Soul Sisters

WELL that was a wild ride! Literally, horses and carriages? Gross. They stank and things moved around and all that other stuff. Stupid dumb animals. I was finally back in Corone and away from Salvar. Away from the cold and wet snow, ugh I hated that…. And away from that crazy plant woman with her crazy red angry blob of a soul I had tricked her out of.

I placed my hand hard against my chest.

I….I finally had a piece of a soul...it wasn’t what I expected.

Then again, when I carefully took it out of the plant lady, I didn’t expect it to literally screech, and have strange giant tentacle like things pierce me, and have it force its way into my chest. That was….I’ve worked with souls my entire life and that was the first time I had ever seen anything like that. It was unnatural for a soul to do that. Was that why Madison didn’t care that I had taken it? She almost seemed relieved.

I couldn’t blame her.

I tightened my hand around the deep blue silken robe I wore. This soul. It hurt. It felt like it throbbed against my being, cold, dark, and empty. Sometimes it was hard to breathe...and now...every time I slept, I swore I heard whispers.

My blue tail swung casually from side to side, a frown upon my usual cheery lips. Ears down, I felt troubled and I did not like feeling that. It was the opposite of happy. I came back to Corone because it was warm, and this was where I met that man, that Venex man. The crazy one in a blue tailcoat.

The thought of him bought the faintest of smiles to my lips. He’d see me like this, and laugh. Oh what a sight I was. I stopped in the middle of the street, much to the annoyance of passerbys, took a deep breath and forced a rather rambunctious laugh.

“HAHAHAHAHA!”

Sometimes, all one had to do to make themselves feel better was laugh, and it worked. I felt lighter already. “Eteri do good!” I said with a triumphant nod.

“What are you? Mad!?” A middle aged man said as he shoved his finger in his ear, cleaning it out. I wrinkled my nose. He looked all hoity toity. He wore a boring off brown shirt with dark blue pants, his shoes were all shiny and buffed. I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Nyer! Pick Eteri winner!” He had his finger deep in his ear, what else was I supposed to say?

“What did you just say to me!?” He spat. His face was clean shaven, and so was his head, I could almost see tiny little veins pop out in frustration against his skin. I grinned as I stepped closer, pointing it out.

“Ooo! Look, your oily skin, is all pulsating!”

He batted my hand away. “Do you have any idea who I am!?”

“Bald angry man!”

He stomped his foot. Ok, scratch that, really angry bald man. I opened my mouth to correct myself. It was the least I could do! I mean, I didn’t want to lie to him. Geez….when was the last time I did such a thing? I shrugged, tail waving wildly. This was fun! He was fun. Maybe he would like to be friends too.

“Oh, oh! I know! You be Eteri friend!?” I said as I clapped my hands together, rubbing them furiously before extending one in earnest greeting toward him. “Friend make happy!”

“I’ll be happy to see your ears on my wall!” He spat as he reached behind him to pull something from his back pocket.

I frowned. “Well that not very nice thing to saying!”

I saw the glint of metal. A knife!? He pulled a knife of ME!? ETERI!? Who did he think he was! No really...who, because I didn’t have a gosh darn clue.

“Hey! That not nice!”

He lunged, I dodged. I mean - it was pretty easy...he was sloppy and it was clear he was not a fighter. “No hurt please!”

Quote:

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NOTE: SET JUST AS STARE IS STARTING OUT, BEFORE VINDREXIS STORYLINE.

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Arrogant bastard,” she muttered tightly under her breath as she strode through these horrifyingly familiar streets. “Just because I was once from near-”

I heard that, came the calm, handsome voice from inside her head.

Stare caught glimpse of a long, underground tunnel lit by torches. A flash of pointed ears and bronze-brown hair. The sound of leather boots striding on cobbles. He was in the catacombs of Beinost, in his malicious empire known as the Hollow and was showing her them to remind her where she had come from in the last six months. From being a captive there, service to every sexual and devious desire he had longed for, to now being his steward and representative here in Radasanth.

A woo-hoo. Yey, for the big promotion, she thought. Sarcastically.

Then the images and sounds were gone as he sighed. Stare, really, he, her master and essentially a god, Sir Vitruvion Ellsmith, chided, You should take pride in what you have achieved. You are useful to me in the fact you know Radasanth, Corone … that area. Now will you please continue your work.

I am, you bastard, She looked up at the long, paved street before her, full of the hustle and bustle of ordinary life. Humans, mostly, with the odd elf, ogre and other exotic species, drifting from building to building and area to area. There were the usual noises of merchants shouting out their wares from unusually positioned stalls, parents berating their children and lovers confessing their affections. All which Stare was entirely, recently, used to having been mainly living in a grand mansion in the governmental centre of the patchwork Beinost.

Of course you are, my dear, was the reply.

And she rolled her eyes at his odd humour, and continued on her way.

Folding her arms over her chest she continued to keep eyes and ears out for what exactly she was looking for. With the fall of Vitruvion’s millhouse, and the rise in popularity in Raiaera for foreign beers (apparently), he had deemed it time to exercise business in that area. With the fact that Stare was now his steward-come-representative when he couldn’t be bothered, and that she had spent a full year in Corone on her own, she was the obvious choice. Thus, she was here, eyes and ear-holes out on the search for any idea of where to begin with buying or building a brewery.

Her feathered appearance and massive beak did not exactly put people to comfort, but at least they were more comfortable with it here than Raiaera. After all, the kenku lands were not too far away. On the same piece of land in fact. So every so often a bird-person did wander into these streets, and therefore Stare only received one odd look out of every hundred or so. Curiosity spurned her when she spied a man with ragged tattoos raising his eyebrows. Tattoos were usually either for racial purposes, gang symbols or warriors, in her experience. Rather specific, and rare in these nicer parts of the city. Eagerly she slipped into the realms of her newer abilities and brought her aura-sight into the foreground.

Which was when she heard a shout.

