D3, EM Browsing (open/expecting)

[Utaku Nesrin]

Nesrin wasn't one of the many competitors nursing headaches this morning, or she might have just aimed for sleeping in or a long soak. Instead, she's checking out the rest of the town. It's rather nice not being stuck in one compound for the whole tournament.

While she's not unaccustomed to strange gear, growing up in Unicorn lands, not nearly everything is familiar. She avoids picking up the many fragile contraptions with glass in them and instead, picks up an oddly shaped hat, with frivolous feathers.

[Iuchi Prashant]

Having gone back to bed relatively early the previous day after his go game, Prashant was up early and, after a quick bath, went out to have a look at other parts of the town.

Passing the entrance of the Merchant House, a smile creeps on his lips as he sees some odd Gaijin merchandise that reminds me a bit of home - along with a number of things he had never seen before. That was interesting!

Entering the store, he looks at some strange clothes, a bit unlike those in Unicorn markets, then has his attention brought to some flasks in a corner with a particularly fragrant smell... then sees Nesrin inside picking up a fancy hat - or maybe 'odd' was a better word for it - and, chuckling a bit, he waves to her, then bows slightly. "Wash... Nesrin-san! I'm happy to see you! Sorry I went by so quickly the day before yesterday, I'd really like to say and talk to you and Ide-san, but I was in a bit of a hurry... That's a... great choice!", he says, still chuckling as he looks at the other hats looking for another interesting one and looks at the hat and at her, as if expecting her to try it on.

[Utaku Nesrin]

"Prashant!...-san. Ah...if there's anywhere you could be using washamo it'd be here." She grins, and lifts the hat to her head with a small laugh.

She does hold it almost atop her head, though she's a bit wary of actually setting it on her head...who knows where it's been? It's fairly ridiculous. "Could you imagine? It would fly right off at a gallop!" Lowering it, she strokes the bright feathers. "I suppose it's more of a courtly thing...somewhere?"

She offers a small smile. "I'm glad you were just in a hurry, and not... I mean, it is really busy here for the tournament! Three contests today with barely a pause in between!" The hat remains in her hands, but held low and somewhat forgotten. "How have you been since the Nadaam? I heard you did really well in the Sumai competition yesterday, so I know you didn't let those skills go to waste." She shakes her head with a light chuckle. "I mean, it's not what you usually think a shugenja would excel at, but I suppose the kami offer some physical blessings along with the spiritual, neh?" She starts to say something else, then pauses, to let the poor Iuchi get a word in edgewise, distractedly petting the hat.

(which I half expect to sprout a djinn. :p)

[Iuchi Prashant]

He first grins at her comment, then laughs at her looks with the hat.

"I guess you're right, washamo Nesrin!", he says, still laughing a bit. "This is... curious, to say the least! But I couldn't even start imagining you riding with something like that on your head! It does look... courtly, or, I guess it could." He then says, a bit more hushed. "More of a Mantis thing than Crane, maybe?"

He then smiles gently and warmly at her as he looks at the variety of fancy shaped glasses with different perfumes. "Oh, I was already on my way to the shrines before it got too late, and I had forgot something in my room. When I saw Ide-san and you I almost gave up to talk to you, to be honest! But I ended up rushing there instead... I hope we find other chances to talk to everyone! Ide-san seemed nice, too"

He takes one of the glasses of perfume, takes its lid and smells it. A woody fragrance spreads in the air, which Prash first finds pleasant... but then a stronger, musky, pungent tone follows it and he rushedly closes the lid.

"Ah! Wow!", he says, cleaning his throat a bit. "Ah... it IS busy, ma? Today especially so! Although I expect you'll do quite well today! Even though... I've heard we'll all ride ponies, apparently... I hope Tabudai doesn't get jealous!", he says with a grin, then smiling brightly at her.

"As for me, it's been... calmer than the months before the Naadam at least, I'd say! The experience in Hirosaka and my correspondence with Kitsuki-sensei led me to focus more on Martial Arts, so I had quite a bit to catch up on... Apparently that and my training with the Brotherhood made a difference!", he says, laughing a bit. "Not enough to beat Togashi-san, though!", he says, laughing a bit. "Maybe if I had called on the spirits, but... I... tend not to unless I think it'd be fair, or necessary?", he continues in a slightly more serious tone, that quickly changes back to a smile.

"But washamo Nes did really well too! Shiba-san never stood a chance!", he says beaming at her.

