third time's the charm [aryan]

Yep, she should’ve really gotten his address the last time she saw him. She’d been wandering around for quite a while now, and after accidentally waking up the wrong people not once but three times, she’d given up on knocking on random doors and decided to just wander around and… daydream for a while before going back to work. She’d snuck out already, so she might as well enjoy her time away from the inn, if she ran into Aryan it would be great, but even if she didn’t… it wouldn’t be the end of the world. She’d run into him eventually, they did live in the same village after all.

Still… she’d really hoped to see him today. Oh well, maybe luck just wasn’t on her side today.

As that thought crossed her mind, something else crossed her path. Quite literally. Blinking a few times in confusion, Madoka just stared down at the long row of potatoes rolling by her feet. O… kay? You certainly didn’t see that every day. Thankfully for whoever had lost these, the vegetables came to an abrupt stop when they all rolled into a woman standing by one of the stands. As soon as the vegetables collided with her ankles, the woman shrieked in such an over exaggerated fashion that Madoka couldn’t help but giggle a little, turning away so the woman wouldn’t notice her laughing and get mad or accuse her of being responsible for the potato attack or something silly like that. As she looked in the direction from which the potatoes had come, luck suddenly seemed to be back on her side again; there he was! Right there next to… a toppled barrel with a few potatoes lying next to it. She knew she shouldn’t be laughing at his misfortune, and she tried to hold it in, but the more she tried, the more her eyes watered up as her shoulders started shaking with pent up amusement. Potatoes and Aryan really didn’t go well together, did they?

“Aryan…!” she called out, her voice sounding somewhat shaky as a giggle managed to break free. “Stop it, you’ll embarrass him,” she mentally scolded herself before biting her tongue and walking over to the stand. "Good morning," she smiled, first at him and then at the merchant, hoping that the man wasn't in too foul a mood over what had happened. It wasn't that big a deal anyway, none of the potatoes were broken and there was always a little dirt on the skin, so did it really matter if there was slightly more dust and sand on it now than before? Madoka didn't think so.“Having trouble?” she asked Aryan with a smirk, but then forced a somewhat serious expression back onto her face. “This is their revenge on you for trying to cook their relatives the other day you know,” she spoke in a surprisingly convincing serious tone, if she did say so herself, “Not cooking a potato properly leads to seven years of bad luck, this is only the beginning,” she wondered if he’d actually fall for that one or not. Probably not, but you never knew. Maybe he’d think the potatoes in this country were cursed or haunted or something… that would be rather amusing, and she couldn’t pass up that opportunity to mess with him a little.

Too bad for her she couldn’t lie to save her life, and try as she might, in the end she couldn’t keep a straight face and before she knew it, a wide grin had replaced her serious expression as she started laughing a little again. “Sorry… I couldn’t help it. Potatoes just don’t seem to get along with you at all.” Now that she stood closer to him, she finally noticed he was carrying something. She eyed the bag for a second and tilted her head curiously, “What’s in the bag?”

Thankfully Aryan could take a joke as he didn’t seem too offended by her laughing at his… misery. Okay, so maybe that did sound a little evil when you thought of it that way, but she really didn’t mean anything by it, and honestly, it was a pretty funny situation right? Even Aryan himself seemed mildly amused as he just went along with her tale of vengeful potatoes. “Oh yes, it’s why we eat mostly rice here… preparing potatoes is a risky business, not everyone’s up for the challenge.” Madoka replied, nodding her head as if it was common knowledge around these parts. The owner of the barrel muttered something about stupid kids, which she could only assume was in reference to herself and Aryan, but said nothing besides that. Good, because she really wasn’t in the mood to argue with this guy. It had taken her a while to find Aryan, and now that she’d found him, she wasn’t going to waste any time talking to someone else. Especially when they were mad and couldn’t be reasoned with.

When she noticed her friend’s flushed cheeks, Madoka just smiled gently before kneeling as well to help him gather the potatoes from the ground. A little teasing was fun, but she wouldn’t take it too far, not with him anyway. People like Akemi and even Yuka could be pushed further because they eventually just told her to shut up and if that didn’t work, they’d just smack her in the back of the head or something. But Aryan was far too nice for that, and even if he was pushed that far, he’d probably feel guilty about it afterwards, even if it was well within his rights to respond that way. “Oh really?” her smile only grew when she heard him admit that he’d been hoping to see her again as well. “Well… actually, I came out here looking for you,” she admitted quietly as she placed the potatoes back into the barrel, “It’s such a nice day, I was hoping to spend it with someone I like rather than with my boss,” as she mentioned that, she looked up and frowned ever so slightly, “Unless you had other plans of course, it’s fine if you do, I don’t want to impose on your time.”

