Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke [Private]

[Elkeid]

The door to Faustine's flat slowly opened, followed by a sliver of light from the hall. The light illuminated the interior of her abode as the door was forced wider to accommodate her tall figure, glinting off pieces of affordable but stylish IKEA furniture. Faustine placed the briefcase that contained her portfolio and other tools of the trade down on her coffee table, and stepped out of her high heeled shoes. Work could be downright exhausting, especially when your client was an oversized man child that liked to play grab ass. Reoccurring moments like that required constant swatting and stern words to get her point across, and was in the end rather stressful and tiring. Some absurd part of her had also refused to break the client's house rules, thus robbing herself of a much needed smoke.

Faustine plopped down onto her couch and fished out a pack of cigarettes and a zippo lighter. The fact that her usual brand of Kiss cigarettes was replaced by the faux Red Apple should have tipped her off. She was only mildly annoyed when the pack of cigarettes turned up to be empty; it wouldn't be the first time she forgot to throw a depleted pack away. When she went to check on her small stash (which she had a habit of buying in bulk), however, she found them all empty as well.

The burst of anger that caused her to drive her fist into the wall also woke her up from the perplexing dream. Elkeid stared up at the dark ceiling of her rented room. The skylight that used to hang over her bed and wake her in the morning was not there, nor were the drapes that surrounded her four poster bed. There were other things she missed as well, none of which could top her desire for a good smoke. "This is ridiculous…" She needed tobacco in her life, and she needed it now. To do so, she would at least need some paper to roll the plant in, which she would also have to somehow acquire…

Elkeid sat up to do the math and internally groaned at the costs to support her habit. It might be cheaper and easier for her to just commission a pipe, since it was highly unlikely that anyone was selling pre-rolled cigarettes in bulk. And to make a pipe she would need...an artisan, correct? Even though it was still too early in the morning, Elk went about preparing herself for the day, too wound up to go back to sleep.

The sun was still sleeping when she vacated the premises, and was just poking its timid little head out of the clouds when she came to a stop near a request board. People and Landers alike used this board to submit requests for virtually everything, from small errands to thinly veiled "dating" services from courtesans. Elkeid plastered over a rather vulgar request from a "Dong Kong" with her own request; a simple one that called for an artisan to craft her a pipe as an accessory. She added that she would gladly make the crafter a drink of their choice in turn, and suggested a nearby work space as their meet up point.

Elkeid dropped down onto an empty bench and pulled her knees in to her chest, hugging them closely and tightly to herself. Despite how much time she had spent in this world, she still could not shake her tobacco addiction, and it was killing her with every passing day. Even if she could get the pipe made today, she likely would not be able to try it out until later. The woman made a soft noise in the back of her throat, and buried her face into her knees. Vulnerability be damned.

coded by benetnasch of ET

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[attr="class","alkaid"]

Words:
631

Muse:
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Notes:
Les go

Tags:
Stryke

[Stryke]

Leo panted and struggled as he slowly made his way deep into the forest, somehow he got lost and couldn't find the way back to London. He didn't know how he got there in the first place and he didn't even try to ask himself why he didn't care, he just kept going deeper and deeper into the forest in hope to find the main road soon. The vegetation was also strangely more thick than the normal forests found in windsor greatswood and even more strangely the plant variants were more akin to a pluvial forest, though even now Leo didn't care in the slightest. To traverse the thick vegetation Leo resorted to clear the way with his swords, reminding him of those old fashioned adventure movies his father usually made him watch. It didn't take long till Leo finally found the way out of the forest, but the sight of what lied over it greatly surprised him. A vast grassland spread far over the limits of his own eyesight and at not too far away from hi, a beautiful girl with a blue vest and long silky hair stood immobile, the wind gently caressing her hair. Leo cautiously got closer to the beautiful girl, upon seeing the adventurer move while being so much careful on his moves made her giggle, she closed her eyes and formed the most beautiful smile Leo had ever seen. Her mouth started to move, it seemed she wanted to talk to him, Leo prepared himself for her presumably angelic voice and listened to what she had to say,

"IT'S 7 O CLOCK, GET UP YOUR ASS YOU SHRIMP!"

