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Terpsichore fidgeted with the tie around her neck, a makeshift clasp for a length of fabric that could almost be considered a cloak... if it wasn't for the fact that it was most certainly a section of tent canvas. It was the first time she had wandered past the city's threshold since hitting teen-hood, and her clothing was fitting a little more snug than she was used to. She had some coin, given to her by whom she had dubbed as her 'trainer,' but they had separated before this happened, albeit temporarily. Who knew how temporarily, though...

Despite the quickly-fashioned garb, she walked as though undaunted by appearance. The city is where she felt she belonged, surrounded by a population of humans. Such fascinating creatures, they were. She had wanted to become just like them, ever since she was but a tiny little shroomish, and now she had her chance. Maybe once she was able to earn herself some more cash, she could assimilate even further into the society she so craved to be a part of.

There was very little she had at her disposal to practice with, in the past. She learned of human behavior, of expression, of minute detail from books and observation. To be a human, she had to mimic the humans. To gain cash... perhaps she could do just the same. She toyed with the idea of becoming an actress, but traveling the road of the celebrity was not a favorable outcome. Small-time, that was all she wanted. However, everyone had to start somewhere. Baby steps before that niche was found.

She stood outside a foreclosed shop building, what once seemed to be a small, locally-owned grocer or nick-knack dollar store. There was an open box placed by her feet, but she couldn't think of what to write on the front; it wasn't a donation, so she figured scribbling a little dollar sign on it would be blatant enough yet not too 'cold.' The girl wasn't going to force others to pay, but this was going to be difficult -- she hadn't exactly done this sort of thing to raise money before! Once a passerby walked along the sidewalk at her feet, Terpsichore would pursue, mimicking movements and strides much akin to what a mime might. She was much too colorful to be taken as such, and she stuck close to her box. At least it seemed like a busy enough day!

The shroomish took wider steps than she was used to, frilled ears in tune with the stride of the man walking in front of her to echo in unison. His eyes were locked on the ink plastered across the newspaper currently clenched in his hands, obscuring his view from much of what was going on around him -- including the girl that was holding a similar, but invisible, paper of her own a mere five-person breadth from him. Well, it was just about perfect, if it hadn't been for Terpsichore's ecstatic grin when she was supposed to be mirroring a more stony expression. She couldn't help it -- she really missed being able to do all this!

In fact, she seemed to have missed it so much that she had wrapped herself too fully into her passing roles. While she never wandered too far out of range of her cardboard box, she seemed to be missing the point of trying to use such skills to earn any sort of payment at all. How was anyone going to be giving her an offering if she followed behind? It didn't help matters that many people, it seemed, were focused on getting to their destination instead of looking at what was around them. It's the journey that mattered, people! Oh but they probably were on a timed schedule, weren't they? Busy, busy.

Moving back to the box to await the next person who caught her attention, she spotted Ilmari crossing over to where she was stationed. From across the street... was he coming over specifically to see her? Flashing him a cheery smile, Terpsichore hastily readjusted the intensity of it to match the whimsicott's and waved a mirrored hand in greeting. Wow, this was the first person to acknowledge her here today, how nice! She made sure the clasp on her makeshift cloak was firmly fastened before taking a few steps toward him, just in case she was reading the signals wrong. Did he want to talk? Oh, she wasn't stationed in a place that she wasn't supposed to be in, was she? If there were any street regulations about this sort of thing, the shroomish wasn't aware of them. Maybe she should have done her homework a bit more first...

It was perhaps only a secondary notion that Terpsichore considered that, being a poké-teen himself, the whimsicott before her could likely understand her current predicament better than these other people roaming the streets. However, merely the fact that she was getting any acknowledgement at all took precedence in her mind, at least for the moment.

Nearing her current one-person audience, she hesitated for only a split second. It didn't look like any resulting conversation would be due to her being stationed in a place she was not supposed to be in. His next action, though, elicited the girl's smile to come back even stronger this time. He knew exactly where she was pulling her inspiration from this time! As Ilmari's hand slid from the invisible wall, Terpsichore motioned as though to knock on what was apparently a clear pane of glass.

Rocking herself back to stand fully on her pair of feet, the petite shroomish bobbed her head in response. "I'm winging it, but it makes for good practice," she mused aloud with a sheepish shrug. Moving a lock of hair behind an ear, she composed herself, her voice taking on a more regal tone, "So what brings you to these parts, kind sir?"