ORIGIN - playing barbies with my friend, maybe they'll find something, maybe not

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Lichen chuffs a light laugh, pawing about until she could feel the opening of the bindle. After inserting the cave mango, which was absolutely what it was. There are such things as cave mangos. She leans back on her haunches, thirty-something coins was certainly a lot. Approximately thirty more than she expected to gather from all this. "Well, I suppose if creeps and weirdos are offering tasty food, they can do whatever they please." Lichen snickers. Probably not her best joke.

"I've put the cave mango in the bag." Lichen announces, before turning her head again. She supposed an attempt to look wouldn't hurt; even if she had never seen grains, well, anywhere for that matter. But, perhaps there would be some peppers, not that she knew what they wanted with peppers. They had a foul taste that burned hot in her mouth, she'd thought they were poison when she attempted to try them once during a desperate time in her life; she'd spat it out immediately...

...To which she found nothing of interest in the immediate surrounds. "I can't see anything special around. Maybe this is enough." Lichen mused aloud.

Coin flip used to determine if there was anything more; landed on nothing.
@Aurelle

Luckily for them, Aurelle and Lichen lived in a world where creeps 'doing whatever they pleased as long as they had food' didn't have as bad implications as it does in ours. Aurelle let out a low 'snrrkk' of laughter behind her bundles of firewood.

"Alright, then," Aurelle said. "Do you want to carry some of the wood? It's not heavy, but it's kind of a lot."

With the firewood situation sorted out-- either with Aurelle carrying it all, or them halfing it, Aurelle started padding through Polaris. "Do you want to give your hands a wash, actually?" she piped up suddenly. "Your hands might be covered in nasty after touching the corpse."

@Lichen

Lichen reached for the wood, but when Aurelle mentioned her hands, she put her grubby mitts back down. "Ah, yes. Right." Hygiene was still a relatively new concept to her given she was living as more or less a feral animal for most of her life. "That stream shouldn't be too far..." She thought aloud before plodding towards the sounds of running water.

Once she found the stream she gave herself a good dip. Flopping over in the shallows and wriggling until she was completely soaked, it wasn't a good wash by any means, but it likely got most of the big pieces of nasty off. The spores likely still lingered in large smears, but that wasn't new by any means; the dragon lived with fungus growing off of her.

She shook herself off before returning to Aurelle, once again positioning herself into the awkward bipedal position that she wasn't really made for. She extends her arms for the stick. "I'm ready to take them and I'm clean."

@Aurelle

"That's good," Aurelle said. She listened to Lichen splash around, her ears lifted up. "You should try having a wash in Pisces sometime. It has a lot of little streams and waterfalls."

She didn't know what soap was, but if she did, she'd love it. She liked being clean, having showers and taking baths. She liked how her skin felt soft and her hair felt fluffier, and of course not stinking like sweat was always a plus, too.

Not that she minded when Lichen stank, of course. Like she'd said yesterday, that was friend stink. Totally different from Aurelle-is-stinky stink.

Handing half of the pile of wood to Lichen, she turned and focused her magic. They must have gone a fair distance through Polaris, because she didn't immediately sense where the tunnel yawned open. "Hmm..." she hummed contemplatively. "I suppose we'll just... retrace our steps," she said.

So, back to the corpse she began walking. "Are you gonna get a hot bone when we get back?"

@Lichen

The awkwardness of trying bipedal locomotion when you're not made for it, meant Lichen awkwardly toddled behind Aurelle, looking the perfect part of toddler who had just learned how to walk. It was slow, clumsy, but she kept her claws tight around the wood. If she fell on her face, she'd simply pick herself back up again.

"I thought it would depend on when I woke up. I'm not certain they have hot bone if I only woke up," she trailed off, trying to remember exactly how long it'd been since she woke up. "Do you think they'll be upset if I don't remember when I woke up?" She followed up.

Then, more alarmed she called out, "will they have the hot food you want? Er, hot deer?" Lichen asked much more urgently, after all, that's what they were doing all this for.

@Aurelle

"I'm not sure," Aurelle said thoughtfully. "Maybe it's a matter of... quantity?"

It made sense to her, at least. Surely if it got more expensive, it meant that there was more of it. "I mean, when you eat a big meal, you want to sleep after, right? Maybe that's why dinner is for before you go to sleep, and breakfast is for when you wake up."

She almost felt the urge to tap her chin like she usually did when she was thinking particularly hard, but she didn't want to drop the firewood. "We can always just... ask nicely," she said. "Maybe depending on what we ask for, the price changes. Maybe they'll think a hot bone is breakfast food, and it'll be two coins, and maybe they'll think hot deer is a dinner food, and it'll be four."

