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ERIKA'S BACKYARD GARDEN - NOONISH
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Erika is doing her usual rounds in her couple dozen square meters of totally-not-a-jungle, inspecting the plethora of plants in an order that only she can make sense of. The okapi, as usual, is wearing only her small chest wrap and a loincloth, but... as usual, this doesn't bother her.
Cavro makes his way up the street, having just visited the south guard house to drop off some basic repair supplies, toting along a sturdy hard leather toolbag and wearing an unusually clean cotton shirt and pair of wool britches, as well as a somewhat flat wool cap. He reaches his third destination of the day, knocking at Erika's front door after fussing with his shirt for a moment.
Erika doesn't hear the knock on her front door, being too busy in the back.
Cavro shuffles around for a moment, then slaps his forehead lightly, changing direction and waddling his way down the alley beside her house instead. He pokes his snout around the corner, looking through the beautiful foliage. "Hello? Er Erika?"
Erika blinks and looks up, swiveling her head around the trees and bushes: "Oh! Here!" She waves at the not-sure-yet-who-this-is.
Cavro grunts as he carefully makes his way though the plants, making sure not to trample anything ash he heads for Erika's voice. He pokes out from under a big fern leaf, looking up at her. "Oh! Here you are! I'm going to wind up lost in here one day, you know."
Erika brightens up upon seeing the badger: "Oh! Hey Cav!" She giggles, waving a hand as she turns away from the small tree she was appraising: "What's up?"
Cavro grins at Erika, shaking his tool bag. "Just get getting out like you wanted. Your father was using the forge for something, so I decided to catch up on some deliveries. How are your bay bay babies doing?" He pats the trunk of a nearby tree, impressed as usual that she managed to get such things growing so well in this climate.
Erika frowns slightly upon hearing her Dad being back at the forge, but lets it go. She shrugs: "Great! The big cavern fern-" she points at one of the almost bush-like ferns Cavro came past: "-is thriving even more than I thought."
Cavro turns to the plant she's pointing at, startled. "Tha that's a *fern*? I thought it was a young tree! I don't know how you do do do it, honestly!"
Erika giggles at Cavro's reaction, waving a hand: "Well, if it helps I have no idea how you do the stuff you do, even if I've watched you work for years!"
Cavro snorts a bit of a chuckle. "Well I guess the plants just speak to to you like metal does to me! Oh, speaking of, I've fin fin finished another one, thought you'd like to see." He puts the tool bag down, crouching over it and searching inside for a moment before pulling out a bundled object. From the cloth he reveals an iron tulip blossom, the petals made from flat cast off chunks with swirling sheer patterns, catching the light in a colorful display.
Erika looks at what Cavro brings up first with curiosity, then with adoration. Her expression definitely lights up: "Oh wow. It's gorgeous! Amazingysomic, even. If that is a word." She hums, looking at the blossom curiously, then at Cavro: "What's it for?"
Cavro grins at her reaction, pleased that she likes it. "Just something I've been working on, I think I'm going to give it to mother." He pauses, his expression falling a bit as he puts the false tulip back away safely. "She's been a little worried about father lately, that group has been gone for a while now."
Erika nods, her smile waning a bit. She glances towards the South gate: "They've been... gone a bit. I wonder if they've found anything." She turns to look back at Cavro: "And hope they're fine."
Cavro nods, smiling at Erika. "He's tough. They all are, they're Explorers!"
Erika nods with a smile: "Yeah, they are. Better off than I would be, hehe."
Cavro: "Oh of course, miss-scales-Sharp-Point-on-a-whim, you're too fragile for that world." He sticks his tongue out at her, snorting though a grin.
Erika grins sheepishly, rubbing her neck: "Weeellll, when you put it that way..."
Cavro sighs, looking at the South Gate despite doing his best to avoid it lately. "I never really wanted anything to to do with that world, father's stories were always to to to scary for me. The forge is safe... when it's not spitting sparks and slag at me." He shivers a bit, despite his somewhat heavy clothes. "And warm, now that I think about it."
Erika smiles understandingly: "You're used to that heat." She is then quiet for a moment, glancing at the gate before turning back to Cavro: "It's a different thing, out there. And not for everyone, probably."
Cavro shakes his head, turning back to Erika. "I've said it a million times, but that's something I've always ad admired about you."
Erika lets out a bit of a giggle, blushing slightly: "It's not much, really. I just sort of go and... learn to avoid the dangers?"
Cavro snorts a small laugh. "You make it sound so simple. I went out there once and immediately got a thorn in my paw! Never again, even the plants don't wa want me away from the embers."
