Kestrel
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Post by Kestrel on Apr 4, 2019 1:04:08 GMT
The tabaxi took a deep breath.
“You got this, Echo. You got this.”
She whispered to herself as she stretched one arm, and then the other, and then lifted a leg to also stretch it up the side of the tavern chimney she was next to. Echo kept her eyes focused ahead, though. There a series of rooftops stretched out across part of the Trades Ward, starting at the top of her own home at the Notch and ending at a corner of the High Road. In between? The lofty pointed towers of the House of Song, the billowing furnace top of a glass shop, and a whooooole bunch of clotheslines, balconies, beams, and street and alleyway gaps. It was one heck of a route. Even for someone like her. It was super sketchy, dangerous, and probably illegal and, with a recent spring shower, wet and slippery on top of everything else. Really, it was a bad idea. So, why was the treasure hunter poised on top of the Notch, preparing herself to do literally all of that?
A bet.
“There’s no way she’s gonna do all that! It looks hard.”
Echo’s ear twitched at the hushed voice. She grinned and tilted her head to the side, flicking her tail at the small group of boys and girls huddled on a flat portion of the Notch’s roof. She mocked a whine.
“Hey now! A little support, please?”
Her grin grew even wider at the chorus of shushes and giggles that erupted. One of the girls batted the boy who had spoken on the shoulder, the huddle broke up, and each one of them found a place to sit and watch.
They really were a ragged bunch. All were still in their single years: the oldest was just about to turn ten (which was, like, a pretty big deal apparently) while the youngest was only five, and they nearly represented the whole of the city on their own. The proud almost-ten-year-old was a lanky human with coarse strands of greasy black hair that would never quite stay above his forehead while the next, and oldest girl, was a plump dwarf with wilted daises threaded into the start of a wispy brown beard. Both sat closest to the edge to keep an eye on the others. Nearest to them was the other girl of the group, the one who had hushed the whispering boy, a petite dragonborn with pale blue eyes that glinted even brighter than her white scales. Sitting dour a little off from the whole of them was that same boy. An elf with a burn scar across most of his right face, and as Echo watched he stuck out his tongue. There were a few more giggles at that. The youngest of the bunch, though, was a tiny tabaxi kit, the only other of her kind in the city that Echo had been able to find so far, and she sat closest to the treasure hunter. Her dusty fur was a beautiful pattern of black lines and spots on silver and she had a pure black tail that ended early in a stub partway up.
Damian, Rosie, Nysa, Syllen, and Lily of the Pond…a ragged bunch, but a good bunch. Street urchins who all wore tattered bits of collected fabric and hand-me-downs and who survived on nothing more than scarps and a soup kitchen a few blocks away. Slept in a broken down and abandoned carriage tucked away in a hidden courtyard. They usually hung out and played in the alleys around the Notch during the day and were quick to take a liking to the tabaxi soon after she had arrived in the city. Now, the little rascals would often follow her around, sneak glimpses at her performances, and dare her to do all kinds of tricks and stunts and tell them stories about her adventures.
And they were her absolute favorite people in the entire city.
Echo gave her leg one final stretch, cracked her neck, and then looked down as she planted both feet back on the roof. She met the wide green eyes of Lily who was now standing, hands cupped, and staring up at her.
“Da ya…da ya tink ya can rally do it, Eggo? Wha if ya git hart?”
The kit squealed as Echo kneeled and booped her once on the nose. She still had a hard time saying the treasure hunter’s name, going on months now, but Echo hardly cared. It was kinda cute anyway. She placed a hand on Lily’s head and gave the kit a gentle shake.
“What, and miss out on a chance to pet little Peeps? Never!”
At the sound of its name a baby pigeon poked its green-speckled head out from the younger tabaxi’s hands and cooed. Its feathers were ruffled and dirty, one eye was clouded over, and Echo was almost positive one of its legs was shorter than the other. But yeah, that sure was the bet! She had to cross the breadth of the precarious rooftop obstacle course to get one single, coveted pet of the groups’ pet bird Peepers. And, honestly? It was so worth it. Echo sneaked a finger out but, spotting it, Lily was quick to pull away. The kit narrowed her eyes and huffed.
“No tach!”
The older tabaxi frowned. They were so dang protective of that bird! This was, like, her first real chance to actually pet the thing. Not an opportunity she was about to pass up. Echo smiled again and gently cuffed Lily over the ears as she stood up. That…and the tabaxi did kind of just want to show off. Especially for Lily. She looked up the most to the treasure hunter, Echo could tell.
“Buh okay! Do id far Pippers!”
Lily turned, stumbled on a broken roof tile (nearly everyone on the roof inhaled at once), and then picked herself up to run and plop down in a spot next to Rosie. The older girl wrapped a hand around the kit’s shoulder. Echo gave them all a wave.
“Sooooo…you guys ready to see something awesome?”
A collective and resounding “Yeah!” dispelled any last doubts Echo had. She absolutely could do this: for them. Damien brushed the hair from his face and called out.
“Just be fast, aye? Before ol’ Agnes finds us up ‘ere!”
Echo gave a mock salute and then crouched with one foot planted against the chimney.
“You got it, boss! I’ll be quicker than a pixie in a storm!”
And with that…she was off.
The tabaxi pushed against the chimney with her back foot and sprang forward. She sprinted toward the edge of the Notch, past the group of cheering kids, and then dropped and vaulted down to the adjoining roof. A metal one. The tile her pads hit was still slick from rain and Echo stumbled as she slipped forward. Using the momentum of the fall, though, she dove into a tumble and came out still sprinting at the end of it. That was already a close one! But she kept going. One roof. Another. And then a third. Echo vaulted, skipped, and spun all the way to the tip of that row of houses and shops and then leapt right off the end. She hit the other side of the gap with a soft thud, another wet stumble, and then she was off again as the tabaxi regained her footing.
