"Do you mind if I go in here first?" Tabitha asked, pointing to the plain solid door leading into a nondescript stone building up in the wealthy section of town. "I do business with the old coot in here, and he might be interested in buying and selling some things with you, Lord Tastysnacks."
"Sure. Go ahead." I don't have much faith in whatever a plain, unadvertised shop might hold, but Tabitha has been wonderful company so far, and she even let me stroke her tail. (For a price, of course.) If she thinks she can help drum up some business for a friend of her's, I don't mind. One shop is just as good as any other, for me to browse around in and see what this world contains. Heck, this might even be better! Now I can browse without pressure of buying, as I'm just accompanying her to see her friend.
Smiling brightly at my own good luck, I waited and watched as Tabitha proudly yanked open the door and strutted in. "Ha! Ha! Young bastard! You can't kick me out today," she taunted immediately, the moment she stepped in past the threshold.
Awww… Shit. I can't help but have a bad feeling about this!
"GET OUT!" Bellowing at the top of their lungs, a young gentleman dressed in black pants and leather boots came rushing down an aisle, waving a broom haphazardly back and forth as he rapidly advanced on Tabitha.
"Excuse me?" Arrogantly strolling into the shop – this appears to be some sort of general store, or canning specialty shop from what I can tell at first glance – I did my best to assume the arrogant airs of whatever High Lord that the guards had mistaken me for. Defiantly placing my hand around Tabitha's shoulders, I indulged in a gentle squeeze of her tiny breast as I stood firmly by her side and declared, "She's with me. Is that a problem?"
"EEEEP!" Locking up both his legs, the young man slid to a stop so fast he face-planted "WHAMMPP" hard into the floor.
"We're here for the old master of the shop," Tabitha giggled happily, "and I don't think you have enough brass in your whole body – much less your balls – to turn us away."
"Of course not, my Lord. Whatever you say, my Lady." Rushing to stumble upright, the youngster bowed his head repeatedly, not even noticing the blood that was dripping down his nose and leaving bright stains upon the cool marble floor. "I'll… I'll go and fetch the Grandmaster now," he bowed again, repeatedly, as he worked his way backwards down the aisle. Reaching the end, the young man turned and ran off into the back of the shop as if a bunch of demons were chasing wildly on his tail.
"OH! That felt good!" Laughing merrily, Tabitha turned and gave me a tight hug as she gushed, "Thank you, Lord Tastysnacks! I truly enjoyed that!"
"No problem," I assured her, grinning slightly myself. I've been bullied more than a few thousand times myself in this life, and I know how liberating it can be when one gets their comeuppance. Besides, I got a free feel of her little cat-boobs. I reckon that makes us more than even in this case.
"Are we going to get in trouble from this though?" I had to ask her, especially seeing how the young dork was bleeding so profusely when he left out of her a moment ago. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me to find out the idiot broke his nose or something when he hit the floor as hard as he did.
"Not at all," Tabitha assured me, as she finally released me from the tightly extended hug which she'd wrapped me in. "The old master of the shop trades with everyone freely. I've sold him a lot of things in the past," she admitted. "It's just he's turned the handling of the shop itself over to his apprentice, so he can focus more on his research now, and that young brat thinks us poor folk 'look bad for business'."
"He's still young and learning," came an old man's voice, as a rather elderly looking fellow worked his way slowly and calmly up from the back of the shop. Dressed in black pants, a white shirt, and leather boots, this old fellow was the most normally dressed person that I'd seen in the entire time that I'd been in this world so far! Even his receding white hair was perfectly normal. I could take this guy, toss him in the middle of a Walmart somewhere in our world, and you'd never know that he wasn't one of their regular door greeters!
"I hope you won't take any offense at the youth," the old man apologized, bowing slightly as he came up to stand in front of us. "What can I do for my esteemed guests today?"
"You can fetch me a free bag of cookies," Tabitha snorted hauntingly. "Or else we won't do any business whatsoever, cause he *did* offend me today."
"Oh ho!" Quirking an eyebrow slightly, the old gentleman looked Tabitha up and down as she stared at him defiantly. "Very well," he conceded finally. "I'll gift you two bags of fresh cookies before you leave. My word on it," he promised solemnly. "It appears," the old man chuckled lightly to himself, "that you must have found a true treasure to stand so unwaveringly in your conviction. I'm dying to see what you have now, I must admit."
"It's this!" Bringing her tail around in front of us, Tabitha proudly held forth the empty Gatoraid bottle that I'd given her earlier, with the tip of her tail wrapped tightly around it. "It's Mystic Glass," she stated confidently, "and I bet you've never seen anything like it before."
"Mystic Glass? May I?" Holding out a hand, the old man nevertheless waited for her to deposit the bottle in his palm, before he started to study it.
"It doesn't have the weight, or heft, of glass," he mused, lifting it and expertly weighing it in his hands. "Nor does it have a texture of any glass that I've seen before. And this paper which wraps it? I've never seen any parchment so thin and transparent that it can be seen through before either. Exactly where did you get this marvelous treasure from, my dear young lady?" Never taking his eyes up off from the bottle, the old man's voice was almost trembling with excitement.
