Welcome to Gaia! ::

The stares were something that Dayo had long since gotten used to, and she'd been well-taught to ignore jeering comments from some of the mouths that accompanied widened pairs of eyes - and if it came right down to it, the Frei had been instructed where the best place would be to punch someone if the words and advances invaded her "personal space" too much. She seemed to not be annoyed by the large crowds of people, instead enjoying the fact that there were so many individuals here, their numbers sprawling out and spilling into the streets outside of the market. It had made her full and giddy in no time, and now the people she passed by would occasionally start having similar feelings, being inexplicably cheerful in place of previous impatience.

As far as the place being too crowded to navigate, the Frei wasn't too worried. She simply floated over people who got in the way.

Her guardian was at a stand nearby shopping for things she couldn't find as cheap and easily in Barton. She felt that Dayo wouldn't get in too much trouble in a place as public as this, and the eagle girl had proven to not be materialistic enough that she wouldn't be trusted with enough money to get herself a little present if she found something she liked.

In a less crowded situation, Ekundayo's empathy might have been able to detect Rivener's surprise and anxiety, but as it were it was lost in the throngs of people around him, several of which were probably feeling similar emotions for one reason or another. She would have to instead rely on her sharp vision to catch the fellow Raevan; however, that depended on her eyes wandering over to land on him.

That didn't happen, and instead the empath ended up drifting towards the next stand over to take a half-interested look at a display of bright and fresh strawberries. Her broad wings stretched out unconsciously and then folded behind her back, as if they could tell that they weren't going to be used now that Dayo was done with her aimless wandering around for at least a few minutes.

Dayo continued to inspect the strawberries, the manager of that particular stall appearing shamelessly happy that such an attractive young woman had come to take a look at his produce. Not only did her presence make him inexplicably cheerful and happy for abstract reasons that extended beyond how easy she was on the eyes, but having her around would be sure to attract some more customers. He was considering the benefits of offering the eagle girl a free sample, when another legless being showed up to take a look at the strawberries.

Hah, it was working already.

The younger Frei was a bit startled by the sudden injection of Riv's voice into what passed as her concentration, and her hair softly whirled about her face as it lifted to find whoever had just 'spoken'. Floating right next to her was another Raevan she hadn't met before - which was very exciting, and she had a hard time keeping that feeling to herself.

Her own cheer-tinged voice sounded a bit amused when she observed, "Your face is acting strange." She was always a little confused when people put up facial expressions that didn't match their feelings.

Dayo continued to observe Rivener, with little bits of curiosity tinging her usual state of euphoria. His sharp features started to make sense of them, and when he asked his question it was answered with a calm and approving smile. "Don't worry," she replied, "it's working fine now." And with that, for her the issue was resolved and thus dismissed.

Her gaze drifted over to the fruit on the stand, and then back to Rivener with an inquiring tilt of her head. "Are strawberries tasty? I've never eaten before." To another Raevan, it might be apparent from that statement that she had made her way to the food vendors to try and find her first 'real' food, and she wanted to make sure it was something she would like.

If this meeting became more than a small, brief encounter, it would hopefully become clear to him that Dayo didn't mean to tease or mock him with her comments about his face. She simply didn't have the capacity for such a thing - at this stage in her development, she was still far too innocent for her own good. At any case, she wasn't quizzically observing his face now, instead relatively focused on the strawberries with a bemused-looking smile on her own.

Ekundayo turned over Rivener's words in her head, idly curling and uncurling her dainty claws while she considered his thoughts. She remembered that she had enjoyed a sweet drink at the beach party earlier in the summer. Would a strawberry taste the same? Probably not... it wasn't liquid.

She still commented, expecting Riv to know what she meant, "I like sweet drinks. They taste happy!" her expression turning warmer at the thought. It hadn't occurred to her yet that she was the only Raevan in existence who ate emotions.

Based on her reactions to the scorpion so far, she was either completely oblivious to the errant sliding of his eyes to places they shouldn't go, or she simply didn't see the point of getting offended or upset at how wandering eyes would occasionally to land on things she made no effort to hide. It was most likely some combination of both; the carefree tendencies she showed at 'birth' were showing no signs of going away anytime soon.

The sudden flash of annoyance from the moodier Frei singed Dayo's own mood, and she took one last look at the stand she had stopped at. Was the shopkeeper wrong about his strawberries being that good? There was usually a small spike of anger like that when someone was wrong...

"Let's try another stand," she suggested, still all smiles.

"Mushrooms?" Dayo idly asked in response, just a little curious why the other Raevan was out to buy them. Weren't those the spongy, puffy little white things that appeared overnight in the front yard after a spell of rain? Why, then, couldn't he just wait for some to grow in his yard instead of coming out here to find someone to purchase them from? It seemed a little more difficult and time-consuming that way.

Handshakes weren't something the Raevan put much visible effort into, even though she was strong enough to rival the scorpion in an arm wrestling match. It was just another one of those weird formality things to get past when you met someone new. It was clear that she was not too interested in those fancy little rules of conduct; her handshake was limp and aloof in a way that suggested she just wanted to get it over with because she knew she more or less had to unless she wanted to face an awkward silence.

"Ekundayo," she said. "Everyone just says 'Dayo', though." The slight tension in the air loosened and warmed a bit, reflecting her happiness at meeting Rivener. Now that they knew each other's names, they could be friends!

Ohhh... so it was his guardian who wanted the mushrooms, and not Rivener. Well... maybe that meant there was a special kind that he was sent here to find. Dayo remembered that was part of why her own guardian had brought her up here today. "My guardian is here," she answered, not needing to pause on a question involving something that was currently on her mind. "She is small, and has green hair." If Rivener had met her guardian before, he would be able to know from a short description - a short mechanic who kept her hair dyed was apart enough from the other types found on Gaia that there shouldn't be much confusion.

She was able to detect Rivener's inexplicable happiness, but didn't think too much of it. For her, the state of euphoria she was always in was her normal and healthy state. Being around someone else like that could only brighten her mood, which reflected on the air around them. The scorpion Frei may have found himself having an easier time getting past the crowds than he was earlier; the projective empathy that Ekundayo possessed made the normally impatient people around them happier and more willing to allow them to pass.

They were only two or three vendors away from the mushrooms when Dayo stopped, another stand catching her eye. It was probably due to the rampant energy spilling from ecstatic children that made her want to take a closer look at it: it was an odd place to find one, but there it was. An ice cream stand.