Re: In the Marketplace! (Open! Wanna play?)

[Aurora]

The confusion that was evident on Vesta's face made it all too clear that she wasn't the fledgling mage who had gotten their components pilfered! There most certainly would be hell to catch for some poor apprentice when the missing items came to light! A faint smile given, even if that carnivorous grin was nowhere to be seen. Nice straight even teeth. Now, there was something you didn't see every day! "Well I suppose you can thank the ... "

Interrupted by Vesta's yelp, Aurora had offered a brief tip of her head. One hand rising to tap a nail thoughtfully against her lower lip. Obviously curious, even if she hadn't gotten her own chance to glance into the bag to see just what, was giving Vesta such a hard time! "The uhh ... Kender for that."

While Vesta might've shoved the bag away, her new friend was wandering in closer and lightly plucking at the lip of the bag, which was shifting around as if there were something within stirring the contents. Aurora seemed rather ignorant of the dirty looks they were getting. Probably because she was so very engrossed in what was going on with her bag!

"Lets see if I can fish it out, hm?" Flashing a mischievous grin while she plucked up one of those pouches by it's draw strings. After all she didn't want it eating up all of poor Vesta's things, even if some of them weren't hers! Aurora was shifting the contents around in the bag before dangling the pouch in. The sudden snap was accompanied by a yank of her hand! Between the burst of belongings (including her things that had originally been in the bag) and the object with a death grip on the pouch that had been dangled in it's reach!

Great heavens! It looked like a human skull was dangling from the end of the pouch strings! It was bleached a bright unnatural white, though there were dark lines etched and painted into the bone. Runes and sigils. Within empty eye sockets an angry red malevolence burning! The skull was naked in the light of the bookstore and there were more than a few people standing up and retreating a few tables away to avoid any more flung items! "Looks like a necromancers servant ... even if it's a bit ... erm ... run down?" A hand rising to her neck and gesturing downwards. She peered into the bag to make sure that there weren't any other bits or pieces from it in here. Reaching in to pluck out an old dented iron helm that looked about as old as the skull!

Perhaps Vesta would join the other people retreating when Aurora swung the skull around to dangle it in front of her. "Here you go. Congratulations on your new skeletal ... pet?"

"Graaah!Put m-" Loud crack as the skull bounced off the floor, having released it's hold on the pouch, it was free and was bouncing willy-nilly into the cafe! "Quick, get it before it gets away!"

[Vesta Voui]

What the... Huh? Que? Talking skull and flying things from her bag? Just when did things like this start to happen!?!

Oh. Right. When she accidentally came to this realm, that's when!

When Aurora pulled that bleached old looking skull from the bag you can bet that Vesta was amongst the people who was giving the scene a wide-eyed and precaution stare of 'what the hebeezus!!', even if her stare also left her leaning in towards it out of curiosity. She didn't see something like this everyday!

It looked.... harmless? Aurora was treating it like it was - aside from the fact that she wasn't actually holding it. "A Necromancer's... pet?" That was something new. "I don't know anything about raising the dead! Or how to care for their pets?" Was she actually considering taking this thing in? She didn't think she could simply ignore it. One way or another it was in her bag and seemed to have liked it there. Perhaps it was the D&D books with there fancy looking spell book covers that made the Skull think it was home? Maybe she had a duty to return it to whoever was missing a Skull pet and be rewarded with spell components? Like the items in those pouches. Some of the pouches and books that were now all over the floor or nearby tables.

Man, if her brother were here he'd probably go ballistic and start talking in stats and bonus enhancements.

Any type of thoughts would have to wait because the skull was getting away! How was she suppose to catch a skull? Vesta made a quick move for her bag and hastily dumped out the rest of the contents - which wasn't much: make-up pouch, oil crayons and pastels, her sketch book - and opened it wide like a sack. "Block it's retreat, I'll jump on it from behind!" Skulls can't go that fast, could they? Even pet skulls?

"Rouge skull on the loose everybody! Yorick, come back here!" So what, she named the skull the first thing that came to mind about skulls with names, there was nothing wrong with that. Looking out for anyone who hadn't moved out the way, she pushed aside a table and chairs and sought to dive bomb on the retreating skull.

Sorry quiet bookstore that was once calm and peaceful!

