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Post by Aleu on Feb 25, 2007 18:02:21 GMT -6
Two years have passed since the adventures on the mountain. The group has returned to Kapu's cottage, dropping a few friends and picking up others along the way.
The sun is setting on the wide clearing in the forest where Kapu's home is built. A gift from his father, it's fairly large and built in rustic style: all wood logs and a wide porch in front. The area is surrounded almost completely by trees, except for a narrow footpath leading to the north.
The sun is setting. The group has been here for a few days now, and they're starting to become restless...
Aleu hitched up her belt, fastening her katana scabbard on the left side. Looking over her shoulder towards the rocking chair that sat near the fire in the living room, she asked, "Sis, want to go out and spar before sunset?"
She was answered by silence. Creeping over, she leaned over Serene's shoulder, pushing her wing out of the way, to see the older girl sound asleep. Serene never had been fond of staying up late. Best to let the poor thing be.
Aleu left the room, shutting the door gently, then cast about for Kapu. The search proved fruitless: he was probably in the backroom again writing. He'd been at it all the way home, along with a couple others, and Aleu hadn't seen much of her brother since they had got back.
Resigned to a swordplay-less night, she went outside to at least get a look at the sunset. The oak door opened creakily. (Whoa I heard a creak when I wrote that xD) The sun was almost gone outside, with the last bits of red and orange splashing across the ground before giving way to the navy blues of night.
"Oh, darnit. Too late," she grumbled, about to go back inside. A flash of silver caught her eye, though, and Aleu turned back around.
The girl outside was skinny, dressed shabbily but not badly. She had her hands wrapped around a broadsword at least half as tall as she was. Aleu watched her wield the monster skeptically, the heavy blade moving slowly but very, very menacingly through the air.
"Having fun, Silver?" She asked. The broadsword girl turned and gave her an affirmative nod, before turning her attention back away.
"Up for a match?" she asked. In reply, Silver spun and swung the blade with blurring speed, which missed Aleu by about an inch.
"Sure."
((Have fun, guys.))
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Post by Kriven on Feb 25, 2007 18:21:43 GMT -6
Further in the woods, a short walk from the house but the lights of windows still visible Kriven stood on a small ledge, overlooking a lake that moved freely and fluently through the forest, carrying the familys of fish and other such creatures whom lived within it's soothing waters. A gust of wind rushed past, waving Kriven's hair through the air. He soaked in the calm scene, at a momentary ease. A clattering sound broke his moment.
He looked down at his right arm, a stone arm. It shook violently, causing the pebbles and rocks that it was built with to crack into each other violently. He placed his left hand firmly on it, trying to push the stone arm down.
"I know we haven't done much for a while, you're restless." Kriven says aloud, speaking to non-other then his own arm.
His arm slowly stopped it's shaking and control over it returned to Kriven. After moments of silence, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a long instrument. A beautiful silver flute reflected the dominating moon and the stars appearing one by one in the darkening skies above. He began to play the flute, the sound was like magic, a sweet melody poured from the flute. The wind picking up the beautiful notes and carrying them through the night.
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Post by Arynielle Fallyce on Feb 25, 2007 18:57:53 GMT -6
Ari's nimble fingers ran along the length of cloth and various reeds. She needed a new belt badly... her old one had been with her for a couple of years now and had begun to wear down, particularly at the metal clasp. Turquiose eyes narrowed in the dim lighting as their owner braided and threaded the reeds and strips of cloth together in an interwoven and complex pattern. After a few minutes of this rhythmic weaving, the half-elf looked up, staring out into the sunset. It was almost as if a painter took his brush in one hand and painted the entire scene. Splashes of yellow, orange and red rippled through the sky. Hues of purple and blue soon followed, soon to shade the entire world in a royal navy. It was so beautiful... when Ari lived in Exire the clouds had always blocked her view of the sky. She never understood how she could have lived without gazing at a sunset before. Her lips curved into a small smile as she gathered up all of her materials into her woven pouch. She decided that she would continue her weaving tomorrow when the sun was bright again.
*thud* Ari turned around only to see that she had dropped a pair of Silver's sissors. But before she could pick it up, a shadow distracted her. The half-elf looked at the owner of the shadow, only to discover one of her new-found friends. "Elaviel! Lavi!! It's so nice to see you! What're you doing here?" she asked, temporarily forgetting about the dropped sissors and racing over to give her friend a hug.
