[ORP] Trading Day in the Grail

[xo maho]

This roleplay is open to everybody, but will be done in two phases - one underwater and one on shore.

Phase One: Underwater
May 15 - June 15 @ 6 PM PST

Phase One is open to all aquatic breeds and sea-worthy hybrids: Seathi, Nixies, Nixie hybrids, Mers, Kelpi, and Kelpi hybrids.
Aquatic familiars and Merlok personas are also welcome (if this is a thing?).

Phase Two: Ashore
June 15 @ 6 PM PST - June 30

Phase Two is open to everyone, including native personas and familiars.

Location:

(Click for larger map.)

Premise:
The Grail Herd (also known as the Pirate Colony & the First Corsairs) are holding a trading day! They'll be out in the reef hawking their treasures, attracting attention for miles around. Have shinies to trade or just curious about what's going on? Come check it out! The Corsairs have been hoarding treasure for generations; there's a lot to see. Their treasures range from colorful shells to heavy gold coins and necklaces looted from shipwrecks.

After the majority of the underwater trading among the herd itself is finished, traders and fences (traders of ill-famed goods), along with regular Corsairs, go ashore with things to trade with the land-dwelling soquili and the natives. They trade their sea treasures for medicines, fruit, and "land-treasure," or treasure made or brought from land - feathers, beaded jewelry, etc. They'll be trawling up and down the shore in search of others to trade with, so show up and let them introduce you to their way of life!

Participants:

show spoilerhide spoiler

Familiars:
Buttersworth, Hamako, Lil'Homie

RULES

1. No fighting unless you've plotted it out beforehand and it affects only your soquili. Heated haggling is fine, but physical fighting is a no-no.
2. Acceptance: the Grail Herd tries to accept others from all walks of life. They're very hard to faze when it comes to other aquatic soq, but strange-looking land-based soq might make them a bit wary. Please keep this in mind.
3. Try to follow the phase timelines. Underwater interactions between individuals may extend past the end of the first phase, but the majority of trading should be over. Same goes for interactions ashore - we should wrap this up by June 15.
4. Quote System: PLEASE quote whomever you're interacting with. If you don't get quote notifications, you're responsible for paying attention to your interactions.
5. Identification: Please post your soquili's cert in the first post that you make. After that, please use a cert thumbnail or a speech bubble (template here) to identify your soquili in posts. If you are roleplaying a native persona, have some sort of representation of them - a tektek avi or some kind of art would be fine.
If you need a speech bubble and cannot make one yourself, please PM Mahogany Sunset with your soquili's uncert and she will make one for you. You can also use a cert thumbnail for identification.
 

[xo maho]

Phase One is Open!

This post describes the setting.

The early morning sun rose over the horizon, lighting the world below the surface with a dim greyish tone. But the Grail was bright all on its own, shimmering with color as sunlight slowly began to seep through the waves. A reef of aquamarine brain coral, orangey sea anemones, fan and sharp stag coral, the Grail housed a herd as vivid as itself: a pirate colony known as the First Corsairs, along with independent healers, traders, and lookouts.

And today, every one of them was awake early and up and about, towing behind them treasures of the highest quality: peach-and-cream conch shells, long strands of pearls, and human treasures saved from shipwrecks - necklaces of gold and silver and copper, gems and chalices. Loud, boisterous, and ready to do business, soquili of all breeds were out in numbers seen seldom in the Grail, for it was a Trading Day, and that meant everyone would be in the main of the reef. Sure enough, Seathi, Kelpi, Nixie, Mer - all were emerging from their seaweed nests, their hollows under the reef, their rock and coral caves with treasure to trade amongst themselves.

For reference: Google Images - Coral Reefs.

 

[xo maho]

Slowly but surely, George was getting his treasure up to his usual spot on a wide chunk of relatively flat brain coral, laying out piece by piece, doing his best to make sure they didn't fall between the cracks. His children were at least helping him today - it was their first trading day and their first chance to see treasure that was not of his or their friends' hoards. And oh boy, were they excited.

Eoin had woken three hours before dawn and been unable to go back to sleep, jittery with energy and enthusiasm. George had tried to quiet him, tried his best, but it had been no good; even Flurry had been unable to get the lad back to sleep. And so, George had been forced to give him something to while away the time: taking treasure up to the reef. Teagan had woken not much later and helped as well... And now he hovered over the little mound of treasure he'd heaped up, waiting for his children to come up with the last few pieces and deciding which pieces to display by themselves.

