A Little Us Time [Kaya/Holt]

[Shoki]

Mau was early. She knew Holt wasn’t getting off as early as she was, but she couldn’t help being early. The market was bustling, as usual, but she remained slightly outside of it, watching the people go by. It has been a long while since she and Holt had just been able to do things together, and she wanted to remedy that. Even if going to the market here wasn’t exactly the most earth shattering event, it was still away from the Weyr. At least enough.

Meantime, she stroked Hammer, the bright firelizard in her arms always happy to keep Mau company. He kept his head up, nice an proud as she pet him, though the effect was only slightly ruined by the sincere croon.

[Kaya]

Sonder flew through the bustling market crowd with ease. Ever aware of the many lives going on around him, the little Brown firelizard searched for the young woman and her flitt companion. Behind him some ways strode Holt. It had been truly an age since he had had the time to take the longer run out to Cliffside. Really he ought to have gone, but somehow the days had slipped away. A stranger jostling by brought him back to navigating the crowd. The firelizard's sense of wonder brightened up the sights and sounds around him: a woman picking out the perfect fish, a man working on placing his stock just so only to have a child pull the bottom of the stack askew, the embarrassed face on that child's older brother.

Holt turned into a less crowded stall. With a little more room to focus he instructed Sonder again to find Mau. The flitt left to search. He picked out a piece of fruit on a whim, he hadn't seen any of these around the Weyr in a while. As he was paying he felt a tug at the back of his mind. Reentering the river of people, he looked up to see if he could spot Sonder. He wandered a minute before he saw him a few shops over. It didn't take him much longer to find Mau.

"Hey, Mau." Easy smile.

[Shoki]

Hammer looked up as Mau pet him, and spotted a familiar Brown Firelizard. Mau felt him stir and he flew from her arms, floating above her instead. It was only a minute later that she turned toward’s Holt’s easy greeting. A smile lit her face and she step forward to greet him back.

“Hello Holt.” She went on her toes to give him a kiss, before grabbing his right arm. “Do you know where you want to go? Any stalls catch your eye?” Mau was excited now, going on her little adventure with Holt was an easy way to keep her happy and she didn’t care so much where they went as long as they were both there.

Heck, they could stay right where they were if he wanted to. It was a nice day for it.

[Kaya]

With only a few seconds and a kiss she was settled in next to him. Holt's smile widened. "Found this," he held up the smooth skinned fruit. With a quick motion he had it split in half, and offered her the stoneless half. "Let's wander though," he suggested, taking a measured stride onto the path. "Perhaps we'll browse, maybe find something else that looks good to eat. Walk out along the cliffs after we're tired of crowds. Something like that," he outlined, glancing at one colorful stall of goods after the other.

They'd gone a little ways before Sonder swooped down by a hat. And though Holt wasn't usually one for hats as a fashion thing, he put it on anyway, expecting to look a bit out of place. "How about this?" he asked.

[Shoki]

Mau’s smile went into a pleasantly surprised when Holt showed off the fruit and gratefully accepted the half she was given. A quick bite as Holt talked about what they were doing confirmed it was as tasty as it looked. It was a good start to a day off.

“Sounds good.” She fell into step as they went about, looking around, and enjoying her snack. Hammer watched them from above, but wasn’t having nearly as fun as Mau was. The Green rider was looking at everything, keeping an eye out for anything interesting. Soon enough Holt pulled away to try on a hat and Mau’s uneven smile appeared. Hmm.

“A little different. I like it though.” She spied another one and offered it to Holt. “Try this one.” She was perfectly happy to have Holt try some more hats, but of course turn about was fair play. She would put on the one Holt was done with afterwards. It would be fun.

[Kaya]

"Alright." Holt accepted the new hat, trading her for the one he had been wearing. "They sure look different around here," Holt said, trying on the second one. Even the light material felt a bit warm. "Back home hats were for the cold, not the sun." Wider brims or bills, soft materials, not at all practical for keeping one warm in a Dragon Ridge winter. Which had been the occasion for hats all those Turns ago.

"And so many colors," he remarked, looking at a variety of women's sun hats. "Try on the green one," he pointed. It was a faint green, as there were still some craftsmen with qualms about making clothes in green, but art wouldn't be art without those who shook the tradition. And a hat shop wouldn't be a hat shop without an unending number of hats. Even the tiny children's hats, which Holt was not going to be the first to point out.

[Shoki]

“True. Styles vary a lot from hold to hold. I think it’s a lot easier to make something wooly though.” Mau did a little flourish as she showed off the one she was wearing at the moment, eyeing how much the one Holt had on suited him. She liked it. Holt offered her a pale green one and she put it on, fitting it on her head.

“How does it look?” She liked green (obviously) but she didn’t know if it was always her color. Then again, every bit of colorful clothing had its place, she felt, on one occasion or another.

“I like the different colors. You can get some fun outfits with more colors. As long as you don’t go overboard.” Mau looked about for another hat for Holt to try on and selected one that was quite the sunhat. Neutral in color but a wide brim. “I’ll try making some of these sometime, I enjoy getting new projects going.” Not that Mau didn’t like buying clothes from stalls, she very much did, but there was something wonderful about wearing something you made yourself.

Mau paused when she spotted the tiny hats for children. Very cute. She wondered how easy that might be to make. Smaller version, likely easier. She turned back to Holt after a moment and smiled. “Well I think you look good in a hat. That one especially.”

[Kaya]

The green hat maybe didn't sit quite the way he expected. But that was just how these things went. "Good, but try the other cut-" he pointed. "That one must be too big."

But she launched into a thought about making her own hat. And while it was doable, certainly all these hats had been made, it seemed like too daunting a project for him. Differences. The look on her face looked excited to make something. He left her to planning it and replaced the pair of hats they hadn't selected and took the new one Mau offered.

"How's this one?" he asked, eyes looking far up as if they could properly examine the hat at that angle. All his features turned up along with his eyes, he could just imagine how he looked. Sans hat, anyway.

[Shoki]

“Sure!” Mau replaced the hat quickly, setting on her head just so. “How is it?” She gave a little turn of her head right and then left to give Holt the best idea of how it sat. Women’s hats, more so then men’s, weren’t always even all the way around so she felt she had to best display it.

“Hmm, I think you look good in it. But maybe just because you look so cute trying to figure it out.” Mau’s smile broadened into a grin, and she chuckled a little. She loved this. Teasing her weyrmate, of course, but just the fact she could hang out at Cliffside with him. Especially because when she got back she was probably going to train some more. She tried to shake the thought away but it snuck back in.

“Hey, how about we get something to drink? The fruit was tasty but it’s a bit hot out.” Right, something different. That would keep work and war at bay a little while longer.

[Kaya]

He smiled and left a short little comment for her newest trial hat. It did sit much better on her head. He felt the one on his own head begin to warm up, and after he'd gotten a proper opinion from Mau he put it back on the rack.

"But how's my hair?" he joked, brushing his hand over his very short, dark hair. The strands hardly moved to another position, resisting any effort of arrangement. "Drink sounds good though," he agreed, swept the hat off her head and replaced it. "Let's go!"