Disclaimer: Slayers belongs to Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, Kadokawa, TV Tokyo and SOFTX. I neither claim to own the series nor am I making any profit with this story.
Note: This story was written for a Livejournal community challenge. The challenge was to write a L/G-centered story including the following elements: a bouquet of flowers, a magic ring, the quote "Hmm, they aren't really so small" and a rampaging girl using Lina's name. Sounds interesting? Then I hope you have fun with the story. There are still a few parts I am not completely satisfied with but I decided not to change anything about it after the challenge. Credit for the title goes to Talythia Starseeker because I was too uncreative to think of one and she pointed it out in the last minute...
Edit: I finally took the time to fix a mistake in my use of words that was pointed out to me and made a couple of other minor changes in word use and formatting. Not likely anything you would notice if you have read this story already. Thank you very much to everyone who reviewed!
"Come on, Gourry, there's an inn just ahead!" I yelled at my companion who was slowly walking a few steps behind me and observing our surroundings nervously. We had just entered a small town in search of something to eat.
"Are you sure we should eat here, Lina? This place is... creepy."
Well, he did have a point there. There were no people to be seen anywhere on the streets and the doors and windows of the houses were all shut. It was a bit suspicious, I admit. But damn it, I was hungry and I didn't care. I shrugged. "Never mind, we'll just eat and leave this place at once afterwards. Maybe the inn is as empty as the streets... which means more food for me!"
With that we had reached the building and without hesitating I just opened the door. It was not very big and most of the tables inside were indeed empty. Only in one corner three men were sitting around a table. When Gourry and I entered the room they stopped whatever discussion they were having and gave us an odd stare. So did the old fat man behind the bar on the other end of the room, who seemed to be the owner of this place. Probably just admiring my beauty. Can't blame them, can ya?
I dragged Gourry over to a table on the side and yelled in the direction of the innkeeper, "Hey, old man, give me two portions of everything you have!"
"Same for me!" called Gourry, sounding a lot more enthusiastically all of a sudden.
Fat-man looked shocked, "Uhm... but..." he started.
"When is my food coming?" I demanded and glared at him. He just turned around and disappeared through a door that seemed to be the one to the kitchen. The men on the other side of the room gave us another bewildered look but then continued talking with lowered voices.
I stretched and yawned. It felt good to get some rest. Now if only that old geezer hurried up with the food it would have been perfect. I was starving! I mean, it must have been like, what? Fourty hours since I last ate...? Well, okay, maybe just four hours but that's not the point. The point is, I was really hungry.
"Are you serious about that?" I heard one of the men across the room whisper in astonishment. Not that I was trying to eavesdrop on them or anything. What are you thinking? They were talking extremely loud, you know... Oh, I already mentioned they were whispering? Whatever...
"Of course! I'll force that freaky girl out and retrieve the treasure!"
Okay, screw that. Now I was eavesdropping. Sue me.
"It's a matter of honor!" The same man proudly stated and I peeked over to their table inconspicuously. The man looked like a farmer, with plain clothes, dark hair and a mustache, and was bragging in front of the other two men about something heroic he was planning to do. Something heroic involving treasure...
"Oh, I'm sure the reward is an honorable reason, too!" one of the other men replied. All of them started laughing.
"What reward?" I asked curiously.
"Whaaaaa!" the three men screamed, "Where did you suddenly come from?"
Morons. I just got over here from my table and sat down at yours. Can't have been so suddenly then. I turned around only too see a dumbfounded Gourry blinking at my empty seat on the other end of the dust cloud. Wait... a dust cloud? Oh well, that doesn't have anything to do with me.
"What treasure? What happened? How much is the reward? Is that treasure worth a lot?" I asked enthusiastically, turning to the men again, "Is it something magical?"
Farmer-guy recovered from the shock first. "You aren't from around, are you?" he asked and looked up at Gourry who had been walking over here slowly and was now taking a seat next to me, scratching his head. I sighed. I just wanted to hear about that treasure, not start small-talk here.
"No, we are travellers." Gourry answered his question in my place.
