She sells seashells

Koa would have no problem tugging Tal after him as the dynamic duo forged their way towards the Spiral Marketplace. As distracting as the various merfolk, fish, coral, and architecture were, the courier was even more focused on not losing his copilot on this particular adventure. How the hail they'd find each other again when they could only communicate with the locals via charades was a scenario he desperately did not want to think about!

Luckily the marketplace was easy to spot, especially once they swam (or flailed) up a few levels. Aside from dodging around some slender, towering buildings it was an easy journey to reach the great nautilus with its combination of manufactured and organic construction. Tal's eyes widened behind his Goggles as he pointed to first one shop and then another, making garbled bubble noises as he saw one place selling seashell jewelry and another that had weapons of obsidian and coral.

The good news is, they're basically the only two humans down here today, so if they get separated the locals are more likely than not to direct them back towards one another. And while they might not feel especially special, the pair is already getting some stares. Compared to the myriad of colorful chimeric characters swimming through the spiral streets, Koa and Talyson stick out like taupe in a rainbow painting, or a dead patch of grass in an otherwise green lawn.

Koa realizes none of this: he's too entranced by his surroundings for any amount of self-reflection, his wide eyes darting from stall to stall as Tal points between them. Intrinsically drawn to any sort of weaponry, he floats toward a set of obsidian brass knuckles, admiring the craftsmanship as he bobs beside the table.

Tal was an especially egregious example of being a blandly non-memorable human today, given that he was wearing a particularly boring pair of solid dark blue swim trunks. The only thing he really had going for him to set him apart from the swirl of colors and forms around them were his legs - and, let's face it, Koa's looked way better.

But he was too busy looking at everything else around them to get caught up in his own physical inadequacies at the moment, and he was absolutely willing to follow Koa to the weapons shop. There was an obsidian axe in the same display that grabbed his attention, and he bobbed around it to get a better look at it from several angles.

The shop's owner - a middle-aged woman with the rainbow-hued tail of a parrotfish and bright green hair only natural among the Mer - floated over with a polite smile and cocked her head at the two men. There was probably something being asked through the Attuned bond, but Tal could only give her an awkward smile and grope for Koa's arm to drag in backup.

Bumping into one another as the currents shift and flow, Koa and Tal make a ridiculous pair, as out of place as a pair of penguins on a cheeky tour of Rome. But that's okay, because they have enthusiasm, damnit, and winning smiles work just as well under the sea as above it. As the Mer tilts her head inquisitively Koa shakes his head, tapping at his ear and then waving his hand in a no motion. No, he cannot hear her, but that doesn't mean all is lost.

Reaching into his flamingo swim trunks, the Dragoon pulls out a small pouch. There's coins inside, and Koa extracts one, setting it on the table. Pointing first to the axe and then the coin, he holds his fingers up: one, then two, and then a shrug, before gesturing between them again.

Tal looked between Koa and the merchant with proverbially bated breath, but the Dragoon had matters well in hand. With a confident smile and a positive talent for charades he cleared up the confusion over why they weren't answering the merchant's telepathic questions. She blinked a little in surprise at that revelation but luckily the boys weren't her first non-Attuned customers. Since the Underwater City had opened its gates to the humans of Torchline several years back the tourism trade had...

Well. Perhaps not blossomed the way their king had hoped, but air-breathing land dwellers were at least semi-regular patrons of the Spiral Marketplace and the shops therein.

And coins were an excellent universal language.

Tal's eyes widened behind his Goggles as Koa motioned to the axe and he tried to shake his head at the merchant but oh noooo she couldn't hear him and she wasn't looking at him. All her attention was on Koa as she examined his coins and then held up 2 fingers before gesturing to the axe with a smile and extending her hand for payment.

Not noticing (or choosing to ignore) Talyson's protests, Koa commits to his silent shopping with a great deal of gusto. Two coins being less than he expected to pay, the Dragoon is quite happy to hand over the fee. The merchant takes the money, a pleasant collection of bubbles exhaled as she packages the axe. Finned fingers extend the wrapped weaponry toward the boys, and with a wave Koa accepts his prize, before turning and thrusting it toward Tal. Now we're even, his copper eyes glitter from behind the glassy mask.

And then he sets off once again, not giving the Messenger time to protest or thank him if he wants to keep up with his friend. Rolling over and looking back, Koa rubs his stomach expressively before pointing to some nearby food, and then again at Tal. Lunch is on you, the universal gestures convey. Though what Mer eat (and how they eat it) is far beyond Koa's ability to imagine.

[fin]