[ P ] Exchange Rate

Peri made a habit of wandering from the place that he called home with his brother, Papa, and Papa’s friends — whom he also considered family by now — so it was little wonder that he’d made his way to the city along the twin rivers. Perihelion had never been in the city before, so the sights and sounds of it all were quite new to him.

The boy, only about five and a half months old by this point, looked around with awe in his eyes at the crowd. One of his ears was flicked back against his skull, the only sign of any discomfort that the boy held. He put on a brave face, however, his bravado was entirely false.

A curious smell, the smell of meat, drew him closer. With wide eyes, he looked at the stand that he rose up from the crowd before him, as the wolves of the crowd moved around him without so much as a second glance — it wasn’t their first time seeing a country boy in the town, after all.

The stand was an assortment of meats, some larger chunks carved from unknown carcasses, while others were more recognizable as rabbits, birds, and even some fish hanging proudly on display.

Peri watched as a wolf came up, and purchased something, before turning and beginning to walk away. His gaze flickered back and forth between the stand and the slowly disappearing wolf for a moment, before he turned and followed.

“Hey! Mister!” Peri called out, as he charged through the crowd, following the wolf, trying to keep track of him before he vanished entirely from view. Putting on an extra boost of speed, Peri caught up to the wolf. “Hey!” He said. “How did you do that?”

In truth, the boy didn’t quite understand the concept of exchange just yet.


@Gwydion


"speech"

table code © ashon

Gwydion hadn't felt like hunting this morning so he'd gone to Iverness to check out the market. Usually he didn't venture this far but he thought that perhaps there might be something different there than in the markets of Perth. He carried with him a small satchel of various things he'd found to trade with and when he found the meat stall, he stopped to survey the goods, ignorant to the fact that he was being watched by someone else. He perused the stall until he found something to his liking then offered up a small shining red orb in exchanged for the meat. He picked up the succulent hunk of carcass and turned away, intent on heading back home with it for supper when that very same someone stopped him in his tracks.

A young boy approached him, asking how he'd done that, and Gwydion's brow furrowed curiously. He dropped the hunk of meat at his paws and licked his lips. "How did I do what?" he asked before glancing down at his soon-to-be meal. "Buy this?" he added, thinking it the only relevant course of action he'd done in the past few moments or so. He lifted a paw to pat the dusty satchel he carried and smiled. "I just traded something of mine for something of theirs, is all." he explained.

Perihelion knew that there was something of an exchange that happened when ‘buying’ something, but it had never been described to him in detail and so… the boy admittedly did not understand the details of it. It wasn’t something that made sense to him — why buy something when you could hunt it yourself? Why charge for it? None of it truly made sense to him, but he had seen Papa buy things before, although he’d never made much effort to pay attention to the intricacies of it all. But now he was curious and wanted to know exactly how the red-toned man had done such a thing.

“How did I do what? Buy this?” The man said. Perihelion nodded his head once, twice, but not a third time.

“I just traded something of mine for something of theirs, is all,” the man said. Peri squinted.

“What did you trade? Would they take sticks?” He asked, rather dumbly. Peri really didn’t have possessions , and the few things that he did have he used. Why would he get rid of them for something that would just last a few short moments in his teeth? What… what was the point? His mind felt a bit bogged down with his questions.

“Or do they want certain things?” He asked.


@Gwydion


"speech"

table code © ashon

Gwydion offered an amused smile to the boy as he asked more question. "No, I don't think they'd take sticks." he said with a soft laugh lacing his words. Had he been like this when he was young? He couldn't quite remember, it seemed so long ago... if you could call almost three years a long time, anyway. "Uhm, yes. Some wolves want certain things like gems or coins for their goods while others might lesser trinkets. I traded a red stone for this meat. The shop owner liked it so they agreed to sell to me. You can trade almost anything, really. It just depends on who you're trading with." he said, hoping that explained the process somewhat.

"Are your parents here at the market?" he asked, wondering just who was watching this kid. He might've snuck off like Gwydion himself had done countless times as a child and the thought made him suddenly guilty for the worry he might've put his parents through. He glanced around but nobody seemed to be paying them any mind at the moment.

Peri tilted his head slightly as the man spoke, laughing, but explaining nonetheless. At least, the boy considered, he wasn’t laughed at and told to go away. At least the man considered him worth an actual answer. The boy beamed at the fact, his ears angled forward, tilting towards the man’s every word. ‘Gems, or coins?’ Peri thought to himself. ‘Now how would I go about getting those?’ The boy nodded slowly, understanding, for the most part.

“Are your parents here at the market?” Peri ducked his head slightly and shook his head slowly.

“No,” he said. “I snuck away from home because I wanted to explore.” The grin that spread across his lips was both bold and sheepish at the same time. His ear twitched slightly.

“So, if I find something cool, someone may trade with me?” He asked, making sure that he understood the situation correctly.


@Gwydion


"speech"

table code © ashon

The kid seemed happy that he'd taken the time to explain things to him and after a moment, he revealed that he'd snuck away from home to explore. Gwydion offered the boy a grin back, though he felt like he should reprimand him or something. Yet how could he when he was guilty of doing the same so many times himself when he was younger. He was sure this kids parents were just as worried about him as Gwydion's own must've been. Still, he was sidetracked by the question he was posed and found himself nodding his head instead of telling the boy to go home.

"Yeah, pretty much! It all depends on what the wolf you're trying to trade with has and what they want in return for it."

Gwydion looked back towards the market curiously, wondering if Peri had an interest in something in particular. "Not many vendors may sell to kids, though. You might need your parents to come with you. I had trouble when I was younger too." he admitted. "But you might get lucky." he added before turning his gaze back to the boy.

His tail waved behind him and he studied the earthen toned kid a moment longer, trying to think if he'd seen anyone that looked like him around town. He didn't seem familiar though. "Is there something you're looking for?"