"Anyway, the Naadam was good practice as well as a great chance to see y'all! And things have been a bit slower and quieter since then. It was a nice change of pace... although I missed travelling more, and I was hoping to see you folks soon!", he says, smiling again.

He looks at some odd metal lamps and sculptures, then points at some of the perfumes. "Have you tried these, washamo Nesrin? Any you liked?"

(Ok, there's the lamp for the djinn! : D )

[Utaku Nesrin]

"Yes, it's a Mantis hat, clearly," she says as she sets it back on its stand. Her Tegensai was coming along, though she wasn't building particularly complicated thoughts in the learned tongue yet.

"I'm gad you made it to the shrines in time. That's more important than a bit of night time chatter. I really should go and make some offerings for guidance during this tournament as well." Her smile is rueful. "In fact, that would probably be a more appropriate use of my morning than shopping. Buuut...since you're here and actually a shugenja, I'm not going to feel like I'm too far out of line by not going first thing in the morning." She grins, "I mean, if you're devout enough to avoid calling on the spirits for an edge in the competitions, I'm going to assume you're a reasonable authority on such things." More seriously, and with some appreciation, she adds, "I think that's an honorable stance to take. I know the competition is going to be fierce, and it's hard not to pick up every advantage that shows itself."

She frowns, both at the strong scent Prashant released from its bottle, and the news about the ponies. "Foo. I'd hoped to give Tabudai a chance to show his form too. But ugh...ponies. My feet'll be two inches off the grass...And Moto-san? He'll look like he's on one of those wooden toys for toddlers where they kick themselves along the floor." She shakes her head. "I suppose the Crane set it up and want their students to look good, the rest of use work with the rules they set, and we'll just have to show them we're still the best riders in the Empire, even on toy horses."

"And yeah, Shiba-san waited too long to make his push, and I already had momentum on my side. Otherwise? Could have gone either way." She shrugs, "I'm really only passable at wrestling, as we all saw at the Naadam. I admit, I didn't put a lot of extra work into improving there. There was always a lot of other things to do training with my sisters, and studying a bit for the more scholarly stuff here."

She looks at the perfumes indicated. "I haven't, and after that one you opened, I'm a bit afraid to. I know they're used by like everyone in court, but whoof! That was strong. I don't remember any of our sensei smelling like that, and some of them definitely had perfume. I've got to imagine you're only putting a little on so it's not so...like a wall of smell in the face." Plucking one up with a glass top of swirling gold and blue that tapers to a delicate point, she opens it, keeping it well away from delicate noses. Sandalwood and a complex, resinous note waft out. It's strong, smelling like a temple on festival day with endless sticks of incense lit all at once. "Not...bad. I guess, I'd smell like I'd been in the temples a lot if I used that. It would feel a bit, I don't know, false."

[Iuchi Prashant]

The Utaku's seriousness when talking about the shrines seems to make Prash a bit embarassed. "Ah... I don't... um... " he recomposes himself a bit, trying another smile, which still comes out a bit sheepish. "I wanted to say my thanks and pray for guidance to us all, but..."

He eases up a bit, although he still stumbles a bit with his words now and then. "But I really miss spending more time with you... you and the others, I mean! Ah.. but we'll have chances, ma? Like this! I mean..."

He then stops for a moment, laughing at her description of the Moto and the perfume, and feeling the other perfume she opened. "Um... that one's not so bad! But I agree it doesn't feel quite right... maybe there's a more fitting one?"

He opens the lid of another flask, this time just a bit, close to his nose, then quickly closes it again. "Nope!" Then another one, carefully again.
This time it's a gentler, fresh scent. "Oh... how about this one?", he says, opening the lid a bit more, carefully lest it explode in their faces again - which this time it doesn't. "Somehow it... reminds me of the sun on the plains?", he says, expecting her reaction.

As he does, he speaks some more. "As for the horses... I suppose the difference in skill between the crane and our folk would be a bit too much otherwise, ma?", he says, then chuckles a bit. "Pffff... now I can't take the image of washamo Moto atop an unlucky pony off my head! I'll have to concentrate twice as much as I face him today!", he says, his chuckle turning into an actual laugh for a moment, forcing him take a breath before he recovers a calmer tone.

"That all said, additional training or not, you did quite well, washamo Nes!", he says, noticing his even more familiar expression only after the fact and stopping for a bit... but deciding to go with it - unless Nesrin herself says something, that is.

