A new day, another place

[Silverna]

Stepping off the ship, Hinrik found himself gazing around in muted wonder.  He'd never been to Kunata before, his travels had never taken him in the general area before but now as he watched people move around in the afternoon in a strange dance he wondered why he'd never come before.  Grabbing his bundles of goods he decided to bring with him on his journey he headed into the chaos humming softly under his breath as he went, his gait odd enough that it told anyone who was watching that he'd just been at sea.   As he walked he kept his gaze moving, taking everything in at once and realized that he'd have to buy some new clothes before the day was out. Not that he minded, clothes made the man and he preferred to follow traditions as closely as possible where ever he traded, plus it made for interesting items to sell when he moved to a different country content to never stay in one place for long.  

 He seemed more at ease here then in other countries where his tattoos might be looked down upon but they told his life's story, in words that only he could read, reminding him of everything that had happened.   The red whiskers which were actually a combination of scarification and tattooing represented his clan of traders, his blue lips, the sign of mourning in his small world, the blue stripes telling how many had been in his family, five total including him, which was represented by three black dots on either side of the line representing him.  Shaking his head, a strand of black and red hair fell into his pale grey eyes and he blew the strand up with a puff of breath, scowling when that didn't do anything but let it up for a moment.  His stomach growled, reminding him that it had been a long time since he'd eaten so he turned and wandered off in search of a meal.

[Rhindeer]

It had been a while since Kiva had been home. She'd only been back for several hours now, having arrived on an earlier vessel, and it was amazing how familiar and unfamiliar everything was all at once, to see how things had both changed and not-changed. There were a few new shops that had sprung up and ones that were no longer there; there were new faces and new smells--and oh, goodness, how she'd missed the smell of spice and pineapple and fish! The mainland was so flavorless compared to home, the dishes bland and boring.

After browsing around for a bit, the next order or business was filling her belly with some real food!

Tucking some white hair back under her head-scarf, she headed toward her favorite haunt, a small tea-house that also served a variety of foods--mostly Thanati, but they also served a few meatless Serenian meals with a Thanati twist that made the stuff actually taste good. Ah, if only the mainland designed their dishes that way...

Kiva had no trouble maneuvering her way through the throng of people, having grown up here and grown accustomed to it. There was an art to it! Of course, there were also rude people about that put kinks in that, like a woman bent beneath a shoulder pole supporting two swinging baskets on either side of her.

Kiva was too busy looking around her to notice the woman, or to notice other people swerving out of the way. The only warning she got was a barked, "Watch it!" before one of those baskets smacked her in the side, making her grunt and topple sideways, straight into a tattooed foreigner.

Instinctively, Kiva grabbed onto him to try and support herself, but in the end she only wound up taking them both down.

[Silverna]

Although Riki's plans had been to get something to eat, he rarely ate when excited.  His attention had been snagged by someone selling bolts of bright cloth and he just had to get a closer look.  Making sure his pack was close to him he bent over the cloth, pale eyes alight in joy as he examined the workmanship, which was exquisite.  "What are you doing?" someone demanded and he turned to them, a man and a woman, one eyebrow raising in question.  "What do you mean?" he asked lightly, although he had a sneaking idea he knew exactly what the man was trying to say.  "Why are you pretending to look at the cloth when you're blind."  the man continued, ignoring the woman's attempt to shush him.  "I assure you," Riki said coldly, "That I can see perfectly fine." He turned back to the cloth, but with his concentration broken he was once again reminded that he needed to eat.   With a silent curse he walked away, he would have tried to buy some cloth but with his stomach growling he knew he wouldn't be able to work at his best.  

As he walked he had to admire the people who hurried around him on the streets, going this way and that in their own separate worlds that had somehow been intertwined into the bigger picture by invisible threads.  Before his musings became any more deep or ridiculous, he was trying to decide which was which, he heard someone call out a warning but before he could do anything a body was rammed into his.  Blinking, he automatically caught the figure and stepped back to balance them both so they wouldn't end up on the ground.  "You alright?" he asked once he regained his balance, checking to make sure his pack was still on his back.  "You're not hurt are you?"

[Rhindeer]

Righting herself with the stranger's assistance, Kiva gave a sheepish laugh and brushed imaginary dirt from her skirt. Sheesh, that had been a close one.

"Heh, am I hurt? Naw. I had a squishy body to catch my fall," she answered. "I think the better question is are you alright? Didn't mean to barrel into you like that but some people are just in suuuch a hurry!" She said that while leveling a look at the rude woman's back, though of course she couldn't hear Kiva--and was probably too rude to care, anyway. Hmph.

[Silverna]

Riki couldn't help but laugh softly at the girl's response, "I'm glad I could of been of a service to you." He said lightly, watching as the woman who'd run into the girl walk off.  "I'm fine, I had my bags to soften the blow." He said shrugging, his voice growing warm at her concern, showing her the bags as proof, suddenly grateful that he'd decided to sell everything fragile before he'd boarded the ship as it would have been wasted money if anything had broken.  "My name's Riki, may I learn what your's is?" He continued, raising an eye brow that was the same red and black as his hair.  He might as well start making aquaintences, as he'd need to sell everything that wasn't his before even thinking of leaving but he'd probably spend more time since it was his first time in Thanatos and he usually spent more time in places he'd never been to before just to get a better grasp at the culture so that he could at least blend in on the surface.

[Rhindeer]

"You could," Kiva said with a grin and a wink. "But you'd have to ask, first!"

Looking around the area, Kiva reached out and tugged on the man's shirt. "We should probably get out of the middle of the road before someone else bowls any of us over, though. C'mon."

And with that said, she started to lead the way through the crowd and toward the tea house.

[Silverna]

Riki laughed and said, "Alright then, what's you're name?" He allowed her to tug her through the crowded streets, acknowledging that it was probably a good idea to get off the streets before someone ran into him, as he walked his stomach growled and he flushed. "Do you know of any good places to eat?" he asked curiously hoping that she knew the area better then him.

[Rhindeer]

Ah, she did enjoy being literal now and then, maybe because she was so blunt herself and so enjoyed making people spell out what they were trying to say rather than beating around the bush hinting at it. She could have continued that theme ("yeah, I know of some!") but instead decided to take mercy on him.

"It's Kiva," she answered with a smile, "And I know a lot of places. I was just heading over to the tea house over there. Doesn't look like much, but you should never judge based on looks. Everything turns to dust in the end, eh? Anyway, you can join me if ya want?"