Erika stifles another giggle, looking at her friend: "Or maybe you just gotta learn to be careful, the same way you are in the forge. Or maybe you don't. Not everyone needs to go out."
Cavro shuffles his feet a bit, "Maybe, but you're right, there's probably not as much out there for me as there is for you."
Erika shrugs: "Probably not! I can't really see forging benefiting much from just... exploring and stuff." She smiles: "You do great work here though. My Dad is really proud of you, even if he has a funny way of showing it."
Cavro blushes, looking at the ground. "Oh, well thank you, I do try." He clears his throat, looking at his tool bag. "I suppose I should finish the deliveries before it starts getting late... What are you doing this evening?" He looks up at the okapi as he picks up his tools.
Erika shrugs: "Not much. Gonna finish taking care of things here, go see Dad, but... I could go for dinner afterwards." She gives Cavro a demure smile.
Cavro smiles back, nodding. "Sounds good, where do you want to meet?"
Erika shrugs again, smiling: "You can pick. You know I'm not picky when it comes to my salads."
Cavro ponders for a moment, scratching his chin. "Oh, wasn't there a a a tavern near the market you liked? The ah... Drowning Trout?" He blushes at forgetting the places name, considering his whole life has been in the town.
Erika giggles: "The Thirsty Minnow! And yeah, it's pretty great."
Cavro chuckles, scratching his snout as if that would get rid of the burning in his face. "Yes, that that that one! I'll go there around sunset, then?"
Erika smiles brightly: "That sounds good!" She picks up her gardening spade: "Gotta do a few things, but see you then."
Cavro nods, grinning. "Of course! Have fun~" He turns and starts walking away, stopping and peering over his shoulder at the edge of the foliage. "Oh, um... Don't tell tell your father I said he was using the the the forge, okay?"
Erika grins: "Will not say a word. I don't need to get on his case every time he uses it."
Cavro snorts a chuckle, waving his thanks as he wanders through the contained wilderness. "Thank you, and see you later!"
Erika giggles and waves at the departing badger, before returning to her work... at least mostly. She does give the occasional thoughtful glance at the South gate as she works.
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THE THIRSTY MINNOW - LATE EVENING
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Annika: Annika looks at her meal, which some sort of curry, with rice. She's clean, and looking a little bit rested, though the bags under her eyes remain, and her general demeanor betrays some lingering stress. But..food! That's enough to perk Annika up, and she starts in, eating it happily. Behind her, in the open fire, are a couple of small bots, each containing more of her meal that she had cooked for herself
Maybelline steps inside the Minnow quietly, pulling back her hood as she does. She's here for coffee. Just coffee, obviously. Definitely not hoping to see someone else here, but if she just so happens to see... "Oh! Uh, Annika. Hi."
Annika: "Oh. Hey May!" She puts up a hand, only briefly distracted from her meal "How are things?" She pauses "Ow!" She briefly flails, before going for the milk beside her, downing a mouthful "Sowwy..made it a bit spicier than I though!"
Maybelline retrieves some coffee from the Barkeep, then steps over, glancing at the table, "I'm... good. Tired. But looks like I'm not the only one. Mind if I sit with you?"
Annika: "Oh! No problem at all" She gestures at the table, then the pots over the fire "You can help yourself there too, if you want. There's plenty to eat"
Maybelline chuckles, "Well, not sure if I like spicier food..." She taps her paws awkwardly on the table, then shrugs, "Ahh, what the hell. If you don't mind, I'll give it a try."
Annika: It was a meaty curry, though with plenty of veggies thrown in, of the 'what do you have too much of' when asking the grocer variety, along with the rice. It's good! Hot, but that's what the milk is for. "Just eat it slowly, and keep your drink nearby"
Yengrisk wanders down and into the bar, thinking it about time for some food.
Maybelline sniffs at the curry as she helps herself, then gets her own glass of milk, along with a fresh loaf of bread from the Barkeep, setting it down on the table between the two of them. "Heh. You share, so I share." She takes a small bite, eyes widening at the taste and the heat both, "Aw! You weren't kidding! Spicy! But still really good!"
Annika: "Oh. Thanks!" She giggles "Don't worry, I already paid the barkeep for using the fire, so I feel okay sharing with hungry people that are coming in" She beckons over Yengrisk "You can eat too, if you want!"
Yengrisk looks to the pair of smaller bar folk curiously. "Oh? You have food for Yengrisk? Yak would be interested, yes!"
Maybelline takes another bite, sipping the milk to help subdue the heat. "Oh! You were here the first night I came in... I think. Not sure we got introduced though... I might have been a bit uh... drunk. I'm May."