The silver and amethyst, he thought, picking up the bracelet inlaid with purple stones and wedging it carefully between the folds of the coral, hoping he would not lose it. If I do, the familiars will all be out today with their own wares, the lobsters will help. Swimming over to the edge of the reef, he looked down to where his children should be, in the hollow that housed their nests of seaweed. "Eoin, Teagan, let's go! We might be early, but they'll be here soon enough." Today, he hoped to get rid of the last few bits of shipwreck loot he'd found - they were bad luck, dead men's treasure. But not all in the Grail shared those sentiments with him. In fact, some thought the very opposite. But that did not matter; they were the ones he was most likely to end up trading with.

Going back to the pile of treasure, he tried scraping a barnacle off of a particularly thick gold chain with his hoof, pondering things.  

[Lady Argentum Draconis]

Keeva sedately swam down the line of makeshift stands along the reef. She hadn't lived among The Grail Herd all that long so this was a new experience for her. She stopped and peered at the offerings occasionally, with little gasps of awe at the delicate craftsmanship of some of the pieces that had come from ship wrecks, or the strings of shells and pearls. She had to contain herself though, she didn't have anything of value to trade, most of the medicines she'd been carrying on her had gone into helping her recover from the shark attack that had brought her here. She sighed wistfully at a necklace set with a sapphire, then made her way back down to the little male seathi that was just a little ways away.

"There's so much here~!" she said happily, taking position behind him so not to be in the way of whatever it was he was doing.

Mahogany Sunset

 

[Kyrieko]

She'd had such good dreams. Dreams of finding the most amazing treasure ever! And then the little foal had found herself blinking awake from something obnoxious. Which wasn't her flipping her shell this time. Thank the seas! Her little tail thumped against the ground as she lay flopped on her side (sort of) and stared over where her brother typically fell asleep. He was making way too much noise (not really) and couldn't he go back to sleep (that was boring)?! So with a heavy sigh of bubbles, Teagan had paddled over to peer at Eoin. And her dad.

And then remembered it was Trading Day and there was no such thing as sleep.

"Narwhaaaaaal!" She butted her head against her brother. And what actually came out of her mouth was something much more muffled as she was carrying the last bit of daddies treasure in her mouth. "Les go- Eeeep!" A piece of silver slipped away and Teagan dove after it before working much harder to follow Eoin up. Of course she blamed it on her brother. He had clearly distracted her!

Once she reached George, however, her eyes widened seeing everything set out so neatly. Her nose bumped this or that, knocking something out of place most likely. "Oooooh daddy daddy daddy!" Thankfully, she'd at least remembered to set down what she'd carried up. "Will e'ryone have so much stuff?"

It was only about that time the foal realized that someone else was actually there. She blinked at the mer mare, not sure who she was, floating closer to Eoin and giving him a nudge. "Psssst! Who that?"

Mahogany Sunset

 

[xo maho]

Flurry carefully followed Keeva as she followed the nearly empty lane that would soon be lined with piles and piles of treasure, drifting slowly along so that he wouldn't bump into her tail fin when she stopped. He could see George up ahead, and Teagan as she paddled up over the lip of the coral shelf with a piece of treasure between her jaws. He stopped when Keeva wandered off by herself, seemingly absorbed by the glittering things around her. When she stopped at George's station, he craned his neck to get a peek at what she was looking at, and saw a hint of silver and blue. I'll have to tell him to put that away for her, he thought, smiling as she made her way back to him. Got to find something worthy to trade for it, though.

"There is, and this isn't the half of it - there will be plenty more as the day goes on," he replied, paddling out of the way as she moved to float behind them. "Do you want to go talk to George and the little ones, or would you rather look around?"

Lady Argentum Draconis

A copper torc clutched in his mouth, Eoin jerked backward to dodge Teagan as she tried to headbutt him. "Horn!" he said, but it came out more like hrrrrr as the sound muffled against the metal between his jaws. Boy, was she dangerous with that thing! He was just getting over the puncture she'd given him last week, he didn't need another one. He had to get better at evading her.

Flipping his long fin to keep up with her (he was even faster than Daddy with that thing, it was awesome), Eoin came up over the ridge and hovered next to his sister - but then he realized she wasn't there. What, had he missed her? Had she gone past him and he hadn't noticed? Leaning back over the ledge, he saw her, diving for the silver thing she'd dropped. Aw, I hope she doesn't lose it, he thought, but grinned when she scooped it up. He wondered if it'd slipped out of her mouth because she was drooling - he certainly was, but the water hid it, thank goodness. He didn't want to look stupid on his first Trading Day, that would be sad. Setting the torc down on top of the coral with a clink Eoin flipped his fin idly as Teagan barraged their father with questions.

