A day of "Shopping"(Henry)

[Dante Grixis]

Dante gently pushed his way through the crowds of people milling between the stands. His cowl was pulled low over his face, shadowing everything but his mouth showing a good weeks worth of stubble. He glanced from person to person and from stall to stall. He needed a new sharpening stone for his blades, but why pay for one when he could get it for free?

He found the weapon stall and waked up to it, appearing to browse through the selection of swords hanging from the shelf behind the merchant, a short stocky man with a long beard.

"May I see that long sword there?" Dante asked in a low voice indicating one on the top rack. "Well o'course!" The merchant replied in a cheery tone. Once he had turned from Dante, Dante grabbed a medium sized stone from the counter and it disappeared into the folds of his robes and he turned and quickly left the stand and disappeared into the crowd. The merchant returned with the sword and looked for the cloaked man and shrugged, returning the sword to its post.

Dante sat on a short stone wall away from the hustle and bustle of the street and began sharpening his long sword. He glanced up at the few people that passed from time to time, each of them giving him a disapproving look. He continued slowly, carefully sharpening his blade to a razor edge.

[Henry Renold]

"Pretty neat trick" Henry slurred sarcastically, he had been watching the stranger from the top of a small hill and now he slid down to the wall around the bottom, where Dante was sitting.
"Names Henry, and yeah im a Low". Lows were what many in the city called the slum-dwellers. They saw them as a lower form of human beings, not worthy of mixing with themselves. Half of Henry hoped this boy was one of them, he just fancied a fight.

He flexed his fingers before shoving them roughly into his pockets. Sewed into the seams there were 2 tiny daggers coated with a semi-toxic poison. It wouldnt do too much harm, make him sick, maybe give him a fever for a week or two. Henrys fingers caressed the hilts as he imagined how ill he could make someone with the tiniest scratch.

Still this guy might not be the type of person who looked down on lows, hell he might even be a low himself. But Henry was always prepared.

[Dante Grixis]

Dante stifled a jump and gripped the handles of his weapons tighter when he heard the strange voice behind him. He listened the the boy, Henry, speak and slowly turned to face him looking him over.

He was smaller in Dante in both height and build. He looked malnourished and borderline starved, he was the epitome of the Low in the kingdom. He gently laid his blades down and pulled the cowl from his face revealing his shadow of facial hair, his long dark mane and the scar down the side of his face.

He spoke in a friendly voice. "Well met, Henry the Low. I am Dante Grixis. We are from the same caste." He decided it would be best to leave out the assassin part for now. He placed the whetstone in a pocket in the folds of his cloak and sheathed his weapons. "Doing some shopping today as well?" He asked. It was a mild day so the majority of the town was out in the market. Dante felt a little hot in his cloak but refused to take it off, it served too much purpose to just leave behind.

[Henry Renold]

Henry scowled as Dante explained that he too was from the slums. Perhaps he should have welcomed the fact that they were one and the same, but he was instead itching to use his special knives.

"No I'm not shopping" Henry replied coldly to the boy. "Im watching. There are always people to rob in a place like this." He spoke with such a level of disgust that he even surprised himself. Perhaps he should just lighten up.

"New to Camelot then?" He asked with a slightly friendlier tone.

[Dante Grixis]

Dante nodded. Henry was an interesting guy, almost like he wanted to fight. Dante did not. There would be no joy in killing this person, there would be no money in it.

"Yeah, I came here about a month ago from Spain. Before that I was from the Ottoman." He replied. He wondered if people in Camelot even knew of the Turkish empire far away and across the sea. Sometimes he wanted to return to his homeland but he knew it would never happen. Not now anyway. "I'd imagine you've lived here for quite some time."

[Henry Renold]

Henry didn't know what "Spain" or "The Ottoman" were, but he assumed that they were far off lands. He wasn't stupid but being from the slums meant he had had no education and geography would have been the last on the list of useful subjects anyhow.

He could definitely sense something mysterious about this Dante, and he was on his guard for anythign that might be dangerous. He wondered silently about Dante's reasons for coming to Camelot. It wasn't the best city for those of humble birth, and although the city was thriving, the slums definitely weren't. However Henry wasn't the type to intrude onto other peoples personal matters so he kept his thoughts to himself.

"Nice weapon you have there." He mused, changing the subject to something he was interested in, and assumed Dante was too.

[Dante Grixis]

Dante smiled. "Thank you." His long sword really was a beautiful, although deadly, piece of art. The hilt had a skull with its mouth open, seemingly swallowing the blade. The blade itself had ancient runes carved along the length of it. His short sword was much less fantastic, only a simple blade. "I got it from a powerful mage." He said, leaving out the part about killing him to get it.

Dante looked over his blade and wondered who's hands it had been in before the mage. The blade that had saved his life countless times he barely knew anything about, especially what kind of magic lie dormant in the metal. He opened his cloak a bit wider to try and get cooler and looked at Henry. "Want to head to the pub? I'll buy."

[Henry Renold]

Henry looked at Dante's weapon a little more cloesly now that he he was openly showing it to him. It was impressive but not really to Henry's tastes. The skull that surrounded the hilt was, in his opinion, garish and over the top, but this boy clearly loved his blade.

