Hi, honey!

“I see… That’s fair enough.”

“I uh, don’t think an axe really suits me, but thanks for the suggestion. Besides, I already have a weapon…” She gestures to the whip at her side before taking a bite of her apple half. Tastes very apple-y. “Mmh, along with my magic, of course, since I’m a wizard.”

“Oh… Thanks…” Yeah, this girl’s a weirdo…

Well… she’s not exactly busy. It won’t hurt to spare a few minutes, so she leans against the wall nearby, eyeing Suisei rather warily. Should she make some conversation, then?

“So you just… casually carry an axe on you? You don’t use that for all your cutting in the kitchen, do you? Or like, on picnics?” It’s a joke, of course. Surely no one in their right mind would actually do that.

And it isn’t rude or strange to throw an apple at a stranger’s face? Lucy guesses it doesn’t really matter all that much…

“Uh… Sure… I don’t really mind if you’re offering, but I’m not the type of person who can snap an apple in half with my bare hands. So…” Thus, she hands it back over to the other. Surely if she’s offering to share it, she’s got a knife or something on her, yeah?

Really, this “Suisei” seems quite friendly, but it’s still in kind of a weird way. “Oh, and um, my name’s Lucy.”

“Nice to meet’cha Lucy! Don’t worry about the apple, I got it.” Suisei pulls out a freakin’ axe and chops it in half. She then hands one half over to Lucy. “Easy!” She says with a big smile on her face as she puts her axe away.

It almost sounds like it is a slight towards her outfit, but… whatever, there’s no need to get caught up on it either way. “Fair enough…”

She kneels down and picks up the apple from the ground.

“That said, you could’ve just tapped my shoulder or, y’know, said something. I’m not gonna bite. Anyways, do you want this back, or…?”

“It’s pretty rude to just touch people you don’t know. So I wasn’t going to tap your shoulder. As for saying something? I suppose I could have said something, but since I don’t know your name I’d just be calling out ‘Hey lady! Your skirt is blowing in the wind!’ and I don’t think you’d like that now, would you? Speaking of names though, mine is Suisei.”

“Okay, there’s way too much to unpack there, so I’m just gonna toss the whole suitcase.”

“Uh, but was it really doing that? It hasn’t felt windy,” Lucy says, patting her skirt down a bit. It certainly is short, but surely she’d notice if a gust of wind were to catch it. “Guess I’ll have to be more careful. That being said, your own skirt isn’t much longer, Miss…”

Continued from here!

“I threw it to get your attention since I didn’t know your name. I just happened to have this apple on hand.” Suisei says as she looks her over. “I was just trying to tell you that the wind was doing something funky to your skirt so the whole town could see what you’ve got going on under there.”

“Oi, Hoshimachi! How dumb do you think I am!? And when did you even get these!? I ‘ought to hit you.”

“A-Ah, that’s quite alright.” Sure, every step she takes with her injured leg hurts, but she’d like to maintain some semblance of pride and composure here…! “Walking like this is just fine for me. Honestly, it doesn’t hurt that bad…”

…It probably would be faster and easier, though.

“A-As for your other question, um… T-That would be my beloved, actually…” She speaks in a low mumble as she says that, but being so close, Suisei can probably still hear her just fine.

“Alrighty then, we’ll stick to walking like this.” Suisei doesn’t mind if this takes longer, she just figured she’d offer to carry her, since she knows Miko would jump at the opportunity, but I suppose Suisei is a complete stranger to this Eve girl.

“…My tummy hurts.”

“…Nn. I’d like to say that’s alright and I’ll be fine, but I will probably need you to help me get home… S-Sorry for all the trouble, Miss…” She takes Suisei’s hand– well, her arm, more like– and allows the other to help her walk. Man, that injury stings… “And– don’t worry, there’s… someone in my family with medical training, so… I’ll be alright once I’m home.”

…Ice cream does sound rather good at the moment, now that Suisei’s brought it up. Though Eve would rather not have to hobble around for longer than necessary, at the same time.

