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RESPITE FALLS MARKETPLACE - MORNING
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Rhask makes her way through the marketplace at a leisurely pace, a stack of completed garments folded and piled in her arms as she searches the stalls for a specific one. As she goes, she nods cheerfully at anyone that greets her as she passes by, but it's obvious that she's got a destination in mind.
Emmeline has done as much as she can in terms of tidying and decorating this morning and is just reading through one of her favourite book now as she sits in her stall in the corner of the market, watching the light traffic go by. Not so many folks looking for gifts now, after the holiday, so not much for her to be doing at the moment.
Rhask eventually spots Emmeline's stall and makes her way over, a little smile upon her face as she draws up to the side of the stall opposite her. "Morning, miss Emmeline!"
Emmeline looks up at the sound of her name and smiles at Rhask. "Oh, hello Rhask. Welcome to the shop, for whatever it is."
Rhask looks around at the array of trinkets on display after a moment. "It's a nice stand you've got set up. I just hope I'm able to help out with my stuff."
Emmeline looks at the armful of sweaters that Rhask is carrying and quickly starts clearing some space on the right side of the counter. "Oh, I'm sure it will. Having more than just the trinkets for a while will be nice." She nods to the lizard. "You can set them out just there..." She then moves on to better arranging the baubles and removing excess space-filling decor from between them.
Rhask waits for Emmeline to clear up enough space, then starts to set down the clothes. She makes sure to leave them folded so folks can see the patterns, but not take up too much space on the stall's counter. "Thank you, miss Emmeline. If it helps draw folks to your stall, it'll be worthwhile."
Emmeline nods, smiling. "Do you have any signage or price tags or the like?"
Rhask shakes her head a bit as she goes about setting down the last couple of pieces. "I'm afraid not... I didn't think to make things like that while working on the clothes."
Emmeline helps Rhask neatly pile the sweaters and then starts filling up the space around them with small decorations. "It's all right. I can make some up for you." She looks up at the Lizard. "But please, come into the booth." She nods toward the side where there's a flap.
Rhask tilts her head as she looks over to the side, then quickly shuffles around the stall into the booth. "Oh! Right, yeah... can't really sell stuff from outside, right?"
Emmeline pulls the second stool out from under the counter and offers it to Rhask. "Well you could, but it would look odd." She laughs. "So welcome aboard. I'll need to introduce you to Jennica still. She's in one of her crafting sprees, so she won't be in today."
Rhask hums, smiling brightly as she takes a seat on the offered stool. "Thank you, again! I didn't think I'd end up being a merchant, but I guess it makes sense since I make stuff." She tilts her head a bit, "And... miss Jennica makes things, too?"
Emmeline nods. "She's the magical crafting brains of the outfit. I just manage the business and decoration end of things." She picks up one of the baubles and carefully extracts the magitech core from it. "She makes this..." The crystalline craft is carefully reinserted into the bits that make it look nice. "And I make the rest."
Rhask gazes at the core with curious eyes, only to seem perhaps a little more cautious about accidentally nudging any of the trinkets afterwards. "Ohh, and... all of these are like that? What do they do, if they're magitech? I heard that stuff is good for all kinds of things!"
Emmeline sits on her own stool. "Oh, different things. Jennica crafts by feel, so nothing's ever quite the same. Even the good luck charms are all a bit different. We sell a lot of those. They just.. make things smoother. You'll be less likely to drop your shopping or step in a puddle or whatever. Other things are more practical." She points out a few things. "That one makes whatever you it on feel a bit lighter." She picks it up and clips it to her stool. "Here, lift it up."
Rhask blinks, then reaches over and picks the stool up by a couple of its legs. She tilts her head curiously, noting that it does feel a bit lighter than expected, somehow. "...Huh."
Emmeline unclips the bauble and sets it down on the counter again. "You still have to be able to lift whatever it is, it just makes it feel better." She shrugs. "At least that's what she tells me. She barely understands most of her things, so I'm hopeless with a lot of them."
Rhask 's arms drop just a touch when the trinket gets removed, but she's otherwise able to keep hold of the stool without trouble. She stares curiously at it for another few moments, then goes to put it back down. "I guess miss Jennica just has... some kind of sixth sense about it? I don't really understand magitech at all, either."
Emmeline shrugs. "I think it's all about the crystals. She works with small ones and is able to get a lot out of them by figuring out what they want to do. I think." She sits down again and smiles at Rhask. "You can ask her all about it when you two meet, though."
Rhask nods. "I might! I don't know if I'll understand even a bit of anything miss Jennica will be explaining, but... it sounds interesting, anyway!"
Emmeline opens a drawer in a small cabinet and gets out some stiff card and her quill and ink. "What do you want the sign for the sweaters to say? Or would you rather make it yourself?"
Rhask reaches a hand up and scratches the side of her head. "Uhh... well, you're the expert merchant... all I'd probably come up with is something silly like 'clothes for sale'."
Emmeline giggles a bit. She pokes at Rhask for some key information before making a succinct sign that mentions 'hand-made' 'North Vamas-style' and other appealing words. "Right... does that look good to you?"
Rhask looks at the sign and nods quite readily. "Oh yes! That's already far better than what I'd have come up with. You've got that certain... merchant flair that gets folks to buy things."
Emmeline blushes at that. "Oh, thank you dear. Just some tricks I've picked up along the way." She sets the sign in place and looks over at Rhask. "So..."
Rhask hums curiously as she looks at Emmeline. "Hm? So...?"
Emmeline cocks her head, pondering. "Not sure really. Do you have any questions about anything?"
Rhask shakes her head. "Nothing off the top of my head at the moment, though I'll probably figure something out sooner or later today, I'm sure."
Emmeline nods. "All right." The conversation shifts in more mundane topics as the two spend the morning together without too many customers interrupting them.