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RESPITE MARKETPLACE - NOONISH
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Melia is wandering about Respite, just enjoying her newfound freedom, scary as it is. The nearly-tangible, mostly-visible elemental pauses every ten steps to 'feel' for a tug towards an anchor that is no longer there, unsure of herself but unable to deny that what her connection with Tarbin was, isn't anymore. Not in the same way at least, she's still going to hug him every chance even if she can't do it from inside him. She's naked as she has always been, having not really even considered that clothes might actually stick to her form now if she so inclined them to. Drawing some attention as she wanders, but at the same time many know her from having been a 'presence' in healing them or their loved ones in the Clinic lately. Some have even thanked her, which confused her quite a bit.
Rhask is sitting at the stall she's helped manage for a good while now, humming cheerfully as she knits a new order. Her knitting needles flash in the noonday sun, and the clicking as they rapidly knit and curl the fabric into the necessary patterns for the piece the customer wants can be heard from a pretty far distance amidst the general chatter in the marketplace. She seems to be fully recovered from her ordeal, thanks to Emmeline and Jennica being a supportive pair of friends while she was still feeling fearful after Yzzayt's flyover.
Melia wanders near Rhask, looking curiously at the piles of clothing, something the elemental lizard herself rather clearly lacks in.
Rhask looks up quite readily upon sensing someone near enough to the stall that they're a likely customer, and she greets the person with a cheerful smile. "Hello there! Can I help you with--" She pauses for the shortest of moments, taking in Melia's appearance, "--uhm, anything, miss?"
Melia blinks and turns around to look at the proprietor of the stall: "Oh! Hey. Probably not? But hi!" She gives a cheery wave, her movements slightly trailing green magic as she does.
Rhask tilts her head curiously as she catches sight of the wispy trails that seem to follow behind Melia's arm, but she smiles brightly. "Oh! Well, if you have any questions, or see anything you like, please feel free to tell me! I've a lot of different kinds of clothing on sale and--" She comes up short and gives Melia another curious look, "...Wait... can you talk again? You sound familiar, miss."
Melia tilts her head: "Talk again? I can, but why? You look confused." The elemental shifts her newly-gained weight from one leg to another, not quite having found a favored way to stand and walk yet.
Rhask hums thoughtfully, then shakes her head as she decides her memory might be slightly faulty. "Oh, no, I'm sorry, miss... It's just that you sounded familiar, but you don't look familiar. My mistake!"
Melia tilts her head to the other side: "Oh? I guess that's fine. I don't really look all that familiar to many I guess, since being visible is sort of a recent development for me."
Rhask seems a touch confused by that statement, and winds up tilting her head in mirror to Melia. "You were... invisible before?" She hums curiously, then decides to ask a question just to see if her memory actually is bad or not, "Out of curiosity, do you know who mister Tarbin is? The lizard with two tails?"
Melia brightens up: "Ooh, yeah! Tarbin is my best friend... at least I think that's the term. Until like, uh... yesterday, I was sorta anchored onto him and couldn't leave his side."
Rhask seems to perk up at that. "Oh! So you are familiar! I thought I'd heard your voice before, when I last spoke with mister Tarbin here in the marketplace!" She grins happily, "It's good to see you, like... actually see you!"
Melia blinks, now that she's also recalling back to them 'meeting'. "Ooh! Oh oh oh! Yeah, I remember you! You're... you're... you." She pauses: "...don't recall name, but hey it's something, right?"
Rhask giggles. "Well, I guess we can do a proper introduction, now. I'm Rhask!" She tilts her head again, "So... you were with Tarbin all that time? When you say 'anchored'... I guess you mean you couldn't get too far away from him before now?"
Melia smiles: "I'm Melia! And uh... yeah, sort of. In a nutshell, I was sorta tangled into a garden around here, Tarbin and few others tried to help me out from there, it sorta backfired and I got stuck into and with Tarbin instead, but now I'm free again to not need to be near him probably because we think my Flow got strong enough to need that anymore... something along those lines, anyway."
