Realistic or Modern A whole new world [RP]

[Nekomancer]

You gotta be so cold
to make it in this world.

Name: Caspian Mason
Alias: Sly
Age: 23 years
Gender: male
Status: fugitive wanted dead or alive
Occupation: thief

Height: 6"ft
Build: mesomorph, well-trained
Hair: brown, long, mostly in a ponytail
Eyes: striking amber

SunshineStark

 

[SunshineStark]

Art by Serafluer (DeviantArt)

Name: Elisabeth Nelson
Age: 22
Birthday: 12/08/XXXX
Gender: Female
Height: 5’4”
Body type: inverted triangle leaning hourglass.
Status: Betrothed do the prince of a neighboring land/To-be runaway
Family: Father (king/lord) Joseph Nelson, Mother (queen/lady) Maria Nelson, Older sister Julie Nelson, Older brother Martin Nelson.
Edits from face claim: Eyes are more of a green-blue colour. Hair is a couple inches longer. She is also always scene wearing a silver chain necklace with a small iridescent stone on it.

 

[SunshineStark]

“You can do this. You said you were going to do this.” Elisabeth mumbled to herself under her breath as she hurriedly packs a few days clothes into a rucksack, hoping to bolster her own confidence to continue with her plan. She had been against the arranged marriage from the start, finding it abhorrent to sell one’s love just to secure some sort of political alliance. The green eyed young woman loved her parents, and knew they only wanted what was best for her, but her father had been too bullheaded to see any perspective except for his own. She still remembered his words to her when he announced that she was betrothed to Sir Ricaud. He had promised that he would be kind and well-mannered, a man to uphold the knights code without question. She had been hopeful, giving her father a strained smile of begrudging agreement to at least meet the man before making any judgments.

And that brought her to early that night. It was 3 days until the ceremony and Sir Ricaud and his father had made the journey to the castle to make their acquaintance. Elisabeth’s mother and her ladies had spent the whole morning making sure she was ready and didn’t have a hair out of place. Hours had passed since the ladies had started getting Elisabeth ready and by the time she was ready to be presented her head hurt from the tightness of her meticulously done braided bun and her ribs ached from the boning of the corset she had been mercilessly tied into. She was lead out of her quarters and into the entrance hall, awaiting the arrival of the honored guests. Thankfully, Ricaud and his men were punctual, showing up almost perfectly on time and entering the hallway with the expected grandeur. He strode up to her and knelt down on one knee, pulling a single rose from behind himself, lightly grabbing Elisabeth’s hand and giving it a light kiss. “It’s an honor to finally meet you, Lady Elisabeth.” The brunette man donned in silks and crests of his county said, his tone sweet like honey. This made Elisabeth’s heart flutter and cheeks flush, maybe he won’t be so bad, she thought.

That glimmer of hope faded quickly, as the day progressed she noticed that he was more absorbed with himself, hardly letting her finish a sentence before interrupting to continue talking about his great adventures. This was somewhat to be expected, most knights Elisabeth had met preferred to do the speaking and would try to up-sell themselves, especially around their betrothed, but it didn’t make her any less irritated. Eventually, he decided it would be a better use of his time to get into unnecessary competitions with the knights in who worked with her father. Everything from marksmanship, to arm wrestling, to who could hold their breath longer. That night at dinner, he completely ignored her unless his father was looking at which point he would make some sort of romantic gesture towards her that was not only unnecessary, but also ill-timed. Following the meal he had pulled her aside for what she hoped would be an apology for nearly spilling her drink on her multiple times during the meal, but instead it was him wanting to give her ground rules for their marriage. The rules were awful and frankly unlivable. She was expected to speak only when spoken too, never speak to another man without him or one of her appointed chaperones present, she was not to leave her future home unless it was a scheduled outing… he just kept going for what felt like hours. Elisabeth started to lose focus, the edges of her vision started to blur from the overwhelming gloom of her future. Next she remembered he was giving her a very unknightly slap on the ass and going on his way, not even walking her to her quarters as he had promised.

Elisabeth frantically finished packing her bags, trying to make sure she had enough food and water to get her out into the countryside where she could hopefully find a place to live. She stuffed the majority of her jewelry and more expensive items in a small pouch, knowing she’d likely have to sell them at some point. She pulled on her most comfortable shoes and her thickest cloak to keep out the nip of the wind and hopefully block her face well enough to get out of the castle and started out, sneaking along the corridors that she had memorized from many years of playing with her friends and siblings. She tiptoed past the guards at the entrance, who had mostly fallen asleep from the amount of excess food and wine from the feast that night, and exited the castle into the cool autumn night.

