Bris was hard to ignore, she decided as she found her eyes once more drifting from her book to the mysterious stranger sitting close to her left hip. He leaned in, everything about his movement speaking to someone that was skilled in combat, "What's the next one we're interested in?"
There was an odd quality to his voice she couldn't quite pin down, as if she was speaking to a creature made to draw others in and trap them. Confident in her ability to escape any trap he might set, she glanced towards the rows of the auction once more. The first two had been basically gone when he'd started speaking to her and the third row was near sold already as well. On the next row, though, were several promising bundles.
Not wanting to tip her hand entirely, she said simply, "The beginning and end of the next row seem like a good place to bid. We might have a lot of competition for the beginning but the room will start to empty out by the end and we might walk away with something in hand. If we don't win anything on this row, next one is the last chance."
He nodded slightly and straightened, though it felt as if he was a little reluctant to do so. Ash shook her head slightly, more than half convinced she was reading into things. While her casting had no doubt spread somewhat, she was not dressed as the multi-casting mage everyone knew of. She wore the same outfit as for the journey out a few days prior, paired with a simple brown cloak. She'd also reluctantly removed the opalescent sheen from her hair and turned her eyes a more normal shade of red rather than the bright pink they had been.
She could do nothing about the striking jewelry she wore, but most would mistake it for wood or stone and so she doubted it would give her away. Bris likely just saw a pretty face and was used to getting what he wanted. Considering most that had flirted with her in the past knew of her ability to change to whatever form she wished, Ash was used to being seen as little more than a pretty face and passing amusement. No one that had viewed her as such had ever gotten any attention from her, though.
All of the bids on that row were a bust, someone else coming in and offering more than the both of them were willing to part with. Ash's eyes scanned the rows once more, alighting on the perfect bundle coming up second in the last row they were likely to get anything from. Of the twelve items in the bundle three sparkled yellow, four purple, and three blue, leaving the last two plain white. It felt slightly skewed in her favor but it was also the best one they had to offer. Everything else after that they were at all likely to get was mostly comprised of normal quality items.
When they opened bidding on it, she gave Bris a slight nod to go ahead and bid. He did, finally coming away as the winner of the auction and claiming the bundle. He sat back at the table to separate everything out and held to the agreement without complaint.
Once everything was separated she decided it would be best to stick around, hoping that Bris would take his leave. She'd taken a glance at her status screens and poked into the information about him and didn't like what she'd seen. He was supremely dangerous and she wasn't entirely certain he wouldn't turn on her given the chance.
She'd felt emboldened to look into it considering he spent most of the downtime between lots they were seriously bidding on in his own status screens. He had a player kill count, though she had no idea how high as he had it concealed. That worried her, considering someone was going around causing dungeon morphs.
He remained silent as she sat and read, seeming to any onlookers to be waiting out the timer in the same way as she was. He didn't speak up at all until she moved to stand. He reached to where her hand rested on the table, brushing her fingers with his as he spoke.
"Considering you were the good luck charm I thought you'd be," she could practically hear the grin in his tone of voice, "I'd like to buy you a drink once the bidding winds down. The food here is also good, I'm told," seeing her hesitate, wavering slightly or perhaps weighing her escape options, he continued, "I think we could become good friends, Ash."
Once more, a shock ran through her and she took the time to actually look at him and pay closer attention, feeling her stomach tie itself into knots as she noticed several details that had eluded her in the crowded room earlier.
He had no scent to her nose, as if he didn't exist at all. It was something that could be managed by magic or potion use, something creatures such as herself used when they thought they were being hunted by scent. It was also often used by those that hunted magical creatures, people that knew that what they hunted was technically more animal than person and could smell them clearly enough even to identify what exactly they were.
His hands were strong, showing signs of frequent work or weapons training. Considering they were in a world where fighting for a living was considered normal, she couldn't exactly hold it against him. He'd drawn close enough with his words that she could see some more of the features of his face as he spoke.
His teeth drew her gaze for a brief, terrified half-second, as sharp canines revealed themselves with his eloquent words. They weren't the razor-sharp things of those afflicted with vampirism, though, his were naturally that sharp and she didn't know what kind of creature he was. That, more than anything else, terrified her to no end. She'd met most of the races of Terra and Sidus hadn't indicated that Fantastoria had anything new.
Bris was a creature she'd never met before and that realization was only furthered as she took note of the rings that adorned the hand that lay upon her own. Just like her own, they were treated well to the point they could be mistaken for stone. They weren't, though. They were horn and another material she was less familiar with. The horn ring was beautiful but it was also deep black and held a strange red sheen to it that was entirely unlike the opalescent sheen her own horns had.
The trinkets she'd been avoiding for so long were carved of horn. She knew the smell of horn near one of her paths to mean that it was unsafe, that she had to find a different route and be more cautious. The hunter had found her, his hand lingering gently on her own as he sat relaxed before her.
If she ran, she might be able to escape but she didn't dare to do so as cold realization washed over her. Whatever he was, he likely had her scent and the feel of her magic in a concrete way instead of the faded remains she left behind as she journeyed to cleanse the magic of Terra, she would be easier to track than ever and her grove's defenses were far weakened without Sidus to reinforce them. If she left, her body in Terra would be exposed and she was far too weak to wake.