[Sylvia Lane]

The last bit of sun had just vanished from the sky as Sylvia exited the fifth shop she’d visited in Downtown Mavro. The street was slowly blanketed in the beginnings of the night and the crowds bustled beneath it. Sylvia looked up at the sky as the door swung behind her, the bell hanging from it ringing softly to signal her departure. Both of her hands were occupied by the straps of shopping bags filled with the result of her little adventure. At her feet, Wes waddled up to her side. His movements were a little stilted thanks to the bag that he carried in his tiny arms. A small punishment for the little…incident he caused two stores ago. The bag itself only held a few shirts, but it was heavy enough to cause the little guy some trouble.

She studied the sky for a bit, careful to stand to the side so she wouldn’t get in the way of anyone trying to enter or exit the store. A star or two floated overhead, but otherwise there was nothing but darkness. Besides the moon, that is. “It’s getting late,” she murmured, then looked down at the Scraggy, who had apparently opted out of carrying the bag regularly and decided to prop it on his head. “An…unconventional tactic, for sure, Wes,” she raised an eyebrow and smiled. Wes, taking this as a compliment, crossed his arms and nodded, eliciting a proud ‘scrag’ in response.

Sylvia had been wanting to check out the stores on this island since she arrived, but hadn’t been able to find time to. Or, rather, she was too busy checking out everywhere else instead to make time for it. She definitely had enough to clothes to last her for a while, but she couldn’t help feeling curious about what kind of clothing they had here. So, after finally putting aside some time, she ventured out. She also took this as a chance to wear something a little more fancy. She wore a long, teal colored trench coat that stopped just above her knees. From it, a gray skirt flared out a few more inches. It was cold, so she of course she had to wear some tights – black ones, to be precise. A pair of flat (heels were out of the question), black boots adorned her feet. And, finally, her hair was buried beneath a gray knit cap. She was quite cozy, but she felt that she looked pretty nice too.

A few seconds passed before Sylvia turned onto the street, Wes wobbling at her side. She checked her watch, “Guess we should get back. I’m not sure if we have a curfew, but it wouldn’t hurt to be safe,” she said dropping her hand and burying it into her bag. Her fingers idly fished around, confirming that everything was where it should be. Honestly, she would’ve liked to stay out a little while longer. She liked being outside at night, and she ran on very little sleep, so she was prone to staying out late just piddling along. If they did, in fact, have a curfew, maybe this was a good chance to fix that habit. Gotta stay positive, right?

“Also, I think that’s probably long enough,” Sylvia used her free hand to grab the strap of the bag propped on Wes’ head. He made a curious sound, and then leapt up to grab at the bag. As she’d thought – the punishment had somehow turned in his favor in the end. Leave it to Wes. She smiled at him anyway, and was about to make another comment but something stopped her. She slowly came to a stop in the middle of the street, the hand she had rummaging around in her bag poking every inch of its interior. Frowning slightly, she scurried off to the side and pulled her bag up higher to get a closer look. Wes leapt on her shoulder and peered curiously inside, sticking his tiny hand in as well.

She stopped after a few minutes. Her shoulders slumped and she laughed dryly at the sky, drawing a few concerned glances her way. “…yup. It’s gone.” Her wallet, that is. She turned to look down at Wes who had crawled into the bag at some point and was now peering around at the strangers walking in front of them. A tired smile curled her lips, “That’s one way to stop a shopping spree, I guess.”

[Serena Miller]

Serena was apprehensive about coming back to the city itself, but not having proper tools for the kinds of foods she liked to prepare was driving her nuts.  Sure, the kitchens in the dorms had all the basic things, a refrigerator, pots and pans, some serving spoons, some things to stir with and what-not, but it lacked some of the more specialized tools she liked to use for some of her meat dishes.  The stores here probably had everything based on how many there were and how many things were in them.  All she had to do was brave the crowds again, and all those big buildings, and all the choices...Just the thought of it was sending chills up her spine.  Her hometown was so much simpler.  Why did everything have to be some complicated in the city?  Today was the day though, she wasn't going to let herself put it off any longer.

Once she got there, she almost instantly regretted it.  Serena hoped that going at night would mean that there would be less people, even though her last trip there showed this wouldn't be the case.  She wasn't surprised when she saw the never ending sea of people in the shopping district, but with a nervous laugh and a sigh she pressed on.  This place was still way too big though.  As she looked at the stores, the street just seemed to get longer.  It made her a little dizzy even.  There was just store after store after store...how could anyone find anything here?  How could anyone just shop?  How did they know which thing to pick?  There were too many things to buy them all, there were too many choices to properly analyze each item, how did anyone get anything done here?

