Well, it is nice to meet you, buddy.
Nice to meet you too, buddy.
Lilo let the words float between her mind as she tried to pick out meanings from what she knew. Popular Art maybe she thought she expanded her cheeks as she thought some more. Art did not sound exciting to her. It sounded boring really. Though what did she have to lose if she just went in to look around. Maybe she could use their style for some new pranks. After all, she still had…she did not even want to think about how many people she still needed to prank.
“Well, what are we waiting for blondie. Let’s go and see what kind of art this place is. I’m not gettin’ any younger. Chop chop” she laughed as she jumped up, looking down at the other girl. “I’m Lilo by the way. Time to get cultured.”
Sarabi looked back down at her camera, as the two fell into silence. But then as the girl began speaking again she flicked the button, switching it off so as to save battery. “Uh…” She murmured. She’d not expected this. Apparently the girl was eager for her to go with her. Sarabi didn’t know why - no one was usually this enthusiastic about her. “Sarabi.” She replied, when she learned that the girl’s name was Lilo. “Sure.” She responded. She stood up, and pushed the hair out of her eyes.
They had to be tickets to get in, and Sarabi manage to dig around for a few coins for her own ticket. It was only a small thing, with a picture of one of the exhibits inside, but Sarabi, out of sentiment, put it away in her bag, deciding to keep it. “So where do you wanna start, Lilo?” Sarabi asked, picking up a map from the stand. “Stone carvings or ceramics?” She pulled a face. It wasn’t exactly what she’d call art.
Gets quite difficult when you’ve never met your buddy.
Flynn surveyed his surroundings closely. The most expensive shops looked to be the most sparsely populated, so that was pretty much out of the question. He wasn’t in the mood for being caught today; a quick swipe of a few items and then they could make their escape. He kept Sarabi close, though not in a suspicious way; in a way which made them look like close friends on a day out shopping. His head tilted downwards as he listening to her suggestions, and then he followed the line in which her finger was pointing.
“Looks good to me.” Flynn nodded in approval and guided her through the crowd. The shop she had picked out looked to be some kind of souvenir shop. Some of the stuff in there would be complete tat, but they might just find a few little hidden gems in there too. Literally.
They approached the store and walked straight through the double doors which were hanging wide open.
Having been so long since she’d done anything like this, Sarabi allowed Flynn to take the lead. He knew what he was doing, of course, and she had decided to trust him. She nodded, and let him lead her into the souvenir shop, which was packed but not too packed, and began to walk slower as she surveyed the shelves.
She picked up a few of the trinkets at first - there were things like fridge magnets, coasters and general souvenirs. Nothing of particular wealth. As she moved through the store, slowly browsing the shelves, she maintained the friendly distance between her and Flynn, though she focused her attention more on the ornaments than him, turning around every few moments to check he was still there.
She got to the en of the shelf, and found herself looking at jewelry. Native jewelry of the Ayacuchans of course, but still. Jewelry. She looked at some of the knecklaces hanging around, wondering if they would generally be worth anything.
Flynn nodded as Sarabi rose from the table and waited for her to go and fetch something to fill her stomach with. To pass the short amount of time, he lifted the flap of the satchel which was draped over his torso. Inside were all of his personal belongings; silly things really, but things which meant a whole lot to him. He stuck his hand inside and rooted around, looking for the small sack of money that was in there. Finding it quite easily, he quickly took a glimpse to ensure that it was, in fact, still there.
His attention was instantly drawn back upwards and he swiftly closed his bag. With a brief smile and nod towards Sarabi, he got up out of his chair and began to head for the door. “Awesome. Let’s go.” Flynn took the lead and held the door open for Sarabi. Walking back into the midst of the mall, he noticed that it had become far busier. Perfect, he thought and couldn’t stop the satisfied smirk appearing on his face. He had no right to be satisfied yet, their little plan hadn’t been successful yet.
Popping the food in her bag, Sarabi pushed her fringe out of her eyes and walked through the door, smiling slightly at Flynn for letting her pass through first. She wasn’t entirely sure when she was get used to his politeness, but she hoped it was soon, as the smiling every time he was polite was probably becoming creepy. She walked out into the mall, taking in the bustle of people. She waited for Flynn to reach her side before she began walking again.
“So where should we go?” She asked. She wasn’t too bothered about where they went, so long as it was busy enough for them to get away with it and there was something of value inside. Maybe an antique’s store - last time she’d hit an antique’s store she’ actually come out with something really valuable. But those type of shops were usually quite empty, and it was always a risky move. Sarabi looked around herself, looking for the busiest shop. “How about there?” She asked, jerking her thumb to a slightly crowded store to their right.
The thought that everything she did was random did not bother Lilo. It made everything all the more interesting. Who needed plans when you just had to walk outside to see something new; sights, sounds, smells, everything was always different. That was the one thing she liked about the school at least. The classes were the same but the view was always different. She needed that on days when everything was quiet.
With ability that surprised even herself, she found herself circling and lost. She sighed, needing to stop and think about where she was and where she had been. Think of important land marks that she had passed. She took a seat not to someone, not bothering to look for an open bench. “Pardon me, but do you know where I am?” She asked, looking at the girl next to her going through her camera, hoping she spoke English.
Apparently the photos Sarabi had been taking hadn’t been so bad. She was a complete tourist when she wanted to be, and some of the pictures were seemingly of nothing of importance at all. But still, she had a hard time deciding on which ones to delete an which ones to keep. It wasn’t exactly the first time she’d had that decision to make before either.
Hearing an English speaking voice by her side, Sarabi looked up, brushing the white-blonde hair out of her eye, and then to the girl by her side. She vaguely recognised her, but she couldn’t place she. She must of been from the ship though; they were practically the only English speaking people here. “You’re at the Museo De Arte Popular.” Sarabi said. “Though I’m not entirely sure what that entails.”
Sarabi had spent the night and the entirety of the day alone. Not that she minded. She had the room to herself at the hotel, seeing as she had the cabin to herself on the ship, and thank god - lights out whenever she felt like it, drinking whatever she liked from the mini bar an being able to wander round with no pants on. It wasn’t like she was a social butterfly anyways; any roommate of hers would probably ask to be move somewhere else in the finish. And she had continued to spend the entire day by herself, taking snapshots of some of the prettier sides of Ayacucho with the camera she’d brought from home. She had, of course, deleted all the pictures from home off it first.
Not speaking the language was hard, but Sarabi got used to it eventually - the pointing, the gesturing, and the few words that she had actually picked up. Using her gestures and her pointing she’d found her way to the “Museo De Arte Popular”. She hadn’t went inside yet, however. She was first going to go through all of her photos, finding the worse of them and deleting them. She chose one of the many benches dotted round outside - one of the empty ones, of course. Pushing her sunglasses up her nose slightly, she sat down on the bench, tucking her legs underneath her as she looked through all of her photos.
