Seeing-Eye Goron - Garvan Gailarns, Guilt-ridden Goron. (5/2/1) [Unnamed Dude] - Kiran Pacem, the Blind Prophet. (1/5/3 Hylian) [Blonde Panther] Reward: Botany level 1, +20 Rupees. Discussion Kiran grunted when he hit the ground sooner than anticipated. He knew the ground floor window was close to the ground, but he hadn't know it was quite THIS low. He probably could have stood to have investigated that before he snuck out. Still, the priests almost never left windows or doors unlocked- the only reason this particular window was open, he had overheard, was because it was so hot out tonight. He was never going to get a chance like this again! Oh goddesses. He'd dropped the basket! "Lowen!" he hissed, far more loudly than he would have liked, as he got on all fours and started feeling around the grass with both hands. "Where are you? Here, Lowen!" His hand touched something and he grabbed it with both hands. He immediately recognized the fuzzy texture of his friend's coat, and picked him up with two hands, clutching him to his chest with one as he felt around for the basket. "Ow." In his panic, the back of his hand had collided with it pretty hard, but he wasted no time in picking it up and putting Lowen in it. He didn't have a lot of time, so with that, he ran off, although he had no idea what direction town lay in. --------------- As by some miracle from the Goddesses, he'd made it to a town. The amounts of talking that sent his ears ringing, as well as the continuous bumping into people, told him that much. His stomach rumbled... and he had to get some food for Lowen, too. But as he recalled, buying food outside the temple involved money. And he had none...
Garvan grew gradually more exasperated as people bumbled around and into him. He had come here in an attempt to peddle his wares... not be used as a doormat. It was almost irritating how few of them even looked at him. Perhaps they thought him a goron from the slums or some such... He felt it was a good time to pack things up. He hadn't made many sales here and he had caught a couple of people trying to get a five-finger discount. He packing in the items he had set out, and turned to leave... Immediately bumping into a small, fragile-looking boy who could've passed for a porcelain doll. He only barely kept himself from accidentally trampling the poor thing... and his bunny rabbit. "Urk! My apologies, little one." He eyed the little guy more clearly now. There was a wound... on his hand? And he heard the distinct sound of a rumbling stomach. The goron sighed. "Well, now. Let me see this..." As gently as he could, he took a hold of the boy's hand and inspected it. The back of the hand had been skinned. It'd heal soon enough, but... the look in the kid's eyes gave Garvan pause. There was some sort of film in them that didn't look healthy at all. What an odd person to be alone... "Hoy. Are you headed anywhere? I was thinking of helping myself to a meal, so if you're not busy, care to join me?"
"Ah!" Kiran reeled back so quickly he started to fall backwards when he ran into what had to be a massive stone wall. How had he pulled THAT off? He hadn't been walking THAT quickly. Fortunately, he was caught, but something was still off. The hand that had grabbed him -it was undoubtedly a hand, it was too dexterous to be anything else- felt rough and hard... like rock. Similar to whatever it was that took his hand, forcing it into various positions. "It's fine, sir," he said, for the voice that he had heard had been distinctly masculine. "It will heal on its own, it's not really injured." The person opposing him fell silent for a moment and then offered him a meal after his stomach protested again. "Oh, I... well..." He was conflicted. He didn't really want to take this man's money, and he was still confused on exactly what stood in front of him. "C-could you stand a little closer?" he asked, "Could I see your face?" he held up the hand in which he didn't hold Lowen's basket, hovering it in front of where he thought the man's face was.
"Hrmm?" asked the Goron, bending down to be closer. "Can you not see me, little one? Ah, hold on. You'll only grab my chest that way." He tried lowering his face a little more so that the boy with the bunny could have something to hang on to. "Anyway. It's not as though I've much to do with the extra rupees," he said airily, noting the boy's trepidation. "I'm a Goron, so... fine dining isn't quite my cup of tea, so to speak." He hoped that such an explanation would clear things up a bit...
