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RESPITE MARKETPLACE - MORNING
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Emmeline is one of the first vendors of non-food items to open up in the market this morning, mostly just tidying things up after yesterday's storm and setting out a few of the decorative, non-magical pieces she's made herself, such as a few dried bouquets and the like.
Bracvar wanders back into the marketplace proper from the alley where his cart is stashed, stretching the sleep out of his joints before he pulls the faithful vehicle toward his stall, across the lane from Emmeline's. He's about to tug the covering to eject pooled rainwater when he notices her, tilting his head a bit before happily calling out. "Good morning to yeh! Yer a new face, I think. Or my mem'ry isn't serving me right."
Emmeline cocks her head at the sight of the large crab. "Oh, good morning. We've only been here a couple of weeks so far, yes." She eyes (and smells) the cart behind Bracvar and wrinkles her nose a bit. "I take it you were away for a while getting restocked?"
Bracvar chuckles, nodding as he returns to pulling the hide tarp tight, water splashing to the stone beside his cart. When it's loosened from the side of the cart, a rolling icy mist falls from within, cascading around his forelegs. "Aye, had teh take a swim all the way to Orela fer some special orders. Caught a few morsels on the way back, of course! Glad to meet a new merchant! I am Bracvar of the sea." He looks toward her with a grin that only show at the corner of his uncovered eye. "What might yer name be?"
Emmeline nods to Bracvar as she resumes setting out the day's wares after wiping the tables and shelves dry. "I'm Emmeline, of Vamas... but not at all likely to return there... and my partner is Jennica, though she was still asleep last I checked. I think she was up late tinkering again..."
Bracvar chuckles as he pulls a rag from a toolbox hanging from the cart's side, scuttling up to his stall and starting to give the two angled shelves there a cursory wipedown. "Ah, Vamas aye. Haven't visited those shores in a very long time. D'yeh sell the things yer partner tinkers on, then?"
Emmeline nods as she takes a moment to straighten the skirt of her blue and white gingham dress. She points at a couple of the trinkets on display. "They're just little magical curios, giving a bit of help with day to day things. Nothing too strong, mind you. I just pretty them up a bit once she has them working."
Bracvar sets his rag down, scuttling across the way to have a look over her wares. "Hm, chanted jewelry eh? Or so it's called back home." He notices that not everything is necessarily wearable, correcting himself as he gestures toward a carved figurine, though he can't immediately make out the shape; "Ah, perhaps not all. What does this one do?"
Emmeline looks at the figurine and smiles. "Ah, that one is a bit of a beauty charm... keeps you looking good all day no matter the weather or how hard you work... or it helps a bit anyway." She shrugs and finishes squaring up all the bits and bobs on the counter and looks over at Bracvar again. "I also make some nonmagical decorations. They seem to be popular with the other merchants at least, and the climate is good here for drying the flowers and leaves for them..."
Bracvar nods, bending to examine the charm before straightening up to look over the stall as a whole. "Aye, yer decorative touch certainly seems charmed itself! Although I don't know that charm would work so well fer me as it does yerself."
Emmeline giggles a bit and nods. "Perhaps. Something like an aroma charm might be better for your line of work..."
Bracvar laughs, looking towards his cart. "Oh no, I hope yeh can't pick up on it from over here! Must have a good nose, or else my fish aren't cold enough!" He pauses, looking a bit concerned after the half-joke. "I... Would hope they are, or else I've lost my stock."
Emmeline shakes her head. "It's probably just residual smell. Or just memory of bad smells from the docksides in my youth..." She reaches under the counter and comes up with a small pastry in her hand, munching on it.
Bracvar chuckles, looking a bit relieved, though he does scuttle across the way to continue setting up. "I'll be glad to buy something like that from yeh if my stall becomes a bother, miss Emmeline!" He pulls the tarp back at the front corner, stretching his legs to lean over the edge and examine his wares. He prods a fish, noting it's still nearly frozen, feeling relieved.
Emmeline finishes her pastry and washes it down with some water before while watching Bracvar set up. "So what brings you so far inland? I'm sure it's hardly worth the hassle coming in from the coast rather than selling your wares in port."
Bracvar shrugs slightly, picking up a steel bucket from the cart and using it to scoop some of the magically-maintained ice onto his stall shelves, packing it down with the bottom of the bucket. "How else are the fine folks of Respite supposed to enjoy rare deep sea fishes?" He grins at Emmeline; "Besides, too much competition in Bairnell's Foothold. I can ask 18 coppers here fer a morsel that'll fetch me 3 there."
