Lómëdor Square was a sight to behold that Sunday morning. Wooden stalls aligned the streets, laden with an abundance of food. The food’s aroma wafted temptingly in the air beneath the noses of passerby, making their stomachs growl with hunger. Children tugged their mother’s skirts, begging for the handcrafted dwarven toys on display, while their mother’s hushed them and gazed dreamily at the fine silks and jewelry their husband’s hollow pockets couldn’t possibly afford. Vendors and buyers bickered over the prices of items - sometimes elegantly sealing their deals with a smile and handshake - or swiftly ending them with harsh words and drawn knives.

Then, there were the beggars.

Or ‘street performers,’ which was generally the term Vesper used when describing her profession (or lack of one, rather).

Vesper leaned against the wall of an inn, lute tucked beneath her arm, heavily ringed fingers strumming the instruments strings in a pleasant tune. She normally preferred dancing and performing magic tricks for children over playing music and singing, but was currently suffering from a nasty hang over, due to her – ah – exploits at various taverns the night before. Vesper was certain that if she attempted to dance right now, she’d do so with the grace of an angry, one-legged dwarf. The amusing imagery brought a smile to her lips, but it faded once she realized the empty case beside her bare feet was devoid of tips. No one dropped a single, bloody coin for her to buy a piece of bread with. Strumming her lute wasn’t enough to garner the attention of the shoppers mulling about the plaza; she supposed she’d have to give in and sing.

”Walking the streets of Lómëdor Square
I once saw a woman, so pale and fair
With jewels for eyes and gold for hair
She captured men’s hearts with simply a stare…”

Vesper had a strong voice for a woman and it carried over the chatter of people gathered near stalls close by. Some of them peered up at her with interest and others glared at her for the disruption her music caused. At least she was no longer being ignored.

Luces stood quietly on the curb of Lómëdor's Square. With 610 coins jingling in his pocket, he quietly thought of Amzela, like he always did for the last 14 years. Every Sunday. But the streets were full, unlike the quiet Thursdays where he would go out and seek for more attention. As long as he had, he never quiet thought of what it would be like for a Thursday to be like this. He thought long and hard at the thought of children romping through the forest singing loudly. He snapped to attention when he heard a woman sing above the hub-bub. As he quietly transfered the song in his head, he smiled, and added:

"Walking though the streets of Lómëdor Square,
I once saw a man so lonely and teared,
He got so drunk that he ran into a bear,
Which spun him into to this lady so pale and fair."

He gave a small smile and wondered what would this woman say next. He wondered who she was, where she came from, and what she was doinging here, singing as loud as day.

He didn't even know why he was here. Yet somehow, here he was. In broad daylight in the middle of the capital town of Arda, Lómëdor. Usually, he'd be out in the middle of nowhere, hunting down a group of Orcs for the sport, or burning an Elven village to the ground. He planned on doing the same here, but not yet. He felt that something...interesting was about to happen. So he continued to walk down the street full of curious and fearful people. Excited children pointed at Denzel's bare chest and were wowed by his many ancient rune tattoos. Their mothers held them close, turning their heads away as their eyes scanned the stone streets, not daring to make eye contact. His katana, Gwath'Tál, was strapped firmly across his back, the handle poking out at his right side so that his dominant hand could draw it with ease. He would need it soon. His crimson eyes narrowed as he heard a group of footsteps steadily grow louder behind him.

"Oh...seems I've been recognized..." Denzel muttered as he peered back to see a group of shabby looking men and trolls rushing at him, wielding blunt sticks and short swords. They had a desperate look about them.

"That's him! The man with a twenty thousand gold piece bounty on his head! Bloodspill!"

"Aw, I'm flattered, have they really raised it that much?" Denzel asked in mock curiosity and affection, before ramming an elbow into the closest human scum. He flew into his partner and slammed against the floor. His other two comrades, both Trolls, looked from them to Denzel. Denzel stepped forward and drew his katana. A moment later he was behind the two Trolls with his blade extended, blood dripping from it's surface. The Trolls cried out as they gripped their chests and fell to their knees, and then face forward. Usually, Denzel would kill them, but he didn't feel in the mood to slaughter. Instead, he had knocked the Trolls out, and the Humans were already scurrying away. Everyone else had already ran away screaming, their loud cries drowning out the lyrics of a beggar woman's song as Denzel sheathed his blade.

"Damn Humans, it sounded like it'd actually be a decent tune..."

Vesper was about to divulge into the next verse of her song, when she heard a passerby do so for her. Momentarily caught off-guard by the sound of another singing voice, Vesper registered her smoky gray eyes on the man’s smiling face. She studied him quietly for a second, before her own lips parted into a smile. She took his melodic response as a challenge, to see if she was quick-witted enough to come up with something to sing back at him.

”In his fright, the lonely man careened,
Upon falling down, the fair maiden screamed,
He landed atop her, the clumsy fiend,
They were destined to meet, or so it seemed.”

