"The time I’ve lost in wooing,

In watching and pursuing

The light, that lies

In woman’s eyes,

Has been my heart’s undoing."



He recited to himself as he padded down the cobblestone street in the wee hours of the morning. His swords were sheathed, hung on the leather belt with his daggers, and slung over his bare shoulder. Hooked with a pair of fingers on his left hand, the weapons bounced on his back as he strode along. Kerr was slowed slightly by the need to have a care with where he set his foot in the capital city, last thing he needed was to pick up a nail or piece of broken glass.



"Though Wisdom oft has sought me,

I scorn’d the lore she brought me,

My only books

Were woman’s looks,

And folly’s all they’ve taught me."



The poetry was to pass the time, to keep him distracted from the cool night air, and to fill his mind with something other than the fact that he was stark naked. Speaking of folly, being on that damned boat had definitely met the definition. It'd been necessary, working that angle had been the best way to button up the little side job he'd picked up after bringing Idrial's delemma to a reasonable... well not conclusion, but a fine resting point while they waited for the old woman to make another move at any rate.



"Her smile when Beauty granted,

I hung with gaze enchanted,

Like him the Sprite,

Whom maids by night

Oft meet in glen that’s haunted."



A man came out of a side door, looked and smelled like a baker. That matched with the time of morning. The man had to go get his morning loafs in the oven, the apprentices were going to already have them hot or their master was going to make them regret it. The man stopped dead in his tracks as Kerr walked by, his mouth working silently as he stared at the mercenary with eyes wide in shock. Kerr merely knuckled his brow as he passed by, continuing his poetry.



"Like him, too, Beauty won me,

But while her eyes were on me,

If once their ray

Was turn’d away,

Oh! winds could not outrun me."

It's days like this that make me wished I'd stayed in Noria

TAG - Kerr Blackwood

NOTES - Pantsless is the new thing!

Myra laid in bed, warm and snug in a room lit by candle light. Dressed only in her under shirt, she hugged the blanket close to her body, the feeling of the fur against her legs soothing her. Still, as warm and cozy as she felt, the girl couldn't fall asleep. For a week now, Myra had been slipping into the home unannounced late at night and crashing in the unused bedroom.

The woman who lived there was alone, and spent her days in the market selling her wares, while her husband was away buying more furs and stock for them to sell. A creature of habit, it didn't take Myra long to learn the woman's schedule. She left early in the morning and was gone until the sun started to set. That evening, she'd eat, tidy up, and relax until she was ready to go to sleep. It was easy for the stray to sneak into the house after the woman was asleep and crawl into the bed towards the back of the house.

It was some of the best sleep she'd gotten recently, given she didn't have a home or bed of her own. Usually, she'd fall asleep the moment that her head hit the pillow then sleep until dawn. This night, she laid awake staring at the wall and up to the ceiling. Earlier that day the woman's husband had returned home and they wasted no time in celebrating his return. The wooden bed creaked loudly from their energetic actions, and it slammed against the wall with such force that it sounded as if someone was trying to break in. The floor vibrated in tune to the rhythm of the smashing causing dust to trickle down into the room below.

If that wasn't enough to keep her awake, the husband groaned like a buffalo out of breath and his wife sounded like a yowling cat falling down a flight of stairs. Somehow amidst all the noise, Myra finally fell asleep. The next morning she was violently awakened by a hard poking at her arm. Gasping in shock, she opened her eyes and jumped. The husband stood next to the bed wearing nothing but a frown and his trousers.

"Aye! Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my house?"

He reached for her, and Myra phased through the bed and landed on the floor beneath. She could hear the man cursing, shock clear in his voice as she tried to figure out where she'd went. Under the bed, she stayed as still and quiet as possible, hoping that he would be too shocked to look for her. She was mistaken.

The bed creaked and groaned as it was lifted and turned over on it's side. Myra quickly scrambled to her feet and rushed towards the wall and phased through it. Outside, she took a breath and as the morning air kissed her skin, she was reminded that her pants and boots were still inside the house. "Of all the rotten...Ugh!" she started to try and go back inside but the front door opened and the husband rushed out screaming for the guards.

