The pair walked past the first stalls, and Norbert was captivated by their contents. Food and trinkets lined both sides of the street, a river of people walked between them. Looking up, Norbert saw the colourful clothes making up the roof. Sticks poked higher behind each stall where the cloth was connected.
Staring closer, letting him be led around, the stitching was what he expected as he continued to stare. The thread itself shimmered in the light around them, reminding Norbert of the aurora lights. The shimmering green lines connected all the pieces as he continued to stare, trying to see if there was a pattern.
"Do you dislike me that much?" A voice whispered in his ear.
His head shot back down, levelling with the crowd around him as he looked around at where the voice came from. Having stopped the two of them, Vivienne leaned forward, looking at several crystals tied together with what looked like gold to make a bracelet. Poking at the crystal, Norbert saw each one light up as she touched it, wondering what it was for.
He remembered what the voice said to him and realized that only one other person could say it. Leaning forward so they were right next to each other, Norbert only slightly backed as he whispered in her ear. "What's that for?" he asked, blowing gently so it would tickle her ear.
Vivienne turned her head towards Norbert, distracted from her perusal of the bracelets on the table. "Was that necessary?" she asked him.
Norbert tilted his head to the side, not saying anything in response. He looked up and down the table, fixating on the bracelets and waiting for her to explain them.
Shaking her head slightly in annoyance as she opened her mouth, she said, "The bracelet here is for multiple types of defences; each colour crystal is for its type of magic." Her fingers danced over each crystal for a moment, quickly cycling through all of them. "It's not made for any heave mitigation, however," she said as she dropped it, moving to the next item.
The clerk nodded his head at her. "You seem to know a lot about these things," he said as he tended to another pair of customers. He showed them a necklace and started describing the functions of the trinket, eliciting oohs and aaahs from his potential customers.
Norbert returned to Vivienne as she looked at the next one, a single silver ring. No crystals or stones were embedded within the structure, just the solid metal band wrapped around a finger. The waitress flipped the ring over in her hands as she felt across the inside and the outside.
Placing it down and going to the next item, Norbert picked it up, wondering what was so special about it. Feeling it with his fingers, confirming the smooth metal underneath it. Tracing it along with this nail, not getting caught on any part of the metal. Tilting his head to the side as he wondered what was up, he changed his vision to magic.
All around him, the pendants were flushed with light. The crystals and metals all shine a rainbow of colours, trying to filter it down. Norbert looked over to see Vivienne, a black and dark green line seeping up underneath her clothes, the light being sucked away. It looked like her leather garments.
Clicking her tongue at Norbert and looking at her, Norbert hastily changed his vision back to normal. He looked at the woman with a sheepish grin on his face, hoping that he wouldn't get in trouble from the woman for looking at her.
"Well, aren't you a bag of surprises?" She said to him as she walked away from the stall. Norbert followed after her before looking back at the store owner, seeing a slightly pained look on his face about losing a potential customer. The owner got a smile on his face as someone else came forward, poking at the jewellery, slowly going from one to the other and comparing it to their hand.
Losing track of him in the crowd that surged between them, Norbert looked up at Vivienne as she walked forward. Norbert saw one of the food stalls, his mouth watering as he looked at the sweets on the table.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Pulling Vivienne to a stop, she tried to get him to continue forward. He pointed out towards the candy stall in front of him. He was not letting her go. Norbert looked over the selection there. All the bright colours popped out at him, and he asked her to grab them all.
"Anything tickling your fancy?" Vivienne asked beside him as the stall owner zeroed in on Norbert, able to smell a sale coming.
Norbert looked at her, the pink hair tied into a Celtic braid going down her head, looking familiar. The candy caught his eye again. Norbert looked down towards them, pointing at one and then the next.
"Honestly, they all are," Norbert said, unable to decide which of them. Seeing jelly lollies, hard jaw breakers, liquorice twirls throughout and the ones he couldn't even recognize, the colours slowly shifting from one to the other, looking like little galaxies trapped inside.
Still unable to decide, feeling Vivienne staring down into his back from behind about taking so long over something she deemed pointless and looking back to the lollies, Norbert tapped his finger on his chin, trying to pick only one thing out of them.
"Ahhh," Norbert said as he finally came to a solution. "How much for a couple of pieces of everything?" Norbert asked her. The clerk's pink hair bounced around as she shot her head up. She stared at Norbert for several seconds, processing what had just been said before smiling and nodding.
The trays of candies were barely open as she waved her finger around once they all started to get themselves placed into butcher paper, wrapping themselves up before his very eyes and staring at it going on in front of him as the wrapping appeared. She was finishing with twenty wrapped packages; the woman produced a bag from behind her, filling inside.
Everyone around them stopped at the spectacle. Norbert took two silver coins out of his pouch and handed them over as he took the bag in his other hand, stopping anyone from seeing the coins leave.
With a wave of his hand, Norbert took Vivienne's hand as he continued walking through the stall. The stall was flooded with people, all trying to get a piece of the stock that caused someone to buy such a large amount at once, knowing there must be a reason behind it and not wanting to get lost.
Norbert snacked on his candies, trying one after the other, his fingers starting to get sticky after the sugar started dribbling down them, trying to suck them away to stop them from reaching his gloves.
Before he knew it, having walked the entire way down the stall front, it ended abruptly in a T junction that circled the stadium, lights dotting the structure as it imposed itself on the city built up around it even during the darkest of nights.
Turning to Vivienne, he asked her if there was anywhere else she wanted to go. Taking another piece of candy at the end, he popped it into his mouth as he looked around. Finding a bench, as Vivienne wasn't producing anything, he walked towards it, sitting down, patting the side next to him, indicating for Vivienne to take a seat.
Norbert looked around, people giving them a wide berth as he opened his collection, picking another one out, reminding him of a jawbreaker as he sent energy into his jaw, biting down on the hard candy, taking the pieces and sucking them in his mouth. The cracked planet he was currently holding, with all of its layers out for him to see.
Opening one of them up for her, Norbert indicated towards the lolly, hearing a groan before she stuck her hand in the wrapper, pulling one out, looking like a gummy one as she popped it in her mouth. Norbert heard her groan slightly as she moved it around her mouth with her tongue and began chewing it.
"Is there any reason about those lines coming off you? They don't look too healthy", Norbert said as he remembered the dark green colour coming off her, reminding him of the same green and brown musk that surrounded Skelly.
"It comes with the job description," Vivienne said curtly, a sour look engulfing her face despite the sweetness on her tongue. Swallowing the remains down, she grabbed another one from a different bag, popped it into her mouth again, and began chewing it.
"Not going to explain it any further?" Norbert asked her.
"You will find out later. For now, let's enjoy each other's company," she told Norbert.
He was nodding, not seeing a point in getting information from the woman if there was none to come by. As the two continued eating, Norbert saw someone sitting by the pathway across the street.
Staring at them, Norbert tilted his head as he took the last bite out of his jawbreaker, sucking on the pieces as the person on the other side looked at them. Sucking away at it for several minutes, Vivienne picked through all the gummy lollies herself.
Taking one out, Norbert threw it across the street, over the people walking by. The child leaned backwards as they grabbed it out of the air, scoffing it down as it sat down, slowly rocking back and forth.
Vivienne watched Norbert's action, shrugging his shoulders in response as he swallowed the last of the jawbreaker. Taking another lolly out, Norbert placed it on his thumb and flicked it over the street like a coin, landing perfectly in front of his little participant.