In The Works...

Tala's ploy had worked. Hitomi's arms wrapped around the satchel with a happy sigh and began to curl up. Tala had been lucky she'd gotten out when she did, otherwise she would've never escaped without waking Hitomi. By the time she looked back, she'd see Hitomi lightly nipping at the satchel. It was DEFINITELY a good thing she'd gotten out when she did.

Sadly for Hitomi, her rest would come to a definitive end as Tala began screaming. Hitomi's eyes shot open and she quickly rose. After a moment, though, Hitomi processed a little of what was happening. Had she hurt someone she knew? With a small sigh, Hitomi pushed herself up from the ground. Her eyes were fluttering, she was still really tired...She let out a small yawn and made her way over towards Tala. Without thinking, she slipping her arms around the woman's waist and peeked her head over Tala's shoulder. "Mm...m?" She looked up at Tala curiously, hoping for some kind of explanation here.

Fey on the other hand, had been enjoying a nice, restful sleep when a door suddenly HIT HER IN THE FACE. Her eyes opened in a daze, and she saw Tala over her, crying about...OH SHE HIT HER? "Haud...yer...wheesht!" She huffed, clearly having a hard time forming sentences. "Ya fuckin'...weapon....." And like that, she would fall back asleep. After a moment, her eye would open and a small grin would appear on her face. "Good ta see ya...Wee Nyaff." And THEN she fell asleep.

[color=#e32636]"NO FEY DON'T DIE ON MEEEEEEEE!"[/colod] Tala said whining as Fey went back to sleep. She noticed Hitomi on her shoulder and turned her head. "Bwaah, Hitomi! I'm sorry! Did I wake you?"

She then raised up Fey in her hands so Hitomi could see.

"I...uh...this is a long story so we should probably head inside and--"

Turning to face Hitomi completely, Tala's face flashed red. Hitomi was, after all, in nothing more than a tunic that reached her thighs. Tala quickly turned her head away, heat rising in her head.

"A-ahh...a-and maybe get you back in your clothes, hm?"

She'd dart past Hitomi inside with Fey still in her palms. She then laid her gently on the table before deciding to get a cloth from the satchel and--

Tala could easily see teeth marks on her bag from nibbling and she cautiously touched her own neck at the possibility of taking that sort of damage.

Maybe...maybe I should get Hitomi something to chew on shen she sleeps...

Funny how she could just decide not to sleep next to Hitomi again, but Tala was an idiot that way.

Whatever the case, Tala hovered over the sleeping Fey and looked at Hitomi to explain...lack of garb regardless

"Not sure how I can explain this, but this tiny thing is a friend of mine. She probably means us no harm though..."

Tala sheepishly scratched her cheek.

"She can be very....very...ahm...headstrong."

"Mm..." Hitomi whined in response to Tala's question, trying to nuzzle against her again. When Tala mentioned that she needed to collect her clothes, Hitomi gave a curious look towards her. She looked down and only then something seemed to click on her brain. While she wasn't really embarrassed about the clothes. Her BEHAVIOR up until that point had been....Well...

By the time Tala turned around, she would see Hitomi staring at the ground. She'd brought her prosthetics up and she was almost hiding her face behind them. Her ears hung low, and every now and then, she'd seemingly twitch slightly. Her right ear twitched as she was addressed. She was clearly listening, but she seemed frozen in place.

"Fey's an Incantus that works for Cor-...a former colleague of mine," Tala said, hesitating at mentioning the name. She hadn't thought about the person in, well, ages. Well, that wasn't true. She always thought of him along with everyone else she had left behind, but that was beside the point.

She was about to continue and reassure Hitomi that Fey was a very nice Incantus (not the kind that would eat you and not that she could given her size), but she noticed that Hitomi was suddenly frozen in place.

She was hiding her face and her ears were low, and while the obvious thing would be that she was embarrassed, but Tala was an entirely different kind of idiot.

Tala quickly rushed over to Hitomi almost completely forgetting her past embarrassment, and held Hitomi by the shoulders.

"H-Hitomi, are you okay?" she asked worriedly. "Are you cold again? W-wait, let me go get something to cover you up!"

Tala would hurry to get her cloak and wrapped it around Hitomi.

"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have let you come outside! You'll catch your death of cold!"

It seemed her motherly instincts from when Hitomi was a little kid were still there.