Annika: "Yes, of course! Just, help yourself to a plate of curry" She settles into her chair, happy to be around friends.
Yengrisk brings over a chair suitable for their frame, and settles in near the pair. "What is curry?"
Maybelline is eating happily in a pattern of bread, curry, milk, "Like a spicy meat soup! It's good!"
Yengrisk hmmmms. "Yak can try, but can't eat much meat. Stomachs not made for it, yes?"
Annika: "Ah, well. You could stick to just the rice, I suppose? It wouldn't be the same though"
Yengrisk tries to serve themself an appropriate combination of rice and curry, but finds it difficult. Their hands are just too big for the utensils on offer.
Maybelline hmms, "Oh yeah, the rice, and help yourself to the bread too." She sets her spoon down for a moment to nibble at a hunk of bread. "No silverware required for that."
Annika: "Both of those should be good" She's trying out the bread with the curry, and finding it to her liking "So, how have things with you two been?"
Yengrisk munches on some bread. "Yak is doing well! The lady goat is taking Yengrisk as apprentice, yes?"
Maybelline shrugs, her own exhaustion evident, but she seems rather used to being in this state. "I'm not so bad either. Just been keeping myself busy..." She frowns slightly in Annika's direction, then blinks at Yengrisk, "Lady goat? That rude one who stopped by the generator?"
Yengrisk tilts their head to the side, unsure. "Dorri seems nice enough to yak."
Annika: "Oh...um..okay" She doesn't know what the frown means, but takes it in stride! Maybe May just ate a bad bit of curry "What are you apprenticing in?"
Maybelline thinks a moment, "Was her name Dorri? I think it was... eh... maybe I was just cranky."
Yengrisk turns back to Annika. "Oh, is not.. technically apprentice yet. Yak will help lady goat fix up the observatory, yes? Then we'll see what happens."
Maybelline dips some bread into the last of the curry she'd taken, using it to clean up the bowl. "Hmph... maybe we got off on the wrong foot then. I uh, tend to annoy people, I guess."
Yengrisk giggles. "You do not annoy Yengrisk. But yak has only just met you, yes?"
Annika: "Oh, but..I'm just wondering, what will you be doing? I don't really know this 'Dorri'"
Maybelline smiles a bit, "Oh uh, yeah. Basically only just met..." She glances at Annika again, as if about to say something, then bites her tongue and looks away. "Once folks get to know me they usually don't like me, that's all."
Yengrisk: Yak is not entirely sure. She is astronomer, yes? Studies the stars? The navigator on the ship Yengrisk took here used the stars to direct the ship.
Annika: "Well, I know you more than I did, and I'm still liking you!" She sees that look again..but figures May will speak when she's ready. "Ooh. Stars? They're so pretty!"
Maybelline lifts her head back up and smiles, blushing slightly, "Oh uh stars? Y-yeah, can't say I know much about them myself either, but some of the new tools to study them seem interesting? I'd love to see the inside of an observatory."
Yengrisk nods softly. " Yak doesn't know much either, but is always willing to learn, yes?"
Annika: "I'm sure you'll learn a lot too" She sighs "Never really been much for the thinking stuff myself"
Maybelline: Ahhh, well... My Dad always said the real important thing in life isn't what you know, but what you do. Finding your passion, and all that. Sounds like becoming that goat's apprentice is a step towards your passion, Yengrisk?
Yengrisk hmms, reaching up to rub their fuzzy chin. "Parhaps, yes? It will pay for lodging, at the very least, while yak keeps looking for other magic users."
Annika: "Oh? You're a magic user?" She's used to hiding being scared of people..so this one was easy, continuing to act non-chalant "..What can you do?"
Maybelline nods, then turns her head over towards the fox, about to say something when her head snaps back towards Yengrisk, "Magic user?! Now I remember you! Or, remember hearing about you. Again, I was too drunk to really 'remember' remember."
Yengrisk thinks a moment, and decides. Their horn tips glow subtly as a piece of bread lifts off the table, rises up, and floats to the yak's lips to then be chewed and swallowed. "Moving things around, yes?"
Annika: "Oooh" She follows the motion "That's so cool!" She smiles brightly at the trick "You can do that..with your mind and stuff?" She follows the motion of the food "I wish I could do that..but.um.." She sighs a little "May..do..do you have something to say?"
Maybelline shakes her head, a little awed as well, "I uh... I only met a mage once, when I was an apprentice. They were charging up the city generator. She was this tall deer, like really tall, even for a deer. Or maybe she just seemed tall... she didn't say anything to me, of course, I was just an apprentice mechanic. Who am I compared to... that?" She motions towards where the bread had previously been.
