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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 0:30:12 GMT
   It was already noon, but Marashi couldn’t find the energy to get out of bed. She was drained from doing so many party quests one right after another, and her attitude just crashed for no reason. Well, there was a reason actually. It was her Bi-Polar Disorder going into its negative effect. That was one of the good things about being de-virtualized. She had medication that would regulate her low time, but in the world she was in, it didn’t exist. So she was stuck with just feeling lousy.
Yume seemed pretty content with just laying around. Hikari, on the other hand…
“MARIACHI!” Hikari complained, “CAN WE PLEEAAASSEEE GO DO SOMETHING??”
Marashi groaned and turned over in the bed, putting the pillow over her head despite the fact that she knew it wouldn’t help anything. After all, the voices were inside her head. Literally.
Maybe that was how it felt to be a schitzo…
“Hikari,” Yume sighed, “there’s no need to be so loud. She can hear you just fine.”
“But but but,” Hikari whimpered, “I’m so BOOREED.”
“There’s no reason to have a temper tantrum,” Yume scolded.
Marashi sighed and rolled onto her back and began to stare at the ceiling. It was a nice looking ceiling and showed how impressively the inn she was staying in was built-
“MARIACHI!”
Marashi groaned, “It’s NOT Mariachi!”
“I’m going to keep calling you that until we get up and go someplace,” Hikari complained, and Marashi could mentally see the shikigami pouting. She would also feel Yume trying to calm down her sister. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be working.
With a tie between a groan and a sigh, Marashi forced herself to sit up in bed. “What is it you want to do, Hikari,” she asked in a very monotone voice.
“You’re going to get out of bed?” Hikari asked in a small voice.
“Yes,” Marashi sighed.
“Really?” Hikari’s voice went up a little.
“Yes.”
“Really really?” Her voice was now back to normal.
“Yes, now tell me what you want me to do,” Marashi swung her legs over the side of the bed.
“Let’s take a walk around the city and see if there’s anything fun going on!”
Marashi took a deep breath before releasing it slowly.
“A nice calm, peaceful walk should be relaxing as well,” Yume said, “What could go wrong?”
 Word Count: 393
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Marashi | Hikari | Yume Coding by Sayha of LH |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 0:31:37 GMT
Marashi almost scoffed at that but decided against it. Murphy’s Law was now going to be in effect. She could just see it now… but there wasn’t anything she could do about it.
Marashi slid out of the bed, her bare feet touching the cool floor. The coolness didn’t bother her much however. The only time it really bothered her was when it was cold enough that it could snow. Only then would she wear shoes and even then it would be unwillingly. Even in that world, she preferred to go around barefooted, even if she got strange looks from others. Then again, what other people thought about her appearance never bothered her.
Once Marashi was standing, she willfully forced herself out of the room, down the hallway, and down the stairs to the tavern area of the inn. She politely greeted the innkeeper despite not wanting to, but she knew to be nice because she had been in the same in for a few months now. She had moved around from in to inn when the virtualization first happened to find which in was the best. She eventually decided she would just move from one inn to the next. It gave her a change of pace… and it also changed depending on who was in party with her at the time.
After Marashi walked out the door to the inn, she let her eyes adjust to the light. Once she adjusted, she looked around. The inn she was in was not in a quiet area of Londinium. In fact, it was right next to one of the market squares as well as one of the quest boards. It was the perfect center for when she wanted to do things. However when she didn’t want to, it was way overcrowded and annoying. Marashi weaved her way through the crowds until she found one of the alleyways and went in. Normally, Marashi didn’t have much of a need of the backways as she didn’t mind the bustling crowds of people going every which way. Today though… today she wanted to see if she could find some peace and quiet. Though peace and quiet? In Londinium? Well, it was a big city… she might be able to find a peaceful place on the outskirts and the lesser populated areas.
Word Count: 387
Tags:
Marashi | Hikari | Yume Coding by Sayha of LH |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 0:34:02 GMT
It took a while before Marashi finally reached an area in Londinium that was relatively quiet and Marashi made her way onto one of the main streets. Where she ended up though kind of gave her the creeps.
