After patting on Lara's back he doesn't budge. She is almost stiff like tree being tapped. I sigh a bit and realize I will have to do this myself. I get right behind her and shove her forward.
"C'mon stop being a little scared girl like you were as a kid and go!" I say trying to move her forward
"Ugh..." she groans moving forward on her own.
She moves forward on her own and I fall forward into the floor with a unusually loud thud.
*THUD*
"Ergh!" I growl as I am front body first on the ground
Lara turns to me and looks at me with a look of concern and worry. I quickly get myself up and wipes myself down as if I was dirty and shoo her forward in the hallway. She takes a few steps forward and continues down the short hallway.
As she turns the corner down the stairs, I bend forward holding my stomach with my right hand and left hand on my knees.
"Oh fuck that hurt" I whisper to myself. "Note to self, be ready to Lara to start moving abruptly next time"
I follow Lara down the stairs and see her already at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me. I quickly walking down the stairs at the bottom and walk past her casually without making her think more as to why I was slightly behind me her. I get to the door and wave her over.
*sighs*
Lara sighs and follows me out the door and I begin leading her towards the marketplace. She is going to lose that frown on her face and a smile is going to be slapped so hard in her face it will be like a club.
*Few minutes later*
As we are back in the market I start remembering the path I took to get to the stall I have been at. I grab her hand and begin leading her down the path quickly edging myself easily past people like water. Lara on the other hand....keeps getting bumped into people.
*few seconds later*
I got her just within a few feet from the stall and turn to her and show with both hands at the title of the title of the stall like a dumb looking promoter. I take both hands show them in the direction of the name.
She stands there looking at the title as "Quick Bites" and shakes her head. I guess she is either unimpressed, or doesn't get it yet. So I will make her. I grab her hand this time and pull her in line. There is 2 people in front of us, but the service and method of cooking is fairly fast and efficient so I doubt we will wait more than 15 minutes. Looks like the two people in front of us are together. Both are males, one has brown hair, white shirt, brown pants. The other has blonde hair, blue eyes, a brown shirt that have rolled up sleeves and darker brown pants.
I feel Lara's hand grip mine a bit tighter and it feels off a bit. I slightly turn my head to the right and sadly my eyes are not positions like humans ones, so only one of my eyes see her. As I glance at her she is looking inclined at the floor, and her cheeks look like they are sunken in and being chewed on inside her mouth.
Is she embarrassed? I don't see her suck in her mouth and chew on them often. I look back at our hand and then glance around our environment and notice a kid sitting with another kid on some small chair near another stall and are playing cards. Never seen kids play cards other than "War" or "Gold Fish".
"Hey..." I whisper to Lara
She snaps out of it and looks in my general direction for a moment and shakes her head. She puts up a fake smile on her face and looks into my yellow eyes. I return the look in her brown eyes and squeeze her hand gently.
"Are you okay there, you seem...Anxious. Or nervous about something. You can talk to me c'mon"
"I uhm, stubbed my toe..." she says hesitantly
I look in her eyes and detect a hint of bullshittery. I let go of her hand and place both hands on her shoulders casually. I keep her steady as she seems confused about what I am doing.
"I see..." I say just before I quickly drop down
I grab her foot under he kimono and pull it out as Lara screams loudly as she becomes a bit unbalanced. I look at her feet and they are covered by some kind of flexible material but yet looks like a nice fitted sock and strong pads under it. In my opinion, I doubt she stubbed her toe with enough force to hurt her.
As I am holding her left foot and fondling it in front of many people. Lara is slightly unbalanced and looks around herself. Sees people looking at her with confused eyes and eyes of disgust even a bit. Seeing a lizardman on one knee checking out someone's foot. She makes a growl and looks back at Coda still examining her foot. Then proceeding the smell it and touch each of her toes inside her shoe.
"P-Pervert!" she announces before she pulls her foot back and attempts to kick Coda in the face.
She leans forward with her right foot with the intent to kick Coda in the face. She pulls her foot back and with inhuman speed kicks her foot out of Coda's grip. Coda ducks his head below her causing her to extend her leg to far and fall on Coda.
*Thud*
She falls on my chest with her hands pressing up against them. While I take my hands, I grab her shoulder to ensure she didn't fall on her face on the stone path they were standing on. She looks at me with a shock of how fast things got and looks around her noticing we are both attracting a lot of attention.
