The elf held the blanket with both hands over her neck as she closed her eyes. Tired from prancing around her new bedroom, she let out a soft sigh to signal her night to a close.
"Cre...ak..."
Asobi’s eyes bubbled open imdiately as she peeked up at the canopy of the bed, "Hello? Are there fairies in the walls?"
Nothing responded as Asobi’s lips wriggled, "Okay... Nighty-night spooky sounds," she shut her eyes with a gulp.
The balcony door was shut and the curtains were drawn—her belongings of four magician’s attire, and the silk blouse and long skirt she bought in Hartamat were neatly kept in the wardrobe.
Her flat shoes were to the side of the bed, her hat on the nightstand and wand tucked under the legion of pillows. "Creak..."
"Who’s there!" Asobi jolted up from her bed and swivelled her head in a frenzy; the fifth set of her magician’s attire was on her still. Sat up in her bed, she held the blanket to her nose and shivered.
"Creak..."
"EEEP!!!" Asobi lunged under the covers and scuffled around for her wand under the mountain of pillows. She popped back up holding her wand in both hands and waved it around like a sword.
"Co out and face demons!"
"Creak..."
"GAHH!!!!" she let out her war cry as she leapt out of bed and aid her wand around the room like a gun.
"Creak..." Through her scream she faced the left of the room, towards the ceiling above the bathroom door.
"Aha! There you are!"
"Creak..."
"Don’t let unleash my ultra-powerful, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious spells upon your undead soul!" illusions of rainbow lights lit up the tip of her wand.
"Creak..."
"Fine! You asked for it!!!" she yelled as she ran towards the bathroom and aid up to the doorfra. "PEW, peW, PeW!" Her light spells fired and phased through the ceiling. "Had enough!?"
"Creak..."
Asobi’s cheeks puffed up, "Jotou! Hotaru! ko!" she squealed as she ran back to her bed and put on her hat. "Oh no! You’re not close to anymore! THE DEMONS WILL GET !!!"
She rushed out the door at the dead of night, shutting it behind her with a- "SLAM!" She panted as she kept her back to the door... She illusioned her makeup on and made her hair look not dishevelled.
The lights of the hallways were lit all-night as Asobi cald down in the presence of it. "Phew..." she walked a bit to see a table propped up with two Royal Guards.
"You got any eights?"
"Nope," the woman replied.
The man gave a sigh as he took another card from the deck. "Excuse ?" Asobi approached.
Both their eyes widened as they shuffled the cards off the table in a flurry, "Yes!?"
"We weren’t doing anything!"
"Other than patrolling of course!"
"Yeah, yeah!"
"Oh, great! There’re demons in my bathroom ceiling, can you help?"
"What?" both the Royal Guards squinted.
_
The woman poked the ceiling with a halberd. "Creak..."
"GAH!" Asobi hid behind her bed.
"Ms Asobi, it’s just the pipes settling..." the man turned, relieved.
"The pipes are going to sleep?"
The woman turned, "I suppose you could say that... Apologies for the disturbance it causes. We’ll let Lord Artevik know."
"These rooms’ve not been used in a long ti, it’s natural for these sounds," the man turned to Asobi who stood back up.
"Oh," she dusted off her attire, "Silly ... Sorry," she tilted her head.
"No worries Ms Asobi, this is what we’re here for... However, if you could, uhm, forget what you saw outside, that would be appreciated..."
"Hm? You two were patrolling, right?"
"Exactly; thank you miss," the Royal Guards left the room with sighs.
"You’re welco," Asobi waved. She then peered around the room again, gripping her wand in both hands. She gulped...
_
"Knock, knock-knock-knock-knock, knock, knock."
The brunette snored awake, hair sticking to her mouth as her eyes squinted to the knock of the door. She groaned heavily, "WHAT!?"
"ko? It’s Asobi! Can I co in?"
"What do you want!?" Fuko yelled, having sunken into the pool of blankets and pillows.
"Uh, people? I don’t know where Jotou and Hotaru live now."
"Ugh..." shadows engulfed her form and she blinked to the door. She opened it—slouched over and hair in a complete ss, "Now, what do you want?" she looked to the magician’s feet to see no shoes.
Asobi stepped in as Fuko shut the door. "I-I’ve never slept on my own before..."
"You had an entire room in Kria," Fuko grumbled back to her bed.
"Yeah, but we were all next to each other..." Asobi twiddled her wand in between her fingers, glancing around Fuko’s room.
"Don’t tell you slept in the sa room as that ringmaster in the circus; as if my thoughts of him weren’t already low," Fuko yawned as she got into her sheets.
"No, I had my own sleeping bag and he wasn’t there. But he was still near enough that I could hear him snoring..."
"Uh huh, great, thanks for telling . Close the door on your way out," Fuko closed her eyes and planted her face into the pillows.
"ko... can I sleep in your room? It’s scary to sleep so far away from everyone."
