The influx of people continued closer to the building. It could be noticed, though not as much of as a sore thumb, that he stuck out against the crowd.
Each person was in groups of three, and the occasional pairings of two. Rather than walking without thought he decided to pass the time by tuning into the conversations going on around him.
-Random (1): "Dude this hall is nothing like yesterday, I might have to sell some items to last till tomorrow." The individual spoke to the two others in his group. "Looking at everyone else I can't but think the finders fee will be lower than usual!" Anger, with an undertone of disappointment spread amongst the three.
Shifting through the other noise, Leek's ears set upon another conversation, this one taking place behind him.
-Random (2): "That was stupid, like they came after us purposefully. Really unnerving how close they get, and how many!" Cutting him off, one of the four voices tangling together in the group spoke up, "They stay in good farming places, makes it so frustrating with even new ge-"
These words were rudely interrupted by a person waving, their intent focused presumably behind Leek. The group behind him were skeptical as to what the goal was of this brazen person.
As he continued to wave a noticeable expression of confusion on Leek, and the four men's faces, was taken into account. To clarify the target of their meaning they pointed at Leek directly, motioning for him to come up and join them. Eventually deciding to instead walk towards him themselves.
-Random (3): "Hey! I saw you looking before. Did you want something?" The man said. Leek remained reserved, partially ignoring his friendly approach. "By the way my name is Yaner, I and my friends finished discussing our yield."
This man, Yaner, continued to pick at the ice between himself and Leek, chipping away slowly in hopes of a more relaxing demeanor.
-Yaner: "What did you able to gather in the fields? We got some nice crops from deep mid-east. You?" He held his tongue for a response, his eyes telling of a faint anticipation.
-Leek: "Uh. I got a couple Angora tails." Pulling one of the tails from his inventory to show Yaner, Leek rotates the puff ball as he himself examines the item he had yet to look at closely. "Some of them are spoiled though" he said, in the hopes of curbing any enthusiasm.
Yaner: "WHAT! You killed one those fucking things!?" Reaching out to grab the fluffy ball, only pulling his hand back in response to Leek's unchanged expression. He could feel the blood flowing through his veins as his heart awoke for a moment. "J-Just how many do you have?" He asked with potent sincerity.
-Leek: "I have like three that are still good." He put the singular tail back into his pocket, suspicious as to the reaction inadvertently garnered, and he did not want to prolong the situation. "Do you happen to know their usage, I just so happened onto those monsters?"
Looking back up in expectation to still see the perplexed face of Yaner, but rather Leek was standing alone. The man had regrouped with his friends, talking in the nature of someone trying to convince another of an oddity.
During his talk his hand jested towards Leek's direction. The other two men, who were all covered torso to toe in dirt stained clothing, stood their skeptically as their friend seemed to rant before them. After a few moments one of the men stopped him in his faux hysterical stupor, and simply walked over to Leek and began speaking.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
-Random (1): "Hello, my associate here says you're in possession of some tails?" One eyebrow was slightly raised as he asked this question. Not letting the air become still he continued, "Do you, or do you not. We don't care, just want to know. Our time is not good to be spoiled!" Pushing further for a response he took a step closer.
-Leek: "Uhmm... I have just two of them." A stutter almost slipped from his lips. "Why does it matter to you."
The men turned their heads to face one another, speaking in a code of body language, not uttering a single coherent word before turning back to him.
-Random (2): "You should've said somethin sooner. We can buy those off you." Moving in closer he patted Leek on the chest, using the back of his hand, in a friendly gesture. "Just under market price good for you. We can do twenty-nine half bids for both!"
The men gave the feeling of three separately moving parts coming together to produce a subpar in function multi-tool. The knowledge of their previous frustration left room for credible foul play in what they spoke. The pushy dynamic they had could be seen by anyone, especially Leek, who knew about his own glaring lack of knowledge.
-Leek: "How many rooms would that get me in the local inn, or a hostel?" To not accentuate his bargaining disadvantage Leek stood firm, holding his face in a neutral expression.
-Random (2): Before answering the man pulled on his lacking chin hair. "That would be like four days or so, assuming you want them for the day and night. Eleven days, maybe, if you take the usual day only." He thought for a moment before, "Don't forget prices of rooms change though, not really going down most the time."
-Leek: The information provided helped in understanding just the amount being offered. "That sounds fine. You all seem trustable so I'm willing to sell them." Pulling back out two Angora tails, placing them both into his left hand. He gave them to the First Random man; the self-imposing leader.
-Random (1): A look of surprise took him aback for a second, to then be wiped away. He accepted the two severed appendages. "These are good... and real. Just how did you get these two tails?" Mild shock restrained him from overreacting. "Did you actually kill them, or maybe they died already when you got there."
-Leek: He debated with his integrity for a moment. "They were already dead when I got there, some guy with a scabbard did them in." His heart skipped one beat in congruence to his blatant lie.
The anticipation faded with his words, as the men took out a small bag. When opening it many stick like rods could be seen. A particular aspect of each was the missing segments, there were multiple variations, some missing a greater chuck than others. He started to count individual 'bids' until he hit twenty-nine, ensuring the intended amount was present. He threw the bag into the air one time before handing it calmly to Leek.
He accepted the exchange. Looking at the 'bids' it could be noticed that they all had a triangular chunk missing from one half, varying in three.
-Leek: Under his breath he mentioned, "These look kinda like flattened metal pocky candies." Pocketing the items, he quickly looked at his inventory.
Inventory: Dagger(Poor), Shield (Poor), Clothing (Used), Shoes (Poor), (1)Elixir: Vitality/Basic, Coin Pouch: 177/Poor, (17)Angora Tails: Rotten, (7)Angora Tails: Basic/Fresh, (1)Empty Bottle
The men having gained what they wanted gave a brisk farewell, and departed. Their direction having changed from the building they were set on.
-Leek: "Hundred seventy-seven take away 32.. divided by..." Thinking to himself he translated the conversion rate of the half bids into his coin pouch. "Such a weird way of holding currency."
Breaking up his thoughts, which were vaguely connected through internal monologue, he continued, "The Yaner guy seems to be kinda honest, but the other ones are questionable at best. probably should have gave them just one."
As he inched forward with the rest of the people his draw became not the building, but instead the destination of Yaner and his group.
The question of whether following them would be the most ideal choice. He had nothing but questions on how to take about from here, so the building gave the best chance of having helpful NPC's filled with information.
The men got further away, eventually taking a left to arrive out of sight for a moment. A structure which remained rigidly into the ground could be found again, but people who moved with purpose, on their own accord, could be lost in the wind permanently even if searched for thoroughly.
To this Leek found his feet, not following any explicit instruction, tailing the suspicious bunch. His mind not finding any excuse worth stopping them.