To Henry Renold a blade was a blade. It didnt matter if it was decorated in jewels or made of wood, as long as it did the damage he needed it to. There was something dazzling about this one though, as if it was shimmering. He didn't know much about magic, but he would have sworn that blade was swimming in it.

Dante pulled his cloak and it fell across the sword, obscuring Henry's view. He broke out of his trance in time to hear Dante invite him for a drink.
"Sure, best ale round heres from the Ram" he grinned, although if Dante was looking close enough he would have noticed it didnt quite reach his eyes.

[Dante Grixis]

Dante looked at Henry for another moment then stood up. "Lead the way then."

When they arrived at the bar the smell of alcohol and food filled his nose. He pulled his hood off and went to the bar. "Excuse me. Could I get two ales for me and my friend here?" He said to the large man behind the counter. He grunted and poured the drinks from the tap and slammed them down on the bar. Dante paid for the drinks and gave the barkeep a small tip. He found them a table in a secluded corner of the room and slid Henry's drink to him then sat in the small wooded chair.

The bar was run down and had obviously seen better days. He looked around at the motley assortment of patrons. Most of them looked like grizzled peasants that were ready to just damn it all and start a brawl here and now. It probably happened almost regularly here. Dante looked into his mug and took a deep swig. Henry was right, it was good ale.

[Henry Renold]

Henry led Dante through the winding alleys of Camelot city's marketplace to hsi favourite haunt, The Ram. Although he spent more time in the slums, the bars and taverns there were awful and he would much rather drink in the city. Sadly, money usually prevented him doing so. He hoped Dante wouldn't expect him to get a round in.

He was surprised to see Dante removed his hood when he entered the inn, he had thought it more of a disguise than for warmth, but perhaps he had guessed wrongly. He took the Ale gratefully and settled himself into a chair far more comfortable that the ones he usually sat in.
The Ale was the best in Camelot and the taste brought life back into him.
"So Dante, what was life like back in- Er where was it again?"

[Dante Grixis]

Dante though, shrugged and sighed. "Well, I don't remember much about the Ottoman Empire. We left there when I was still young. Spain was rather beautiful, but I didn't see as much of it as I would've liked to. My father put me into a monastery when I was a boy and left the country a few years after leaving the life of a monk behind."

That was all the truth for once. He had left out why he had to leave the country. He had killed the King of the southern Spanish provence and was forced to flee. He took another gulp of ale and put the mug onto the table. "How about you? What's life in Camelot been like?"

[Henry Renold]

Henry grimaced. "Life has been rough. But I'm surviving." His grimace turned into a half smile. He wasn't going to go into details of how he was taken in after being neglected, how when his foster parents died he had to fight to survive, no, this man was a stranger and Henry would keep those details to himself.
"You shouldn't have got a house in the slums you know." Henry said with his eyes at the bottom of his empty tankard. "There's better places for not much more in Avalon, and even the outer city has some places better than the slums. But your call i guess."

[Dante Grixis]

Dante shrugged and took the final gulp of his pint. He made a motion for the bartender to bring another round. "I live in the slums because I'd rather live with the lows than with nobles. I make enough money to, sure, but they're such boring people. Plus most of them frown on my profession." He said.

A moment later the barkeep brought them another round and Dante handed him the coins to pay for it. He leaned back in his chair and took another satisfying swig.

He saw out of the corner of his eye two guards enter the pub and grab stools at the bar. Without ever fully looking at them Dante pulled his hood up concealing his face, except where light shined on his chin and mouth.

[Henry Renold]

"You might not like the Nobles, but the Lows aren't too fond of you. With the amount of money you've got..." Henry disliked Dante now. He and his friends were forced to live in the slums, they had no money and couldn't get out even if they wanted to. Whereas Dante, Dante just didn't want to live with the nobles. He had a choice and he didnt take it, that made Henry angry.
"Just don't take living there too lightly. Some of us don't have a choice."

He downed his second ale in one, and nodded at Dante. "Thanks for the drink. When I've got a few spare coins I'll buy you one in return, but for now I've got things i need to do." He smiled, although once again it didnt reach his eyes, and then left the inn.

[Dante Grixis]

Dante knew what he Henry said to be true. Lows didn't like him because he had money, Nobles didn't like him because he killed to get his money. Dante was a true outcast, no body in society wanted him, few in society needed him. It weighed heavily on his heart to know that he would always be lonely.

Then again, he had always been lonely hadn't he? It was just something he got used to he supposed.

As Dante watched Henry leave the bar he told himself that the next time they met he would tell him the true reason he lived in the slums. He would also tell him that he wanted to help the lows out of their poor living conditions, and he had plans to do so. Granted his plans to kill the royal family were radical and more a dream than plans, but it might make the boy lighten up to him.

Actually, to hell with it, if he ran he could catch up to Henry and tell him now. It might just be the alcohol in his system but he had the burning desire to tell him now. He stood and quickly left the bar, jogging down the street for a moment until Henry was in view. "Henry!" He called after him.