Avakian left the hall after class by himself, Chiros having another class he had promised to assist in. On the way out he picked up a folded map from a stand that was giving them out for free. His next goal was to go shopping for various items, chiefly clothes that actually fit him, as well as books and food.
He walked back to the dojo for a snack, before heading to what the map had labelled the 'Currency Exchange', taking with him a single navy-blue coin. The coins he had were far too valuable to use in most single transactions, so he had decided to exchange one for lesser units of currency.
The Currency Exchange was constructed in the standard Aemonsford way, with stone columns and steps. He walked in to find two rows of students queueing for two types of machines.
In front of the machines students were either depositing vast quantities of brown coins in exchange for green, or vice versa. Avakian queued behind the students in the second line, and waited patiently for his turn.
After a 10 minute wait his turn arrived, and he slotted his coin into the box-like construction, a brief whirring and clicking sounded, before a compartment opened and a pouch was spat out. The pouch contained 64 green oblongs, which he instantly counted before slotting them into his knapsack and leaving.
Avakian's next destination was the campus shopping district; a dedicated mall for the teachers and students living at the Academy. Fortunately it was situated directly adjacent to the Currency Exchange, so he didn't have to walk too far before it was in sight.
The shopping district was busy. Not nearly as busy as the plaza in the city centre, but still relatively packed. Students milled around in groups or by themselves, eyeing up wares or buying snacks from the stalls interspacing the more established shops.
He was very nearly sidetracked by a packed stall handing out chunks of meat and vegetables packaged in banana leaves, but continued on.
Avakian arrived at the very first shop he intended to buy clothes from, an old looking emporium strewn with colour; fabrics and textiles visible through the glass. The shop had a wooden sign on the front that read 'Abarajitha's Tailoring and Adjustments'. He entered the shop to a faint chiming, the smell of incense pleasantly entering his palate.
Almost instantly he was approached by a small woman in her late thirties wearing a multicoloured dress. The woman's skin was of a different shade than Avakian was used to, a pale red, whereas most in Aemonsford had a fairer complexion.
"Good afternoon! I am Djiya Abarajitha, how may I help you?" The woman spoke Aeuropean with a musical accent, implying a different place of birth.
"Hello! I was hoping to buy a large amount of clothes, fitted for my size, and have them posted to my apartment?" He asked.
"Certainly. We will take your sizes and then talk design and price, please sit down on the stool over there." She pointed to a curtained off area, then strode off quickly.
Avakian drew the curtain back, and sat down on the ornate stool, waiting for the proprietress to return.
The woman did come back, bringing with her a range of measuring equipment, as well as a younger, similar-looking relative. It was just then that he noticed both women had four arms; he had not realised it at first as they held their second set of arms crossed behind their backs while they walked.
"This is my niece and apprentice, Priya; she works here part time." Abarajitha smiled.
Priya mumbled something awkwardly before looking at the floor.
"I'm Avakian, pleased to meet you." He introduced himself cheerfully.
"Now, keep your back straight and arms wide."
Abarajitha produced several sets of measuring tape that she used simultaneously, measuring different aspects of his body as to properly fit his clothes. At one point she asked him to strip down to his undershorts, to which Priya's reddish skin went even redder.
"You'll never find a good man without some backbone, Priya." She tutted in a completely different language, yet one that Avakian still understood. "Look at this boy! Isn't he adorable, so small and handsome!"
"Shut up Auntie! He's too young for me, and he probably thinks my arms are disgusting." Priya pouted in a corner whilst her Aunt measured Avakian's waist.
"What's wrong with your arms?" He asked, to which both the women completely froze.
Priya responded first, squealing before running past the curtain rail and disappearing from sight. Abarajitha simply laughed in her upbeat manner.
"I'll be able to tease her about this for weeks! I wasn't aware that anyone in this city spoke Sindallah except our family. Who taught you?" She asked with restrained curiosity.
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"I'm not entirely sure myself. I know many languages but cannot ever remember being taught any of them." He confessed.
"A mystery then. The Manifold certainly has enough of those." She reasoned. "If you'll believe it, our family is actually descended from an ancient Demigod. We still have a few gifts left, our arms are one of those legacies."
Abarajitha uncurled a fist and held her hand out, palm skyward. She activated something, and Avakian felt that same nostalgic sensation he now recognised as a glyph being activated.
A tiny flame was called into existence above her delicate palm. The flame flickered and danced for a scant few seconds before she closed her fist, smothering it.
"It is said the flames of my ancestor could cover entire continents, burning those wicked of heart, while sparing the pure. Mine can barely light the stove." She sighed, and returned to her measurements.
