Closed [Azure Market] - Correspondences (Reneko)

[Arysana]

40 Autumn, 513 AV

It was only half a bell past the end of twilight rest, but the Azure market had already roared back into life. The smells of sweet savouries and the chimes of bells were carried through the air, musicians and performers busking in their usual locations, the odd sweets vender calling for a small line.

Sana gripped her purse tightly, and adjusted the straps on her handbag. Theft and cut-purses were nowhere near as common in Lhavit than as in less scholarly places, but she was not willing to bet her savings, or the heavy load of coin she’d had with her on it. “Scrolls,” she said, breathless. “I need scrolls,” she clenched ad unclenched her left hand in the slightest, gritting her teeth as her sore hand shot with pain in protest, and scolded herself for loosening the splint.

She made her way deeper into the sprawling stalls, eyes scanning for the last one that she’d visited, finding the price range and goods quality rather appealing. She stopped abruptly in the centre of an alley, and felt someone brush by her with an angry mumble, pointedly ignoring him as she changed course – driving beyond a chain of clothing and other accessories, a lovely reminder of the last time she’d travelled through, barely a few weeks before hand.

Quickly the stall was well within sights, and gave a smile to the older man attending to the store, announcing her attention before it needed to be asked of her. “Just browsing, thank you,” she said, giving the corner dedicated to blank scrolls a hard look over.

[Reneko]

Reneko yawned. He had just barely gotten up from a nap he had taken during the twilight rest, but was already strolling through the narrow alleyways of the Azure Market. Earlier in the day he had completely depleted his supply of writing and scroll-crafting utensils, including his last blank scroll, so now he had to go and restock.
He already knew where exactly he wanted to go, so it did not take him long to navigate to his papercraft store of choice. While entering he gave a small bow to the store keeper as a greeting, but did not stop to talk.

However, in the corner of the store, where the blank scrolls he was looking for were up for display, he saw something he had rarely ever seen there before: another customer. Most people he knew about went to “The Good Book” for their paper supplies. As the name implies, that store only offered all different kinds of blank books, which were unsuitable for glyphing. To get proper scrolls, one had to go somewhere else. Did this mean that the red haired woman in the corner was looking for the same thing he was?

He approached and stood to her left, also looking at the scrolls and their prices. Casually, he shot her a glance; his eyes widened. Starting at the mid of her button nose all the way over her cheek she had a faint, but noticeable scar. It made an odd contrast to her fair skin. He quickly resumed checking the paper though.

[Arysana]

Sana took a cursory glance at the boy who'd joined her at the section, and took an awkward move to the right. It wasn't often that there were others at the stall, if only because it was such a pain to hunt down. He seemed younger than her, if only a few seasons to a year, but he look confident in his selection - he wasn't as new to this as she was.

She bit her lip and tried to focus, scanning for a blank scroll suitable enough for her novice level, and a decent quality. She left her gaze wander to the scrolls to the left, the awkward, heavy silence between herself and the other quickly becoming too much as she wagered that one of the scrolls that had caught her eye was more than out of her reach. "Uh," she began, unsure of what she wanted to say.

She leaned forward and pointed to a scroll that was close to the boy's left."Would you, uhm, mind passing me that?"

[Reneko]

It seemed to Reneko as though the woman was a bit uncomfortable. Maybe he should have said something? He had no idea what to say though. Definitely not something about that scar that slashes across half her face. She was smaller than him, but he did not look closely enough to tell exactly how old she …

“Uh”, interrupted an uncertain voice his train of thought. “Would you, uhm, mind passing me that?”

He looked where she was pointing: just another piece of paper amongst all the others. He took it, handed it over to her, and finally had an idea what to say. “Here. You know, I rarely ever see someone else here in this store. I guess most people prefer to do their writing in books. It seems the two of us are small exception.” He realized he was not going to exactly write on those scrolls either; not legible text in any case. Too late, he had already said it.
He grabbed his own purchase: more than a dozen pieces of parchment. He had not really taken great care in their selection; most of them were going to crumble to dust once he was done with them anyway. He also took one of the leather scrollcases. All that paper never fit well into his backpack, and he was tired of carrying it around by hand.

[Arysana]

Sana took the scroll, listening to the boy's own uncertain words with a careful glance. Was he ok? She sort of stared after him for a moment, jaw slack and frown deep set. He seemed to regret his own words, and moved rather quickly to complete his transaction.

"Right," She said, finding herself half agreeing with his words. "Books are fine for mere sketching, I suppose," She said, not able to completely rule herself for doing so. Though, she liked to think of it as 'research,' especially since she was drawn to the magic more for its relation to cryptography. "But when push comes to shove, its good to have a firm grasp of how things work after you've just drawn the symbol. Not to mention how useless the skill is if you only draft the glyphs in books, than put them into a state there they can be used - to help with magic, or sold. Either way - they are better on a scroll than as a scrawl."

She was rambling quite some bit, but she didn't quite mind, though what she did mind was which side in which she stood towards the boy. She'd noticed she showed him her 'bad' side on first meeting, she she was actively avoiding her left. "I'm Sana, by the way," she mentioned, feeling as though if they were going to have such a conversation, it may as well be one where they can at least claim that they aren't total strangers.

