He nods sympathetically, he can understand seeking out solitude when one has a bad headache. He used to lock himself in his greenhouse for much the same reason, he loves the other Villagers but gosh the neighbor kids can be loud. He shakes the thought away, adjusting his grip on the umbrella as Memory taps it.
“Oh I’m fine. My fur is water resistant so the most that will get drenched is my bandana and belt.”
He gestures to the bandana around his neck then the belt around his hips with his free hand, which are indeed looking water soaked already. He smiles happily, toe claws scraping against the ground as he keeps himself steady on his toes in the wet. His tail twists side to side, unable to actually wag due to the thick base. Suddenly her comment on having a headache, or well... burning head, catches up to him and he flushes a little.
“Oh I am so sorry, do you want to be left alone.?” his tail stills behind him, feeling a bit ashamed he’s still bothering her.
Chrometophobia: My muse helps yours out of a financial crisis, or vice-versa. [Memory and Sorrel, me thinks?]
@circuitryandflesh
Sorrel doesn’t even notice Memory arriving, he’s too focused looking through the papers on his kitchen table, beak moving as he mouths the words on each page. He adds them up silently, flips through the papers again silenting adding them up again and again hoping against all truth he’s simply fudged the math along the way.
When had rent on the shop gotten so high? Sure it was off season and his greenhouse was still in shambles so the on season hadn’t been great but… but rent was never this bad before right?
“Something wrong?”
Sorrel about jumps out of his fur when Memory finally speaks. He spins to look up at her. Her face is carefully neutral. He hopes briefly she hadn’t read the bills over his shoulder, putting on a fake smile.
“No everything’s okay. Just uh…”
Okay yeah no lying isn’t going to work, from the look on her face she had already read the big angry red letters about how much he owed. He wouldn’t be sitting here frantically reading the papers over and over if he had the money they were requesting so she probably already put the pieces together.
“It’ll be fine. Worst thing that will happen is I’ll lose the storefront. I can just set up a stall like I had in the beginning. Build up some savings again by not needing to pay for anything more than a permit to sell in the city.”
He turns his back to Memory looking down at the papers, not wanting to risk getting a pitying look. He has no intentions of asking someone to bail him out of this. It’s no one’s problem but his own, it’s his shop after all. He was always very careful with his money, kept decent savings which kept him above water until now. The payments were due now, but if only he could bide his time until Spring there was always a rush of business then…
He must have mumbled that last part out loud because Memory put something on the table.
“Spring’s just another month away, right? Here.”
He focuses on the something realizing it’s money quickly he tries to hand it back to her, he can’t accept this. But Memory had used one of her ground bridges and fled back to her own realm calling over her shoulder.
“Pay me back later if it matters that much to you.”