The bard was rather enjoying herself; she couldn’t remember feeling quite so happy without the help of a tall glass of ale in a long time. Her sudden bout of joy was increased when she saw a few people inch toward her, coin purses bestowed. Vesper knew it was only a matter of time before others began recognizing her many talents and – more importantly – tipped her for them.

But, as was most often the case in Vesper’s life, it was also only a matter of time before her small gleam of hope faded away. Her potential tippers halted in mid-step, widened their eyes, shrieked and ran away in a herd of other frightened people. Vesper thought the apocalypse finally dawned upon Arda and prepared to scurry away herself, but once the plaza was clear she realized what scared her tippers and everyone else off. The fallen, bloody bodies of a human and two trolls sprawled across the ground, with a rather demonic looking elf towering over them and victoriously sheathing his sword.

“URGH!” Vesper yelled, balling the hand not carrying her instrument into a fist and pumping it threateningly into the air. “Stupid, arrogant elf! You scared away all my tippers!” Vesper knew he wasn't a full-blooded elf and had something mixed in him, something dark, but she was too flustered to identify him in a politically correct manner. He was the reason she'd be starving tonight! Now how was she going to afford supper, much less something to drink? She was so close, so very close, but life ended up sticking its foot up her bum again, and in the end she was left with absolutely nothing. Vesper let out a stringent of swearwords that would’ve made a sailor’s ears tinge pink and lowered her lute into its case. Its empty case.

Thal hadn't seen a market square this crowded in a long time. The streets were flooded wtih people, old and you, small and large. They all bustled around, going about their daily business, oblivious to the world around them. Thal loved watching commonders going about their lives. It showed him what he was missing in life, and frankly, he didn't want any part of it. It was all too... normal. The Elf didn't feel like he could handle normal. He was much better at getting chased by armies of undead than he was at food shopping.

So it was that the Elf sat on a roof above the square, simply observing the scene before him. As he sat, he heard a bard begin to play a tune. Then another answered her song with a verse of his own.

It's like dueling lutes, Thal thought. He rather enjoyed music, especially good music. As he sat, watching the market, a red-haired Elf decided that he would attack a small group of men and trolls. He was about to slide down the roof to kill the demonic Elf and collect the reward, when the Bard began to yell at the attacker.

“Stupid, arrogant elf! You scared away all my tippers!”

Ah, she can handle herself for now, Thalinis thought, as he lay back to watch the events underneath him unfold.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
((OOC: Sorry for the crap post everybody))

Luces smiled happily at the girl. It had been a long time since he remember anyone such as jolly as this one. But when a cry of panic shot through the air, he was on his feet again, in the world of reality. The lupine jumped up and started to follow the people when heard;

Stupid, arrogant elf! You scared away all my tippers!

Luces jumped again and started to push his way through the crowd to the woman with the lute. He then saw the reason. Dead. The putrid thought of the dead made Luces go mad. As being a lupine, he was usually thought of as a howling monster, probably by most people. He was certaintly acting like one now, howling at the sun. He frowned at what he did.
'Get yourself togeather!'
He stopped. Turning around to face the murder and drew his cross bow. He wondered who this was, but he was going to face him.

A sinister laugh echoed throughout the entire area as Denzel let the words of the Bard sink in. She was yelling. At him. She was truly blinded by her anger, for only a fool would yell at Denzel. He sheathed his blade and stepped over the downed bodies of the Trolls as he made his way over to the girl. He was still chuckling under his breath from her little outburst.

"You stupid, arrogant elf! You scared away all my tippers!"

"You expect me to let gold-scrounging fools simply attack me for my Bounty because YOU want a few shillings!? Get your mind right, woman!" Denzel snarled as he now stood a few feet away from the girl, watching as he placed her instrument back in it's case. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and gripped them into fists as he prepared to knock some sense into her, before he heard the strain of a bow from behind him. He perked a brow and turned slightly to see a man standing a close distance away, his crossbow raised and aimed at Denzel, who sneered at the attempt.

"Do you really have the courage to fire that at me? Soru!" Denzel said, before muttering an incantation. He rushed forward with his heightened speed, his body turning into a streak of colors as the Blur spell set into motion. In a manner of seconds, he was at the man's stomach, a fist enclosed to slam into his gut and fling him into the nearest building. He only had a split second to dodge such a fast assault.

Luces smiled as he heard what the man had said. But his smiled disappeared in a quick moment as the man used the obvious blur spell. Letting him charge, he stepped aside. He smiled quietly at the man when he stopped. Smoothing down his dark brownish azure fur, he set his dark gaze on him.
"What are you doing here?"
Waiting quietly for his reply, he fiddled for something in his mind. He caught the last of his speech.
"The Covenant? Tell me more about this thing."


(Denzel~ I have gotten your offer. When I post as that, I mean yes I'll join.)