 

[Nekomancer]

Some people say humans are no animals, some say they are.
In Caspian's case, one could be pretty sure that he had been a cat at some point in his life- he moved soundlessly, the soles of his black boots touching the ground so lightly they barely moved a single grain of dust as he wandered the nightly streets.
It had been a long week.
A new knight was in town, bringing a bigger group of his kind of make-believers, all egocentric, loud, annoying rats in costumes of iron and 'nobility'.
For men said to be the just and righteous elite of the land, they were quite too self-centered and blind for everything and everyone around them.
It had been just a few days ago, maybe two days before the knights arrived, that Caspian had tried to pickpocket a lady on the market- and had been caught. What was funny about the whole thing was that she had almost done a better job catching him than any of the knights he had robbed the past two days.
They were too loud, too focused on impressing everyone with their shiny armor to even notice him.
And then the incident today-
Caspian had managed to steal enough money to actually buy something from the market, but on his way to the baker he had seen how the leader of those knights, Sir Ricaud, if he had caught the name correctly, had shoved an elderly, homeless woman aside to make himself space at a nearby stand.
The poor woman had hit the ground hard and Caspian had spent all the money he had been able to gather during the last few days to buy her food. She needed it more than he did. But seeing how someone who was supposed to help the people behaving like that- it made him seethe with hate.
Those knights were nothing but shit in a shiny wrapping. Every thief out here was better than them, at least they knew not to kick those who were already lying on the ground. They were actually willing to help, not for their own, personal advantage, but because they knew that everyone could need some help sometimes. Unlike in many other places, many outlaws here actually held together, like... almost like a family.

That incident had happened several hours ago;
Now Caspian was just wandering the nightly streets towards the marketplace and hid behind the baker's pigpen, knowing that the man often disposed old bread there, feeding it to the pigs. Caspian had made it his evening routine to seek the marketplace for food that had been discarded despite still being edible. He would have feasted well tonight, but helping that old lady had been more important.
Oh well, maybe some other day.
It was in moments like these when his father's voice echoed in his mind reminding him what path he may never lose-
'you see, son, these knights, they have money but just as they clothe themselves in iron, they wrap it around their heart and make grow dark and cold. But life isn't about knowing no fear or being invulnerable- it's about being the best you can possibly be, about never giving up your dreams and who you are.'

He looked up at the clear sky for a while, watching the multitude of stars sparkling in the sky, millions of little reminders. Orion was keeping watch right above him, flanked by Big Supper and Cassiopeia. Their stories were tales his father had told him every evening when he had been a little boy before-
He shook his head, a small, sad smile crossing his face before he walked on towards the marketplace, always hidden by the shadows with one hand on the handle of his curved sword, just in case, while his incredibly bright amber eyes gleamed through the darkness like... like those of a cat.

 

[SunshineStark]

Elisabeth’s mind was racing as she hurried her way down the stone stairs of the castle. She had wisely chose a side exit instead of the one leading right out into the middle of the square. Someone would have seen her instantly that way, rather it be a guard or a citizen, and she didn’t want that. No, what she needed was to get out of the city as undetected as possible. Unfortunately, she wasn’t completely sure of how to do that. The princess had rarely been outside the castle on her own, normally accompanied by either her family or her servants and she had never been one to try and sneak away. Even as a child she never left the castle during games of hide and seek if she was told not to. Her sister had always been the brave one anyways, sneaking out of her room and into Elisabeth’s to tell ghost’s stories or taking their mother’s jewelry to play dress up. Elisabeth missed her. She wished Julie could be here with her now, but she had left a couple years ago, married off to a lord many days travel away from home.

