The sound of stone grinding against stone was very distinct and prevalent in the air as Ikki sat grinding up some herbs with her pestle and mortar, She had decided that it was time to grind the dried herbs she had. It was in the middle of the day and the sun hung high in the sky and penetrated the leafworks of the trees around Ikki, She had set up a lot of items for storage and sorting the grinded herbs.
-"There we go, now let's get this blend into the container.."
She said to herself and picked up one of the small wooden boxes and brushed the ground up herbs into it carefully, after allmost all of the herbs was in the box she closed it and put it away. She then took a small brush and brushed off the remains from the mortar in preparation for the next herb she was going to grind.
-"Next the Nixa Flower"
She said to herself and placed some dried flower on the mortar before resuming the grinding with her pestle, Again the sounds of stone grinding against stone filled the air all around her. Ikki enjoyed this sound because it reminded it her of her home, And somehow she remembered a song that she had heard before and began to hum on the song in harmony with the grinding sound.
Alerri wasn't sure what to expect on her rambles. She heard stone on stone and some humming. It was strange to her. She walked over to see what was going on with that. Turning a corner was a sight she hadn't expected. The being was using some weird device.
"Hello there," she said not sure what else to say. She spoke up making sure she could be heard. She was watching unsure of what was going on. She had so many questions but didn't want to shout them. She didn't know if this being could hear her or not.
Ikki actually did not react to the voice that spoke out to her, she was in her own little world while grinding the flowers to powder. It was not that she did not hear the voice but she just did not register it in her mind since her work was what took up her mind at the moment, She lifted the pestle and brushed the powder into the middle of the mortar before resuming the grinding of her flowers.
-"..."
She then stopped and looked up in front of her as if she had realized she had heard something but she could not remember what it was that she had heard, she could vaugely remember a greeting but she was not sure so she just sat there looking very confused.
((OOC: By the way what form is Alerri in?))
She was watching as this creature worked. It was interesting seeing just what was going on with these new items. She had never seen them before, and her eyes just darted around as this one moved. She figured she hadn't been heard since this one kept on working. She was about to say something again.
Suddenly this one was sitting there confused looking. She stayed put thinking maybe she would be noticed. Alerri cleared her throat though trying to focus this one. She wondered if this would be necessary in the future as well.
((She would be in human form. Usually is unless she's flying alone, with a creature like a dragon or a dragon.))
As soon as Ikki heard the sound of someone clearing one's throat she jumped in supprise and looked around only to locate the source of the sound, She looked upon the woman and suddenly felt a bit ashamed for having ignored her up until now.
-"Oh i'm so sorry for not noticing you, I tend to get too focused in my work sometimes"
She said with a bow as she turned towards the woman and then standing up, She looked at the woman with a curioous gaze and noticed that the woman too seemed to have some kind of curious gaze turned towards herself.
-"Oh where are my manners, My name is Ikki Talorim"
She said with a more formal bow and then looked at the woman with a friendly smile, She still had a slight blush from her embarassment of the blunder she had made.
-"Who might you be?"
"That's okay. No harm done," she said realizing that the throat clearing had worked. She wondered what else she had learned from humans. Being overlooked was something she still hadn't gotten used to. Then again she was in human form so it was natural to overlook her.
"Good to meet you. I should have remembered mine too. My name is Alerri," she said wondering if no last name would spring questions. She hadn't had anyone ask yet about it. She thought of making one up, but she wasn't sure what a good one would be.
"What work do you do?" She said realizing her curious nature was springing forward again.
-"Oh this? I am just grinding up some dried flowers to use in my medicines"
she said with a smile and picked up some of the powder in the mortar and showed it to the woman, Ikki was allways proud to show her work as it had helped so many people.
-"You see i am an Apothecary"
She explained with a smile as she put back the powder and brushed it into a small wooden box before turning towards Alerri with a smile.
-"What brings you out here?"
Alerri understood about medicine. She knew people needed it to get better from some form of ailment. She didn't want to stop that work, but her curious nature couldn't help itself. She knew there was no stopping the questions now.
"What is an Apothecary? I've never heard that word before," she said wondering just how simple her life seemed to others. She had so many questions pop into her mind at times, but this wasn't one of them just yet. She was lucky in that.
"Oh I like to ramble and roam from time to time. I was just doing that when I heard you working," she answered looking at the box. She had another question form, but she didn't know if it was okay to ask more than one and so soon after the other.
-"Well an apothecary is a person who gathers herbs and other reagents for medicines that they then make, An apothecary is also one that sells her medicines to others."
