It still makes me nervous

Hazel felt how tension filled her entire body as she stepped out of the transportation method that had brought her to the Middle Ring. It wasn’t the Upper Ring and there wouldn’t be anyone she knew around here, but it still made her nervous. Her ex-fiancée would surely stay in the Upper Ring and wouldn’t go as far as the spread rumors in the Middle Ring about her. And even so, Hazel doubted that they would recognize her, with her hair dyed black. It was a radical decision she had made, but she felt like it would be necessary. Her ex-fiancée had found out that she was in fact a druid and he had spread rumors about her in the Upper Ring. Magic was forbidden in Ashmoor and if anyone found out, she could be punished severely. That was why no one ever must find out and why she had to suppress her urges to transform as much as possible, which would be quite a hard task to do because she was so easily triggered by everything.

Her reason for coming to the Middle Ring was purely because the stores around here were safer to visit than in the Lower Ring. She had put on the clothes she had from the Upper Ring. It wouldn’t draw suspicion and she could actually go for someone who was either living in the Middle Ring or visiting from the Upper Ring. And there was still that pride she didn’t entirely want to let go of. She wasn’t a snob or anything and she despised how her ex-fiancée would look down on people, but it was hard for her to accept that she had gone from everything to almost nothing. The clothes she had from the Upper Ring were still some proof that she was once part of those people.

As Hazel hadn’t visited the Middle Ring like ever in her life, she didn’t know how well-behaved the people around here would be. She passed a few drunk men and actually flinched when one of them would whistle at her. They started shouting as soon as she ignored them and Hazel quickened her pace, wanting to get out of this back alley as fast as possible. She wasn’t keeping track of her surroundings and as she tried to get away from the men as quickly as possible, she actually managed to bump into someone once she got out of the alley.

”Sorry,” she spoke hastily. She still heard the shouting from behind her, but it was fading, luckily. Hazel tried to suppress her nervous gaze as she looked at the man in front of her, hoping he would let it go soon enough so she could continue on her way. She had to get out of this place fast, that was for sure.

@Eli Dumont

I’D LIKE TO LIVE LONG ENOUGH

Eli was on his way back from a business meeting, and in quite a hurry at that. He was holding the blueprints of something he was quite excited about and couldn’t wait to get back home to give it a try. It wasn’t particularly busy, and he knew where he was going. So it came to a surprise to him that he ran into someone.

“Careful!” was his first reaction, grabbing the papers tighter. He couldn’t afford to loose the plans, and letting go might mean that they would be blown away by the wind. His tone wasn’t necessarily rude however. He was at fault in this situation just as much as the stranger. “Are you alright?” he asked her, noticing the panicking look on her face.

TO BE SOMEONE ELSE.

The reaction of the man made her wince. Although he wasn’t necessarily being rude and the tone in his voice wasn’t something to be afraid of, it still made her scared. She quickly took a look at him, guessing that he was from the Middle Ring. But with the clothes she wore right now, someone could expect that she was from the Middle Ring or the Upper Ring as well. She had dyed her hair and changed her name, but the thought that someone would recognize her and report her to the Upper Ring still scared her to death. The church hadn’t visited her yet, but it would only be a matter of time before they would send someone to come check up on her.

The question if she was alright was answered when the panicked look on her face worsened when she heard the shouting again, this time not as faintly as it had been when she had ran out of the street. ”You should go,” she told him softly, almost with a shy hint to her voice as she looked at him. ”I don’t want you to get into trouble because of me.” And she needed to figure out a safe way to get back to the station anyway. She didn’t like the Lower Ring, but that was the only place she could imagine herself right now where she could be safe.

This wasn’t a safe place at all, she could tell that for sure.

Eli Dumont wrote:

I’D LIKE TO LIVE LONG ENOUGH

He didn’t immediately hate everyone he saw. In general, Eli was a pretty kind person. At least he thought so. He was only rude to people who were rude to him, or people who looked at him funny, or people who didn’t mind their own business. At least not people who looked like they were in distress.

Eli noticed the shouting, and noticed how the lady in front of him was alarmed by it. He was confused when she told him to go. People usually didn’t decline on the rare occasions Eli showed compassion. So his first instinct was to grab his things and go. If she didn’t want to be helped, he wouldn’t help. Except for he hesitated… there was something about her that he recognized. She looked like she was on the run from someone, and it brought Eli back to his own past, how terrified and helpless he felt. ”Come with me,” he whispered and pulled her with him. Eli didn’t run, only walking at the fast pace he had walked at before. There were enough people in the street for them to disappear into the crowd a little, and they were almost at his shop…

TO BE SOMEONE ELSE.

Hazel felt a shiver of fear ripple through her body at the thought of being left behind, even though she was the one who said he could go, who didn’t ask for help. Maybe her eyes gave a silent cry for help, but she didn’t want to speak it out loud. She didn’t want him to get involved. And she didn’t want to take the risk that he would recognize her and would link her to her family. They didn’t have a rank of nobility or anything, but they were still a pretty rich family that wouldn’t go unnoticed. There was a reason why Hazel had taken on an entirely different name. It had taken her some illegal steps to help the procedure of getting her a new passport, but it had to be done. She knew that if she wouldn’t travel a lot between the Middle and the Lower Ring that the chance that she would get find out be quite slim.

The man didn’t turn away from her, but told her to come with him. Before she was given a chance to decline, he had already grabbed her wrist. Hazel should have felt frightened because of that, but she didn’t. She instantly felt like she could trust him, but that wasn’t much to go on off because Hazel could be quite naïve when it came to trusting people. But right now he was her only hope of getting out of this unscathed, so she felt like she didn’t have another choice but following him.

The shouting behind them grew quieter and Hazel let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in. The man was dragging her towards a building that seemed to be shop. Was it his? ”Are you sure you want to do that?” she asked with a hint of alarm in her voice. ”What if they find out and come bother you in your shop? I don’t want that to happen.” Assuming that it was his shop, of course, but if she was wrong she felt like he would correct her anyway. It wasn't important for now. She felt like such a damn damsel in distress and she hated it, but she was also really appreciative of the fact that the man wanted to help her. There were still some good people in this world, it seemed.

Sometimes you just had to search hard to find them.