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Post by Veliky on Oct 9, 2022 20:53:58 GMT -5
Veliky is surprised. She isn't yet sure if it's a pleasant surprise or not. No one before has shown quite this much interest in the bots - not except the Gnome herself.
"...Well," she begins hesitantly, "it's called a 'Blixtbot™.' Specifically, it's a Type-I Infantry-Model "Pawn" Blixtbot™. For short, we just call it 'Pawn.' All it really does is carry things and travel efficiently; it isn't as impressive as my other units. I have a bot with an electrified sword, capable of paralyzing someone with a single swing; a bot with eight legs that can turn invisible; a bot that can fly and repair itself; a bot that can displace itself in time and space..."
Her subconscious has made up her mind for her: it was a pleasant surprise. She crosses her arms and smiles faintly with pride as she continues.
"I have a bot that can control the ocean's current; a bot that looks like a horse, but with fire shooting from its back; I even have my own ship, and my own crew of hundreds of bots. Oh," Her face alights with re-realization. "and I have this. Pawn, show them Moonlight."
With a beep of recognition, Pawn reaches into its backpack (another oddity for a Blixtbot™) and produces a heavy-looking hooded lantern. Its craftsmanship is highly similar to that of Pawn itself, but seemingly made of iron rather than tin.
"Open it," she says instructively.
Pawn turns a small winch, raising the lantern's mechanical hood to reveal a supernatural, light-blue fire within, which casts a matching light, as flames do. A glass pane still covers it.
Veliky gestures to the lantern, showing it off like a ringmaster might show off one of their attractions. But that isn't its last trick.
"Now set it free."
Finally, Pawn presses a button atop the lantern, and the glass pane rises. The skylike fire within creeps forward, and out of the lantern! It swirls slowly in the the air like a lazy stream until it takes on a vaguely humanoid shape with two arms and an amorphous, round shape for a head. It has no legs, but rather a shapeless lower body like that of an ordinary fire. With one of its ephemeral appendages, it delicately takes the lantern from Pawn's hand and raises it aloft. Then, it does nothing more, only standing and shining.
Needless to say, this is distressing to the crowd of the market, including the person handling the immediately adjacent skewer stand. Several bystanders look on in shock and fear. Veliky only chuckles - yet another odd sight for those who know her.
"Don't worry." She waves an arm through the elemental's body. It has no effect. In fact, the being barely emanates heat. "Completely harmless."
She stands proudly, one hand on her hip and the other presenting one of her company's latest creations.
"All of my bots - including this one - were designed and built by my talented and well-paid artifice team. As for purchase, well..."
Her face turns to uncertainty. She isn't altogether sure how to tell the girl that they aren't for sale. She doesn't want to dash her hopes, nor her curiosity. A change of subject is in order.
"So, you were going to tell us what your mother looks like?"
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Oct 9, 2022 21:37:49 GMT -5
As Veliky makes a complete and well-rehearsed presentation of her newest product, Astrid is a completely captive audience. She almost doesn't notice Zarius offering her the rejected skewer. It only narrowly catches her attention when she realizes her first skewer is only a skewer and no meat. She takes the stick and munches on it, her eyes excitedly darting and observing the entire BlixbotTM.
Once the presentation ends, she starts studying the makeup of the bot itself, mentally comparing parts of it to different armor. Well, not entirely mentally comparing, as she doesn't notice herself muttering thoughtfully about each component. The welds, the rivets, the joints, the design choices - all of it becomes something new for her to learn from, and this is entirely different from any set of armor she's gotten to see. Granted, most of her armor studies came from sneaking up to guards and hoping they wouldn't notice her. Most thought she was trying to pick their pockets and often gave her a few licks with a club to deter her from approaching any further. (They did not deter her.)
Her eyes sparkle as she looks at Veliky. She wants one. How does she ask for one? How does she ask how to earn one? Most people don't hand stuff out for free. Except this Zarius fellow, he's offering her food for free, and she will not turn that down. Unless he wants something from her, in which case, her hunger dictates that she wouldn't have turned it down anyway.
"So, you were going to tell us what your mother looks like?"
