Good weather+lots of people in the marketplace=Good!

[Anonymous]

Tarelein sat on a stool behind the counter in her small shop, fingers working quickly as she wove bits of broken shell together with a fine hemp twine. It was turning out to be a rather pretty piece, yet simplistic in its design. This particular piece, a belt, was something she had made many times before and so she did not really need to watch what she was doing as long as she had the twine ball in one pocket of her apron and the bits of shell in another.

Her eyes were instead focused on the people milling about in the marketplace, particularly the women. She was not romantically or sexually interested in them. It was a simple fact that more women bought from her than men, unless they were buying something for a sweetheart or wife. So far, only a few people had come up to her shop to look at what she had to offer, but not one sale. 'It's got to pick up sooner or later. There's far too many people milling around for me to go without making at least one sale,' she thought.

Sighing, she looked down at the belt in her hands long enough to attach the bits of metal that would serve to hold it together when being worn. Satisfied with its appearance, Tarelein stood and moved out around the counter to hang the belt on one of the hooks along the far wall. As she was trying to decide where exactly to hang the belt, the familiar and much-welcomed sound of someone entering the shop reached her ears and she turned to greet the possible customer. "Good morning. Is there something I can help you find?"

[Anonymous]

The cat person yawned luxuriously as she walked around. The sun always made her sleepy. Well, that and begging. And the Dark Lady knew that she had done enough of both today. The  pouch that hung by her belt was nice and full, proving that the benevolent citizens preferred beggars without rashes to beggars with rashes. People were so mysterious. A building caught her eye; well, not the building, but rather the inside of the building. It wasn't that full, which was a good thing, since she was...well, a touch claustrophobic.  The person managing it looked nice enough. Maybe the shop owner had a few spare jobs to do.

Aisling walked in casually, illusion-less, trying not to appear like the only person with two tails in Ketra.

You'd think that Mr. Whatshisname would have enough sense to give me just one tail. The dratted other one interferes with my balance. And the spikes! How am I supposed to settle back and relax? Those things poke too many holes! she thought, cursing not for the first time the elusive Whatshisname. If she could get her paws on him... She flexed her claws, as if practicing for the Big Event.

She scanned the shop quickly, "Yes, I would appreciate it." Aisling paused, thinking over her plan again. "May I go and look at the belts?" she asked courteously, not at all aware that in a store, you didn't have to ask permission to look at the merchandise. So far, no one had enlightened her. It was probably the fangs.

[/i]

[Anonymous]

Tarelein blinked for a moment at the sight of this two-tailed cat person, but a voice in her head told her You're not exactly normal yourself, Tare. She's bringing in business, so who cares what she looks like?, so she shook her head and smiled. "Sorry, I just... it's the heat, I think. Starting to get to me. Of course, go ahead. I'll be behind the counter if you need anything else." Back on her stool, Tarelein started work on a necklace, this time with leather instead of the twine and the bits of shell.

[Anonymous]

Aisling fingered a belt speculatively. Her master plan was hardly succeeding. Improvisation. She sighed. The thieves did it all the time; why couldn't she? Well, she still got them in the end, so their little changes did nothing. Still, it wasn't like her plan could fail, and if it did, she could always kill and loot the woman and escape to some other city. Or perhaps not. After all, she did have those illusions.

She sighed again. Well, not quite improvisation. Improvisation was tiny changes, was it not. What she was planning was a big change. Her tails curled in agitation. "Excuse me, Miss, would you happen to be in need of someone to work for you?"

[Anonymous]

Tarelein kept one eye focused on the cat-person as she worked. It wasn't that she was paranoid or untrusting, but Ketra did have its fair share of thieves and beggars; you could never turn your back on your wares for too long. And there was something about the way this particular 'customer' was looking over the belts that made her think she didn't really have any money.

This thought was confirmed when the cat-person asked about work. "If you are searching for work that you could start now, I would suggest trying with the armour shops or with the butcher across the square. He's always looking for people who don't mind being around carcasses all day." She gestured outside to each of the shops as she mentioned them. "But... if you're interested in more than one job at a time, I'm sure I could find something for you to do. Cutting the raw leather into workable strips, breaking up shells, things like that."

[Anonymous]

Aisling laughed. Well, this missus was certainly taking her physioilogy into consideration. "I'm afraid he would find me a terrible worker, as I would be too busy stuffing my face-without paying- to mind his directions. I think that perhaps I can help you with some of the manual work around here." She placed slight emphasis on the word manual. The cat-person refused to do anything intricate. She might have had hands, but they were really more built for cutting and slicing things, in other words, fighting.


The armour shop, though...now that was an idea. Though, she asked herself, exactly why would she be working in an armor shop? What did an armory do, anyways? Make armour? Which lead to the next question; how did one make armour? Perhaps she should change her object a bit, Aisling mused. She was strong, stronger than most humans. Perhaps she could find a craft that depended on strength alone? Woodcutting? How drab. Ah well...the first step was earning enough to buy a decent place to live; she was sick of sleeping outside, especially with the fleas....