"I thought so. It's unusual that people walk around here on the streets since it happened." The other two men nodded in agreement.
"Since what happened?" I asked impatiently. Get to the part with the treasure now!
"Well, our town's treasure has been stolen a while ago. It is a very powerful magic ring that we kept safe in our city hall," farmer-guy explained.
"A magic ring?" Lucky!
"Right", the man continued, "it has been stolen by an evil powerful sorceress and now she is threatening to use it against us if we don't give her all our money and food."
"Money and food, huh? Is that all that counts for her? What a poor excuse of a sorceress!" I exclaimed dramatically.
"Isn't that exactly what you would...?"
Bump! My elbow impacted on Gourry's head. The men stared at me again.
"Ah ha ha..." I laughed nervously. Stupid Gourry rubbed his head and looked at me accusingly. Oh my, don't be such a girl, I didn't even hit you that hard... Anyway, can we go on here?
"So where did we stop? Oh, yeah, you just wanted to tell me about the reward!" I said happily.
The man seemed irritated, "Uhm, no, actually I just..."
"The reward!" I demanded and glared at him. He sweatdropped.
"Oh, right, I remember."
Good boy.
"Well, the major is offering a high reward for the one who retrieves the ring", he looked at me doubtfully, "but you don't really think you could do that, do you? I mean, your boyfriend looks like a decent swordsman but..."
"He's not my boyfriend!" I screamed, blushing up a storm. The men gave me bewildered looks again. Oh, did I scream too loud?
"Uh, I'm sorry", he said quickly, "So who are you then?" He asked in Gourry's direction.
Oooh, bad idea! Bad idea!
"I am her protector!" He stated, smiling.
Oh, thanks... And who's gonna protect me from that?
The other two men fell into a stupid girlish giggle and I blushed even more. "I understand." said the man with a sly grin on his face. Obviously not understanding it.
I snapped, "No, you...!"
I stopped abruptly when the innkeeper came and put a plate in front of me and another one in front of Gourry. On both plates there were two apples and two eggs. I twitched. "What's that?", I asked angrily, "I ordered two portions of everything you have!"
"That is all we have"; the innkeeper simply replied, "You know, there was this evil sorceress and..."
"Aaaaaahhhh!" I screamed and let my head drop on the table. I needed something to eat, dammit! This evil sorceress was starting to piss me off. It was getting personal now. Nobody keeps Lina Inverse from eating and gets away with that!
I looked up slowly just to discover... My plate was empty! What the...!
I looked at Gourry with narrowed eyes, "You..."
He raised his finger. "Looking away during a meal is the same like saying 'I'm done eating'", he said, grinning at me.
I jumped on my chair, fuming, "Who would say something stupid like that, you jellyfish?"
"Hey hey, girl, calm down," farmer-guy said, sounding kind of worried, "that sorceress is the one to blame. It's because of her that nobody has enough food anymore. We all have to hand it over to her".
"Right!" I shouted, still standing on the chair. It was nice up here. I could spit on their heads... Tempting, isn't it?
Anyway, I only thought about it for a second before my stomach started growling loudly and I got back on track, "I will make her pay for that! Noone messes with Lina Inverse's food!"
The man looked puzzled, "Huh? I thought you didn't know about her?"
I blinked. "About who?"
"Lina Inverse. The evil sorceress. Didn't you just say... Uhm, are you okay down there?"
I crawled up from where I had fallen under the table. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"About Lina Inverse, of course. You know, the Enemy of All Who Live. She eats baby dragons and..."
"Whaaaat!" Gourry freaked and slid away from me with his chair.
"That's not true!" I screamed. Just what are you thinking of me?
"Oh, well, that's what I've heard about her," the man shrugged, completely missing the point, "But maybe it's not true, you know, I also heard she was a flat-chested little child with big eyes but when I saw her...Hmm, they aren't really so small..." He eyed me contemptuously, "Guess what? From that stupid description people could think you were Lina Inverse, the evil sorceress!" He and his friends started laughing hysterically.