He was zoning out when she poked him and whispered, then looked around to see who she was talking about - the white and blue mer almost blended into her surrounding in places and it took him a second to realize she was there. "That's Keeva," he whispered back. "She's Flurry's friend, she's a healer like he is for Daddy. I found her at the dropoff. Some shark bit her. I saved her," he said proudly, volume rising little by little as he spoke. "Flurry said she lost a lot of blood, I think. Is it bad to lose a lot of blood? I think it's bad." He looked at his sister quizzically. "I almost lost a lot of blood again when you headbutted me. You have a horn on your head, Barnacle. It's pointy."

Kyrieko

He heard the flutter of Eoin's long fin against the water and turned around to see his son leaning precariously over the edge of the reef, completely missing Keeva as she studied his wares. Eoin still had the torc in his mouth, at least, the bit of citrine winking in the sunlight from its setting. Tilting his head to try to figure out what the colt was doing, it was then that Teagan came paddling up over the edge and George realized that he must have been waiting for his sister. Sweet little things. And then she began hounding him as soon as she put her little silver treasure down, and he had to do the best he could to answer her.

"It depends on who it is and what they want to trade," he said, carefully nosing the things she knocked awry back into place before they could topple into the abyss of coral. I really need to find a more convenient place to set up. "Some people have more than others, and some people have waaaaay more than we do. It just depends on how much they hunt." His own hunts had dwindled tremendously since he'd been a young adult, since he'd found that full-to-bursting ship... Full to bursting with death and treasure alike. And that had been when he'd headed north. North to Amitola. The thought still struck him wrongly sometimes, especially when he looked at Eoin. The boy looked so much like her... But he was his son nonetheless. I am such a coward.

Turning back to look down the way, George saw Flurry floating some yards away, with Keeva close behind. Nodding to the pair of them, he called, "Human jewels here, gold and pearls! Come trade, come see it all!" Perhaps that would wake the colony up, if the very thought of treasure would not. It was still early, though. The crowds would be out within the hour he was sure.  

[Kyrieko]

Oblivious to the fact that she was knocking things out of place, Teagan just continued to touch this or that while listening to what her father responded with. Which, of course, only brought more questions bubbling out of the foal. "What if they don' have much? Do they na' get to participate? That'd be really sad if they can't participate. I wanna have a huuuuge stash one day!" She giggled, twisting around to look over everything Daddy had again. And there were others setting up like he was, it appeared. Ooooh would Daddy let them get something?!

Thoroughly distracted now, Teagan floated where she was in the water, using Eoin as an 'anchor'. "Ooooh~" She whispered, staring wide eyed at Keeva. "A shark?!" Teagan glanced at her brother, completely enthralled by his little tale. "Woooow! Yer a hero, Eoin!" Teagan nuzzled her brother affectionately at that, giggling and then tilted her head in consideration. "I dunno, maybe? I think Daddy said it was once. Or Flurry did." The nixquilicorn frowned. And then stuck her tongue out. "Dodge fassster." She retorted. "Do ya think Daddy will let us trade somethin'?" The filly asked in a conspiratorial tone. "Or Uncle Flurry?"  

[Lady Argentum Draconis]

"I can't wait to see then." she said with a smile. At his mention of talking to George and his foals she suddenly realized how much attention she was drawing at least from the little ones. She smiled at them and for once in her life wished she was a little smaller so she could hide behind her companion. She wasn't used to being the center of attention.

"Suppose it would be best to socialize a bit. Give others time to set up." she followed after Flurry over to George's station and bobbed respectfully to him. She wasn't exactly sure what the protocol was for greeting him but she figured that was close enough. "Good morning." she said politely with a smile.

Mahogany Sunset

 

[Insane Butterfly]

The little red seathi had spent countless days going through her treasures, choosing ones she would most willingly trade, and others she thought might fetch a fair price. Little baubles and pretties tinkled merrily in her netted satchel as she made her way to the bizarre.

In the distance her eyes could see the light reflecting off of many trinkets as she approached, her excitement only rose as she picked up the pace. Coral's pink mane floated about behind her in disarray, her quick movements rippling the water around her. The grin plastered to her face greeted everyone she passed, a quick but cheerful "Hello!" thrown in, but her sights were set on the tables.  

