Disclaimer: I do not own Vindictus or any of the characters in it.
"Please, just a few gold."
The beggar sat in the darkened archway, soldiers and mercenaries swarmed through it without so much as a glance for the boy in rags against the wall. One woman did stop, her eyes slowly drawing over his figure.
"Hm...few gold eh? That's good for food, but how much for the beggar?" the woman spoke in a no nonsense tone, just barely over the sounds of echoing footsteps.
The boy blushed, and fidgeted his hands together, eyes focused on the guard walking past, "Oh gee, well...I..I'm not sure what to say to that miss." His voice was light, not yet the voice of a man. It was rare, finding such a young man not in the army nowadays. As soon as the guard walked around the corner, his mood abruptly changed. When he spoke again, his voice was the same, yet without stutter. Confident even. "The whole night? Or just an hour?"
The woman wasn't phased, this was by no means the first time since the incident. "Just an hour, come, I've already booked a room at a nondescr1pt Inn."
The boy gave a slight smile, showing he was pleased. "Well then, 1,000 gold will do just fine. By the way, my name is Tom, what's yours?"
"Yeah, whatever." the woman dug in her soldier-issued gold pouch, and took out an amount. "You get 500 now, then the rest afterwards, come on then." When she saw that the boy was still sitting, waiting, she conceded. "My names Gywnn, happy now kid?" Apparently he was. Walking down the street, Gywnn said offhandedly, "and kid, your names going to be Ellis tonight, ok?"
Tom glanced at the seemingly unfeeling woman, and, remembering the incident a few months ago, now looked at her with soft understanding. "Ok, commander."