers on the other side of the bar, who were becoming increasingly rowdy the longer they had to wait for their drinks.

“Wow,” the man whistled as he turned back to his ale. “Scary fellow. I suppose you’re related?”

Aidne shrugged and raised her own mug to her lips. “Not by blood. I used to come around here all the time when I was a little kid, though. Seamus taught me how to recognize different types of ships, and helped me with my mathematics lessons when I couldn’t solve them on my own. He’s kind of an uncle, I suppose. Anyhow,” she drained her mug and set it down on the counter with a solid thunk. “I think you’ll be telling me who you are now, and why you know my name. There’s no way someone like you came to Shanty without good reason.”

“Someone like me?” he asked innocently. “What do you mean by that?”

“You put on the drawl and the accent, pal, but you can’t hide that you’re educated. Even more educated than me. And then there’s the matter of your coat...”

“But don’t you like the coat?”

“I like it just fine, and you know that very well. I imagine everyone does. The fact is, Mr. Mystery, you are too perfect.”

“Never been a problem for anyone else,” he grinned carelessly.

Aidne smirked. “Imperfections give a thing its character.”

“Ouch.”

“And since I can’t see any imperfections, I’ll have to assume that you’re being false in some way. So... your name?”

The stranger grinned ruefully, but the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly, speaking of genuine amusement. “It’s Jake.”

The redhead quirked an eyebrow. “Just... Jake? Whoa, that’s pretty anticlimatic. I hope you have an awesome last name to make up for it.”

“Nah, no last name. Just Jake. Sometimes Jake the Explorer, although that one sounds a wee bit pretentious.”

“You don’t seem the type to be deterred by a bit of pretentiousness,” Aidne commented, idly noticing that the man--Jake--had what appeared to be a stylized tiger paw tattooed on the back of his hand. It looked suitably impressive. Even if it was, after all, a bit pretentious.

“Oh, you wound me,” Jake replied. “Maybe I won’t tell you why I’m here after all.”

Aidne shrugged. “But you want to tell me don’t you? Spill.”

Jake laughed and set down his mug. “Aha, alright. Unless you’d like a refill first--” he gestured to Aidne’s empty mug.

“Later. You’ll just owe me one.”

Leaning back on his stool, Jake met Aidne’s gaze steadily, serious for what was probably the first time all evening.

“Okay, then. First things first, what do you know about the Guild of Explorers?”

[Rikku]

^_^ Trillywriting! *is happy about this* All bright and lively. Awesome.

And you are fine at banter. =D In the 'mighty fine' sense. Just so you know.

... And there's nothin' wrong with flirtishness! Particularly such fun flirtishness, with such a neat Aidne, in such a nifty tavern, with such a spiffy Jake. (... My dashing rogue has golden eyes too. =D Admittedly he is a jerk, but.)

And yes. ^_^ I am sorry your day's been all irksomey, but happy at the results?

[Trilly (18426 words)]

Nov 2, 2010 3:26:18 GMT -5 Rikku said:

^_^ Trillywriting! *is happy about this* All bright and lively. Awesome.

And you are fine at banter. =D In the 'mighty fine' sense. Just so you know.

... And there's nothin' wrong with flirtishness! Particularly such fun flirtishness, with such a neat Aidne, in such a nifty tavern, with such a spiffy Jake. (... My dashing rogue has golden eyes too. =D Admittedly he is a jerk, but.)

And yes. ^_^ I am sorry your day's been all irksomey, but happy at the results?

Hmm... I'm okay with the results so far, but I think the plot needs a bit more meat, and more characters, before I'll be really "happy" with it. We're getting there, but it's sort of a slow-ish start, and I sometimes have trouble staying focussed on the story because I have a million other things to be doing (two multi-page assignments, one eight pages long and the other one a report on a book I haven't even read yet).

I do like Jake, though, and I think I've got a pretty good feel for his character. Aidne is simple enough, so no real problems there, either. I'm hoping the story will pick up soon. ^^

[Rikku]

xD; I knew that was ambiguous. It wasn't a question, it was a continuation of the previous statement - the question mark was just to show sort of mild sheepish tentativeness ... um, but it works as a question too. >.>; I am sure.

[Trilly (18426 words)]

Ah, okay. ^^

I brings Excerpt! It's really almost an entire chapter of my story, but I actually like it a fair amount and it wouldn't work if it were any shorter.

I might be sorta, kinda getting into this story now. ^__^ I'm also trying to invent a side-villain for Aidne. I'm thinking he should be another participant in the treasure hunt and he's probably either blue-blooded or wealthy enough to claim he is without anyone protesting. I'm also thinking that he is a real explorer, but he's really more of one of those turn-of-the-century gentlemen explorers, who hires grunts to take care of the manual labour on the expeditions while he parades around in a white suit with a matching hat for photo ops. That sort. Also, I think he should be a known trafficker of endangered animal parts. Villainous enough?

