Virtue Vignette's: Shopping Day

The Morning Paper

Another calm morning began in the Scattered Petals Guildhall, as the violet priest, Paiste, awoke and wearily made his way downstairs to the large dining table in the hall.

His eye first landed on the oft vain Tindra Premysl, who was painting her nails a variety of colors as usual, but difference came in the form of Virtue, who had an oddly strained face instead of his usual beaming smile and enthusiasm. The dark elf could not discern at a glance of it was disgust, consternation, or constipation.

"Morning all. Something bothering you, Virtue?" He asked, taking his own seat opposite the others.

"Ah! Good morning, friend Paiste! No no, all is fine, truly." He replied, flipping another page of some catalogue he was perusing, his face redoubling in twisting uncertainty.

"You really shouldn't pay attention to those horoscopes, it's all paranoia-fueling hogwash anyways." The priest reminded, gently tugging at the top of the catalogue to sneak a peek with his good eye.

"So says you, mine said that I would see the most beautiful sight in the world today, and wouldn't you know it, I looked in the mirror!" Tindra replied, fluffing her exuberant head of long curls.

Before the sardonic Paiste could make a retort, Virtue let out a groan of displeasure as he turned another page. "Okay seriously, what is this?" The elf snatched the catalogue this time since his guildmate seemed to have such distaste for it.

"A shopping catalogue?" He flipped through, seeing pages upon pages of magical weapons, reagents, potions, wands, accessories, the whole gamut.

"My monthly Wizard International paper showed up today, and they always include a shopping catalogue. Our dear little Virtue here couldn't wrap his head around the latest in magical theories, so I let him glance at that first, although it seemed to do a number on him." She explained, pointing to the textbook sized journal to her side.

"Well, the thing is, I did desire to take a glance at the varieties of strange, arcane, and fascinating weaponry and such, as I've oft appreciated my fathers collection in the past. And then, when I did, some items did indeed begin to catch my eye, yet thusly my internal battle over the potential purchasing began, and it was quite the war of attrition." Virtue explained, averting his eyes from the others.

"These prices seem surprisingly fair given the source, why don't you get one? You haven't spent that much of your guild wages, have you?" Paiste questioned.

"Nay nay, I am continuously fortunate that part of guild membership includes room and board, not to mention Master Alfield's stupendous cooking, and even after sending a portion of my wages home I do have quite the amount saved. Tis just...I see not the need to purchase a new weapon since my primary mace is still fully functional! Nary a crack or dent, I make sure of that nightly!"

"Sure, but what about your other weapons? Certainly you have something due for a replacement?" Tindra questioned, settling on a rich cobalt for her nails and flash-drying them with a concocted spell.

Her question was answered by a stretch of silence.

"Virtue, you have other weapons, right?" Paiste asked. He was met with more silence.

"I...do not see the need since my mace is still functional." Virtue said, nigh shamefully, with his entire head turned away from the other two.

"Really!? Not even a sword, or a dagger, or an emergency rock!?" Tindra asked, gobsmacked.

"I see not the need to rake me over the coals for it, friend Tindra! I doth not see thee or Paiste with other weapons either!" He pointed out, blushing in embarrassment.

"That's because we're spellcasters. The charlatan barely uses that garish star staff of hers unless she needs to, and my gnarled wood staff is a mobility aid on top of a consecrated focus. But you're an up-close melee fighter, you should really diversify your arsenal." Paiste explained.

"I mean, honestly, Virtue! Thinking you only need one weapon at a time is like saying you only need one shirt at a time! You're going to have different occasions!" Tindra tried to reason in a logical way. However her argument only redoubled the looks of shame and embarrassment from the young man.

---

"I DO NOT SEE THE NEED FOR SUCH INVESTIGATION!" Virtue wailed as he was held back by Tindra, who had wedged herself as a human shield in the doorway to Virtue's room, while Paiste looked in his dresser.

