Forest Inn

@Jay Park (P) "No I just suddenly turned all wet," Hyungseok said quite sassy but then laughed. "Quite heavy, to be honest. The drobs even hurt." He shook his head slightly and chuckled.
"We will survive it."
He smiled slightly and nodded. "Yeah, no wonder." He chuckled and took a sip from his hot chocolate.
He was surprised when Jay noticed his facial change and smiled then. "No worries. I am just feeling cold," he then said. No surprise.

@Park Hyungseok (P) "It's raining outside???" Jay blinked and looked before seeing it was indeed. He chuckled softly knowing he was oblivious to everything when t came to food and sleep. "They kind of remind me of my crew so loud, mine is probably drunk right now somewhere." He shook his head and hummed softly seeing the boys face change slightly. "You okay there?" He asked

@Jay Park (P) "Wet," Hyungseok said referring to his clothes. Outside the rainstorm was still going on so it really was no surprise. At least slowly his clothes started drying. It was about time, he didnt want to end up with pneumonia.
"They are, sadly," he then said and grimaced, looking at his crew. He wasn't happy anymore. These guys had turned into s, disrespectful and dirty men - surely, pirates were like this but the sad thing was they hadnt been like this before. This was kind of new. And it was disappointing. They once had been so honorable.

@Park Hyungseok (P) "So how have you been?" He asked before blinking as he looked over the shoulder and seen one of the guards calling his name. He shrugged and went back to eating and drinking the alcohol he had ordered. "Don't tell me these loud ones are your crew..." He said chuckling softly. He looked around the group of pirates and it kinda sorta reminded him of his own group, that is probably drunk off their asses somewhere or on their ship. He let out a loud yawn before spinning himself so he could face the boy name Hyungseok.

@Jay Park (P) Hyungseok chuckled quietly, smiling softly. The other seemed to be no enemy, at least no one that was planning to attack them here and that already was quite good.
"It is nice to meet you, Jay," the young pirate said and bowed a bit, showing the other a soft smile. "My name? Hyungseok," he then hummed and tilted his head. He hadn't heard about a guy named Jay - judging from the looks the other surely was a pirate too. But Hyungseok was careful with judgements.

@Park Hyungseok (P) Hearing someone talk to him, he turned around and grinned. "Of course I did... " He said glancing at the other pirate up and down before ordering a drinkfor himself since he needed to wash the food down. He grinned softly. "I am Jay... What's your name?" He asked realizing close they were and how he didn't notice the boy before. Maybe he was to busy shoving food down his throat and sleeping to pay attention.

@Kyungri (B) Hyungseok had an answer an answer to the question what difference it made but he didn't want to say it out loud. He didn't want to show even more vulnerability than he had already shown. He knew that, up to now, he could trust Kyungri but he knew they both had some secrets hidden and sometimes maybe it was better to keep them hidden for some more.
"For me it makes a difference." As long as he wsnt caught up in a cold dungeons up in a castle again or by the marine he was fine with it. He got regular meals, a shower and the owner was nice. And he was safe here. At least as safe as possible.

"What about we dye or cut your hair?" Hyungseok then asked softly. "There isnt much we can do but maybe it helps and it makes it harder for them to recognize you?"
Hyungseok was good in hiding and running away but he wasn't sure of Kyungri. What he had seen by now was impressive but he wasnt sure if it was so easy. "Maybe some boyish clothes as well? A hat or beanie?" He had enough clothes he could lend her, so why not? It was worth a try, wasnt it?

"Anywhere is fine but... lets not go to Ferric."
Ferric was a beautiful kingdom, prospering and a good trading place but it also held so many shadows and memories, secrets that Hyungseok wanted to keep away. If they went there they would eat him up and he surely would end up paranoid.
"I am from Ferric and no matter how great the kingdom is, lets keep away from it. They would recognize me too easily." He took a shaky breath and smiles. So they would leave the next morning. They needed to pack some food and water, stuff for the way as he wasnt sure of they would be able to find inn's and pub's everywhere. And a blanket. This time of the year had quite some windy and cold nights.

