Open Wandering the Market?

[Farlen]

"cloves, you say? I can smell them from here, they've been bothering my sensses. I lead you to them" said the silver haired Dhani, causing a smile on Farlen's face. The kind of smile that spoke 'good to know I'm not the only one who smelled it.' And though his eyes did not meet those crimson ones, instead looking at the pavement beneath his feet, he felt a sudden connection with him. Could it be that another being in this world, witnessed it like he did?

Lifting hism self from his current position, he stood before them, very tall and very blonde. A sudden breeze ruffled his long luscious locks, lifting it from his face to properly reveal deep amber eyes with narrow slits for pupils. Those eyes now had a chance of studying his companions properly.

The first one was the Dhani with hair so white that Farlen found him self jealous of the exquisite colour. The hair which looked so much like fine silverware or jewellery which adorned the necks of rich women and the fingers of wealthy men. But then another comparison came to mind, a much better fitting one, the poisonous Jade flower. That was the colour. He hoped the man would not find his staring rude, for Farlen needed to spend a prolonged moment admiring that beautiful hair. Another really striking thing about him were those deep crimson eyes of his, though shyness prevented Falren from looking straight into them.

She however had a much more normal look to her and it didn't quite sink in that she was a witch. Her hair was the kind of colour that Farlen would normally over look, but the eyes were a truly exquisite teal. And she had a habit of locking those eyes with him as he could not look away. Though perhaps that was just his imagination.

[Sharyths]

Sharyths felt excited to have met some people here on his first day. Whether they are good or bad will be discovered much later. Though, Sharyths did not, nor would not, mind of either. So long as his companion were truly that, companions, partners...friends. The woman made the dhani at ease, more at home when she spoke in his tongue. It felt nice to be comforted.

The...Kelvic was it, was the most special to him. He made this poor dhani even more comfortable, though the reason Sharyths did not know. And to think, he was going to eat him, perish the thought, how could he have done such a thing. He regrets that now and wishes he hadn't thought of it.

But now is not the time, Sharyths shall help this lady now, and maybe get some food afterwards.

[Haeli]

Haeli smiled at both of them. The swamp witch dressed plainly, wore no cosmetics, and never adorned herself with jewelry or makeup. Her entire presentation was plain. Her shoes were even worn, probably well past sensible. Pulling her winter cloak more tightly about her, Haeli nodded to the two. "Lead on. As I have said, there's nothing I can do to find him. I've already tried. But my senses are inadequate." She said gently, turning her focus inward to concentrate on what she was about to do.

That wasn't entirely true. The reason she knew he smelled like cloves was because when she smelled him the first time, she'd been working on altering her olfactory in her nasal to smell better and had caught a whiff of him. She could do that again, and should, but she'd really wanted to just make conversation with the Dhani. The kelvic was just an interesting distraction as well. She found them fascinating in a detached way. Haeli had a bondmate once upon a time, but the raccoon had been needed elsewhere and Haeli had no wish to repeat the heartbreak again.

So as the two were 'leading' looking for the cloves smell, Haeli concentrated on her own body. She could feel her sinus' and the way her nose linked to her lungs. Her object wasn't to change physical appearances, no, that would attract too much attention in the market. Instead, she focused her djed on changing internal structure. She'd built noses for jaguars from the ground up many many times before. So performing the task while waking with two strangers was fairly easy as long as she concentrated. The structure within her sinus' shifted, reformed, molded itself and a flood of information filled her senses. Haeli coughed slightly at the abrupt invasion. Perfumes, unwashed bodies, dyes, tanning agents, paint scents all filled her senses in the market. She glanced at her two companions, unsure how they handled the barrage day in and day out. Wrinkling her nose, she followed them.

"I'm glad you are here... " She said softly, as she followed the other two smelling cloves but unsure how to pick out the scent trail from the rest of the scents.

[Sharyths]

As Sharyths followed the scent of the cloves, he discovered newer scents. Flowers, breads, the stuff lady hue-mahns where to cover up their fouler stenches. But sharyths could block out all these, for the did not smell rotten to him (except for some of the lady spray) and he could spot the cloves out of all the other rotten smells because he had smelled it before. When he first came to the city, and met Alsess, Ash-Tray-Uh and Rael-Eye. So he could follow this trail relatively easily, even when it got worse as he got closer. How could anyone stand this smell?
He heard the lady witch, Haeli, cough and turned to see if she were okay. "Does the misstress need a break?" he hissed to her in his natural tongue. Forgetting the kelvic, Farlen doesn't speak it. "How are you faring, my furry friend?" he hissed to Farlen.
Oh, how marvelously wonderful it is to have friends and help them find disgusting odors. Sharyths felt, by the smell, that they were getting closer, a few more blocks or so.