Myra turned on her heels and ran as fast as she could to get away. She crossed the road and turned onto another street. There were two guards walking the street, but they hadn't noticed her yet. She hurried into the valley between two buildings and came out of the other side. There it was, that dreaded corner that always concealed a surprise and as she turned it, she slid to a stop and paddled backwards before her back hit the wall.

There was a man in front of her who was as naked as the day he was born with the exception of the weapons he carried on his belt. "Gods bless it. This city is so weird!" She kept her eyes on his as she slowly eased along the wall to pass him. "I don't want any trouble...so just..forget you saw me."

MADE BY MIZO

[googlefont=Karla]

As was his way, Kerr did absolutely nothing to make her plight any easier. The slip of a girl, wearing what he figured was her night clothes, came running around the corner to skitter to a halt in front of him. At which point he put his free hand on his hip and simply struck a casual pose as if everything about the moment was perfectly normal. "Well now, at least somebody is having a marginally better night than I am." His chuckle was deep and self-deprecating. He then stepped away from the wall she was edging along, giving her the space she apparently wanted and starting off. "For what it's worth, you have a great pair of getaway sticks there. Good luck." He started off only to pull up short at someone calling at him from up the alleyway she'd just exited a moment or two ago.

"You there, we're looking for a half-naked... girl...?" The voice trailed off in confusion and discomfort. "Aren't we all?" Kerr responded jovially, smiling at the figure at the other end of the alley. "No... No! I mean... a trespasser that happens to be a half-naked girl." Kerr made a big show of finally understanding. "Well, that's different. However, as you can see I am neither half-naked nor a girl. I wish you better luck around the next corner." He smiled broadly, standing in his shameless, guilt-free stance as if he were wearing full regalia. The other voice made a noise of discomfort and then dismissal before apparently leaving. Kerr shrugged and glanced in the direction of the girl. "I wouldn't run that direction, if I were you. But to each their own." He turned once more to continue on his way.

It's days like this that make me wished I'd stayed in Noria

TAG - Kerr Blackwood

NOTES - Pantsless is the new thing!

Myra was taken aback by the nude man posing proudly in front of her. She kept her eyes on his face, less they wander to places they shouldn't. In doing so, she noticed something about his face that seemed familiar. It was harder to picture him in clothes when she had no idea what he usually wore. She was even more sure that she'd meet him before when he spoke. "I'll say, but apparently not by much at all." At first glance she had assumed that he was either drunk or crazy but his words led her to believe that he had troubles. He could have been a creeper, but his eyes didn't have the the hunger of a lecher. The little jester eyed him, his comment presented as both compliment and dig when it came to her naked legs. "Like-wise." She said as she pursed her lips and tilted her head.

She clung to the wall when someone shouted for him and tried to make herself as flat as possible. The situation seemed unbelievable to her, they were searching for her, for a half naked girl but had no issue with the fully naked man walking the streets. Myra watched them converse, unsure if the man was going to turn her in or let her go. He didn't appear insane, and yet he was as shameless as they came-which could be worse. She watched him closely, searching his features for any signs of malice and it was then that she remembered his face. He was a guard or perhaps a mercenary of a sort. It was he who she had a brief encounter along with a woman that was being stalked. Myra remembered seeing them walk off arm in arm that day and she wondered what had become of the troubled woman, or if he had "solved" her issues.

"Gods be damned." she groaned to herself as she slid backwards ready to escape. However, the naked mercenary didn't turn her in or even give a hint of where she was. Perhaps he didn't recognize her without the face paint and hat with fluffy balls at each in. She stayed still, silent and waited until both men were on their way. One direction was blocked but there were others places she could run and hide until they gave up the search for her. Myra hurried across the road then phased into the next building to hide.

