(Me too!)
"Well, there are a lot of stories that people have that have something to do with a big scary monster hiding in the snow, where we can't see it." Darius shrugged some. "Like the yeti. People say it lives in the mountains, but no one has ever seen one and given proof."
Mara tilted her head slightly and shifted so she could look up at him better, more interested at the moment in these stories real people talked about. “Well, I've never heard of this “yeti” creature but it's surprising to think that there’s something bigger than you that is in hiding.” she said, thinking about how she and those like her had to hide. “I mean, you didn't know that I was here until you crashed into the wall.” she added with a small smile.
"Well, there are a lot of theories. People say that since they live in such cold high up places there isn't enough humans around to verify if they're real or not. And humans aren't the most observant, as you probably know." Darius chuckled softly. "And crashing into walls isn't a very common thing people do."
Mara nodded, secretly thankful for his explanation of what mountains were as well as the rest of his comments. Though she couldn't help but laugh a little when he admitted to being unobservant. “Yeah, but that is why I only gathered the little things when I needed something. So you would be even less likely to notice it was gone.” she confessed. “And if crashing into walls was a more common thing then you probably would have heard about people like me more often.”
"Knowing me, I probably wouldn't have noticed if you stole larger things," Darius admitted. "I have too many things to keep track of." He laughed softly. "And who knows, maybe crashing into walls is a super common thing, and us humans are just better at keeping your secrets than we let on."
Mara chuckled and gave a small shrug. “Maybe… But I wasn't going to take that risk.” she pointed out. “If only we could be sure of that. It would be so nice if that was true but…” her smile faded as she looked down at her hands, “well, you have stories of a giant snow creature, and if that Wampa is based on it, you're probably told to avoid it, right?” she asked, knowing she was taking the long way to get to her point.
"Well, some people try to avoid them, and others try to find them. Most people just don't believe it at all and don't care either way." Darius shrugged. "They say the evidence is faked, and that there's no way something so big could hide for so long with all of the technology with have."
“Do you think they would say that about us?” she wondered, cautiously looking back up, almost hopeful. “That people like me would be too… too small to exist?” she said as obviously she wasn't small enough to not be found.
"Oh yeah." Darius thought for a moment. "They… well they do say that, actually. There have always been stories of people your size, but there's practically no one who actually believes it." Darius chuckled weakly. "There's a lot of stories I'm wondering if they're actually just stories or not now."
“There are?” she asked, her eyes wide as he met his gaze. “How many? What do they say?”
"Well, there are a lot of them, and not many really agree on the details," Darius said. "Some talk of small people coming in to work on a cobbler's shoes while he sleeps so he doesn't lose his business, or being mischievous and playing tricks on people."
Mara nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I don't know how to make shoes… but I think I can understand why some might want to help. And I guess there's good and bad in all kinds of people but I'm not a trouble maker so… I wouldn't play any tricks.”
"Thank you for that, by the way. Even if you had I probably would have never figured it out." Darius laughed softly. "There's also just stories and rumors of people like you existing, but most of them are just for children."
Mara smiled and shrugged. “Well, if I was that kind of person and you didn't notice… There's still a chance that your friends would have.” she pointed out with a small smirk. “So… to most people, I'm about as real as the yeti?” she clarified, a part of her feeling almost relieved at that possibility. Until she remembered Darius’s friend from earlier…
"That's right! And people treat those who do believe you exist like their crazy, so it's hard for your secret to really spread if anyone was to try anything stupid." Darius smiled as he spoke. "And with my friends, they would only get upset if it meant I wasn't able to pay as much for things." He said it jokingly, for the most part, ignoring how true it was.
Mara sort of understood what he meant and was grateful that her existence was impossible to believe. At least without proof. But it didn't seem fair to call those people crazy just because they had different opinions. She nodded a little at his comment about his friends, missing the joke he intended. “I see. Your friend earlier did mention something about you being rich and having a silver platter.” she said, still not fully understanding the expression.