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MARKETPLACE - AFTERNOON
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Jennica yawns as she fumbles with her tinkering, after finally sighing and lightly tossing the piece of scrapmetal to her sidetable full of similar half-finished would-be useful trinkets. "Just not getting it today, it seems..." she mutters to herself as she glances around the relatively quiet marketplace. No sales today either.
Rhask sits beside Jennica, having been mostly keeping to herself so as to not disturb the cow as she worked with... whatever it is she's working with. She directs her attention towards her fellow merchant, however, upon hearing her muttering. "Things aren't working out too well today, Miss Jennica?"
Jennica sighs again, shaking her head: "N-no... sorry, Miss Rhask. Sorry I'm not really attractin' people here I g-guess."
Rhask shakes her head with a smile. "Some days just feel slower than others, that's all. Miss Emmeline mentioned as much while helping get me set up here. I'm guessing today is just a slow one for everyone around the marketplace."
Jennica looks around and slowly nods: "Yeah, I guess..." She turns to Rhask: "I guess I don't mind the quiet, it's Em that really does thrive in the customer talk, not me."
Rhask giggles a bit, smiling as she nods. "The quiet's nice, and Miss Emmeline really does seem to do well with handling customers. I'm still just trying to get a handle on the sales."
Jennica smiles as she leans her butt on the side table, crossing her arms: "Y-yeah, me too. I sorta just invent and she makes them-" she motions at the trinkets at the front, all polished and shiny: "-sound so much better than they probably really even are."
Rhask hums thoughtfully as she looks at the objects in question, some of which she's helped to sell to folks not necessarily looking to buy clothing. "The way Miss Emmeline says it, they're helpful in ways folks don't usually think about. It's still more than I know about at all, so they're really nice!"
Jennica blushes a bit: "Oh. I guess they are... it's just sort of what I do. Only thing I really know how to do..." She looks over at Rhask's creations: "What you make is really nice too."
Rhask grins happily. "Oh, thank you! It's kind of what I learned while growing up, so all those designs are just kind of... stored up in my head." She reaches up and lightly taps the side of her scaly noggin with a finger, "I doubt I could forget any of it if I wanted to."
Jennica giggles, shaking her head: "I'm the complete opposite... can't really repeat a plan if I want to, I create them with so much... feeling, I guess?"
Rhask tilts her head curiously. "Really? So... did you do any sort of, like... schooling or stuff like that to learn your craft?"
Jennica shakes her head again, looking down: "N-no, I just... started tinkering and learning as I went... whenever I could, I'd just escape to... well, this." She motions her hand at the table of unfinished projects.
Rhask seems even more impressed as she looks wonderingly at the trinkets arrayed on the desk Jennica uses to craft. "Wow... so you're not like... a wizard or something like that?"
Jennica lets out a nervous laugh: "O-oh, no no. No. I'm just an amateur, fiddling with very minor magic... barely even magic, really."
Rhask giggles again. "Minor magic? Is that even a thing, though? I mean... I can't cast a spell or anything at all." She pauses, then shrugs a bit, "...Not that I've actually tried while growing up or anything, anyway."
Jennica blushes again: "R-really, I'm not much." She picks up one of her unfinished trinkets and looks at it: "I can - most of the time, anyway - make something this small tick. I can't even make a pretty small ice generator tick without outside help..."
Rhask stares rather blankly at the object Jennica is holding, then looks back up. "Uhm... tick... like a clock? Or, uh... I'm afraid magitech just goes over my head most of the time."
Jennica blinks, then looks up: "O-oh. I just mean make it work, do what I want it to... whenever I know what I want them to. It's sorta intuitive and sometimes I only find out later what's a thing do..."
Rhask tilts her head again. "That sounds kind of fun, really. It's a bit of a surprise once you find out what happens!"
Jennica giggles softly, smiling at Rhask's understanding: "It is! Emmeline says I should focus more, but that's not like how... anything works with me. I can only focus when I don't."