She's pulled from her reverie. "I was?" She realizes that was a question that came up. "Oh, right, sorry. I got distracted!" She grins with no remorse then gets a ponderous expression. "Um, me ma... She looks a bit like me, I s'pose. No horns though. A dwarven lady, a bit thick like most dwarves are. Light hair, green eyes, maybe 'bout this much taller than I am." Astrid holds her hand a good eight or so inches over her own head. It doesn't occur to her that she's grown since she last saw her mother looking down on her and that she very well could be taller than her mother at this point. "I don't remember how long it's been since I last saw her. S'pose it's been a long time, but some days it's hard ta tell if it's day or night 'round these parts."
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Post by Cantio von Lumen on Oct 10, 2022 13:49:34 GMT -5
Was he shaking when Zarius came strolling up? No, no: he was most definitely shaking because Zarius nearly shattered his spine upon his entry; not to mention, so out of the blue! It would spook anyone, not just him! Feeling at least mildly justified, he doesn't reply, but does breath a slightly exasperated sigh as he looks at the skewer Zarius offered him. "It is not poisoned."
"To be honest, I was more worried you dropped it—" "It would be counter productive to make you sick when I may have another job for you soon."
Cantio's sentence sputters into a couple of non-word sounds, before finally managing a simple hiss beneath his breath of a, "What?" There is no explanation; not a single one; Cantio's tail starts to flick back and forth nervously while he turns his attention towards Veliky. He takes a grumpy bite of his meat skewer, listening to the way she proudly explains her bots— and shows off what he assumes must be one of her newer ones. "Oh," he remarks, head tilting after he swallows a mouthful of skewer. "That's awfully handy; so it just, carries the lantern around like that?"
Veliky suddenly hesitates; and Cantio turns his fascinated gaze away from the elemental being, towards Astrid.
Right— right, the child; she's practically sparkling as she looks at Veliky, but snaps out of it when her mother is brought up. He listens quietly as she starts to describe her mom; a stout dwarven lady with light hair, green eyes, and a bit taller than herself... but then she clarifies that it's been a long time since she last saw her mother. He frowns slightly, offering Zarius a glance, before looking back at Astrid. "I see..." he remarks with a bit of hesitance. "The storm can make it a little hard to tell the time of day in the Dragon's Cradle; you've been here a while, then?"
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Oct 10, 2022 14:27:37 GMT -5
"Do not worry, it just requires your musical talents and nothing more. We will discuss details another time." Zarius reassures Cantio.
He was being genuine for once, but it was always hard to tell with him since he was a very good liar most days. The bard though knew how to keep his mouth shut, and that was important to him. It made it less risky to include the young red tiefling on more...personal matters.
Zarius looks impressed at Veliky's newest addition. What a handy...creature? Construct? He could never really tell with Veliky's companions. They had some level of sentience, but evidentially they struggled with independent thought. Useful certainly but only if they had guidance. They would not be suited for more elaborate jobs which were beginning to become his own bread and butter these days.
Though that hardly mattered, judging from Veliky's tone she was not keen on selling the constructs unlike her other Blixt™ products. To each their own. At least he now knew that she had a team working with her on their development. That was good information to keep in his back pocket in case Veliky became a problem later on rather than just an occasional bossy travel companion.
While going into some sort of business with Veliky still was an option, he hadn't forgotten the other skills Veliky had which caused him some deserved concern. She had connections to the divine to some degree and one could trust the divine to be sticks in the mud and judge-y about the kinds of means and methods he had been raised on in order to get things done. Veliky wasn't outright hostile to him and he wasn't interested in fighting her either. For now just being acquaintances was probably the best option.
Astrid explains her situation with her dwarven mother. He catches Cantio's glance and returns the look with obvious skepticism. It was possible that the child had been dumped by her mother and that the woman was not even in the village anymore, if she ever even was. Astrid had mentioned she arrived in a cart but couldn't go back the way she came. It was unfortunate, but it was looking more and more like Astrid had been abandoned on purpose.
He glances about and sees that there are some folk rubbernecking. They were a curious group for certain, but still the extra attention was off-putting. He decides to suggest the group moves on to a new location.
"We can walk and talk. If you can show us where you got off the wagon perhaps someone there will have information on where it was coming from which could help us backtrack to your mother." He looks the child up and down. "We should also get you some better clothes for this weather."
