dagger_dagger_dagger | my friends and i, we got a lot of problems (rp for ihatepuns)

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my friends and i, we got a lot of problems (rp for ihatepuns)

The morning after returning to Emon and Vox Machnia is right back where it started. Sort of. They are, thankfully, not still in the Underdark and there's light, real light, spilling in from the window beyond the table and turning the remains of more than a dozen breakfast dishes from silver to gold, but the arguments have started again. Vax really isn't surprised, given the gravity of the situation, the Horn, whether or not they can trust Kima and her people, whether or not they can trust Allura for the same reasons, but they're all going around in circles, now, and anytime someone tries to step up, to say their idea is what they're going with, the end, the others shoot them down in unison. It's the only thing they can seem to agree on, really, and it's getting fucking tedious.

That in mind and despite the fact that he already unofficially excused himself from this conversation long ago, throwing the towel in on trying to be heard over the others, he shoots a sideways glance at Clarota. A glance turns into a thoughtful look, accompanied by a frown, a moment after that, and a moment after that, Vax focuses himself inwards, practically shouting in his own head, even if his only outwards tell is him vaguely tilting in Clarota's direction.

Hey, Noodles. If I think really loud, can you hear me?

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"What she said," Vax answers, nudging his sister with his shoulder. He offers Clarota what he imagines to be the mental impression of the same nudge, not wanting to make him uncomfortable. Whether or not it translates, however, is up for debate. This isn't his area of expertise any more than magic is.

Vex shrugs into the nudge - and Clarota blinks at him. A moment later, Vax gets the feeling of a poke at the back of his head, though Clarota's expression stays even.

"Should we press on, then?" he offers once Vex turns away from the clerk.

"Only if this isn't getting too overwhelming," she offers, and Clarota shakes his head.

"I'm alright." He really is relaxing into all this as they go, especially now that he has a reliable means of hiding.

Vax, meanwhile, not quite flails a little, not having expected that. An amused, and more importantly pleased, look follows as he glances back at Clarota, and then a sour one, preemptively leveled at his sister. He's not crazy, you're crazy. He didn't just jump at apparently nothing.

"On to the cobbler, then," Vax reaffirms, when his expression levels out again and as he heads for the door.

Vex does raise an eyebrow at Vax, though she doesn't actually ask him if he's quite alright, there. It's heavily implied.

The eyebrow comes down again as he suggests moving on, and she nods, turning to lead the way toward the door. Trinket rises from his position at the corner of the shop to follow, Vex and bear both ignoring the few yelps as people suddenly notice and get out of the way of the bear walking down the street.

Vex leads the way to a shop they've used before that has a display of boots in its small window. "Here we are," she tells the others as they approach. "Wait out here for us, dear," she tells Trinket, who grumbles at her but again wanders off to flop down in a corner.

This shop is smaller than the other and more cramped. There's a small area at the front of the shop with a few chairs and a table bearing some measuring instruments, along with an odd wooden stool, one side of it sloped at a gentle angle. There's a counter in the center of the shop, the bottom of which bears a glass case with a few pairs of boots set in an attractive presentation. Beyond the counter is a space that is clearly a workshop, with heavy worktables covered in various items used in shoemaking. The walls are covered in boxes all the way to the ceiling, all the boxes bearing numbers scrawled in thick black ink. Past the work area is a door, and from behind the door is the sound of someone rustling around.

On the counter sits a bell and a sign that says "ring for service".

Vax hesitates as they enter the shop, taking a moment to get a quick read of the place, the merchandise and exits, and so on. He catches back up quickly, with a handful of bigger steps, fast enough to beat his sister to the counter, to ring the bell. He shoots her and Clarota a look over his shoulder, that done, as if it was all a game, the goal to reach the button first, and he just won.

"We should definitely be able to find something here," he decides, more seriously, as the look fades.

Vex was headed for the counter, too, and she sputters a little as Vax blows past her. She narrows her eyes at him slightly for beating her to it - and then nods. "I have before, anyway," she agrees.

