A trip to Toppity

[Siegear]

Sen sighed as he finally got away from the mobs of people who were heading toward the scene of his most recent battle.
The dragon... where had it come from?

He lashed his tail in silent rage, coming to stop in the end of an alleyway.

"Blassted fool, Sen... You have once again brought others to your face. If any of my kind were to try and find me here, they would not have to search long..."

He sighed again, this one longer and more drawn out.

"The outskirts are becoming slightly more dangerous, and the people inside the city are more at threat than ever... I do not like to speak badly of my first friends, the guards, but I do not know what they are doing..."

He slowly turned to the left, following a path that he knew well. It was to one of his 'safe-houses' - the old lady who ran the shop called 'Toppity Tailors'. She had been his first true guidance in his life and he considered her a honorary egg-mother to him.

As he walked into the back of the shop he saw that the old lady was bent over, working at something that was in her lap. As she looked up, Sen drew back his hood and squatted down to be on the same level as her.

"Matron, I have returned to the city. How is the shop these days?"

the kindly old women, Matron, smiled and held up her work. It was a new cloak for Sen. It was black - like his older cloak- and had a mask built into the hood to hide his... obvious features - his blue scales and muzzle. Many had mistaken him for a monster before he had the chance to talk to them. Most were getting better though, as more lizard men wandered into the city - few of them permanently.

"I had a feeling that you would come around soon. I don't see you enough, my child. And what's this about returning to the city?"

Sen took the new cloak with a slight hiss of appreciation as he eyed the mask. it would fit his face, had holes for his eyes, nose, and mouth. The mask was made of brown leather and would fit nicely over his face. Now he would look less flashy.

"I've decided to move back in here, if you will have me, Matron."

The old lady nodded, after hearing his story, and promptly put him to work. If he was going to stay in her shop/house, he'd have to earn it - or she said as much.

As he helped her around her shop for the rest of the day, he decided that he would stay in the upstairs apartment - as he had when he had first entered the city.

Matron agreed and let him stay. He was a good worker with a needle, surprising as he had large claws. He worked in the back as she tended the front.

---

After the day ended Sen had time to sit down and think about the events of the afternoon.

The dragon had talked to the beast-man. Sen had almost understood what it said. He got the gist of it. There were more around. Somewhere. He would have to find them sometime, and make sure that they didn't harm any more people of this city. After all, he owed them his life.

[Siegear]

Sen sat quietly in his room of the store's apartment. Matron had already fallen asleep. Sen decided it high time to go to a bar and try to gather information on what had exactly happened out there. He knew the guards were never as lax as to let something that big into the city, but right now, he had little choice in his beliefs of what had and hadn't happened. He sighed as he walked out into the back alley.

Walking slowly, Sen was walking to the open end of the ally. It was a dead end at the southern end, but he never went down there. That area was truly shady.

He was about to head out into the street when he heard a noise. It was something smashing, or falling over. He quickly turned toward it and got ready to pull out his sword.

He slowly looked around the corner, down a smaller alleyway that that branched off this one. What he saw in the shadows made him feel a great deal of compassion.

He saw a small human like child: She looked nine, but one couldn't truly tell with her horribly matted hair and ragged clothes. She also smelled somewhat, it seemed that everything was a luxury to her.

She looked at him with fear in her eyes, as a large looming figure had raised itself before her. Sen slowly knelt down and hesitantly reached out a hand.

"Are you alone? I am too." He gave a small smile.
Would you like to come and get some food?"

the girl's large, elven ears perked up. So she was an Elf. He slowly reached out more as she sat up slightly, looking as if she was deciding to move.

"I just want to help you out some... I know how it feels to be abandoned."
He moved his claw back to his knee as he pulled off his hood and showed the girl his blue scales.
She stared at him as he had a slight blue aura in the moonlight, his scales reflecting quite well.

He slowly got up and almost hesitantly she latched onto his arm, but he felt the underlying power in that grasp.
It was a hold that said to him:
'This is the last chance I have to live. I will take it.'

He slowly made his way back to 'Toppity Tailors' and lead her up to the kitchen of the apartment. He motioned that she could stay here, but she remained latched to him.

He moved over to Matron's room, hating to wake her up but knowing that it was the right thing to do.
"What is it, my child?"
He slowly responded, telling Matron of the girl.

The door opened in a minute and a robe clad Matron walked out to start making some food for the girl. When she saw the girl, she told Sen to go and give her a bath.

Sen nodded and complied, filling the bath and exiting the room, to leave her to her bath. Then he felt a light tug on his cloak. He looked back over his shoulder the girl stood there, with a pleading look in her eyes.

Sen sighed. "You can't take a bath by yourself?" She nodded and pointed to the tub, then looked at him pleadingly. He looked at her blankly.
"I'll come into the room, that's it." She nodded and her scared look disappeared. He watched over her in the bath as she took her time. She had to get Sen to help with the cleaning of her hair, as she didn't seem to want to do it. The bath and wash was a luxury to her.

After they were done, Matron came in and handed the girl some new clothes. They were slightly too big, but the girl liked them far too much, and wouldn't be parted from them.

Sen almost smiled as she sat down and started to scoff down food. He saw her eating too rapidly though, and pot a hand over her bowl of stew. She looked up, confused and slightly scared. He smiled down at her.
"Eat slower. It'll give you a stomach ache if you don't." then he removed his hand again.

She continued, but decided to take his advice and eat slower. After the meal, Sen decided to set her down in his room as he went wandering. The girl wouldn't have it. She latched tightly onto his arm as he was about to leave.

"Fine...I'll stay." It was grudgingly though. "And what's your name anyways?" The Girl pulled over a pen and some paper that was sitting on Sen's bedside table. there she wrote down, in large, messy scrawl, 'Lita'.

He gave a slight grin, the girl not in any way perturbed her caretaker was a giant, talking, ice blue lizard. He watched as she drifted off to sleep. As he tired to move, however, he found that her grip was as just as tight as ever, and he wasn't going anywhere.

Resigned to his fate at this moment in life, Sen slowly drifted off to sleep, with the small elf Lita wrapped around his arm, a blanket over the both of them.