He starts off down the street, flicking the wooden skewer into a trash pile against a building.
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Post by Veliky on Oct 10, 2022 21:11:23 GMT -5
"Hm?" Veliky's smile fades. "Well, yes, it just carries the lantern. But it's a landmark invention; with these same principles we could do so much more than..." She lets out a sigh. "Never mind."
Veliky would never admit it, but she's a bit disappointed by the relatively minor reaction to the Moonlight-series bot after her eloquent exhibition of it. Are elemental-binding apparatus something new? No, of course not, but this one is streamlined, more polished and efficient, and with an even lower chance of escape. Not to mention she had to source the ghostfire elementals herself, which involved negotiations with an insane pyromancer and an insane necromancer in the same week. But here's the little girl, more fascinated by Pawn-series bot than the far-technologically-advanced Moonlight-series one. Why?
It's then that Veliky catches a brief, subtle murmur. The little girl is examining Pawn closely, making comments to herself about how the bot's mechanisms interlock and interact.
The Blixtbot's™ design is wonderfully complex, but many of its components are based on simple, but highly innovative mechanisms. The foremost of these eccentricities are the bot's joints, which emit a noisy hiss whenever they move. In fact, a slight puff of wind is produced when they do so, implying that the machine might rely on air to generate its locomotion. However, while the technology is highly impressive, it becomes apparent that the bot itself is, in certain practical ways, not; its body is built from tin, so even a decent punch from a regular person could dent it. Perhaps it's an issue of weight; if it were made of pure iron, after all, it could easily weigh over 1,000 pounds.
Veliky watches on. This girl's fascination goes beyond the whimsical; the technical aspects, too, seem to enthral her. It reminds Veliky of her younger self, already obsessed with mercantile and logistics from a young age.
Then, there's that shimmer in Astrid's eyes. Her desire isn't difficult to discern. Maybe... No, that would be far too expensive. Probably irresponsible, too.
Zarius' offer removes her from her thoughts, and she nods in agreement. Though she wouldn't bet on finding anything useful, but some cursory investigation couldn't hurt, nor could some better clothes.
"Moonlight, back in your cage." Almost instantly, the fiery being retracts into the lantern, which falls into the hands of the reactive Pawn. "...Good catch. Pawn, go find the other bots and tell them to be on the lookout for a green-eyed, light-haired dwarven woman, and to report to me immediately if they see her. Priority Copper."
The bot beeps in a manner that can only be presumed to mean 'yes,' or perhaps 'fine' if the bot possesses some capacity for sass. Its pathfinding - 'quirky,' as Veliky generously put it - leads it in a few circles before it jogs away.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Oct 10, 2022 22:37:43 GMT -5
Astrid watches the bot's jaunt into the distance with just as much interest as before. Clank, clank, clank, clank. It's loud, not a subtle thing, but it parts the crowd, it speaks, and it is something she will absolutely possess one day. But she's pulled from that at Zarius declares they should find a less obvious place to gather. At this time, she looks around and sees the crowd around them seems both disgusted and annoyed by the odd group standing around with magic and BlixbotsTM.
"Oh, alright," she says, hopping off the crate she found herself squatting on and dropping to the ground. "Where are we goin'? I told ya before I couldn't find my way back down to the gates where I came in. Kept gettin' turnt around and upside down and taken high enough that I got kinda woozy. I'm startin' ta think I won't find me ma here, though I'm not real sure where else ta look. S'pose I could try ta find me way to some dwarven town somewhere, but the mountains seemed like the best place ta find a dwarf 'cordin' to all the people I talked to."
"Thanks fer the food, by the way. I really appreciate it! My belly does fer sure. It was startin' ta talk too much if ya know what I mean." Then she turns on her heel to walk backwards and face Veliky. "How'd you make them fancy bots, miss? I've never seen one before. I'd love ta figure it out, make something like it! Not exactly, per se. I think that's um... what's the word? Carpy write infringement? Seems a weird term ta use, but I s'pose writin' fish make all the records at the Carpy Write office or somethin' like that."
Her chatter seems endless. Perhaps having a listening ear is a rare occurrence for her.
