Oria's journey: Packed Crowds - Featuring Momo (Artbeedle)

Oria was having a very strange day. She had ordered a gift for her new friend K80, a present that was supposed to come through the portal from Avangard. They were parts he said he would need to fix up his android body so it was nicer, though he didn’t see the need to spend money on it at the moment. She’d never shipped anything from a different realm so she wasn’t very surprised by the suddenness of the message she’d received through a tiny construct that had found its way into her hotel room alerting her to the package waiting to be picked up. 

What she didn’t expect was the randomness of the location. She didn’t recognize the rundown shop she’d gone to, nor the strange shop keeper. If she had to guess, she would have said that the person was actually three goblins in a singular coat. 

She shrugged it off, now with the nicely wrapped present under her arm, not unlike most of the people in the cobbled streets. 

She was actually starting to struggle with the thickness of the crowd, what with most people getting off of work and carrying packages. 

She huffed as someone bumped into her, though didn’t blame them with how the crowd pressed in around her. She could barely see through the press, and certainly couldn’t see over it. There were quite a few tall folk that lived in the city she was currently staying in and it made going out to things like public plays or concerts nearly impossible for her to enjoy. 

As Oria wove through the crowd, speaking occasionally to let someone know she was coming through so she wouldn’t get stepped on, she noticed a pair of pink horns go down just ahead of her, causing quite the scramble up ahead. 

As she got closer she realized a pink oni had fallen, overloaded with several bolts of fabric and a box of other, more delicate fabrics. The oni scrambled to pick things up as people barely got out of the way to keep from stepping on her spilled items. 

Oria pushed forward, squeezing through some of the gaps and freezing a ring of ice around the oni and her purchases, forcing people back a little and making them go around. She ignored the annoyed shouts and grunts as she closed the ring behind her and bent to help pick everything up. 

“Are you alright?” she asked as she did so. 

“Yeah,” the oni said breathlessly, pushing back pink hair that had come loose from her ponytail. “Thanks.”

“Of course,” Oria replied, picking up a few bolts under her free arm and looking past her ring of ice to a crowd that was even more densely packed than before. She considered waiting in her ring of ice until the traffic had cleared a bit, but when she turned to the Oni again she noticed they had been crossing the bridge over a barely frozen river and smiled. 

“I’m Oria. You?”

The oni stood fully with her fabrics and said, “Ah, Momo.”

Oria nodded. “It’s nice to meet you. How about we get off the road? I’ll help you carry this.”

“Oh, you don’t have to.”

“I want to, I’m thinking we should take the river. You’re trying to go to the east side of the city, right?”

Momo nodded. “Yeah. There’s a boutique I’m helping on Heyri street for some extra money at the moment.”

“Perfect,” Oria said, awkwardly rearranging her things to get a hand free to create ice steps down to the river where she froze it more solidly for the two of them. “I’ll walk you there.”

When they reached the river she melted the steps behind them to keep anyone from trying this route and force Oria to sit and babysit them. She kept the ice under their feet safe as they walked down the river, the noise of the crowds fading behind her. 

“So, are you just doing deliveries for the shop?” Oria asked her new traveling companion curiously. 

“Oh, I do some deliveries. I mostly help out with the sewing.”

“You make clothes?”

“Yes,” Momo said with a smile, glancing at Oria to gauge her interest before continuing, “I’m traveling to learn more about clothing and sewing in different regions. Where I come from we tend to keep it simple, but there are so many techniques and unique influences culture has on clothing. There are places where they embroider all of their fabric before making it into clothing to help it last longer, and avangard has developed rooms that are basically huge looms where clothing is made by machinations and constructs. It’s all really fascinating.”

“I’ve been to Avangard! I didn’t stay long but they really do have a lot of strange things there. I’m not surprised to hear that they have rooms like that! What’s your favorite kind of clothing so far?”

Momo and Oria continued walking down the river, up onto a dock, and down much less crowded streets, chatting about clothing and cultures, Momo even commenting on how well woven and insulating Oria’s own clothing was. 

They reached the shop Momo was helping at soon enough, though. A little reluctant to leave the conversation, Oria went in to help organize the supplies Momo had got and, after chatting for a few more minutes, excused herself to head home. 

“It was really nice meeting you. Maybe I could come find you here sometime if you’re still around and we could go do something. I know there is a market coming up soon.”

Momo smiled and nodded. “That would be fun. If we’re both still here we should go to the market together. Thank you, again, for your help.”

Oria smiled. “It really wasn’t a problem. Have a good rest of your day!”

“Goodbye,” Momo replied and Oria was off, unaware of the way the present had listened intently to the whole conversation.