"But I guess you must have had quite a bit more to focus on! I guess you may have focus on scholarly topics even more than I did, then", he says, chuckling again. "Your Tegensai's improved by leaps and bounds, too!"

"Oh!", he says then, half thinking he's said too much already before giving her a chance to speak. "That reminds, me, I've finally found some time to study some more poetry these last months! I still remember you singing that travel poem while we were coming back from the town in Hirosaka! Maybe we could try and exchange some poems while taking a walk - or a ride - around Tsuma before the Championship is over!", he finally says... not really sure why he swapped back to his heritage language...

[Utaku Nesrin]

Cautiously, she sniffs the scent wafting from the possibly ok bottle. "It's kind of grassy and bright," she leans in a bit closer, "an yes something loamy underneath. A sunny day on the plains in a bottle. That's not bad. I can imagine sending letters with a bit of that on them to homesick kin." She holds out her hand for the bottle, wanting to look for the maker's mark on it, or something to identify the scent blend.

"Thanks for the reminder that I should not say mean things about the Crane..." she hunts for the word, "organizing, in a tongue most would understand. And it's their game, so they can set the rules, I suppose. I am sorry to make it even harder for your match with washamo Ichiro, though!" She doesn't really sound that unhappy about the overall idea...just the idea of having to ride a pony. "I'm getting better with Tegensai, but...big thoughts and words are still hard."

Ducking her head apologetically, she adds, "And I guess I can use it to say that you're being awfully familiar Her head turned aside just enough to avoid meeting his eyes if she looks up from the bottle in her hand, which she doesn't, she continues more quietly, "but it's ok if you have permission, you know?"

She hands the bottle back, not really paying any attention to it now as her eyes finally lift with a nervous smile, "And if it's ok, I'd like to use more familiar...names...as we ride around the town trading poems." Without a courtier's mask of makeup, the flush of her cheeks is hard to miss in the well lit-shop.


(ooc, I'm literally at the point where I lose honor if I _don't_ call out the minor breaches of etiquette. XD)

[Iuchi Prashant]

"Oh, scenting letters with that sounds like a lovely idea, really! I hadn't thought of that", he says, smiling as he breathes in again and closes his eyes, feeling the scent and letting his mind wander back home for a moment. As she looks at the bottle, he peaks around again, at the other bottles, then at the lamps. "I wonder if other of the scents here could equally take us to other lands we may one day visit", he says, smiling as he daydreams, then extends his hands towards ano odd, small lamp-like thing on another shelf. "Or maybe other things.... I wonder, should this be an incense burner?"

He then grins a bit at her first comment in Tegensai about the crane, but her next words make him blush a fair bit and keep silent for a moment.

"Ah!... yaltse onmiṃi*, washamo Nesrin!", he says, blushing and looking down before he even hears the end of her sentence. "I... I didn't mean to disrespect you at all...", he continues, bowing and lowering his head... then finally processes the rest of her words, blushing even more and only barely daring to raise his gaze a bit towards hers.

"Ah!... Yneśne?*... I mean! I will be honoured to walk, uh, ride by your side then, washamo Nesrin!", he says, attempting a still shy, but definitely happy smile. "It's a pity I can't have Yentekke here! I'll have to find a kartse yakwe*** to ride with Tabudai and tuwe!", he says, getting more and more thrilled with the idea. He gets silent for a moment, his eyes happy but a bit distant. "Now I think... maybe I should talk to my gottär**** about a yakwe at some point..."


*'Thousand remorses', or "I'm very sorry"
**'Really?' - not sure Nes will have heard the word already : )
***Good horse
****Kin/ family

[Utaku Nesrin]

She takes the little lamp, unable to keep from smiling as they talk. Turning it end over end in her hands, she only barely seems to see it as she considers the idea of him riding one of the ponies. "Oh, you'd be talking to my hip on one of those wee things in their stables. That'd be silly. Unless there's something like a normal horse they'd let you ride, we may as well ride double."

Then her eyes widen a bit as the suggestion sinks in and she studies the little metal...incense burner? Sure that's probably what it is. She rather carefully and attentively traces the design on it as she stammers. "Or walk... we can walk too. It's fine." It was the Ujik, and thus the Moto, who still occasionally went for a horseback 'kidnapping' as prelude to betrothal, but the image of riding off double with someone like that was still well-imbedded in Unicorn tales.

