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Ahh, shopping in Civisect! What a treat! Psykgi certainly deserved a treat, and so she was treating herself to a spending binge. Retail therapy was, after all, a thing.

She'd been in and out of stores, purchasing clothes that caught her eye, gave her delight, and were red or a variation thereof. Previously, only a few boutiques outside of the tourist districts had carried clothing in the warmer colors. But with the new trend of a riotous celebration of color sweeping the city, it was getting easier to display her own hue. Of course, like all trends, it was probably a passing thing, but Psykgi was taking advatage of it thorougly. She grinned, mood thoroughly boueyed by the bags of new cloth.

"... It is very practical, Ma." she said to her Lusus, who was complaining, variously, about the beetles she was spending on frivolous things like clothing and, her next stop, teapots. "Appearances are very important, you know... gosh, you can gain or lose a job based on what you wear!" Or what color you wore, but Psykgi was never too concerned about the doors her caste closed for her.

Her lusus was not convinced.

Anyway, teapots. She knew where a good store was that specialized in that sort of crockery, right in the gorgeous ocean-overlooking teahouse and restaurant district. It was a classy area, but also sort-of a tourist district. The shopkeeper wouldn't need too much persuading to sell to her. A little more, of course, not to completely gouge their prices, but she could afford it. She'd have to do some beetle-hunting later, but she and Ma'am could take care of that easily. No problem.

She passed by a "Completely organic" loose tea and herb shop, and then paused to squint at a very uncomfortable-looking cloaked figure. "Say, Ma, doesn't that troll look familiar? The purpleblood." Antennae swiveled in Rastin's direction, tasting the air. Still more antennae, slicked back for travel, travelled on roach bodies along the pavement to investigate further. Yes, Ma'am agreed, this troll was familiar. The collective had encountered him before.

"I thought so. Well, it's only right to say hello!" she commented, moving closer and waving.

"Hello, there!" she called, friendly as ever.

Psykgi almost winced. "Gosh, well, yes, but I was sort of hoping that whole mess had been forgotten." Uggggh, that mud. "Anyway, I dropped by your bloodfest booth - it was the one with the tea, wasn't it?" Of course it was - her memory was spot on about these things.

"Rastin, right?"

"Haha! I imagine! You really get a whole range of trolls at a Bloodfest booth, don't you?!" she didn't specify the range as competence, exactly, but it was still technically true. Incidentally, though, she noticed that the range of trolls at her booth hadn't included him. Hmmm...

"Oh, gosh yes! There's so many great stores around the city! What about you?" she noticed the lack of bags on his person. Was he here for a tea house? He was certainly not a resident of her fair city, not with that outfit and that awkward uneasiness! Busthind, maybe?

"Ah well!" she laughed, "Everyone has different tastes. You'll find your store eventually, I'm sure!" She was halfway to suggesting the mall when he mentioned spices. As yet, she was not aware of a spice store at the Civisect Mall, but... "Ooo? And the shop is around here? I didn't know they took orders!" That was interesting - though likely it was because he was a purpleblood... but ah well! If she needed it, and her local grocery didn't have it, she could ask a higher blooded friend to order it for her! That was a very efficient way to do things, after all.

"Well, that's the city for you! I take it you don't live in New Hemisect, huh." she said, "Well, theres always public transportation if you need it. I'm sure we could wave someone down for you who could take you where you needed to go!" It was how many lowerbloods made their living, a few higherbloods too though many thought it was beneath them. Not her, though. She walked everywhere, and she loved it. And she didn't have the lusus, physical strength, or beast-keeping facilities for it.

"... But if it's here in this district, I could direct you if you wanted!"

Well that explained a lot of things, though didn't they have a few good herb and spice stores there? Not that she'd know for sure. She'd never actually been, nor did she want to go there just willy nilly - highblood invitations aside.

"Oh dear!" she exclaimed, managing to not laugh horrendously at the situation. She forced her face to stay serious and sympathetic, but her mirth shone in her eyes. It was very funny!

"Oh Gosh, it would be my pleasure!" she said, letting the grin out from it's prison of facial muscles, "I'd be happy to take you around! I was after a few spices myself!"

"You know, I hadn't thought about it, but every time I see you there is some sort of chaos involved, isn't there!" she remarked, smirking. Chaos certainly did make things interesting, but it would get annoying if it was one's whole life, wouldn't it? "This way - there's a very good place I know." Well, knew was a sort of shaky word. It was a very high-end spice shop - some of the best organically grown plant matter in town - but it served very exclusive clientele: a tealblood might be allowed through the doors, a green possibly if they were properly enthusiastic about herbs, spices, tea, et cetera and were cool-colored enough. But a Redblood? Not a chance.

But with a purpleblood with her? She would be able to check it out then: he would get the best quality spices for a price he could probably afford, and she would get to see if it was worth the fuss. It probably wasn't - it was about 50-50, qualitywise with a lot of caste-restricted establishments, she'd determined. But the whole point was to go and see, and observe this cloaked troll in a very not-natural habitat.

Whether it was trouble or simply Psykgi's lusus crawling up on the ground onto the purpleblood's shoulder, Psykgi didn't know or care. Trouble was just another word for interesting, and while she kept her head down for the most part, sometimes you had to stick it right into danger to see the really neat stuff.

But she doubted that this would be dangerous. It was just a ******** spice shop, after all. "So, have you ever actually been in the city before? You said something about picking up spices, and I know you were here for bloodfest, but gosh, if you don't mind me saying so, you really don't seem used to it!"