Elaviel laughed in response, returning the gesture. It was nice to hear her own nickname again. Lavi... so few people call me that. When she hears it, it brings her happy memories. "I remember hearing you talk about this cottage so I flew over to see what's up. How have you been doing?" Elaviel tucked her bangs behind her pointy, elven ears and smiled. "You haven't been causing trouble here, have you?" Her hands went to her hips as she gazed around the area, looking officially satisfied. "Whomever this cottage belonges to has great taste in scenery, mm? I'd love to live out here."
The half-elf couldn't help but grin, remembering the scissors she had dropped earlier. She picked it up quickly and returned to Elaviel. "I've been doing well... you don't look too shabby yourself. This place is amazing... probably one of the first places where I've truly felt at home. I have everything here-- just look! The sky, the birds, the animals, the forest, the grass... and best of all, I have friends! People who accept me for who I am!" Ari nodded enthusiastically. "You still haven't met them, have you?" Without waiting for an answer, she tugged at Elaviel's wrist. "Come on! I'll introduce you to them. You can stay for dinner!"
"Oh? I'd hate to intrude... are you sure it's alright with the owner of this house? I only came to say a quick hi... I never meant to stay for long." Lavi sweatdropped. Ari was so insistent sometimes. "Either way, I'm glad you like it here... I know Exire was your first home but knowing that you found happiness is great!" The angel let herself be tugged along in Ari's firm hold. They slipped through the back door and into the stuff kitchen, where the stove was bubbling with a delicious stew and some sort of cassarole had found itself steaming in the oven. "That sure smells nice..."
"Does that mean you'll stay for dinner?" Ari asked, finally freeing Elaviel's wrist. "You know I'd love it if you did... it's been so long since I've last seen you."
"I give, I give! I'll stay for dinner at least as long as the owner of the house doesn't mind..." She trotted over to the stove and switched off the fire so that the stew wouldn't overcook. "How many people are eating anyway?" With a steady hand, the angel removed the lid of the pot and stirred the food around inside.
"Um... quite a bit. I've never actually counted! There are so many of us now..." The half-elf knew that the angel had some amazing cooking abilities and trusted her around the stove-- something she wouldn't allow Aleu to come near.
Elaviel froze. "Is this enough food..?"
"Probably not,"came a reply. "Maybe you could help me finish making dinner?"
"Sure thing." The two friends hurried throughout the kitchen, preparing the next meal.
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Post by Kriven on Feb 25, 2007 20:17:59 GMT -6
Kriven returned the reflective flute to his pocket and stared at the water for another moment. The winds speed picked up, his hair was whipping wildly now. A slight sting smacked his face with every gust of wind, but it wasn't enough to turn him away. Then he heard a strange gurgling noise and looked at his stomache.
"Food time." He said to himself, and turned around, facing the house.
He took a step, a leaf crunched, a twig snapped. For every step he took there was some crunching noise to follow. He knew of course, that it was his own footsteps, there were twigs and leaves all over the forest floor, no reason for him to get freaked. Despite his logic he increased his pace and took longer strides, desperatly trying to get to the house without feeling ridiculous about himself. He took a step, then heard a loud stomp and an enourmous crack. He spun around, the hair on his neck standing on edge.
Before him was a monstrosity. The sad part was, that this was what he had locked inside him. A hulking mass of rock no less then 8 feet tall stood before him. In it's hands was a mace of giant proportions, easily 10 feet long. The creature had one redy eye in the center of it's rocky body. Where the white in an eye normally would be was pure black. Exactly like Kriven's own left-eye.
"LET ME OUT! LET ME KILL!" a deep command explodes within Kriven's head.
"No... NO! I can't do that!" Kriven shouts, and clutches his head with his hands.
"LET ME OUT OR I'LL KILL YOU!" the voice threatens.
Kriven's stonehand tightens it's grip, causing immense pain to extend inward. He forces the hand down, dragging it along his face leaving several large scratches. Blood trickles down, drips off his chin.
"I am... in control." Kriven says aloud.
