PM to join The Sea within the Sea. (Scand)

[Mahk]

23rd, Winter, 514 AV

There was always something about Endrykas that made Mahk think it was more like the wild than the Sea of Grass itself.
The calls and signs to attract buyers from the merchant pavilions, warriors and hunters—Diamond and Emerald alike—stood in groups conversing as if at a communal watering hole.
Children dancing around the legs of adults like calves around those of elk. Mahk chuckled just thinking about it, but Mahk was in Endrykas for a reason, Survival.
He’d had to ask his father, the Ankal, permission to leave the Pavilion for the time being to find a job to bring income and supplies back to the Pavilion when low.
It took a lot of hassling, favors and more hassling. It was worth it, Just being here surrounded by people who aren’t family is so…freeing. Zwei, Mahk’s strider nudged him as if he could tell what he was thinking.


“Not you Zwei, you know I’d never get tired of you.” Mahk rubbed Zwei’s flanks, grazing his fingernails across his companion, his best friend.

“Come on, let’s find some work.”

Mahk threw himself onto Zwei’s back, an effortless motion that never warranted any uneccesary grace, only the muscles and energy needed were ever used. Digging his heels gently into Zwei, he bade him move forward. Mahk took the opportunity to survey the “tent city,” He watched the weaponsmiths grind blades against stone, he listened to Ruby merchants exaggerate their already impressive wares, it made Mahk look down at his own sage and juniper colored clothes. Huh, maybe one day I’ll buy a whole new outfit, all emerald. Mahk looked up, realizing he’d been dallying in his thoughts found himself in a sea of people. The crowd parted to allow Zwei through, Mahk spoke words of apology, signing gratitude despite his obvious blocking of their path.
Where am I supposed to go to find work exactly?
Mahk was lost, he knew it, he wouldn’t admit it. Turning his head every which way, listening and watching for cues of needing a hunter. Mahk wasn’t going to be intimidated by a city full of his own people, what would the rest of his pavilion thing about him? Mahk dug his heels into Zwei biding the horse escape the crowd.

There’s got to be some indicator of needed hunters or such somewhere, I just need to find it.

[Scand]

.
"Take this and put it with the others." Extreme agitation. Scand nodded as the woman knelt down, passing the wooden pole from which hung two cuts of meat to be preserved in salt on either side. The weight of it was, as the last five or ten he'd carried, much more than he anticipated. Stumbling back slightly as the woman's eyes bulged and her hands flew careful, drop and die. Wobbling in place, Scand offered her a reassuring smile, though it didn't little to assuage the woman's concerns, nor did it serve to bolster and of his own confidence. Usually, Scand did his best to slip by and between the ever moving bodies of Endrykas. Some days were easier than others, but the current day saw the milling crowds spilling in and out of the pavilions like the undulating blades of grass that swayed before Zulrav's winds. Scand swayed with it.

As he struggled his way through the crowds, some moved out of his way while others turned indignant faces and expressions towards him when his stumbling managed to whack one of them in the back of the head or back. Each time, Scand would balance the pole across his shoulders, legs splayed to keep himself up right, and quickly sign back apologies, usually long after the offended had already passed on. It made what should have been the short though laborious journey a tent a small distance from the one he'd left at least twice the travel time as it should have been. To his dismay, he didn't even make it all the way there. A man on his horse, not an uncommon sight, began parting the crowd enough for him to pass. Scand, however, was unable to turn the pole in time, the meat knocking against the beast and in turn knocking him from his balance.

Blinking in surprise as he realized he'd landed awkwardly over the hunk of meat on the side of the pole that had not hit the horse, effectively digging it into the ground with his weight, Scand flicked his attention back towards the man atop the strider. Several people found the scene amusing, though most just moved on. Scand's mishaps were hardly few and far between, and those who were more acquainted with the city were used to his ineptitude. Standing to his feet and brushing himself off, Scand turned to the man, his hands moving in the habitual apologies before he let himself gaze down at the spoiled meats. They weren't useless, but their value had certainly been mitigated by his fumble. It was the third or fourth thing he'd dropped that day, and he wasn't sure how much humor had been in the woman's threat upon his life. Sighing, Scand set about trying to wedge his way under the pole to lift it back up. As he did so, one of the ties that had been holding the shank of meat.

Watching it drop to the ground with a pitiful plop, the balance of the pole failed and the other half slipped out of his grip to follow suit. Staring sadly at the meat, Scand opted to just pick one of them up, huffing under the effort as he balanced it against his pelvis, leaning back some to keep it aloft. Offering the man on the horse a slightly panicked smile, Scand called out above the din of the passing crowd. He wasn't a familiar face, which meant it was unlikely he knew of Scand's less than stellar status among the Drykas. "Could I ask for your help, brother?"

Pavi | Common

[Mahk]

Mahk smiled down at the newcomer, chuckling to himself when he dropped to his meat. Mahk signed his acceptance of the apology, before dropping off of Zwei. “Of course my friend, it truly is my fault. I’m new to the city.” Mahk knelt to help his unlikely new acquaintance, grasping the dirtied meat he heaved. The muscles in Mahk’s arm flexed, and Mahk lifted the meat up onto his shoulder.
“My name is Mahk of the Windheel Pavillion from Emerald Clan, it is a pleasure, and this is Zwei, my strider and companion.” Zweiblew air from his nose, shaking his head in a likely greeting.

“I tell you what, I will help you carry these meats. However! Zwei and I need a job fit for a men of our profession.”

Mahk smiled what he hoped was a Cheshire grin, he eyes staring deepler into what he hoped would become a faithful companion. “Deal?” Mahk thrust his hand forward, attempting to make his first connection in this foreign sea.