Event Log: The Hope of a Child

[hadrielmods]

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the The Hope of a Child event
Where: All over the city!
When: January 23rd-Feb 1st
Warnings: Youths

By now, the gods have probably done enough weird crap to you while you're asleep for you to be a little suspicious- but it's not like you can just not sleep, especially when there are a few supernatural forces making your eyes droopy and your body feel heavy.

And now, when you fall asleep, you'll wake up somewhere else and you'll likely have quite a different temperament- you'll be younger, maybe a little more naive and innocent, and you won't exactly remember all the wild stuff that's happened to your adult self. Maybe now you'll be a little more trusting and emotional, hm? The gods could definitely use a little boost in power, and what better way to do it than to harness the power of overemotional kiddos!

Or maybe you aren't affected at all and find yourself surrounded by youths. What are you going to do when your best friend doesn't know how to cook for themselves? Or your bitter rival is throwing a temper tantrum because they broke their favorite toy? Nobody asked for this kind of responsibility, but think about what would happen if nobody was around to take care of these babies...

► This log covers January 23rd-Feb 1st.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you trip over a kid and die, please let us know here.

Comments

Aren Brosca, OTA (cw: an overall terrible childhood)

[paragonbrosca]

All over the city

A scrawny dwarven girl roams the streets, sporting a familiar (to some) cheek brand and clad in stained, much-mended clothing that's evidently a hand-me-down, given that they're a little larger on her. She peers at everything with a mixture of awe and distrust, sticking to the shade or shadows and regularly glancing up at the sky nervously.

The social skills of her adult counterpart are absent, as she tries to avoid people altogether...at least directly. And yet, wherever people are, so are there goods. Beware, or her sticky fingers might find their way into your pockets or purses. She'll take whatever she can get that looks shiny, useful or is food. Food is especially important, and as soon as she finds the residential areas, there will be a rash of thefts as a tiny thief slips in and out in a quest to fill her belly with surfacer fare. Given how her clothes hang, she could do with a little more meat on her bones.

[fadeling]

The influx of children is...worrying. Being nice about it. Cole can't figure out where they're coming from or why but there's suddenly too many of hem to help all of them, although he tries--leaving food where they'll find it, guiding things that might hurt somewhere else when he can. It's more difficult, but he does what he can.

A few of them seem familiar, though--they feel like people he's met before, but it's harder for him to tell. He's overwhelmed and confused and just trying to focus on what he knows. He watches the dwarf girl for a while, unseen. He's not above theft when it's needed and, well, it certainly looks like it is.

Eventually he appears in front of her with a loaf of bread and hands it to her.

"It's easier when they don't see you."

[paragonbrosca]

Some of that theft is certainly need; some of it's impulse, getting back the people who have more, or as a way to cope with this weird new place above the surface. And some of it is because she's sure she'll go back to Dust Town anyway, so there's no point in getting rusty. Theft is the way of survival, there.

Aren freezes in place, eyes wide with fear when someone actually does notice her presence. Her first instinct is to flee and not look back, but that bread...she narrows her eyes, stumped that it's neither stale nor burnt or flung at her. Either seems more likely than random generosity. Tentatively, she takes it and stares up at him and that wide-brimmed hat.

"...yeah. Mam says you can't trust nobody. If they're nice, they want somethin'." It's not quite true, Rica is different. But Rica's not here, so right now her mother's drunken advice is all she's got. "So why are you being nice? What do you want?"

[fadeling]

"I want to help." It's the truth, even if he knows she won't believe it. He doesn't have anything else to say, though. That truly is all he wants.

He doesn't move at all, not wanting to startle or scare her off, though he does tilt his head to one side and watches her right back for a moment. Once she takes the bread from him he drops his hands to his sides and generally tries to be nonthreatening. Maybe he could have started off better by not appearing in front of her that suddenly, but that's something that he's never really learned not to do.

"I hear it hurting and I help."

[paragonbrosca]

"Humans don't want to help, they just want to tell us their chant." Aren frowns in confusion; good bread, no strings, how is she supposed to deal with this? It's something entirely outside her line of experience. But her rumbling stomach has her taking a bite out of the bread before too long, unable to resist.

[fadeling]

"I do." At least she's eating it, that's a good start. He knows better than to expect trust right away--most people don't like spirits--so he still holds back, standing away from her and just watching.

"The words are whispers, woven well for the loudest silences. Bells on bells to make it sound brighter. I don't know it." Or at least not specifically. He knows what it is, but he doesn't care if they sing it or not. People still need help.

[paragonbrosca]

She's testing it more than anything else at the moment; it doesn't taste bad, like something that would give her cramps, but she still goes slowly just in case.

"You don't know it? You're a really weird human. I heard that's all they talk about, but they don't come down to Dust Town, so fuck 'em."

[outofthefire]

[Laura is on her way home from the bakery, a doughnut in her purse.

she feels something tugging at it and turns around, ready to chew out whoever's trying to steal from her. but she draws herself up short when she sees that facial tattoo. she'd know that anywhere]

...Aren?

[paragonbrosca]

[Look, all she wanted was the doughnut. The scent from the bakery was making her stomach rumble, and out walks a good mark. She didn't expect things to go sideways, and freezes in place upon being detected. Then the name sinks in and she recoils with wide eyes, doughnut forgotten.]

You--

How do you know my name?

[outofthefire]

[she will likely get that doughnut in the end. in fact, she'll probably go back and get more sweets for her]

I--well, we're friends.

[paragonbrosca]

[The dwarven girl takes another step back, narrowing her eyes.]

You're lying! I don't know you, who put you up to this?

