Money to burn...

[Bloodrose]

George B. Sellings...why does that name sound so familiar? Teric pondered as he gazed up at the meticulously hard-carved sign for the Radasanth branch of "Emporium of Things." The name was one of those that had the flair to be remembered, but was just vague enough to be hard to place a face to as well. The veteran knew for certain that he'd heard that name before though, and although it was right on the tip of his tongue, he couldn't say where.

I'm quite sure I haven't visited this store before. The warrior was certain. It was only just recently that word had started floating around about the "Emporiums", and how they could find just about anything and everything a consumer could want. So if I haven't been here, why does this George Sellings sound so familiar?

There was a twisting sensation in his gut that made Teric feel as though the name was out of place somehow. Like he would remember the man instantly was his name used in the right context...

Heaving one of those 'this is going to bother me until I figure it out' sighs, Teric pushed open the door to the Emporium and stepped inside. A little bell hanging above the door heralded his entrance, and the cloying odor of leathers, metals, herbs, and treated timber overwhelmed his senses. That overwhelming sensation was interesting really, as the interior of the store was rather...well...underwhelming.

What the...? Teric asked himself silently, holding the door open almost as though he had stepped into the wrong place and was contemplating a hasty exit. The 'store', if you could call it that, was almost completely empty. Just a bare wooden room with a few neglected shelves and a counter in the back. A curtained door appeared to lead into a back room somewhere, but that was about it...

"Hello?" Teric ventured a greeting, slightly perturbed by the calm emptiness of the place. "Is anyone here?"

[AdventWings]

"Oh, hello."

A young lady tentatively stepped out from the backroom with an armful of spice bottles, the chiming of the store's doorbell being the one oddity that caught her attention. Madeline had been categorizing her newly-bought wares all morning after she had purchased the store a few weeks before, having no idea someone was going to stop by before the store was even officially open.

"I'm the owner of this store, sir. May I help you?"

((Sorry for the long wait.))

[Bloodrose]

((No problem))

"I...uh..." Teric's words faltered him for a moment as he turned from the young woman to the front door and back. A puzzled, nervous expression crossed the man's face as he half turned to go, but stayed standing in place. "I'm...ah...I'm sorry." He spit out at last. "I think maybe I've got the wrong place. I thought the sign said Mr. Sellings..."

With that, Teric took a few steps back and opened the door. Rather than step out though, he simply probed his head out into the street and gazed up at the sign. Sure enough it read Mr. George B. Sellings, Emporium of Things, and the warrior turned and came back into the center of the shop looking rather confused. "I was...um...going to inquire about buying a dog, but I don't think I'm in the right place.

Maybe the shop was just sold? Teric pondered as he busied himself glancing about at the empty store shelves. Probably hasn't had time to take down the sign and get her own wares up on the shelves. The veteran decided as well, giving the young lady a friendly smile and a curt nod. It wasn't an entirely unbelievable concept; shops closed all the time in the Bazaar, and always new ones were quick to take their places...

"Sorry to bother you, Miss." Teric started to back out towards the door again. Who knows, if the woman did have dogs for sale, however unlikely that would be, then perhaps now would have been the time to stop Teric before he made it out the door.

[AdventWings]

Oh, another one.

Madeline felt a bit of guilt rising to the front of her mind, having forgotten to take down the sign for the entire week already. It appeared that this certain George B. Sellings was a very popular merchant, but she could not quite comprehend why she was able to buy this shop in the downtown area of the Bazaar at such a bargain.

At least, lucky for the man, she was just in the business he was looking for.

"Oh, you're looking for a pet, sir?" Smiling warmly as she put the bottles of spice on the counter, she rounded the counter and approached the departing mercenary.

"I'm sorry for not properly introducing myself. I am Madeline R. Brite and welcome to my pet store, Furry Companions store. While I am not officially open today, would you like to see some of the animals we have at the back of the store?"

((You can have Madeline show you to the kennels or you can leave that open for the next post. Your call, Nyan.))

[Bloodrose]

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Teric mused as he paused in his tracks. This is the bazaar after all, and shops certainly seem to a have the strange ability to carry whatever it is you're looking for... Still, the fact that George B. Sellings' "Emporium of Things" had turned into Madeline R. Brite's "Furry Companions" so soon before he had come looking for an animal companion was just a little spooky. It was like the area encompassing the Bazaar had some strange prophetic force that directed shoppers exactly where they needed to go...

"Well, Madeline," Teric retreated back from the door and made his way towards the young shopkeeper, "it seems the fates are quite kind on an old man today."