The inn walls roared and Leo catapulted himself out of the bed by sheer shock with a jumping power of over 3 surprised cats combined. a second later his head met with the hard wood floor, provoking him much pain and a very anesthetic bump on his face. Leo's eyes were crimson for being awoken so abruptly, his mouth contracted into an angry grin,

"And we're at ten..."

He murmured, his head still kissing the dirty floor. No matter how many times he told that bear sized lady to be a little bit quieter when waking him up, she still made him jump over his bed every single morning since he decided to stay in that damn inn, sometimes he thought she just enjoyed hearing his head fall on floor every time.

Later that morning Leo went for his usual morning walk and as usual he kept getting looks from strangers for the still visible bump on his face, then he stopped to give a quick look at the request board. The board didn't have anything particularly good that day, usually you'd find some hunting tasks and more interesting stuffs but that didn't seem to be the case today, the board was filled with date requests and more silly things, eugh. Looking more deeply into the board, Leo actually found something that could be useful for him, an adventurer was requesting to help of an artisan to craft an item, in exchange he could get crafted a drink of his choice. Leo accepted the job without thinking about it twice, that way he could increase his low artisan level and also get something good to drink that didn't taste like muddy water, it was a win-win situation.

The meet up place was at near work-shop, the writer of the post in the request board was named Elkeid and finding that person wouldn't be much difficult for him, not with the names of everyone around himself popping up over their head by simply thinking about it, it was just one of the few commodities of being inside a mmo. As expected, Leo found his employer sit on one of the tables. Leo looked at the woman with a confused look on his face as he saw her sitting on the chair while hugging her legs tight to her chest, her face buried into her legs. Leo stood for a moment above without saying anything, then he finally spoke once he realized that she wouldn't come out of her leg fortress unless someone forcefully took her out from it,

"Ehm...Hello? I'm here for the job in the request board"


WC:711

[Elkeid]

Elk's body was doing the shaky thing people suffering from withdrawal experienced. It was nowhere near as bad as the first time she had tried to quit, or after the relocation into the game cut off her steady flow of tobacco, but it was still annoying as neep. She pinched her flesh until her nails were painfully digging in. Self-harm was not unusual at these times, and she likely would have continued, had it not been for the male voice breaking into her incoherent thoughts.

His words were unclear, due to her condition, but she could understand a few words through the white noise. She lifted her head high enough so that she could cast her eyes on his face, and more importantly, his lips. Understanding speech still made her uncomfortable, so she defaulted to the methods she had learned as a child; lip reading. Sign language was unnecessary since she could (thankfully) speak. She would have been angrier than a young Helen Keller if she couldn't express herself in other means than sign or writing. Not too many people understood sign language, and pen and paper was not always readily available.

She closed her eyes for a moment, using that time to silently collect her thoughts and calm herself down before she said or did something that she would later regret. The man had answered her request, after all; it wasn't his fault that she was suffering right now, and lashing out at him for no reason would only make him take his business elsewhere. Still, the violent side in her was whispering foul things, things that included hitting something over and over again until it broke or died. ...It would probably be a good idea for her to relieve some stress by fighting monsters later.

"Hello," she said, trying to adopt a tone of voice that was not aggressive or monotone. What she heard sounded like the soft growl of a revving engine. 'Smooth, like vodka.' Let's try this again. She cleared her throat. "Hello. I'm Elkeid. And you are…?" She cut herself off near the end to look above the man's head, and envision a name appearing over there. It was a little harder to do than simply "mousing" over and "clicking," but she was not in the mood to move around with now.

The word "STRYKE" appeared, along with a string of info relating to main class, HP, etc. This man was apparently a Swashbuckler a few levels below her. He was also rather tall and slimly built…not that it mattered, of course. She pulled one arm free and gestured to the spot beside her. Despite the mounting excitement at being so close to having her pipe constructed, she remained outwardly calm. "Thank you for accepting my request," she said, wasting no time in moving straight to business. "I have the description ready. Do you know what drink you want? It doesn't have to be alcoholic, if you're abstaining." She wasn't expecting him to choose a virgin blend, though.

coded by benetnasch of ET

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Words:
503

Muse:
Artificial Nocturne

Notes:
Nup.

