Valley Mercado Caviomorpha

Farmers markets were a favorite of Beauregard's. He was disinterested in produce and the like, but handmade goods were a pleasure to browse. In the end, he purchased infrequently; there wasn't much physical space in his life to amass too many knick knacks. But today he was on the prowl for a specific vendor who tended to appear around the holidays.

Twin Chin Boutique was a head-tiltingly named establishment, but a beloved one nonetheless. Carrying hand crafted rodent treats and toys, they catered terribly to someone like the dominus. It was a bit late to buy Easter supplies, but coming so far into the day (he could not make their morning hours, regrettably), it meant they were on sale. And even Beauregard, a man who did not precisely need to count his pennies, could not resist the siren song of "50% OFF!!" signs.

In his excitement to get here, the vampire had forgotten his canvas shopping bag, but that was no trouble. He loaded him arms up, shameless and content. He strung the garlands to themselves to hang loosely on his wrist as he carried a bag of egg treats under one arm. (Annabel was not much for chasing them, but they were good foraging toys, when she found herself feeling adventurous.)

The prize of it all was a rabbit garland, an item that tickled him for the idea of a chinchilla chewing on a different rodent. Beastly elsewhere, but charming here. What heartbreak it would be, then, as he walked along and suddenly felt his arm jerked back behind him. The string of wooden chew toys held strong as it snagged on someone or something else, but the clasp snapped off, sending each of the Easter charms falling to the ground.

He yelped politely in surprise, spotting the rabbit face-down in the grass as he looked up to see who or what he'd been caught on. (And who, or what, had broken his favorite, one of a kind gift for Annabel.)

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set between 5:30pm-8:30pm

Outfit

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Catriona had spent the majority of her day wandering the farmer's market with her parents, as they were wont to do during the holidays. Especially now that it was getting warmer out, the redhead figured they would likely make more trips to Camp Baron to fetch different fruits, vegetables, soap products, plants and whatever else they could afford. It was worth the long trip from Hawknell on the weekend, even if she had been up half the night due to work.

At some point in the evening, Cat had split off from her parents and found herself growing a bit chillier. Sure, the afternoon had been quite warm, even for a cloudy day, but she was grateful that she'd brought a suit jacket with her. Now all she had to do was try and put it on without dropping her bags. And yes, she could have set everything down on the ground first and then put on her jacket but Catriona didn't like to do things the "easy way".

Cat was in the midst of her incredibly difficult balancing act by one of the stands. She had several bags filled with different plants that she was trying to hold onto while slipping her red jacket over each arm. By accident, Cat reached her noodle arm out a little too far and felt a pull in one direction. Something was caught around one of the buttons on the cuff of her jacket. The action jerked her to one side, causing her to drop one of her bags. She winced when she heard a ceramic pot crash and shatter. Welp. She'd have to try and replant that one when she got home. Cat looked over at the man near her who'd also broken something and grimaced. "Oh God, I'm sorry mate," The redhead apologized as she bent down to help him collect everything, leaving her own bag for now. Apparently, Cat had hit her peak at being the clumsiest person on the planet that weekend. First hot dog guy, now this.

"Can I, um, buy you a new one or something?" She offered.

It was a mess all about. The smash, the snap, the smell of soil. Possessing a brain with potentially not enough capacity for sensory input as necessary given his advanced senses, Beauregard found himself briefly frozen as he caught up.

A pretty red head, one he hadn't yet clocked as a psychic. (He did have a penchant for that particular type, if not always intentionally.) She had the sense at least to gather the fallen pieces, and his heart ached for it. In the end, he could repair it, though he'd feel a great need to sanitize them all first.

"I don't believe they have any left, I'm afraid," he sighed. And now was when he caught it, that tantalizing shiver he could nearly taste. They were quite in public, so he hardly planned to grab her by the neck, but the thought briefly crossed his mind as he grieved his broken gift.

"Was that something of yours that broke?"

Crap, they were all out of whatever item this had been. Cat pulled something that looked like a clasp off from around her jacket button, surprised the force of everything hadn't made the button fall off in the first place. She briefly admired the craftsmanship of her garment before picking up the rest of the fallen pieces to turn over to the man one by one, a bit too embarrassed to look him in the eye. "That's too bad. What was it, exactly?" Maybe it could be fixed?

"Oh, aye, but hopefully I can just re-pot it when I get home." If she did it that night, it would probably be okay. Catriona stole a moment to pick up the bag and peer inside. Dirt and broken ceramic shards were everywhere, embedded in the spider plant she had purchased earlier that afternoon. She didn't dare reach inside the bag unless she cut herself. It was a task she'd use her magic on later when she had a pot to transfer the plant over to.

Catriona stood back up and readjusted the bags around her shoulders. "This is all my fault. I should have put down everything first before trying to put on my jacket." An awkward chuckle escaped her lips as she shook her head. "Can I help you put this back together at least? Or offer you one of my bags?" Cat noticed he seemed to be missing one.

