The World of Layonara
Character Development => Character Library => Topic started by: Pseudonym on July 27, 2009, 06:10:46 pm
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Name: Thirteen
Age: 20
Class: Rogue (20)
Race: Halfling
Religion: Token worship to Prunilla, deity field to be left blank
Alignment: CG
*listens, takes a swig of his ale*
Nah mate, you 'eard right. Thirteen.
*listens then laughs*
Nah, I don't mind at all. I get asked all the time, I do.
You know, there are some sages who reckon thirteen is an unlucky number. The number o' Corath or some such goobledigook. A cursed number. Heck, I reckon you visit enough places an' you'll meet a fella or three who'll reckon just 'bout any number you might tell 'em is unlucky. 'Cept eight. You don't hear too many folks speak ill of eight for some reason.
*thinks then shrugs*
Anyways, where was I? Thats right. Thirteen. You see I was the fourteenth born of the sixteen kids my mammy and pappy ended up havin' when they was still in the bus'ness of havin' 'em. Sixteen kids! Can you believe it?
*listens, takes a swig of his ale*
Yeah, I s'pose you might ask that. Well, first my mammy and pappy had my big sister Tilly. Then they had Maisy. Then came Phil. Then Gus. Then Livvy. Hold on! Jess is older than Livvy! Jess, then Livvy. Where was my head? After Livvy is Ren. 'Twas about then I reckon my mammy and pappy started runnin' out of names. You know when you're a kid and you always say, 'If I have me a lil' 'un I reckon i'll name it such-an'-such'? Well, I reckon my mammy maybe was like that and she had a few names up her sleeves ... but not sixteen names, know what i'm sayin'? So they just named the boy who came after Ren 'Eight'. Then came 'Nine'. Then 'Ten'.
*listens, takes another swig of his ale*
Hold your horses. I'm gettin' to that. After Ten my pappy must've been been feelin' especially chipper or somethin' cos after Ten was the twins. Boy and girl. SO, they named them Eleven. Both of them.
*listens, takes yet another swig of his ale*
Hey, don't stab the messenger. I ain't even been born yet at this stage. I s'pose they thought maybe one was gonna be Eleven-boy and the other Eleven-girl? I reckon by that stage you're probably not thinkin' too clearly and ain't in the mood for criticism about your kid's name, are ya? Anyways, after the twins comes Twelve.
*waves his hands*
I know, I know. They probably should have named her Thirteen given she was the thirteenth and all but I just told you by this stage ain't no-one gonna say much to my mammy. She was downright ornery -before- she goes and pops out thirteen kids let alone after, know what I'm sayin'? So, after Twelve, comes me, Thirteen, the fourteenth. Then I got me another brother and sister younger than me. Fourteen and Fifteen, she'll always be the baby but can you believe she's fourteen now?
*shakes his head*
Where does the time go? Little bubba number sixteen Fifteen is fourteen. So, what was I saying again? I have this habit of lettin' my mouth run it's own course - sometimes takes my brain a little while to catch up!
*listens*
Yeah, that's it. Thirteen bein' unlucky. Well, right or wrong, I reckon in my case it was pretty unlucky. A family as big as mine, well, the food starts to run out before you hit the double-figure kids. The hand me down clothes are gettin' pretty worn. Not a great deal of attention from anyone. There ain't much you can do to impress anyone when you got thirteen brothers and sisters who come before you, all who already had their turn at impressin' and showin' off! I reckon after my mammy and pappy started to use numbers for names, well that was also when they got kind o' hard to get 'em to take notice of whatever you was doin'. Uh huh, not too many luxuries when you're a thirteen I can tell you that! You find yourself in a situation like that, it ain't long before you start lookin' for trouble, just to get some attention. Swipin' fruit offa Farmer Inori's trees, pokin' your nose into places where your nose ain't got no business bein' poked, settin' traps to catch unsuspectin' game ... and not of the furry kind neither! Just mischief.
*listens then laughs*
I s'pose your right! Thirteen ain't no unluckier than fourteen and fifteen. As I was sayin', ain't too many luxuries with that many kids in the house. My pappy worked pretty hard .. he was a cobbler, I tell you that already? Nah? Yeah, he was .. well, he worked hard to get us what little we did have. Worked from sunup to sundown. Monra to Sunra.
*contemplative pause*
Another round if you would kind sir. Cheers. I don't rightly know what age I was when I decided that wasn't the life I was gonna live. Watchin' my pappy work himself into an early grave .. yeah, well sure, he's still alive but it's a figure o' speech .. anyways, that wasn't gonna be the life for lil' ol' Thirteen. As soon as I was able, and by able I mean big enough to see trouble before trouble saw me, I hit the road. I figured wherever that road went was gonna be to a place where there was less hungry and more *searches for a word* ummmm ... everything than where I was comin' from.
*receives a new ale and drains it in one long swallow*
Aaah, that hit the spot.
*raises a finger in the air as if he is just realising something*
Hold on mate, can you point me in the direction of your privy?
*listens*
Cheers. Say, can you hold my coin purse while I go? I can trust you, right? If ye can't trust a forthright lookin' fella like you then I say we're all in trouble right!?
*the coin purse lands on the bar with a heavy thud and the dull clink of metal on metal as Thirteen disappears in the direction of the privy*
*many minutes pass*
. . .
*more minutes still*
. . .
*Approaching an hour since Thirteen disappeared, the bartender lifts the coin purse the affable halfling had left as collateral. Suspicion creasing his features into a scowl, the bartender hurriedly loosens the drawstrings and tips the contents across the sticky, scarred top of the bar. Metal shavings, shards and scrapings from the floor of the smithy were all that had been left behind .... that and a 100 true bar bill*
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Is there something I can do to assist getting this ready for new players? I notice every other submission except the ones I have done (before any of the others) have been addressed.
O.o
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PM sent!
~row
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Moved to the Character Library, with author's permission.