"Five...there are FIVE COPIES OF THE SAME CLOTHES IN HERE!" The sardonic healer shouted with shock and nigh disgust. "And, to his credit, one very well kept set of what I can only assume are ceremonial robes."

"Well I need something for rituals and fine occasions, I have decorum!"

"And yet not enough decorum to have more than one kind of clothing!?" Tindra judged.

"They were on sale!"

"Yeesh, I miss something?" The gemborne guildmaster returned from his morning groceries, making his way halfway up the stairs to meet the others.

"Alfield! How many different outfits do you have!?" Tindra asked without giving any context.

"Huh? Uh, I haven't really counted. I mean, I haven't cleaned out my dresser in a bit but I should still have at least one for each occasion. Y'know, loungewear, casual, cleaned up, fancy, so on and so forth." He listed, with the judgemental pair only bringing their eyes closer and closer to the ever shrinking Virtue.

"Is...there a conversation I'm missing?"

Virtue let out a sigh and allowed himself to stand up to his full height again. "The others are being quite chastising over my...simplistic and frugal methods." The three of them explained the morning thus far to the guildmaster as they went back downstairs and assisted with putting the groceries away.

---

"Alright, stop teasing Virtue you two! It ain't the end of the world to keep things simple." He began, rebuffing the other two.

"At the same time, you do deserve to treat yourself a bit, Virtue. Not only have you been putting in a lot of good work lately, but you're quite far from home to boot! Some variety will be good to break the monotony, and to break in your time in a new place."

"Sounds like you're speaking from experience?" Paiste questioned.

The guildmaster chuckled in return. "I did move here after living in Agartha my whole life, it wasn't the most dramatic change, but was very different. But that's neither here nor there, cause you three should all go down to the Silver Coin Square to help Virtue in this 'mission'!" Alfield explained.

"M-Master Alfield, a-are you certain?" Virtue was still uneasy at the thought.

"Of course! Every Thirdsday most of the market stalls offer sales to get rid of merchandise before the rush between Fourthday and Sunsday! So even if you spend a little bit, it'll all be on sale!" The explanation seemed to entrance Virtue.

"W-What kinds of...sales?"

"Oh geez, what did they have earlier? There was, uh, a few 20% off sales,"

"(gasp)"

"Some double punchcard deals going on,"

"(gasp!)"

"Oh I caught a couple 50% clearance sales,"

"(GASP!)"

"Oh yeah, I even saw a few with buy one get one sales!"

The golden knight could not gasp in delight harder.

Down at the Silver Coin Square

"I truly appreciate your assistance in shopping, Friends Tindra and Paiste!" Virtue exclaimed as he was persuaded to buy two, yes two, new pairs of pants.

"Well it's what Alfield asked us to do. We did ride you pretty hard before, 'pologies." Paiste grumbled as he hung the shopping bag from his staff's antler-like branches.

"Besides, nothing's more fun than shopping!" Tindra continued, as she snuck away a purchase she made for herself in her nigh-infinite pocket space.

"Let's see, from that list Alfield forc...encouraged me to create, I have gotten the half-off incense, the discounted set of teacups, the second-hand pairs of clothing, and the 'beau-geuax' armor polish!" He listed off his completed shopping thus far, stressing the new acronym he had learned.

"That just leaves..." He swallowed loudly. "A new weapon." This was the hardest task for the young man, as each other item on his list was something he lacked. But as his still sturdy and shining mace on his hip weighed on his beltline, so too did the pressure of a new weapon weigh on his mind.

Each stall he passed he weighed his options, sometimes literally in his hands, yet always left with more uncertainties, saying he would be back later. Even a visit to Ramona Zedelli whom he had grown friendly with didn't ease his woes, as she spoke of the heart within all steel.

"Seriously, Virtue, we've been past nearly a dozen stalls! Pick a simple sword at least to rid yourself of the burden!" Paiste complained, taking a rest for his legs' sake.

"It is not as simple as you make it sound, friend Paiste! If I just picked on a whim, then I would not just be doing the blade a disservice, but what would the dokkaebi say!?" He wailed towards his teammates, who responded with blank stares.