Tags:
Stryke

[Stryke]

The woman didn't respond immediately and when she did respond her voice got out of her mouth with a tone low enough to surprise Leo. Her voice gradually became more bright as she talked, she also finally moved her head out of the fortress she built with her own legs. Leo could finally see his employer's face along more of her physical attributes, the first thing he noticed was how she appeared to be definitely older than various girls he had met in the game, judging by her appearance Leo estimated her to be more or less 25 years old or something like that.

The woman apparently wasn't very happy to see him, if Leo didn't know better he could have sworn to have seen her face make an annoyed wince, but that would make no sense, why would she be annoyed to see someone she actually requested to see?

The woman saluted him and presented himself, then she asked Leo who he was,

"Name's Stryke"

He said while pointing his thumb slightly over his head, the place where his name tag would show in the woman's own eyesight . Leo had still to get used to referring himself as Stryke to others, it felt weird to be called in a way different than you always were but also kind of refreshing, it made him look at things from a different perspective.

The woman then gestured him to sit, Leo took the chair and sit on it with his arms crossed, not the perfect posture to show respect once you accepted a job but that was his style, and also because he didn't know the woman well enough to be more relaxed.

"I have the description ready. Do you know what drink you want? It doesn't have to be alcoholic, if you're abstaining."

So she basically went straight to the point, no idle chat or whatever, she must've been really in a hurry to get whatever she wanted crafted. For Leo it was good, he didn't accept the request to chat with another adventurer either, he just wanted the artisan level and also the free drink she promised him.

Speaking of the drink, Leo already knew without any doubts what he was going to order. In real life there was one and only drink that made him feel like he was in heaven every time he drank it, that drink was the delicious dark guinnness beer. Leo didn't know if she could prepare it, he didn't even know if beer was even something a brewer could produce in this world, Leo had his doubts but he couldn't really know till he asked the brewer in front of him, right?

"Yes, I do, but I don't know if that's something possible to make. I want a guinness beer, that's all, if you don't know it it's a dry stout with a really intense flavor. Is it even possible to produce beer with the brewer skill?"

Leo asked Elkeid, he could have asked for something a bit simpler, but his taste buds would have never forgiven him if she could indeed craft that beer.


WC:522

[Elkeid]

Elkeid was not disappointed. She glanced at the man from the corner of her eyes as he requested a Guinness beer. It was a brand of beer she was familiar with, but as someone who preferred fruitier drinks… That was beside the point. Stryke was asking her to make something that would need a few good weeks to brew to satisfaction, and she had little clue where to start when it came to beer. Sure, she had watched Imogen a few times before, but she had not paid much attention to the materials and steps necessary to brew beer. It surely couldn't be as "easy" as making wine, either.

"Yes, Brewers can make beer. However…" She turned her head and shoulders a bit, so that she was somewhat facing Stryke and had a better view of his face. "In order to make beer that tastes like beer, I would need to make it the old fashioned way - by allowing it to ferment for a while, in other words. Furthermore, I am not sure how to go about making beer from scratch at the moment, so… I could try mimicking it by mixing base drinks together, but I doubt that would satiate your thirst. Perhaps I can make something else for you, instead?" There was just no way she could make faux beer with an alternative taste at her level, nor did she have the higher grade materials to do so. "It will need to be something like...tea, coffee, cocktails, etc. - unless you're actually willing to wait a month or two just for a bottle of beer." It seemed unlikely; most people succumbed to instant gratification, and she was no better herself.

During the lull in conversation that followed while she awaited the man's answer, Elkeid reached one weary hand into her pocket, digging for the scrap of paper she had tucked in there earlier. She placed the folded piece of paper on top of the bench's counter and slid it towards the middle with one finger. Inside, Stryke would find the rough sketch of a pipe, the sought after description, and the requested effect of increased physical resistance. "Immortal Smoke" is the name I desire for my pipe accessory." The pipe's name was the second half of a song title she was fond of: "Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke."