Emmeline nods a bit. "Fair enough, I suppose. I don't know much about the fish business, to be fair." She takes a seat on the stool behind the counter and continues to watch the crab work. "Although some of the sea plants are quite tasty. Very unique textures and the like..."
Bracvar chuckles, nodding as he returns to his cart, stretching up again to pick over his catch. "Aye, haven't heard much in the way of requests fer sea plants teh be straight, but if yeh know what you'd like, I'll gladly bring some in fer yeh. The bit I do get goes straight teh those that ordered it now." He picks out the freshest, shiniest looking examples of the four types of fish he's got this trip, laying them out in a pleasing enough way and shifting the ice up around them to keep the displayed fish well cold.
Emmeline watches Bracvar set his display with an approving eye and nods, smiling. "Very nice. Seems you know your craft quite well... I'm sure Jennica will be interested in your magical icebox, though..."
Bracvar grins, obviously a little proud at the compliment. "Thank yeh, have had a lot of time teh figure out what looks good. I'd be happy teh let her take a peek at it, though not much teh look at on the outside. Just a magitech generator that makes cold air teh keep the ice. The one I've got sittin' in a warehouse in Bairnell's Foothold is much bigger, makes all the ice."
Emmeline smiles. "Well, I don't know much about magic, just how to not interfere with Jennica's trinkets..." With everything set, she walks out of her stall and approaches Bracvar's, taking a closer look. "So how long have you been in the trade?"
Bracvar settles behind the stall after pulling his cart's cover back into place, humming for a moment. "Fish mongering? Hm... twenty-some years, perhaps? I sell a lot more than just fish, but it's a consistent product, and all I've got this time 'round. Been coming to Respite fer a decade and a half, though. Yerself?"
Emmeline pokes a hard-tipped finger at the ice curiously. "Ah, well I first started helping Jennica with her baubles a couple years back. We only really turned it into a business about a year ago, but then we had to pick up everything and come here..."
Bracvar nods along, attentively listening to Emmeline's story and chatting about the trials of running a small wares business as the crowds begin bustling out, slightly more crowded than usual as folks come out who had avoided the weather of previous days. Business proper wins out over business chat as the two split off to make their coin for the day.
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MAY AND LOUMA'S HOME - MORNING
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Louma has been visiting the bedroom window for much of the morning, waiting for the sun to rise, though the stormy clouds only grow faintly lighter as time passes. She sighs, turning back to her other activity as she continues packing a large tote bag with supplies; a heavy burlap tarpaulin, blankets, May's firestarter and some dry fuel. She has taken a few days from her duties, short notice as she had been prompted into their apparent mini vacation by the storms, though she hadn't given much reason yet. She isn't even sure what she is going to tell May, looking toward the stairs with some apprehension.
Maybelline yawns, stretching herself out as she wakes up, the sheets a little loose after Louma left bed. She slowly rolls over a few times, trying to cuddle up against her missing lover, before she pops her head up out of sheets, "Louma?" She blinks a few times, then shuffles out of the sheets and slips herself out of bed. "You still here?"
Louma looks toward the bed as Maybelline wakes, starting a bit but sinking into a warm smile as the stoat shuffles into view. "Right here, sweets~ Just preparing a few things for my time away. Did you sleep well~?" She continues packing a few more things into her bag; some dried foods, a couple canteens of water.
Maybelline hums a sleepy affirmative, walking up towards Louma and looking over the bags with a bit of a frown. "Slept well enough, yeah. I know you said you had to take a few vacation days, but you're definitely planning to head out of town, huh?"
Louma giggles, reaching out towards May and brushing a cowlick down before giving her a quick peck. "Mh, yes. A bit of a tradition, I've gone out every year after the first storms. I don't usually pine for home, but being out in the forest for a couple days in this weather is like a slice of the past that I can visit."
Maybelline looks out the window at the clouds, then back up at Louma with a somewhat sad smile. "Sounds nice. Like getting to go home without really going home, I guess, huh? Maybe I'll feel like that when it snows... if it snows? It's probably not gonna snow here..." She sighs a little at that, then steps closer to hug Louma. "I'm certainly going to pine for you in the meantime."
Louma hums at the hug, leaning down to hug May in turn. "Well... We could go together, if the generator will be okay without you for a couple nights. I want to share everything I can with you, since you make everything better~" She chuckles, smiling at May. "Besides, I'd miss you too, and what's the point in goin away for a few nights if all I'd want to do is come straight home?"
Maybelline giggles, "Well, I didn't want to intrude on your vacation time... but I would love to come with you." She glances at the packed gear, adding, "With the general note that I have never actually been camping."
