The Sleepy Salesgirl

Karina of Sharance Town, RF3 An unbelievably lazy girl working in her mother's General Store. More likely than not, you will find Karina sleeping on the job, or dreaming up new ideas to move to the city (if she would ever get the energy to leave). Part of Crescent Harvest RPG

[sleepykarina]

March 15, 2014

Dear Diary,

Mom's been insisting I write down how I spend my days so I can better track what I've been doing...to get me to do more. It's not too hard, I guess, so I'll give it a try. I haven't really had the chance to speak my mind with anyone lately anyway.

This next fishing contest sounds like it'll be pretty interesting, ever since Sofia approached me with her rather determined idea of winning it. I wonder what Evelyn said to her unknowingly this time...? Either way, I've seen a lot of fish swimming in the waters in the forest that people don't usually bother going after, so maybe we'll have better luck than last time.

Speaking of Evelyn, her last curry dress design failed in a rather messy, smelly way. I don't think I believe her anymore, because nobody in their right mind would wear that sort of fashion, let alone the rich people in the cities. Not to hurt her feelings, but I think I'm going to talk to another tailor for ideas. That blue haired girl at Sonata's Tailoring sounds like a good start.

You'll never guess what's been happening at the store, but all of a sudden a bunch of woolies swarmed in and starting stealing all the apples and playing around with the supplies. At this rate, our whole week's worth of stock will be ruined - mom will have my head. I wonder if what the mayor said was true, and monsters can't coexist with humans peacefully. There was only that blonde stranger in the store at the time, so I hope she'll be able to help out...I can't get out of this one alone (sigh).

That's it for now I think...Next time, I hope I'll have better news.

- Karina

[phanerozoicflora]

Flora took in the atmosphere of Sharance Village; she had been sent here to visit the ruins of Privera Forest, examining and dating the statues that existed there from ancient cities long left behind. But the village itself seemed to have an older, rustic feel, she noticed as she located the...

[sleepykarina]

Karina was dreaming again - an unsurprising feat, but this time something seemed amiss. She was perched on top of a tree in the forest and scanning the pleasant air for signs of fruit and flowers, when the branches themselves began trembling. Alarmed, she fell back and gripped onto the bark as leaves shook themselves off in storm, obscuring her vision until she slipped, and she was falling, falling with the thick shower of leaves into the ever growing sound of stamping...

Karina jerked upright from where she had slumped over into the seat behind the counter, her eyes not registering what she was seeing. Instead of the green of leaves, her vision was filled with white...white, and baaing noises above the clattering of hooves?

The truth didn't make any more sense to her than the question: there appeared to be a mini stampede of ten woolies running loose about the store, running on their two legs (quite unlike regular sheep), and throwing the shelves onto the floor. After Karina had finally rubbed her eyes quite open and assured herself this was real, that woolies had mysteriously overtaken the general store, did she instinctively exclaim,

"What in the name of Sharance is happening here...?!"

Too much was happening at once, was the answer. Unable to handle it all, she reached for the nearest one and wrenched away the apple basket, having the fruit knock unhappily against themselves on the bottom as already some of their companions rolled merrily away and under the hooves of other mischief makers.

"Stop, stop! Don't touch that, get out! Oh, mom is going to get SO mad at me." She groaned, grabbing a broom and trying unsuccessfully to shoo more of them away from the merchandise and in the direction of the door. That's when she spotted the other girl, wearing glasses and dressed to travel. Not sure of the stranger's part in the situation, she called out, "Hey, excuse me! If you want to buy anything, you'll have to help me get the woolies away, they really have a thing for apples..."

[sleepykarina]

It was a moderately sunny spring day that found Karina wiping off the last of the curry sauce from her hair.

How a passing stranger might perceive her, towel in hand wringing out the spicy brown sauce form her gray curls, fortunately, Karina did not have to find out. What she...

[sleepykarina]

Karina's General Store was usually the largest and only shopping center in town that offered much merchandise on display, which usually involved unexciting barrels of fruits. Here was a store Karina could walk around with in real interest, and she took a few steps around the small space to view all of the clothes. However, it didn't take many before she was done and back in front of the girl again.

"Pre-made clothing won't work," she sighed with her chin propped by her hand, "well, they look nice, but don't...stand out. I need something that I can wear to go to the city in, and I can't wear anything that shows that I came from a small town (or a lot of others are wearing already). It has to look like something new just for me, something...fashionable."

