Young Writers Society

"Smile more?"

James turns to Tasha and gives her a dead-eyed smile.

"Never mind, that's just creepy."

James snorted a little laugh as his eyes lit up with an actual smile at her response, but he quickly stifled his laugh and composed himself.

"Gotcha!" she snickers. "That was an actual laugh."

"And now my face is exhausted from all of the effort. Clearly, I'm out of shape."

"I suppose we'll have to remedy that."

"What, are you a comedian? You gonna throw around jokes all the time?"

"That depends, will you laugh?"

"If it's funny." James replies with a small, smug smile.

She chuckles. "We'll see."

"Yeah, I'm sure we will," he says, looking away with a small grin underneath his beard.

The duo continued their travels through the forest with the occasional light banter, and made it through the night peacefully, much to their relief. As they trekked the following day they made considerable progress, and after a few turns here and there they could finally see the tell-tale signs of civilization, and the outskirts of the small town in the distance. There was a certain level of relief felt between the two after finally arriving, with hopes of getting new bandages for Tasha and potentially... parting ways. The latter of course, being undiscussed up to their present point apart from Tasha's threats to leave after discovering James was lying about his identity.

As they began to walk on the path that lead into the small town, it was clear that though small, the town was bustling with life. People of all sorts seemed to frequent the town, though most of them were thieves, outlaws, and delinquents of some brand. Though due to that being the nature of the people who populated the place, it was normal. Interactions might've been a little less civil with one another, but things appeared to operate smoothly.

They passed through an open market, a rowdy tavern, and a few other shops and outposts, as well as an Inn and a brothel. Upon entering the town James seemed to sport a gruff, distant demeanor despite having an increased alertness - specifically in relation to the things he carried on his person. He was keenly aware of pickpockets and the like.

James pointed out a shop where he could grab some new bandages for Tasha, and before walking in, turned to ask, "Anything else you want me to see about getting if I can?"

"Rations, bandages, that's about it. Lock picks, too, but I doubt we can get them here. Probably have to find a fence at the tavern."