“Um… Thank you, but I think I’d be best going straight home… It isn’t too far from here. I actually live quite close to the forest.” Still, she wonders if maybe she should invite Suisei in for tea or snacks or something, to thank her for today. Would that be weird? Given the totally wrong idea Suisei seems to have about her?

…Well, it would probably be fine…

“Oh you do? That’s great, they can check it for you then. But it’s good to know you don’t live too far away.” Then Suisei stops walking. “Actually, do you think it would be easier if you hopped on my back and I just carried you?” Suisei can tell this girl is going to struggle getting home, so she wants to help her. Sure she could have just kept walking, but who is Suisei to not go and help out a cute girl who just fell out of a tree?

“…Thank you.” Though she feels awkward about it, she accepts the juice nonetheless. Really feels like how she might normally treat one of her children after they’ve injured themselves… “I– really don’t think this is bad enough to call an ambulance. And I’d rather not trouble anyone in my family right now… but I appreciate the offer.”

Adam’s still at work and the kids at school, after all. Having to call any of them over because she’s gotten herself hurt by doing something stupid again… is not something she’d like to do, even if it means she has to limp home by herself.

“Are you sure? Well if you say so. Just make sure to have it looked at later at least, if you don’t it might just get worse.” Suisei stands up. “Well, at least let me help you get home, it will take you forever to get home otherwise and I’d rather you not injure yourself further.” Suisei offers a hand out to her.

“I’d think just your first name is a little overly familiar, but if you say it’s alright…”

“…H– Huh? Wait– No, no, I’m not…” Fifteen or sixteen? Eve knows she looks young for her age, but that’s a bit… S– Should she be flattered or embarrassed? She’s definitely leaning more towards embarrassed right now, given that the assumption is probably partially because no 30s-aged non-athletic housewife in her right mind would climb up a tree like that.

“…I-I mean… um… yeah… I-I suppose I should have been more careful than that. Honestly, I’m not sure the cat even wanted to be helped, given all the scratching it did to me…” Her arms are totally covered in them. “I’m going to get scolded when I return home…”

“The cat didn’t seem to need any help considering it ran away right after you fell.” Suisei laughs. “Ah I don’t think your parents would scold you too much for trying to the right thing. I know my parents definitely wouldn’t have.” Suisei takes a carton of apple juice out of her bag. “Here, drink this. It won’t help with the healing process, but it might distract you from the pain and relax you a little bit.”

“O– Oh.” It takes Eve a moment to realize the other girl is trying to help her up, before which she instinctively leans away, but when she does realize, she gladly allows her to help.

Eve’s quite light, so this shouldn’t be difficult for Suisei at all. 

“Sorry. I, ah, think that should be doable, yeah…” So begins the epic journey of two blue gals to a bench. “My name is Eve. I really appreciate the help, Miss Suisei…”

“Nah, no need to me ‘Miss’, Suisei or Suichan is okay with me. But it’s nice to meet you Eve.” Suisei successfully gets her to the bench and sits her down. “Try to keep your leg elevated if you can.”

“Hngah…” …That was a noise that she didn’t quite expect to make. But hey, she didn’t expect the other to poke her injured ankle, so it came unbidden. “…Um. I-It… hurts when you do that. Quite a bit.”

While she’s definitely still in pain, she more just looks embarrassed now. “A-At least it doesn’t seem to be broken…”

Ah. Eve had been so focused on her little situation that she hadn’t noticed someone was around to see the whole mess. Yipes.

“Oh– A-Ah, I’ve… had better falls, I suppose?” Eve tries to joke, forcing herself to sit up, but she winces as her leg shifts from the action. “Wow though, this really hurts. I think I may have hit my leg funny when I landed…”

Suisei might’ve noticed a cat landing beside Eve and running away as she’d fallen…

“That looks... very greasy and kinda gross. I hope you’re planning on working off those extra calories after that.”