Unfortunately, she'd forgotten about the rain. It was absolutely pouring it down. Karin didn't think it was normal for it to rain this much in summer, and she mused on why it could be. However, she didn't muse for long. The rain was too insistent, and although Karin had her cloak on, she could feel the water seeping through to her other clothes. Under the hood of her cloak, the water ran in rivulets past her eyes, drenching her hair and making it seem as if she was lurking behind a waterfall. She almost thought about feeling miserable, but instead she realised she felt quite exhilarated. The rain strangely brought a kind of freedom, as she didn't have to care about keeping dry. She was already wet, so why not go along with it? A quirked grin cracked across her face and strands of hair flicked back onto her face, plastered in place. Her feet started hopping, and she started humming under her breath as her pace quickened. She started running down the winding streets, splashing in puddles, pushing her hood back and smiling mischievously as she sprayed puddle water onto some fellow travellers on the streets of Alvadas, her feet nimble. She'd had more than her fair share of glares from passer-bys as she'd made her way down towards the Bizarre, but as soon as she reached it, she slowed. Her cheeks were blushed faintly pink from her vigorous exercise, and as she gazed over at the Bizarre, she also realised the rain was slackening off into a slight drizzle. After regaining her breath, she quickly plunged her hand into her pocket, and felt for her coin purse. It's weight was reassuring in her hand, and with that knowledge, she stepped forth into the building.
Apparently the rain storm had been a sudden one, and the Bizarre was full of people slowly dripping onto the floor and on store-people's wares, to their irritation. Karin flicked her wet hair from her eyes, and scratched her head. Where to start? She hadn't made a shopping list, which in hindsight was probably unfortunate as she didn't want to overspend. However, as she started to dry her hands on her shirt, she quickly started to notice the food stalls. And oh my goodness, they smelled amazing. She wandered over to the nearest one that struck her fancy, a stall selling sausages wrapped in some kind of spiced leaf. Unusual, but tasty-sounding. There was a short, fat man with silver, cropped hair manning the stall, and as he saw Karin looking, he beamed and said, "Piping fresh hot sausages! Three silvered mizas!" Karin was intrigued, and wandered closer as her stomach let out little rumbles at the scent of the food.
"Could I have... two sausages in the leaf please?" The man at the stall affirmed that she could, but that it would cost an extra silver miza, which Karin agreed to. A couple of seconds later, Karin was walking away with two delicious sausages wrapped in a kind of broad leaf, sprinkled with rich red and yellow herbs. It looked strange, but she tentatively nibbled the leaf, only to find that it wasn't a leaf at all, but some kind of flatbread made to look like a leaf. Karin laughed out loud at the wonder of Ionu. She then tried the sausages... only to discover they weren't sausages either! In fact, what she was eating was a kind of sweet flatbread, filled with rolls of ice-cream made to look like sausages, sprinkled with golden sugar and cinnamon. It was completely delicious, and it filled her with a warm, fizzing energy. Karin wandered through the stalls aimlessly, looking around as she dried off. She was almost tempted to buy a new cloak, after stopping at a stall in which were draped reams of fabric in every colour under the sun. She was especially entranced by a golden, diaphanous cloak which glimmered like spun gold and clung to your body like a second skin. But the price was too expensive, and although her eye was often caught by pretty things, she knew she'd never need to wear a garment such as that. Late morning spun on into early afternoon, and Karin's feet were getting tired. She wasn't especially laden with purchases, having only bought some more vegetables and a hunk of meat for dinner later. However, she felt like she hadn't quite found what she was looking for. For some reason, although she hadn't set out to get anything apart from food, she was starting to realise that she really wanted something else. She just wasn't really sure what. Deciding to let Ionu decide her fate, she closed her eyes, and spun round on one foot. When she was settled, she opened her eyes and blinked slightly at the disorientation. Karin wasn't the most enthusiastic follower of Ionu, but she had grown up in Alvadas, surrounded by