MADE BY MIZO

[googlefont=Karla]

"First place by a horse hair or first place by a mile, a win is a win." He offered companiably but without looking at her any further. There was no point in leering at the slip of a woman and he had his own business to attend to. He stood by in the mouth of that alley for moment longer and then chuckled at her return compliment before heading off. "Thank you for noticing." As he strolled down the streets he returned to his poetry to pass the time.

"And are those follies going?
And is my proud heart growing
Too cold or wise
For brilliant eyes
Again to set it glowing?
No, vain, alas! th' endeavour
From bonds so sweet to sever;
Poor Wisdom's chance
Against a glance
Is now as weak as ever."

He then stopped in his tracks, took a deep breath, and blinked into the night. "That was the damned clown... huh," He snorted in amusement and continued on his way. If he was alive come morning he'd check the local cells for her. He understood she couldn't be held unless her powers ran out but his limitations with her powers weren't the same as her limitations. Who knew how her ability worked at the source. So he'd check in the morning, if he could. All depended on how the rest of his night went. Things, thus far, had been a mixed back. Between the one man's wife, then the man, then the employwer, then the fight and fire. Swimming to shore hadn't been fun but at least he'd dragged his employer to safety. He imagined the other man would make it to his stronghold and, from there, be prepared to pay him when Kerr came around. It'd really been an adventure thus far. Worth the trouble, as long as he got paid what they'd agreed upon.

The Judicars would approve of the whole thing too. A petty crime lord of sorts had died and the other one was about to make too big a mess to go ignored. One in the ground and the other in a cell in short order. As he'd said to the woman, a win was a win.

It's days like this that make me wished I'd stayed in Noria

TAG - Kerr Blackwood

NOTES - Pantsless is the new thing!

"Yeah? Well there's a lot to notice." Myra retorted, noticing only too late how that must have sound. She wasn't staring at it, or at him-not purposely at any rate. Despite how he looked, it was clear to her that he was bad news and apparently always getting into some type of trouble. He wasn't the type of influence that she needed in her life. It was too bad they weren't friends, because he likely had a really good story to explain his nakedness and lack of shame.

Myra phased into a room that was dark and faintly lit by candle light. The room had an odd smell to it, a mixture of ale and grass. She moved forward into the room stepping on broken and left behind straw and into the light. Straw littered the floor from one end to the other as if someone had done a bad job sweeping. Set against the back wall, a large wooden rack held four barrels on each row. They were all sealed, but the empty ale bottles on the table against the south wall gave her a good idea what was in them. "Someone sure likes their ale." Myra took a closer look since she had the time to waste away until the guards stopped looking for her. She found another barrel next to the table, the top was removed and inside she found a lot of potatoes in smaller sacks. Seeing this, reminded her of just how hungry she was, but as she leaned in to pull out a bag, a voice called out to her from behind.

It was a soft voice, weak and fragile. "Eleanor?" the voice asked curiously.

Myra jerked back and turned to face them ready to defend herself or run depending on what happened next. Before her stood an old man, bald and wrinkled from head to toe. His eyes were barely open, and the hump in his back was so curved that he appeared a foot shorter than he actually was. "Eleanor? That is you! How have you been my old friend? I have missed you." he said moving a shaky leg forward. "Oh I knew it had to be you, you and those golden locks. I can pick you out anywhere." Myra didn't move and she faked a half smile as she took a step backwards. "He's mistaken me for someone else. I better slip out of here before he figures out that I'm not who he thinks I am."

The old man took another shaky step forward. "Oh, Eleanor? You look so frail. Why you're as skinny as a stick! What happened to you? I miss the old you back when you had puffy cheeks, round shoulders, and huge bazooms!"

It was now or never, for the girl, and she ran straight for the wall and disappeared through it. Myra appeared on the next street alone, but as she looked along the path. She spotted one of the guards patrolling the area and ran away in the other direction. It wasn't long before she spotted a familiar naked man slowly walking along the street. "What is he up too? Is he searching for that woman's house?" Myra decided to follow him and see where he was going. If he was going to see the woman, naked, that would make a good story and the perfect moment to say I told you so.