Aurelle shrugged a shoulder, not that Lichen could see it. "We'll figure it out," the elf offered, cheerful. Optimistic. "Things are always easier in practice than they are when you try to explain them."

@Lichen

Lichen wanted nothing more than to toss her head back and groan. Aurelle made it sound so simple, and she was absolutely correct; Lichen couldn't find any flaw in that logic, not in the slightest. What made her exasperation bubble was the last part, having to ask. To find out they'd have to talk to people, and talking to people was not something Lichen often considered a fun and light task.

Who knew what would happen when you had to talk to someone? They could ask menial questions that talk around in circles, pulling teeth would be more preferable than being stuck with no way out of a conversation; because for some reason people got upset when you just left, which she did, often.

What was worse was that Aurelle made it sound so easy. Just ask. As if there wasn't countless possibilities that could come of that, with no time to think it over because that person would be waiting for you to answer back. Lichen is certain Aurelle would have something completely sensible to say if she voiced her complaints aloud, and Lichen didn't want sensible right this moment, she just wanted to be upset that they'd have to ask someone for anything.

"We'll figure it out." Lichen repeated, because they would. They always did. "You're always so sensible." Lichen complained, though there was no bite to the complaint, her voice lilted at the end as her face cracked into a faint, teasing smile.

@Aurelle

"Aww, thank you!" Aurelle called over her shoulder. "I think you're really clever, you know." She meant it, too. Lichen knew so much and Aurelle wanted to know lots of things to share with her, too.

She could smell that they were near the corpse again. Aurelle turned, heading for the first tree they'd harassed for firewood that day. "You know, if it's a little intimidating, I can just ask for you," the elf offered. "I quite like talking to people."

Aurelle would like to think she was quite good at it, too. Though... maybe someone who was working and serving would be a little less inclined to have a full conversation. Maybe they just wanted to get to the point and get it over with.

Well, she'd figure it out when they got to that, too.

"And," she offered, "it'll be doubly easy when we get into the routine. We'll find foods we really like, and the people that stay there will know what we want as soon as we walk in. You might never have to ask for it again."

@Lichen

Lichen's clumsy steps faltered for just a moment, but thankfully did not lead to her stepping into a nasty piece of deer carcass. It took half a beat before she fell back into her clumsy rhythm of bipedal motion.

What an awful, terrible, very sensible and lovely idea. Aurelle had read her like a book, which normally wasn't an issue. It was a thoughtful gesture, to speak on Lichen's behalf. It would've solved all of Lichen's reservations about being in that tavern. She wouldn't have to talk to anyone but Aurelle and she'd get a tasty meal; and if they were good at it, they'd get their food without needing to speak at all.

But the obsessive, draconian centre of her brain that chanted 'Aurelle, Aurelle, Aurelle' hated the idea. Aurelle loved talking to people, something Lichen would never knowingly wish to take away from her, but the hurtful thoughts still lingered. What if Aurelle made friends with people at the tavern? That would be fine, Lichen supposed, but what if they were better friends than her? What if Aurelle didn't want Lichen anymore? The bitter, sour taste of jealousy rose at the back of throat.

It was juvenile to think a friend could be taken away, or that others could simply just be better. Lichen knew that, but it didn't lessen the sting. It didn't deter the Aurelle-centric part of her brain away from the idea. Aurelle deserved friends, many, many friends. She was delightful, wonderful. Something that should be shared with others, it would be the right thing to do.

But the snake of jealousy was cruel. "Well, will we be going that often?" She asked eventually after she'd realised the silence had lingered too long. She supposed the question was innocent enough, they'd have to keep doing a lot of bounties to feed them every day. "We'd need a lot of coins for that. And, we wanted something to carry things, didn't we?" She continued, trying to play the part as the voice of reason; anything to hide that nasty, cruel feeling.

@Aurelle

Though Aurelle noticed the extended silence, she didn't push-- she just half-turned her head and lifted her ears just in case she'd missed a mutter from Lichen. When the dragon did speak, she offered another thoughtful hum. "I suppose it depends on if the food is good or not, doesn't it?" She said. "If it's all kind of yucky, then I don't think we'd want to go back."

"And we did want a carrying thing, so..." she hummed again. "I suppose we'll get there and try some of the food, and then we can decide if we want to keep coming back or not. And if we do, then we can have a look at the market and maybe buy something for carrying-- and maybe we could find something for home, too."

It was a nice enough home as far as dens and nests go: sheltered, dry, warm-- but it could definitely use some more homely things. For one, they slept on the raw floor. A blanket would be nice-- maybe some extra, and they could block off the window and the door and stop the draft from coming in at night.

But, that was a thought for later. "Are you worried about how many coins we need?" Aurelle asked.

@Lichen

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