"No, piss off."
Asobi faced the resting brunette with her eyes widened, "But-but what if ghosts show up? Or assassins? ko, you can protect , please!"
Fuko groaned louder, "Fine!" She threw a pillow onto the floor, "There, now stop whining. There’re guards all over in case so assassin cos and I’m sure there aren’t any ghosts unless a spirit-mage is around."
"Yay!" Asobi hopped over and fell onto the floor, placing her head onto the pillow. She lied down onto the golden rug that circled the bed.
Fuko snuggled back into the covers. She pouted slightly... She couldn’t just... she wouldn’t just... Fuko opened her eyes a tad, an unease within herself.
"Night-night ko," Asobi placed the hat on the floor and the wand under her pillow. She wrapped her hands around the one pillow and closed her eyes.
Fuko sighed. She propped herself up on the bed with her arms, looking at the more than enough space on it. She held the bridge of her nose and then glanced to the magician on the floor, "There’s... a lot of space up here if you wanna climb in," she muttered.
"Really?" Asobi faced up, opening her eyes.
"Will you just get in here before I change my mind?"
"Yay! My back is saved!" Asobi grabbed the pillow and hopped onto the bed.
Fuko moved till the right edge of the bed whilst Asobi settled into the left side—at least a couple of tres of free space in between the two.
Asobi humd as the feather-stuffed pillows engulfed her head, "Goodnight Fuko... Thanks for letting in," she spoke before closing her eyes.
The brunette faced away from her, unable to close her eyes. ’"I’ll tell them at so point..."’ Those words circled her mory from five nights ago... Or rather, more than two weeks ago...
Fuko shrivelled up in the bed. She got up in a gulp, "I always had my own room. So, I never had a roommate or anything like that until Jotou and I shared a room in the guild..."
Asobi heard her voice and fluttered her eyelashes awake, "Really!? Your very own room? When you were in Burnetrout?"
"Yeah... I had a room on the third floor and a bed in the corner... The floors were a dark wood and uh, there were drawings... on the walls."
"Well, can I be your roommate? Hotaru and Jotou are now roommates, so we can be too right?" Asobi sat up cheerily.
"Don’t get ahead of yourself," she glared, "And don’t remind ," she glanced to the curtains.
"Oh, sorry, I won’t... I should be brave to sleep in my own room, I know," Asobi nodded.
"Never mind the fact that you’re twenty," Fuko mumbled, rolling her eyes. "Asobi, I uh, I’m sorry for making you cry by faking my death..." she pouted.
"Oh that? It was just a funny prank, right? No apologies necessary!" she shook her head.
"Yeah, I don’t need to apologize. Stupid Jotou; I should make you cry more often as a prank," Fuko grinned.
"Uh... if it’s fun... sure!"
Fuko snickered with her lips closed, "It’ll definitely be fun. Now," she took a deep breath and exhaled, "Have you heard of the, Great Fire of Burnetrout?" she winced an eye.
Asobi pouted in pondering... "Nope!"
Fuko pursed her lips, "The Black-Sand River, have you heard of that?"
"Hm, no."
"Of course you haven’t..." Fuko’s eyes glazed over. "Well, the fire started in Burnetrout and burned for days to weeks. After it was over, a bunch of smoke and ash hazed the skies.
Then a bunch of mages brought down all the ash and dust and made it flow into a river. So, now it keeps flowing around in a loop forever so it doesn’t pollute the sky."
"Ooo, so like a river!?"
"...Exactly..." Fuko inhaled, "When I was, a baby, I was caught in that fire."
Asobi gasped, "So you escaped!?"
"Not exactly... I can’t rember any of it. All I know is that my, father... saved from there."
"Kazuo Namora? The greatest detective in Burnetrout?"
"Yes you twit, you don’t need to read his whole title."
"Sorry..."
"Anyway, he saved from that fire and adopted . I never, t my actual parents..." Fuko frowned.
"So, you don’t know who they are?"
"I, rember reading their nas, but I don’t rember their nas anymore..." Fuko hid her face, "I know, I should rember sothing like that, but I guess it just slipped my mind...
All I know is that they’re both dead; they died in that fire. This," Fuko traced a hand across the top of her head till it hit the purple headband, "is all I have left of my mother.
Which is why I didn’t want you taking it off back in Kria. And after I found out I was not my father’s actual daughter, we, had an argunt about that and that’s when I left for Kria.
And, there’s also this," Fuko huffed, grabbing the hem of her purple nightgown.
Asobi tilted her head, watching Fuko control her breathing over and over before she finally lifted the cloth. Going down past her black undershirt, across her back were her scars.
They started from her waist and patched up towards her abdon, red against her otherwise pale skin. The aged burns stretched with rivers of her normal skin passing through, "-permanent reminder of it."
