running toward the fire

Erwen

Nestled amongst the towering glass buildings of the Core is what appears, at first glance, to be a small park. It is a little strip of green, complete with trees and bushes and flowers, and those passing by the gates might stop to smell the roses or peer through the trees for a glimpse of what lies inside. The grounds are fenced with a tall, wrought iron fence and a small, sparkling glass building sits at the street to welcome people inside. It is, however, not a park, but a unique shop, one with only the most specific of clientele.

You see, the shop and the surrounding grounds are home to a unique ecosystem of creatures, carefully bred, trained, and tended to by none other than Erwen Dunda. At this moment, Erwen sits inside the little glass building behind a counter, wrestling with a bundle in her lap. The baby Batsudi is not interested in being wrapped up in the blanket that Erwen holds, nor is it interested in the bottle sitting on the counter. It is interested only in playing and causing chaos - of which there is plenty to cause, now that it is inside rather than in its outdoor enclosure.

Fortunately, Erwen has a great deal of experience with unique creatures of all kinds, and this is not her first Batsudi to raise from infancy. She picks up the squalling babe, deftly swaddles it in the blanket, and hums a soft lullaby as she coaxes it to drink from the bottle.

these aching memories still dance around me

Eleonora

The dreary Drenak weather did not help anything and the more or less constant raining is just another bothersome point to be added to the ever growing list of annoying disturbances. The lockdown draining supplies more and more, algae plague spreading through the city and the weather turning more and more awful. On top of it all; too few dinner parties and gatherings lately. Gossip and information running as dry as the supplies.

However, business must go on while it can and a recent commission has taken her out of POINT. Normally, she would send her son to do this for her so she does not have to go out into the rain, but her husband had gotten to the boy before her and she just cannot wait.

The dress of the day is a maroon coloured one in soft, waterproof wool with a swirly floral pattern in gold thread decorating the edges around the long sleeves and the high collar. Her hair is as usual tied up in an elegant bun with narrow golden string adorned with tiny diamonds that glitter with her movements.

This shop in question is not a place she normally visits, but they may be of help to her today. She shakes the raindrops off her large umbrella and folds it up before stepping through the door and strides over towards the counter with her head held high. She gives the Batsudi a glance down her nose, before turning her full attention to the woman holding it.

"Good day." She says with a hint of a polite smile gracing her lips. "I am in need of birds and your shop was suggested to me. More specifically, I am in need of feathers if you have any." Usually, she does not work with the material much, but this client of hers had a very special idea in mind.

Erwen

Her baby Batsudi has finally calmed and taken to the bottle that Erwen holds in her hands. Its big, brown eyes stare up at her as it suckles, watching her, every now and then flicking around their surroundings to look at a shiny bauble, or a nearby animal, or something that only the Batsudi can see. Erwen has given up trying to understand when her creatures stare at nothing in particular. Her cats are particularly bad about it, gazing up at walls where there is seemingly nothing to entertain them. When she was young, her mother used to joke that the cats watched ghosts, but Erwen has never seen anything to confirm that suspicion.

In any case, when the door opens, Erwen glances up to see a well-dressed woman entering her shop. She continues to feed the Batsudi, having just barely gotten it to calm and take the bottle, and offers the polite smile that she reserves for guests to her shop. She is not a particularly friendly person by nature, but she is well-practiced with the aristocracy, and she has perfected the type of welcoming atmosphere that tends to draw in new clients. "Good day, and welcome," she says in greeting.

The request for feathers is unusual, but not unheard of. While she does not condone the use of animals purely for their parts, she has amassed a collection of items that have been shed or lost by her creatures over time: feathers, cat's whiskers, and the like. So she nods, shifting the baby Batsudi into one arm and holding the bottle precariously with one hand. "What kind of feathers are you looking for? Any specific color or length?"

these aching memories still dance around me

Eleonora

She is prepared to explain that it works just well with feathers that have fallen off on their own. That she has no wish for any bird to be plucked for the sake of this project. She is not that cruel. While she has little interest in animals in general, harming them seems highly unnecessary. "I have a project for a client of mine that requires white feathers. Small feathers would be preferable, but I am interested in any size you may have." A subtle sighs leaves her.

"And should you not have any or enough in white, any pale ones will do." She continues after having quickly decided that she cannot be too picky about the selection. She wants to, but that is a luxury barely anyone can afford in these times it seems. Should her client have complaints, she will just have to try and charm them into being less picky as well. She has to do that already with clients demanding fabrics no longer in stock.