"So....Wanna do it on the floor?" I ask trying not to laugh openly
"Grr..." with a deep groan
She gets off me and rubs herself off as I get myself up wiping my back. As we both finish the wiping of ourselves I see the two people who were in line no longer there and instead is the elf woman and wolven man looking at us with confused looks. If I recall the beastman's name is Kavin. Sounds like a fantasy version of Kevin now that I think about it.
I take Lara's hand again without her permission and drag her to the stall where the couple are standing watching us. As we get up to the stall I bow my head a bit and greet the elf lady the second time today.
"Hello, I um, I forgot your name ma'am. Unless I never asked for it then I am sorry for not asking." I say bringing my back straight.
"Oh, well my name is Shira, and this is my husband Kavin in case you forgot his name as well." she says bowing down.
"Thank you, my name is Coda as well, and this is Lara whom I have mentioned before if you remember." I say gesturing to her with my left hand towards my right.
She widens her eyes at me from my right. My eyes lock onto Lara's and I think I saw a unnatural glitter in her's. I am guessing she is surprised I had mentioned her name when she isn't around. Flattery maybe?
"A-Anyways, I decided to force Lara to come and get something to calm her nerves and shove something down her throat for constantly bantering me about my injuries." I say with a whispered tone at the end.
Lara's glitter in her eyes fades immediately and she takes her right hand and shoves them into the right side of my abdomen as a form of punishment for my insult.
"Hahaha" Shira giggles at our interaction and hands us both a menu.
"I will continue my cooking honey" he says while bending down and bit and giving a small peck on Shira's cheek.
I take the menu and look for something else to eat. Hmm, they have roast potatoes with cheese, grounded up beef. Doesn't look to bad for me to try personally. I look at Lara who is looking still scrolling her eyes through the menu.
I lean over to her and whisper what she is thinking of getting. She continues eyeing it for a bit and gives it back shaking her head. I guessing she doesn't see anything she wants.
"I am not sure about these foods, never had them before" she says handing the menu back
"Alright then uhm, what would you like sir?" Shira asks me
"Uhm, I will have the baked potatoes with ground beef and cheese please." I say taking both menus and handing them back to her.
"Very well then, shall be ready within 3 minutes" she says confidently
I turn my head to Lara who is eyeing me strangely as if I just said spoke a foreign language incorrectly. I don't think I said anything weird.
"Something wrong?" I ask nudging her casually
"How is a potato and meat going to be finished in 3 minutes? The amount of heat to cook a potato would likely make it explode, and the meat would likely just burn or something. Food is not to be rushed otherwise it is either undercooked, or just tastes off"
"Well of course that makes sense. But guess what, they don't do it normally obviously. They have the food order be pre cooked and stayed warm somewhere so when it is ordered, they just have to combine the food within a few minutes. It is a really efficient means of getting food out fast. Almost like, fast food....." I say rubbing under my eye suspiciously.
"But, isn't food supposed to be fresh and not be pre made and stored somewhere?"
"Well yeah of course, but it is better that food being like frozen or salted and then soaked in water or heated up. They keep the food warm after being made not boil it in a thousand degree water"
As we are chatting Shira walks with a plate of 2 baked potatoes split open with the smell of butter, meat, and cheese on both of them. Handing both of us forks and a knife. I bow my head in thanks and pay up the due amount up front and walk around the stall where some others are eating.
As we walk around Lara stops abruptly. I stop myself as well in question of why she stopped like a huge shock just hit her in the face.
"Uhm, you alright?" I ask
"I just didn't expect there to be this many people" she says dotting her eyes at each person there.
I turn my head as well and count the number of people, which appears to be 9 people. For a food stall, this has the potential of having there own little restaurant in no time. They did say they started not long ago.
"Well at least we won't be alone, c'mon lets eat before I eat your food as well." I say walking over to a red carpet on the ground and sit her plate on my right.
Lara moves over to my right side and crosses her legs and places the food on her lap and watches me eating my food. She does realize the food on her lap is for her, right?
"You going to eat?" I ask with meat and cheese in my mouth not caring if it is polite or not
She makes a look of disgust and also hides her smile as her cheek bones rise when she turns her head away from me. I love it when she tries to hide a smile, means I can make fun of her for it.
"Well, I am just going to see how you eat it, then I will I suppose"
"Hmmm...Idea" I say speaking my thoughts
I place the fork on the carpet and the knife next to it and smell the food in my face. Not sure if my sense of smell is stronger than a humans, elfs, and orcs, but I am guessing it is. I start sniffing my food and look at Lara who is jsut confused of what I am doing.