Gemma

Just your average, everyday mermaid human tourist.

[xgemmasx-blog]

Pumpkin Palooza

[xgemmasx-blog]

ottoleitner:

There had been a lot of activity as of late, trying and challenging changes. Otto was in need of a gentle reprieve, and nothing quite so reinvigorated him as indulging in his photography hobby. Sumner provided, as it always did, with the rusty jewel tones of autumn on display in the pumpkin patch opened to all residents. The vampire decided to take his large format camera out for this particular trip, and kept the large tripod-stand balanced on his shoulder as he picked his way through the gourds. The vampire had been careful to avoid the swaths of happy families, whose presence would no doubt dampen his mood, by coming at a time where he expected to be alone in the pumpkin patch.

The camera he’d chosen was the most expensive and largest he owned. Merely getting it out of his car was a task let alone setting it up in a large field, but the vampire was not so deterred as to abandon his work. The vampiric strength and speed helped. He set up the wide-lenses landscape camera, it’s stand plunged into the soft earth, the aperture of choice selected from the satchel at his hip, one of many slung across his body. So narrowly focused on his work he failed to see how it became a spectacle to the other visitor present. He even failed to notice the other visitor; until he looked through the viewfinder as was shocked to see a pair of eyes looking right at him.

“I- Uh!” Otto blinked, pulling himself straight and sputtering out his surprise. “Um, Sorry, yes- Uh, hello, sorry I did not see you there. Um, I’m just- Well- I intended to take some nature shots. So- I mean, that is- I’m not taking clandestine pictures of you, um, if you were worried about that…” He frowned.

“What?” Gemma asked, blinking. Clandestine pictures had been the furthest thing from her mind... but at least now she could infer that the bizarre device seemed to be a camera of sorts. It looked nothing like the small, easily portable devices she’d seen humans take photographs with before, much less like the phones they seemed so fond of doing everything with these days. 

“Oh, no, I wasn’t worried about that- sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude... it’s just a very interesting camera you’ve got there” she apologized, moving out of the way of the part of the camera she assumed was used for actually capuring images. “Isn’t it difficult, carrying it around?” she asked, a confused as to why the man would content himself with lugging this massive construction about when there were lighter options available. 

[xgemmasx-blog]

Cheesy Conundrum

[xgemmasx-blog]

ianncardero

Iann tugged his coat around himself more to shield against the bracing wind.  Most people would be crazy to be out in this cold unless it was for some specific reason; of course, Sumner wasn’t about ‘most people’.  Some people wandered like the cold had no effect - and it didn’t, depending on if they were some form of sea-folk or vampire or even nymphs.  But one could tell the humans, shivering and rushing to get errands done.  Iann was one of those people, hurring back to his van and slung with bags from the day’s errands.

But he scurried past a bench on the parkway, then slowed, stopped and backed up when he thought he - ah.  Yes. He grinned slightly.

“Gemma?  Gemma, you’re still here…and you have a giant piece of cheddar,” Iann said, when he looked down to what she was carrying.  “Remember me?  Iann, Iann Cardero.  You want some crackers to go with that?”

Gemma looked up, eyes narrowing almost imperceptibly when she saw who had called her name. “Yes, I remember” she confirmed with a small nod. She recalled Iann being rather difficult when they’d last spoken... would a conversation with him be safe this time around? He seemed in rather a better mood than the state he’d been in when she’d seen him last, and he had wound up helping her even then...

Deciding he probably wasn’t a threat, she considered the remainder of his talking points. “I’m not sure. What do you think would go best with it? I can go back into the store and buy an accompaniement, if you think that’d improve it?” she replied, eyeing the cheese uncertainly. At this point she figured there would be very little purpose to trying to conceal her ‘other’ness from him, and decided she might as well get some help with her current predicament.

[xgemmasx-blog]

Pumpkin Palooza

@ottoleitner

As the leaves began to change, Gemma had been noticing more and more people decorating their doorsteps and storefronts with pumpkins. Even more interesting was the fact that several of Sumner’s residents had apparently gone and collected their decor from the ground where it had grown, rather than buying the gourds from a store (the way they seemed to purchase just about everything else). 

Deciding this was a human ritual worth examining in greater detail, Gemma had made her way over to the pumpkin field herself, finding herself thorougly impressed by the sheer volume of pumpkins there. She still wasn’t quite sure why humans were so fond of these plants in particular, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy them, too. Nevertheless, she found herself getting distracted from the pumpkins by another one of their visitors- specifically, the odd metal box he had with him. It was unlike anything she’d seen, and she couldn’t help but stare at it as she attempted to discern its function.

