Yawning she would be standing in front of the castle in which it was about morning, with her sister Alice. The sun was rising as it lit up the town. The lights that once was there to light it up – dispersed. Her lioness brown eyes would look around as there weren’t people out just yet. Arisa was in the streets, the streets of Orchidia. She felt honestly alone in this town of Orchidia, most with her manor that she got from her inheritance, but this time she was with her sister. What was her mother fully like? Why couldn’t she remember most of her mother other than what was in her book? She remembered having the leather human skinned book within her grasp from last time, but she had to hide it within the manor for another time. Softly she had something else within her grasp, an orange to peel and eat. It tasted rather amazingly juicy and sweet. Even though it was from some tropical island and they’re usually weird tasting, this one was not.

Slowly she lifted up the orange to her mouth to take a bite, walking forward towards the gate as she was to wait there. For who most would ask, a random man who was known as the village-idiot once again. Slowly she’d chew her orange as she tasted the sweetness. ‘Mmm, this orange is good.’ She would think as she would continue to wait for the man. How long will she be waiting for? Who did this guy look like anyways? Was he old and pervy or just some lame middle aged man? Arisa started to pace back and forth as she would have her hands behind her back, wondering on when he would appear. ‘One, two, three.’ She would say within her thoughts as she skipped the cracked of the cemented sidewalks alongside of the castle. ‘When the hell will this guy appear?’ a dark voice spoke as she would turn her head back and forth, looking to see if anyone was around.

‘Who cares?~’ Arisa thought playfully as she was getting rewarded to wait and to entertain some guy. How wills he entertain the guy though? She wondered as she would then look around to find somewhere to sit. The wind was well felt as it was enough to caress her cheek and make her hair flow back, but not enough to fly her hair everywhere nor move a lot of her clothing. She was wearing a mini skirt of red and black checkered, frills on the bottom. Her thigh-high socks were black as she wore plump black dress shoes. Her belt was a normal boxed metal in the middle type of belt, black leather. Her shirt was black with a red dress shirt underneath and a red/black loosened tie on. Today Arisa decided to where her black glasses as her brown light hair would cover her right eye.

Softly she would sigh though as a couple hours have passed and soon a few. ‘’Maybe he’s not coming…this time’’ she spoke quite quietly yet enough for those close by to hear. ‘’Whom are you speaking to?’’ an older man spoke as she turned around to see a short guy. ''Oooh, who is this child with you this time? He was old, hunched a little as he seemed to be in his seventies or so. ‘’Matters not. I have things to do.’’ He would say and walked towards there, but soon she would go in front of him. ‘’H-hey wait wait!~’’ she started to say softly and soothingly. ‘’Mmmm?~’’ he would speak in a thinking position. ‘’How about we hang out? We can…perhaps go to the park? Eat somewhere? I’ll buy again!’’ she would kind of try to persuade or bribe. Her eyes looked rather determined as she would then look at him. Rather her sister followed was on her.

659

The sun was a little stronger today. This called for a particular flavor. It called for a taste that would not overwhelm how nice the day was, but it would also need to compliment the nicety of the day’s weather. ‘Sweet but not too sweet’ was the initial thought. Cherry would be too sweet in its own right. Apple would be too tart. Melon was a little closer. Each idea was carefully dismissed one by one. Then, finally, a flavor was decided. It would also match the general feeling of the day. Bright and happy were the emotions of the day in its early moments.

Orange would be today’s flavor.

Amai took this flavor to the highest peak today. She had taken a very faint orange button-down for her shirt. It looked almost like an orange cream ice cream, how soft it was. She tossed over the top of this shirt a thin black and orange jacket with frills. This complimented the soft orange cream underneath, the frills giving the cream color more of an ice cream feel. She tied up her hair with orange cream ribbons like her shirt. Her skirt would be orange lined in a hard black. With orange and black spotted stockings, she covered her legs up to her upper thighs, gripping nicely beneath the skirt. Down below were black shoes, made for mobility. She would round out her ensemble with alternating black and orange finger nails just because it complimented everything together.

Then, finally, the orange lollipop found its way to her lips.

Amai had been following her sister’s pace lately. If anything, she had been lagging behind slightly. Her sister had on many points during the last week or so called her slow. Her sister was trying to rush her. She understood that there were plenty of missions to be done. Fame was an important thing, and executing on such a plethora of quests really was beginning to add to her stock as a mage. She felt as though she were getting a significant amount of experience, even though she had just started. With a shake of her head, she dismissed such thoughts. They could be distracting down the line, and a distraction was the last thing she needed.

I just need to focus on the coming days. It has been a fairly brisk pace, but it has been pretty worth it so far, especially to spend so much time with Ari-Nee, heh…

For today, Amai would be following her sister’s pace once more. They were waiting for someone to begin the quest, but she had not briefed herself properly on the details. Without such information, she felt as though she would be relying on her sister a little more than of late. It was not necessarily a bad thing, but it was hitting her own confidence over the past week or so. She had been in her sister’s shadow so much that she had begun simply looking up to her for the answer, despite wanting to develop one herself. She tugged down on the back of her skirt. It was definitely long enough, but she was still conscious of such things.

