Welcome to Gaia! ::

Raemos adjusted his goggle disguise as he walked around the bustling market. He had been separated from his mother, but he wasn't afraid. He would either run into her, or he would find her later back at the inn, as arranged. He didn't think he would need to resort to bird calls this time. He loved markets. It was so easy to be a part of them. They were unifying somehow - all races were equal under the banner of money, he supposed. What you traded and what you offered mattered more than who you were. It was strangely soothing. Of course, he was unaware of his own hypocrisy. He just knew that, behind a counter, it didn't matter if the seller was an oblivionite, an orderite, or a Dovaa. His gaze was distracted by their wares.
And there were quite a lot of wares around! He danced from stall to stall, trying to remember to keep in budget. Harder than it sounded. Finally, one stall caught his eye.

Option A: Tall Jeweler
Option B: Wounded Gatherer
Option C: Tattooed Hunter

Raemos looked at the stalls in the jewelcraft area of the market, observing the wares and wishing he had the money to buy something, though he wasn't sure if it was for his sister or himself.
Finally, though, he found a stall where he might be able to find something - a stone-seller.
"Good afternoon!" said Raemos to the Oblivionite storekeeper, looking through the wares. The listed prices were still too much for him, but they were interesting. "Where did you get these, sir?" asked Raemos, looking up at the man. He felt more at ease than usual around this oblivionite. The magic of the marketplace, he supposed.

"Oh, here and there." the tall jeweler looked him over, frowning. Raemos knew he wasn't the cleanest - he'd had a bath at the inn, but somehow the ranch's dust stuck even through the most vigourous scrubbing. He would have liked to be cleaner, but water at the ranch was not something you used often to wash yourself. They had a well, but it was good to be frugal with it. He looked forward to the night when he could give bathing another try. Either way, he didn't look like the kind of person that would be buying jewelery, or could. "Are you buying?"

"Yes..." said Raemos, picking up two pieces of small, black rock. They looked affordable. "I'll take these. For..." he brought out some of his coin, "This much."

They haggled for a bit, and Rae was not as good a haggler as his mother. Still, he thought he had gotten a very good deal. He knew these stones could be used in all sorts of things, like potions and enchantment, and since he was going to be trying his hand at enchantment... Well, he thought he'd at least pick some up.

[On to the Wounded Gatherer]

Raemos took his hard-haggled obsidian spoils and returned to the marketplace. He could see his mother, briefly, through the throng of people and, satisfied that he knew where she was.

usually, the wares were what caught the eye, but today it was the seller.
"Hello sir!" said Raemos, walking up to an injured man's stand, looking over his wares, "What happened to you?"

The gatherer smiled politely. "An accident." he said cryptically, "What can I do for you?" he said, changing the subject.

Raemos was quiet for a moment, looking over the wares. Most were trophies, but there were some herbs and plants that could be useful. He picked out some cooking herbs and some aromatic herbs -- to freshen up their slightly smelly house (ranch life was not the sweetest smelling life to have) and looked up at the merchant. "How much for the lot?" he asked, smiling.

The merchant looked down at what he had. "That all? he asked cooly, "Bright kid like you should be buying more of my fine herbs."

"Whyso?" asked Raemos, taken aback. This was most unusual sales behavior.

"Well, you live on a ranch, right? You completely missed the medicinal herbs." said the merchant, moving two packets of Seggan leaf onto the pile of herbs that Rae wanted to buy, "Why not buy a few of these? For the animals, of course."

Actually... that was a good idea. "All right." said Raemos, "How much?"

The merchant smiled. "Well..." he began. He liked the kid's spirit, and they haggled for a bit, going a bit lower than the merchant normally went. But he knew a loyal customer when he saw one, and was happy to make the bou's aquaintence.
"See you again soon, eh kid?" he called out.

Raemos waved, and then moved on.

(Moving on to the tattooed hunter)

Raemos had found the hunted goods section of the marketplace, each merchant trying to look tougher and more battle-scarred - and thus reliable - than the other. There were an assortment of goods for sale, not all of which Raemos could have even dreamed of getting on his own. He passed a stand that sold various beaks of some sort of terrible birds, another that sold brightly colored feathers, and another that sold jars of oily liquid. All out of price range, or not something he wanted to bring home with him.

Finally, he stopped at a fur-clothed tattooed dovaa's stall. Furs. He could use a few furs. He began to inspect them.

"Hey kid. Whatcha looking for?" asked the merchant amiably, "Something to keep ya warm at night? Something to look nice? I can help ya."
"Well," said Raemos, feeling the pelts. Some were soft and plush. Others were dense but bristly. One even had a layer of fatty tissue on the inner edge, which was interesting. "I'm not sure..." the trader noticed the fur he was inspecting. "Well, I'll tell ya. That one be great for keepin' off the cold and the wet. It ain't cheap though, bein' such nice fur and all." he added apologetically.
So that was what the fatty layer did... keep off the water. "What sort of animal did this come from?" asked Raemos, stroking it longingly. It was so smooth, so durable... but he definitely couldn't afford it.
The hunter smiled secretively. "No clue, but it gets in my traps." he winked, "One o' these days, I'll name it proper."
"Ah." Raemos put the pelt back, smoothing it. "Um... Do you have anything that would be good for an enchanter... perhaps?" he asked, uncertain.
"Oh sure!" said the man, grinning, "I've got a ton of things. Here, hang on..." he said, rummaging in the pile until he found two fluffy white pelts, "These here, I hunted off some Bykaldrta I found in Aisko. Was pretty dangerous, but you know what?" he leaned in, "Make you a deal. I gotta move these. I've had them here for months and nobody buys them. They ain't nice like them other ones, and nobody wants winter coats in this place." he laughed, "So if you're gonna use the pelts for good, honest, enchanting work, I'll sell it cheap. How about it."
The price was indeed very nice, and Raemos didn't push his luck too far by haggling too much. He walked away with the furs, the tattooed man smiling and waving as he left.

Once Raemos was out of the way, the hunter looked at the huge pile of frosted fur below the counter and sighed. "Now I just have to sell the rest..."