[Trade] Sustain Trial - Prospero and Aeshan

SUSTAIN TRIAL
Prompt: ♦Some Reoseans prefer not to hunt at all, and instead would rather have others do the dirty work for them. Depict your Reosean getting food from market or restaurant. Do they haggle with a vendor for some lower priced steak, or possibly try a more stealthy approach?

Aeshan was woken by some loud voices on the deck of the ship she was on. Slowly she crawled away from her sleeping quarters, dragging herself lazily upstairs.
There, she saw Prospero writing some sort of list, surrounded by quite a number of Reoseans.

“Oh oh! I want fish. Can you get me some fish?”

“Fish? Again?”

It seemed that Prospero was going to the market, and was asking all the crew members if they wanted something specific, since he was going there to buy ingredients for the various meals.
As a couple of young Vayrons started to bicker at the food of choice of one of them, Aeshan made her way to the bright coloured Runner, who was smiling and writing down 'Salmon'. The Empyrian rolled her eyes: how could someone want to eat fish again, when they had the opportunity to NOT do that?
Travelling on ship meant eating a lot of seafood, and she would kill for a good steak.
...Well, not literally.

“Do I need to come with you, Prospero?”

She asked, yawning loudly after. He sighed, then nodded.

“It is just a market in a port city, but... We are in Thedale. Better safe then sorry, right?”

“Yeah yeah... Let's go.”

Prospero shook his head, then reached for a belt and the money pouch. This time, he was bringing a dagger with him. He wasn't really going to use it, since it was Aeshan job to keep him safe, but it served as a discouragement for any ill intended Reosean.

“Take the bags, we will need those.”

“Ugh, just how much stuff do we need to buy?!”

“...Take a look at the list.”

Smiling, Prospero unrolled the scroll... Who kept rolling and rolling until it it the side of the deck.

“...They seriously need a diet! Do they want to become fat or something?”

She hissed, looking at the sheer quantity of stuff they needed to buy. Prospero laughed, and then helped her getting the bags strapped on her back.

“You know that with all their works, not a pound will stay on their bones from all this, right?”

“Uff. It's so much stuff...”

'Oh, so that is what she meant... Too much to carry.' Prospero realized, then he chuckled.

“Come on. I will find a good steak for you, if you want.”

“...Fine.”

***

The market wasn't that big, but it was very loud. Since they weren't in Kirstead, they could actually walk without fearing for someone biting their ankles, but still... Some shadows just didn't want to leave Thedale alone, and lurked around the alleys quietly and always watching for a weak point.
Prospero was used to it, and while sometime Aeshan missed some too interested stares, he did not.

“Mh? Look at this, it shines a lot.”

Aeshan, as always, got distracted again and pulled him near a stand where an elf was selling jewelry.

“Hm? Ah, looks like a diamond of some sort... But it is fake.”

“What?! Really?”

The elf gave the two Reoseans a weird look, but since they couldn't be understood by the merchant, they could speak as much as they wanted.
After trying to explain to a very bored Empyrian how fake diamonds were made, Prospero decided to give up and start to look for a local butcher.

“Are you finally going to let me have a steak, or should I roast some plump pup?”

She loudly said, making some poor little Vayrons scramble away from the main street, terrified. It was full of pups that walked around the stalls, stealing or begging for food. Prospero felt a little sad for them, but... There was nothing that could be done to help them. They were already little criminals, and he had seen in the past what happens when you take in a pup from the streets of Thedale: you either get an excellent scholar or a hard worker, or... Well, you go to sleep and never wake up. Still, those whimpers...

“Don't tease those little ones, Aeshan.”

“Come on, it's fun. And I still need an answer.”

“We need to find a butcher.”

Aeshan rolled her eyes and stretched, before taking off with a dust cloud covering Prospero and some unfortunate guys who were walking nearby.

“Oh dear, this won't be easy.”

Prospero murmured, looking around. He could see some Vayrons, even humans and draconids, whisper about the big black and white Empyrian flying around, carrying heavy pouches that were filled with goods. Even the pups that had ran away poked their heads out of the alleys.
Yep, Aeshan was still way too inexperienced to be a good bodyguard... Starting with the fact that she left him alone to find someone that sold meat.