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Post by Cantio von Lumen on Oct 11, 2022 20:29:56 GMT -5
Cantio offers Zarius a skeptical glance; he furrows his brows slightly, though the expression is hidden behind his mask. Eventually, he breathes a defeated sigh. “ Fine,” he agrees in a somewhat begrudging tone; he can’t tell if Zarius is genuine or not, but he is not one to pass up the opportunity for a performance. Although, given his last encounter with Zarius, he probably should be more wary about it. He takes a bite of his meat skewer, looking at Veliky as she starts to explain and then proceeds to stop. He frowns, “ We could what?” he prompts; but he doesn’t think she has any intention to continue. Cantio is certainly not a man of science, nor of math; he is a man of the arts. Envisioning the prospects behind what potential the construct could have is far beyond what he’s capable of, honestly. He finishes off his meat skewer as he idly lingers, eyeing back the crowd as a few people rubberneck to look at the gathered group; until Zarius suggests they walk and talk. “Hm?” he hums, looking at the Tiefling with a tilt of his head; but he’s already walking away. “ Oh— uh…” He looks back at the little group; Veliky retracts her bot, and the other goes… in a circle, and then runs off to find the others after being directed to look for the Dwarven Woman. He’s not terribly sure they’re going to find her, honestly, which… is rather depressing. He feels sympathy for the small child, offering her a smile as he turns to follow Zarius. “That’s okay,” he chuckles softly. “We’re going to go find you something warmer for the weather— maybe a nice coat, and some shoes?” He thinks he has enough money to put forth for the child’s clothes; he considers his coin purse, but decides he will check later. “Ah, yes… there are a lot of dwarves who do live here; some work in the mines, but I wouldn’t recommend looking for her in those, they’re quite dangerous.”
Astrid spins around to address Veliky, and Cantio picks up his pace to catch up with Zarius. His tail sways as he slows his pace to walk beside the other Tiefling. “ We could take her to the Drakecraft to pick up some things; it’s in this direction, and it’s not too pricey.” he suggests, throwing a glance over his shoulder at Veliky and Astrid as they talk.
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Oct 11, 2022 21:30:09 GMT -5
Zarius glances at Cantio and nods at his suggestion as they lead the group down the street.
"Sensible. Drakecraft it is then. I will cover the cost of whatever she needs." He says simply.
It wasn't that he wanted to buy the kid stuff, it was more to placate Veliky than anything else. Asking her to cough up coin for a strange child likely would not go over well and Cantio was a starving artist. He, on the other hand, had a fair amount of coin lining his pockets this day thanks to having visited home recently before following a lead up to the Dragon's Cradle. He'd just write it off as a business expensive if anyone were to ask, which they wouldn't if they knew what was good for them.
The kid talked a lot. Like a lot a lot. How she managed to not pass out from a lack of breath was beyond him.
Eventually, the group makes it to the general store known as Drakecraft. The building itself is a single story with a vaulted ceiling on the inside and old wagon wheels hanging from the exposed wooden beam rafters like chandeliers with lanterns hanging off the spokes. The store smells of leather and wood with the slightest hint of of smoke from the fireplace which was crackling in the back corner. The snarling visage of a mounted owlbear head hangs over the hearth. Hanging from the walls are all sorts of standard adventuring gear such as ropes, climbing tools, and hide and fur-lined jackets. There are also shelves stocked with mittens, boots, hats, fire starting kits, pouches, bags, lanterns, and other miscellaneous tools. Near the front is a counter with a smiling half-elf with a freckled face.
"Welcome to Drakecraft! Please let me know if you require any assistance!" She says in an uber-chipper customer service voice.
"We are looking for boots and clothing that will fit the chatty one." Zarius says pointing back at Astrid.
"Of course! Youth sizes are towards the back!" She gestures towards a back corner. "Dressing rooms are on your left!"
"Thank you." Zarius was off put by her forced cheerfulness, but would not comment on it.
He turns to Astrid. "Pick out what you like. Do not make a mess." Simple instructions. Surely she could follow them.
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Post by Veliky on Oct 12, 2022 0:19:21 GMT -5
As they walk, Cantio and Zarius take up the front while Astrid and Veliky are at the back. For a moment, Veliky wonders if she should be offended by this arrangement, especially since the foundling has many things to say. But she doesn't mind; after all, the kid also has a few very interesting things to say.