Rhask giggles. "Just kind of let your hands do the work, then? I get the same way when knitting. I just kind of focus on it so much that I don't even realize how much time is passing, but it's like... not really focusing?"
Jennica nods, smirking: "Yeah, like that... it's hard to describe, but yeah."
Rhask nods in turn. "I can understand, then. That sort of thing, you can't really... focus for, I guess. We just do."
Jennica giggles again: "Yup! We just do. That's a good way to put it." She puts the half-made trinket in her hands back to the table: "We may make different things, but the thinking process is sorta similar."
Rhask hums happily. "Mmhm! I guess I shouldn't be surprised folks can work like that, sometimes. Kind of like instinct, I guess."
Jennica shrugs: "Something like that. I've never thought about it all hard, just do what I do." She gives Rhask a smile: "I guess I'm glad Em invited you to join us, you're nice."
Rhask grins. "I'm glad Miss Emmeline had the idea to let us share space! I'd have probably been working in the Minnow or something, otherwise." She dips her head, "And I'm happy you're both so nice, because it makes working in the marketplace so much more fun."
Jennica smiles, glancing around the near-deserted-of-potential-customers marketplace: "Yeah... and I guess it's nice to have company too."
Rhask nods as she looks around at the lack of customers that pretty much every stall is currently having to contend with. "Yeah, it makes dealing with the slower parts of the day easier."
Jennica sticks her tongue out at her craft-or-lack-thereof: "Especially when I can't create."
Rhask hums thoughtfully, glancing between Jennica and the table. "You know, that does make me wonder... does Miss Emmeline have other jobs that she deals with, aside from this stall? If you're the crafter, and she's better at the customer thing... how come she has you tending the stall sometimes?"
Jennica shrugs, smiling: "She needs her breaks too. We're in this together..." There is the tiniest bit of doubt in Jennica's voice, as though the thought is only now occurring to her.
Rhask nods again. "Yeah, the way Miss Emmeline made it sound, you two have been business partners for a little bit, now, right?"
Jennica smiles: "We've known since we were little kids, yeah. Partnered together for this venture."
Rhask smiles warmly. "Sounds like things just kind of worked out, huh?" She laughs a bit, "And here I am just kind of wandering far away from home."
Jennica shrugs, leaning back: "I mean, we're pretty far from home too. Not that I mind... don't miss the cold one bit."
Rhask giggles again. "Well, I mean, you two are at least traveling together, right? I kind of just went off on my own." She pauses, shifting her outfit just a little, "I... might miss the cold a little, myself, but the nights are pretty close to it, at least."
Jennica tilts her heads lightly: "I guess... each to their own." She picks up a different half-made trinket from before and starts fiddling with it, trying to make the innate magic do its' thing.
Rhask hums again, nodding as she starts to look around the marketplace again, maybe hoping that a customer decides to pay the stall a visit eventually. "So... Emmeline said you two are from Vamas, too. Where from?"
Jennica nods slowly: "A small town by the name of Envema. Not that much to it. It's in the highlands, kind of a crossroads I guess."
Rhask tries to think if she's ever heard of the place, but comes up empty. "Envema... a highlands town? Sounds nice, if a bit chilly being higher up." She smiles again, "I'm from Cromerth, a bit of a ways north from Glacier Bay. Lots of snow, but still kind of close to the coast, so it's... bearable?"
Jennica shrugs: "Either way, Respite is a lot better. Dunno why my ancestors decided that the hilly snowy cold highlands were the place to be, but I don't share that."
Rhask giggles and gives Jennica a bit of a sympathetic shrug of her shoulders. "I wish I could answer that one, Miss Jennica. If I could, maybe I'd know why Lizards thought the cold would be a nice place to go, too."
Jennica giggles: "Fair enough." The two continue talking through the eventless afternoon, getting to know each other out of at least as much boredom as interest, although there seems to be at least a degree of shared sort of passion with creating things...