Missed Steps and Pitfalls

[Nayt]

"That's great," Kei smiled brightly.

Her mood was not dampened by this. In fact, she was in a lot better of a mood now that she knew Aiden was safe and recovering well. She didn't feel like her and Hroth's efforts were for nothing, either. After all, Aiden's wounds may have been superficial, but there were a lot of them. If they had done nothing, he'd have suffered through life threatening infections or simply bled to death.

"So, um . . ." Kei rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

Suddenly, she had an idea for something to say-- and at the same time, she knew that it might be kind of presumptuous and bad.

"We'll stay in town, uh," Kei dropped her arm to her side, "At least until you're out."

After all, she didn't know if Hrothgar planned on sticking around for that long, but she looked at him as if to silently ask if he'd do this. Someone was going to have to help this kid to recovery once the doctors were done with him.

[Zach Kaiser]

This troubled him; he didn't know why. It shouldn't bother him that these people were being nice to him, he knew he should have been grateful, but all Aiden felt was confusion.

"Why? I mean," he added, realizing the single word wasn't articulate enough. "Why did you help me? You hardly know me." He had bounty hunters after him, at the very least. For all they knew he could have been a dangerous criminal--or at least they didn't know that he didn't deserve to be taken in.

Yet, they went out of their way to bring him to a hospital the next town over. Even if they'd been going that way (and he doubted it) that was awfully far to carry an unconscious person.

In his experience, people just didn't help strangers. They hadn't asked him for anything yet, but part of him was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

[adi]

"Well, what would you do if you found someone all cut the fuck up on the floor?" Hrothgar exclaimed, not pausing to excuse his vulgarity. There was an incredulous and angry tone to his voice-- there was no argument in his mind. Aiden was young, and truth be told Hroth saw him more as a child or a teenager than young man, despite Aiden's actual age.

"It doesn't matter if I didn't know you. Or don't know you, still," Hroth's voice softened when he realized his small explosion had turned some sickly heads in the ward. He folded his arms and hunched his shoulders as if it would deter the prying eyes and ears.

"It doesn't matter if I know you, or what you have or have not done. You don't turn your back on someone in a situation like that, criminal or saint. It's just not fucking right."

[Nayt]

Well, that was a little bit nerve wracking. Kei folded her arms over her chest and glanced from patient to patient, a little bit self conscious of the stares she and Hroth were getting . . .

But even still, Hrothgar was correct. That was the exact reason they saved Aiden's life. Kei would've been a little less harsh about explaining that, but the blunt and forceful route could be pretty effective sometimes. She made a mental note to talk Hrothgar down later, maybe see if there was anything she could do. This guy really seemed stressed-- and rightly so, but blowing up, even if they were controlled explosions, wasn't going to get them anywhere. Kei knew this for a fact. She'd been down that road before.

"He's right," she whispered as she leaned in just like Hroth did, "A little harsh, but that's pretty much it . . ."

Maybe sometimes it was hard to believe that people could still try to be decent human beings. There was so much pain and suffering in the world, all inflicted by one's fellow man; it was easy to forget sometimes, but . . .

"There's still some human decency left in the world, you know?"

[Zach Kaiser]

For several moments Aiden simply stared at them. "I see," he said at last, real appreciation audible in his voice for the first time. He finally got it; Hrothgar and Kei were not normal people. They weren't abnormal in the bad sense, however. Far from it.

For the first time in his life, Aiden knew he'd encountered genuine heroes.

Perhaps not the mythic kind capable of taking on entire armies; in fact, chances were they were just fledgling heroes, just starting their journey. They'd just met; the hero and the heroine, who would soon go on a grand journey and would undoubtedly fall in love along the way. It would be tough, but they'd make it through anything with the power of their courage. Or they would soon.

"Thank you," he said quietly, suddenly feeling rather shy. They may still have been relatively young, but he now felt like they had the presence of people greater than himself.

