Parsley Chalk is determined to introduce Aviri to his actual customers in the hopes of getting him to be more social (and possibly to reduce her own monumental work load as well). Clutching his bag of fragrant flowers and oil-seeds, the young Lapi was not expecting the person who ordered them to be found in the foulest-smelling part of town.
"This might help," Parsley says, offering Avira some mint leaves. "Just rub them under your nose.. or stuff them into your nostrils if it's really bad," she advises.
Aviri is almost too nervous to notice the proffered leaves, but some part of him saw them. "Mint," he says quietly and quickly, his nose twitching as he sniffs the air. "Bad mix: mint and death." He takes the leaves and crushes them beneath his nose. "Must I do this?"
Parsley frowns, as if refusing at this point would somehow break her heart. "Now, Aviri, we both agreed you need to start interacting directly with people, and that's easiest with the ones you're actually working for."
Aviri nods, dropping his mint-oil-covered hand from his nose though not releasing the leaves themselves. "Yes, I know," he stammers. "It ... they ... why -here-?"
"Well, this is where you have a delivery," Parsley explains, and leads the way down the side of the long building. They pass doors for 'Sorting', 'Vats', 'Tanning' and other strange things, but stop at 'Rendering' where the doe knocks on the door, and then gives Aviri a reassuring smile.
The young foragers takes a deep breath (tears in his eyes the indication that he instantly regretted the descision) and stands slightly straighter. "W-what should I say?" he asks nervously. His voice betrays the look of confidence in his stance.
The door opens to reveal a tall, thin Skeek dressed a knee-length leather apron over a simple smock. His whiskers droop, and his brown fur is spotted with hallmark bleached and stained splashes of the Tanner clan. "Oh, Parsley!" the mouse says, smiling. Then he notices Aviri and asks. "He hardly has any fat on him, are you sure you want to render this one down?"
"That joke never gets old, Soup," Parsley chides. "This is Aviri, the one who actually goes out and collects the special ingredients you ask for."
It turns out Aviri couldn't say anything, and only gave a slight bob of his head as he was introduced to Soup. His confidence disintigrates, and he restorts to his original twitchy self, clutching the bag tighter againts his body as if protecting its contents from the offensive odors.
"Oh, well, nice to meet you," Soup says, and removes a glove to offer a mottled-looking hand to Aviri. "I'm Soup! I'm in charge of soaps, lotions and grease."
Aviri stands an awkward moment, glancing from hand to Soup to Parsley and back again. He finally releases his own hand from the bag and matches Soup's gesture, though not actually taking the mouse's hand in his. "A-aviri," he says haltingly.
Soup grabs the offered hand and pumps it up and down. "We don't get lots of visitors here!" the mouse claims semi-squeakily. He may have inhaled something he shouldn't have to give his voice the growling edge it seems to carry. "Want to see how we make the soap? There's almost no blood or bits left in the fat by the time we get it.."
The male lapi looks to Parsley for help. "Do I?" he asks. His head twitches. "I do," he says, adding quietly, "I guess." Extracting his hand from the mouse he proffers the bag to Soup. "Th-the flowers and seeds."
The Skeek takes the bag and looks through it. "Should be just enough for this week's batch," he pronounces. "Follow me and I'll get your pay voucher." Soup then turns and heads into the building, assuming Aviri will follow.
Aviri does indeed follow after a moment's hesitation. Now deprived of his one line of psychological defense against other people (his bag), he feels almost naked as he walks into the building. He doesn't seem to care about the smell anymore, though his nose isn't twitching and sniffing as often as is normal.
What's worse, Parsley remains outside! Soup provides a brief tour and explanation of the soap making process (which is disturbing enough that Aviri may never look at it the same way again) and even explains that the process has to be changed for each type of soap. "You can't use cleaning soap for grooming," he points out. "These fragrant things will go into the grooming soap. Girls like it when you smell flowery instead of.. like anything else I suppose." Finally, after crossing the room, they reach the small office cubby where Soup makes out a receipt (using actual ink - but that's made in the next room over anyway) and then adds an official stamp to it. "Just take this up to the front shop, and they'll give you coin or goods."
Throughout the tour Aviri was growing more and more uncomfortable, clumninating when Soup hands him the reciept. "It m-makes sense," he manages to say, "that flowers are b-better than ..." his voice trails off. "Thank you. Is that a-all?"