If I do use him, though, I shall need a name.

And so, without further adieu...

SPOILER: Click to show

It was while Aidne was cursing herself for choosing to cut through the busy Market district and for not packing breakfast for this morning, she felt a slight tug on her backpack. It was really almost nothing, and most Stalitians may have simply ignored it or dismissed it as an accidental nudge from someone in the crowd.

But Aidne wasn’t Stalitian; she was born and raised in Shanty, which Aidne acknowledged was probably one of the worst scumholes in the entire East Kingdom, however dear it was to her heart. So she was well aware of what a clumsy pickpocket attempt felt like.

Whipping around, it was the work of a second to catch the the thief by the arm, just as he appeared to managed to unbuckle the straps and was preparing to reach inside. The thief--Aidne only glanced at him quickly enough to confirm that he was indeed a he, young, and unarmed--before yanking the would-be criminal in front of her and ordering him to, “Walk with a purpose, or we’ll have to cause a fuss. Trust me, you don’t want that.”

Evidently, he believed her, because he clammed up immediately and did as she commanded, trotting along in front of her as the grip on his arm directed him towards a less-occupied, dead-end street just off the Market square. Once they were conveniently situated away from prying eyes, Aidne faced her captive fully for the first time.

He was older than she had initially thought, maybe about fourteen or so, wearing a ratty overcoat, slacks, and boots that were probably sturdy and quite good a few natural disasters ago. He was skinny, but far from emaciated, quite pale and surprisingly clean. These facts all led Aidne to suspect that the boy wasn’t really a street urchin at all, and this sort of mystery always roused her curiosity. She vaguely wished it could’ve happened at a more opportune moment, preferably when she wasn’t trying to make it to a very important meeting, but that couldn’t be helped now.

“Erm....” the thief began, looking nervously at Aidne and apparently at a loss for words. “Hi?”

“‘Lo,” Aidne replied, raising one hand in greeting. “There. We’ve made introductions. Now how about telling me why you were trying to steal from me.”

He grimaced and shifted, scratching his head sheepishly in a manner that was probably cultivated to be endearing. “Why does anyone steal? I needed the money, and I thought you might have some. Not,” he put in quickly, “that’s it’s anything against your august personage, your ladyship. I honestly just picked a person at random.”

He paused.

“Or would it sound better if I said I had singled you out from the others. Some might take it as some sort of twisted compliment to be targeted specially,” he mused. “What do you think? Yes? No? Personal preference?”

Aidne let a corner of her lip quirk upwards. “Who are you?”

His “charming youngster” facade cracked a bit, obviously having not anticipated the question. “Trick, ladyship,” he answered, as he smoothly moved back into the persona he believed most likely to garner sympathy from his captor. “Are you going to hand me over to the lawmen?”

His green eyes became impossibly huge and glistened suspiciously.

“Trick, eh?” Aidne murmured to herself, ignoring his question. “You aren’t a waif by any definition. What’re you doing picking pockets?” She thought over her question, before rewording it. “Better yet, what are you doing picking pockets so badly?”

“Now that is an interesting story,” he said enthusiastically, seeing an opportunity. “Come with me and I’ll tell you all about it over a drink. On me.”

“You’re too young to drink. And if you had any money, you wouldn’t have been trying to steal mine,” Aidne shot back without missing a beat. “Now spill.”

The boy groaned. “Do I have to?”

“Yes.”

“Fine,” he sighed dramatically, flinging an arm over his eyes. “I’ll tell you the whole tragic tale from the beginning, starting with my isolated childhood and moving on to the trauma of public education, the rising action of the meat pie disaster, the horrors of--”

“I’m kind of in a hurry,” Aidne said warningly, and Trick peeked out from under his arm at her. “Just give me the short version.”

“Ah, okay. Short version.” He straightened and appeared to think furiously for a few seconds. “I live north of here, in a tiny little place. I wanted to see the rest of the kingdom, so I bought a train ticket to come down here and look around. It was really fun at first, but then my money ran out, and the next thing I know, I’m stuck in this city with just the clothes on my back,” he plucked at one ragged sleeve, “and I’ll admit, even less of them left than there used to be.” He brightened. “So I’ve been trying to teach myself to pick pockets. I don’t need much money, after all. Just enough to buy a train ticket somewhere else.”

“Trying being the operative word,” Aidne pointed out as she thought over his story. “Honestly, you might manage to get lucky a few times, but you really don’t have a chance against someone who knows enough to be wary of pickpockets.” She snapped her fingers. “I’m going to teach you to do it properly.”

