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[b]Interactions:[/b] Caspian du Thane ([@Double])[hr][/center]

[color=91ffc6]"I see; so the product would be the beans themselves..."[/color] Shaakira wondered how such a process would even work. Wouldn't the customer need to have a mortar and pestle in order to grind the beans? Could they ask the shopkeeper to grind the beans for them? Was that how they came? And how was the customer supposed to use the beans to make the drink in the first place?

Shaakira watched the shopkeeper work on making the drink for her, figuring that doing so would at least answer the vast majority of the questions she had about the whole process. She watched intently, but then something the shopkeeper asked her had distracted her.

[color=888888]"Pardon me but... have we met before by any chance? I swear you look familiar to me but I just can't place it."[/color]

[color=91ffc6]"I, uh..."[/color] Shaakira hesitated, evidently taken aback by such a question out of the blue, but took a moment to think, [color=91ffc6]"Now that you mention it, you might've been one of the many passengers I saw, when I boarded one of the ships that was headed to Vermillion Port. ...except that was [i]years[/i] ago. I can't have been older than ten, maybe even eleven at that time. Are you saying you noticed me that whole time?"[/color]

...

Before the shopkeeper could respond, Akeeta prodded Shaakira with a couple letters that it just happened to pick up off the ground. One of the letters was addressed to Shaakira herself. The other name she didn't know, so she just placed it on the bench and slid it forward. She looked like she was about to open her letter, but then she saw the insignia on it and froze, dropping the letter itself. Shaakira knew that insignia. It was a summon from the Shogun himself. She didn't need to read the letter to know that. Nor did she want to.

Akeeta looked like it was about to pick Shaakira's letter back up and prod her with it again, but Shaakira stomped on it the seconds her wits came about her again. She didn't want to give it any more attention that it already had.

[color=91ffc6]"Where did you find it, Akeeta?"[/color] Shaakira interrogated her companion Parasect.

Akeeta tried to imitate a Golbat flapping its wings. That impression failed on Shaakira in its entirety, but by the way it brought it claws down, she gathered that both of the letters must've dropped from the sky from where said Golbat let go of them. Still, Shaakira's expression had only changed from anger to sadness, as she lifted her long skirt a small amount, just enough to reveal that the toes on that one foot were all pointing to the insignia on the corner of the letter.

[color=91ffc6]"Do you see this symbol right here? That means we got this directly from the Shogun himself, which in turn would suggest that he's summoning us to his castle. There's a number of reasons why he'd do something like this. The recipient could've even done something wrong for all but Arceus knows. That's why..."[/color] Shaakira looked over to the shopkeeper, and then back to face Akeeta, [color=91ffc6]"That's exactly why I don't want us to go. Not just yet. I... still need to mentally prepare myself, for [i]one[/i]..."[/color]