Gourry crawled under the table after seeing my face flush with fury this time. See, he isn't all that stupid...
"Huh, is something wrong?", asked farmer-guy, looking alarmed now. What a pity that he didn't get a clue earlier.
"FIREBALL!"
The inn was no more. The only thing still standing was I on the chair in the middle of a complete chaos. Gourry shoved the remains of the table that had fallen on top of him to the side. "Linaaa...!" he whined in an accusing voice.
I jumped from my chair, ignoring him. "Phew, that will teach them to make fun of innocent girls," I said and turned around - only to look into the face of the suddenly very scary innkeeper.
"Innocent girl, huh?" he asked in a threatening voice and twitched before he screamed, "Look what you have done! You ruined me!"
"Whoops", I giggled sheepishly.
"Whoops!" the man screamed hysterically and teared his hair, "Everything is a mess and you say 'Whoops'? What should I do now?" He looked like he was about to cry and fell down on his knees. That old wench.
The other men had by now made their way out of the ruins. Tired of all this I stepped in front of the man who had told the story before.
"Whaaa, what do you want, you crazy little...", he yelled but then was grabbed at his collar by me.
"You should learn how to behave towards girls."
"Whaaat?"
"Anyway, tell me where that imprudent imposter is!" I insisted.
"Whoooo?"
The man was completely freaked out. "That sorceress, you moron!" I yelled and shook him, "That evil girl that's ruining my name!"
"Huuuh? I don't understand..."
"Lina Inverse, you dope! Lina Inverse! This girl is using my name!"
"Whaaa! You mean you really are... Oh my..." farmer-guy's face went pale. At least he finally got a clue.
"Stop whimpering! I want to know where she is or do you rather want to play charcoal again?" I raised an eyebrow.
"No, no! Mercy!" The man pleaded, "I'll tell you! But don't hurt me! I have a family!"
"What the hell do you think of me?" I asked but generously let go of him and folded my arms in front of my chest. "So? Where is she hiding now? Some old castle? A cave? Mysterious ruins?"
"No, no", the man was back to a more normal voice now, "Just go in that direction over there, turn left at the next corner and then it's the third house on the left."
"Uh..." I nearly fell over. "She's hiding in a house in the middle of the town? Doesn't she have any style at all?" I complained frustratedly, "Oh, she's really out to ruin my name!"
I grabbed Gourry. "Come on! This girl is gonna learn what it means to mess around with the real Lina Inverse!"
We were walking down the street in the direction farmer-guy had given us. Gourry was silent. I sighed. "Okay, I'm listening. Ask."
Gourry looked startled, "How did you know I was about to ask something?"
"I don't know, I must be clairvoyant or something", I replied and rolled my eyes.
"Hm, why are we after that girl again?"
I sighed again, "Okay, in short, that girl says she is me and is ruining my name by doing bad things. Like stealing treasure and threatening innocent people, you know."
"But isn't that exactly what you are doing all the time?"
Bump! "That's something totally different!"
Gourry rubbed his head again, "Oh... I see", he said, completely not looking that way. "Anyway...", I continued, "we are going to punish that girl and retrieve the magic ring she stole from the towns-people."
"Ah! So we are helping them to get it back?"
"Oh, uhm... yeah, maybe, depends on how much it is worth or how powerful it is."
"So you are planning to steal it!"
"No! I'm just keeping it as a reward in case their reward is worth less. That's obviously totally different! Don't you get that?"
"Nope."
"Whatever," I gave up, "we are there. This must be it." I stopped in front of a completely random-looking house. Nothing suspicious or mysterious about it. Really, that girl had no style at all...
"So what do we do now to get her out of there?" I contemplated. Should I just blow up the whole house? Or rather sneek in through a window and surprise her? Or...
Gourry knocked at the door.
"Aaaaaah!" I screamed, "Are you nuts? What do you think you are doing?"
"I knocked at the door", Gourry stated in a matter-of-fact-tone and looked at me as if I was nuts for asking such a thing.
"I know that you knocked at the door!" I yelled, "The question is: Why did you knock at that door?"