“You’re gonna teach me to do what properly?” He asked, stunned. “But I thought you were going to have me arrested.”

Aidne shrugged. “It’s not like you actually stole anything. Technically. And if anything is criminal, it’s your technique. There’s an entire crowd of people out there: merchants, rich men, clergy, poor men... so here’s your first lesson. Take a look at all the people out there and tell me who you should steal from?”

Glancing suspiciously at Aidne and slightly confused by the turn of events, he gazed at the end of the alley, where Market square was visible. “Umm....”

“I’ll give you a hint,” Aidne said in her best mentor voice. “The ones who look too smug or self-satisfied deserve to be stolen from.”

Trick quirked a grin at her. “Did you make up this rule?”

“I might’ve.”

“Then... how about that one?” He pointed out a fat man wearing a particularly fine red velvet waistcoat and a large golden amulet around his neck. He was hunched over a rare books stall and appeared to be oblivious to the world around him. “He looks rich. And if worse comes to worse, you could take the thingy around his neck instead of the money. It looks expensive.”

“But look,” Aidne pointed into the crowd behind him. “He’s got guards disguised and scattered in the crowd, probably just for spotting pickpockets. Even if you managed to get past them, I’m sure he has his money purse watched very closely. Maybe even enchanted. The necklace is also a dead end. The only way he wouldn’t notice you taking it is if you knock him out first, and that would draw too much attention. Also, no fence would buy such a distinctive piece from you anyways. Too easily recognized.”

Trick sighed and looked out into the crowd again. After scanning for a few seconds, he pointed out another potential victim. “That one there.”

Aidne sized up the man he’d indicated. Average height and build. Long, fiercely curled blonde hair tied in a ponytail. Poncey lilac jacket. No discernible company. “Alright. He’ll do quite nicely.”

Aidne gave Trick a small shove forward. “Go get him.”

“But I thought this was all hypothetical,” Trick protested.

“Pah, theory has no purpose unless applied to a real situation,” Aidne shot down his complaints.

“Aren’t you just a model citizen,” Trick accused sarcastically, but a spark of humour lit his eyes.

“Lawkeeper’s daughter,” she declared proudly. “One other thing--sometimes it’s good to make a distraction. Keeps everyone’s eyes off of you.”

He nodded in a vaguely amused, vaguely exasperated manner before exiting the alley.

It had occurred to Aidne that there was no way she could stop Trick if he just decided to ditch the plan and run, but it wasn’t like it mattered terribly either way. It wasn’t like she was going to hand him over to anyone, and the impromptu pickpocketing lesson had been all for his benefit anyhow. It was in his interest to do as Aidne said.

Aidne watched from her position by the alley’s entrance as her new “student” once again mingled with the crowd, for all intents appearing to be interested in the brightly coloured stands set up around the square while steadily making his way closer to the designated “target.”

The aforementioned unlucky man was admiring a cart of intricately engraved swords, carefully testing the weight of one while asking a question of the smith who was selling them. He was unsuspecting, at least, but the fact that he was with another person might be troublesome. She glanced around for Trick and found him already in place, about one stall down from the weapons cart. What was he waiting for?

The movement was so infinitesimal and so quick that Aidne nearly missed it, but Trick made a small flicking motion and for a split second, she could swear his fingertips sparked.

The next second, several fireworks from the chemists’ cart spontaneously exploded.

Predictably, everyone was startled and immediately turned towards the source of the noise, speechless for several seconds before they all began speaking at once. The chemists hurriedly tried to explain to everyone that they had no idea why the firecrackers had gone off, since they were far away from any source of heat that might trigger the reaction. The people, obviously, were not satisfied with any of these assurances and demanded a better explanation, which no one could give.

In the chaos, no one noticed Trick sneak up to one man, steal the wallet from his pocket, and slip out of the crowd again.

He was grinning smugly as he approached Aidne, entering the alleyway and tossing the wallet to Aidne with a smile. “Easy.”

“Hmm... you’re a quick study,” Aidne said as she hefted the wallet experimentally and found it to be pleasingly heavy. “But those fireworks exploding was pretty lucky, wasn’t it? I’ll warn you now... it’s never a good idea to leave something like that up to chance.”

He looked insulted. “How do you know it wasn’t me who made them go off?”

“You didn’t go anywhere near the chemists’ cart. Believe me, I was watching.” Aidne looked at him searchingly. “Hey. You mentioned something about traveling. Do you like having adventures--facing danger, discovering the unknown, the works?”

Trick beamed and nodded. “I love all that stuff. Why?”