The song was introduced to her via Imogen's son, Petter, who was fond of music and loved showing her songs she had never heard before. She did not mind music, as long as it was largely instrumental, though the tone of some singers could be rather mesmerizing. He gave her quite a few songs that were electronic in nature, and even ones that seemed to be "anime themed," like the endless strings of "Touhou" songs he gave her, each one accompanied by some oddly dressed young Asian girl. It was odd to think that this series of games (called something like “bullet hells”) could produce such delightful music, but as long as she enjoyed them, who cared what anyone else thought? Overall, the song seemed appropriate for what she had in mind with her pipe, which was all that mattered to her.

coded by benetnasch of ET

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[attr="class","alkaid"]

Words:
534

Muse:
Reach for the Moon, Immortal Smoke

Notes:
Boop.

Tags:
Stryke

[Stryke]

Leo's eyes sparkled with hope as Elkeid confirmed that it was indeed possible to make his desired beer, only to them to return to their usual glacial color once she clarified that the craft would require weeks of manual work. Leo scuffed silently as he rolled his eyes on the right, the only real alcoholic drink he drank was beer, strangely other beverages like cocktails weren't of really of his taste.

The woman was still considering making his beer though, even if the process required a lot of time, or Leo could decide another drink to request. Even though he loved his favorite brand of beer, Leo couldn't wait so much for a single drink and he also didn't want to make the woman work so hard for such a stupid thing. Uncrossing his arms, he raised them a bit with his palms stretched on the side and closed his eyes, assuming a "whatever" pose,

"You know what? Surprise me, Aside from beer I don't have another particular request and you seem quite knowledgeable on alcohol in general, so I'm leaving it in your hands."

He reopened his eyes and crossed his arms again, if he couldn't have a beer then everything else would be the same for him, he just hoped some brewer out there would eventually start crafting good tasting beers in a large production soon.

His part of the payment was settled and the two crafters could finally start speaking about the main request. Elkeid placed a piece of paper on the counter and slid it on Leo's side of the table, he picked it up and analyzed the content with care. Leo raised an eyebrow when he first saw in what consisted the project, on the paper there was a scribble of what appeared to be a pipe along some notes on the properties of the item, the name as she put it was Immortal smoke. It was a rather unusual request and Leo just couldn't imagine that woman smoking from a pipe, it was just so strange and old fashioned. Thinking about it, Leo realized why she would request a pipe, cigarettes weren't obviously obtainable in this world and the only way to get your daily dose of nicotine was with an old fashioned item like a pipe.

"I guess you would prefer a pack cigarettes, but they aren't really an option right now, aren't they?"

Leo said, jokingly while looking at the pipe's project paper,

"Alright, it should be pretty easy to craft one matching your description, in no time you'll be able to inject your body with your daily dose of nicotine again"

Leo concluded, he then started taking out all the needed tools from his inventory, his trusty set of carving blades and some wood materials in case he messed up. He picked up a medium sized knife and tested its sharpness with a block of wood he brought out earlier, once he deemed th eblade good enough for this kind of craft he then looked at Elkeid,

"Shall we get started then?"


WC:511

[Elkeid]

Aaand he was disappointed. Figures. He was also taxing her for a suitable replacement. That she could easily do; making a drink that suited his personality. A faint smile graced her lips. 'I have just the thing…' Her hands reflexively squeezed her knees in the pattern of a heartbeat, and then were set to the side to twitch on their own. The shakes were back.

She narrowed her eyes at Stryke, not in the mood to appreciate jokes right now, especially to where her addiction was being made the center of the joke. She would absolutely kill for a pack of cigarettes right about now, but alas. It was still possible to make homemade (rolled) cigarettes, but filters she was unsure about, and did not wish to further dirty her lungs with more toxins. Great; now she was craving tobacco again.

