Totoka River keep the calm before the storm

Jasmine flicked her eyes between the crew of them and made her rudimentary judgments. First, they seemed to know each other. This would put her at a sore disadvantage if they tried anything funny against her. But right now they seemed okay. That was the second thing: they gave her space.

Her nostrils flared at the older man's derision - until she reminded herself that she was also playing along. Thankfully the younger (and cuter) of the two seemed to talk on her side, and she was thankful for this. He made her feel a little less outnumbered, and actually kind of cool when he talked back to the older man - maybe because he seemed only a little bit older than her, and that made his opinion a lot more important.

"Why don't you tell me who you are first?" she said, with a coy little lift of her head, "it doesn't seem right for a young little lady to be givin' her name out to strangers."