Completed Perfume is Plants? (Nasrin)

[Ana Sol Starris]

Winter 15th, 512AV Scintillating Scents; Afternoon Life wasn't about sitting idly and doing nothing, waiting for something to happen; Life was not to be sqaundered on meaningless thoughts and dreams. For life, Life itself, it was all about doing what you came to your mind; with that said, Ana had finally realized that. All those nights, sitting alone in Sunberth waiting for something miraculous to happen while she read books and had fantasys of a life she couldn't possibly of had at that time, to the time in her old room, her old home in Zeltiva where alcohal and family problems were really.. a problem. Sitting. Sitting and waiting. Ana couldn't stand it anymore, she said she would change, but she never did, she always dreamed, she always wished, but she never DID anything. The thief stared into her reflection at the lake, it was early morning right now and the fog made it almost impossible to see around her; it was that incentive that had lead her to choose right then to do what she wanted to. One, somber sigh escaped her lips as she leaned closer to the smooth, glass like water, it was completely still. In her reflection she saw the darkened eyes, the black circles underneath her lids, while the gold was watered down with the blue black colors mixed in. The worrysome wrinkle, even the freckles which were little more than faded dots. Down to her upturned lips, chapped, pink, but with a full lower lip, a sharp upper lip; absent mindedly she lifted her hand to stroke her jawline down to her chin. Details, which she would not of taken in before, at any time, she was now committing to memory. Ingraining it into her skull, etching on the walls of her cranium, carving it out in her eyes. Ana would not forget herself, she would not lose herself to the magic, just as Wren had warned; but she would not spiral into a world of chaos that would forever change her appearence, for better, or worse. "My idenity is mine, and mine alone, no one can take what I know.. away.." she mumbled to herself, tiredly, this was now the third day of having of been wide awake. Ana would do something, she would be the person she always dreamed to be but she would be better, more realistic than that silly dream of being a mastermind thief in a story book. She would make her own story, and shape it to her will, but she had to have that will to plan it out and look at how the present can affect the future. The hand, which had remained upon her face was still tracing the outlines of herself, slowly, committing to a physical memory before finally focusing onto the colors of herself. Strands of a white blonde littered her face, covering mostly one side of her face and slightly the other, the reasoning behind that had been to hide a scar on her right cheek. Letting her hair down from its limp bun, she ran her fingers through the dirty strands. Hair was not as important as eyes, as the hair could be dyed different colors through non-magical means (which Ana did not have the dyes with her) so she focused on the golden honey of her eyes. The irises were large, pupils black, large as well, slowly Ana would, after a few moments of brief concentration- digging into that inner pool of djed to pump it into her eyes, she wanted to mimic the water in its color. Watching, her eyes in the reflection of the water turned into a blueish black, almost melding into the water with its color. The process was slow, but she had all the time in the world right now to get these things right, if she was careful then she wouldn't have to worry too much about her eyes or hair being seemingly permanent in their morphed colors. Water was not the best mirror there ever could have been, but it was Ana's only option, she had to be able to see what she was doing. Next, she began with the circles of her eyes, this wasn't something that would require her to constantly look at the water but to look at her own skin and match the normal colored skin to the dark ugly circles, foretelling her sleepless nights. It was pale, with a hint of yellow, maybe even creamish in color; so she began to assimlate the color she saw in her arm, into the skin around her eyes. One finger gently brushing over the dark circles, cream following close behind them, as if making a path for the djed to follow through. Ana did the same to the other eye, just as painstakingly slow as the first, she wanted to be careful as she could be, she wanted to look different. When she was finished with that, Ana felt pretty confident in her ability to do this kind of magic. Actually, she looked beautiful without those awful circles framing her eyes. Eagerness set in to change her, whispers to change more of herself, become something different invaded her thoughts. Ana knew better, she had to restrain herself, but maybe doing her hair wouldn't hurt- after all, who else in the Spires had white blonde hair, that wasn't some konti? The thief smiled grimly at her reflection, doing the same as she had done for the circles under her eyes, but this time with the palm of her hand, she paved the way for the djed into her messy, if not a little greasy locks of blonde white hair, the color in her mind was already evident- brown black, just like her brothers was. She remembered his appearence very well, his death, vivid in her mind, the red blood, the fight, the run- Ana stopped. She had frozen in terror, for what she had meant to make brown black hair had instead turned a bloody red color on one side. She had let her thoughts get away from herself, and because of that, her djed had followed her memories strong singals; related to colors. Schrieking, Ana cut the flow off, but kept it suspended for what was in there and jerked her eyes away, covering her face, shaking, trembling, she was scared of what she had just done. She wanted this to never of happen- No. No. No. Ana had to suck it up, she had her minor disguise up and running, she was not backing down from this any more. There was no turning back, not because she chickened out over silly memories which would be put to rest with her fathers death. For a few moments she stayed like that, collecting her sanity, and dragging it back into place within her mind. There was no turning back. She would have to do this now. Plans had to be put in action, otherwise, if she did not, then she risked the possible chance of leaving for good. To do something with her life. With those thoughts in mind, she gathered her black cloak and draped it around herself, and pulled her hood up. Her destination was the perfume shop inside of the Spires itself, and her goal? Perfume strong enough to mask her natural scent, so no one, no animal, or beast could discern her from one human, to the next, and then put two and two together that it was her- Ana. The trip had taken most of the morning, and she finally arrived to the shop in the afternoon, after of being lost for perhaps a few bells at first. When Ana entered, she was amazed by all the plants inside, how would she steal any of these for the commodity known as perfume? How did these play up to become perfume? Was this the right place at all? Standing there, without a clue of what to do- Ana grimaced, and kept her head down as she made her way to the counter. Eyes to the ground mostly, shielded from veiw by the cloak.