Rhask blinks as she listens to the short version of the explanation, but the magical aspects seem to fly right over her head. "Well, I'm happy it worked out for you, at least, miss Melia. It sounds like you, mister Tarbin and the others had a rough time of things for a bit."
Melia shrugs: "Rough is sort of relative I guess. I'm fine, if afraid and confused and now on my own and not sure what to do... that is, fine." She doesn't sound entirely convinced as she talks, but smiles regardless.
Rhask smiles understandingly and nods. "Oh, I know that feeling well, miss Melia. I felt much the same when I'd first left my hometown to travel. It was a scary, big world with so much going on that I had no idea where to even begin. But at the same time, the world being so big means there's so much out there to see and learn about!"
Melia nodnods, humming at that: "I haven't really left Respite in the last year... that is, ever. What's out there in the world? No clue."
Rhask 's smile brightens. "There's so much! I'm from the continent of Vamas, far to the north, as an example! Everything there is so much different from things here, like the food, decorations, weather, all the different kinds of people, and... well, just about everything!"
Melia listens with fascination: "Ooh... that all sounds fancy. And fun. Fancy fun?" She shifts around, her sizable headfrills moving as she does, glittering a bit of magic down: "I wonder if I could travel there or somewhere?"
Rhask nodnods! "Yeah! Booking passage on a ship to travel wouldn't be too hard at all. It... does take a while to get anywhere with boats, though, so... I hope you don't get seasick. Though... if you're made of magic...? Do... do you even get seasick, miss Melia?"
Melia shrugs with a smile: "No idea! Never even been to the sea, sick or otherwise."
Rhask giggles and nods. "Well... the sea is really beautiful, but when storms come through and the boat is out on the open ocean, wow... things can get rough." She thinks for a moment, then reaches up and taps the top of a pile of clothes with a smile, "Of course, if you do head out exploring a bit, I could get you set with some nice clothing that should keep you nice and cozy while on the ocean! It can get really cold at night, with all the water spray and mist and stuff."
Melia imagines a big body of water and a storm on it, unsure how she fits in that picture. She then looks at the clothes: "...nice clothing? I suppose selling rude clothing wouldn't really be a working tactic in the market."
Rhask chuckles at that and nods. "Hehe... yeah, I don't think rude clothes would do very well at all. These will keep you warm and dry, though! All designed after clothes from my hometown in Vamas!" She stands up and poses just a little to show off her own outfit, one of her favorites from home.
Melia looks Rhask up and down, then at her own clothes-less body: "Oh, so that's what they are for. Heat insulation."
Rhask nods. "Insulation, and the designs on the things I knit are really good for spotting people in snow. Even if it doesn't snow here on Aephix, people seem to like the designs." She smiles a bit, "But, also just to generally cover up. Modesty and such. Not everyone is comfortable showing off their figure."
Melia nods slowly, looking Rhask over: "I guess... dunno. Covering up seems like you're not being honest who you are?" She's clearly not getting the idea of clothing.
Rhask hums, not having even considered that line of thought before. "...Humm... You know, that does make sense, miss Melia. Not a lot of folks think that way, though, especially outside of Aephix." She sighs a little, "I'm pretty sure walking around nude up in Vamas would get you arrested, as an example..."
Melia blinks: "Huh. Why?"
Rhask shrugs. "It's just a rule up there. I don't know why, but there's probably a reason? Though, I suppose if you go without clothing while in snow... you won't live long at all, so maybe that's just a precaution?"
Melia is not any less confused: "...snow? What's that and why would I not live in it?"
Rhask tilts her head, then blinks in understanding. "Oh! Right! You never left Aephix... never left Respite Falls ever, right? Snow is... water, er... rainfall, but, really, really cold! So cold that it falls from the sky already frozen." She gestures at herself, "For us... I mean... folks not completely magical, if we stay out in the cold too long without some way of keeping warm, we can freeze to death."
Melia listens intently, trying to parse this new concept: "...ooh. So you need clothing to keep going, if this 'snow' drops from the sky." She's likely not imagining this correctly either, but her curiosity keeps her going: "I guess clothes make sense then..."
