Zhijiru's village, Talrasha, was a quite populated area, but the houses were mostly made out of simple straw, wood, and rarely brick or stone. The house that his family left behind after they died was one of the cheaper made straw and wood houses. Because there wasn't enough family members to delegate any tasks to anymore, the house was already half crumbled due to his long travels. Each time he returned the house was in a poorer condition than when he left it. Sometimes, signs that indicated it wasn't just nature's doing. And he didn't have the time, energy, or money to keep fixing it again and again. He decided it was time for him to save up money to buy a better house that could stand up on it's own for a longer time. Maybe invest in a lock. He expected that it would take years though.
In the early morning before he set out to the marketplace he grabbed what few gold, silver, and copper coins he had in a bag and quickly dashed into a forested area near his house. He stood in a clearing, checked the landmarks and dug into the ground using a thin stone and his bare hands. He buried some coins.
He had learned from past experiences to not leave money in his house, or keep too much money on him. Villagers, despite usually scoffing at a distance, also stole from him when he was away. It was desperate times in a once close and happy community. He kept a few coins with him, in case he needed to buy equipment, food, shelter, or other items to barter with. He buried the rest, knowing well that the forests were deemed as cursed for what happened to himself and others. No one would come here looking for coins. Villagers avoided this area as much as possible. Zhijiru took a short cut home off the path, nearly tripping on a corpse. But that was normal around the cursed forest.
After returning home he packed his goods in his wagon. Two hens, a rooster, eggs, his dog Diesel, a young Norwegian Elkhound, and various but few crops, food, and the last two sets of china his mother used to make by hand and sell by the dozens. Lastly, the last sword his father made, hoping to get at least 100 gold coins for it. He always resisted displaying it for sale, because of his fear of departing from it and the memories of his father along with it. His wagon was being pulled by a single ox. His last strong ox. If he lost him, he would have to travel and sell wares by foot.
After he finished filling his cart he guided his ox along past the busy streets by walking alongside it. It was dangerous otherwise, a kid might startle it as a prank. People from the village averted their gaze from Zhijiru. Either they were afraid that he would also curse them, or that they believed that they were above him. One large man spat in his face as he passed by. Zhijiru rubbed it off and kept going. It wasn't unusual treatment, but rage was still welling up inside him. After the streets cleared up he climbed up the wagon front and drove the ox to the busy marketplace that linked up several towns and villages. Some of which, Zhijiru have not visited or heard of. The lonely drive always helped calm him down.
By the time he reached the market and set up shop it was in the afternoon. He set up everything for display in a stall in front of his wagon, his ox tied up to the wagon next to it. The only thing hidden was the sword and half of the money he carried with him. Business was going slowly, as usual. Not often did people want to buy from a dirty poor kid. Sometimes Zhijiru thought the sales he got were just to humor or pity him.
Luca popped up beside Zhijiru's market stall. He had been there earlier by a few hours. He would not normally do that, but the potion shop he used to work in burned down mysteriously, along with its owner. Well, he got his payday before that, so he could last a bit before having to find work again.
"Jiru! You're late!" chirped Luca. He grabbed an apple, and looked upon every corner of it. Looked fine. Probably tasted good, and worked well as an alchemical component. Placing a silver coin on the wagon, Luca bit into the apple and munched noisily.
With a grin and a wink at Zhijiru, he leaned on the wagon and looked skywards. "Everything the same, huh? I wanted to ask my employer if she knew a way to cure your eye, but it kind of went tits up when she died in a fire. Any news?"
Finishing the apple, he threw the core into a nearby ditch.
GM
"Jiru! You're late!" chirped Luca.
"Oh God, not Luca," Zhijiru thought.
There was always something contagious about Luca's cheerfulness that somehow always caught Zhijiru by surprise, it was more of the idea or concept of Luca that annoyed him. That damn silver hair reminded him of his father. Zhijiru never spoke about his father to Luca, but the opposite personalities made the encounters more bearable. They were clearly not the same person. Zhijiru took the coin and placed it out of sight and under the wagon.
"My house, if you want to call that garbage heap, is a wreck. I need to move out, build a new one, or buy one." Zhijiru slumped over his stall counter. "But a few silver coins each trip to the market won't help me. I'll be an old man before I can change anything, and that'll only be if I don't get robbed until then." Zhijiru looked back at the wagon, inside had his father's sword hidden. He knew he'd never sell it, but always contemplated the 'what if' if he did.
