A random little ditty, starring
@Blanche's honey badger.
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A dim smoker's denThis shop is a long, narrow maze of a room cramped with plush seating and squat tables interspersed with displays for smoking of various kinds. The arrangement of the furniture forces patrons to wind through the length of the den wherever there happens to be space, and combines with the hazy, smoke-dampened light from the hanging candle lamps overhead to create the sensation of a close, intimate atmosphere. Tucked at the far end of the shop is a striking counter of cherry wood, which is appointed with several kawhe leather stools and boasts detailed relief carvings of individuals belonging to the many races of Sapience smoking, dancing, and engaged in conversation all along its face. A sigil in the shape of a small, rectangular monolith is on the ground. A dark-featured woman with a face tattoo moves about, tending to the shop and its patrons. Sitting at a far end of the counter is a nondescript deposit box. The intricate designs of a Caentoi rug cover the floor. A tall brass hookah with ivory silk trimming stands on the counter.
You see exits leading northwest (open pine door) and down (closed pine door).The door opens a mere crack, showing a pale hand curling around the framework to hold it open. After that, there is little to no movement as the person responsible for allowing in cold air simply remains in place. Blanche, meanwhile, stands outside the doorway and inhales deeply, her nose perking at the scent of vanilla wafting about after past smokes and incense burnings. She would be barely noticeable except for the fact that she accidentally stubbed her foot against the stoop as she closed in on her target.
A dusky silhouette blocks out whatever dim light filters through the crack as a dark-featured woman with a face tattoo appears in the doorway, one of her tea-colored eyes peering out at Blanche. "You come in, yes?" she invites in thickly-accented Aetolian, one of her own dark hands taking hold of the door to pry it further open. "It is cold outside."
With a toothy grin, a dark-featured woman with a face tattoo says, "But warm in here."
Emelle takes a long drag from a thin black cigarette with green banding and exhales a mild cloud of smoke, redolent with slightly sweet scents.
Blanche gapes at a dark-featured woman with a face tattoo for the merest of moments before beginning to mumble something of an apology. Something about 'mistaken' and 'confused'. The words she utters are so quietly mumbled out as the woman gathers herself up and wards away the shock that had clearly been visible upon her face. In fact, the expression had been specifically mournful. Hopeful. Desirous. The look that takes its place is stoic, at best. Everything is swallowed up and not even a clearing of the throat is needed to offer a still quiet apology.
Ignoring her lack of possessions, Sha'agru Blanche says, "I am fine. Thank you."
A dark-featured woman with a face tattoo's warm gaze narrows at Blanche, her good humor suddenly taking a turn toward stern. "In or out. Choose," she orders, firming up her grip on the door. Despite that she looks more like a dancer than a fighter, her carriage is confident, almost predatory.
"Lyra," Emelle calls from the bar. She had been leaning casually on an elbow, but she's sitting up, now. "What is it?"
Distracted from Blanche for the moment, a dark-featured woman with a face tattoo swivels her head to regard Emelle. "A girl, madame," she answers. "She is letting in the cold."
"..outside." Blanche steps away from the door. However, even as she does that, the void is filled suddenly with the muzzle of an angry honey badger that's stuck its muzzle within the the remaining crack. It hisses out at Lyra in defiance, clearly not caring that it is much smaller then the person it is attempting to intimidate. Even as it makes loud noises, footfalls can be noted heading down the street outside.
A dark-featured woman with a face tattoo swings her head back to the door, her eyes falling on the badger. Easily sinking into a crouch, she holds eye contact with the creature as she issues a loud, guttural hiss.
The honey badger continues to hiss as it shoves itself through the door with brute force. Waddling awkwardly, claws clattering along the flooring, the creature is stout and keeps its mouth open to expose all of its teeth. Blanche doesn't seem to be around any longer so there is no way to know who is telling the beast what to do. Regardless, it paces about within the smoke shop and gives out many large warnings at the taller Lyra.
A dark-featured woman with a face tattoo slams the door shut and follows after the honey badger, weaving through the thick evening crowd with light surefootedness. The scowl that currently defines her features gives her an almost frighteningly animalistic air.
Emelle, meanwhile, smirks and leans on an elbow again as she watches the scene unfold, seeming terribly uncaring for a proprietor.
The shop is loud with the sound of snarling as the creature continues to create a mess, making moves to attack. Feinting. Then knocking into some wares. Then more wares. Soon the floor is a mess of glass that it steps over without care. Blanche's 'pet' looks as if it would rather die in a fight then remove itself from the premises. Then it lunges.
Expertly tracking the beast's movements, a dark-featured woman with a face tattoo moves to meet the lunge with a shoulder and grabs for the badger's scruff with a hand, attempting to sink her pointed fingernails through fur and skin. She mutters a string of unintelligible words under her breath, eyes flashing with barely contained anger.
Emelle sits up again, the smirk fading from her face. "Godspit and [redacted]," she mutters, sliding from her stool and rounding the counter.
The creature's loose skin makes it difficult to keep a hold on it, hanging in hand noisily as it continues to threaten with a toothy, ferocious demeanor. The attempts to hurt it back seem foiled due to the beast's natural defenses. It is almost impossible to penetrate the fur and skin to the point where it doesn't just rile it up more. "HSSSSSS!" Unfortunately, Lyra is carrying around a disaster. An angry one. Blanche is, at this point, not in the general vicinity of the shop.
But a grip is a grip, and a dark-featured woman with a face tattoo takes the opportunity to make for the door with the badger. She grabs for a leg with her other hand, maybe seeking a firmer handhold, and tries to keep the creature's teeth as far away from her body as possible without sacrificing her hold.
Emelle swiftly skirts around Lyra, patrons, broken glass, and scattered wares on her way to the door, the half-smoked cigarette hanging from her lower lip.
The badger makes a movement towards Lyra's hand that is touching its foot, clearly discontented with the current scenario. She seemed to have found the one safe way to grab and maintain the creature at hand, literally. Still, it does not lose any of its anger as it rages within her hand and makes noise enough to wake the dead. At this point, Blanche might actually have fled further then Esterport.
Once Lyra nears the door, Emelle yanks it wide, admitting a blast of cold air that evokes a ripple of discontent muttering among the shop's denizens.
Still muttering at the creature in what are almost certainly curses, a dark-featured woman with a face tattoo steps into the doorway, plants her feet, and twists at the waist, hurling the creature out into the street with a feral screech.
The badger lets out a final hiss before turning about and going down the street to look for Blanche. It has the decency to snarl at every pedestrian along the way.
"You stay out!" a dark-featured woman with a face tattoo shouts after the departing beast before she turns and slips back into the shop, slamming the door so loudly it echoes down the street.
Comments
You have emoted: Blanche slips money under the door. Each little coin is poked through, slowly grating against the ground, until something to the amount of a thousand sovereign is pushed just before the counter in a strange little pile.
You have emoted: Blanche turns tail and dashes away from the doorway, her cheeks red.