pendantry

Ten

I have new things for sale.

[Raven picks up the book, to turn it around and show off her new merchandise; some of it is jewelry, some of it is just her playing with metal - metal that came from stuff she took apart after finding it in the item shop. Then there is a row of decorative things. Kyle is visible on the other side of the counter, with a specific focus on the metal leaves and flowers of her potted "plants".]

Mmh, I shouldn't say "for sale". They don't cost anything. If you like them you can have one. [Most don't have any kind of attribute either, due to their just-plain-metal nature. The plants occasionally have gems and crystals as part of the flowers; there are a half-dozen birdnest objects, some with stone eggs inside and some with crystal eggs.

Raven's growing fear of being left alone makes her a clingier employee and, surprise surprise, a friendlier salesperson.]

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If you can make one as big as what I asked I will take that and one of those you have now. Would that be okay?

Yes. It will take me some time to make a new, bigger one.

It's okay, I'm not in a hurry. I'll go get the small one now, though, where are you and for whom do I have to ask?

At the smithy. [Where she always is, she thinks, it still throws her off when running into people whose home-lives don't revolve around a regular schedule.] I'm Raven.

[Wait, Raven? He has heard that name before. It takes him a moment before he answers.]

Do you know a man named Marco? With a huge tattoo on his chest and bird tendencies?

[It can be difficult to tell the difference between her affectionate grumpiness and her irritated grumpiness - particularly when it's about Marco.]

Yes. Is he bothering you?

You say that as if it's possible for him to not be bothering someone.

[He's not really serious, but the answer is automatic, barely thought. Ikki pauses and coughs slightly when he realizes it.]

But no. Not anything I can't deal with, he has often nagged me about meeting you, though.

[Stupid big brother with bird complex.]

My name's Phoenix Ikki, I'm Marco's phoenix bro.

[If he remember correctly that's what Marco told him to say to her, as if it would help to make things less awkward.]

[A woman of few words herself, Raven is used to other people using many of them. They are never all this significant.]

"Marco's phoenix bro"? What is that supposed to mean?

It means that he's my older brother. And that I'm a phoenix as he is.

[Adopted older brother, but ever since he got Whitebeard's flag tattooed Ikki is sure that the word "adopted" lost its sense with them.]

Oh.

[She had no idea there were so many people who could turn into birds.]

You don't seem as bothersome as he is.

Nobody is as bothersome as Marco. Not even a child Marco.

[He loves him, really, best older brother he could wish for. But Marco is bothersome and to say otherwise is a lie.]

That's true.

[Which brings her to feelings a kinship with this Ikki through their mutual annoyance-by-Marco. Could be worse.]

...I know why he wanted you to tell me.

Because you like phoenixes?

[Or she is a bird herself, one of the two.]

Mmh. That might be it.

[There are some secrets that do not belong to relative strangers.]

Well, now he won't have anything to complain about for a while. Glad to have met you. I'll drop by later to pick up that nest.

That's fine.

[Complain? He was complaining about her?]

[More like complaining about Ikki not knowing her. Anyway, Ikki makes his way there, just as he said.]

[Raven doesn't really know who to look for. She's busy polishing a finished piece when Ikki comes in.]

Raven?

[He approaches a girl who is polishing something. If he's wrong she will probably be able to tell him where the one he's looking for is.]

Hm? [She can spot a customer, and whether he has a familiar voice or not she'll put her work down.] Are you looking for something?

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