Senero was doing what he was usually doing when the sun was up – gathering things for the pride. Mostly herbs, because he was quite interested in the herbs of the pride, but to be honest, he only really knew what about three or four of the herbs actually did, so he tended to only really pick those four. He didn’t want to pick some sort of herb he didn’t know, only to find out it was useless or poisonous. There was nothing the male hated than to look foolish, and so he erred on the side of caution and stuck with only the things that he knew.
He was gathering a few different things that day though, a few broken pelts slung over his back as he nosed through the grasses looking for whatever he could find that would help the pride. He was quite close to the edge of the pride, but that wasn’t concerning. He wasn’t worried about being attacked; the pride was peaceful. He hadn’t seen any sort of disturbance since coming to the pride months ago. It was safe.
Though he tensed as he smelt an unfamiliar scent. The honest truth was the pride did not expand rapidly, and so he usually ended up spotting new members and getting to know their scents quite easily, but this one was one he had never smelt in the pride, and it was faint, like it was still approaching. Therefore, it must be a stranger. That made him uncomfortable, and he glanced back over his shoulder towards the pride, wondering if he should risk looking the fool and race back to the pride, to the safety.
However, Elysia and Lanikai made the decision for him as the duo appeared. Lanikai was adorned in a few furs and had a satchel slung around her neck to store little trinkets, while Elysia was dressed in glitzy jewellery and things that made her already immaculately kept fur look even more beautiful. She swayed her hips as she walked, while Lanikai was definitely a more no-nonsense kind of girl as she walked with purpose and none of the dramatics that Elysia used. Lanikai spotted Senero first, her eyes drawn to the ratty pelts across his back and her eyes lit up. She bet she could trade with him! As a merchant, she loved trading, and it was made even better by the fact that she was once again travelling rogue as she wanted to bring back pretty things to the Kuroi and impress those of higher rank. The only downside to her rogue adventure was the fact that she was dragging along Elysia; the spoilt entertainer had demanded to go with her, bored of the pride and wanting adventure…but she was slowly driving Lanikai crazy. The pale purple female often contemplating losing the spoilt feline, but knew she would get in trouble if she returned home without the entertainer. However, the daydream was awfully tempting some days.
“Hello sir!” Lanikai called out to Senero, unconcerned by his startled expression at their appearance. “I see you are collecting furs. I have quite a few with me, if you were interested in bartering and trading wares?” She was nothing if not direct.
Elysia spotted Senero too, but her reaction was far more simply excited about the fact that he was male. Elysia plastered a bright and flirty smile on her face, her eyes becoming half-lidded and sultry as she sashayed towards him. “Well hello handsome!”
Senero had looked quite uncomfortable at Lanikai’s comments, but the expression only grew at Elysia’s flirtatious call. The green male was really regretting not fleeing back to the pride now, reluctant to engage the females in discussion but knowing that he couldn’t be rude…it would look bad on the pride. “Hello,” he responded reluctantly, ignoring Elysia completely and instead focusing on the less awkward statement. “Are you a merchant?” It was rather obvious that she was, but…what else was he supposed to say? Senero was not a particularly savvy conversationalist.
Lanikai beamed, rather thrilled at Elysia being completely shut down by Senero. “Indeed I am, sir! Keen eye!” Her compliments were not nearly as obvious or blatant as Elysia’s, so they usually went down a lot better than the entertainers. “We were just passing through the area, but boy are we glad to stumble upon other people!”
”Mmmmhmmm!” Elysia hummed with a smirk, eying Senero.
Again the green male looked increasingly uncomfortable, even going so far as to inch slightly further away from Elysia, even though she was not standing close to him at all. It was just an unconscious desire to be as far away from the flirty feline as he possibly could, because…what the hell.
“What type of wares do you have for trade?” Senero said, his tone becoming increasingly awkward.
Lanikai actually felt really bad for him, and shot Elysia a look that said she should stop, but Elysia, being the spoilt female she was, didn’t pay her any heed. “We have some furs, some jewellery trinkets, and a few satchels,” Lanikai explained, motioning to her own figure. Elysia posed next to her, as if trying to display the jewellery that she wore, but really she was just trying to make herself look as appealing as possible. Senero avoided looking at her completely.
“What sizes of satchels?” Senero asked, curiously. It would help his gathering to have something to store items in, specifically the herbs that he was interested in. It might made it better than just trying to gather them in small groups.
Lanikai moved forward cautiously, slipping off her bigger satchel to open it up. She pulled out a few of the ones she had for sale, and laid them down onto the ground. She motioned him forward to inspect them, offering him a welcoming smile. “These are the few that I have on me now, but if you were after a specific type, I can always go away and come back with exactly the item you want. I have a lot of contacts, so it would not be tricky.”
Senero moved forward, keeping one eye on Elysia who was still watching him a little too closely for him to be truly comfortable. He looked over the satchels but none jumped out at him. “Don’t worry about it,” he said trying to dismiss the pair.
Lanikai panicked. “But I can find you something else! What are you after? A bigger satchel? A smaller one?” She asked, rushing to keep him interested. At her insistence, Senero stepped back.
“Look I’m just not that interested,” he tried to excuse, but Lanikai shook her head.
“Come on, you obviously have something particular in mind, or else you wouldn’t have asked about them,” she encouraged swiftly, with a bit of a firmer tone than she had had before. Sometimes she seemed so sweet, it was often easy to forget that at her heart she was a saleswoman. She had to trade to maintain her career.
Elysia had inched closer to Senero while he was dealing with Lanikai and was now standing very close to him. “Yeah, what are you looking for?” She asked, with a flutter of her eyelashes. Senero startled, having not realised she was so close now, and almost jumped backwards. His eyes went wide and he tried to speak but nothing came out. Elysia giggled and inched closer again.
Lanikai huffed loudly, her annoyance obvious. Senero looked guilty, and he wasn’t sure why, and he tried once again to inch away from Elysia, but she continued to follow close beside him, giggling, her attempt at flirting quite overdramatic.
“Elysia! Stop it!” Lanikai finally snapped, stomping forward and grabbing hold of the other female by the tail. Elysia yowled loudly and attempted to swipe at Lanikai but missed, because she really wasn’t a fighter. She huffed as well, but desisted from following after Senero.
Senero looked super awkward, and backed away from the duo. “Look, if you can bring me a larger satchel, maybe we can do some sort of trade…” he said awkwardly, his ears flicked back. “I should get back to work…uhh. I live around here. So I guess just come back when you have it?” Man why was this so awkward?
Lanikai beamed. “Perfect! Give me one moon cycle at the most and I’ll return with your satchel! It’s a pleasure doing business with you! What’s your name by the way? In case you’re not here and I need to ask after you!”
“Senero,” he said awkwardly.
“Perfect! I’m Lanikai!” She responded.
“I’m Elysia,” the purple female said with a giggle and a wink at him.
Senero took another step back. “Ah. Bye.” It was the most awkward parting he could have made, but he didn’t dwell on that as he retreated quickly.
Lanikai didn’t care though, and beamed, feeling triumphant. “Ha! Another deal!” She said cheerfully.
“He was cute!” Elysia said, her own tone incredibly cheerful.
Lanikai sighed loudly. “You need to give the whole ‘boycrazy’ thing a break, Elysia, or you’ll end up in trouble!” She warned, her tail flicking behind her as she walked back the way they came. Elysia, of course, followed after her.
“Yeah right,” Elysia laughed, humming loudly and off-key, mostly to annoy her companion. Man, was it fun to irritate the merchant. It was fast becoming one of Elysia’s favourite pastimes.
- fin -