The sharpness of the look he gives her doesn't seem to bother her much, being significantly sharp and inhuman herself. It certainly doesn't get her to buzz off and mind her own business, so she hopes that's not what the look is for.
"They're a lot more negotiable if you have something to barter with," she informs him, gesturing vaguely to the little rabbit he's currently accosting. He seems skittish from what she can tell, like there's something that's got him spooked, and she's not keen on just leaving him to wander the stalls like that.
His eyes narrow just a little, on her approach. He would expect his very presence would get people to buzz off and mind their own business but it seems this place is intent on repeatedly proving that's not the case.
He looks from her, back to the rabbit, then pushes back from the table, turning like he doesn't really care whatever it is he was bartering for. "Whatever. I could probably find something better than this anyway." He glances. "What are you doing here?"
"Same thing everyone else is doing here." She gestures around to the market, though there doesn't seem to be any specific people nearby. "Investigating. Browsing the wares until we're allowed to poke our noses into these rabbits' collective businesses."
He acts like he doesn't care about the wares, though the poor hassled rabbit looks like he might be better off for not having to haggle with this guy. "Are you looking for something in particular?"
He frowns. It's a fair enough reason that he can't really say anything on the matter, like telling her to screw off. She doesn't want anything from him. They just happen to be in the same place.
Still, he doesn't look happy about the question.
"Yes. No. I don't know." He grumbles, "A gift, I guess..."
He doesn't sound superbly confident in this either.
"A gift. You guess?" She repeats his uncertainty back to him. How do you not know if you're looking for a gift or not? Maybe if you're unsure about whether the gift would be appreciated or not. She bites down on any urge to tease him and instead tries for the more straight forward approach.
He doesn't repeat himself. He just scowls further, waiting for mockery or whatever might be on her mind. That she doesn't do that gives her that little bit of leeway's worth of getting a response from him.
She almost decides to let that one go, but her curiosity wins out in the end. She can't not ask when he's giving such a reluctantly awkward answer.
"...How can someone 'sort of' be your mother? Isn't that usually pretty straight forward with human--like creatures?" She catches herself at the end, tacking on a broader scope than just the 'humans' she was going to reference.
He's looking away as she starts, not really wanting to detail this today, only to glance back as she catches herself. He could almost laugh at that, in another time. Unfortunately, he's still got to deal with all this.
"I don't have a very straight forward existence," He says. "She is my Mom, but I'm not her Son. That's how it's 'sort of'."
She really tries for a moment to figure that one out. She's his mom, but he's not her son. How does that work? She might have guessed that maybe it had something to do with strange genetics--or maybe a cultural thing, like with her society? But neither of those make sense, and moreover, he admits to his existence being unusual.
"...I can't say I understand, but--it's whatever. Probably not any weirder than the familial units I'm used to." And she doesn't need to understand in order to offer her assistance. "Do you want some help? Figuring out a maybe gift for your sort of mom?"
There's a twinge of curiosity. He almost asks. But no, he doesn't want to know about a bunch of other people's family situations. That will do nothing for him.
The offer on the other hand gets an immediate reaction. "No." He scoffs. "I..." He looks back to the table and all it's offerings that mean nothing to him. "I can do this myself."
His words do not inspire confidence, but at the same time, she can't fault him for wanting the gift to be something personal. This is the first person that she's heard him talk about with any sort of interest, so it must be pretty important.
"Here..." She reaches into a pocket, withdrawing a few hemp bracelets with colorful shells on them. She pulls one apart from the others and offers it out to him. "If you find something you want to get, barter with this. It'll give you an edge. They love stuff from the village, so don't let them haggle you down."
He looks perplexed at the bracelet, which almost makes him kinda cute, if she didn't know any better. It's a shame his attitude ruins that most of the time.
"Yeah? I make them. Find the shells on the beach, make the cord myself. I use them to barter sometimes, so it doesn't hurt to keep a few on hand."
Oh, right, this place has no currency. Never really needing to buy anything, he hasn't had much cause to remember that.
He runs his thumb over the shell, thinking. Then asks, "What kind of things do you barter them for?" He really doesn't have anything, but the more he thinks about it, the more he thinks throwing a shell bracelet in with whatever he finds might have some worth to Mom.
She shrugs, taking note of the way he seems to be thinking about something. She half wonders if she should fish out more of them.
"Whatever I happen to need. Food, knick-knacks... It's kinda hit or miss since they don't have any practical use. They're just pretty. But sometimes people like things that don't have any practicality. Not everything we do here has to be for survival."
"No point in living just to survive," He mutters in agreement, a little distracted by his own thoughts.
