Min-max [Aeirn]

[Slaine]

The shop smelled of wood, smoke, and dust, the walls lined with various goods for the discerning adventurer as well as those that lived in the tiny outpost in the foothills of the mountains. Slaine was neither a discerning adventurer nor a local and appeared wholly lost. Blankly gazing at the chaos of plenitude as she waited for Aeirn to meet her.

He was like a cat, often traipsing off on his own for what she figured was a bit of respite from her company - she had mostly been quiet, not out of respect or a lack there of but rather the fear that he might redact his offer of assistance in making it north if she said the wrong thing. That and she couldn't help but wonder what it might be that he'd gain from such a thing. Did he expect her to pay him? She'd been scraping her last few coins together for a while now, sitting on what was left of Nigel's attempt at giving her a worry-free life. She doubted that it'd even begin to cover a personal guide through the unforgiving mountains, especially so late in the year. She'd decided not to mention it and instead hope for the best, but now standing in the middle of the general store, she couldn't bring herself to rack up any more debt, especially not having any clue what it was she was meant to get.

The shop keep looked at her over his book, frowning and adjusting his glasses. "Are you going to buy something?"
Jerking upright, she turned toward him, grinning and trying to look charming. "Yeah, just waiting for my friend!" And immediately she turned back to her staring, the shop keep appearing wholly unconvinced but not quite ready to drive the tiny thing out into the early morning chill where frost still rimed the glass and vegetation. She hadn't touched anything and she scarcely looked like a thief. She was too flashy, too loud, too obvious despite being tiny.

Anxiously she looked at the door, pursing her lips. Come on, Legs...

[Aeirn Vryndîr]

The town they'd arrived in was a bit of a human backwater, not important enough to be prominent on any sort of map, but not so small that it was unknown where it actually was. He'd spent a good amount of time wandering around the area, getting a few funny looks from people that weren't exactly used to seeing a Kerasoka, especially one so distinct, in turn he had given them a sneering glare in return and they'd quickly moved off, not caring to try their hand at getting into any sort of actual conflict with the tall elf. To say this place was uncomfortable was an understatement, it was designed for humans any 'regular' sized folk, chairs were too small, too light, a broken stool in the local tavern was testament to that, the landlord being none too pleased about the chaos Aeirn seemed to bring. He didn't want to say here any longer than he had to.

Wandering over to the building with a prominent 'General Store' sign above it, he thought about why he'd even come, part of him was starting to regret it, but he couldn't back out now could he, he wasn't exactly that mean. Opening the door with a shove, Aeirn ducked down, stepping through the threshold with an annoyed grunt; it almost looked comical, the way this ridiculously large man almost hit the ceiling of the store, as if he's stepped into a miniature world. "Slaine- anything of worth in here, it all looks subpar." Aeirn said, receiving a displeased glare from the shop keep who was quietly counting the morning's takings. Aeirn, peered about at the various goods on offer, string, dried tea leaves, bread, sacks, crates- really as the sign predicted, a general array of items needed for passing travelers or residents; Aeirn idly picked up a sack of grain, giving it the once over. "Oi, pay for it, or put that down." the shop keep exclaimed, causing Aeirn to frown and slowly place the sack back without a word, he instead wandered over to Slaine, shrugging to her.

[Slaine]

"I don't know!" And truthfully, she didn't. She hadn't realized he expected her to be buying things on her own. The shops here were nothing like they were in Fellsgrad - everything looked dirty and frighteningly rustic in a way that made her nervous about assessing the value of objects. Maybe they were great, maybe she was just a posh asshole. Given that she had little in the way of gold and such characters were rarely portrayed favorably in literature, the urge to distance herself from appearing as such was strong indeed, causing her to stall with indecision. "I don't know, it's all just - there's a lot. I don't even know what we're getting -" Her voice was calm but her eyes were wide and somewhat glassy. Gratefully, Aeirn was a fit distraction.

Slaine reached out and anchored herself to him by gripping the edge of his cloak, sniffing a breath and looking up at her over-large companion as she blinked the expression of overwhelm away and set about to consider the problem logically. She tucked her hair behind a pointed ear as she stroked his cloak gently, inspecting it closely. "Do you think you'll be warm enough in this? I was waiting for you because I thought you needed something a bit more... you know." Swallowing she peered over at the shop keep who clearly did not hold her in such high esteem now that she was openly familiar with the elf, looking the two of them over suspiciously for a long moment before returning to his books, 'hrumph'ing to himself and muttering something beneath his breath about ears and how nothing would fit him anyway. Anger flashed across her features as she cast a harrowing-side-eye at the shop keep.

