[PRP] The hooves are made for walkin' (Merry x Tink)

[Rejam]

Tink getting distracted in the course of a larger task was hardly news, of course: Tink existed basically drifting from one distraction to the next, with a little time in between for getting lost and forgetting what she had to do at that moment. School was helping a little, instilling a vague awareness of the concepts of schedules and goals, but Tink's attention still chronically wandered.

What made this unusual, actually, was the fact that Tink hadn't really stirred away from this particular distraction for a long few minutes. Granted, shopping held her attention better than almost any task besides knitting, but even so, to see the little grim standing motionless for more than a minute at a time was rare. She was blocking the aisle a bit: small though she was, her various voluminous layers of wool and lace and drapey hems contributed to her bulk, as did the fact that a pile of the same was slung over her single arm. She'd been on the way to try things on when her attention had been arrested, utterly, by a display of boots: low brown boots and tall black boots and cobweb-sided oxfords, and flower-trimmed slouchers and skull-studded wedges and--

She sighed, yet again, a wistful sigh. The reasoning was obvious: below her layered skirt hems her legs ended in the fluffy, curly limbs of a lamb, with hooves. The hooves were painted mint green with a cheery helping of glitter, and clearly well-cared-for, but they were hooves and the objects of her attention were, well, boots.

"Oh," she said hazily, as she realized she was, once again, blocking someone's way. "I'm--terribly sorry." And she did move, but given that she seemed unable to look away from the beautiful boots, it only cleared so much room.

Beejoux

 

[Rejam]

This time properly startled, the grim jolted and gazed up (and up) at Merry with wide, perplexed eyes. "Oh," she said, and for a moment she only stared in bewilderment, as though Merry had posed an especially difficult math problem. And then, all at once, in a sleepy, distant sort of way: "Aren't they lovely? And those little brown ones with the frill would go so well with this dress I want to buy." She lofted her arm of potential clothes as she said it, and then fumbled as this nearly but not quite sent the entire lot sliding to the floor.

Beejoux

Oh tally: II

 

[Rejam]

She gazed at the chimera in frank bewilderment. "Like legwarmers?" she suggested finally, and then, abruptly: "Oh! Oh! You're--oh no. I forget. I know your face. From Critter!" Such was her excitement over this that she nearly dropped the clothes again, but managed to save them on her own this time.

Beejoux

Oh tally: IIIII

 

[Rejam]

"Oh ewe," Catinka informed her solemnly, "is a pun."

She said this in the way of a small child repeating an important fact they'd been taught. Clearly someone else had picked that name for her, and then explained it. Possibly a few times, to be sure it sunk in.

"A pun," added Catinka, just as solemnly, "is a play on words."

Beejoux

 

[Rejam]

Forever trusting, Catinka gave Merry a wide-eyed looked of instant adoration. "Yes, please," she said. "Just let me pay for these things. I can try them on at home and bring them back if they don't fit."

Following the chimera towards the check out, she explained shyly: "I get lost a lot. So mostly I just go to the same places so I didn't know. That there were other stores with boots, I mean. But you'll help me get back here afterwards, right?"

Beejoux

 

[Rejam]

She brightened immediately, having already been gazing at Merry in bewilderment at the idea that the word smart might even applied to her. It certainly never had been before. But the unprecedented occasion was quickly forgotten under more pressing matters.

"Oh!" she said excitedly. "I love eye scream. And spookies. Sometimes I make a little sandwich, have you ever done that, and roll it around in sprinkles. I keep making so many friends," she enthused, and even when she was clearly excited, as now, she spoke in a slow, lilting, dreamy tone, "and I keep thinking I might maybe have a tea party. You could come, if you like. For spookies. And tea. You're very pretty," she added, apropos of absolutely nothing. Maybe, in Tink's world, this was relevant to talk of tea.

Beejoux

Oh tally: IIII I

 

[Rejam]

She kept up a slow, idle chatter as they made their way to the place that Merry had spoken of, and it was rapidly obvious that her attention was a difficult think to sink one's claws into: twice she very nearly wandered away, distracted by some frippery or other; several times she tripped over her own feet, not quite falling but nonetheless flailing without losing any conversation steam, as though being interrupted by her own stumbling was commonplace.

Her conversation, too, was all over the place: midsentence veering from one topic to another, although she was as content to listen, wide-eyed, as she was to talk, and she was full of questions: about Merry's wings, about her visits to the school before, about what food she liked and what her friends were like. She had a frankness that might have been rude in someone less oblivious, but was instead, for most people, merely disarming. She said "oh" many, many times: oh as in surprise, oh as in excitement, oh as in thoughtfulness, oh as in concern.

"Oh," she was saying, "Reese is very nice. She is starting a club, you know. For making things. All sorts of things. I knit, mostly. Do you make things?"

Beejoux