the pride of utopia

[suna]

whyyy won't you just work...?

Another upset, keening wail, and Suna resigned herself to failure once more. Where did she keep on going wrong? Surely it wasn't so hard just to make magic act as magic, instead of like... doing nothing. Or exploding. It was absolutely mystifying to her - and maybe it was just because Suna wasn't brilliant in the least, or maybe because she was expecting too much out of herself as a mage, with very little formal training. With a frown, she put all of her notes and the current victim (a little, stuffed bear) away, stuffing them into her bag just a little bit haphazardly. Later she'd regret the crumpled mess she made of her notes, but at this point, she was still a bit too upset about her own uselessness to care about that just yet.

Her sole comfort was that at least she didn't make a complete mess of things, like when she had access to her mother's Fire tomes. But without that, it was like she got even fewer results! It was terribly frustrating. Why did magic need to be channeled through a dumb book, anyway? Was it really so important? Maybe if she could just... replicate a tome onto the object, somehow...

But it wasn't like she could stitch the words into the teddy bear. It was too small, and beyond that, she didn't know the first thing about sewing. Ink would likely just bleed everywhere, and carving the words into the bear was not an option for obvious reasons. So, she needed a different victim - and in all honesty, Suna figured she had enough of feeling failure for one day. She made a note to find a really big piece of wood, or perhaps a rock, and then set back to fidgeting with her ears.

At least... at least nobody was around to see her failure, right? Her trip had been relatively uneventful so far, mostly because she had been staying on the outskirts of the cities. There was likely nothing to fear from them, but Suna was the type to get overwhelmed easily, and all of the hustle and bustle of people coming and going was painful to sustain for long periods of time. So, she relegated herself to where she hopefully wouldn't be noticed. Unfortunately, that was both boring and left her awfully lonely. Spending her free time experimenting seemed like a good idea at first, until she simply frustrated herself enough to want to rip up all of her notes! It was like she could never win.

But maybe... maybe she could simply. Give it a break. After all, she tried hard today, right? She didn't need to try every day of the journey, even if that was the reason she gave her parents to leave. Maybe she could just... slip into the nearby town, and get something to snack on. If nobody noticed her dumb ears and struck up a conversation, at least. Or, worse, noticed that she snuck over the border not even a week ago, and as a Feroxi, she really had no place being in Ylissean territory.

Hopefully they... wouldn't mind that last bit so much.

Hopefully.

For her part, she kept her hands on her ears as she drew nearer, trying to figure out where best to look for something sweet. It really was at times like this that she regretted growing up in a warren. The sparing shopping trips her mom took her along on were hardly enough to prepare her for actually having to navigate a city by herself. where...? she mumbled to herself, and then frowned. Surely... someone had to know where she could get something to eat, but who to ask? She didn't want to call attention to herself, but, maybe if she could just look around, she could find someone who seemed unobtrusive, like her.

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[Alisone]

suna

Days before the theft at the royal palace, Alisone had been in the northern province of Ylisse, shopping in a small town near the Feroxi border. However, unlike the guise she adopted for her thievery, her civilian persona was quite different. Her red hair tumbled down to the small of her back like a curtain, and her dress while not that of nobility was still of a very fine material. As Suna entered the small shopping centre, Alisone was looking at feathers.

"Definitely that one." She said to the shopkeeper as she pointed at a giant white feather, one that fit very well into a cap. She took it, paid the money, and twirled it between her fingers. Now, why would a thief pay for a feather from a common stall, and steal from a palace full of guards? It was strange. But only Alisone would know the method behind her madness as she placed her newly acquired feather behind her ear, completely ignoring the ridiculousness of how she looked.

She kept shopping, eventually coming to a vegetable stall that was selling fresh produce and she paid for some of the produce and put it into her bag. She would probably need to cook a good meal before her heist. She kept walking, her steps bringing her closer and closer to Suna. As she passed Suna, not paying any attention to her, she grabbed one of her vegetables out of her bag; a carrot. Then, the lady who looked a little odd but had the illusion of a ladylike behaviour took the carrot and took a very loud crunching bite out of it.

