A Lost boy somehow gets even more lost.
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"Ten percent."

"Fine."

The socks are purchased.

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He notes how much is paid, then will casually walk over to listen in on the flirting sailor to see if he can pick up some cues on how that works. There's a floating feeling in his upper stomach at the thought of talking to one of the many pretty girls around him without something specific to talk about, and... well, he could imagine that he just wants that feeling reassured, but actually he also wants to be good at flirting.

(More than he wants to be good at everything in general, even.)

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They are talking about the mechanics of moving around in zero gravity and insinuating that the sailor could show the local aboard the ship while it's in dock.

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Ah. His mind is treated with some mental images, along with some imagined... proprioception. 

Yeah. That could be... interesting.

And... does this flirtation seem to be working?

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Yup, they go off together.

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Huh. Well okay then.

Probably there are other factors, but he'll keep this in mind if he ever has easy access to a docked sailboat, maybe.

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Last, but not least... the sandwich eater.

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"Hello! I'm Danny, and I'm hoping to be a passenger on your sail when it leaves for Rabbitround. If you wouldn't mind some conversation, I'm curious what you could tell me about the round, if you've been there before? Or what you've heard about it, if you haven't."

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"I usually don't spend much time exploring! I've got my usual haunts there and here both, when we're in port, but my life's on the sail. It's been settled longer, I suppose. Fewer farms and more squashed-together city houses."

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"And the port your ship stops at there, it's in the city? Or a city, if there's more than one?"

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"We stop in two cities, and we might add a third soon, and then we come here and then we go back. It's a nice predictable route and it'll probably be good for a good few centiwakes."

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"Good to know, thanks. Is there anyone on your ship who knows the cities in more detail? I'm trying to find the best research institutes."

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"I'd imagine whoever you ask will say that depends what you want them to specialize in researching!"

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"Sure. Problem is, I hardly know myself." Physics?  Metaphysics? He has no idea what a society at this tech level would be investigating at any of the cutting edges of academic research; history was never really his thing. Also they're not words that have come up in song yet.

He's also still waiting to see if some sort of religion pops up in conversation or song, or some more general beliefs that will give him some sense of where people think all this came from. Cosmology? Is that the right word for it? Also not a word he knows in their language yet.

"Any suggestions for crew I should talk to?"

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"Blenn, maybe, but I don't know where he's gotten to, he's, you know, the sort to wander around exploring when we're in port."

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Yeah, that checks out. "Thanks." Blenn. He'll try to remember the name, in case he runs into others from the ship who might know, or once he's on the ship (assuming he's given a spot in the first place).

"One last thing... is there anything you can think of that I could do, before your sail leaves, that would make me more likely to get a spot? Some problem I can solve that might impress your captain, maybe?"

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"...I don't think we've got any problems with the sail right now, we wouldn't be planning to leave for Rabbitround without fixing them if we had."

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"I was thinking more about non-essential problems." Possibly even one that could be solved with being a good hunter, though he knows that would be too much to hope for.

(It's not exactly that he was expecting fiction or video game logic to apply here, but he doesn't really have much else to go on.)

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"Like... what?"

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"Running errands far from port, so regular crew wouldn't have to? Getting some extra supply of a particular food or drink the crew would enjoy?" He shrugs. "One of the sails that came in yesterday had a captain who apparently looks for new recipes every time they're in port, their whole crew was asking around in case anyone had one to offer."

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"Ours likes sticking weird things to the wall to look at but weird things are by definition kind of hard to come by."

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"See, that's what I'm talking about!" His voice went a bit singasong in his excitement, and he clears his throat. "Thanks. I know it's a long shot... did that translate okay? I meant 'unlikely.' But if you have some examples, maybe I'll get lucky and find something she'd like."

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"Pretty shells, but anything you've seen two of in your life she's already got one. Tiny little art-objects, she won't hang anything bigger than about two inches square because she likes the densely tiled effect but nice jewelry sometimes lands if it's not too dearly priced. Nice rocks, pressed flowers, preserved butterflies, she's got at least one bird skull... oh, she does have one thing bigger than two inches square, it's a tiny tree," gesture, "lives in a pot mounted near her hammock, she's always pruning it."

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He's nodding along, wondering what he could potentially find in the forest that might fit the criteria. From the mention of 'nice rocks,' though, a heavy pit forms in his stomach...

It still feels dangerous to let go of any of the Hedge stones, and he knows it's irrational but the longer he stays here without anything going wrong, the more he feels like something will as soon as he does sell or lose them. He doesn't know that's how it would work, but so long as he keeps them all with him, it feels like any fae watching him might be limited in how much havoc they could wreak... not to mention he's the most prepared for them...

Luckily, he's pretty good at spotting pretty rocks, in general. Maybe he can find one she'd like from somewhere 'round the round.

"It must grow strangely, without gravity." He shifts his weight as he considers the suns and rounds that happen to be above them at the moment (a resurfaced habit that gives him no particular information, given how hard it is to keep track of all the different celestial bodies and how dependent his position on the round is for learning anything from where they are). He wishes he still had anything from earth, even a quarter might be unique enough that she'd like it...

"Do they have to be natural? Or does she sometimes like dyed flowers or painted shells?"

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"She doesn't like them if they're obvious but says that if they fool her once finding out doesn't ruin it."

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