Chest-height..? How enormously tall was this person; this 'Goron'? Kiran had never met anything other than a Hylian, so when he put his hand on the face of the person in front of him, it took all of his self-control not to drop his jaw. It was almost impossible to tell any features apart in this face of solid rock. Kiran could feel SOME things, but hardly half of what he could discern in a flesh face. He resisted the urge to feel down the rest of the Goron's body and retracted his hand, putting it in Lowen's basket to pet the rabbit. "T-thank you, sir," he said. He might not be able to see anything, but he would have known if this Goron had meant him harm. He tasted nothing dangerous on the air, so he trusted this man of rock. "My apologies for the intrusion. You must understand... I have never seen anything."
"Mm, that would explain the film," Garvan muttered almost to himself. "Ah, anyway," broke off the Goron, realizing the callousness of the comment, "Gorons like me are... well, as you've...experienced," he took great care not to use the word see, "we're rock-men, or something like it. We eat stones, so like I said, finding Hylian food isn't that important to me." He shrugged, though there was little meaning in doing so in the company of a blind boy. "Of course, that doesn't change much. Did you want to eat, or not? Going once... Going twice..." Again, out of habit, Garvan held up three fingers and curled them back down.
"I... I'll take it," Kiran finally said, giving in to his rumbling stomach. Truthfully, his newfound fascination with the man of rock was at least as big a factor in his decision to take the Goron's offer, but really, he had to eat quickly or he'd pass out. Well, maybe that was a little too much, but it sure felt like it. He'd never gone for this long without food before. "Do you know any place to get food around here? I've never been here before..." He took the Goron's hand as he was used to doing when he was in a new place, intending to let the rock creature lead him through town. "...may I ask what you're doing here, sir? Gorons aren't the most common local kind of people, are they?" He didn't realize until then how rude he was being. "...ack! Where are my manners? My name is Kiran. This," he raised the basket with his fluffy friend, "is Lowen."
Garvan nodded in approval when the boy relented and admitted his hunger. The poor thing was already blind; the last thing he needed to be was starving. "Oh, I believe I saw a few places selling fresh fruits and meats on the way in... what are you in the mood for, little one? I'm not much of a chef, but I think we can try something out." He was glad that his new acquaintance could not see the corners of his mouth crinkle slightly downward. The smith wished he could provide better for him, but in truth, business had been rather slow lately, and he wasn't certain he could afford a hot, proper meal from a tavern. ...Setting aside the whole business of bringing a poor blind person into a place where spirits were flowing and tempers potentially flaring. He smiled when he was asked about his business in town. "Ah, see, I'm a blacksmith. I came to see if anyone was interested in any of my wares. It's too peaceful in this particular area for many people to have need of weapons, but there are other things that people might need, like tools or nails... so I suppose I'm here for that." The Goron's smile only broadened when the boy introduced himself as Kiran. And he broke out laughing when Lowen the bunny was named. "All right, then. My name is Garvan. I suppose Lowen would like some carrots, too?"
"Actually he's more of a sunflower seeds rabbit," Kiran said, clutching the basket closer to him. Then he realized he couldn't tax too much of this kind stranger's wallet. "B-but carrots will do fine. I'd like some of those myself, anyway, so..." He wasn't sure how to ask for more. He didn't want to rely on the kindness of others for the rest of his life. However, the longer he stuck around Garvan, the more he might learn about the Hyrule outside of the temple, so for now, he'd have to put up with the overwhelming sense of uselessness. Garvan's profession, however, genuinely fascinated him. Blacksmiths... he'd never met one before. He knew what they were, but now that he knew about this person being one, he only had more questions for him. Even more than about this 'Goron' thing, if that was at all possible. Still, he had to eat first... He couldn't retain his dignity on an empty stomach.
"Ah, so it's sunflower seeds, is it? I'm not certain if those are in season, but..." Garvan trailed off here to ask the stall keeper if they had any. Thankfully, there still some around, which the Goron promptly asked for. With a little bag containing some assorted fruits and seeds in hand, the smith thanked the owner and handed the bag to the blind boy. "Here we go... would you mind holding on to this as we go over to the inn? We should probably find a calmer place to be if we plan to eat." With that, he turned around and tried to locate the blasted thing. He'd sworn he'd seen one somewhere around here... As he did so, he tried to ignore the strange looks that the pair was attracting by now. He supposed that it might not have looked good to have such a large Goron around such a boy...