"Well, I suppose you'll be coming to take the orders now instead of Parsley?" Soup asks.
Aviri looks around as if, just by wishing, he could make Parsley appear out of nothing. "I guess," he manages to say. "When should I call next?"
"We should have the mixing plan for the next batch worked out in two days, so come back then," Soup says. "Just ask for the Soupervisor!" he adds with a big grin, proud of the pun.
The pun seems to be lost on Aviri. "Okay," he says. Bobbing his head in a goodbye, he starts off toward the door in which he entered.
Parsley is still waiting outside when Aviri escapes the room. "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" she asks the clearly shaken buck with a sweet smile.
Aviri lets his eyes respond. "Can we get away from this place? Maybe find a nice skunk cabbage to step on and rid my nose of this ... this ... broth?"
"Follow me.. did you get your pay chit?" Parsley asks, as she starts towards the town-facing end of the tannery building.
The buck holds up the reciept. He chose the hand that had previously held mind leaves, deciding that a mint-oil-covered paper would be better than one covered in whatever Soup was covered in. "Have you taken the tour?"
"Oh yes, of course," Parsley notes. "It's part of my job to make sure people feel good about their lives, after all. And showing off what they do - especially if it's complicated - makes people happy."
Aviri thinks about this for a long moment. "And happy people won't make me go into their stinky building every few days?"
"Well, there is that, yes," Parsley says, and looks to Aviri as they walk. "You enjoy what you do, don't you? Going out into the wilderness and all?"
"I enjoy ... yes," Aviri says. "Do you enjoy making people enjoy life?"
The doe grins, and says, "It has its rewards. And here we are!" The front of the Tannery, which actually is pretty close to the main street of the town, is a large shop. Parsley leads the way in, and the 'clean' fragrances here nearly overwhelm the memory of the tannery itself. Aside from leather goods, there are soaps, cleaners, perfumes, cosmetics and other quality-of-life things that are best used when one doesn't know their origins or the amount of refined bodily wastes required in the process.
Aviri pauses outside the store, his twitch returning. "We are -always- 'here'," he notes quietly before following Parsley in. "Where is 'here'? And why are we 'here'?"
"I'm sure Isolde would have a witchy answer that would make you think for a day or else make you feel silly for asking," Parsley notes, holding the door open for Aviri. "But at this time, I can definitely say 'we are here' so that you can get paid."
Aviri enters the building looking at his reciept. "Thanks for the door," he says to her as he passes.
"Hello! How can I help you today?" asks a perky older Skeek woman behind the counter. "Some perfume for your sweetie, young man? Cologne? Maybe a spiffy leather vest?"
Aviri freezes momentarily at the greeting, looking like a deer in headlights, before placing the reciept on the counter. "J-just this," he stammers.
"Oh, you're one of Soup's suppliers!" the woman says. Everything she says is a bit over-exuberant - must be from the tannery fumes. "Well, how would you like this? I can give you two yards of suede, or a mix of products.. or of course, money."
The rabbit peers at the a display of suede as if trying to imagine what he would do with it, but shakes his head twitchily. "Money, please," he manages to say without stuttering.
The woman seems about to make another offer, but finally picks up on Aviri's discomfort. "Here you go then, ten Shekels!" she says, holding out a mix of ceramic coins. Nobody in town would have an actual tenner coin. Who would be able to make change for that?
Aviri thanks the woman as he takes the coins, though it's difficult to tell whether he's thankful for the money or for the woman's realization of his condition. Leaving this ambiguity where it lays, he takes one last look around the store and leaves.
Outside, Parsley seems a bit subdued. "Have you ever tried to just.. talk to anyone?" she asks her fellow Chalk.
"Talk to people?" Aviri asks Parsley. "I couldn't. I stutter. What do you do while I'm in ... places being tortured by interactions?"
"Oh, chat with people if they're passing by, or watching you, or going over my list of things to do," Parsley rattles off. "You could probably get your stuttering fixed, too. Let's go to the bakery!"
Aviri once again glares at his companion. "I'm just a budnle of self-improvement today," he says dryly. "To the bakery it is, then."
Parsley asks Aviri to sit at one of the outdoor tables while she goes inside. "Just try to relax and.. watch people," the doe suggests. "Try to turn your ears off and imagine what they're thinking."
