Tross

Tross (I)
Race	Human
Classes	Mage Ranger
Followed	Wish

Current Description:

The young boy before you looks as if he would be at home on any street corner,
far from the mindful eyes of parents. Disheveled and dusty, he carries a faint
odor of sweets and apples.  With his otterskin cap and the fish scale treasure
sticking out of his pocket, he is the very model of truancy and bold curiosity.

His sun-bleached brown hair is chopped short, falling jaggedly over his narrow 
cheekbones -  clearly the work of a wielded knife rather than the careful snip
of a barber's scissors.  The baggy fabric of his white cotton shirt covers his
arms from the sun, and his shape from curious eyes. Occasional stains decorate
the front and wrist cuffs, likely a result of the ever-present pastry clutched
in one hand. His trousers are ripped off at the knees and tied securely around
his waist with a carrick bend in the hempen rope. Those who have spent time at
sea or on docks see it clearly: this is a sailor's boy.

WHO Lists:

03-03-2013  Hum [       Ma: 3       ] Tross the Boy
03-10-2013  Hum [       Ma:10       ] Tross the Boy
03-11-2013  Hum [       Ma:12       ] Tross the Boy
03-12-2013  Hum [       Ma:13       ] Tross the boy of Alchemy
03-13-2013  Hum [       Ma:14       ] Tross the boy of Alchemy
03-14-2013  Hum [       Ma:14       ] Tross the boy of Alchemy
03-14-2013  Hum [       Ma:15       ] Tross the boy of Alchemy
03-16-2013  Hum [    Ra: 3 Ma:15    ] Tross the boy of Alchemy
03-20-2013  Hum [    Ra: 5 Ma:15    ] Tross the boy of Alchemy
03-24-2013  Hum [    Ra: 6 Ma:15    ] Tross the boy of Alchemy

Character History:

Pa says I lived with my mother for years, but I don't really remember her being there. What I remember is the part where she left. I was really excited because she said da's ship was spied near the harbor, and he'd be home soon. She asked if I wanted to go with him next time. Of course I did! What kid wouldn't. She even packed me a sack of clothes and some food. Sounds good so far, right?

Well it's one thing to get to go on a trip with your dad. It’s another when you get left on the pier with a note, sitting on your bag for hours. That was my first time I got licked, when I tried to keep a pack of kids from taking it. They dumped it out and scattered stuff everywhere, but I kept the letter and a the black eye they gave me.

It's also another thing when your da finally finds you and reads the note. His face got blotchy and red and he screamed at me as he crumpled the note and threw it off the pier, "Stay put!". Then he left, just like that he was gone. I watched the note start to soak up saltwater and sink before I couldn't stand it anymore and climbed down after it. I could swim even then. I got it, but it was getting dark by then and I was wet and cold. I stuffed it in my pocket and hunched against a post on the pier, wrapping my arms around my legs to try to stay warm. Then I stayed put.

It was hours later when he came back. He wrapped his coat around me and it smelled like saltwater, but I guess I smelled that way too. He said something awful had happened to ma, but I knew better. I'd read the note. It was high time he pulled his own weight as a parent, and she was moving to the continent to become an actress.

That night, I became a stowaway. Da bundled me into his big canvas back and slung me over his shoulder and on the boat we went. Once we were underway and well out to sea, he 'found' me and told the first mate that his son had stowed away. He got in trouble... bad trouble... but what was done was done. I helped out where I could the rest of the trip, mostly in the galley. I'm never peeling a potato again.

It was great though. I got to climb up to the crow's nest and play on the riggings any time the weather was good and there wasn't work to be done. I didn't have a bunk or anything, but the crew rigged an old hammock right up above the stairs for me. They'd swing me every time they went by. Everything was good for a few years. I learned to do more and more as I got bigger, and saw all kinds of exotic ports. But then it fell apart.

I'd gotten in a fight at one of the ports and got licked pretty good. I’d split my knee open bad and it started turning strange colours after a week or so. We were out to sea by then, and da finally had to take me to the ship doctor. He patched me up, but I was really sick for a while and no one has much privacy when they’re that sick. There was no way to hide it, my secret was out. I was a girl. And girls are bad luck on a boat.

Da said even that might have been okay, if everything else hadn't gone wrong. It did, though. The weather turned awful and we lost a man overboard. Then some kind of disease broke out in the livestock in the hold. Talk even started getting real bad among the crew that we were off course, and the captain started whipping folks he caught discussing it. Eventually we made land, and first thing they did was kick us off.

Da says we're lucky they waited till land to do it. He said no boat would ever let me back on and he had to make a living somehow. Said I was old enough to do for myself. Then he me a sack of clothes and some food. Sound familiar? He gave me a hug then shoved me towards camp Tolanrael, saying he'd be back when he could. That was the last I've seen of him.

Trivia:

• Tross was the 15th person to join Alchemy.
• Tross was the subject of a poem by Samiyah, titled, 'The Sea Bird.'

Wiki Mentions:

• The Wary Stranger
• Alchemical Transformation
• The Soul Stealer's Consequence