"And stop trying to get me cured, I feel like something is wrong with me enough as it is." Zhijiru itched the bandage that covered his eye. He diagonally wrapped white bandages around his head and over his left eye and left ear. It wasn't the most classy way to cover his affliction, but he didn't know any pirates.
"Aww," Luca cooed. He popped around to one of the hens and starting poking around it. The hen clucked disparagingly, as if proud of itself even as it sat in the cage with the other, more timid chicken.
"Ya' haven't reached the 'twilight of your life', yet, Jiru!" Luca waved his hand out in a grandiose gesture as he said 'twilight', imitating the deep voice of the average well-spoken storyteller. "The day is young! Do something! Maybe if you can train hard, and get a proper eyepatch..."
Luca pondered on the thought. He imagined Zhijiru, wearing a set of full platemail. A black eye-patch covering his afflicted eye, and a greatsword hanging from his back. A well-trained mercenary ready to fight for gold, God or country, and a little sexy too.
"Zhijiru, the Land Pirate! Zhijiru the Iron!" he rattled off potential nicknames as he poked the annoyed hen. "Zhijiru the Dark Knight. Zhijiru the—"
The young man yelped as the hen bit his finger, and clucked disapprovingly as he snatched his hand away from the cage. "You need to tame this hen before she goes on a rampage, Jiru," said Luca, poking his head around the corner of the wagon to look at the shopkeeper right in the face with a toothy grin. "She's a natural-born killer, I tell you! Arm her with a sword and she will take down knights and kings!"
Luca laughed, rubbing his sore, chicken-bit finger.
GM
Zhijiru pulled Luca's finger in front of his face to look at it. The beak of his hens were sharp, mostly because they were wild. It likely would have cut into the skin, at least. But when he saw that it didn't, his eye throbbed at him. He gently squeezed the finger, and a single drop came out. "Don't just leave it open!" Zhijiru said, referring to the wounded finger. put one hand into his pocket and pulled out some spare bandages. He licked the blood off of Luca's finger and wrapped it in a bandage. Zhijiru did it without thinking, especially since he got an infection in his eye from leaving it open at the wrong place at the wrong time. As rare as the parasite in his eye was, he didn't want to risk it on a friend-- but as the seconds went on, he realized that was probably not something he should have done, and looked away a slight bit embarrassed. "A-Anyways. There aren't much heroes here. And not any I'd have the courage to approach. Maybe if I had something to offer them in return they would consider training me."
Luca's face turned red the moment he saw Zhijiru's tongue stick out. Where the tongue went wasn't as worrying as the fact that he had suddenly thought of it in the first place, but that didn't help.
"T-thanks." Luca forced out his appreciation, even as the environment between the two just became a lot more nerve-wracking. His father told him once that "Make people laugh if you can't do anything to help."
"A... curse is almost as good as a talent," muttered Luca, staring at the bandaged finger. The linens Zhijiru spent on this bandage were generous, more so than Luca would have bothered putting on himself.
"And you're alive. That's what you can offer them." He scratched his hair a little nervously. "If that helps at all. LOOK AT THE LOVELY WEATHER TODAY!" Luca shouted out to the sky in a ridiculous attempt to change the subject, and even the passers-by noticed Luca's yelling.
With a quiet, mild-mannered squeak, Luca retreated to the hens, and glared at the feisty chicken who bit him. "I'm buying you for supper."
"Cluck!" the chicken replied. It sounded like it said: "Bring it, bitch!"
GM
You could imagine, Zhijiru sinking slow on his counter and covering his face as the people starred in the direction of Luca's exclamation. He peeked out past his arm watching the people go by after realizing it was nothing. "You seem very itchy for adventure today. All this talk about heroes and such. And honestly, it's starting to get to me." Zhijiru paused, "In a good way-- I mean. Maybe I should close up early and we could do something. Not sure what though..."
Zhijiru paused, taking a deep breath. "It's not like I have parents that can stop me from being irresponsible anymore." He said it, not at all feeling like the death of his family was holding him down, but somehow freeing. He took another inhale, not as deep.
Then he sat down and held up Diesel the Norwegian Elkhound on his lap. "Or maybe I could just stay here and be a good boy, make money... and such," he said, nodding to himself in approval.
"You could get drunk and shag the waitresses." Luca laughed at the mental image.
