23 Cylus 697
Warmth beckoned Omesintihlih through a jimmied window into a storage room. The girl went to a corner behind the boxes, and settled to listen to the voices muffled beyond the walls of the establishment. It'd been twenty trials since she left home, and she hadn't gone back yet. Lair was far too exciting. She wanted it to be her new home. Even if she did somewhat miss the warmth of her bed... but she wasn't completely helpless on the streets either. She found places to sleep easy enough, she swiped food from various spots and people, and even when she got caught, she managed to eek away with only a warning or two.
Her father had found her the other trial though, and tried to take her home. She'd screamed a fuss however, enough that he gave up when attention fixed on them. The girl had enjoyed the attention, but her father fled from it. It suited her fine.
Still, she wondered if she might go home until the snows melted. Her green dress had gotten even more ragged than the first night, torn in spots with a sleeve that didn't stay up on her shoulder anymore. Her cloak was ripped and hung over her in fringe-like strips of cloth. She'd found a pair of scissors though, and they had become her closest companion... next to the other girl and boy who nestled behind the crates with her. They were slightly younger, orphans each, and just awful at performances but Omesintihlih found that the worst their performances were, the better her own acts appeared.
Their names? She could hardly remember. Something after animals or colors or... she just called them Boy and Girl. It was their roles, after all.
Omesintihlih held the prized scissors, checked the edges that she'd recently sharpened with a chipped whetstone. She whispered to the Boy and Girl, "You two, go beg for food. See if you can gets anything out of the grown-ups."
"What're you gonna do, Carma?" asked the Girl with her wide brown eyes.
The Boy shuffled, arms crossed around as he rubbed at his own arms and breathed hotly against his hands. He muttered, "Don't hurt anyone else. I don't want anybody coming for us."
"Don't fret, Boyo," she mimicked in sing-song what a Viceman had called the boy the other trial. "I won't hurt nobody that don't hurt me."
Boy and Girl looked at each other, then back at Omesintihlih. Boy said, "I'm serious, Carma. Maybe I should take the sci-"
"No!" Omesintihlih held the scissors protectively against her chest. She glanced toward the sliver of light that peeked through the underside of the door. She lowered her voice and said, "Only leads get scissors. Are you a lead, Boy?"
He shook his head.
"Go on, you're going to miss your cue waiting here..." she pointed the scissors toward the door.
The other two urchins crept over to the door. The Boy went first, leaving the storage room. Girl hesitated, looked at Omesintihlih and whispered, "Be careful..."
"Watch your own performance," insisted the Yludih. She watched the Girl leave as well, then crept over to listen. The two urchins headed down a hall, then hurried into a brightly lit lounge. She heard a few laughs, then a shrill woman's voice inquiring as to where the urchins had come from.
Omesintihlih tiptoed out of the room, and down the opposite direction of the hall. She held the scissors at her side, tightly gripped in her gloves that she'd snipped away to make fingerless. The girl found a staircase and hurried around the steps while keeping herself down and slight so the shadows helped hide her. She saw candles flickering along a corridor, the cloying scent of perfume fragrances. Odd music played, but she'd started to get used to the various harmonies made in Lair.
She started to look for an open door, and found one on the third test. The girl glanced side to side, then slipped inside the room. It was a suite, and she saw a woman lying over a couch. At first, Omesintihlih startled and held the scissors ready - her reactions having gotten sharper in her trials spent alone in Lair - but then she eased when she recognized the glassy look in the woman's eyes. The smoke that filled the room made it obvious that the woman, even if awake, wouldn't bother with any acknowledgement of what was going on around her.
The Yludih girl crept around the back of the couch, then went to a vanity table. She stared at herself in the mirror. Her face had dirt and remnants of scrapes from ice and frost to the thorough illusion that made up her appearance. Her long hair had gotten tangled in knots, unwashed and unkempt. She set the scissors on the desk surface and opened a box to look at tiny vials of fragrances and some cheap jewelry.
Omesintihlih poured out all the items in a chaotic pile, then she started to open the drawers to search through them. She paused and then glanced at a dress laid across the back of a chair. She eyed the satiny sheen to the bright red color. Omesintihlih grabbed at the hem and rubbed it against her cheek. She hummed, high-pitched and melodious. Her attention flitted back and forth between the items. She picked up the scissors, then crept over to the couch.
The woman didn't even look at her, lids mostly shut except for a flutter of dark eyelashes against black-smudged eyeliner. The Yludih girl ran her hands through the woman's curly red hair. How pretty... she hummed, in a melody that almost sounded as if it were meant to comfort, and she lifted one of the cherry-red ringlet curls. She gathered the long strands around the sharpened scissors, then snipped the hair away.