"From the Lord Tastysnacks," Tabitha proclaimed proudly. "It's not stolen. It's mine. It was given freely to me. And it has enchanted water inside it too," she added, just like an experienced salesman. "And the top even twisty-twists back on and off!"
"A twisty-twist top you say?" Experimenting, the old man twisted the brightly yellow lid left then right, then chuckled happily when it came loose in his hand. "This is spectacular," he laughed happily, lifting the bottle up to sniff down at its contents.
"Kelvin! Kelvin! Get your sorry ass up here boy!" Yelling loudly, the old man called vehemently for the youngster, who hurriedly rushed in from the back holding a thick rag up against his face to stop his nose from bleeding.
"Get the hell out of my shop," the old man demanded, glaring daggers back at the boy. "You're fired! I might tolerate your youthful arrogance on many things, but when it comes to interfering with things which I can research and study, you can just fucker off! Get the hell out," the old man demanded, "and leave your damn work uniform behind!"
"But.. but.."
"No damn buts! Out! NOW!!" Glaring vehemently at the boy, the old man wasn't giving him even a moment to argue. Left with no other choice than to obey, the young man quickly undressed and rushed out of the shop wearing nothing more than what he was born with.
"Now, are you properly satisfied?" Bowing lightly, the old man smiled up warmly at Tabitha
"Not until I get my cookies," Tabitha snorted, playing hardball coldly.
"Fine. Fine," the old man laughed heartily. "I've already promised, but I'll make you a whole damn batch of cookies. Now tell me what else you know about this bottle and its contents. Then we can discuss pricing if you're going to sell it," he reminded her, kindly.
"I don't know anything more," Tabitha smirked apologetically. "It was his," she shamelessly pointed to me, "and he gave it to me for a job I did for him."
"I can't tell you a whole lot," I shrugged helplessly. "I'm not a chemist after all. All I can tell you is both the paper, as you called it, and the bottle are made out of the same stuff. It's not glass," I assured him. "My people call it plastic, and as far as I remember, it's a byproduct of refining crude oil somehow, but I don't have any idea how they do it."
"I can tell you it melts, if you get it a little warmer than boiling water, if that helps," I added, wracking my brain for anything else I actually knew about plastic bottles. Funny -- they're such a common part of our daily existence, yet I honestly don't know shit about how they're made or processed or anything. "They get brittle and start to break down after prolonged exposure to sunlight and weathering," I added lamely, at the very limits of my piteous knowledge.
"As for the drink inside, it's an enhanced lemon-lime flavored water," I told him, feeling a little more confident talking about the Gatoraid itself. "Made with electrolytes and filled with sugar, it helps restore your bodily fluids faster and easier than just water alone."
"And it tastes good," Tabitha added, for good measure.
"I see. I see," the old man muttered happily. "Another alchemist produced this, so I should be able to replicate both it and the stamina potion with just a little studying."
"I'll give you a thousand ren for it," he told Tabitha suddenly.
"RRRHHNNN!" Tail standing upright, she made the most catlike sound which I'd heard from her yet, and it was one of utter surprise. "Te… Ten," she declared defiantly, eyes looking as if she was going to faint at any moment.
"Ten.. Hmmmmmm…" The old man pondered on it for a moment then made a counteroffer. "Three thousand, and I'll give you ten percent of any profits after I develop the product – if I can," he promised her, cautiously.
"She'll take it," I answered for her. A future stake in any sort of production would give her income for the rest of her life – something much better than a single lump sum payment, no matter how large it is.
"I… I'll take it," Tabitha agreed, looking back at me wide-eyed.
"Good! Good! Excellent!" Laughing happily, the old man turned and started to walk back into the rear of the shop. "Give me just a moment," he promised, "and I'll store this safely for study and I'll bring your coin out for you in just a moment."
"Sure. Take your time," I called out to him. "We'll just browse around a bit while you're gone." Besides, it's nice and cool in here, and it's hotter than hell outside. I was more than happy to wait here for as long as he wanted.
"Tab… Tabitha is rich now," Tabitha whispered up to me, tail twitching up a storm.
"Really?" I asked, having absolutely no idea how much a ren was actually worth. Was it close to a dollar, or more like a penny? "How many ren does a family normally earn in a month here?" I asked her, trying to get a baseline to compare this world's wealth against.
"Most earn one or two ren a day," Tabitha told me, trying to count on her fingers.
"So basically thirty to sixty ren a month," I quickly did the math for her. "With three thousand, that's between fifty and a hundred months worth of income." Holy shit! Just by selling one bottle, Tabitha had earned as much as somebody working for half a dozen years did!
"You're not rich," I assured her, "but you're not going to have to worry about money for a while. It's more than enough to make you a nice nest egg, if you can find someway to protect or invest it."
"OH!" Looking sad, Tabitha's tail drooped suddenly. "I didn't think of that," she admitted sadly. "It's all just going to end up being stolen from Tabitha. You should keep most of it, Lord Tastysnacks."
"We'll see," I promised, wrapping my arms around her from behind to offer her a little comfort and reassurance. (I may also enjoy the soft feel of her tiny cat-boobs, but squeezing them wasn't my *only* intention. That was just an added perk for me being nice to her.)