Most of the buildings were empty, and there was only a few people on the streets… and they didn’t look like the most friendly people Marashi had ever seen. Most of them gave her sideways glances but didn’t say anything to or towards her.
“Hmm…” Yume said, “I think we might want to rethink being here.”
“We’ll be fine~” Hikari sang song her words, “Just keep moving and look around.”
Marashi and Yume both sighed, but she did end up just continuing to walk around. Eventually she came across a neighborhood where there were a few kids running around. They completely ignored her as if she didn’t exist which was fine. She couldn’t help but smile though watching the kids.
After a while though, Marashi heard something that caught her attention. “What is that?” Hikari asked.
“I don’t know,” Marashi said quietly as she began to make her way towards the noise. As she began to approach the noise, it seemed to start to get quieter and there was another noise that she did recognize. A voice.
After making another turn, Marashi saw a little girl crying. In front of the little girl was a figure with a black trench coat knelt down. What was going on?
“It’s okay, little one,” the figure in front of the girl said, “Can you tell me what’s wrong?” That was when Marashi realized that the voice was female. Marashi felt a bit better, but she kept walking until she was almost right next to them.
“What’s going on?” Marashi asked.
Word Count: 295
Tags:
Marashi | Hikari | Yume Coding by Sayha of LH |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 0:42:22 GMT
The trench coat turned and studied Marashi, “You’re not this one’s sister are you.” It wasn’t a question.
“No, I’m not,” Marashi confirmed, “but tell me what’s going on.”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” the trench coat stood. That was when Marashi noticed a fox sitting next to the trench coat.
Finally, the little girl said something, but it was so quiet Marashi couldn’t make it out.
“Nemo?” the trench coat asked the little girl, and the girl nodded.
“How the heck did she hear that?” Hikari asked, her voice being somewhere between confused and impressed.
“Can you tell me what Nemo is?” the trench coat asked the girl.
“It’s my pet,” the girl whimpered, “It’s my cat snake.”
“Cat what?” Marashi blinked a few times.
The trench coat seemed to ignore Marashi, however, “What’s happened to your cat snake?”
“I think it went back to the Forest,” she continued to whimper, “but it’s a special cat snake. It is orange instead of green.” Now Marashi was completely lost.
“It’s okay, little one,” the trench coat said, petting the top of the girls head a few times, “I’ll bring back your cat snake okay.”
“You will?” the girl seemed to stop crying and looked up at the trench coat then over to Marashi.
“I- I will help as well,” Marashi said as well before her mind could catch up with her mouth.
“Just stay around here, and we’ll be back,” the trench coat said before standing up. She brushed out the winkles in her coat and began to walk past Marashi. The fox that had been next to the trench coat jumped up onto their shoulder. Marashi began to follow her, and the trench coat stopped once she was around the corner.
“I can take care of this on my own,” the trench coat turned to face Marashi, “You don’t have to get involved.”
“I said I would help, and I will,” Marashi responded.
“So much for a day off,” Yume sighed.
The trench coat studied her for a moment, “Okay. The name’s Sayha.”
“Marashi,” Marashi replied. At that moment, a party invitation suddenly appeared in front of her. She hadn’t even seen trench- er, Sayha open her interface.
Word Count: 371
Tags:
Marashi | Hikari | Yume Coding by Sayha of LH |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 0:46:09 GMT
“That was kind of impressive,” Hikari said as Marashi accepted the party invitation. She took a glance at her interface… level 76… wait the trench coat was level 76? What the heck was she doing out here? And Yuki was level 25. So Sayha was an Animal Trainer. Interesting.
“First thing’s first,” Sayha said, interrupting Marashi’s thoughts, “what the little girl was talking about, the cat snake, it’s more than likely a Briar Weasel.”
“What makes you say that?” Marashi asked.
“Cat snake is an old joke for a ferret,” a new voice said, appearing from behind Sayha.
“Saiph, what are you doing here?” Sayha turned and asked the new person… and Marashi already knew who it was.
“More than likely the same reason you were here,” Saiph said to Sayha before turning to Marashi, “Well, it’s nice to see you again, Marashi. What brings you to these parts?”