"Be right there!" a deep, heavily accented male voice calls from the back and then can be heard telling someone else to "get out there". A moment later, the door opens and a half-elf emerges, making his way through the work area to the counter, offering them a smile.

"Oh, hello," he tells them, and his isn't the same voice as before. His accent is different, his voice a little higher pitched with a breathier quality. He has dark skin and eyes, his silver hair hanging in short braids that come to just below his ears. "Can I help you?"

Vax isn't particularly surprised that the voices don't match, all things considered, and so he rolls with it, popping one shoulder in a shrug as he leans into the counter. "I hope so." A beat. "We need a pair of good walking boots for our friend here."

He glances over his shoulder at Clarota, indicating him.

The man looks over at Clarota - and blinks at his height, though his attention returns to his feet after a moment. "We should be able to find you something, yeah. You know what size you need?"

Clarota looks between the clerk and Vax. "No?" he answers after a moment, and the clerk blinks at him, at the sound of his voice in his head.

"Um.... right. Let me..." he turns away, looking a little startled as he moves to pick up one of the measuring devices.

"You might want to see if you can't kind of do that without ... " When the clerk turns around, Vax mimes taking off a shoe. "He's a little weird about feet."

Or, you know, with the illusion in place, it'll look like Clarota has his boots on still whether he does or doesn't. They can distract the clerk long enough for Clarota to actually get his off, hide them under something, and let the guy take an accurate measurement, all while letting him just think that Clarota is weird. Or that his feet smell horribly. Or something.

It's a real shame Shaun doesn't do mundane boots.

The clerk stops, looking down at the device in his hands for a moment before he sets it aside again. "Oh, alright. Just a moment, then." He doesn't look entirely surprised by Vax's comment. It's likely he's worked here long enough to run into people with all kinds of idiosyncrasies.

He moves away, then, to step behind the counter and duck down, coming up a few moments later with a stone tablet. He pokes at it for a moment and then shakes it with a grumble - and a faint glow appears around the edges. He brings it back over to them, nudging the stool out of the way with a foot before he sets the tablet down. "If you'll just step on this, it will measure things for you. It's not as accurate as the other tool, but it will get me close enough to get you started."

Clarota just nods and gets to his feet before he steps onto the stone. As he does, the glow moves in from the edges to outline his feet, and the clerk nods. "That'll do. Let me see what I can find for you." He waits until Clarota steps off again and then picks up the tablet. "I'll be right back." He takes the tablet and heads for the back part of the shop, glancing between the tablet and shelves a few times before he seems to make up his mind and start looking through boxes, setting a few aside.

"I might need to go clothes shopping more often," Vax decides a moment after he disappears, once again impressed by the tools the clothiers here in Emon have at their disposal, even if he doesn't understand how they work. Regardless, it all makes the whole experience a lot less painful. Doubly so for Clarota, too, all things considered, but he's never enjoyed clothes shopping for himself -- all this might just change his mind.

Maybe, he thinks, he'll have something fancy made and then never wear it, as a fuck you to his and Vex's father. It's petty and wasteful, but he can't resist the opportunity, especially if he doesn't have to stand around and let a dozen snooty tailors fawn over him as they fit him.

"You always wear the same things," Vex puts in as she drifts closer to the counter to peer behind it, to try and see if there's anything that catches her eye. "And you don't need more cloaks."

"I don't have that many cloaks," Vax protests, shooting a glance back at Clarota, silently asking him for help winning this argument. Never mind the fact that he really does have that many cloaks -- or that Clarota has no way of knowing, one way or the other.

Clarota looks between the twins, blinking. He knows this is a trap, but he's not sure how to avoid it. In the end, he just deflects. "I should have asked that last shop about a cloak." Considering he lacks one, and he doesn't think the robes they picked out had head coverings.

"We'll find you something," Vax promises, a little gentler, now. He could just offer Clarota one of his cloaks, but doing so would be admitting that he does have a cloak problem. Much as he actually likes Clarota, he wouldn't go there and do that for all the gold on Exandria. He'd never hear the end of it.

