Chat with the mouse.

After digging into your juicy fruits, the three of you find a place nearby the market to sit. You and Skip sit on either sides of the strange, mouse-like girl, atop a bench overlooking the busy crowd from a quiet distance. She looks absolutely thrilled to be eating food. It's hard to tell how she's doing, given that her dress conceals her physique, and you have no idea what her race is meant to look like, but it doesn't take a genius to tell she hasn't eaten in awhile. When Skip tried to offer her charity, however, she refused. You don't know what you're going to do with this sock you've purchased, but that doesn't really matter now.

"Here, let me help you," Skip says. He pulls a small cloth from his pocket and tries to wipe the girl's cheeks.

She swats him away and blushes. "I'm not a child!" she shouts with her cheek stuffed with apple. "B-But thank you. May I borrow that?" She then begins to wipe her face clean on her own accord. She might be short, but apparently she's an adult. You can tell upon a close inspection. She doesn't look like a child. The girl is just small.

"I admit. I'm not used to seeing your kind," you say to her. "I come from pretty far way."

She looks up to you and swallows. "Really?" Then her eyes cast back down between her feet. "I'm not from here either... All I'm trying to do is sell my designs, but it's hard. People mostly ignore me, and it's only gotten worse. Nobody wants to buy clothes from somebody who looks like a mess. This was my last chance. I thought maybe people here would buy what I had left."

"Did you sew them all yourself?"

She nods. From within her bag, she pulls out a gorgeous purple scarf. All along the stretch of material is a landscape, almost like a painting one would wrap around their neck. "But I don't have the materials to make anything larger anymore."

"What the hell?" Skip nearly drops his apple.

"Wh-What?"

"That looks so nice! You really made that yourself?"

"You actually have a lot of talent," you say. "Damn. What's your name, if I may ask?"

She brushes her messy hair away and turns back up towards you. "My name? It's Poppy. And you don't know of squeakin?"

"I do now I suppose. It's good to meet you. That's Skip, and my name's Todd. Here's a little secret, Poppy. I'm actually about to come into quite a bit of money due to a brilliant business venture. Your clothing is good, at least from what I've seen so far. How about I--"

"Please." She may be speaking quietly, but she interrupts nonetheless. "Don't give me money. I'll be okay."

"Poppy."

"Honest. You've been sweet to me so far, but I know I can survive without it."

"Poppy! Listen to me. I'm not giving you money."

"Oh... You're not?"

"No. This is a business deal. Do you know what investors are?"

"Uhm. No I don't."

Skip nods. "This guy is really smart with this stuff. It's actually wild. I have no idea what he's talking about half the time, but then he ends up in the house of Lady Bianca taking her portrait, and boy was that a saucy looking portrait. What a goddess."

You continue. "An investor is someone who puts money into a business to give it a boost. Basically. In the simplest terms, the business gets money, they use that to make money, so like getting supplies, advertising, all that. Then, it's either a situation where you pay me back with interest later, or I own part of your business."

"My head hurts," she mutters.

"Uh. I give you coins. You use coins to get materials to make clothes, eat so you don't keel over, clean up, and then you sell clothes. It isn't charity, because you'll pay me back after."

"Ooh! I get it now."

"How many things are you going to end up doing here?" Skip asks. "First photography, and now you're lending money."

Your eyes practically shine with excitement. "And you know what happens after that, Poppy?"

She shakes her head.

"You'll make clothes for my business!"

Skip chomps down the core of his apple and shouts, "Brilliant!" with his cheeks stuffed.

"I'm not sure I understand what that business is. Are you a painter?" she asks.

"You'll find out tomorrow morning. Come down to the market then. Even better, follow me back to the Black Knight. The investments are going to begin right away. We'll get you washed up and fed proper before bed."

She looks away shyly. "I'm getting nervous. I don't really know how much I'll owe."

This girl really won't let me help her, will she? Well, maybe stretching the truth a little won't be so bad. "Ah. Don't worry. You won't for this stuff. See, it's the first stages of being an investor. You'll see. When we deal in actual money, we'll write something up so there's no confusion. What we're doing today is called, uh... hedge... investing... stock portfolios."

Poppy stares. She blinks. "Oh."

You give Skip a wink.

He slaps his palms together. "Yeah! That's right."

"Come on," you say. "Let's introduce you to my friends."

"Is that part of hedge investing stock portfolios too?" she asks.

"... No. That's just socializing."