aterat | A King Off Balance

Entry tags:

A King Off Balance

Who;Rhy Maresh, Open
What; Tailor Work, A Minor robbery, A Disney Princess Moment
Where; The Tailor Shop, The Markets, The Park
When; Early August
Warnings; None Yet

1. A Stitch In Time... | A Seamstress's Shop
The young woman who watched the counter was sick this morning. It was something Rhy had been informed of when he had first entered and, of course, the other ladies that worked in the shop had a very reasonable expectation of that. There were dresses to be made, suits to be prepared, shirts and blouses and vests. So many different things hat needed finished or prepared or repaired. All in all it meant that the newest hire who was still working on some of the easier skills was watching the counter. So he sat there behind the counter, working on repairing a vest.

Until, that was, the door opened. He looked up with a bright smile at the individual entering.

"Good morning. How might we serve you? Something new to wear? Repairs? Perhaps some lovely embroidery to enhance what you already own?"

2. Light Fingers Cause Problems | The Open Air Markets
Lunch, or nearly that. Rhy had been given leave a bit early from his job to go collect lunch, given he was intending to bring it back to the small tables near his place of work to have lunch with his husband and their lovely pup. Today it was his turn to buy their lunch, and so he had, a basket of small pastries, sweet and savory, a small wedge of cheese, and a small bunch of grapes. This last item was in the hands of the vendor, about to go into Rhy's basket as he took the small purse with the last of the money for lunch in hand as a child ran by.

One second there was a small pouch in his hand. The next just empty air as the child bolted off through the market, with the vendor cursing as the child ran off. And Rhy stood there, shocked.

"Did... Was I just stolen from?"

What a strange and interesting thing!

3. Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear | The Park
A day off. They were not the most common for Rhy, but he did so enjoy when they came. With Llewellyn busy at work Rhy had set himself into the park, another trip to allow their sweet basset hound pup get used to the plant and animal life. The dog was currently napping at the end of his leash, tuckered out from some vigorous sniffing action. Rhy, meanwhile, had settled on a bench with a book in his lap, enjoying the slow progression of a book he had bought.

He didn't even notice the little song birds growing interested until one landed on the top of his book, tweeting at him in curiosity. The man went very still and stared at the little finch, which seemed to have no problem with his presence.

What did he do now? He didn't want to scare the thing. Oh dear.

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It was a slightly longer wait than Mono had anticipated himself. The other kid had been kinda upset about being caught, and actually getting the money back from them hadn’t been easy. It involved an unfortunate argument, and eventually a promise to show the kid where they could find some things they needed around the city later that weren’t easy to afford without money or stealing if you weren’t as used to figuring stuff out as he was.

So perhaps it wasn’t so strange that Rhy had moved away from the stand by the time he got back. Still, the kid frowned a bit. He had said he’d get it. Where did the guy go?

Slipping in and out of crowds, moving around stalls, and avoiding a couple chocobo drawn carriages, he finally spotted a familiar figure moving away. “Oi! Hey!!” He called out, one of the rare times he actually yelled. Usually raising his voice was reserved for trying to get Six’s attention, or distracting a monster, and he hadn’t really had much need to in this world since she wasn’t here and he hadn’t really needed to get someone’s attention much yet. “Mr!! Don’t you want your money?”

OH, a voice calling for money. A familiar voice. Rhy looked back over his shoulder and saw the young man. He paused and turned around to return to the boy's side.

"You came back?"

Frankly he was shocked.

Mono tilted his head up slightly, some of his face finally visible as he couldn't quite help the reaction. This guy was kind of funny, he had seemed so confused earlier... And weirdly shocked now. Did this happen to him a lot? Did people say they'd help him and then just not? That was awful...

He finally nodded, holding the money up for him to take. "Well, yeah...? I said I was gonna get your money for you. Can't give it to you unless I come back, right?"

"I thought perhaps you might keep it," Rhy admitted with a shrug. Now though he smiles and takes the money. "Come on, let's go back to the vendor and get some grapes. Then you'll get your part of the bunch."

He was going ot keep his word.

“Nah, that’s stealing, Mr. I only did that before I found out people weren’t as scary as I thought they might be.” Besides, he had a hard time finding money, so he understood that it was probably the same for other people.