It takes Veliky more time than it should to realize what Astrid meant by 'carpy write infringement,' though, in fairness to her, Common isn't her first language, or her second one. But it's the child's interest in actually making something like it that surprises Veliky far more. If nothing else, it proves her suspicion that the girl's a metallurgy enthusiast. But she wonders how much this hobbyism correlates to actual talent. It couldn't hurt to try and find out.
"Well," she begins, "I didn't make them. I have people who work for me." Her tone shifts in a jarring manner, becoming almost reverent, like the way that an elder sister might tell a fairytale. Most adults could tell that it's a façade for the child's benefit. "They're master armourers and artificers - I only accept the best. Whatever I tell them to build, no matter how ridiculous, I can be confident that they'll find a way to build it. The only restriction is my own coinpurse."
She eyes the girl, gauging her reaction. But, by then, they've already arrived at the quaint little shop, rustic decal and all. Veliky pays attention to every note in the clerk's tone. It's the same, high-tempo melody that she teaches to her own living employees. It's a little off - her voice was too high when she said 'course' - but it's otherwise satisfactory.
The clerk's gaze falls on Veliky, and their eyes lock. Veliky's face is deadly serious. The clerk lets out a gasp.
"By Avasha, she's adorable!" She leans over the counter to look closer. "Oh, look at her little suit! You have two kids?" she asks, looking at both Zarius and Cantio.
Veliky approaches the counter.
"Do you want an actual job?"
"Wh-what?" Her smile stays, but her eyes show that she's terribly confused, and slightly intimidated.
Veliky stares through her eyes.
"Never mind, you wouldn't make it through the Lightning Fields."
With her hands clasped behind her back, she strolls into the toddler section, leaving the clerk in a state of utter perplexity.
"Huh...? Huh?" Her eyes plead for elucidation from the pair of tieflings.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Oct 12, 2022 20:52:00 GMT -5
At no point during Veliky's explanation do Astrid eyes cease sparkling. And at the mention of master armorsmiths, they practically glisten. "That sounds like my kinda place," she says with a confident nod. She of course does not take into account that she knows nothing of Veliky's workplace or expectations for the workplace. If Veliky drives for quality -which she does, it's evident in the make of even her clunkiest BlixbotTM- then Astrid wants to be one of her smiths. "I wanna be the greatest armorsmith who ever lived," Astrid continues. "Ma used ta fuss at me fer bangin' away on stray metals tryna make somethin' at all. Said I was playin' the drums, but no drums I ever heard had the same rhythym as the smiths in their forges."
When they reach Drakecraft, she pauses at the door. Astrid can't think of the last time she went shopping, and she doesn't think anyone here explicitly said they would buy her something, only that they should get her something. Not wanting to seem foolish, she steps into the cozy atmosphere. Then Zarius asks about clothes for her sizes and tells her to pick what she likes and not make a mess. "Yes, sir!" she says militaristically. Anything she likes though? "Have ya got any armor?" she asks sheepishly.
The clerk snaps out of the shocked trance Veliky put her in. "Wha? Armor? No, I'm afraid not..." She's clearly cautious about turning down the girl's request, and there's the slightest hint of relief when Astrid just shrugs and goes to find herself something comfy.
While perusing the goods, being careful and selective, Astrid tries to continue her conversation with the inventive...erm... well she's not sure what Veliky is. What she is sure of is that she's a business owner. "What's it like runnin' yer own business?" Astrid asks, combing through shirts on a rack. "Ya seem really savvy about it. Like people have tried ta pull the wool over yer eyes more than once, but ya saw right through it and tore 'em a new one!"