[Reneko]

Reneko frowned slightly. That ramble seemed a bit incongruous as a response to what he said. Unless...she was talking about using the scrolls for glyphing? That would mean they really were here for exactly the same purpose!

He looked at her and smiled. “Pleasure to meet you Sana. I am Reneko.” He gave her a small bow. “I take it you are using these scrolls for glyphing, then? So am I, as a matter of fact.” He chuckled and said, “But books really are useless for our craft. I have never tried it, but I suspect the entire thing might fall apart after using up the glyphs you write inside. Or you would have to rip the pages out, and that really defeats the purpose of a book.”

While they were talking she had shifted her positioning and was now basically looking away from the store display. To Reneko it looked as though she was done browsing scrolls. “Is that all you need?” He would have pointed to the single sheet of parchment he had handed her, but was still busy folding and arranging his own pile, so instead he nodded in its direction. “A single scroll for glyphing...do you already have something specific in mind?”

[Arysana]

Sana thought for a long moment, doubting whether or not she should leave with the single parchment. "Well," she said, now doubting herself. "That was my initial plan, but I'm think I might grab several more." She let herself debate for a moment, before voicing her intentions to aid her in deciding. "I'm a student of the Dawn Tower, and I feel like my professor is going to ask me for a compilation of my work to monitor my improvement some time soon," she said, tone and expression less than thrilled.

"I've been rather caught up with work and my other studies, lately. So I'm still horribly novice in glyphing." She then gave a small laugh and thoughtful look, "I've only had the time to sketch some glyphing symbols in one of my journals, and using one or two inscribed on my palms for focus while I practice my other arts. And to answer your previous confusion - the pages are indeed torn out for use, at least, those that use books for glyphing tear them out; I reframe from doing so, I'm much more interested in magic theory and history." She gave a chuckle, realising how she sounded. She felt like a hypocrite, always complaining about spending her chore work in history and geography department of Tower's Respite, when that was the kind of thing she was truly interested in.

"I mean, I've got an incredible interest in the way glyphs and other magics were used in the past. I still readily use them with my own practices, but it is just that the secrecy of the past has always interested me. The greatest Sages and Wizards always kept their glyphs and secrets under incomprehensible ciphers - doesn't that just make you want to know what they were hiding? What knowledge they kept close to their hearts, and is still unknown to so many?" She gave a small chuckle as gooseflesh rippled her arms, "Gods, my skin is crawling just thinking about it." She gave herself a bit of a mental scold for over speaking. But better to make someone uncomfortable by passion and kindness, than by bitterness and coldness, she figured.

With that, she'd made her decision, and quickly bought a half dozen more scrolls, following Reneko in the purchasing of leather scrollcase, making a mental note of how much inscription ink she'd had left at home. "What about you?" She asked, packing her own things, taking dire care not to hit or strain her wrist as she did so. "What do you have in mind with that trove of parchment?"
That should be more than enough, for what I'll need.

ooc :

That's a lot easier to read, right?
On a side note, she really rambles on a bit, doesn't she? I learn more about her personality with every post. I'm just going to have to assume that it is a good thing.

[Reneko]

Wow, considering how shy she was at the beginning, she suddenly has gotten really talkative, hasn’t she? And she’s a student at Dawn Tower - well I suppose that is not her fault personally. Anyway...
“So, you’re still pretty new to Glyphing. Don’t worry, all it takes is a lot of practice. I have only recently gotten confident enough to inscribe scrolls for storage myself. Still, it is not like it is as dangerous as some other arts in any case. Unless you poke someone with the quill” He chuckled.
“But what do you mean you are more interested in magic history? Are you serious?”

Those lessons had never really interested Reneko at all. Whenever he did pursue a particular piece of information about the past, it was only so that he could use it here and now to overcome a challenge he was currently facing. If there was power to be gained in learning about old, mostly long-dead people, then sure; otherwise, why bother?
“And what about those dark and incomprehensible secrets the old wizards held? I mean, sure, it would be great to find out about those, but that is why they them unreadable. There is no way to figure out just what they were writing about if it was deliberately made undecipherable, is there?"

In the meantime he had also finished his purchase. In addition to all the paper, he had also taken a few brushes and paint, both common and specifically made for inscribing. He really had completely used up all he had before going to restock.
“Ahh, and those scrolls of mine? Those are for business, my dear.” Please, please, please, ask for more details.
He had spotted an opportunity for his very first sales pitch, and was hoping for an opportunity to try. He even had an idea just what to talk about...

[Arysana]

She saw the passing look he bore when she mentioned to which house she hailed, and figured him as a student of either Twilight or Dusk. She'd have bothered guessing one or the other, but she figured that he'd no doubt announce his affiliation should the conversation continue long enough.

But when he replied on her take on history, she had to bite her tongue to not engage in a full blown rant. She understood him for the most part, but found that he seemed to be the kind that did not heed the warnings of the past. "Ancient texts are only unreadable and undecipherable if you don't know the language," She said, more of a passing comment than fodder for more conversation. She sighed and continued on with her transaction, unsure at the time if the conversation would amount to more mere chatter, or a heated debate.

He seemed to recall her enquiry, then, speaking of using the scrolls as business. She frowned, recalling him saying that he'd only recently found himself confident and able to use parchment and scrolls in the first place. "What do you mean," she asked, "Do you intend to sell or..." She let her words trail, knowing that she could think of no other real 'business' use for such things.