A Three Pendant Night

People. Ew.

Keep it together, Amaranthe. It’s only for a few hours.

Ama futilely tried to keep herself sane, but there was no sanity to be had. She was at her stall at the Festival. Surrounded by people (ew). With three creatures bouncing around her. She did not trust them enough to leave them at the house alone for an extended period of time. The destruction that could have happened had she done so was enough to make her suck it up and drag them along. Not ideal, but it was what it was.

Cherry was floating around the stall with big dumbass eyes looking over all the people and things nearby. Strawberry had chosen to take a nap underneath the stall while Blueberry was sitting as a display with mushroom items all around him. It was… a set-up, sure.

Amaranthe was aware there were plenty of people avoiding her stall, something about her being corrupted (eh, whatever); she wasn’t being paid to care about what other people thought about her. At the same time though, there were also others who still came to buy her spores or other shroom products. As she sold things one by one, she kept careful records of her crystals… despite Cherry constantly trying to play with them. She would need to come up with a better way to handle the creatures the next time she had to return to society.

When Strawberry finally awoke from her nap, Ama’s stall was very barren so she decided to call it. She had shopping to do while she was in town. With the two hoppoppers in a basket with her unsold items and Cherry unfortunately on her head, Ama left her stall and began to wander around at the very edge of the Festival.

Even before things had gotten weird with Ama, she had never been a fan of crowds. Too many people (ew) and too much noise. And light. And pretty much everything. The only thing it didn’t have enough of, in her opinion, was quiet solace. After things had gotten weird after eating a weird sweet-bitter mushroom she happened to try while on a travel excursion, everything just seemed so much worse. After she decided she was done traveling, she returned to her old home, picked up the basics, and left to a more secluded space where she currently lived. Was it easy? No. Did she have to deal with people (ew) a lot after that? Also no. So it was worth it in the end for her.

The one problem though was when she needed supplies like she was buying now. New sheers, new fabric, some spices she couldn’t grow herself… things she couldn’t otherwise make herself.

While walking past a shop, Cherry left Ama’s head and floated over to the window of a shop and was looking around. Ama followed the jelluxi over to see what she was looking at. It was a… jewelry store of sorts, and there were some very shiny pendants that Cherry was just staring at.

Amaranthe let Cherry stare for a while before trying to bring her along elsewhere. Despite Ama’s efforts though, Cherry did not want to go.

Sigh.

Ama looked at the pendant before counting how many crystals she had.

Just enough.

After taking a deep breath, Ama walked inside the shop, leaving Cherry and the basket outside. When she came out, she had three of the pendants that Cherry was eyeing. She gave one of the pendants to Cherry who happywobblewobbled and chirped at the gift. As Cherry delighted in her new pendant, Ama gave the other two to Blueberry and Strawberry who also seemed happy with the pendant.

Now with three very happy creatures, Ama returned to the very edge of the festival and people watched before finally starting the trek to her not-so-hermit-anymore home.

That was enough people-ing (ew) for several months.