Re: Dashing Through Dolerum (119 4A)

[Nara-pyon]

"Going well!" Wren beamed. "I was bored, back in the tent, so I went off on my own - just to look around. I know we weren't supposed to leave on our own, but ..." She shrugged, then winked at Miyuki. "You know me."

"I ran into her just up the street," Khetal added quietly. "I felt it prudent to join her on her wanderings."

"A wise decidsion, I think," Gwen agreed. "Especially after last night."

[Kara Winters]

Miyuki sighed, her ears drooping a bit. She was as much up for adventure as the next person, but she liked to do it a bit safely seeing as her family tended to get into trouble anyways.

"Wren, you really should be more careful...." Miyuki trailed off, "And I shouldn't have to be the one to say that I'm starting to sound like mother."

Which was a funny thought because her mother often muttered how she was at times sounding like Miyuki's grandfather.

[Nara-pyon]

"Aw, your mother knows about going places on her own," Wren quipped with a grin. "And if you really feel another warning is going to change me, you don't know me as well as I thought you did. Come on, Miyuki, we've been traveling together for a long time now. Surely you know me better than that."

She winked at Miyuki. She was teasing, of course.

Gwen arched one eyebrow and looked at Khetal, who sighed. "Yes," he murmured to his sister. "Just like Kyrie."

[Kara Winters]

Whatever dry wit comment Miyuki would have made was lost when she overheard Khetal, instead she laughed at that. Well, when he put it that way, it wasn't so bad. As long as Wren could extract herself from any trouble that is.

"Well then, it's a good thing you're here," Miyuki replied instead.

[Nara-pyon]

Khetal smiled at Miyuki's comment and shrugged one shoulder. "I was just in the right place at the right time."

The carpenter glared up at the four of them. "Are you in here for something other than socializing?" he asked them pointedly. "If you need to warm up somewhere, go home!"

"Come now, Gailin, we just happeed to meet up with each other," Gwen chided the man with a giggle. Turning to Miyuki, she asked in a softer, more serious tone, "Were you looking for anything in particular here?"

[Kara Winters]

"I like looking at the carvings and the woods because some wood types are specific to areas and carvings are influenced by culture," Miyuki explained.

Which meant that unlike other shops, there wasn't really much for Miyuki to look at.

"I think the box though is beautiful."

Even though it was the only thing she had seen in the shop, but she really did think it was a pretty, but there wasn't anything in here to determine if it was something she could export somewhere else, and she didn't need anymore boxes.

"Though... maybe before we leave I should get a few new bento boxes commissioned, I had only gotten five, but with so many people now..."


And they were so useful.

[Nara-pyon]

"It would be nice to have one for everyone," Wren agreed. "And if you commissioned them, you wouldn't have to give Daeron more work than he already has to do."

Since he already had to make another few tubs for the second bathroom, not to mention he was going to be making furniture for the new lab.

[Kara Winters]

"Some nicely decorated, lacquered bento boxes would be nice," Miyuki agreed.

Especially if they had inlaid designs, nothing too personal but a few themes wouldn't go amiss. Now she quite liked that idea, and then she could rune them.

"I need to go exchange first though... and get an example from the tent..."

Because bento boxes were, mainly, a Gaian concept she had taken from there. When she had first gotten them commissioned she had to sketch out what it would look like along with the compartments.

[Nara-pyon]

"Oh, I was at the exchange about an hour ago," Wren beamed. "Nice man running the place, very helpful."

"Shall we stop there next, Miyuki?" Gwen asked, looking at her companion. "Since there's not really much we can do here until you have what you want to commission ..."

They would have to backtrack to the other places she had said she wanted to visit, but that wouldn't be a problem.

[Kara Winters]

"Sure, let's do that first," Miyuki agreed, "And then if there's time to look around a bit more."

Which meant this was where the four would part into two groups again since Wren had already been to the exchange. Miyuki gave her good byes (even to the grumpy carpenter) and went on her way with Gwen.

Once she had gotten her money exchanged and paid back Gwen, Miyuki was really interested in looking at clothing first.

[Nara-pyon]

There were four people working in the tailor shop when Gwen and Miyuki entered. Three of them were busy working, one on his own and two women working together, and the fourth was speaking with a customer. Unlike most of the tailor shops Miyuki had seen, there were actually finished works on display. Four mannequins were lined up along the shop's front window, and there were few others placed at random throughout the shop. The walls were covered with bolts of materials in all sorts of materials and colours. A shelf midway to the back of the shop displayed several different kinds of lace, also in various colours, some of them simple, but most of them quite elaborate.

Near the back, in the corners near where the tailors were hard at work, were two separate areas separated from the rest of the shop by curtains: private spaces for measuring and changing.

[Kara Winters]

Miyuki couldn't help but look at the lace, lace was actually hard to find (and very expensive outside of Gaia). Of course, she had seen the lace making process once, and she couldn't imagine spending day in and day out just making lace alone.

Once she had looked at the lace enough she moved towards looking at the clothing. Clothing again was one of those things she thought marked a particular culture, because it was so influenced by where a person grew up. Her own clothing, when she had been allowed to design them was a mixture of Eastern Gaian style and Elven practicality.

