[PRP Matori] Pearls ( Theriar and Trelly)

[Aukai Oceansoul]

Theriar' s wanderings had taken him to the lush, sandy coves of Matori. He wasn't sure why his feet had taken him here, be it the wonder of the ocean or its savage beauty. He was here in the end and he liked it so far. It wasn't home, there were no trees of course...or at least the right trees but it had a tropical charm all the same. The people were blue, like him and looked different sirt of like him. He could have done without the sharp shells on the beach though.

He wandered through the small towns, exploring at his leisure. He was more curious than anything but ended up attracting enough stares to hurry it up sometimes.  

[bobaTJ]

It was just a day like any other, as far as Trelenwy knew. She had just been oyster-hunting the day before and had a few more to add to her basket to sell. She carried the woven bowl, rolling with whites and creams and pinks and even the occasional blue-black, through the streets of her small Matorian town and offering her pearls to possible customers.

There were all different sorts of people in Matori now, not just her own people. Foreigners were often the most willing buyers as well. Apparently there wasn't a whole lot of oystering to be done on the others shores, or else nobody much cared to try.

She was humming to herself as she walked, but the soft sound abruptly stopped when she came upon a man who seemed to be three or four times her size from her startled vantage.

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

grasshopper pie

Theriar came up short, startled himself, he was normally more, observant more careful. They had almost bumped into each other His feelers drooped a little and he quietly mumbled an apology. It wouldnt save him from his blunder but it was a start at least. It was a pne word apology as he was a male of few words, few got to even hear his rich, deep voice. But this was a bit of an exception. He dropped his eyes to what she held and tilted his head...pearls.

He had never seen one before. He wanted to see what they felt like having had the sand gems only explained to him before. Basically you took a butt ugly shellfish which coincidentally tasted good too, stuffed a piece of sand in its mouth and since ousters couldnt spit, the bottom dweller wrapped it in a lovely coating of various color and eventually you had yourself a pearl to extract from the poor thing you had fed sand.

He peered first at her then at the bowl and gestured with his hand, hoping he conveyed his question. Where they for sale? He didn't relish talking again. If he could avoid it.  

[bobaTJ]

At first, Trelenwy didn't react. She was afraid. Men were worrisome, and this one in particular was rather large. She knew very little about the Alkidike except that there had been a terrible war and a lot of them had been sent away.

He wanted something, obviously. She swallowed hard and lifted it up. Did he want one? She pulled it back then, her eyes still wide.

"For sale," she said. He might have just wanted to take one, or all of them, but she needed to make money herself too.

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

grasshopper pie

Theriar took a breath, tilted his head and peered into the bowl. "Okay, I'll pick out a few." He didn't really have anything else he wanted to spend his money on besides food. He strummed his fingers through the pearls, eventually choosing three of different colors, one pink, one black and one pale white. "How much for these three?" He inquired of the young vendor. He rubbed the pearls gently while he stood there. How long did it take an oyster to make these anyway?

They did feel different than anything else he had ever come into contact with. Silky smooth almost like they were still wet, though his skin told hijm they were perfectly dry. Fascinating. Shimmering drops of beauty found in the most unasuming, hidden place. Born from the mouth of a slimey, salty creature. They felt so small, but soon the heat from his hand warmed them and he decided he really liked pearls.  

[bobaTJ]

Trelenwy forced a little smile when the man agreed to buy some. She was still nervous that he might try to muscle her out of her basket- not that anyone had done that yet- but he seemed to actually be picking some out. She realized that the hybrid was, in fact, not ten times her size, but perhaps only a handful of inches taller.

She quoted him a price quickly, quietly, and lowered his basket to rest on her hip. She had change if he needed change, but she was going to have to open her purse anyway.

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

grasshopper pie

Theriar dug in his coin purse and pulled out the exact amount requested...that didn't happen often he noted with slight amusement. He deposited the coins in her slim fingered hands and then peered expectantly at the pearls heating up slowly in his own palm. He transfered the white one to his other hand then tucked the other two in hers. "These are for you, I bet you never keep any for yourself." He said quietly, then turned and hastened away.

Why had he done that? He wasn't sure. But it felt right and now he wanted to hide, so he melted into the bushes and trees...scrawny as they were in matori, the old tricks of Jauhar still worked here. Once his back was braced against the somewhat uncomfortable bark he breathed a sigh of relief and did not peer around the tree like he really, really wanted to.

