Sneaky Shopping (Ka'Ri, Ellowyn)

"Oh, gosh, not for at least a month. Not with the Darkwoods being as dangerous as its been lately." The vendor waves them off with a smile, turning back to her other customers.

Ka'Ri pushes up the bridge of her glasses, as she enjoys the feeling of lips on her other wrist. "What's going on with the Darkwoods of late?" She asks, curious, but willing to walk away hand-in-hand with Ellowyn if the shopkeeper is unable to answer.

The shopkeeper's eyes widen at the question. "You didn't hear? Bandits infiltrated a merchant caravan and slew all the city guards assigned to escort them. Happened not more than a few weeks back. Now all the caravans are in disarray and worried they'll be next."

"That's horrible," Ka'Ri gasped while internally her mind whirred. She didn't know much about the goings on of bandits in the woods, but she knew her new friend Glen did. She'd have to ask about it next she saw him.

"If you need a stopgap, please don't hesitate to call on Wuljhan, I'm happy to notify him on your behalf if you'd like. In the meantime, thank you so much for taking such good care of my lovely enbyfriend here."

"Go on, you two," the vendor urges with a smile. "Go get a room!"

With that, she turns back to the busy customers which cram against her stall.

Ka'Ri laughs along with the shopkeep and looks deeply into Ellowyn's eyes. "Well, you heard the lady. We're both done with our errands, so shall we... 'get back home' as it were?"

Ellowyn leads Ka'ri away and on a circuitous route back to veshtis

The entire way the hold her hand deep in thought about her about the mission before the arrive they turn shyly. They have to ask it'll drive them to distraction if they don't. But they don't know how.

They fumble facing Ka'ri for a moment arms piled with parcels.

"Ka'ri we should do this again. Without the work next time maybe? If you want? " Their voice sounds desperate to their ears. They are blushing and their mind is racing

-please Ehlonna I hope she knows what I'm asking, what I'm telling her I hope she know please god let her know what this has meant to me-

Ka'Ri smiles down at Ellowyn. "Sure, this was a lot of fun. I'd love to hang out with you again. I can protect you from the gnome-trampling crowds and you can keep me from shoving my foot in my mouth. It'll be perfect. But seriously, this was nice."

She's making a small joke of it, but this was genuinely nice. It really struck her how little she seemed to be self-conscious about her body and she definitely wanted to stay Ellowyn's friend and hopefully get a chance to talk about the things cis people couldn't understand. She didn't know when she'd get a chance. With the mission, it'd be unlikely she'd be able to find any time that shouldn't be filled with doing something to aid things along. And even after that, there was the crew to care for.

Her brow furrowed slightly. As she looked at the expectant eyes of Ellowyn, she felt there was something else there that they were meaning, but she couldn't figure it out. It was almost as if... nah, they wouldn't be trying to ask her out. Today was acting after all.

Not that she fully knew what she would do if Ellowyn was actually wooing her. She'd never dated an enby before and had no clue if she was romantically or sexually attracted to any and it'd be grossly inappropriate to ask for clarification, especially as there was no smooth way to go "do you... uh... have the hots for me for real," without sounding like some vain piece of work who believed everyone falls in love with them at the drop of a sail.

No, if it was there, it'd come up in the fullness of time, and she'd deal with it then. No matter what happened, she hoped she could well protect this little spark of friendship and let it grow.

Outside of Xiao, she hadn't made much of friends, so this was to her a treasure more valuable than gold or the utter dismantling of the patriarchy.

She smiled and squeezed Ellowyn's hand to reassure them. She was not going to let herself fuck this up.

Ellowyn smiles ecstatic and nods. She said yes. They Do a happy little wiggle and go inside oblivious that Ka'ri was oblivious to their actual intentions. That settled their mind begins to think about their next mission.

[Thread Close. You both receive 50 XP.]