As she returned her attention to Aeirn, the tweak of annoyance furrowing her brow did not fade as she met his gaze, lowering her voice to a whisper - with those ears she didn't assume he needed to do any stooping. "You said we needed supplies. You didn't tell me what we needed, you know."

[Aeirn Vryndîr]

The shop keep was getting a little irritated at them wandering about in his shop without actually buying anything, he had finished counting his money and now his eyes were fixed upon the pair, as if judging if they were going to merely wander out and waste his time or try and steal something, Aeirn one of them certainly looked shifty, so a beady, cautious eye was set upon them, boring into them with quiet distrust.

"It shall be sufficient, look, we have a good deal of provisions for the journey, I'll buy a few things and we'll go; I'd rather not stay here any longer than we must." came the reply, seemingly wanting to usher her out the store as soon as possible,lest they face the store keep's wrath. Aeirn murmured, wandering around the store, picking up a sack of barley, a few jars of honey, some cheese and good quantity of dried meats, wandering over to the counter he placed them down, giving a small nod to the man who looked up at him, seemingly a little more timid now Aeirn was standing just a foot or so away. "Just these, if you'd be so kind." The shop keep grumbled a reply and tallied up the cost. "Seventy two copper..." the man said bluntly, as if thinking Aeirn would never have such money. "I shall give you twenty plus a doe skin." Aeirn came back with, now attempting to haggle. The man looked a little taken a back at first, almost offended, however the animal skin seemed to tempt his interest, it could get a little chilly up in these parts and good quality animal skins were always a top seller.

"Sixty plus the skin..."

Aeirn inhaled a little. "Thirty, the doe skin is better quality than whatever hunters you have round here, guaranteed." His tongue tracked the upper set of teeth, eyes narrowing as they engaged in the duel of wits.

"Fifty-...

"Thirty five."

"Forty-five."

"Forty."

The man paused, eyes narrowing for a split second as he considered it... "Deal, forty copper plus the skin."

Aeirn nodded, looking over his shoulder, sure Slaine had simply stayed put, when was the last time she'd listened to him. "Go and get the doe skin from my pack, it's wrapped up." he gave a thankful nod before collecting the copper coins from a small pouch on his belt and placing them on the counter.

Aeirn did seem rather good at haggling, perhaps he'd be useful after all.

[Slaine]

Sufficient? Slaine didn't appear entirely convinced, looking at him as though he just suggested he could breathe fire or that he was good with the ladies - she didn't have any real evidence to the contrary, but she just felt like it just wasn't the case. "No, really-" She trailed off with a huff as she released his cloak, letting him wander about and collect food and goods. "Fine." She raised her arms in a helpless flailing sort of shrug, giving up on reining in the giant elf for the time being.

Manners mattered, she wanted to remind him, rolling her eyes as she considered arguing but instead dropped it, jamming her hands into her pockets as she obediently filed out the door. "If he would have just come with me to the shop like I asked the first time..." While the human shop keep might not have caught it, she was sure her companion would hear it. It was his listening skills that she seriously doubted.

The outpost wasn't particularly the busy sort - most men and women worked in the surrounding fields by day and avoided outsiders like the plague. There was something threatening about pointy ears and chair-crushing giants to their quaint isolationist tendencies that no amount of pleasantries could really alleviate, though Slaine tried. She paid a smile to a farmer passing in the streets by mule-drawn wagon only to find herself stepping back in shock as in passing the man in turn spat at her feet with a frown.

What had she done wrong? Befuddled by the ill-temperament of the townsfolk she stared after the wagon before becoming uncomfortably aware that Aeirn had been right. She didn't want to be here any longer than she had to. Hurrying on her way she forgot her disagreements for the time being and didn't even bother to root through his pack more than necessary when searching out the doe-skin (for science!), simply wanting to get in and get out. She paused, tucked the skin beneath her arm she stared at her back for a moment before approaching it, pawing through her things and retrieving from the ordered chaos a spell book bound in warm gray leather, fastened closed by a golden lock and decorated upon its face by a tigers eye gem glinting in the dim light that filtered through the window of their second-story room.

Sinking to her knees she thumbed the lock open with a muttered incantation and through the pages of the tome while muttering bitterly that she could scarcely find anything, and was this really her handwriting? At last she appeared to have found it, her face brightening as she studied the pages for several minutes before tucking the book carefully beneath her cloak and out of sight. Gathering the bundled skin to her chest she hurried back to the shop, careful not to meet anyone's gaze in passing.

As she reentered the shop, Slaine presented the folded skin bound in twine to the counter as she approached. "Sorry - here, take the doe skin and we can get out of here, yes?" Glancing between the two men she pursed her lips and finally settled upon Aeirn, giving him a look that said to hurry up!