He took the pieces without complaint, feeling small touches of warmth in the natural bumping of fingers that came with an exchange of items. Beauregard peered down at these precious, absurd wooden charms, risking silliness with the other garland of Easter nonsense settled now near the crook of his elbow.

Despite the tragedy of this dismantled creation, he was not feeling especially cruel. She berated herself, as was wise and necessary, and he shook his head with all the goodness a vampire could be expected to possess.

The longer she spoke, the more he caught her accent. Fit with the hair, he supposed.

"A bag would be lovely. I'm sure it could be reassembled at home," he said. "It is, ah. Made for dismantling, really."

He smiled without teeth, cheeks pushing to narrow his eyes.

"Chinchilla chew toy."

Indra was planning a shift later, but as he made his way to Camp Baron, he noticed a cute little Farmer's Market and decided to stop in to have a look around. Maybe he could buy something there that would make Beardra not want to go fishing tonight. He walked around the booths, checking out everything available when he caught the scent of something awful: vampire. Normally Indra wouldn't care, but with the vampire attack on Amira and the vampire attacking Catriona at her place of work, Indra was feeling a little less welcoming to vampires- especially ones in Pine Peak Territory.

He let his nose guide him and as he came up on the vampire, he was surprised to see Catriona standing there talking to someone. No, not just someone. Indra moved in closer. She was talking to the vampire. Eyes narrowing on the little man, he stalked over, immediately moving to Catriona's side and smiling at her. "Fancy seeing you here," he said happily to Cat, before giving a glare to the vampire in front of her.

Catriona smiled at the man, this time setting down some of the bags which hung from her shoulders for easier access. After a quick search inside one of her many totes, Cat pulled out a spare with the words, Night of the Living Dead emblazoned across the front in bright green lettering. It was, of course, in reference to the 1968 classic. A shame, for she'd miss it, but it was the least she could do. Cat kindly held onto the tote, stretching it open so the older man could empty his hands of everything with ease.

"Oh wow, that's so cool. What's the chinchilla's name?" She asked, her expression bright and expectant. Catriona was about to ramble on about her own cat, Kit, when an unexpected presence appeared at her side. "Indra! Hello!" She beamed up at Indra, surprised to see him, then remembered he had mentioned something about Camp Baron. She couldn't help but notice the look he was giving the poor man in front of her, which had her confused. Did they know one another or something? "I'm afraid my clumsiness and lack of awareness led to a broken chinchilla toy," She explained, catching him up to speed before giving the older man a soft chuckle and another apologetic glance.

For all that Beauregard was decidedly a predator, he certainly softened at the opportunity to chit-chat about Annabel. A natural warmth settled into his expression, some hint of fatherliness. He took the bag with a gracious nod, dumping his goods into it. (The art on its side would absolutely tickle him later.) He opened his mouth to share the rodent's name, but it was cut short.

And then, of course, it was cut short by some unfortunately tall man, appearing to need to compensate for something other than his height given that rather ugly stare.

Head tilting, he wondered if vampires had been newly banned from this area. But he'd met a bear here not quite forever ago, who had been kind enough to talk with him in a time of melancholy. Beauregard was fitted with several options as this unfortunately miserable were chose to stare him down. The woman seemed equally confused.

"You've been terribly kind about it," he said, smiling to her. "No harm at all. Good luck with your plant."

Letting his expression linger for a moment on the miserable were, Beauregard decided that the likability of some beasties overcame the dreadful manners of others.

Being a stranger with little reason to pick a fight in public, he turned to be on his way. He had a chinchilla toy to reassemble, after all.

What had been that bear woman's name? N... Nicole? Natalie? Something in that area.

"Oh no," Indra said, about the broken chinchilla toy. He turned to look back at the vampire who was now tucking tail and running. Beardra huffed triumphantly, though Indra was less excited about the whole thing. Perhaps the vampire was just there to buy his chinchilla some toys and be on his way, no trouble in Catriona's future at all. But Cat already dealing with one attack had him on edge. He was also less than impressed at Catriona saying his name, giving the vampire some information about him when he had none on him. Still, he couldn't fault her for that- she didn't know.

But as the vampire left, she was gonna know. He looked back at her and leaned close. "That was a vampire," he whispered into her ear. Hopefully that would explain why he was suddenly there acting like some jealous boyfriend over her talking to another man. But in this case, it was more about a predator moving in on a person he cared about.

"Thanks mate. Good luck to you also," Catriona added before the man left, noticing the lingering glance at Indra. What was... happening? Perplexed, Catriona turned to look at Indra, about to ask him what the hell was going on when he finally filled her in. The older man was a vamp. It came as a bit of a shock to her, and she frowned. She couldn't help but feel foolish, and it bothered her. Not only did she feel stupid that she needed someone else to tell her she was dealing with a vampire but she felt stupid because the first thought that sprang to mind when Indra told her this information was, but he has a chinchilla. Like having a chinchilla made him any less of a scary vampire (it did, a little).