Louma chuckles, nodding. "Then it's an adventure~ Just get a couple sets of clothes you don't mind getting dirty, I think I already have enough of everything else for both of us. Mh... Maybe we'll grab a few things from the bakery on a detour."
Maybelline grins wide, "I like the sound of all of those things! I could stop by the generator real fast and make a few adjustments, just to guarantee it'll all run fine while we're gone." She squeezes Louma, then scampers back over to her dresser and starts sorting through her clothes.
Louma nods, no objections of course. "I'll drop you off there and head to the bakery, then come back for you. How does that sound for time?"
Maybelline nods, pulling out a few things to wear for the trip (and also changing into something more then her sleeping onesie), "Sounds perfect! I shouldn't take long."
Louma nods, slipping into a comfortable cotton shirt and checking over their gear with a little more excitement than before May woke up, though she should probably... Well no, she can tell May about it later, keeping on track to leaving is more important, right? After May's all packed up, they go ahead with their plan to split and meet again, taking back off into the overcast skies. To their fortune, the weather holds off on actually raining, leaving the air rather cool, but not too unpleasant. They're headed just South of East, passing over the wall minutes after leaving the generator building and beginning to track along the creeping edge of the forest.
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A SHORT TRIP LATER
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Maybelline is certainly still feeling a bit giddy from the flight out, short as it was, as she always tends to feel after Louma takes her flying. She takes a step back onto solid ground holding the bag with her clothes, turning to grin at Louma. "I kinda thought you'd be heading further out. But I guess it can get a bit dangerous further out, right?"
Louma nods, shaking her wings out and looking back. Respite's walls are well out of view from their location, but really a straight path and good sense of direction would get one stoat home by walking in less than a day. Still, the small clearing they'd landed in, other than the underbrush, was more or less unvisited by others from the town. "A bit, and I wanted someone from the barracks to know where to look if there were an emergency." She sets her bag down, looking up at the clouds as they drift every so slowly along. "It's so fresh and quiet out here."
Maybelline sniffs at the air, a kind of earthy smell and ozone from the approaching storms that differs from the similar electric-y feel of the generator room. She seems a bit awed by it, having never really spent much time out in nature in her life. "It's... always a bit crazy being this far out from anything though."
Louma slithers up behind May, bending down to hug the stoat tight from behind. "With you here, I don't feel like I'm far away from anything~"
Maybelline giggles at the hug from behind, craning her head up to nuzzle at Louma. "I'm a citygirl, so the woods are always kinda mysterious. Forgive me if I stick close to you... you know. Just to be safe~"
Louma grins, kissing May on the cheek. "I won't mind at all, my love~ I hmm... Do have more to my reason for coming out here though." She releases the hug, straightening up and turning towards the bag, pulling the tarpaulin and a couple ropes out, beginning to tie the ropes among some trees into a simple makeshift frame for the tarp to drape over.
Maybelline hums, stepping aside to let Louma work, unsure how to really help in setting up a camp. "Just point me towards anything I can help with." She tilts her head though, "More to your reason? I mean, the trip was pretty sudden, but so were the storms, so I just figured that was why. Is... everything alright?"
Louma dips her head a bit, slowing in her knot tying for a few moments. "Yes, sorry it was so sudden. I should have mentioned this whole habit of mine sooner. Everything is fine, I'm just a little nervous to share this with you. I mean, it's a natural process, I do it a few times a year even, but I know it's a bit strange to some folks." She rambles a bit before catching herself and turning back to May with a light sigh and smile.
Maybelline is watching Louma with a concerned look on her face. "I mean, there's still a lot about each other that we don't know... we're very, very different, so there's a lot to learn. I don't know how strange it is or isn't, but I'll do my best to help you through whatever it is. Cause I love you." She pauses, curiosity getting the better of her, "Is it like... laying eggs or something like that?"
Louma blinks, then blushes deeply. "Oh no no, nothing that personal! It's ah... Shedding." She tugs the last knot tight, turning a bit away from May. "I know some find it somewhat disgusting, and I don't care to do it in my home and have to dispose of the shed after..." She sets a hand on her tail near where her feathers end, glancing toward May with some apprehension.
Maybelline steps closer, confused at first, "Shedding?" She glances down at the scales, suddenly taking in the meaning, "Oh! Oh shedding! Okay... yeah, that'll be different, but hardly 'disgusting'. I mean, you didn't think it was disgusting when I went from my summer coat to my winter coat. I don't really think I can look at you and think any part of you is actually disgusting, love."
Louma hums in relief, looking at the brilliant arctic stoat before her, with an expression that fills with her love for May with each passing second. "I'm so glad... And so happy I don't have to be alone for once..." She spreads her arms invitingly.
