[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/UWGCWGx.png?1[/img][/center][hr][hr] Penny normally would not have been the sort to ask a question of a clearly hostile host, but she could tell that everyone had wanted to ask and none had the courage to do so. [color=f7976a][i]What do I care if Miss 'Stay Away From Muh Home' doesn't like me? Not like I'll ever see her again.[/i][/color] Truth be told, it irked Penny. It shouldn't have, but it did, and the bearded lady had said just enough to make her uneasy about the mission because she knew that there was a lot more being left unsaid. [color=f7976a][i]If you're going to throw us into mortal danger, the least you can do is tell us what's really going on.[/i][/color] It didn't sit right, on top of what the Arch-Zeno had told her: it really didn't, and the eighteen-year-old found herself wondering why she'd even agreed to this whole thing. [color=f7976a][i]This is not something a future ruler of Perrence does. You're not a tool, Nel. [b]Fuck![/b][/i][/color] It was her need to do something 'useful', she knew: a thirst for some sort of ill-defined 'adventure' after seventeen years of being confined to the palace grounds. [color=f7976a][i]Rash decisions from a stupid girl with insecurities.[/i][/color] She had half a mind to kick the partially open door, but restraint was a good thing to practice, and she didn't. Really, she wanted to vent, or at least express her worries, but she had nobody here except Yuliya and Yvain who she really knew or trusted, and... they were both dubious for different reasons. Esmii had tried to be nice and Penny had thanked her, but she'd already learned that the yasoi was like that with [i]everyone[/i]. 'Helpful' was her default setting, [color=f7976a][i]and I don't know you well enough to confide, anyhow.[/i][/color] Besides, she'd been giving that big Eskandish boy goo-goo eyes the entire time. They were an item and... Ugh. Maybe [i]that's[/i] why Penny had found herself falling into a 'mood': Jammy wasn't here and she already missed him and she worried. He was in West Kerremand, Eshi-damned cesspool that it was, and they couldn't look out for each other. A metaphorical vise tightened around her stomach. [color=f7976a][i]If anything happens...[/i][/color] She shook her head and she... walked. She had the day here, in this place she'd never visited before, she had a satchel, and she had some money to spend. If the one-legged woman was an object of curiosity here, it was just as much because she was a human as anything else. The familiar ambient sounds of a city echoed back towards her in an unfamiliar way. It [i]was[/i] weirdly claustrophobic: no sky above, save the ever-lingering haze towards the top of the vast cavern, and the all-encroaching dimness. Even with the gas torches, the mirrors, and the skylights carved into the stone, it was like moving about in the later moments of dusk. Her eyes adjusted well enough, though. They were yasoi eyes and she was the only one in her family who had managed to inherit them from an ancestor some four generations back. It was enough of a sensory smorgasbord for her worries to start fading. Her crutches clicked and her foot thumped and she lost herself in the familiar ritual of just moving: moving nowhere in particular. First, she picked up some traveling clothes: just as anyone might expect of a foreign girl in a strange place, but then Penny decided to go for something else. She worked her way to where the firearm vendors were and put down ten magi on an imbued pistol. Knowing what she knew, she moved to where they sold explosives. [color=f7976a]"Uz chlud"[/color] she assured the confused seller, having looked the words up in her little [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DIFk63qKOPxqtGG3S_4XeGfBQySkX7e6MmMpBuCQifs/edit?usp=sharing]book of translations[/url] beforehand. [color=f7976a]"U... ligha...ich... muhl."[/color] She mimicked an explosion, even providing sound effects. The flinty-eyed Hegelan on the other side regarded her intently for a moment. Then, his facade broke. He reared back and laughed. Penny blushed and laughed nervously herself. [color=f7976a]"Iiiid... lugh? U dolris...[i]tiss[/i] muhl...[/color] she flipped furiously through the little guidebook. [color=f7976a]"Vadu!"[/color] There was another pause as the laughter died down. The small man on the other side smiled thoughtfully. He let out a sigh, held out his hand expectantly, and Penny promptly placed the two magi in his palm. He pocketed them and then moved about his stall, procuring and packaging just what she'd asked for. He handed her three little bundles and she slipped them into her satchel with a small bow of gratitude and an overpracticed [color=f7976a]"Tim Unkh!"[/color] Then, she was off, so pleased with herself that she was practically skipping. [color=f7976a][i]Just wait 'til I tell you all about it, Jammy![/i][/color] She hoped that he was having as much fun as she was but, first, it was time to put in an appearance with Yuliya and go shopping! [hider=Translations]1) For mining 2) I buy five big. 3) Sooo... yes? I have three big money. 4) Thank you![/hider]