Spendthrift Alley – cleared.
That only left two more major gaps. Echo kept to the edge of the rooftop block this time, careful not to step too far one way or the other, and tilted her head to the side. The towers of the House of Song rose above everything around her. Her eyes found their mark on them quick. Spraying a cloud of mist as she slid to a stop, the treasure hunter pivoted on one foot and then pushed off the raised roof of a window to force herself into a fall toward the stone of the alley below. She swore she could hear a high-pitched shout from behind her through the rush of air. Echo grinned. She got this! The tabaxi sailed through one clothesline, brushed against the drying blouses of another, and then caught onto the wooden beam of a balcony that jutted out from a nearby house. She spun once…twice…and then a third time before letting go, flying upward and digging her claws into the lowest rung of the nearest tower. She then pushed herself up, swung around and grabbed the next rung, pushed herself up, and on and on and on until she had climbed to the tip of the tiled spire of the structure.
Revon Street – cleared.
Only one left. Echo paused, narrowed her eyes, and gave a wave back toward the Notch. A few of the splotches she could see were now jumping up and down. Grinning, she turned back and slid down the length of the tower and then leapt clear of the House of Song. The tabaxi steadied herself against a nearby chimney and exhaled. This last jump would be the toughest. Her target was the glass shop but…the gap was pretty wide and, aside from the furnace itself, there was not a whole lot for her to grab onto. Still, there was no way she was going to let these kids down now! Not when she was so close to actually doing it. Echo ran forward again. One second. She vaulted over the railing of a rooftop balcony. Two. She reached the end of the rooftop row. A third second. The treasure hunter put all her strength into the jump, pushing with both feet off the very tippy edge of the tilework. A fourth. She sailed through the air, claws already out, and focused on a small metal lip that ran the width of the furnace top. A fifth…
Her foot hit the lip.
And Echo yelped as she felt it slip off the rain slick metal. She slammed a hand into the side of the furnace, but her claws only scratched thin white marks into the brick as she felt herself pulled away. Then, there was only air. The tabaxi was in a freefall. Eyes wide, breath caught in her throat, and ears flat against her head, she twisted her body around so that she faced the rush of oncoming gray from the cobblestone roadway. What was that thing Wisp always used to say about her acrobatics? That cats always landed on their paws? Goodie. Maybe she would only shatter the bones in her arms and legs now.
Echo screamed.
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 4, 2019 5:59:38 GMT
Thea smiled. "I'm very glad it was a success, Lady Peamont." She stood at the high table in the small side room where she met clients in Thond's shop, hands casually behind her back.
"Oh, a smashing success, my dear." Lady Peamont said. "The tree bloomed flawlessly - well it always does but one can't be sure, you know. These magical plants are really so difficult on the gardeners, but we have such a good staff. But your glass piece was - magnificent! Just as I'd envisioned it."
"I was honored to make it," Thea smiled. It even had the good fortune of being true. Lady Peamont was difficult, to say the least, but crafting a bonfire of glass had been a true pleasure. Thea was more than thrilled with how the piece had come out in the end.
"And, of course, everyone wanted to know more about you!" Lady Peamont beamed. "It really was a shame you didn't stay for the blossoming."
"I am sorry, my lady," that one Thea didn't mean. "I had a - prior engagement." It was as hard as anything Thea had ever done to keep a small, private smile from curling her lips, to fight the wave of heat that rushed through her body at the memory.
"Of course, of course," The latest fashion among the nobles seemed to be flower dresses. Lady Peamont's was made of rose petals and clung to her with all the rigid determination of the magic which had made it. Unlike the others that Thea had seen, Lady Peamont's was oddly starched, and seemed to creak occasionally. Now she smoothed down a petal that wasn't stray, but seemed as if it might have become so eventually. Or so Thea assumed. "But I have had a marvelous idea, my dear. You simply must make the favors for my next party."
"It would be my pleasure," Thea gave a little suggestion of a bow. "We can begin to think of the design, and if you can tell me how many you will need and when you will need them, then-"
"No, no, my dear!" Lady Peamont laughed her odd, tinkling laugh. "You will make them at the party."
"At... the party?" Thea repeated, slowly.
"Yes!" Lady Peamont clapped her hands together. "I will set up a forge, naturally. It will be a marvelous exhibition of skill and art, much better than Lady Wetherbee's dueling party. What do you say, my dear?"
"Should I have said no?" Thea asked, looking back at Hanthor.
The other glassblower winced. "I don't see how you could have."
Thea sighed, pushing her hands into the pockets of long gray pants, worn with a flowing white blouse tucked in neatly at their waist. She looked back at the street before them. "It makes me feel - cheap." She admitted, softly. "Like a parlor trick."
"Thea," Hanthor's hand was warm against her arm. The contact lingered for just a moment. "You are an incredible artist. This is - an odd way in which to show that, but just try to see it as an exhibition. Just - of processes, instead of work."
"I suppose," Thea bit her lip.
"This is the shop," Hanthor stopped in front of Thond's. "Are you ready to go back inside? I don't mean to rush you - we could continue our walk."
"No," Thea smiled at him. "I have taken up enough of your time already. Thank you for listening."
"It was nothing," Hanthor lingered for a moment, gazing down at her. "I - I'm glad you wrote me, Thea." He left very abruptly after that, striding away down the street.
Thea sighed, looking back at the shop entrance. She wasn't quite ready to go back inside. Instead she stepped away, to wander a bit on her own now. It was nearing the lunch hour anyway; perhaps she could take food somewhere.