What she knew about fashion came from Evelyn and Sofia, which meant lots of quick trends and oddities. Frills and ribbons would be in style one day, and then buttoned peacoats and berets the next. Or maybe puffed sleeves, or dark colors. Whatever Sofia wore, she assured that it was quite acceptable in high society wherever she went. But Karina had no real desire to wear a very ruffled skirt and billowing sleeves, so she paced around once more while she thought again.

"Maybe this?" She felt the fabric of the sleeves of each garment she passed this time, "I like the light tones of the red...or maybe I should wear a dress? Did the girls wear tighter tops there?"

The room didn't yield too many answers, with all of the simple and charming but still rustic offerings. With a defeated, Karina returned to the center and collapsed her between her gloved hands, "I don't know. I don't have any idea what people in the city dress like (not that I could design something for myself). I just know I need something that'll set me apart...without making me smell like curry."

[sleepykarina]

Truth: What's the grossest personal habit you have?

"Haha…whenever I sleep standing up, I tend to open my mouth and drool…like this (I can use my scarf to hide it, though)."

[sleepykarina]

Truth: What's something that you've said to your mother that you really regretted?

"Oh…it’s not something I like to remember, but it happened when I was younger. My mom was managing the store by herself back then and had a lot of difficulties starting out. I didn’t really understand and kept trying to get her to play or talk to me when she was busy. One time, she snapped at me, so I yelled back at her that if she loved me, she would take some time to care about me instead of just ignoring me, because all the other children got to be with their families. Instead of getting angry like I expected, she got very sad and didn’t speak to me for a few days except softly. Mom seemed lost in her own thoughts, and I guess she felt really bad that she didn’t have the time to take care of me." 

"After that, I stopped bothering her and learned to just sit quietly on my own. I tried to seem fine with it, no matter how bored I got, and always stayed out of her way when she was working or tired."

[sleepykarina]

Truth or Dare

[Ahh, missed it last week. Let's see if I can get Karina to step out her comfort zone in the spirit of godmodding - I mean the game cough-]

[sleepykarina]

✄----Fashionable Faux Pas // Karina & Candace

It was a moderately sunny spring day that found Karina wiping off the last of the curry sauce from her hair. 

How a passing stranger might perceive her, towel in hand wringing out the spicy brown sauce form her gray curls, fortunately, Karina did not have to find out. What she herself was feeling though, she expressed quiet well in a drawn-out sigh.

Evelyn is a great friend, she began charitably despite the watery yellow-brown puddle collecting at her feet, but that is the last time I'm trying out one of her newest designs for a while. At least, of food.

Curry, the two had found out, was not in the least conducive to a fashion line, especially not when the sun was out and the hat had decided to melt into Karina's hair. She had, with speed unlike herself, hastily jumped under a pump and rinsed away the last of her unusual garments, leaving her in the soaked base shirt and skirt that bore the remains of Evelyn's careful stitches and curry stains. The girl had been awful sorry that it hadn't worked out, although she wasn't too deterred from her next line of work: fish scales. Karina could only suggest a ban from food articles before the fashionista left her as clothe-less as before.

How am I going to have anything fashionable to wear when I go to the city now? Karina grumbled as back in her own room after a proper bath, she dried and changed into her customary outfit. I still need something new, something that doesn't say "village bumpkin" at the very least.

Distantly, she recalled mention of a clothing shop in a nearby town. In fact, wasn't it run by their personal tailor...?

That would be perfect. This time, she could specifically request an outfit that was not edible. There were few things Karina was willing to walk for, but the promising lead tugged at one of those few interests. And a few hours later, the normally sleepy girl was pushing aside the front doors to a calm and cheerful "Sonata Tailoring".

"Hello...?" she called out to the blue haired girl within, "this is the place where I can get clothes made for me, right?"

[sleepykarina]

Would you rather hitchhike across the region, or find a secret forest in your own town?

"Hitchhike…..do people actually walk days on end in territories they’ve never been before? No thanks. They look awfully dirty and tired afterwards, carrying things like that (though I guess we depend on people like them)."

"A forest though, sounds relaxing. I like the Privera’s Flower Fields. It’s perpetually springtime there and the flowers make it a wonderful place to take a nap (and hide from chores). There aren’t many dangerous monsters that approach that area either."