“I was on a walk and got distracted,” Marashi shrugged. It was the truth after all, and Marashi didn’t have to ask what Saiph was doing there. He was after some sort of information. That was an easy guess. “So ferret?”
“Ah yes,” Saiph began to speak when Sayha interrupted him.
“They both have similar appearances, and the green part that the girl was referring to was its vine that’s on its tail,” Sayha finished. Now that Sayha had said it, it now clicked. Briar Weasels were rather popular little creatures, popular enough to make them the impromptu mascot for the Elder Tales game. On top of that, they were EVERYWHERE. Marashi had been to most of the continents back pre-virtualization, and she always had seen at least one of the little creatures.
“Saiph will be joining us,” Sayha said after a moment, though she didn’t appear to be the most thrilled.
Word Count: 301
Tags:
Marashi | Hikari | Yume Coding by Sayha of LH |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 0:49:04 GMT
“I will be?” Saiph questioned.
“You need the practice and you might as well be useful,” Sayha responded, “I’ve never seen you fight so might as well see that now.”
“Well, when you put it that way…” Saiph shrugged. It made Marashi wonder how long the two of them had known each other.
“Anyway, let’s head to the Greatwood. We’ll probably be searching in the forest area,” Sayha nodded, “Marashi, stick close because the monsters in that area are going to be higher than you.”
“Easy enough,” Marashi nodded. It seemed that things were in order, and trench coat made her way towards one of the alleyways with Saiph and Marashi following behind… and that was when Marashi first noticed that Saiph was carrying a rifle.
“This is going to be interesting,” Yume said as they walked through the city and out of the gate.
“This is going to be FUN!” Hikari cheered.
“Marashi,” Sayha began to speak once they were outside the city limits, “What kind of build do you plan on going?”
A random question to say the least. “I’m planning on going a support-type build, more than likely healer, but right now I just have DPS abilities so I can survive soloing.”
“Sounds like a solid plan,” Sayha nodded, “I have a friend who is also a Shaman. He’s going a very similar build… at least he was the last time I saw him.”
“Shaman is a bit weird if you ask me though,” Marashi continued, “It’s versatile but at the same time it’s not. The medium class as a whole is weird from what I can tell though… from where I’ve from, they were called Medicine Man but in Japan they are called Kannagi and in other places they’re Exorcists.”
Word Count: 294
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Marashi | Hikari | Yume Coding by Sayha of LH |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 0:52:48 GMT
“You seem quite familiar with the game,” Saiph commented, “Did you play it before the Catastrophe?”
“I did,” Marashi agreed, “I had two max level characters and a handful of others.”
“Good to know,” Saiph nodded, “I only played Elder Tales briefly before the catastrophe. I don’t think Sayha played at all. Though we both have played other MMO games prior to.”
“I see,” Marashi turned her attention to her interface. Sayha was indeed 76 as she had seen before with Yuki sitting at 25. Saiph, however, was only level 11 at the time. Quite the myriad of levels.
“Alright, the forest is just up ahead,” Sayha’s voice interrupted Marashi’s thoughts. Marashi looked around to see the forest actually coming up. She had been near the edge of it and checked out the inside very briefly, but she never really entered as the monsters were higher leveled than she was. However with the overkill leveled trench coat and the on par level sorcerer, it shouldn’t be too bad.
Then she realized they were looking for a Briar Weasel. Crap. This could take all day, if not forever.
“I’m going to head towards the western edge,” Sayha announced, “Saiph, Marashi, head east. If either of us spot the Briar Weasel, we’ll call via the party chat.”
“Understood,” Saiph gave her a joking salute while Marashi nodded.
Sayha nodded back before turning west and jumping up into the trees. She could hear some leaves rustle afterwards but could not see her at all. Then again, she was an Assassin according to the interface.
Word Count: 261
Tags:
Marashi | Hikari | Yume Coding by Sayha of LH |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 0:59:08 GMT
“Well let’s get searching,” Saiph turned to Marashi, “What do you think is the best way to search for a Briar Weasel in a forest full of Briar Weasels?”
