• Solo • Jewelers, and What do you Have? (Graded)

Note: This thread has been edited to alter the ending, as I decided to make Quio getting the object from the men a little more difficult. It was altered before it was reviewed, and the review request updated.

25th of Saun 718

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Quio
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Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2016 6:58 pm
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Jewelers, and What do you Have? (Graded)

"Speaking in Rakahi"
"Speaking in Common"
"Speaking in Ulehi"
"Speaking in Ith'ession"
25th of Saun, 718
noon

"Do you do custom work?" Quio asked at the second jewelers he had been to that day.

The first jewelers, a shop in the Commercial Circle, had decided not to deal with a bad-tempered immortal-worshipper, as the proprietor had called him. Quio had not felt particularly bad-tempered before he came to her store, but he had indeed been in a bad temper from the moment he'd stepped into her shop. The woman at the desk had looked up from what she was doing and seen his mark and glared. Then she'd made a small boy who Quio thought must be her son deal with him because she hadn't wanted to.

The child, who had been raised on Etzos' anti-immortal propaganda, had been afraid to speak to him. So Quio had hunkered down to the boy's level and spoken quite gently to the child, trying not to frighten him more, but had found that the boy was either too scared to help him, or just plain unable.

Quio had ended up losing his temper at the woman, which of course had only startled the boy. The boy, who had been maybe five years old, had broken out into sniffles, then tears. The woman had looked at Quio like he was the worst person she'd ever met, and by that time Quio was feeling as if he ought to act the part. He'd demanded proper service, and the woman had put the boy on her hip and stood so the child was between her and Quio, which had only caused the lad to wail and scream.

The woman's husband had heard the boy crying and gotten involved, and then their older son who was maybe eight had insisted in a tremulous voice that Quio leave. "I just wanted a necklace," Quio gritted out, and that was when the woman started screeching to her husband that Quio was a bad-tempered immortal-worshipper, calling him ill-mannered, unruly, and suggesting that he had come to the shop to steal.

The husband had looked like he was going to start something, and so Quio had left. He had stood outside the shop for bits after, fuming, until the eight year old boy had come to the door and begged him to leave.

So Quio had walked away.

This jewelers was in the Outer Perimeter, and Quio felt better just being away from the inner city. He had calmed down enough to try and speak politely, but he knew if anyone looked at him askance he might start to yell. So far however, this jeweler had been civil enough. Though the man had been trying to upsell Quio since he got in the door.

Yes, the man said he did custom work, and Quio tugged the sunstone necklace from his shirt and showed it to the jeweler. "Like this?" Quio asked, and saw the jeweler's face fall.

"That's it?" the man asked, and Quio answered tightly, "Yes, this is what I want."

"But there are so many much, much nicer things to buy," the man tried. "How about you browse for a while, I'll even bring the stones out so you can judge their quality yourself--"

"I want a necklace like this," Quio said firmly, "But with moonstone. I want the rock around the same size, though I don't care if the stone itself is of high quality." The jeweler was trying to sell him on aquamarine or sapphire instead of moonstone, and Quio fixed the man with a stare. He made sure the man was looking when he shook his head no. "No. I want moonstone. Peach moonstone." The man's face fell again. Peach was less expensive than true moonstone. A peach stone the size Quio wanted was worth around five gold nels, and Quio knew it, and the man seemed to know he knew it.

Quio knew because he had taken to asking around what he should be paying before trying to buy anything in Etzos. There seemed to be an additional tax levied upon people who were marked by immortals. It was usually a higher markup for people like Quio who had been marked by a good immortal, because the merchants of Etzos seemed to view them as rubes. "And I want it wrapped in braided string like this one," Quio finished. "Is that something you can do?"

The jeweler was still trying to figure out how he might raise the price of the necklace, and Quio asked suddenly, "There aren't any children here, are there?" He had meant to inquire so as not to have a repeat of the last jewelers, but the way he said it must have implied something else. The man went a little white and the gold nels dropped out of his eyes.

