After the Grand Opening [Closed]

[Tayari]

Tayari wandered through the streets slowly, heading back to his shop/home but took his time doing so. His thoughts were not entirely focused; while experimenting with alchemy had built him up a resistance to the effects of several ingredients and concoctions, alcohol was not one of them. Even a single glass of cider from the recently-opened bar had some effect on him, though fortunately his thoughts still had some degree of clarity.
Still, he knew where he was, and where his shop was. He'd get there, supposing the sound of hoofsteps following him wasn't an omen of any danger to the zebra. As the zebra fully registered the noise, he stopped and turned around.

[bluestar]

After walking for a bit he caught up with the mysterious Zebra from the bar. To his surprise, the Zebra turns to face him. He wasn't expecting that, oh well might as well introduce himself. Walking up forward started to speak.

"Good evening sir. I saw you at the Steelhoof and just couldn't let the chance to meet such an alluring fellow pass me by. The name Blue Star, I'm new in town."

[Tayari]

'Well, it's not something bad after all' Tayari thought, silently. Out loud, he said, "Good evenin', Blue. My name's Tayari. I've been here a few years, myself, and I still haven't seen everythin'. Like that bar, that's... oh, right, you were there. Oh, sorry, was there somethin' you needed?"

[bluestar]

"Well I just hoping to find someone who knew this place to hang around with. But a more immediate concern of mine is a place to sleep tonight, which I thought you might be able to help me with."

[Tayari]

Tayari thought about this for a few seconds. "Well, I don't really know where there're any hotels or anythin' like that, 'm afraid. Really, the only place I can think of that would let anypony stay through curfew is my shop." Tayari was silent for a moment, before continuing, "I'm just headin' back that way now, actually. If you'd like, you can stay there for the night."

[bluestar]

"Perfect! Thank you very much, you won't regret it I assure you. I'll pay you back somehow, I'm sure we can find a use for an old magic researcher that'll be worth something to you." And with that he start walking towards the Zebra, eventually passing him before realizing that he didn't know where to go.

"So where do you live exactly?"

[Tayari]

"Hmm? Oh, it's in the downtown area. It's an alchemy store, you'll know it when you see it. Until then, just follow me."
Staying quiet for a few seconds, Tayari ended the silence before it developed. "So, you're new to Manehattan? What brings you here?"

[bluestar]

"Not much, after the fall I didn't really have a job at the uni anymore so I sort of just wandered around from town to town. But I've not found a place to settle down in, my skills aren't exactly applicable to most peoples lives these days. What use is an aging academic to the world now? So I decided to check out Manehatten and I must say it certainly is different. I wondered in from the desert yesterday and collapsed on a griffon by accident and he helped me to shelter before the curfew started, he was a soldier an everything. I've never seen anything like it."

[Tayari]

Tayari raised an eyebrow. "An academic? That's both very potentially useful and definitely unfortunate, in these times. I have a shop which does well enough without formal trainin'; I wonder what you could do?"
Tayari was slightly surprised at what Blue Star told him about the griffon. Still, he felt that Blue had to be warned about the others. "Oh, and about that griffin. It's nice to hear there's at least one kind one, but don't get used to it." Tayari gave a single, unpleasant laugh. "You've heard Manehattan's got the strongest rebellion? Well, besides the fact I still haven't seen anythin' of them, it's also got plenty of the worst griffons as well. There's one who'd take you away safely before curfew; there's dozens who'd wait 'til it struck, so they could excuse themselves to..." Tayari paused in his speech. 'I probably shouldn't be trying to scare him like this...'
"Er, sorry about that. Forget it, just remember, they might not be all bad, but most of them are anythin' but good."

[bluestar]

"Depends on what your store deals in I guess. I've spent most of my years studying the nature of magic and how it interacts with reality. And don't worry, I've seen my fair share of malicious griffons. Though I haven't heard much about the rebellion, only bits and pieces in some of shadier towns I've passed through."

[Tayari]

"Heh, well then, I guess I haven't heard anything about the rebellion that you haven't either. Probably even less, it's been a few years since I was doing my own travelling."
Tayari remained silent at this point, having run out of ideas for conversation topics, and he figured that if Blue had any more questions, he could ask them. Meanwhile, he noted that it was a reasonable distance to the downtown district, and once there, it wouldn't be much farther to the shop.
((OOC note, I don't really know what the city map looks like, so that information could be wrong.))

[bluestar]

Feeling the conversation starting to grind to a halt, Blue Star stepped to one side and gestured in the direction they were supposed to be heading. With the sun dangerously low, he presumed the curfew was getting close, they really should get a move on. The Zebra seemed nice enough, which was a relief. Guess only time would tell where this budding relationship would take them. But first it must take them out of harms way, lest this odyssey end before it had begun.

"I think we should move along, time waits for no pony after all."

[Tayari]

Tayari nodded. "Good point. Not very far from here, really." Saying this, the zebra started to move faster, reaching a jogging pace, and assumed the unicorn to be following him.
Changing directions to head along different streets every so often, he soon found himself approaching Potent Prepared Potions, which still had a range of vials hanging on the outside, primarily as decoration. Slowing down now, Tayari joked, "Bet you can't guess which buildin's mine." By the end of the sentence, he'd stopped by the door.

[bluestar]

Following the Zebra, he eventually reached a cozy, if worse for wear looking shop. Various bottles and vials decorated the outside, an errant breeze sends them rattling, filling the air with a discordant melody. As his host holds the door open he walks inside, eyes taking a moment to adjust to the change in lighting. Inside thin slivers peeking in between the closed curtains that declared a closed shop. Towards the back sat an old, weathered looking wooden bench with a bronze cash register resting on top. A variety of bottles, pouches and other odds and ends littered the couple of wall mounted shelves. He could see a closed door behind the service counter, presumably leading to the living quarters and workshop. Inspecting Tayari's wares, he could feel the latent magical properties in some of them, but then Zebra's have always been known for their alchemical prowess. Sensing his host behind him, he turned around.

"I love your store, very rustic."

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