Elkeid closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. If she was certain she would have been able to focus for that long, she would have tried meditating. It usually helped, but right now she was far to gone to so much as sit still. The deep breaths felt like they working, though. Making Stryke's drink would also help. 'The sooner this over, the better.'

She started off by taking out the main ingredients of the trade: stale liquor, common beverage, some British snow and two empty glasses. Other materials, such as salt and fruit extracts, were neatly set down on the table. There were enough materials for a second drink as well, mostly there for her own benefit. If she couldn't have a cigarette, a glass of liquor would be the next best thing. For Stryke she would make a Poor man's Black Velvet; a beer cocktail, though she may as well have tried making a Black Russian instead. 'Except you don't have any vodka; only pretenders.' For herself...well, she'd think of something.

For now she would concern herself with making Stryke's drink, for which she (thankfully) had some coffee previously brewed for later consumption. Stout had been described as strong, rich and bitter to her, which left the image of a drink of black coffee firmly stamped in her mind. It still wouldn't be the same as beer, though. Either way, his drink was bound to be "manlier" than hers by comparison. 'Hm. A Hairy Navel is a bright and pretty drink…' It was settled, then.

coded by benetnasch of ET

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[attr="class","alkaid"]

Words:
400

Muse:
Sour Times

Notes:
Floop.

Tags:
Stryke

[Stryke]

With everything set up, Leo started crafting the immortal smoke pipe. He took up the piece of paper and carefully analyzed the form and properties of the object in order to make something that suited Elkeid's tastes, he didn't want to disappoint others with his works and the last thing he wanted was to let dissatisfied customers getting him a bad reputation. He had improved a lot since his first crafting attempt and he was eager to show his improvements. He was more precise in carving stones and other materials, partly because he was gaining real life experience and partly because his artisan level was slowly rising, it was hard to tell which of the two was the true reason.

Building a pipe was surprisingly complex, the pipe itself has to be made with detachable parts, or else making the airflow system work would be a total hell. Using his medium sized knife, Leo started carving the little block of wood to give it the basic shape of a shank, the lower part of the pipe where tobacco must be inserted into, his plan was to refine the details later when he finished the air flow system which would make the pipe functional. Actually, building an air conduct like that wasn't exactly easy, Leo had to be extremely careful designing it or else could affect the functionality of the pipe. Too much airflow and it would extinguish the fire needed to burn the tobacco inside the pipe, contrary, if there wasn't enough airflow the user couldn't keep the flame alive, thus rendering the pipe useless.

Leo wasn't a smoker and he never crafted anything like that, the only way to get the air conduct right was by using the usual strategy, try it many times till it works. Once he had finished the shank with a much smaller knife, Leo brought another little block of wood and he started crafting the mouthpiece. It took him some time to carve the part where the two parts would combine, they had to perfectly match each other in order to prevent any losses of airflow. Using a small knife, Leo carefully finished perfecting the combining spots and then finally unified the pipe in one single object.

The finished product was still unrefined and ugly but at least now it was presumably functional, or at least he hoped, he didn't know if the air chambers were balanced. Leo carved them expecting minimal airflow for a reason, since he never crafted a pipe before he decided to play it safe and make little adjustments to the chambers till they granted a perfect airflow, if he accidentally made them too big from the start eh would have had to restart the work from scratch.

"I think I need your help now, Elkeid"

Leo called the woman and lend her his unrefined pipe,

"Before I start refining the details I want to know f I carved the air chambers right, I'm not a smoker so I need you to test it for me and tell me if I have to make some adjustments"

Leo was sure she would accept without him having to ask twice, what kind of smoker wouldn't accept the chance to get a brief smoke after so much time in abstinence?


WC: 545

[Elkeid]

Elkeid's hands moved almost sluggishly at first, but once she started she gradually warmed up to the task. It was like the art of sex; she just had to ease herself into it. 'Now, if only my hands would stop trembling…' She did not want to spill and waste anything, and the method for making Stryke's drink was a lot bitchier than hers, which was mostly "add ice, pour in liquor and stir." Stryke's drink, after adding the cider, needed to be poured into a folded spoon, so that the strong, bitter and black coffee she would be pouring in after it did not mix. The goal here was to layer the drink.

