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[color=00F8FE]Time: 3:00 pm? Almost 3 pm?  
Location: Super dank plants shop
Interactions: Riona[@JJ Doe][/color]

[color=9FA1A4]
[color=DAF6C7]“Your Highness, I must beg your pardon…”[/color] 

Callum, who was very much standing where people were walking, lost in his head, became an obstacle in the way of an unfortunate shopper causing a collision. Except the shopper was not some random noblewoman, despite being dressed like one, but a familiar face. Callum smiled with recognition, but the use of ‘your highness’ gave him pause. [color=00F8FE][i]Why?[/i][/color]

[color=00F8FE][i]Oh, right, the guards.[/i][/color] Nothing like constant surveillance to fully shatter the illusion that he could be a normal person for a little while. Nope, still the problem child of a royal family whose every move and conversation had to be monitored and probably reported back to his brother. 

[color=00F8FE]“No harm done.”[/color] Callum returned the curtsy with a proper bow, and at least for once it was for someone he had real respect for and not someone he was just supposed to show respect to. [color=00F8FE]“How about we try looking like we actually like our citizens.”[/color] He glanced  back at the guards and demonstrated by frowning back at them and using his fingers to push the corners of his mouth into a smile. Their expressions did not change and it was clear these were certainly Wulfric’s sort of people. 

[color=DAF6C7]“It appears that you possess a discerning palate. If it may not be too impertinent of me, might I recommend the spices over there?”[/color]

[color=00F8FE]“I had excellent tudors.”[/color] That was entirely true; anything Cal knew about plants had come either from worn and well loved handwritten books or from Riona herself. And Riona knew plants the same way that some people just knew horses or how to hammer metal until it became something beautiful. Some people were just gifted like that. [color=00F8FE]“Thank you for the recommendation. Enjoy your day as well.”[/color] If he had to put on an act in front of guards at least it did not have to be entirely fake. 

Callum returned to his shopping and headed over to where Riona had indicated, looking over the variety of jarred specimens until he stumbled upon the same thing that had caught Riona’s eye. 

The elusive geshrow root. A rare find, something he’d only read the name of, or seen a couple crude drawings of, in books. He wasn’t even sure it grew around here. One of those things you just don’t expect to find, at least not without really looking. But he hadn’t really found it had he? 

[color=00F8FE][i]So why hadn’t Riona snagged it?[/i][/color] He wondered, and studied the jar, opened it to sniff for freshness, and tried to figure out if something was wrong with it. It seemed fine. More questions filled his mind. Was it dangerous? An obvious sign of illegal activity? Was he being assigned a dangerous task? Was he helping if he bought it? He tried to solve the minor mystery, never once even glancing at its price tag. Cal decided it had to be dangerous in some way and was nearly buzzing with excitement at the thought of doing something that was possibly helpful. 

He glanced back in Riona’s direction, holding the jar, to indicate he’d gotten the message and he was definitely going to buy it. He was met with a look that made the hairs on the back of his neck rise. 

[color=00F8FE][i]Shit. Am I being annoying? Ruining her cover?[/i][/color] That wouldn’t be helpful. He put the jar in with the rest of his stuff, and tried to mind his own business. But it was hard not to notice that Riona basically ran out the door, entirely empty handed, right after that.

Right. He was being very annoying and obviously just because someone talked to him while they were forced to be in his general vicinity didn’t mean they wanted to spend their free time helping him shop. And that was fair. He tried not to bother anyone else in the botanics shop before eventually paying for his stuff and leaving. 

If he was going to be an annoyance today he certainly had someone in mind for that energy. Looks like it was about time to go find his sister.[/color]