Faye shifted weight from one feet to another, standing stiff behind a low wooden counter. Below, Hana held a pair of tongs in her wooden hand, looking every bit lifeless as she is except for a little shake of her head every now and then. To the side stood the owner of a fried chicken stall –the place Faye was currently working in- glancing intermittently at the little puppet on the water mage’s right hand. He raised a brow as if he had a lot to say, but took one look at Faye’s cold indifferent face and swallowed his words. It was probably the first time he saw an employee with a puppet on her hand.

On the other hand, Faye was in it for the experience. Fried chicken was popular these days and the amount of people that came to get some was not little. Basically, it was the perfect place for some people observing. The little stall was situated right in the center of the marketplace, making it the ideal viewpoint to watch other establishments and people that went there. Right next to where she worked was a clothing store and an old wares shop selling miscellaneous goods.

“Uhh, young lady,” the owner finally spoke drawing Faye’s attention to him. “Perhaps, you could, uhh, not stare at people so much?” He looked anywhere but at her as he spoke, looking very flustered. She understood why. Faye was a very friendly person once you get to know her, but her facial muscles have a mind of its own and liked staying frozen. Not to mention the way she stares at people can be unnerving. But that’s also where Hana came in.

Without giving the owner any particular answer, Faye dropped to her knees behind the wooden counter, sticking Hana out in the open for people to see instead. “FRIIIEEEDD CHICKEN!” She called out in her dollish voice. “Fried Chicken everyone!” Her wooden hands flailed around, attracting people to the stall. The doll on that particular day was especially dressed to fit the role with an apron and a tiny scarf tied around her head, hiding some of those platinum blonde curls.

Today had been one of the 'regular' days. Nothing interesting ever happens. It's just a continuous cycle of work, food, and sleep. With the hope that something interesting will happen or any interaction at all, Aleksandr had set out after work. Maybe he'll find someone to talk too. The other more likely alternative was him getting something to eat then go home and jerk off and go to sleep. As the evening neared its end, the latter seemed more and more likely with every passing second. By now, his stomach was screaming at him to end it's torture and put something in it.

That was when he heard a toyish voice screaming about fried chicken. 'Might as well get some.' It's as good as anything, why not?

He had been retired to a bench for most of the evening, looking for interesting people to talk to, like the idiot that he was. It was only now that he came to regret and understand that he had been a fool all evening just sitting around. Thus, It was no wonder anything of note ever happened. Well, as they say, learn from your mistakes. Never again. With that thought in his brain, he would search for the source of that voice and found it to be a doll in a chicken-stall. Wack. He would then proceed to walk to the stall and noticed the person working on it was a pink haired girl. Well, not the first time he was gonna get served by a girl. "One fried chicken, obviously," he said to her and followed it up with a question. "But, do you serve anything else?" He hadn't seen many pink-haired people in his life, but it was always a pleasure to see one.

Faye was still kneeling behind the counter when he arrived. A long shadow fell over her; she looked up with Hana still sitting on top of the counter. Sticking half her face above the counter, Faye gave him a onceover. He looked decent enough but at the same time seemed to be the impatient sort who gave importance to his whims and impulse than reason. Of course, she could be wrong. That’s one thing Faye learned from experience –almost nine or ten years’ worth-. You couldn’t instantly judge a person with what you see. Not all men are ever completely honest with themselves. Some had certain tells that revealed a person’s true character, but some hid it too well. Those that lived in carpe diem, for the sake of it, tended to be more honest as they rarely cared for others’ opinion.

“Fried chicken,” the owner coughed seeing Faye drifting off with her thoughts.

Hearing him, Hana instantly sprang into action with her usual peppiness. “Hello there!” She waved at him with a wooden hand. “Just one fried chicken?” She tilted her forever smiling face to one side. “We are famous for our spicy chicken fries! Having just one sounds too sad!” Hana chirped.

Meanwhile, Faye had already stood up and tucked her hair back. When he asked whether they served anything else, Faye resisted the urge to sass him with Hana up his face. Did they not say it was a fried chicken shop? Besides chicken, all they could serve was drinks but that was, from what the owner told her, an occasional thing. The Orchidian market was a huge place with all sorts of shops crowding around in one place. He had to take three steps at max to arrive at the fresh juice shop right across from their stall. As a result, the fried chicken owner rarely sold drinks or anything else with the chicken. It was also, as Faye guessed it, probably a cooperation strategy between all the stall owners. Having worked alongside for so many years, it didn’t seem impossible that they were all close in some ways, unless they were rivals.

“We only serve chicken, Mr!” Hana kept her usual energy while Faye’s countenance stayed as stoic as ever. As they talked, Faye grabbed a piece of chicken, dunk it into the egg wash, rolled it around bread crumbs, seasoned it and placed it inside the already hot fryer. While they waited on it, the young puppeteer seemed to be contemplating something until she held Hana up and asked. “Where are you from?”

While he waited for the girl to give him an answer, he noticed the girl who was serving at the counter looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. Wow, A girl just looked at him. Achievement accomplished. Was she judging him? Maybe. Did he care? A little bit, but he tried not to be affected by it. Others' opinion of him didn't really matter to him now. Weirdly, it was the doll still doing all the talking, rather than her presumed owner. Was she mute? Maybe. Maybe she just didn't want to talk. Apparently, him ordering just one fried chicken was sad. However, it was pretty obvious the doll just wanted to take more of his money. A strategy as old as time. Well, he did have money to spare so he thought might as well try their 'famous chicken fries'. "Well, then give me some of your fries too." Why not?