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Post by Cantio von Lumen on Oct 13, 2022 9:45:12 GMT -5
“ Eh?” Cantio blinks, furrowing his brows beneath the mask. “ Well, you don’t have to cover all of it; I have some coin, and Veliky…” he trails off before he finishes that sentence, tapping the end of his fan to his chin thoughtfully. “ Well… she’s here.” Yeah, he would rather wrestle an Owl Bear than ask Veliky for money; small as she may be, she is scary. He has a hard time just making eye contact with the halfling without shaking in his boots. He listens idly to the conversation behind them as he walks; the tiefling casts glances over his shoulder now and then to ensure that both child and halfling are still on the right path. Eventually, they do make it to Drakecraft; and Cantio is all too happy to idle about, peeking at what they’re offering— it’s been a while since he’s been here, himself. As such, he lags a few steps behind Zarius as he angles a backpack from the wall, then gently lets it fall back to position. He can hear the chipper voice of the clerk speaking with Zarius as he approaches with Veliky and Astrid behind him; his tail sways as the clerk speaks again. "By Avasha, she's adorable! Oh, look at her little suit! You have two kids?"“ Ah, yes; we were hoping to get something for—” He pauses suddenly, in mid-gesture to Astrid, then offers the clerk an odd look, as if he just processed her question. “ Wait, hm? What?” He looks quizzical; but she’s already speaking to Veliky, so he just breathes a defeated sigh and unfurls his fan. He looks between the two of them, offering the clerk something of an apologetic smile as she looks pleadingly to them. He just rolls with it, waving his fan at her with a soft laugh. “Oh, you know how they can get…” he remarks sheepishly with a roll of his shoulders. The clerk just nods hesitantly, snapping out of her trance once Astrid pops in with a question. He looks at her, idly fanning himself as she speaks; they don’t have armour here, Cantio could have told her that, but despite it she just shrugs and slips into the store.
He sighs, twirling a lock of crimson around one finger as he snaps his fan shut, and bypasses Zarius to head towards a border between the youth and adult sections of the store— close enough to actually peruse things for Astrid while keeping an eye on her— and maybe take a look at what’s in season while he’s at it.
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Oct 13, 2022 10:18:58 GMT -5
Watching Cantio react to the clerk’s misunderstanding was highly entertaining. The poor bard keeps trying to hide behind that curious fan of his, not really realizing that it basically confirms his embarrassment.
Veliky giving the clerk a hard time was also amusing, though he sympathized more with the simple working woman since he knows what it feels like to be on the receiving end of the half-halfling’s ire.
As the group disperses, he leans against he counter and waits as they shop. Veliky was practical and Cantio was fashionable, between the two of them they should be able to pick out some things suitable for the young aspiring smith.
He turns to the clerk after a few moments. “Excuse me, have you seen a woman who looks similar to that child around town lately?”
The clerk thinks for a moment. “No, sir. I do not believe so.”
“How often do wagons arrive and leave town?”
“Quite often actually, while we are remote we have high demand for trade.”
“I see. Is there anyone in town who keeps a record of the comings and goings?”
“Oh, no, we do not have anything that formal. Most shops keep their own trade ledgers.”
“Ah. Thank you.”
“Of course.” She nods and goes back to reading something below the counter.
Zarius leans back a little and glances down over his shoulder at what she is reading. He stifles a chuckle and shakes his head a bit as he looks back at the others as they peruse the store goods.
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Post by Veliky on Oct 13, 2022 13:44:52 GMT -5
'My kinda place,' huh? Oh goodness, this girl's really serious. But, then, what is 'serious' to someone her age?
If Veliky remembers far back, she can recall a time when she wanted to be the 'mieka tradar,' - 'greatest businesswoman,' or at least that's the closest approximation in Common. But, over time, her aspirations became much more practical, albeit just as ambitious. Something similar could very well happen to this girl; her dreams might change when she realizes that the things she wants aren't at all what she thought they were.
...There aren't many things that cause Veliky melancholy, yet that thought rests on her mind like a black cat. Maybe there's no harm in entertaining the fantasy, for the time being.
Veliky casually peruses the toddler-sized clothes, which are the only ones that have even a hope of fitting her. Unfortunately, while the clothes are designed for toddlers, the shelves are not; this will be a perilous task, indeed. Astrid speaks to her from the other side of the shelf, in the adjoining children's aisle. She can't help but titter at the observation.
"You're right. In business, you always anticipate people trying to trick you for some advantage."
She sees a particularly gaudy onesie covered in multicoloured polka dots. Finding decent clothes might not be foremost among the issues of being tiny, but it's definitely up there.
"There was this one fellow named Heian. Hired him to escort me to the Marsh Flats so I could grab a shipment of grog. But, on the way, he decided to sabotage our stocks. Never found out why, exactly."