"Cluck!" the hen clucked at him, turning her head right after she did so.
Luca glared back at the chicken. "You say that again, and I'm plucking the feathers off you, one by one." Of course, Luca couldn't understand chicken speech, but he guessed what the chicken said and replied appropriately.
"Cluck. Cluck." Translation: I'll bite your fucking balls off.
"Good luck with that, dinner," Luca snorted. That was physically impossible, for reasons he'd rather not discuss.
"Cluck!" Translation: Eunuch!
Luca shook his head. "Jiru, I'm buying this spiteful oversized dinner. How much?" He popped his head back to the counter, looking at Zhijiru... and his dog. Luca was a cat person, but Diesel was a big sweetheart that he could tolerate.
"You're not making money, Zhijiru, the way you handle business. I've seen funeral homes with more customer loyalty."
GM
Before Zhijiru could retort back, a woman who appeared to be in higher social class than himself appeared. Her clothing was of a simple farmer, but it was a lot cleaner and she appeared to be wearing light make-up. "You seem like a lively bunch," she smiled. "I see that you have chicke--" Zhijiru pointed quickly to the exact chicken that Luca was talking too, "I have this fiiiine chicken here, only for 20 silver." Zhijiru usually sold his chickens for 10 silver, but this was his way of getting back at Luca's comment. Diesel hopped off Jiru's lap, and had an interest in the woman, slowly approaching her.
Luca sighed, and just walked to Zhijiru's side. 20 silver was too rich for his blood. Zhijiru was definitely overcharging the woman. Perhaps he was really so destitute that he needed every opportunity.
"Sure, 20 silver it is, Jiru. Does the lady want to buy?" chirped Luca. He wouldn't get to finish off the chicken himself, but if the pretty woman bought and ate the chicken herself, it was no skin off Luca's back.
"The chicken's the finest you could have. In fact, it would be an utter waste for you to just buy and eat it. Give it a command to kill the greatest knights in the land, and it will do its job perfectly." Luca grinned at the woman.
He took a moment to whisper into Jiru's ear. "Really, 20 silver? What are friends for?"
GM
The woman smiled at Luca. "Oh? Well, I do like my... Food. Full of spunk and energy."
Diesel creeped up closer to the woman and sniffed her ankle. "Oh, goodness. What a cute dog, is he for sale too?" Diesel flinched back a bit every time she moved slightly. Dogs usually did flinching as a playful gesture, but Diesel seemed to do it cautiously.
"No, he isn't." Zhijiru crawled under his counter and pulled Diesel back. But Diesel kept going back to her. Zhijiru shrugged and picked up the cage the chicken was in. Zhijiru stuck his tongue at Luca instead of responding to his comment, (away from the woman so she wouldn't see,) and put it on the counter.
The woman looked at the chicken for a few seconds, smiled, and handed the 20 silver coins. Zhijiru took a moment to make sure that they were real, checking the weight of them and seeing if any paint would come off but everything checked out. The odd thing was, Zhijiru was surprised she took the chicken for that price, and especially after Luca's comment about it not being tame.
"Thanks," said the woman, smiling, as she took the chicken away.
Zhijiru kept watching the woman as she walked away. She didn't walk like a farmer, she swayed her hips left and right needlessly, and honestly she didn't smell like one either (not to be a creep or anything). Why would a farmer agree to such a price, he almost meant it like a joke, if anything. There were other small things that didn't sit well with him. As he watched her, for a moment her silhouette changed. He rubbed his eyes and she disappeared into the crowd.
Jiru shook his head, he probably couldn't see her well, after all, he only had one eye to go off of. "Sorry about that Luca, I didn't actually think she'd take it, but I wasn't going to say no if she did." He tossed a single coin in the air and caught it.
That woman dressed the part of a farmer, but the way she moved and acted seemed off. If she was going incognito, she was doing a poor job at it, especially the part where she suddenly disappeared into the crowd. Of course, guessing what she was pretending not to be was going to be tricky, but Luca could try.
"I bet you your chicken that's a hero or someone, pretending to be a local," Luca commented off-handedly. "Oh, and did you know your tongue's black?"
He lied, but maybe it was time to shake up Jiru a bit. Crouching down at the counter, Luca glanced lazily in Jiru's direction. "Looks like you're eating something nice tonight. Or, well, at least, eating."