Serena didn't realize it until a few people bumped into her, and one shouted mean things at her, but she was standing right in the middle of the path.  Embarrassed she retreated off to the side and continued looking at all the stores.  She just couldn't find what she was looking for, and with as many stores as there were, it could take her hours to find what she was looking for.  As nice an evening as it was, she wasn't interested in wandering around this place for hours on end, if the stores would even stay open for that long.  Part of her just wanted to go home, but she promised that she would get the tools she needed to make a nice meal for her friends.  Even if it was a promise to any one person, would she really be able to live with herself if she made lower quality food for them when the time came?  She shifted awkwardly in place for awhile, and chewed on her lower lip as she thought.  No, she really couldn't let them down.  That meant that her best option was to ask someone where she could get these things.  All these people looked so busy though, and she didn't want to interrupt them with her stupid problems and even stupider questions.  She could already feel her face starting to flush at the mere thought of having to stop someone so she could get what she wanted.  It just seemed so rude!  After looking at the crowd for awhile, she spotted one person standing off to the side.  Just standing.  It didn't look like she was going anywhere, and judging from the number of bags she had she was probably done with what she was doing anyway.  At least, Serena hoped she was.  She couldn't even comprehend what a single person would do with that many bags, let alone more.  She took a deep breath, and slowly made her way to that person.

"Um...H-Hi, um...I-I'm sorry to bother you but um...do you kn--"

After looking at her feet while trying to talk to this person for awhile, she finally looked up and saw the expression on the other girl's face.  From so far away it was hard to tell, but this girl was clearly worried about something.  Serena's face flushed further and she looked down.  Great, the last thing a worried person needed was to deal with someone's inane problems and inability to navigate crowds.  Rather than just walk off like she wanted to at first, she looked back up.  It was too late, she had already bothered this person, so the least she could do was try to make things better.

"U-Um...is everything okay?"

[Sylvia Lane]

After the initial shock and the brief despair that followed, Sylvia took a moment to gather herself. She allowed her feelings of concern to flood over her for a moment with her arms crossed over her chest, then inhaled through her nose. She held the breath for a few seconds, eyes closed, then let it rush from her mouth in one fast whoosh. Right away she was feeling better. This was her way with dealing with overwhelming emotions - panic especially. Basically, she let herself feel it fully, then simply let it go. That way her mind was clear and she was able to assess what to do with herself next.

Before she could take this next step, though, her concentration was broken suddenly by a voice. Her eyelids fluttered open, revealing her green eyes which promptly darted over to the source of the voice. A girl. A warm smile replaced the frown that had made its way onto her face and she turned around so she was fully facing her, "How kind of you to ask," she responded, her tone sincere. It really was kind. Aside from herself, she hadn't met very many people that would check on the well-being of a stranger so willingly. Already, she was sure that she would like this person.

"Though, if I were to be honest, I'd have to say that things could be better right now," her smile was softened with a tinge of sadness. At that very moment, Wes decided to poke his head out of the bag to peer up at the girl. Realizing she was a stranger, he squinted his eyes and warily lowered himself back inside. Ignoring his antics, Sylvia continued, "I just discovered that my wallet is no longer with me. I must have dropped it in a store or along the road."

Sylvia brought a hand to her a cheek and sighed, "It was very clumsy of me. But I suppose I'll be scouring the area for a little while." she laughed a little. "I hope your evening is faring much better than mine."

[Serena Miller]

"Um..."

It happened again.  People just kept saying such nice things to her without her actually doing anything particularly noteworthy.  When she bothered someone, and they were clearly having some kind of problem, wasn't helping them just expected?  Wasn't it on the same level as showing up for school or doing the dishes when they were dirty?  It wasn't particularly good to do such things, it was just something people had to do to not be doing something outright wrong.  However, the people here didn't seem to think like that at all.  Back home, receiving any kind of praise or compliments was so rare that she was pretty sure she was more likely to meet aliens.  Here, they just kept coming.  To Serena, it was like seeing UFOs every few hours or so.  In the end, she still wasn't sure how to react to it all, even if it was starting to become a common occurrence now.  She tried to say something, but the words just wouldn't come, so she opted to just look at her feet while her face turned a little red from the whole situation.  Fortunately, the other girl continued to explain the situation so she didn't have to say anything at all.

