"I have family here and I hadn't heard from them in a while," Antonio came up with on the spot. It seemed like a plausible excuse for him to be here, if a bit shakey. He probably needed to give a bit more to convince this bird doctor man, "Well, this is the last town I knew they were staying in. They tend to travel around and I figured I should check here before heading to other towns."
Quinn's eyes narrowed a little bit. "Last name?" he questioned. "And do you know where they were staying?" he cocked his head a little, reaching to adjust his mask again. The beak part of it contained some dried herbs, in order to help with the smell of the bodies and fires.
"Uh, Jade," Antonio hadn't been expecting that question though he should have been. So he pulled a name from a guard he had once talked to a while ago. Either way this was going better than expected, "And no I don't know where they were staying."
He mumbled a curse under his breath. "Come with me." he started walking. "The inns won't take travelers right now, not without the proper paperwork, which I doubt you have. So you need to stay with me for a while. I can help you figure this out." he didn't look back as he walked through the cobblestone streets.
Antonio gave him a little smile as he followed after. He caught up to the other one fairly quickly and kept in pace afterwards. He looked to othes and gave a nod attempting to make eye contact, "Thank you. My name is Tony by the way, since I'll have to stay with you for a little bit."
Quinn nodded a little. "Alright. I'm Quinn Careth, by the way." he replied, leading Antonio through the nearly empty streets. He headed towards his house, not looking at Tony.
Antonio followed after him keeping in mind all of the streets. He had some questions and figured he could ask them later, when Quinn wasn't so hostile towards him. At least, he felt Quinn was bing hostile towards him and it made sense that he would be. Of course, he could be wrong about this.
Quinn eventually arrived at a small townhouse, and pulled a key from his pocket, opening the door and letting Tony in. "You can go sit down. I've got to change." he said, heading up a flight of stairs to his bedroom. In the main level was a living room and a kitchen.
"Okay," Antonio nodded slightly as he looked around. He didn't follow after Quinn instead exploring the first floor for a small while. Nothing too intrusive, just enough to get a feel for the place. He sat down on the couch before Quinn came back down finding the place small (he assumed) but decently cozy.
It was indeed a small-ish home; the right size for one or maybe two people, but not for much more than that. After a few minutes, Quinn came down, dressed in a woolen cardigan and long pants.
Antonio looked over at Quinn and bit back his comment. So he could take off the bird mask, that's a good thing. It would be strange to live with a man who always wore a bird mask. He did make a different comment however assuming it was acceptable, "You have nice home."
Quinn raised his eyebrows for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. I do." he adjusted the sleeves of the cardigan, which was a soft cream color, and sat down on the couch. His hair was loose, hanging to his shoulders in pale blonde strands.
Okay, so that might not have been an acceptable commment to make. Antonio was a guest here, and he should try and be a bit more considerate. But what was acceptable to say. He looked nice? True, but also kind of creepy coming from a total stranger. How was the city? Tony could probably guess the answer to that. So he decided to switch back to thanking Quinn, "Thank you again for helping me out."
He nodded a little. "Of course. What do you know about Ceridwen, Tony?" he asked, looking at Tony and raising his eyebrows a little bit. His grey eyes were calm, but serious. Not in a mood for any joking around or guessing games.
"Not much, only a little bit about the plague and the devestation that came after it," Antonio decided to be somewhat honest about his knowledge. Perhaps Quinn could tell him more about this city. That was why he came here in the first place, to learn more about what had happened. Of course, he had said he had family in the are, so who knows how suspicious his lack of knowledge really was.
Quinn snorted a little. "Devastation is one word for it." he replied, looking around the room. On the mantle of the fireplace was a small painting of a family of five; two parents and three children. The oldest of the three children looked like a younger version of Quinn, perhaps 10 or 11 years old.
"Yeah, it definitely is one word for it," Antonio replied a little quieter spotting the photo of the family. He assumed that it was Quinn's family, and given Quinn was the only one in the house. It didn't look well for the rest and honestly was quite sad.
"The damn king won't send anything, so we're on our own here, pretty much." Quinn said suddenly. "I'll try and help you find your family, but don't get your hopes up too high." He shook his head a little bit.
Antonio's initial instinct was to defend his father and his decisions, but decided that might turn his host against him. So he kept his mouth shut on that and instead replied to the second half of that statement, "They weren't very high to begin, but I'll still hold on that there somewhere here."
"They could be dead. I don't know. We burn…so many bodies, and there are always more." He looked exhausted for a moment. Too exhausted for an 18 year old. He shook his head a little bit. "The city is on it's own and…" His mouth tightened in a thin line.
(Hey, out of curiosity, did you look at the Aesthetic board I linked in his profile?)
(Not yet. I can do that now though.)
Antonio felt awful for this kid. He looked far too stressed and tired than any typical kid his age should look. Were there people younger than him doing the same job? Antonio prayed that much wasn't true. He was still breaking down everything he had seen today and how much worse is was than is father described. Surely the king had a reason for not sending aid, "It's awful that no one is sending help, any idea why?"
(alright! You don't have to, I was just curious)
He snorted. "Fuck if I know. Because the city isn't worth it? Because fuck the sick? I don't know. I just know the king is a bastard who doesn't deserve what he's got." His words were bitter and angry, biting.
Antonio had to bite back his retorts. Quinn seemed bitter and angry so any attempts to argue back probably weren't going to go over well. Especially when Antonio's arguments really held nothing to someone who was living through this hell. However he couldn't help himself as he asked, well more like blurted out, "And what about the prince?"
Quinn frowned. "I don't give a damn about the prince. He hasn't, as far as I know, said or done anything about this, but he hasn't hurt the city anymore than it's already hurting." He shrugged his shoulder. "So I don't really care about him. Maybe he'll be better than his father, maybe he won't."
Antonio wasn't exactly happy that was his answer, but it made the most sense. So he was fine with that being his answer and Tony gave a very subtle nod before leaning back into the couch, "That makes sense. I'm sorry, I have no idea where that came from."