[Riza's not the only one searching for a place to hang back from the press of traffic and listen to a particularly engaging speaker. the woman is really getting into her description of how the grapes that make the wine she's selling are from an unbroken lineage back to those mythical earlier periods of history. unfortunately, it might be hard to tell that the alley Riza backs into to listen is occupied. it looks like it's simply dark and shadowy, from the outside and in the variable lighting of the festively decorated streets, but as she takes up her spot against the wall, something in the shadows speaks:]

Umm--

[that's a... larger voice than she might have expected. and are the colored lights in the main square glittering off of scales?]

I don't think you saw me from out there, but don't be surprised, okay? I'm just listening.

[oh. the alley isn't very shadowy at all. there's just an absolutely enormous creature taking up most of it, to the point where it's difficult to perceive him as a separate mass from the outside. and now that he's spoken and shifted so his head is more visible, Riza can see the gleam of eyes and teeth.

that's probably fine!

(Geir hopes she doesn't yell and run, like some of the Shehui residents have been doing. it always makes the speakers stop talking.)]