Hhh...

>> The last sight he’d expect while heading back to his workplace with a nice new batch of soon-to-be-filled bottles was an… individual… like that one, nonchalantly playing with the chunky sludge. Yet, there it was.He gave his lower lip a nervous nibble.

meatwaterfalls:

>> He was almost… tempted to inquire about that puzzling term strangers kept nonchalantly blurting out at him – marsh… mallow…? But for one, he lacked the courage, and furthermore that wasn’t the most disconcerting ingredient in that chunky soup of senseless requests, shrill shouting and loud words. He darted a few distressed glances around. Nobody was there to catch them.

“I-I… uh? Hire you….? Me? S… Sir, I’m afraid I’m just a worker… no more than your average employee… uh… I can’t do that, you see…”

“I’m sorry… pl… please d-don’t yell at me…. Hh…hhhhh….” <<

Lemongrab crossed his arms. He was determined to get hired by someone.”You are lying…?” He squinted at the elsen.

“MMnn…no you aren’t. You are much too wiggly jelly to be lying MMNNGH!” He let out a frustrated noise. “You must take me to this… Dedan then!!

>> Perhaps staring right up at Dedan himself wouldn't have been particularly more distressing than that – he just continued wordlessly glaring up at the stranger like a cornered rabbit. Every single loud noise plummeting down on him had him flinching and cowering just a tad more each time. Why couldn't be just be quiet...? “N... Hhh... Please... I w-wouldn't lie to you sir, I promise. But... Hhh-” he whimpered. “I'm not allowed to...”

>> The last sight he’d expect while heading back to his workplace with a nice new batch of soon-to-be-filled bottles was an… individual… like that one, nonchalantly playing with the chunky sludge. Yet, there it was.He gave his lower lip a nervous nibble.

“….Hire me??”

>> He was almost… tempted to inquire about that puzzling term strangers kept nonchalantly blurting out at him – marsh… mallow…? But for one, he lacked the courage, and furthermore that wasn’t the most disconcerting ingredient in that chunky soup of senseless requests, shrill shouting and loud words. He darted a few distressed glances around. Nobody was there to catch them.

“I-I… uh? Hire you….? Me? S… Sir, I’m afraid I’m just a worker… no more than your average employee… uh… I can’t do that, you see…”

>> If any sort of noise could be heard from inside, the gentle knockshad quickly smothered it under a heavy shroud of silence. Then, thepadded sound of footsteps pacing around filtered through thedoor – increasingly rapid, frantic… in an agitated rush. Apityful orchestra of panicked tapping, thumping and the distinctclanking of something falling to the floor.Then the tinkling ofsomeone fumbling with a chain lock – and the door opened in a slit only wide enough for a single eye to cautiously peekthrough.

“Hhhh…?” And at last, a rather flustered#84260 finally appeared at the doorstep. At last.

Kinder looked as equally as flustered as the smaller elsen. He fumbled on his words before sputtering out a sentence. “A-ah!! HH no that is okay! I just…I just came on a whim I wanted you…to have this!” He held out a neatly wrapped gift.“I suppose I should have thought it t-through more…” He glanced around briefly. “Its a-almost dark ahh…hhh..” Embarrassment was plastered all over his face.

>> His eyes aimlessly darted around, down at the endearing little package now cradled in his arms, then up at the unexpected visitor, perhaps in the vain hope of finding the appropriate response he was looking for. That situation demanded his best careful use of his whole repertoire of social skills, like pawns on a checkboard… That is, if he had one.

>> The last sight he’d expect while heading back to his workplace with a nice new batch of soon-to-be-filled bottles was an… individual… like that one, nonchalantly playing with the chunky sludge. Yet, there it was.He gave his lower lip a nervous nibble.

“Per…permission? nO! I am the EARL! I will go where I please!” He crossed his arms, staring down at he small elsen. “HowEVer you are most helpful small marshmellow!! I thank you for this but I also …RE-TAKE THE THANKS BACK!”

“Where do I purchase FOOD!?”

>> Well, perhaps he had been far too quick to lower his defences, far too trusting. Certainly he would not slip into outstandingly reckless mistakes like that one again, oh no. He would carefully hide within his turtle shell of precautionary untrust for due time.

At the shrill screaming tearing his nerves apart, he cowered.

In response to his question, you lift you hands slightly, and mimic playing a piano in thin air - highly stylized in motion, but still recognizeable. You weren’t quite sure how to convey ‘making music’ - or if it even was something you ‘did’, considering it was just a hobby of yours, but you hoped he understood nontheless. To further convey the message, you then tap a simple rhythm at the ground with your finger, your digits creating an audible ping with each tap as if they were made of glass.

>> Their lack of spoken words, while more soothing than any sound could be, also meant he couldn’t grant  himself a single second of distraction during the entity’s voiceless speeches. He carefully followed every movement, every gesture – the look on his face, however, wasn’t very promising. He was not fond of hobbies, not one bit… They demanded effort and precious precious time, more than he could carelessly waste away, and yet the warm satisfaction of being productive wasn’t something they could provide.

Music, on the other hand, he learnt to appreciate. The soft lullaby of a music box wafting through the dead silence at night was always comforting. But he wasn’t  familiar with instruments enough to associate that tapping of fingers with the keys of a piano.

He gazed up at the other, quite lost and honestly mortified. Oh dear. How awkward.

>> True, there wasn’t anybody around. …Until, right amidst a badly concealed yawn, a certain rather dozy employee happened to turn the corner. 

And what #84260 saw upon forcing his eyes back open, he didn’t like. Not one bit. On the scale of what he was looking forward to the most, scolding a stranger definitely was not perched at the top - but he was watching him blatantly trampling right over the regulations. What a dreadful sight. Impossible to ignore.