She sneaked a peek over at Stryke to see how he was doing. It was in the unattractive stage, but he was working out the outline of the pipe with a knife. Elkeid's nostrils flared at the sight. She was almost expecting tobacco smoke to waft out of the pipe and towards her. Maybe she had a problem, after all… 'Focus.'

"Smoooooooooooooke."

Despite the faintness of the voice, Elkeid heard it with perfect clarity. It wasn't the voice of an actual person (unless Stryke was just neeping with her), so she assumed she was just hallucinating. She averted her eyes from the pipe and went back to carefully pouring the contents of the bottle into the spoon, watching as the black liquid dribbled from the sides and into the glass below. The coffee was stacking itself on top of the cider, forming up nicely now that she distributing more and more into the glass.

"Smoooooooooooooooooooooooke."

'Focus, Faustine. Focus.' She paused what she was doing for a moments to close her eyes and take a few deep breaths. The taunting call ceased after the third breath, though it was only a matter of time before it started up again. She finished off the drink before that could happen, and set it to the side. Now she could start on her Hairy Navel, or would have, if the man had not called for her attention.

The empty glass cradled in her hands was abandoned in favor of the unfinished pipe that Stryke held out for her inspection. A few beads of sweat formed on Elkeid's brow. And here she was, without nary a pinch of tobacco. Why hadn't she bought some earlier, while she was waiting for him to arrive? Her hands were surprisingly steady when she reached out to take the pipe, holding it between her hands like it was a small, baby bird. "I don't have anything to smoke…" Her voice was laced with regret; why on earth had she allowed her withdrawal to cloud her better judgment?

She held the pipe a bit more confidently in one hand, and brought it to her mouth. While she did not have a way to test the smoke quality it could produce, she could still test the air flow. You normally would allow the smoke to waft out and into your mouth, not inhale like Elkeid was doing. It had been quite a while since she had last held a pipe and mimicked smoking one (years, in fact), and unlike her godfather's old pipe, this one did not carry the taste of years of tobacco use. This pipe...was a little too hard to draw from. It was almost stifling.

Elkeid pulled the pipe from her lips, flicking the tip of her tongue across her lips as she wrinkled her brow. "It's a good start, but I think the chambers need to be a wee bit wider. If I can barely suck air through it, I imagine the smoke will have just as hard a time getting out." She handed the pipe back to him. "Maybe I should find some tobacco," she muttered to herself. That would be the best way to test the pipe, after all.

coded by benetnasch of ET

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[attr="class","alkaid"]

[newclass=.alkaid]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 100px; height:6px;[/newclass]

[attr="class","alkaid"]

Words:
647

Muse:
Extreme Ways

Notes:
Floop.

Tags:
Stryke

[Stryke]

As expected, the air chambers were a bit too narrow for Elkeid,

"Mhm...Alright, let me fix it"

Leo said and then he retrieved the pipe from Elkeid. According to her, the chambers needed to be just a bit wider, For Leo it didn't change much because it was something that could be done in just a few minutes with the right tools.

He once again picked up his trusty 2 inches precision knife and started to enlarge the chambers a bit, just so that the air could flow in and out of the pipe without too much difficulty. Leo carefully carved the insides of the two parts and some minutes later he reconnected them together.

In the meantime Elkeid muttered about finding some tobacco, by the tone of her voice Leo couldn't tell whether she was talking with him or just with herself,

"Yeah, you probably should, I don't think you'd want to bring this pipe home without testing it"

Leo responded, unsure if the woman was talking to him or not. This time Leo was confident that the airflow was balanced but he wanted to give it a final test before, he wanted to be sure that he did a perfectly good job.

The only thing that was left was refining the details, in that moment the pipe looked crude and unfinished, he couldn't hand out a product like that to Elkeid. He controlled one last time Elkeid's indications on the paper and commenced the refining work with his trusty precision knife.