Maybelline rushes forward, making the last little bit of the trip via leap into Louma's arms, giggling, "I already told you, you don't have to be alone ever again, dear."
Louma catches May, hugging her tight into her chest pouff, giggling with her. "You're right, sweets, as always. Thank you." She manages to glance away from May around at their modest campsite, nodding. "All we really need is to get the tarp pulled over the ropes, and to gather a little firewood. Then we relax a bit, we can get started on the 'fun' bit in the morning."
Maybelline nuzzles into the chest feathers, then leans back to look into Louma's eyes with a smile. "I'll help however I can, with the campsite, and with the shedding, even if it's just to hold your hand and keep you company."
Louma bends to give her lover a warm kiss, breaking away and reluctantly starting to let her down. "More than I could ever ask for, sweets." They set about finishing the camp and getting a small fire going, even the damp deadfall working for them thanks to May's invention. The night creeps up on them, sneaking in under the cover of heavy clouds rolling in and beginning to dump a light rain around their shelter.
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BOUQUET MANOR - NIGHT TIME
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Narrator: The security in the manor is tight, and while there's few real 'guards', the routines of the maids and servants ensure that it would be difficult to sneak in, and if anyone asks later, they would confirm that nobody could possibly have walked in to Teis's room, and, indeed, her door wasn't ever even opened. This is all likely just a nightmare, waking up, still mostly asleep, unable to quite focus in the night, and there..it seemed just a floating ragged cloak, framing a simple white mask. "Little Kitten" The voice rasps out, with an odd grating quality "Think of me as your muze, I come with planz for thee"
Teis has been completely out of it since that morning, where she had broken a bit more of Tarbin's curse and put her body through undue stress. She's been asleep for more than 16 hours, and she's potentially even still asleep, even if straddling the line between what is considered sleeping and what is considered awake. Groggily, through a haze, her eyes attempt to focus on the source of the noise. It's odd. She can see 'clearly' yet it's still... hard to make out the details. It's as if everything is lucid. As if it were a dreamscape. She looks to the spectre, her head limply rolling to the side in a vague tilt.
Enxame: Indeed, the figures 'form' magically speaking is incredibly fuzzy, like they're there, but not..but also smeared all around... "You wish to break a curz, to draw the power out, yet you tire..." He scrawls a few symbols in the air, arcane ones, for siphoning power around "You uze your own power, but, why use power to take it? Why not drain the power away to elz. Lizard has link to plantz..uze that? Or perhapz to a battery.." He idly sritches symbols in the air, nothing she's not seen before, with the exception of one. ( https://imgur.com/AVHXbfd ). "One can only take so much energy, many, many things together, can take much more....lots of little creatures together, much power to sink into.." Indeed, there's millions of insects in the city, and they could colllectively be used as a power sink, and it would hardly hurt them..and even then? Who cares if a bunch of flies die?
Teis looks to the dream figure, her dream self replying. "I tire because I used brute force against the curse... With greater research I can better target my efforts and use less energy." Teis responds. She mumbles in reality, though none of it is coherent to any observers. "Lizard magic... Idea is to use that to break curse anyway."
Enxame: "Why uze lizard magic? Kitten magic better, no? Smart to uze lez energy. Take energy from curse" The symbols continue to dance about "Clever idea? Lizard magic not as good..."
Teis: "Kitten magic is good, but uses body. Body is point of failure. Lizard magic bypasses body. Bypasses point of failure." Teis replies, feeling as if this spectre is merely just... Herself? And that she's bouncing ideas off of herself.
Enxame: "Then use other body, or lots of little bodies. Use goggles to protect eyez? Use little bodiez to protect zelf?"
Teis: "Still need to process magic through body. But. If nature magic bypasses body, stands to reason other-body magic can bypass body also. ."
Enxame: "Clever" The shape bobs in the air "Good idea" That same odd symbol is drawn in the air again "Need to make magic to find inzects to uze"
Teis: "Insect magic." Teis replies. "Make ant farm. Breed own ants. Store in the lab? Use instead of mana crystals. Some insects better than others? Calculate breeding rate. Mana accumulation rate. Storage capacity. Effort to upkeep... Research required on best insect to breed."
Enxame: "Yez. Lots of good ideaz, not, sleep little kitten..." There was a small wave of the cloak, to bid Teis back to sleep, a really, really good sleep too. Very refreshing!
Narrator: And like that, Spectre-Teis disappears. Teis thinks nothing of it, hugging, clawing and nibbling at her pillow as the dream ceases and Teis' mind returns to nothingness.
Narrator: The shadow makes sure everything is back to peacefulness, before flowing down to the floor, and sinking through every little crack and crevice in the boards.