[The Bizarre] Another Encounter [Seidaku]

[Dra-Sinsa]

Sinsa flinched as the booth owner yelled, then squirmed out of the hole, carefully and gracefully, then proceeded to untie and untangle the knots until the ropes and beads came loose, just as they had been before.

She looked at Seidaku, then nodded. "You...are welcome..."

[Seidaku]

Once she was out of the improvised net, the girl had turned around and, with a surprising display of manual dexterity, deftly unraveled the ball of twine and beads. Shortly after she started, Seidaku sat back and simply let her work. It would go faster without him helping.

More quickly than he would have believed possible, there were neat coils of string and lines of beads on the floor of the Bizarre. With a thankful nod to the girl, Seidaku picked them up and set them back inside of the booth of the no longer shouting proprietor. He backed away with his hands out in what he hoped was a placating gesture, apologizing for the inconvenience.

Turning back to the girl after one last glance at the scowling shop owner, Seidaku offered a hand to help her up and said, "We should, ah, probably get out of here."

[Dra-Sinsa]

Sinsa gave him a tiny smile and took his hand, pulling herself up. Nodding to the shop keeper with a half-apologetic look, she looked at Seidaku and said, "Thank you for helping me. I...should go..." She turned and walked away, absently touching her stomach and not wanting to bother anyone anymore than she had.

Why had he been kind to her? She nearly jumped him the other night, almost scared him to death.

People were strange here.

[Seidaku]

"Oh, umm, well okay," Seidaku said as the girl hauled herself up and walked away. His shoulders slumped and he heaved a defeated sigh when she clutched at her empty stomach. As soon as he had seen her in the Bizarre, he had know that, against all of his better judgement, he was going to help her. The rational part of his mind telling him to leave her to her fate was just self-deception.

He fingered the now even lighter coin pouch hanging from his belt. Not for the first time, he told himself that he needed a steadier income. In a city as large and diverse as Alvadas, there had to be something he could do to avoid living hand to mouth like this.

That did nothing to help his current situation, though. With another sigh, he called out after the departing girl, "Wait," drawing the word out slightly in his frustration with himself, "You need a meal, or you are going to die."

Seven days? He could scarcely blame her desperation. If he had not had a meal in seven days, he had little doubt that he would have resorted to lurking in the night, knocking over strangers for their coin. Of course, that assumed that he could have even held himself upright by that point.

[Dra-Sinsa]

Sinsa stopped when she heard the man, then turned back to look at him. When he said she needed a meal or she would die, she barely choked back a laugh. Death would be a welcome change from starving every night. Sure, she may have had some money, but that was going towards buying a more permanent place.

She walked slowly back towards him, golden eyes glittering.
"What do you suggest?" She asked, tilting her head as she stared unblinkingly at him.

[Seidaku]

Seidaku blinked in surprise when she returned. What did he suggest? And why was he surprised that a starving child wanted a chance at a meal?

Stepping up on his toes to try and get a look around the Bizarre over the crowd, what Seidaku saw was not promising. A scowling shopkeeper and nothing that even halfway appeared that it would sell something edible. That did not guarantee anything in Alvadas, but finding something that at least resembled edible material would be a good place to start.

He pointed to the large wooden doorway leading out of the Bizarre and onto the streets of the city, still just over a dozen feet away despite the twisting run through the stalls, and said, "They, ah... there are vendors on the streets outside. We could probably, umm, find something to eat there."

[Dra-Sinsa]

Sinsa nodded once. "Alright." She looked at the doorway, then back at him. Something occurred to her and she bit her lip.

"What do they sell?" She questioned, her eyes wary. Sure, she would take anything, but something soft would be preferable.
"Any fruit?" She said softly, a faint twinge of longing in her voice.

She could eat pretty much anything, she knew. But fruit was a delicacy of sorts for her and she needed something sweet.

[Seidaku]

"They, ah, well yes, they sell fruit," Seidaku said, looking down at the girl as he led the way toward the exit of the Bizarre. With a small smile, he added, "If you have, umm, never eaten Alvadan food, you are in for a surprise."

He pushed the door leading out of the Bizarre open, needing both hands to do so, and emerged into a wash of brilliant sunlight. The street was carpeted in brilliantly colored butterflies with wings like cut glass. When disturbed, they vanished into a spray of multi-hued light that materialized a short distance away.

"Now," he said, more to himself than the girl, "To find a vendor."

[Dra-Sinsa]

Sinsa allowed a smile to slip to her mouth as he confirmed that there was indeed fruit. She wondered what he meant by a surprise from Alvadan food.

With a flinch, she followed him outside into the sunlight. The butterflies stopped her in her tracks, watching them until they vanished. Her pupils had dilated as she had come into the sunlight.

Her gauntness was incredibly noticeable in the light.

[Seidaku]

It was strange, though he supposed it should not have been. He had always seen vendors and entertainers lining the streets outside of the Bizarre, but today the streets were empty of the sights and smells that would lead him toward something edible. He scratched his head idly, all he could see were the bejeweled butterflies and a surprisingly small number of people going about their daily lives.

"Well," he said with a resolute nod, "Nothing to do for it but, ah, but to find ourselves a vendor."

Gesturing for the shockingly gaunt child to follow him, Seidaku walked to the end of the Bizarre and turned the corner onto a street paved with frosted sweet cakes. Both the street itself and the buildings lining it appeared to be lined with all manner of pastel colored candies and sugared breads. "Umm, don't try eating it," he cautioned the child, "You will end up, uhh, starving to death. The illusions are very convincing. A very real stomach ache from all the fake sugar, though. Very strange how the mind works," he added to himself.

He wondered, would the perception of nourishment have a noticeable effect on aleviating the physical effects of malnutrition and dehydration? What about the perception of pain? Was there a medical or surgical application for those blessed by Ionu?

Lost in thought, he slid slightly in a patch of icing as he turned the corner again, Seidaku spotted his goal, dozens of carts carrying foods and twice as many street performers ranging from jugglers to fire eaters to musicians. The whole scene was very... raucous.

He stopped for a moment, searching above the crowds until he spotted a large, elevated sign that appeared most promising. On orange cloth, with glaringly contrasting blue letters, proclaimed, "Mistress Melissa's Meritorious Mobile Morsels."

Threading his way through the crowd with the child hopefully following, he pulled to a stop and gestured with a surprisingly broad smile, "Alvadas' food is... well, as unique as the city itself."

His gesture took in a cart whos coloration threatened to make an observer's eyes bleed. There were more colors than he had names for, and it seemed that they were all striving for prominence on the sides and top of the cart. Sitting atop the cart was an art display of foods. There were pies with cross hatched crusts, artfully arranged bowls of fruit, tightly coiled links of sausage and plates of other meats and, seemingly out of place amidst all of the various foods, an hour glass with multi-colored sand sliding from the top to the bottom.

Darting glances toward the girl periodically, Seidaku held a whispered conversation with 'Mistress Melissa', who finally nodded knowingly and held her hand out, palm up. With a sigh, he placed a full gold Miza into her palm, which she was polite enough to test with her hands beneath her counter, out of sight.

The transaction completed, Seidaku picked out two items. One was a cut of mutton as long as the girl's forearm, and likely bigger around. The second was a small, plainly painted tea cup. Stepping out of the way for any other customers, he handed the small girl the slab of meat, steam still curling away from it with the scent of spices, and said, "I know you said fruit, but, ah, trust me."