~~~~
"Five gold pieces," the
monocled scholar repeated.
"But the cover is torn in five
places," Atalanta argued. "It's probably only worth two or three gold
pieces, at best."
"Five gold piece," the
scholar crossed his arms.
"Give it up Atalanta," I
shook my head, "he's not budging." She did her usual pout, but
discarded the book nonetheless.
"How about this," she
pawed through the messy collection of old books and pulled out another dusty
tome. "Oh, An Expert's Guide to the Arcana and Beyond," she
exclaimed. Like the previous book, it showed clear signs of wear and tear, the
cover looked ready to peel off at a moment's notice.
"Ten gold pieces," the
scholar declared.
"What," Atalanta fumed,
"This one's worse than the last one." Despite her protests the
scholar remained impassive. I think he raised the price to scare her off,
unfortunately he doesn't know how stubborn she can be.
"Calm down Atalanta," I
soothed her. I looked towards the scholar, "do you have anything in here
that doesn't cost a month's worth of food?" The scholar pointed towards a
small basket on the floor in the corner. It contained more books, but they were
in extremely poor condition. Atalanta slid over to take a peek at them, but
recoiled in horror at the first book she picked up.
"How can you sell this
junk," Atalanta gagged, "smells like dead caterpillars." While
she attempted to waft the smell out of her nose, I looked back at the scholar
who maintained a stoic exterior.
'I'm not liking where this is
going,' I thought. I turned back to the still revolted Atalanta, "Come on
let's buy books some other time."
"Yeah, forget your crummy
books," she huffed, "you're nothing but a scam artist anyway." I
sighed as Atalanta resorted to her favorite insult. Before she could utter
another word I shepherded her out of the building. We really need to stop
looking for deals uptown. At least we didn't get banned from another store.
~~~~
Welcome to the continuing adventurers of Martin and Atalanta as they attempt to navigate such horrors as overpriced goods and jaded shopkeepers. I've wanted to write a follow up to this post since I first wrote it, and this is my first successful attempt. My first try ended up way to cliche, and the second got weird (ie. I tried to make it funny, it ended up really uncomfortable). Regardless, I really enjoy writing these two characters. Mainly because I imagine them as two friends who've known each other forever and could probably bicker with each other from now till the end of time. I really want to write a much longer story for them, I just need to set aside time for it. Read, comment, enjoy, etc.
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