[xo maho]

Flurry returned her smile, and it grew wider as he watched her smile at the little ones. They were as much his as they were George's - their father had been much conflicted upon the turning of the shells' colors, and even more upon the emergence of the foals. They remind him of my mother, Illy had confided one day, when George had come back from another robbery wounded and seething, more reckless than ever before. He left her upriver, and now he thinks he's been cursed with offspring that look like her. But the little ones were no curse, and George had slowly come to realize that; they were happy little innocents, bubbly as anything, always yearning for trouble - but not the kind of careless trouble like their father. The mischievous trouble that all young ones had to have their fill of.

Leading the way over to George's stand, Flurry took a good look at the piece Keeva had been admiring earlier as George nudged it back into place after Teagan's fiddling. It was beautiful, glimmering silver with hardly a mar on it, which was remarkable, given the environment of crustaceans and algae. And that sapphire - he didn't know how humans could hold such weight. The thing was the size of a large sea urchin. How had George even gotten it up here? Benefit of living so close to the reef, I suppose. Flurry lived way out on the outskirts, near where he kept watch on the border. That way, he was also close enough to any pirates that came speeding back in need of medical care, instead of making them streak through the Grail spurting blood or cradling a broken something. "Morning George," he said, fighting off a yawn.

Quote:

"Ah, careful," George said as Teagan went on nosing things. Thankfully, though, nothing managed to fall, so he left things where they were to answer her questions. "If they don't have much, they still get to come look at all the treasure. But it's up to them to find their own treasure so they can trade with everyone. Some are willing to part with their treasure to introduce others to the way of life, though." Chuckling at her exclamation, he couldn't help a grin. She was his daughter, through and through. "You have to wait until you come of age, little one, don't forget that." Watching as she floated off to talk to her brother, he turned to the approaching mer and seathi.

"Hello Keeva, Flurry," he said, bobbing his head to each of them. "Come to trade?"

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Treading water with a flick of his fin every once in a while, Eoin nodded. "Yeah, a shark!" But his conscience twinged a little. "It just bit her though, I didn't actually see it or scare it off or anything... But I brought her to Flurry!" He grinned even more proudly at that, little white teeth shining brightly.

When Teagan mentioned trading - he was going to ignore that comment about dodging faster, that was dumb - Eoin shook his head. "No, we're not supposed to have any treasure, remember?" He wasn't going to mention the little cache he had hidden in his shell at home. At least the pretty-patterned thing was good for something, now that it wasn't nourishing him anymore, because it wasn't like he could trade that. "Maybe we'll grow up soon, though!" The thought delighted him, and as Keeva and Flurry swam up, Eoin bounced over to them.

"Flurry, Flurry!" he sang, "Do you think me 'n' Teagan will grow up soon? And Lorcan, what 'bout him?" Looking around his uncle, he smiled shyly at the porcelain mer mare. "Hi Keeva."

Kyrieko

"Yes and no," Flurry said to George, but was waylaid by the little Narwhal as he came bobbing up. Laughing, he said, "I think you and Teagan have quite a bit left of your sentence as foals, and Lorcan too." The third of George's brood was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't too unusual.

Turning back to George, he quickly scanned the rest of the treasure, but he knew what he wanted. George was a hard haggler, though he might part with that one more easily... It looked like shipwreck treasure, and Flurry knew enough of the stallion to know that he thought dead man's treasure was cursed. "What do you want for the silver-and-sapphire?"

Lady Argentum Draconis

 

[xo maho]

Ronnie was just gazing across the way at George's lot when a little red mare rippled by him, dragging a net of treasure with her. The sight of her snapped him out of his daze - why was he doing that? - and to try to distract himself further, he hailed her. "Hello there!" he called, putting on a showman's grin, if only to try to convince himself that he wasn't moping. He'd moved his nest to the other side of the reef since George had put him through his heartbreak, and seeing the stallion still wounded him. But every day, he made an effort to get up and go see the little ones; he was their "uncle," after all, forever friend-zoned as he was. He had to be a role model, lead them in the art of treasure hunting in a way that their father couldn't: searching through shipwrecks. George was too much of a coward for that. How harsh am I becoming?

"Is this your first time here?" he asked the mare, arranging some of his treasures with his hooves. "I don't recall seeing you around." Or maybe that was because he'd been too focused on George at all the previous Trading Days that he hadn't remembered anyone else, aside from the ones he'd grown up with. But that didn't matter now - maybe he'd make a new friend. "I'm Ronnie."

Insane Butterfly

 

[Lady Argentum Draconis]

Keeva shook her head at George's question. "Oh, would that I could, but I haven't a thing to my name. Just here to look on my part. It's all very lovely so far." she said with a nod.

