Chicken Little (Talanator!)

[Tally]

"Now is hardly the time.  It's not that simple, anyhow.  And we're nearly there.  Look."  Setsurri pointed through the rain at the blurred outlines of houses.  They were small, squat, and few in number.  It was only just past midday, but the clouds had darkened the landscape and lanterns shown through the downpour.

"Have you been guest at any of these plains settlements?"  Set himself had not, and he'd learned the hard way that ignorance of local customs could pull trouble down on yourself.  He was hoping Ven might prove useful in that regard.

[Anonymous]

"But I'm wet now." Ven pouted, sticking out his lower lip slightly. But he perked up when he noticed the houses in the distance. He hadn't seen anything like them before and he shook his head, his hair sending out wet droplets, "No. Though I have read about them. Why? Have you?"

[Tally]

"No," Set sighed.  "Unfortunately not.  I have never been to these parts of the world before.  Let us hope they are welcoming of strangers, no?"

Most villages had an inn or, barring that, a customary extra room or two kept for travelers in the common hall, where people like Set could have a bed and a meal for a bit of coin.  Very occassionally he had encountered places unwelcoming, where the people looked at his horns instead of in his eyes, where they seemed afraid or hateful of strangers.  If this was such a place, Ven was going to be most distraught, for it would mean they would have to continue on in the rain and find a place outside to make camp for the night.

The settlement up ahead was tiny.  He could see that even before they reached the first home, a simple, thatched-roof affair made of stone.  Most of the buildings were stone, he saw, and no few of them were large tents made of hide.  Of course.  Few trees for wood out here.

[Anonymous]

"Of course they will be. Who doesn't like strangers? We shall bring stories!" Ven reached into one of his pockets, pulling out a handful of gems, "And everyone is very nice for these stones. I don't see what the excitement you topsiders have with them."

Gold and silver too. Which while they were pretty enough, they weren't worth much. But people loved them, which made him popular.

He replaced his hand in his pocket as they entered the village, glancing around, "Let's find shelter! Who knows when the stupid sky will change again."

Waving at the people that had come to watch the strange newcomers, Ven seemed utterly unaware that there might be the slightest problem with their arrival.

[Tally]

Set had no trouble imagining a place unwelcoming of strangers.  He'd encountered too many of the like himself.  His own people, even, would never have tolerated outsiders in their presence.  The two of them, in this village, would look most out of place.

His eyes widened at the gems Ven produced.  If Ven hadn't put them away, Set would have made him.  "Keep those hidden," he said.  "People will covet them."

[Anonymous]

"Oh? What? I don't know that word. But people really like them. Shiny I guess." Ven shrugged and kept the gems away, "They trade all kinds of things for them."

He pointed to a large home, "Let's see if they have a place to stay. I've always found that the biggest houses give the best beds."

[Tally]

"They're valuable, yes," he said.  "As currency.  Hard to find...up here."  Ven wasn't the only one who had once been confounded by money.  Setsurri's people had no concept of the stuff.  He had little need of it himself, being more than comfortable—preferring it, often as not—to sleep in the wilds, to hunt, to skin beasts for his own clothing.  He kept some for the convenience of it, and when some oddity or confection he'd never seen before beckoned him.

"If they'll let us to a bed."  Set had slept in stables mostly, when he chose to sleep in a town at all.  That, and his lack of coin often put inn rooms out of his reach.  Though he traveled such odd roads, he rarely encountered a town large enough for an inn anyway.

[Anonymous]

"Well, we can always hope there is a bed!" Ven smiled brightly, heading over to the house, not paying attention to the stares the pair of them drew and knocked on the door, calling out, "Hello! Any one home?"

[Tally]

Set didn't have near Ven's aversion to the rain, but the pummeling downpour was becoming tiresome and cold.  It was a heavy waterfall on his shoulders and he stood beneath the eaves of the house while Ven called a greeting.

Long moments passed, and no one appeared.  Set crowded in front of Ven and pounded upon the wood.  Finally, a man opened the door to them.

Set had no idea what race to put to the man.  He didn't know who lived on these plains.  The man had long hair, strait and black and with much of it plaited into small braids.  He'd oiled his short beard into two points.

Set tried Common.  "Greetings.  We've need of a bed, if you can spare."

The man only squinted at him, and Setsurri looked up at Ven for help.  He, at least, sounded as though he'd done this more often, asked folk for lodging.  Maybe it was the way Set had said it.

[Anonymous]

"It's very wet out here." Ven spoke slowly and carefully, the way one might speak to a very slow person. He paused, the man still stating at the pair of them, the water streaming off his horns and hair.

"So...can we come inside?"