[Nasrin]

Sweet floral steam crept through the air in the back room of the shop, clouding Nasrin's vision and giving the room the illusion of a mysterious jungle. Luckily, she'd worked there long enough that she knew her way around the work area by memory, her feet taking her to the work table and the fire without her needing to think about it. She'd been working lately on expanding the products offered at Scintillating Scents at Tika's behest; there was no reason they shouldn't at least offer their perfumes in different forms. Her project at the moment was suspending their scents in a solid but spreadable wax, that when warmed between the hands could be rubbed into the skin rather than the liquid perfumes they offered normally. If she was correct, then the scent would be longer lasting as well. She had several different stations going at once; there was a pan containing scented oil and wax melting over the fire, near enough to melt slowly but far enough to keep from burning when she turned her attention elsewhere. The alembic was bubbling away as usual; there was always more essential oils and floral waters to be made, not only for their perfume production but they were also sold at a highly discounted price to the healers in The Spires. That was what she attended now, draining the heated water and replacing it with cool, so that the steam running through the beak would condense. Today she was using the petals and stems of orchids, filling both the front and back of the store with a light, mouthwatering smell that almost smacked of fruit. She was just getting down a jar of honey from the shelf to tie all of the ingredients together when she heard the tinkle of the bell on the front door, signifying the arrival of a customer, or at least a curious passerby. Sighing, she placed the jar back onto the shelf and bustled over to the fire, removing the pan of wax from the heat. It would be no trouble to reheat it later and the wax would not suffer any damage from solidifying. She would have to keep a close eye on the alembic as she dealt with the customer, but as long as she did not let the water stay hot for too long, it would not suffer either. Wiping the steam from her face with a small cloth, she made her way to the counter, grey eyes scanning the rows of plants for her potential customer; ah, there. A young lady or a teenaged boy, judging by the height was...well, creeping throughout the store, slowly approaching the counter. She leaned over slightly, tilting her head to try and catch a glimpse of the face beneath the hood of the dark cloak. What a strange person; who walked into a store shrouded like that? Did they not want anyone to know they were shopping for perfumes? Or were they perhaps hoping she would not recognise them? Since they seemed to be looking around in confusion, she cleared her throat to get their attention. "Welcome to Scintillating Scents. Can I help you? I'm sure we have something perfect for you." in addition to her Common, which she had vastly improved since the last season, she reached down inside and pulled her djed to saturate her vocal cords, using the most basic technique of the magick, suggestion. Her voice carried that idea into the strangers' mind, assuring them that they did indeed have something perfect in stock. She had taken to using it lately to reassure customers of the quality of their perfumes and to help close sales; she knew Tika would highly disapprove of the practice, and so only used it when the Konti was out.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Gazing around at the room, amazed, and even a little sickened by the powerful smells wafting around the air. It made her want to start sneezing, itching away at the insides of her nostrils and making her eyes water. Wiping her eyes, she pressed on, blinking rapidly every few seconds to keep from making her eyes inpercievably blurry. Awful stuff, why in the gods names did she think of this? This was awful if she had to stand it for a very long time, for as long as she would need to in the Spires to mask her scent. I'm not sure if I can do this.. Ana thought to herself nervously. Fiddling with her cloak, but at the same time making sure to keep her hands unseen underneath the over sized, black matierial. Her timid frame turning ever so lightly to get a better view of everything, she couldn't seem to find the counter through all the plants until finally she heard the sound of a throat clearing. Looking to the source of the noise, followed it, she stood in front of the counter now and looked up. The womans voice was rather lovely, was she the receptionist? Ana wondered as she blinked twice again, "I'm sure you do," she squeeked, inhaling the air that made her want to gag "..I..I heard about this place.. and.. I was looking for something.." "Do you think you have it?" Ana questioned lightly, bracing herself, she didn't want to show her morphed appearence, she was afraid of someone seeing it but she had to make sure no one knew it was actually her: Ana. So she took her hood down and pushed her hair behind her ears nervously, blushing, and looking to the counters wooden surface "I'm looking for something rather strong," she blinked again, "but I don't know much about perfumes, I've only just now thought of it." The thief was not the essence of confidence under her guise, how could she be comfortable, not being able to tell if her morphed appearence was still up and running? Ana kept feeding small amounts of her djed to the affected areas, slowly as she fidgetted on her feet. Now finally looking up to get a better view of the woman, surprised, it was one of those multiple armed people! Like Centroc! Ana could hardly contain the suprise she expressed on her face, "you have more than two arms! and gold skin!" Ana tried to remember if Centroc had gold skin or not, she wasn't sure, it had been a long time since she had seen him at all. Back when the CE... No. Ana shouldn't think of that right now, she veered her thoughts from that iffy subject to the current dilemma. Perfume.

[Nasrin]