"Oh no!"  Serena looked back up, sympathetic and a little wide-eyed.  "W-We should go find it!  Oh um...sorry, if you um, want me to help that is.  I um, certainly can."

Serena looked down again.  She was happy to help, but assuming the other person would want it was a little rude in her mind.  It's not like she knew that this person even wanted help in the first place.  While her head was down, she looked at all the bags the other girl was carrying.  She must have been to a lot of stores, it would probably take awhile to search them.  Serena didn't really mind, but she was worried that the stores wouldn't stay open that long if they ended up having to search them all.

[Sylvia Lane]

Sylvia couldn't help but feel some gratitude for a response like that. Right away, this girl had shown sincere concern for her situation - how could she not feel happy? Of course, she was happy for her offer to help, but it always felt nice to know that someone actually cared about you. She clung to that feeling. Sylvia set the stranger with a warm smile and reassessed how she was going to speak to her from now on. It was clear that this person was, on top of being kind, very reserved. Her uncertain speech pattern and her refusal to hold eye contact for long periods of time were a giveaway. She was always really careful about the way she spoke, but it seemed she would have to place a touch more care in her words than usual.

"I would very much appreciate your help," she nodded, then, catching the girl's attention on her bags, lifted them a bit. A light laugh slipped from her mouth. "Ah, yes. I see you noticed. We have our work cut out for us." There were a total of six bags dangling from her hands, each of them coming from a different shop. Quietly, she wished that she hadn't let her excitement get the best of her. Live and your learn.

"Oh," Sylvia's green eyes darted to the sky for a moment as a thought occurred to her, then settled back on the stranger. "Before we begin, though, I recall that you started to ask me something before checking on me," Sylvia's smile softened before she continued. "Perhaps I can help you with that while we search? I would hate to be the only one getting assistance."

[Serena Miller]

"Oh, it's no problem at all!" Serena put her hands in front of her chest and waved them slightly.  "And um, i-it's really not important.  We should focus on finding your money first since, um, it wouldn't be hard for me to just come back tomorrow to take care of my shopping if they close before we find it, but um, you'd probably have more problems if we don't find your wallet before everything closes..."

All she had to do was not cook tonight and she'd be fine.  Given the size of the cafeteria back at the school, that really wouldn't be an issue.  If this person didn't find their wallet, not only did that increase the chances that it would be stolen, but it also meant that she wouldn't have any access to money if she needed it, wouldn't have an ID, among the other things that people usually kept in their wallet.  There was no way Serena could even consider taking care of her shopping while this person she bothered was still having this kind of trouble.  She just hoped that all the stores were open late.

"U-Um...do you have any idea where you last had it?  I um, assume you must have had it for awhile or you wouldn't have been able to pay for all that right?  W-Where should we start then?"

[Sylvia Lane]

"That does narrow things down, doesn't it?" Sylvia blinked a few times. She had had a point. Her wallet was probably a lot closer than she had initially thought. It was a such a simple, natural line of reasoning that she probably wouldn't have occurred to her until it was far too late. She was glad she had another brain working along with hers. She took a few moments to consider where they should go from here with this new tidbit in mind. There were six shopping bags in her possession - one from a different store. But there had been some window shopping squeezed in between those ventures as well. Regardless, it was probably better if they started with the last store she bought something from.

Sylvia spoke up after a minute or two of thinking, "Our first stop is, thankfully, not too far from here," she smiled at the girl, then turned in the direction said store was in. "It's a little boutique that carries collections of some adorable little trinkets." Along with clothes, stuff like that were her weakness. She had gone a bit..."wild" in that store in particular because the prices were so affordable.

She started to take a step, but stopped herself before turning to look back at the stranger, "Oh, my apologies. My name is Sylvia Lane. I suppose it would be best if we knew each other names, huh?" she laughed lightly, a warm smile still on her lips. "...and I do appreciate you considering my situation. It is a bit dire. But even so, I hope you'll allow me to help you some other time as thanks for this. I would feel horrible if I didn't."

[Serena Miller]

"O-Oh!  Um...I'm Serena.  It's um, n-nice to meet you!"

Despite the innocent nature of the comment, Serena still found herself unable to maintain eye contact.  It had nothing to do with what Sylvia said, but rather what Serena herself didn't say.  She let a conversation go that long without properly introducing herself?  How stupid was she?  She couldn't even remember to do such a simple thing, even though she was the one that approached the other girl.  Hopefully she wasn't too annoyed.