Aviri complies, sitting down, his head and eyes twitching nervously at his surroundings. His mouth works slightly, mutterings that could barely be called whispers such that not even Aviri could hear them. He watches the people go by.
There are plenty of younger people about who move in clusters (or gaggles) - especially the girls, who also seem to be whispering all the time. There are other tables outside, since the Bakery smells nice and the Spring weather is pleasant. A Skeek mother is cutting up a big cookie for her three small children who all, for whatever reason, decided to sit in the same chair, in each other's laps with the oldest at the bottom and the youngest at the top. A Kadie at another table mutters sourly to herself about.. someone stealing bark from her tree? And of course there is the blond, almost golden otter girl standing perfectly still and staring at Aviri from next to the door to the Bakery. Well, not perfectly still, as she slowwwwwwwly raises a rice cracker to her mouth, and just as slowly starts to chew on it. Crunch crunch crunch. Aviri has never seen an otter with long hair on its head either.
Aviri's eyes pass over the people, pausing on the mother and her three children, trying to follow his orders of 'imagine what they're thinking.' He failes, however, and moves on (though with less energy as a part of his brain remains with those three children). He stops at the otter, suddenly feeling -very- uncomfortable now that he's being observed in return. He resists the urge to turn around to see if it's something behind him that has captured her attention.
Parsley still hasn't returned from inside.. and the otter is coming towards the Lapi's table. And then the strange woman leans down until she's nearly nose to nose with Aviri, still staring into his eyes. "I've seen you," she says quietly. "Before, I mean. Obviously I've seen you just now after all. But I mean before. Before today."
Aviri's ears twitch but his head remains still. He opens his mouth to speak and very slowly says "Such would be implied" without stuttering. "Though," he continues at the same snail pace, "I've not seen you 'before today'."
This causes the otter to blink, her whiskers splaying out in surprise. "Wot? Really?" she asks, and then takes the vacant seat next to Aviri's rather than remain in his face. "But.. like.. everyone knows me! Are you from out of town maybe? Do you want a cracker?" she babbles, holding out a rice cracker. The otter talks nearly as fast as a Lapi.
Aviri narrows an eye. "Chalk," he says, gesturing in the general direction of the burrows. "And no," he says before pausing, "I do nnnnot want a cracker. I am ... fine." His slow speech is juxtaposed to her quick, which would probably make this conversation seem odd to any observers.
"Really? You're a Chalk?" the otter asks, then leans in again and sniffs, her nostrils flaring. "You don't smell like one. You smell like.. uh.. something an Oggton might roll around in. I'm Midge Sniffler!" She holds out her webbed-fingered hand to the Lapi. "See, everyone knows me because nobody else looks like me. I mean, not that all otters look alike or anything, but because I'm a mutant! I run the Swamp Veggies stand, usually. I've seen you out by yourself.."
Aviri mutters something about 'is preferable' but says aloud. "Midge Sniffler." He stops a moment, his ears twitching yet again. When he speaks, his words come a bit faster. "You are distinctive in appearance, yes."
"Aha! Now I remember!" Midge barks. "The other day, at the edge of the swamp! You were collecting Worriwort! How could you forget me? Everyone tells me I'm unforgettable! Did you try to forget me, maybe?" She eyes the rabbit with suspicion now.
"You're Virile!" the otter announces, loudly enough to cause others to glance their way.
Aviri nods in memory. "The hair blends better in water," he says. "And it's 'Aviri'. No 'l'." He ignores the glances their way, focusing his attention on the otter. "I forget nothing."
"Sorry, Noel," Midge apologizes. "What're you doing out here all alone? Are you Parsley's little brother? Are you not allowed into the Bakery anymore, like Gunther Wingnut?"
Avivi seems to be getting more comfortable with Midge. "Not brother," he says, his speach getting faster. "I was told to wait out here. To not listen, but you make that impossible." The tone wasn't accusative, but rather just a statement. He seems to realize it could be taken as rude and adds, "Did not mean to offend." He thinks a moment longer. "Gunther not allowed in bakery? Makes sense."
"Well, that's mainly because a wedding cake was involved," Midge says. "They still let Emmett in, despite the whole 'I want a fish cake' deb.. back.. all. Incident. Yeah, incident. So how come you don't come into town much? Do you have allergies? Here, sniff.." And then there's an otter-paw rubbing up against Aviri's nose. "Warn me if you're going to sneeze though!"