A smile quirked at the sides of Nasrin's painted lips, mostly polite but edged near imperceptibly with the hint of a predatory smirk. The customer was fiddling with their cloak and moving quite timidly; Nasrin watched their movements closely, wondering why they seemed so nervous. She only got a slight glimpse of something peeking out, a sudden flash of grassy green, before they spoke, haltingly and quietly. The voice was clearly feminine, and young; what shame was there in being a woman in a perfume shop? It was possible that there was some other reason for the girl's attempt at secrecy, but without investigation there was no way for Nasrin to know. The girl seemed to gain some confidence, standing a bit straighter and removing the hood of her dark cloak to reveal a face no older than Nasrin's, with skin that hearkened to fresh cream. She supposed the girl was pretty enough, as far as humans went, but she still hadn't gotten over how...flat their skin looked without the gilded sheen of her own people's complexions. Her eyes were an unusual shade, the blue-black of a lake on an overcast day. Oddly, there was a shock of deep unnatural red in her brown hair; Nasrin kept herself from frowning at the state of those locks. She took meticulous care of her own hair, long as it was to brush the tips of her fingers when unbound, but this girl's seemed as if it could use a good wash and one of Nasrin's herbal treatments. "Of course, we have many scents and some are stronger than others. If you don't find one you would like, then I will be happy to create a unique fragrance just for you." As she spoke, she fetched a few samples of the basic fragrance types from below the countertop, placing five of the little clay bottles in front of the woman with a small clink as they met the wooden surface. She huffed a bit in laughter as the customer exclaimed at the sight of her racial differences; by now, she was used to the feeling. Jamoura that came into the shop especially loved to question her about her physiology, hungry for knowledge as they were. "Yes, I have more than two; four, as it were. I am Eypharian, from Ahnatep. All of my people have these traits you see, though some have six arms unlike my four." Smiling mostly good naturedly, she raised her multiple arms and wiggled the fingers so that the customer could get a good look. Her upper pair of hands were covered as usual in a pair of fine black lace gloves, though her lower hands were bare. Suddenly she started, realizing that she needed to check the alembic in the back. "Oh, please excuse me for a moment, I left something on the heat." She bowed her head slightly and turned around, hurrying into the back to attend to her work; quickly she drained she hot water from the coil into a waiting drum, swiftly replacing it with cool water. Observing the alembic for a moment, she nodded, satisfied that it could go without supervision long enough for her to do business with the young woman out front.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Ana watched as the multiple armed woman as she spoke, eyes watching her arms as she sat small bottles down. They were big enough so they wouldn't cause Ana any problems filching, if she were to take one, small, easy to conceal, what would taking one hurt? They must have been samples by their bottle size; listening in on the more the woman said, she wondered where Ahnatep was. Certainly not near here, multiple armed beings, or Eypharians did not seem to be common. Or at least, that seemed to be the case for Ana, having of only, truely, met one a few seasons ago. It was best to play dumb on what she did know, about anything. Smiling back at her, she was a