Elias tips his chin toward the lot edge and starts walking. Hunter falls in beside him, with Joy and Mrs. Gable nearby as the market settles into a steadier rhythm.
The east row is busier now, not quieter, vendors pulling crates open and straightening handwritten signs with less hesitation than before.
Elias
Look at that. Nobody’s waiting for permission anymore.
A woman at a produce stall lifts a fresh price card and pins it up without looking toward the office. Another vendor adjusts a display and keeps working.
Mrs. Gable
That’s the difference, isn’t it. They know the office can’t just rewrite the whole lot now.
Hunter McCready
The validation gave them room to breathe.
Elias slows at the corner and scans the row, measuring the mood like it might still slip away if nobody pays attention.
Elias
We keep showing up, we keep them organized, and the office remembers this is a market, not their private shelf.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reassure the hesitant vendor
“I walk over to the hesitant vendor and offer a nod of encouragement.”
SUCCESS (Good Socially Awkward, rolled +1)
Hunter breaks from the group and crosses to the edge of the east row, where one vendor keeps glancing between her fresh price cards and the office door.
He stops beside her stall, gives a small nod, and lets the silence do the work. The vendor’s shoulders ease a fraction.
Nora
I keep thinking they’ll come back and tell me I laid it out wrong.
Elias
Then let them look. That is the point now.
Mrs. Gable, a few steps back, folds her arms around the flowers she carries and watches with a soft, knowing smile.
Nora
So we really just... decide for ourselves?
Hunter McCready
The room is quieter when nobody waits for permission.
The vendor straightens her card again, this time slower and steadier, then gives Hunter a brief nod in return.
Quest Complete
Reassure the hesitant vendor
Quest Complete
Protect the vendors’ autonomy
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Superb→Legendary