"I do think it's an incense burner! See the little hole here for a stick to set." Very emphatic about that as she hands it back, pushing it into his hands.

"Anyway." She smooths her deel with a steadying breath. "Why couldn't you bring Yentekke? It's a long road to get here."

[Iuchi Prashant]

It's quite obvious from Prash's almost silly smile that he is ecstatic with the trip.

It is also pretty obvious from the colour of his cheeks and his eyes shifting from thing to thing in the store as she talks that he is rather embarrassed to begin with - which would be an unusual change from his usual serenity, but is apparently increasingly common when talking to Nesrin.

The idea of ridin alongside her while 'talking to her hips' doesn't do much to help that embarrassment, either, but he manages to control his further blushing a bit as he nods to her, his eyes lowered a bit "Ah... I guess you're right, washamo Nesrin. And you'd have to keep holding Tabudai up all the time too!"

It takes some time for him to actually register the implications of her suggestion to 'ride double' as he also remembers the Ujik custom - and this time he cannot quite hold the blushing so well, instead looking even further down - almost as for some reason carefully studying the patterns of the Qamari-like tiles covering the part of the store they're in.

"Aaaaah pakri! I mean, we could walk... Although I'd really like to... I mean!"

He stops mid-sentence, not sure how to word things, and somewhat surprised he gets the lamp back. "Ah! Yeah, that's what it must be, ma? It'd be a pretty neat... ride" he thinks and notices he said it out loud "Incense burner, I mean!"

He puts it back, his hand a bit unsteady, almost tipping over some silver and ceramic urns, carafes and such.

"Ah..." he takes another deep breath, his cheeks finally returning to something closer to their normal colour as he fidgets with statuettes in another shelf, getting a bronze statuette of an 'elephant-man' of sorts and inadvertently knocking it into one of a four-armed woman with a headband, holding a trident, a bell, a mirror and a lotus flower. Startling a bit, he manages to get the statue before it tumbles to the ground and takes a curious look at it.

"Ah... Yentekke is one of my family's horses, not really... mine. My ṣerne got prakrāñme* and anahar**, but yentekke, waśīr*** and Welkweckācko**** stayed with my family. I... suppose it is not expected that I would be riding so often as a Shugenja - at least not as much as Katkaunya and Uluka as Outriders, ma? But it was a long way here, and I did ride with others... just not one of my yakwekke" - the last words are said a bit wistfully, a melancholic smile on the corner of his lips as his eyes zoom out for a bit. "I really should talk to appa wai ammaki***** about that", he says, snapping back to reality with a calmer, warm smile. "And... um, I'm not sure whether I could get a proper horse here for a ride, but I'll try. And... I guess if I can't, I... er... I wouldn't mind... riding double". The flush returns to his cheeks, but only for a moment. "I mean... we should just do that... far from washamo Moto, ma?", he says, laughing a bit.

He then takes another look at the statue in his hands "I wonder who those are", he says, pointing also at the others on the shelf he got it from. "Maybe something from the Ivory Kingdoms? I think I've seen something like those at a market back home, but I'm not sure."


* Strong soul
** 'Fast'
*** Thunderbolt, or diamond. I know, it's weird : p
**** Wolflegs
***** Father and mother

[Utaku Nesrin]

( )

The silly smile will not stop. Her cheeks are going to ache at this rate. "Hai, washamo Ichiro might not make the best ahh...companion, chaperone? unless you want to be teased for weeks. But he's occupied with his own...hmmm..." the word isn't one she's learned yet. "Courtship?" she's quiet a moment, moving to look at the little statues. is that what this is? Without letters sent or nakodo notified yet? She picks up one of the little statues with almost exaggerated care, not entirely trusting her coordination. "My Tegensai needs work," she says apologetically as she hunts for some of the words.

"These might be Ivory Kingdoms, definitely from far away. I've never seen the like. Do they...really have all these arms there?" It seems like she'd have heard some kind of tales of something that fantastic.

"You should definitely have a proper horse, but we'll...make do for now." Making an effort to breathe calmly is having some effect at getting her blush under control, if not her grin. "Walk the river, ride around the walls, work on poetry. Very relaxing." She sounds almost convinced that is will be relaxing, never mind how her nerves sing right now, hyper aware of every shift in tone. "Can even practice with some in Tegensai."