bit daunted by all the fingers wiggling, a glimmer of amusement passed through her eyes as she laughed too "I believe that is rather useful, having more than two arms.. You must work pretty fast with those extra hands." Truthfully complimenting the woman, and admiring the Eypharian womans extra limbs. What would Ana give to have more limbs as well? If she were to, say.. Magically grow some via morphing? No. The thought was not plausible, it was far too advanced for a silly beginner like her, but maybe in the future she would be able to. When the Eypharian excused herself, Ana picked a bottle up tenderly; inspecting it. The grassy green of her hands would be unavoidable, she didn't have any gloves, but perhaps she could pull a sham of a truth to the perfume seller that these were just tattoos. Those were common, Ana thought lightly as she plopped the bottle quickly down her shirt without being detected, feeling it bounce slightly to rest standing up between her belt, shirt, and skin. Just as quickly, she picked another bottle up, eyes glancing to the woman before attempting to open it. Uncorking it as the woman came back, and then taking a direct whiff; the response was rather comical and instantaneous. It was a wonderful smell, simply fabulous; however she could not enjoy it, having to put the bottle, and the cork down on the counter to hide her face into her cloak, sneezing furiously so into it. Not once, or twice, nor thrice, four times, five times, counting upwards, Ana could not stop sneezing until finally it seemed to calm down after the 15th, maybe even 20th sneeze. Eyes watering like a leaky dam. "I...I don't... I don't..Think thats...a good one.." she managed to huff out, through the cloak, trying to get ahold of herself.

[Nasrin]

Walking back to the front, the customer seemed to have already begun sampling the perfumes Nasrin had set out. They were the best and most simple examples of the fragrance families and would helo the girl get an idea of what type of scent she'd like to wear. There were many, many more nuanced fragrances to be found but those smaples exemplified the truest notes of their kind. As Nasrin approached the counter once again, her eyes widened; she could scarcely decide what to stare at more, the blatant strange color of the girl's hands or the horrible sneezing fit she was having. She watched bewildered as the girl sneezed upwards of fifteen times into her cloak, clutched in hands as green as a grasshopper. Was it some kind of illness? Surely not, the solor was too brilliant for that. The color was something she'd only seen on birds or insects. Finally the fit seemed to die down, the woman informing her with teary eyes and reddened face that that particular perfume was definitely not for her. Nasrin picked up the bottle that had been hastily corked and set back upon the counter. Glancing at the notations on the bottle, she nodded reasuringly. "Some do not handle floral scents well. We will be sure to stay away from them if they cause this severe reaction. Instead, perhaps it would be better to try something not made from mostly flower materials..." She absently reached for the other sample bottles, looking for the one that held the ambered scent; oddly, she couldn't seem to find it. She knew she'd set an example of each family upon the counter, where had ambered gone? She sent a quick glance to the floor, thinking perhaps the girl had knocked it off during her sneezing fit, but it was nowhere to be seen. Narrowing her eyes slightly, they seemed to lose some of their friendly air and became a bit cold, though the polite smile did not leave her lips. "Did you happen to see where the last bottle went?"

