Shopping Day

[Hikaru]

The market wasn't very crowded for the Skopos version of a weekday. While it was called "Selenes" here, to the two girls browsing the booths it was Monday, and shopping day for their little group of refugees. Their intermundia was still new, and most everything still needed to be bought.

"Thank you, ma'am!" the shorter of the two said to a purple-haired woman, trying not to stare at her horns while her companion put the bag of vegetables in her handbasket. "See you next week!" The woman waved a stubby hand as they left, and the two continued down the walkway, checking their list.

"Okay, aside from the things that will spoil, we've got everything, right Hikaru?"

Shifting the bag in her hands, Hikaru checked the written list again, going over what they had done so far. "Everything but sword oil for Emiya, and needles and blue thread. I tore that hem again on the Signer outfit..." She sighed as her friend giggled. "Don't laugh, Mariko, I have to fix it now, and you know how horrible I am at sewing!"

"Kaede was complaining about that." Cleverly shifting her voice, Mariko took on the stern quaver that the Raven 'mother' tended to get when upset. " 'She can dance the The Dragon's Gift perfectly and play every nuance of Kaiya's 'Golden Moon', but she couldn't sew a straight hem to save her soul, and she is so hard on the costumes... Mariko-chan, what am I going to do with that girl?' "

Hikaru pouted her lips at the dead-on impression and bumped her in a friendly manner, as her hands were too full to smack her. "Mariko! You don't need to do that so well, it's scary!" The younger girl, no more than 15 but nearly as tall as the elder, only laughed and spun away, skipping backwards with her armful of supplies, brightly colored fruit and bits of equally bright cloth tucked into a woven basket.

"I get enough practice at home, and you should hear some of the things she says about Hiroshi! C'mon, Hikaru, let's go get something to eat before we finish shopping. Maybe they're serving those sweet buns at the restaurant today..." Her eyes sparkling with the possibility of a treat, Mariko changed directions, still going backwards but now cheerily practicing a few dance steps as she rounded a corner. The other girl chuckled, and followed after, but her eyes were on her young friend as they came around the building, and not in the direction that she was going...
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::The fish in the water is silent, the animals on the earth is noisy, the bird in the air is singing. But man has in him the silence of the sea, the noise of the earth and the music of the air.::