"The what?" They replied in unison.

"Ah yes, I suppose you might not be familiar. To make it rather brief, a dokkaebi is a spirit of nature, sometimes mischievous sometimes a divine agent, and they frequently inhabit well-loved and cared for items! You see, back at home I was very dutiful in repairing and caring for the items I had on hand, and not wasting anything! So, I came to garner a good relationship with many of them."

"And this is relevant because...?" Tindra asked, rolling her wrist.

"Because what would they think if I just strode home covered in items that I frivolously bought!? What if I had just ready-made items or, heavens forbid, single use items, strewn all over me!" His panic was starting to set in to a dramatic degree.

"Ah, whatever happened to our Virtue, who was once so kind and gentle of a boy?" He mimed the movements of a crying mother.

"I tell you, we should have never let him leave town, he's come back a gallivanting ne'er-do-well I say!" He continued with the stern face and rickety posture of a judgemental father.

"Oh why oh why doesn't Virtue play with us anymore? Why does he only go to the general market to play with the mass produced?" He warbled back in forth like a throng of mewling children.

"How could I break their hearts like that!?" He finished with a kneeling plea to his two teammates, currently thoroughly unimpressed.

With Paiste leading Virtue back through the lined-up stalls of the Square while Tindra flanked from behind to prevent his escape, they made Virtue go through another round to finally pick a weapon.

"At least pick an enchanted weapon of some sort! You certainly don't find those as dime-a-dozen!" Tindra suggested.

"But I have one! My mace is enchanted to smite the undead, the ephemeral, and the extra-planar with great strength!" He held up his mace as if needing to show proof.

"Right, but that's exactly my point! What if you're fighting someone who can't be smote? What if you're fighting someone you don't want to smite!? You need options you gorgeous nincompoop!" Tindra raged.

Before the pair could go at it more, a cough interrupted them. "Sorry for eavesdropping, but I think I might have a good option for you here!" Said an older salesman.

"A-Ah, I do beg your pardon if I have been bothering you, sir!" Virtue bowed, flustered, towards the older gentleman.

"Think nothing of it sonny, the market is meant to get lively! But I couldn't help but hear that you were looking for a bit of a fixer-upper?" He began.

"I mean he gave a whole mini-play about it, but-" Paiste whispered to himself with a roll of his eyes.

"You see, I've had this here whip in my stock for a while now. I do my best to keep it presentable, but age has caught up to it. I'd be more than happy if you took it off my hands, the enchantment is still intact too!"

"I see!" As the whip was presented, Virtue could indeed see the gleam of magic from the handle, but also the grain of the various strands of leather, the studded length, and the oddly thick tip. "W-Well, how much would thou be asking for it?"

"Let's see, it has been a bit, but the enchantment is quite nice, lets you tie folks up instead of hurting 'em any, so I could part with it for-" The old man wasn't able to finish his sentence before being suddenly run into from behind by a cloaked figure pushing through the various rows of sellers in the square.

Virtue and Paiste thankfully caught the seller before he could fall, and a guard followed after the cloaked figure much more politely.

"M-My coinbox! They took my sales for today!" The salesman cried out as he reassessed his surroundings.

"Not for long!" Virtue shouted, leaping into hot pursuit of the figure, with the whip still in hand.

"Virtue, wait!" His teammates tried to call out, but his sense of justice and desire to focus on anything except shopping muted the sound of their voices.

The thief cut through various back alleys and spaces between the lined stalls and buildings, but Virtue remained hot on their tail. It didn't take the chase long to escape the bounds of the Silver Coin Square, where the thief had more room to maneuver, but less cover to hide their path, and quickly found Virtue only an arms length out of grabbing range.

"Halt, vagrant! If thou relinquishes the goods that have been pilfered, I shall cease my pursuit!"

This did not seem to do the trick, however, as they began to run towards the north of town, where soon there would be orchards and forests to block Virtue's pursuit. He could not allow that to happen.

