Post by Shinku on Nov 18, 2014 14:07:55 GMT -5
As they walked through the streets Kyou again found himself surprised by Otto’s ability to haggle like an old crone. The exchange with the vendor was one of an experienced bargainer and showed the desired result for the monkey-man returned with two bags full of eatable stuff. Some of it looked even tasty. Since he was often short on money himself Kyou found that a very desirable ability yet as it usually contained much talking and confrontation it was nothing that would easily find its way into his repertoire. But maybe the handshake, that one looked like it could be used effectively without much talk. And as a bonus; a handshake was a friendly gesture so no one would be able to accuse him of threatening said person. It wasn’t the nicest thing to do but it did get them their well-deserved evening meal so Kyou found it highly acceptable.
To take the offered cake was harder. With a deep-rooted mistrust against food that someone served who wasn’t him it was not easy to accept the free meal, for free meals were never really free there was always a catch. In the best case people expected something in return. In the worst case you got poisoned and died. Since Otto had just bought the cake from the vendor and had even offered half of the cake that he was eating himself, the risk of being poisoned was reasonably low. Slowly he took the half from Otto and after making sure that it looked just like the other half in Otto’s hand without any additional powder on top, he started to nibble at it. It was sweet and rich on flavor and stomach-churning. The last time he had gotten his hands on something sweet like that it had been a half-rotten fruit and his stomach was not used to the sugar level. His face lost a bit of color but with willpower and it was willpower alone that saved him of a big embarrassment of losing his stomach content, he got his stomach under control again, proving to himself that the mind was overpowering the body when it came to liking foodstuff. At least it wasn’t poison for whatever the mind might be able to do, neutralizing a poison was too much to ask of it.
Taking a deep breath he came to a decision. With his free hand he fished out the receipt paper and held out the hand with it to Otto. “I’m very likely to lose it.” He told him. “Would you mind keeping it safe for me?”
The sun had vanished and even the last rays of light were soon gone but the two young men were still on their way back to Otto’s Dojo. After all they had to redouble all the way they had come from in the morning but now it was dark and they had to be even more careful with their steps for loose stones and rotten bridges were just one of many things that could befall one in the darkness. Yet it was a quiet journey under the stars and while they heard a lot of nightly animal sounds they never encountered any animal directly. Kyou, who had taken one of the bags to carry, was enjoying the cold air and the peace.
The Dojo looked not as badly run down as Kyou had imagined it to, but it was still visible that it would need some renovation. “You’re going to need a lot more money to make this decent again. But I guess you can save much if you do the work yourself.” He told Otto and for Kyou that was a rare attempt to start a conversation as well as it was much talk in general for the boy.