“I’m going on an... expedition of sorts,” Aidne said delicately. “It’ll be really dangerous, I won’t lie, but it’ll be a real adventure. Treasure at the end and everything. Do you want to come with me?”

“But... you’ve only just met me,” Trick pointed out. “How do you know I’m trustworthy?”

Aidne snorted. “How do you know I’m trustworthy? You certainly didn’t waste any time coming back here after nicking that wallet, when you could’ve just taken off with the money.”

“Yeah, well. Why do you want me to come, anyways?”

“I dunno, you’re a fairly quick learner, at least decently smart, and it might be kind of useful to have a mage along.” She eyed Trick’s vaguely surprised expression. “Yes, I noticed. Obviously. Though you could’ve told me that earlier.”

“Could’ve, I suppose,” he said without sounding the least bit sorry. “I think I would like to come with you, yes.”

“Great,” Aidne said, glancing at the clock tower. “Well, we’d better run now. If we don’t get to the museum in... twenty minutes, we’re not going anywhere.”

“Your grand adventure is in a museum?” Trick asked skeptically. “What kind of adventure is that?

Aidne growled. “The museum isn’t the adventure, it’s-- argh. Nevermind, let’s just go.”

She grabbed her new companion by his collar and proceeded to drag his protesting self with her as she broke into a run.

[Trilly (18426 words)]

YES. SCANNER ACCESS! 8D

Umm hai, have some character art!

SPOILER: Click to show

Aidne: *sneaky/speculative side glance at Jake*
Trick: I LOVE EVERYTHING!
Jake: You can't force this kind of perfection, ladies. Or maybe you can...

SPOILER: Click to show

Kanti: I eat people like you for breakfast. With sauce.

SPOILER: Click to show

Rhys: *Needs a hug*

So that's what they all look like. Sorta. Some of them are better than others and they were almost all drawn in different sittings, but they're all pretty to close to how I picture them.

Although I apologize for Jake's fedora. T__T It looks terrible.

Okay, I'm done for now.

[Rikku]

*finally gets around to actually reading excerpt sorry* ... Eee. Trick. <3 Fire and pickpocketing and Trick! Eee.

*admires pictures* Rhys does need a hug. Kanti looks interesting. Trick looks adorable. Aidne looks awesome. And whenever I try to draw a fedora it looks like it's trying to eat whoever's head in one giant felty bite, so, y'know, I'm not about to complain. xD

[Trilly (18426 words)]

Don't apologize! D: I know that everyone has been crazy busy with their own stuff. Glad you liked, though. I was surprised how much I'd missed writing about Trick. ^___^

Tis good. ^^ I was hoping they'd look how I was trying to make them look. I just feel sad because I believe that Jake has a truly wonderful fedora, not an oddly angled blob perched on his head. >> Oh, well.

[Trilly (18426 words)]

So, umm...

I'm two days behind schedule. I have never been this far behind.

But I had to write a research essay. And then I won't have a computer with me on the weekend.

I need to write 5000+ words today.

Been nice knowing you.

[Rikku]

Good luck! <3

[Amneiger]

*is very late* *cheers you on anyway =D*

[Trilly (18426 words)]

Umm. Ahem.

Thank you very much for the well-wishes and good-luckery. It is very nice to hear back from folks even though this is hardly the most entertaining thread on the forum. =D But yes, tis nice.

The simple fact of the matter is that I'm supposed to be hitting the halfway mark today, and I still have barely 14k. Because I wrote literally nothing on the weekend. Because I went to California. And now I have to read an entire book and write a review of it tonight, so that I can be completely free tomorrow to study for my anthro midterm on Wednesday. I'm also reading a novel for English somewhere in the midst of all this.

Normally, this wouldn't be too much trouble, but after a major writing assignment I find I'm physically unable to write anything of my own since I'm just so sick of words and trying to say things in a slightly legible way. It's also difficult because I write Nano in my "spare time," but it's becoming really clear to me that spare time is an illusion, and that there's always something that needs doing. Like keeping up with readings and knowing what the heck we're doing in any of my classes.

In other words, I won't be getting much done in the next two days either. Three, really, since my classes on Wednesdays span pretty much the entire day.

Guys, I think I'm really in trouble, here.

I'll keep working, though, and see what happens. But it's not looking good for my Nano this year.

[Rikku]

D: <3 Good luck! The important thing is to have fun, remember, so be careful not to burn out, particularly with so much stuff to do. (I feel sort of privilegedly guilty for having basically holidays, now. xD;) You can make a game go of it regardless of whether or not you win, 'cos the main thing is that it's mad and fast and brilliant. Trying at all makes you utterly awesome, remember. But you can do it anyway. ^_^