"Maybe," Aurelle said, though she did feel just a little doubtful about the matter. "But it doesn't seem very fair, giving away things for free when they're supposed to be traded for. And you'd have to hope that they come back. I mean-- what if they don't like the food? Then someone has lost a coin and a meal goes to waste."

The idea of a delicious meal going to waste was a little heavy right now on Aurelle's empty belly, with precisely three bites of moss sitting in it like a brick. She cupped another mouthful of water and swished it around, dislodging bits of moss out of her molars.

"And," she continued after a beat, though her tongue was still half-buried between two Kunzite teeth, "if we have multiple coins, then we can try lots of different foods. What if we have just one, and we pick the wrong food and it's yucky? If we have lots of coins, then eventually we'll find something yummy."

She touched her stomach through her dress, sighing. She really needed something yummy. Like a deer, or maybe something sweet and fruity. Or maybe something that would just fill her up and make her sleepy.

With a grunt, Aurelle realized she was drooling again. She wiped politely at her mouth, glad that her company couldn't notice. Drooling is quite rude, isn't it...? She tried to remember-- but frankly, she was just too damn hungry.

"Do you need more snacks?" The elf asked gently.

@Lichen

"No, I think that's enough moss." Lichen answered as she mulled over the predicament of if giving out free samples was or wasn't a good business strategy. But, it was the sigh that pushed away those less important thoughts from her mind.

It was never nice to hear your friend dissatisfied, it made her grit her jaw for a brief moment, the moss squelching under her molars as she did so. Aurelle wanted delicious smelling, hot, food. Surely it couldn't be difficult to warm food. Had she done it before? No. But this amount of hubris couldn't be put down by thoughts such as, she didn't even know how to make something hot.

She made a mental and resolute note in her head, she was going to figure out how to make food hot at this place. But, for now, that would be a secret.

"Are you still hungry? We could find something else.." She offered, hoping Aurelle hadn't noticed her silence as she plot. Lichen turns her head back down towards the ground, giving it a cursory sniff.

@Aurelle

Aurelle hummed. The moss had really killed her appetite, but even just thinking about the place with hot food was making it stir again. And she knew if they were going to go looking for coins, then she'd be spending the entire time dribbling all over herself like a toddler thinking about what she could eat. "Yeah," she said slowly.

While Lichen sniffed at the ground, Aurelle lifted her head and sniffed at the air, unaware that Lichen was doing something similar. "Let me check this time," she offered-- sucking in air to hold her breath again like she usually did before casting. It was getting overwhelming to sense the thousands of bacterium in the tunnel, but she did catch wind of some kind of lump nearby.

"I think I found something," she told Lichen before sniffing it out, picking up the lump. It was... well, it was disgusting. It had millions of teeny-tiny little crawlies all over it. She appreciated the bacteria for guiding her, but man, putting something into her mouth knowing how many crawlies were going into her tummy...

She'd probably never tell Lichen just how many germs were kicking around everywhere.

Still, Aurelle gave it a little sniff. It smelled... sweet, like everything else in the tunnel. But a different kind of sweet: creamy, custardy, almost. Urgently, she swivelled to Lichen, holding it up valiantly in both hands, despite the fact she couldn't see it. "Cherimoya!" she called, bouncing her way back to Lichen.

@Lichen

"Found something..?" Lichen had asked without thinking, more so to just show she was listening. That was until Aurelle called over.

Who was Cherimoya?

The confusion was evident on her face, not that either of them could see that. More importantly than who, why did Aurelle sound so overjoyed to have found them? Jealousy was a cruel snake that slithered up her spine as Aurelle came closer. Ever the traitors, her feelers reached out towards Aurelle before she was even in touching range. The appendages tap their way against Aurelle's skin before investigating the item in her hands.

This Cherimoya was tiny, Lichen though bitterly, they wouldn't make a good friend if they couldn't pull their weight. A thought she knew was utterly unfair. The feelers kept investigating, perhaps it was a little scaly, but in a way that made them soft and fleshy. Her tongue entered the mix, giving the thing a little sniff and was surprised to find it smelled sweet -- at least a different sweet from that smells that usually lingered in Tunnel N. Creamy, fleshy, oh.

It was a fruit. Never had she been more glad that Aurelle couldn't see her face as it fell slack over the sudden realization that she'd been deathly, venomously jealous.. over a fruit. "Oh!" Her voice cracked as she tried to feign pleasant surprise over the humiliation.

"Well, er, give it a try!"

@Aurelle

Aurelle and Lichen had been together... well, longer than Aurelle cared to count, really.

And, though the cherimoya had been a very exciting discovery, there was something that broke through the joy and whimsy and sent Aurelle back to earth. She blinked a few times, quiet for a moment, as she lowered the custard apple back down towards her front. "What is it?" She asked, immediately a little sober.