@Park Hyungseok (P) Sighing, the woman stood from her perch on the bed and began pacing around the room, one arm folded over her waist as the other brought her fingers up to her lips, nibbling at the tips listlessly before she came to a stop by the window.
"What difference does it make if we're to be locked up and kept here for all this time? Honestly, what different does it make to us? I can't stand this, this is no life for us, human or beast, its no life!" The room shook slightly when the woman lost her patience and her voice raised, one of her hands gripping around as the other pressed her fingertips against her skull. It wasn't often that she became angry like this, but push her into a corner enough and those powers the old, erse men had made her tune in on and refine into her own... well something was bound to break and or snap.

The dust settled and another sigh came from Kyungri, this time one of defeat as she knew there was nothing to try and reason with her friend any more. He'd given her a reason why he couldn't return and she was in no position to force him into doing anything he didn't want to, that wasn't her nature.
"Alright. Alright we won't go back. We'll... travel, like you suggested. But first things first, we need to get out of Hayde if we're gong to progress at all. We move at first light, okay?" Turning back to Hyungseok, the priestess stepped up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding onto the man quietly with her face pressed against his shoulder blade. She was terrified to say the least, frightened out of her mind with the prospect she might not be able to run fast as she would need to one day and perhaps be caught, recognised and returned as the shamed priestess.

"We'll do this, but together... I've got no one else but you." She had her own ghosts, skeletons in the closet she was yet to tell Hyungseok about but she knew the man at least suspected as much from her. She wasn't the lively and bright type of woman they'd come across now and then or ones the man had perhaps already met. Nevertheless, she'd work on on readying herself for the time he'd ask her those questions she'd been fearing the answer of for so long now.

@Kyungri (B) “Do you think being a pirate will safe us? Do you think turning back to my old crew will be better than this?” Hyungseok’s voice was soft but shaky. He shook his head, closing his eyes slightly. He had never liked the life as a pirate, had only joined this crew because his friend had done it – gosh, they had been children and there had been no other choice to survive. Children on the street were already dead the second they decided to live there but pirates and bandits had always lovingly taken young children in. And Hyungseok had been one of them. If his father could see what had become of him – good that Hyungseok hated the man as much as he hated him.

“We can’t go back. They will harass you more than they already did with others, they will threaten you and once they got everything of you they will throw you away or try to break you. And I won’t let them do that.” He shook his head and looked at her, fear in his dark, brown eyes. “If you don’t like travelling then maybe we can go somewhere else. I can work.” He had been working a lot whenever they had been on land, sometimes it had only been days, sometimes even weeks. He had done good jobs and he had contacts everywhere – but those were people who didn’t know he was a pirate, a wanted one, and as soon as they would know it, they would surely sell him to the soldiers. That had already happened a lot to him.

“I only joined the crew back then because of my friend. And ever since she died… the crew ed up. It is a bunch of drunken, disrespectful and dirty men with no honor. All I wanted was to get away but… but I… betraying my own men is hard. I was the one that stayed the longest with them and loyalty means a lot to me. They are a wreck. I gave up.” And that was horrible for a person like but the people he had cared for had left as well, had left the crew because it had lost its dignity. It was sad.
“Please don’t make me go back,” he whispered, looking at Kyungri with helpless but pleading eyes. “We can do whatever you want but don’t make me go back there.”

@Park Hyungseok (P) And there it was, the answer she'd just been waiting to hear since she had been running with Hyungseok, the real answer, how he didn't want to go back for his own reasons. She didn't want to pry but she had thought, she had hoped he'd overcome it and let her find the ship or in the very least, hint as to why he had no desire to return to what many men she thought would have envied him for. Sighing gently to herself, Kyungri the medallion she wore around her neck, the necklace that had fallen from its resting place atop her bosom when she'd had her initial collision, meeting, with the pirate.