She takes a look around the shop from where she stands with a mask of mild interest on her face. Keeping pets was nothing she had thought much of, other than when her son as a child had asked for one every now and then and she had been quick to shut the idea down. Their household being far too busy for it. Birds could be pretty to look at, but she understands they can be very messy to keep as well.

"Very unique shop, this one. I do not believe I have seen any like it elsewhere in the city." She says with a rather neutral tone, but polite enough to be appropriate for everyday small talk. Even if she has a habit of keeping most emotions from showing much, she does find the park-like enclosure and the glass building aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

Erwen

It's all the better that her customer has no intention of harming any of her precious animals, for no matter who it is or how much money they're offering, nothing can possibly convince Erwen that plucking feathers from her birds is necessary. It is her duty, she believes, to find only the best of homes for her animals, and anyone who would mistreat them will have to answer to her. Fortunately, her protectiveness does not need to come into play her - except, perhaps, to protect her Batsudi from the other woman's dismissive gaze.

In any case, the Batsudi has settled in her arms and appears to be growing sleepy, so she sets the bottle on the counter and carefully sets the creature - swaddle and all - into a nearby pen that looks remarkably like a crib. It will keep the sleepy Batsudi contained long enough for Erwen to conduct her business, and then she will move it to a more permanent home.

Erwen bustles out from behind the counter and to a nearby row of shelves, which contains a variety of baskets and containers filled with various animal paraphernalia. "I keep most of the feathers that come from my birds," she explains as she tugs a few bins from the shelves. "I clean them all well, and make sure they're in good condition. You won't find any broken or bent feathers in here." There are baskets filled with white feathers of every size and length, from the longest primaries to the softest down. Looking them over, she selects a few bins with feathers in the small to middling range and steps aside, offering them to the woman to examine.

She smiled with pride at the praise of her shop. "Thank you," she says, not entirely comfortable with bragging about her hard work or the lengths she goes to in order to ensure that her shop remains ahead of any competitors. "I would be happy to show you around, if you have an interest in any of the animals."

these aching memories still dance around me

Eleonora

The Batsudi is mostly ignored at this point and perhaps it will be far more happier for it. Nora continues her observation of the shop while Erwen puts the animal down it its pen and when she moves over to the shelves, Nora finally turns her attention back to the other woman. "Oh, excellent." She comments in calm approval to the feathers being in good condition, but still does not let any kind of cheerful excitement come through in her voice.

However, she is pleased to see that there is quite a collection of feathers to choose from. She starts looking the selected bins over when she is offered a tour of the shop. The interest in the animals is lacking, but she sees no reason to not be polite and if anything, it can be an opportunity pick up something new to talk about with her friends, rather than the same old now very stagnant topics.

"A tour does sound interesting." She replies, giving Erwen another small polite smile before having a closer look at the feathers. After a brief moment of consideration, she gestures to two of the bins. "If you are willing to part with those, I will take them. I can send someone over to collect them for me later in the day, if you can hold them for me." It might be more than she needs, but having extra in store should more odd projects come up seems like a good idea.

Erwen

Erwen smiles at the woman as she picks over the feathers and nods as she agrees to a tour of the shop. "I'll be happy to hold them for you," she agrees. She bends to search for two lids that will fit the bins, then carries them over to her counter. "If I could just have your name?" she asks, pulling out a card and a pen. She'll mark the order and save it for later behind the counter - not that she was really anticipating another client coming in for feathers, but you never really know up on the plates. She'd had someone looking for cat whiskers once, so she was rarely surprised anymore.

As for a tour, Erwen glances out to the various enclosures surrounding the shop, guessing that this particular patron might not care for a tour in the rain. Fortunately, although the ground is wet, the rain has stopped falling for the moment, so they might actually be able to sneak in a quick look around before it begins again - which, in Drenak, could be at any moment. "If you're still interested in a brief tour, I believe we might be in luck," she says with a smile. "The rain seems to have stopped, for now."

these aching memories still dance around me

Eleonora

She nods in approval that the feathers can be held for her until she can send someone. Probably her son. Even if it is probably unlikely someone would come in after her and wanting to buy up all the feathers in the store, rumors and trends are things that spread quickly sometimes. If her client had this idea, she is sure there are at least a handful more thinking the same.

"Thank you. The name is Eleonora Kusund." She replies with another tiny polite smile as she follows Erwen back to the counter, then looks towards the enclosures and the state of the weather. "Wonderful, prefect timing. Yes, I would very much like to have a look around at what you have here."

She is still having hopes that it can give her something new to bring to the social gatherings, as at least some other people have an interest in animals. And should the rain suddenly start falling, as it always does this time of year, she has her trusty umbrella at hand still.