So, let's get this straight. She looks like a lady, save for the lack of curves. She has a giant feather in her hair, and she's strutting along, eating a carrot, walking past someone with bunny ears.

The desire for an unobtrusive target was just not going to be answered by the Gods today.

[suna]

Had this been in any other context, had this been anyone that Suna actually knew, she would have sworn that this person was making fun of her. A giant carrot. You know, the fact that she was a rabbit didn't necessarily mean that she liked carrots... (even if her eldest sister was constantly snacking on them, that didn't mean that she liked them!) The woman walked on by, her red hair and bright, very conspicuous feather in her hair. She was close enough to ask - Suna didn't actually have to approach her, but...

But she was simply so... red.

Suna shook her head, swallowed her nervousness, and bounded forward, trying to catch the other woman's attention. excuse me! - and then she tried, again, i hope you don't mind me asking, but where is the... no, that was wrong. where can i find the... she paused, furrowed her brow, and instead settled for - um, who are you? i'm suna, so... What was this woman supposed to do with the information? For some reason, she just felt obligated to introduce herself - at least then it was less like she was chasing after and demanding questions from a random well-dressed woman.

She faltered for only a moment before she filled her own silence, stopping and fidgeting - uhh, where would i find someplace to eat? i mean, someplace to buy... sweet things. Sweet things to drown away her sorrows. As much as she worried about bothering this very attention-grabbing person, she figured it was best to just start here. Hopefully she wouldn't end up regretting it terribly.

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[Alisone]

suna

Her surveillance of the shopping square was interrupted by perhaps the most socially awkward woman she'd ever met. Wait, was that a taguel? Alisone lowered the carrot from her mouth with a raised red eyebrow, obviously scanning the taguel up and down with interest. She'd never met one before. Immediately she went through a process of sizing her up, wondering if she was worth anything in a combat situation. Could she be useful?

No, with that demeanour, probably not, or at least she wasn't interested enough to dig under the layers to figure out. She went back up to her eyes and listened to her try to stammer out what she was trying to say. Within the space of a minute, she knew the taguel's name, had a good grasp on her appearance, and knew that she was too awkward for words; probably bad enough that if she stole anything from the taguel it wouldn't even be reported to police. She also knew from her outward appearance that she didn't own much more than her beauty to her name. She sighed and twirled the carrot between her fingers, glancing about the stalls with a critical eye.

Suddenly she held the carrot rigid like she would a sword, and had it pointed in a certain direction. "That stall sells apple pie. Not sure if you fancy that. Lots of baked goods in that direction too- you might even be able to find a sugar biscuit if you're lucky. This is more for fresh produce, vegetables and the like. There's some fruit in-" She pointed the carrot over her head and in the opposite direction. "-that way, but unless you like strawberries, there's not much more around this time of year that hasn't been made into jams. You might be able to find some of those too, now that I think on it, but you'll find more in the baked goods section, cause what goes better with bread than jam?" She lowered her carrot and took another obnoxious bite.

"Need someone to walk you through the stalls, m'lady?" She asked pointedly. It sounded almost mocking from her lips, but she generally called all women m'lady, much like a man would address a woman.

[suna]

Oh, happy, lovely day! The woman stopped as Suna spoke to her, allowing Suna to not worry so much about being left behind, and - well, the way that she sized Suna up made the girl a little uncomfortable, it was certainly better than A. being completely ignored, or B. being yelled at. Okay, well, the way that the woman sighed at her while she was in the throes of being socially awkward was a little rude, and Suna still wasn't completely sure that she wasn't being taunted with that carrot, but the taguel was willing enough to think the best of miss... whoever she was when she used her carrot as a pointer, and began to point out various directions for Suna to go in.

Right, so apple pie, vegetables... wait, what was that? The girl barely gave Suna time to pull out a piece of paper, much less scribble down any notes! With a bit of a frown, Suna realized that she wouldn't really be able to take notes that were useful anyway, considering what the woman was saying was to the effect of 'and that thing is thaaaaat way, and this thing is also that way, but in THIS way there's that other thing.' Jams were somewhere with the bread, which was vaguely in the direction of 'that way', and you know what the more that Suna thought about it the more that she was completely certain that she was about to get horribly, irrevocably lost.