After a few minutes, the Empyrian returned and happily guided him towards a square, where a big draconid, burly and with strong glass-green scales, was chopping bones and meat over a wooden block.
Prospero put a paw over Aeshan chest, gesturing a “I've got this”.

“Hello, good friend.”

The draconid raised a eyebrow, and from under the stall filled with meat, Prospero heard a noise.
Soon enough a reddish Chaser pulled his head up, looking at the Empyrian and at the Runner from the side of the draconid.
Prospero smiled in his mind: with a translator, it was going to be much easier to haggle the price a bit.

“Well, hello to you, stranger. What are you looking for?”

Prospero didn't pay too much attention on the 'stranger'. It was not unusual for merchant to be careful around new buyers.

“I'm looking for a nice steak for my good companion here. She is quite hungry you see...”

“Hm, I can see she is big, and a big mouth needs a big steak! How about this one, mister?” The reddish Chaser pointed at a steak, that sure was big, but... Not so thick.

“You see, she is quite the...” Prosper got closer to the stall, with a little smirk, and whispered behind his paw. “a loud mouth. I'm looking for something that will shut her up for a bit...”

The Chaser snorted out a laugh, making Aeshan frown. What were they talking about?
Even the draconid butcher was perplexed, but since he trusted his Chaser companion, he had no complains on how he did business.

“Ah, I understand! Maybe then... This, a buffalo steak?”

Prospero looked at the steak: it was thick, without bone, and a very nice shade of red that told him it was fresh.
The price was, unfortunately, very high. Five hundred coins for such a piece was a crime.

“Five hundreds, huh...”

“Something wrong, dear friend?” The Chaser asked, smiling. They both knew that in the pouches around the Runner's belt there was enough for the steak.

“Well... My companion here is a bit... Peculiar.”

“Hey!”

Prospero ignore Aeshan, continuing to talk with the two behind the stall.

“She has... Coff coff, a little problem, coff coff...”

“A problem?”

“Yes. She likes to explore things, and recently, well... She got a very bad wound.”

“A... Wound.”

“Indeed. The largest you could ever see. We nearly spent all the little money on medicine and bandages, since we had to use all we had on board.”

“I don't see wrapped wounds, mister...”

Prospero grinned, leaning on the stall.

“We have a skilled medic on the ship, but the blood couldn't be replaced... The scar is still there, though, at the base of her tail.”

Aeshan snarled darkly, and both the Chaser and the Draconid shivered a bit. Prospero faked a yelp, and started apologizing to the Empyrian, who was not impressed with his antics. Why didn't he faked an injury to his OWN butt?

“Well, I mean... She needs some iron for her blood. I'm afraid she will eat the pups around here, at this rate!”

The Runner whispered at the Chaser, pointing casually at the pups that were still staring at the Empyrian, taking a peak from a corner.
The Chaser gulped, imagining the big Reosean chasing some poor pups around... And he did hear about a big black and white monster that was saying that they wanted to roast some pups for dinner.

“I see, I see...”

Prospero faked being all apologetic, but in the reality, he was just executing a plan. It was not unusual for a merchant to use... Less honourable tactics, their strength and ability was in fact calculated on how often they were able to sell or how often they fell prey of such ways.

“Well” The reddish Chaser started, still looking wary at the Empyrian “I suppose I could let you have this steak for a bit less... We don't want your lady to get a stomach ache, right? The pups here are mostly sick, soitwouldn'tbeagoodideatoeat-”

The poor guy started to ramble, probably terrified by the weird clicking noises the Empyrian was making. Oh, Aeshan was truly having a field day, terrorizing poor citizens.
But at least, that made the steak much cheaper: in the end, Prospero managed to get the whole piece for four hundred coins.

The two bid goodbye to the butchers returning to the ship with filled pouches and still quite a bit of money.
That night, the butchers counted all the pups sleeping in the alleys that night, sighing in relief when no one was missing.



***(1555 Words)***