You’ve just arrived in a swampy, dim town. As you look around, your gaze is met with shacks and cabins. It smells of rotted wood and wet moss. You duck and step into a tattered tent, illuminated by a series of candles suspended in the air. At the back of the tent, an old hag raises her head, “What brings you to this dingy town? she begins, then pauses to study your face—”Ah, it’s you. I’ve been expecting you. Sit,” she gestures at a cushion, “Tell me your story.” Pavel sits, a calloused hand rubbing his bald head. He glances around the tent before shifting his gait onto the hag of a woman. "I come to this town to start anew."
His hands rest in his lap. "I wish to get away from the work in the docks. My life has been- let us say, uneventful. I want to break away from the monotony. I want to live a life that I can be impressed with, or at least satisfied with when I am on my deathbed."
He gestures to the candles around the decrepit woman. "This? I like this set up. You know how to set the mood. Like you, I want to be somebody, I want to- go out there, do something."
Pavel smirks, shaking his head. "Look, I was not born into riches, nor status, nor anything. I am a fishmonger's son. I know the streets, the alleyways, the thoroughfares, and everything else at sea-level. You think a fishmonger can afford to send a child off to school? Let alone keep his son fed most of the time?"
Pavel chuckles, shaking his head. A hand runs over his bald head. "My entire life, since childhood, I have been near the sea. The smell of fish, and salt, that is it. Fish and salt. Fish and salt. Fish and salt. I tire of the ******* smell of fish and salt-"
He spits. "I want to be pampered, I want to eat at feasts. I want to do what I want to do, you know?"
The man glances over to the hag once more, before rising to his feet. "It has been nice speaking with you, however, I will not get anywhere talking to you. No disrespect intended, but unless you can help me, I will toil for this goal of mine, da? Spasiba."
With that, he pushes aside the flap of the tent before making his way outside and back into the night.
