Kahli left her apprenticeship early that day because Omar decided to go on bereavement leave. The long barrage on insults and slights that Hauff had delivered to him had, in Omar's words, shattered his self perception irreparably.
Kahli knew Omar well, and knew that this was an excuse to shirk work duties, but she was no snitch. She loved the idea of getting credit for performing her apprenticeship while also getting free time to do what she actually felt like doing instead of anything related to said apprenticeship. Especially considering the fact that she had been absolutely dying to get Froufrou cleaned up, preened, primped, and - ideally - give the weird little creature a full makeover!
Kahli walked down to Mahll Street to get started.
"Hey there, miss, have you got three fifty for an old timer on hard times with hard limes?" the old street man held up two wrinkly limes and smiled a grin that was missing many teeth.
Kahli tried her best not to make eye contact, apologized, and kept walking, tucking Froufrou under her arm as if the creature were precious cargo.
Froufrou looked up at Kahli and wondered why exactly she seemed to have such an aversion to this street dwelling tauman. Sure, the tauman wasn't much to look at, but Kahli had to understand that neither was Froufrou. In fact, Froufrou was several magnitudes more repulsive to all tauman senses than that man even had the possibility of being. And yet Kahli seemed less repulsed by Froufrou and far more repulsed by the man. Why had that been? Froufrou tried to understand, but she truly felt she could not. Maybe spending more time around taumans would change that, but Froufrou was not sure when that change might happen.
"Okay, Froufrou," said Kahli, "Let's go pick out some moisturizer for you. After all, you are an unspeakable horror from the Pit of Despair, and by that I mean, you're used to being completely submerged! Your skin is probably so terribly dry right now being above to water on land. So, let's fix it! Let's get your weird, disgusting, ill-smelling skin feeling nice and smooth. Or umm. Or nice and lumpy. Whatever, let's just go get you some moisturizer."
Froufrou wasn't sure what Kahli meant, as her skin was naturally moisturizing with its own aromatic enzymes. Still, she decided to humor the silly tauman and tag along for the ride.
It was only about half a minute before Kahli got distracted looking in a different store.
"Sorry, Froufrou, but I promise this is still about you. Look at this nice bag!" Kahli pulled up a frilly glippoglotamus skin bag and smiled. "This looks like it would fit you perfectly. What do you think, Froufrou? It would be so much more comfortable than me just carrying you everywhere."
Froufrou looked at the bag. She didn't think it was bad, but she also didn't think it was her. She squelched out a response.
"Oh, okay," said Kahli, looking sad. "Oh, what about this? It's made out of one hundred percent Gifflenbergian pheasant!"
Froufrou felt sickly looking at the bag that Kahli held up next. Or, well, Froufrou felt more sickly than usual, it was better to say.
Then, Froufrou spotted a bag on her own. It was small and chic, and velvety. Froufrou pointed a tendril at the bag and squelched.
"Oh, you want that bag?" asked Kahli.
Froufrou didn't like the tone Kahli used. It seemed to imply there was a problem with liking the bag. But Froufrou did, in fact, like the bag, so Froufrou squelched in affirmative.
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After the checkout finished, Froufrou finally realized the reason Kahli had tried to shy her away from the bag was because it was expensive. However, it was also very comfortable, and having no concept of monetary value, Froufrou was having no regrets.
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They entered another shop and Kahli introduced Froufrou to all manner of different moisturizers, many of which had aromas that Froufrou considered quite foul. However, Kahli seemed insistent to an extreme degree that Froufrou at least consider trying some of them. Froufrou still thought her natural musk was quite nice, but clearly taumans had other ideas. If Froufrou was going to be a mollusk of tauman society as indeed she planned to, maybe the moisturizer thing wasn't so bad. She got five sample bags of differing styles and a couple of big tubs of a more catch-all moisturizing solution.
"Great, this is really great for everything except my wallet," said Kahli. Then, she had a mischievous glint in her eye that Froufrou only caught for a second. "Unless..."
Froufrou squelched, finally understanding as Kahli shoved all of the moisturizers and sample packs in the bag with Froufrou.
"Quick, let's get out of here!"
But, before they could leave the shop, an attendant lady with a wooden face and an immaculate dress stopped them.
"Hi there. Just wondering, did you want to try anything out before you go?"
Kahli took a deep breath. "No, no, we tried tons of stuff and everything smelled awful, it was terrible."
"Oh... okay," said the lady with confusion and a little bit of irritation.
Kahli walked out of the shop and continued on down the street.
"That probably only worked due to your [skill], Froufrou," said Kahli.
Froufrou wasn't so sure, be she appreciated the vote of confidence as they walked up to the next shop.
This one was full of essential oils, crystals and gemstones. They walked through the store and were offered to buy a large stone structure for more than it cost for Kahli to rent her living pod. When that didn't work, they were offered a subscription service for essential oil packs where five oils per year were mailed out on a trickling basis. When Kahli expressed a lack of interest in any of these things, she and Froufrou were asked to leave.
So on they walked. They passed shops with souvenirs for visitors to Gifflenberg. They went to a nice card shop and got thank you cards, just in case Froufrou ever wanted to thank someone after getting birthday presents from them, Kahli explained. Froufrou wasn't certain what the concept of birthdays referred to, but she felt strangely obligated by it already and didn't know how to properly feel about that feeling.
On they walked. They checked out options for theatrical productions, but none of them sounded great, especially the one that was currently ongoing, where Froufrou could tell the lead actress was well off key despite her ears being optimized for low, watery depths.
They continued down the street and reached a sunglasses stand. Froufrou tried a couple of groups of lenses on, though Kahli wasn't sure where to put them considering Froufrou had no eyes and no real front or back. There was a pair of cat-eye lenses that seemed on point that Kahli ended up buying for Froufrou anyways.
After that, it had seemed that their stint at Mahll Street was over. Kahli smiled a knowing grin as she approached a small storefront that smelled strongly of soap.
"Okay, Froufrou, we're going to have to actually pay for this. Or, well, I guess I'll pay for this," she said with a wink that scrunched the plaster on her face lightly. "We're going to get our nails done! Or, well, in your case, get your tentacles done!"
And this experience was what Froufrou imagined heaven felt like. Froufrou laid back in a soft, leather armchair while two taumans massaged and painted all of her disgusting tendrils. The only thing was, she had to be sure to keep her tendrils still, which was difficult yet not impossible for a sea creature so accustomed to aimlessly writhing around. It was, nonetheless, a luxurious and relaxing occasion that Froufrou knew in that moment she would remember forever.
What really made it a great event, too, was overhearing what other people would say to the taumans doing their nails. One tauman just would not stop talking, and while it was kind of funny to Froufrou. It was also a little distracting and annoying.
"Like, oh my gods, I was just like, what? I have to like, what punch a dragon in the throat? It's just, it's their weirdest thing ever. Like, oh my gods, you probably don't want to [pair] with something and get a system like I did, honestly. Like, oh my gods, it's so stressful."
"Oh no," whispered Kahli as she finished up on her nails and stood up, ready to put Froufrou in her nice, new bag.
Froufrou wondered why her tauman seemed suddenly so upset.
"Oh my gods! It's you!" spat the loud tauman. "Kahli!"
"Taubitha!"
"Oh, bitch, do you have a system now, too?" spat Taubitha. "Because if so, oh my gods, you so don't deserve it."
"Shut the fuck up, Taubitha," said Kahli, surprised at her own language. She whispered in her mind a silent prayer of forgiveness to Theseosus.
"Oh my gods, you swear now?" Taubitha said patronizingly. "Let's fucking fight, you traitor!"