Ryuji looked to his hand and marveled once again at the fire spell he had cast with no components save those he was breathing. He closed his hand over his fingertips and the bright flame went out as if someone had cut it’s supply of gas to burn. As he picked his way carefully out of the alleyway, still somewhat blinded by the brightness of the flame, he wondered if Dorn knew this was possible. Ryuji doubted that the old dwarf could recreate this spell because he probably didn’t know about the existence of oxygen much less hydrogen.
Upon exiting the alleyway, his senses were once again accosted by the smell but it was so strong that he couldn’t fight it. The smell was close, in fact, it was coming closer. Ryuji looked around and there were only a few people in the little pavilion formed by the surrounding buildings. He quickly spotted the one who had the tantalizing aroma coming from her.
Coming out of another alleyway to his left was a cat beastfolk, not one he knew though. This one was a little tall for her kind, almost coming to eye level with Ryuji himself. Her fur was orange shot-through with strips of black and white framing a pouty teenage face. Her eyes were also yellow-orange and slit-pupiled. Those eyes locked onto him and she saw his gaze on her and stopped. Ryuji was too mesmerized by the smell to pay a lot of attention to the very pretty young cat-girl.
He walked towards her with purpose in his steps. He was a little confused because he couldn’t see any sign of meat skewers in her hands or on her person. She did have a backpack on though and now that he got a bit closer he could tell that’s where the scent was emanating from but it wasn’t skewers, it smelled even better!
The girl backed up a couple steps from him and he regained a bit of focus. He realized he must look pretty craven right now and wiped the drool from his mouth. And righted his shirt before looking her in the eye and speaking with a smile. “I do believe you have a pack with meat in it. Would you be amenable to selling me a portion of it?”
The Girl looked at the pack over her shoulder and then back at the guy in front of her. She noticed that there were no longer any people in the area so if she said no and things got violent, she wouldn’t have any witnesses about what happened. Something about the way he spoke made him sound somehow very sophisticated. That was in stark contrast to his appearance. Oh, his clothes were fine but seemed a bit tight on him as though they were made for somebody without such a broad chest. And suddenly, she found herself almost drooling.
She shook herself mentally. This guy smelled like trouble, literally. He smelled like he was feral. Did he have no clue about the pheromones he was putting off? If she were a wolf-girl, she doubted she would be able to resist jumping right into his arms and demanding a litter of pups. He might have been conscious of it actually. She could detect traces of a cologne but it wasn’t doing the trick against the amount of pheromones he was pouring out.
She reminded herself that she needed to answer him and looked him in the eye. “Sorry man, I got a contract to sell this to a stand in town. The guy buys everything I get and he’s always on the lookout for more. I’ll get a good bit of coin for this meat.”
The slightly scruffy and feral-looking wolf beastfolk seemed to consider her words very carefully. Either he was very calculating despite his looks or he was good with words but slow and had to form replies carefully, she somehow suspected the first to be the case. “You said you have a contract to sell everything but you never said that the owner of the stand was expecting you to deliver a set quantity. Quite the contrary, your words suggest that he buys from you in bulk and is glad of whatever he can get at a time. Then there is the matter of payment.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Her mouth twitched into a smirk. This guy was sharp as her claws. Then he made to reach into his FANCY coin purse. It was one of three and hidden behind his sword. What he drew out seemed to shock him almost as much as it did her.
Ryuji reasoned with the cat-girl and was about to offer her a large copper. When he stuck his fingers into his pouch he was expecting to feel four large copper but he didn’t find them. Instead, his fingers fished around until the came across one small coin and he drew the single small silver out in amazement. When had he leveled up?
Realization hit him with a growl of his stomach that he hoped wasn’t audible to the cat-girl. When he looked at her, his hopes were dashed. She wore a grin that said she had heard his stomach quite clearly. He reminded himself it didn’t matter right now! “Will your client buy each portion for a silver? *the look on her face said not a chance* I don’t want to cheat your client but I’m perfectly willing to buy a portion of your haul for a silver.”
She didn’t hesitate and began pulling her pack off that instant. “Sold” was all she said to him. Her pack was a heavy canvas with a generous application of wax on the inside. All her equipment was stored in the pouches on the back and sides of it, including her tekko kagi (Iron Claws) and all of her various daggers. The main pouch was full to the top with leaf-wrapped bundles of raw venison.
She took one out and then considered the amount and though he had said he would pay a silver for one she decided that she could at least sell him two for that much. She had only just begun to extend her hand with the meat in it when she found herself holding a small silver coin instead. He was fast. She looked up in bemusement and was shocked again at what she saw. He didn’t wait a moment; he tore into the package and began eating one of the shoulder-haunch cuts with obvious relish.
As she watched him shred and rend the cut, wolfing it down, quite literally, something clicked in her mind. Here was a guy who didn’t care what the humans, the elves, and the dwarves thought of him. he was his own man and would eat his raw meat in public whether they liked it or not! Not only that, he was tall, smelled wonderful, had broad shoulders, talked eloquently, and was very quick, both mentally and physically.
The only problem was that he was a wolf. Then she thought about it and wondered, is that a problem? Did she want children right now? No, she certainly did not! There was a tiny chance that two cross-species beastfolk could sire children but the chances were tiny. Suddenly, she got a gleam in her eyes and just watched him, enraptured. “Well, you certainly seem to be enjoying that. My name’s Kyarako. And you are?”
Ryuji had just finished the second bundle of meat, a very nice bonus, and was licking his mouth and fingers. He was a little weirded out by how long and flexible his tongue was now but that had nothing on the flavor! Suddenly the cat-girl spoke to him and he was drawn back to reality and away from the mind-altering flavor of the meat. Kyarako eh? An interesting name and she asked for his.
Suddenly, the look that she had given him when she saw him eating came back to him and he realized that there was something wrong there. Also, unless he was misreading something in her expression, hard to tell with the whiskers and whatnot, she was sizing him up the way Karen had.
Ryuji decided it was time for a tactical retreat but he needed to be polite. He might need to buy more meat from her at some point, after all. “My name is Ryuji. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance madam Kyarako. If you will excuse me, I have to be on my way now but the meat was excellent!” He then considered his hand and didn’t want to take her hand with his or else he might kiss it. No, he had Karen to think about. He settled for a bow before leaving the alley in a rush.
Realizing that her dashing prince was literally dashing away, Kyarako quickly retied her pack and shouldered it. By the time she made it to the end of the alleyway, he was nowhere in sight. Little did she realize that he had ducked into the alley next street up. She turned his name over and over in her mind and then thought about it logically. He was probably taken. But what if he wasn’t? Also, he had a sword on his hip. There was a chance she might be able to convince him to join the mercenary’s guild and party with her. She made her mind up to ask him to do that next time she spotted him.