Dreams of the Deep : Beach Episode
Maison took a moment to stand and admire the expanse of blue stretched out before him. The Starwell glittered in the morning sun, all brightness and inviting. But Maison wasn’t here to swim or to even enjoy the festivities surrounding the azure anomaly. Taking a deep breath of fresh air he continued his walk, looking for the perfect stop to set up a stall.
Unlike everyone else, it seemed, Maison was here only to make some stargold. The previous few months had been utterly devoid of good mercenary contracts… Well not devoid but the spring coloured browbird had been a little more selective as of late. Normally he would take any job no matter how gruesome or dubious the moral implications but after reconnecting with his sister he felt… guilty. He wanted to be better. A better person. A better brother. September had insisted everything was fine, water under the bridge, but he just couldn’t let it go even if she was so insistent that she had. He had to make up for it.
It took him a while. All the best spots had already been snatched up but thankfully he didn’t take up much space and eventually found a spot where two venders were just awkwardly far enough apart that he could set up. Maison plopped down his heavier-than-normal pack and began to empty the contents, beginning with his bedroll as a barrier between the ground and the objects that came next.
Gingerly, the spring coloured browbird laid out some larger objects. A tusk of some great beast carefully carved with flowers and vines that curled up the length, a large bear-like creature with it’s cubs carved from a piece of lavender wood that smelled faintly of honey, and a swirling abstract piece that seemed carved of some type of obsidian bone. Next came medium sized sculptures, each carefully placed and of different types of wood and bone and all very delicately carved. Finally the smallest pieces, a selection of jewelry. It was mainly hair clips and sticks but there were also necklaces and bracelets of carved beads, occasionally accented with larger carvings of wood or teeth.
Maison stood in front of his stall for a moment or two, debating inwardly whether everything was placed to his liking before he nodded and got to placing little cards with prices written on them with surprisingly feathery writing. The prices were fair, if a little low, and once it was done Maison sat himself behind the stall and dug out another carving he had been working on.
This was his hobby turned side business and he had been doing it almost as long as he had been doing mercenary work. Although lately he had been carving more than the alternative and since September had introduced him to her friend Caspian, a browbird he vaguely remembered beating the snot out of in the Harara games, he now had a safe place to store larger pieces. This had led to the ones placed carefully at the back of the mat. The ones that there was no way he could carry on his person during any sort of mission let alone one where he was required to fight.
Maison smiled awkwardly as a pair of satyrs approached his stall and began looking over his work, one of them asking what it was that he was working on currently. He launched in a short description, trying to remember to smile and pausing to explain little things here and there as he went. One of the pair ended up buying a bracelet and Maison took the stargold gratefully. The very first sale of the day. Hopefully many more followed.