Asobi leaned in closer, shifting across the pillows to get a better look, "ko..." her voice alone was consoling, "Does it, hurt?"
"No, not really," she answered still displaying them, "It feels a tiny bit more sensitive, but nothing off-putting."
"Does it get uncomfortable then? Or, does it bother you a lot?"
"No. And, I can barely see it. I didn’t get out of the house much so I didn’t really care about it too much; my clothes cover them."
"Oh," Asobi then leaned to the right to get a glimpse of Fuko’s face, "Then... why are you showing this to ?"
Her brows furrowed as she let go off her nightgown. She spun around on the mattress, "Because I’m letting you in you twit!"
Asobi recoiled back, "In-in on what?" she squeaked.
"I- I! I don’t know? My life? An ugly mark of that fire? That I don’t have my parents anymore? It’s important that I’m showing this to you!" Fuko’s face faltered and tears began running down her face.
"No, no, no! Don’t cry!" Asobi grabbed the brunette into a hug, "I’m sorry! I didn’t know, I thought you were used to it by what you said!"
Fuko flailed her arms, but instead just fell into her embrace, beginning to sob, "I, I just wanted to show you... that I trust you."
Her breath heaved, "It never bothered until that argunt. Until I knew the truth. I was living half a lie and I just want to show you, I don’t know why! I just want to!"
"It’s okay, ko, it’s okay," Asobi petted the back of her head as she cried on her chest. "I trust you too. And, it doesn’t make you ugly... I think, it makes you, you...
I didn’t know that part of you... but now I know and I’ll rember. I promise to rember what those scars an to you, okay? No need to cry please, I’ll be here. You can tell anything, I’ll keep it secret," she whispered the last sentence.
The brunette sobbed, pressing her head into her more before her cries slowly died down and what was left was silence...
Fuko sniffled, leaning back from Asobi, "Thanks... and, you did nothing wrong, don’t worry." Fuko felt a little lighter... perhaps from letting herself be vulnerable.
"I guess, you wouldn’t know anything about your parents either, would you?" Fuko glanced at her jade-green eyes.
"My parents?" Asobi raised her brows, "They probably run around the forests going on huge adventures! Or," her smile faded... "Or, Or... Or... they might be... be; might be..."
"Sobi? Asobi?" Fuko’s eyes widened as she held Asobi by the shoulders, "Hey, hey, hey! You can be my roommate for a couple of days, okay?"
One or two rainbow tears stopped from her eyes, "Really? That sounds spectacularistic!" Fuko sighed, letting go of her. "Oh, sorry, did I," Asobi checked her eyes for tears, "Did I, freeze again?"
"Kind of..."
"It’s because of... the circus," Asobi’s lips turned down and Fuko’s eyes widened.
That look upon the elf’s face... Fuko shook her head, "Uuh, can I ask you sothing? You have to keep this secret from everyone, alright?"
Asobi nodded, "Shh... I will."
What topic to change too? "Is it, obvious, that I like Jotou...?" Fuko winced her eyes, trying to spit it out.
The ceiling fan whooshed softly above... "Of course it is," Asobi smiled.
"What..." Fuko’s eyes widened.
"Yeah, you always act an to everyone, but I know you actually like all of us."
"WHAT!? W-wait, what do you think I an by ’like’?" Fuko squinted.
"That you, like soone...? Does this have another aning too?" Asobi tilted her head.
Fuko groaned into her palms, "I an romantically you dumbass."
"What do you an ’like romantically’?"
"I can’t really explain it; it’s more of a feeling. It’s when you, feel warm all over and butterflies in your stomach and your heart beats a little faster," Fuko blushed looking away.
"So that feeling gives you a disease?" Asobi stared in horror, "What’s the cure?"
"Not like that you idiot!" she sighed, "It’s like, a happy feeling you have about soone. That you want to be with them; like marriage, dates, that kind of like."
"Ohhh, then I’ve definitely had those feelings before," Asobi pondered to the ceiling.
"Huh? Who do you like? Tell . I told you mine!"
"Shh... It’s a secret!" she winked with a finger to her lips.
Fuko stared... ... She yanked Asobi by the collar and started shaking her, "Tell now!"
Asobi giggled like a gremlin, "Never!" she played along.
Fuko’s eyes widened, and she shook Asobi more, "You- This always worked! Why aren’t you scared and squeaking!? Tell everything now!"
"Silly ko!" Asobi steadied her head, "I know you wouldn’t actually hurt !"
Fuko groaned and shoved Asobi onto the bed, "Woah!" Asobi fell like a starfish before she giggled.
"I’m too tired for this," Fuko rolled Asobi to the other side of the bed. She crawled back to her side and planted her face into the pillows with a groan.
Asobi shook her legs and covered herself with the sheets before lying her head on the pillows, "Goodnight ko!"
Fuko sighed, unable to interrogate Asobi. Though, a soft smile grew on her face... "...Night."
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