Practicalities (Vanilla, Chocolate, Kiwi-Strawberry)
Master Work: Sparksong
Challenges/Toppings: Vanilla #1 (shopping), Chocolate #11 (confusion), Kiwi-Strawberry #20 (humming)
Rating: PG-13 (one tiny little swear)
Title: Practicalities
Summary: On a rare visit to the city, Conri comes to a conclusion.
Notes: Yep, still suck at titling.
Gods, it had been ages since he’d had stepped into the city. Conri had to pause just past the gates, momentarily stunned by the influx of stimuli. The smells were the first thing to be processed in his overwhelmed brain - bread baking, sweat from the crowd’s less clean members, and rotting fruits in the sun - then the sounds. There was water splashing somewhere, and the click-clop of horse-drawn carts. He didn’t even try to figure out any of the conversations of the people streaming into the city around him. It was too much, too loud.
“Move along, move along,” came an annoyed-sounding voice behind him, accompanied by the butt of a spear in his lower back.
Conri whirled, spooked and defensive. He reached automatically for his sword, before he realized that he had left it with Takoda just outside the walls.
The guard stared at him, unamused.
“Oh, oh. My apologies, you startled me is all.” Conri removed his hand from the non-existent sword-hilt at his hip, instead holding it up in a manner that he hoped was placating. The guards of the city were not to be trifled with, he remembered from visits years ago.
“Whatever. Just move. You’re blocking the road.” And with that the man shoved past him, humming a tune.
“Okay,” Conri said to the space where the guard had been. They’re shorter with people than I remember. But he did as told and moved away from the entrance, heading for where he remembered the more reputable shops to be. Barley seeds, parchment, and an axe - where was he going to find those?
The crowd pushed him along. Conri resisted the urge to fight the “mob mentality”, as he thought of it. Stopping would surely get him trampled, and anyway hadn’t Julian recommended he loosen up and “stop being a tightass” as he so eloquently put it? He wanted to brush it off as Julian taking Takoda’s side, but ultimately he knew that whatever his biases, the man was sharp as his fighting-fans (and twice as deadly, but that was another matter).
So he started small, of course. Going with the flow in a specific matter and gradually expanding the mentality.
Yes, he was nothing if not practical.
Challenges/Toppings: Vanilla #1 (shopping), Chocolate #11 (confusion), Kiwi-Strawberry #20 (humming)
Rating: PG-13 (one tiny little swear)
Title: Practicalities
Summary: On a rare visit to the city, Conri comes to a conclusion.
Notes: Yep, still suck at titling.
Gods, it had been ages since he’d had stepped into the city. Conri had to pause just past the gates, momentarily stunned by the influx of stimuli. The smells were the first thing to be processed in his overwhelmed brain - bread baking, sweat from the crowd’s less clean members, and rotting fruits in the sun - then the sounds. There was water splashing somewhere, and the click-clop of horse-drawn carts. He didn’t even try to figure out any of the conversations of the people streaming into the city around him. It was too much, too loud.
“Move along, move along,” came an annoyed-sounding voice behind him, accompanied by the butt of a spear in his lower back.
Conri whirled, spooked and defensive. He reached automatically for his sword, before he realized that he had left it with Takoda just outside the walls.
The guard stared at him, unamused.
“Oh, oh. My apologies, you startled me is all.” Conri removed his hand from the non-existent sword-hilt at his hip, instead holding it up in a manner that he hoped was placating. The guards of the city were not to be trifled with, he remembered from visits years ago.
“Whatever. Just move. You’re blocking the road.” And with that the man shoved past him, humming a tune.
“Okay,” Conri said to the space where the guard had been. They’re shorter with people than I remember. But he did as told and moved away from the entrance, heading for where he remembered the more reputable shops to be. Barley seeds, parchment, and an axe - where was he going to find those?
The crowd pushed him along. Conri resisted the urge to fight the “mob mentality”, as he thought of it. Stopping would surely get him trampled, and anyway hadn’t Julian recommended he loosen up and “stop being a tightass” as he so eloquently put it? He wanted to brush it off as Julian taking Takoda’s side, but ultimately he knew that whatever his biases, the man was sharp as his fighting-fans (and twice as deadly, but that was another matter).
So he started small, of course. Going with the flow in a specific matter and gradually expanding the mentality.
Yes, he was nothing if not practical.