Risa felt her face heating yet again as Hayate had to cover his mouth to muffle a laugh. Goddess, she couldn't believe she'd just said that--to her brother, maybe, but to a near-stranger?
Thankfully, Hayate seemed more amused than offended by her outspokenness. She'd just have to be more careful with her tongue. She "mmm"ed quietly at his answer, unable to keep herself from thinking wistfully about what a nice perk to a job that would be.
She loved her work--genuinely--and she was good at it. But there was a certain pressure that came with crafting her pieces that often left her more tired at the end of a day than she should be. She couldn't help wondering what it might be like to be able to indulge "passing curiosity" while she worked.
Like when she'd made the earrings; because they hadn't been for a shop patron, she'd allowed herself to be freer, looser with the design than she would have been normally. It had been...nice. Relaxing, even.
"Hm?" Oh. Her birth. Right.
She half-sighed, half-laughed and shook her head slightly. "It's nothing, really. A story my mother used to tell me--she swears it's true, but, well..." She chuckled a little sheepishly and shrugged. "According to her, just before I was born, she...found this injured rabbit. Not far from the temple actually. She took it back home and nursed it, then let it go when it was well again." Another little shrug and a self-conscious chuckle. "As far as I know, that part's all true, and relatively normal. My father confirms it. But she says the night she released it, the rabbit came back to her in a dream, and offered her a--a gift for helping it. I was her first child, and she wanted me to be exceptional. So that's what she asked for, and this dream-rabbit said that would be her reward."
She glanced up at him bashfully and shrugged again. "She's, ah, very adamant that the dream meant something. But, well...I mean, I'm hardly anything exceptional. So."