Clarota nods, accepting that, and then looks over as the clerk returns, his arms full of a pile of boxes. "Alright, I think I found a few things. Would you like my help in trying these on, or should I keep looking while you do?"

"We'll be alright, thank you, dear," Vex responds as she helps him set the boxes down.

"Of course." He pauses a beat. "My name is Heiden, if you need me." He sets the last of them down, nods to the three of them, and then makes his way back behind the counter.

"Thanks," he says seriously, watching as he sets the boxes down and retreats. That done, Vax turns back to Clarota, gesturing to one of the stools nearby. "Time to try on some shoes, Noodles."

It is a little awkward, taking his boots off through the illusion and trying the others on, but they make it work well enough. It also takes some trial and effort to find some that are actually comfortable, and Vex goes back and forth with Heiden a few times to find different sizes in some of them or ones that are slightly taller or shorter or whatever. Finally, though, they have a couple of pairs that are serviceable, and Vex arranges to have them sent back to Greyskull.

"Now where should we go?" Clarota asks as they head out of the cobbler's and Trinket sheds the children that have gathered around to pet him to rejoin them.

"Depends," Vax answers, reaching absently for Trinket as he returns to his sister's side. He buries a hand in his fur, fingers spidering in and out of it as he asks, "How're you holding up?"

Clarota seems to be doing well, but he knows how overwhelming Emon can be -- doubly so, when you feel like an outsider. The fact that he and Vex have been dragging him all over creation likely doesn't help, either, so if he wants to tap out and head home, he won't fault him. Anything else they need, like that cloak they discussed, can wait, really. They have the basics.

Trinket steps a little closer to Vax to better receive the scritches.

Clarota looks around them a little, considering the other people, hands coming up as he wrings them a little. "I would not say no to making our way back." He pauses a beat. "And perhaps some lunch."

They're going to have to find something for him to subsist on besides brains sooner than later, though he's speaking in the more mundane sort of food, right now. He should be good on his particular needs for a while longer.

"I could definitely eat," Vax agrees, adjusting their to head in the direction of the Keep. Glancing back over his shoulder, he asks, "You hungry for anything in particular? Or ... ?" He's really not sure what, beyond brains, might be considered good eats where Clarota is from.

Clarota pauses a moment, narrowing his broadcast to make sure just the twins are hearing him. "What I consumed in the Underdark will sustain me for a while longer, though we should consider how I can meet that need while travelling with you." He's going to do his very best not to eat more brains than he needs to in order to survive - but he can't put it off forever, and he would rather they started considering options before he gets to the point where he needs to eat.

"For now, I will be fine with whatever your servants can put together."

He can eat what they do; it's just more akin to someone living on junk food that he doesn't get much out of it nutritionally.

Vax's first thought is that there are always bad guys, always people looking to kill them, and that Clarota might be able to use them to scratch that particular itch. He immediately hates himself for it twice over. Out to get them or otherwise, it seems cruel to subject some random bandit to that; it seems cruel to basically ask Clarota to starve, in not letting him at them, too, however.

"We'll figure something out," he offers, shaking his head. They can bring it up with the rest of the group. If everyone else gets to letting Clarota eat any future assailants on their own and no one has a problem with it, maybe they will go that route. Maybe he can survive on the brains of the stray animals that wander around the city. Maybe someone can think of something better, that doesn't involve eating brains at all, somehow. Who knows? They will, however, figure something out. They have to, for Clarota's sake.

"I have faith that we will," he returns evenly - but there's also a lot of meaning behind it, considering his previous hesitancy to even call them friends. As much as he's afraid what his presence might mean for Vox Machina if the wrong person were to discover it, he does trust them.

Vax flashes him a smile at that, pleased by that trust, even if he's still not sure how the hell they're going to work this out. It fades after a moment, however, and so they continue on towards the Keep in silence. It's not long before they reach it, and as they duck inside, Vax starts, "Let me go poke the kitchen staff."

Never mind the fact that they may already be in the process of making lunch, considering their bosses are once again in residence.

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my friends and i, we got a lot of problems (rp for ihatepuns)

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