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No Light At The Bottom Of The Ocean (Spooky!)

Started by Eckhart_Von_Musel, September 17, 2017, 08:19:59 PM

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Eckhart_Von_Musel

It was a beautiful summer day in Cerenis. The port-town's streets were bustling with activity, and the air was filled with the sound of people enjoying themselves. The scent of the ocean mingled with the smell of fresh seafood. Seagulls wandered about as if they owned the place, squawking at each other and squabbling over unattended food.

Naturally, Emilia Black-Hearth hated all of it.

It was much too bright for her liking. The sounds of humans having fun made her angry- it was if they were mocking her. The smell of fish made her nauseous, and those damn birds wouldn't shut up. Pulling her hood over her head in an attempt to keep the sun out of her eyes, Emilia briefly gazed into a shop window- and that's when she saw it.


Image courtesy of Brett Robinson

It was a small figurine, made entirely of seashells. It wasn't exactly pretty- if anything, it was outright tacky- but something about it spoke to the former warlord. "Oh!" she exclaimed softly. "How quaint!" Walking into the shop, Emilia picked up the souvenir and showed it to the clerk. "You'll be giving me this."

The clerk gave her an odd look. "... No, you'll be paying for that."

Emilia rolled her eyes. "Suuuuure. And how much, dare I ask, will you charge me for it?"

"Twenty glints."

Emilia laughed- a snide, condescending noise. "Make it zero glints, and you have a deal. I'm not paying."

The shopkeeper stared blankly at her. "Get out of my shop."

Emilia rested her hand on the wooden sword she kept at her hip. "Make me, worm."

The tension in the room could be cut by a knife...

Spooky

   Peri didn't particularly enjoy coming into Cerenis, but she'd grown accustomed to it. She was the weaver for her tribe and if duty deemed it necessary to trade in the port town, then that was what she had to do. And, it wasn't all bad. It was really her biggest exposure to life outside the Kulshedra, and she'd find herself at times standing at the corner of a building just to watch the goings-on. There was so much chatter, so much bustling around, sometimes with purpose, sometimes it was just a young couple wandering the seaside streets.

   Peri walked down the street outside the shops. The smell of brine in the air filled her lungs. Even when her tribe moved around, sometimes further in from the ocean, the smell of it always made her feel at ease. Her pale blue scales shone mutedly in the sun and she let the loose blue fabric she usually wrapped over her shoulders hang loose, and it dropped down to droop over her elbows and looped behind her back. Her clawed feet ticked on the ground.

   As a Kulshedra, people did look. They weren't really a common sight inside the port city, but if you wandered out a little bit you would be likely to spot one eventually, so they weren't an unknown entity.
   
   The windows and their displays always caught her eye. She could've gone straight for the tailor's to gather the thread and buttons she wanted, but, she just couldn't help herself. That's when she saw it. The tacky little gift shop. Well, no one was expecting her back just yet. She had time to duck in.

   The sun glinted brightly off the doorway window as she entered, blinding her momentarily. When her eyes cleared she was greeted by the joyous sight of dozens of kitschy sea shell ornaments and figurines and... A very perturbed looking merchant. What? Peri's screwed up her face in confusion for a moment, her ears dropping back slightly. And, then she saw the other woman standing in the shop, hand on the hilt of a sword.

   Oh Fire, what've I just walked into?

   "Uh... Everything all right here?"
   
   Peri started to try and reach inconspicuously for the doorknob.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

A second voice caught Emilia's attention. Looking to her right, she saw a... thing standing by the doorway. Eyes narrowed, Emilia tried to remember what this particular breed of inferior being was called. "Oh... it's a... Kurzwiel? No, a Drakkollis!" She tilted her head ever so slightly. " No, that's not right. Sweet Nevira, I should know this."

Emilia shook her head. Whatever the being was, it didn't matter- compared to a dragon such as herself, this creature was dogshit. It had scales though, so it was automatically better than a human in her eyes.

"No. Everything is not alright." Emilia replied in an authoritative voice. Looking back at the clerk with contempt, she sneered. "An inferior being such as yourself has no right to charge me anything. Why, you should be honored that I'm gracing your presence at all."

The clerk raised his eyebrows. "Inferior being? What are you even-"

Turning her head back to the other inferior being, Emilia cut him off. "You. Blue thing. You agree with me, yes?"

Spooky

   The clerk looked just as confused as Peri was at this moment. Here was this frail-looking, albeit quite vitriolic, woman standing with her hand over a wooden sword and demanding. Peri furrowed her brow. It wasn't even food, or money she was demanding, it was this little... Shell trinket. She stopped reaching for the door, and instead placed her hands on her hips, taking up a more assertive pose.

   "Uh... No, I can't say I do." She shook her head.

   "You think I'm an inferior being? Look at you. I'm no expert, but from what I've seen of the human culture they usually try to dress a bit nicer," Peri's eyes darted from the shopkeeper back to the woman in dark rags. "Maybe a deal can be struck here?"