Yengrisk nods a little. "Yak is not sure why yak can do this."
Annika: "..Oh, well. Maybe you're just special?" She ponders that, glancing to May, waiting for a reply.
Maybelline seems a little shaken, but blinks suddenly and turns to Annika, "Oh! Oh uh... I was gonna ask you about your passion. I know you're working hard to be able to get yourself a house here... but what's your passion in life?"
Annika: "Oh..uh.." She thinks, biting her lip a little, opening her mouth..closing it, before giving a small shrug "Just..live my life I guess. I'm not really a uh..'passionate' person"
Annika wasn't lying exactly, but she wasn't saying things.
Maybelline tilts her head slightly, "No? Nothing you really enjoy doing? Hobbies? Or just... dreams of what you could do if you could do anything?"
Yengrisk: Surely you have something that moves you, yes?
Annika rolls her shoulder a little, awkwardly "I don't know. I've just never thought about it" It's almost like she feels like she's being interrogated
Maybelline frowns a little once again, "Oh uh, sorry Annika... that's just... so sad. But I'll drop it, if you'd rather."
Annika: "Well...it's not like..I'm unhappy..I just..never really thought about it is all!" Now this really does feel like an interrogation "I..don't know..what is there to drop?"
Yengrisk ahhs softly, and shrugs shaggily. "Maybe you'll find something someday! You are still young, yes? Yak is not sure how to tell with small folk."
Maybelline 's ears fold down a little as she raises a hand almost defensively, "No-nothing at all, consider it dropped, err, or not dropped, or whatever you want! Or... gah." She cringes at herself and slumps, "Sorry. I'm just... trying to get to know you better, that's all."
Annika: "Oh! That's fine..but.just..we're friends, but there's some stuff that I can't really talk about is all.." She gives a wan smile ".and yeah, I still am. Lots of time ahead of me"
Maybelline sets her head down on the table, feeling like an idiot and murmuring out an apology. "I... understand. Sorry."
Annika: "No need to say sorry! You're only trying to help!"
Yengrisk looks to Maybelline. "what about the lady ferret? What do you want from life, yes?"
Maybelline lifts her head, blushing a little beneath her fur as she looks at Annika, "I want... from life... I want to make my parents proud. I want my Dad to know he raised me right, and that I did it. I made it. I wanted to be a bigshot. But now, I don't know. Life threw me a curveball, and I'm just trying to figure it all out right now."
Yengrisk ahhs, and smiles. "Yes, this sounds a lot like Yengrisk. Yak does not know why they have magic, but wants to find out, yes?"
Annika: "Oh, well, I hope both of you succeed in all that! It sounds so wonderful!"
Maybelline scratches her head as she glances away, "What, whatever 'all that' is, yeah. Me too." She smiles at Yengrisk regardless, "That sounds like a much better goal then mine. I don't think I'd be much help to you at all, but uh, if you need a friend, I can try to do that."
Yengrisk grins wide. "Yak is always accepting of new friends, yes! Yak is a long way from home, after all."
Maybelline nods, smiling timidly, "Me too, Yengrisk... me too."
Annika: "I'm...Well, I suppose a little bit?.."
Annika: "..I don't think I'm as far though"
Yengrisk: Yak does like it here, at least. Maybe a bit warm, yes?
Maybelline smiles at Annika, "Not like that matters to friends, right?" She rests back in her seat, picking up her lukewarm coffee and mixing a few sugars into it. "...maybe a little too warm sometimes, yeah. I guess I try to stay indoors though."
Yengrisk: Indoors, outdoors, both have their merits, yes.
Annika appears to have dozen off at some point at the table...tiredfox.
Maybelline turns to say something to Annika, then pauses. "...oh. She's been working so hard, guess she fell asleep." She shrugs to Yengrisk. "Should I... should I move her somewhere more comfortable?"
Yengrisk nods a bit. "Yak wouldn't ant to wake up with yak's face in dinner, to be sure."
Maybelline nods, "Me either..." She hops down off her seat, walking around the table to where Annika has apparently dozed off. Doing her best not to disturb the sleeping fox, May shifts her out of her seat to lift her up, feeling her heart beat a little faster. She glances at Yengrisk as she tries to lift the somewhat larger fox, "Maybe... I guess maybe you should lift her? I'll ask the Barkeep if he can get open her room for us instead."
Yengrisk heads over and, with surprising gentleness for a creature his size, lifts Annika up so Maybelline can find somewhere to place her.
Maybelline heads over to the barkeep, finding out where Annika's room is, and guiding Yengrisk upstairs with a spare key so that they two can deposit the sleeping fox into her bed for the night.