The lapi finally moves his head away from Midge. "Allergies, no. Dislike of interactions. This iteration not helping. Prefer solitude. Prefer forest to city."
"Why?" Midge asks, and sniffs her own paw. "Why do you collect plants? Shouldn't be a shepherd or something instead? Can you swim?"
"As I told Gunther. People change. Unknowable. Unpredictable. Plants," Aviri says, "easier to know. Environments, conditions, sunlight, water, shade, cool or warm air. The diversity is also attractive." He looks her over again, his ear twitching. "Swimming is odd to attach to such questions. I -can- swim. But it's hard to forage with wet fur."
"Can you climb trees?" the otter asks next. "And do you bring weird plants to Dr. Pike up in the scary castle? She pays for weird fish and stuff from the swamp." Midge has her chin propped up in her hands and both elbows on the table as she leans forward. It's a view many boys would swoon over, except that instead of her usual loose sundress she's actually got a leather vest instead today, keeping things mostly hidden.
Aviri seems immune the the view, never once trying to sneak a peek. "Can and have," he says. "Climb trees, that is. Some mosses only grow high. Never met Dr. Pike. Probably will, with Parsley, soon though."
"Why with Parsley?" Midge asks, whiskers flapping with curiosity. "Do you have to do everything with her? Always do what she tells you to?"
Aviri shrugs. "Parsley (Chalk, not herb) is social. People" he gestures around him at the town "are social. I'm not social. I am 'improving myself'. Becoming more social. She is helping."
"I bet I could help!" Midge claims, and thumps her tail against her chair. "I'm really social! All Akwavi are! We love getting together and fighting and dancing and playing and singing and mud-sliding and fish-wrestling and eating and.. eating some more! You gotta come to the Boathouse tonight. I'm sure Parsley is teaching you about how it's, like, important to know people, but we can show you why it's fun!"
The Lapi shakes his head. "Small steps," he says. "Maybe in a while I'll join you at the Boathouse. Party." He says this last word as if tasting it.
"Why take small steps when it's easier to dive right in!" Midge claims, throwing her hands in the air and bending backwards over her seat.. only to spot Parsley coming out of the bakery with a bag full of bread. "Hi Midge!" the doe says cheerily. "You aren't giving Aviri any crazy ideas are you?"
"Just otter ideas," Midge claims innocently.
Parsley taps her fellow blond on the nose, then turns to Aviri and says, "Sorry I took so long. But I got you a muffin!"
"Claims I should go to an otter party," Aviri says. "Not for a while, I think. Thanks for the muffin." He takes a tiny nibble at the pastry and says, "Did you put her up to this, Parsley? Talking to me? 'Just talking' to me?"
"The more time you spend around people, the more you will learn that it is impossible to get an otter to do anything useful," Parsley says with a smile. "If you want a proper Akwavi to talk to, you should go see Midge's latest admirer, Sylvania Jack, over in the adventurer cottages behind the inn. Not that he's not crazy, but he's been around more."
"He likes to poke into holes and stuff," Midge notes, still dangling backwards over her chair.
Aviri allows his question to go unanswered and takes another nervous nibble. "Good muffin," he says absently, keeping his eye on Parsley as if just waiting for her to try some other self-improvement scheme.
"I have to make some deliveries now," Parsley notes. "Do you want to come along, Aviri?"
Aviri looks from his muffin to Midge. "Yes," he says. "Where?"
"I need to visit my sister Clover up at the castle," Parsley notes. "And drop off some bread at the Gypsy camp to Mrs. Fleet, since she hurt her foot."
Aviri nods. "Sounds like a plan." He takes a few more nibbles on the muffin.
Parsley pokes Midge in the belly, causing the otter to bark and fall over off her chair. "No fair!" she protests while laughing. Satisfied, Parsley hands the bag to Aviri. "You can carry the bag. I know you like having something in your hands."
The male lapi gratefully accepts the bag and stands, finishing off the muffin with a few large bites. "Thank you again," he says slowly to Parsley. "And nice to meet you again, Midge."
The otter waves from the ground. "Don't be a stranger, Noel!" she says.
"Noel?" Parsley asks Aviri as they leave the bakery behind them.
"I don't know," Aviri replies. "She just called me that after I said I don't forget things."
