Shopping day. Shtiya had made his way to the market early that morning, telling Mr. Choi that he'd take the day off in order to purchase supplies for the apothecary as well as supplies for his own use — namely food. He needed a new shirt, too, and had been saving for a while to purchase one. He wanted something with nice long sleeves so he could leave his arms unwrapped in peace from time to time. He'd already spent time getting new cottons and bandaging materials, which he'd delivered back to be put away, and taken a list of herbs Mr. Choi wanted back. Since he had taken care of the bulk of the clinic shopping, Shtiya was focusing on his own personal shopping. Vegetables, fruits, some bread, maybe a bit of dried meat... he had a list for the cupboard. So far he'd managed to gather up root vegetables, the type that kept well, herbs for cooking, and a parcel of dried meat that would also keep well. As a slim and petite young man, Shtiya didn't eat all that much. He ate more than enough for his own good, but he was a small guy!

He'd just been staring at produce in a stall, weighing his need for spicy peppers with his need for good seaweed. Honestly, the seaweed would come in much more handy... he cooked with it so often it was really a staple. Sighing over the peppers, he picked up a good quantity of thick, leathery seaweed, the type that he could use in soup stocks. He wished he could frivolously purchase whatever he liked, but he couldn't afford to waste anything. Produce could go badly quickly if he wasn't careful, and he spent a lot of nights at the clinic, working late. So, nonperishables and root vegetables it was. Turning around with his parcels, he ran straight into a rather solid person.

That's what he got for not looking. Shtiya bent immediately to pick up his parcels, apologizing as he did so. "I'm s-so sorry!" he stammered, "I w-w-wasn't looking where I was g-going, was I?"

"I'm so sorry about that. That was incredibly clumsy and downright rude of me."

What? But — Shtiya was the one who hadn't been looking where he was going, right? Looking up, the Waterbender brushed inky hair out of his eyes. My, this young man was... muscular. Trying not to stare at the young man's very bronzed physique, Shtiya smiled. "It's my f-fault," he said. Judging by the look of this young man, he was a Firebender for sure. Shtiya decided to focus on his things and bent back down, gathering them all back up. Luckily nothing had come unwrapped or spilled. Slender brown fingers gathered the parcels and swept them into a navy blue bag, carefully sorting things and putting particular ones on top of others. Shtiya was a very neat and organized person, very particular about almost everything.

"O-- oh it's all r-right," Shtiya said, trying to take things from the man's large hands in as much of an order as he could muster. He seemed a bit flustered by it all really, trying to quickly sort things as they were handed over willy-nilly. "I can g-g-g-get it." He laughed nervously, feeling the man's eyes on him. Likely he was wondering if Shtiya was a boy or a girl. People often couldn't figure it out at first glance because he was so petite. His inky hair was coming loose from its mostly-neat tail and it got into his eyes. Impatiently, Shtiya brushed it back with one hand.

"are you going to invite him to lunch?"

Oh? Was this person suggesting Shtiya owed him? Chewing his lip, the slim Waterbender pondered his options. Obviously he couldn't say no to this person — such a large figure could clearly crush him with little to no effort, and he wasn't much of a fighter anyway. And it was entirely his fault for blindly going off into traffic without looking. But he'd been saving up for his shopping for a while, and he really did want a new shirt... Distress flashed in his blue eyes as his mind raced with thought. He ought to, oughtn't he?

Maybe after this experience he'd be more careful. Then he wouldn't lose money again. Feeling a bit depressed about the perceived loss of his new shirt, Shtiya slowly and carefully stacked things into his bag. "Th-there's a nice place just down the street," he said, feeling resigned. Brushing the piece of his hair back again, he rubbed one bandaged wrist and looked down the road. "I'll just —" well, no. He had no reason to finish shopping now. Who knew what amount of food such a large young man could put away? Shtiya would probably be lucky if he could cover the whole bill at all.