“Probably just area by area,” Marashi said… then she thought of something, “Oh, I can summon a shikigami to help with the search. That should help a little bit.”
“Do it,” Saiph nodded.
Marashi nodded and then held out her hand in front of her, “<Summon Shikigami: Hikari>!”
After a few seconds, the figure of Hikari appeared. At first, she was ghost-like, translucent. Though she quickly became solid and like how she always did.
“Hikari, head just a bit to the north of where we’re going,” Marashi instructed, “Be careful though and come back if you find the orange Briar Weasel.”
“Got it!” Hikari nodded and then went on her way.
“Let’s get going then,” Saiph said after Hikari was out of sight. Marashi nodded, and they began their patrol search.
After a few minutes of walking, Hikari had returned to her ethereal version of a voice in Marashi’s head. She had not had any luck finding any Briar Weasels. Marashi relayed that information to Saiph who didn’t seem too surprised… though what was surprising was that they had not found ANY monsters.
“Sayha, we’re not having any luck,” Saiph said into the party chat after about ten minutes of no luck, “Should we keep going?” No response. “Sayha, can you hear me?” Still no response. “This doesn’t bode well.”
“Maybe she’s out of range?” Marashi suggested. She had never used the in-game party chat system and used outside chat programs such as Ventrilo and Team Speak… of course that was pre-virtualization. Post-virtualization, all the parties she had been in didn’t split up like they were now so she had no idea if there was a range system in tact or not.
“Maybe… but for now, let’s keep going,” Saiph continued walking with Marashi following behind. After that, it didn’t take long until they reached… a castle? A castle? Here? In the forest?
“So this is the Castle Grounds…” Saiph said under his breath.
“Castle Grounds?” Marashi asked, “Where exactly are we?”
“We’re near the entrance to one of the known dungeons,” Saiph explained, “But we should leave this area… Monsters can be up to level 20, and neither of us are much of a match for them.”
Word Count: 397
Tags:
Marashi | Hikari | Yume Coding by Sayha of LH |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 1:00:54 GMT
Almost as if on cue, a monster appeared. And, of course, it was level 20. Murphy’s Law in full effect. And of course, not just one monster appeared but now… no three. Three level 20 monsters. They’re name: Forest Treant. There was only one option.
“Run!” Saiph yelled just as the two began running through the forest… and the sound of moving bark was behind them. After a moment, they had begun to attack as they were running, seeds shooting and thankfully missing.
However just when they arrived in a clearing, two more Forest Treants, level 15 this time, appeared in front of them. They were surrounded.
Saiph pulled his rifle into his hand, and Marashi drew her rapier. It would be futile though. The Treants moved in to attack… but then they stopped. They turned towards where they had come and began to surround something. Or at least it had to be something, but Marashi couldn’t see anything.
However after a moment, a figure just appeared out of thin air. It was Sayha. That was when the little fox appeared between Saiph and Marashi.
“She has their aggro,” Saiph said, kneeling down and aiming his rifle, “Let’s take care of them.”
Marashi nodded and she focused on one of the level 15 Treants first. She began to move forward, activating <Leaping Apricot Technique>. Once she landed next to the Treant she had targeted, she activated <Exorcism of a Cursed Lotus>. The barrier appeared around her, and she began to stab the treant as fast as she possibly could. It didn’t do a lot of damage, but that wasn’t any surprise.
There was an explosion nearby on one of the treants, and it had cause significant damage on three of the monsters. It must have been one of Saiph’s attacks.
The monsters still showed no interest in either Marashi or Saiph even though Sayha was just standing there without even a weapon drawn. At least for now.
The treants began to attack the Assassin in earnest this time, shooting multiple <Seed Cannons> at her. With a few incredibly fast movements, she was able to dodge every one of them. It was impressive… no, it was beyond impressive. Yeah, she was a higher level than the monsters, but there was just something with the way she moved. It was all natural to her.