After the potatoes were taken care of, Madoka finally noticed the bag he’d been carrying with him. When he mentioned bumping into another barrel, Madoka just hung her head trying not to laugh this time, “This really isn’t your lucky day, is it?” she asked as she peeked into the bag. Broken figurines… hmm. What could you do with those? “Hm, well… you could try to fix them and use them as decorations in your house I guess. Or break them completely and use the pieces to build something else?” she curiously lifted one of the figurines by the head and examined it carefully, trying to come up with other uses for these things, “Use them as bookstand, or… keep them under your pillow as a secret weapon to fend off intruders?” she smirked at that last suggestion and held the figurine by the legs almost like you’d hold a small weapon. This thing had to be pretty hard, so whacking someone over the head with it would probably scare him off. As she lifted her arm and swung the thing around to demonstrate its value as an unorthodox weapon, the upper body of the figure finally broke loose from its legs and crashed to the ground with a loud noise as it shattered even further. “Oh gods, I’m sorry!” she called out in a reflex and clasped a hand in front of her mouth in surprise as she stared down at the now completely destroyed item.

”No Aryan, dooon’t~!” was what she would’ve yelled, had she noticed his intent sooner. But it was already too late… he’d already purchased a sack of potatoes from the now rather happy looking merchant. Madoka just crossed her arms and pursed her lips as she glanced down at the bag he was holding before looking back up at him. What did he need more potatoes for? Hadn’t he seen more than enough of those things to last him a lifetime already?“Aryan… seriously…” she muttered in reply to his joke. Honestly, he was too nice sometimes. He hadn’t broken anything, so why should he have to buy something? At times she wondered if he’d ever dealt with situations like these before she’d met him, because he seemed almost naïve in his way of dealing with certain things. “Keep this up and people are just going to run their carts into you on purpose to get you to buy stuff, merchants are like vultures, they spot the easy prey from miles away,” she informed him, casually forgetting about the fact there was a merchant standing right next to her. From now on, she’d be paying double just for ruining the man’s schemes. “Well, I guess you can practice your cooking skills now, since you’ve got plenty of material to work with,” she followed up with a quick smile, not wanting to sound too patronizing. Honestly though, someone had to tell him about these things. Maybe the merchants in his own country were honest, honorable men, but they certainly weren’t like that here. Offer them a finger and they’ll rip off your entire arm.

Speaking of tearing off arms, Madoka could merely stare blankly at where she’d smacked the figurine to the ground. Well, at least it had already been broken before, so there was no need to feel too upset over this, but still… kind of awkward to be breaking stuff in the middle of a shopping crowd. “Yeah…” she agreed, scratching her neck in embarrassment, “But this does prove my point. Imagine if it had hit a person instead of the street! They’d certainly think twice before messing with you again in the future, right?” or at least she would. That horrible cracking sound it had made as it hit the ground… she could only imagine how hard that figurine had to have been. Definitely not something you wanted to meet up close.

When the topic seemed to steer away from inanimate objects and switched back to them, Madoka felt a little bolder than usual, and rather than dance around what she was really trying to say, she figured she’d just go ahead and say it, consequences be damned. It was perfectly alright for a friend to want to see another friend, even if said other friend was an attractive guy. She wasn’t going to state that just yet though, definitely not in the middle of a crowded street and definitely not today, that was, unless they happened to find themselves in a situation where it would be completely appropriate, but what were the chances of that happening? “Of course…” she spoke again, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear as she smiled up at him. He had such nice hair… had she said that already? Oh right, she had, that day on the beach. Well it couldn’t hurt to say it again, not out loud though, that would just be strange.

Her smile grew a little wider when he started to say something that would’ve no doubt been very sweet and endearing… had he not been interrupted by a shrill voiced intruder. As soon as the woman got all up in their face – or his face rather – all of her happy thoughts drifted away, and her smile dropped into a frown faster than a shady merchant could sell something useless to Aryan. Who… was this woman? And what the heck was she saying? Aryan was a scoundrel? And a woman chaser? Yeah right… like she wouldn’t have figured that out already, had that really been the case.
Madoka stared incredulously at Aryan’s assailant and just crossed her arms over her chest awkwardly, not sure what to make of this. “Uh…” was her only response for now as she looked from Aryan, towards the woman, and back again. “Yeah…” she agreed with him quietly, glancing between the two a few more times, “I’m sorry, but may I ask how you two know each other?” obviously she didn’t believe what the woman was implying, but she didn’t want to risk causing a scene by just telling her to get lost either. Maybe someone really had mistreated her in the past, and Aryan just looked like the guy she was going on about. Maybe one of his countrymen? After all, he couldn't be the only guy who ever left their homeland, others must've had the same idea at some point in their lives. "I'm sure we can work this out like sensible adults." she spoke calmly, hoping this wasn't going to turn into some trashy streetfight or anything like that.

