Perspectives

Preserved meat, chips, sweets, fruit, snacks, nuts. A wild assortment of foods rapidly disappeared from Rykar's hands as Chance dragged the twins from stall to stall before taking short breaks while using the cover of alleys to utilize Rykar's 'pocket'.

As though nothing had happened earlier, they dove straight into a shopping spree after exiting the alley without so much as mentioning the previous incident. Though uncomfortable, Loki held in his distress as the incident replayed in his mind.

The crisp snaps of bones and the pleas for mercy were fresh in his mind as bumps rose on the back of his arms. With the way in which Rykar and Chance had acted, he couldn't help but feel as though he was missing something which they simply hadn't explained, yet he still failed to see any merit in their drastic actions.

Two lives had been ruined just like that.

There we're no shortage of broken, deformed or simply poor people on the side of the street which served as a real-time example of the fates of the other two. Unless they had serious savings or someone to look after them, the rest of their lives would be bleak at best.

"Do you think that begging for food on the side of the street is the worst that life gets?" Noticing Loki's gaze lingering on a wrapped up figure lying on the edge of the sidewalk, Chance Spoke up while abruptly stopping in the middle of the street. "Or that broken bones are the worst pain someone can be in?"

Cursing was heard from all directions as the three stopped under the lead of Chance. The traffic behind them began to split like a stream flowing around a rock while attracting no shortage of angry stares.

As though he was about to speak further, he turned back slight before hesitating and continuing forward once again. Baffled by his actions, the twins followed on once again while venturing off to any stores or stalls that seemed interesting.

Hours passed and it was well into the afternoon when they finally returned to the hideout within the sewers. As they walked in, the first thing they saw was Rob, who was pacing around the length of the hall with his hands buried under his armpits while muttering quietly to himself.

The second thing to take note of were four boxes which were around 50cm tall and just as wide. The black boxes were each covered in their own thin black cloth and were stacked one on top of another beside Chance's bed.

"Care to explain why these two were alone? All I asked was for you to show them around for a couple hours, was it so hard?" Broken away from his thoughts by the sudden voice, Rob looked towards the entrance at the new arrivals with both relief and anxiousness on his face.

His mouth moved a few times as though he was struggling to formulate a sentence before letting out a prolonged sigh and straightening his back. "I f*cked up, I'm sorry." After the straight apology, it was as though a rock was lifted from his shoulders. Sweat could still be seen on his brows but the tension in his expression and posture had eased up dramatically.

As Rykar and Loki stood to the side, heads down without saying a word, Chance continued in a stern voice. "What happened?"

Stiffening up for a moment, Rob began to recount the events that transpired from the very moment that they left the hall. None of the moments were glossed over as he narrated the contents of the day while paying special attention to the many times Rykar had displayed 'childish' and 'unreasonable' behavior.

Listening from the sideline, there were a few moments where Rykar couldn't help but want to speak out in his own defence. However, holding true to the Chance's request before entering the room, he didn't say a word as he listened to Rob's 'biased' account.

By the time he began speaking about the events which led up to them being surrounded by the crowd, the twins almost even sympathized with him after putting up with Rykar for so long.

The only mistake which Rykar had thought he made, was to reveal too much money within the tavern. Knowing that it brought such a strong reaction and the unwanted attention, he made sure to only bring out the money needed in the future.

However, after listening to Rob's recount, there were nearly half a dozen other occasions where either he or his brother had unknowingly invited danger unto the group, had someone been paying slightly more attention to them at the time.

Straying from his line of sight. Being excitable and loud. Uncovering their faces to get better views into windows and stalls.

All of these little actions they had overlooked at the time made sense when hearing it back. Though they may be children, their appearances didn't allow them the liberty to make such immature decisions in the environment they were now in.

While overlooking the larger quarrels they had during the day and the stubbornness he had shown, Rykar seriously considered how Rob had been bottling up and covering for the mistakes he hadn't even realized he had made.

"Then there was an incident with a crowd. A kid wasn't paying attention and ran into one of them… after he fell to the ground, it wasn't long till we were swarmed and things got out of control." He paused for a second as he swallowed.

"By the time I made it back to the centre, they were gone so I chased after them but they were long gone." Sighing, he looked up at the two boys for the first time with apologetic eyes.

"A boy bumps into them and you lost them just like that?" Chance asked suspiciously.

Hearing the question, it was Loki's turn to perk up, looking between Chance and Rob as he unconsciously began to lean his head towards the side in contemplation.

Remembering Chance's words as he was assaulting the man in the alleyway, there was no way he could not have witnessed what had happened in the square.

"One when you stood within the crowd.

"One when you waited outside the store so patiently

"One when you followed them to the ally."

At the bare minimum, Chance must have seen the event as the crowd was being formed, much less how Rob had failed to stick with the boys by the end of it.

Loki's eyes glistened before he averted his gaze, looking down towards his feet and further hiding his face under his hood as he focused on Rob's next words.

"I didn't mean to lose them! I had no idea they were going to rush out like that but-"

"But what?"

"For a moment, I'd had enough. I know it was a stupid mistake to make and I swear it won't happen again." Hearing the honesty from Rob, Chance sighed in relief as he unclenched his fist.

Hearing the confession, the twins couldn't even bring themselves to be angry, after listening to his entire side of the story, there was no way they would have put up with themselves, much less simply hesitated for a few moments.

The tension within the room quickly eased up as they made their way to their beds. It was only the middle of the day but everyone besides Chance seemed to be out of steam.

As they lay there, Chance had the twins recount the events that took place after they had broken through the crowd, filling in the happenings within The Face which even he didn't know of.

Hearing about their encounter with the head hunters, even lying within the comfort of his bed, Rob visibly tensed up when he heard about the situation they had been placed in.

The feeling of having narrowly averted a crisis made him break out in a cold sweat as he fearfully looked over at Chance who was humming without a care in the world as he trimmed his nails with his teeth.

"Mmmhm, we need to have a real talk and now seems like the right time." Spitting out the chewed up nail, Chance stretched before sitting up on his bed and nodding in the direction of Loki.

Noticing the movement, dark mist began to slowly revolve around his arm as his tattoos came alive underneath his cloak.

All eyes in the room were immediately drawn towards the phenomenon as Loki hid his smug smile under his mask while watching Rob's eyes widen.

Picking up speed and converging at a rapid pace, the mist first formed the outline and then the body of the black and grey book which, following Loki's will, opened without any force and slowly flipped its pages dramatically.

"Show off"