“No hurt please!”

Twirling around, and expecting danger, her hand fled to the mythril dagger at her belt. Colours of people, good bad and ugly, fled past her as she focused down the crossing street that the tattooed man had come from. There was an older man, bald head and green aura (very neutral) with his hands up and a cat girl - a fucking cat girl - skipping out the way. And her - her colour …

Stare stopped, stunned. Absolutely confounded. The girl was glowing, massively, with colour. And not just one, but many. All of them.

All the colours of the rainbow … and a thousand more. A myriad auras - souls - stuck onto one person.

He lunged again! Rude. Something had to be done. I stepped to the side, again avoiding him. I wasn't a fighter… and would normally loose but this guy? He was just an angry old fuddy duddy. I blinked, and suddenly a flash of colours; from the people around me, and from my own attire - a hand crafted scarf made of the souls of vegabonds, animals and the like. My soul sight. Ahhh…. That explained it. I looked at the man who had a muddy gross green soul, it had tinges of sickly yellow and brownish red, like the colour of dried blood. He was on his last legs, and he had lived an utterly boring life.

“-And that’s why I’m going to gut you, you little wrench!”

I blinked. Shit. Had he been talking? I wasn’t paying attention. “Eteri turn now!” I said as I ducked under his broad swing, placing my bare hand against his chest, I gripped tightly and pulled. His eyes widened as he saw it, his own soul being pulled from his body. Now, I am not a monster, I wasn’t going to rip it right out of him, I was just going to chop a tiny bit of it off. That’d show him!”

“What the fuck is that!?”

By now, we had an audience, a group of half a dozen onlookers who I didn’t really care to pay too much attention to. I wondered briefly if they could see what I saw, if they couldn’t - the scene would have been an odd one. The old man was now on his knees, almost paralized. Blue grey eyes wide in fear. “Stay still.” I said as I reached into my trusty shoulder bag and rummaged around till I pulled out my scissors. I carefully cut into it, shifting along the edges, removing a long strip from his shimmering soul. What would a dressmaker call it? A hem? That was a silly name, edge-bit sounded much more appropriate! I snipped the last bit away and let go of his soul, it slowly came to rest back into his form. He just sat there on the floor, dumbfounded as I put the scissors away then pulled out a small vial. I shoved the long, thin piece of his soul into it. It was too gross to use on me, I had yet to find any soul for me beyond Taka’s. But the part he gave me was safe in my satchel. I wouldn’t make myself anything nor attach anything to myself till I had a full and complete patchwork soul.

The angry red blob excluded, but that wasn’t my fault, it drilled itself into me, painfully so.

I sighed. So much for happy-fun-times. I needed to find Ven, or Barchie. I placed my hands on my hips as I glanced to and fro, now...where was his store? It was… on a street, with people...and that was, practically the entirety of this place. “Ah poop!” I said as I pouted. I was lost.

Oh? The man. Yeh, he was fine. Or will be, he picked himself up, dusted himself off and mumbled some half assed apology before disappearing into the crowd. He lost his oomph. When people lost part of their soul, it affected them differently, some went mad, others became more docile - but rarely did I ever remove enough to cause any lasting effects. Not because I cared, just because I couldn’t be bothered. I only had so many vials, and so little time to purify any of the nasty ones.

I started off, walking in the direction I was facing, it was time to find Barchie’s store. I wrinkled my nose and narrowed my amber gaze as it landed on a strange person, well, bird-person. Birds. I shivered. I hated birds. Always swooping me! What did I ever do to them! Meanies.

Stare’s eyes focused as she rounded on the cat-being, the ears poking from that mess of indigo, wild hair. As silver metal glinted the cat moved her own multi-coloured essence onto that of the plainly forest green man - around the age of 45 his aura told Stare. A touch of her wild aura onto his, with its myriad shimmering colours, a rapid flash and part of the green’s man’s aura separated - yes, separated - from that of the whole and rushed, swelling over and into the lithe forms that spiralled around the cat-girl. What was more the man deflated, sinking to the ground, his breath spilling out of his lungs in a rush.

Black eyes wide with a mixture of horror and confusion Stare began to feel a throb at her temples as she looked at the soul snatcher. Difficult it was to try to define one piece from another, one bone-coloured snip from an imperial purple sliver. They all seemed to be part of a great sea, a mass of them with their tethers on a cape that billowed like a starry cloud from the cat-girl’s back, and others simply floating around her with no seeming base at all. Because of the mass of them it took the kenku time to realise that in fact not one of them was a whole aura, that in fact they were parts and segments, like that she had taken from the green man. And at their centre was -

Nothing. A big, black void.

Tilting her head very slowly, Stare narrowed her eyes, looking the girl slowly up and down. Though the swimming auras were still giving her a headache, she could still keep her sanity and resolution - after all she had not survived four months in a hell hole on nothing. Clacking her beak in the frustration the sight was giving her, but not completely willing to bring herself out of it just yet, Stare stepped right in the way of the cat-girl as she walked forwards.

“You,” she said in the common tongue, her words fluid and thick with distaste. “What did you just do to that man? How did you take his … essence?”

Her eyes darted around until she saw the forest green plume dance around a satchel that Stare was beginning to figure out held some of these sections. Though they were not tethered like that cloak she wore they still seemed focused around it, swimming through the air at only minor lengths.

Folding her arms across her chest, dressed in rich, brocaded leather, Stare deliberately got in the woman’s way. She was not much smaller than her - there was perhaps a couple of inches in it, and so the kenku did not feel very intimidated by size, which was often the case. Instead she found she could tilt her beak up and to the right slightly to fix the woman with one beady, fully black eye.

“What did you do?” she asked again, pushing for an answer, moving as the cat did. Intriguingly more human than the kenku species though. She only had the ears and tail of a cat it seemed, the rest was skin and normal, expected structure.

She leaned closer and quietly gave her last query:

“And why do you have a black hole at your own centre? Just what are you?”