Just as it had seemed that her sister had given up on their client, a rather short man approached them and inquired of their presence. The dialogue was very curt, dismissive almost of her sister. Amai was about to interject and get on the man for being so rude to her sister, but Arisa prevailed with a calm mind, pushing that they move together. Her sister was obviously bribing the man, but that was of no concern to her as to how the objective was to be completed. It was just about reaching the end; the means were never clarified. So long as no one suffered or died, they were fairly open to do whatever they wanted to achieve the goal.

Amai smiled simply behind the two. A soft hint of orange lingered in the air around her, despite her desire to want to attack the man for talking down on her.

{680}

He slowly scanned her as he looked up and down. ‘’Hohoho~ alright young lady.’’ He would say as he put his hands behind his back and followed. ‘’I shall follow.’’ He would report and nod simply. A sweat drop would be the best to describe her look as she would sigh in relief. She couldn’t believe that she was able to bribe him that easily. Slowly she would stalk walking beside him and looked around the area. ‘’Yknow once my wife use to always make me the most amazing muffins.’’ He would randomly say. Her eye brow would cock a little as her eyes cornered to look at him. ‘’Oh? What kind?’’ she would try to make more conversation with his random outburst of information. He never answered as he continued to walk, but then out of no where he would twirl around. ‘’whoo whowhoo!~’’ he would coo as he’d twirl and then stop, trying to catch some air. ‘’I’m so old…Do you cause chaos young one?’’ he questioned and looked at her. ‘’Me? Well…sometimes. If I have to.’’ She would answer sweetly and calmly. Her arms would dangle against her side as she walked through the streets of Orchidia. She wondered how her sister was doing, but she was silent so Arisa didn't bother even talking to her till after this mission was done.

‘’It’s been so many years since I last spoke to my wife…When me and her were children, we’d laugh at other people a lot.’’ He would say and nodded a few times. ‘’I-I see.’’ She would say with a nervous smile and laughter. His head tilted up to look at the sky. ‘’Well I have a favor to ask young one. Can you be so kind to walk me back home?’’ he asked as she would look at him. ‘’Yea sure! No problem. ‘’ she would say and chuckled a little. He would nod and they’d go to a turn and another to then straight to his place. The weather was getting colder, but it wasn’t freezing. Her lioness eyes would spot a simply small house with a beautiful garden. ‘’Is that your place?’’ she question. ‘’Mmmhm.’’ He would simply say.

‘’My wife would always take care of the garden, but then…yea.’’ He would say with his crackly old voice. ‘’Cya later young one.’’ He would say, thanking her kindly. Her eyes would look as he would go into his house. ‘’Well… at least he didn’t cause anything bad…’’ she would say to herself. Soon she would turn away to then report to him. Finally as she was on her way she would run into Jelies. ‘’Well it seems you did well, Arisa. Here you go again and here you go little lady.’’ He would say and laughed, handing her the reward. ‘’Uh yea. Cya then?’’ she would say as he turned away to leave, her turning the other direction leaving as well with her sister.

exit-

1163

This encounter became quite weird quite quickly.

The older man began to ramble about his wife. He talked about muffins and asked if they had caused any chaos. It was definitely a strange list of questions, almost specific and intentional. Amai was on her guard as he talked. Either he was probing them for information… or he was going senile. In either case, she kept to herself and allowed Arisa to do the majority of the conversation.

Of course, in her head, she was answering every question.

Muffins, huh? Muffins can be pretty sweet if they have the right flavoring. It is especially true for the ones with a fruit flavor. Chunks are acceptable, but it is the flavor itself that makes it all worth the while. A muffin that does not taste good is not worth the trouble of consuming it. A nice blueberry or banana-nut muffin actually sounds good right now, even… damn!

Amai watched the man spin in place and address them intently. The reckless air about him was unusual for an older gentleman such as himself.

Chaos? Well, that is certainly a strange one to ask about. I know I don’t personally intend on causing any direct chaos. I just stick to myself. That actually reminds me of that lady from Oak. She inquired about something interesting, but I do not quite remember exactly what she said. I can guess that she would be more likely to cause chaos than I.

Amai bumped into the back of Arisa. They had arrived at the destination already. So quick had this mission sped by that she felt that nothing occurred at all. It was truly strange. She brushed herself off and apologized to her sister. They moved on just as quickly, though. They received their prompt rewards from Jelies and left. It was really weird how fast this day had sped by.

At least they would get to have some oranges after this confrontation. That sweet sweet fruit was a wonderful enough reward on top of the official one. Juicy, tasty… Amai smiled brightly to Arisa.

{348}

{ 1028 / 1000 }

[ - EXIT - ]