A scream from nearly overhead jolted Thea from her thoughts. She looked up, wide-eyed, to see a falling tabaxi. Thea didn't think; she didn't need to, not to summon the wind these days. She pressed her hand against her focus, pointed and murmured. Winds swirled up from the ground beneath the tabaxi, whirling to cradle her in a gentle embrace, stopping her moment and holding her not even a foot above the hard stones below.
Thea exhaled in relief, stepping forward and making a little gesture with her fingers. The winds lifted the tabaxi high enough to let her be upright. Thea's eyes went wide. "Echo!" She hadn't seen the tabaxi in months, but their time together had been memorable. "Are you all right?" Thea would begin to lower her, carefully, towards the ground.
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Kestrel
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Posts: 319
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Post by Kestrel on Apr 4, 2019 16:54:40 GMT
Everything was black.
Echo whimpered. Her body felt almost weightless, like it was floating in place, and a soft wind billowed across her fur. Was this…was this what death felt like? Had she hit the street even harder than she expected? Then her stomach sank. What about the kids! Who would keep an eye on those troublemakers now? And damnit! She had a performance that night, too! She hated to think she would disappoint ol’ Agnes. The tabaxi bit her lower lip and exhaled hard through her nose. Well…not much she could do about it now. Where was everyone, though? Echo always figured that, like, someone would take her hand and walk her to the other side or something. The songs about this kind of thing usually had a scene like that. Who would take her, though? Maybe…her mom? Nah, she had no idea if her mom was even in the great starry beyond. Her dad, probably.
“Echo!”
Oh, Cat Lord. And there he was! Already calling her name over to t-wait. No. That absolutely did not sound like her dad’s voice. What the heck was going on?
Echo opened her eyes.
She winced. Her face was only a few hair lengths away from the ground but then…she was moving up away from it? No, she was being lifted! The light caress of wind grew stronger around her and the tabaxi, blinking but otherwise motionless, felt the roughness of stone against her pads again as she was turned upright and regained her footing. The treasure hunter turned. Was that? Pale bluish eyes, even paler skin, and that unmistakable funny, floofy hair; it was the woman from the Elora job!
“…Thea?”
She stared at the genasi, open-mouthed, until it hit her. She was alive! And her limbs were, like, not in a thousand tiny pieces too!
“Thea!”
Echo jumped forward and wrapped her arms tight around her old companion, tucking her chin into the crux of the woman’s neck in one very enthusiastic hug. She grinned as she felt the warmth against her cheek. She was so alive!
“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! Yes, I’m fine!”
She was so incredibly fine. That sure explained the wind, though! Letting go of Thea, Echo took a step back and rubbed her neck. She glanced up at the furnace top she had just tumbled down from.
“Dying there, uh, really would have sucked! I sure owe you a big one.”
The treasure hunter then turned back toward Thea and cocked her head. It had been a heck of a while since they last saw each other, though. Honestly, until today Echo was not even entirely sure the genasi lived in Waterdeep. Or maybe she was just visiting again?
“What’s got you in this corner of the city, though? Not that I’m complaining!”
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 4, 2019 17:43:23 GMT
Echo had hung still and almost motionless in the air for a terribly long moment. Thea had started to feel a flicker out doubt; had she made a mistake with the spell? Had the winds catching Echo done as much damage as the ground would have? More? They were always gentle with her, but – Echo’s eyes opened and Thea sagged slightly in relief, releasing the spell at the same moment as Echo’s feet touched gently to the ground.
Echo didn’t stay there long; in half a second she had leapt forward and wrapped her arms around Thea. Thea laughed, hugging Echo back, a rush of relief and delight swirling through her, her hair fluttering as the breeze in it danced as well. “Oh – oh good! I’m so glad,” Thea giggled, not sure that she should admit just how uncertain she had been that her spell would work. “No, it was no trouble! Just – um – good timing.”
There was a pause. Thea regarded the tabaxi uncertainly. She did have one question…
“Oh!” Echo asked before she could. Thea gestured without looking at Thond Glass and Glazing, whose door they were just outside of. If Echo looked over, she would see a stunned-looking half-elf pressing her nose to the window and gazing at them intently. “I’m a glassblower,” Thea said, cheerfully. “Jhalassan lets me share some space in the workshop behind the shop, and I sell my work here as well!” The thought of Lady Peamont dimmed her smile, just ever so slightly, but only for a moment before it was back in force.
“But - Echo - What were you doing up there?” Thea giggled, looking slowly from the tabaxi to the roof and back again. Thea paused. There were so many other questions. "And how have you been? It's been - months! Way too long."
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Kestrel
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Post by Kestrel on Apr 10, 2019 20:32:25 GMT
“No way! You work here?”
Echo followed the genasi’s hand and mouthed the words which hung over the shop door. Thond Glass and Glazing…neat! Really rolled off her sandpapery tongue. Close to the side was a half-elf, nose smushed white against a window, starring wide-eyed at the two of them from inside. The tabaxi giggled. Guess flying felines were pretty rare around here! She tapped a claw against her chin. Though, honestly? That could almost make for a good performance routine. Huh…maybe she should pitch that one to Thea someday. Could be fun! Or dangerous. Or both! For now, Echo just gave the half-elf a wave, crossed her arms, and then tilted back to face the genasi.
“That’s cool! Pretty sweet deal too.”
Made sense, though! She had already known the building was a glass shop from having passed by it a few dozen times on her way to the High Road. Not something she ever got curious about before, but she also very vaguely remembered Thea mentioning something about glass or whatever when they were in that blizzard (in between the almost freezing completely to cold death parts, of course), so she supposed it would be a given that a glassblower would be in a glass…blowing…place! Echo purred a chuckle. It was a little funny to think they had been so close this whole time though and never once dropped in on the other, even by accident. She glanced up. At least until she…quite literally dropped in.
