"Aliss. Aliss. Oh dear, oh dear, we'll be late." Sigh suppression should be a noted gift from the gods. Surely there was no other possible reason why she was so adept at it. Baring practice, of course. It seemed like her entire life was one big sigh that she refused to let loose. Needless to say, Aliss Clevereyes gave no attention to Nivens as he whined and fretted against her hip. His little hare paws kneaded at fur, but received no indication that she had even heard his lamentation over the vile possibility that they would be late to anything. The gods forbid that happen.
She shouldn't make him so upset, he was such a useful little companion most of the time, actually he was quite down-to-earth when he wasn't worried about lacking punctuality. But could anyone really blame her for wanting to drag her paws just a little bit? While she was intently surveying a beaded necklace to determine just how much it should be worth (But then, worth so often depended on the willingness of customers to buy it), a length of cloth and a pristine abalone shell stuffed full with a few pretty stones, a length of tusk, some other, smaller shells, and even a few pearls of various sizes sat with an air of foreboding off to one side. The activity that Nivens kept going on about being late to was none other than heading over to the master craftsman's den/workshop to give him pick of the lot of them. And that was the absolute last thing she wanted to do.
She was a merchant, she shouldn't be so bothered by taking her supplies to the master craftsman for bartering. Most probably would have seen it as an honor. It meant her thieves and gypsies were particularly good at what they did. And they were, she could begrudgingly admit that fact. But good gods, she had never met a more insufferable male in all her life! If she could just give everything to Thackery and just let the clever little hare act as go-between, she would in a heartbeat. But while she had just as much of a soft spot for the mildly mad little thing as she did for Nivens, she knew that this was her responsibility and much of it would probably be a bit much for him to carry anyway.
Never mind the fact that he could be just as scatter-brained as his good friend, Mr. Hatter. For all she knew, he'd be just as likely to lose it all than get it safely to the crafter.
"Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiss." More tugging, more whining, more kneading. The record broke when Aliss finally let out that sigh she'd been holding back, though it emerged from between clenched teeth and her eyes flicked a scathing look at the hare. His ears immediately flicked back and his whiskers twitched, his eyebrows lowering into a chagrined look. Geez, if he kept that look up, people would think she'd threatened to eat him. Another sigh and she shook her head at him.
"Fine, fine. I suppose I'll just finish this when we get back." But that wasn't the point. The point was she simply didn't want to go and Nivens didn't understand that. But then, how could he? She remembered when she was little, he was too and he had been the very creature she'd chased into these lands. Finding him again and more or less adopting him so that he wouldn't be some predator's potential meal had been a boon for both of them. He gained a protector and she an assistant with very clever paws. It was just a bit of a bother that he was so neurotic half the time.
The pair of them carefully put the cloth and other trinkets into a bag they had slung around her neck and shoulder and set off out of her den. Granted, first they hid her wares, just in case someone thought anything out in the open was fair game, but that took little time at all when the two of them worked together. Now they walked side-by-side through the pridelands, heading towards the den probably as far from hers as possible. She'd made sure of it. While she didn't hate Mr. Hatter per say, being in his presence tended to bring the worst out of her and rather nasty headaches seemed to be a side-effect of prolonged exposure. They never got along for some reason, even when she really did try to be at least polite.
Most would say it was because she was far too stuffy. Nivens and the head fortuneteller Godchild certainly shared that opinion. Given how uptight Aliss was, it was a wonder she didn't snap. Of course, Nivens certainly wasn't one to judge, but at least his paranoia was a viable excuse for his skittish nature. What reason did Aliss have for her impractically and downright proper manner?! Poor upbringing, no doubt. Her parents must have absolutely ruined her, the poor thing.
But then, if he remembered right, she'd been just a bit stuffy as a youngling, too. Wait... no, maybe... Oh, he didn't remember, he was too busy being late everywhere. And they were going to be late now, too, if she didn't stop dragging her paws! What on earth was wrong with her? This was a good thing, to be bartering her intake with the head craftsman rather than one of the lower crafters. Sure, he didn't get along with Hatter; the lion ruined one of his favorite trinkets long ago. But he still admired the older male. Did Aliss dislike Hatter even more? Certainly not! Or... or maybe that was it. She was stuffy, after all, and Hatter was anything but. Perhaps such a clash of personalities was bound to have animosity towards one another...
Such a shame, that. Being friends with the trade heads was always a beneficial move. At least she was on relatively good terms with the head fortuneteller. Then again, Godchild seemed to be on relatively good terms with everyone. Whether you wanted him to be or not.
"Aliss?" he finally said, looking up at her as he moved slowly along at her side. She glanced down for the briefest of moments before turning her attention forward again.
"Hmm?" It was all the cue he needed to press on.
"We... don't have to go if you don't want to. And if we don't go at all, we wouldn't be late?" He was rewarded with yet another sigh and she slowly shook her head.
"We're almost there, we're not going to be late, and this needs to get done. The sooner, the better." His ears drooped at the resignation in her voice, but a moment later he caught her smile. "It's okay, Niv. Don't fret over it. I needed to get out into the fresh air, anyway."
And it was such a beautiful day...
(WC: 1,152)
