Post by Koneko on Dec 14, 2023 0:47:16 GMT
The daiyoukai was holding firm as she could to the merchant's words, nodding her head in reply yet could not contain a slight twitch of her eye at the return comment, even if it was meant with some respect. 'We have to get out of this first, we have to get out of this first, we have to get out of this first...' Koneko kept repeating in her head, desperately holding any form of outburst back by nearly biting her own tongue as she continued to try to reason her anger down for the time being in her head. 'He's just a human, his comments aren't worth it, this is better than them rallying more and attacking us out of fear...' Hearing the conversation move on to talk of the goods helped at least push her frustrations aside for the time being as she left the negotiating to Mitsuyoshi.
Soon, with interest, she noticed Murada move the conversation quickly to the youkai. It started to become easier at least to move from dwelling on her rage as she assumed more of a silent, 'tough guy' persona to avoid any stumbling on any further words that could jeopardize their story. The closer they came to the corpse once again, the faster the stench reached her nose causing her to raise her sleeve quickly to block it out, hiding her look of disgust at the foul smell. 'I think it got more rancid from sitting over night...' More than willing to return to the campsite the moment they turned to leave, she added an additional bit of acting of distraught for their pretend group member upon returning to explain away the grave. Though with it she uttered a small, rather sincere side comment, "he was a good man, may he rest well."
A pleased relief had been washing over her as their plan was definitely working it's magic to sell their human identities - that was until once again Murada seemed to speak up with doubts about the creature they'd slain and mentioned the priestess once more. Nodding in agreement with Mitsuyoshi's assertion it had just disguised as a human, she flinched slightly as the notion was then tossed back at them, feeling the sweat begin to bead on her head as this head merchant, unlike the others, seemed a bit harder to keep convinced and fought to remain suspicious of them. Holding as much proud composure as she could, she watched her companion talk his way through this with bated breath, knowing quite a bit for them was now riding on the line over a simple doubt. Though quickly finding herself extremely grateful and impressed on his ability to talk his way around the situation and turn it back to their favor, she merely nodded and spoke in tandem agreement once questioned that they were demon slayers, "that's right, we are!" It wasn't wrong to some degree either, she had been mostly getting by between human villages on slaying lesser youkai that caused trouble for locals in exchange for various forms of compensation. However, sweat soon beaded on her head once more as the farmers began to beg they do different 'demon slaying' favors for them, blinking a few times at the sudden crowding. "A-aahh... Hmm..."
Quickly alleviated once more as the head merchant quieted them all in demand of his compensation, she couldn't have asked for a better moment to have the attention pulled away. 'A-about time he asked for it so we can get out of here... Mitsuyoshi certainly does have a way with words, but this has been getting a little nerve-wracking how long they've kept us in questioning...' Watching in silence as the financial deliberation went on, even she could not hold back some surprise at the expense of the items, let alone the hair tie she now wore being an import. 'It's from the continent?! These merchants must have some kind of decent ties to get such expensive wares... Not to mention know their stock very well considering they recognized items we were wearing...' As additional supplies for them to take along their way to hold them over for a little bit were negotiated in, she gave a light bow of thanks to Jiro as he placed the items down by her in the basket and described what all was there for them to keep rationed. 'Red bean cakes!' If her tail had been visible, it most certainly would have been flitting back and forth excitedly at having such a rare treat. She kept track and checked through just to ensure everything was there as described before taking hold of it. "Thank you for the generous addition, we are grateful to you for allowing us additional provisions," was the most she could muster to at least pitch in without saying too much and at least make them come across as grateful.
After making sure nothing else important around the area had been left as she held onto the basket, Koneko looked over at Mitsuyoshi bidding a last goodbye and thanks at the grave before he joined her, silently thinking over her own gratefulness to his brother's contributions that helped them so much in such a short time. "This way," she replied to his question simply, leading him in the opposite direction of the village she'd made her way to the area through to avoid any more issues with any of those they'd encountered. As they walked, that furious aura the feline had earlier seemed to gain back around her slowly the further away they got from any sign of the humans. Nearly instantly from the moment they were well out of sight and earshot of the merchants, Koneko gently set the basket down next to her so nothing would get ruined and in a small puff she dropped her disguise before unleashing her rage. "Mitsuyoshi..." she started with a dangerous tone, turning to face him with irises seeming ablaze from their bright glow, "Next time give me a boy's name!!! I can't believe I had to say such shameful things about my parents for the perfectly fine name my father gave me!!" Her tail whipped around wildly behind her as an additional sign of just how angered she was over having to make up the story she had woven to get out of suspicion earlier, a crushed tone mixing with her irritation. "May my mother forgive me for saying such disgraceful things about her great reputation like that, let alone hope my father not think I hate my name or disrespect just how much he adored us! All for a little slip up on my name!" Raising her fist and closing her eyes, she thought over the words said by Murda again, fuming and stomping her foot, "Rrrrgh, I can't believe he called it unusual! I don't care if it is different for a man, my father gave it to me! I'd never slander my father's choice of name! He was a great and powerful daiyoukai after all!!"
As she snapped and snarled her anger out, she slowly seemed to calm back down and her look shifted a bit more to normal while crossing her arms with a sigh. "But. I have to commend you on your ability to talk us out of that situation... As well as negotiate some provisions that should at least last us a short while in case it takes a little bit to get to the next village." She'd at least been paying attention enough to notice one of the stacks of gold coin had been entirely used for it, then taking in some consideration of value. "Maybe it's best after this we really save the rest of that for real emergencies or need, I wouldn't say what I've been doing to get by is exactly a stable living, but it should be more than enough to get us by for the traveling we'll likely be doing and draw less attention unless there's a real need of anything more than food or an occasional place to sleep." Then a noticeably bright grin graced her face, "besides, between our skills and your ability to negotiate more formally, I'm sure if we really needed much more than basic necessities we could find a way to convince the compensation. I think we've got enough talent between us to look out for each other while we scope out some of these shrines."
Picking the basket back up off the ground, she turned and beckoned him to follow, tail swaying behind her idly now. "I'm pretty sure there's another village a little ways out this way, next time we stop we can check over the texts for if that'll be our next stop or if we'll just be stopping to pass through."