Cat Lord, she really was lucky today.
The treasure hunter flicked her tail in the rough direction of the Notch and grinned.
“My place is actually pretty close by. You gotta, like, show me your stuff sometime! I stooooo-aw a few of these really cute glass figurines a few years back and I bet you’re like…so much better!”
Echo rubbed the back of her neck again and looked to the side, though she kept her grin. She really did think that! What with the blowy magics and her awesome stick hut building skills and the poofy hair which was, like, probably relevant, the treasure hunter had no doubts Thea could blow some mean glass. But, uh…all in all they also barely knew each other. Maybe best not to mention all the things she possibly stole back in the day to a maker of expensive, stealable things. Those glass figures were real dang nice, though.
Sold for a nifty bit of coin too!
The tabaxi’s ears flattened a little when Thea asked her own question though and she gave a half-hearted laugh. How could she even start to answer that one? In, like, a believable way at least? Echo opened her mouth, closed it again, hummed, and then shrugged. She followed the genasi’s look up to the roof.
“Uh, y’know how it is…a street bet with some kids to pet a bird and all that. Like, the usual stuff.”
Echo turned back to the glassblower and frowned.
“Don’t think I won this one, though.”
A real big shame, too. She hated to disappoint the little guys and gals like that, but she also knew firsthand that the top of the Notch gave a pretty good look at the glass shop. They probably saw the whole thing. Which was…maybe not good actually? She sure hoped they saw the magical rescue bit too! Echo shook her head, regained a smile, and swished her tail. That was a problem for later.
“But, like, everything else has been great! Sooooo many things going on here.”
Echo leaned her cheek into a hand.
“Taught a kid how to use the market a while back, got stuck at one point in a weird magical fishing lake place – That one was, uh, actually super scary! Like it sucked. A lot. – and had drinks with some elven lady and her pet dog not too long ago.”
The tabaxi scratched the fur around her neck.
“Crowds also been big at the Notch. So mostly fun! No more cold nighttime rescues, at least. But things good with you?”
Echo cocked her head. It really had been months, huh? Maybe she could make falling off that roof a good thing! Or, well, a good opportunity? Good moment to socially improvise? It was hard to call almost breaking every bone in her body any kind of good thing, really.
“Actually, you, uh, doing anything today? Maybe we should hang out!”
The tabaxi purred and gave Thea a playful bap on the shoulder.
“I know there’s no blizzard this time to almost die in, but I’m sure we can make do.”
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 11, 2019 0:55:01 GMT
Thea turned at the sight of Echo’s wave and burst out laughing. “Pip!” She stepped over, opened the door, and grinned down at the half-elf. “So you haven’t gotten enough scoldings today?”
“But - she almost fell!” Echo would be able to hear the little half-elf’s voice.
“Back to work,” Thea said, mock-sternly, and closed the door.
Thea grinned at Echo, cheerfully. “I’d be happy to! It’s a great shop to work in, spelled against theft and everything,” she didn’t even pause on the explanation, “but we’d better not go in now, or Pip will never focus on her cleaning.”
Thea slowly raised both eyebrows at Echo’s explanation. “Oh, of course,” she giggled, accepting it without further question. Hadn’t she heard stranger?
As it turned out, so had Echo! From the sound of it, she had had a busy few months. “Things have been good with me as well!” Thea paused, then returned Echo’s explanation in kind. “No fishing, but a friend and I were transported to the strangest land we’d ever seen and fought a horrific beast - I think it was an actual cannibal,” Thea shuddered at the memory. “Another friend was temporarily enslaved by this horrid circus, but - well I didn’t do much, I suppose, but we managed to set her free without too much harm done! Mostly I’ve been working, I suppose,” Thea giggled. “It feels as if something strange and magical and terrifying happens every time I step outside but I - I suppose that’s Waterdeep for you.”
Thea giggled. “I’d be happy to never see another blizzard again,” she gave an exaggerated shiver. “But - yes, I’m free now!” Work was calling, but Thea shushed it with an insistent thought. She would put off the thorny problem of Lady Peamont for later. Echo was far more interesting. “Would you care for lunch, perhaps?”
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Kestrel
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Post by Kestrel on Apr 11, 2019 17:29:32 GMT
Echo nodded to everything Thea said while her eyes widened, and her ears perked, just a little bit more with every word. Enslaved? Circuses? Work? Not to mention actual cannibals! The tabaxi wrinkled her nose. Thankfully not something she ever came across herself, though…she had heard a song about a cannibal when she was in the south of the Sword Coast, right? She hummed a few broken notes, clicked her tongue, and then hummed the more composed opening of an airy ballad. Yeah! Part of the elven Shivaay Le Beau saga. Echo mouthed out a few more words. That one also had the really cool bit about the extradimensional warforged, too. Super weird, but cool! Kind of like Waterdeep! And it sure sounded like both of them have had one heck of a time over the last few months.
“Ha! You can say that again! You can barely twitch a whisker here without coming across something awesome.”
The whole city really was a tabaxi’s best dream that was also sometimes an awful nightmare but usually was mostly a great time! Outside any kind of fishing. That, and the whole Dock Ward existing thing. That sucked. But otherwise! Very cool, and the perfect scratch for her curious itch.
Echo mirrored Thea’s giggle at the mock shiver and then clapped her hands together and bounced.
“Heck yeah! Since I’m, like, not dead or dying now, I’m free too!”
No frigid blizzard, a reasonably-ish good day, and an old travelling companion with rad magic and stories? The morning was looking up! The treasure hunter opened her mouth to answer the genasi’s next question but, with a deep rumble, her stomach seemed to answer it for her. She glanced down. Guess leaping from rooftop to rooftop all morning sure built up an appetite. Who knew!