The runaway princess ducked around a corner and into the marketplace before leaning against a wall to catch her breath. She unconsciously fiddled with the stone that hung from around her neck. The necklace, though simple, was still beautiful, the stone catching the moonlight beautifully in its iridescence. Elisabeth took a shaky breath and pushed off from the wall, looking around, unsure of where to go next. It was only then that she realized she had never been in the marketplace at night. The normally bustling shops were silent with the doors closed and the stands had the wooden shutters closed. Looking around, unable to see or hear another soul, Elisabeth felt truly scared and alone for the first time. Of course she was nervous when she was fleeing down the halls of the castle and sure she felt uncomfortable with her conversations with Sir Ricaud, but nothing like this. Honestly, Elisabeth didn’t think she would have gotten this far. She was fully expecting to be caught and taken to her father, exposed as a runaway. She hoped she could plead her case and her father would have called the whole thing off and that would be the end of it, but it was too late for that now. Now she had to just keep moving.

The red haired young lady weaved around stalls and through the streets, bunching up her dress in her hands to make sure she didn’t trip on it. Elisabeth had no idea which way to turn, no idea how to get out of the maze of the marketplace and out into the forests surrounding the castle town. She was unsure of what she’d do at that point, out in the wilderness without anything other than clothes and jewelry. What would she do for a place to live? To eat? To defend herself against whatever might be out there? But she couldn’t think about that now, if she thought about it too hard she wouldn’t be able to keep moving, and she had to keep moving.

 

[Nekomancer]

The night was a time of mysteries, of nightmares and dreams alike, of everything seeming so differently from how it was during the day.
For Caspian, the night was much simpler than the day. He'd always been careful and evasive, avoiding crowds and closed off spaces, even before he had left his home and had gone on a journey of months.
Now that he was a fugitive on the run even more so.
The night was easy, in his opinion. It was silent and dark, shades of calming dark blue speckled with stars and lit by the moon. Pure relaxation from the bustle of the day.
Tonight though, something was different, somehow. He couldn't quite tell what, it wasn't more than a feeling of uneasiness in the pit of his stomach, but it was enough to put him on alert.
The second he heard heavy footsteps I the distance he was up the wall and on the next roof in a matter of a second.
Maybe he wasn't the strongest- but he was quick and dextrous like no one else.
Eyes narrowed he was crouching in the shadow of the chimney, watching, waiting...

Two men, one a built like a house and wearing a simple leather doublet and various golden accessories, all of them clearly stolen, accompanied by a lanky, thin guy, a long scar across his face and armed to the teeth with all kinds of short blades.
He had never seen these two before, and despite his tendency to stay away from most of the other people living in the underground, he did very well know who did and didn't belong here. Those two didn't.
Whoever they were, they smelled like trouble, and trouble for them meant trouble for everyone else. If they would cause enough trouble to alert the guards survival world be harder for every thief here. Right now they were calm, too busy starting pub brawls and impressing ladies to actually care to solve the occasional robbery of bread or apples.
No one could say how that would change now that those two men were in town...
Speaking of them, he heard them talking now-

"...brothel-... lousy- already closed-.... look Over there-"
He only understood snippets of their conversation, but the moment he heard the last sentence he knew what was about to happen-
In the distance he could see a feminine silhouette scurrying through the night, apparently lost and unprotected; perfect prey for two disgusting pigs.
Caspian's eyes narrowed as he soundlessly climbed down and followed the men in the shadows, his left hand tightly gripping the handle of his sword.
"Heeey, sweetie-", the lanky man said, his words slurred and twisted thanks to a too much of cheap alcohol and too little of humanity.
Within a split second the man was holding a dagger while the bear was grinning at the scenery unfolding, apparently pleased by the thought of seeing the girl suffer.
"Why don'cha come 'n do us a lil' favor, honey?"
Caspian silently sneaked around them, hidden in the darkness, until he was standing in the shadows behind the girl, slowly drawing his sword.
The second he saw the lanky one stretching out his filthy hands to grab the girl, he stepped into the dim light of the lonely lantern lighting the marketplace.
"Hey, piss of, that's our prey!", the bear blustered.
Caspian didn't even blink when he stood in front of the girl, his right shoulder covering her from those disgusting creeps.
Sure, he was a thief, but he did what he needed to do to survive. He'd never killed anyone and what these men were about to do was an unforgivable crime in his eyes.
"You chose an interesting timing for roaming the market", He said with the smallest of smiles as he looked at her over his shoulder for a second, before he fully drew his sword and narrowed his eyes at the two men.
It was an unusual piece, a curved, shining silver blade with a golden handle, foreign symbols carved into both. The men's gazes wandered over the weapon and lingered on the slightly torn dark scarlet cape he was wearing under another one, this one sand colored and ragged. They hesitated, seconds Caspian used well to swing his sword right into their faces, grab the girl's hand and pull her around the next corner, into the darkness of a well-hidden alley.
For a moment he locked his amber eyes with hers, his index finger against his lips to imply that she should be quiet, before he looked into the direction they had come from, listening to the painful and angry shouting of the men, which, however, faded as they decided to not risk their faces again tonight.