"No-- I'm not threatening you," Quio said. "I just-- can you make the necklace or not? If you don't have the right stone I can get one elsewhere and bring it here. If you can't braid string like this, it would be helpful--" Quio was trying to be very polite, "--if you would recommend a business that can."

"Wouldn't you prefer it to be set in gold?" the man asked, and Quio stared at him harder. "Rose gold?" the man hedged. Quio clenched his jaw and the man squeaked out, "Silver, at least?"

"No. Simple leather string like this." Quio held up the necklace again. "Or I go over to the next shop."

"If you insist on string--" the jeweler said, showing his disapproval in the way he said it but wisely not pressing further on Quio's choice of materials, "--at least let me set you up with the finest peach moonstone this side of Etzos."

"Fine," Quio said. It wasn't the cost of the stone that mattered to him it was the sentimentality of it, but alright. He would pay extra just so the man might feel he had made a better profit.

"Excellent!" the jeweler said, and held out a hand for Quio's sunstone necklace. "I can have the moonstone necklace done in a ten-trial. Quicker, if you want to pay to make it high priority."

"I'll pay priority if you make the necklace right now while I stay in the shop and wait for you to finish," Quio told him. The man looked at him like he didn't like that at all and Quio shrugged. "This necklace means a lot to me," he said, indicating the sunstone necklace he still held in one hand. "I'm not going to risk losing it."

"I wouldn't lose it," the jeweler objected. "Besides, it's highly unusual for a customer to sit and wait in the shop--"

"I'll pay twice priority," Quio said.

"You'll scare the other customers away with that mark on your arm!" the jeweler rebutted.

"Are you sure there are no children around?" Quio asked, and the man made a face.

"Fine," he said. He pulled a stool out from behind the counter and put it in the far corner of the room. "Sit here. If another customer comes in, don't talk to them and don't look at them. And be sure to keep your marked side to the wall."

"How long do you think this will take?" Quio asked him.

The man pretended to do calculations. "Well, let's see. At the cost of three gn per break of work plus materials, and because you've demanded such unusual terms, and since you're going to pay twice for priority..." He made a show of doing some math, counting on his fingers, eyes looking around as if there were invisible numbers in the air. "Oh, I'd say it will take four or five hours, and I wouldn't be surprised if takes six--"

"Two hours," Quio said. "I've seen someone make a necklace like this in half that time. You have two hours, or I'll take the unfinished product at fifty percent of the price."

"Two hours," the man agreed reluctantly, very unhappy but unwilling to do anything about it. He knew that Quio knew that he was charging a lot for what should have been a rather cheap necklace. "Now go sit in the corner--"

Quio went over and sat on the stool.

"--facing the wall, if you would."

Quio rolled his eyes and turned towards the wall.

"Very well then," the man said, and took the sunstone necklace and vanished into the back room.

Quio sat and stared at the wall.

Half an hour later, he was still sitting and staring. The wall was not at all interesting, and Quio was not only bored but irritated by it. He had never known that a wall could make him so ill-tempered, but here he was. The stool wasn't so uncomfortable, but having nothing to lean against meant he had to sit up straight, and he was tired of waiting. He was even more tired of waiting than he would have been because he knew the jeweler was taking as long as he could to make the necklace, in order to charge Quio more.

Without anything else to do, Quio took out his pocketknife and began studiously to clean it. He wished he had a whetstone and oil but he didn't. He polished the blade of the knife with his shirt, then polished it some more, and when it began dully to shine he kept polishing. There was only so long he could polish a knife with plain cloth. Still bored, he flicked the pocketknife open and closed, open and closed. He tried to amuse himself by practicing his knife work, and he moved the blade from saber grip to outward reverse, saber to reverse, saber to reverse.

He heard the door ring as it opened and kept at what he was doing, not looking over. He switched to twirling the knife between his fingers, almost how a con artist would twirl a coin.

"What are you doing!" he heard someone shriek, and he nearly threw the knife into the wall. Quio folded it so that the blade was no longer out. He turned to see who had shrieked. It was the jeweler, looking alarmed.

"I'm not doing anything dangerous," Quio said.