Kiran smiled at Garvan when he was handed the bag, but as he put it into Lowen's basket, gently shoving the rabbit aside, he shifted uncomfortably. Had... the people been talking about them behind their backs all the time? Kiran's sight was non-existent, but his hearing was excellent, and he didn't like what these people were saying. Hadn't they learnt that people in glass houses should never cast stones? At least, he was pretty sure they weren't without sin. He scratched his head. "It went something like that, at any rate..." he muttered, grabbing on to Garvan's wrist and lettig him lead to the inn. Sitting down inside, Kiran tore open the bag and reached into it, first pulling out the packed of sunflower seeds and trying one. It seemed to be fine, so he grabbed a handful and put them on the table, putting Lowen next to the pile and assuming the rabbit went on its merry business eating them. The next thing he pulled out was two round, firm objects and holding one out to Garvan. "Would you like one?" As he did so, though, he already bit into his own... And jumped back, screaming in pain as his tongue quite literally caught fire. He leapt up, drawing some surprised screams from other people in the area, and covered his mouth with both hands. From the thud on the wood he heard, Lowen had jumped in surprise too. The burning sensation faded quite quickly, but Kiran still stood at the table for a good few seconds before finally sinking into his chair again, scratching Lowen behind his ears with one hand to calm him. His other hand remained in front of his mouth.
"Ah, no, little one, my own appetite is a bit... different." Garvan wondered how precisely he would explain Goron digestive systems to one who seemed so...sheltered. It would have almost certainly been confusing to learn that a man whose skin was made of substances akin to stone would eat stone, had one never heard of it before. As he wondered how to best explain his biological differences from Hylians like this little fellow, however, the boy's mouth ignited in something that the smith had never seen before. "Gah! What the--" as the smith's surprise showed, the others around the general vicinity also noted the burst of flame. After a few moments of tense silence, Garvan finally asked, "Do I need to go back and hurt that shopkeeper for this...?"
Kiran shook his head, not wanting an innocent civilian to get caught up in anything. "No, no, it's okay." Lowen seemed to be calm again, but Kiran moved the seeds a little further away from himself when he took the other apple to hand. "I don't think that was meant to hurt me, I just didn't expect it. Do you have a knife there?" He felt a small steel knife being placed into his hand, and put it down in front of him as he weighed the two apples. They weighed roughly the same, and smelt almost identical, too. Whatever had been applied to the fiery apple would probably apply to the other one, too. "Besides, it's... honestly not that bad. I find it adds something interesting to the texture and the flavour..." before he trailed off about things someone with a less finely honed sense of taste might not understand, he took the knife and cut into the untouched apple. This time, he was prepared for the little burst of flame. "...that's really interesting. Do you have any idea what this can be, Garvan?" His hunger forgotten and his curiosity piqued, he reached for the basket in hopes of grabbing something else. He wondered if the other fruits had been given unusual properties, too...
Garvan looked at him, perturbed. Was that... was that a normal reaction to combusting food? The goron studied him a littler further. He didn't seem to be injured... "I... believe that there are some manner of plants that could have such an effect. The Gorons are able to grow Bomb Flowers, for instance... but I don't know much more than that." He had never been much of a botanist, even of mundane crops. He knew next to nothing of plants that would have effects like this, let alone foods. He could only assume the process would involve a good amount of tinkering with the plants... tinkering that he had never had the talent for. He was always better with metal. "Hey! Are we going to have trouble here?" A large Hylian man had stepped forward and now he glared at Garvan. He must have heard the yelp that poor Kieran had given and misinterpreted it... though how unintentional said interpretation was, he could not say. "No, friend, no," Garvan tried to explain. "The apples here, they've just..." "What, did you poison them? What do you plan to do to that kid?" The man had risen up to his full height, now, and now he was shouting. Garvan heaved a sigh. This was not his day.