Her fingers drew over the fruit, thumbs digging into the soft flesh. Maybe she'd been too loud or too excited and over-stimulated Lichen a little. Maybe Lichen was bummed that she didn't find it first. Maybe Aurelle had overstepped in some other way that she wasn't even thinking of.

Tapping the apple, Aurelle tried to think very quickly. She didn't want to put Lichen on the spot and demand that she tell her what she'd done wrong, but she didn't want it to sit between them, either. She gauged that Lichen wanted the apple for herself-- maybe she hadn't liked the moss at all and only ate it because Aurelle offered. Maybe she wanted a little sweet treat.

Aurelle was starving, but friends like Lichen came first. "Do you want the cherimoya?" She asked.

@Lichen

The way Lichen saw it, she had two options. Let her friend's mood dampen or admit she was jealous of a fruit. Two extremely, awful, terrible options. She knew she could tell Aurelle it was nothing, but Lichen's gut knew that the elf would worry over it, so that wasn't an option. If she was extremely fortunate, the ground would open up and swallow her there and then, but the odds of that were too slim.

"No, no. You have the cherimoya. I'm full of moss." Which wasn't a lie, and a sentence that bought her more time to panic and scramble for a plan. Her feelers, still acting as if they had minds of their own, left Aurelle's hands alone, one looping loosely around her wrist instead. "I was worried.." she started, letting the pause drag on.

"I thought Cherimoya was someone." Lichen managed to squeeze the words out of her throat before her jaw tensed into a tight wince; unable to cease her cringing as she edged closer to the full admission.

@Aurelle

"Oh!" Aurelle sounded, her tone quizzical but not judgemental. She did, however, need a few seconds to process what she'd just heard-- which was a few seconds Lichen no doubt continued to cringe through. This hadn't exactly been a viable possibility in Aurelle's mind, though.

And, the more she thought about it, the more she understood. She supposed she'd be a little upset if she'd heard Lichen suddenly call excitedly for a friend she didn't know, and didn't introduce her to. Aurelle also knew Lichen was a little older than she was-- and that was time to be alone and get worried if her friends would leave her.

Aurelle set the cherimoya in the hand that had a feeler around the wrist, and lifted her newly-freed hand to touch the feeler gently. "I understand," she said gently, reassuringly. "I'm sorry I worried you. I think the next time I find something exciting, I'll clarify what it is. Would that be okay?"

Some might find this a little patronizing; but Aurelle was being genuine. The last thing she wanted to do was cause distress to someone who was such a close friend-- and she was largely determined to make it right.

Giving the cherimoya a quick cleanse with magic, she bit off a little bit of the fruit and offered it down to Lichen's maw. "Here," she said. "Even if you're full of moss. Try a little bit."

@Lichen

The ground swallowing her whole, sadly, continued not to happen. Even has Aurelle's attempts to reassure her continued. Her eyes closed slowly, she didn't know who to mentally ask, but if any force could save her from this humiliation; she'd be eternally grateful. She was too old to be feeling this way.

"No, I think I know what most things are. I made a mistake." Opening up about making a mistake was the easiest part of all of this. Mistakes could be harmless. Cruel feelings certainly weren't harmless. "There is nothing to apologize for. It was just a-- Ah."

Thankfully, it was at the moment, she'd noticed that Aurelle was already holding out the fruit piece for her to try and promptly slorped it up, anything to give her mouth something to do that wasn't speaking.

It was sweet, smooth, not something she'd usually eat. It was nice to try, but she didn't find herself wanting more of it. She pressed the bit to the roof of her mouth and just acted to be really chewing over the new flavour; humming lightly, trying to express her delight.

@Aurelle

"You shouldn't feel sad about mistakes," Aurelle offered gently. "I make a lot of mistakes, too."

She bit off a piece of the cherimoya. It wasn't hot deer meat-- or at least, what Aurelle imagined it'd be like, but it was still about a thousand times better than gnawing on moist moss. "Maybe it'll be funny tomorrow," she went on. "Sometimes in hindsight it's funny, and we'll have a giggle over it."

Her hand drifted down from Lichen's feelers, giving the tip of her nose a little pat with her fingers. "Come on. You're full of moss, and I'm about to be full of cherimoya. Let's go find out what they want for coins, okay?"

Provided Lichen followed, Aurelle began to walk.

@Lichen

Lichen plodded after Aurelle without further complaint. "Maybe. But, for now there are coins to have." Probably, they still hadn't got any closer to figuring out if this whole thing was a trap or not yet. But, she had to admit, the smells coming from, what she assumed, was Scorpio were very enticing.

Weren't traps also supposed to be enticing? No matter. They could just leave, like they'd said.

"With some luck, it'll be something quick, and we can be eating hot deer soon." A statement she didn't entirely believe, but talking about anything else seemed like a great idea. Even if she wanted to mention something about Aurelle's mistakes, or the amounts the elf thought she made.

@Aurelle