Chapter Text
"Bye Erme!" Loghun says, carrying a Himan Sack filled with necessities.
It's been his dream to embark across Marimia, and now is his chance to do so. His first time being out, without any support, and it's such an urgent deed.
The volcano has been acting up recently, and Loghun has decided to check it out. He decided his abilities aren't frail, that he can hold his own. Hopefully he can, he thinks, hopefully he doesn't die.
"Love you, sweetie!" His Eruema exclaims, waving as he heads out of the door into broad daylight.
"Woah, it's a bustling town today," he admires the busyness of the town and heads towards the weapons shop.
The weapons shop is a mahogany building with Allo doors, making it difficult to break in past open hours. Quite convenient, Loghun thinks.
He walks towards it and waits a moment. Have I enough for something? He starts fumbling through his pockets for strung coins.
"Let's see here..." He starts to count his coins, strung neatly on different strings to separate their worth.
"Baron...Erothethite...Kaien...Wait, Allo?"
He puts away the, admittedly, disastrously-strung Allo coins into his pouch and sets together a worth of about 500 Taitin, the globally-understood currency. The rest of the dull-and-new coins glimmer and bounce on the strings they're held on, bringing their weight down on the Alefoein material.
"That should be enough," he tells himself, the glimmering of the Alefoein Thread slightly blinding him. "If only the Alefars weren't photosynthetic, then I'm sure the thread wouldn't shine."
Oh, if only it worked that way. Sadly it doesn't. Alefoein Thread gets its reflective trait from a chemical they call Ilshen, produced inside the body of an Alefar.
Ilshen was discovered on a faraway land named Ishembe, soon making stories pop up all over; In Haxul first, then Marimia, Xatimia, Farisch, Faroe, Pacha, and lastly Pakapaka. It didn't reach most of the others until years after the hype had ended.
Loghun walks in, carrying his strung Baron, Erothethite, and Kaien in one hand and his bag in the other.
His violet eyes dart around the room, scanning each weapon to decide which would give him the best advantage, yet wouldn't be too hard to handle.
"What can I get ya today, Sonny?" The cashier asks, tapping the box they're attending.
"Give me a moment, please."
Loghun stares at the weapons, eventually glancing at a Fadimi-and-Barum. The Fathemin chain reflects the light in the store while the two Barumian handles support it.
The Fadimi-and-Barum is a simple close-and-ranged Kathic Gaxand designed for newer adventurers while being a perfect practise toy for more experienced adventurers.
"That looks good," he mutters to himself, nodding slightly as he checks its price.
"Hmm...110 Taitin."
Loghun looks over at the Xathum, another type of Kathic Gaxand. It has a Gruven spike on two Zathic sticks, connected by a Ji chain. "And that's 225..."
He looks over at a Zeremian Gaxand, which has one Famian stick, but a sharp end on the chain, which is made of Erothethite, and a Kyumal spike in the Famian stick.
"And that's 475."
He picks up the Xathum, examining its condition before he says anything or does anything else. "I'll have this, my good man."
"Good, allow me to check the price of it."
Loghun hands the Luman the Xathum and starts picking out clothing.
"Light and durable," he mutters to himself, scanning the clothing this time. "Light and durable..."
He turns to look at the scaly tunic, which happens to be made of Alefoein scales. "This should do. It's durable, and very light."
He checks the price on it, ducking down to see whether it's in his affordability range or not. "Hmm..."
"Oh, that's 90 Taitin," the Luman at the counter says.
"Thanks," Loghun nods, picking up the Alefoein tunic.
He picks up some Zaremian shoes and a pair of Jutai. "This should be 225 in total..."
He walks up to the counter again and sets them on the side along with 225 Taitin. "I'd like these."
"I'm getting to it," the Luman nods, handing Loghun the Xathum and pulling the clothing from the side.
Loghun fidgets with the Xathum, spinning it around and nearly poking his eye with the spike. Woah, I should be careful.
He runs his pointy fingers across the chain, feeling the coldness of the mint-condition Ji. It feels nice to him and he feels the need to run his fingers across it a specific amount of times.
"Here you are, Loghun," the Luman interrupts him, pushing the clothing to him.
"Thanks," Loghun replies, taking the Alefoein armour and Jutai trousers, with the Zaremian shoes too, of course.
He walks out and heads into the nearby Kaili Woods, which is often used to switch out clothing. "I'm so used to doing it at home..." He sweats, looking around anxiously to make sure nobody's around.
He starts taking off his robe, revealing his Athelia.
"Hey kid, whatcha doin' out here?"
Loghun jumps, covering his chest with his taken-off robe. "W-Who are you?"
"I'm Lular," the individual states, holding strange clothing Loghun has never seen before.
Loghun isn't enlightened, still staring at the clothing the other is holding.
"You look confused," Lular points out.
"Yeah...That clothing is strange," Loghun admits, curious for an answer.
"I'm a Thulun," Lular says, bouncing the clothing slightly. "So, naturally, I'm also Lum."
"Thulun... Lum..."
"Do you know what they are?" Lular grins, darkened by the lesser light brought in the woods.
"No, not really."
"The Thulune are a race that focus on the darkness, you get it?"
"Ohh, I think so."
"And a Lum is a gender associated with the darkness."
"That makes sense."
"Say, where are you heading with all of that anyways?" Lular asks, slipping off umbra's trousers.
"I'm off to discover what's wrong with Mount Ata!" Loghun exclaims, still holding the robe to his chest.
"Why are you still holdin' that robe to your chest? Come on!" Lular urges, trying to push him to move the robe.
"It's nothing," Loghun responds, hoping umbra will go away.
"Aw, come on...I mean, we both have the same goal in mind, don't we? We're both off to find out what's up with Ata, right?" Umbra asks, continuing to urge Loghun to remove the robe.
"Really?" Loghun turns to look at umbra, wondering if they could team up.
"Yeah!"
"Anyways, I have a question..." Loghun blurts out.
"Shoot."
"Do you think we can team up?"
"Definitely!"
Loghun grins at the dark-skinned Lumian, taking note of umbra's grey scleras.
"Come on now, are you gonna move that robe?" Lular asks, chuckling.
"Oh, yeah," Loghun responds, dropping the robe on to the dewy grass.
"Aw, neat, you ain't got nips." Lular pokes Loghun's chest, getting a small squeak from the other. "What about down there? Is it the same?"
"No, it's Mimir."
"So you're...What would that make you now?"
"Gai."
"Pardon?"
"It would make my gender Gai."
"Not entirely sure if I've heard that one."
"Partly Mimir."
"Ohh, I've heard of the 'partly' genders but they're so rare that I've never actually seen one."
"Apparently we're made 'partly' Zamia, Hadi, Erae...From our Dysaxemi."
"That would make more sense if you explained to me what this Dysaxemi was."
"No nipples."
"Ohh!" Lular smacks a fist into umbra's palm as if umbra just had an idea. "Now I get it! Your deficiency of nips means you're sorta genderless!"
"Exactly!"
"I'll look away now, I'm sure you don't want me watching you put your Axulin on."
"You're right."