She explained clearly to Alerri with a happy smile on her face, just looking at Ikki one could see how much she loved her work. And she truly loved doing her job as she got to help people in need, She really enjoyed seeing people recovering from a disease or ailment and seeing the relief in their whole being when cured.
-"Really? I like to do that as well, today of course i found that i needed to grind some of my dried herbs into powder for storage.. but roaming around is what i do to find these reagents"
she explained with a wide smile as she resumed her grinding but she still kept her focus on Alerri as well so that she could talk with her, Ikki thought it was good that Alerri had arrived because she liked to talk with people it made her feel better overall.
Alerri listened while Ikki spoke. It was always good learning something new. She noted that Ikki was smiling while explaining. She had a feeling Ikki didn't mind questions. Well if that wasn't true she would find out it was always easy to find those who hated too many questions.
"Where have you roamed? Reagents? People buy these? Why?" She said her curiosity taking over again. She couldn't help it when that happened. She blushed wondering if she should shut up or just keep going. She chose to be quiet then though.
Ikki smiled as Alerri pelted her with questions and stopped her grinding to answer these questions, She turned towards Alerri and smiled brightly.
-"I have traveled to allmost every corner of Le'raana, Reagents are things like herbs flowers or roots and many more things, And no people do not buy these but they buy the medicines i make from them, And they mostly buy them because they need them to ward off an affliction or disease."
She took a deep breath after that long monolouge and smiled widely towards Alerri and scratched the back of her head, It seemed that this woman really liked to ask a lot of questions and she felt she needed to tell her to take it easy.
-"I apreciate your curiosity Alerri but take it one question at a time, It gets hard to keep up"
She said with a happy voice and a bright smile, She did really appreciate the cuiosity of her new friend but it was a bit too much for her at the moment.
Alerri noted that Ikki stopped those actions to answer her questions. She wasn't sure why though and almost asked. She kept her mouth shut though knowing she had to keep listening if she was going to learn anything.
"An affliction or disease?" She said not sure what that was. She hadn't heard of things like that before. It made her want to learn everything possible about this new thing.
"Oh sorry. I'll do my best to keep it to one at a time although that's not really easy for me. I love to learn. Le'raana? Is that where we are?" She said knowing that places had names. She had learned that much, but as to exactly where she was she had no idea. Roaming was something that just came natural to her.
-"Yes Le'raana is the earth we stand upon, it's the name for this world"
She explained with a smile and turned to her mortar and resuming her work calmly while still listening to Alerri.
-"Afflictions and Diseases are something mortal's can catch by mistake and they could be deadly for them, I make medicines to heal such things"
She explained to Alerris as she lifted out the pestle from the mortar and placed it aside and picked up a small wooden box and poured the ground flowers into it before closing it, She then started to gather everything up and putting it back into her Apothecary chest while smiling lightly.
-"There now that's done, Are you hungry Alerri?"
She asked and looked back at Alerri with a smile as she retrieved a satchel from her Apothecary chest, The satchel was a simple cloth wrapped around large pieces of dried meat tied together with a string.
She listened happy for any and all knowledge. She loved learning no matter what it was about. She also watched as the work continued. It intrigued her as well. She had so many questions but was trying hard not to be overwhelming.
"Yes, a little," she answered glad that she was being good for once. Alerri wasn't sure what was in the bag, but if Ikki wanted to share she wouldn't complain. She was getting used to different foods.
"Making medicines, is that hard to do? Could anyone learn to do it?"
Ikki Nodded and opened up the parcel and tore off a piece of the dried meat and handed it to Alerri with a friendly smile, When Alerri asked about making medicines Ikki nodded and looked at her with a calm smile.
-"Yes Medicines are hard to make as the amounts of reagents for each diffrent medicine needs to be very precise otherwise one may not get the desired effect"
She explained as she tore off a piece of the meat for herself and took a bit from it, She then wrapped the meat in cloth again and put it down next to her.
She took the meat and thanked Ikki. She noted the smile too and listened to what was said. She also took some meat for herself. Alerri took a bite.
"So its not something that could be taught?" she asked but only once her mouth was empty. She knew better than to talk with some food in her mouth. Even dragons frowned on that.
"How long have you been making medicine?" she asked before finishing off the piece of meat she was given. She didn't know it wasn't a good idea to finish something in two bites like that.
-"It can be taught, after all i was taught how to make medicines"
She said with a laughter and took a bite from her meat before listening to Alerri's next question which made her think for a bit, counting the years she had been making medicines was hard since she had been doing it for about three centuries and still counting.