[sleepykarina]

Would you rather have a third arm or a third eye?

"Uh…(Seriously)? I guess another eye wouldn’t be that bad. It could stay open while the other two are closed while I’m sleeping, so I could nap and keep an eye on the store as well. Haha…?"

[sleepykarina]

Would you rather be 3 feet tall or 9 feet tall?

"Hmm…if I was a large sleepy giant, I wonder if I could crush a forest just by laying down and taking a nap on it. It looks kind of comfy."

"I’m kidding, the Harvest Goddess would probably faint and kill me. (But if I was bigger I could definitely move less to get to places faster)."

[in-lies-she-speaks]

{ —☂ } She was going to do it, this time. Sofia was going to win this silly fishing tournament if it killed her. The determination had come very suddenly, stemming from a bet she’d made with her sister. The wager? Just thinking about it made her shudder, so she opted not to. Because there was...

[sleepykarina]

It was a lucky thing that out of everyone she knew, Sofia had the special privilege of being someone Karina was willing to wake up for; a very lucky thing, for the bang on the counter had kicked her straight out of her dream clouds and back into her own protesting body. Blinking the last wisps of sleep out of her eyes, the sight of the familiar ribbons and frills of the blue-haired girl before her melted any antagonism preemptively.

"Oh Sofia, good morning...(Couldn't you have done that a little gentler)," Karina stretched, her mind processing the rushed opposite-speech naturally, "So, fishing contest again, huh?"

She took a moment to look more fully at her friend, perceiving the lack of parasol and the two fishing poles that were leaning into one another by the doorway. Evelyn usually managed to goad Sofia, either accidentally or through a good understanding of her sister's sense of pride, into the seasonal fishing tournaments. From the look of things, this case was more serious than the last (which, if she recalled correctly, involved the two arguing quite passionately that certain fish bones should be counted under the definition of the rules on account of their length).

At this point, Karina didn't think much of asking the reason. Sofia, usually incomprehensible to the majority of the town, made more or less perfect sense to her by virtue of her predictability. She was rather predictably unpredictable, that is. What did it matter? When Sofia knew what she wanted, Karina had no reason to object, except that it usually cost her a lot more effort than she preferred.

"Sure, I guess I'll help again. Um, but what is it that you need my help in...? I can't fish any better than you, and we don't sell fishing supplies."

In the back of her mind was a tiny, easily dismissible notion to hope that what it took to win this silly tournamnet wouldn't really kill them.

[sleepykarina]

Have you ever had any nightmares while sleeping?

"I had a nice dream. About when I got sick when I was younger. When I was in my bed, I could hear my mom and customers laughing. (I felt a bit lonely.)"

"(But looking back on it now, it was more like a nightmare.)"

[sleepykarina]

Would you rather...?

[sleepykarina]

Do you have epic-tascular dreams while you're sleeping?

"People keep interrupting me when they wake up and I lose track of them easily…"

"Hmm, but I can remember a few. Like that one where I was in Privera Forest and decided to get up and walk around a bit, which magically didn’t tire me out (what a good thing about dreams). So as I walked along, the leaves started turning into birds and flying away. Then the grass got up and walked, and I realized they were made out of turtles. It didn’t really bother me except I had to dodge through them all to try and stay up straight. What really stood out was that all of them started to turn different shades of colors, so I picked one up and took a bite and found it was lemon. The turtles kept moving though, so I kept had to keep picking up new flavors to try a bite of before they ran off.

Actually, I think this might have been because someone was telling me about how the forest was full of brightly colored and strange monsters while I was hungry.

But afterwards Mom came and yelled at me (like always). Oh, that wasn’t part of the dream though.”

[sleepykarina]

Have you ever had any pets? Do you want any?

"Hmm, I think Woolies and Pomme-Pommes are pretty cute. But mom said they would be messy (and require a lot of time and care). So pass, but the Mayor wouldn't allow monsters anyway. Mom talked about having a cat once when she was younger to catch the mice, but really, they would probably just nibble on the groceries..."

[sleepykarina]

How do you usually deal with unruly customers?

"It's better for me if they don't buy anything (but it's true they are too loud and disturb my sleep)..."

"If we don't have something, we just don't have it. It's their responsibility to look for it otherwise. What's the big deal with waiting another day?"

[sleepykarina]

TMI Tuesday

Honestly, what are you going to ask...