MADE BY MIZO

[googlefont=Karla]

"Flatterer," said happily but absently as he went was the only response the compliment got.

Kerr continued on his way, padding along happily and starting through another poem as he went. He seemed completely oblivious to the fact that he was naked, as he had before he spoke on the subject, and merely picked his way carefully down the street so as not to step on something unfortunate whilst finding his way. He gave the houses and other structures around him not a glance. He knew where he was at and where he was going, navigating by at least passing familiarity with the layout of the city.

"I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark."

Movement ahead, two men stepping out of an alley. Kerr didn't even slow down, smiling brightly at the pair. A couple of the well known strong-arm thieves, using intimidation and muscle to take from others they perceived as weaker than themselves. "Well, what do we have here, Lenny?" "Looks like one o'them fools soon parted from his money, dunnit Claud?" "'cepting this one don't appear to have any coin, Lenny-lad." "Them s'ords fetch a pretty penny, if'n we don't decides to keep 'em." The two casually bandied between themselves as they stepped up in front of him, big smiles on their faces.

The smile was matched by the one on Kerr's face as he pulled his sword rig from his shoulder and neatly presented it to Lenny with both hands, practically pushing the assemblage of blades into his arms. In the moment of confusion Kerr suddenly drew the shorter of his two swords and smashed the pommel into Claud's temple with his left hand while short-jabbing his right into lenny's throat with an open-handed strike that seized up his vocal chords. A more traditional left cross hit Lenny in the right temple with the crossguard of the short sword as Claud hit the ground, followed swiftly by Lenny. Kerr dipped down and grabbed his sword rig from Lenny's limp arms to replace his blade in its scabbard. He then promptly began stealing Claud's pants.

It's days like this that make me wished I'd stayed in Noria

TAG - Kerr Blackwood

NOTES - Pantsless is the new thing!

"Silly, silly man, I knew that something was off about you." Myra said softly to herself.

On the evening that they met, she had sensed that this man wasn't the heroic noble that he presented himself to be. She had warned the blonde woman but she insisted on following him anyway. Some people were simply too trusting, especially when the stranger was appealing. Myra didn't buy it and watching him now, she was glad that she had followed her instincts that day. The look of him, the way that he walked, it was as if he didn't know that he was naked. After a time, she started to wonder if it was mental illness, it explained a few things certainly.

The little thief could have gone about her business, but there were soldiers looking for her and they seem to be staying clear of him. She followed him until two men stepped out in front of him with toothy grins. Three men standing together, two of them smiling, it looked as though they were all friends. "Blast. They're thieves."

Myra noticed after the brief exchange. Kerr didn't look in any condition to be fighting and it looked like he knew that at least. He gave them his weapons without a fuss, leaving them all to believe he'd given up. His attacks were swift and strong leveling them both in seconds. The jester peeked from her hiding spot, looking on while he started to remove one of the men's pants. They were large men, two large for her to wear their trousers. However, one of them wore a short hood and cloak that even being large, would cover her head and face nicely.

"Remind me never to start a fight with you." Myra said innocently since he hadn't figured out they'd met before now. She came over and knelt beside the man wearing the hood and with some difficulty removed it from his head. "I'll just take this if you don't mind." She considered getting his boots to, but he had rather large feet.

MADE BY MIZO

[googlefont=Karla]

He glanced up at her words, clocking her approach, and gave her a friendly grin. "Oh, no point in revisiting that particular path. We already walked it and it went nowhere." No threat, no ego, no note of resentment in his voice or demeanor. Which was reasonable to Kerr's mind. The whole thing had panned out, Idrial had gone with him anyway and been protected. The matter had been investigated, figured out, and for the most part resolved. There was a dead man at the end of it all, too, though nobody particularly knew about it. The bounty happened to be exactly the coin he intended to use for his currently needed come up. There was nothing, at the moment, to be hostile with the clown over.