[Aurora]

Yet all through the turmoil Aurora seemed to be mildly surprised, but without the fearful and hectic reaction that the others displayed. This was Rhy'Din, even in a bookstore, this situation shouldn't have caused all this turmoil. Why she could remember when she was a little girl and her father would take them someplace and his pressence wouldn't have even caused a stir and now ... she could only imagine if he was feeling ... himself.

"You've never seen an animated skeleton? I mean, I suppose the spell must work just as well on a skull alone but I can't imagine it could be this ones shining personality that earned it such an enchantment." For an animated skull couldn't really do much, but perhaps talk. Though in Aurora's experience necromancers weren't, usually, the type to pine for companionship and conversation! "Oh I didn't think you did, but you wouldn't be the first person I've met who ... dabbled." Beatrific smile given, though she was offering her the skull on it's string!

It seemed that Aurora and Vesta were destined to have to suffer with the skull and it's antics for at least a while longer considering it was trying to escape, yet honestly, how fast could a skull truly move? Though it was offering a rather colorful description of what it thought of the both of them for having disturbed it, it didn't have any legs! Vesta's quick thinking put her on the trail of the skull, while Aurora took a moment to locate one of those over-large coffee table books before she hustled off around the perimeter of the cafe!

Just goes to show you, boys will always leave as soon as they catch wind of any possible work!

The skull came to a stop upright, red necrotic eyes rolling in their sockets before centering on Vesta's approach, which had it's jaw opening, though not to throw insults or curses, but to send it rolling backwards away from her! Between the chaos that a screaming skull and a young woman sparking the crowds awareness of it's apparent 'rogue' nature, people were rushing out of the cafe. Which only aided in the skulls attempt at escape. A kick sent it bouncing off a garbage can, though it was caught between Vesta and Aurora now who was standing at the ready through one of the designated 'exits', books opened at knee high. A make shift shield of sorts!

"Got your sack ready? I'll bat him to you." It would just be like a game of croquet in the back garden, right? She scooted forward gradually, trying to coral the skull and keep it from rolling to either side with light bops from the book! Just waiting for Vesta to pounce and be ready now!

[Vesta Voui]

You know what they say, only takes one manic person to excite the crowd into chaos! On this particular occasion Aurora was correct in saying that Vesta was the source of this commotion. It was due to her partial manic personality? 

Besides, when the crowd wasn't stimulated by the unusual anymore then action was needed! 

But, back to the dealings at hand - the current game of 'catch that skull'. Where we all those magical people when you needed them? You know, the type that were able to freeze things in place, stop time, or those other things. In a bookstore of people there wasn't one Mage? Not one person with skills in the mystical arts? Vesta and Aurora would have to put this skull down the croquet way! 

When it went flying around the room, bouncing off of cans and under skirts (hey, never know) Vesta was sure to keep a look out and head low less she got knocked. "You mean to tell me that there's more to this than just a skull?" That is what Aurora was getting at when she showed surprise at the skull, right? 

"'Cause if a headless skeleton comes chasing after us I'm doing a serious Ichabod." And, you know, cross a sheltered wooden bridge. 

But she was ready! Had her bag opened wide, eased aside and kicked a chair in her way. Now that she was prepared, the bag was ready, Aurora was ready -right- so Vesta went to jump on the skull while the other was to hit it and......!

[Aurora]

Well unfortunately this crowd had been infiltrated by a pair of them. Though perhaps they weren't both manic in the general sense. Maybe Vesta. Aurora was pretty well grounded, her issue was that she wasn't exactly picky about causing a panic among the crowd of people in the bookstore! It seemed that her and Vesta were of different minds about how people should handle the unusual! Perhaps if it had been Rhy'Din proper ... things wouldn't have caused such a stir. The unusual was much more readily accepted there!

Like ... chasing a skull around in the local bookstore.

While if Vesta was looking for someone skilled in the ways of magic she wouldn't have to look far, Aurora had talents, the trick was finding someone who wasn't gaining immense amusement from the experience of chasing the skull around for the fun of it! Amused she was, clearly since she was wearing a wicked ear to ear grin! "Well when was the last time you talked to a disembodied head without a body to be found someplace?" Though the body was probably destroyed or dissasembled. That or the kender had been even more light fingered than expected to have stolen a skull right off a skeletons shoulders!