Setting the statue back, carefully to avoid making the proprietor anxious, she asks, "Katkaunya and Uluka? The Outriders...your siblings?"

[Iuchi Prashant]

After all that work controlling his blush, Prash's face now "only" show a smile silly enough to match Nesrin's own. "Aaaaah... Pāskaucaulare is what we don't want washamo Moto to be, I guess" - "Something like a... 'Guarding companion' you might say", he says, chuckling at the thought, finally less embarrassed. "And he's sure been busy with his lāre pauto! - love honour's what ammaki used for 'courtship' I think", he says, laughing a bit, then going back to his silly grin as he continues.

"That'll be... definitely relaxing"", he says excitedly as he finds himself trying again and again and again to control his breathing. "And we'll be sure to try some in Tegensai! Have you heard any, lāre Nesrin?" - he says giddily... and this time barely controls some blush. Surely she would have noticed the different preffix?

Shaking off the thought, he answered her other question. "Pakri! Ṣer Katkaunya is the eldest, and Uluka the youngest, both born the year before me. They're tough, but very nice" He was already beaming talking to the Battle Maiden, and somehow his face manages to cheer up even more when talking about his sisters. "I'm sure you'd like them, washamo Nesrin! They're so skilled with kerttei, and the best atop a yakwe!" - he stops right after his sentence, looking at Nesrin and scratching his head a bit, apologetically, but with the silly grin still on his face "I mean... the best Outriders! Not better than Shiotome, of course! That would be..." he stops mid sentence again before he trips even more on his own words. "Ah, I'm sure you'd like them a lot, washamo Nesrin!"

[Utaku Nesrin]

"i'm sure," she says almost absently, piecing together the Tegensai new and old. "If they're much like you at all, I don't know how I could dislike them." She says it quietly, letting distracted fingers sort through a basket of fans with unfamiliar art painted on plain silk, and fabric in patterns familiar and non, the silly smile softening.

"Pāskaucaulare" she rolls the unfamiliar word around, trying to memorize it among so many other, "and lāre pauto..lāre?" She blinks, fingers still, and looks up, cheeks hot. With her eyes on his, she opens her mouth to speak, and stops, swallows, takes a breath to try again, this time without scrambling it through the less familiar tongue. "lāre? is?..." she knew it wasn't 'honor'. That was one of the earlier bits of vocabulary she'd learned. "it means the same in an honorific as in lāre pauto?" It means soaring, fearful hope, and something too large and new for words in either tongue.

She reaches for his hand, her grip urgent, even if not taboo among the Unicorn. "Do you mean that? Not just teaching?"

[Iuchi Prashant]

Her words comparing his sisters to him make him flush a bit as he looks at some woolen overcoats with odd, geometrical patterns, and he's about to comment on that when he hears her mention the word he had let slip - lāre.

Instinctively, his eyes shift from the wares to hers as well as she speaks. His face flushes lightly again, but this time his breathing is controlled, the gentle smile Nesrin has often seen before growing warmer and hopeful.

His own hand hesitates for just a split second, a fingernail touching his thumb as if to feel this is not a dream, before it meets hers, touching the back of her hand and pressing it lightly.

He opens his mouth, but no voice comes out at first. Then he tries again, and this time a gentle, soft, but firm voice comes out .

"Pākri... empreṃ weau lāre Nesrin... I speak true"*

*Which in my head is the way to say "I mean what I say" in Tegensai - he said the same in Rokugani because, well, he's still kinda nervous!

[Utaku Nesrin]

"I've missed you more than...more than I thought I could, since Naadam." She stumbles over the still new tongue, but it's harder to say anything about her feelings in Rokugani, laced with all the social expectations of her position. "My sisters teased me all winter for your name."

"I told my grandmother. Had to tell someone. My head has been..." her hand tightens on his. "has been full of lāre Prashant. So...feint thoughts? distracting."

[Iuchi Prashant]

"... I thought about you each time the kauṃ set on the horizon, lāre Nes". His earthy eyes are dreamy, his smile unyielding. He chuckles - My Ṣerne wouldn't stop taunting me either - 'who are you meditating on with this distant look now, procke'?".

His voice is full of emotion, but serene, steady and happy as when they had first exchanged stories in the dorm in Hirosaka.

Feeling her grip tightening, his other hand reaches to hold hers as well. "I kept hoping our travels during training would take us farther into Utaku lands..."