[Ana Sol Starris]

Inhaling her own scent from her cloak, Ana began wiping her eyes, grinding them in an attempt to get them to stop watering. That was idiotic, what stupid items, why did anyone want them? Especially when they caused that sort of reaction in her, she couldn't believe it at all. Maybe others found some sort of allure to them, Ana just couldn't stand it, yet she was doing this for a very good reason. She was not sure if morphing could change how one smelled, and she wasn't going to attempt it either. Breathing easier, she turned her gaze back to the woman, eyes squinting as they still threatened to continue watering; "sorry" she croaked a bit, "dust seems to do the same thing to me, just not as bad," she wiped her eyes again, clearing her throat. When the woman began to look around the counter, Ana was sure she noticed the bottle missing- she counted the others. Four on the counter, one in her shirt to make a grand total of five, yet Ana displayed no paranoia and instead looked curious at the woman. Looking around as well, trying to play stupid when she was questioned. "Last bottle?" She brought her hands out where they could be seen, not dramatically, but subtly- raising one to count each bottle one by one "one.. two.." Ana's mouthed three and four, then looked as if she were grinding the gears in her brain "there was more than four bottles?" She widened her eyes, concern crossing it. Act stupid, act stupid Ana, act stupid, Ana coached herself, forcing herself to remain eerily calm in the situation while all petching hell wreaked havoc inside her mind.

[Nasrin]

A delicate eyebrow rose as Nasrin watched the girl's reaction to her query; the blue-eyed girl looked around much as Nasrin had done, glancing at the counter and floor as if she was also looking for the missing bottle. Those strikingly green hands peeked out from beneath her dark cloak as the girl cast a curious and questioning look at the Eypharian. Nasrin had to give the girl credit; she was quite a capable liar. However, the most important aspect of lying was subtlety. Nasrin was no expert at detecting falsehoods, but as soon as the girl lifted her fingers to count the bottles on the counter, it was too much. Nasrin was nothing if not a supremely confident woman, and she was sure of the number of bottles she'd set out. It had been five and now there were only four. However, theft was a serius accusation to make outright; if she could get the girl to admit that she'd swiped the bottle, things would go much easier. The polite, calculating smile never left her face as she inclined her head graciously. "Oh dear, how clumsy of me. I'm just so sure I'd set out five bottles for you to sample, miss. In my silliness, I must have knocked it from the counter at some point. Oh, Tika will be so cross with me to have lost a whole bottle..." As she spoke, she was slowly circling her way around the would-be thief, her voice simpering on the surface but clearly tainted with a dangerous warning. If the girl had been an Eypharian, she would have understood immediately the second language of Nasrin's arm placement: I know what you've done, you aren't fooling me, don't think you are going to get away. Unfortunately most anyone of another race didn't catch the deep, confusing subtleties of Eypharian body language, so both Nasrin and Ayana had had to learn to use the rest of their bodies and their voices to convey the true meanings of their words. Her meaning was likely clear anyways, with the way she was slowly circling the girl like a shark simply waiting for its prey to die. She brushed her many fingertips over the tops of the plants, creating a soft rustling noise as she made her way to the door of the shop. "I am so sorry to ask this of you, honored customer, but I will surely lose my apprenticeship if such a valuable product is not found. Would you be so kind as to help this lowly shopkeeper to search for it?" She punctuated her request with a decicive thunk as she closed the latch, and then a small grinding clink as the key to the lock slid home.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Ana froze slightly, a moment of indecision washing over her innocently placed features, before being replaced with worry and a paved on, painted mask. Play the part of an innocent girl, that just wants to be more feminine, Ana began to concoct in her mind, the girl is worried about this fine Eypharians standing with Tika over a missing bottle; she wouldn't want that, she definitely wouldn't want someone to lose their job because of a silly mistake. It was plausible, flying thought up of, but could she pull it off? Ana didn't have the chance, her mouth flew before she could put it in action. "Maybe you forgot one when you were placing them?" She stated, then began fiddling with her cloak some more, feeling slightly uncomfortable over the womans posture, tone, and word choice "if you're scared about making someone mad.. Why not just make a new bottle, just in case?" Ana reasoned, "for when you do actually find the missing bottle? But otherwise, yes I'd be happy to help you find it.." Ana called down to the woman who was now travelling to the door. Something made a rather... Latchy, fishy sort of noise. Had she locked the door? When she would return Ana stared up at her, lips pursed lightly "do you think those bottles would have stayed together upon impact, if they did fall off and onto the floor? They look to be nothing more than clay. So perhaps it is in your counter, or your desk, it could have been misplaced" Ana offered, trying to be as logical as she could before placing one of her own suspicious laden expressions out. Looking obviously like cornered prey, Ana felt like cornered prey, but if need be she would barge her way out of there. She had a morphed appearence anyways. Ana tensed, was her guise still up? She couldn't check, but out of a bout of wildly created fear- she pumped more djed into her hair, and her skin, as well as her eyes. Feeling something break in her mind, much like a lock to the door, whispers came in like torrents of water. Bombarding her to use more of the sweet, magical power, Ana kept her cool and ignored them... Feeling them creep under her djed affected areas. Nothing was happening, maybe, but she was beginning to feel an urge, a desire, to play with the Eypharian with her appearence, steal her body. If Ana hadn't known better, she would have on the spot; it wasn't the time to be playing.. But that gold skin, it was so tempting. Clearing her throat, Ana made a gesture to the counter, and then the entire shop "where do you suppose it would be?"