Marashi quickly shook her head. She needed to focus on attacking… even if it did like no damage. It would be good practice at least. She used the rapier and continued to stab the treant she had targeted. After a moment though, it seemed to finally notice Marashi and it began to turn to face her. Marashi turned and ran a few steps back. It was just about to attack when it suddenly exploded into bubbles. Sayha was standing right where the treant had stood… with a giant scythe… no, it wasn’t just A scythe. It was a scythe that had two heads, one on each end. Marashi had never seen a weapon like that before. Another explosion occurred, and two more treants exploded into bubbles. Only two left.
Before Marashi could move, Sayha turned and slashed her scythe through the air, a white projectile forming where her scythe had slashed. It flew forward until it impacted with the remaining two treants. Upon impact, there was an explosion that resulted with more bubbles floating upwards. It was over.
Word Count: 570
Tags:
Marashi | Hikari | Yume Coding by Sayha of LH |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 1:03:35 GMT
“That was scary,” Hikari said, her voice kind of shaky.
“It was…” Yume agreed, “We should head back to Londinium or at least the plains. This place is too dangerous for us right now.”
“You took your sweet time, Sayha,” Saiph said rather abruptly as he walked over to where Marashi was standing, “Let me guess. You didn’t even leave us when you went away.”
“I did, actually, go do what I said I was going to do,” Sayha said twirling the scythe in her right hand, “I have a lot of movement speed so I can cover a lot of ground much faster than you can. I found where the Weasels were, but you were out of range for the party chat so I backtracked to find you. It was a good thing I did or you would have ended up in the Abbey.”
“You said you found where the Weasels were?” Marashi asked before Saiph could say anything, “Can you take us there so we can head back to Londinium?”
Sayha stopped spinning her scythe. Then the scythe glowed and a new weapon appeared in her hands. A very heavy-looking bow. “I can, but are you sure you want to keep going? It’s not going to get any easier from here.”
At that, Marashi had to think about it. The day was going nothing like how she had anticipated. Actually, it was going almost in the complete opposite direction of what she wanted to do. Murphy’s Law was kicking her butt.
“I might as well keep going at this point,” Marashi sighed, “It’s the last leg of the race after all.”
Sayha smirked, “Good answer. Follow me.” She waited for both Marashi and Saiph to follow her before moving onwards, shifting her bow into her left hand.
Marashi thought back about the Assassin class and how Sayha had seemed to make it her own. She used both a scythe and a bow… PLUS she was able to draw aggro. In a way, she could probably serve as an off-tank if she really wanted to… of course, that also depended on what other skills she had. She knew, though, that the aggro ability was called <Malicious Intent>. The other ability with the projectile wasn’t an Assassin-specific ability, but it was called <Splitting Fang>. Of course, the ability that had made her invisible was either <Hide Walk> or <Hiding Entry>, but she wasn’t exactly sure which one.
Word Count: 407
Tags:
Marashi | Hikari | Yume Coding by Sayha of LH |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 1:05:57 GMT
After a while, Sayha had slowed her pace and motioned for them to look ahead. Up ahead, Marashi could see a clearing… and there were Briar Weasels everywhere.
“Looks like this is their main camp,” Hikari thought aloud.
“Mmmhm,” Yume agreed, “but the question is whether the one we’re after is here.”
“Do you see the one we’re looking for?” Saiph asked, his voice a whisper.
“Yuki is playing with it,” Sayha whispered back, pointing towards the far end of the clearing. There, Marashi saw the small fire fox playing with a Briar Weasel with an orange vine… and her interface showed its name as Nemo… Nemo? Really? Really Elder Tales? You just HAD to name it Nemo? So wait… did that mean the quest they were on was called Finding Nemo? Murphy’s Law… that stupid, stupid law…
“So what’s the plan, Sayha?” Saiph asked, keeping his voice a whisper.
“Yuki is going to lead the Weasel away,” Sayha explained in a whisper, “Marashi, grab the Weasel once it is away from the clearing. Then, we get the hell out of here.”
Sayha began to move along the edge of the clearing with Saiph and Marashi following behind. After a few moments, they were next to where Yuki was playing with Nemo. Yuki looked up and spotted Sayha, its ears twitching. That was when it began to lead Nemo away from the clearing. None of the other Weasels noticed… at first. However the closer Yuki and Nemo got to the edge, the more attention that they drew.
