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RESPITE FALLS - MARKETPLACE - MID-MORNING
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Emmeline walks slowly through the market with her friend. The larger of the two cows is dressed in stylish but not ostentatious green dress and matching sunhat, which compliments her pale coat and strawberry blonde hair nicely. Despite her slow pace, she still has to pause every dozen steps or so to wait for the other one to catch up. "Come on. Your the one who wanted to see the marketplace already."
Jennica follows her friend, best as she can as a combination of nerves and shorter legs keeps her lagging behind. The smaller brown bovine scrunches her face: "I d-did, but you're the f-fast one!" She's dressed in rather simple overalls and a light blue shirt, not having felt like dressing up for just checking out their potential marketplace.
Emmeline laughs. "I'm hardly that fast. You just think anyone is fast compared to your turtle's pace... Besides, we both know how picky you can be about where you work when you're making your little charms. We want to be sure to grab a spot that's good for you."
Jennica shrugs, looking about the marketplace: "W-well, yeah, but..." She trails off, not really having a good argument. Looking at a random free spot near one of the edges with a funny-looking rock next to it: "Maybe there?"
Emmeline starts walking in that direction. "Well let's have a better look at it, then." She doesn't wait for Jennica this time.
Jennica blinks, then starts after Emmeline: "H-hey, wait up!" She jogs to catch, then whispers when she's close enough: "I h-hate it when you do that." She does, however, turn to look at the free spot, then looks back at her friend and shrugs.
Emmeline turns to Jennica with a little smile on her face. "See? You /can/ move faster if you need to. And we don't need to decide on a spot right away."
Jennica frowns, but can't quite stop the embarrassed blush. She instead looks about the marketplace and shrugs again: "I mean, you're the business type, you tell me. It's all sand to me."
Emmeline looks around at the spot. "Well, is this spot good enough to keep you from getting spooked again like that one time in Westport?"
Jennica frowns again, making a shushing motion: "D-don't say that out loud! A-and yes. I think."
Emmeline gives a little nod. "Sure. Sorry, but we don't want something like that happening here. At least not before some folks know us..." She leans in and gives Jennica a gentle hug.
Jennica sighs and leans onto the hug: "I p-promise to not spook that easily. Even if things scare me." She looks up at her friend, hopeful: "We can do this, right?"
Emmeline nods. "Yeah. I'll make sure that more precautions are taken here." She releases the hug. "Should we take a look around more?" She sniffs at the air. "Oh... something smells nice. Some real food that's not from a roadside campfire would be nice..."
Jennica lets go of the hug, then sniffs as well: "Ooh, yeah. I'm hungry. Let's go find out!" She's definitely peppier than just a moment ago, the idea of food encouraging the bovine visibly.
Emmeline smiles. "Well, why don't we follow your nose, then?"
Jennica giggles and leads Emmeline into adventure... or food. Possibly both? Time will tell.
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RESPITE FALLS - MARKETPLACE - NOONISH
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Erika wanders about the marketplace, the okapi looking perhaps a bit lost although still cheery. She gets herself an ice cream and idly licks at as she walks, feeling like she's forgotten something she needed to do today but can't quite place it. She shrugs and continues with the ice cream. And walking. Both things are important.
Nesseth is idling near one of the stalls, chatting with the person running the stand. From the bits of conversation that drift away from the stall, it's just idle chatter of minimal consequence.
Erika notices Nesseth and waves: "Oh, hi!" She steps closer, grinning with her usual positive energy.
Nesseth looks around as he hears someone approaching, only to smile and wave as he spots Erika. "Hey there, Erika! Spending a little time away from your garden, today?"
Erika nodnods: "Yeah, uh... Nesseth, right." She shakes her head quickly: "Woke up at the forge for some reason..." She trails off, blushing.
Nesseth blinks, then chuckles. "The forge, hm? I wonder why." He shakes his head, amused, "Glad to see you and Cavro are doing good together."
Erika shrugs, smiling: "Yeah, guess we are. We were working on something... then got, uh, distracted?"
Nesseth tilts his head, still smiling. "Distracted, eh? Hopefully whatever you two were working on came out okay even with the distraction."
Erika nods absently, licking her almost-forgotten ice cream: "Mmyeah, think it did." She shrugs: "So what have you been up to?"
Nesseth shrugs in turn. "Not much, really, just been doing my usual guard thing and the occasional hunt outside the town. Aside from a new arrival about a week ago, it's been quiet around town lately."
Erika smiles, licking her ice cream: "Fair enough. No news is good news at times, right? I haven't had much happen either, just tending the groundworks... garden stuff."
Nesseth chuckles. "I'm honestly glad things are calming down again. Things were a bit wild for a bit while the shield was down."
Erika looks up, blinks, then nods: "Oh, yeah. It's back up now?"