"Incredible! I didn't see you activate any glyphs. Are they in your clothes?" He asked, increasingly excited.
"They are in my blood. Or flesh, I'm not entirely sure of the mechanics of it. I believe the erebologists call them 'Somatic Etchings'. You should talk to Professor Palmer at the Academy, he wrote his thesis on them."
"Oh you mean Samuel? I met him yesterday actually, an interesting character."
"One way to put it." She agreed. "He's always been good to our family, he pays well to examine our etchings."
---
Avakian left the shop in his wake, leaving Abarajitha with his address, 10 green coins, and vague impressions of how he wanted his clothes to look.
"I don't really mind what they look like, as long as they fit and aren't coloured in mustard." He thought wisely.
His next goal was to buy books. Fortunately when discussing books only one store was worth mentioning; "Ben and Benson's Book Room". The book room was inappropriately named, instead of a room it was more like a massive library, decorated in a rather modern fashion.
Avakian walked past the glass sliding doors and up to a reception, where an aptly bookish looking girl greeted him.
"Welcome to Benson's, how may I assist you." She said dispassionately.
"Hi! I was hoping I could pick out a range of books and have them sent to my apartment?" He asked.
"Yeah, yeah we can do that. Leave them at reception when you're done. We charge a small fee for shipping." She went back to reading her novel underneath the desk.
He next went up to a bulletined map of the library, which had a key to find any specific subject in question. The room was divided into six floors, and the floor that caught his interest most was the fifth; titled "Natural Sciences & Erebology".
He ascended the stairs and sauntered over to the glyphs section, slightly anxious at how small it looked. Unfortunately his worries came true, most of the books were purely theoretical, and didn't contain any actual new runes for him to use. The only book that was entirely dedicated to etching was "Eskrimmer's Elementary Runes", which he immediately picked out.
Avakian finished with the glyphs section, picking out a dozen books that might aid him, and started exploring the rest of the library. He ended up spending over four hours pouring over literature of every kind, taking out those that he needed, or simply those that struck his interest.
He had to make several trips to the downstairs reception, each time carrying a dozen books that he handed to the increasingly irritated looking reception girl.
"I swear on the Dark, if you make me carry those books back upstairs I will ban your entire bloodline for generations!" She snarled. "You picked over a hundred books! If you can pay for all of that I'll eat my hat; right after purchasing one!"
"How much?" He asked.
"Pardon?"
"How much? For all of them, plus shipping of course."
The girl looked over each of the books, whilst quickly tapping buttons on a till. Eventually a pinging noise sounded and she looked back at Avakian.
"100g orichalcum sterling, that's 14 green chits, with me being as charitable as I am." She raised her hand sarcastically, then paused as Avakian started rifling through his coinpouch.
"Here, 14 green coins, yes?" She took the coins incredibly sheepishly, counting them and even examining one under a microscope.
"Ughhhh.. Sorry about that.. Loads of kids pull that exact same prank nearly every month. Please don't tell my manager about this, I really like this job." She begged.
"Sure, so long as the books arrive." He winked at the stressed receptionist.
She nodded vigorously, and started sorting them into separate piles based on size. "They'll arrive, I'll make sure of it."
---
By the time he had left Benson's it was well into late afternoon. Avakian considered buying food, but had frankly no idea how to cook even if he did. He decided living off of Chiros' vegan diet would be suitable for the meantime.
He arrived back at the dojo at the same time as his housemate, who greeted him with his usual amount of cheer.
"Afternoon Avakian! More training? I have to do a little warm-down before dinner."
"Uhhh. Chiros, how do you manage so much training? I feel like I've been beaten with a stick.." He trailed off. "Well I suppose I actually have!"
"Passion, clean eating, and a can-do attitude!" He stuck his thumb up and grinned.
"Sure.. Anyway, I'll see you for dinner."
Chiros looked a little disappointed at Avakian's lack of enthusiasm at getting beaten up, but took it in good stead.
Avakian walked back to his room, kicked his feet up on his bed, and started reading through his first book; "Eskrimmer's Elementary Runes".
The first half of the book was dedicated to the six runes he had learned yesterday. Oddly enough they were slightly different than the ones Ellian had taught him, while Eskrimmer's glyphs were rigid and consistent, Ellian's were much more organic and flowing. The author also taught that runes should always be identical, whereas Ellian often introduced subtle differences in her glyphs as situations called for it.
"How bizarre. They can't both be correct, I'll talk to her about it next time I see her." He supposed.
He strode over to the kitchenette, where Chiros was once again preparing dinner. Avakian helped him cut up some of the vegetables for their dish, this time a tofu and mushroom stir fry.
They both talked about their respective days over the meal, Avakian telling him of his shopping and runic troubles.