“What!?” I stepped to one side, and the giant bird thing followed. I stepped to the other, and again the bid creature stepped to block my path. “HEY, I try leave.” I again tried to dance around her, but this bird creature just was not having it. She was a stubborn thing! Stubborn birds! Gosh, she smelt too, the tinge of dirt and earth - and other things. It wasn’t very pleasant. I wrinkled my nose. This day just was not turning out how I wanted. All I wanted to do was return to Barchie, and sleep on his counter whilst he gave me head scratches, was that too much to ask?

The bird woman spat an accusing question at me. As though I had done something wrong.

Apparently yes, it was too much to ask for.

“Eteri took bad part of grumpy man soul.” I stated, huffily, crossing my arms over my own chest as I tried to focus on any one aspect of the creature before me. Big black shiny beak, black feathers all prim and proper, a part of me felt like pulling a bunch of them out. Maybe I could sell them, or use them to make clothes or just shred them. All of those things sounded fun. Far more fun than being questioned by some stinky ol’ sticky-beak! Literally

“You so rude!” I huffed, choosing to focus on a tiny metal clasp that sat upon the bird-womans chest. “All questions! No polite, very rude.” I turned my face away, shutting my eyes and shaking my head to and fro to further exemplify my distaste for the creature.
“Not even introduce. Why Eteri tell you? Why so demanding? Who think you be? Just demanding, like you is all the highs and mightiest!”

“I am not rude,” Stare frowned, “You are for taking that man’s soul.”

Her eyes went narrow and looked the odd cat-girl up and down. Rather tetchy, if you asked her, a little too close to a natural predator. Ears flicking, tail twitching - cats were not friends to birds, it was well known. And the old tales that existed for the delight of kenku children, those that said that they were once crows, ravens and magpies …

She shivered and then made her decision.

Stepping closer, so that only a few centimetres came between them she stared at this Eteri being with a darkening gaze. “Why did you steal his soul?” she asked.

It could have been for many reasons. After all she did have a solid hole in the myriad of those swimming around her. It was … scary almost. A void of nothing, where a person's being usually was. Stare blinked for a moment in the aura sight and then out.

Finally, the cat-girl sighed and unfolded her arms. She seemed to struggle with Tradespeak. Stare raised her brow until she figured out that this girl was not all that comfortable with the common tongue. “Eteri said. Only took bad bit. Bit that made man cranky. Not steal. Ok … did take no permission.” She shoved her hand in the satchel and rummaged around in it before pulling out the vial that contained the man's soul. “You want. You take.”

Stare was taken aback and raised her clawed hands, aware that there was a street of people watching them. Or, rather, a crossroads. Her rough skin was clear, as she waved them in complete denial.

“No thank you, I'm not one for taking them. Just seeing them.” She dropped her hands, paused and stepped slightly closer and lowered her voice, trying to not be heard by the rest of the people. “You didn't answer my question before - how do you have a void at the centre? Right there,” she pointed, “Where your own aura should be. I think, I'm still getting used to it so …”

The cat girl seemed to understand what she meant. In broken tradespeak she spoke:

“Eteri no have soul. Found one. Big plant lady had. But red angry thing no go into vial.” Eteri sprawled out her fingers and wriggled them about, right up in Stares face. No sense of personal space this girl. “Went oooo and dug way inside. Now stuck. Stuck good.”

Stare now furrowed her brow. Deep so that the ridge was low over her creepy full black eyes. A tilt of the head, a surge of dislike as the cat girl remained in her personal space. But she needed to be close. In fact she peered closer and … there. True enough, a tiny grasp of soul actually inside the void. A vile, dark black thing with purely evil intentions and a chaotic sense of being …

Stare gasped and stepped back, further away from the cat woman than before. “Ow,” she commented. “That doesn't look healthy.”

The catgirl beat her chest proudly. “Eteri much healthy.”

“Uh huh,” Stare replied, looking at the mass of souls circulating around this girl’s satchel. And her in general. Tiny pieces of souls, from so many races and genders and ways of life. “I'm not convinced.”

She paused a moment, then thought. Cat folk she was sure came from near Akashima city. They even called themselves a racial name by the language - Nekojin. Kenku themselves took their own race name after what the Akashimans could pronounce …

“<Ah,>” she said, trying her best to remember what Akashiman she could, though she was not the best. <”excuse me is this better?”>

My eyes widened as the bird thing in front of me spoke my language! <”Ah! You Speak Akashiman? This is much better. I really struggle with tradespeak and it’s complexities you know?”> I started talking quickly. Excited. I always really loved talking in my native tongue. Tradespeak made me sound like an idiot.

Ok…. so maybe I wasn’t the brightest person around, but I made up for it in personality. I continued with my excited tirade, the bird lady took a step back from my enthusiasm. <”Ah. You know… I don’t like birds. They have it out for me. I think they’re planning something. I don’t even like the taste of birds. Too many bones...oh wait. Chickens. Do they count?”> My ears flicked up. <”Your sister isn’t a chicken….about this big...brown? Cause if so I’m sorry but I ate her.”>

Stare blinked in astonishment, then felt the cold hard stab of irritation. Furiously she shook her head, and clicked loud and angry. <“Kenku are more than fowl. Chickens are similar to us, but not our sisters. We eat them too.”> She glared. <“Not sisters. If I found you eating a crow though I'd be really annoyed. They are our kin, the clever ones. Chickens are idiots.”>

Folding her arms and now pretty offended she kept staring at me. A series of angry mutters came like whispers from her beak.

OK...so I understood half of that. She said something about eating crows? Come to think of it...she looked a little like one. Frankly… I was just thankful we were able to have a conversation in a civilised language.< “No…I don’t eat crows...they’re….spooky.”> I said as I wrapped my arms around themselves. <“Always planning...always plotting… always staring! I don’t do anything to them! But they always look like they’re going to attack me!”> I huffed.