[xgemmasx-blog]

Cheesy Conundrum

@ianncardero

Gemma stared at the strange object in her hand, contemplating whether or not she really needed to check this particular item off her bucket list. She supposed she didn’t- no one knew about the list but her, at any rate- but all the same, she had gone to all this trouble... and who knew? Maybe she’d wind up with something interesting to report back to her pod. 

The block of cheese in her hand was just so weird, though. Between the bizarre texture, the unfamiliar scent, and the odd yellowish coloring, she hadn’t the faintest idea why humans subjected themselves to eating it. And yet. Well, she had felt strangely compelled to go out and try it, to the point that she’d actually gone to a ‘supermarket’ and bought a piece. And now here she was, sitting on a bench and staring at a hunk of cheese as if she were attempting to divine some sort of deeper meaning from it. 

[xgemmasx-blog]

Starter Call!

As you may or may not know, Gemma comes off hiatus in a few days. If you’re interested in your character(s) interacting with her, like this post and I’ll send you a message! 

Please note: since all ongoing threads are now extremely old and/or related to plot drops that are also extremely old, I’m planning on dropping all of said old threads and starting fresh. If you don’t want our thread dropped, please reply to this post!

Also- since it’s been a while since Gemma’s been on the dash (and even longer since the implied dates all the old threads took place), I’ve included a brief summary of what Gemma’s been up to below the cut:

Slowly but surely, Gemma’s been learning more about Sumner and its residents, and in turn is coming out of her shell, piece by piece. Here are some specifics:

In addition to her knowledge of seafolk, Gemma now knows about the existence of all land-based supernatural species in Sumner. While she has a basic understanding of each species, the level of detail/accuracy of her knowledge varies from species to species.

She is no longer distrustful of all Sumner residents- however, the strange (and often dangerous) goings-on in the town have left her a bit on edge, so she’s still not what you’d call “relaxed”.

She is now looking for a roommate! Well, sort of. After several weeks in town, she’s realized it might be convenient to have something of a ‘home  base’ on land for her to keep posessions that aren’t exactly waterproof. Said space could wind up being anything from a rented locker to a spare bedroom, depending on the circumstances. If you’re interested in your character sharing any amount of space with Gemma, let me know!

Gemma has been working her way through something akin to a bucket list these past few weeks, trying out various human experiences just for the sake of discovery/entertainment. 

[xgemmasx-blog]

xxtuaharjunaxx

Tuah nodded his head a little, his lips pressing together as he listened to her speak. “I’m glad that you decided to stay. Sumner has a lot to offer, if you know where to look,” he said, his hands slinging together in front of his chest with his one hand gesturing in the air as he talked. “Hmm, there’s a lot of interesting places in Melankoli, like the boutique hotels, tourist shops, etcetera.  If you’re feeling adventurous, you can visit Mal Ojo. It’s just just a few shop blocks away from here.” He let his lips curled into a fond smile as he remembered the owner, whom he found the man’s antics quite amusing at times, if not exasperating at the same time. “There’s also Meadowsweet in Melankoli where I heard you can request for any kind of bouquet and the owner will deliver.”

“Though I probably should warn you that there’s been some kind of illness that has been going on around here,” he said, pressing his lips together as he run his fingers along the salt and pepper stubble on his cheek, “I hope you haven’t been affected by the illness while you’re here, miss, uh,” he glanced at the other blinking owlishly before letting out a soft chuckle, a slight tint of pinkness across his cheeks. “I suppose we haven’t been properly introduced,” he rubbed the back of his neck, his lips painting a sheepish smile, “I’m Tuah, by the way. And what’s yours, if you don’t me asking?”

Gemma listened carefully, making mental notes of the places the man mentioned. When he warned her of the illness going around, she had to admit she was a little startled. That did explain how strangely empty parts of town had been... She’d assumed it was simply because it was a small town, but people being home sick made far more sense. 

“Gemma,” she said by way of introduction. “It’s very nice to meet you, Tuah.” She considered shaking his hand, but decided this might not be as polite as usual, given that he had just finished explaining that there was an illness going through town. “I haven’t caught anything yet- at least, I don’t think I have- I have a pretty good immune system, so that’s probably working in my favor,” she explained, figuring it would be a more believable (and less dangerous) method of reassurance than divulging that she was a mermaid and wasn’t even sure if she could catch human illnesses.