The voice laughs, "Ha! Think what you want mortal!"
A wave of pain makes its way throughout Kriven's body and he falls backwards. His head slams onto a large rock, a sickening crack. He screams from the pain, but feels no blood leave his body. He begins to climb to his feet, his stone arm shakes violently. When he finally gets to his feet again another explosion of pain brings him back down. This time he lands in a thorn bush, and recieves several large scratches along his human arm and neck. He pulls himself to his feet again, and when the next pain erupts he manages to stand his ground.
"GO AWAY!" Kriven shouts, and struggles for a while.
Finally he collapses to his knees and pants, consumed of almost all energy. His hand stops shaking. He has won... for now. He pulls himself to his feet one last time, a wave of dizzyness consumes him and he stumbles around. He decides it's best if he makes it to the house, he'd rather be sick inside then pass out on the forest floor. He manages to stumble towards the backdoor of the house, which leads into the kitchen.
He grabs onto the doorknob, allowing his weight to shift into being supported by the sturdy door. He turns the door and stumbles inside, blood still trickling from the marks on his face. He leans against the door without bothering to close it, allowing himself to rest against it until the dizyness fades. His demonic eye pulses an evil aura.
(Decided to show you guys how difficult it can be to contain a demon all the time.)
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Post by Arynielle Fallyce on Feb 25, 2007 20:49:51 GMT -6
Ari watched Elaviel as the angel sliced fresh carrots from the garden with quick and careful strokes of the knife. She knew that Elaviel was familiar with cooking but it seemed like she had gotten even better than last time. Lavi tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ears as she did so often and focused on slicing celery when Ari handed her stalk by stalk.
"You must've learned so much more..." Ari said, watching her companion chip away with deft slices. The knife moved so quickly that she barely had time to see the silver blade slice into the vegetables. Cooking was always so quick and easy with Elaviel... mainly because she knew what she was doing.
"What? This? Oh, don't be silly, Ari... it's nothing!" Elaviel scaped the sliced vegetables off of the cutting board and into another pot of boiling stew. She handed the other a stirring spoon and a small container of a bluish-colored spice. "Stir clockwise while adding a small handful of that stuff. Food always tastes better that way for some reason." She hurried off to another corner of the kitchen where she opened the oven door, and removed the steaming casserole with a pair of oven mitts. "Mmm... does that smell delicious! What's in here?"
The half-elf looked up from her stirring. "Oh... broccoli and cheese!" She grinned. "You do remember right? I'm a vegetarian... I can't eat animals..."
Elaviel laughed. "Of course. How could I forget? It was only you who made me cook an entirely new dinner that one night when you came to visit." She ignored the blush on Ari's pale cheeks. "But don't worry about it! This casserole still looks great. I can't wait to try some... what about your friends though? Don't they like meat?"
"They do, actually. But I'm squeamish around flesh... I can't cook a dead animal!"
Surpressing another laugh, Elaviel nodded in understanding. "I completely understand. Why don't you go get a few ingredients... I'll whip something up for your friends in just a few minutes."
With a sigh of relief, Ari ran off to the basement to grab a few slices of pork while the angel pulled a few bowls from the cabinets. "What can I make? Hrm..." Blue eyes wandered around the kitchen searching for something. They fell on a large sack of potatoes in the corner. "Of course! I can make roast and potatoes! Yum..."
Before Elaviel could reach the potatoes, someone came bursting through the door. "What?" Though still somewhat shocked from the sudden intrustion, she ran over to the boy's side. She looked him over carefully. "Nothing seems to be broken..."
"Lavi? What happened?" In an instant, Ari had rushed over to the two. "Kriven! Oh, what happened, Lavi?"
"...I don't know. He just burst in through the kitchen and collapsed."
Ari traded glances with her companion before eyeing the poor Kriven. "Help me get him into the livingroom... and then I can see if I can heal up his forehead."
Elaviel nodded as the two heaved the boy onto a nearby sofa. "He doesn't seem to be hurt badly... I wonder what happened. Do you think someone's around who might hurt him?"
"I doubt it..." Ari concentrated on cleaning up the blood and urging the wounds to close up.