[adi]

Heroes were not supposed to be easily swayed, but all it took was two small words to get Hrothgar to brighten considerably. It helped that the magic words were said with genuine sincerity, causing the scholar to uncross his arms.

He knew his sudden outburst had not been well-received, but it had gotten through to Aiden. That was probably the best he could ask for from a boy who seemed so distant. He hesitantly patted the side of Aiden's bed, hoping that it would somehow reassure the boy that he was not angry with him.

"Just try your best to get well quick," he said, offering a sheepish smile. "Kei and I still be around when you get out, okay?"

[Nayt]

Kei smiled brightly again-- brighter than she had in days, actually. Just like Hrothgar, she was swayed by two words alone. This felt like progress. This felt like they'd genuinely done something right, and now they were being rewarded for it. Funny-- it was such a simple reward, too. Simple, but fulfilling.

"Tell you what," Kei hummed in thought for a second, "We'll swing by tomorrow, too."

She was volunteering Hrothgar for something again, but she figured he wouldn't mind too terribly. What else would he have to do, anyways? They were going to make a bit of money tonight (hopefully) and that (hopefully) would last them a few days. If they could actually acquire currency, then they were going to relax. That was it. Nothing more. They were going to relax and they were going to pay Aiden a few visits. But firstly, relaxation. That was necessary. Without it, Kei was certain she might succumb to stress in the near future.

Not right now, though. She was pretty happy right now.

"We're planning on getting some sort of job later, so if you need anything, just let us know. We'll be sure to pick it up for you tomorrow."

[Zach Kaiser]

For a moment, Aiden got rather flustered. Not only were they going to wait for him to get out of the hospital, but they were going to visit him? He was certain that they had more important things to do--Kei was already on a quest, even. Part of him wanted to insist they move on, that they were wasting time on a side character like him.

But a larger part wanted this to last as long as possible. To be near heroes felt good. To have people actually care about him felt good.

"I...don't need anything," he said after some hesitation. He'd been tempted to ask them to buy him a book, but if the staff was going to let him read they would have just let him have some of his own books as he requested.

[adi]

Aiden's insistence on needing nothing was received by Hrothgar's ears, traveled through the workings of his head. In it's journey across and around and through wrinkled grey matter, it was processed and filtered through a life-time of overhearing his father talk business. Whenever someone insisted that they did not need anything, more often than not it meant they were simply afraid to ask or did not want to impose on whoever brought up the topic. Hrothgar was getting Aiden something, and that was that.

He was not sure exactly what he would get him-- but the hospital ward did not seem that terribly entertaining. Hroth knew if he was in Aiden's position he would probably like something to keep his mind off the well-meaning but ultimately intimidating and foreboding atmosphere that came with hospitals. Aiden didn't have his books with him, which surprised the freckled man-- but it would make sense that they might also have been held for evidence. But before Hroth could think about what kind of something he could get for Aiden, he needed to acquire currency.

"Alright," He finally shrugged in response, taking a step back from the bedside. He did not really have anything more to say, nor did he really know how to continue in the exiting process. "Feel better, Aiden! We'll be back tomorrow."

[Nayt]

"Mn," Kei nodded in agreement with Hrothgar. "See you tomorrow, Aiden."

Kei felt no problems with turning around and starting for the door. Chances were they were going to pick something up for Aiden in the very near future. Sometime after they had money. They were just going to have to make that much more money. She was feeling pretty good about this, now. They got a good reaction out of Aiden, something to make them happy with what they've done so far and where they'd found themselves, and it was bound to get better from there. Things were really looking up for them.

It only then dawned on her that Aiden's books were not here. In fact, his briefcase wasn't here at all. In their panic, they'd left it behind at the scene of Aiden's almost death.

They'd . . . uh . . . they'd just have to take care of that later . . .

Kei decided not to think too much of that until the time came to maybe head back that way. The fact that Aiden's stuff was back there sort of made that an inevitability.