At the small voice saying her name she looked down at the little foal and smiled sweetly. "Hello again," she paused for a moment, she was generally good with names but she had only recently gotten back up to full strength and sometimes things from just after her attack were blurry. Especially anyone she'd been introduced too. "Eoin, yes?" she moved just a bit away so that she and foals wouldn't be in the way of anyone trying to get through to see other stations up ahead or anyone wanting to see George's wares. She had come to realize the liability of living with so many of the smaller aquatic species, that she was really the biggest obstacle around and was likely to knock things over if she wasn't careful. Even then she had no real desire to leave, she very much enjoyed Flurry's company, and it was nice to be somewhere were her skills were useful as opposed to just randomly coming across someone who needed them.

"I don't think I ever properly thanked you for saving me and bringing me to Flurry." she said bowing her head. "I am eternally in your debt." she said in all seriousness. She wasn't exactly sure what she could possibly do for the little foal, but life was precious, and it never hurt to show how serious one took it. "Who's this now?" she asked looking at the little half nixie filly fixing her with a smile. She took a second to look between Eoin, George and the female before just hazarding a guess. "Your sister perhaps?" she asked, completely unaware of what Flurry was up too and more interested in keeping the little ones entertained for the moment.

Mahogany Sunset

Kyrieko

 

[Kyrieko]

Blinking big gold eyes up at her Dad, Teagan finally saw him nudging things back into place. Oooh. Oops! She giggled and was a little more careful with her 'admiring'. Daddy was a good distraction anyways. "But but... what's if... oh." Teagan tilted her head thoughtfully at that. So there were some of them that would share! Without expecting an item back? It was kind of confusing for the foal to think on when she was of the assumption that everything had to be traded for. That was how things worked! "Won't ya get in trouble fer not tradin' though?" Annnnd there was the proverbial 'No'. In one form or another. The filly pouted (adorably) at George. She and Eoin and even Lorcan would have to wait?!

Teagan snorted at her brother in amusement. "Well ya still helped, so tha' makes ya a hero, right?" That's what she thought anyways. Even if Uncle Flurry did his healing stuff.

And then there was a much more rude snort directed at Eoin. Weren't supposed to have stuff. Ha! She knew her brother had something hidden away. Just like she had a thing... or three hidden. That they weren't supposed to have yet. But Daddy didn't have to know yet, right? "Yeah yeah." Teagan frowned, looking at some of the other shiny things. "I hope so! I can't wait t'start trading things!" She giggled, then squealed in delight as she followed Eoin over to Flurry and Keeva. "Yeah, Flurry! Do ya think so?!" She glanced at the mer mare named Keeva, grinning at her. "Hiii Flurry's friend Keeva!"

The pout was put back into place when Flurry answered that no, they still had a ways to go. "But Flurryyyy! Can't we make it goes faster?" Because who didn't want to grow up, right? Having attention directed at her, the filly beamed at Keeva. "I'm Teagan!"

Mahogany Sunset

Lady Argentum Draconis

 

[ArbitraryRules]

Buttersworth was trying to hurry to the trading area. He had so much stuff and it had taken him forever to decide which ones to bring for trading. His claws where filled with all kinds of necklaces and random jewels he had discovered in shipwrecks over the months. He could not wait to see the wonders the others where bringing with them to trade. "All I know is this stuff better be worth me having drug this all out." He grumbled to himself as he swam as fast as his weighed down body could move.


Hamako swerved in and out of all the traders set up around the area. He eyes were wide and she would pop up behind some of them mouth formed in an O as she oo'ed and ah'ed over the wares. She loved the shinyness of the shells in the sun it all made her giddy and love coming out. She had nothing to trade with anyone for the pure fact when she found things she loved them way to much to give away. She sat behind one little pony as it conducted it's trade with another watching the actions.
 

[one over three]

Kaiko may have been unique among the attendees this trading day. She was not setting up any sort of display or stall, nor was she carrying with her anything which could be used for trade. Despite this, she swam gracefully, every move carefully calculated and precise, from vendor to vendor silently noting the objects she most desired. She had no intent on stealing them, but sometimes she was fortunate enough to find an easily lead stallion with a bit of extra wealth in his possession who would buy her a few extravagant gifts for the luxury of imagining that she was his for a few hours. Of course, none of them had or would ever obtain her. No matter how much wealth they possessed they were still merely peasants. And she? She was nobility.. if perhaps slightly disadvantaged for the time being.

Once she was satisfied with her selections she turned her attention to the other attendees. Hoping to attract the attention of a good target to fund her afternoon of shopping.

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