"You should probably correct her sometime," Parsley notes, as they make their way through town. Nobody bothers Aviri, but people often stop to greet Parsley or talk to her about milk deliveries. Eventually they pass the town's only inn and head towards the Milk Run, where the Gypsy camp is.
The camp is busy as usual, although not all of the activities are sensible to the Lapi. Parsley gets a lot of waves and greetings as they work their way to one of the smaller wagons. Parsley plucks one of the loaves from the bag, and knocks on the door.
The door creaks open, and an elderly Rath'ani woman peeks out. "Oh, Parsley. Did you bring.. oh, you did!"
"I'll be right back out, Aviri," Parsley promises. "Gossip would just bore you!" the doe assures, and then disappears into the wagon.
Aviri's awkward and nervous pose for being, once again, in the Gypsie camp (Gunther's interaction still bright in his mind) is heightened by the woman's words. He casts a quick glance to Parsley but keeps most of his attention on the Rath'ani. He opens his mouth to intoduce himself, but never gets the chance and is, once again, left waiting outside.
Various children watch from around the sides of nearby wagons. A brave raccoon approaches, wearing a child's dress (which hides the youngster's gender as well). "I can do this," it says, and sticks both fists into its mouth and cheeks.
Aviri looks upon the children quizzically, one ear twitching. "Interesting," he manages to say before his head, seemingly of its own volition, continues its sentury of the area.
"What can you do?" the raccoon-child asks after extracting its fists. "Do you sing? Dance? Do you have any candy?"
The Lapi's head twitches suddenly back to the child. "No candy," he says quickly. "Sorry."
"Ey, Mihai," calls out a voice that's attached to a tall, black-furred female Eeee. Definitely female, because for an Eeee, she actually has defining shape. Not to mention a colorful-gauzey dress adorns her hips and upper thighs and overlayed with a belt made from dozens of little trinkets that click and rustle as she walks towards the child. And oh, she's also adorned from head to toe in stylized, blood red fur-dye tattoos ... which goes well with her glowing-red eyes; telltale marks of a natural vampire (as opposed to an undead one). "Ya seen yer sister about? She no show up at practi..." the Eeee continues on, pausing only when she registers there is a lapi standing there. "Oh, 'Ello dere," she says to Aviri. "Havn' seen vou aroun' before. New t' town?"
Aviri's mouth opens to mutter something, but a glance at the woman's giant ears makes him close it again. He takes a wary step away from both child and bat. "Not new," he stammers quietly.
The bat extends her hand; she has blood-red polished claws. "I Liliana," she offers, "Lead dancer an all aroun' awesome person o' de camp. Isn' anyone I don' know or haven' bitten." The last bit comes with a fangy grin.
"She went to the springs," Mihai claims. "To wash her hands."
"Vampire, natural," Aviri says quietly as he looks at the woman. He extends his hand, but holds short. "N-not going to bite?" he asks. His stutter could probably be mistaken for fear of the vampire, instead of fear of people in general.
"Bite 'im!" a little girl calls out from the voyeur cluster, then hides behind someone else.
"Only bite if ya ask real nice," Liliana promises and extends further, taking his hand and shaking it lightly and briefly. "Or want earrin's Fangs good fer dat an me spit makes it hurt less," she adds. "An you gots good ears. Ever t'ink about getting a dozen or so earrin's?"
Aviri's free hand subconsciously goes up to his right earth, feeling it twitch under his fingers. "N-no," he says. "Hard to walk w-with loops. Get caught in foliage."
"Den you get studs," Liliana offers. "Or! Tattoos. Yah, de inner part of de ear is great fer dat. I can't cuz me skin is black, but you coul'." To the child she finally says, "Okay. Iffen vou see 'er later, tell her t' come by me wagon so I kin go over de routine changes wit' her." Her left ear then twitches; and though she has no pupipls, the Eeee might have glanced at Aviri just before she adds, "An get 'er spankin' fer bein' a no-show!"
"Shoul' I tell her the spankin' part?" the child asks.
"Should she be tol' dat?" Liliana redirects the question to Aviri.
Aviri twitches, looking quickly from Eee to child. "Ho ... wha ... I, uh ... no?"
"Yeah, then it'll be a surprise!" Mihai claims, giggles, and runs off to tackle one of the other children.
Liliana laughs. "Yer jumpy. It cute," the Eeee comments as she reaches over and taps the edge of his left ear. "No one 'urt vou 'ere. Ve all just a bunch a vierdos an free spirits, ya? Y von find a more velcomin' group anyvhere, so try an relax. Haf some fun."