There Vesta went again being confusing with her references. Aurora just eyed her funny for a moment, before slapping that skull her way so that she could dive for it and snatch it up in that bag! "Well depending on the power of the necromancer and how dedicated they were to ensuring their servants continual function ... the body might or might not work without the head attatched. However it is quite easy to turn a skeletal servant as long as the necromancer isn't around." Giving a comforting grin, even while tossing the book onto the nearest table and approaching Vesta and her new charge!

"Seems it can speak well enough, even if it seems more interested in speculating upon the depravity of our mothers and the other half of our parentage..." The skull had a nasty mouth on it, that was for sure. Even muffled by the bag it could be heard, even if more indistinctly!

[Vesta Voui]

"To turn a skeleton servant.....?" there was a pause there as Vesta was waiting for Aurora to give some explanation of what she meant by that statement. Communication gaps abound! Not that they couldn't understand each other -they were doing just great!- the problem came
with the phrases. Not a big deal though. 

"Turn a skeleton servant into what? Exactly?" Now that the talking skull was successfully bagged it wasn't that much of a threat, right? Not like it was going to start speaking curses and the two of them were going to be turned into frogs or anything like that....

That talking skull had better watch it's mouth and Vesta gave that bag a hard swing against the side of the table, just to show it who's the real boss. "Spoken to a lot of different things, but nothing dead. Yet." Because now she had a talking skull and that certainly qualified as something dead. 

Now they could start cautiously making their way out the bookstore! Which she did, pointedly ignoring any people who were looking. To the manager style she gave a smile and said that they could bill the Tel'Raneamyn for any damages. Sure. That would go over well, right? 

 Tucking her other books under her arm of course. "Said you're going to see your dad, right? Could one of you tell me how to, like, turn this thing off? Or at least make sure it doesn't eat me or my squirrel?"

[Aurora]

Vesta's obvious befuddlement left her blinking with a look of utter astonishment on her features. Honestly she looked as if she expected that Vesta were trying to pull one over on her, how could she not know what she meant? Then again, she blithely spoke of 'pulling ichabods' and 'cooling ones roll'. Aurora was confused what baked goods had to do with any of this at all! No doubt Vesta's brother would have understood what Aurora was saying, even at only a technical standpoint.

Well! "To turn them ... as in to drive them off. If you aren't feeling up to the task of pounding them into bonemeal at that moment. Surely you know how a truly hearty bread is made ..." Was that last addition a joke? If so, Aurora had one hell of a poker face! "I mean I suppose you could turn this one into an interesting lamp, candle or ashtray if you have need... of course. You could always hang him on the inside of your mail slot could be helpful to keep the prowlers away." As well as shredding the junk mail.

The sudden bash of the bag proved to be enough to shut the skull up, even if there was a little indistinct mumbling still drifting out of the bag. Not that Vesta seemed to be intimidated. Aurora had already seemingly felt the excitement pass and was busy picking up her things. Collecting the books and her new pouches and other components quickly. 'Accidentally' sliding that thin book she had been reading into her pile as well. "Well, we're adding to your experiences ... the dead aren't usually too different from us living, depending on when they died and how intelligent they were made ..." Eying her bag thoughtfully, considering it had it's possibilities.

"My father might know something. He is 'old and wise' as he likes to remind everyone when he gets the chance." Despite her tone, she wore a fond smile, so it was obviously a running joke between Aurora and her father. "At the very least he could remove it's jaw to keep it from getting hold of anything ..." She could probably do that as well come to think of it. Though she simply shook her head. She took her time following, glancing around to make sure nothing was left behind. "You have a squirrel?" Honestly curious. Was it a Dire Squirrel, or something equally as exotic?

[Vesta Voui]

She knew how giants liked to have their breads, grinding bones and all that from little boys, but she thought Aurora was making a joke. She'd go with it! "I'll be sure my hearty bread comes without the kick of young boys bones. Tend to get stuck in between my teeth." Ending that with a chop or two of her normal teeth. Nowhere near intimidating as if the other girl were to chomp her teeth at someone!

Making their way out of the store was easy, when people thought that you were crazy for diving bombing on tables and messing around with crazy, talking, necromantic skulls they sorta give you a bit of room. Unless, of course, they wanted what you had.