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Post by Kriven on Feb 25, 2007 21:00:33 GMT -6
Slowly he could feel the blood stop trickling, stop flowing. Stop leaving his body. Then he felt the odd sudden feeling when a wound was cliosed unnaturally. Skin grew with speed, replacing the deep marks on his head and face.
"You're lucky..." mutters a fading voice, before the intrusion disappears completely.
Kriven opens his eyes a bit, fearing that the world is still spinning and changing colors. Much to his relief, the area around him remains where it should be, and the colors are filling in their correct objects. At first he sees Ari's worried face looking down on him, healing his injuries.
"Thanks." he manages to say, and double checks to make sure the world isn't spinning.
He sees another face staring down at him with concern. A new face. He slams his demonic eye shut, fear of being judged.
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Post by Arynielle Fallyce on Feb 25, 2007 21:16:00 GMT -6
Ari's face softened with relief as Kriven woke up from his unconscienceness. "You're alright, Kriven!" She lightly touched his forehead with her fingers. "Well, it looks like you're doing fine-- no fever nor any other injuries! What happened anyway? Lavi said she saw you bursting through the kitchen door and then you just collapsed."
While her companion was speaking to the boy, Elaviel grew curious about that red eye. What is it? That's not normal... Though she was no longer a true angel and had lost most of her light prowess, she was still well-connected to affinities. She easily recognized light and dark aspects of a person. This boy... it's almost as if he has demonic energies flowing from him. She was snapped out of her thoughts by an eager Ari.
"This is Kriven, Lavi! He's one of the people who joined our group and couple years back... we went on quite a few adventures with each other, you know. And Kriven, this is Elaviel though I just call her Lavi. She's a good friend of mine who I met when I went into the city on my campaign."
Elaviel nodded in greeting. "It's nice to meet you, Kriven." She remained cautious of the boy... although she had known nice people who had been possessed by demonic spirits, it wouldn't hurt to be careful. The angel would still be friendly and compassionate towards this new character, but she'd remain wary all the same.
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Post by Kriven on Feb 25, 2007 21:25:05 GMT -6
"Hey. Same here." Kriven says, nodding in Elaviel's direction, "Um.. I'll be back shortly.. Just gonna put some stuff away."
Kriven leaps to his feet and rushes out of the room, uselessly attempting to his his stonearm as well, though he knows it's no good. He makes his way through the halls and locates his small travelling bag. He quickly reaches in and grabs two things from it: A large brown glove, with which he conceals his arm, and an eye patch to hide the demonic sphere.
As he rummages through his bag, discovering lost things under his disgusing clothes, he finds a thin string and a few rocks, colored blues and greens, shaped by oceans.
"I forgot about this..." he says to himself, and pockets the rocks and the string.
A warm smell finds it's way, twisting into his nose and into his brain.
Food!
He rushes back to the kitchen, remembering that he had originally wanted to return to the house because he was hungry. The smell warm smell of food increases and eventually the air itself seems to become flavored.
It smells good... that's new!
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Post by Arynielle Fallyce on Feb 25, 2007 21:44:20 GMT -6
"You hungry?" Elaviel pushes the door open to find Kriven in the kitchen, acting as if he hadn't eaten in days. She goes back to the two pots of stew on the stove, stirring them thoroughly with a mixing spoon. "Right now both of these guys are filled with just vegetable stew. If you can wait a bit longer, I'll have some chunks of pork added." Looking around for the basket of meat Ari brought in, Elaviel took a few slices out and began to dice it into square pieces. When she finished after a few minutes, she scooped all of the bite-sized chunks into one of the pots. Ari was still a vegetarian and she respected that fact.
With a small "clank" of a closed lid, Elaviel skipped to the sack of potatoes which she had previously ignored to help the collapsed Kriven. She quickly tossed the potatoes into the oven on a small tray and heated the fire. "There we go! They should be ready in an hour or so."
Meanwhile, Ari comes in from the garden with a basket of various fruits and vegetables. "Thought you might need something else," she said to Elaviel with a smile. "Silver has the nicest garden you have ever seen. And there are so many fruit trees around the house-- I'll have to show them to you sometime!"
"Why don't you slice some of that fruit up for dessert, Ari? You can arrange them like I had that one night... in a fruit pyramid!"