And so, she actually breathed a sigh of relief when the woman offered to show her around, even though she was quick to correct her with a soft - you can call me suna. and uh, if that wouldn't be a problem! thank you. After a thought, Suna realized that the other hadn't spoken up about their name - she had been mentally calling them 'woman' this whole time. do you want me to call you something, or...? What about 'Red', if she didn't want to tell Suna her name? That was certainly an idea, and whatever the woman's reasons for not being forthcoming - either being too busy to answer Suna, or being the sort that just didn't introduce herself to random taguel that wandered about aimlessly, that was all acceptable as long as Suna could assign some sort of mental name to her.

Well, the matter of a name aside, Suna thought, maybe best to get this woman's - er, Red's - opinion on where to next. She was going to be the one showing Suna around, after all. do you have a favorite stall? (Hopefully it wasn't a carrot stall.)

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Alisone

[Alisone]

suna

She could've smiled at the taguel's persistence at getting her name. She'd have to do better than that. With a name came power, and power was not something she would easily relinquish, especially to someone who seemed as scatterbrained as this taguel. She didn't mind any nicknames either. "Call me what you like, honey." She'd be doing the same for her anyway. She indicated a direction, took another bite of her carrot, and walked forward with a spring in her step. The way she moved immediately indicated a combat background, one that wasn't normally seen on ladies that looked as delicate as she did at the moment.

"My favourite stall? I like vegetables. You can eat them raw, you can find them along your route if you need to, and you don't have to sit down to eat them. I'm always on the run." She commented. "Give me a pack of carrots or some other root vegetable and I'm set. I could eat a turnip like an apple if time let me." Which was gross. Really gross. She turned sideways to get through a particularly tight spot in the crowd. "Mind your step. The apple pies are just around here." She didn't stop to make sure that Suna was following her, which was probably foolish.

"So where're you from?" She asked conversationally. "You don't seem like you're that familiar with this market." That was an understatement.

[suna]

Okay well, 'Honey' still wasn't exactly Suna's name, but Suna figured she could let that pass- after all, it wasn't like she was going to be calling Red by her name, apparently. okay, red, She offered a tentative smile. However, Suna's smile faltered and then faded as the woman began to describe her... eating habits. Truth be told, Suna was a carnivore through and through - meat was what made her happy, not leafy plants. Second best to meat was sweet stuff, and ... god, really, a turnip? Grima, have mercy upon poor Red's soul. Grima, please protect Red's integrity. A turnip. Suna was pretty sure that even her sister wasn't this bad. well, at least that's healthy...? she offered, for the sake of being polite, but really, Suna was just lamenting inside over eating a turnip like eating an apple.

Keeping up with the woman was proving a bit difficult. It was like she trained herself to be good at slipping away, weaving around crowds, and Suna - well, Suna had no experience with such things. She bumped into quite a few people, only managing to mumble out a sorry, sorry... before she jogged to catch up with Red once more. She caught up while the woman was in the middle of a sentence, in fact. - you from? You don't seem like you're all that familiar with this market.

is it that obvious...? Yes, yes it completely and totally was. i'm from ferox, i'm... visiting? Getting lost? Being terrified? Failing? just visiting and trying to find - um, you wouldn't know anything about making tomes, would you...? It was too much to hope for, but she could at least try asking.you must be from here, right, Red? She wasn't actually sure how she felt about a Ylissean showing her about, but since Red seemed nice so far, maybe it wasn't actually so bad.


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Alisone

[Alisone]

suna

Red was cute. She'd probably keep that. She'd probably even work that into some sort of wanted poster someday. Just walk about the town, scratching out whatever name they gave her and penciling in Red Bandit in big block letters. That would be the day, and the dream. Like they'd ever catch her, anyway. She had a wide smirk on her face, right up until Suna mentioned the making of tomes.

But before she could even answer her question, out came another one about where she was from. She blinked suddenly and laughed a bit. "Wha? Yeah, I'm from the southern provinces. Grew up on a homestead a good two day's ride from Ylisstol, near the ocean." That was a dirty lie, of course. She grew up in Ylisstol and hadn't touched a farmer's pitchfork in her life. However, she always made up a different story for each person she interacted with. She also tended to make up different names as well, but this one had named her already. "Don't know a thing about tomes, I'm afraid." That was at least true, but she sounded more like a country bumpkin this way. "I know they have different secrets about different elements but that's about it. I think you channel through them? Why, are you interested in that magic stuff?" A mage might actually come in handy, someday. She might even give this one her real name, if things went well.

