An ear-splitting scream pierced through the everyday hubbub of The Sapphire Avenue Exchange, drawing the bustling marketplace to a concerned halt; a Lalafellin girl stood wailing over her food that lay scattered on the pavement. The carton of dodo nuggets had barely passed into her hands from the food vendor before she had been accosted, sending her lunch to the floor.
Only a few steps away from the weeping Lalafell stood a pair of Miqo’te, both momentarily frozen in stunned silence. The dark-haired, tattooed Miqo’te man blinked in confusion and looked to the pink-haired Miqo’te woman beside him as she swore explosively.
“Thal’s balls,” C’arta leapt forward into a full sprint after the lunch thief, calling back to M'alik, “Look after her, Alik!”
Coming back to his senses at her words, M’alik knelt beside the Lalafellin girl and began to soothe her, feeling a combination of mortification on his companion’s behalf, and awe at how fast she had reacted.
“There there, lass- you’re not hurt, are ye? No limbs lost to the little thief?”
While M’alik tended to the child, C’arta chased after the rotund tapir as it wove through the thick market crowds, belly full of pilfered nuggets with another clamped firmly in its mouth. C’arta hissed as the creature loped ahead of her, deceptively fast despite its short legs.
Our date had been going so well before you decided to be a little turd, C'arta cursed as she ducked and wove her way past a gawking crowd. Sensing her in pursuit, the tapir gave a wiggle and sped up.