"That's a great idea! I'll give it a go!" The half-elf pranced off after tossing Elaviel a few onions, some garlic and other vegetables she could work with. She found her place at the cutting board and began her experiment with the fruit.
The angel went back to her own cooking, mixing up a concotion of soy sauce, garlic, onion, pepper, vinegar and salt for the roast. It was then that she noticed Kriven again. "Oh! Sorry for the wait. The stew's ready by now, I'm sure. Help yourself! You wouldn't mind giving it a small stir while you're at it, would you?" She continued whipping the sauce into a thick ingredient. Placing the pork into a tray, she drizzled the meat in the sauce and shoved it in next to the potatoes in the oven. "Whew! Do you do this every night, Ari?"
On the other side of the counter, Ari's artistic side bloomed. A rather large platter had a colorful array of apples, peaches, pears, plums and assorted berries, sliced and and diced into various shapes and stacked neatly into a pyramid. Elaviel blinked at the utter size of it. "Nice job, Ari! That looks great!"
"Oh, thanks, Lavi! Not bad for my first time, right? And, no, I don't do this everynight... usually we take turns making the meals."
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Post by Kriven on Feb 25, 2007 21:58:27 GMT -6
"Except for Aleu." Kriven adds, as he walks towards the stew.
He dips the serving spoon into the combonation of vegetables and meats and gives it a quick stir, as he was asked to do. He then went about pouring himself a bowlfull of the warm smelling food, making sure that meat overpowered the vegetables. Kriven snickered to himself as he thought of the word carnivore, then pictured himself as a large lion.
He walked across the wooden floor, which quietly creaked as he did and placed his bowl on the table. Just before he sat he realised: Spoon!
He made his way over to where the spoons were kept, which so happened to be next to Ari and her pile of fruit. He reached forward with his gloved arm, grabbing a spoon. A sudden surge sent his arm into it's usual spaz, however this time it was much worse. The arm knocked into a loose bannana peel that had been sitting on the counter. The peel landed on the ground with a splat, and Kriven, not noticing slipped on it while attempting to calm his hand.
As Kriven went down, he hit the fruit plate with his hand, which sent the entire thing rocketing into the air. The plate clattered to the floor, now covered in various fruits. Kriven sat-up. He too was covered in various fruits and ate a small piece of a peach that had landed on his face.
"Peachy..."
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Post by Arynielle Fallyce on Feb 25, 2007 22:13:35 GMT -6
Ari's eyes went wide as the plate suddenly fell from the countertop, shattering as it hit the ground. A wild array of colorful fruits spilled everywhere, splashing sticky juices about the floor of the kitchen. The half-elf climbed down from her sitting position on the counter to look at the mess and at Kriven, who appeared to be more than fine. "Erm..." A sweatdrop formed on her head. "Kriven, what did you do?"
Elaviel, however, was laughing at the scene. Her melodious voice rang out around the kitchen as she did so, walking over to where Kriven had fallen. "Had a little fall, didn't you?" She clicked her tongue, scanning the mess. "Now we need to clean this up..."
"But... my beautiful pyramid..." Ari could never find herself to be angry with anyone for wrecking her fruit design even if it wasn't an accident. All the same, she was saddened by the fact that her creation was ruined. But all's well that end's well. "I'll get the mop!" she said quickly, racing from the kitchen and towards the broom closet. She returned in a few seconds, with a bucket and mop. "Here we are!"
The angel tilted her head to the side as she looked at Ari. "We could use that... or we can follow the ten-second rule." She shrugged. "The floor looks pretty clean to me. You probably mop it everyday of your stay here, don't you? Don't deny it, we all know you're a neat freak."
"..." Ari sweatdropped yet again.
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Post by Kriven on Feb 25, 2007 22:19:02 GMT -6
"...." Kriven was already grabbing fruit pieces off the floor and placing them on the counter, though the amount that actually made it to the counter seemed somewhat smaller then what had left it in the first place.
Most obvious fruit slices were gone, the floor was still sticky with fruit juices.
"I can clean that too." Kriven says, and is about to absorb the water into his hand, when he remembers Elaviel is there, and instead grabs the mop, "You can.. make a... bigger and better pyramid while I clean the stickiness."