[Nara-pyon]

There were examples of clothes for women, men and children, both for indoors and outdoors. There were a few cloaks of different thicknesses, some with pockets, others that clasped all the way to the knees but had holes to put hands through (like Iorlas' cloak). Some were patterned, others plain. The men's clothes ranged from simple (like Earendil would wear) to fancy (like what Leo, the magistrate, would wear). Likewise, the women's clothes ranged from pants to plain dresses to fancier designs, and for children there were play clothes - plain but made of sturdy material - to dress clothes.

"Just let us know if you see anything you like," called the single male tailor without looking up from his work.

[Kara Winters]

"Thank you!" Miyuki called back before looking over the clothing once more.

It was refreshing to see a wide range of clothing that wasn't just dresses for women (even if wasn't much of a pants person herself).

She wondered if they did the dying and patterns in-house or if there was someone else who did that. Some of these patterns would be nice to take to somewhere else. Miyuki would certainly like lace, but she wasn't sure who would buy lace from her if she went somewhere else.

"So much here..."

It was like being in Helen's shop again.

Actually, Helen would buy the lace now that she thought about it. Hand made lace was a rarity and he could find good customers for it.

[Nara-pyon]

Gwen giggled softly at the look on Miyuki's face. "You really appreciate this kind of thing, don't you?" she asked warmly. "ou look like a child who has just woken up to find a gift of something he's always wanted."

She glanced out the window. It was snowing heavier now, and there were several people out in the street shoveling the snow away.

"We'd probably better not be too long," she cautioned Miyuki. "It looks like we're in for a real storm."

[Kara Winters]

It was disappointing, but Miyuki too glanced out the window and saw the amount of snow. She still wanted to get a thing or two from the market before heading back to the tent. It wasn't like she wanted to commission anything from here, premade clothing was much harder to sell, it would be better for her to just find some fabrics and lace to take with her.

Perhaps another time.

"Let's go then, I want to pick up a thing or two in the market before heading back to the tent," Miyuki replied.

[Nara-pyon]

Gwen nodded. "Anything in particular? Then we can go directly there instead of meandering again."

She opened the door for Miyuki again and held her cloak closed around herself to protect herself against the wind that was also picking up.

"It might make things interesting for your storytelling tomorrow," she chuckled as they headed back out into the snow.

[Kara Winters]

"Rice, because I want to see Kaito's face when I bring several bags in, and hope he doesn't just make sushi tonight," Miyuki replied, "And flour for bread, I'm pretty sure we have everything else at the moment for bread making."

Actually if she showed Kaito the rice, she better have a back up plan for he decided to take over the kitchen. She liked sushi, she wasn't sure of some of their other traveling companions would.

"I don't suppose anyone also sells rice flour?"

She was pretty sure Shiro had a recipe or how to, to make rice noodles.

[Nara-pyon]

"Oh probably," Gwen smiled.

She led Miyuki up the street, towards the market. It took them a few minutes to get there, and when they arrived, the stalls in the street had been abandoned.

"Inside it is," she murmured, leading Miyuki to one of the shops.

[Kara Winters]

"Well it has been snowing a lot," Miyuki admitted.

Though it wasn't overly cold, it was still cold and best to get inside before the snow overtook everything where the stalls were.

Really she would want hot tea after this.

[Nara-pyon]

"It has," Gwen agreed, a frown creasing her forehead slightly. "It's unusual for this time of year ... we shouldn't have snow like this for weeks yet."

She led Miyuki into the shop. It was a baking supplies shop, and had all kinds of necessities. As Miyuki had wanted, there were sacks of wheat flour and rice flour, and sacks of rice in various sizes. There were many other things too, all the things that anyone would ever need for baking. The sugar, of course, was the most expensive, and the flour among the cheapest.

A kind-looking gentleman was busy stacking sacks along one wall, but when the two customers entered, he looked over his shoulder and said, "I'll be with you in a moment."

[Kara Winters]

"Okay," Miyuki replied before turning to look at the rice.

She was surprised that the different kinds of rice, but that was good. It meant she could get the closest type that the Gaians were use to.

[Nara-pyon]

The man piled the sacks, one on top of another, brushed his hands together, and turned back to the two of them.

"There," he murmured, exhaling heavily. "Sorry about that. Now how can I help you ladies?"

He smiled at them. He looked tired, but that didn't stop him from being a proper shopkeeper.

[Kara Winters]

Miyuki looked up from the rice was she was checking out, and turned to face him.

"I'm looking to buy a bag of flour, a bag of rice flour and a few bags of rice," she replied.

It was quite a bit, especially the last bit, but she figured between Kaito, herself, Shiro and her mother, most of that rice was going to get eaten rather than sold elsewhere.

[Nara-pyon]

The man nodded and reached for a notepad and pencil.

"Will you be sending someone to pick it all up or would you like them delivered?" he asked, writing down her request. He didn't expect that Gwen and Miyuki would be taking the order on their own; with the bags of flour and rice each weighing upwards of twenty pounds, it was unlikely they could carry more than one bag apiece, and Miyuki had requested several.

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