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RESPITE MARKETPLACE - MIDDAY
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Rhask is once again manning the stall she's been sharing with Emmeline and Jennica, though as of late it's only been her and Jennica... and even more recently, just her. She's not really sure what's going on, but she knows Emmeline is still missing, at least, and that the guards have set out to bring her and the others back. She's not fully certain what happened to Jennica, as no one she's asked has seen her recently, but there haven't been any reports of further attacks near the town since the one that got repelled a while back.
Jennica slowly creeps towards the stall. Her stall. She was feeling confident up until this point, but now every kind of "what if" is finding her instead. She ends up just standing some distance away, looking at Rhask as her mind attempts to figure out how to approach this.
Rhask has been occupying herself with her knitting, as the town seems a bit less lively than usual with most of the guards out to the west. Less people in the marketplace means less people looking for stuff to buy, and she figures if someone wants something, they'll approach and catch her attention. She does have a few pieces of clothing to catch up on sooner rather than later.
Jennica stares at Rhask a moment before sighing and walking over. She pauses at the table in front and briefly considers just going under it since she now could without even really bending down much, but instead she walks around to the "employees only" side and gives Rhask a weak smile. "H-hey."
Rhask hums curiously and looks up, only to blink and look down a bit at the kobold smiling sheepishly at her. She returns the smile with a warm one after a moment of confusion passes. "Oh, hi, there! Are you looking to buy something, miss? How can I help you?"
Jennica wrings her arm with her other hand in a familiar way: "Err, not... uh, not quite. Sorry, Rhask. I did a dumb and that's why I've been away, didn't mean to leave you alone like that." She looks up: "I uh... w-well, um. Hi." She mentally smacks herself for her eloquence, but what else is new?
Rhask has become quite familiar with Jennica's mannerisms in the time they've worked together at the stall. She notices the telltale motions of her hands, then meets her eyes again, her confusion returning stronger than before. "...Uhm... J-Jennica...? What... happened...?"
Jennica sighs, looking down: "I uh... used a healthiness potion. Made me-" She gives a small chuckle: "-healthy. Just um... like this. As a kobold."
Rhask tilts her head. "A... healthiness potion? What's that supposed to do, other than... well, this?" She sets down her knitting for a moment, "You seemed pretty healthy before now?"
Jennica gives a wry laugh: "I definitely don't have the flu now. And I feel just... sorta better? It's hard to qualify." She shrugs, leaning on a table and flailing slightly as she misjudges her height: "Ack. But, um. Yeah."
Rhask hums curiously. "Mmh... so... is this permanent, or something? I'm glad to hear you're not sick, but, um..." She chews on her words for a moment, "I can't imagine this is comfortable for you."
Jennica sighs, shaking her head: "It's not. I'm really really trying to not freak out. With, uh, various levels of success." She frowns, looking up at Rhask: "As for permanence... I'm not sure. I haven't found Strix yet to be certain."
Rhask furrows her brow a bit, thinking. "Well... I hope you can find him soon, then. What are you going to do for the time being?"
Jennica shrugs, leaning on a table (this time making sure she's on a spot to do it): "Don't know. I... okay, I more than tried the crying and yelling and screaming and panicking, didn't really work. Might as well continue as I can and try not to think about Emmeline seeing me like this." She blinks: "...crap."
Rhask hums and tilts her head. "Well, here's hoping it wears off soon, then? The guards on the rescue mission only just left, so it'll be a while before Emmeline gets back. So... maybe it'll just be a funny story you can tell her when she gets back?"
Jennica nods, giving a weak smile: "Y-yeah, hopefully. I mean, I uh..." She pauses, gathering her thoughts: "She's important to me n-no matter what, a-and I shouldn't be thinking about how I look when she g-gets back from whatever torture or s-something is going on..." She shakes her head: "N-no, not going down that train of thought. No good."
Rhask reaches over and gently pats Jennica on the shoulder. "The main thing is that she's getting rescued. She'll be back soon enough, and then you can help take care of her if she's hurt in any way."
Jennica nods, smiling up at Rhask: "Y-yeah. Gotta focus on the positive a-and what we can change, r-right?" She reaches to the table next to her, picking up one of her old projects and looking at it: "Work on what's malleable."
Rhask nods and smiles. "Exactly. We can only do so much here. So we just need to wait until they get back, and then work with whatever happens."
Jennica works her claws over the trinket, her magic working on the enchantment with somewhat visible glow: "Wait, hope, work on keeping things up here." She pauses, humming: "Y-yeah."
Rhask nods again as she picks up her knitting again and starts to slowly resume her current project. "Worrying only gets us so far, after all. Sometimes, it's better to try and focus on something to keep yourself occupied."
Jennica sighs, nodding as she continues, slowly making the metallic orb take shape and start emitting a small glow: "I... I think I'm pretty good at that. Y-you know I can get lost in a project." She pauses, eyes widening: "...t-the c-cooling g-generator!"
Rhask blinks and looks over at Jennica again at her outburst. "Cooling generator? What's that?"
Jennica swallows: "S-something I was supposed to finish fixing like... weeks, months ago. I uh broke a merchant's ice generator b-but didn't repair it because..." She lifts her hands: "E-eeverything."
Rhask hums, an awkward smile appearing on her face as she considers the issue. "Ah... well, that doesn't sound good at all. I'm guessing they needed that generator for their goods? Maybe they have a replacement already... but I guess a backup wouldn't be a bad thing to give them."
Jennica nods slowly: "Y-yeah, definitely not a bad thing give I broke it i-in the first place."
Rhask nods. "Then it'd be something to do instead of worrying, right? It'll be a little while, still, and I don't think even a healthiness potion will help out if you spend all that time worrying."
Jennica nodnods, her mind going onto the project in question: "I really just need to re-wire the back part of it, and replace the crystal on the front, and then..." She mumbles to herself for a few moments, figuring out where she left with the generator still in Teis' laboratory. She blinks, then gives Rhask a grin: "S-sorry. Got distracted there for a moment.
Rhask chuckles and shakes her head. "No, it's fine, Jennica. If you're going to work on that, by all means, you'd best get to it."
Jennica nods, then pauses for a second and steps over to give Rhask a hug. "Y-yeah, I will. But not now. I c-can't just all the time run away from here. A-also probably better if I don't go alone right now." She smiles: "Up for lunch?"
Rhask tilts her head and looks up at the angle of the sun, then nods with a smile. "Lunch sounds nice, sure! The marketplace has been kind of quiet these past few days, so I guess closing up for a while won't make much of a difference."
Jennica looks around, then shrugs: "Y-yeah, probably. N-not more than me going missing too, anyway."
Rhask hums and sets her knitting down under the table and goes to clean up the top of the counter of things. "Let's just get all this stowed away, then we can get some lunch!"
Jennica nods and starts seeing if anything of hers (that has been gathering dust) need stowing away, then nods with satisfaction. "Lunch good. Even if I still gotta exactly figure what this new body wants..."
Rhask smiles as she finishes stowing things away and locks the stall as Emmeline directed. "Then, let's go and find out, shall we? I might be able to offer some suggestions, since we're both reptilian."
Jennica blinks: "Reptilian... y-yeah, guess so." She looks at her stubby tail, then shrugs with a smile. "Eh, let's go."