The setting sun stained the horizon a fashionably autumnal orange, more yellow than red, but breathtaking all the same. Backlit by the sun, the town of Sosshi loomed ahead, silhouettes milling about the main street as they went about their evening business. Arwin grinned at the sight. He'd been having nothing but good days these last two weeks. Even today, it had been a good day for travel, clear skies meant the road hadn't been turned to mush by the wagon and the light breeze made the weather tantalizingly chilly. "Sweater weather, as my Da used to say" Arwin shouted over his shoulder as he hopped off the travel wagon. He'd been lucky to hitch a ride all the way from Aries Garse, but a promise of protection had bought him free travel.

Arwin audibly winced at a sharp pain in his side as he landed, the pain causing him to stumble as his knees nearly buckled. Pressing a hand to his side and waving off the concern of the wagon owners he had been traveling with. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a bit sore from that tumble I took" Arwin lied smoothly, referencing a point where the wagon owners had lost track of him at night. It hadn't been a tumble that gave him the bruises that were, even now, several days later, still smarting something fierce. "Poor plan to do a job en route to another one" Arwin couldn't help but mentally kick himself as his side ached with every step he took towards the center of Sosshi. Behind him his travel companions steered their cart off the road and towards their final destination. Arwin paused to give them a parting wave, and couldn't help smiling as the one who wasn't driving returned the gesture.

Turning away, the warm feeling in Arwin's stomach was soon replaced by a pang of pain that was more hunger than it was bruised flesh. "Well, this is a traveler's town, I'm sure it's got so.." Arwin trailed off on the absent-minded thought as he felt for his coin purse and felt only the belt loop of his trousers. Arwin began to speed-walk back the way he'd come into town, gaze set low as he checked to see if he'd dropped the coin-purse after getting off the wagon. Arwin froze as he got to the edge of Sosshi and slowly turned to look in the direction that he had seen the wagon traveling in. It was gone. "They stole my purse" he said deadpan, so exasperated that he was just tired. "Well fuck me! No coin and I'm halfway across the Forsaken Region from home" Arwin raised his arms before letting them fall impotently to his sides.

His stomach growled again and he winced when the arms he wrapped around his mid-section touched the sorer parts of his torso. "Well, no point in just worrying about how sore and hungry I am." Arwin was so uncomfortable and frustrated he wasn't paying much mind to how much he was speaking to himself "Better to get busy doing something about it" . Arwin began marching his way back into Sosshi proper, his indignation keeping him focused on the task at hand rather than the pain of his barely healed injuries. Following behind another wagon, Arwin was, for a moment, possessed by the notion that it might lead him to the one he'd ridden in on. "No. Not a chance. Come on Arwin. You know better than that. They never told you where in Sosshi they were going. This is a major hub of travel for the Forsaken Region" Arwin noted that the wagon in front of him had stopped outside of a tavern. "There's no way they weren't making some 'extra legal' financial decisions the same way you've been plann-" "What the hell is that smell!?" Arwin whispered, his voice dripping with desperate craving.

He looked about before his eyes fell on the tavern just in front of him and his stomach gave a growl of hunger. "God that smells so good...but not quite as good at THAT opportunity" Arwin caught sight of a few men moving wooden boxes and cloth sacks back and forth from what he assumed was the back door of the nearby tavern and the wagon he'd followed into this part of town. Moving with intent, Arwin smoothly cut into the revolving line of men and held his arms out with almost bored authority. No one questioned it. The man on the wagon passed him a weighty box with a grunt that Arwin reciprocated, his injuries twinging as he took it and feeling like he'd shoved something sharp into those parts of his body as he carried the box towards the back.

Were it not for the cool autumn weather, Arwin might have been sweating due to a mix of nerves and the physical strain. The box, while heavy, wasn't enough to strain him too badly, but with the ache of his injuries, it was starting to be a bit of an issue as he made his way down the darkened alley between the tavern and it's neighboring building. Thankfully, Arwin's guess that he had been moving towards the back door had been mostly correct, it was a side door. Smiling at the man who squeezed past him and gave him a silent upwards tilt of the chin in greeting, Arwin slipped into the tavern and set the box he was carrying next to some others near the door. He continued deeper into the tavern, smiling as he found himself making his way out of back storage room and into the kitchen of the tavern, where that delicious scent had been coming from. There was a cook, a look of intense focus on his face as he worked at a stove, paying no mind to the young man who had entered his workspace from behind. He reminded Arwin of his father and for a moment, he hesitated about stealing from the steaming plate of delicious food that the cook was obviously working to finish behind him. However, his thoughts of being a good man were quickly squashed as a particularly savage pang of hunger made his knees feel weak. "Better a well-fed man than a good one" Arwin thought to himself as he snuck over to the nearby tray, resting on a counter behind the cook, who had his back to Arwin.

Arwin grabbed a nearby ladle that was hanging from a rack attached to the side of the cook's counter and stuck it into a bowl of soup on the tray, licking his lips as he brought it to his mouth. "Oh" Arwin dipped the ladle into the soup again "That is good". He spent the next minute or two hastily ladling food into his mouth, blowing on what he thought might be too hot to be eaten safely, but more times than not, simply allowing it to burn his mouth a bit. "By the King's soggy breeches, this cook is a a geni-"

"What the hell are you doing!?" the cook in question interrupted Arwin's thoughts with a shout, staring daggers at him.

Arwin, didn't even think about it, his body moving before he could consider what he was doing.

He dropped the ladle, both of his hands slamming to the counter to support him as he leaped, vaulting the counter so he landed just in front of the cook. As his feet hit the ground, Arwin grabbed two fistfuls of the shocked cook's shirt and slammed his forehead into the man's face. Then he did it again. And again. When the third landed, Arwin felt the man go limp and he half-dropped half lowered him to the floor. For a moment, Arwin stood there, breathing hard, but his instincts took over as he heard some movement and a burst of laughter come from the storage room he'd entered the kitchen from and Arwin rushed for the door. Bursting into the storage room, Arwin startled to of the man he'd passed when he'd been moving boxes. He shoved them both unceremoniously out of the way, one of them yelping as Arwin shoved him into the boxes they'd moved in and the sound of cracking wood sounded behind Arwin as he left the building through the side door.

Running hurt like hell, what with his injuries, but he figured getting arrested would hurt worse, so Arwin continued running into the darkening night as he heard someone yell something behind him.







N/A



WORD COUNT: 1419

TOTAL WC: 1419

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