“Get ready to grab the Weasel and run,” Sayha whispered. She waited for Saiph to nod before making her move. She creeped closer to where Yuki was heading, her bow now strapped to her back… then smoke appeared around her… and it also covered where Yuki and Nemo were. The Weasels were not happy. They began to shoot their butt lasers in the smoke. Out of the smoke, a Weasel came flying towards Marashi, and she caught it. It was Nemo.
Word Count: 338
Tags:
Marashi | Hikari | Yume Coding by Sayha of LH |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 1:11:45 GMT
“Let’s go,” Saiph grabbed Marashi, and they began to run. She was going to look behind to see what had happened to the Assassin, but Sayha had appeared to her left with Yuki on her shoulders. Behind them, Marashi could hear the sounds of more lasers and the footsteps of little creatures running. This did not bode well at all.
This time as they were running, more monsters began to appear in front of them, but the group of three just kept running. Marashi was thankful that Nemo wasn’t struggling at all or else she would have had even more problems.
Thankfully, Marashi could see the sun up ahead. They were almost at the forest edge.
“Keep going,” Sayha instructed before falling back. She disappeared out of site, but Marashi could hear the creature footsteps stop. That was either good or bad, and Marashi had no idea which it was. However when Marashi ran out into the sunlight, she was thankful to have the forest behind her. Saiph stopped a few paces from the forest edge, and Marashi stopped as well.
After a few moments, a familiar figure walked out of the woods, and Marashi released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding.
“Are you guys okay?” Sayha asked as she approached them.
“No harm here,” Saiph responded.
“I’m okay,” Marashi responded. The Briar Weasel in her arms chirped a few times in response as well.
Sayha smiled, “Don’t worry, Nemo. We’ll get you home now.”
Yuki, the fox still on Sayha’s shoulders, did a weird bark that foxes made, and Sayha simply pet it’s head in response.
The walk back to Londinium was quiet, and no one said much. That, however, was perfectly fine with Marashi. Once they reached the gates, Sayha lead them through a series of alleyways until they reached where they were before.
The girl that had been crying was no longer standing in the middle of the street but was instead sitting against one of the buildings, her chin resting on her knees. However as soon as she saw the three of them approaching, she instantly jumped up. A huge smile formed on her face as she saw Nemo in Marashi’s arm.
Nemo in response jumped out of Marashi’s arm and ran toward the girl. The girl held open her arms, and the Weasel jumped into them.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!” the little girl exclaimed, giggling as the Weasel licked the girl’s cheek.
“I’m just glad we were able to help you,” Saiph responded kindly, patting the girl on the top of her head, “Make sure to keep a good eye on your pet next time.”
“I promise,” the girl smiled. After a moment, she turned around and ran back to one of the houses and proceeded to play with Nemo.
“Well that was and exciting day,” Saiph said as he began to walk away from the neighborhood towards one of the alleys. Sayha followed behind, and Marashi followed her.
“I think I’m going to go home and relax for a while,” Sayha responded to Saiph’s comment, “Maybe I’ll get back to my research.”
“You’ve been putting that research off for months now,” Saiph jokingly scolded.
“Well stuff like this keeps coming up,” Sayha shrugged. She then turned her attention to Marashi, “How are you holding up?”
“I think I’m going to go pass out for like a week,” Marashi joked... thought it didn’t sound like a bad idea in all honesty.
Saiph chuckled at her response, “Well, sleep does sound good. I think though that I am going to go for a drink. Either of you care to join me? Drinking alone is just slightly depressing… plus drinks will be on me.”
Sayha sighed, “Why not. Though I will be sticking to tea.” Now they both awaited Marashi’s response.
“You might as well,” both shikigami responded at the same time.
“Sure,” Marashi said with a smile, “sounds exciting.”
Saiph laughed, “Yes, it will be nothing compared to what happened today.”
Even Sayha chuckled, “I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”
Word Count: 681
Tags:
Marashi | Hikari | Yume Coding by Sayha of LH |
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