The first thing to do was to even the surface and make it smooth to the touch , then he could move to refining the actual appearance. the pipe had to be comfortable to the touch, Leo didn't exactly know why other people smoked but according to what he heard it had something to do with relaxing one's nerves, and that's exactly why the pipe had to give the best comfort possible.

Once the surface was all smoothed out, Leo carefully carved all the other refinements as Elkeid requested. After a few minutes the pipe was finally finished and ready for a practical test, the only thing missing was actual tobacco for the test but Leo wasn't even sure where to find it. It could maybe be purchased by some landers? Or was it something that dropped from mobs? Was it even available in this world? Leo didn't know, he could hardly imagine Elkeid's reaction if tobacco didn't exist there but it surely wouldn't be a good one.


WC:421

[Elkeid]

"I will get to that momentarily." For now, she needed to calm her nerves, and finishing this drink was a good way to distract herself. Hairy Navels were quick and easy to make; there was no need for special spoon folding. It was a simple case of pour, top and stir. She scattered some British snow into the bottom of the glass, and poured some stale liquor inside of it. An extract of peach juice followed alongside it, and she topped the drink off with some orange juice. The final process involved stirring, which she did until the ingredients were well blended. "There." The drink was done and set down on her side of the table.

She turned her eyes over to Stryke, who was still adjusting the air chambers for her pipe. He still needed to do the finishing touches for the pipe, and that could take a while. She pushed his strong and bitter drink towards him. "There's your drink - feel free to drink up. I'm going to try and hunt down some tobacco or something." Surely there had to be something she could smoke for sell around here. She would probably need to hunt down a Pharmacist, a Farmer or a Gardener… Hopefully it didn't take long. She did not want to hold the man up, but she also wanted to test the pipe to be sure that it suited it her needs.

There were many booths and tables scattered around, with people either working on their crafting or selling their wares. She ignored the players pushing armor or weapons, focusing more on those who dealt with herbs and other food items. The number of Pharmacists was practically nonexistent, with only one stand up and a shadowy figure lurking near the alley. What the actual neep, people? Did no one have what she longed for - no, needed?

"Ugh. Don't tell me I'm going to go through the trouble of making a pipe for nothing.

"Ohoho, is it smokes you are looking for?"

Elkeid was startled by the low, purring voice that sounded in her ear, and turned to find a rather voluptuous fox woman standing beside her. The fox woman held an elongated and thin pipe in her hand, which Elk assumed was a Japanese pipe - a kiseru. There was smoke - sweet, sweet smoke coming out of the end of that little pipe. She placed the mouthpiece to her mouth and narrowed her eyes as she took a little puff. The tips of the woman's ears flickered when she exhaled - right in front of Elk's nose. "Ah-" The smoke smelled delicious. She didn't care what it was or where it came from; she wanted it and she wanted it now. "Where did you get this…?" The other woman pulled back when she reached for the pipe.

"Ah ah ah~. No touchie. I can provide you with some of my product, however, if you can pay the price."

Of course. There was always a price, wasn't there? "Name it."

"Two hundred gold a pouch," the woman said, not missing a beat. "A pouch this size, to be exact." She pulled off a small pouch that was belted to her waist, and held it up for Elk's inspection. It wasn't a bad price, really, though that pouch would likely be empty before the week was over.

"I'll take two, please."

"And that will be four hundred gold~. If you were a regular customer, I could have given you a discount."

"If". This woman was hilarious. "Oh, you can bet on it. I'll be back." The woman, who introduced herself as Jaedis, handed over the tobacco and a card that Elk stuffed into her pocket without checking. Her face was doing something akin to a grin and an angry snarl when she returned to the bench where she had left Stryke to work his magic. "I found some," she said, setting both pouches of tobacco down. She would have to learn more about this woman later.

coded by benetnasch of ET

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[attr="class","alkaid"]

[newclass=.alkaid]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 100px; height:6px;[/newclass]

[attr="class","alkaid"]

Words:
671

Muse:
Ooh La La

Notes:
Floop.

Tags:
Stryke