An Errand as a Leader...

[Kyo]

It seemed like every time she turned around, she found herself back in the bazaar. Whether it was because she needed her clothes mended or one of her weapons fixed, it didn’t matter. She still ended up back here. It didn’t bother her, or irritate her in a manner of her time or even having to travel here. No, it was just a waste of her money. Every time she earned some it seemed she was fritting it away on one thing or another and yet it was always something she needed. Or it had been, but right now was mindless indulgence. This was not necessarily a needed item but something she wanted as a leader, something that may make it easier for her to recruit others to join the cause that she had founded. Nothing big mind you, just a little bit of something that she could give them as an invitation of sorts.

Kyo moved through the crowded streets with ease. Her light steps and sure footing keeping her out of reach of others and always putting her one step ahead of the clumsy nobles and peasants that swayed to and fro in no discernable pattern. They were a mass and most of them seemed to be going in the opposite direction that she was.

Eventually, she came across what she was looking for; weapons shop. It wasn’t like the multitude of other ones with flashy displays and overly decorative store fronts. It was neat and simple looking, with swords and axes and other armaments lining and laying on top of a dark cloth. That was it, plus the sign on the top telling it was a weapons shop of course. It meant to her that the person focused more on weapons they were making than the way they were displaying.

Moving to the front door, the ninja grasp at the front door and pulled it open. Inside the warm air outside was replaced by something much cooler as well as the smell of metal. It practically permeated everything as if it bled from the very walls. Moving across the worn wooden floor, Kyosku approached the counter and glanced towards the back wall. There were plenty of different kinds of weapons behind there but none that reminded her of her home. Perhaps this had been the wrong shop to come to or perhaps the right. She could only be sure after her request was made.

“Is there anyone here?” Her voice called out softly into the quiet store.

[Zook Murnig]

Old man Thomasson had never been the quickest, but he did the best he could when customers were about. "I'll be right there, ma'am," he called from the back room where he was inspecting his recent stock for chinks and flaws. Not a one yet he had come across was anything but perfection. And that was just how he liked it.

Coming out into the main sales floor, he spotted the dark-haired Akashiman beauty and smiled. "How can I help you, miss...?" He paused, waiting for a name, title, alias, or anything she would give him to call her by. He hated the cold manner with which most of his trade conducted business, not caring to know who they sold weapons to. No, he wanted to at least have a name to attach to a face, feeling that would bring customers back again and again.

[Kyo]

“Ah, Tetsoma Kyosku.” The ninja said to the man, politely inclining her head to him.

It was a bit strange for her to be asked her name in The Bazaar. In fact, she was rather certain that every other merchant she had been to in her recent trips to the shopping district had never once bothered to care for her name. They were just interested in the amount of money she could give them and nothing more.

“Well, I’m on a bit of an errand...” She began as her eyes wandered around the wares behind his counter.

She was contemplating getting a few regular daggers instead of the Tanto’s that she initially wanted, mainly because she wasn’t seeing them here. But she was rather set in her ways. She was the co-leader of the Bandit Brotherhood, which meant the clan would form around her ideals, not the other way around.

“I wish to acquire five steel Tanto’s, made with of course excellent craftsmanship. I would like their length to be around seven inches of blade and around five inches to the handle. The handle I would like wrapped in black and red cloth and around the guard, an extra expanse of red cloth wrapped and then left to hang. Upon the blade, I wish for there to be two B’s carved upon the surface, back to back.”

The symbol for The Bandit Brotherhood. It represented the clan and the people in it, showing them back to back and guarding one another, never leaving a weak opening. Expectantly, Kyo kept her eyes upon the man, waiting to see his reaction to her request.

[Zook Murnig]

"Ah, yes," Thomasson said in recognition. "Tantos. Yes, I'm afraid we don't normally carry Akashiman weapons, though I do have a contact from the land." The old trader scratched his chin, performing the calculations in his head. In all the many years he had been in business, he had never once depended on a counting machine or handwritten tabulations.

"Miss Tetsoma, I believe your total for the blades alone would be a hundred fifty gold, with an estimated additional charge of fifty-five gold for the engravings." The balding man's face widened in a tight-lipped, but nonetheless genuine, smile.