"Curses, I didn't bring my mace to utilize my Kaguyan Star Style, and I have not the arcane talents of my fellows! How should I apprehend them before this conniving crook crawls away?" He thought, his mind racing. But, as if answering his question, the whip still in his hand gave a minor jolt of energy, reminding him of its presence.

"Wait, coming into my mind, is that...your name?" Information unspoken was known to Virtue as if it had already been taught, and the young man smiled.

"Very well then, speedy swindler! You leave me no choice!" He held the whip handle proudly, and cracked it into the air, causing vibrant lines of golden energy to zig-zag across its length. "Ensnare them, Hydradotr!"

The whip separated into a dozen bands of leather, and Virtue lashed it towards the target. With the golden light leading their way, they stretched in bands of that same light and did no damage, but began to bind and wrap their target, first at the feet to slow their movement before climbing the rest of their body.

"Dude, just back off already!" Before their arms became bound, the thief unraveled a scroll, presumably also pilfered from the market, and aimed it at Virtue as a dark missile of smoke landed him directly in the face. While it did stop Virtue in a fit of coughing, the effects of Hydradotr were already taking effect.

Luckily, even with Virtue distracted, Tindra, Paiste, and a couple guards were not far behind with the salesman in tow.

It didn't even take a minute for Virtue to seemingly recover and undo the binding of Hydradotr, with the guards binding the thief themselves.

"Thank the Giants, it's all still here!" The salesman reported.

"Wonderful, we'll get the rest of these stolen goods back to the market." The guards said before they departed.

"I must say, Hydradotr is still an energetic piece of enchantment! She worked wonders!" Virtue proudly said, lifting her handle high.

"Hydradotr? Bit of a dramatic name, no?" Paiste questioned, catching his breath from the hobbling chase.

"I actually know not what it means, but when it gave me the instructions to use its binding magic, it told me its name! It feels only right to use it!" He explained.

"Gave you instructions? Why shoot, the old girl must be real happy to be in the hands of a kind young man like yourself!" The shopkeeper said, making Virtue blush for a moment, before he stammered a bit, remembering something in a shock.

"Starred heavens! I got so caught up in the moment I entirely forgot, how much doth I owe you for Hydradotr?" He asked, pulling out his coin purse.

"At this point, you can just have it! It clearly is fond of you, and you did me a great service in chasing that thief down!"

"J-Just have it? N-No that isn't right!" Virtue argued.

"My gleaming vanguard, come on! What's a better deal than 100% off?" Tindra said, elbowing him. His face still twisted in discomfort, eyes clearly darting around despite not having any pupils.

But, he took a deep breath, remembering he was among fellows now. "If I may speak freely for a moment, this is...a feeling I am not used to. There were many times growing up where...for one reason or another...I couldn't just ask for things, I couldn't just get new things, I couldn't be wasteful or frivolous, lest I be seen as ungrateful or greedy. At the same time, each time I was frugal, each time I made do with what I had and did not demand more form those around me, it was also seen as shameful. It was a no-win situation of social combat against the people of my home. So, today has been a far greater struggle than mere anxiety." As Virtue spoke, the shopkeep listened with an understanding gaze, while Tindra and Paiste felt greater shame in needling him as much as they had been.

"But, today has also reminded me, I am not at home, and I am not the judged child. It may not be any easier for me to think of that which I need, much less than that which I want, but at the very least I can look to today as a reminder that it isn't so bad to try." He smiled, and shoved down the remaining discomfort he felt, and gave the shopkeep a deep standing bow. "Thank you for your generosity, sir. I shall treasure and care for this item."

And with a regained wide, bright smile, he stood back up. "And next time, I'll get one the standard way, FULL PRICE!"

There was a beat of silence, as the three watched for his follow-through.

Then there was an exhale, and a slight creak of his posture. "W-Well...perhaps if something is discounted, at least!" With a small bit of chuckling, Virtue and his teammates returned back to the guildhall, ready to tell the guildmaster all about the success of the day.