The strange bird person kept her eyes on me so I shifted to walk away. <”Ah.. Okay, well….I’m going to...go this way now...:”> I said as I turned to move away from her. I needed to find Barchies shop still, and this place was so gosh darn big!

<”Let me reiterate. That thing inside of you, doesn’t it hurt?”>

My ears flattened. Why was the bird thing following me? Maybe if I answered its questions, it’d leave me the gosh darn heck alone. <”If you are talking about the festering angry red soul inside me, yes. It hurts. I swear I even hear whispers at night. It’s not too bad I guess. Better than feeling completely empty.”>

Stare let out an understanding breath. <”So it's not healthy after all. Maybe you should get it seen to.”>

Souls were curious things after all. They could change, dramatically, over a person's life in terms of the way Stare saw them. Many different colours, many variations. Stare thought about this for a while, and opened her beak to start again … when she noticed the cat girl had entirely now gone.

She had been walking now for a full ten minutes, her eyes swinging back and forth. Confused as to why she was here partly anyway. Did it really need her to come and find a brewery that needed buying? Slowly she huffed and started back up the street she had been on, remembering that there had been a wholesaler of barrels of beer and wine. It was highly possible that in there she would be able to enquire about a brewery that may need buying up.

She passed plenty of people, coming and going about their daily lives. Humans, elves, goblins, orcs - this city truly was a metropolis for the masses. Of course she knew about the civil war and what it had left behind in tatters. And the Ixian Castle with its knights had not been heard of in so long. Truly this was a city that teetered on a knife edge between chaos and order, with hundreds of inns, fight-houses and brothels to its claim.

As she got to the place where she was sure the wholesaler was, Stare paused and then looked across the street. Her brow furrowed as she looked with focus and couldn't quite believe her eyes but yes. There, there she was the funny cat person from earlier. The one who had sped away. Stare took a moment to consider if the cat wanted directions - in all honesty she looked lost, and the lack of knowing the common tongue would not serve well here.

The indecision caught her for a moment, wondering if she should help or leave it. She - Eteri - had run from her, clearly not wanting company.

The kenku eventually began to turn, moving to go forwards to the wholesaler and not to the blue-haired nekojin. But as she did a large man with a larger woman suddenly were swinging in the same direction and - WHAM.

Stare was shoved in the opposite direction, far away from her intended destination. Instead she was chucked right at Eteri. Whom she collided with, with an angry thumping sound.

They fell on the ground in an ugly, sprawled tangle. Stare had a scowl in her eyes but immediately began apologising.

<”Sorry.”>

One minute I was minding my own business, trying to find my way to Barchie’s store. I was staring at a particular shopfront which looked strangely familiar, as though I had seen it three times...just that day…

Ah!

Oh Dangit I was going around in circles. I sighed and turned on my heel to try and retrace my steps when -

CRASH!

“G-Gah!” I immediately hissed, clawed hands trying to swipe at whatever big black giant thing had tackled me to the floor. I bit down but my mouth didn’t hit flesh, instead...wait….feathers I turned my head to the side, ‘Bleh!’ I spat out the two I had accidently ripped off. I rolled out from underneath the giant bird and scratched my tongue. “Bleh..Bleh….” I did not like the taste.

Then, I heard it, a growled clicky mumble in Akashimian. My ears swiveled forward and I paused. It was that bird creature from before not only that but she was still speaking Akashimian...come to think of it…

<”How do you articulate other languages with yanno…”> I wasn’t sure how to say it politely, so I just up and said it. Better than trying to beat around the bushes right? <”A beak? Like...no lips? Is that magic? Or are you just super talented?”>

Unsteadily Stare stumbled to her feet, using a hand to steady herself. Only partly was she looking at Eteri, a grumble in her throat. She took time to answer the questions - ones about her physical appearance, everyone was so interested in that all the time.

<”I have a throat still. Have beak, no lips. Every kenku can speak a few languages.”> She shifted fully upright and looked right at the catgirl. <”Akashiman, kenku and common. We are taught. We just speak.”> She shrugged.

I blinked, so they could all speak three languages? Here I was struggling with two. <”See! That’s why I don’t trust birds. They’re too smart!”> I huffed as I stood up and dusted myself off. <”Always planning...speaking all sorts of languages...gah….”>

I turned my attention back to the street...so I had gone left, then left,then left…. Oh… no wonder I ended up in a circle. I think Barchies shop was left left right? Or was it right, right left. I gave a frustrated grumble as I stretched. Maybe it’d just be better if I climbed a random building and took a nap...that’d help rejuvenate me.

The giant bird next to me….what did she call herself? Kenkoo? Made a noise as to clear her throat, and to gain my attention.

<”I had planned to ask you before, but you ran off. Don’t you think you should get that looked at?”> She pointed to my chest with a protruded leathery appendage I could only assume was her species version of a finger.

<”Eh?”> I glanced down at my chest. Was she talking about that thing I took from Madison? <”Maybe. Right now it’s not too much of a bother. Just keeps me up at night sometimes. I’ll eventually get it looked at, but I really don’t want to go back home to do that. I’d rather let it sort itself out. Maybe it just needs a nice warm place for a while.”> I said with a toothy grin. I knew that wasn’t how souls worked, but I thought it was a pretty funny joke. And...avoiding my home town was at the top of my list of priorities, aside from eating and sleeping. Yeh...life was pretty easy right now.

<”Well. I’m going to go…”> I paused, trying to figure out which direction I should turn. <”That way now.”> I pointed down a street I had yet to wander down. Best case scenario, I’d find Barchie’s store, worst case - I’d find new things. So, win/win to me.

Stare watched as the cat-folk woman - the nekojin began wondering away again. Tilting her head she gazed at the hole at the heart of Eteri, huffing slightly with concern. Certainly, it was not normal. Did she collect all of those other snippets of souls just for compensation? To have them shimmer around her, dance and be like it was that she had her own? Can one weave a full soul together out of the fragments of many?