"Didn't you want to get in?"
"Yes..."
"So I knocked to see if someone will let us in. Don't you get that?"
I stared at him unbelievingly, "You are doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind", I sighed, "at any case, I highly doubt that anyone would be stupid enough to..." The door opened. "Yes? Who's there?"
A tall blonde girl was standing in the door. I stared at her. How stupid was she?
And about the style-thing... I was right. She didn't have any. She looked ridiculous. She was wearing a pink cloak. And that was the best part... The rest of her outfit was a blue and yellow striped ensemble of a far too tight and short shirt and a skirt that... well, could have better been described as a belt. Okay, maybe it was a bit bigger than a belt but believe me, only a bit.
While I was admiring her utter lack of fashion-sense Gourry suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, that guy was right! They aren't so small!"
Bump! Will he ever learn?
"What did I do now?" he complained but I decided to ignore him again and turn to the girl instead. She was looking at us confused, "You are not here to bring me food, are you?" she asked.
"Bring you food?" I repeated angrily, "Like hell! We are going to punish you for your evil deeds!"
"Oh, you guys want to give those people their treasure back, huh?"
"Oh, yeah, right... the ring, I nearly forgot..."
The girl laughed, "I don't know what your problem is, kid, but you better run now before you'll regret it. No-one messes with the mighty Lina Inverse!"
'Kid'? She looked the same age like me! Which most likely meant she was younger than me... Never mind. "Well, you are right about that last bit but... How dare you pretend to be me!" I screamed and pointed at her.
"Huh?" She looked dumbfounded.
"I am Lina Inverse! I! You freak!" I yelled. Man, she really lets me lose my temper. And that's rare...
The girl just stared at me blankly, "Can it be...?" She came a few steps closer and stared at me. I folded my arms again and stared back, twitching. "Oh, yes, it can. And if you don't come over with an explanation within the next ten seconds I'm gonna..." I stopped as her face was suddenly brightening up with admiration. "What...?"
"Wheeeeeeee!" The girl squeaked in a painfully high voive and threw herself on her knees in front of me grabbing my legs, "I loooove you! You are my idol! I know all the stories about you! Oh, forgive me for not recognizing you!" she cried. I nearly lost my balance and looked down at the girl clinging around my legs. Now I was dumbfounded. "Hey, what...?" I started.
"You are so great, I wanna be just like you!" the girl screamed and looked up to me with sparkling eyes, "I'm so happy I could meet you! The Gods must have finally heard my prayers!" Now she sounded like she wanted to start crying any minute. She was starting to creep me out.
Gourry was staring at us with a bewildered look on his face. "Somehow this is the scariest thing I've ever heard."
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut uuup!" I screamed at noone in particular... or just both of them. I somehow managed to kick the girl away without landing on my back in return. Ha, try kicking someone who's clinging around both of your legs! That's true skill!
She didn't fly far as she hit the house wall and fell to the ground. I took a deep breath of relief. "What's going on here?" I asked, a little calmed down. The girl jumped up, smiling brightly, "Oh, oh, I can explain! May I?"
I put my hand on my forehead and sighed, "Oh please, go ahead." I was getting a headache from all the stress. And I was still hungry which didn't exactly made my mood any better... Neither did this girl.
Said person started, "Well, my name is Simone. I've been a fan of you for years now since you destroyed the village I lived in. That was sooo cool that I wanted to know everything about you and become just like you."
"Oh my.." Gourry murmured. I just stared blankly at her. She was obviously insane.
"Ooookay... I get that. And that's why you are posing as me?"
"No no, it's not like that", the girl waved the question away, shaking her head vehemently.
"Then how is it?" I asked impatiently.
"Oh, well, you know, I heard all those stories about you and they are all so exciting... Uhm, you know, Bandit Killer, Enemy of All Who Live, Dragon Spooker... uh, yeah, they always talk about all the wonderfully evil things you do but I figured that their description of your appearance was just not fitting. I mean, you know what they say. Small, flat-chested, big-eyed...Uhm, yes. I thought if I just run around and do the same evil things like you and tell everyone I am you maybe they would get a better fitting picture of you." She looked at me expectingly. I just stared back. Did I really hear that right or was I that hungry that I was starting to hallucinate?