Kerr gestured for her to have at it when she asked about the hood. He was meanwhile using the drawstring to secure his acquired pants about his waist. Ah, it was going to be so much easier to interact with the Exchanger with his pride covered. The skinner of the two men began to shake, froth forming at his lips. Kerr just shook his head after a glance at the man. Brain bleed was causing a seizure, or shock, and he was likely going to be dead in the next few minutes. Alas, these were the risks one took when living a life of... well, living a life, to be honest. He'd picked the wrong man to rob because his assessment of the intended victim had been short-sighted.

The mercenary took a moment to hold his foot out next to each man's boots. Skinny, shaky man's foot was too narrow and the burlier of the two had a thick and heavy boot that was just a bit too big. It would flop when Kerr walked and that was frankly worse than being barefoot when there were men out to kill you. Even if he felt he wasn't likely to encounter those men this encounter had proven that it didn't always have to be the most active threat that you planned for. "Oh, that reminds me. I owe you a bit of coin for helping me kill that assassin. It'd be enough to buy you... well, a lot of things but you'd probably want to start with clothes."

It's days like this that make me wished I'd stayed in Noria

TAG - Kerr Blackwood

NOTES - Pantsless is the new thing!

Myra paused a moment, her eyes slowly turning to look upon him as her face turned in the same direction seconds later to catch up with her eyes. Never before in her life had anyone recognized her without the face paint and outfit without having learned of her true identity by her or another person's telling. He was a strange and unusual fellow as she had gathered before to discern so much about her, even when she had changed everything down to her way of speaking.

"As you say." she uttered with a sheepish tone and expression. The morning had already been long, and she was glad that he wasn't angry enough to challenge her while she was naked and with no arms to defend herself. Myra pulled the hood and cloak over her head and shoulders and found herself instantly swallowed up. The hood draped over her face in a manner suited to a thief and the cloak covered all but her naked feet. The little jester became alarmed when the skinner man started to shake and at first sight, she thought he was about to wake up.

"So much for a quick end. I wonder if he knows that he is dying." She stood up and tested the garments fit on her person and how she could move with ease as well as her line of sight in any direction. Myra peeked from under the hood at the curly haired man, and she narrowed her eyes curiously. "You're giving me coin?" Myra never expected to be given anything, but she wasn't in a position to refuse coin if it were given freely. "A little more always helps I always say. So where to?" she asked assuming he didn't have the coin hidden anywhere on him.

MADE BY MIZO

[googlefont=Karla]

Kerr merely smiled back at her look, a twinkle of mischief in his eyes before returning to the task at hand. Robbing the robbers. He could have offered her a wide variety of answers to the question he had no doubt was bouncing around in her head. The distance between her eyes, nose and chin, and forehead. He had to sketch faces when reporting things to his superiors in the Judicars, he'd been taught how to measure and memorize faces when he'd been seventeen years old. It was a common skill amongst those Judicars who worked on their own out in the world. But the truth was he'd known her the moment he'd become aware of her magic. He'd used the supply he'd gained from their first brief encounter on another misadventure and found it insanely useful, it didn't at all hurt his feelings to be harvesting the girl again.

She seemed to agree with his preference for letting the past be the past. Given her lifestyle that didn't surprise him either. Why court trouble? Especially when you were already dealing with a full serving of it for the evening to begin with. He glanced up again when she had her new cloak. "Well, that seems to have resolved the greater part of your concerns. Demure as a matron of Ceri-Liat," he complimented in reference to the elder priestesses of the Elven goddess. They dedicated their lives to the aspect of love that was commitment, the long haul, only sharing the goods with one's spouse. They wore high neck dresses and cloaks almost everywhere they went... though honestly they were nearly impossible to find outside the few elven neighborhoods and communities on the fringes.