The doll then answered his question and said that they only served chicken. "Makes sense, I was just asking if you serve anything apart from just 'fried' chicken or like, soda." Meanwhile, the girl started readying the chicken. He was getting hungrier by the second, so that was a relief. Then the doll asked him where he was from and while he did not understand why she would want to know his origin, he saw no harm in answering her. "Well, I'm from Bosco." and then followed it up with "What about you?"

Bosco, hmm, Faye mused to herself. “What is Bosco like? We have never been there before,” Hana relayed Faye’s words, starting a conversation up between them while the puppeteer’s left hand busied itself with the preparation of chicken. Just when the delicious aroma of crispy fried chicken started to spread, Faye decided to answer his other question. “Oh, Faye and I are from Hargeon. Although, we are originally from Minstrel,” she had Hana say.

It was a casual dialogue, however, just speaking of Minstrel gave Faye flashbacks of her life there and the large fire that swallowed everything up. A lot of things came to a critical end on that day. Yet, Faye could never shake off this feeling of dread, a mirage of thoughts that warned her it’s a beginning.

Nevertheless, Faye had more or less succeeded in leaving her past behind. Ever since moving to Fiore and joining Blue Pegasus, all she had been doing was going around playing with her puppets and telling stories. It allowed her to meet all kinds of people. Some flared an interest in her only to let it flicker out soon and some gave her enough material for the puppets. Even the man in front of her was surely getting turned into a puppet if she found him interesting enough.

Thinking so, she stole glances at him every now and then, just to observe the way he stood, the expression in his eyes, the twitch of every face muscles. When the chicken was ready, she quickly moved it into a paper plate and placed it on the counter in front of him. “That will be a thousand jewels,” Hana beamed as Faye looked over to the owner. “Perhaps you would lie some juice or drink along with it?” Faye had Hana ask. While they didn’t serve anything other than chicken, on certain occasions, the boss allowed them to buy drinks from the shop across. After all, anything for the customer.

When she asked Aleksandr what Bosco was like, he couldn't help contain a slight smile. He loved Bosco. The same could not be said for his 'family' that lived there, but he was trying his best to get over that. "Bosco is amazing. The weather is superb, the culture, the food, and everything else except, uh nevermind." he spoke to her, reminiscing about the few happy days he had in his motherland. It was a good thing he didn't accidentally tell her about his family issues. He would feel stupid and attention-seeking, especially since they just met and also because he was talking to a doll. He didn't like talking about the incidents that occurred over there, mostly because it hit a tough spot.

Aleksandr looked at the chicken frying. While it wasn't showing, he was dying for some. Chicken always hit a soft spot inside him. He could never figure out why. He wasn't even a fan of eating animals, other than chicken of course. Thousand jewels? Damn. He took out his wallet and paid her for it. Then she asked him if he wanted any drinks. Of course, he did. "Yeah, just soda pop, nothing else." he said and picked up the chicken in the paper plate. It was rather a good thing that he got something to wash the chicken down with. He wouldn't want to just eat it dry, as much as he loved it.

Faye noticed the light smile gracing his lips, and wondered if he was having good memories about his home. She wished she could do the same for herself. Sure, there were certain good memories but all of them were the puppet shows she had put on along with Edwin. But those were somewhat bitter as well. “That’s cool. Minstrel is very charming in its own way. It’s a very artistic place, I suppose you can say,” Hana made all the replies for her as Faye took the money and placed them neatly into the nearby cash register.

When he asked for a drink, Faye expressionlessly took off the frilly, pink apron she was wearing and went around the counter. She walked straight across towards the small shop with a fancy signboard cut out in the shape of some drink Faye couldn’t really care to make out. She placed the order, payed the money, and walked back all in the span of a very few minutes.

“Here you are!” Hana beamed as Faye placed a large glass of soda pop down in front of the tall man. Once it was done, she surprisingly took a seat next to him and raised a hand towards the owner. “Fried chicken for us, too!”

"I see. Minstrel, it sounds like a place I'd like to visit sometime." he said to her. He just wanted to eat at this point. Aleksandr's stomach was crying for some food, and he just wanted to bite into the chicken and end it's suffering. But he was not going to begin before he gets his drink. He watched as the pink-haired girl took off her apron and walked to a shop. 'I guess they didn't have soda pop?' he thought to himself. It was weird though. He paid for the soda pop after she gave it to him. It was in a glass, which he appreciated.

Then she took a seat next to him and ordered fried chicken for herself. "Are you off for today?" he asked her, even if he thought it was fairly obvious. Hey, what's wrong in getting a little confirmation. He finally bit into the chicken and oh man, oh man, it was delicious. He had needed this for a long while. Just some good old chicken. He then took a gulp from the soda pop and oh what a combination. Lovely, indeed. The soda pop just accentuated the taste of the chicken. Maybe he should start up some conversation between the two, if not, were they gonna just site beside each other eating their own food? Boring. "So, what brings you to Orchidia? You said you were from Hargeon."

Faye noticed the owner raise an incredulous eye at the two of them. Then he cast a glance at the thick watch over his hairy hand and huffed. Faye had gotten off work at the exact moment she was supposed to without caring to see whether another part-time worker had switched with her. He made some sort of a dissatisfied grunt before finally leaning away from the counter side and coming up to fry some chicken for them. He did it more skillfully than Faye did. Faye noticed, despite being a lazy old man these days, he did know what he was doing. While her eyes focused on the way he made chicken, Faye heard the other man’s voice next to her.

Then suddenly she turned her full attention to him. She swept a look over him from head to toe and apathetically turned her head away. “Just travelling,” Hana sounded more energetic than Faye seemed. “We have been on this very long trip for Faye to collect materials for her hobby,” She explained with an occasional twitch of her arms. “Orchidia is probably the place she has stopped by for the longest though. She had been meeting interesting people all around. It had not been too long ago when she met a half-elf.”