Rhask nods, not realizing that Melia might be imagining the concept wrong. "Clothes keep us warm when it's really cold out, but... if you're made of magic, maybe it's not so bad?" She shakes her head, "But I'd probably still say you should wear something just in case."
Melia looks at Rhask, nods, then looks at the clothing piles: "...me? I don't... I haven't? What would you recommend?"
Rhask shakes her head. "I mean, if you go to Vamas, you should probably wear something. If you're comfortable as you are now here in Respite, and no one minds, well... it wouldn't be fair of me to say you should cover up, right?"
Melia hums: "Does not sound fair, but I am not certain... don't really know the rules, I guess." She looks around: "I don't know if anyone minds, no one has said anything."
Rhask shrugs as she glances around, noting that while folks are casting curious looks at Melia... no one seems to really bat an eye for some reason. "Huh... well... if no one is raising a fuss..."
Melia smiles: "I guess someone would say if I'm being weird or doing something not allowed, right?"
Rhask hums and nods. "Mmhm! If it was against the law, I'm sure the guards would have spoken up already. So... maybe they're okay with it?"
Melia nods enthusiastically: "Yes! Clearly."
Rhask chuckles. "See? That's what I mean about there being so much to discover in the world. Aephix, especially Respite Falls, is so different from elsewhere that I've seen since I left my hometown. Even though I've been in town for... a while, maybe almost a year? I'm still learning new things!"
Melia hums, considering this: "There is lot to learn, yes. But thank you, Rhask!"
Rhask nods happily. "The learning is the fun part of everything being new! I have to say, though, miss Melia, it's really nice to finally meet you face to face."
Melia smiles brightly: "Better than just voice to voice! Or something." The elemental shifts her position again, tail slightly swishing: "I do wonder what all is there to find out, now... what kind of plant life is there?"
Rhask grins. "Oh, everything looked different when I first arrived here in Aephix. None of the plants that were growing in the wild looked anything like the plants and trees back home. I think... I think most of the plants back home are meant to handle cold weather?"
Melia tilts her head: "I guess that would make sense... plants are more sensitive to air changes than I am."
Rhask nods. "If it really does affect them that much, then yes... the air is so much colder up in Vamas. Even during the day, we bundle up warm in my hometown."
Melia looks up towards the bright sun above them: "I wonder how... guess I can go there one day and find out."
Rhask smiles brightly. "It might be something fun for you to do, traveling elsewhere for a bit just to see what else is in the world!"
Melia nodnods excitedly: "I could do that! Sounds like fun."
Rhask giggles. "You could even take mister Tarbin with you. He's not from here, right? He knows a bit about traveling!"
Melia nods again, humming: "He could... I don't think I'd really want to go without him. He's... special, to me."
Rhask smiles in amusement. "Well, you were anchored to him for a while, like you said earlier. I'd be more surprised if he wasn't special to you!"
Melia smiles: "Yup, you understand! He's like... actually, no, let's say 'special', to me."
Rhask nods. "We'll go with 'special', then. No need to say anymore than that."
Melia giggles, waving her hand a bit: "Or something else! I don't know. I'll need to talk to him to find out what he wants me to say he is."
Rhask chuckles in amusement. "That wouldn't be a bad idea! The sooner you find out, the sooner you two can figure out what you are to each other."
Melia blushes a bit, something in Rhask's words making her mind wander. "Yup! I gotta... find him, I think." She looks about, pondering her course of action right now.
Rhask dips into a little bow. "Well, if you're heading off to find him, don't let me keep you, miss Melia! If you want to come back and browse, the stall is open almost every day, and I'm almost always here!"
Melia nodnods, then gives Rhask a quick hug before starting away: "Thank you! I will be back!" The elemental starts going towards where she thinks she will find Tarbin, important questions on her mind.
Rhask giggles at the hug and returns it briefly before Melia heads away. She waves cheerfully at the elemental before settling back into her seat to continue her knitting, looking quite cheerful after the chat.