Apparently not. There was still the void. With an ugly black sliver within.

The kenku blinked as she watched the catgirl begin to wander away again. She felt a gleam of interest in her, but really … it was obvious this one wanted to be left alone. Though …

Clearly she was lost. Looking left and right and swishing that long tail with anxiety. It was almost a shame - almost and yes, Stare did feel pity for her. Respect for her privacy that she wanted to walk away from the kenku. Also, regard, and concern - but now she had voiced that concern. Which left respect to deal with, and pity.

Therefore she would not intercede until it was necessary. She inactively trailed the catwoman for a while She did not make it obvious, but rather kept looking up every so often, walking and then pausing. Several times Eteri walked in circles, several times they passed the wholesaler's.

Passed it once. Twice. Thrice.

Okay this one was really lost. Carefully the kenku arranged herself into her path.

<“Oh look you again,”> Stare said, looking surprised as if they had bumped surprisingly into each other. <“What are you doing here still? Are you lost?”>

I blinked. This Kenku was following me. Why? <”Oh look. Bird again. Plotting again.”> I chided, puffing up my cheeks. I was convinced that she was going to lead me away, cook me and eat me or something. Sneaky little things!

The bird woman didn’t respond, just stared at me - waiting for an answer. <”Not lost. Well… maybe a little bit lost, but in the end...I guess...I just ended up wandering. Why? What’s with you following me?”> My eyes narrowed. <”You’re not going to eat me are you?”>


The bird woman looked at the being oddly, a tilt to her head. <”Not following you. But, I saw you …>” she paused, trying to excuse herself. <“Again. And I don't eat cats. Too much fur.”>

It sounded….suspicious to say the least. Not following her, but just so happened to see her? And what? Approach again? <”When I see people… I don’t normally approach them constantly…”> My tail flicked side to side as I wrinkled my nose. <”If we go get something to eat can you tell me why you seem to be so interested in me?”>

Stare paused before blinking, and seemed to consider that food was an alright suggestion. After all, crows get hungry too. She nodded, though cautiously.

I nodded. <”Right.”> Admittedly.... It was much easier speaking in Akashiman. My grasp on tradespeak was juvenile at best and it wasn’t always good..no, nope. Not at all. At least it let me get away with a lot of things with people thinking I was younger than I am. I offered the bird a toothy grin. <”What is your name anyway?”>

<“Well, I get called Stare …”> Her tone was still wary.

Stare. The creatures name was Stare. I guess that made sense, she had big beady black eyes and it did feel like she was… well staring right through you. I shivered as I headed toward the nearest cafe, letting my nose guide me. It was a little unnerving...was that how people felt when they found out I could see their souls?

I barged into the cafe, the bells chimed and an alarmed portly lady stared right at me. She wore white, white and more white. Apron, dress, and a bandana that spinndly light orange hairs poked out of. “Excusing! Need the tables please!” I exclaimed.

She nodded and ushered us to a table, in the back corner. Away from everyone and as far away from the eyes of passerbys if they were to look into the store. I huffed. <“Rude...we’re not that strange…”> I muttered. <“Mmm Maybe you Stare… You don’t see many….ah… Kenku was it? Around here. Still… did they have to put us in the back corner?”> I was annoyed. I picked up the menu and stared at it.

I couldn’t read tradespeak but it felt better to angrily stare at the menu and imagining that it had burst into flames.

She sat for a while, watching the nekojin confusedly and angrily staring at the menu. Her brows rose and she wondered just now had a person survived for this long out of Akashima with such a tendency to be lost and a lack of knowledge of tradespeak such as hers. Kenku were educated in three languages as children that they all knew fluently by the age of ten, and it served them well. Stare wondered why the same wasn't for nekojin and just what Eteri's past it was that had made her so …

Well. Like this. Soulless, able to see souls, remarkably innocent and clueless. Absolutely clueless, was Stare's working ability for this person.

Sighing she leant across and jabbed a claw at several main sections on the menu. <“Sandwiches, soups, potatoes, salads, breads,”> she listed off. <“You really should learn how to read properly and read. It is much better for … well, everything.”> She gave a quick scan of her own menu. <“What do you want to drink? Tea?”>

<”It’s hard for me...I’ve always struggled with that sort of thing...My sister is fluent in a few languages. I just….”> She paused and squinted at the menu, <”No meat?”> She whined as her ears fell flat against her head. She seemed disappointed. <”I don’t like potatoes….they make me bloated...no rice either? Uhmm…. “> She grew more flustered. <”No noodles… no rice… why is it always bread….I guess whatever sandwich has the most meat in it….”>

She blinked and looked up at Stare. <”Tea? Oh...Yes...yes that is good.”>

Stare glanced down at the menu, looking at the various sandwiches. The terms were a little fancy, marking this place out as somewhat high society. A frown appeared in her eyes as she looked around the room and where they were sat - only now really noticing how far they were from everyone else - before she replied.

<“Chicken, beef, turkey are the options. And rice is basically a staple of Akashima and nowhere else. Not even the kenku community. We eat …”> She paused. <“Meat mostly. So, what one?”>

She huffed. <”I mostly eat meat...I’d almost rather go out and just pick something off in the forest...ahhh that's so far away though. Chicken. I guess…”>

Stare took a moment to tilt her head at and survey the odd cat creature with such a casual, throwaway way of talking. A lot more relaxing than the formal words of her employer. It was somewhat like a breath of fresh air actually, and Stare began to consider that Eteri wasn't so clueless. Just very good at walking in circles.

The kenku raised a claw in the hand and beckoned over the reluctant waitress. The girl hid a frown badly as she came over.

No need to look so glum, Stare thought as she tried to smile, but with a beak for a mouth it is hard. “One chicken sandwich, and a potato with turkey, please,” she tried to add an undeserving pleasant tone to her voice. “And … two pots of tea, milk and sugar. Please.”