As for the turning befuddlement, well, perhaps if she had a chance to read some of that D&D book she would have understood. "I may dress a bit outside the box but not so much to sport a skull candle unless it's Halloween." That was the exception.

Walking, walking, and keeping an eye out for any guards. Never know - from freaked out, or irritated person - may have said something to them!

"My squirrel looks like a normal squirrel, but he's more golden brown then shades of gray. And he doesn't talk." That's an important thing to note in her book considering the type of place they were in. "Not verbally, like us, but he blinks, and I understand what he's saying."

Vesta never really stopped to question why she could communicate with the animal and some others couldn't, it was only something she accepted. There was that genius guy who looked like he understood him, but, he was a genius so it made sense.

"I call him Blink. He came and sat down next to me one day while I was sitting on the curb eating a bag of nuts. Been with me since, even went with me when I went to visit home. Earth."

Shouldn't take them to long to leave the Marketplace, right?

"You'll like the Inn. A couple of characters there, sure your pops is fitting right in."

[Aurora]

"You know if you grind them properly it comes out a lot smoother, the extra time will save you hours of clawing between your teeth later." Perhaps the joke would lose it's punch ... especially considering her tone spoke of one that had both experience and awareness of the problem that Vesta was kidding about! Aurora smiled blithely, though her teeth appeared entirely human now. Very ... very strange! Then again, they had just spent their time chasing a skull around the bookstore cafe!

Aurora was relatively quiet until the tinkle of the bell on the door was leaving them behind and left her once more closing the distance with her new companion and keeping stride with her. "You could always hang him on a door and have him take messages." Now there was a glorious job. Hopefully no one would confuse his jaw with a door knocker and lose a finger or anything! The grumble from her bag made it all too clear that her new acquisition was hardly pleased to be talked about behind his figurative back! While Vesta seemed to be glancing around curiously, Aurora's gaze was upon that pile of books under Vesta's arm. She had dropped the spell components and things into her own bag, and would give them to Vesta when they got to the inn.

"You can communicate with him? You wouldn't have any Pointy-Ear blood in your veins would you?" Vesta seemed human enough, but Aurora was the poster girl for appearances not telling the whole truth! Then again... maybe Vesta was just a basket case making things up about this poor squirrel that might be suffering from ocular dryness! "Blink huh? Hm.. Well I can't really say much. When I was little my Father gave me a Vargr that I named Mr. Fluff-tooth."

Funny story behind that. Really.

Though when she mentioned Earth she could see Aurora's eyes light up momentarily. "Earth huh? You've really been? My father says it used to be interested there but it's become dreadfully boring since the humans killed everyone else off." Prejudiced? Perhaps. Not that Vesta seemed to be included in the humans that were the short sighted ones that had done what they had done! "Yeah ... he might be. He used to love these places when he was younger, would tell us stories about what he did when he was away. The people he met. He's getting ... old and hasn't been well." Which was the first time that the otherwise relatively upbeat Aurora had sounded anything but cheery. Obviously, when she said old and unwell, she was sugarcoating things a bit, but no reason to burden Vesta with their problems.

"This is all much more confusing from this vantage point, bigger too." Meaning the town, though since they were leaving the market behind, The Tel'ranaemyn shouldn't be too far of a walk for them!

[Vesta Voui]

It was busier outside now than it had been when Vesta made her way into that bookstore earlier that morning, and probably considerably so since Aurora got there. Now, the Marketplace was in full swing with side vendors calling out their wares to the passerby and people (and creatures?) looking and going about their business. Surely a couple of girls like them wouldn't stand out at all! It's not like they were in the Uptown section where everyone was high-brow and dressed to show, then they may have stuck out a bit. Lucky for them this bookstore was in Midtown!

She carried the bag over her shoulder and gave a twirl around to walk backwards so she could see Aurora. Good idea when the street was filling up? Eh, guess that would all depend!

"Yep! Born and raised right on the good 'ole Earth. May not be one of the better locations there to grow up in but hey, it is what it is." And why wouldn't her companion be surprised that this one was from Earth? If her Pa had been there and told her stories, to meet someone from there was probably neat! "As far as I know no one in my family has pointed ears like elves. Though my great uncle Melvin was always said to have ears like a doberman pincher." Because he had pointed ears at the tip.

