“Behold the Radishes!” Hadiza cried, holding aloft a beautiful bunch with the greens still attached. A few passers-by in the open air market spared a glance her way and carried on.
On the other side of the video call with the three shopping rabbit girls, Lute peered at the radishes with a critical eye.
“As First Radish, I approve,” he pronounced theatrically, and then leaned forward. “They’re actually suspiciously beholdable.”
Each radish was almost perfectly proportioned, but not to the point of looking artificial. The rich deep reds faded gently at the top, each radish a slightly different shade, adding to the appeal of the entire bunch. The occasional bit of texture made them look natural and eminently edible. They practically glowed with “Eat me.”
“Isn’t Hadiza’s skill so cool?” Natalie gushed. “And Emilija is practicing hers right now too, check out her new nails!”
Emilija waggled her fingers at the camera and grinned at Lute as if she were perfectly at ease. Lute would know, from their prior conversations, that she’d likely spent all day chipping at the polish and then magically fixing it back up.
“Ooh, purple! Nice!” Lute said through the screen.
“And we could really use your help as a guide, if you happen to be free,” Natalie continued. “Hadiza is on Radishes, I’m on Wevvi, and Emilija is on place settings. But Hadiza and I have to go to F city for some of this stuff, and we didn’t want to leave Emilija to shop alone in Apex, so we’re hoping…”
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“Yeah, I should be able to swing by,” Lute said casually. “I’ve finished my own preparations.”
“What are you doing for the party?” Hadiza asked.
“I’m in charge of music. Of course live music is the only way to go, and I myself will be gracing the party with a performance along with some other friends from Arts. I’ve also got a playlist of Alden’s favorites for the jukebox between sets, and I’ve granted Finlay a slot for his abominations of song that I find perfectly charming and have no judgement about whatsoever. But for my special gift, I have created a virtuosic arrangement of the American classic, ‘Sweet Home Chicago’, for Angela. I mean, for harp. I am currently broadening my horizons on world music, and it’s actually in a deceptively difficult genre for my instrument, as in order to access the required chromatics I needed to cleverly adapt how the…”
Lute trailed off, considered the blank stares of his audience, and then shugged. “I’m doing a music thing by being good at music. It’ll be awesome.”
“Eggplants?” Hadiza raised an eyebrow.
“I’m sure Angela Aubergine would give her most sincere thanks,” Lute nodded solemnly, understanding Emilija’s intentions.
“But why eggplants?” Hadiza asked again.
Natalie smiled happily, perfectly willing to stand by and watch the free entertainment.
Lute facepalmed and prepared to cut the call before he dug himself in deeper.
“No, it’s translating right. …I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”