She liked this one. She'd probably pop in on this one every now and then.

[suna]

Either Red just caught a canary, or the nickname 'Red' was a complete and total hit with her. Suna allowed herself to smile a bit more too - at least it wasn't like the other woman was offended by her choice of name or anything. When Red actually managed to answer Suna's rapid-fire questions, the taguel smiled a bit brighter, her ears perking up in interest. you have? i've never seen the ocean before! what's the ocean like? Naturally, she didn't have a clue that she was being lied to. Who would?

Of course, it was a bit of a disappointment that Red didn't know anything about tomes, especially after Suna had a good idea involving them - but the taguel could hardly hold it against Red. After all, she could hardly expect everyone to know the inner workings of magic. that's okay! you don't have to know, she said - trying to comfort the other woman, though it wasn't at all like she sounded distressed over not knowing magic. and, er, well, yes - you could say i'm interested, she admitted. my mom was a mage, and, well, i just want to study magic, and figure out all sorts of secrets. there's plenty of lost kinds of magic, and... Well, that probably wasn't that interesting to poor Red. i'm not the best at it, but i'm going to learn! that's sort of why i'm here.

Always honest, at least. Suna stopped by a stall, looking over at the wares - all sorts of pies were there, though Suna couldn't quite tell if they were apple pies, among the other overpowering scents in the marketplace. She hesitated a moment, and then looked back over to her marketplace companion - is this where they sell the apple pies?

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Alisone

[Alisone]

suna

"The ocean becomes the same sort of sight when you've seen it a lot. Suddenly rain becomes a lot more interesting, or mountains, or even the towering buildings of the city." She gripped her bag tighter. She was speaking the truth, but to be honest, she wouldn't mind seeing the ocean someday. She beckoned her to follow her as she walked towards one of the stalls, the one that was selling pies.

"Have you got enough material to study?" It seemed like an odd question from a woman that she just met, but Alisone could be an odd person. If she decided you weren't worth her time, she ignored you. If she thought you were hot, she flirted with you. If you were as much of an innocent flower like this taguel, she'd probably take on a bit of a motherly tone. No matter how much she lied, she never lied about the important stuff... and it was important for other people to know how she thought of them. Even if it meant getting thrown into prison for spitting in a guard's eye.

She motioned towards the stall. "Here we are. This guy sells all kinds of pies, apple, cherry, blueberry. All of them more than enough for a sweet tooth, made with some of the finest refined sugar in the northern provinces."

"Sweetheart, you could stand on a street corner and chant about my pies all week, you sell them so well!" The man, an elderly one with a kind face, laughed at Alisone.

"Ah, I've got better things to do Willam, you know that." Alisone laughed back. "Places to go, stuff to do, hearts to break." She winked playfully, and for a moment, she actually looked genuinely amused. "I ust know how to sell a good product, that's all. So, Suna, first one's on me?" She offered as she got out her sack of Bullion.

[suna]

The ocean, becoming the same sort of sight? Hmm... well, Suna figured that was true, but she did still want to go there - honestly, she wanted to go there and possibly take someone else with her. Red would have been an option if Red didn't just get done sort-of saying that the ocean was boring to her - and besides, Suna didn't want to be weird, asking this woman out on a cross-country date just because she offered to show Suna around a marketplace. Definitely a silly thought, even if Suna still sort of wanted to offer, just for offering's sake. She was actually still mulling over that when Red showed some concern over her.

Surprise actually made her ears prick up - Red was just so nice! Really, who was as nice as Red? (Alright, there were plenty of people that were nice, but who would take the time of their day to show someone else around, especially a random taguel? oh! it's fine! no need to worry about me, Suna smiled widely back at Alisone. i mean, sometimes it's hard to understand tomes? and i don't usually find much about lost forms of magic. but that's normal, i think. She nodded, and then diverted her attention to the stall, smiling and even laughing a little as the shopkeeper praised Red's good salesmanship.