If he wants to give Mom something good, it's going to be something she lacks. Like the family she's missing. If he can draw back to that, he might actually get somewhere. And since the picture on the fridge is one taken at a beach, well, maybe...
Ugh. He's going to have to say it outright isn't he? For a moment, he makes a face. Then, through his teeth, he asks, "What do you need right now?"
The question surprises her a little. Is he actually asking to barter for the bracelet? She half expected him to just walk away without even a thank you, but here he is trying to make a trade... And she shakes her head.
"First one is on the house. You don't need to give me anything." She pauses, giving him a curious look. "...Unless you're asking for another one?"
...He is asking for a second one. He looks away like he's embarrassed, and there's something almost endearing about that. She tilts her head at him a little, as if she's trying to determine something.
Then she reaches back into that pocket and withdraws the stash of bracelets. Another one gets shaken out of the group. She holds it out to him, tucking the rest away again. Her mouth twitches up into a smile.
"...Second one's on the house, too. But no more freebies."
He colors. He can feel it. He ducks his already turned head, letting his hair become a veil and scratching at the back of it to make it more of one. But he knows. It's too late.
"Right. Sure. Whatever."
He snatches up the bracelet quick and looks about for some, or any excuse he can use to take off. Now.
He flushes in a way that she hasn't seen before and it takes an awful lot of willpower not to tease him for it. But he looks like he's about to bolt at the first chance he gets, and she's not about to let him run off when she's actually enjoying herself.
So she graces him with a subject change, her attention drifting back to the wares around them--and pointedly off of him. "Tell me about her. What kind of things does she like?"
This may actually be the worst thing. Not only is he embarrassed as hell, but talking about her like this, when she's not here, it feels too much like talking about her being gone.
"She's..." He keeps looking for a way out. "She's a Mom, you know?" He says, like an alien would know. "She likes things about her family, that remind her of all that and of home. Like stupid jokes, or growing her fruits, or cooking new foods. She likes people and being around them. Doing what she can for them. She likes sappy movies... cute animals... and sunflowers..."
This is getting hard to talk about. He trails off and doesn't bother to try picking it back up.
"I don't... really know what a Mom is," she points out with a small amount of hesitance. It's not entirely the truth. She remembers bits and pieces of a mom that isn't hers. One that never existed. But she's not sure if that's what human moms are supposed to be like, or just how she was made to think of them.
"I don't know about any of that other stuff, but sunflowers... we could do that, I think. Come on--" And she'll take him by the elbow to lead through the marketplace, so long as he doesn't yank it away from her.
He makes a face. Yeah, that was a stupid explanation. But it was one of the most apt.
He makes even more of a face, teeth grit like it's some unpleasant thing as she grips his elbow, and he almost does yank away. But he wants to find these sunflowers now too. Sunflowers from the moon that's... oddly fitting.
The moment she stops, then he's going to yank away. "What exactly do you have in mind?" He asks, then looks.
She doesn't stop until she's sniffed out the kind of thing she's looking for. There's a particular stall that she passed by earlier, not too far away. When she finds it again, she comes to a halt, letting him yank his arm away as her pleases.
"Something like these, maybe?" she responds, gesturing to the wares on display here. There's small pieces of crystal jewelry lined up in rows, each piece carefully crafted to resemble plants and flowers of some kind. And among all those pieces is a small necklace charm fashioned like a sunflower.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2018-06-14 11:34 pm (UTC)"They're a lot more negotiable if you have something to barter with," she informs him, gesturing vaguely to the little rabbit he's currently accosting. He seems skittish from what she can tell, like there's something that's got him spooked, and she's not keen on just leaving him to wander the stalls like that.
no subject
Date: 2018-06-15 11:58 am (UTC)He looks from her, back to the rabbit, then pushes back from the table, turning like he doesn't really care whatever it is he was bartering for. "Whatever. I could probably find something better than this anyway." He glances. "What are you doing here?"
no subject
Date: 2018-07-22 02:04 am (UTC)He acts like he doesn't care about the wares, though the poor hassled rabbit looks like he might be better off for not having to haggle with this guy. "Are you looking for something in particular?"
no subject
Date: 2018-07-22 03:00 am (UTC)Still, he doesn't look happy about the question.
"Yes. No. I don't know." He grumbles, "A gift, I guess..."
He doesn't sound superbly confident in this either.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-22 08:53 pm (UTC)"Who is this maybe gift for?"
no subject
Date: 2018-07-22 09:17 pm (UTC)If still a muttered one.
"My... Mother. Sort of."