The offer gets a serious nod from the kid, though. “Yeah? Thanks, I’m kinda hungry. I wasn’t sure if the shopkeeper had anything I could afford.” But he liked fruit a lot. Fresh fruit was still as much of a novelty as everything else.

Something he could afford... Oh no. Rhy's heart ached to hear it. He rushed right on over to the stand. This would not do. He'd have to message Llewellyn and tell his lover he'd be late. For now he exchanged fruit for coins and returned to the boy.

"Do you have work yet, young man?"

Mono watched Rhy rush off, rather curious about his hurrying. Instead of running after, he found a bench on the sidewalk to sit on, keeping an eye on the people around in case the man had another incident when he was paying.

When he returned with the fruit and a question, the kid shrugged. “Nah, no one really seems to hire kids here. Or... I guess I haven’t found anything I’m allowed to do. But sometimes I find people who need help with little things, and they give me coins for it?”

"Well," he says, his voice soft and thoughtful, "have you ever tried at the clothing shops? I know the one I work at is not the only one. They are often the sorts to need young men and women to run messages for appointments, to let certain parties know when new cloths or clothes are ready, and to summon people for measurements."

It wasn't much, it wasn't always, but it was a task. "And you're fast and smart. Perhaps just carrying messages."

Clothing shops…? No, Mono hadn’t thought of that. Between his dingy old trench coat and, well… The kid wasn’t even wearing shoes at the moment, he tended to avoid the nicer shops to avoid too much attention. Clothing stores looked way too nice for someone like him. But he hadn’t really thought about them needing someone to run messages and stuff… It was actually kind of funny, considering he was wearing his rather nice postman hat today.

“I could probably do that!” He tugged on the peak of the cap a little. “Do you really think they’d let me, though? Those places look kinda nice and all.”

Well it wasn't like they couldn't put him in something nice.

"See, here's the thing. Nice people? Who have lots of money to send in really nice stores? They hate running," Rhy said, and he was certain he could say it with authority. "But sometimes things have to happen at a certain time, or be told quickly. And no one wants to run or hire a chocobo because imagine the smell. No, you could probably be a runner for a variety of nice stores."

And wouldn't that make people happy? Yes, he would make a very good page boy.

That was definitely something the kid could use, who knew how long he'd been wearing the same outfit for. He'd been here for months now, without even counting how long he'd been in his world.

Well, Mono couldn't deny that Rhy sounded like he knew what he was talking about. He was a nice person who definitely didn't look like he'd enjoy running around a lot. "I'm really used to running, so I'm good at it. And I don't smell like chocobos!" Sure, his clothes were ancient looking, but the kid really liked that there were bathtubs in the apartment buildings. "I should try asking, maybe..."

"You should," Rhy agreed as he pulled out a knife to cut a large portion of the bunch of grapes free. This he then held out to the child. "People would appreciate it. Not all residents have tellphones after all."

Mono took the grapes offered, eyeing them rather excitedly. They looked so good. Yes, he liked lots of things kids liked, like candy and baked goods and stuff… But fresh fruit was going to be an experience he’d enjoy for quite some time. “That’s true, I kinda don’t like mine so if I didn’t have to have it I guess I wouldn’t… But thanks for the idea!”

He picked a grape from the bunch and ate it, looking very pleased with the flavour. “So,” He started, eating another grape. “Where do you work, Mr?” Don’t mind his lack of manners, Rhy. He tries his best, but no one’s really taught him those and he was used to wearing a bag on his head so his face was usually entirely hidden.

It probably helped that fruit was sweet too. He watched the boy, smiling.

"Me? At a clothing shop. A very nice one. I do some repairs and alterations, and I love embroidery."

The sweetness was definitely a plus in the kid’s book. He glanced up as Rhy answered, curiously. “So you make the pretty designs on clothing too?” He was pretty sure that was what embroidery was. That sounded nice, making things look a little fancier and more colourful… Everything had gotten pretty dingy and dull where he was from, so that was a nice change of pace.

Mono munched on another grape, trying to decide if he was going to ask what he wanted to next. “Do you think the clothing store you work at would like me to run messages for them?”

"I do," Rhy laughed happily. "Just the ones you can feel with your fingers, made of thread."

He actually pulled his light coat aside to show the embroidered cup and chalice on the side of his vest.

"Like this one. Gold on red. It's my family's symbol."

But if he had to think about the store, Rhy nodded. He was certain he could convince someone to take the child on.

