#ed1717
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Sept 9, 2017 19:51:41 GMT
5
Lev
191
August 2015
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Post by Lev on Jul 3, 2016 3:16:27 GMT
Thick orange curls sprouted slowly from behind brown crates and wicker baskets that were settled in the rear of Silva’s Sundries, underneath the shade of red and orange tarps strung with dangling herbs that were left to dry. The stained boxes were filled with reddish-purple vegetables that had hard skins and smelled like sour dirt. Colorful feathers with wispy pins and long prickly spines sprung out of the woven baskets in every direction, luring fishing eyes to their brilliant display and their even greater sale price. This was Corriane’s jungle. She scanned the exotic land with theatrical expressions, trying to pretend she were some powerful predator on the hunt for game, but the day was slow… There were no ankles to grab, pants to tug, or picking hands to snap at. The poor girl’s imagination was starving!
Her sisters were off handling chores- all but Elise who didn’t want to go with Vivienne to the butcher shop. That was fine with Cori; the smell made her stomach tumble around, too. Instead she was put to work with Silva until the errands were finished. The shop-owner enjoyed the company. Dangerous for little girls to wander the city, she’d said! Corriane was impartial to the older woman. All she knew was that the lady with horses was her daughter, and that she smelled like something spicy mixed with crushed up flowers from the cemetery. And she wasn’t little! Suddenly an encumbered morsel hobbled into view. Both of the prey’s hands were occupied with a distracting task. The small predator’s window of opportunity was small, so she acted fast. Two quick leaps after slinking out from behind the wicker baskets and SNAP!
“Cori, stop it!” Elise yelped angrily. The open package she was carrying had nearly spilled over onto the dusty trodden floor. “Go play somewhere else.”
“Viv said we have to wait here,” Corriane reminded, flouncing about in the exaggerated fashion of distaste that children do. Elise did not seem to care. She took Corriane’s hand and lead her toward the foot traffic beyond the tarped cover of the shop.
“Go play by the fountain- down there.”
“Mrs. Silva says it’s not safe.” The littlest DeCarlisle shelved her hands on her hips with condescending sass. She obviously knew more than her big sister did.
“There aren’t enough people for it to be dangerous today,” Elise persuaded. “It’ll be more fun there. You can scream if you need help.” Safety personified.
After a convoluted debate of right and wrong and you-take-the-blame-if-I-get-in-trouble, the carrot-top scurried through the thin crowd and found a seat at the edge of the small stone fountain. A tiny yellow flower was growing against the weighty odds between a crack at the fountain’s base. Corriane paid little homage to the plant’s struggle and plucked it for her own sake. One by one she tore off the little petals, singing a song while she walked in a circle along the fountain’s edge.
“Oh, my twitchy-witchy girl, I think you are so sweet. I’ll give you bowls of porridge, and I’ll give you bowls of wheat- Cream~
I’ll give you lots of kisses. I’ll give you lots of hugs. But I’ll never give you soup that’s made With slimy worms and b-“
An unexpected shade washed over the little girl like a streak of black paint across the ground. She’d been singing for so long that the day had turned to night! This was child’s logic, mind you. Everything became frighteningly clear when Corriane turned her upward to look at the sky. Hazel eyes swelled to the size of dinner plates to absorb the whole sight of it. The sun was still there… but a giant had swallowed it up.
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Maur
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October 2015
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Post by Maur on Jul 3, 2016 4:04:46 GMT
It had been a normal day all things considered, Gurath had been hired to protect a trade caravan before the sun rose, and now in the early evening he had a replenished pouch of coin jangling at his belt as he strolled through the market, he hoped to procure a meal, and the scent in his nostrils told him this was as good a place as any. The armored goliath navigated his way to nearby stall that was selling baked goods, he bought three apple pastries, two for now and one for later, then he bought a roasted leg of turkey from a hunter, and began looking for a place where he could sit and eat his meal without anyone seeing his face. Currently the behemoth wore a thick metal helmet that covered his entire head, it was useful not only in combat but also for keeping his hideous visage hidden from the world, he was certain that every man, woman, and child present would scream should they lay eyes on his naked face, it was a nuisance, but it was also the hand he was dealt and he had learned to live with it.
Gurath Salany, known to those who knew him, they being few, as Gurath the Executioner, lived in a very simple world, he ate when he was hungry, he slept when he was tired, and fought when he was attacked. Which in his line of work was quite often.
In his search for a quiet nook to call his own, Gurath decided to walk by a nearby fountain, purely for the serene sound of falling water. As he approached it he noticed a little girl playing at its base, picking flower petals without a care in the world, he chuckled lowly to himself, he had always had a fondness for children, they were for the most part honest, and brutally so, he wished more adults could share the trait. Although the giant was hungry he was also dying for some honest conversation, the Divines only knew if the child would converse with him or run screaming to her parents at his approach, regardless, he walked closer.
The giant approached behind the little girl, he thought she would hear him much sooner than she did, but she was not aware of him until he was a mere two feet from her. The child turned as the massive figure cast her world into shadow, and looked up at him. "Hello," Gurath said, his voice as friendly as he could make it, thinking quickly he knelt on one knee to be closer to her world, although he still towered over the young one, and set all of his food to the side, save for one of his pastries which he offered to the fiery haired child, "Hungry?" He asked, hopeful.