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Post by Arynielle Fallyce on Feb 25, 2007 22:33:15 GMT -6
Elaviel simply laughs and taps Ari's shoulder. "Look at that, looks like we won't have to do any cleaning after all! Kriven doesn't seem bothered by the ten-second rule. And I'm sure he trusts that you've kept the wooden floors clean all these years." She carefully picks up all of the shattered pieces of glass and dumps them intot he waste basket. "Be careful not to step on those, you guys. Don't want to cut your feet open anytime soon."
"I suppose you're right..." Though Ari was a bit taken aback by Kriven eating from the floor, she accepted his help and grabbed the basket from the counter. "I'll definitely make a bigger and better pyramid... just hang tight and I'll go get another load of fruit, alright? It's getting dark already, but expect me home soon!" With those words, she skipped out of the kitchen.
The other two worked on getting the floor clean and dry before Ari came back from fruit-picking. Elaviel brushed her hair back and sighed at the clean room. "Well, you can enjoy your stew now, Kriven. Lemme go check on te roast and potatoes~" She hummed quietly in her soft voice as she propped the over door open. "Ah... looks like the potatoes are pretty much done." With the help of oven mitts, she removed the steaming vegetables began to mash them in a large bowl. She added spices, garlic and a few herbs, careful with the mixing again.
"So, Kriven. Who lives here? How many people are coming for dinner?" Lavi asked, raiding the cabinets for plates, bowls and utensils. From the looks of it, seeing as how many chairs were at the table... a lot of people stayed here.
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Post by Kriven on Feb 25, 2007 22:38:26 GMT -6
"Well.." Kriven began, "There's Aleu and Kapu... and... their... family... and then there's me of course and Ari, and uh a couple of brothers and there's alot of new people too... Hmm... I'd round it to about 15 not counting you."
He sits down and blows on his soup in a futile attempt to cool it down. The steam still rises steadily when he takes a large gulp of it, deicding that it's cool enough. Kriven silently panics from the intense heat. Pain burns at the insides of his mouth, but he calms down and swallows, aloowing the stew to burn down his throat and leave a warm spot in his belly.
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Post by Arynielle Fallyce on Feb 27, 2007 18:17:49 GMT -6
((No one's posted... ;_; This makes Ari saaad.))
"Mmhmm," Elaviel appeared to be absent minded, though in reality she was listening... not very intently but there wasn't anything difficult to understand about the current conversation. She gathered a rather tall stack of plates and began to arrange to table, placing a dish wherever there was a seat. The forks, spoons and knives followed shortly after and then the tall, clear glasses did. Elaviel filled a pitcher of water from the sink and set it on the table. "Hrm." Her blue eyes fell on the small basket of lemons that Ari had collected. With a smile and just a few minutes, a pitcher full of lemonade was ready to be consumed.
"I love how whomever owns this house has so many suplies at his or her disposal..." Her hands worked quickly with the mashed potatoes as she sighed. "I forgot the gravy." She hit her head on the table in frustration. "...but" The angel was quick to regain her senses. "...I've spiced the potatoes up well; it still has plenty of flavor. You guys will just have to deal." She set the large bowl of food on the table, hurrying to fetch the pot roast from the oven. With mitted hands, she removed the meat and quickly fanned it down so it would cool a little bit. Elaviel re-drenched the roast in its juicy and delicious-smelling sauce and placed the dinner on a more decorative plate.
It seemed like there was a rather large stack of utensils, bowls, trays and plates stacked up in the sink at that point. Elaviel's eyes grew wary of this... "*le sigh* Looks like I'm going to have quite a bit of cleaning to do. At least I know that Ari will give me a hand!"
As if on cue, the half-elf stepped through the door, closing it behind her. "What am I doing?" she asked upon hearing her name.
"Nothing right now. Lemme help you with that fruit." In just a matter of minutes, the two friends had constructed what seemed like the world's largest fruit pyramid. They were rather proud of their work. "I think it's time to eat!" Elaviel said happily, looking around the room. However... the kitchen seemed devoid of company to her dismay. "How come no one's here yet..?
Ari had busied herself with stirring up the pots of stew and began to fill the bowls on the table. "They're probably just outside training and whatnot. It's no big deal; they do this all the time. This is life, Lavi. We relax and enjoy ourselves."
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