It's All Tukant to Me (Emma)

[Griffith]

Griffith had finished his bit, assuming Emma was still listening throughout her studious examination of the waterskin. When he finished, he awaited her response, relatively certain she would either allow it or balk at the idea of another companion who knew magic. Instead the Benshira found himself watching his would-be employer continue to inspect the container, apparently unaware of the fact that he'd gone silent.

Though the magician was not overtly familiar with the phrase "curiosity killed the cat", he could not quite withhold the smirk which tugged at a corner of his mouth, nor the eyebrow he raised as he waited for her to snap out of whatever fixation the Kelvic had worked herself into. Her reaction was an interesting one. She mentioned a bad history with magic. The average person might have flinched from the waterskin. Someone with a bad history would be even less likely to want to touch it, let alone examine it with such scrutiny. And then she had asked those questions earlier...

He was considering clearing his throat to catch her attention right when she finally looked up. He raised an eyebrow at her, still smirking with amusement as she hurriedly tried to brush her obvious distraction aside. She managed to give her approval of a meeting, and he nodded in response. "That sounds fine," he told her. He pointed to the waterskin in her lap. "Are you sure you don't have any questions about what I am capable of as a mage?"

She seemed to have something against admitting her own curiosity on the subject, and so he'd deliberately phrased the question so she could ask whatever she wanted without admitting anything more than a professional interest in subject.

[Emma]

Emma soon finished re-arranging herself to help hide her earlier distraction. Her hair, brushed back by a gloved hand, soon fell back into it's former spot almost directly between her eyes. Her breathing became regular again from the moment of panic. She even managed to lean back in her chair once more, seeming to forget the waterskin on her lap entirely. She tugged down the brim of her hat, her goggles moving with it, and looked coolly once more to Griffith, only to find him smirking now.

Well, there went her collected disposition. Immediately, she scowled, brows furrowing and mouth forming into a tight, angry line. Her jaw visibly clenched, and the fire was back in her eyes, screaming every intent of a bloody murder at the man before her. How dare he even ask that! Huffing slightly, she folded her arms and sat up, her voice almost a low growl as she spoke.

"I'm sure. Be at the Kulkukan Tavern and Inn on the sixteenth, and bring your friends. We'll see if they're in or not then, just like all the others."

Quickly, she stood, pushing the chair she was sitting on away from the table with the backs of her legs as they straightened. She hunched down to gather her things, quickly picking up the old tome from the floor and tossing it over her shoulder, held there by a leather belt that she seemed to produce from nowhere. The twine she had been holding earlier that had fallen aside found it's way back into her pocket, though a few other trinkets fell out upon the opening of said receptacle. A few wood shavings, a lock-picking kit, and a glass pepper shaker, still full, to mention a few. Soon these were put back as well, and she straightened up.

"Remember, the sixteenth. You aren't invaluable."

With that, she turned and walked out of the library. The slight sway of her hips as she walked, the soundless tread of her bare feet, and her once more relaxed demeanor screamed of her true feline self, and it wasn't hard to picture her with a striped tail trailing behind her. The doors opened, the doors closed. Emma took a deep breath f the fresh air, and only then did even she notice the fact that she had unconsciously clipped the waterskin to her belt. She looked about quickly, then with a smile, grabbed it, and headed for the inn she was currently renting, eager to investigate in private.

[Griffith]

Griffith watched her go, trying to contain the smirk which had probably set her off in the first place. She was finicky. Not unlike Korin. The Benshira had never particularly dealt with felines; most certainly did not survive in Eyktol's harsh environment. But if he had to make a generalization based on the whole two feline Kelvics he'd held discussions with, that would be his description. Finicky. And odd. Certainly odd, both of them. He almost classified them as amusing. Then he realized that this was perhaps a condescending term for them. I won't reduce them to simple animals, he told himself even as he watched her swift departure which accented her inhumanity so well. You're not some Ephyarian, Gris- Griffith, he told himself.

Of course, the combating of such thoughts were required in the first place because of the way his people behaved. Benshira were cautious around those races they considered "animalistic" due to the inherent danger they posed. The time a desert wolf Kelvic had come amongst Malkyn's Tents, the younger Griffith had been just as suspicious and evasive of the girl as the rest of his people. Then he'd seen with his own eyes the way Ephyarians treated the race of animals-given sentience, and he'd held a lot of sympathy for the oft trodden-upon species since then. It was not unlike how the race of bigots had treated the Benshira, prior to the Valterrian.

Still, he'd decided, feline Kelvics were an interesting lot. The magician turned back to his work, copying the list of recommended survival item guides after replacing the veil across his nose and mouth. They were single-page copies, and were in frequent demand for those seeking to traverse the Sea of Grass. The library sold them for relatively cheap, and it was something of a down-time job for scribes when no one specifically wanted anything written. Had the Benshira not been spending the morning working on them, he might have contemplated buying one himself. But at this rate, he'd have the whole bloody thing memorized before he was finished!

After almost another hour of work in which he'd finished three more copies, he lowered his veil and reached for where he imagined his waterskin was, on the counter where Emma had set it down as she packed up her things to leave. His hand met empty air, and he looked up to search for it, thinking it might simply be further away than anticipated. Instead, it wasn't there at all. Had he moved it without thinking? Griffith checked beneath his desk, and then his backpack. Not present in either. He was about to stand and check his seat when it hit him: Emma must have walked off with it. On purpose? Probably not, she was distracted. Still, he'd have to replace it for the time being. Maybe he'd ask for it back when he met up with her again. Maybe.

His thirst wasn't terrible. The purchase could wait until after his work. The would-be adventurer returned to his copying.

END

[Puck]

Thread Award!

Emma
Skills

Negotiation: 2
Rhetoric: 1

Other

Got one canteen

Griffith
Skills

Reimancy: 1
Negotiation: 2
Rhetoric: 1

Other

Lost one canteen

Notes: Fun thread guys! I can't wait to see where the treasure hunt will go, hopefully not too far from Riverfall. Right? Right?
I never get to mod the fun parts...

(As a side note, the reason Emma did not get a Larceny XP is because she is almost competent in it, while Griffith is still a total noobie at Reimancy. Just in case you were wondering )