Luca let out a little laugh. Jiru was dirt-poor, and Luca was only averagely poor, but any form of charity from Luca to Jiru seemed wrong. Unless Jiru was in the most dire of circumstances, but he never actually reached that point. Luca couldn't count how many times Jiru almost became too poor to even survive, though. The key word, in this case, was almost.
GM
Zhijiru was sort of drowning out what Luca was babbling about. He tend to that sometimes. "WHAT?!" Jiru said, and attempted to look at his tongue to see if it was black. But then he realized Luca was just trying to get his attention. He took a jab at Luca's upper arm in return. "Why would anyone pretend to be a farmer? Being a farmer sucks."
"Let's eat somewhere tonight, my treat. I mean, of course, it has to be in my budget. It's the least I can do for selling the chicken you had such interest in."
Zhijiru looked around. "Where's Diesel?" His eyes got bigger as he looked around frantically.
Luca felt elated at the thought. Days where he could sponge off Zhijiru and anyone else were rare, and he would utterly take advantage of that. "Sure! At least the bastard chicken's going to die."
Zhijiru was only looking at the surface. A hero would be disguised as a farmer to avoid suspicion, and save the world while in disguise. "She's probably hunting down evil incognito. She only looks like a farmer now, but she's dispensing justice."
When his friend mentioned Diesel, he looked around too. Diesel often tried to sniff his groin for one reason or another, and he was sort of glad that Diesel wasn't doing that now. But where was the dog, anyway?
"I don't know. Is he pissing on a lamppost?"
GM
Zhijiru shuddered at the idea of Diesel getting lost. He was a smart dog, and never wandered too far. If he did, he was always trusted to come back. He was more vigorous than Zhijiru was, and he surely had to get real sustenance exploring while his master wasn't looking, even though he master never actually noticed when he had left in previous occasions. It dawned on him, that the dog had taken a liking to the fake farmer. Suddenly the ideas in Zhijiru's head started going at a thousand miles per hour. Did Diesel follow her? What if she had better food than Zhijiru did and decided to stay with her? What if she was going to EAT HIM? Oh the humanity! He imagined a slightly pudgier version of Diesel wagging his short curly tail, eating like a king. Zhijiru couldn't have that.
Zhijiru turned to Luca, and roughly grabbed Luca's shoulders, "Stay here! I'm going to go get him!" Zhijiru hopped the counter and started to run in the direction of the woman. Not thinking at all that Luca was not to be trusted with... well... anything.
Luca squeaked as Jiru grabbed him and deputised him at the shop. He really must have loved the dog a lot. So much so that he left Luca in charge of the store. The worried look upon Zhijiru's face as he looked into the distance, especially when his face twisted into so many depictions of terror, was a mixture of horrifying and just a tinge of amusing to Luca. Zhijiru looked terrified, but cartoonishly so.
The young man stared in awe as Zhijiru vaulted over the store counter and towards some random direction. He forgot where the woman went, and she was hopefully unrelated to this. With Jiru come, he could at least do something.
Crouching under the counter, he lifted off his shirt and adjusted his chest-bindings. Luca called himself a man, but biology decided otherwise. It was fortunate that Zhijiru never knew. Once that was done, he stood up, picked off an apple from the counter, and placed another silver coin of his own.
He bit into it and munched noisily, watching passers-by with a lazy gaze.
GM
Zhijiru dashed through the marketplace. He couldn't spot the lady anywhere. Thankfully Diesel was trotting along rather carelessly. The happy dog seemed like he was lost with that dumb face he had. Tongue hanging out, tail wagging, and nearly hopping in his step. But beyond that Diesel knew exactly where he was going. Zhijiru grabbed the dog, and startled him in the process. Which was unusual since Zhijiru snuck up on him all the time and the dog always seemed to know he was coming. The dog squirmed in his arms. "H-Hey!" The dog jumped off of him and started to run off. "What the heck is wrong with you?!" He exclaimed frustrated before running to catch up.
He followed the dog left and right and around people before the dog stopped at a dead end. Exhausted, Zhijiru could only muster a, "Ha... you... f-fat... dog," breathing in between every word. The dog put his paws against a scrap metal on the wall and started pushing on it, but then jumped up and down as if super excited to meet someone. His tail wagging frantically. "Arf, arf!"
The metal went, bang bang, as the dog jumped against the scrap. Bang bang bang.