   Really, if this woman wanted the little shell figure so badly, she could go down to the beach and make one out of shells herself.
   
   Peri didn't want to fight anyone, she certainly wasn't keen on confrontation, but... She looked over the crazy woman again. Yeah, she could take her. I mean, he did have claws and sharp teeth, that had to be something of an advantage. You never know with crazy, though, that's some unpredictable behaviour waiting to happen.

   "There are lots of shells down on the beach," Peri ventured.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

For the briefest of moments, Emilia looked terrified. The blue creature had openly disagreed with her- something that Emilia had once considered inconceivable. Not only that, but the creature insulted her appearance as well. "Insolent freak!" she said angrily. "How dare you?" She crossed her arms and glared at the blue thing. "I will have you know that I am a dragon! I do not pick seashells off the beach."

The clerk looked at Periwinkle, eyes wide. "I will pay you to get her out of my shop."

Spooky

   Peri smiled for just a moment. Apparently her talking back had thrown the woman off. She had to wonder where this sense of superiority came from.  From Peri's point of view, the woman didn't have any sort of soapbox to climb up on.

   "I dare because you're in here berating this poor shop clerk. Maybe if you'd asked nicely you could have had one, but you had to get all high and mighty about it."

   She could hardly believe what came out of the woman's mouth next. A dragon? Oh Fire, this human was crazier than she'd thought. Peri couldn't help but laugh out loud, uproariously, at her absurd claim. She looked back at her very human face, and laughed harder.

   "Dragon? Oh... Should I get you a mirror?" Peri grinned, and looked over at the shopkeeper with an I'm trying expression. "We could take a nice walk down to the ocean so you can see your own reflection, how does that sound?"

   She was curious, if this woman looked at her own reflection, would she see a human or was her delusion anchored so deep that she would actually convince herself it was a scaly beast looking back from at her?

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Emilia's eye twitched. "How- how dare you laugh at me?" she asked, a look of contempt on her face. "I don't need a mirror- I know full well what my human form looks like." She put her hand on her hip. "You should show more respect, I'm likely the most aesthetically pleasing thing you'll ever set your eyes upon."

The shopkeeper and the blue animal were both trying to make her leave- another insult to her pride. However, an idea struck her. "Humans are stupid- if I take this treasure with me when I go, it likely won't notice." She looked at the blue thing. "You know, you're right- a walk on the beach does sound nice." Emilia gave the creature a fake smile. "Thanks for the suggestion!"

Emilia proceeded to walk out the door with the souvenir still in hand. The clerk threw up his hands in anger. "Hey! You can't just take that!"

Spooky

   Peri's eyes didn't leave the woman as she carried on. Her human form? What was she supposed to be? A shapeshifter? Some kind of werewolf? Even if that were true, it didn't seem to be helping her much in this situation. A small smirk graced Peri's face.

"Just because you think you're aesthetically pleasing doesn't mean that I should have any respect for you."

   And, then... She just left. Just decided to take Peri's advice. Not suspicious at all, Peri thought, her ears folding back slightly as the strange woman presented her with a wide, fake smile. Did she really think that Peri and the shopkeeper were that daft? The sudden change in behaviour alone would be enough to tip them off. Peri sighed and looked down when she heard the shop keeper call out.

"Hey! You can't just take that!"

   Her head snapped up. For Fire's sake. She turned quickly, hair and tail whipping aroud, and followed the strange woman out the door. She could just make out her figure bobbing away amidst the little bit of a crowd that was wandering the seaside town.

"Hey!" She yelled. "What do you think you're doing."

   Being a Kulshedra, Periwinkle was by no means slow on her feet, and she took off after the crazy woman, but the bystanders between them were not helping her make any headway. There was a momentary flash of, Why am I even bothering with this? Oh well, she'd started it now. Maybe if she got the ugly little trinket back, the shop keeper would reward her with something she could take back to the tribe or trade with somewhere else. 

   Peri finally caught up with this troublesome woman as they were nearing the beach. She reached out a clawed hand, ears back and teeth slightly bared, and grabbed at the woman's shoulder.

"Did you really think we wouldn't notice? Who do you think you are?"She sneered.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Emilia smirked as she walked through the street. "Fools." she thought smugly. "When I want something, I always get it in the end. Fate favors me, after all."

Taking the road that lead to the beach, Emilia admired her prize. She wasn't entirely sure why she liked it, but it caused her to feel nostalgic for some reason. "When I get home, I'll put this on my dresser." she thought absentmindedly.

"Home" This was something Emilia thought about often. It has been about two months since she had come back from the dead, but she had yet to return to the mountain fortress she and her siblings had built for themselves all those thousands of years ago. Emilia had never really realized just how much she liked it there- not untill it was out of her reach, at least. "I can't stay here. I need to find a way to-"

Emilia was grabbed by the shoulder, causing her to flinch. She whipped around to see the blue thing had followed her. "Who do I think I am?" she asked, backing away. "Who do you think you are? Shouldn't you be, I don't know, grazing in a field somewhere?"

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