deercountry | Sun rises, night falls, sometimes the sky calls...

Ariadne knelt down, holding out her hand for Magnet to sniff to his heart's content. Aside from horses, she was pretty good with animals. It was just a matter of knowing the right way to approach them. Palm up was always best. It exposed the veins in the wrist, signaling vulnerability. Which usually signaled no threat.

If only humanoids worked on the same basic instincts. They would be so much easier to understand!

For example, Ariadne wondered if it was polite or rude to ask someone their blood type. She, of course, had nothing to hide. But in some places, it was polite to ask a lady her age whereas in others, it was considered the height of social faux pas.

Humanoids. So odd.

"No," she said, looking up at him with her kind, gray eyes. "I don't think so. I think I'm what they call a 'Warmblood?'"

She only gets to keep that palm up for so long before a muzzle is nosing into it with the insistence that the pets commence - Magnet's rather relentless in his need for attention. Manabu gives the dog a slightly pained look before his focus shifts back to the woman, his brow still knit with a little concern as she answers.

"A-aa...so. I mean--are you okay? It's gotta be awfully cold." That's how snow works, right? He has no sense for the temperature shifts this season; he's always cold until he's not, and even then, it's always just fleeting flashes and flushes - little lightning strikes of heat that come and go as his blood dictates.

She was only too happy to pet the Omen. It had been a good, long while since she'd last seen a dog. She'd forgotten how friendly they were. Especially the ones that lived close to humanoids.

So yes, Magnet got plenty of pets.

But Ariadne gave the stranger a kind smile. "Oh, it's freezing," she agreed. "But I trust my grip better without boots, when it comes to keeping balance. And I don't plan to stay outside long enough for frostbite." She bowed her head. "Would you like to come inside?"

Well, jeez! Just making small talk while a lady's freezing...way to go, Yuuki!

"Aa, su-sure! Yeah, let's do that!" He's all too eager to move again, hastening to open the door for her, doing a doubletake at his omen.

"Magnet, come on! At least let her not freeze her fingers off!"

What an interesting man. Ariadne really didn't know what to make of him. But she sensed a kindness that she liked.

Then again, Ariadne believed everyone was kind. At least until proven otherwise.

With a small smile and bob of her head, she walked into the shop.

The inside was a giant great room, with smooth and polished hardwood floors. There were a few full-wall windows on the far side. And counters and tables all across the room, covered in dried herbs and potted plants. The whole place smelled of spring. Even in the dead of winter.

"Welcome to the Serenity Garden...herb shop, I guess?" That didn't feel like the right name, but she didn't have anything better yet.

"Whoa..."

This place...is really nice. Like, could give the Raccoon Room a run for its money nice! Manabu can't really feel the shift in temperature, but he can smell the softer, springier atmosphere.

He pulls the door closed behind him, lingering at the entrance as he looks around.

"Did you set this all up yourself?"

"No," she said, padding over to one of the corners, where her leather boots were lined up and waiting for her. She supposed it was probably poor manners to put on shoes in front of a gentleman. But then again, she wasn't really much of a lady, so she couldn't see any point in holding back.

So she slipped her feet in, lacing them up with a leather thong.

"This was actually my apartment in Deerington. If you're familiar with it, it's the place where many of us were before here. When I woke up on the shore...it was just here. The building and the trees."

He shakes his head slowly while continuing the scan the shelves and trappings.

"I can't say I remember anything looking half as nice in that hellhole," he utters. "Folks say I came there at a bad time, but...it was a nonstop bad time from where I stand."

"It was pretty awful, toward the end," she said, giving him a look of genuine sympathy. It was hard enough being in Deerington. But to arrive when it was at its worst sounded absolutely awful.

Not an adjustment she imagines she could have made gracefully.

The fact that he hasn't been turned completely sour--or so it seems--spoke well to this man's character.

"I'm Airy, by the way," she said. "Well, Ariadne. But no one here really calls me that."

"Uoh--" Right. Names! Manabu's spurred to step in properly and extend a hand to shake by habitual politeness.

"Manabu. Manabu Yuuki." His mouth twitches. "Aa, just...Manabu's fine. But, aa, if you prefer Ariadne, I can use that! It's your name, so...so you kind of make the rules with that, right?"

The corners of her eyes crinkled with a smile. "I like 'Airy,'" she said. It suited her. The way she moved, the way she walked, the way she spoke. Everything about her screamed out that she was somehow defying gravity. And it was as though, any moment, she would spread her wings and take to the skies.

Although she hadn't flown in a very, very long time.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir Manabu." She gave him a curtsy that was more of a bounce than a curtsy.

Another airy movement.

Airy it is, then.

Manabu startles a little, retracting the unshaken hand, for a moment uncertain of what to do in the face of a curtsy. He defaults to a slight, polite bow of the head and a bit of the shoulders while wearing that uncertain look of his. She's so polite! It's rare in his encounters.

"Uh, li-likewise," he manages, straightening back up and...staying that way. Almost at-rest in attention? It's an old habit. "But! But you don't have to say 'Sir'...just Manabu's good."

In her experience--particularly with Humans--it was better to assume a title and be wrong, than to be informal and end up insulting them. But she wasn't exactly enamored with formalities, so she smiled happily, giving him a nod. "Of course. Manabu. It's a very nice name. Does it mean something?"

