The Clinging Frost

[Anther]

The snow and ice was nasty stuff, but it made sliding a right treat. Anther had only just got up on his feet when a man put himself past Anther in the alley, and ain't no way Anther could kick up his heels to get around him, not with others like dogs barkin' at his heels somethin' fierce. There just wasn't enough room for all of it. Anther's arms was so cold he couldn't make no proper fist t' even start brawlin' with, and there was so many around all he could do was hunch his shoulders and tug as the merchants got hold of him.

"Ain't done nothin'!" he crowed, tucking his chin and glaring 'round at all the hostile faces. "Knocked into the bloke, that's it! Don't want t'be followed no more than any else. Lemme go!"

[Erryl]

Erryl stood back and watched as the more capable citizens took control of the situation. The thief defended his innocence, but his pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears. One of the men -- a familiar face that Erryl couldn't put a name to, tall with a mess of tight, dark curls on his head -- gripped the boy's thin wrist and yanked it towards him.

"Look here, kid, ya better return what you stole from the young lady, or we'll be sending ya to the guardhouse. Got it?" Releasing the kid, he gave a slight nod to a woman standing nearby before turning to the blonde girl. "You better learn to keep an eye on your things better, miss. What'd he take from ya?"

All Erryl wanted to do was run back home and be away from all these people and this snow and thieves and anger, but he couldn't leave without the money or the shopping, so he just stared in silence.

[Soneya]

It was a relief to see that the men didn’t hurt the scruffy boy and even released him after a few reprimands, and obviously after demanding he return what he stole. Though for some reason they seemed to think that Soneya was the one to have had something stolen, despite assurances of the urchin that he had only bumped into Erryl – no mention of her.

Looking over to Erryl, who she had assumed would step up to ask for his missing purse, because that was obviously what really had happened even if Soneya had never properly seen the action. Yet, Erryl remained completely quiet and looked as though he wanted to vanish into the earth, hoping for a hole to open up to swallow him at any second.

Sighing, Soneya looked back at the streetboy, trying her best to ignore the multitude of merchants surrounding them. “You have a bag of bishani that does not belong to you,” she said, her voice sounding as sad as she felt. She wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen to the boy but she didn’t want it to be anything bad. She longed to be able to help him somehow but short of taking him home with her, she didn’t quite know what she could do. “Please give it back,” she pleaded, “before anything bad will happen.”

The latter part was barely more than a whisper and she wasn’t sure if anyone had even heard it but she could feel the anger of the people around them and she was scared that the situation would escalate. She looked at Erryl again, hoping that maybe he had an idea on how to make this better, though she wasn’t sure that was what he wanted to do. After all, it was his purse and he might not be so feeling towards a poor little street kid as she was.Or maybe he would have been had the boy not stolen his bishani.

[Anther]

Anther struggled, and nearly lost his footing again for his effort. It was right stupid, the whole thing. If he wasn't so cursed cold, if the snow hadn't stuck with the tenacity of a starving rat, he wouldn't be in the mess. His teeth were chattering, and he was shivering. The rush of adrenaline had raised him from lightheadedness to a stinkin' sort of loopy that he'd only really felt before when he was beat bad. It was the memory that brought him down, though he reeled and leered at the bait in front of him.

He didn't want to give it back. He knew the score. He knew the anger of people who got stole from, who hated lowborn like him, no matter whether or not he was born in Marn. He was dirty, crass, no better than a mutt in the street. And with those attitudes, with that sense of righteousness, sometimes admittin' to thieving was as much an excuse for the pain to begin as actually caving was.

Anther wasn't in no mood for a beating.

Could be he wasn't getting no choice noway, but he took the risk.

"Why y'think I stole it? 'Cuz I'm poor? Cuz yer so better'n me, issit?" He spat. Someone cuffed the back of his head, and his vision swam. He grunted, and went a little limp in the grip of his captor. He sure was dizzy.

[Erryl]

Erryl had his arms crossed tightly over his chest. He was cold and he didn't want to be here, but at least he would probably get his bishani back. He realized he felt a little bad for standing back and watching as the girl he didn't really know spoke to the poor boy for him. The half elf pursed his lip and stepped forward to stand beside the girl, watching the urchin and wondering if he was going to get violent. Probably not, since most of the men standing around were a fair bit bigger than both of them.

His eyes flicked to the tall man, then back to the boy dressed in rags. It would be better for them all if there didn't have to be any fighting. Maybe there was a way to negotiate, but Erryl had doubts and for a moment stayed quiet as he thought about his options. The girl seemed very sympathetic towards the young man, so perhaps he could use that somehow.

"Hey, I know you didn't mean it. If you give it back, I don't mind buying you breakfast," Erryl finally decided to offer, and turned to the blond girl, leaning close to her so he could whisper without the rest hearing. "Tell them you're both related and he might be less scared of getting in trouble."