Her eyes are drawn up to a blue wool tunic. It's the most practical thing here, but it's also the highest on the shelf. Maybe another day...
"So, when we grabbed the shipment and got back to Thunderhoof Village, I just didn't pay him. We went over fields and trudged through swamps; we fought gnolls, crazy cultists and a giant fly-man; and he didn't make a solar off of it."
She walks out of the aisle, empty-handed.
"In the end, I lost a lot of good product from what he did, but I didn't have to pay him what I'd originally offered. If there's any advice I can offer you, it's this: don't just solve your problems. Benefit from them."
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Renown
Dragon's Cradle
We're gonna get Zarius back.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Oct 13, 2022 18:28:41 GMT -5
Astrid gets a bit of a thoughtful look while she listens to Veliky's story. She can't imagine why someone would want to cause problems for the person who's supposed to be paying them. "Sounds like that guy ruined his chances ta impress you and get more work," she says, flipping through the clothes. They're all just about as boring as most outfits she's seen around here. For a place called Dragon's Cradle, there sure doesn't seem to be a lot of visual variety. She guesses most folks shop at the same few stores. Even still, she's not going to turn down the offer of free clothes, so she better find herself something spiffy.
"Can't believe he had ta fight a buncha monsters and not get paid fer it," she says while thumbing through a rack. "It was his own fault though. Shouldn't have been a jerk tryna cause problems on purpose." Astrid finds a practical shirt and new pants, but her eyes get drawn to a skirt meant for a much taller adult. It's a soft pastel pink, and she does like it. She glances towards Zarius and Cantio then slips over and pulls one off the rack. It's too long, but she can fix that herself. She also finds herself some long, somewhat bulky gloves and clompy boots.
"Would ya say that bein' here with a bunch of strange adults is solvin' and benefittin' from me problems?" she asks earnestly. "I s'pose I was lookin' lost and broke" -she lets out an awkward laugh- "and now I'm gettin' some new clothes, and I maybe made some new friends! And good advice from a proper businesswoman herself!" She notices Veliky doesn't have anything, but she glimpsed her looking through the clothes on the opposite side of the rack, so Astrid peruses that side herself. The clothes meant especially for toddlers, huh? She can't imagine having to shop on this side. How does Miss Veliky find anything worth wearing? The blue tunic catches her eye too, so she somewhat carelessly pulls one off the shelf and holds it up beside the half-halfling. "Ever think about wearin' blue?" she asks.
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Mage's Guild
IS OFFLINE
2
Renown
Male
Dragon's Cradle
♪ Hide your face so the world can never find you. ♪
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Post by Cantio von Lumen on Oct 15, 2022 11:46:40 GMT -5
He’s never really been much of a fan of Dragon Cradle’s colours… they’re all natural beiges and neutrals for the most part. He offers Astrid a glance; even she’s wearing mostly beiges and neutrals, save for her horns: which is to say, they never asked if she was a tiefling, did they? She certainly doesn’t look entirely like one, but the horns do suggest some sort of background similar to their own, don’t they? “Hm…” he plucks up a soft blue jacket from the line, looking over at Astrid, and then giving a shake of his head as he puts it back.
Makes her look a bit like a bubble; too bulky.
He peruses idly through his side of the rack, but doesn’t find much in terms of ‘things which would look nice on Astrid’. He does take a quick peek at what she’s picked out for herself, and uses that as a judgment: a somewhat thin, natural cream-coloured overcoat of sorts. It looks nice, and he’ll get Astrid’s judgement on it when she’s done perusing. He can still hear her talking poor Veliky’s ears off— and he is glad she’s tolerating all the chatter.
For now, he drapes the piece over an arm, and walks back towards Zarius at the counter. “They sure do get along, don’t they?” he remarks, nodding towards Veliky and Astrid. "To be honest, I'm not a big fan of Dragon Cradle's options—"
“Are you going to buy that, sir?” the clerk asks, perky as ever.
“Hm? Oh, no— not yet. Need to get her opinion on it first, thank you.” He offers a dismissive wave to the clerk, and adjusts the coat over his arms; she nods and returns to her book. And, in his nosiness, he also offers the book a glance, then looks away and clears his throat to keep from chuckling.
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