[outofthefire]

[shit. this is not going well. time to turn on the charm?]

I promise that I'm not lying and nobody put me up to this. [she opens her purse, pulls out the doughnut, and offers it to Aren] Here. It's yours.

[paragonbrosca]

[The little dwarf girl's eyes lock on the doughnut again, as her stomach rumbles. But--]

Mam says don't trust nobody. If people're nice to you, that means they want somethin'. So what do you want?

[pocketspa]

Aren's life doesn't sound much different than the one Taako's reliving right now; at 12 years old, he's a skinny welp of an elf, ears too big for his head and clothes too big and tattered for his body. But he's used to this, the scramble for resources and playing the streets- the problem is that all his cons are tag teams, and he's woefully down his second half. He has to survive until she gets back from wherever she's gone, though, and that means getting off his ass and hunting for food.

At this point, he's found his way into the shops and has pilfered a box of crackers from somewhere, tucking himself in a corner with them while he attempts to eat about three at a time. He's not guarding them incredibly well, though, and there'd be plenty of opportunity should he not notice someone coming.

[paragonbrosca]

At least it's an elf that isn't running around in finery and complaining about it, acting too big for their britches. The last few that she's run across have all been like that, and irritated the hell out of her. Knife-ears are as lowly as dusters, aren't they? They don't get to dress all high-and-mighty.

The sound of munching and the sight of those crackers sets her stomach to rumbling, though, and she loses track of her thoughts. While the elf with big ears is distracted, she'll set those sticky fingers to work and snag a few for herself. No one notices a ragged dwarf girl, at least not at home. She doubts it'll be much different in this new weird place on the surface.

[pocketspa]

Unfortunately, he's pretty good at noticing- especially when it comes to food. Taako yelps, grabbing the box back to his chest and wrapping his arms around it.

"These are mine! I found 'em! They're for me 'n my sister!" Not that he knows where she is right now, but that's not important. When she gets back, she'll be hungry. "I got 'em fair and square."

[paragonbrosca]

She jumps upon realizing she's been discovered, recoiling so that he can't reach for her if he wants to. That last comment has her rolling her eyes, though.

"What's fair about stealing? But whatever, I'll find something even better than stupid crackers anyway." Her stomach grumbles loudly, but she ignores it. Stop undercutting her, hunger.

[pocketspa]

"Everything's fair in stealing. It's finders keepers and I'm the finder." He presses them a little tighter to his chest, ears drooped flat out from his head. "And they're good! They're not stupid. You're just mad cuz I found you and you didn't even ask nicely."

He'd consider giving her some. Maybe. If she does something fun for him in return.

[paragonbrosca]

"No one ever gives me nothin', even when I do ask." Aren shrugs, not seeing the point in that. Even Rica, the one person who's always nice to her, can't often afford more than the very basics and sometimes not even that.

She glances at him, sidelong. "...what would you want?" If someone's offering something, it's never just a gift. She's not dumb enough to think that'd change now, especially with someone just as desperate as her.

[dragonsgrasp]

Kain is minding his own business, just walking along. He's a young boy, now, around her age, but his overall dress and demeanor couldn't be more unlike her. His nicely combed hair is tied back in a neat ponytail, and his clothing is overall rather fancy. He walks with a stiff sort of bearing, and in fact everything about him screams 'nobility'.

But he's also in training to be a knight. So he's alert and wary of trouble, like his dad taught him. Which is why, of course, he catches the thief red-handed as she attempts to pick his pocket. He grabs at her arm at once, gripping it tightly.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!? Thief!"

[paragonbrosca]

The entire package Kain presents is exactly why Aren picked him; he was likely to have something valuable on his person, and nobles both deserve to lose what they can, and they can afford it. It won't mean anything to him, most likely, but it could mean a meal or few to her. And in the world she's been raised, looking out for number one is the best means of survival.

She scowls, trying to squirm away as he doesn't prove to be as easy a target as she thought. "Let go, or I'll bite you! I will!"

[dragonsgrasp]

Kain tries to hold onto her, not about to just let her get away so easily. But she sure is squirmy. He scowls at her. How could she do such a thing? It's completely thrown him off, that's for sure. Ugh. How annoying. He'd always been taught that stealing is bad... he knows his father would do the very same thing in his shoes, which makes him feel pleased.

"Why should I? You were the one trying to steal from me! You're a thief. I'm- I'm telling the guard, they'll put you in jail..."

[paragonbrosca]

That gets a bark of nervous laughter out of her. "Don't be so naive. You think they'd bother to jail me? They'd just give me a beating or straight-up kill me. You want that on your hands, you're just as bad as them.

And hell yes I was trying! You're rich, losing some coin won't kill you."

[dragonsgrasp]

"Do you know anything?! The guards are just and fair, and they'll give you a just and fair punishment... They won't kill you for a few coins." Kain scowls, folding his arms and trying to look big and fierce, standing in the posture that his father and other dragoons have when they're being Serious. "But they will punish you in some way befitting a thief. You still can't just- just take things that don't belong to you. That's not fair at all!"

[paragonbrosca]

"'Just and fair'!" That provokes a bout of explosive, derisive laughter from Aren. "They broke my wrist one time and spat on me just for passing them and not lowering my eyes! 'Know your place, brand'. Don't talk to ME about fair, not when you're in fancy clothes and probably a full belly and I got NOTHING. People like you never get on top without stepping on someone else, and I'm the stepped on, nug-humper!"

Losing her temper, she aims a hard kick at him. Pompous jerks like him need to be taken down a notch. And there are no guards here yet to flee from....