"Hyungseok-" the woman was losing her patience, a frown furrowing her brows together as she reached out for the knife the man had been mindlessly sharpening, her long fingers wrapping over the man's own before she looked into his orbs. She searched his honest eyes for an answer she would be willing to accept but as usual, found none. He was as steeled and as guarded as she was, which made it hard when trying to convey anything between the two of them, despite it only being weeks, he was the first person she'd come to know out of confinement, he meant a lot to her. Even if she meant little to him.
"Listen to me. There's no life on the road. Travel from kingdom to kingdom and its always going to be the same, I promise that to you. I may have only been behind walls for all of my life, but its taught me enough."

Sighing softly she knew she may as well have been talking to a brick wall, there was no use yet she still wanted to break the man out of this vicious cycle. Times like these she wondered if she'd have to leave him for the best of things to happen between them, but then again, she couldn't bring herself to do more than think about leaving his side.
"Hyungseok, this... is no life for us. What is it? What is it that ails you? Talk to me..." Kyungri begged of her friend, her green orbs shining softly in the dim lighting of the room, nothing but openness and understanding in her orbs.

@Kyungri (B) Hyungseok sighed and shook his head while sharpening one of his daggers. Over the last weeks it had lost his sharpness and was nothing compared to his other dagger. He looked at Kyungri - they had been staying here for quite a while now and it wasn't the best place to stay but for now they were safe here, especially from soldiers, so he was very grateful. Plus they got food regularly which had been something Hyungseok wasn't used to.

"Honestly... I dont think they are still here," he then explained and put the dagger away, looking at Kyungri with a soft gaze. "And... and I don't really want to go back," he whispered quietly. He had tried to tell it to her over the last two weeks but he had never been able to. He once had loved his crew and the former captain but it was only memories and ghosts and Hyungseok felt anything but comfortable and safe with a crew that kept threatening its own members. Once his crew had been honorable, different from all the other crews: surely they had been looking for treasures but never had they killed without a reason, never had they taken more food or water or other goods than they needed but now all that was left was a mess with a disgusting captain that just wanted him dead.

The young pirate chewed on his lip and took a shaky breath.
"I don't... I don't want you to find that ship," he then whispered. "Especially you... you shouldnt go anywhere near this ship." He was worried for Kyungri's health, for Kyungri's life. These pirates would probably take what they could get and then kill her if there was nothing left to get from her.
"We... maybe we can find a different way of living, maybe just travelling sounds good too?" He smiled weakly and looked at Kyungri, hoping she wasn't angry and instead would understand him.

@Park Hyungseok (P) It had been some time since Kyungri had met her... what was she to call him? A partner? A friend, ha, she didn't know what that was, perhaps she never did. For now she'd call him Hyungseok, or pirate, that was his name and occupation after all... The two had taken to an inn, not long after they'd run into one another they'd learned that they'd shared a similar fate, on the run from a cause that wanted to keep and cage them. The inn was nothing more than an old hag's home, homely and comfortable, of course but it lacked any sense of freedom the two of them might be looking for together.

One, maybe two weeks had passed since the priestess had escaped from her entrapment, no longer made to rise early in the morning and go through the rituals that had been enforced on her. She no longer had to do any of it, Hayde would soon be a thing of the past as soon as the two of them could manage to find an escape, if only they could find where his ship had docked. Kyungri didn't blame the pirate, where they were was a large island and for pirates... well they never wanted to make themselves be known, especially with so many authorities around.

The priestess currently sat opposite Hyungseok, sitting atop the small bed the two of them had rented together, a single room was the only thing they had money enough for, her legs folded in front of her as the man seemed to be carving something - no, sharpening a knife.
"Let me go out... I'm sure if you just let me go on my own I'd be able to find the ship for you. I have abilities taught to me from a young age but, I'm not strong enough to use them on the both of us. And we can't just sit here. I'm going to go mad" The woman sighed, putting her head on her hand before she glanced back at the man from under her lashes.

@Jay Park (P) At first Hyungseok watched with worry how the stranger suddenly fell asleep - to the outside it looked as if he dropped dead but Hyungseok could see him breathing as he was sitting quite close. He tilted his head slightly and furrowed his eyebrows - and then the man woke up again, startling Hyungseok.
If he wasn't with his crew he would have laughed out loud. This man seemed to be full of surprises and sleep was something that came easily to him. At least so it seemed to Hyungseok.