Gourry looked from her to me and back, "I'm either stupid or this lacks any logic."
"For once I'd say it's the second choice", I replied, still irritated.
"Oh, okay...", he said, "Wait, what do you mean 'for once'?"
"So...", I started slowly, ignoring Gourry, "let me get that straight, you try to be like me but you don't think I look like me, right?" Wow, it sounded even more stupid when I said it.
"No, no! That's not what I said." The girl shaked her head again, "I think you are great and everything. I mean, I'm trying to do everything like you and travel around to threaten people and blow some towns up and..."
"You what?" Gourry screamed.
"Well, I can't really blow whole towns up because I'm still practising. But I have blown some houses up already!" She stated proudly.
"You did what? And you let people think it was me?"
"Yeah sure", she smiled, "Isn't it great? I'm adding to your reputation and even let people think you look better than you do. Like with the better clothes and real breasts. And you don't even need to..."
"Now that's enough, you little..." I growled. Who did this girl think she was? Insulting me, posing as me, ruining my reputation... and keeping me from food! That screamed for real punishment.
"Darker than twilight, more crimson than...", I started.
"Whaaaaa!" Gourry yelled and grabbed my arms.
"Hey, what are you doing?" I yelled back and tried to push him away.
"What are you doing? You were just going to blow her up with a Dragon Slave!"
"Exactly! Do you have a better idea!"
"No, but you can't just do that in the middle of the town!"
I sighed and relaxed a bit so that Gourry let go of my arms. The girl was looking at us strangely. "Did I say something wrong?"
"You bet you did", Gourry murmured.
I suddenly remembered something. "So what was the point about the magic ring and the food here?" I asked.
"Oh, that?", the girl said, "Well, I scared them with a few Flare Arrows and told them my name..."
"You mean her name", Gourry interrupted. Something in his voice made me prick up my ears.
"Right", Simone seemed a bit distracted, "uhm, yeah, I just took this ring because I thought it could enhance my powers and went here to threaten them and let them give me all their food. I mean, I barely ate anything of it, but Lina would have, so..."
"And the ring?" I couldn't listen to this anymore. Too much stress for my throbbing head and empty stomach. I'm sick of this, I wanna go. Now!
"That thing?" She asked disappointed and took a golden ring with a small red stone on it out of her pocket. "It's useless. All it can do is this." She said and put it on her finger. She pointed in a random direction and a small flame shot out of it to set a small wooden bucket in flames that was standing nearby. "See? You can do much better with magic, but those people seem to believe it's a powerful tool so they fear me... Or you." She added, smiling brightly.
I put my hands on my head, "I don't believe this. Why is this happening to me? Why?"
Simone didn't get it at all. "Oh, because you are the great evil sorceress Lina Inverse, and you need to be worshipped. Maybe I should open a fanclub!" The girl started dreaming, "I could sell my 'evil-sorceress-outfits', too!"
"But that's not what I am wearing... " I whined.
"Oh, that doesn't matter. It's the way an evil sorceress should look. I understand you can't wear that stuff with your body shape but don't worry, I'll help you make people think you can" she smiled.
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I asked, calm but threatening.
"Oh, well, it's too conservative for an evil sorceress. Although your pants are pretty tight. You are trying to distract people from your small breasts, right? How smart! And why are you wearing your underwear over your clothes? That's so out of fashion!"
Was that ever in fashion?... Hey! I gasped and blushed furiously, "That's not underwear, you...! And my pants are not too tight, they are comfy! How dare you...? And what the hell are you looking at?" I yelled at Gourry and made a step back, pulling my shirt down as far as possible.
"Oh, nothing...", Gourry quickly looked into another direction and cleared his throat, "She does have a point there, you know...".
"Aaaaaah! No, she doesn't, you pervert! And what's with that evil sorceress crap anyway?" I asked in an effort to change the subject to something as annoying but less embarassing.
