The Necropolis [Conway]

[Kari Muffin]

Conway was vaguely familiar with the layout of the region. Over the years he had traveled to various parts, and he had learned to stay away from the part that had his Uncle in it. Of course this part of Hisstor he was rather unfamiliar with, and knowing that the largest city in the region was close by was a good thing to know.

He would make sure to avoid it.

And it was good to know that the isolation was almost absolute. He knew that things were fairly quiet, considering the time he had spent with Javaid, but it was nice to have it confirmed.

"I'm just mostly interested in the market to get fresh food. I wanted to try a bit of cooking that I learned.... and there are always interesting things that people try to sell." He clenched his paw. What was he going to do about it? How exactly could he participate in proper exchanges with it? If the man hadn't known him he could have slipped off and pretended to be someone else.

He could still try to do that but Javaid would probably be upset.

Speaking of... Conway activated his ability to check up on the jackal. "Javaid... I have a question for you."

[Vyn]

Mehdi nodded and smiled. He was fairly simple to please, which was nice, and it also further reminded him of Javaid. They really were cut from the same branch, so to speak. "Wonderful. Trade is my specialty, so I can show you around the market the best."

Speaking of, they had just crested the dune and now the worst part of the walk was over. From the little summit Conway would be given a good view of the surrounding area -- Javaid's Necropolis behind them, surrounded by nothing but empty desert as far as the eye could see, and the market and towns lay ahead of them, a sprawling expanse of movement, tents, and huts as far as the eye could see. Mehdi beamed. "It's a vast difference, isn't it? One little dune separating civilization from the middle of nowhere."


Javaid perked up when Conway contacted him, wonderfully pleased to be hearing his voice. "Ask away." Had they made it to the market yet? Javaid was honestly curious to find out what it was like.

[Kari Muffin]

Trade specialist huh? That made plenty of sense out here. And with the rest of the cat's story that Conway vaguely remembered. It sounded like a very good reason to see the outside world.

Conway was surprised by the sudden transition. It was a little startling that the small marketplace just seemed to pop up in the middle of the sand. It was a very fine line between the middle of nowhere and somewhere, wasn't it? He shifted a bit, fiddling with some pocket lint. "Oh, that's a bit of a surprise." He said, sounding fairly unimpressed.

He tried not to wrinkle his nose as he talked to Javaid. It was easy to focus on the words, but he didn't want his facial expressions to give away the fact that he was engaging in more than one conversation. Hopefully Mehdi wasn't skilled at reading human expressions.

"How exactly do I go about telling Mehdi about my hand? I don't want him to find out while we're buying things and I suddenly have to pay for something one handed."

[Vyn]

Rather unimpressed with the whole bit, wasn't he? Perhaps Conway was like Javaid and utterly unimpressed by civilization? That made sense, it also explained part of the reason why they hit it off so well. Silly little introverts.

"We still have a bit of a way to go, but at least it's partly downhill from here."

The feline continued on cheerfully, unaware of the change in Conway's expression as he watched the bustle of cards in the market ahead.


Javaid chuckled to himself. "With Mehdi, I suggest just being straight forward. I can't imagine him taking it too badly, he's told me stories about far weirder things, but he may ask you some questions." Or a lot of them, depending on how intrigued he was by the change. "His family worked with curses, he knows a lot about magical items and their unusual side effects."

The jackal paused for a moment, thinking. "If you don't want to accidentally reveal it at the market, I say you fill Mehdi in before you get there. He'll cover for you."

[Kari Muffin]

"All right," Conway commented to the cat as they started the descent down the hill. The market place looked rather busy. Conway felt a bit of nervousness well up.

He went back to focusing on the conversation with Javaid. Okay, so he had to be honest with the man and he would just take it in stride? In theory. Conway still didn't really like that plan, but it was better than having to play twenty questions. "Okay," he thought with an implied sigh. "If you're sure I'll just tell him out right."


"Ah... Mehdi? Before we get down there I need to tell you something. I had an accident recently and uh..." He pulled his paw out of his pocket. He really didn't want to hem and haw about it. Hopefully the cat would just look at him, be surprised and this entire mess would be over with. He wiggled the paws digits. He was never going to get used to this stupid thing.

[Vyn]

Javaid wished he could find some better way to reassure Conway that all would be well, but his awkwardness was half-justified. Magical mutations were strange and rare things, especially to have a paw in human form.

In the end, all he could offer was words. "You'll be fine."

Mehdi paused as Conway pulled his hand -- or, rather, his paw -- out of his pocket and wiggled the little black digits. He blinked once in surprise before his brow arched. Well then, not what he expected. Should have, what with the way Conway kept his hands in his pockets this whole time, but it simply hadn't come to mind. Probably for good reason.

He let out a low whistle of surprise. "That... is a major accident." Interest immediately replaced surprise and he inched in closer. "Do you mind... y'know, if I look at it real quick? I've seen a lot of stuff while apprenticing under my father but.. wow. It stays like that regardless of you being in human or biped, huh?"

[Kari Muffin]

Conway felt a twinge of regret after taking his paw out of his pocket. The man gave him a look of surprise and interest. A slightly unnerving look. Conway came to a slow stop to allow the man to get a closer look at the paw.

"Animal, Bipedal, Human, it's all the same," he said quietly. It did change when he wasn't himself, but he wasn't about to explain that to Mehdi. He would keep that to himself and to Javaid. "I doubt there's anything you can do to help... but uh I can talk to more than one person now at a time so it kind of solved a few problems despite causing a major one."

He shifted uncomfortably, glancing at the market place. Let things go smoothly there. "Javaid, is there anything you want while we're here? I mean other than the stuff I wanted to get for dinner tonight?" Maybe if he focused on this conversation he wouldn't feel so bloody awkward about the cat looking at him.