Jesper makes a trip into town - Part 2
Yarrow watches, waving goodbye as Jesper fades from view. The little imp hears a tiny "Safe travels!" echo behind him. By now, he's familiar with the directions to town. Dense foliage begins to encroach the dirt path. This is a perfect time to remove one's boots.
Jesper blips up a foot or two above where his own head once was, floating lazily forwards in place. He removes his boots and sock, one at a time, and removes the rucksack from his back, shoving them both inside. It mashes the side of the half loaf of bread he'd packed for this trip. The bag is closed up tightly once more, and placed over his shoulders once again.
Some time passes before Jesper reaches a clearing. It overlooks a dried gully, where a group of wild imps seem to be roughhousing. Jesper lands softly on his feet and runs over to the nearby ledge of the path to get a better view. He sits on a downed stump. The group mostly seem to be tackling each other mid-air, pulling on horns, tails, wings, whatever their hands can grab.
"Imps! Hehehe." Jesper watches for a minute or two longer. He lifts his hood and rubs where horns could be. "No horn for Jesper." This does not seem to phase him in any way. He runs back to the dirt path towards town.
It's not uncommon for Yarrow to join Jesper on this journey, and typically does, but Jesper can be insistent at times that he can do it alone.
Another hour passes, and the greenery becomes sparse. The silhouette of homes comes into view.
Saturday is known as the primary "market day". Traveling merchants arrive and fill stalls that litter the town center. It's a more lively, almost festive day, sometimes made complete with live music.
Jesper makes his way through the outskirts of town towards the market center, where the crowds become packed. His eyes open as he removes the list he was given from his front pocket and unfolds it.
"Need bread! Need bread man. Bit bread man---hehehe." Jesper looks around in every direction before recognizing a very familiar vendor. His eyes shut tight.
Hurriedly, Jesper walks through a busy crowd up to a market stall. His little hands smack the wares to double check that this is indeed where the bread is. He is too short for the vendor to see.
"Hi." Jesper says.
No reply.
He scurries to the side of the stall to stand beside the merchant. Both eyes roll open, at unfortunately unsettling and uneven intervals. The man visibly shudders at the imp's black sclera.
"Hi."
"Hi." The man responds. "It's you." The way he says it holds slight contempt.
"Is Jesper! Is imp!" Jesper laughs, pointing to himself. His eyes close once more. "Here for bread for friend!"
"Oh yeah, your friend of the woods, huh?"
"Yes---hehehe---Yarrow. Friend Yarrow."
"And what's he like?"
"Likes bread---hehehe---need bread. Old bread is travel bread. Part go moldy---hehehe---imp eat, friend says no eat."
"Yes, but what is Yarrow like? Tell me about him." The man reiterates, trying to speed up the process of this transaction by wrapping up one of the loaves from the display.
"Um. Yarrow? Friend is... tall! Hehehe. To imp."
"That he is, huh. Well, here you go." The loaf is handed down to Jesper, who takes it in his little hands. He directs his attention down at it, but does nothing.
"No worry. Imp no bite. No bite man again. No lick." Jesper's face rises to meet the man's again.
"I wasn't worried you were going to bite me again, but now I am. I think you might just bite." The merchant chuckles awkwardly.
"No, no! Jesper was told no more bite bread man by friend---hehehe---no bite." It seems as though his train of thought is suddenly derailed. "Oh! Pay man. Pay man for bread---hehehe. I pay... five worm."
Jesper takes the loaf in one hand, and reaches into his front pocket to pull out several live worms. The man recoils.
"No---hehehe---worms Jesper's. Bread man get... money!"
The worms go back into the pocket. Jesper levitates the loaf of bread in place long enough for him to remove his rucksack, rummage through it, and retrieve a pre-portioned satchel of coins. He hands it to the vendor and begins packing away his new loaf into his bag.
The man seems to have had enough from the imp and turns away. Jesper peeks through one eye to make sure the transaction is over. He happily heads out into the crowd once again, bumping into a few people until certain he's arrived at his next stop.
Escaping the crowd, Jesper opens a door to a bakery. As the door shuts behind him, a bell jingles to signal to staff that someone has entered. Jesper whips around to face the door, then turns to the man behind the counter, all the while pointing at the bell.
