@Whim
The bell above the door tinkled cheerily as it swung open and the proprietor behind the counter lifted his head, then smiled crookedly.
"Hey there, Adri, been a while. What've you been up to?"
Adrianna smiled and replied sweetly, "None of your damn business, Garret." The shop owner snorted and returned to rubbing down his counter as she slipped around to the side wall, eyes raking over the merchandise.
A few new amulets, some ingredients for charm bags. Nothing too exciting. She sighed and bit her lip, rocking back on her heels. She wasn't really sure what she'd been expecting... Well, she'd been
hoping for something useful, as she was every week, but it was more habit to stop by the shop now than anything else. Even she wasn't entirely sure if she still believed that there might be a cure for her curse.
The bell chimed again and Garret glanced up. "Hey there, stranger. How can I help you?"
The young man hesitated before stepping inside. He was well-dressed and delicate, but in sorely need of a haircut and shave. And probably day-dreaming, too, since he nearly walked right into the counter. "Uh, oh! Sorry!" he turned bright, and gave Garret's little store a once over. The storefront was overflowing with tattered and waterlogged books, half-melted candles, bushels of dried mandrake, and tiny skulls. Gods he was really scraping the barrel. Still, beggars can't be choosers and Kai had searched far and wide for a curse-breaker with nothing to show for it. "Hi there. Are you Garret? I'd heard you know a thing or two about curses." Oh gods had his teeth gotten bigger again? Could they see?
"A thing or two? Boy, I'm the best there is!" the grizzled shopkeep spread his arms, gesturing to the assorted brick-a-brack as if it were a credential. Garrett popped a jeweller's lens into his eye and squinted at Kai. The boy recognized the pale green glow of thaumite - a dweomer-analyzer. A snort of laughter escaped the shopkeeper's lips. "The only curse I see is a jackass glamoured to look human. Now who arranged this stunt? How've they got you talking?"
"Your friends went to the trouble of finding a talking donkey, of course. I'm honestly not sure how the rest of that prank would go. You turn me back and I eat your books and piss on the floor?" Kai tried to laugh it off, but turned an alarming shade of red just the same "I was turned into a donkey by a faerie. This charm is supposed to reverse it. But its not- its not working right..." A pair of pointy ears, sprouting just a touch of fur, were hidden beneath his cap.
"Well you ain't cursed. Trust me, I know my way around a hex. Tell ya what. For five suns I can get that charm of yours tuned up." The old shopkeep may as well have been puzzling over how to fix an axle.
The young adventurer paid the five suns and ducked outside, slumping down on a bench near the doorway. It was a good thing the shop was down a dark alleyway, and no one in Selevea knew him. Already his shirt and jacket felt a bit tight, and a bit itchy. How long could repairing a stupid little very expensive charm take? Behind him the bell tinkled. Was Garret done?
She could sense the shame and anxiety rolling off the young man in waves, almost before he even entered the shop. She was careful not to look at him, not to make her interest apparent.
Adrianna waited quietly while the new customer made his request, and only turned when he had left the shop. She moved toward the door, ignoring Garret's scathing, "Isn't he a little squirrely for your usual tastes?"
So what if she had some sort of reputation? None of them knew what she was really doing, so why care?
The bell chimed lightly as she stepped out onto the street again. Casually, she reached down to touch the stranger's shoulder. "Excuse me? I couldn't help overhearing in there..."
Oh gods, warmth. Kia preserve her she hadn't realized how close to starving she was. She just barely managed to keep her voice even and her expression carefully neutral as she siphoned off those powerful emotions, letting them trickle into her belly like a wave of golden heat.
Couldn't help but overhear. Bile welled in the pit of Kai's stomach; of course it had to be a girl about his age. It would be nice to he seen as handsome, strong, clever, adventurous... all the things a young man from boy-teetering-on-manhood or whatever he was ought to be.
Kai felt warmth creep over his body. Like the welcome tickle of the sun when you're drying off from a swim. And suddenly he was holding back laughter. "I'd probably be a bit curious too. Though I will need to duck around the bend once my clothes start shredding." He flashed a smile and yanked off his cap, revealing a pair of donkey's ears. There was something about her face that he knew he wasn't going to be judged. And as far as curses went it was funny.
"I'm Kai by the way." Wriggling from his jacket the young man extended a hand, coarse and muscled as if a laborer's. The rest of him was different too. His face seemed a bit more blunt and homely. Teeth bigger. Mop of shaggy hair growing down his neck in a sort of mane.