The waitress gave a fake smile before nodding and heading off. Stare rolled her eyes.

<“Well there's a racist for you.”>

I watched the lady walk away. Racist...yeh...that sounded right. I wondered if it was because of Stare, or me, or the both of us. Regardless. It was a little stupid. Sure, I wasn’t too keen on Stare. I wouldn’t want to be alone with her in a dark alley. Or any giant bird for that matter, but it didn’t mean that I was going to just throw her into an out of the way corner somewhere.

<”I think we shouldn’t pay. We eat. We run. Serves them right. This place gives me the creeps anyway.”> I said as I picked up a flower from the tables centrepiece. “It feels too pristine.”>

Stare looked at me in horror. <“Not pay? The waitress may be rude but she still needs to make a living. She'd be punished, maybe out of a job.”> She paused. <“We pay as that is right. But we can leave a very obvious complaint about her attitude.”>

I sighed and placed my elbows on the table, then my face into my hands as I stared at the strange bird creature before me. goody-toe-shoes kenku… So.. she could see souls too, but in a different way to me. Perception was a strange thing. I remember learning that different races and religions all saw the soul differently. In both the literal and figurative sense, so any studies on it were all based on theory through practise.

<”Hey… you didn’t really keep bumping into me did you?”> I paused and tried to read any sort of expression on her. There was none that I could see. <”Why?”>

The kenku took a moment and blinked a couple of times before staring daggers. <“I don't know what you mean,”> she lied a little too poorly.

<”I’m not smart. But I’m not that stupid.”> I pointed to her. <”This big city, with all its people… and you just so happen to bump into me that many times? You can tell me you don’t want me to know. But don’t lie to me!”> My fur on my ears bristled at the last sentence left my lips. “<I hate it when people do that.”> Of course… I guess was being a tad hypocritical. I did try to trick people, many a time - but rarely, if ever did I outright lie to them. Especially with such a direct question. Who on earth has time to keep up with all those lies?

<”You keep...uh..staring at me, and it's not just your name its your eyes.”>

The kenku eyed me cautiously. <“Staring is my thing. Get used to it. I picked up the nickname because I do it. A lot. And …”> she shifted a little, then grunted. <“I was telling part of the truth. I was not intentionally following you, rather I was looking for a wholesaler and then saw you again. Again. Two streets over. Clearly you were lost, and a fat man bumped into me, which sent me into your path ... so then I followed you and … meeting.”>

This conversation was getting a little awkward, did she know she was dancing around the question or was it an accidental thing? I groaned. <”Yes but WHY. Why not leave me alone? I thought if we at least got something to eat you’d tell me. Instead of….”> I gestured toward her, frustrated. <”This!”>

“You were lost,”> Stare said as if it was entirely obvious. Which she thought it was. Leaning back she carefully folded the menu before laying it to the side and narrowing her eyes at Eteri.

<“You were lost, so I tried to help. Forgive me for trying. You suggested lunch. I would have helped you find where you wanted to go if you had asked. But you seemed determined to find what you wanted.”>

<”I don’t care if I get lost. It just gives me new places to explore. I mean I don’t exactly have a home or a destination so can I ever really be that lost?”>

The kenku shrugged. She fell silent for a moment, stretching and looked out at the room. Her eyes blinked around and she breathed slow.

<“When … when did you leave Akashima?”> Stare suddenly asked, realising suddenly that she had a chance to find out what had happened to that fair country. She had gone little over eight months ago just after her final family member had died. <“How is it? I haven't heard of anything … of how it is.”>

Eteri tilted her head to the side. Feline ears flicked curiously at the question. <”A few years ago. I did not like it there. I did not like how I was treated. So I left.”>

Desperately she was trying to change the conversation from her curiosity over the woman, but also was she eager to find out really what had been happening in these last few months. In the world in general, but Akashima was priority of course. That world of rich texture and colour, honour and family.

<“I haven't been in there for a long time, sorry,”> she said quietly, thinking about her home as the food came. She drew back from the table, giving room for it to be set down. The good smell of freshly brewed tea came to their lungs. It was a good, bold, honest smell the reminded her of comfort.

<“Looks good,”> she mumbled, picking up a weak piece of salad. It flopped miserably before she popped it in her beak. Down it went as her head tilted back.

Casually, she began to pour tea for them both. <“So where were you going then, Eteri cat-girl? Perhaps I can help you find it.”>

<”Nowhere. Was looking for a friend who wanders through this area sometimes.”>

Stare blinked her huge black eyes. <“What shop though? Or is there a corner that is where you are going? I know Raiaera a little.”>

What shop? Oh...Eteri didn’t remember. She just always knew it as ‘Archie’s Shop’ Eteri turned away from from the crow like woman as she sheepishly laughed. <”Ah..haha… I - don’t recall the name. I’m not good with reading. I just know it as Barchie’s shop. I have a friend named Ven who frequents there often and - ah.”> Eteri turned back to Stare who seemed like she was trying to help.

Eteri didn’t feel like she needed help but she appreciated the sentiment. Thing is - she wasn’t sure how to show that appreciation to the other woman. She already tried offering the kenku a soul vial but she wasn’t interested. <”Thank you.”> I said. It was all I really had. I mean… I personally thought that the words didn’t have a lot of bearing they were just words… and to me actions or things spoke louder than that but it felt right to say them to her.

<”I think I will be okay just exploring. Barchies shop is like… a second hand general store. Trades information for things.”> I tapped my lip. <”Come to think of it...he seems to entertain some unsavory people.. oh...Oh but Ven is really, really nice. So is Barchie!”> I quickly added. Stare didn’t seem like the type who liked that sort of thing. Heck, she wouldn’t even let us run out on a bill and get the racist woman fired.

