Another long series of days in this cesspool of a city, Carjen was not really looking forward to the coming week. He had a lot of complicated orders, there was some dangerous weather on the horizon and he still hadn’t made any progress on that addition to his stable. Things were difficult, time was short and gold was doing just as poorly, he had to do some serious work fast to make enough to last through winter. That unfortunately meant another trip to Cendra city was necessary. He hated the place honestly, he hated most population centers. The walls were too close, the houses too small, the people billowing out of every crack in the street like vermin, pooling in the town market like it was fun to be crammed together like sardines in a can, he couldn’t stand it. He wanted to be out in the open, to be in a field in his jaguar form, to chase deer and pigs amongst the grass. But he needed supplies for his next shipment of armor orders and Cendra was as far as his deliveries would go so, here he was, approaching the city gates with his hands in his pockets and his bag slung over his shoulder.

He stood tall above the crowd, a towering pillar of a man, at least a head above everybody else, often times two or three. He liked that about himself at least, he had a good line of sight and was intimidating, imposing. It was unwise to mess with him and many people knew it just by looking up at him. His straight posture, his slicked back black hair, his hard jaw, which was clean shaven and crisp today- he looked more important than he was and that kept him safe from harm, which was good. If he had to reveal every day in every fight that he was a werebeast living among humans, things would be difficult. Thankfully, he was frightening, unnerving, but not unusual, just tall and cold, with callous green eyes that haunted those who looked into them. He shifted his bag from one shoulder to the other, casual as he walked up the road at his usual hurried pace. He wore his usual black leather armor set, complete with its silver studding, the etching of a snarling cat standing out in stark relief to the dark leather breastpiece. The scaled decorations jingled and jangled as he walked, and was suddenly jarred to one side by a collision that came behind him.

Though startled, he looked down pretty casually, taking his time assessing the young girl that had collided with him. She’d been running so fast that he’d stopped her dead in her tracks, sent her reeling actually, sprawling to the ground, the contents of the bag she’d been carrying scatterings everywhere, it was ungraceful and unceremonious. At first, he was going to keep walking, to tell the kid to watch herself and then to go about his business, but the woman who clearly owned that bag could be spied running up behind them and he paused to assess her as well, and that committed him to the situation. He sighed, and set his own bag down, picking the girl up by the scruff of her shirt a little roughly. He was a huge man and it seemed like he could’ve thrown her or roughed her up in some malicious way, but instead of socking her in the gut or tossing her to the side, he set her gently on her feet and motioned for her to wait for a moment. He turned away, rifling through a side pouch that hung on his belt, and came out with three gold coins, which he handed to her cordially. She seemed skeptical about taking them so he gestured, nodded and let her run off with the money. That was clearly what she wanted, what she needed, why even go about the middle man of stealing people’s property?

He watched her scamper away with a quiet dignity, before finally turning to meet the woman whose bag he’d just rescued. He gave her a look up and down, not lewd or anything, just curious, like a scientist studying a textbook. He noted her dress, her beautiful long hair, the gorgeous rings she wore in her ears, but still found it necessary to ask. “Are you alright?”