Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-24123288-20150325215538/@comment-3293219-20150326103505

Arrie wandered through the town, trying not to be too obvious, however, it wasn't going too well. Having a massive shiner on her face caused her to stick out, like a sore thumb, people would stop and stare at her before whispering to one another and making their assumptions.

The Breton sighed, glaring up as she reached Belethor's general goods shop. She could just buy the rings and soul gems but that would be expensive. She could afford it but it seemed like such a waste...

She eventually sighed and wandered in, wincing as the door hit a bell that hovered above it and brought the store owner, Belethor, out to greet her. Now she’d have to buy them…

"Ah, hello." The Breton man said, somewhat making Arrie feel a little more comfortable as she realised that she wasn't the only Breton in the city.

"Erm... Hey." She mumbled as her eyes scanned the shop and she began to look around for soul gems and rings and perhaps some sweets.

"You wouldn't happen to have any rings for sale, would you?" She finally asked, giving up as she no longer saw any and assumed that he kept them around the back.

"Rings? Sure, I got plenty of 'em... Tiaras to, if you're interested in something fancier."

Arrietty smirked and tried not to make eye contact for a moment as she considered the possibility of putting Dace in a tiara... She could always lie and tell them that it was all that they had...

"Erm... Let me see them then, get me your rings, tiaras, amulets and... any other kind of jewellery."

Belethor nodded and wandered off as Arrietty was left with the image of Dace in a Tiara or hell, anyone in a tiara, it would make having to do all of this shit totally worth it.

She heard the Breton's footsteps as he returned to the counter, holding a mass collection of decent quality jewellery. Sadly, there were enough rings for all of them but her group didn't have to know that...

"Right then, I'll take seven of your rings and that pretty tiara." She chirped, prompting Belethor to raise his eyebrow in confusion before shaking his head and just going through with the transaction.

"Okay, that comes to one thousand five hundred." Belethor concluded, much to Arrie's shock and dismay.

"What!? It's the tiara isn't it?"

"Yep, sorry but I can't let a tiara, with a ruby forged into it go for any less than one thousand thirty."

Shit... So much for my dream of seeing Dace embrace his feminine side... The Breton thought, with a heavy sigh as she reached into her pocket and pushed the tiara away, gesturing towards the rings.

"I'll take eight rings then..." She then paused and winced, remembering something crucial.

"Crap! Erm... Soul gems, I need those too! Full ones!" She yelped, startling the Breton shop owner and getting her to glare at her, with a look of confusion. She seemed so on edge all of the time and it was incredibly unnerving... Still this was far more exciting than most of the dithering old people that he usually has to serve.

"Erm... Okay, I have some around back..." Belethor assured her, slowly stepping away and returning to his stock room, leaving Arrie alone once more.

"I'm curious Miss Muldoon, how many people are you planning to marry?" A familiar voice spoke, from behind her, causing the young Breton's back to shoot up. She turned around and got a quick look at the source of the voice, seeing a young Imperial man in leather armour, with black well kept hair. His armour was strange as it looked sort of like Imperial legion armour but it had an odd looking symbol that depicted an eye, being eaten by a snake.

The man approached her, causing the startled Breton to step back towards the counter as she was more than a little concerned at the fact that he knew her name.

"H-How do you know my name!?"

"You... Don't remember? Huh... Perhaps the blow to the head was worse than I thought." The Imperial folded his arms and rocked from side to side, looking a little puzzled.

"Hmm... Well, let's start again..." He decided, taking another step closer.

"I am Cato Valerius, I was travelling the countryside last night, when I happened upon you and your... situation."

"You mean with the farmers?" Arrietty asked, slowly scratching her head as she tried to forget it. They had such horrid teeth...

"Yes, they were a little more hospitable, once they learned that they could profit from their own misfortune." Cato shrugged slowly wandering to the counter and leaning against it, making sure that he kept his distance.

"I do have to admit that I was a little bit confused at the fact that you could clearly have afforded to buy your own sickle, without risking a shovel to the face. So why did you have to steal one?"

Arrietty raised an eyebrow, he does ask a lot of questions and he still hadn't answered hers...

"You still haven't told me how you know my name..." She pointed out, frowning and folding her arms as she glared at him.