[Aeirn Vryndîr]

The two men had been standing in silence for a good while before Slaine got back, eyeing each other with clear distrust, the shop keep worried he was going to make a run with the goods without giving the skin and Aeirn thinking the man was about to wrestle him (somehow) to the ground. As the door chimed, Aeirn looked around nodding firmly as Slaine entered, paced over and placed the skin on the counter.

"There, you have your skin, I'll conclude this transaction done." Aeirn gathered the items and with a disgruntled mutter from the shop keep he turned and made for the door, allowing Slaine to open it for him before stepping onto into the afternoon sun; frowning he peered around, everything seemed to be a little off, a little quiet, he couldn't quite put his finger on it but he wasn't amused by it. "Keep close to me." he said to Slaine, ears twitched ever so slightly, as if hearing a distant sound. Slowing making his way toward the inn with Slaine, he thought about what could possibly be happening, the sound of voices and none too pleasant emanated from the building, Aeirn wasn't quite sure if Slaine could hear it, but he certainly could, it sounded as if they were talking... talking about them. As they entered, a hush came over the group who were gathered, dotted around the various seats, some with mugs, some without, a woman gently fanned her face with a scowl, which joined with other scowls as the Elf and the Hybrid girl wandered in, Aeirn eyed them, giving a small dip of his head as if acting like nothing was wrong.

"Good day..." he said, pushing a hint of snarling bitterness with the words. Crossing frowns, and bitter glares, he quickly made his way up the stairs, seeking shelter within the room Slaine and himself has hired, with Slaine in toe, exhaling he looked at her, now in a rush to begin packing. "We need to leave, there's a growing resentment building by our presence, I have no idea why, and I don't believe we should find out, help me stow this stuff away and we'll keep going, we can make a good fifteen miles by sundown if we're lucky." he eyed Slaine, a slightly perturbed look to him. Clearly this situation couldn't be going anywhere good.

[Slaine]

He didn't have to ask twice - Slaine wasn't much of a fighter and was content to stay in the shadow of her larger friend, hoping the sheer size of him might dissuade any further rudeness. She wanted to tell him about her encounter with the carriage man, but Slaine worried that maybe the locals might have better hearing than she gave them credit for.

She held her tongue all the way until safely inside the shared room, and had even held her breath as they climbed the stairs. "No, really?" She put on a tone of mock disbelief, putting on an exaggerated expression of astonishment. "One of them spit at me, just-" She made a noise in the back of her mouth, gross but not quite wet enough to be the real deal. There wasn't much in her to spit other than hot air, it seemed. "Ptew- Just like that, can you believe it?" Though she had not actually spat on the floor she wiped her mouth anyway on the back of her wrist, muttering an apology as she set to helping him along, setting her spell book on the bed as she secured things and fastened buckles.

"What did you do? I know you broke the chair, but we apologized - it was probably loose to begin with. They can't be mad about it still, can they?" Frowning she hoisted the bag up and onto the bed, checking it twice before shouldering it, their goods stowed and her feet unwillingly ready to venture out onto the road again despite their barking. She scooped the spell book up, thumbing the spine as she tucked it close again, concealed beneath her cloak. "Look, just don't make eye contact, don't say anything and we should be fine, right?"

Right.

[Aeirn Vryndîr]

Aeirn didn't seem all too concerned about being subtle and slipping out as quickly as possible, he curled a hand around his scabbard, lifting it from the side of one of the beds where he'd rested it, pulling the sword free, just a little to make sure the blade was sharp enough; with the low muffled sound of metal on leather as the sword was slid back in, he tied the scabbard and accompanying belt around his waist and fastened it on, exhaled as he tightened it just enough and turned to Slaine.

Aeirn did seem to be preparing for the worst, and that familiar, grim look of determination and finality confirmed it. "Whatever happens, stay close to me and don't let anyone drag you away into the crowd." he exhaled, now fitting his backpack over both shoulders, hands pulling on various leather straps and fasteners, making sure nothing was about to fall off. "Are you ready?" he asked, eyeing Slaine, more than a little concerned about what they were about to wander into, angry mobs were more dangerous than people realised, and from what Aeirn could hear, this mob was growing angrier by the second, and restless, clear movement came from below as if they were getting ready for something.

It seemed like what was going to happen was inevitable, the townsfolk had grown weary and tired of their presence. For what reason? It was hard to tell, maybe they didn't like strangers, maybe they just didn't like elves, or maybe... just maybe, the stool Aiern broke had been much more important than he realised.