"HA!---Bell! Jingle, festive, merry noises!" His finger could not point any harder if he tried. "Imp love jingle! Can jingle too!" Jesper begins jumping in place, filling the bakery with the jingles of his jester hood. The bells on his collar are particularly loud. "Very good door! Love door!" He applauds.
"Hey Jesper." The baker sighs. "What do you need today?"
"Need pastry."
"Anything catch your eye? Or... well, I guess not." The man scoffs.
"Need pastry for Yarrow. For friend and imp."
"Tarts, custards, tell me what you want. I believe last week you bought an apple fig tart."
"Yes---hehehe---apple fig."
"Do you ... do you want that again? Two? One for you and your friend?"
"Um!" Jesper peters forward slowly, approaching a counter. His fingers touch the edge. He stops, opens his eyes and examines the large selection.
Another customer comes in, a woman in a long blue dress. She seems immediately off-put by whatever situation seems to be unfolding. Jesper giggles at the ring of the bell.
"I'm going to help this customer and I'll come back to you, Jesper. Figure out what you want." The baker leaves and begins to help the woman.
"No, no!" Jesper teleports beside the baker, levitating high above the counter. "Imp help! Jesper's job to help!"
"No, I don't need your help."
"Imp help! Help friend, help baker, help stranger buy pastry! Sweet treat---hehehe---raspberry tart, very good!"
The baker grabs Jesper from the air, and tosses him back to the ground. He shoo's him to move around the other side of the counter. Instead of taking this time to figure out what to bring home, Jesper approaches the woman. He puts a hand out, as if expecting her to hold his hand. She takes it reluctantly.
"Hi. Is Jesper!" He introduces himself, pointing. He makes an attempt to bring her closer to the counter.
The woman looks appalled. The baker is apologizing.
"I'm trying to speed this up, I'm so sorry." The man looks drained.
"Imp help. No bite---hehehe---no lick."
"He's harmless, I promise."
"Yes! Imp bite bread man---hehehe---no pastry man. Was told no bite pastry man. Had already bit bread man. Hehehe."
The woman lets go of his hand.
"Jesper, what do you want?" The baker is quickly losing patience.
"Um! Cheese---hehehe---apple! Cheese apple!"
"Anything cheese and apple, understood."
"Berry for friend!" Jesper yells. "Berry! Berry pastry!"
"Alright."
The man exhales and begins wrapping up the two pastries.
Jesper redirects his attention to the woman. His eyes open. She steps back.
"Hi."
"Hello." She waves down towards him.
"Imp getting pastry for friend."
"Okay." She looks around. "Who's your friend?"
"Yarrow."
The woman seems to lose her pink complexion.
"Oh... I've heard of him. I've yet to meet him."
"Hehehe---Yarrow would love to meet!" Jesper points at her. His wicked smile does not contribute towards making her feel anymore safe.
"Okay, Jesper---no worms for payment. Money upfront." A small bag of treats is placed on the counter, guarded by the baker. He holds one hand out.
"No worm---hehehe." Jesper removes his rucksack and pulls out another small satchel of coins. "Coin for pastry man." Jesper places it into the man's palm. He is handed the pastries, which are then tucked away as neat as Jesper can manage into his bag.
Jesper finally turns to leave, but stops at the woman once more.
"Worm for stranger?" He offers, pulling out exactly one worm from his pocket. His fingers are lined with dirt and the slime of many worms.
"No thank you." She smiles, declining the worm gift. Jesper sticks his tongue out at her, tucking the worms away.
Jesper finally opens the door to leave the bakery, laughing as the bells jingle at his departure. The sounds of the baker apologizing fade out.
Peering through tightly squinted eyes, Jesper looks around to get a read on his surroundings. There's a bench across the way. He teleports to it in a quick series of blips. His feet swing steadily as the grocery list is looked over.
A few more items, and Jesper is done and ready to head back home. He takes a moment to dig out the apple danish he'd just purchased. It's gone in two bites.
A number of passerby seem to take notice of Jesper, giving an occasional odd glance, but do not seem keen on staring. Jesper is unaware, too focused on visiting the earthly friends he's buried in his front pants pockets.