"I'll be in touch with my Akashiman contact within a day or two, and the knives should arrive in a week or two," he explained. "If you could return then with the money, I would be happy to transfer them into your possession. Is there anything else you'd like before you go?"

[Kyo]

So it was going to be two hundred and five gold in total for five Tantos engraved with the initials of the BB. It seemed reasonable to her, but Kyo was nothing if not careful with her money. The problem was she wasn’t exactly a smooth talker and not entirely very good at haggling. She could negotiate with Daroch, the Draconian leader in Suuthain, but when it came to speaking with a merchant she just didn’t know exactly what kind of words she should use. Give it to me cheaper just didn’t seem to sound right to her either and she highly doubted it would work.

Leaning her hip against the counter, the ninja rested her forearm upon the counter and softly played the calloused tips of her fingers over the smooth and dented surface. Absentmindedly she wondered how many weapons had passed across this counter.

“Fifty-five gold just to engrave the weapons?” She had the money, heck she had more than enough for something like that. “That’s a third of the price for the weapons themselves just to carved two B’s upon their surface. I’m quite sure that you or your friend is skilled enough that it would not be such a task, especially one that would cost so much.”

Yeah, okay. As she had previously mentioned before, not very well at haggling. She just didn’t know how to do it. But it was certainly worth a try if it was going to lower the price for her. If she could get him below 190 she would be more than happy.

[Zook Murnig]

"You caught me, ma'am," the elderly gentleman said. Indeed, she had. The engraving would not cost as much as he had said. "You see, half of what I had told you for the engraving is in actuality an entire other expense. I can cut the price back a little for you, but not much. It's still expensive to import such things all the way from Akashima."

He rubbed his chin for a moment as he worked up an acceptable figure in his head. "A hundred-ninety-five gold all total is about as low as I can go. If the blades were a more common variety, sure, but not tantos."

[Kyo]

She had thought about getting a different kind of blade, but she had decided that the tantos were what she wanted. It represented her culture and her people, something that she was bringing to The Bandit Brotherhood and thus something she wanted to use to recruit new people with. In the end, it would be worth the extra money then to get the weapons here. She just hoped that the weapons would still be of a good quality even though she wasn’t buying them in Akashima.

“One hundred and ninety-five is acceptable.”

Extending her hand towards the older man, Kyo gripped and shook it in a fashion that many people did outside of Akashima. She was not very accustomed to it for in her clan touching strangers was not exactly a respectful thing to do.

“I shall return in two weeks then.”

Inclining her head to the shop owner, Kyo turned and left the store.

-----------------------------------

Two weeks later Kyo found herself walking down the familiar street once more. Her soft footsteps along the dirt road bringing her closer and closer to the nondescript and rather simple looking weapons shop. The shop owner—sadly she had never asked his name—had requested that she return in a week or two and she had waited until the end of the second week to ensure that the weapons would be there. Her time was precious now and she didn’t want to waste it needlessly tripping to and from The Bazaar simply to acquire something of indulgence for herself.

Walking up to the same wooden door, the ninja opened it and stepped into the cool interior of the dim shop. Making more noise than she normally would being a person trained in stealth, Kyo made her way towards the counter and waited for the appearance of the shop owner.

[Zook Murnig]

Bunny approved.

"Ah, miss Tetsoma!" Thomasson looked genuinely pleased to see the young raven-haired woman. "Yes, your blades have come in, just a few days past," he said, grinning broadly as he ducked behind the counter. When he rose back to her level, he had her order in his hands, laying across a soft piece of cloth.

"Five tantos of excellent quality, each with the requested engraving performed under my supervision. And we agreed upon the price of one-hundred-ninety-five crowns. I trust you have the gold?"

"Yes," she said, reaching for the pouch that hung from her belt, setting it on the counter and gathering up her specialty blades.

"Thank you, and please remember Thomasson's Trades next time you need anything!"

Kyo gains the following:
Five steel tantos with the Bandit Brotherhood mark engraved in them.
50 EXP

Kyo loses the following:
195 gold
Her Thomasson's Trades virginity.

[Witchblade]

Done!