Pepper jumped at the sound of Alice's voice, evidently so lost in thought that she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. Seeing it was someone familiar - they'd talked a few times, shared opinions of snacks at the masquerade - calmed the sudden pounding of her heart.

"Yeah," she agreed after a moment, nodding and taking a slow breath. Her gaze turned back to the tree. "It is pretty wild. I wasn't gonna eat any of it, though - it just looks a little like some of the fruit we had back in Keeliai. Kind of a weird cross-breed thing."

She mustered a weary smile, stepping closer over the buckled pavement towards the young woman. No need to talk yards apart. "It's Alice, right? Do you live around here too?" It's getting to be properly evening now, after all.