[Soneya]

“Don’t hurt him!” Soneya cried out, her protective instincts surging up again as the man’s hand connected with the boy’s head. It had been completely uncalled for. Sure, he had robbed Erryl of his pouch and tried to get away with it, but that didn’t give the man the right to just hit him. “Don’t hurt him,” she said once again, barely more than a whisper as she looked at the suddenly sagging youth, who seemed to only be held upright by the arms of the men holding him. This was her fault, wasn’t it? If she hadn’t said anything, then…

Of course, then Erryl would have lost all the bishani he had had in his purse and that would have been quite a loss as well. When the young man in question leaned over to her, it took her a moment to realise that he was actually talking to her and that he had indeed just spoken out loud as well. When the word breakfast finally registered and she understood what Erryl had just said, Soneya nodded vigorously.

Taking a step closer to the streetboy, she lowered herself down a little. “Will you let us help you? This time at least?” Looking at the men holding him, she didn’t have to fake the tears stinging her eyes. “One of his friends is really ill and he has no other way, but he refuses to let anyone help him even though we’re family, a few times removed, but still. We’ve already tried before, but to no avail,” she explained, waving a hand between herself and Erryl before looking back at the boy in front of her.

“I know you never liked to accept that we are related, but would you please just this once accept some outside help? The winter has been hard enough, don’t make it even harder on yourself.” Her emotions were real, overly so, but she wasn’t sure whether she hadn’t just overdone the theatrics a bit. Alas, if it helped to get Erryl’s bishani back and the boy out of trouble and maybe help him to something hot to drink and eat, then it would all have been worth it. And even if not, at least they had tried.

[Anther]

Anther blinked. He blinked a lot. He'd been hit before, o' course, but this one must've been a real stunner, 'cos he was sure he hadn't just heard what he thought he had. He didn't feel all that shook out and wrung up, but sure as shit they just kept spewing nonsense. He squinted a little, opened his mouth and closed it several times. This was new. This was damn new, 'cos rich kids never played right when it came to scams, and this sure smelled like one.

"Huh?" Was what he managed, finally, after the man holding him gave him another shake. Stupid thing to say, yeah, real sharp to sound like a dunderheaded pisspot, but he was boned if he could think of anything else to say at all. Far as he knew they was just trying to get him to up and admit he'd taken it, though rough as the men were he knew they might just shake him down to see for themselves.

There was no right answer. Planes, there was no good answer. And worse off, he knew Yoger or Sagath coulda blubbered up some smart-ass comment, and Rue wouldn'ta gotten caught in the first place. That left him: stone cold and stupid.

[Erryl]

"Just kids causing trouble, is it?" a stout, middle-aged man asked. "They should pay for what that one did to my stall. Bloody ruined the sign I had up, he did, and my --"

"Oh, come off it, old man," a much younger woman interrupted. "It was already like that and you know it. Stop harassing the children and get back to your stall. Let Aric deal with it." She gestured towards to tall, dark-haired man as she said it.

"But Allie, we --"

Aric placed a hand on the man's shoulder and said something to him quietly, but Erryl decided to take the distraction as an opportunity to talk to the urchin boy. "I don't care if you stole it. I just want to get home already. You know they're going to arrest you if you keep it."

[Soneya]

Noticing the adults’ distraction and Erryl’s attempt at trying to get the scruffy boy to cooperate with them, Soneya nodded along and looked at him with pleading eyes. Already her speech hadn’t even provoked anything from him than a confused ‘huh’ so she hoped Erryl’s words would do the trick and he would realise that they were only trying to help him out of a tough spot. Despite the fact that he had caused this trouble himself in the first place. Technical details…

“Erryl,” Soneya whispered to the boy in question. “Should we not just grab him between us and, well… not make a run for it, but… you know?” There was no time for more words – she wouldn’t even have known what to say, she didn’t even know what it was that she was suggesting herself – because the annoyed stall-keeper turned his dark look on them again. Her idea wouldn't have been a good one anyway. It was better to just wait things out and hope for the best.
“Fine, whatever you say Aric.” With a last stern look in the direction of the urchin, the man made his way back to his stall, making a show of picking up things and rearranging everything on top of it, regularly huffing and puffing to demonstrate his frustration.

Soneya only cast a glance in his direction every now and then, noticing that the fact that he made his way back to his stand, some others were following suit, probably realising that there wasn’t going to be much else to see anymore. Her hopes picked up again. Maybe they could get the boy out of their grasp, Erryl’s purse back, and some hot food into the boy’s stomach. She sincerely hoped Erryl had been serious about that offer.

Her eyes lingered on the streetboy's face once again as she waited for his response to either of them. If only he could understand that they were trying to help him.

[Anther]

Anther hugged himself tightly, and then flung a skinny arm out to gesticulate wildly with hand symbols that were so insultingly street that he earned himself another shake on account of the young lady. While the eyes were diverted towards his flailing arm, a purse suddenly slid backwards into the alley.

The majority of shopkeepers were facing into the street, not away, and those who weren't were walking back to their stalls. The snow was a good inch, and Anther hoped it might not be seen. Not immediately. After the shake he went back to hugging himself, shivering.