Madeline smiled and led the way through the heavy curtain at the back of the room. Behind the covering Teric found that the back room of the store had been very recently renovated into a makeshift kennel for all sorts of various animals. Near the front where smaller cages containing your typical household animals - cats, small dogs, and the like. The larger breeds of dog were more near the center of the long aisle cutting a path along the cages, and in the back were several large cages covered with black curtains. Judging by the sounds emanating from that end of the kennel, Teric could only surmise that the creatures held back there represented the store's more...exotic offerings...

"Is this all you have for larger dogs?" Teric asked as he and Madeline paused in front of the waist high cages in the center of the hall. His tone indicated that it wasn't really a comment made in detriment to the stores stock of breeds, but just a general question.

Let's see... The veteran contemplated as he put his hands into his coat pockets. He rocked back on his heels, scanning over the cages animals with his eyes. There was a pair of snow white Salvan Huskies, a couple "big-dumb-and-happy" Retrievers, an old Bloodhound to mention a few. For the most part the animals seemed to be of pure or purposefully mixed heritage, like the monster Husky/Wolf mix glaring balefully at Teric from one of the cages on the end. Nothing really caught the warrior's interest right off though, until he turned around to see the dogs on the other side of the hall and found himself eye-to-eye with the mangiest looking dog he'd ever seen...

Two different eyes, one green and one blue, stared back at the old man from over a graying brown and black muzzle, the wet black nose lined with the white of old scars. The animal was much to lean to be of any wolf decent, but there was a shagginess and form to the creature that hinted at wild something...coyote maybe. Lying on its belly in one cage stacked atop another, the animal just sat there, staring silently.

"What's the deal with this guy?" Teric asked Madeline, interest in his voice.

[AdventWings]

(( Very sorry for the long wait. I hope this was worth your patience. ^_^; ))

The pet tamer followed Teric's gaze and dug into the file cabinet inside her mind, finding the folder and opening the envelope to read through the old hound's records. While the information was not very detailed, it was not very easy to remember either. It's all just memories, after all.

"That's Milo, one of the crossbreeds I managed to rescue many months ago. I believe he is a Drave, coyote mix, but I'm not really positive on that."

Madeline knew of the ferocious Draves well, having come across the monstrous wolf-like creature many times traveling the world. As huge as a small horse as a full adult, they have been known to eat almost anything deemed tasty enough to pass as food. Adventurers and trappers have found everything from horse legs to wine-stained golden goblets in their stomach, which more or less also involves killing the beast in question.

While the average adventurer deems Drave feral beasts, Madeline found them to be very interesting. Especially when she found a crossbreed with another canine species such as him.

"It was about half a year ago when I was in the Tylmerande Barony and heading back to Radasanth when the caravan ran into the poor thing on the side of the road. He was in a very bad condition, probably having been beaten to death by farmers because he looked like a Drave."

Speaking softly, almost as if telling her own life story to the customer, Madeline reached inside the cage and petting the half-breed on his snout. The Drave-Coyote snorted and nuzzled his handler's hand before resting his shaggy head on one of his paws.

"Took me many months to nurse him back to health and he's never once showed hostility. Goes to show who's the more barbaric in nature, doesn't it?"

Letting out a quiet sigh and turning back to Teric, she smiled at him and withdrew her hand from the cage. There was almost a hint of melancholy in her eyes, but the seasoned tamer did not let it show in her voice when she spoke.

"I must warn you, though, that he hasn't been neutered yet and can still be a bit of a handful. If you want a travel companion that is easy to handle, he might not be a good candidate. But as for loyalty, I assure you that Milo is next to none when you treat him with care."

Madeline smiled once more, the sadness in her eyes lingering for only a second before fading away with the sunlight shining through the backroom windows.

[Bloodrose]

((No worries, I wasn't in much of a rush. Kept this one short though...))

"I'm no to worried about how easy he is to control." Teric cocked his head to one side, watching interestedly as the animal turned its head in unison to keep their stares locked together. The veteran smiled, and was almost disappointed to see that 'Milo' didn't smile back. Dogs don't smile... Teric had to remind himself.

"How much for him?" The mercenary asked. He wasn't completely unaware of the sentimental furrow on Madeline's brow, so he added: "I promise I can give him a good home, and keep after him."

[AdventWings]

The moment Teric said "How much for him?, the pet tamer's heart sank.

...How much...?

It was the word that Madeline most dreaded.

