Blake nodded along as his best friend in the world jotted down the plan; honestly it wouldn't have even needed to be a very<span style="font-style: italic">good</span>plan, to be enough for him- anything was better than living the rest of his days scrounging around for food and hoping Mallory could sneak him some scraps from the dinner table. She may have hated her life, but Blake envied the wealth she possessed, living in the dingy hut with the shelter from the rain and the floorboards that were only about halfway rotted through.<br/><br/>"Tha's brill'yant," he said in a hushed whisper as he stared down at the words he could actually understand (which were just half of them, but it was still enough to give him the gist of it).<br/><br/>"We could be richer'n a couple'a lords. Livin' in palaces wit' servants to wipe our asses'n serve us food'n stuff," he said excitedly as he pondered on the glories that awaited them, running a hand through his messy, thick black hair that was just barely long enough to touch his ears at the sides. All they needed was a ship, and then life would be one big fat slice of cake. Or whatever it was rich people ate. It didn't matter much to him either way, all he wanted was to get out of Denyan, and the quicker the better. Living on the streets had given him an unquenchable desire to simply get away, no matter how it happened. The water was likely the fastest way.<br/><br/>His folks had died from a sickness when he was young, and his reddish-tinged face still bore the scars of the same disease which had, for some reason, decided to spare him. Unfortunately, his parents had been as poor as dirt, so once they were gone he'd had nothing but the clothes on his back and whatever Mallory got her parents to part with for his sake. They never let him in the hut though, claiming he smelled too bad. Blake thought he smelled just fine, since just about everything in Denyan smelled like old fish and sweaty balls.<br/><br/>"Wha's th' plan, Mal? Steal a ship? They's two o'three ou' there at th' docks now."<br/><br/>He had no idea what was next, but Mallory would lead the way. He was a year older, but she definitely had the brains between the two of them. He'd follow her to the ends of the earth.