"Not anything dangerous!" the man sputtered. There was another younger man in the room, a boy in his late teens. The young man looked uncertainly between them, what with the jeweler's shrieking. He must have come in from outside. He had the dust of rocks on his hands, so he was probably a laborer in the quarries or a mason.

Quio put the knife in his pocket. Then he turned and faced the wall.

There was an awkward silence in which the young man didn't seem to know what to say, and then the jeweler cleared his throat and said, "Come to discuss that shipment of precious stone?"

"My father says it'll be in in five trials' time, each stone cut to your specifications."

"That's late,"
the jeweler pouted.

Quio could hear the young man shrug.

"Is that why you've come, then, or for some other reason?" the jeweler asked, and Quio heard the young man's voice brighten as he said, "Father said to ask if you've heard about that strange stone in the museum. Have you gone yet and taken a look at it? There's a bet going 'round who will be able to identify the type."

"Strange stone?" Quio couldn't help but ask, turning from the wall.

"Yes, a strange stone that no one has been able to identify!" the young man said. Only someone who worked in the quarries or as a mason or in his father's jewel-cutting shop could be that excited by miscellaneous stone.

"Does it look like crystal?" Quio asked, and the young man said, "I don't know. I haven't seen it for myself yet."

"Is it on display?" Quio said, but the jeweler cut in with a, "What did I tell you? No talking to customers!"

"I'm not a customer,"
the young man said.

"And turn towards the wall! And no knife-flipping!"

"What were you doing with that knife?"
the young man asked with interest. Quio took the pocketknife back out, flicked it open, and twirled it around some more, spinning it between his fingers on his left hand, since he didn't have the fingers for it on his right.

"That's amazing," the teenager said, looking like he wanted to try, and Quio shrugged and said, "It's just a simple trick, nothing more." He didn't offer to let the young man try. He knew the teen would only end up cutting his hand, or dropping the pocketknife on a foot. And the knife was sharp.

"Where did you get a knife like that?"

Not wanting to get into that, Quio asked, "The museum's in the Citadel, isn't it?"

"Yeah," the young man said, still looking longingly at the blade. "In the Pillar of Society."

The Pillar wasn't the easiest place to get into, and Quio continued spinning the knife as he thought.

"Would you stop twirling that!" the jeweler hissed. "Or you'll lose another of your fingers!" He must have noticed Quio was missing some, when Quio had shown him the necklace before.

When the young man looked interested by the jeweler's statement, Quio held up his right hand and the teen gasped. "Practice makes perfect," Quio said, spinning the blade, and the young man looked like he wanted to rush out and buy a knife of his own right that moment. Quio folded the pocketknife and put it back in his pocket.

"Whoa!" the teenager said, coming over. His eyes were fixed on Quio's dagger and sword.

The weapons were both of masterwork quality, and because the jeweler was so extremely annoyed by what was going on, Quio pulled each off his belt, sheath and all. He handed the dao sword to the young man to see. "Careful," he said, as the boy pulled it inexpertly from its sheath. It was a pretty sword, but it was the tanto dagger that really drew the teen's interest.

"That's cobalt!" he said when Quio drew the blade. The dagger was a dark copper-brown hue, with a black threaded handle. Quio didn't try flipping this one around. It was a foot in length, and honed to cut paper as readily as air. The young man could easily take his fingers off with it. When the boy jealously handed the sheathed blades back over, Quio settled both dagger and sword back on his belt. The sword was on his right side, the dagger on the left.

"I wish I could have a dagger like that," the young man sighed.

"Won't your father be waiting for you?" the jeweler asked impatiently, and the teen glumly went to the door. The jeweler waited until the young man was out before glaring at Quio. In his excitement with the blades, the boy hadn't even seemed to notice Quio's mark. Quio turned back towards the wall, thinking about the museum and the strange stone there.

"Can just anyone go to the Pillar?" he asked.

"It's open to the public during certain hours," the jeweler said unhappily.