The ear twitches away from her touch. "Th-thank you," he stammers. "I'll try." He looks to the wagon into which Parsley had vanished. Why was it that he met all the weirdos when she was away?
That's also when Liliana, with an impish grin, leans in and whispers right into his ear, "I kin help vou try..." And naturally this is followed up by a faux-evil quiet laugh.
Aviri twitch-leaps away from the Eeee. "No bite," he says quickly. "Fine my myself. Don't need help."
"Are you doing okay out there, Aviri?" Parsley calls from within the wagon.
"Everyone need help," Liliana says as she draws back and waves her hand from the base of her nose over the back of her head in an odd gesture. "Look aroun' sometime, ya? Try an see de people around vou. Isn' no one here who hasn' needed help at some point in dere lives; me included. Vha matters in lf is de mark ya leave on others. Try an make it a smile, ya?"
Aviri looks after the Eeee, remaining silent to Parsley's call. "Wish they'd leave smile on me," he mutters very quietly, knowing the easiest way to do that would be to just not be around people.
The wagon door opens and Parsley peeks out, ostensibly to see if Aviri is still there. "Oh, you've met Liliana," the doe notes. "She's a dancer you know. The sort that you watch."
Aviri turns to Parsley, as if surprized she were there. "Don't watch dancing," he says. "What're you doing in there?"
"Y' vant a smile, ya gotta offer one," Liliana points out to Aviri; Eeee hearing is sharper than a Lapi's, after all. "Y' gotta be villin' to take risks, extend a 'and, make a joke, flirt, laugh, open yerself. Enjoy lif vhile ya got it, cuz it kin end quickly out 'ere." She rubs her chest absently as she speaks, "Som'ting I know vell, bein' a monster in some eyes. Mebbe in yours too." Her head shakes as she spots Parsley and waves, "Ey, dere. I didn' break 'im. Promise!"
"Could you show him something interesting?" Parsley asks. "Like.. uh.. painting someone or dancing or something? I think he finds people boring."
"Mebbe another time," Liliana says, "I gots t' see to some other things. I kin let you know vhen I be doing some paintvork an you kin bring him by. Bonus iffin you can convince him t' have some done. 'e mentioned foraging; I can do vines and such easy."
Aviri stands up slightly straighter and says, "It was ... nice to meet you, Liliana."
"Vas it?" Liliana asks, her brow arching, which naturally makes one eye seem to glow more than the other.
"Well, he's getting better at being social," Parsley claims. "Just need to pry him out of his shell more.."
Giving a very twitchy nod, Aviri says, "It is al-lways nice to m-meet people." It sounds rather forced, and he adds quietly and more stabily, "if only to gain more experience."
"I was about to talk him by the castle," Parsley notes. "Do you have anything you want to brought to your cousin there?" she asks Lili.
"Yer a terrible liar," Liliana says to Aviri. Her head tilts to Parsley and she notes, "Y' kin tell him dat no; I don't need a vhip fer my show. Veirdo."
"Clover isn't using hers if you do need one," Parsley says, with a face too straight for it not to be a joke.
"So de rumor I 'ear about 'er using it on Zahn just a joke, den?" Liliana counters with an equally straight face.
"Of course, since.. Clover's is still building her strength back up," Parsley claims.
Aviri watches this encounter intently, obviously listening to everything, taking mental notes on facial expressions and body language as well as tones of voice and wording.
"And has Rei been telling you stories?" Parsley asks, one ear cocked forward.
Liliana laughs. "Mebbe 'e has. Mebbe 'e hasn't. Anyvay, I shoul' be going," she comments. Her head swings about and she levels her eyes on Aviri, "An as for vou. I be vatchin' for vou." There's that fangy grin again. "Two shekels I kin get 'im t' ask me t' bite him in under three months," she remarks to Parsley. Liliana pirouettes around, then slinks back off into the camp.
"You still owe me for the bet you made about Amelia," Parsley notes. Turning to Aviri, she says, "Let's get going. But a word of warning: the people at the castle can be.. odd."
Voladia says, "'Well that's just frightening! Reminds me of a certain Monte Python movie. Anyway, DEP..."
Aviri looks at Parsley with confusion mixed with terror. "People at the -castle- are odd? This'll be fun."