She walked over to a small, iron stove in the middle of the room and added a few twisted branches she'd salvaged from the forest.

Ariadne really didn't like fire. But it was a necessity. And she was still a little cold from before.

Plus, she had a guest!

There was no greater hospitality than ensuring your guest was comfortable. Or so she'd been told.

While Manabu may be more reluctant to roam, his omen has no hangups whatsoever: The dog pads around, sniffing at fixtures near his level, craning his head to get a sniff of some of the herbs around.

"Eh?" The meaning? Not a question he'd expect to hear, really. It's kind of a nice surprise. "Aa, uh...we-well, it uses the same character for, like, to...to learn. My own name, I mean. My family name's like..." He sighs, rubbing at the back of his head. "It...depending on how you read it, can be like...possessing a history? Or having a future, I guess. But it's--it's just what the characters mean if they're not read as names, if...if that makes sense."

"It sounds like someone..." Fate. Destiny. Parents. "...expected you to be a scholar of history," she said.

Even if nominative determinism was something Alastrians hated and feared, she found it fascinating. A sort of insight, a window into the hopes and dreams of parents of children.

She gave him a smile. "Are you one of the scholars here in Trench?"

In light of that smile and question, Manabu flushes, holding up his hands.

"Aa, n-no way!" he laughs, shaking his head. "Not a chance, I'm not good for books or studying. If that's really what my folks were hoping, then--" Ha. "Boy, that was a letdown!"

His laugh peters out in his exhale as one hand goes back down and the other to the back of his head.

"Is...that how it works where you're from, though? Your name kind of...painting the route ahead of you?"

This time, she laughed. "No! It's the exact opposite, actually. My people go out of their way to name their children something that means absolutely nothing. Because they want to leave every possible future open for us!"

Which was a sweet thought. And one of the rare times when she would ever attribute the word 'sweet' to anything her mother did.

"But tell me, if you're not a scholar, what do you like to do?"

His head tilts a little. Absolutely nothing? That's strange to him. Then again, he's thinking of her as Airy already, not her full given name.

"Um--" Well. "I'm...I kind of just...help out where I see a need right now. Handiwork, mostly. If there's a crisis, I can help in a pinch, but that's not the kind of thing I'm going out of my way to find right now."

But that can change at any moment, really.

"I actually help out at the Roost? It's in this district, if...if you've heard of it. Diluc's place."

"I'm not sure I have," she admitted. But there were a lot of new shops and taverns and clubs to explore. And none of them had signs, which made it a little hard to keep track. Ariadne was trying her best to memorize them by scent, but with all of the magical blood flowing through town, sometimes her scents got a little confused. "I'll have to make a point of it, though!"

If he worked there, then it would have to be a reasonably nice place.

He seemed like a reasonably nice gentleman.

"Well, it's not this nice," he points out, smiling sheepishly. "But it's also not bad, either!"

But in regard to the 'this' that is this place, Manabu gives it another look around.

"So it's like...plant stuff? Are there things for cooking in here?"

Ariadne laughed. It was a bright, cheery noise like the sound of a bell ringing. "I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you. It's just that...well, back home, I was sort of banned from the palace kitchens for being a menace."

It wasn't her fault. Not entirely. And the fire had only been a small one. Easily put out.

Curiosity was her nemesis sometimes.

"I don't have pots and pans or anything like that. But I do have herbs and some spices. Dried out fruit from the orchard. And in the summer, I should have fresh fruit."

Banned from...what, now? A palace kitchen? That gives Manabu a reason to peer at Airy curiously. Is she a princess? She kind of looks like one, he thinks. But then, his point of reference is like...books from childhood, and by that baseline, any pretty girl could be a princess!

Thankfully, before he can embarrass himself for that, the mention of herbs pivots his attention. He perks up, feeling hopeful for the potential in that.

"Eh, really? Seasonings for cooking, too? What sorts of things are you taking trades for that?"

It was a question that she'd kind of been dreading. Ariadne knew that businesses had to run on some kind of barter system, whether it was money, goods, or deeds. But she didn't have the best sense of how to handle it. After all, living in the palace meant that most of her requirements were handled by the staff and divvied up according to rank and station. Her needs were met in exchange for her services to the crown. It was simple.

And, of course, before that she lived in a rain forest and her needs were taken care of by her family.

She had...very little experience. And it would probably show.

"I...suppose it would depend," she said, trying hard not to look half as awkward as she felt about it. "I guess I'm flexible?"

Manabu frowns a little. Jeez, this is the problem with no common currency! It just makes things weird...

"Well, ummm..." He scratches at the back of his neck, looking around...and up. "I mean, if there's more work to be done on the building, you can let me do it?" He blinks back at her. "I've been doing a lot of that for folks around town to get by, so it wouldn't be much of an issue. And, and I'm a coldblood, so I won't have to worry about freezing...and neither would you! If I was doing the work, I mean."

She considered it. "I do think I'd like to add a porch to the back entrance," she said. "But that hardly seems like a fair trade for you." That labor was probably worth far more than a few assorted, dried herbs and spices.

This was uncomfortable.

She tried to think of something else she had to offer, but in the current climate, her choices were limited.

"In the summer, I'll have fresh fruit?"

Sun rises, night falls, sometimes the sky calls...

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