[jameslivinguptoexpectations]

Casual Encounter || Jen + Gemma

[xgemmasx-blog]

jenalberink

Jen didn’t think much of it when Gemma copied her order. If she was seafolk, fish probably made sense as a regular meal. It didn’t even occur to her that her boothmate wouldn’t have the experience with restaurants or ordering food. Such things were so ingrained in Jen’s life that she didn’t stop to look at it as a potential peculiarity.

As Gemma stammered through her apology, Jen physically shrugged in off with a way of her hand. “Eh, not a big deal,” she said. “Normally I’d have them tucked away better to avoid that kind of thing, but that’s not an option right now. Long story, some weirdness going on in town. You reacted… about how I’d expect someone to. You actually took it better than I’ve seen a lot of people handle it.”

“What sort of peculiarity?” Gemma asked, intrigued. She’d seen some things she would definitely classify as odd, but wasn’t sure which (if any) of these things were what Jen was referring to. “Is, um... is everyone who’s different unable to hide it at the moment?” she continued, evidently disturbed by the possibility. 

She hadn’t been in town long, but if being around meant that she was going to be in danger of revealing herself to humans, she would have to deal with not exploring any further. Perhaps it would be best if she returned to her pod, or at the very least spent a few days at sea.

[ephrampettaline]

nomenclature  |  gemma & ephram

Under any other circumstances, Ephram would have exercised more caution when it came to dealing with the … well, somehow everybody had called them num-nums up till now. But the amorphous, semi-opaque tower of black jelly with hands and occasional other limbs and an upside-down mask on its … face? Ephram saw the mask shift and teeth appear to the side of its ostensible cheek and revised that. Whatever, however the creature was arranged, it sure as hell didn’t deserve to be called a num-num. 

But he didn’t have the luxury to spend time thinking of a more suitable moniker for the creature (non-num! his traitor mind immediately responded), not when the blob itself was pressing him further down towards the ocean. They moved hellish fast, and just as Ephram was about to make a hard break and run for it, another non-num plumped up into being. 

“Awww, shit, really?” Ephram swore, rubbing his sweaty forehead in consternation … just as a third non-num squidged into view. “Really?!?”

@xgemmasx

[xgemmasx-blog]

Suspicious of the ‘num-nums’ from the moment they mysteriously appeared in town, Gemma was almost unsurprised when they turned into something much more obviously threatening. She'd even elected to skip town for a few days because of them, but apparentlhy her decision to return was one made all too hastily- no sooner than she’d come ashore, what she could only assume was a now absolutely terrifying num-num approached.

She backed away, but it was no use- pretty soon she was surrounded by three of them, another person alongside her. “Any ideas?” she asked the human (was he a human? She hoped not), though she kept her back to him- at the moment, she was more concerned with keeping an eye on the num-nums than proper ettiquette. 

[xgemmasx-blog]

Fish out of water | open starter

[xgemmasx-blog]

casefilesofelizabethbell

Elizabeth shrugged, “Not sure. It was some coven years ago.” She knew a little bit about the barrier and how it worked. Mostly it just kept out people who would wish to harm Sumner’s residents by making it impossible to find. And it wasn’t infallible as she had learned from David. But it also didn’t affect Elizabeth much in her day to day life. Since she was a fairy she had no trouble passing in and out of town and most of her work kept her within its bounds anyway.

“Honestly Iann Cardero’s a better person to ask about all that. Dude’s a huge nerd, loves that kind of thing,” she added, figuring that Iann would probably be happy to answer questions. He certainly lit up like a Christmas tree when she asked them. “He owns Mal Ojo, this occult shop on Main Street. Can’t miss it,” Elizabeth said as she stopped in front of the tourist office.

Gemma nodded, making a mental note to ask this Iann for details later, assuming she deemed it safe to reveal her identity to him. Her mind was still reeling from the onslaught of information about this small town and its inhabitants, so any decisions like that would have to be reserved for after she’d had time to absorb the information and think things through.

It wasn’t until Elizabeth came to a halt that she realized they’d arrived at their destination. “Thanks for the tip! And the help getting here. I really appreciate it,” she assured the other woman. “So! I’ll uh, see you around?” She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to part from someone who seemed to know so much about the town... but Elizabeth had signed on for taking her to the tourist’s office; nothing more. She had already intruded on her day for long enough. 