He looked Erryl straight in the eyes. Sniveling brat wanted to go back home, did he? Back to his tight, cozy little home where he could park his ass on some cozy little chair and stuff his skinny little face with food till he looked the part of a pregnant whore?

Soneya and Erryl had been the only two facing the direction towards the alley. They might have seen the movement of the bag. They might not have. Anther was willing to take that chance.

"Then go find it y'self. I ain't got it," he snarled, putting the full remainder of what anger and energy he had left into the words.

He tucked his chin and hunched himself closer, as if that was possible, and glared defiantly out into the street.

[Erryl]

"Then go find it y'self. I ain't got it."

Something had changed as the boy said that, Erryl was sure. Perhaps the boy's demeanor, or his tone of voice... though it hard to tell how or why. Erryl was done with waiting for cooperation though, that was certain. He said loudly, "I don't think he's going to cooperate, maybe we should call the guards," but Arik looked opposed to the idea for some reason.

"Nuh, we can just sort it out ourselves," he informed them, and reached for the urchin boy. "Jack, you wanna help we with this?"

[Soneya]

Without further ado, the merchants proceeded to simply grab the streetrat and upended him where he stood, shaking him until the meagre belongings had all left their hidey-holes all over his body and fallen into the snow.

The purse of bishani was not amongst the items.

Soneya looked at Erryl, who had a pensive expression on his face, and she couldn’t help but feel like something was not quite right here. The distinct feeling of being played crawled down her back and did not like it. Not at all.

But what had changed? Other than the fact that going from completely stunned to utterly rude and waving his arms around, nothing had… Hand gestures! That had to be it. Soneya frowned and squinted her eyes together a little as she looked at the urchin and then scanned his surroundings. There was only snow, and muck as far as she could see but there had to be something. There had to be a clue. What had he done?

She looked at the boy questioningly, trying to hide this from the merchants. If she wanted to retain her image of the worried relative, she would have to say something, and quickly. “Oh thank goodness. There doesn’t seem to be any stolen money. Oh my, I am so sorry!” She looked at the merchants with a stricken expression on her face, which she really only had to fake a little, before turning back to the boy himself. “But still, there is no money at all. Not even your own. And no food provisions. And you’re barely clothed. Come on, we’ll get you something hot for breakfast, just like we said we would and we can forget about all of this. Alright?”

If everyone else buggered off, then maybe he would be willing to telling them what he did with Erryl’s purse after all? Soneya still had hope, if maybe foolishly so.

[Anther]

Anther grinned at Soneya. It wasn't a friendly grin, nor was it a happy grin. It was cheeky. It was, as such expressions go, not warm at all. If anything, it matched the inclement state of the weather. Then, once the man who'd shaken him let him go, he crouched to pick up his things. His things, that the rich sods had just carelessly left to fall into the snow. He dropped the clove cigarettes -- soggy now -- twice before he could get them back in where they belonged.

If he'd been cold before, there was no word for the spreading numbness he felt now.

"L-like you'd h-help," he stuttered out between his clacking teeth, stupid things, glaring between all of them as he started walking back into the street. That's right. He'd come back later to see if his prize had lasted through the crowd. It was win/win for Anther, no matter how it got tossed.

[Erryl]

Erryl glared at the other boy, wondering what trick he'd missed. Why did his mood change so much? Erryl couldn't understand, alternating this thought with criticisms of Soneya. What's wrong with this girl? Why is she helping a thief?

But had the boy actually stolen the purse? He seemed so suspicious, but he had nothing on him. Had he dropped it when he fell, or had it actually been left at the medicinal stall? He couldn't risk someone else finding it and picking it up, so Erryl turned from the group and searched the ground as he retraced their path. He ignored the irritated grunts and complaints of the merchants who'd tried to assist, and focused on the wet market floor.

[Soneya]

She couldn’t believe it. She really couldn’t believe it! He wouldn’t even for a second consider that she was actually wanting to help. No, he’d rather just think that she was winding him up and walk away from all of this.

It was safe to say that Soneya was indignant, and Erryl really wasn’t of any help. At all.
When he started scanning the floor, she frowned, wondering what on earth it was he was doing until she replayed the whole event in her mind and realised that maybe he did have a point, but she was through for the time being. Erryl could just see to it that he found his bloody purse. Soneya was more worried about the streetboy, who had basically been rolling in mud, had no shoes on his feet and was going to freeze to death if he didn’t have a proper warm place to go to. The winter had been harsh and it didn’t look as though it was about to change in the coming few days, which worried her not just a little.

“Wait!” she suddenly called, hurrying a few steps after the boy. Most of the merchants had already turned away but when she called out, a couple frowned and observed the show. After all, she had just pretended to be related to the boy, so she might as well try and keep up the pretense before they were all ridiculed.
“Would you... I mean... Are you hungry? I wasn’t lying, you know? And you need something dry and warm to wear.”