Hitomi could only let out low squeaks as Tala doted on her once again. She didn't know where her mask was. Had she left it in the snow? Was it in her pack? She didn't know...She couldn't let Tala see her right now. She didn't know why. As she felt the cloak wrap around her, Hitomi would seemingly sink into it, trying to hide her face. Slowly, she reached out, trying to trace another message on Tala that only read. 'Mask.'

She couldn't handle this.

She couldn't.

Slowly Hitomi sunk to the floor, trying to completely cover herself with the cloak until she managed to calm herself down. It...might be a bit.

"Mask?" Tala said when Hitomi disappeared into her cloak. "O-oh! Right! Your mask! I think I placed it with the satchel too."

Tala would scoot down to the ground and pick up the satchel as well as Hitomi's clothes, dusting them off from the ground and handed it and the mask to the sunken Hitomi.

"Hey, what's up with you?" she asked. "Are you just cold? Do you need privacy to change? Oh! Are you hungry? I could make some more champorado if you'd like!"

Tala was obviously not getting it.

Her mask... Finally. She swiped it from Tala's hands and bundled further into the cloak. Tala wasn't getting it...Maybe that was for the best? But if she kept this up...Hitomi looked at her mask for a moment. Was this really for the best? She..Did she really need this around Tala. She turned it over and stared for a few seconds.

...

She didn't need this around Tala.

Around Tala she couldn't be no one.

She took a breath before slowly raising herself once again. She kept the cloak up slightly, helping cover the bottom of her face. Just because her small panic attack was over didn't mean she was 100% right now. She reached out and traced yet another message on Tala. 'Champorado, please.' ...Well..she really liked champorado...

Feeling Hitomi's request, Tala nodded and smiled softly.

"Alright, I can arrange that fairly quickly," she said. "You focus on changing."

Tala scanned around the workhouse and she fortunately found the a pot (she also realized she had to go back for the pot she left behind in the snow later!) and managed to cook the left over ingredients she had. As the rice boiled, she moved over to Fey to inspect her. She was worried for Fey, though she looked like she was merely passed out in a drunken stupor as she always was.

Regardless, Tala took a handkerchief and would gently roll Fey over it so that she had the semblance of a soft surface to rest on.

Tala would then return to Hitomi, remembering how she had knocked Fey over anyways.

"By the way, you won't believe this but...we kinda...got robbed last night?" she said sheepishly, scared of how Hitomi would react to the news.

Hitomi took a sigh on relief as Tala agreed to make her more food and scurried off. She could get some breathing room and just..focus on changing. Still, this tunic was really comfortable. She might see if Tala would let her keep it.

Without a second thought, Hitomi began to strip right then and there. Now that she was...well, herself again, she really didn't have a problem with Tala seeing her. In fact, it MIGHT remind her that she was NOT a child. So, with that in mind, Hitomi really took her time changing.

Fey mumbled something incoherently as the was rolled onto a handkerchief. Her grin made it seem like she was having a nice dream at least.

Hitomi was just finishing changing when Tala spoke to her once again. She looked over, her eyes widening for a moment. "....m." She walked over towards Tala and took her hand, now tracing out another message. 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed for us to sleep together.' Her ears began to droop once more, another blush coming to her face. She thought they'd be fine...'What was taken?'

When Tala turned to Hitomi to speak, she paused upon seeing Hitomi mid-change. Tala instantly turned her head away, covering one side of her face with her cupped hand before anxiously peaking again to see if she was done. She had not time to let her hand down gently as Hitomi grabbed her hand and started writing again.

It was a little hard to instantly track what she was saying, but she got it close enough. The first sentence made her flush a bit, and she quickly interjected.

"N-n-n-n-no! Don't blame yourself!" Tala said hastily. "I shouldn't have had so much confidence with my spell and slept through it! Besides, you were cold and needed warmth and it was really nice sleeping with you--wait, I mean next to you! Wait, I mean I didn't mind sleeping next to you and it wasn't a bother not that I found it super comfortable! No wait, that's worse, I mean I DID like it, but not in a bad way! Sleeping with you was wonderful! Agh, next to you!"

Tala had basically gone on a panicky tangent, and she waving her hands frantically and just red and her words unintelligible.

She eventually turned around, covering her face with her ears steaming before remembering Hitomi's next question (she cursed herself for not realizing she could have just diverted to that topic instead).

"A-ahh...nothing too big!" she reassured. "Just like...all our money...hahahaha...that's nothing right? Psh, who needs money?? Haha...haha...ahaa..."

Tala's body slumped and she whined.

"We're...yeah, we're broke."