The Pillar of Society was in the innermost ring of the city, which Quio had never been to before. He had never particularly wanted to go. The Citadel was about as far into the city that a person could go, and Quio did not feel comfortable in even the Commercial Circle, let alone the Citadel. He preferred sticking to the Outer Perimeter when he could because it was outside of the city walls. He had only ever passed through the Wards and Stations.

"Will the necklace be done soon?" he asked. He would have to visit the museum. He needed to see the mystery stone for himself. If it was crystal, and it couldn't be identified, there was a chance that it was made of yludih crystal. If it was, Quio was going to have to figure out how to get it out of the museum and out of Etzos entirely.

"Soon," the jeweler said, and something in his tone made Quio look over. The jeweler had started to sweat, and Quio said again, "When is it going to be done?"

"Soon," the man lied, weakly.

"When is it going to be done?" Quio demanded.

"I haven't started it yet," the man said. Quio stared.

The jeweler put his hands up. "The braidwork is more delicate than I thought!" he squeaked, and Quio stood, then carefully loomed over towards him. The man took a step back, and then scrambled around behind the counter.

"Give me the sunstone necklace back, I'm leaving," Quio said.

"But, but sir--" the jeweler squawked. Quio loomed closer and the man ran into the back room. He returned with Quio's necklace. Quio slipped it on over his head and left.

"Immortal worshippers, humph!" he heard the man say before the door swung closed behind him.

Quio stood outside the shop much like he had the one before.

After a few bits, he started making his way towards the museum.
Last edited by Quio on Thu Sep 06, 2018 11:34 pm, edited 3 times in total. word count: 2945
A L I A S E S
Quio
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Ruq, Iaan, Korim
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Quio
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Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2016 6:58 pm
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Re: Jewelers, Key

"Speaking in Rakahi"
"Speaking in Common"
"Speaking in Ulehi"
"Speaking in Ith'ession"

Quio didn't know the museum's name, but it was not hard to find. All he had to do was ask. The most obliging people pointed him which way he was to go. The least obliging, he annoyed into giving him directions by refusing to go away until they did. He passed from ring to ring, feeling more and more agoraphobic the further he went into the city.

The museum was called the Museum of Art and History, and for its simple name the museum itself was anything but. Entering, Quio was reminded strongly of the Rynmere Theatre which, other than this museum, was the wealthiest building he had ever been in. Though the style of architecture was very different than what he remembered of the theater, both buildings had the same air of superiority.

The building itself seemed almost as judgemental as the people within it. Looking around, Quio was one of the only people not dressed in clothes of the finest make and style. The people who were dressed so fancily gave him condescending looks. The security insisted on searching him when he stepped through the entranceway to the museum, although he was openly armed and so it shouldn't have been much of a search. One of the guards looked suspiciously at Quio's battered and salt-stained leather boots.

He didn't know what the guards had been looking for, because they let him step into the museum with his weapons. Inside, Quio kept to the walls, slinking around pretending to look at exhibits and trying not to be seen.

The sound of many voices led him to the second floor and then the third, where a group of more common-looking people were scattered around murmuring to themselves. A harried museum worker was fluttering around trying to stop them from doing-- well, Quio wasn't sure what. "Stop, stop!" the man cried, and Quio saw that guards were searching people here as well.

The majority of people were standing around a statue, and Quio went that way.

As soon as he began to inspect the statue Quio recognized that this must be the mystery stone the young man at the jewelers shop had been talking about. He had never seen stone like it, and that included yludih crystal. Whatever this was, it wasn't that. The statue hulked over the people gathered around it, sculpted in a strange position as if it had been caught half between movements.

Quio walked slowly around the crowd, observing the statue at every view. Something about it was off-putting, and he could tell that he was not the only one who felt uneasy. A little girl was hiding her face in her mother's shoulder. A group of men in their forties or fifties were daring one another to touch it, though Quio noted that none of them actually dared do so. "Don't touch it!" snapped the museum worker, still fluttering around, red in the face. "What have I been telling you, don't touch anything! Oh, Tabard is going to be so angry..."

Quio continued circling the statue, trying to pinpoint what about it had caused his unease. The only thing that was strange about it, besides the stone itself, was that it looked about ready to move.