Kerr returned his attention to the fellow that was convulsing. He'd almost forgotten the man that quickly. "Blessedly, no. At least not according to a survivor I met once. Said every muscle in his body hurt and he had a couple of cracked teeth but he didn't remember anything between trying to shoe the old horse and waking up on the healer's bed with a bandage holding his skull together." He shrugged and went back to ignoring the guy as his movements slowed down to twitchy jerks that had a couple of heartbeats between each one. "I always do people honest when they help me, even if they didn't mean to. It encourages the behavior. Besides, when you're charitable with the coin it makes people less inclined to decide the only to get it off you is to slip a dagger between your ribs." he chuckled and looked around at their surroundings. "A bit further up town, Crabley & Associates Money Lenders. They're the exchequer for the city and so they owe me some coin."

"You're not wanted, right?"

It's days like this that make me wished I'd stayed in Noria

TAG - Kerr Blackwood

NOTES - Pantsless is the new thing!

Now that she had a covering for her head it was less likely that the guards would notice her. It made things more easy, at least as far as being arrested for trespassing. Life was still hard and the grumbling in her belly said more about her current state than the fact that she wasn't wearing any bottoms or shoes. But that was the way of it and by now she was so used to it that it felt normal in a way that didn't constantly make her want to slit her own throat.

"A matron of Ceri-Liat? What's that all about? Some kind of religious none sense?" Myra asked while giving herself a once over and silently questioning if she should take anything else before she left because there would be no coming back. The cloak did make her feel like she was wearing a gown of some kind by the way that it covered her so completely. As long as she didn't need to run she figured she wouldn't have any trouble getting around dressed as she was.

"He was kicked in the face by a horse? How awful. I'm glad that's never happened to me." The imagery was intense and she'd seen things in her life that most girls her age had not and never would and that gave her a more accurate picture of what a person might look like after having their face kicked in by a horse. "If you say so. I certainly won't turn up my nose at coin." she said and stood up. "Crabley & Associates Money Lenders? I think I've seen the place. Never had any reason to go inside tho."

To the question of if she was wanted, Mya shook her head and looked away from him. "You mean besides those men that were just chasing me? No, I don't think so. No one wants me."

MADE BY MIZO

[googlefont=Karla]

"Religon is never nonsense, even if your position happens to be that it represents a comforting fiction... it's still comforting. Besides, it allows people who look nothing alike to create common ground, community, tradition, etc. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself, though the addition of bad people can certainly turn it into a bad thing but that's true of every concept." He spoke absently, philosophy and sociology rolling off his tongue as easily as the recipe for bread. He took up his weapons again and stood, slinging the belt over his shoulder once again to have the weapons dangle as they had before. "Ceri-Liat is... well, two goddesses. One of them represents domestic bliss, the long version of love, etc. Her priestesses are rather matronly, thus called matrons, and can be very motherly toward those who show them proper respect. And very unmotherly if approached otherwise." His tone left what that last bit meant, exactly, to the imagination. He left out that his only personal experience with a mother figure was an aging Orc woman with a limp.

"No, in the side of the head. He's ugly enough that you'd think it had but I assure you he was that ugly before the horse kicked him. Caught him flush, but the company healer was near to hand and got him treated. Said the old man was lucky he'd just downed a sweet drink not ten minutes before, apparently that helps." Kerr gave a shrug and began walking, waving for her to follow. Content to leave the bodies in the middle of the street, obviously robbed and killed. He chuckled at her proclaiming she wouldn't turn down coin. "Few people do," and those few tended to have over developed survival instincts. "Big place, but unless you work for someone with a noble title or intend to collect on a sizeable bounty placed by the nobility there isn't much reason to go in. I've dealt with them before, one of the night clerks will recognize me." He knew like six of them so surely one of them would be working tonight. The books had to be updated daily, the account totals gathered into a single tome for ease of reference.

"Well, perhaps not in an official capacity but you're a striking young woman. I have no doubt someone wants you. For good or ill." He made no leering stare at her, gave no suggestion in his voice, merely offered reassurance. Her personality might suck, she'd certainly not shown him her softer side, but she wasn't hard to look at. If nothing else, some 'recruiter' would want to throw a collar on her and set her to serving drinks in some basement tavern or whore house. Though Kerr was more aware than most that it wouldn't actually work on her, that made him smile in amusement. It was good to know someone was safe from that idiocy in this world.