Some random pawn shop
They'd had more days to deal with their new situation, more days to deal with this new body but it wasn't really getting much easier. Shae's original body had been hardy and healthy, able to put up with a rough night on the street or go days without meals or skipping them but Cordelia's body. She'd been a well-off galdor and had likely never gone a hungry day in her short life. She'd probably never had to lift anything too heavy, never had to overexert herself or exert herself at all actually. She hadn't built up any muscle but... that was a galdor for you, wasn't it? To make matters worse, the woman had been recently ill and pregnant; her - their - body was still hormonal. It meant that taking to life on the streets was less than fun.
They'd arrived late the day before, had bundled themselves up, going through an awkward moment where they'd slipped down their dress to put a blouse on underneath. They'd had to find a quiet area and hide themselves in their coat while they did it, not wanting a flash of breast to be taken as invitation. They'd been a man, they knew how provocative that was, it was definitely enough to perk interest. So they'd managed to add to their layers - putting on a skirt under the dress had been a far easier exercise - and then found a doorway for the night. No good quality clothing or good quality coat could help them and they'd stayed there until well into the morning, waiting for the day to warm up a bit before they started to move.
It didn't warm up by much. There was a cool breeze, truly chilling when they were in sight of the water and didn't have buildings to break it up and it really wasn't helping. They were going to get sick, they knew it, the cold that had seeped into their bones seeming to attest to that. They didn't think they'd been warm ever again. They needed trousers. This maternity dress they were wearing was all well and good and it was down past the knee in length but air went under it!
They needed money and a fair bit of it so that they could get some clothing, a bed for the night where they could actually get a good hot bath in private and food. Oh did they need food, they were dreaming of food. They'd gotten something to eat the previous day, some bread that had used up the last of the money they'd gotten from the sale of some jewellery in Vienda. They had nothing left and they were so hungry, nauseous with it and it just made the situation so much worse.
When they finally managed to get their limbs to work and wandered around to gain a sense of where they were, it was dipping into afternoon. Their mind was full of food, the wonderful promise of it. Although they'd have to be careful because the broker they'd gone to in Vienda had definitely ripped them off but they'd been desperate, the man had known it too. This time, they could afford to be a bit more careful, had to be mindful of the jewellery they carried because it was their only source of income at present. It wasn't like they could go busking on the street. They didn't know how these vocal cords worked, if the woman had been able to sing. Cordelia's voice when speaking wasn't pitchy or anything, they weren't shrill but had some depth to their tone, a certain huskiness that Shae thought they could work with if they could just learn to harness it. To sing with it... it could probably be fantastic if they could use the fucking thing.
But as it currently stood, all the money they had was in jewellery form and they weren't going to get the proper money for that either.
They were daydreaming about food and trying not to think too hard about how sick they felt (they were failing at that), when they walked smack bang into a man coming out of the pawn shop. He was more than a head taller than them and quite solid compared to their own flimsy frame. They were hit with a cloud of spirit fumes, which only added to their disorientation, the world reeling from the unexpected physical contact and their soul tendrils began to slip. They clung to the body in panicked desperation, re-establishing their hold but left with unbelievable vertigo as they experienced being in the body and out of it simultaneously. They went down in a dizzy heap, their already dirtied clothing becoming further soiled.
"Oh shit," they croaked out, moving forward dizzily, trying to get their feet under them but struggling on hands and knees not to keel over sideways.
The vertigo, the hunger, the ill-condition of the body, the nausea, the shock of almost becoming dead again all worked against them. They threw up, splattering the stranger's shoes with acid and a few tiny chunks of yesterday's food, their stomach continuing to heave although there was nothing to bring up.
The raen made a pitiful mewl sound, muttering something that sounded like an apology before they flopped over on the ground, panting and then to make matters worse, they started to cry.
It wasn't fair. None of this was fair. Why were they so gods damned pathetic?!