Day 56: North Street (Morning)

[escapedpandora]

Maybe it was the sudden influx of normality (or what passed as such a thing here) along with the townspeople, but it barely took a few minutes before Hope couldn't stand to be walking along the shops down the street anymore. He didn't want to listen to people laugh and coo over gossip and shopping lists, with their smiles and happily ever after

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[gald_digger]

Anise felt a little bad after parting ways with Hope. The kid already looked like he had a ton of worries, and she'd just given him a few more things to worry about. On the bright side, though, he was more informed, and she hoped that meant he'd be more prepared for the bad stuff to come

[avengingfists]

Meeting new patients was always a bittersweet occasion for Ilia. On the one hand, she always enjoyed creating bonds with new friends, and on the other hand, the institute was the last place she would wish upon anyone. Still, it had cheered her to think maybe she had been able to ease Matthew's burden just the tiniest bit with her words

[gald_digger]

The sound of a familiar voice pulled Anise's attention away from the window, and she whirled around to face the source. Just as she thought, it was Ilia. Anise's face brightened in an instant. It had been a few days since she last saw Ilia, but her friend looked like she was doing all right. That was a big relief to see, considering how abruptly some of her friends had disappeared before.

"You could say that!" she replied cheerfully. "There's lots of expensive-looking stuff, and some things I've never seen before." Some kind of Earth artifacts, she guessed. That was pretty exciting to think about. Even if her little allowance probably wouldn't buy her any treasures, she couldn't help but feel eager to go take a look at them.

"Anyway, how've you been? Got anything planned for today?" Some scary stuff had happened a couple nights ago, and then there was the military takeover, so Anise imagined things weren't going too smoothly for Ilia, but hopefully things weren't going too badly, either.

[avengingfists]

Seeing Anise's cheerful face added to Ilia's warm mood. She found herself smiling right back.

"It probably has a lot of expensive things, but how knows? It might surprise you what you find." Antiques were a bit touch and go in both price and quality, from Ilia's experience. She was typically a practical shopper herself. "No harm in looking, of course."

"I'm doing fine, actually." Ilia shook her head, more snow sloughing out of her hair. The windbreaker wasn't doing much to keep the cold out either, though it kept her dry. She wrapped her arms around herself.

"I haven't thought much about today. I didn't know we were going on a trip." She was used to the military regime; that should could understand and cope with. But a trip? How... unusually thoughtful of them, to provide a break for all the patients.

[gald_digger]

It was nice to hear Ilia confirm that she was doing all right. There was always the chance that she was sweeping some things under the rug (as Anise was often guilty of doing), but for the moment, she looked well enough that Anise could be satisfied with the answer.

"Oh, right. You've never been here before, huh?" It was weird to think that for as good friends as they were, Anise only knew Ilia for less than a week. "They usually bring us here once a week. The money's new, though!" She pulled her card out of her jacket pocket and waved it once to show, grinning at the thought of finally getting to do more than just window shopping.

Ilia was encouraging Anise to take a look, so she figured it only made sense to invite her to join her. Besides, Ilia's knowledge of Earth could help Anise identify some of the weird stuff in the store. "Wanna come in with me? We might not be able to buy much in there, but it looks like it could be really interesting!"

[avengingfists]

Ilia vaguely remembered Berg or whoever announcing today's trip as a weekly excursion, but Ilia hadn't been warned at all beforehand about the trip until morning had arrived. Not that she was complaining. A trip to a town, even one this small, was a welcome sight after nearly a week stuck inside the institute.

Seeing Anise so cheerful about a few dollars cash made Ilia chuckle. She knew she barely had enough for a bauble or two at best, but a little money was better than nothing.

"Sure. Let's go on in." Ilia nodded and, holding the door open for Anise to walk on through, entered the Antique shop without much more ado.

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