[xgemmasx-blog]

xxtuaharjunaxx

Tuah watched for the other’s reaction when she took a sip of her drink, a pleased smile across his face as she seemed to enjoy her drink more than the one before. No one in their right mind would drink coffee on its own, not when someone was as young as her, in his opinion, not even when they needed caffeine boost for the day. “Ah, it’s on the house,” He waved his hand in the air dismissing her concern. The skin on his hand had already started to look withered, blue veins starting to be more visible beneath the skin. He was sure that he was beginning to go through the second symptom of the plague by now, since the first one had passed for him recently. “I was the one who suggested it to you, so it seems unfair to ask for payment for something you didn’t ask.” he moved his shoulders mimicking a shrug.

“Are you new in town?” he asked the other, still with a polite smile etched on his lips. It wasn’t to say that he recognised each face that went in and out of his cafe, more so since he had terrible memory to begin with. But he fancied himself being able to tell if something or someone was out of place, and the other seemed like she hadn’t quite settled in just yet, the wide eyes letting him know that they were taking in everything in sight with such wonderment and awe that it brought a nostalgic feeling to him when he was still young and naive, still curious about the world around him. Now though, he was merely content to live out the rest of his lifespan, however long that might be.

Gemma wasn’t quite sure what he meant by ‘on the house’, so she was grateful that an explanation soon followed. Or at least, she would have been if she hadn’t been distracted by the changes in the man’s face. He hadn’t seemed terribly young before, but she could have sworn he hadn’t looked this old. Deciding it would be rude and probably rather invasive to ask about it, she settled for ignoring it instead- it was possible she was imagining things, after all.

“Oh! Um, yes” she answered, having been pulled from her thoughts by the man’s next question. “I just got here the other day. It’s an interesting place... I was only planning on sticking around for a few days, but now I’m thinking I may stay a while longer” she mused. Initially she’d intended to explore a variety of small towns instead of spending so long at any one of them, but she hadn’t exactly accounted for the first place she’d come ashore being so interesting. She took another sip of her new beverage, considering. “Do you have any recommendations? Places to go while I’m in town?” she asked. She’d taken to asking this of people she met- given that one such suggestion had led her here, the advice so far had been sound.

[jameslivinguptoexpectations]

Casual Encounter || Jen + Gemma

[xgemmasx-blog]

jenalberink

Jen leaned back in her seat, pleased that she had accurately detected that something was amiss with Gemma’s story. Now that she knew the truth, she couldn’t help being slightly annoyed. Leave it to seafolk to cause her to panic. Glancing over, she saw that their waitress was coming over and waited until they’d both gotten their food ordered to continue.

“We try to keep it under wraps generally,” Jen said with a shrug. “I guess if your pod or whatever they’re called didn’t know about us, the only way to find out would be through contact. Which I guess this is. I’m sure you guys get hostility sometimes too, so we try not to shout about it, even in a place like Sumner.”

Following Jen’s lead, Gemma stopped talking as the waitress made her way over, ordering the same thing as the other woman so as to avoid raising suspicion- she’d hardly so much as glanced at the menu, after all. Once the waitress had left again, she turned her attention back to Jen, nodding at her explanation. 

“Makes sense. We generally keep to ourselves, but... yeah. There have been some not-so-pleasant experiences on land” she admitted softly, expression pensive. “I’m sorry for- I’m sorry I stared. Earlier, I mean.” Now that she had more information and enough time to actually process it, social norms were returning to her. It was rude to stare on land, regardless of the reason.

[xgemmasx-blog]

Fish out of water | open starter

[casefilesofelizabethbell-deacti]

Elizabeth knew that her question would surprise and probably upset Gemma. The girl didn’t immediately try to deny it though, which was a plus. Elizabeth had to wonder though how Gemma had heard about Sumner if not as a sanctuary. It was how most people heard about it. She smiled softly, “Yeah, its safe here. Sanctuary for Supernaturals is sort of our unofficial town motto.” In some ways that wasn’t true. There was still danger lurking around Sumner. But it never came because of one’s species. In fact the threats most often seemed to be supernatural as well. “There’s a barrier that keeps out anyone who’d want to hurt any of us,” she added, by way of reassurance.

As for her own species Elizabeth didn’t mention it. It wasn’t something she liked to talk about, given the complications it had caused her life. Luckily though most people didn’t know much about fairies, so people rarely guessed at her identity. And really there wasn’t anything wrong with anyone knowing, Elizabeth was aware logically. But as much as she prided herself on it she wasn’t always logical. 

