I wrote this in a span of an hour, and haven't yet had the chance to proofread. So, sorry if there are any errors!
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Ch.4
Finishing off my delicious bread, I headed over to a well. Dehydration is no joke, and I always drink at least 2 liters, but that was only if I wasn't active. Sometimes, it felt like I was always thirsty, and that I could never get enough.
Reaching the well, I proceeded to pull up a bucket. Ignoring all the strange looks I was getting, I took a long drought from it, then poured the remainder over my head. I looked down at myself, but there was still blood griming up my clothes. I went to drop the bucket and get another pail of water when a shy voice spoke from my side.
"I-if you would like, I could make you a new outfit? I heard about how you helped out farmer Bob, a-and I know I'm just an app-prentice, but I can make you a new set of clothes for ch-cheap?" The girl was a tiny thing, wringing her hands in her smock, and fleetingly glancing up at me before returning them to her feet. I sized her up, the chorus making their opinions known.
Hmm, maybe this is from the whole "Increase affinity with Fluegerveagen".
Why do you need new clothes? These seem fine to me.
I like her, she's so cute, it makes me want to hug her tight!
New clothes, new armor, better stats, could be a good idea.... wait, how the hell do you remember this God-forsaken villages name, First?!?
Ignoring the ensuing battle coming from my head, I went with majority rules. Catching her eye during own of the brief times she raised them, I asked her what Ami said should always be your first question. "What's your name, lass?" Emotions come hard to me, and sometimes I forget all together what they are, but I am very proficient in faking it. I tilted my head in a questioning manner, running my hand through my water-logged hair, brushing it back so I could see her clearly. -Smile- I tilted my lips just the slightest, hoping I was doing the correct thing.
The voices said something I couldn't understand. They do that sometimes when they don't want me to hear, but it made me hurt a little on the inside. I only caught Third's -poor thing...- and I couldn't understand why they would think she was poor. Her clothes were pretty nice. Oh, but maybe that was because she was a seamstress.
I realized that the silence had gone on for too long, and I realize my fo-paux. "Oh, right," I said. "I'm supposed to introduce myself first. My name's Oni." I tried the smile again, and this time it seemed to work.
The girl grabbed her chest and gasped a deep breath before saying breathly, "I'm Irianna."
"What a pretty name," rule number two, give compliments. "If it wouldn't trouble you so, I have been in a bit of a predicament with these bloodied garments." Channeling First's polite voice, I gestured down at my sub-par outfit. Adding water to the whole thing made it look even worse, as if I was some sort of walking corpse. Luckily, I keep my hair short, so that was relatively clean.
The girl--Irianna-- right, Irianna, smiled a hesitant smile up at me. "It would be my pleasure, Oni." she said, with nary a wobble.
She led me to a small shop that had the sign of a needle and thread going through the eye, opening the door for me and beckoning me in. I took a step inside, but was uncertain if I should move any further. There were cloths of silk and cotton, dresses made up in the manner of the town, and equally male outfits of the same. And there I was, dripping blood.
Irianna followed me. only to stop too. "Oh!" She said in complete startelement. "I forgot!"
How the fuck did she forget when--
'Hush, Fourth.' I reprimanded him, because it seemed the girl had a plan, as she hurried around gathering cloths from some bins.
"Ahah!" Irianna exclaimed, pulling out a big, stained-to-all-hell, cloth. She triumphantly laid it down on the floor, then turned to me. "You can step on this and strip off all those nasty clothes! Then I'll measure you, and choose some cloth, then start the cutting..." She trailed off and started muttering to herself, then abruptly looked up. "Why haven't you stripped?"
I tilted my head at her. "I don’t have clothes to change into, and even if I did, I'm covered in blood." I said blandly. Her face turned red as a tomato, and she slapped her hands to her face.
"Aaaauuugghhh, Irianna, you're so STUPID!" She ranted at herself.
"Wait, do you have a tub?" I interrupted her.
She looked up at me with reddened eyes. "Yes," she said with a sniffle. "But it's in the back."
"And does this fine establishment have a back door?" I asked.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"Oh!" Irianna's eyes widened. "Yes! We can go around back!"
Omg, this girl is a rollercoaster. I swear, just give me some popcorn, and I can watch her antic aaaaall day.
Says you. I feel like slapping her once or twice.