...How much is the price of friendship worth...?

She dreaded having to part ways with the old canine, having fed him with her own hands when he refused to eat anything. She had grown close to Milo...

...Maybe too close...

Shaking melancholy from her mind, Madeline took a deep breath and announced her price.

This is not the price of my friendship...

"...Would five hundred Crowns be alright, sir?" She spoke, trying her darnest best not to make her voice quiver. "I will also give you a collar, leash and his favorite... I mean, his food bowl as well."

Remember, Madeline... The woman glanced at the grey crossbreed, who looked into her eyes as if understanding every word she spoke and left unsaid.

...This is not the price of our friendship...

[Bloodrose]

The sad, far away look in Madeline's eyes, and the slight tremble in her lower lip as she spoke, made Teric a little more aware of the merchant's bond with the animal than he had been before. While never much of a bonding person, the veteran was more than well aware of the intangible bonds people made with lesser creatures. They were such random bonds, predicated upon sometimes the simplest of acts (a gentle nuzzle, sitting in one's lap, etc), but they ran strong. That moment's pause between speaking gave Teric time to remember Ser Donalt Frist - as cold and as uncaring a man as the steel of his battle-axe. The memory in question was one of Donalt kneeling in the middle of a raging battle, crying like the grieving parent who has just lost a child, cradling the body of his only companion; a dog named Fred...

I wonder how healthy it is, Teric absently jingled the coin's bundled in pouches he kept in his bag, that all my most relevant memories are of war?

"Five hundred sounds like a fair price." Teric agreed. The idea of trying to haggle with the girl, all to save a few coins while she struggled to accept any sort of sale in the first place, was a sour one. Better to just give the girl what she wanted.

"I know it can be hard to put a price on friendship." The veteran nodded sagely, as if percieving Madeline's fears. It wasn't just a comforting lie either, as Teric's mercenary career had given him more than enough experience with the subject. There was probably a whole list of people somewhere, a ledger kept by the Gods that chronicled every friend Teric had ever stabbed in the back alongside a price. Drisden Seaworth - 650 crows. Yaemon Cho - 1250 crowns. Peter the Scabb - 32 crowns and a cigarette. Gunther Holt - one fabulous night with his daughter, Anna Holt...

No wonder I have so many enemies...

"You could always think less of it being as though you're sending Milo away, and more as though you're setting Milo free to see the world. I'm sure his paws will travel plenty of interesting places at my side, and we 'old dogs' can keep each other welcome company..."


I think that about wraps it up. The 500 gold is agreed to, and feel free to bunny Teric out of the shop.

[AdventWings]

It almost felt disarming for a stranger to see straight through her, sensing how directly the mercenary was speaking to her even though she never really said anything along those lines. Madeline nervously averted her gaze, trying to conceal the fact the man spoke true of her fear. But it was also an assurance... To her, at the least, that he could provide Milo what Madeline lacked.

For some reason, that was the only thing that reassured her of Milo's safety and happiness.

"Yes, I believe that would be fine." She nodded and smiled, feeling the weight of the world lifting from her heart.

~~~

It took the tamer and the mercenaries several minutes before the mixbreed became familiar with his new master. Given the leash, collar and his favorite food bowl, Madeline came out to the front of the store to see the two "old dogs" head off down the road. Memories flooded Madeline's mind as she watched them disappear out of sight.

"Have fun, Milo." She spoke to the breeze with a sad smile, but happy to see that there was one less abandoned animal and one more who found a loving friend.

Letting out a relieved sigh, the pet tamer retired back inside the Furry Companions to take care of the many other animals awaiting a home and a family.

This time, she did not forget to take down the sigh of this shop's previous owner.

((Transaction Completed!

Bloodrose receives the following:

- "Milo" (a largish Drave/Coyote mixbreed, standing about thigh-height and with the usual traits of the canine family. Is loyal to Teric as long as he doesn't mistreat the doggy.)
- Milo's Favorite Food Bowl (Made of tin, it is rather light-weight for ease of carrying. Is rather large.)
- Milo's Collar (Made of Cotton. Greenish in coloration with a white stripe running through the center. Fits firmly around Milo's neck, but not too tight. Also has an aluminum tag with "Milo" etched on it in Tradespeak.)
- Milo's Leash (Made of Cotton and featuring the same coloration. Is about two yards long.)
- 120 EXP for exceptional and integrated story-telling interactions.

Bloodrose loses the following:
- 500 GP

Please stop by at the Furry Companions for your new best friend!))