"Nope."

Ven blinked, not quite sure what to make of that, "Oh, well, um, I promise we mean no harm or anything. Set here looks very scary but he's not a murder or a rapist that I've seen."

[Tally]

Set peered up at Ven.  He didn't think that was the right thing to say.  Turned out he was right, as the fellow refused them entry outright.  He was ready to try interceding again when Ven went and made the oddest proclamation.

"I do?"  He looked back and forth between the both of them, as if either one would expound on that in these circumstances.  Was it the horns?  The glaive blade glinting over his shoulder?

The man started to close the door.  Set stopped it with a hand.  "We can pay."

A pause, the light of consideration on the fellow's face.  Set nodded to Ven.  "Show him."

[Anonymous]

Ven looked at Set blankly for a moment, then brightened, hand reaching into pocket and pulling out a handful of the gems, "I have lots of the shiny stones! So, um, can we please come in. There is a lot of water coming down and I really don't want to drown."

[Tally]

The man's eyes locked on that handful of gems.  Set rubbed at his forehead.

"Those'll do."  The man to grab them, and Set got between them, blocked his way.

"Not all of them."  He negotiated, or performed his own blunt approximation of it.  He had no talent for haggling, could only insist on what the room was worth to him, and he did know what it was worth.  In the end, they settled for a price higher than what Set would want, but worth it considering the deluge they'd be sleeping in otherwise.

He took two gems from Ven's hand and motioned for him to put the others away.  "We can go in."

[Anonymous]

Ven watched the exchange with a puzzled interest, his Common was good, but they spoke a little quickly for him. Plus, haggling had never been something he was good at. He had been wealthy in his homeland and here people would bend over for a few useless gems.

"Oh! Wonderful!" Ven moved quickly inside, shaking his head to clear the rain from it, "Now, how about a nice fire and some food? I know I'm quite hungry!"

[Tally]

It didn't occur to Set to wonder, until Ven pushed his way into the house, why he was here at all.  He could have easily found lodgings of his own, but somewhere in the short time he'd known Ven, he'd begun to throw his lot in with him.

"We should go to our room," Set said.  He wished Ven spoke his language so they could keep their conversations private.  "I've bought us food for the night, we can eat there."

He watched the man in his peripheral vision and listened for sounds of others in the house.  Within minutes everyone in this house would know Ven carried around more wealth than many of these people would see in years of toil, perhaps in their lifetime.  Set intended to be in an easily defended room when that knowledge spread.

[Anonymous]

Ven was rather clueless about any problems that might arise. He glanced around the home, blissfully unaware, "Oh, what really? I'm sure we can get this lovely man to-" He trailed off, the man's intense expression unnerving him a little.

"Er...okay. Yes. Room. Where exactly is that?" He had wanted a bath and a hot fire, but the grubby humans here seemed really edgy and it wasn't very nice.

The man grunted and pointed to what seemed to be a weaving room for the woman of the house. Ven shrugged his bag off and set it down with a soft squish.

[Tally]

Once they found the room, Set left only once—glaive apparent on his back still—and returned with hot water for the room's wash basin.  He brought rags as well, so they could clean and dry themselves.  Moments later, a woman brought them a tray of food.

In retrieving the water he'd seen three other people in the house.  Two he counted to be worthless.  The others, the two men, looked as if they knew something of fighting, and Set had glimpsed a sword on the wall through a crack in a door.  There may be others as well, but they all knew now that he was armed, and if they knew at all what they were looking at and had any sense they would hesitate to cross him just for a handful of gems.

Set left the food for later and slipped immediately out of his breeches and stood at the basin, cleaning the grit from his body and the mud from his bare feet.

[Anonymous]

Ven had already stripped down while Set gathered the water. His clothes were laid out around the room, drip drying, "I do wish we could be out by the fire."

He took a rag and started to clean up a little, making a face, "How can you people stand this? The suddenly being wet like that. It's awful!"

[Tally]

"You've never swam?"  To him, it would be the same thing, and he knew of underground lakes and such.  Had even seen one or two, in exploring the limestone caves nearing the mountainous borders of his wood.  Perhaps Ven lacked even those in his home.

He felt immensely better with the clean water washing away the dirt of travel.  He wanted rest, but there would be none yet.  While his breeches dried, hanging on the back of a chair, he sifted through his rucksack for his vials of venom.

[Anonymous]

"In water! It doesn't just...splash all over me from above." Ven huffed, cleaning himself as best he could, paying close attention to his tail where it had dragged in the dirt and mud. Naked, he looked even less human, with his scales and odd legs.

Glancing over at Set, he leaned closer, having finished his cleaning, "What are you doing?"