A voice could be heard past the wall of the alley. "Who's making that racket?!" it sounded like a very, very angry man. Zhijiru swooped up his dog, more forcefully this time and hid behind a barrel. It smelled like rotting fish. A man came out, swinging a butcher's knife, trying to see if he could locate the perpetrator. Zhijiru held Diesel's mouth shut, resulting in a very quiet, "Omph, omph" as Diesel's cheek's inflated and deflated with each attempted bark. The man soon mumbled to himself and shut the door behind him. Zhijiru sighed in relief.
However, Zhijiru heard a familiar, "cluck cluck" coming from the wall next to him. Diesel pushed away again and stuck his nose in the crack of the wall. Jiru stared at him for a second and just thought, "What are you doing? You stupid dog..." He pulled the dog away, and decided to take the chance to look through the little hole. He peered downwards into it, as it appeared that he was seeing into a basement. "Cluck cluck cluck" The chicken was there, and so was a familiar voice, but in a not-so-familiar body. The dirty farmer with her hair up, was now a shorter, younger woman, with long black silky hair. "We meet again at last, chicken," said the woman.
He thought to himself, "She's talking to a chicken. She's crazy. Just like Luca." He moved away from the crack in the wall, and the dog figured it was his turn again. But when the dog stuck his nose back into the door some of the loose stone gave way and fell to the ground. "What?!" The woman shrieked in surprise and looked towards the crack in the wall above her. She saw a little muzzle poking through with a silently sniffing nose. She didn't immediately recognize it, but she put the two and two together. Zhijiru could hear her walking towards them. Right after he yanked diesel out. He heard a crash in the room, and frantic clucking. Zhijiru dashed back to meet up with Luca.
"Luca! Luca!"
As soon as he got back though, he made sure to leash Diesel up to the wagon.
"How much is this apple?"
Luca grinned, and held the apple in his hand. He winked at the young lady inquiring, trying to pull off the 'handsome' demeanour to her. "Two silver, mademoiselle. It's fresh, and sweet for palate, and but not too sweet."
The lady giggled, before picking up seven of the apples and placing them into her basket. "I'll take the lot. That'll be 18 silver, right?"
This business thing seemed easy. The apples were the last bunch of the lot he managed to sell. The chickens went for 12 silver each to a friendly old man, a few bushels of grain were sold for a total of 7 silver. All that remained at the shop were the profits of today, and a ox munching on some grass with a lazy gaze in its eyes. The sales totalled 71 silver today.
Zhijiru would be impressed. Or more probably, too horrified to speak. Luca smiled to himself as his fingers traced the coins, one-by-one.
"Hey, mister?" Luca's attention was attracted by a middle-aged man, looking like a veteran farmer by a simple glance. "I see that your shop's empty, but is that ox for sale?"
Luca shook his head, and went back to counting the coins.
"I really need one, and this one is a fine specimen. How about 10 gold coins?"
Luca blinked, and stared incredulously at the farmer. High quality oxen went for 8 gold coins, the last time he recalled. Even if Zhijiru busted his ass to get this one, it would still be a net profit.
"S-sure," stuttered Luca. The farmer placed 10 golden coins (all of them tested by Luca's teeth) on the table, untied the ox, and went his way with a small wave at the young man.
Staring at the 10 gold coins, he began to laugh. He wasn't sure if Zhijiru had ever seen a gold coin! He still continued to laugh hysterically, even as his friend returned with his dog. Luca did not even notice Jiru's return.
GM
"Luca, What the hell are you doing?" Zhijiru said, now realizing how empty-- or... desolate his store is. "What did you sell?!" He exclaimed, not sounding excited, but rather wondering where his stuff went. Especially the ox. "You might have well have just sold the wagon while you were at it!" Zhijiru was a bit impressed, but his jealousy of his selling skills overshadowed any compliment he could have otherwise mustered.
Luca couldn't hold in his laughter, even as Zhijiru was shouting.
"I... can't... oh gods I'm dying!" he spat out words between his hysterics. He really should have tried to sell the wagon, too, he realised, but the laughter pretty much killed all rational thought in his mind.
Luca took in a few deep breaths as he crouched at the stall, his hands hanging off the opposite edge of the counter. With a grin, and a wink, he paused for dramatic effect, before saying a single word.
"Every— wait for it... thing." Luca clicked his fingers at the end of his sentence.
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