[xgemmasx-blog]

Gemma couldn’t help but smile too, relieved to hear that she hadn’t managed to land herself in danger by picking a town that apparently knew about supernaturals. By the sounds of it, this place might be even safer than anywhere else she might have chosen to come ashore, by some stroke of pure luck. “Wow,” she said, eyes a little wider at the mention of a protective barrier. Was such a thing possible? She supposed it was, since Elizabeth really had no reason to lie about it. 

“How d’you manage it? The barrier, I mean” she asked, intrigued. Was it a magical barrier? That certainly seemed to be the case, as she hadn’t seen any walls or fences as she’d come ashore, and she assumed any protection against people of ill-will would include those that came by sea.

[jameslivinguptoexpectations]

Casual Encounter || Jen + Gemma

[xgemmasx-blog]

jenalberink

Wincing at such a blunt statement, Jen shook her head. “No, not exactly. Actually… not at all. We’re fairly similar to humans in a lot of ways, but not… Not entirely like you.” Looking at Gemma, she mulled over the second question. It seemed weird, and it took her a minute to understand why. Gemma spoke of humans in a kind of general way, but it was something most humans would assume the same opinion on.

“You’re not human either,” Jen said more than asked. It was always possible she was wrong, but it seemed very unlikely, especially given the way Gemma had lowered her voice. She was being especially considerate about the knowledge, and the few humans Jen had told herself back in high school usually processed much louder or at least with less concern for what was going on around them.

Seeing Jen’s reaction, Gemma felt a little bad for asking that question. Still, there was no denying its necessity if she was going to have any understanding of the situation, and Jen had offered to answer her questions... nonetheless, she was thankful that the discomfort seemed relatively short-lived. Gemma blinked, startled out of her reverie by Jen’s statement. She hesitated, then smiled. For once, the benefits of sharing her secret seemed to outweigh the risks.

“Nope,” she confirmed, shaking her head. “Mermaid. I didn’t know there were, ah, land-dwelling supernaturals, though” she admitted quietly. “I heard from someone else that there are some seafolk around here, but...” she paused to consider the matter before continuing “I guess I don’t know a whole lot else about who lives here.” she admitted with a shrug.

[xgemmasx-blog]

Fish out of water | open starter

[xgemmasx-blog]

casefilesofelizabethbell

Elizabeth glanced over deciding if her curiosity or her generosity would win out. Perhaps it would be nice, she reasoned to herself, to let the girl know that there was no use trying to fool anyone in this town. And this situation was pretty low stakes. She didn’t really care what species Gemma was. As long as she wasn’t a fairy and even then it was something Elizabeth could work around. But on the other hand to be abruptly have your mask pulled off wasn’t a fun experience either.

“Your pod?” Elizabeth settled on asking after a moment. She smiled though as she said it, her expression kinder than usual. She added too, “Don’t worry this town’s full of seafolk too. It’s just the tourists you have to worry about fooling.” While a practiced liar herself Elizabeth usually other people to be authentic, that it would help them be happy in the long run. Unless, of course, they were dicks then her advice was the opposite.

The pause in the conversation was not lost on Gemma. Had she said something wrong? Had Elizabeth caught her slip-up? Doing her best not to panic, she prepared for the worst- only to be left completely dumbfounded by what Elizabeth said next. “I, uh-” she began, only to realize that she had absolutely no idea what to say next. She’d been planning on lying through her teeth if it came down to that, but was there even a point when Elizabeth knew so much already? Aware that she’d left her mouth hanging open, she closed it once again. 

“Um.” she tried again, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She supposed there wasn’t much to lose by telling the truth at this point. Elizabeth didn’t look like she was going to harm her, at any rate. “How-?” She was having a hard time stringing multiple words together. “So... it’s safe here?” she finally managed to ask. It was just one of what felt like thousands of questions swirling in her head, but arguably the most important.

[xgemmasx-blog]

Fish out of water | open starter

[xgemmasx-blog]

casefilesofelizabethbell

Elizabeth nodded with a small shrug. She didn’t mind small talk as much as some others. Besides she was in the buisness of helping people, although people didn’t always see it. Plus there was no harm in telling this young woman about where to find good food and she imagined Iann would get a kick of out someone knew to study.

