Fish out of water? (Vercingetorix & Asahi Kumoru)
 

Shaelthin swore softly in his native language as he stumbled for the third time on the cobblestone sidewalk of the marketplace. It had been two seasons since he had last visited this tiny trading town, and it seemed in that time they had grown wealthier - wealthy enough to decide to pave their market, at least.

The goat man knelt in the small stall he had rented and shrugged off the two bales of cloth he had been carrying over his back, and remained kneeling as he worked on unpacking them. As footsteps wore the cobblestones smoother, his footing would only get worse, too, he realized with a frown. It was almost ironic - he could navigate the most perilous crags in the mountains on his four cloven hooves, but the humans' paving stones had the shaman terrified that he would turn an ankle or two before the week was out.

It was still early in the day, and the market had not yet officially opened, but there were still some other shopkeepers setting up their own stalls, and a few other humans wandering about, window shopping or making plans for what to buy when trading time did start. Shae still attracted several stares, though, likely standing out even more since he had gone to great lengths to ensure that his white curly fur and hair were perfectly clean; he did not want to appear the savage that some humans were likely expecting.

His initial irritation at tripping wore off within a few minutes, once he got into the rhythm of folding the bolts of woven cloth. Shae started humming softly to himself, a slow little song in time to the soft clacking of his thick wooden bracelets as he worked. Shopping time started soon, but he knew he would have all of his goods neatly displayed by then....

Seosamh sat on a stack of wood and waited for the time to start trading. He didn't have too much to trade. He mostly had simple pieces of metal and bone jewelry that his brother Breckin had made back home. However, Seosamh was the one to come and try to trade it off for him...because Breckin had recently gone with their eldest brother Concobhar into a far off land for battle. He didn't mind though, he enjoyed traveling he got to see parts of the forests that he normally didn't get to see while lingering around their tribes lands. The only downside to this was that he had to leave their tribe, something he didn't enjoy too much. He constantly worried if they would need him or something.

It came time and he hopped off the stack of wood and stood straight. He stabbed the spear he usually carried into the ground and brushed some pointy wooden splinters off the fur tunic he wore. The tunic stretched down past his knees and was slitted on the sides almost like a loincloth would be, and that was all he wore other then a simple earthen green cloak that was tattered on one side and had a mantle made of simple brown feathers. Unlike most he didn't bother to wash the dirt from his body. The earth was his friend so he didn't mind it's presence.

He grabbed his spear and the simple bag he carried and continued down the street, he didn't really enjoy the feeling of the new cobblestones on his bare feet. He was more interested in trading though, and getting it over with so he could leave. He stopped at a stall run by a curly-haired goat man and began to look through the selection of cloth that he had.

As a potential customer approached the stall, Shaelthin glanced up and smiled ... and was pleasantly surprised to see that the man looked different than the other humans in town. The feathers and fur, smudges and splinters, Seemed a refreshing bit of outside-ness compared to all of the things the other humans around him wore.

Shae finished folding another of the pieces of cloth, and set it on one of the spots of his table that remained empty as he greeted the man: "Please, take a look." He spoke well in human Common, but his voice still carried a bit of an accent. One hand reached to fiddle a bit nervously with the fringe on the edge of the poncho draped over his shoulders as he pointed out the designs woven in dyed indigo thread along the edges of the white cloth already out on the table as he added, "These patterns in the cloth are good good luck pictures for my people."

A few of the others in his tribe had suggested (some jokingly and some not so much) selling cloth woven with curse patterns to the humans, too, as they would have no way of telling the difference. However Shaelthin, as shaman, was steeped more deeply in the symbolism and superstitions of his tribe, and, aside from considering it rude, was unwilling to travel with curse-patterned cloth to sell. All of the designs on the bolts he sold today were ones that could be found on his own clothing, and he pointed out some of the other designs, around the edges of his poncho and carved into some of the wooden bracelets around his wrists.

"I have patterns for health, and money, and good harvest, too, if you like," the goat-man added, smiling hopefully. "If you would like to see other patterns, I will look. Everything is still not unpacked yet."

The dirty man only looked up to him and squinted his eyes a little against the sun and a little out of confusion. The human common wasn't a language he was well with. His tribe was secluded from the other humans. They bore their own culture and their own language. However, they had made it necessary to learn enough of the common language to be able to communicate if needed. It would just take some time for him to fully formulate his reply.

The man gently rubbed a bolt of cloth between two fingers, it was soft. The pictures on it were beautiful and exotic to his eyes.

