#panevent001

Zaid was exhausted. He felt he'd never worked this hard or been this stressed out since...probably since opening night at Mango, and that was almost a decade ago. Zaid was used to being on his feet, sleepless, stressed, but today hadn't been like the stress of the kitchen; this was something else.

Something, Zaid feared, that was utterly horrible.

He didn't want to think so negatively, but it was Zaid's habit. And to prevent spiraling, his therapist had advised him to seek out alone time. Not meditate (Zaid thought it was bollocks) but just to gather his thoughts with no outside interruptions.

Getting off that bloody cruise ship was a nightmare, but at least he was on solid ground. The big rock formations at the edge of the beach looked quiet enough, save for the sound of crashing waves. Far away from that awful medical triage area, from people pelting about in chaos and disorder.

Leaning against one of the huge rocks, Zaid closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and took a long, deep breath. He opened his eyes and turned further towards the rocks, only to discover -

A woman, with dark hair and freckled face, and round dark eyes.

"Oh! Bloody hell, sweetheart. Didn't see you there. Erm..." He squinted at her, a little confused, looking from the cruise ship back to the woman. "Are you...were you on - did -" Zaid exhaled roughly, annoyed at his own stammering. He tried the question again, pointing towards the cruise ship. "Did you come from there too?"

He made certain no one was in earshot and then ducked into Orion's stall. Always a good idea to have an eye kept on the competition. Kaz felt certain Orion kept the more in demand and under the table things hidden away, as Kaz did too. His gaze still wandered around the stall to check everything out.

"Hope I'm not disturbing," he drawled with no real apology in his tone. "You been hitting up the registry, hm?" Everyone was, and the race began to amp up to a more frantic pace. Made it all the more exciting, in Kaz's opinion.

Which was what brought him to pay an unlikely visit to his competitor. He leaned against the bracing of the stall with arms folded over his chest. "I overheard Carlos and Dymond chatting." Or, Kaz purposefully eavesdropped on the conversation of other scavengers. "They're teaming up on a big raid. Two person job apparently." To get into Nick's good graces, no doubt. Kaz was the furthest thing from a team player, however he saw a benefit to swoop in with another experienced raider. But Orion might have his hands full.

A visit to the seedy stalls in the baazar were usually for entertainment in seeing what the people from the Outside considered to be illicit goods. But this time Wren's visit was purely for business. Wedding business of course. She was well aware of how Nick could be, and an event where he was the main event? What kind of groomsperson would she be if she wasn't making sure He and Mik were getting the perfect gifts that they desired off their registry.

Wren had gotten to know Orion thanks to her desire to make sure she had someone bigger than her to accompany her on scavenges around the island, and because he was willing to be another pair of eyes looking out for her parents when stepping through a teleport. That was why he was her first stop to question for this very important matter.

"Hello sir. I am here on behalf of none other than Nick Ambrose, groom of the hour. " she began, sounding overly formal. "I see you've collected many interesting items for trade, but have you even bothered to think about the grooms and their special day yet? Do you have any idea what will happen if Nick doesn't get his way?"

At all times the bazaar was bustling with people, with loud chatter, the smell of delicious food and all kinds of colorful and interesting items from all around the world - from a look at the distant, it looked like any other bazaar out in the real world (before the apocalypse, of course), except this was filled with items scavenged from all over, found in nooks and crannies, in forgotten places and big tourist spots, making it the most varied and most exciting place to walk through at all times.

"So, you've got any ideas on what kind of stuff you're looking for?" Tamyra asked Wren as they slowly perused the streets. She carefully reached over, unsure of herself for a moment - she was not the physical type but damnit, Wren looked cute as the sun shone from behind her and she reached over, first only linking one finger with Wren's, and then one by one, until their fingers all were intertwined.

"I can promise you one thing, if you find something really, really cool, I will most likely try to convince you to keep it for yourself."

location: trading post

The stall in the bazaar was small and minimal. A frame covered by a tarp overhead. A few tables set up. Isela acted as the constant front for the shared space. Kaz came and went as he pleased or when he wasn't on a raid. He also handled the more discreet requests.

In the moment, Wren was there. Kaz shook a black velvety draw string bag and placed it on a table. "It's a bunch of necklaces. With those clasps you like." She could restring them for her own creations. Sell them off. Toss them-- hell, he didn't care. Wren routinely handed over her teleport access and in return Kaz usually brought something back from a scavenge to her. "Bunch of loose beads and tools in there. For the jewelry, shit like that too."

His phone buzzed and he looked at it absently. Kaz's lips barely moved to speak, attention torn between Wren and what his scanning eyes read. "Excited about the wedding hm...?" The words trailed off. He lifted his chin as if to motion in a direction, perhaps the stage where the registry was posted. By then, Wren should know Kaz wasn't the best at conversation (and never claimed to be either).

But, there they were. All their fingers and toes, heads still attached. Tamyra had scouted an Italian production plant and headquarters for an upscale conglomerate (LVMH? LVHM? whatever). The outside of the large industrial complex looked battered by the apocalypse but relatively intact.

"How'd you find this place." Kaz pried the door open. Nothing barred the entrance from the inside, so that was a good sign. An open space, perhaps a shipping area. As they stepped inside, there was mile high shelving. A few forklifts, and then stacks of crates and boxes. Some of those broken apart and emptied, others untouched. "Did you ever go to fashion week?"

They walked the length taking inventory. Kaz pushed through another door and stopped. "Holy fuck. Come look at this."

"Alright, I know everyone is all about finding the best kind of gift for Nick and Mik for the registery - I'm pretty sure it's turning into some kind of game and I vote that we should play it even when there isn't a wedding, we just take turns making lists for people to find items of.

"Anyway, I know everyone is looking for stuff for the two of them, but I came across this skirt and it is just screaming your name," Tamyra said, finally whipping the skirt out from behind her and shaking it excitedly in front of him.

"Do you love it or do you love it?" The skirt was colorful, flower patterned and flowy and Tamyra shook it a little for him to see the whole effect. "In return you should totally give me some of your best fruit of the day."