Tarret goes outside and fucking dies

Tarranel left the house, carefully making sure to lock the door behind him. He had never particularly enjoyed going out on his own, the combination of noise, dust, and occasional stares had always overwhelmed him, but after being left alone for a week, the boredom had overpowered any anxiety he felt. At this point, having a meltdown would be more entertaining than anything that house could offer.

Maybe he would go and find a guard, talk to them about earning a place with them, like his father wanted? The thought of that gave him a quick wave of anxiety-induced nausea. He’d have to do it at somepoint, but not today. He’d build up to it.

He had purposefully chosen to go out at the quietest point of the day in order to avoid as much social interaction as possible. Ideally, he would like to get to the local library without drawing any attention, but there would always be one or two people calling out to him to wish him a good day or to ask where he was headed. Of course, today was no different.

“Hey, you! Rich kid!”

This call was somewhat unusual compared to what Tarranel was used to, but he still did his best to ignore it, even as the owner of the voice continued to try and get his attention.

“Hey, hey, buddy!”

The footsteps behind him got quicker as the person jogged to catch up to him, then put their hand on his shoulder to make him face them. Tarranel’s instincts kicked in and he immediately slapped the hand off him and took a couple steps back, glaring angrily at whoever had dared to go so far as to touch him.

The perpetrator was elven, like himself, taller and lankier, with hair tied back in what seemed like a desperate attempt to make it look less like he had never washed it. Tarranel didn’t recognise him, but it was blatantly obvious he lived a life that Tarranel had never had any concept of.

“Woah, easy,” The elf put his hands up in defence. “I just wanna chat.” He lowered his hands and gave a slight smile. “I’ve seen you around before. Aratris, right?”

“Tarranel, Aratris.” It came out as a half mumble. He glanced around to see if there was anyone ready to help, but no luck. Curse his decision to be out at this time instead of rush hour. Perhaps if he gave minimal answers, it would be enough to satisfy this guy, and he would be on his way in minutes.

“Right, right, yeah. So, uh,” He took a step towards him, and as he did so Tarranel noticed a glint of metal on his belt. “You don’t happen to have any spare coin on you, do you? Just a few copper would be nothing to you, right?”

Shit. He should’ve anticipated this, he could’ve easily brought something to defend himself with. He didn’t even have any money on him - he wasn’t planning on buying anything, so he hadn’t seen the point of carrying any.

His attacker must’ve noticed the sudden uncertainty, and his smile dropped. “Are you kidding me? The fuck was the point of this then…” Almost immediately, his energy changed, like he didn’t have it in him to further threaten him. He turned round and paced a little, frustrated, and Tarranel decided to take this opportunity to leave the interaction. He had barely made a move before the elf stopped him again.

“Wait, wait, wait, I got an idea. You just gotta help me out, ok?” His smile was back, and there was a glint in his eye that Tarranel couldn’t read. “That guy over there.” He gestured behind Tarranel towards a guard that had just turned the corner. “They’ll have money on them. Just get it for me, would ya?”

Tarranel looked up at him like he was insane. No way would he steal from someone! What would his father think? What if he got arrested? He didn’t know if he’d be able to recover from that.

“Hey, come on, I need it more than they do.” He put his hand on his hip and sighed impatiently, and Tarranel was reminded of the knife. Getting arrested sounded better than being stabbed. He then found himself being shoved in the direction of the guard. “Go on, it’ll be easy.”

Tarranel gave him a glare again, then tentatively made his way over. He thought about telling the guard everything, but he didn’t want this guy harassing him over snitching in the future. Best to just get it done and never have to think about it again.

The guard recognised him as he approached, and Tarranel did his best to avoid eye contact in order to avoid making the interaction more painful for himself.

“Tarranel,” The guard greeted him in a tone that suggested they had met before, but he had no idea if that was the case. “Heard your training is coming along well. Quite skilled with the blade, eh?” He took a breath and tried to quickly prepare a response, but the guard beat him to it. “Bet you’re thinking about following in your father’s footsteps soon, huh?” He glanced back around to the elf, who looked like he was thoroughly entertained by this interaction, like it was all just a joke to him. Something about this sparked something in Tarranel, an urge to prove to this guy that he was capable of doing this, and his anxiety suddenly vanished.

“Yes,” He looked back over to the guard, noting the placement of their coin pouch. “I’ve been meaning to discuss that with someone. Perhaps you could direct me to the relevant person?” He really hoped the guard wouldn’t take him too seriously, despite his newfound confidence he really wasn’t ready for a full conversation about his career options.

They seemed a bit taken aback by his sudden eagerness, and replied in an uncertain manner, much to Tarranel’s relief. “Of course, but uh, if I might pass on a message first, just to be sure I get you to the right guy- “

“Yes, that would be great.” Got to move them along now. “If you could get on that as soon as possible- “

“Oh, right away,” They still seemed a little shocked to hear him talk so much, maybe even somewhat uncomfortable. “I don’t wanna be wasting your time here for longer than necessary.”

After a quick smile and nod from both parties, the guard finally turned their back on Tarranel to walk away. Adrenaline and spite fuelling him, he quickly reached out to unhook the pouch from their belt, a task that was surprisingly easier than he had thought it would be. As he moved to return to his harasser, his pace quickened, anticipating a shout of accusation behind him, but as he locked eyes with the other elf they both came to the realisation that he had actually pulled off the crime.

The look of disbelief on the criminal’s face was about as satisfying as Tarranel thought it would be. Tossing the pouch to him seemed to break his trance, and instead he started stuttering, trying to find his words. Clearly this wasn’t the outcome he had intended, but it was over, and Tarranel could leave with a new sense of self-confidence. But before he could get any distance, the guy called out to him again.

“Wait,” His energy was different once again, more laid back and (potentially) genuine. He held out his hand for Tarranel to shake, which he reluctantly took. “Bosco Eberoth. Maybe I’ll see you around again sometime, yeah?” He paused for a second, as if trying to remember something. “Tarret, was it?”

Tarranel gave him one final glare before pushing past Bosco to finally carry on his way. All that trouble and he couldn’t even bother to remember his name? Not like it would matter, he didn’t plan on talking to him again anyway.