[adi]

Hrothgar felt no rising sense of panic at the fact that Aiden's things were still back in Cieldh. He honestly assumed that anything that was left behind at the scene left at the inn room was already collected for evidence. Besides that, it was hard for Hroth to sympathize with Aiden's loss of belongings when all of his remaining expenses had been used up trying to keep him alive.

And besides even that-- if he was to return to that inn that smiling old woman would probably find some way to charge him some sort of cleaning fee. Hell, blood stains-- Hroth would not put it past the same wizened old hag who had the gall to charge ten gold for a room to make a fuss of someone else's misfortunes as though they were hers. Best to just to cross that bridge when they came to it.

He waved a small goodbye to the red-lipped woman at the reception desk as he exited, his spirits bolstered by the visit. He had done a good thing. It there was ever a thing that could give a man the warm fuzzy feeling, it was being appreciated for doing good things. Hroth jammed his hands in his pockets as they exited the hospital, looking around the winding streets of Antigahn.

"So," he grinned jovially over to Kei, "Where do you think we should start lookin' for a job? It's a pretty big city."

[Nayt]

Kei started to walk a little slower once they were out of the hospital. She was feeling particularly good about herself, too-- enough that she didn't feel overwhelmed by the tasks they had ahead of them. They needed to find a job. This could sometimes (often, actually) be an extremely daunting task . . .

"Well . . . hm, okay, let's go about this in a much more sane and rational way," Kei decided in contrast to every stint of their trying to find work before this.

No, really, they hadn't acted rationally at all during every single attempt to find a job, even on that occasion that they did find one. It was just like they were searching for anything and everything that could possibly pay them, and while that wasn't a terrible thing, that hadn't worked for them last night. They needed to go about this rationally and actually think before they started begging for work.

Easier said than done.

"What are we good at?" Kei asked. She was passively inviting Hrothgar to speak first and toss his trade skills on the table before she did.

[adi]

"Well," Hrothgar shrugged, "I'm not all that spectacular at manual labor."

This was almost a gross understatement. Hrothgar was inexperienced in such ways, both in body and mentality. Even his pampered muscles could somehow miraculously handle a rigorous course in physical labor, his mind always drifted past the point of automation. His work would be slow and too muddled by daydreaming to be of much good.

The scholar scratched at his head. He never was very good at speaking well of himself or trying to make a selling point. He shrugged, at a bit of a loss.

"I guess I am pretty good with writing. If I put my mind to it my handwriting is not terrible. My father also taught me how to keep ledgers, and how to write inventory shorthands."

[Nayt]

"Hmm . . ." Kei trailed off.

Well, that was kind of a limited skill set. Then again, Hroth hadn't been out here for long. In fact, Kei met him on the first leg of his journey. There were really only so many things they could do decently, though-- at least if they were opting to work together, that is. Oddly enough, that's kind of what Kei felt like doing right now. If it wound up being best that they do separate jobs to raise money, then so be it, but if she could somehow score a gig with Hroth, then she was geared up for that. It was just a matter of figuring out what they could do . . .

"Oh!" Kei exclaimed as she reached an epiphany.

Writing. Writers. Handwriting. Scribes. Yes. That would work wonderfully.

"Are you any good as a scribe?" Kei asked, "I mean, well, uh-- see, those movable type machines are really expensive; there're a lot of people that'll pay good money for a skillful couple of scribes."

[adi]

"Yes!" Hrothgar nodded enthusiastically. Perhaps trying to find a job wouldn't be quite so hard! Better yet, he and Kei would not have to work quite as hard as they had worked moving furniture.

"I've been writing since I learned how to hold a pen" he insisted, quite eager to be of some assistance. "I also know know both Pittman and Gregg shorthand, even though at university I've been told they've fallen into antiquity a bit."

It was one thing to offer help normally, and quite another to offer help when it coincided with your own skills and talents. Hrothgar paused before he got too ahead of himself. "Er, not that has any relevance. I don't mean to brag, but since you asked what I could do-- But yes, I have worked as a scribe before and didn't get a negative review."