Sylvia's next comment surprised her though.  Back at home, she was so used to everyone getting annoyed when she voiced her problems or asked questions or anything similar, especially when the other person was having problems of their own.  This was especially true of her mother, and less true of her father, but the point still stood.  Her mother would always ask her what was wrong, only because it was the right thing to do, but if it was as insignificant as her current problem she would undoubtedly be yelled at for wasting her time with such a trivial thing.  Serena assumed most people would be the same, so she avoided doing things like this whenever possible, yet for some reason this person was sad that she wasn't voicing her problems?  Serena wrung her hands a bit.  What exactly was she supposed to do?  Well, for now, she really needed to find this person's wallet.  

"Y-Yeah," she nodded.  "I-I'll worry about it after, since it's really not that important."

Serena followed the other girl into the last shop she was in.  She still couldn't believe how big some of these stores were, and this one was for decorative items that didn't even do anything useful.  Of course, there was a store like this back in her hometown because everyone liked having a nice looking place to live, but it was much, much smaller and only had handmade items.  The store here had many duplicates of the same item, and more items than even an entire village of people could possibly make.  It was astounding.  Nothing in here was of particular interest to her though.  Some of them really were very cute, but she had no idea where she would even put them, and she wasn't supposed to spend her parent's money on anything more than necessities anyway.

"O-Okay, um, so where did you go after paying?"

[Sylvia Lane]

Seconds after walking into the boutique, Sylvia had already spotted a few things that she'd missed the first time she was here. The place itself was relatively large for a boutique, but she felt as though the atmosphere was the real draw. They'd used almost every inch of the space practically. The walls were lined with wooden shelves that displayed some of the items offered, and tables of the same material were carefully placed along the floor. There was just enough room to comfortably walk around. The lights overhead poured a soft orange over the interior, giving the place a comfy feeling. But the products themselves were appealing, too, for those interested. The majority of the items consisted of decorative things, but they also sold stationary and journals. The urge to get sidetracked was incredibly strong.

But she had to be strong. She pondered Serena's question with a finger to her mouth and walked to one of the tables located in the center, "I believe I looked around a bit more around here after paying," her eyes slid along the table, searching for anything that resembled her wallet. They suddenly stopped on something. She reached and gently picked up a keychain with a  Piplup made of felt dangling from it. Her green eyes shined as she brought it up to her face, then held it out for Serena to see. "Oh, isn't this adorable?  What an awful time to lose my wallet..." she put a hand to her cheek, looking genuinely crushed.

She placed it back on the table with a sigh, then turned to look at Serena, "It may be faster to ask the cashier if any wallets were reported being found," she stated, then added. "If you want to look around a bit, I can go ask them on my own. Or we can stick together if you're not in a browsing mood." She didn't want to leave her like that after she'd just offered to help look, but she figured she'd throw the question out anyway. To be polite.

[Serena Miller]

For now, Serena was content to just follow Sylvia around, though she was certainly keeping her eyes peeled for any wallet-shaped objects or anything that just looked out of place in the store.  She clearly wasn't as taken in by the atmosphere as the other girl was.  It was certainly cozier inside than outside, but much like everything else in the city Serena still found it just way too big.  She was too used to the small town she grew up in.  There were probably less people in the whole town than there were at this mall right now.  All the stores just tended to be one room with a small splattering of items that the owners probably made on their own.  There was no way they could produce this much stuff.  The stores here just had so many options it made her head spin.  Even a relatively small place like this was still a little overwhelming.  

Serena's eyes wandered around, more distracted than she'd like to admit.  Her mind immediately snapped back into reality when the other girl started talking.  She missed the first part of what she said, but she was clearly showing her a little keychain and looked really sad about something.  It wasn't too hard to guess what she was saying before.  Serena looked down at the ground again.  Seeing someone sad like this made her a little sad too.

"Um...well I do have some money with me.  I could um, pay for that until we find your wallet."

Even if Sylvia never payed her back she wouldn't mind.  Making her feel better in a stressful situation was its own reward.  Serena just nodded at at her next thought.  It was a good idea.  If someone found it already and decided not to just steal it, then bringing it to the counter or a lost and found would be a reasonable course of action.

"Um...Well there's nothing I really need here, so I don't mind following you.  Or um, I could keep looking around to cover more ground if you prefer?"

Serena looked back up at Sylvia, clearly looking for confirmation of what she should be doing.

((You can assume Serena's doing whatever Sylvia suggests in your post if you want.))