[Nasrin]

A short, harsh bark of a laugh escaped Nasrin's throat. So that was how the girl wanted to play this game, then? Well, if she insisted. Nasrin didn't even bother hiding the icy contempt on her face anymore, letting the cold anger seep into her eyes, and almost involuntarily, djed followed after it, flowing into her irises and saturating them fully. She would pay for this later, she knew, for already she could feel the muscles at the sides of her eyes contracting in pain. It was dangerous, very dangerous, and her teacher had warned her of the highly addictive properties of this magic, but it seemed to be happening out of her control right now. She could not force the girl to tell the truth or to truly do anything, but she could plant the seed that she would need to get back at her later. As the thief rambled on, continuing her attempt at distraction and deception, Nasrin caught her gaze, looking straight into those black-blue eyes, feeding her djed into the aura of the other woman. She attempted to rise in her a feeling of fear, of panic, to know that Nasrin was completely on to her, of being trapped. It was tempting, oh so tempting to just keep going, to keep pouring djed into the command until there was nothing left; it whispered to her, assuring her that with just -more- she could mould this troublesome child any way she wished. But Nasirn knew that was false, and began the process of easing her djed back into the pool deep inside her; but it did not want to go. That's enough...stop. Stop. STOP! With a snap, the whisperes died and her eyes returned to normal, though now they ached fiercely in a way that told Nasrin she would be seriously regretting. She could taste the coppery tang of blood at the back of her throat. But that would have to be dealt with later. As the girl cleared her throat and asked her where she supposed the bottle might be, she hissed very slightly. "Dear customer, I simply cannot bring myself to submit you to the awful misunderstanding that is sure to follow if that perfume is lost. The gaurd might not understand even if I plead for your innocence and I cannot even imagine what horrid things might happen to you if they thought you had stolen it, forbid the thought." As she said the words, she moved closer, invading the girl's personal space by a scant half an inch; not enough to be too close, but just enough to make her uncomfortable with her vicinity. Completely on purpose, but seemingly absently, she brushed her left hands ofer the hilt of the double-sided dagger attached at her waist. If the girl had any brains in her head she would see the warning for what it was.