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RESPITE MARKETPLACE - AFTERNOON
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Erika is wandering through the marketplace, more really greeting people and sowing confusion than looking for something. The feral okapi glances at the lizard on her back: "Is it just me, or are we attracting attention again?"
Nesseth chuckles a bit as he looks at Erika from his spot on her back. "Well... we're a talking feral okapi with a talking feral lizard on her back wandering through the marketplace greeting folks like nothing is out of the ordinary, dear. Not exactly a common sight."
Erika hums: "Yeah I know, but I mean besides that."
Nesseth shrugs as he lays his head on Erika's back again, rather enjoying the warmth of the sun. "Aside from that, no idea."
Erika hums some more: "I'm not that strange, am I? I can't be, I'm me."
Nesseth hums in turn. "No stranger than anyone else, I'd say. We've all got our quirks."
Mirriam strides through the crowded marketplace, or at least along the edges of it as she quickly takes her out-of-crowd route through, though her eyes are scanning the crowd for a certain okapi-sized gap. She'd just returned after a speedy trip to and from Bairnell, only to immediately catch wind of some beastly business. With a not insignificant "A-ha!" she breaks through to where Nesseth and Erika are, stopping short and giving them a mixed look of horror and curiosity. "What th'ell have ya gone and done now?!" She gestures at the two. "Whakinda news ya think this left me, ya nuts? Get back 'n hear ya two gone 'n got inta an accident, then hear ya were turned inta critters, then hear y'all're in the marketplace! No sense! And why?"
Erika glances at the lizard: "You're biased, but I appreciate your thoughts anyway." She blinks and cranes her neck around to look at the roo: "Oh, hi Mirriam! ...and uh, which question do you want us to answer first?"
Nesseth jumps a bit and almost slides off of Erika's back at the sudden torrent of questions directed at him and Erika. He manages to regain his balance after a moment as he looks over, only to smile sheepishly at Mirriam. "Oh, uh... hi, Mirriam."
Mirriam looks a bit baffled as the two animal-looking friends speak, shaking her head. "All of them! None! I dunno, cher!" She looks to Nesseth with a bit of a spark. "Don'tcha just oh-hi-Mirriam me! Y'all nevah said y'were inta shapeshiftin' magic foolery stuff." She looks back to Erika. "When'd ya even learn magic?!"
Erika blinks, tilting her head: "I... I don't? I mean, I haven't? We uh-" She looks at Nesseth, then back to Mirriam: "We most definitely did not sleep on a field of flowers we should have recognized that tend to feral-transform people who are affected by them for longer and I most assuredly do not know this from previous experience because that would be very silly."
Nesseth shakes his head a bit, looking surprised at Mirriam's apparent state of "slightly freaked out". "We're not into it in any way, though! We just got stuck like this on accident! We don't even know magic!"
Mirriam crosses her arms and tilts her head, giving the two a bit of scrutiny. "Y'all tellin' me ya bein' all... Au naturel is cause ya sniffed some funny flowers whilt f-...rolickin' in the hills?" She looks to Nesseth. "Well good! Cause ya certainly ain't gettin' no frolickin' with me til' ya have the old 'mount of legs 'n stuff."
Erika glances at Nesseth again, before looking back to Mirriam with just a bit of amusement in her voice: "W-weell, when you put it like that, I suppose yeah we sort of did. Putting a new meaning to unprotected sex." She blinks, then giggles at her own words.
Nesseth sighs and rolls his eyes a bit. "Well, good news for you, Mirriam. Plume's already working on the cure, so we'll be back to normal in a couple of days or so."
Mirriam cracks a giggle at Erika's statement before shaking her head a bit. "Good, don't go wanderin' inta no hunter's paths til then, aye?" She sighs, glancing about at the small number of folks witnessing her tirade. "Honestly, can't leave y'all t'yer own devices for pickin' flowers any more. How'd ya survive while I was gone?"
Erika hums: "Notable survival skills, mostly covering our tracks, good chunk of luck to go with that? I think that about covers it." If she could, she would be giving Mirriam the cheesiest of grins right now.
Mirriam gives the two an exaggerated sigh. "Least ya made it back alive, 'f not uninjured. And learned ya a good lesson, aye?"
Erika nods sagely: "Oh, yes. Will definitely avoid this happening a third time."
Mirriam gently pokes Erika's snout. "Y'all're both older'n me, I shouldn' be the one ta lecture y'all on rollin' in strange flowers... Third time?!"
Erika gives a bit of an amused sigh: "There's a reason we already know how the cure, uh, works."
Nesseth smiles a little. "It happened to Erika before. This is the first time I've gotten hit by it, though."
Mirriam sighs, leaning over the two and giving them an awkward combined hug. "Good! 'Slong as y'all ain't hurt... First gods damned rumor was about an accident, got me all worried 'n upset. I ain't happy 'bout all this by any measure, but what's done is done, aye?"
Erika leans her neck upon Mirriam's: "We didn't intend to worry anyone. And on the plus side, we got a huge haul of rare herbs, which was kinda the point of our trip."
Nesseth leans into the hug as best as he can as a lizard. "We'll be back to normal in a couple of days, don't worry, Mirriam. We did manage to get all the things we'd meant to get when we went out, so... that's a victory, even if we got, er... inconvenienced."
Erika glances at Nesseth: "And that's with us losing all our gear once. Still not sure exactly what that beast was."
Mirriam blinks, releasing the hug after a few moments. "Beast? Like, somethin' yeh've never seen, or somethin' ya couldn' see?"
Erika glances at Nesseth questioningly: "...kinda bit of both, right?"
Nesseth shrugs and nods. "Kind of? Never saw something like that thing before, never really got a good look at it, and what we did see wasn't exactly easy to describe..."
Mirriam hums. "Maybe you two should take like a guard or somethin' with ya next time?"
Erika chuckles: "I did."
Mirriam giggles. "I was thinking one that don't need ta take such a handsy approach."
Nesseth manages a sheepish smile. "Well... we did have the idea of going out to map locations of the flowers, once we're back to normal."
Erika nods: "They do seem to be pretty particular about where they grow, liking these tree-surrounded dry-ish fields. I'm pretty sure we can find them without trouble." She pauses. "Well, more trouble."
Mirriam nods, stepping a bit to the side of the two. "Definitely sounds like a good idea, no more accidents if'n it c'n be helped."
Nesseth smiles as he takes a moment to slide down off of Erika's back to ride on Mirriam's shoulders. "So... what all's happened while we were gone, anyway? You said you had a delivery to run to Bairnell?"
Erika nods: "We missed quite a bit I guess, so do tell~."
Mirriam nods, putting a hand on Nesseth to steady him as she recalls her own minor adventure, that is to say a relatively uneventful run back and forth, before prying for more details of their trip to the mountains, ending in the three chatting for a few hours at the nearest cafe.