"Ah, sorry, I got ahead of myself. I managed to get your name out of you as I carried you back to the city. I needed something to look for in the guest book after all." The Imperial answered, slowly pulling himself upright as he grew a little more serious.

"That was all that I could get out of you... That and mutterings about sickles, I assume that, that was on your mind at the time..."

Arrie nodded as that made sense to her, though she still didn't feel entirely easy about this guy as so much seemed off about him.

"Well, yeah, I needed a new sickle and if you don't at least try to lock up your tool shed, then you deserve to be robbed." Arrietty scoffed, getting a laugh from the Imperial.

"Truer words have never been spoken..." He sniffed, wiping his eyes and smiling, though this somehow made Arrie even more uncomfortable. It wasn't that he was... creepy... He was too charming and confident, it just didn't feel natural, at least not to her...

"Still, I find myself curious as to why anyone would need this many rings..." He said, gesturing to the jewellery laid out in front of her. This prompted the Breton to turn around and give her recently purchased merchandise a quick glance over before looking back to the Imperial.

"Erm... I'm... Addicted to collecting things." The Breton blurted, wondering where the sodding hell that no good Breton shopkeeper had gone. She was considering just doing a run for it at this point but figured that standing her ground was a little bit safer.

"Like... Rings... Amulets... Tiaras..."

"Sickles?" Cato asked, giving her a slight smirk as he obviously wasn't convinced.

"I understand though, you don't wish to talk about it. I thought that you were going to get them enchanted or something."

"Something..." Arrietty answered, carefully as this was creeping her out, how did he know? Did he know? Urgh... She was beginning to sound like a Schizophrenic...

"I see... I thought that you might be an adventurer type you see, considering the way that you wield that sickle, like it’s a weapon, your ability to sneak around and the fact that you've amassed quite a lot of coin.

Forgive me for making assumptions, I'm just usually right about these things..." He sighed, hanging his head as he heard the sound of rustling in the background as Belethor returned

I bet you are... Arrietty thought, glaring at the Breton store keep, who was probably listening in on them. The asshole...

"Sorry, we got a shipment of soul gems last month and it took me forever to remember where I'd put them." He explained, dumping the soul gems on the table.

"Great, I'll take nine of your best gems!" Arrie gasped, desperate to get back to the others before she gave anything away, at this point, she was considering abandoning the lot and making a run for it.

"Alright... That's... two thousand, plus the rings, that's... Two thousand five hundred and seventy Sovereigns."

Arrietty's eyes widened as that was a lot of money to part with, still, it wasn't like she had any choice.

"Done." Cato concluded for her, placing his own coin purse on the counter and sliding it across, Belethor just shrugged and went through with the transaction, prompting Arrietty's eyes to widen at the surprise of Cato's act of charity. He quickly turned back to her, taking the box of gems from the counter.

"Right... Need help carrying these back?"

"Erm... I don't remember letting you pay for my stuff... Imperial..." She pointed out, with a stern tone as she pocketed the rings, the Imperial didn't even flinch, however.

"If I am to assume that you don't ever want my help, when I'm willing to offer it, perhaps I should have left you on that farm... Breton…" He replied, though he sounded a little darker as if he was threatening her with something.

Arrietty grew even more unnerved, knowing that he obviously wanted something in return. He had 'snake' written all over him and not just on his chest...

"Now, will you be needing assistance, taking this crate back to the inn or...?"

"Nope, I got it!" She yelped, cutting him off and snatching the boxes, Kay would probably try to kill him if he attempted such a thing.

"Erm... Thanks... Cato... I guess..." She murmured, awkwardly as she dragged the box away, hoping to leave the shop and get back to the others before this whole thing went sour.

The Imperial simply waved her off before he proceeded to talk to Belethor about something, Arrie didn't want to stick around to find out what. She pushed out of the general goods shop, making her way back to the others.

-

Kay nodded. "I f-feel the same way. Annoying right? Least I understand."

As she finished speaking, Arrie dropped the box of soul gems on the floor, immediately behind her, creating a startling 'bang' as she did so. She then dropped the rings on top of the crate before going back inside and shutting herself in, she needed a lie down...