<“If you don't want the help … but you were wandering around for ages,”> the kenku eyed me suspiciously. <“I think you cannot find it.”> She paused. <“I don't meet people of my homeland often. The offer is there. I don't know the name off hand but there is a place I was heading. Close by.”> She took up her sandwich and pecked off a large bite before swallowing it whole. <“We can head there together and maybe the man there can help us find your … Barchie.”> She gave me a big, black stare.

I stared back at her..well...stare...dammit, that was too hard. She’d win every time. I wonder, if she used that to her advantage, like, go into staring contests and then win them every single time. It’d be a good way to make coin. I had to ask her about that later.

Wait..what was she saying?

Oh. <”Oh!”> I exclaimed. <”I’m not doing anything. I can probably tag along. I don’t have much better to do right now. But if I see my friend I’ll go off with him.”>

The crow woman smiled...I think? It was really hard to tell. I only caught it because I was looking at her eyes, and they did that little crinkley thing people did when they smiled. Wow..being kenku must be frustrating. She gave me a nod and looked back to her food. <“That is settled then,”> she said.

I looked back down to my food with distaste, I was hungry...but not hungry enough to eat dried bread, I picked at the meat and ate that part. <”We can still run and not pay…”> I muttered.

The kenku ignored me, and continued to eat.

They were out of the café now. Stare had insisted on paying, despite the racist, rude waitress. In her words, it was 'quite unfair if they did not.’ So she had paid with her own money, and not left a tip but rather marched out alongside Eteri.

Now they walked down the street, and the kenku found joy in the sun warming her feathers. It would take little time before her deep black colour soaked up much of the heat and made her feel like a roll of bread in the oven. Sometimes having feathers did not help at all, especially black ones, but today was not a warm day. Rather, it was mild and a chill wind was now sneaking through the streets, but a bright sun was overhead. Stare could use it to her advantage, soaking in the light to patter along dressed only in a tunic as others around her hugged capes and shawls to themselves.

She gestured to the side of the road where the brewer wholesalers she had seen earlier was. With a brief glance to see if the cat girl was still with her she headed over to it, finally after passing it so many times, and looked briefly up and down at the front. Then she walked straight in, shoulders back.

A long, large room, made of dark wood. Mostly dominated by a huge counter that bisected the space by half. Behind it lining the wall were various small barrels stacked on top of one another, with taps set within them. In front of these was a single large man with a large frown and deep set eyes. He was just cleaning a glass with a dirty cloth when Stare marched up to the desk.

“You,” she said. “Greetings. My name is Stare. I represent Ellsmith Business Estates. I will be looking to make business connections but for now …” She looked at him. “Do you know a place called Barchie’s?”

She looked back to Eteri, smiling at her. <“That's the name right?”>

Eteri had her finger out, ready to touch one of the wares on the shelf, she saw Stare and quickly straightened, bringing her hand back to herself.

She turned back to the man and nodded. “Barchies. So?”

But the man seemed to just stare at her. His brow remained low and he made no movement to answer. Stare sighed as she supposed that he was just another racist in this city that was celebrated for its diversity. She pressed her torso against the wood and stared deep, catching him in her stunning eyes.

“Merchant! I am asking you if you know of a place called Barchie’s?”

He was lost. His jaw hung open and he stared back at her surprisingly stupidly. He did nothing but gaze at her … and kept going even as she stopped focusing. Frowning, Stare pulled away and raised a hand to wave it in his face. Usually this did not happen. People did not just freeze as he had just done. Instead they were only lost in fear and shock.

He did nothing and she huffed. “Hello?” she asked. Again, no answer. Only frozen, with a lost look in his eyes.

Folding her arms she decided to switch into aura sight out of habit mostly. She expected to see the normal green aura of a neutral bystander, as most ordinary people were, and this she did see.

What she was surprised by, however, was the dark black squirming thing stuck onto the side of the man’s aura, and thus his soul, that was ugly and like a worm. Rather literally.

In fact … it was like a leech.

I wasn’t going to touch the - ok I was… I was going to touch the bottle. I just wanted to see what was inside of it, maybe open it, sniff it and taste it. Oh but not steal it or use it. But that woman's look, the way she - no, she’d probably tell me it was wrong to do such a thing.

<”Ahh I wasn’t going to touch that.”>

Stare gestured with a clawed hand for me to come over. I wriggled my nose and approached. She pointed to the man before her. <”Eteri, what do you see?”>

<”Eh?”> I turned to the man. <”Eew..”> His soul was infected. I had seen this before. There were different types of species of these things. <”That is a...ahh...we call it soul leech but I think other people call it different things….”> I pursed my lips and my eyes furrowed as I tried to recall what other names it was known as. <”Uhm...infestation...virus...sim...simbottle? No…”>

<”Symbiote?”> Stare offered.

I nodded. <”Yes! That!”> I wasn’t going to repeat the word. It was foreign and hard enough to say as is. <”Soul weavers run into these sometimes… they aren’t hard to remove if you are a soul seamstress but without knowing what kind it is - well it’s reckless.”> I gave Stare a toothy grin.

<”Good thing that’s what I’m known for!”>

And so I reached out to clasp the man's soul with little to no regard to myself, or to Stare's detriment - those around me.

Stare hissed. <“Be more polite about it,”> her eyes were wrinkled in disgust. <“He's clearly suffering. Don't just …”> She looked at the man and pushed her huge beak closer to his face.

“CAN. YOU. HEAR. ME?” she shouted at him.

The man did not react and she sighed, and gestured back at me. <“Damn. I think I broke him. I guess … go for it, but be gentle.”>

<”Gentle! I will try!”> I didn’t try. I mean, I did -sorta buuuut as I tugged at the soul it didn’t move. The soul leech or Symbiote as Stare called it made it heavier. I tugged nice and gentle, lightly like she asked. <”No go. Pain it is!”> I said as I tugged harder the soul came loose and with it came the screeching little beast. My ears fell back to the flat of my head as it’s shrill cry. <”L-loud…”>

Stare blinked and looked at me as she frowned. <“I said 'gently’,”> she growled over the noise. Her eyes were screwed up in dislike.