He raises their hands a bit higher. "And... I keep hoping again and again that we can get that posting together! Or... have... another way to keep close..."

His voice trembles just a small bit on that last part, his eyes moving around for a bit before going back to hers as he chuckles slightly - "Oh... What did your āwe macer think about it, then?!"

[Utaku Nesrin]

While she readily took his other hand, her grip relaxed as fear of the response that might have been retreats. At that last question, she grimaces, blushing. But the tenet of honesty means being brave enough to share the truth.

"Ahhhh, she laughed and said something about a spring stallion and a field full of mares," embarrassment at the stable metaphor colors her whole face. "and...um, plenty of fine stallions closer to the field..." Her hands tightened again, if only to keep from sinking into the dirt floor.

"But after the third time in a week that I'd lost track of time when I was supposed to be out finding herbs for dinner because I kind of got lost staring at the sky, she kind of sighed and said she'd talk to the elders about ancestors...um...genealogies." Her grin crept back as she said it.

"I know maybe our skills will need to be used in different places, and we might not chose those. But maybe, there'd be a home to return to, that we could share?"

(ooc, I am imagining the proprietor sitting back behind something, drinking tea and watching the soap opera. I have not decided if they're rolling their eyes or doing the 'aww' *eyehearts* thing)

[Iuchi Prashant]

The Iuchi's passionate look is coloured first by a chuckle, then by some fluster as Nesrin recounts her grandmother's detailed breeding-based metaphor of what might be in store for her possible future.

Her future?....Their possible future in fact - it dawns on him as that silly, airheaded smile creeps back to his face when he hears her voice... which suddenly sounds to him like a pleasant song, sung by a thousand blades of grass on the windswept plains.

He remembered himself staring at the horizon too as he sat down on the grass, his mind wandering through the plains, the streams and the hills, reaching to his centre... only to find her taunting, smiling face right there, time and again.

"Ah! Orotseāwi*? Mokogottär**?" - his mouth gapes a bit in surprise... as his smile widens.

"A... home to return to?" - He laughs silently, happy beyond words for a moment.

"Wai... have the... What have the mokoi to say about your - ahm... our - wesi mokogottär?" , he asks, hopefully.



* "Grand-grandparents" - sounds good for "ancestors"!
** 'Elder-lineage', or 'Old-lineage' - using for genealogies?

[Utaku Nesrin]

"Do you think I'd be grinning like the very statue of Hotei at the shrines here if she'd said 'ah, no, my great auntie was his grandma,' hmm?" She doesn't trust her Tegensai to convey the teasing sarcasm "I mean, it's not as sure as when the nakodo really dig in, but..." her eyes shine with joy as the mocking smile becomes something softer, hopeful.

"Someplace where I can watch you make these," she touches one of the dangling meishodo charms, setting it swinging, "and know the fire is ours. That would fill my heart. And...it's already bursting to think you feel the same."

[Iuchi Prashant]

'Grinning like the very statue of Hotei' is exactly the scene Nesrin sees as she answers. Prash chuckles as she makes fun of him, but he's so happy and infatuated, his silly grin and is probably a better joke than any they could make at that moment.

His eyes shine as she flips his bamboo and stone earring swinging. He opens his mouth to speak twice, but instead of any words coming out, his grin just widens each time.

He holds her hand tighter.

"A yurt and a fire we can return to, keeping Tabudai... and Yentekke close. And share aṣiyepayasya, śro-kanti*, and aaruul and stories as we watch the night sky", he says, looking at her eyes, dreamily.

"I... owe your awe macer a thank you!", he says, the Hotei grin as large as ever. "We... I... need to make that sure then! Hopefully graduating at the Topaz Championship will be a good enough impression to bring to your gottär!"


OOC
*aṣiyepayasya - coagulated goat milk curds; assuming this as a typical Tegensai food
śro-kanti - A type of bread - I'll imagine some bread with goat's milk and spices, as there's not much description of that : p

(ooc, I am imagining the proprietor sitting back behind something, drinking tea and watching the soap opera. I have not decided if they're rolling their eyes or doing the 'aww' *eyehearts* thing)

(I laughed hard at this but forgot to answer! I keep imagining them thinking they're mostly safe since a good deal of what they're saying is in Tegensai... while the owner of the store unsurprisingly knows a fair bit of the language and keeps giggling. I'll go for *eyehearts* for the first 5 minutes or so... then some eye rolling )