Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-24685738-20170813151003/@comment-25828117-20170915171300

(In order to have this page not sink all the way down I've decided to write a little bit about Olren)

New Imperia, one year ago

Olren had just run into an old friend at the eastern market. Darrus was another unfortunate Imperial child from the poverty stricken parts of the city, but because neither of them had ever experienced luxury and were both young lads that 'didn't know any better', they didn't exactly appear to mind as much. Instead their days were spend playing around the city with what little free time street-urchins had. At the end of the day Darrus would go back to the docks to help out with the dockworkers and Olren would go back to the palace via the servants quarters as to continue his scullion position. Due to the vastly different natures of either's jobs Darrus had grown to be strong and resilient, Ollie on the other hands had grown a bit thicker. Not fat but what would be considered average compared to Darrus who apparently consisted of nothing but bone and sinew.

It had been raining on and off for days now, making the mud and moss covered cobblestone streets slippery, that would occasionally claim an unsuspected nobleman in finery and bring him down a peg. To great amusement of the two boys whom had founded a little 'fort' in the archway of an viaduct overlooking the market. From here they were kings, overseeing the 'riff-raff' of New Imperia as they bought, sold, lied, cheated and stole from one another in the square of commerce. But today Olren was bored and wanted to do something more fun than to simply gawk at the crowds. They had an hour left before they both had to go back to work so he wanted to make every minute count.

"Let's climb the viaduct." He suggested abruptly to Darrus while getting up and doing some stretches.

Darrus; was understandably confused.

"We're already on the viaduct." the skinny kid pointed out in his usual dry-witted way. Both of them had developed a sense of humor derived from irony due to the occasional bullshit they had to put up with in their respected lives. Nobles didn't care much for menial street urchins after all.

Ollie rolled his eyes in return. "No... I meant like, let's get on top of it. I think we can climb up via the bricks over here."

Darrus remained skeptical. They had never climbed up entirely because they had initially found the very arch under which they were sitting right now. And as children often do, had quickly changed priorities after finding this gem of an untouched 'secret space' only they were aware of.

"It's been raining. We might slip... And die. We're pretty high up, as is."

"We could've slipped when we got up here, but we didn't."

"Yeah... Because we know where to put our feet on how to get here." The voice of reason protested.

Olren knew how to press Darrus' buttons; but if he really wanted him to do something there was only one thing he needed to say:

"Darrus, if you're scared just say so..."

A wry smile appeared on Olren's face.

Darrus was no fool. He knew what his friend was trying to do and yet deep down he too was bored and interested in climbing the viaduct. He just didn't want Ollie to have the smug satisfaction of being right.

As a response the sinewy kid gave Olren a playful 'hate you' look and passed Olren to climb up first. If something went wrong at least he could blame Ollie. That's how this worked.

The viaduct was made of several arches of red, rather flat brickwork. Impressive in its own right. But evidently built upon the remnants of old superior Elvish architecture. Not that it mattered to the two gamins clambering its walls. Ancient masonry had left plenty of holes and gaps by which they could facilitate their ascend. Even if it was all a bit wet.

Olren could feel the wind flap through his loose tunic as the breeze picked up. It was probably going to start pouring again. The sky was completely grey though. rain clouds were impossible to distinguish. How unfortunate it would be to be caught in a rainstorm while they were pretending to be Jeralli mountain goats.

Ultimately though, panting and exhausted; they made it.

It was an old disused bridge that used to connect the watchtowers of the wheel to the old White-Gold Tower. Soldiers would quickly be able to get to other parts of the town in case of a siege, or at least that was the idea. But as quickly as they were built, they had fallen into disuse. Now they stood as simple reminders of history, looming over certain parts of the city. Or for rascally children to climb over on their free time.

"Ollie, just look at that view..." Darrus encouraged as he pointed out towards the lands beyond Lake Rumare.

"I think I can see Skyrim!"

Olren had heard of that place but he had no clue where it could be.

"Why, can you see snow?" He asked. Trying to figure out by what little he knew of Skyrim geography how Darrus came to his guess.

Before his friend could answer the clouds above boomed. Thunder was coming.

"Kynareth's farting again." Olren joked to defuse the sudden tension the loud noise had caused.

