The sound of a bell rang overhead as Kiori and I opened the door to enter the shop.
"Welcome to Painsley's!" A man from across the room shouted quickly before heading to a different part of the store.
The interior looked like your typical gift shop, filled with various decorative figurines of various sizes, colorful rocks, and other conversation pieces of different shapes.
Although everything looked interesting, I had little inclination to buy anything, even if I did have money. Besides, my current living situation is being roommates with Kiori, and it's already a pretty small room. Anything more would be clutter.
I made a mental note to record this shop as a location of interest for revisitation when I get my own place.
Exploring further, more goods revealed themselves on different shelves. Beaded bracelets, necklaces, assorted candles, soaps, the whole place screamed souvenir shop. All in all, nothing in the store was worth buying in my opinion.
I looked at the soaps again.
Trying a different soap wouldn't be too bad.
I looked around for Kiori and found him kneeling in front of a statue. He showed great interest in the large figurine, as it was the most detailed of everything in the store.
"Looks like something caught your attention."
He was startled, eyes wide with shock. Looks like I scared him out of his thoughts.
Kiori took a moment before speaking.
"I was just admiring the statue of the current plant attunement Tower Mage, Koysipli Hyokin."
I looked at the other 5 statues nearby. They had colored symbols that I assumed represented their respective attunements.
"So the Tower Mages have their own merchandise?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you recognize the word, 'merchandise'?" I asked him, before preparing to elaborate on the off chance there was a language discrepancy.
"I know you said 'merchandise'. I just don't understand what you mean by the Tower Mages having their own merchandise. And I know what the word means."
"Well, where I'm from, it's not uncommon for someone to be famous enough that their likeness ends up being sold as a marketable good. In this case, the Tower Mages having these statues made after them and being sold here. It's basically a way of solidifying support and admiration for someone."
The explanation reminded me of numerous YouTube personalities who had their own merch.
"You had this kind of thing from your home as well?"
"Well… they weren't statues like these, but yes. We had something like this."
"Apologies for the wait, gentlemen…" The man I saw earlier walked up to us. "I had to check the inventory for something. Are the two of you interested in buying anything?"
"I'm just looking around. Can't speak for him, though."
"Just looking around, too, but I'll let you know if I'm interested," Kiori informed the man.
"Wonderful. If you need anything, I'll be over here. Just let me know."
The man walked behind the counter and occupied himself with something.
"Are you gonna buy it?"
"I'm thinking about it."
"Just make sure you won't regret it. And if you do end up buying it, I'll make you a secure display case to ensure its pristine condition is maintained."
"You would?"
"Yeah. A lot of people where I'm from are meticulous about this sort of thing. It's pretty much its own culture."
Collecting figurines of fictional characters is an expensive pursuit for any enjoyer of popular media. Some people even dedicate entire rooms in their homes for this.
"I'm… not sure I'd be at the level of whatever you're thinking…" He said to me before turning to face the figure, treating it with the deserved delicacy as a meticulously crafted work of art. "But if you're encouraging me, then… getting this would help me feel more motivated."
I knelt to his level.
"Really important question you should ask yourself before buying: Do you have the funds?"
"I've got my pouch with me, Nolval. I always leave with it."
I pointed to the pouch around his waist, wordlessly asking for confirmation.
He took the pouch and opened it, showing it to be full of green and yellow Qiliq coins.
The reason why was that I briefly thought of a situation where he'd go up to the counter to buy it, only for him to realize he had forgotten his wallet (or pouch in this case), and he'd end up leaving the shop, hanging his head in shame for forgetting something so essential to shopping, whether out of necessity or impulse. Maybe he's more meticulous than me.
After some deliberation and shifting expressions from Kiori, he decided to get the statue.
"Don't touch it!"
But not before getting the expressed permission from the man running the shop. The 6 statues before us were the display models. The actual ones patrons would get were somewhere in the back.
Eventually, we left the shop with Kiori carrying a small wooden crate containing the same statue he was interested in, packaged with a bunch of crumpled-up paper to fill the space not occupied by the statue, likely to protect it from breaking while being carried. An understandable practice, as I've seen ceramics being given the same attention before being sold.
"To think I'd have to go through all of that just for a statue of Koysipli."
"Did that contract say anything about transferring ownership and liability of the statue to you?"
"Umm… yeah, actually. How'd you know?"
"Just a guess."
It must be one hell of a statue if you need a contract to purchase it… or is this simply standard when purchasing furniture in this world?
"Did you ever have to sign something before when you bought something?"
"No, this would be a first."
"Interesting."
…
Both of us decided to have brunch at one of the other restaurants, or Calcosteins, that Kiori had frequented before my summoning. It was more spacious than the place where I had my Maroon Plum glaze steak fritters. Sitting arrangements were even exclusively made of booths, compared to the combined booths with tables and chairs arrangement.
"Reminds me of diners where I'm from."
"You had places that looked like this?"
"Yup."
Feels like I'm back on Earth.
Our waiter directed us to a booth and handed us our respective menus. Kiori sat so that the statue he bought was between himself and the wall our booth was attached to.
Like before, I couldn't read a thing. I was starting to consider asking the waiter if I could take it home so that I could at least study the characters and have a better guess of what I'm ordering. Sure, I wouldn't be able to account for dishes with a fancy naming sense that tells nothing of the ingredients, but at this rate, I couldn't afford to be picky about my reading materials.
"Got any recommendations?"
"Let me check." Kiori skimmed the options as he read through the menu. "Rock Mushroom and Running Fowl Pasta, Meat Log, Mountain Terror Boar Skewers…" He squinted at the menu. "Gulilogi? And Screaming Tears and Shouts."
"You're not making those up, right?"
"That's what the menu says."
"I'll just go for the Rock Mushroom and Running Fowl Pasta."
Even if I could read the menu, I'm sure at least some of the menu items would follow an unusual naming sense.
We gave our respective orders to the waiter. Kiori decided to order Gulilogi, the one thing I couldn't picture. Turns out, it was a pasta dish like mine, just with a green sauce with tiny bits of meat. Honestly, it was somewhat appetizing in appearance and smell, but my skepticism toward the foreign dish had me at least 5 times concerned.
As for my choice, it looked like your usual chicken and mushroom pasta dish, no rocks in sight. It even tasted like chicken and mushrooms with alfredo sauce, albeit more flavorful. Wonder why it had 'Rock Mushroom' in its name.
"How's your dish?"
"Good, yours?"
"Delicious."
We enjoyed our respective meals in silence, and Kiori paid.