(no subject)
Tika grumbled, sprawled over one of the corner booths in the dimly lit tavern. Little butterfly dragon leashed to its cage and happily nosing through a pile of flowers hastily stolen from a garden just down the street.
“Hey, don’t pig out itty-bitty. That’s gotta last you till I can afford something better” she prodded the little creature gently in the side, the dragon crooning and shoving its head inside one of the larger flowers in order to get to the nectar inside.
She sighed, checking inside her little purse again just in case the single piece of silver had magically decided to multiply since the last time she looked. Damn it, Vince was late; he’d promised to be here at least half an hour ago. The sunlight filtering through the grimy windows making it hard to tell exactly what time it was outside.
“Hey, you’re lucky aren’t you?” she poked the dragon again “how about you luck me up enough cash for lunch.”
The locals had been less than helpful in her attempts to sell the tiny butterfly, apparently this particular settlement was a little too poor to want to spend money on an exotic pet.
Tika perked at the sound of the front door swinging open, peeking over the high back of the booth and glaring at her companion as he sauntered in.
“You’re laaaate” she huffed, tossing the empty coin bag at his head and grinning when the heavy decorative beads rebounded off his head with a satisfying ‘thunk’. “You owe me food and you need to stop borrowing my money!”
“Uwhah! Ow!” The hunter stumbled backwards in surprise, fumbling for the bag and almost dropping it on the ground “I didn’t borrow that much. I left some money in there.”
“One silver coin.” Tika pouted and held up a single finger to illustrate, the little dragon climbing and perching on her shoulder to chitter noisily at the end of its leash “it costs more to get a pot of hot water in this place.”
“Oh, oops” Vince laughed sheepishly “well, I sold some deer to the butcher” he waved his arm vaguely in the general direction “he gave me extra for the pelt sooooo…. Want me to buy you lunch now?”
“Yes you jerk… and tea. Buy me tea.” The mountain clan member dropped back into her seat, placated for now, and crossed her legs under her. “Oh! Get something sweet for the dragon too while you’re at it!”