Madoka just stood there with a confused expression as the woman continued to throw accusations his way. Apparently, the woman genuinely believed him to be some lecherous woman chaser who had been harassing her all day? Madoka snorted a little when the woman called him a lust-stricken dog, not so much because this situation amused her, but because she was sure now that this person was just completely insane. A lust-stricken dog… Aryan… really now. “Are you insa-“ she started to question, in a rather serious tone too, when Aryan stepped up to defend himself. Of course she got it all wrong, but how was he staying this calm? If someone accused her of doing something like this, she’d be pissed. Yeah, she avoided conflict whenever she could, but that didn’t mean she would let anyone walk all over her either. The woman was just lucky she wasn’t dealing with Madoka right now, although, in a way, she still was because for some reason, she took this almost as a personal insult as well. Because really, if Aryan really was the guy the woman claimed him to be, why would Madoka want to hang out with him? Obviously she would’ve realized who he was by now, was the woman seriously implying that she was either too simple to notice, or too much of a pervert herself to care?

He commented on how he’d mistaken her for someone else, and had the situation been any less confrontational than it was, Madoka would’ve likely been grinning like an idiot, because after that glance, she was pretty sure he was talking about her. Who else could he be talking about? He didn’t really know anyone here, he’d said so himself. And he’d seemed happy to see her too, so yeah… But once again, this lady was ruining what could’ve been a really nice moment, and Madoka could feel her patience slipping farther and farther away. Who did this lady think she was anyway? Obviously she thought pretty highly of herself if she went around accusing innocent men of creeping on her in the bushes or wherever she’d mention seeing him. It was kind of sad, really.
“Wait, Aryan-“ she reached out an arm to stop him from giving the woman a peace offering – because honestly, the only thing this person deserved was a good scolding for just attacking people like this – but she’d reached him too late… the damage had already been done, and now it was just a matter of time before the bomb exploded. As soon as the potato bumped against the woman’s chest, Madoka felt a mixture of shock and amusement, and she could feel her lips curling upwards into a smile, though she tried her best not to laugh out loud, covering her mouth with her hand to prevent the woman from seeing even the slightest hint of amusement. That would surely make the situation escalate further, and she didn’t want to risk that.

When the potatoes were dropped, Madoka reached down in a reflex to go grab them, but before she got close enough to snatch one up, she suddenly felt Aryan grabbing her hand and dragging her off. Okay… yeah, maybe it was better to just go before Madoka herself got frustrated enough that she’d scream right back at Aryan’s creepy stalker and turn the whole thing into some sort of horrible cat-fight in the middle of a crowded street. Madoka huffed a little as she was being dragged, trying to calm herself down a little now that they were leaving that mess behind them. Of course though, the woman couldn’t just leave well enough alone and continued to yell accusations after their retreating backs, drawing the attention of random bystanders as she did so. That’s it. If she wanted it, she could get it. Aryan might have the patience and the gentleness of a saint, but Madoka surely didn’t. If people insisted on pushing this far, she didn’t hesitate to shove them back into place.

“No means no!” Madoka yelled back, looking over her shoulder to glare at the woman, “Go find a man that actually wants you, instead of stalking someone who doesn’t. You’re making a fool out of yourself with this desperate display!” Ah… that felt so good, what felt even better was that some of the curious bystanders had turned their confused looks onto the woman herself now, as though she was the weird one here, which honestly, she was. What person in their right mind acted this way? Maybe what she’d implied wasn’t exactly the truth, but it was close enough to the truth that Madoka didn’t regret saying it. She really did come across as someone who was just desperate for male attention, so it was within her rights to accuse her of that, right? Now that she’d created some doubt amongst the innocent bystanders over who they should be judging, Madoka felt confident enough to turn back around and continue walking as though nothing had happened. However the woman would reply to Madoka’s accusation, there would be at least a few people around who thought she really was some sort of creepy wannabe mistress of Aryan’s.

“Are you okay?” she asked him quietly, placing her free hand on his arm and smiling gently, “Don’t worry, I know you’re not like that at all.”