[center][h3]--- [i]Center of Town[/i] ---[/h3]
[h2][i][b][color=6ecff6]Rinn Arniman[/color][/b][/i][/h2]
Interactions: [@xaltwind], [@ERode][/center]
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[color=f26522][b]TRIGGER WARNING - Parental abuse in the second paragraph.[/b]
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[color=6ecff6]"I can... assure you... m'lady..."[/color] Rinn panted through the bitter ache in joints he didnt even know he had. [color=6ecff6]"My stamina... is far better suited... for other tasks."[/color] He might have even put a wink on the statement if he wasn't too tired to blink. When the rather fiery wife departed and the oxen husband stepped outside, the foppish bard let out a long, agonized groan while the wooden table left deep (and rather comical) furrows in his forehead. For the briefest moment, in the near-ruins of a long forgotten home, the charade slipped and Rinn was forced to wonder what the hell he was doing here at the edge of the world surrounded by a rag-tag bunch of strangers and outcasts. He wasn't a settler, certainly not a homesteader, yet his blasted feet had brought him all this way for... something?

[i][color=f7976a]"Your mother and I have given you EVERYTHING, you ungrateful worm!" [/color]Spittle flew from his fathers mouth as he struck him again, the ornate ring on his hand leaving a bloody gash on the side of the boy's face. [color=f7976a]"We ask only that you REPAY our kindness by marrying the youngest De'Torant and yet you have the AUDACITY to balk at such fortune!"[/color] Rinn looked up at his father from where he lay sprawled on the wooden floor. These had been the most words his father had spoken to him in neary 5 years yet the sheer magnitude of contempt in that cold gaze still managed to cut something deep inside. [color=f7976a]"You will do as I say or I will see you in the gutter by sundown, mark my words boy."[/color] For a moment, Rinn thought he might be struck again but his father simply turned back to the desk and waved a dismissive hand. [color=f7976a]"Now you will thank me for dedicating such efforts to you and then... you will get out of my sight."[/color][/i]

Rinn replayed the memory for the umpteeth time, one delicate hand tracing the cheek where the wound had been. In his mind's eye he tried out a new reply, this time a string of colorful curses that exposed his father for the hypocrite that he was while drawing a rather apt comparison to the rear end of a boar. It was, of course, just a hollow fantasy as the words [color=6ecff6][i]'Thank you, father'[/i][/color] still burned on his lips all these weeks later.

The couple swept back into the room and Rinn folded the memory back into the recesses of his mind. The box of dishware was safe and sound and a surely terrifying Sheryl had been narrowly avoided by the cowed husband whose honest and timid smile somehow made him even more attractive in comparison to his massive frame. A third individual nearly sprinted past, a human girl who appeared to be a few years younger than he was, and Rinn summoned what little energy he had and forced himself to only slightly-shaking feet. His brilliant smile betrayed not the hint of weariness or distress as he slung the vielle over his shoulder. [color=6ecff6]"Your hospitality has been a ray of sunlight on a dreary day, but I'm afraid I simply must step out and stretch these aching muscles!"[/color] He walked quickly to the door and was out, taking only a moment to close his eyes and feel the sunlight on his face before speeding after the girl who was already several meters ahead. He came up beside her, narrowly ducking beneath the swinging pickaxe head as she seemed to observe the nearby structures. [color=6ecff6]"Have you, by chance, found any clues as to what happened to the... previous residents of this fine village?"[/color]