She should get to enjoy the pearls too. He pulled his out and scooted it around his palm with a long manly finger..this was fun..but to no one would he admit it. He loved the feeling of them not like a bead at all.  

[bobaTJ]

She took the money and smiled. She did pull her basket closer to her chest after he'd paid and she had deposited the coins, but that was mostly instinct. She was shocked when her hand was filled again, but this time with pearls. Her smile fell and she stared at them.

Uh?

She stood in the street a while, looking around, first trying to find the man and then, realizing she had no idea where he'd gone, trying to formulate a plan. She looked so lost than an older woman nearly approached her, but in a moment she was shuffling off to find the man. He couldn't have gone too far! He'd paid her too much for one pearl!

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

grasshopper pie

Theriar decided his hiding place was rock solid and slid to the ground, closing his eyes with a silent but obnoxious yawn. It had been a long day, he had found a pearl, everything was a success, thus it was time for a nap, he didn't care that he was not in a dwelling, he would just string his hammock..maybe if his eyes didn't stop wanting to close..cursed sunshine anyhow.

He huffed and curled into a big ball at the base of the tree, the light falling warmly on his face and soon he had drifted off..and he snored. At all other times he was quiet, stealthy even..but when he slept well, it was enough to anger a bird living in the tree enough that she left her nest for a while.  

[bobaTJ]

Oddly enough, it wasn't the snoring that caught the pearl vendor's attention. It was his antennae. Not many people in Matori had antennae, at least not yet. Rocks especially did not have antennae.

She snuck up behind the sleeping man and considered what to do. If she touched him, he might panic and flail. Hm.

She stayed a few feet away and cleared her throat loudly, even going so far as to cover her mouth with a fist (as if it somehow helped).

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

grasshopper pie

Theriar twitched and rolled over, flailing his feelers unintentionally as he turned. "Hmmmm? What?" He said groggily, drunk on sunshine, it had always put him to sleep rather easily. "Sorry?" Wasn't that what one said to girls when they woke you up? Not that he would know.

His eyes cleared then and he blinked at her. "Can I do something for you?" He enclosed his hand around the pearl, he hoped she didn't want it back. It was his special. A gift from the sea that he had never seen before.

"Are you okay," he asked soon after seeing her fist in front of her face..maybe she was going to throw up on him? One never knew with new peoples.  

[bobaTJ]

Trelenwy almost lost her balance when he twitched. For another few moments, he seemed ten times her size again. Was he angry? He seemed angry.

"You paid too much," she said, holding out his change. He had only taken one pearl, after all, and the black ones were the most expensive! Her brow was furrowed as she leaned over further to make the large man move less far.

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

grasshopper pie

Theriar leaned away from her a little bit, "Did not." He argued. She was a little over bearing for one so small. If he were a little smaller, or just woken from a nap, he might be a little intimidated. "I bought three pearls, those two were for you."

Was she being ungrateful or did she just not get it? He thought he had explained himself clearly enough the first time, but apparently not so much. "It was a gift." A simple gift! Look what it brought such strife, such grief, this was why he hid from people!

What was her game anyway? He looked at the change, "I don't want it, its yours."  

[bobaTJ]

Sure, she understood. Sort of. She knew what gifts were at the very least. She hadn't generally been the recipient, though.

Regardless of the status of the gifting, he had still paid too much. He had only kept one. He had given two to her, fine, but she couldn't just let him walk away lacking money because he'd wanted to be nice for whatever reason. She thought for a moment that she was probably just going to sell them again, but that didn't feel right somehow.

"No, take it," she said. She smiled slightly. "This is yours." If the pearls were hers, the money was his. He had even dragged her out of the land of partial sentences!

He was sort of nice for a guy, wasn't he?

Duke Edward Drake

 

[Aukai Oceansoul]

grasshopper pie

He sulked but held out his hand anyway, he was pretty sure she was going to shove it somewhere if he didn't hold out a hand. Coincidentaly that hand held the pearl, he must have been sleeping with it there, he could feel the energy it had taken on from his body. "They are really amazing things you know." What other secrets did the ocean hide, chi forbid he actually find a shell.

He told himself he took the money back because she had smiled. But he knew it was to avoid insulting conflict, it was insulting enough that she had given him back his money. How did one earn a living out here by giving stuff back? So confusing.

He tucked the change back in his purse, sighed then quirked a brow at her. "So now what? Wait, how do you get the oysters open?" Curiousity evidently won out over his good sense.