936 Chapter 936 Wandering the Markets
Deciding that Sue could… do Sue things if she really wanted to, Kat and Lily turned their attention to the markets proper. Every stall was carefully boxed into a ten metre by ten metre space. A surprisingly large chunk of land for a market stall, but not all that large once you factored in the crowds and wares. Most people didn’t do anything fancy, just sticking to tents to mark their area if they even bothered to go that far. Some people just had four posts in the corners with a bit of security tape to mark the edges.
Something Kat did notice, was that as similar as some groups of stalls might be, those were also the ones that made sure to more firmly mark their own territory. She wasn’t sure if that was because they didn’t want to mix up their products or some other reason but it was a notable trend.
A lot of places sold one or two types of items of varying quality. Perhaps they had a stack of cutlery all carved out of wood. Another store had a series of necklaces and… no, just necklaces. Definitely just necklaces. There was no other use for large glass beads strung up on a rope. Any memories pointing to the contrary were firmly locked away. So really, it was a store that sold necklaces, and if Sue happened to slow down and take note of the location to visit later… well it was probably for completely innocent reasons, right?
*So… what do you think of Sue’s… habit?*
[It’s… it’s certainly awkward and I’m really not sure how the culture could develop to allow something like this… but there does seem to be clear limits… and this does seem like the sort of thing Sue would… well she definitely gets off on it. I don’t know if it’s the risk, the fact other people are watching… or if she just finds it funny.]
*I’d be willing to bet all three… though… maybe not? I don’t know if voyeurism is actually a fetish of hers. I think… I think that part might not be sexual. She just likes attention.*
[Hmm… yeah I can agree with that.]
“You pair are thinking awfully hard back there,” said Sue suddenly.
“Wait how did you know?” asked Kat, “So many people have noticed when we do that. It’s supposed to be entirely mental communication!”
.....
Sue gave an obviously fake laugh, “Hu, hu, hu, bow before my might!”
“If I was to bow right now I’d end up with a face full of your ass, and I’m afraid I just have no interest in that,” said Kat keeping her voice as deadpan as possible.
Sue broke out into real laughter, “Hehehehehehehehehe, oh that was brilliant… I… oh yes! Welcome… welcome to the dark side,” Sue managed to eek out some words between the laughter, “I see you have learned the joys of teasing. I mean, it’s a bit less fun because you don’t quite GET it but that just means I need to up my game.
“Just for that, I’ll be completely straight with you. It’s your face Kat. It always softens in a major way when you’re talking to Lily. It doesn’t matter if it’s when she’s beside you, or just in your head. It’s a pretty noticeable shift to anyone who’s paying attention. If someone knows about the link it’s not hard to guess… plus, a little trickier to spot but for a demon like myself…
“Your tail swishes a bit more. It usually just helps you balance and sways a bit, and it’s not like… a dog that’s just found a lifetime supply of bones… but it is noticeable to people who are used to reading tails as part of their body language. So… yeah, you pretty much give the whole game away. I mean, from what I’d guess Lily isn’t any better but normally she can mask that by being a cat,”
*Do you think that’s something we should work on?*
[I don’t really know… I mean… yes probably but we’ve already got plenty of things to train. I think… it might not be worth it for the moment.]
Kat nodded carefully, making sure not to throw Lily off with the movement and got back to looking at their surroundings. There were some interesting dresses. Quite a few had some sort of lights on them, either as accents or as a flowing pattern. One dress Kat found particularly nice looked like a river filled with coral, movement and all. Some others… well… they were clearly for someone like Sue. Small bits and pieces of the outfits were missing in… conspicuous areas. Not just for women either. While thankfully nobody was wearing anything quite that bad… Kat saw a few people make purchases so they were a popular item.
More knick-knacks of course. Another store filled with wooden carvings, one of which was even a nice chess set made with carved flowers of different kinds for the pieces. Small wattle buds for pawns, a willow tree as the knight, a fir tree as rooks, saffron flowers as bishops, a dessert rose for the queen and a kahala rose for the king. All made of slightly different wood to match their natural colourings. Though of course, Kat didn’t recognise every plant on display.
*Hmm… do you think that could be a good gift for Sylvie?*
Lily turned to look at the carving in question. Lily as about to nod when she saw a bee fly out of one of the ‘flowers’. Lily kept her eyes locked onto it until it disappeared into another chess piece, melding with it. [Nope. I’m afraid it’s been enchanted.]
*Bother.*
Kat kept her eyes pealed for more things but after Lily’s comment she noticed that a lot of things were enchanted, even if it less then obvious ways. She watched as a hat resized itself to fit on someone’s head. She watched a jacket allow for a set of wings to phase through it. A jug of water that was on display with disposable cups that vanished when throw into the ground. The jug itself also seemed to be infinite, or perhaps pulling from another water source.
There were a few toys around that, were the same. A plan that flew around the marked 10×10 area, a disco ball that kept the lights tight around itself, a flowing waterfall of sand that was clearly on a loop. A snow globe that didn’t have any glass and allowed you to poke at the things inside without disrupting the snow. It was actually pretty wonderous stuff. It just… wasn’t what they were looking for.
“Kamiko’s house is actually pretty low tech isn’t it… actually wait… why did we meet up at Kami’s house?” Kat started to ask her first question before swapping over to the second, once it occurred to her.
“Hmm… now do you really want to know the answer to those questions?” asked Sue with a cheeky grin the other two couldn’t see.
“Yes,” said Kat and ‘Lily’.
“Well to answer the second question first… because there’s a good chance my parents were at home having sex,” Sue managed to look over her shoulder right as she made the big reveal, grinning at the shocked looks on Kat and Lily’s faces. “Oh yes. I don’t keep careful track of their schedule… but they’ve long since stopped caring if I see them go at it. Which… honestly is still a bit awkward. I’m a sexual deviant, and I know my parents are as well, if a lot more monogamous but it doesn’t mean I want to watch my parents like that. It’s one of the few fetishes I’m not even willing to entertain,”
“Can’t relate, I’m an orphan,” said Kat with a teasing tilt to her tone.
Sue glared, “I can’t really say much to that one Kat. Touchy subject,”
Kat shrugged, “I mean, no offence to my parents but I never met them and it really doesn’t bother me. Make those sorts of jokes all you want,”
Sue just shook her head again. “Nope, not worth it. There’s no way I’m getting into the habit of making jokes about something like that. I’ve already told plenty of raunchy jokes to children reflexively. I can’t be making jokes about orphans as well,”
“Fair enough,” said Kat with a slight wince.
“Yup, then I’d no longer be endearingly deranged, just deranged!” cheered Sue.
Kat rolled her eyes. “Right… and what about the lack of things in Kamiko’s house?”
“Eh… remember Nira has that whole garden out the back. She’s probably got an area somewhere else for all her stuff. Kami’s dad is obsessed with family so he probably spends time organising family photos or something. Kami’s sisters all have their own vices but frankly nobody in that family NEEDS much enchanting. They’ve probably got a few sets of replacement furniture, all the appliances would be enchanted, and I dunno maybe they have a games room? It just isn’t necessary for them but I’d guess more of it was enchanted then it seemed.”
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