"What is the meaning of this one?" His speech wasn't the greatest. He spoke slowly and stopped between words. His pronunciation was off and he bore an accent so thick it made pudding look thin.

He held up the fabric and looked at it from several angles. He was clearly interested already just by playing around with it. He chose a fabric in a blue colour almost the same shade as the Celtic knot pattern tattoos that covered the whole right side of his body.

Shae half-rose on his front hooves, leaning forward a bit to take a look at what the customer was asking about, then blinked at him as he mentally waded through the accent to figure out his words. It seemed language was a bit of a hurdle for both of them, and the capritaur was glad he knew from dealing with other tribes a bit of how to barter without any words at all. For now, though, perhaps they both could practice speaking.

"Mm, good fortune, from nature," he began in reply, trying to think of how best to express it in Common - in his own language, there was a single word for the idea. "The design is like tall plants. So it is for good earth and good air, to grow much food. Good harvest?"

He reached towards his bundles of goods to pick out another bolt of cloth, and watched the customer as he folded it. Hopefully it was not impolite to stare, but the markings on the man's skin intrigued Shaelthin. As he finished folding and set the latest blanket on top of the others it matched, the goat-man gestured to his own right shoulder and forearm and nodded to the human as he asked, "Do your markings have similar meanings in your tribe?" Some of the designs looked vaguely similar to the ones he knew, but the idea of marking one's own body with such symbols was an unfamiliar concept to the capritaur.

He spent more time looking at the fabric while he deciphered what was being said to him. He liked it, and was thinking on trading for it. He thought out what may be the best thing to trade for it. He reached into the bag he had set by his feet and dug around. Nothing he had was as finely made and as good at the cloth. Worth a shot though. Never know untill you try.

He stood up and looked at the capritaur and dumped the contents of the leather bag out. Most of it was carved bone jewelry; the bones carved with Celtic knot designs, some with tiny pictures, some were just plain. Other things were crude metal coins, a few simple metal peices of jewelry, and a really nice gold armband with patterns etched into it. The same knot patters like on the bones and the Druid's skin.

"I mark my body to be in touch with nature, the spirits, and our gods." He picked through what he had not seeing anything that he really thought was equal. His dirty fingers poked at a few things. He eyed the armband and put it back in the bag. His brother had specific directions for that. "See anything you want?" Keeland asked in his thick accent.

The shaman opened his mouth to ask about the human's gods and spirits, naturally curious about such things. But then he remembered that his job was as a business man right now, not a religious scholar. Perhaps later... but the look of eager interest remained on his pale features.

Glancing between the man's face and his items for trade, Shae smiled faintly. Then he picked up a few of the carved bone items, turning them over in his hands as he scrutinized the designs. The capritaur had a shopping list for his tribe as well, and saw nothing really from that list among the items the human had to offer, but did not want to completely turn him down. One of his other missions in coming to the humans was to learn more about them, right?

"So these designs represent your gods and spirits?" he inquired. "What do these mean?" Shaelthin held out the bone carvings. "Do you have gods and spirits for good harvest and protection and weather, as well?"

Keeland looked down a little noticing the capritaurs lack of extreme interest. He didn't have anything overly-valuable and he knew it. Keeland laid the bolt of fabric back down and began to schoop the things the capritaur wasn't looking at back into his bag.

"Yes, they ward away evil spirits." The man said taking the bone carvings from the other. "This one represents mother nature..." He went on explaining the meanings of the symbols. How a few represented good luck, and even showed a stone that he said to have healing abilities.


(Sorry my post is on the puny side. ^^' kinda having a block right now.)

Shaelthin half-reached for another piece of cloth to fold it, but stopped in the middle of the motion as the human brought up evil spirits and mother nature and so forth ... and his attention returned to the carved bone articles as though they were suddenly made of gold. He could not part with too much cloth in exchange for things that only served to catch his interest as a shaman, but he had honestly not really found much else the humans had to offer that intrigued him so.

After a moment, he finished fetching the other bolt of cloth, and draped it across his forelegs as he stroked his curly white beard thoughtfully. Then he reached out again to brush his fingers over the bracelets laid out on the table as he looked up at the human and smiled.

"I can trade you one fabric for these bracelets, if I may also meet you later when we are done selling to talk more about your spirits," he offered. "And if you need sweetening in the deal, I can share some of my tribe's faith, as well."

He would be better able to barter if he had something to look forward to later. And if he was not bored. Yeah, that was it.... Shaelthin gave a small hopeful smile and awaited the man's response.