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#ed1717
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Sept 9, 2017 19:51:41 GMT
5
Lev
191
August 2015
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Post by Lev on Jul 3, 2016 13:27:53 GMT
Corinne had never seen a person so big before. Even her big brother was dwarfed in size by the thick tree of a man that towered over her now. Was it a man? A dingy metal helmet covered his head, glistening just a little in the afternoon light that sparkled off of the fountain water. Six crude holes were punched across the front of it. The little girl stared wearily at them, imagining a tremendous spider with eyes so small and sunken in that they disappeared into its skull. It made her uncomfortable knowing that the giant was looking right at her when she couldn't see his face. She was supposed to scream. Why wouldn't her mouth remember how to do it?!
"Hello," it said. It was too late to call for help now. It was already moving to catch her, changing size with a smooth shift to bended knee. Corriane couldn't help recoiling just a bit, her childish mind picturing a chopped tree falling to crush her. "Hungry?"
What was that divine looking thing? She smelled sugared apples! Inside of the big man's tough, calloused hand was a soft glazed pastry that Corriane would've needed two hands to hold. The clenching feeling in her stomach started to feel less like fear and more like hunger. She was terribly tempted to accept the offering, but the scent of the man's meat was tugging her nose like an annoying reminder. How could she be sure it was animal meat? What if that was the leg of another little kid just like her- but chubbier?! Could all of those scary stories about trolls and monsters using little bones for toothpicks be true? Willem had certainly raise some cautious girls..
But she was still a child. "Is it poisoned so you can kidnap me and cook me later?" She wasted no time getting right to the point.
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October 2015
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Post by Maur on Jul 6, 2016 1:19:56 GMT
Hunger flashed across the little girl's face, but then it was replaced with a healthy skepticism. It was an interesting question, Gurath glanced down at the pastry, he didn't make it, how could he be sure it was not poisoned? he could not attest to its toxicity.
But he did know that he had no intention of kidnapping or eating the child. "No." He said simply, and sat the pastry to the side, "Take it if you want." Gurath rose from his kneeling position and sat on the rim of the fountain as he sighed with relief, it had been a long day and the giant wanted nothing more than to tear into his pheasant, but doing so would mean removing his mask. The decision was a hard one, scare the child away with the sight of his face, or not eat his meal while it was hot... If the kid had not run screaming by then she should have probably been spared his visage. The half-giant turned his helmeted head to the bright haired girl. "I am Gurath, what's your name?"
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#ed1717
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Sept 9, 2017 19:51:41 GMT
5
Lev
191
August 2015
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Post by Lev on Jul 8, 2016 3:02:21 GMT
"Take it if you want."
Of course she wanted! The little girl's eyes were glossed over with the same syrup that dressed the fruity pastry, and the void in her stomach started to take the sweet treat's shape. The giant man- Gurath, he said his name was- set the offering down on the other side of him. Corriane would have to step off of the fountain edge, walk around Gurath's legs, and hop back onto the fountain at the other side to get it.. Was the prize worth the unpredictable outcome? Yes. Yes it was. He said he wasn't interested in eating her, after all! Maybe giants weren't interested in skinny little girls, only chubby children with too much meat on their bones who couldn't run away fast enough.
"Thank you, Goorath." Corriane tip-toed around Gurath like a timid stray trying to steal some scrap. When she reached the other side, filled with a sense of accomplishment, she situated herself with her legs criss-crossed and started to munch happily on her reward. "My name is Corriane," she answered with a mouth full of food. "My sisters call me Cori. That's short for Corriane," she told him. Then she swallowed. "It's not spelled with a 'y' like a boy's name," she told him. "It's spelt with an 'i' like a girl's name."
The smell of the cooked pheasant mingled with the sweetness of Corriane's dessert, so much that she couldn't help sneaking a hungry peek at the dark pink flesh and the grilled skin. She leaned closer to Gurath to get a better look over his large arms. She had to stretch her back all the way! His muscles were as thick as her neck. How did her get them all so big?
"How are you going to eat that with your funny helmet on?" The question lingered in the air for a moment. "Can I have it if you don't eat it? Please," she added quickly, remembering the manners that were taught to her.
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inherit
37
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Maur
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October 2015
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Post by Maur on Jul 13, 2016 2:46:22 GMT
She regarded him as if he were a sleeping beast, and she might wake him at any moment, but the child was daring, and she deftly hopped off the side of the fountain as she gave Gurath a wide berth, and mounted the wall on the other side of him. The little girl thanked him, the half-giant responded with a subtle nod of his helmeted head, she probably didn't see him, yet at the same time she must have not been very interested in his response, so long as she could get her hands on that pastry.
The child crossed her legs beneath her and plopped down near him, eating her baked good as many children often did, hastily. Gurath glanced at the sky in a brief moment between the small one's words, and began to regret his decision of conversation, if only slightly. She answered his question, Corianne, it was an unusual name, certainly one he had never heard before. But there were many names he had never heard before, on one of his adventures he met a man named Undarion, that was also a peculiar name, one he had not heard before or since. "That's great," he idly said while she informed him of the correct pronunciation, and one of her nicknames.
The young one was anything but subtle, she strained her back to see the grilled pheasant Gurath held over his mammoth arms, the large man watched through one of the holes in his helmet as she drew nearer. The orange haired girl asked him how he would eat his meal, and called his helmet funny. Before she had even asked for it Gurath moved to hand her his pheasant, if he wouldn't be eating it, someone should, plus, she said please, so it was nigh impossible to not give it to her. Gurath sat the steaming meat down next to Corianne, and began to wonder why she did not have an adult with her. Did not miniature humans often have bigger ones with them? Where was hers?
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