ORIGIN

"Serendipity," she said, parking a hand on the table to lean over and peer into the cup. It didn't.. look like poison, and it smelled quite nice. Her voice was distant, thoughtful-- distracted by the elusive Tea. "I couldn't pronounce it as a kid."

Her gaze flicked upwards to Algol and the invitation to start drinking, and she picked it up into her calloused hands. Her elbows went onto the tabletop as she held it for a moment-- it was warm, almost burning, and Dip sure did like hot things.

She took a sip.

It was strange. Water, but not. Flavourful and sweet, almost like fruit, but burning hot and liquid. She took another sip, and then a third, and then set the cup back down, studying the tea for a moment. Whatever it was, she liked it-- she had to figure out how to make more.

"What kind of weapon is it?" Was her first question. "And what's the magical properties? Does it try to kill anybody who touches it or what?"

Her mind had gone calculative-- she was looking through her options, weighing each one. She had to get a look at the weapon before deciding anything, really. She couldn't spend cycles and cycles repairing something she didn't know how to fix for something that might fuck up anyway.

And although she'd have to ask about the rewards, she thought about them for a long moment. She knew satchels. She had many. She had one with her, though it was empty. It might be good for Azure, but probably not the weapons and bits of armour she'd need to transport.

A sled-- though she was unsure what it was --sounded outright useless to her. If it would run off they'd end up spending more time going after it and trying to drag it along than they would getting to where they had to go. And the wagon-- "No, what's a wagon?" She asked.

If it was useful then yes, she could make more like it. The magic, behind that, too, made her wary, however. "Vanish?" She echoed. "Where do they go?"

She leaned back in her chair (and went for more tea) to think for a moment. "I'd need to get a look at the weapon before I agree to anything," she ended up voicing. "No point in coming to any agreements if I can't fix it in the first place, yeah?"

She drank more tea, and then pointed to it. "What's in this?"

Serendipity knew it was tea. She just wanted to know where to make it, or where to find it. Whatever. Dip waved a leathery hand around and drank down the last of her tea as Algol rose from his seat.

Incidentally, tea might have been perfectly on par with inventing wheels, for all Serendipity knew.

"Yeah, okay," she said. "I can repair something else for you next time in exchange for tea." This, in Dip's mind, seemed like a very reasonable exchange. Tea was pretty damn good.

The bottomless chest didn't exactly surprise Serendipity. She was still largely more impressed by the construction of it than the fact it was an endless void, still making quiet notes in her own head to try to mimic the design with gemstone.

The halberd, though, when it was revealed, took her interest immediately. She turned in her seat with a ruffle of cloth, assuming Butch Position (one hand on her thigh, hunched over, supporting her weight with her other elbow on her knee) to get a look at it.

It seemed easy enough-- grind out the nicks, sharpen it up, straighten up the markings and it'd come out nice and shiny, with some love and care. Only when Dip went to take the halberd in her hands to check the blade itself did she realise why the wagon was such a steep price. "What the fuuuuck," the humanoid whispered. Her ears flicked and then lifted, alert, but she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to listen to what the thing had to say.

"The name's a bit on the nose," she eventually said. When she touched the blade to inspect it, to look closely, she found it felt... wet, almost, beneath her fingertips. Fucking sick.

She almost wanted to hand it back. Instead, she was going for the oily gemstone. "You want this in the socket?" She asked. Truthfully, she was unnerved. She was starting to break composure but pure stubbornness kept her going, kept her talking as if nothing were wrong.

She wasn't going to let Azure or Laurel anywhere near this fucking thing. The sooner it was dealt with, the better.

"Is this--" she gestured to the halberd, indicating the whispering, the flitting shadows darting around the corners of her eyes. "--The only thing that's magic about it?"

Serendipity leaned over to get a look at the contract, blinking slowly. "What are-..." she began, but trailled off. It would be another thing the Collector would tell her to come back later for.

Halberd. Wagon. Tea. Whatever the fuck this was. Serendipity was composing a hell of a list.

She picked up the quill and studied it for a moment-- someone's feather? --before, somehow, it clicked. This dye-like substance on the end of it, the paper. The blank space where the Collector pointed to, she dropped her hand and started to write.

Well.

Sort of.

She drew, with black, flowing ink. For someone who was holding a quill for the first time, and going to town on some paper for the first time, it wasn't that bad. Serendipity's sharp eye and inquisitive mind made for someone who paid a lot of attention to details.

There were two figures in her drawing; both cloaked, one hooded, one with fluffy hair. The hooded figure was a little shapeless, but tall and imposing regardless, with fur ruffled around its neck. The fluffy-haired one had a long tail and black rings around its horns and tail.

They were shaking hands, as you do, when you have hands and are currently coming to an agreement. Just as Algol had taught her many cycles ago.

When she was done, she leaned back, studied her work, and then handed it to the Collector.

"Deal," she said, and offered a hand out.

Serendipity nodded a bit in response. Damn right it was perfect.

She shook the Collector's hand and then she pushed herself up off the chair, half-turning to get another look at it. Strange, but it'd be nice not to sit on the floor all the time. Maybe she could extend it out and put her bedding on it, and then it'd serve as a chair-bed hybrid.

"Hmm," she rasped, and then looked back to Algol. "Oh, yeah? Can't wait." Her tone was genuine, at least-- like expecting to meet back up with a friend sometime soon. She grinned, good-naturedly, and parked the whispering halberd on one shoulder.

"I'll be back with it in a few days or so," her fluffy head dipped and, not one to outstay her welcome, started edging towards the exit.

Hm. "Toodle-oo," Serendipity repeated, thusly committing this one to memory. She even waved back at the Collector, too, with a slimey gemstone in her palm.

What a weirdo. He seemed nice.

She adjusted the halberd on her shoulder and took a glance around, taking a quiet note of where to return when she was done, and then she was off. Dip had a lot of things to do, and the first one of those was to look for Cool Bones for Azure.

Even if Void-Whisper, Name Too Obvious was rambling into her ear, she'd still take a look at the piles and take a few into her satchel before heading back home.