“Sure! That sounds great! You, uh- “
Echo looked around the whole of Sleeper’s Walk and scratched at an ear.
“You know of any good places around here? I kinda usually just eat at the Notch or, like, grab an apple or something on my way.”
Honestly, when was the last time she actually sat down to eat lunch? At a nice place, at least. Hanging off the edge of a balcony three stories off a grungy alleyway was probably a bit different from the usual.
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 11, 2019 19:33:13 GMT
Thea paused, wrinkling her nose and studying the tabaxi. What might Echo like…? A moment later, Thea’s eyes lit up. “Oh! I have just the place – this way!”
Rather than going down to the High Road, Thea turned and led Echo back past Thond’s Glass and Glazing. The little half-elf was dusting off some glass pieces in the window, and she waved enthusiastically at Echo as she passed.
Thea walked confidently through the little nest of streets, until they reached an odd little passage between them. From the edge of it, Echo would start to smell something – wonderful. There was an odor of roasted meat that seemed to sing in the air, wafting slowly out to fill the nearby streets.
Thea turned at the edge of the passage, and stepped into a large, airy courtyard. It looked residential; there was laundry hanging from balconies over it, small windowsill gardens giving the place a bright and cheerful look. The courtyard itself was swept scrupulously clean, with barrels and boxes scattered here and there into makeshift tables and chairs.
And in the center?
In the center was an enormous firepit, well-ringed with heavy stones, with crackling meat of all sorts roasting in spits on the top, with some skewers as well, and even a few leaf-wrapped fish towards the edges of the flames. The restaurant itself seemed to be little more than two beaming men quickly cutting the meat up and portioning in onto plates, with a third, younger boy exchanging them for money from the long line of all sorts waiting their turn.
Two more little stalls were set up on the edges; two little girls in neat blue dresses, one human and one halfling, sold what looked like lemonades and flavored waters in an odd, mismatched assortment of glasses. Across the way, an elderly-looking half-elf woman sold what looked like tiny berry tarts.
“What do you think?” Thea grinned at Echo. She was so sure of the response that she stepped into the line at the back of the courtyard already; it was moving quickly, and they wouldn’t need to wait more than a few minutes.
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Kestrel
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Post by Kestrel on Apr 12, 2019 15:57:21 GMT
“Sure, okay!”
Echo followed close to Thea as she led them, not back toward the High Road as the tabaxi might have expected, but instead past the glass shop and deeper down Sleeper’s Walk. Huh! Not that she was a connoisseur of lunches in even the most generous way (she really did, like, eat a lot of apples and stuff) but Echo still figured that most places would be on the main road. Except places like her little friends’ soup kitchen, of course. Maybe that was the kind of place they were going to though?
As they crossed the road Echo glanced back, spotted the half-elf’s frantic wave, and then spun around to return a salute as she backpedaled. What did Thea say her name was again? Pip? Cute! Hopefully she would have a chance to meet the excitable half-elf whenever Thea showed her the shop. She seemed like fun! For now, though, the treasure hunter just winked and then turned back to jog and catch up with the genasi as they moved deeper into the Trades Ward. They passed through a whole mess of narrow streets and clustered crossways, some very familiar to the curious and mobile tabaxi, others not so much, until they reached a little shadowed passageway. Not much more than a long hole between two buildings. Echo cocked her head, rubbed her neck, and then sniffed. And then sniffed again. And then sniffed for a third time. It smelled…
Incredible!
The whole area smelled like slowly roasting meats tinged with the pungent kick of spices and, as she entered the passageway with Thea, it only grew stronger. They soon emerged into an open courtyard. Webs of laundry were strung overtop, airy window gardens gave the place an almost picturesque feel, and among the mess of barrels, boxes, tables, and chairs was a throng of people waiting in line to be served. Echo’s eyes, however, were completely caught by the fire at the center of it all. Her stomach grumbled even louder. More kinds of meat than the tabaxi had ever seen sizzled and sputtered away across the stone firepit, juices running down their sides and dripping into the flames almost as readily as her mouth was salivating, and even the few fish lying about were hardly enough to turn her appetite. It all looked as incredible as it smelled!
Echo skipped after Thea as the latter stepped into line, taking her own place just in front of an older pair of halflings, her wide-eyes still focused entirely on the heap of meats. She did spare the genasi a grin, though.
“This is amazing!”
The treasure hunter then noticed the other stalls, filled with what looked to be cooled drinks and an assortment of tarts, and she licked across her lips. There was just more and more! How had she never heard about this place before? It was, like, not even that far from the Notch! Did the kids know?
“How did you even find this place? This is, like, the nicest place I’ve ever been to!”
In more ways than one, too. The warmth of the humongous firepit, the scent of spiced meats that tickled the back of her throat, and the bustle of an active camp-like setup…it was actually pretty comfortable to her. It reminded her a lot of her childhood back in the troupe, when they would sit in the evenings and cook dinner and talk together. It was nice! Tail swishing eagerly behind her, Echo shuffled forward as they got nearer and nearer to the front of the line. That…kind of presented a new problem, though.
Leaning toward Thea the tabaxi whispered.
“What should…what should I get? I, uh, don’t know what most of this stuff is.”
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 15, 2019 20:53:28 GMT
Thea giggled. “Thond has about a dozen apprentices,” she explained, grinning at Echo. “Apprentices are incredible when it comes to looking for food. They’re always hungry, and a lot of them are Waterdhavians, so they know the city! Especially the Trade Ward, since when they are allowed to go out for meals, they don’t get much time. Josire – one of the apprentices – told me about this place; I think he knows one of the families that lives here.”