[Farlen]

He had kept very close to the lady. There was something within her manner -perhaps strength but not of the ominous kind - that drove him closer to her. His curiosity knew no boundaries and he quickly formed a habit of staring at her, taking in her every move, every feature. And those beautiful teal eyes of hers reminded him so much of those familiar ones of his old master. However unpleasant the memory might have been, however deep were the wounds, he found him self gravitating to the same familiar things every time and he could only hope that she would not find his staring rude.

The truth in all it's entirety was that the human body of his had lacked the complex internal structure to provide the heightened sense of smell which his lynx body possessed. In fact frequently he found him self completely missing the most obvious things as his brain would concentrate on something completely different than the smells around him. And whereas his nose was perhaps better than most normal human beings, it was far from perfect like that of a lynx. None the less he had taken the offer just so he could stare at the lady. She perplexed him.

He could also not understand the peculiar snake tongue they spoke. It seemed that all it's prolonged 'sssss' sounds and the lack of coherence within the sound - the lack of fluctuations distinguishable to his ears - were no less than alien in nature. But this didn't bother him for his mind filtered out the very notion that they were communicating. The trusting soul that he was, he didn't think them to converse about some devious plot to end his life. He merely paid attention to their body language, rather than the sounds leaving their lips. No wonder that when the Dhani spoke to him in common again, his mind missed the entire sentence completely and stared at him with wide open eyes and a head cooked a little to the side.

Farlen wasn't a man of many words. In fact he most often spoke only when the situation demanded it, so he didn't speak much as they walked. Simply he enjoyed the presence, for experience taught him that all company will be taken away from him sooner or later.

[Haeli]

The market twisted and turned, leading from building to building, in narrow tight confines that often had Haeli following behind the pair just for them to make their way single file. When pathway did widen, venders often took advantage by pushing carts and leaving baskets out that were overflowing with goods. There were people everywhere, brushing shoulders, elbows, and really making traversing the market difficult. Haeli hated it. She really did. This was the reason she didn't often come to the market. And while she'd been feeling lonely enough to agree to delivering the gentleman's goods, she really really didn't want to do it ever again.

She was beyond grateful for her two escorts. Both men were larger than she was, and the crowd parted ways for both the Dhani and the human seeming kelvic paying them attention where she would have definitely gotten overlooked. The price of feeding the two men was going to be a steal compared to the saving they were doing her by not having her wandering the market for hours lost, continuously pushing her way through the crowd.

She made sure to thank them as well, often, because she was sincere about the help. "I really appreciate your help." She said in one of the rare instances they could walk three abreast. She was starting, even as she spoke, to get a bigger feel for the market. Sliding up into a bird form would have been helpful - to give her an oriel view, because it would draw on overhead map in her mind that would help her navigate. She'd do that later when she wasn't weighed down with things like clothing and company.

"Wait! This is him. I recognize the sign from his paper." She said, reaching forward to gently grab the Dhani before he proceeded onward. She looked over at the kelvic, caught him staring again, and flushed. "That's his shop!" She said, ducking inside without hesitation. The witch marched up to the counter, past his shelved and hanging wares, and set the basket up on the counter. The man greeted her enthusiastically as she began taking bottles of powdered incense out of her basket. She offered him another larger mesh bag of what looked like charcoal bricks. Then quickly, she gave him a lesson when he asked how to use it.

"Take the bricks, these already burned wood ones, and light them. They will catch fire again and smoulder, but not with flame. All you need is a dish of some sort to set them in, preferably stone or metal. Once the brick is burning...." Haeli said, indicating the brick she'd just lit from a candle he had burning on his counter. "Just set it down in your dish..." She used the top of one of his desk paperweights. "... and sprinkle your incense over the brick. It will burn for hours." She said. Sure enough the powdery stuff she sprinkled began to form a lovely smoke that carried floral jasmine scents up into the roof of the shop, counteracting the obviously strong smell of vats of dye coming from a neighboring vendor.

The man thanked Haeli, and she turned back to her companions. With her basket now empty, she grinned, tucking it lightly onto her arm. "We can go eat now, if you know of a place." She said, giving her customer a final wave. The incense she'd leave with him would cover him for at least thirty days, maybe more if he was frugal with it.