"Oh," Cat said, a frown still evident on her features as she began to gather her things. Her hands were shaking as she slid each bag back onto her shoulders, the straps getting tangled with one another in the process. And then because she was upset and so confused it hurt her brain, she felt herself snap, "I'm not helpless." She wasn't, and it wasn't Indra's fault either. He was just trying to be a good friend. "I just mean, I can handle these things," She added, a bit more calmly as she breathed out through her nose. What she should have said was she wanted to be able to handle these things. Because if shit got real, Cat didn't have a lot to defend herself with, other than throwing some plants at the vamp, and that was the real bummer.

Indra didn't know exactly what to expect when he told Catriona about the vampire she'd been talking to. But her being snappy with him wasn't expected. He took a step back from her at the implied accusation that he was treating her like she was helpless. "I never said you were," he said gently, a small frown on his face. And then she said she could handle these things, as though they hadn't spent time talking about how he could show up at Sk8 City to hang out with her after a vampire had attacked her.

"I'm sorry," he said, slightly confused over everything. He decided to leave it at that. He wasn't going to question her reaction. Instead he was going to just tuck his own tail and go. "Anyway, you look kinda busy, so I guess I'll see you around, alright?" He gave her a small smile and made to walk off.

Catriona was still upset. She had a feeling she was going to be upset for the rest of her evening at the way things had played out, but that didn't mean she needed to lash out because of her own insecurities.

"Wait," She called after Indra as he started to walk away. "I'm sorry too. I've just been feeling a bit..." Cat trailed off, not wanting to say the word helpless again. "I just feel stupid, is all," The redhead decided on and shook her head. "And I'm tired of feeling defenceless." So very tired.

Cat stopped him and he turned to look at her. Honestly, he probably shouldn't even be here. She tried to explain how she was feeling- stupid and then defenseless. "Well, you're not stupid," he said with a smile. "And you're not defenseless either. You were able to figure me out, right? You should use your power more often and just assume everyone you meet is either a vampire or a were until proven otherwise, you know?" Safer that way. Especially since he couldn't be around her now.

Indra shifted awkwardly on his feet. "Listen, I like being around you a lot, but..." he frowned. "I'm not exactly the safest person for you to be around, you know?" Man, he hated this. "I know I haven't actually been around you too much, but I think it would be better to not be around at all- for your safety."

Catriona knew she should use her power more often but sometimes she just didn't think of it. It was a bad excuse, yeah. But it was the truth. Typically she only thought about using it when she was in a sketchy situation. It wasn't like she was in a dark alleyway all alone. They were surrounded by people. Besides, it was one thing to figure out someone was supernatural, a whole other thing to actually defend herself against them when shit hit the fan.

The redhead had been about to reply to that when the mood suddenly shifted. Indra looked... awkward. It wasn't long before she found out the cause of his awkwardness, and she felt her heart sink in her chest. Sure, they had only been on one date, and since then had texted one another a bit but to hear that he suddenly wouldn't be around her at all was... a lot to take in. It didn't help that she must have looked absolutely ridiculous balancing several bags filled with dumb plants. Why did she buy all of these?!

Part of her knew there was some truth to his words. How safe could shifters be really? But this was Indra! Indra, who liked snocaps and got scared during horror movies. He couldn't be some big threat to her safety! She felt a small rush of sadness and hurt flood through her, threatening to spill over and looked down at her feet, unable to look him in the eye. It was stupid how much she cared. They hardly knew one another.

"Oh, okay," Cat managed to mumble out, deflated. Well, this was turning out to be a shitty night at the market.

Indra watched the hurt wash over her and felt so shitty for being the cause of it. He wanted to take it back. Wanted to say it was a cruel joke and he was sorry. But it wasn't a cruel joke. It was the cruel truth of the matter. He knew how precarious their relationship could be, and it had been his fault for even acting like it could actually carry on. And now she was hurt that he'd had to end things before they even began; especially after swooping in on what could have been a nice conversation with a vampire to chase him away and then lay out news that he couldn't even be friends with her.

He wanted to make a joke about if she wanted to be a bear, things could be different, but the joke didn't seem like it would land well given the situation. "I'm sorry for being a dick about it," he mumbled out. "And if there's ever an emergency, you can still call and I'll come help." Though would she? Would she even want to remember him now? He looked back at her, with all her bags and plants. He wanted to help her and part of him wished he'd waited. Maybe he could've given her a ride home and then told her. But what was done was done. "I should go," he said quietly.

Well, this was all incredibly disappointing. Not only did she lose a potential romantic interest but a friend all in one fell swoop. And it wasn't like Catriona had many friends, to begin with.

Cat glanced back at the man as he mentioned reaching out to him in an emergency, eyebrows knit together in confusion. If he was cutting ties with her, that meant cutting ties. It was absolute, not something to dangle in front of her should she find herself in a precarious position. She bit her tongue to keep from making a snide remark, not wanting to end things on an even more sour note, and nodded instead. Sure, yeah. Reach out if she was in trouble. Or whatever.

"Bye Indra," Catriona managed to reply before she turned and went off in search of her parents. She wanted to leave this place and put it all behind her as soon as possible.