"You're kid-ding m-e, right?" Persephone deadpanned, staring at her parents with an almost annoyed look. Her hands followed her words, making strange gestures and motions on instinct; she was in the process of developing a sort of 'sign language' for the deaf, and so far, it was coming along fine. She was quickly falling into the habit of using the language as she spoke; it was a miracle that she had a better than average memory, allowing her to remember all the 'words' she had developed with her hands and fingers.
Her parents didn't mind the odd way she spoke; after all, how normal could Persephone actually speak, when she was as deaf as a bat? Or, were they blind? Well, whichever a bat was, Persephone was still practically incapacitated, and they only had her best interests and safety at heart. That being said, the only way for her to truly be safe was to buy a Lycan guard dog to watch the store when she was working. They didn't want her to be whisked away to a random, foreign country where their main source of income was trafficking women. Not only that, but what if a robber stepped into the shop after hearing of the deaf blacksmith? He'd rape her and then steal her blind!
"I d-on't ne-ed a stupid d-og." She glared irritably at them before turning away and continuing slamming the hammer against the heated metal; sweat beads slid down the side of her face, a result of being so close to the flames that whispered delicate songs she could no longer hear. Her parents spoke behind her, but remembering that she didn't answer because she couldn't read their lips with her back to them, they made their way through the labyrinth of a blacksmith's workshop, bypassing the counter to tap her on the shoulder. Persephone turned back to them, pursing her lips in an obvious aggravated stare.
"What?" she hissed, refraining from smacking them with the hammer.
"I'm bu-s-y."You're getting a dog. She read off her father's lips. He held out a pouch of coins that she didn't feel any obligation to accept, but with another striking glare from her parents, she huffed and placed the hammer and sword down, grabbing the bag of coins with aggression.
You'll thank us in the future, 'Sephone. We love you and we worry -- will you not at least humor us? Her mother pleaded with sad and teary eyes. Persephone couldn't ignore such a heartfelt request from her mother, and as a result, she nodded begrudgingly, pocketing the money in the pants of her uniform. With a pleased smile, they left, and she was finally alone to finish up her work before making her way to center of the town where the auction would be, no doubt.
The only sound in the shop was the clanging of metal, pounding against the other, and a soft voice singing a broken song she could not hear.
we're o f f to see the wiz.ard!
The hustle and bustle of the square was not something she was used to. Even after all the years of being deaf, she still couldn't handle the crowds of people that should be emitting noise, but weren't. Persephone frowned, licking her dry lips with a slight fear that she tried to muffle. The blacksmith made her way through the people; they always had a slave auction in the same spot, and though she had only attended one once, her memory was good enough to remember exactly where it was.
Persephone's gaze wandered to the left where she saw a vendor selling fish; she'd have to buy some later with the leftover coins, maybe one for the Lycan she would have to own. The future gesture was not out of thoughtfulness or anything stupid like that; she just didn't want to be mauled by the dog and figured some nice, nasty fish would be a god buffer between them. After all, the smell was delicious.
Finally, Persephone stopped at the spot where the mutts were standing about, trying to grab attention from potential buyers. If 'Sephone was going stuck buy a stupid dog, she was going to make sure he was a powerful one, a dog that could do work at her shop. She wasn't going to have some lazy animal sit about the front entrance of her shop, scaring off potential customers with the excuse that he was 'protecting' her from possible villains and criminals. No, he was going to work for his stay, otherwise she'd send him right back and make sure he'd pay for wasting her time and her coin.
Looking at the Lycans lined up, she frowned. None of them looked able enough to even lift the hammer she had back in the shop much less guard her from rapists and woman kidnappers. There was a girl with a feather in her hair, and Persephone stopped there momentarily to gaze and wonder how a Lycan could be so blessed with good looks that most humans could not have. But other than a pretty face, she seemed too weak and useless, and Persephone had a thing against weak and useless creatures.
"To-o ski-nny," she mumbled, shaking her head. Her hands continued the habit of echoing after her in the sign language, even when she didn't realize it; that brought strange stares to her from many people, though there were those that recognized her as the unfortunate blacksmith and quickly pitied her.
Persephone moved along until she saw a tall man -- no, a tall Lycan. He wasn't just toned, he was built, muscular, and he looked as if he could lift several things at a time. Now,
this was what she was looking for! This great monster was exactly what she needed in her shop, though most likely not sitting out the front door; he would definitely scare off customers to the point where she'd go bankrupt.
The Godzilla of a Lycan was in a hussle with a shorter and smaller man, and she had expected him to stand down like most others would -- except he didn't. Actually, he flung the poor human off and the guy was sent flying feet away, smack dab into his servant.
Really?
Really?The one animal that looked as though he wouldn't die after a day in her shop, and he was the one with the anger problems. Great. Just freakin' posi-lutely great! This was not going to sit well with her parents... Persephone was sure they wanted something strong and powerful, but domesticated; they didn't want the Lycan to be the problem, but she none of the others looked as fit as the creature did. He was the one she wanted for her shop, but she didn't know if she wanted to risk losing an arm -- losing the use of her ears was good enough!
The slave-man was dragging the Lycan away; she needed to make a decision, hear and now.
Buy him? Don't buy him. Buy him! Don't buy him... Get a useless slave -- lose a leg. Or two. Or three. Maybe even four.
...
"Aw d-amn." Persephone ran after the slave-man and the ridiculously large Lycan, yelling out in her awkward manner of speaking to try and catch his attention.
"W-ait! Wait!"Thankfully, she caught his attention, because the slave master stopped and turned around, greedy eyes staring at the possibility of getting paid -- if only she could hear the jingling of the coins in her pocket, because that was music to his ears. It was obvious he was going to rip her off and charge her more than what the crazy, wild Lycan was worth when one added in his inability to obey orders, but what did she know? Having spent all of her days inside her shop, forging weapons and farm items and other miscellaneous items, how was she to know how greedy men worked?
"I will b-uy h-him," she said, sending a glance toward the tall Lycan and hoping to the gods that she wasn't going to regret her decision.
"Ho-w m-uch?" She reached inside her uniform pocket, pulling out the pouch of coins, not even noticing the wicked grin on the slave master's face, lusting for copious amounts of money .