Nesseth nods. "Yeah, May managed to get things set up pretty quickly once she got the old stuff cleaned up at the generator building. At the very least, we won't get sandstorms blowing through town."
Erika grins: "That's great! No more cleaning up freak sand from the bushes and trees." She blinks: "If I ever actually did that. But I probably did?"
Nesseth blinks, raising an eyebrow. "You... feeling okay, Erika?"
Erika shrugs, smiling: "Yeah? Why?"
Nesseth shrugs. "I don't know, just... I don't remember you being all that forgetful before."
Erika blinks, looking worried for a second: "Maybe I got more distracted than I think." She shrugs: "But no, I'm fine. Sand in trees isn't that important."
Nesseth chuckles after a moment. "Must've been quite a distraction, then."
Erika nods: "I recall crafting the decoration with Cavro, then I... suggested something to him and we..." She blushes fiercely: "Uhm. Did. Things."
Nesseth laughs quietly, nodding. "I had a feeling that was the case. Like I said, it must've been quite a distraction."
Erika giggles, still blushing: "He's, uh... good. With hands. Yes."
Nesseth grins in amusement. "Well, he has to be, being one of the town's smiths and all."
Erika taps her fingers together and mutters something about 'hammering arms', looking aside. "...he uh... yeah."
Nesseth chuckles. "Of course, other uses and all that."
Erika finds her grin again, though the blush does not entirely vanish: "Yeah." She then shakes her head: "Sorry about that. Just got... got, I suppose."
Nesseth nods. "He got you good, sounds like. Don't worry about it, Erika, it's fine. Besides, you two do make for a cute couple."
Erika looks at Nesseth, smiling: "Well, so are you and Plume. So there." She sticks her tongue out.
Nesseth grins happily. "I won't argue the point, so I'll give you that one."
Erika laughs a bit, then looks at the remains of her rapidly melting ice cream, sticking what's left of it to her mouth. "Mmm. Better cute than not, mright?"
Nesseth nods again. "Exactly. It helps that Plume's just so dang fluffy. They're fun to hug~" He grins to himself for a moment, then clears his throat, "Uh... right, yeah."
Erika lets out a giggle, which is then interrupted by her trying to shake away an impending brain freeze. "Mmf! Yeah. Cavro's way - oof - fun to hug too."
Nesseth notices Erika's little head shake. "Try pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth for a few moments. Plume said it'd help keep a brain freeze from happening." He smiles again after a moment, "And I bet Cavro gives you some good hugs, too, with the strength he's got from working the forge."
Erika does as instructed, focusing on that for a second before nodding with a smile: "Mmyeah. Thanks. An yeah, he does. Very firm ones."
Nesseth nods, smiling. "Just means he's not exactly shy about loving you so much."
Erika shrugs, grinning: "Not as shy as he was, yeah. We're better now, about stuff."
Nesseth chuckles. "That's good. It's way easier being in a relationship when you're open with your partner." He smiles a bit, "I hope he wasn't just shy because of that stutter he has, though. I didn't take him to be all that self-conscious, if that was the case."
Erika shakes her head: "No, he's just taken his time to... come out of his shell, if you will. Although badgers don't have shells, not like that Bracvar fellow does, but you get the idea."
Nesseth laughs a bit, nodding. "I get you, Erika, yeah. Guess he might have just been shy with you for a while, considering where you two have ended up, eh?"
Erika just shrugs and grins sheepishly, but rather notably she's not disagreeing with Nesseth's statement.
Nesseth chuckles a little more. "Anyway, just wandering around the marketplace for a bit, since you spent the morning over at the forge?"
Erika nods, looking about the marketplace: "Pretty much. Got some ice cream, gonna head back to the garden I think. Always stuff to do, there, after all."
Nesseth hums in agreement. "I could see it, especially with how well you go about tending to all that greenery there. Your mom must be really proud of how well everything's been growing."
Erika nods absently: "Yeah, pretty sure she is, the way she keeps saying it."
Nesseth nods, pausing for a few moments before continuing. "Anyway, I shouldn't keep you away for too much longer, since I'm sure you've got some plants to tend to around the garden. If you happen to need me to pick any plants while I'm out on patrol again, just let me know!"
Erika blinks, nodding: "Oh, yeah! I totally forgot to pick things for you when I was last out. I was, uh..." She blushes a bit: "...maybe thinking of Cavro. A lot." She gives a sheepish grin.
Nesseth laughs and shakes his head. "No, I meant if you needed me to pick anything for your garden. I don't mind collecting stuff for myself if need be."
Erika blinks: "R-right. Misheard." She gives a little laugh: "I'll be seeing you, anyway." She waves and starts heading towards her garden, intent on getting to work again after nearly a day of 'distractions'.