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Date: 2018-07-22 10:52 pm (UTC)"...How can someone 'sort of' be your mother? Isn't that usually pretty straight forward with human--like creatures?" She catches herself at the end, tacking on a broader scope than just the 'humans' she was going to reference.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-22 11:08 pm (UTC)"I don't have a very straight forward existence," He says. "She is my Mom, but I'm not her Son. That's how it's 'sort of'."
no subject
Date: 2018-07-23 10:48 pm (UTC)"...I can't say I understand, but--it's whatever. Probably not any weirder than the familial units I'm used to." And she doesn't need to understand in order to offer her assistance. "Do you want some help? Figuring out a maybe gift for your sort of mom?"
no subject
Date: 2018-07-23 11:18 pm (UTC)The offer on the other hand gets an immediate reaction. "No." He scoffs. "I..." He looks back to the table and all it's offerings that mean nothing to him. "I can do this myself."
no subject
Date: 2018-07-23 11:42 pm (UTC)"Here..." She reaches into a pocket, withdrawing a few hemp bracelets with colorful shells on them. She pulls one apart from the others and offers it out to him. "If you find something you want to get, barter with this. It'll give you an edge. They love stuff from the village, so don't let them haggle you down."
no subject
Date: 2018-07-24 12:22 am (UTC)But he does reach out to take it, letting lay sad and limp in his own hand. He really doesn't have anything better. Or rather, anything at all.
He wonders if she'd like a shell bracelet...
no subject
Date: 2018-07-24 12:32 am (UTC)"Yeah? I make them. Find the shells on the beach, make the cord myself. I use them to barter sometimes, so it doesn't hurt to keep a few on hand."
no subject
Date: 2018-07-24 08:25 am (UTC)He runs his thumb over the shell, thinking. Then asks, "What kind of things do you barter them for?" He really doesn't have anything, but the more he thinks about it, the more he thinks throwing a shell bracelet in with whatever he finds might have some worth to Mom.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-24 08:47 pm (UTC)"Whatever I happen to need. Food, knick-knacks... It's kinda hit or miss since they don't have any practical use. They're just pretty. But sometimes people like things that don't have any practicality. Not everything we do here has to be for survival."
no subject
Date: 2018-07-24 09:31 pm (UTC)If he wants to give Mom something good, it's going to be something she lacks. Like the family she's missing. If he can draw back to that, he might actually get somewhere. And since the picture on the fridge is one taken at a beach, well, maybe...
Ugh. He's going to have to say it outright isn't he? For a moment, he makes a face. Then, through his teeth, he asks, "What do you need right now?"
no subject
Date: 2018-07-24 11:31 pm (UTC)"First one is on the house. You don't need to give me anything." She pauses, giving him a curious look. "...Unless you're asking for another one?"
no subject
Date: 2018-07-24 11:43 pm (UTC)"Well it... would help to still have something to barter with here on top of the shell..."
The answer is yes.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-25 12:05 am (UTC)Then she reaches back into that pocket and withdraws the stash of bracelets. Another one gets shaken out of the group. She holds it out to him, tucking the rest away again. Her mouth twitches up into a smile.
"...Second one's on the house, too. But no more freebies."
no subject
Date: 2018-07-25 12:34 am (UTC)"Right. Sure. Whatever."
He snatches up the bracelet quick and looks about for some, or any excuse he can use to take off. Now.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-25 08:20 pm (UTC)So she graces him with a subject change, her attention drifting back to the wares around them--and pointedly off of him. "Tell me about her. What kind of things does she like?"
no subject
Date: 2018-07-25 09:21 pm (UTC)"She's..." He keeps looking for a way out. "She's a Mom, you know?" He says, like an alien would know. "She likes things about her family, that remind her of all that and of home. Like stupid jokes, or growing her fruits, or cooking new foods. She likes people and being around them. Doing what she can for them. She likes sappy movies... cute animals... and sunflowers..."
This is getting hard to talk about. He trails off and doesn't bother to try picking it back up.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-08 05:42 pm (UTC)"I don't know about any of that other stuff, but sunflowers... we could do that, I think. Come on--" And she'll take him by the elbow to lead through the marketplace, so long as he doesn't yank it away from her.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-08 06:17 pm (UTC)He makes even more of a face, teeth grit like it's some unpleasant thing as she grips his elbow, and he almost does yank away. But he wants to find these sunflowers now too. Sunflowers from the moon that's... oddly fitting.
The moment she stops, then he's going to yank away. "What exactly do you have in mind?" He asks, then looks.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-08 06:59 pm (UTC)"Something like these, maybe?" she responds, gesturing to the wares on display here. There's small pieces of crystal jewelry lined up in rows, each piece carefully crafted to resemble plants and flowers of some kind. And among all those pieces is a small necklace charm fashioned like a sunflower.
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