Not long after the first thunder was heard the first drops of rain came. It seemed their expedition into the unknown was not going to last long. At least they had found a new place in the city they could explore on a later date.

But just as they were about to climb back down again a voice called out towards them. A voice they knew all too well; Regrettably... It was Aylen. Morgan Street's blacksmiths' son. He was taller than both Olren and Darrus but in the realms of socio-economical standing, not much higher than the average third-rate commoner blacksmith. Still, Aylen liked to pretend he was better than most kids; Even those dumb enough to follow him around like goons.

"Hey! What are you doing here?!" Aylen yelled as he came walking down with four of his 'friends'.

Olren and Darrus turned to each other with slightly annoyed looks on their faces.

"We didn't know you were up here, Aylen." Darrus spoke up, calmly voicing the truth.

"That's no excuse, Darrus. kindly Fuck off m'kay? This is our territory." Aylen proclaimed with the backing of his gang.

"Your territory? I'm sorry we didn't see a sign here..." Olren retorted.

Neither boy was particularly afraid of Aylen, which probably annoyed the bully immensely, but they also didn't want to be beat up today so they were ready to comply with the asshole's 'request'.

"You would've known if you asked me. But seeing as you two are too poor to afford anything from my family's shop I guess I should've anticipated seeing you spastics up here." The insults were of course lauded by his companions as they howled in response. As if Aylen had uncovered some daring unspoken truth about the two guys he had chosen to torment today.

Olren was already preparing to climb back down, considering Aylen's comments as white noise but Darrus simply shrugged and folded his arms, unable to let that last reply go unchallenged.

"Alright, first off. We actually make money, you don't. and second... We don't buy from shit-tier blacksmiths that scam people out of their septims."

Aylen's pack of wolves howled in response, licking their lips at the onslaught that would follow. Aylen himself simply responded with a wry smile...

After which he pulled a one-handed sword from his belt and held it up to about a few inches from Darrus' face.

"Stay still or I'll gut you!"

Olren stood back up and worried as he saw Aylen had somehow gotten a weapon. Probably something his dad had made for him. Nevertheless, this was getting serious.

"Now... what did you say?" Aylen taunted, putting the sword closer to Darrus' face.

The young lad didn't know what the correct answer in this situation was but looked Aylen right in the eye and replied:

"We don't buy from shit blacksmiths."

Aylen's smile turned to a malevolent grin.

"If... This sword truly is made by a 'shit' blacksmith. You probably think it's shoddily crafted... So, if I were to poke you, it wouldn't really do anything. Right?"

Olren tried to chime in but the moment he tried to intervene he was at the end of the sword. A step back later, Darrus was again at Aylen's mercy.

"Go on, am I right or wrong?" Aylen goaded, taking a step forward. Forcing Darrus to take one back. And another, and another...

Another thunder strike boomed across the sky.

"Aylen, Stop! We got the message ok! We won't come back here ever again. I promise!" Ollie pleaded.

"Make me..." The bully replied, reveling in his new-found power.

"Oh but that's right... You don't have a sword so you can't."

Olren felt his heart sank. He hated how helpless he was in this situation. He had beaten up Aylen before but back then the fight was fair. In a fist fight the blacksmith's son was quite a pansy. But this wasn't a fist fight and neither was it funny anymore.

Aylen eventually backed Darrus to the edge of the viaduct where he cut the boy in the cheek with his needle.

This was where Aylen would call it quits, deciding he had won... But unfortunately for him, bust mostly for Darrus the last step on the old viaduct was loose and the poor lad lost his balance and fell, to the horror of everyone watching.

Olren saw his friend go off the edge and disappear from view but it didn't feel real. Falling off was something they'd occasionally joked about, feigning slips or losing a grip to scare the other. A cold shiver went down his spine when he didn't even hear Darrus land over the rain. He was just gone...

Aylen too had a cold shiver. His friends had stopped laughing and he dropped the sword he was so proud of not moments ago.

"This is your fault!" he stammered before running off, past his pack and as far away from here as possible.

-

Olren remembered that horrible day as he looked at the sparring reachmen around the camp. Perhaps this was the reason he wanted to be a blademaster after all. He wasn't sure...

But he would most certainly never forget Darrus. Death and Loss were things he was quite familiar with. But not if he could help it.