The other thing Echo might notice, as they approached the firepit, was a tall metal stick that seemed to have been staked firmly into the cobblestones near the firepit. The top bent over, with two little metal loops sticking out of it. Hanging from them was what looked like an enormous skewer of meat. It was textured, almost, with what looked like a long wooden stick staked through lumps of meat; the meat even seemed to have a slight char on it, with one piece cut open to reveal pink inside, close to the stick. With the light shining down through the courtyard, and the way it glistened and glimmered, it would be clear that it was made of glass.
“Oh, well – ” Thea giggled. “I’m not sure what everything is either, in truth, but – everything I’ve had is good!”
“Master Thea!” One of the men cutting meat looked up and beamed at the sight of the air genasi. His hands, rough and skilled, never paused even a fraction of a second.
“Master Bowman,” Thea beamed at him. “Didn’t I tell you to put the sign outside?” She giggled.
“No chance of that, Master Thea,” The second cutter, a dwarf, shook his head, slow and deliberate. “No chance of that at all. If we put that sign on the street, it might get bumped or broken, even stolen. No, we like our sign just fine right here.”
Thea giggled again. “The point of a sign is to get new customers, Master Gorunn.”
“We like our customers the way they are,” Master Bowman smiled at Echo as well, a surprisingly friendly smile for such a rough looking man. “Now – what’ll it be for you and your friend? And don’t you think of trying to pay us, not with that sign you made.”
Thea giggled. “I’ll take – ah – a skewer, please! Just one.” She reached into her purse despite his warning, pulling out a few coins.
Master Bowman promptly slapped two skewers down on a plate and handed them to the scrawnier-looking boy at the front of the line, then turned to Echo, smiling still.
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Kestrel
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Post by Kestrel on Apr 17, 2019 19:41:31 GMT
Echo licked her lips again. The farther the line moved, and the closer she got to the firepit at the front, the stronger and stronger and still stronger the rich scent of cooked meat became. It was now almost overpowering. In a good way! But whether the food here was just that well-cooked, or if the tabaxi really was so hungry, it was making it hard for her to concentrate on anything else. She nodded dumbly as she listened to Thea talk on, eyes firmly locked on a gigantic skewer of meat near the fire. Listening, though, was probably a strong word. The genasi said something about apprentices and the Trades Ward and time and, like…a family or something, but a solid most of it was just going into one ear and flying out the other. Echo did catch the bit about everything here being good, though.
She could believe that!
“Okay!”
The treasure hunter’s ears were now standing on end and she grinned and bounced in place as, with one more shuffle, Thea was now at the front of the line. She was next! Echo’s stomach rumbled. What would she get, though? There really were a lot of options. Her eyes were still on the skewer, sooooo…maybe that! Weirdly enough it seemed like no one else had grabbed a piece off it, but it glistened against the flames with a bright sheen of juice and fat, the edges were charred, and the inside was an incredibly tantalizing pink that even the food inexperienced tabaxi knew meant it was cooked just right. Her tongue prodded one of her fangs. Echo could already imagine herself sinking her teeth deep into a piece and-
“-we like our sign just fine right here.”
Wait, what? Echo shook her head and squinted. The skewer of meat was…a fake! Made of glass! Her ears and tail drooped a little, and the tabaxi whined softly. But it had looked so good… Turning back toward the front, her gaze lingering on the glass skewer of meat and her now gone lunchtime fantasy, Echo stepped up behind Thea as she finished her own order. Her torn ear twitched.
“Wait, you made that?”
Echo’s mouth dropped open as she heard the end of their conversation. It was incredible! She, like, totally did think it was a real piece of meat at first! A real shiny piece of meat now that she thought about it, granted, but still. There was absolutely no way she was missing out on seeing that glass shop now.
However, that meant Echo was still without a choice as she stood in front of the imposing meat carver and his beaming smile. What was his name again? She had missed that part. Master…B something. Oh! That was probably it! Made sense for the kind of place they were in, too. The tabaxi hummed, scratched at her chin with a claw, and then pointed toward the haunch of some animal roasting away at the edge of the firepit.
“Maybe a piece of that thing over there, uh, Master Bovine.”
The hearty laugh of a dwarf carver close by roared above the other noises of the place. What was so funny? Master Bovine though, with the widest grin she had ever seen on anyone, moved over to slice a thick piece off the haunch with a well-practiced cut of his knife. And then another. And then an-
“Oh, that’s…that’s a lot.”
Echo rubbed the back of her neck, but she took the plate anyway when a boy near the front offered it up to her. It did look fantastic, though.
“There you are, Master Feline!”
“Uh…thanks?”
With no idea how much any of this actually cost, the treasure hunter just pulled out a small handful of coins from her pouch, tossed them onto a table close by, and then rejoined Thea. She glanced back at the carvers. Master Bovine was serving the next in line while the dwarf, bent over and red faced, was still laughing breathlessly. Huh.
“Did I, like, do something wrong?”
Prooooobably not. Echo shrugged and prodded Thea with a shoulder.
“I think there’s an empty table over there though.”
Her tail flicked in that direction.
“I can, uh, grab us something to drink too if you wanted!”
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 17, 2019 21:31:40 GMT
“Oh!” Thea glanced up at the sign, then at Echo, and grinned. “Yes,” she said, cheerfully and proudly.
“She did,” The dwarf nodded, slowly and steadily. “You could have knocked me over with a feather when she said she’d make us a sign out of glass – never imagined anything like it.” He looked up at the sign, a cheerful smile creasing the ruddy face beneath his beard. “Never imagined anything like it,” he repeated, fondly and happily. “A real sign, and just for us.”