Eerie feeling aside, the statue was not made of yludih crystal. That meant Quio didn't have to concern himself with it. He was glad of that. He didn't like this place. He wanted to leave.

Just then there was a commotion in the room and the sound of something shattering. "No no no!" the museum worker screamed, and the guards all scurried that way. "What did I say!" the museum worker was shouting. "Don't touch! Don't touch!" He sounded about ready to weep. "That was a priceless artifact!"

As Quio turned towards the stairs, he saw one of the men the guards had been about to search slip something into his pocket. Then the man quickly pushed his way past Quio and nearly ran down to the first floor.

Quio followed, almost as quickly.

The man headed towards the exit of the museum. As he did, he motioned to another group of men on the downstairs floor and they all walked towards the exit at the same time. The guards at the doors became occupied with the rest of them and the man managed to slip through. Quio followed suit.

Once outside, the man walked for a while and then slouched against a wall. Quio kept walking slowly away from the museum, and when he was far enough away he stopped. In a few bits the man's friends came out of the museum and met up with him. They all crowded together around something the man held in his hands. They seemed to look it over as they walked slowly in a direction that would take them out of the district.

"What is it?" one of them asked loud enough for Quio to overhear, and Quio started walking again in the same direction as them, very slowly, so that the group of men soon had to pass him by.

As they walked by he turned and caught sight of what they had taken. It was a small, oblong disk of metal, bronze in color, with some sort of strange symbol raised on the front. Quio was trying to make out what the symbol was --it looked like a face-- when one of the men knocked into him. "Hey!" the man said, "This guy was in the museum."

Quio moved back from the group of men, his right hand going to the tanto dagger, though he didn't want to start anything. They were in the worst part of the city to do this. He thought the group of men must know that. "What do you have there?" he asked. He didn't think they would want to start anything either, but he made sure none of them were in reach of him. He kept his hand on the dagger, and that kept them back, away.

"Nothing," one of them answered. The others just waited to see what Quio might do.

For his part, Quio didn't do anything. He paused to consider, and the men seemed to do the same.

Then, carefully, he took his hand from the dagger. The group of men seemed to consider that as well. Then they nodded to him, and cautiously left.

Quio remained where he was, thinking. As the men moved slowly away, leaning together once more to inspect the thing they had taken from the museum, he took the pocketknife out of his pocket and twirled it absently in his fingers as he had in the jewelers shop. As he did, he looked at the knife, still thinking. Then he exhaled, the sound close to a laugh, and strutted after the men, far enough behind them that they wouldn't likely notice him. He spun the knife to a close against his palm.

He hadn't meant to interact with the men, though he had wanted to know what they had taken. And since they had knocked into him...

Why not? he thought. He still wanted to know what they had.
word count: 1229
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Quio
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Ruq, Iaan, Korim
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Re: Jewelers, and What do you Have?

Review Rewards

Q

Points awarded: 10

Knowledge:

Blades: Dagger: Saber grip
Blades: Dagger: Polishing a knife with what's on hand
Blades: Dagger: Doing simple spinning and twirling tricks
Blades: Dagger: The threat of a fight is sometimes enough to stop one
Navigation: The layout of the city of Etzos
Navigation: Asking for directions is best when you don't know where to go

OTHER KNOWLEDGE--
Location: The Etzos Museum of Art and History
Location: The Outer Perimeter
Location: The Wards and Stations Ring
Location: The Commercial Circle
Location: The Citadel
Location: The Pillar of Society
Location: The Outer Crafting Zone
Location: Miss Givings

Magic: No magic exp

Other: +5 Fame, for being a dumb Immortal worshipper with a ridiculously visible mark in the middle of an Immortal-hating city. GG.

Notes:
I can't say Q's treatment was entirely unexpected, but I wasn't imagining this at all. I think you did a great job with Q's frustrations, and the attitude of the citizens towards him. Then again, you've always been great at making Q suffer in every possible way, so I'm not surprised this was such a fun read.

Also! Intrigue at the end! I'm curious now. Well done!

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word count: 248
Just because I shouldn't doesn't mean I won't.


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