"So your Pa is resting at the Inn?" Maybe how restful a place was is determined by the one doing the resting. Aurora sounded on the down side about her dad though, so maybe he wasn't doing all to well. She could have just missed him, but then, wouldn't she have gone there instead of the bookstore?

Their path was a steady one and Vesta didn't stay walking backwards for to long - she heard the people and wasn't that crazy to think she wouldn't knock into someone. Bumping into someone had already gotten her one threat already!

"Ya could always get something for him on our way out. Less that book's for him." Nodding at it. Yeah. She saw her lift the book, but it wasn't like Vesta never took advantage of a five-finger discount before.

[Aurora]

While Aurora did pass covetous eyes over some of the goods, nothing was so tempting as to get her to slow or pay those trying to hawk their wares any mind. While normally the two girls might not have stood out, perhaps Vesta had forgotten the both of them had an apparent taste for exotic hair coloring as well as a bit of a more 'punk' style of dressing! It was true that there was a mix of people and beings milling in the market, but they still had a tendency to stand out!

Luckily, any guards who might have been lurking after them would probably be too busy trying to quell the chaos of the bookstores patrons and getting descriptions to immediately get to the chase! Giving them enough time to get the inn in sight. Aurora blue at a rogue strange of hair even while she eyeballed the inn! "Oh well you can't judge your living arrangements with a strangers eyes all the time. Would you think it wise to raise children in a big hole in the ground?" Smiling innocently at that. Surely this beauty wasn't from growing up in mud and squallor, though perhaps it would explain whatever odd fungus or mineral that had apparently changed her hair to this brilliant shade of blue! Yet the fact that Vesta was apparently an 'earth human' had her eyes casually brushing her over as if comparing her to some mental checklist.

She certainly didn't seem to have any scent or taste of magic about her, other than the components that had apparently not belonged to her in the first place! So it was certainly believable. "... Really. Thats certainly. Special?" The end of that far more question than sarcasm. So maybe referencing an animal with an unusual name to someone who didn't have experience with them might not have been the best way to say that no, she wasn't at all part elf!

"Knowing him? Pfft..." Shaking her head at that. Her father was nothing if not stubborn, she wouldn't be surprised to find out that he was his old self now that he was someplace other than his home where he was surrounded by reminders of his glory days. At the Tel he could just be whatever he wanted to pretend he was and just happily spend his days until they got 'the call'. "He used to live in some very strange places and know very strange people. He needs to take it slow but thats never really ... been his thing." She was plainly concerned over her old man!

Though to find she had been so clumsy as to have gotten caught, by an earth human no less, she looked downright embarassed. "Book? Oh good heavens above I can't believe I forgot to pay for that ..." Honestly she didn't look all that remorseful. More ... amused by Vesta's perceptive ways than anything. Yet once at the Tel, she was lightly extracting the book from the pile that Vesta carried. "He wanted me to pick him up a manual on formation of gems. Though I can't possibly think about why, he knows as much about jewels as I think anybody possibly could ..." She definitely had the air of a teenager at that moment. The hefty sigh that attributed the complete lack of understanding about the way the minds of their parents worked!

"You should come and visit sometime. I will be staying with him for a while, maybe I'll even see if I can get a room in some quiet corner where I can keep a half-eye on him and make sure he isn't over extending himself." Smiling fondly. Though she was digging through the 'purse' clutched at her elbow. Plucking out that belt with it's spell components and scroll cases. "I didn't know if you would possibly like these or not? You said they weren't yours but other than throwing them out ..." Perhaps Vesta could think of some uses for spell components when she herself didn't practice magecraft?

[Vesta Voui]

"Do you mean a literal hole in the ground, or a hypothetical one?" For extra insurance she gave that bag an extra bounce against her back. It would be just her luck to get it all the way back home, only to open the bag and the skull to be inanimate. That it was all the work of those pouches that gave them delusions! Really couldn't blame the people from running away from them then.

"'Cause, back home, they tend to call the ghetto places holes in the ground but, being that this is Rhy'din....." She commented in a skeptical manner. The realm made all the difference! Here, if someone said they lived in a hole, she was down right apt to beleive that they actually lived in a hole!