Second and Fourth always seemed to have opposing sentiments. Well, rather, Fourth didn't agree with anyone, most of the time. I liked to think of him as the dark time of night that people never wanted to talk about. He said the things that most kept unsaid. But he was fairly rude about it.
I followed the little apprentice to the back of the shop, where there was another door, and just inside sat a basin of water. Placing the stained cloth down in front of the basin, Irianna turned to me.
"Um," She started. "Here's a cloth to dry yourself, I promise not to watch!" After setting a towel down, she ran off to what I assumed was the front of the shop, tripping over something loud enough to make a bang, then yelling back, "I'm ok!"
With a sigh, I carefully peeled the beginner's shirt and pants off, trying to not to drip blood all over the place, and put them in a pile on a corner of the floor cloth. Next, I carefully took of the sandals and sat them next to the clothes. Then, reaching for the towel, I quickly cleaned my body of the blood. Holding my hands in the basin in an attempt to get the gunk from under my fingernails, I heard a scuffle around the corner, then Irianna's voice saying, "I got you a smock. You can wear it until we make you your outfit." It hung in the air by hesitant fingertips, so, after drying off my hands, I gently took it. Hearing quick, pattering footsteps leading off, I shrugged the smock on. It was pretty loose, but servable for the time.
I stepped around the corner, deciding to leave the sandals, and made my way to the front. Irianna jumped up from wear she was muttering to herself and she exclaimed, "Oh, you look so much better without all the blood."
I tilted my head at the obvious statement, but didn't say anything as she continued. "I've picked out some underclothes, but I thought I'd leave the armor to you, since I don't know how you fight. Oh, and I only do leather, so if you need metal, you'll have to take it to the blacksmith. But first, I need you measurements..." She pulled out a rope and started muttering as she flung it around my shoulders, neck (I didn't like that), chest, waist hips, side length, legs... uh, is she measuring my crotch?
"Inseam," I heard her mutter, so I continued to stand there, bemused, as she measure what seemed light every part of my body.
"Wow!" She proclaimed at the end. Startled, I looked around to see what had excited her, but the shop was empty. Chest 83cm, waist 64cm, hips 79cm, mmm, well, you could use bigger hips, but I guess smaller ones are more useful in fighting. Your neck's 15cm, and you back's 57cm, what a long torso! And your inseam is 79cm, you're just like some noble lady!"
I stared at her, wondering where she was going with this. Yes, this was my body. I didn't change a thing except reduce the scars to white lines to make them less noticeable. I don't think Irianna even noticed some of my more gruesome scars, she seemed so distracted. For once, the voices were quiet, as if in on a secret that I didn't know.
"So..." I started. "What can I get?"
"Oh, right!" I swear this girl is always startled, her big blue eyes constantly as wide as they can go. "Well, I can make you a simple undergarment set in cotton for 10 copper, normally 15, but you have a discount--"
"I'll take it." I said, interrupting her. "Can I also get some leather armor?"
"Y-yes!" She bobbed her head, "Which-"
Interrupting her again, I said, "Bracers with soft leather on the inner part, hard on the outer, just for my upper left arm. Soft leather jerkin and soft leather boots also. And stockings."
Irianna blinked, then started muttering, "Bracers are 15, special 20, but 14 with discount, jerkin is 40, discount 27, boots are 25, discount 17, stockings are 5, discount 4, which leaves..."
"72 copper is you add the undergarments," said, math being easy. I also noticed that my discount was about a third of the price taken off, which was a hefty sum. I guess that area boss was a big shot or something. I pulled my purse out of my inventory and fished out the silver. "Will this be enough?" I said as I offered her the money.
"O-of course!" She stuttered out. "Let me get your change." She ran off to the back, tripping over something, but came back quickly. "Here...is...twenty...eight...copper." She panted out.
I calmly took the coins and put them in the bag, then back in my inventory. "So we got ourselves a deal?"
She beamed up at me. "Yes!" Then her eyes flickered to the side of me. I had heard the door slowly open then close, but pretended not to notice. This would be a test. I knew there would be one. Mostly because I helped to make this game. Mostly because I never trusted anyone.
I heard a whistling sound, and I dropped to the floor.
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Ooooo, a cliffhanger. Oh noooooes. Meh, I'll have the next chapter up in a day or so. I'm building myself a new pc, so might not be til later.