Thea was doing her absolute best not to laugh – Master Bovine! – when Echo took her plate and moved to join her. She shook her head slightly at Echo’s question of whether she’d done something wrong. Master Bowman didn’t seem to be offended, Master Gorunn was laughing as hard as she had ever seen him, and he laughed pretty easily, and everyone had their meat.
“That looks good,” Thea couldn’t manage to totally suppress her giggle – it was as much Gorunn’s breathless roar of laughter as anything Echo had actually said. “Oh, yes please – a drink would be great! Lavender mint water for me, please. I’ll get us some tarts later, if you’d like?”
Thea perched delicately on one of the boxes, sitting as neatly on it as if it was a fancy chair at a regular restaurant, and carefully arranged her and Echo’s trays on the barrel between them. Calling it a table was probably generous, but it was surprisingly comfortable and relatively private.
Echo would find herself, once again, faced with a bewildering array of choices. The little girls had six different pitchers, one with the distinct yellow look of lemonade, one sort of similar but pink instead, and four of icy water, dripping with condensation, with various herbs, green and colorful, strewn through them.
“Hello! Are you a kitty?” The human girl was taller than the halfling, but younger, as evidenced by her question and the way she kept looking longingly down at her thumb.
“Ellie!” The halfling’s eyes went wide. “I’m sorry! She’s little, she doesn’t know that it’s really super rude to ask stuff like that,” she aimed a kick at the other girl’s leg.
Ellie yelped, dodging, and bumped into their little table, lunging forward to catch two wobbling glasses before they fell. “I’m sorry!” She apologized too, looking up at Echo with wide eyes. “I like kitties."
"Elliiiiiie!" The halfling shrieked.
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Kestrel
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Post by Kestrel on Apr 17, 2019 23:13:08 GMT
“Yeah! It really does! Yours does too.”
The tabaxi matched Thea’s own giggle, even if she was still totally lost as to why they were actually giggling, and let the genasi take her plate. Maybe it was all just because! That was a good enough reason as any to laugh, she supposed. Echo sighed at the mention of tarts though. That sounded like a great idea, but she had to wonder if she would even have any room left in her stomach after the main part of lunch. This was all so much food! But lavender mint water?
“Got it!”
That she could do! Echo clamped her heels together, gave Thea a little salute, and then spun around to make her way toward where she had seen the drink stand earlier. The crowds made it a little tough. She squeezed past a few of the constantly shuffling and growing lines, edged just around the firepit and Master Bovine and the dwarf, the latter of whom had finally managed to resume his meat cutting, though his beard still waggled from the lone chuckle, gave their sign one last, longing look, and then finally reached the spread of glass pitchers with a couple skips and a stumble. The treasure hunter placed her hands on her hips. More choices, huh? A lot more! Cat Lord, this place had more options than an old elven puzzle door.
Echo grinned wide though when the little girl spoke up. She sat higher than the halfling next to her but the tabaxi could still tell was on the younger end, and she (Ellie?) was quickly shushed with a missed kick, a yelp, and the dangerous wobble of a few glasses. Echo leaned forward herself to help steady one at the very corner of the stand. Aww! They were both super cute. She barely stifled a giggle when the older halfling whined.
“It’s okay! Really! I, uh, get that a lot from other kids.”
It was a bit of a stretch, but Echo was able to swing her tail just high enough to loop over the top of the drink stand and swish the younger girl across the nose. She shrieked and giggled and grabbed onto the twitching end with eager hands. The tabaxi hid a wince as the girl tugged just a little too much, but she kept up her grin.
“But nah, I’m a tabaxi! Pretty close to a kitty, though. Could I get a glass of mint lavender and uhhhhh…”
Echo tugged at her scarf.
“…maybe one of that?”
She tapped a claw against the rim of the pink pitcher. She had no idea what it was, but it looked pretty! The halfling girl gave a firm nod, her partner completely absorbed with petting Echo’s tail and trying to mouth out ta-ba-xi at this point, and set about pouring out two tall glasses. A moment later she plinked them down at the edge of the counter with a small heave.
“Two nibs please!”
Echo wriggled her tail free from the younger girl’s grip as she fished into her coin purse. The girl began to whine, her hands grasping after it, but then her eyes widened in surprise as the tabaxi dropped a small pile of copper coins on the counter and then set two silver off to the side. Echo purred.
“How about four, and use the silver ones to buy some tarts when you’re done, okay? Thanks!”
Both girls squealed in delight as the older one brushed them off the table and then handed one to her friend, giving the treasure hunter two beaming smiles as Echo picked up her glasses and waved with her tail. The trip back to where she had seen Thea sit was…even harder than the first. With two cool glasses in her hands that were filled right up to the brim, Echo was forced to twirl, shimmy, and slide past every customer, barrel, and carried tray of meat that she came across with a sharp inhale and a dangerous teeter of her palms. But, eventually, she made it. Not a drop spilled either!
Dang, she was good.
Echo gently placed both glasses on the “table”, Thea’s on her end, and then jumped up onto a crate opposite to the genasi before tucking her legs in and sitting crossed on top of it. Having called it a table though might…have been a bit much. It was literally just a barrel. But! Everything seemed to fit, and the tabaxi was left staring once more at the heap of meat Master Bovine had carved out for her. Was this, like, a fancy place though? Should she wait for Thea to start eating? Or maybe-
Echo grabbed one of the slabs of meat with her bare hand and took a large bite. Cat Lord, it tasted even better than it smelled and looked. And it smelled and looked amazing! Wiping some of the juices off her chin with the back of her gauntlet and chewing, the tabaxi mumbled, her mouth full, at Thea.
“Thaa ib sa gab!”
She swallowed.
“This is sooooo good!”
