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"Oh, no; don't worry. I understand. You've just moved into town, after all. It'd be wrong of me to think that you would already know all our traditions and holidays on your first day here. Just remember to warm it in the oven before you leave, so that it isn't cold when you arrive."

Ana just sort of nodded, like.. Yeah. Yeah, that would be silly to think either way. How would she have known unless she did a bunch of research on the town? Like, sure, her dad probably could've told her, but he didn't- Aaahh, it's fine. It's fine! She's not even mad, just a little flustered. A lot flustered. Why did she thinking moving out was a good idea?

"I think it's a wonderful gift, either way. Breakfast bars like these aren't something I typically have for breakfast, but I can see why you like them, Ana."

Surely she was just being nice - it didn't even compare! One was a delicious home-cooked pie made with love and good intent, the other was made in a heartless factory for profits.. Aaahh, Ana's never baked or cooked anything beyond sticking it in a microwave for 90 seconds! She'd have to ask Zach how he makes his pancakes or something, so she could return the favor and not give her what could be equated to dog food.

"Well, I'll have to get going, in any case. My air-headed cousin is probably already up and bothering our grandmother while she tries to prepare for the picnic. I can at least show you into town if you'd like to meet the others, though."

On one hand, she knew she'd need to go into town eventually - she needed to find out where to get some groceries beyond peanut butter breakfast bars, after all - but on the other.. Oh, jeez, what if nobody except Irina likes her? What if it's grade school all over again, where she's just too weird to have friends? What if they all can somehow recognize she's practically an alien trying and failing to be a regular human? Not that she is LITERALLY an alien, but.. It certainly felt like that, sometimes.

...Then again, Irina did bring a whole ass pie. Maybe the people here were all that nice. Maybe she was just overthinking again and letting her nerves get the better of her. Maybe going and meeting everyone else in town would be fun. Maybe there's a dog!

"Yeah," Ana finally said after an uncomfortable few seconds of quiet, "Yeah, um, that might be fun! I could come with you to town- if that's ok with you I mean. Obviously."

Irina is the one that offered, why would it not be ok? Think before you speak, Ana! Gah!

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"It isn't a far walk, so we'll be in town before you know it."

Ana simply nods in response, tailing behind the brunette as they walked up the tree-covered road. She didn't get a good look around when she was in her dad's car and was hustling to move herself in, but... It really is nice here. There were flowers blooming in the bushes, a gentle breeze rustled the leaves and the grasses around them, and there was the faintest of birdsongs in the distance.

"In about a week, firefly squids will be swimming through this river and the nearby lake during their annual spawning season. It's a beautiful scene, Ana, so if you happen to have time that evening, you should come see it with the rest of us."

Firefly squids? Like, fireflies, but they're squids? Squids, but with wings and light-up butts? It didn't exactly sound beautiful, but it did sound interesting. She'll have to remember to put it in her cellphone's little reminder app.

"The fenced-in building is Werewolff Vineyards."

Ana's eyes lit up, mouth opening to immediately ask-!

"And no, Mahina isn't actually a werewolf."

Oh.

That's.. well, it feels bad to say that's disappointing, but... Man, having a werewolf friend would've been really cool-! As long as she was the chill kind of werewolf that didn't like eating people, anyway. But then again, how would Irina know that Mahina wasn't a werewolf? Maybe Mahina was, and she just did a really good job hiding it. Maybe Werewolf Mahina only went after cats and rabbits when she heeded the full moon's alluring call. Or maybe the whole town knew! Maybe they fed newcomers they didn't like to the werebeast that was Mahina!

Or.. Maybe she's just being over-imaginative.

"And over there is my house, as well the post office. So, if you have need to send anything, or even want to talk, I'll probably be there."

Ok, was that just Irina giving a friendly suggestion, or.. Or was there more to that? Did Irina maybe feel the same way about her too-? Oh, God, no, of course not, no way. Why would she? That was dumb. Ana was being dumb, but she couldn't help it! Irina was just really pretty, and she was really nice too! Ana's just being dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. Super dumb. Mega dumb-

"Over here is the Abernova General Store, which carries probably anything that you could think you would need here. Outside the specialized goods, of course. Like Mahina's wine."

Ana nodded in understanding - yes, that is definitely a good place to be aware of. She needed to buy quite a bit of stuff so her fridge and cabinets were all nice and stocked up. Maybe pick up some little knick knack-y things too. She saw how Irina looked around her house. Ana knew her house looked barren. Her dad even kept gently asking, "Are you sure you don't want to pack an extra blanket or two? Maybe some non-perishables? Not even your posters?"

Maybe she should shoot her dad a text and tell him some of the things she needed and didn't realize she needed...

"I imagine Luna's probably organizing her stock for the new year right now, and since I need to stop there to pick up a few things for my grandmother, I wouldn't mind introducing you to her as well."

Getting to know the person behind the counter would also potentially be a good thing! Maybe use some of that Moore Charisma to sway this Luna into giving her some discounts-?

Ah, no. No, she was way too awkward to try that. Even her dad was at least slightly more charismatic. Maybe if she was more like her stepdad, or her mom, cause neither of them ever seemed to care what other people thought! Or if they did it was like water off their backs or whatever the saying was. But.. Meeting everyone in town still sounded like a good idea, and this Luna girl seemed like a good start.

"...So, you in?"

"I'm very in," Ana said with a smile.

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