The key to not sticking out as much - when you were looking much like the two of them - was to keep moving forward and not to look suspicious. She certainly wasn't walking through the remainder of that Marketplace with 'GUILTY' written in bold red letters across her forehead. Not at all. Must be why they were able to make it out!

When they got to the Inn, and she skipped up the few steps that were there, opening the door with a shrug she commented on Aurora's fathers need to 'rest'. "It can be quiet here. Can." She was a bit uncertain about that. "Likely depends on who it is your Pa is associating himself with as to whether or not he's keeping quite or not. What's his name? " Reaching the front desk and, not seeing anyone else there, plunked her stuff down atop of it - yes, that bag too - and reached over to pull out that ledger. Just like she owned the place, right? She didn't but, it's not like she hadn't fiddled with the ledger before?

"Can look him up and drop on by and all that." Stated as Vesta flipped through the book. Aurora had mentioned something about him being a new arrival - more or less - so he would be near the end of the list certainly. Unless, of course, whoever did this simply put new people in the holes where the people who left filled, then she'd have a time and a half trying to find it!

"You can keep those pouches. I don't want to go messing around in them and don't need Blink to dive in there and then he turns to Mister Hyde on me, starts terrorizing the Inn and all the common folk." Wouldn't that be something though!

[Aurora]

"... well my father might not take kindly to having his home called a hole in the ground ... I mean we had a house and everything."Honestly sounding a bit embarassed that she was suddenly being pressed for details. Mainly because she felt she might be opening her mouth wide enough for her Papa to kid about plucking out her tongue by it's base! "He just happened to enjoy being up close and personal with his ... passion." Needless to say, one couldn't be properly obsessed with jewels and gemstones without spending a little time under the ground and in caves! Hence the hole in the ground reference, right?

She was just lucky that the skull wasn't positioned to bite at the inner lining of the bag between it and her back! Otherwise, she might have gotten a nasty pinch rather than a few muffled curses being raised in response to her rude thumping and jiggling! "Oh no, Father was always sure that things remained well appointed for us! He's very prone to spoiling." Laughing softly at the very thought! Though she had been quick to respond, as if afraid that Vesta would truly believe that her father had raised her in a ditch or some such!

Aurora didn't question their luck, merely looked quite gladly upon the place that her father was now residing. She could feel him in there, could smell his scent on air. Even if it was ... different. "He tends to attract the strangest people..." There was just something about him that seemed to draw all the freaks and weirdo's his way! Though at the revelation of the ledger, her blue brows puckered briefly, teeth catching her lip. Oh that was an intensely magical tome there ... something that left her answering a tad belatedly. "P..Pol, Rodry Pol." Assuming that her father would use the pseudonym he had chosen still and indeed he was in the book. The page with Room assignments had been conveniently tucked into the most recent pages.

On the bottom floor at the end. Just a short distance away. She patted the components down further into her bag, nodding faintly. She would keep the mage gear then if she wasn't interested. It would probably fetch at least a coin or two. She could get herself something in the market surely. Even if just something to munch on!

[Vesta Voui]

Aside from living in a hole in the ground - because she didn't think that Aurora was kidding about that - her dad sounded like a pretty cool guy. And the spoiling part? That had to be awesome, right? Sure had to beat out a dad that was always working and hardly ever around. Like, every blue moon, but grass was always greener on the other side so she would keep that comment to herself. Focus instead on finding that name.

"Your last name Pol too?" She was the guys daughter but you never know how people went with names these days. Taking that of their Mom, grandparents, or just pulling one out of thin air, even doing the Diva bit and dropping it all together.

There were a few extra things added to this old book since the last time she saw it! New names, some underlined, others with comments next to them, and then the random doodle here and there. Someone was creative with it, much to someone else sadness no doubt!

Finding the name she tapped it a few times with her finger and turned the book around so her friend could see it. "Ah, there he is. "Rodry Pol. Says his room is right here on this floor too. Unless, of course, they've moved rooms around on me since the last time I checked...." sounding a bit skeptical about that, though one could never be to sure, right?

"If he attracts strange people then I'd say he came to the right place!" Vesta began to close the book, making sure that Aurora wasn't still looking at the page or anything like that first. "Ya coming with or... checking out the sites?" Getting a room.. all that other good stuff that she had mentioned she may do.

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