-"Well i have been practising making Medicines for most of my life but to give a rough estimate around three hundred and fifty years"
She said with a thoughtfull expression before taking another bit of her meat, Ikki thought back on some of her more extreme situations of helping others with their ailments before she yawned a bit and shaking her head as if to shake off the tiredness.
"Oh good," she said glad that someone would be able to learn it after a fashion and pick up where this one left off. It wouldn't do good not to have medicine something that she had been taught recently. It was amazing how things could be taken care of with some herbs.
"Are you someone special to have lived that long?" Alerri asked knowing she would see that easy. She hadn't heard how long dragons actually lived. She wasn't sure she wanted to know though just in case it wasn't as long as she thought. She saw the yawn and couldn't help but doing the same.
"If you need rest I can leave you alone. I know I can be a pest at times."
-"Yes i'm a Homonculli, an artificial human created with alchemy"
She said with a slight smile as she once again yawned but once more shook her head but this time it was towards Alerri.
-"Do not worry about that, I have about a day more before i must sleep"
She said with a tired smile before taking another bite of the meat she had, She then put aside her meat and turned towards her Apothecary chest and retrieved a teakettle and a small wooden box. She placed both of the items next to her before looking around and laying her eyes upon the small pile of wood she had gathered a while ago.
-"I'm going to make some tea would you like some?"
She asked and looked at Alerri with a friendly smile.
"That's something. Is there anything that alchemy can't create?" she said not stopping to think about the too many questions thing. It was only one at that moment, and she would stop if this one didn't want to talk to her any more. She was happy to see that her company was still welcome.
Alerri watched her as she grabbed a kettle and some wood box. She wasn't sure what was going on now, but was intrigued. She watched knowing questions might be a hindrance at that moment. She had learned a thing or two about that. Questions should come at the right time and in the right place. It was one of the few things from her home she still carried with her.
"Tea? I don't know what that is. Yes, I think I would like some though I like trying new things," she said not sure what to expect from this.
@Scythe-Nova
Ikki stopped in her movement when Alerri asked about what Alchemy could not create, She seemed dumbfounded by the question and it set her mind in motion in a entirely different way than before.
-"...You know... i don't know actually i've never really thought of it that way before..."
She said as she began moving again and putting the wood in a pile and edged the pile with stones thus making a little fireplace, She then plucked out a small bottle from her apothecary chest the contents of the bottle had a orange red tint and had a faint glow. She opened the bottle and put her thumb on the opening and tilting the bottle slightly and then back, there was now some of the fluid on her thumb which she licked off before turning to the fireplace while closing the bottle.
-"Here we go"
She said with a smile before she took a deep breath before exhaling a thin stream of fire thus igniting the wood in the fireplace, The stream of fire died out quick as the droplet from the bottle had been used up. She put the bottle back into the Apothecary box before returning to prepare the tea.
-"Well i'm sure you will like the tea"
She said with a smile as she put some of the contents of the wooden box into the teakettle before putting it on the fire.
She hadn't meant to dumbfound Ikki. It had just happened. It wasn't the first time either that she had done that to someone. It was strange how her mind worked sometimes. She couldn't help the questions, but at least she could control how many she asked. That was progress something she was sure her guardian dragon would be proud of.
Alerri watched, but wasn't really impressed. If she had been older she could have done the exact same thing. She wasn't sure if it worked in human form, but she'd be willing to try. If anything she still had to learn those skills. She wondered when those would be coming in, and looked forward to the fire and ice.
"What is that in the bottle you just used?" She asked her curiosity taking over again. At least this time it was only one question. She stayed put not wandering around. If anything she didn't think Ikki would like her exploring and getting into things.
"I look forward to this tea," she said doing her best to be a polite human girl.
@Scythe-Nova
-"Oh that? It's an alchemical potion that allows one to breathe fire depending on how much you ingest, Very practical when you want to start a bonfire"
She said with a smile and looked at Alerri with a happy gaze, She turned towards Alerri so that she would not have to put too much strain on her neck when turning her head towards Alerri.
-"As do i, Drinking tea is one of the things i enjoy doing every day"
She explained while smiling at Alerri with a friendly expression, Ikki certainly enjoyed her tea but even more so she enjoyed company while drinking her tea.
"Yes practical. I didn't realize someone else could make fire like that," she said not watching her words. She was mystified by this, and wondered what else one could do with alchemy. It might help her in the future explain a few things away although she didn't like lying if she didn't have to.
"Perhaps I'll like it to. Never know until you try something new," she said not sure what else to say. She didn't have any more questions at that time something that happened a few times but not often enough. She watched Ikki wondering what was next.
@Scythe-Nova