The moment he couldn't hear them anymore Caspian turned back to the girl, putting his sword back into its sheath.
"That was a close one- princess."
Yeah, he remembered her. He face, her hair. She was the girl he had tried to pickpocket not long ago, the girl whose guard had promised 'I'll bring that lousy thief behind bars, princess', before he had lost him by the help of a fish and a few other groceries.
A small smirk crossed his face remembering the hilarious scene.
"What are you doing out here at a time like this, without guards?"

 

[SunshineStark]

As Elisabeth turned yet another corner she saw, and smelled, two very intoxicated men. The princess dug her heels into the ground to stop, trying to leave as much room in between herself and the armed urchins as possible. She whipped her head back and forth, looking around for any possible exit to no avail. Even if she wanted to turn tail and run, they’d surely catch her. Regardless, she stepped back, almost tripping over her dress when one of them opened their mouths and spoke, wafting his sour smelling voice over her.

“Heeey, sweetie-” One of the pigs stepped forward and Elisabeth’s eyes were immediately drawn to the glint of his dagger, an evil smile across his cracked lips. The other one, slightly larger in stature, took this opportunity to speak, “Why don'cha come 'n do us a lil' favor, honey?” At this, Elisabeth couldn’t help but recoil, her eyes squeezing shut and her body tensing, ready to feel the cold, sharp metal on her neck. She silently prayed for a quick death with her pride intact, but the more time passed, the less hopeful she was in this outcome.

And then she felt it, a rush of air slightly jostling her wavy locks followed by the warmth of body heat. She opened her eyes cautiously to see a third person, this one with his back turned to her, shoulder somewhat obscuring her view of the two men harassing her. Elisabeth could make out the face of the larger attacker twist with anger, spitting his words at the newcomer, “Hey, piss off, that’s our prey.” Prey? Is that was she was out here? Just a fawn to be preyed on by the fittest predator? The hint of hope and warmth she felt from the arrival of the third, more agile man faded and was replaced by a chilling fear. Maybe he wasn’t on her side. Maybe he was just throwing his name in the ring for who would get to to claim her as their trophy catch.

“You chose an interesting timing for roaming the market.” The man’s words startled her out of her thoughts. She vaguely saw him smile at her before drawing his sword and returning to face her attackers. The princess was surprised to not hear any malice in his words, the statement almost sounded lighthearted, considering the situation at hand. A moment of silence followed the slight zing of the curved sword leaving the shealth at the hand of its master. Before Elisabeth could find words to try to thank the man, respond, or even muster the courage to run, there was a flash of silver and pressure on her hand. She was tugged into an alleyway so quickly it left her wind behind her, the well moonlight streets disappearing to give way to almost pitch black surroundings.

As her eyes adjusted and her mind began to catch up, Elisabeth saw the man who had yanked her into this alley pressing a finger to his lips. The youngest of the royal family held her hand to her chest, trying to steady and quiet her breathing. She started at the man who was intently listening to his surroundings. Something looked familiar about him, but that wouldn’t make sense. She doubted she would have been allowed to spend time around a sword wielding, ragged looking market boy. Then it hit her just as he spoke. “That was a close one princess,” He said. She had run into him just a couple days ago when shopping in the market for gifts for the castle’s guests. He had tried to take some coins out her pouch and she’d caught him. Now Elisabeth was eternally thankful after the guards hadn’t caught him, or else she didn’t want to think about what would have happened.

“What are you doing out here at a time like this without guards?” He inquired, a smirk across his lips.

“That, that’s none of your business!” Elisabeth answered, flustered. As much as she was used to being helped by servants and ladies’ in waiting in her day to day life, there was something different about being helped by this man. He wasn’t being paid to help her, hell if she screamed now and a guard heard he’d be arrested without a question. “Thank you for your help, but I have to go.” As hard as she tried, Elisabeth couldn’t steady her voice completely, the adrenaline from the encounter forcing a waiver in her voice. She started to dust off her dress, ready to continue her flight from the city.