"Slept well?" he asked when the other people disappeared again in confusion. He smiled and took a sip from his hot chocolate. He really still felt cold but the warm liquid seemed to warm him up from the inside.
He wasnt sure why but he wanted to start a conversation with the man only a meter away from him - if he reached out he could touch the messy strands on the head of the other from falling asleep suddenly.

@Park Hyungseok (P) Jay had left his crew back on the ship, they were most likely somewhere causing mayhem. He went to the local inn and order plates of food after food. It was much more noisy today mainly because some of the other pirates decided to hang here, a lot of people had left due to it. Except him, he was used to it and the tattoo on his chest kind of proved why he was used to it, he looked up at the owner and gave him a sheepish grin and he sighed getting another plate.
Jay felt someone looking at him but before he could acknowledge the person he fell asleep in his position. He yawned widely and continued to sleep, ignoring around hm. When the owner came he blinked and poked Jay a few times and some other people surrounded him. "Is he did? Did he eat to his death?" Some people murmured. Just then out of no where he instantly woke up and some people jumped alarm as he started eating again.

@Jay Park (P) Hyungseok felt extremely uncomfortable. Ever since his crew had be honorable, respectful, treated people with the right kindness and the right harshness but then the former captain had died and here they were misbehavior at its best. And at the very front, the new captain and the new members of the crew.

The young pirate tried to hide himself in front of his huge cup – while everyone else was having beer or some other, stronger alcohol he was here, drinking a nice hot chocolate. It had been raining outside and Hyungseok was sitting a bit away from the rest of his crew, close to the chimney in hope his wet clothes would eventually dry.

It only took a few minutes and every other guest aside from his crew had left. They were loud, unfriendly and even though the owner of the pub would be happy at the end of the day – drunken people gave horrendous tips after all – he didn’t look too please. And Hyungseok could definitely understand it. A soft sigh left his lips and he tried to hide himself in his clothes that slowly warmed up to the fire, when he noticed someone. A guy not too far away from him that didn’t seem to be as bothered by the rudeness of his crew.

A little bit confused Hyungseok blinked and kept his eyes on the guys, wondering what was happening in his head. The young pirate was sitting close enough to the stranger to ask him but somehow Hyungseok wasn’t sure what to say or if he would start a fight with any word he would say. He had gotten careful over the years, especially when there was alcohol. Still, Hyungseok was damn curious.

@Kim Nahee (RC) .

A bar of gold was resting on the same spot Nichkhun's bronze dagger disappeared. It was wrapped in a filthy tattered cloth, halfway sunk in a mud pile, housed by a pile of rocks beside a shallow creek. It stood a few miles from one of Nichkhun's hideout in Hayde and a few meters from where he was stationed.

The mute bandit hid himself on the higher parts of the forest. He sat impatiently on a thick branch that can seemingly hold a couple of men, tending several wounds caused by freshwater leeches. Using a moldy teabag he stole from the forest inn nearby, he carefully pinched the punctured skin, letting the blood ooze before pressing the soaked teabag on the swollen surface.

Once in a while, Nichkhun would lazily look up to check the bar of gold.

He made several assumptions: Hesna's Bloody Barret, Sindo's Simon Underwood, Ferric's Killian Fleet, or even his greatest rival in his region, Pyrope's Lock Silver. All were bandits. All knew each other. They consider themselves as the Elite of bandits with a few unmentioned. Nichkhun, otherwise Pyrope's Blackjack, is the youngest.

Nichkhun found it strange that one of them would start a "Royal Raid", simple game where all participating bandits are required to steal from each other. Often, the game would end when all bandits except the winner, gets enjailed or killed. Nichkun won his first Royal Raid at the age of 15, leaving the names aforementioned with 5-year sentences each.

Therefore, explains why the gold bar is hidden well. In fact, this was an easy setting. Only those who think like thieves will know that an obvious setting is a predictable trap because foolish guards do that in their attempts.

/Come on, Lock Silver./ He thought, /It is about time we had a reunion./