Echo took another bite, smaller this time, and flicked an ear.
“So, like…you got me curious. How big of a glassblower are you? Have I just seen a whole bunch of your stuff already without even knowing it? Did you make these too?”
She clinked a claw against the side of her glass before picking it up and taking a deep gulp of the pink liquid inside. Mm…it was really sweet! Almost like candy even. She took another sip as she listened to her former companion.
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 17, 2019 23:44:21 GMT
The lunch crowd in the courtyard was diverse: humans, dwarves, halflings, half-elves, maybe full elves, even a lone yuan-ti sitting in one corner and gnawing at a hunk of unidentifiable meat. They were of all shapes, colors and sizes - but all were laughing and happy, full of the ease that comes from a delicious, comfortable, familiar meal. Between the laundry and the laughter, it gave the whole courtyard a strange sort of family air, as if everyone in it were joined by some bond. It was hard to imagine anyone arguing or yelling, other than in a familiar, oddly loving sort of way.
Thea loved it. That spirit, as much as the quality of the food, was what had drawn her to the place.
The young boy darted over with silverwear for her a moment after Echo left - a battered fork and an extremely sharp knife. “Almost forgot, Master Thea!” He beamed at her. “You need anything else?”
“No, Bar, thank you,” Thea smiled at him.
Bar blushed and ran back to the counter just in time to serve the next plate of meat.
Thea went back to watching, laughing a little at Echo’s attempts to disengage her tail from the little human. She accepted the glass of lavender mint water with a smile. “Thank you!” She took a small sip and set it carefully down on the table. “Oh, is that pinkberry lemonade? It looks delicious.”
“No, no,” Thea giggled, examining the odd, mismatched glasses on their makeshift table. “I’m sure you wouldn’t have seen much of my - well -“ Thea paused, thoughtfully, carefully using her knife and fork to cut a large slice of meat off her skewer. She pierced it with the fork, then set the handle down, using her hands to gesture.
“Most of my work is for...” Thea was quiet, nibbling at her lip, “the wealthy, I suppose,” she made a face at Echo, then giggled. “It’s how it works, I suppose. You make something beautiful, and you want it to be valued - you want the funds to be able to keep working - but these Waterdhavian nobles are just so...” Thea couldn’t quite bring herself to finish the sentence, feeling she was too close to an insult. She picked up the fork and took a bite to give herself time to think. The food really was amazing, perfectly cooked; Thea lost herself for a moment in the pure pleasure of it. By the time she’d finished chewing and swallowing, she felt much better. “Right after I came to Waterdeep, I had the idea of making – signs,” Thea giggled. “Something beautiful but… useful, something where the more beautiful it was, the more useful it would be.” She shrugged a little. “There are a few others around the city. I doubt you’ve seen them, but maybe you will!” |
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Kestrel
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Post by Kestrel on Apr 18, 2019 0:34:27 GMT
Pinkberry lemonade? Echo took one final sip and then set her glass down, smacking her lips softly together. What in the Nine Hells was a pinkberry? Well, whatever it was, it really was delicious! Helped wash down the salty and fatty bits of meat she was shoveling into her mouth, too. The tabaxi sank her fangs into another bite as she watched Thea do the same, though the latter took care to use a mean looking knife and a fork to cut a piece off hers instead, and listened and watched the genasi wave her hands around. The wealthy, huh? Echo met Thea’s giggle with the slightest hint of a smirk. She swallowed her latest bite, licked a bit more juice off her lips, and then cocked her head to the side.
“Annoying, mean, selfish, uh…did I say annoying already?”
Echo was more than happy to finish the genasi’s sentence. What was that word Wisp had always used? Oh, yeah! Insufferable. In Echo’s experience they also tended to smell, like, really bad too. Not in the pungent, earthy way those out in the countryside did, or even the familiar stench of grime and rats that surrounded the city’s street urchins, but the heavy musk of fake flowers and expensive spices and a body that never touched a bit of dirt in its life. Even the thought was enough to wrinkle her nose. The tabaxi was no longer a thief, but…she still did have a thief’s opinion about the upper ups.
Echo took the few moments of silence between them to shove the last bit of one meat slab into her mouth and then stared down at the two remaining on her plate. She was, like, already full! As good as everything was, it was more food than she usually ate. A lot more. Grabbing at the corner of one piece the treasure hunter crudely cut out a bit with one of her claws. She then grabbed it between two fingers, gave the spiced crust a lick, and began to nibble away at an end, more to indulge in the taste at this point than anything else.
She then leaned on an elbow as Thea began again.
“That’s cool! Signs are pretty neat.”
Echo looked to the side, out across the courtyard, and watched a massive half-orc hold out his tray as a bemused Master Bovine cut and placed piece after piece after piece of charred meat and fish onto it. The half-orc just smiled and kept nodding.
“I saw this sign the other day that, uh, had a dragon and what I think was a hydra on it? The hydra was kinda…bad, but the dragon was painted really well! It was for a candle place though, so I don’t get how the two are related, like, at all.”
She gave Thea a grin.
“But yours are way better than that! Beautiful is selling them short, honestly.”
For reals, she had never seen anything like them before. She would definitely have to keep an eye out for some now! It could even be a little game! Spot the Thea sign. Maybe that was something she could even do with the rooftop bunch. Echo sighed.
“I’ve always been better at, like, finding things than making them. Other than music, of course.”
Was music really a thing, though? Or just like…an idea about a thing. Huh.
“I guess that’s just a tabaxi thing, though. Do you use, like…your, y’know…”
Echo waved her free hand back and forth and dislodged the meat at her lips long enough to make a whooshing sound. Wind magic was cool on its own, but she figured it had to help with blowing glass too, right?
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