illusions and tricks of all kind. So this method of deciding what to do and where to go wasn't so strange for her. It was a way of placing herself in Ionu's hands, and letting fate unfold however the god decided. As it happened, she found herself walking forwards towards a small stall which Karin could see was nestled between a shop with a purple striped awning selling stoneware and another which was draped with bunches of dried herbs. However, the shop that she was looking at was completely different to its neighbours. It was overshadowed, and it's tent-like structure appeared to be made out of some kind of brown, linen material. As Karin looked closer, she noticed that it was decorated with a faded, painted pattern depicting isometric patterns in faded red and black. She neared the door flap and under her fingers the rough texture of the tent felt like dried earth. She ducked her head under, and an unidentified but interesting smell pervaded her nostrils as she breathed in. She wrinkled her nose, and looked around with interest. The tent was stacked high with tottering piles of paper, ink, quills, pens, books bound with leather, vellum, and linen, parchment and various other scholarly items. The general amount of books was relatively small, and was interspersed with pottery and glassware, but to Karin the amount of books was the most interesting. She'd never seen so many in one place. Behind one of the wobbling piles Karin could see two sleek, tanned hands writing furiously, the tip of the quills dancing like birds trying to catch flies. The scritch of nib on paper tickled at Karin's ear, and she edged forward a little, trying to make herself known to the person who she was sharing the room with. As she walked, her foot accidentally disturbed a lizard-like creature at her foot, which hissed quite alarmingly.
"Hisht! Quiet Twmi!" The voice pronounced the name as Tshoumi, like a whisper, and Karin looked closer through the gloom at the person who spoke it. Before she could fully appreciate who had spoken, the voice piped up again, "Oh! I apologise. I did not realise I had a customer. What can I do for you?" The voice belonged to a woman with exotic, coppery skin, and long hair tinted a summery red, tied back in an sophisticated plait on the top of her head. She had three arms on each side of her body, something which caused Karin to blink in surprise, having never seen someone like that before. An... Efran? A Pharian? Aah! An Eypharian. I remember now. Two hands were holding quills and their fingertips were stained with ink. Her clothes were elaborate, and her face was neatly painted with shimmering gold and black kohl, giving her a prideful, haughty appearance. Karin realised suddenly that she was staring. Rude.
"Um... Sorry to disturb you. I don't really..." But before Karin could complete her sentence, the woman walked over with a welcoming smile on her face, picking up her lizard and stroking its disgruntled, wrinkled face. "What would you like? I can guess that you are perhaps looking for a new... book? Shoush Twmi! Or perhaps this be-a-utiful set of quills? No? Perhaps some paper. Yes?" The woman's voice was relentless, and Karin nervously shifted on her foot. She knew nothing about books, or paper, or even quills. She knew how to write her name. That was a given. She also knew how to write simple sentences, but her grammar was poor, and her spelling was terrible. Her handwriting was also terrible, her mother having grown frustrated with Karin's endless doodling instead of practicing. She didn't know much else. But in the face of this proud, unusual woman, she didn't want to point this fact out. The woman was now offering her to feel the texture of some parchment, which "I only bought recently, it's incredibly fine don't you think?" The woman effused and yammered on, much to Karin's discomfort. Realising that unless she bought something, the woman was never going to stop, she said desperately, "Could I get... that and, um... that please?" She pointed wildly at a small leather bound book and a quill with a small ink bottle, hoping beyond hope that they weren't too expensive. The day was turning out to cost more that she'd wanted. Curses for not making a shopping list! The woman blinked at being interrupted, and frowned a little, her make-up crinkling at the corners of her eyes. She took the items, and wrapped them deftly in some kind of crinkly paper that smelled faintly of roses. "Here you go. That will be four gold mizas and five copper mizas please!" Karin passed over the money and picked up her new purchases, fingering the material absentmindedly as she walked out the shop.