Oh dear.
"Adrianna," she replied, taking his hand as her eyes flickered over his form. "Um...are you quite alright? I don't suppose I could...help?" Her gaze darted up to his ears and back to his face, not wanting to stare.
She'd seen stranger.
Well, heard of stranger.
...Probably.
"Pleased to meet you. Though unless you're an arch-witch or have faerie wings hidden under that cloak, I don't think you can help." He flashed a grin. Kai was usually guarded around women. It was so hard to tell if a smile was because he was handsome (not for much longer), or clever, or highborne. Adrianna, however, felt more like a sister or childhood friend. "Its an old faerie curse. Garrett's fixing up a charm that let's me turn human for a time." And just like that the young man's jacket and boots, a creation of the charm, faded to nothing. He seemed taller now, skin darkened by short hairs, nails black like hooves.
"So what brings you here?" Garrett was no one's first choice of a mage-for-hire, but the man had a knack for hexes and black magic. "Not to pry or anything. Its nice to talk about it, honestly."
Goodness. She knew her feedings could have differing effects on people, but he certainly was chatty, wasn't he?
Not to mention it was taking a good deal of her self-control not to just gawk at the changes that were steadily coming over him. But she did her best, trying to keep her eyes fixed on his face as she sank down to sit beside him, leaning back against the shop wall.
"Well, sometimes the old man gets shipments in of charms and whatnot. I'm always hoping to find something useful." She shrugged, then tilted her head at him. "So...I take it this is just going to get worse?" She indicated this with a wave of her hand at the changes coming over him.
"So is that what you do? Trade in magical charms?" She was being a little coy about the whole thing. But was she fearful, tricky, or just in awe of his fantastic transformation? In any case he wasn't really an attractive mark; one advantage of his situation. "Besides trying to break this curse I'm mostly just traveling. I thought I'd see the rest of Serendipity and work as a sellsword for a bit. Not the adventure I'd have chosen.
"And I suppose if you consider carrying my things in saddle-bags worse. Then yes." Kai grinned broadly, holding up a hand. His fingers had turned black and partly fused together like some amalgam of hand and hoof. The youth, by now, resembled a bipedal donkey more than a man.
Adri shook her head. "Nah, I'm not charms expert. Just...interested." Not a lie. She furrowed her brow a bit as she looked Kai over. "Look...once Garret has your charm tuned up, why don't you come with me. Especially if you're all-" she gestured toward his transformation with an awkward wave of her hand- "that. People here aren't exactly strangers to strange things, but ya might feel better," she offered, just a little hesitant.
But ya might feel better. Well, she wasn't laughing at least. Some company would be welcome for a change. The donkey-boy smiled, "I'd love to. But where are you headed? I'm just putting off going home, really, easier to go around like this where no one knows me. Thought I'd see Serendipity and make some coin in the meantime. I've never even been to Arca."
Garret's bell jangled and the shopkeep leaned outside. He clutched in his hand a brass charm depicting a face that was man on the left and beast on the right. The man snorted in surprise, supressing a chuckle. "Got this tuned up for ya just in time, eh?" he swung it out like a pendulum.
"Thanks. Ought to save it for when I want to feel pretty, or need proper fingers." Kai grinned, struggling to donthe talisman between a thick neck and hood-like fingers. "I don't suppose one of you, could lend a hand? Fingers." Usually Kai dreaded asking for help. He felt cheery though, relaxed.
Snorting, Adrianna took the charm and looped it around his neck. "Easy does it," she chuckled, ruffling the hair between his ears, almost unable to help herself. She stood and held a hand down to him, smiling slightly.
"Let's get you something to eat, lad, what do you say?"
Kai blushed at Adri's touch, ears involuntarily twitching. His stomach rumbled then as if on cue. "Changing does make me... hungry. Best be about this before I finish," he flexed his hooven hands with a smirk, more cheery than someone ought to be. "Unless you mind me not using a fork."
Garret gave Adrianna a sidelong glance as the pair prepared to leave. The man had seen the effect she had on people. Never this fast.
"Do you know Selevea well? I've only just arrived. Got a few friends here but--" he smiled and shrugged, "--who cares of I'm recognized!?"
"I know it well enough," Adrianna chuckled. "I've lived here all my life. Come on, I can take you somewhere to get some food."
She offered her arm, giving Garrett a nod and a quick smile.