<”I tried! That will scream no matter what because we’re disrupting its warm cozy home now..”> I jutted my hip out to the bird, wriggling them till my satchel came to her. <”Open that and get ready to scoop up the leech. I’m going to cut off the infected part.”>

Stare did not like the way this was going, but she did not like the noise either. Moreover she did not like the fact the man had the symbiote soul. Right now, this really was the only way this was happening and she could not remove souls - only Eteri could. Thus, the situation was forced, and actions already decided.

Shoving her hand into the satchel she pulled out a handful of vials. Her eyes scoured until she saw an empty one and she let the rest fall back into the bag with a light tinkle. Unstopping this one she bared it ready, eyes like daggers on the infecting bastard.

“Go!” she yelled in common over the horrible noise.

Eteri pulled the soul taught with one hand and with her other she shuffled around in her bag for a pair of scissors. She was accurate, and delicate as she placed the scissors into the man's soul, creating a small tear. The symbiote screamed and hissed at her hands as the halfbreed carefully snipped the piece of soul that it was attached to. In a last ditch effort to survive the creature latched out and bit Eteri’s hand. She flinched and gave a pained mewl, but continued her work with a professional and methodical approach. She pulled a few loose threads and the symbiote fell into the vial. Stare snapped it shut.

Eteri had gently stitched it back together. The soul shimmered and began to return to a soft green hue ad she let it go and it wafted back into the man. Stare held up the vial to a keen black eye, staring at it with some intrigue.

<“It's a bit … ugly,” she said, “Like really ugly.”>

Indeed, it had tiny antennae now she saw it and along its body thousands of little feet with nasty claws that had dug into the man's soul's flesh. What was worst though was that they were all different sizes and shapes - some serrated, others just straight-edged knives and they could clearly cause some form of agony if they so desired.

She shook her head with distaste and held out the vial to Eteri. As she did her eyes snapped up to see the merchant beginning to come to his senses.

“Whaaaa’ …”

She sighed.

“Greetings. My name is Stare. I represent Ellsmith Business Estates, which has currently bought the Celestial Brewery.” The man blinked, but then raised a brow. Good. That was a good indication. “Have you heard of a place called Barchies? Its a general store, apparently.”

The merchant gazed back at her a moment before floundering.

“Eh … yeah, yeah. Barchies … there's a general store owned by a guy named Archie if that is what you are looking for?”

I didn’t exactly want the gross soul leech. The things could live for years without sustenance, and I didn’t want it escaping into my satchel and gobbling up all the souls I had kept away. Still. It might be useful. I could use it to threaten someone, or as a bartering tool.

Maybe someone would buy it from me. I could pretend it was a rare and exotic creature and get a thousand gold. No, ten-thousand gold! I gave Stare a smirk as I shoved the vial deep into the satchel.

She wasn’t looking at me, instead she was conversing with the man. Oh. He healed up quickly. The creature must not have been there for very long. I guess that’s a good thing? I mean - if he had died then all his stuff would have been mine. Err… ours - I probably would have to share it with Stare. Oh well.

“Ah!” I exclaimed as I slammed my hands down on the benchtop, jarring both the man and Stare from their conversation. “Yes! Barchie! That is place! Place Eteri go!”

Stare nodded and looked back to the man. “Could you draw us a map perhaps? Or describe where it is?”

The man blinked before he nodded and said some words and phrases in common that seemed to be full of meaning. At least the kenku nodded as if she understood, but once or twice I saw her frown and ask him to repeat what he said. After a while of this Stare finally nodded and turned to me.

“Right,” she said, “I think I have it. Shall we?” She gestured at the door.

My ears tapered as I stared at the Kenku. She had switched back to tradespeak. I could understand her fine, but it felt...disappointing I couldn’t hear my native tongue anymore. Ah. Oh well!. I gave Stare a nod and followed her out the door.

For a bird, she actually wasn’t half bad. She spoke my language. That was a plus. She wouldn’t let me run out on the bill, ehhh… I suppose it was good to have morals. She gestured me to follow, I had nothing better to do.

<”You...did a good thing back there.”>

I tilted my head at the Kenku’s words. <”Mmm? With the soul leech?”>

<”Symbiote yes. Is- your hand ok?”> Stare glanced down to my swollen hand.

Oh...I lifted up my hand. It...did not look pretty. Where the creature had bitten me there was a mark surrounded by a gray tinge. It was also very swollen. I tried to wiggle my fingers but they didn’t respond. “Mmmmm….” I poked the skin. It felt squishy.

<”I think it has a numbing bite. It should wear off in a few hours. Uhm...maybe. Probably.”>

I gave it a wave and watched my hand flop around in mild amusement, I turned to stare who narrowed her eyes and looked away.

Stare cleared her throat. <”That is not healthy. We are now at your … Barchie’s.”>

Oh! I looked to the store that she had gestured to and my face lit up. <”Yes! Barchie’s store~”> I half skipped over to the window and pressed my face to it to see if Ven was in there. I saw an old man behind the counter who upon seeing me winced then waved. <”That’s Barchie.”>

I turned to look at Stare again. <”I would have found this place eventually. But thank you I think. Maybe.”> It wasn’t the best form of thanks, but I wasn’t good at that sort of thing. Not with words. So instead I stepped in and wrapped my arms around Stare’s slender frame. She stiffened in my grasp.

I stepped away and wrinkled my nose. She felt odd. All feathery. But warm. <”You’re not bad for a Kenku.”>

The kenku was still caught off guard by my hug. Her eyes were wide and she simply stared at me as I smiled and walked off.

I gave her a final wave before ducking into the store, holding my arms out wide. “BARCHIE!” I shouted in delight.

He did not look like he shared my enthusiasm

-closed, no Judgment-
Eteri Receives 1030 EXP and 110 Gold!
Stare Receives 1190 EXP and 100 Gold!

EXP/GP Added!