The questions about her were easy to answer too. And those that weren’t it was pretty easy to lie. “About five years, coming up on six soon I think,” Elizabeth replied with a smile. That was true. “And no, I’m from the other coast,” she added. It was a vague answer to be sure. The other coast constituted a lot of land. But Elizabeth didn’t like to talk about where she grew up, too many painful memories there. “Where are you coming to us from?” she asked, “And its alright if you don’t to tell me.”

Gemma was pleasantly surprised when the location provided was one she actually knew of- humans tended to reference places by names they had invented rather than physical descriptions, oftentimes making it difficult for her to follow along. The other coast was a location she knew well however- and even if it was less exact by human standards, it gave her a much better idea of Elizabeth’s background than she’d been expecting.

Feeling okay about giving an answer that actually made sense to her now, Gemma was much more comfortable opening up about herself- the basics, anyway. “All over, really” she answered with a shrug “my p- ah, family doesn’t tend to stay in one place for very long. We spent a while quite a bit south of here recently”

[xgemmasx-blog]

Fish out of water | open starter

[xgemmasx-blog]

scarlettxruby

“Welcome,” Ruby smiled, watching as the younger woman fiddled with the cap before finally getting it off. Strange that. She wondered if the girl was a supernatural. Ruby, being human, couldn’t really tell just by looking at someone, though she’d gotten pretty good at ID’ing vampires. Having both a witch and a fairy as spouses honestly didn’t help at all either. Both Ephram and Freddie looked human for all intents and purposes, not that it would matter to Ruby if they didn’t. But still.

“No problem,” Ruby said, tipping one shoulder in a shrug. “Always time to decide. There’s lots to do in town, so you won’t be bored.”

Gemma nodded, pretending to be relieved that it wasn’t too late for her to determine where she would be staying. Perhaps she ought to do some research into inns (or were they hotels? She never could recall the difference) once she’d gotten a hold on a town map. 

Vaguely wondering if she would find out soon what exactly the ‘lift’ was that would get her to said map, she considered her options. She could bring it up again... but without further knowledge, she might put her fin- or foot, as it were, in her mouth. "That’s good to hear,” she said instead “what are some of your favorite places in town?” 

[xgemmasx-blog]

Fish out of water | open starter

[xgemmasx-blog]

ianncardero

As Gemma looked around, Iann busied himself with making the tea.  It was warmer in here, and even though he was still stuffy and itchy, he felt a bit better.  Two mugs, and something gentle and rooibus, since he wasn’t sure if Gemma truly knew about tea beyond ‘something humans drank’.  Because by now, he was fairly sure she was something from the sea.  He just didn’t know what, yet.  Iann had a proclivity for discovery and learning, and particularly about supernaturals.  Since coming to Sumner, it proved useful to figure out a person, if they weren’t already upfront about it.  

“Well…” Iann came around towards Gemma again, handing her a mug of tea as he took the map out of her hands, but only to spread it open on the counter.  He’d given directions using the map to visitors and tourists, and Iann liked to think he was good at it now.  Maybe in another life, he should have been a tourist agent.  He took out a stubby pencil to guide Gemma.  “There’s the Academy, the campus is always open, I think.   There’s the Crossroads - that’s where you’ll find your bars and clubs, if you’re into that sort of thing.”  His voice sounded a little teasing at that point.  

“Most of Main Street and shopping in Mellankoli is closed, except for you know.  Groceries, drug stores….”  He drifted off, peering intently at Gemma once more.  “What are you here for, Gemma?”

Gemma accepted the mug gratefully, taking a careful sip of the substance within. It was... strange, but not entirely unpleasant, she decided. It was far too hot and not nearly salty enough for her tastes, but she could at least understand what humans liked about it, and rather appreciated it warming her up, and it was a nice change in pace to try something new. 

She paid close attention once more as Iann explained the map, intrigued by the locations he described. She didn’t quite understand the reason behind his change in tone at the mention of bars and clubs, but figured the locations would be worth investigating- especially given how many of the town’s shops seemed to be closed at present. Caught up in her plans to visit the town’s various locations, it took a second longer than it should have for Gemma to realize that Iann was no longer focused on the map.

“I already told you," she pointed out “I’m here for a change in scenery. You know, visiting? A vacation?” she clarified, wondering if he had somehow misunderstood her before. Or maybe he hadn’t, and was just going to keep pushing on this until she finally slipped up and fell into something she couldn’t talk her way out of. “Speaking of... I should probably get going soon. Y’know, see the town and all. What of it’s open, at least.”