But about those pies... Apple, cherry, blueberry? Cherry sounded nice, but a part of Suna wondered if perhaps the salesman had a meat pie lying around someplace. Suna was once again surprised by Red's generosity, and paused. She could refuse to be polite, but wouldn't refusing actually be impolite, if Red wanted to be nice? Besides, Suna wasn't super rich either. umm... if you want! thank you very much! She responded, brightly, before turning back to the shopkeeper. umm, you wouldn't happen to have any meat pies, right? if not, i'd like cherry! then a pause, and she looked back to her companion. you like cherry, right?

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Alisone

[Alisone]

suna

The elderly baker didn't seem used to the question, either that or the theme of Alisone's inquiry threw him off when he was asked about meat pies. Sweet didn't really mix with meat pies.

"Yep, I've got some. The top two sellers are steak and kidney pie, and rabbit pie. Oh-" He looked nervously at Suna's ears, as if he were about to greatly offend her by selling her rabbit pie.

"Steak and kidney sounds great to me, or I can take a cherry." Alisone replied quickly, almost as if she knew the blunder that Willam had just made. "It's nice of you to share honey, but you don't have to if you don't want to." She commented as she dug around in her pouch for the correct change. "Which one would you like?"

[suna]

Steak and kidney pie? Rabbit pie? Why didn't they say this earlier? Suna had been about to speak up with a decision when Red spoke up instead - and she figured that was just fine, since the taguel was letting her new friend pay. She should have the final say on it, of course of course - Suna was willing to settle back and try out the steak and kidney pie, or even the cherry one. However, when Red turned to Suna for her input, she realized she made something of an error in her understanding - Red hadn't been ordering for the both of them, she had been ordering for herself. it's really okay to share, Suna responded, eying the pies once more. Steak and kidney? Cherry? Hmm, well... since Red was getting one of those... Suna deliberated for a poignant few seconds, before she brightly said, i'd like the rabbit pie!! thank you!

She either completely didn't notice, or completely didn't mind the awkwardness on the subject of that particular pie.

With a thought, Suna busied herself with finding an extra bullion or two to give to Red - not enough to buy for her own pie, she was sure, but enough to help at least. No harm done in that, right? also, here, she said, foisting the bullions in Red's direction. If push came to shove, and Red didn't want to accept them, she could at least hand them over to the store owner.

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Alisone

[Alisone]

suna

The blank look on both the shopkeeper and Alisone's faces would have been priceless, if other people had been there to observe the event. Alisone had a bit of a smile on her face, and the shopkeeper packaged her pie safely. However, when Alisone was pushed the money, she shrugged and took it. If she wanted to chip in a bit, Alisone wasn't going to say no. She paid the shopkeeper, waited for the pies, and then scanned the market with her pie in hand.

"Where else are you headed, honey?" She asked conversationally. She didn't really have anywhere else to be until the morning, and it wouldn't have been the first time that she spent a day gallivanting around a marketplace with a stranger... or gallivanting with a stranger for that matter.

[suna]

Rabbit pie acquired, and moral questions involving taguel eating the animals that they looked like all asked, Suna turned to scan the marketplace with Alisone again, holding her own pie close enough that it was readily apparent that all she really wanted to be doing was eat it. Where else are you headed, honey? Oh! Um, hmm... Hmmm.

You know, now that Suna thought of it, she hardly remembered if she went into the marketplace for any particular reason, past 'I need to stop being such a failure'. Hmm. Well, food was a goal, but she already fulfilled it - and now what she wanted to do was sit down and eat it, mostly. i don't have much else in mind, she admitted, almost ashamedly - she hated to let Red down, but she really didn't know what else would be interesting to do around here! thank you for showing me to the pies! you don't have to stay around much longer if you don't want to, Suna said, but she was actually hoping that, perhaps, Red had nothing better to be doing. is there a good place to sit down around here, though? the taguel looked about - she could definitely eat this pie standing, but it seemed a little strange for her to be doing so. But was it really any stranger than a rabbit taguel with a rabbit pie?

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Alisone
sorry for shortpost omg