[Sharyths]

Farlen cocked his head in confusion at Sharyths, he figured he must spoke in his snake-tongue without realizing, 'I must remember to apologize later' thought the Dhani. Anyways, they continued walking, It was crowded again, but the people seemed to move to the side, as not to be touched by the dhani. Has Sharyths done something to offend these people, or is it he does not smell like them and they don't want his scent to be rubbed off on them, so their children will still recognize them and not run away? Either way, whatever the reason, it was relatively easy to move through the crowd.

The smell had been getting stronger, which meant they were getting closer. While Sharyths particularly hated this smell, he loved helping his new friends so he endured through it. He was thinking, as he moved, about all the adventures they would have together. All the trials they would face, the rewards they would receive. That's probably why he was startled when the lady grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

"Wait! This is him. I recognize the sign from his paper," she had spoken. Sharyths waited outside while she completed her quest, out of respect for her. He turned to the Kelvic, while they were waiting, and spoke to him, in common "Sorryths for speaking snake earlier, keep forgetting you no sspeaks sssnake." He hoped the kelvic would forgive him.

Soon the Haeli came back out of the smelly store, though it smells better now. She must be a witch if she could get rid of such an awful stink. "We can go eat now, if you know of a place." she had said, Sharyths had nearly forgotten the deal. "I know an alley withs ssome juicy ratss. I think they got them today because they are HUGE." Sharyths hissed to Haeli. He turned to Farlen and tried to speak in common, "Good yesss."

[Farlen]

Alas they found the store and it smelled quite interesting. Nothing he was not used to before, for having travelled all around Mizahar and having met all sorts of strange people, nothing surprised him any more. And hoping not to be a nuisance he fallowed Haeli into the shop. But just before Sharyths spoke to him. "Sorryths for speaking snake earlier, keep forgetting you no sspeaks sssnake."

Once again Farlen cooked his head to the side once again, his expression neutral. He couldn't quite comprehend why the Dhani would be apologising for such a thing. Something quite insignificant in nature and perhaps an interesting variety to the widely spoke common. Something he didn't get the chance to listen to every day and something that sounded peculiar but charming in it's own special way. Such was the snake tongue. And without much of a word, he merely flashed a great grin, showing all his teeth and fallowed inside.

He was progressively more relaxed now, the kitten inside him resurfacing. The very nature of Farlen was that of unmatched curiosity and he looked around him and looked at the actions of the lady with awe filled eyes. She was teaching the vendor about the use and the purpose of the strange things she brought in. Incense, that's what she called it. A strangely coloured powdery substance on top of a lit brick and the use of some metal. It all made very little sense to him but he watched the demonstration none the less. And sure enough a curling grey spoke elevated from the dish and diffused in the air around them. His eyes fallowing it as it snaked upwards. A sharp inhale... which was a mistake.

Farlen bolted out of the shop, curling up by the wall where the Dhani stood and held his nose in both palms. He had inhaled too much of it at once and the hot spoke mildly burned him, not enough to case any actual damage, but enough to be momentarily uncomfortable. It stunned to poor Kelvic. He mumbled to him self for a second, feeling thoroughly sorry for him self. But it didn't take long before the sensation ceased and he got up to his feet, feeling a little muted.

It didn't take long before Haeli emerged outside again. A proposition of food on her lips. And then as if to his amusement Sharyths propositioned a rat festered alley. Farlen chuckled to him self lightly and whispered "Humans don't eat rats." just loud enough so the two could hear. He had known this first hand for his master would always scold him when the meat was not properly cooked. If he wasn't prepared to eat just a little raw meat, then rats would definitely not be up to his standard and to Farlen all humans were fundamentally the same in their eating habits. Fussy and ungrateful. Then again he didn't fnd the notion very appealing either.

[Elysium]

Sharyths

XP:
Observation +3
Tracking +1
Socializing +1

Lore:
Haeli, Not-Dhani
Farlen the Lynx
How to Track by Scent
Lhavit: The Azure Market

★

Farlen

XP:
Observation +3
Socialization +2

Lore:
Sharyths the Snake
Haeli, Witch of Lhavit
Lhavit: The Azure Market

★

Haeli

XP:
Morphing +2
Observation +3
Tracking +1
Socialization +2

Lore:
Sharyths, Lost Dhani
Farlen the Kelvic
Lhavit: The Azure Market
Morphing: Harnessing the Predator's Nose

Notes: Aw, just when it was getting good! Nice thread. Contact me if you have any issues.

and so, the journey continues...