Mono looked at the embroidery on Rhy’s vest curiously. “Your family has a symbol?” He hadn’t heard of something like that before. “What’s the symbol for? Is your family really important?” The child tilted his head a little. That at least sounded like something that an important family might have. Otherwise, he wasn’t really sure why they would have one.

But he brightened as Rhy nodded to his question. Maybe he could finally make enough coins to start paying for things! That would be nice, especially before winter came around again. Winter had not been a fun season without shoes.

"Yes, we do. It's called a crest. In my home, there are families that have crests. This is that of the Maresh family."

He smiled and at last stood up.

"I need to find my husband. Would you like to walk with me until I find him?"

“A crest… That’s kinda neat.” He tried to think of anything like that, but other than the weird doors with eyes on them and stuff, like the one on the medal of his postman hat. Mono couldn’t think of an actual example of them in his world, though. “I don’t think anyone’s got crests in our world, but I dunno for sure.” It was hard to say what traditions existed in his world before the signal tower ruined everything… At least, he was pretty sure it was the tower’s fault.

Mono slipped off the bench with a clumsy wobble as Rhy got up, before he nodded quickly. “Yeah, I can do that!” Besides, he wouldn’t want the man to get robbed again on his way through the city, who knew how often that might happen… He did tilt his head, “Is your husband the tall man with the suit and hat?” If so, this meant Mono would probably just… slip away when he caught sight of the man.

There were two things that made the kid a little (or a lot) uncomfortable since arriving. First, the hunting lodge. He would not go within ten feet of the place after what happened with the hunter in his world… As much as he wanted to visit someone who worked at it here. Second, Tall people in suits and hats. It wasn’t that he thought they were all bad people, but it was hard to not associate them with the thin man in his world who’d grabbed his friend and chased him.

"Oh!" Rhy said, delighted that Mono had figured it out. Then he nodded. "Yes, Llewellyn is mine. I'm glad he sticks in the mind. He's the sweetest thing."

Perhaps Llewellyn would know if the flower shop needed a runner."

Mono was used to paying attention to the world around him very carefully, so he found he was getting pretty good at figuring those things out. His nose scrunched a bit at ‘the sweetest thing.’ Was he? Well… Rhy seemed really nice, so he had to attract nice people… right? At least Mono hoped that was how it worked here. “So he’s um… A nice person?” He fell into step next to Rhy, fussing with the brim of his hat a bit to pull it lower as they passed by a small group of people in the market. “Because sometimes people in suits are kinda serious and scary…”

The flower shop wasn’t a bad idea, though. Mono had gotten quite close to Aerith over the last couple of months. He probably wouldn’t mind running messages for her, too.

"Very nice," Rhy agreed. "And sometimes they are really not nice people. But he's nicer than I am."

And was that really that shocking? Rhy had not always been such a good person

Mono hummed a little, “You seem pretty nice to me… But I guess people aren’t always how they seem to be.” Though he was starting to feel a little better about how people were in this world compared to his own. It was also hard to imagine Rhy as being mean, harder than it was to imagine his husband being mean… The guy should do something about his fashion sense, clearly. “They can look like nice little old ladies but be really mean and scary the minute they see you.”

He tilted his head around the market, “I guess I gotta take your word for it about him, you’d have to know since you married him.” Marriage, still an odd concept. Other than seeing the odd viewer that lived in the same apartment back in his world, he wasn’t sure he’d seen proper couples till he arrived in this world.

"People really aren't always what they seem to be," Rhy agreed. It was troublesome. But he tried to be the most positive he could be. And then there they were, coming around the corner and things were a bit better. Because he could see his tall husband from the distance.

"Very married to him, and happily so. He's so good. you can join us for lunch if you wish."

It was very troublesome, and Mono wished that it was a little bit easier to tell… It’d make his life easier. But the invitation is a tempting one, he really did like Rhy so far… And based on his glowing and firm word on the matter, Llewellyn was probably a nice man… But the kid wasn’t sure he was ready to deal with two adults at once and he was a little worried he might be weird since the man’s silhouette in the distance did remind him of someone else.

Steps lagging behind Rhy now, the kid readied himself to depart before he changed his mind on joining them for lunch. “Thanks, but I should go. I wanna check out the baker's stall since he sometimes sells me stuff he can’t sell before he closes cheaper, and I might try to figure out asking about the message carrying thing you told me about!”

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