This was not an ideal situation. Isolde and her sister had been stranded in this town for a few days, now, their sled broken down and the part needed to fix it not something the Kitsu here knew how to make. Someone had to send out to get the part delivered, which meant it was likely that they would be here for maybe months before they could get back on the road. Home was far too long of a walk by paw, plus the landscape would change into a bitter, permanent cold. Even she, who was used to it and actually enjoyed the low temperatures, couldn't make the long walk through that before freezing to death or at the very least, getting severe frostbite. It was more than a few day's walk away. She never tried calculating how much, exactly. Numbers were not her strong point. Neither was being around a large group of strangers. She'd been told it wasn't actually a very large town. But for her, who rarely ever left home, it was a massive amount of people. So much so, she was afraid to leave the house they were being forced to stay in until the situation was fixed.
Well, maybe not forced exactly. It wasn't as if this was a random house they'd been given or the dwelling of a Kitsu they didn't know. It was only Rosetta Thorne. Isolde knew Rosetta well enough to not feel as nervous around her as she often did anyone else she didn't know. Rosetta used to work for the Frost family, who lived close to Isolde's home. They'd met plenty of times outside or when one or the other would visit. Usually when Rosetta visited. As much as she liked the Frost family, Isolde didn't like leaving her family's property unless she really had to. So she mostly met Rosetta outside, while the two were taking walks out in the snow for a change of scenery.
Rosetta had always been surprised to find a family of Kirin out where the grass rarely showed and the months of green were short. Much shorter than down here in the town. At least the Frosts, with their tails thicker with fur than her own, didn't look as out of place in this landscape as she and her sisters did.
Isolde didn't mind it. None of her family did, in fact. She guessed they were just unnaturally built for the cold.
Continuing to look out the window, she wasn't aware of a presence in the room with her until it spoke.
"Big, isn't it?"
Isolde gave a little start, a blush coming to her cheeks at being startled so. There was no reason to be jumping out of her skin skin here! It was only Rosetta and her sister living here. Which she did find a bit odd. She always thought Rosetta so pretty and naturally gifted with charisma. She could get anyone she wanted with little difficulty. Yet here she was, living in this town for months, now, and still on her own. Did no one realize what a catch she was? Or maybe Rosetta just wasn't interested in the Kitsu of this town. Maybe there was something wrong with them, maybe they did things just too differently for ones used to more solitude up in the snows.
At least that was how she felt about the town. How could anyone like it here? But than...She guessed Rosetta did or else she wouldn't be living here.
"Yeah."
Rosetta moved further into the room, curling up with her tails over her lap in the adjacent couch. She, too, looked out the window for a little while before speaking, again.
"Though it's only big by our standards. It's actually average sized for a town."
Isolde kept quiet on this. She wasn't really sure what to say about it. She assumed Rosetta was trying to calm her? Though the thought of there being even larger settlements was anything but relaxing. How could so many Kitsu stand to live so close together? The only thing separating Rosetta's property from her neighbors was a tiny fence that went all around her yard and only opened in the front by way of a gate. The concept of fences was so alien to Isolde. She couldn't imagine having such a tiny space to herself when she had the whole forest around her home to explore.
"I know you're not happy to be here, Isolde. But it's nice to see you. Been a while."
Isolde stopped looking out the window, glancing over at the Tundra as she sat picking at the fur on one of her tails. She seemed a little sad. Isolde wasn't sure why. There were so many Kitsu in this town, plenty for Rosetta to socialize with and make friends. What did she have to be sad about? Oh, but she didn't mean that in a passive aggressive way. There wasn't much in life Isolde was good at. She could make things and carve pretty well. That was it. She wasn't good at organizing like one of her sisters was. She couldn't talk to others like the other. Crowds made her nervous. Socializing made her shy and timid. Even hiding away in Rosetta's house, she was feeling a little anxious about all the other houses around her. From every window she looked, she could see another house. Rosetta didn't live in the middle of town, though as far as Isolde was concerned, she may as well.
"I'm sorry..." Isolde told the other female, a faint blush coming to her cheeks. She felt ashamed and guilty and wasn't sure why.
"Aw, hun." Quickly moving over to the other couch Isolde was sitting on, Rosetta made herself comfortable besides her, taking one of her paws in her lap and patting it in an attempt to comfort her. "You don't have to apologize to me about being you." Letting go of her paw, Rosetta stood back up to lean her elbows on the windowsill, watching a pair of Kitsu walking past the house on the side of the road. She flashed a smile back at Isolde, once again patting one of Isolde's paws with her own. "Other Kitsu scare me sometimes, too. It took a while to get used to so many in one place. But you don't have to if you don't want to."
Isolde straightened in her seat, leaning towards Rosetta with a look of determination on her face. "N-No! But I should learn! Could you....Show me around town tomorrow, maybe?"
The smile Rosetta gave brightened, reaching her blue eyes and making them sparkle beautifully. "Of course, hun! I'd love to show you around. Tonight, though, I'll leave you alone to adjust. I'll be down the hall if you need me." With a final pat, she left Isolde alone in the room, closing the door softly behind her.
Isolde, feeling a tiny bit better about being stranded, went back to looking out the window.
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