"What about it?"
"I am not an evil sorceress!"
"Oh, you don't need to be shy about it. I mean, people fear you and you are a great thief and you blow people up with your spells when you don't like them or whole houses and even towns just for fun!" she got starry eyes again while I let myself drop on the ground exhaustedly, "That's not.." I started quietly. I was really getting tired of this. Screw that magic ring. Just get me away from here! And give me some food! Now!
"And people will fear you even more now that I am running around and blowing some things up and threatening a few people in your name. It's so great to be of your assistance!" She was getting dreamy again. I whimpered.
"That's enough", Gourry said with an unusually cold voice that made me stop whining and peek up to him. What now?
Simone looked at him startled. "Huh?"
"You are really starting to annoy me, you crazy brat."
Whoops...
Simone looked shocked, "What?"
"How can you talk like that about someone you don't even know?"
Hey, that was pretty good!
"Oh, I know everything about her. I..."
"No, you don't", Gourry interrupted harshly, "You can't just run around pretending to be her and steal treasures and blow other people's houses up in her name!"
"But isn't that what she does all the time, too?" Simone asked cluelessly.
"Well, uhm, that's...", Gourry was taken aback.
Great. Thanks for trying to defend me, but could you please try a little harder next time?
I was just about to say something myself when Gourry had found his line again, "It's not like that."
"So?" she raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well, she is not evil and she does not just blow up towns for fun or anything like that... most of the time...I guess.."
Baaad way to go...!
"Anyway", he continued, "Lina isn't like that. She's not a bad person. She just... uhm... has a lot of energy and sometimes... uhm... Hey Lina, what's the word when someone does things without thinking about it before?"
Oh, I can tell you the word for 'not thinking before you say something', it starts with 'G' and ends with 'ourry', can you guess it?
I glared at him instead of a response and he cleared his throat again. "What I am saying is that you shouldn't judge her by what you hear about her because you don't know her and she's not the kind of person you think she is."
"What kind of person is she then?" Simone asked, now sounding actually interested. So was I.
"Well, she is..." Gourry started thoughtfully, "Lina is not bad. She's fun to be around. She likes to brag about her powers maybe... because she can. She's amazing and... She has her moods but... she can be really kind when she wants to..."
Oh, really? I mean, of course!
"She has a good heart and she cares for others. She's just not good at showing it. But that doesn't matter. She's tough and she is a good person. She's... uhm, is there something more special than 'special', Lina?" He looked at me questioning.
I stared at him, then blushed and looked down on my hands intently, "E... extraordinary?" I asked carefully and blushed even more.
"Right!" Gourry smiled, "She's extraordinary."
You know, maybe I should get some new gloves. The white isn't that great and I have to wash them far too often. What colour would look good on me? Can someone hear my heart beating this loud?
Simone seemed speechless. She was just standing there. Wow.
I slowly stood up from the ground, patting the dirt from my pants. The comfy ones, remember?
Of course I wasn't secretly trying my best to calm down and get my face colour under control. No way, I was completely cool! What are you thinking?
"Oh!" Gourry suddenly exclaimed. He's gonna ruin it now, I know that.
"No sane person will think you are Lina Inverse anyway! Your outfit is idiotic and she's a thousand times prettier than you are!"
Uh-oh, tomato-face is back in town. Did I hear that right? I mean... of course I did, I am a thousand times prettier than this little brat but... Did he say that...? Uhm.. uh, back to my gloves, I think I should...
"Lina?"
"Huh?" I didn't look at him.
"Is something wrong?"
"Uh, no... just..." Think of something Lina, think! Oh, right! "The magic ring! I forgot about it! Give it to me!" I demanded from Simone.
She looked at me, still quite irritated, then shrugged, "Sure, whatever", and threw it in my direction. I somehow managed to catch it despite my trembling hands... uhm, which were trembling because... uh... they weren't trembling, of course.
I just turned around and started walking into the direction we had come from, "Come on, Gourry, let's go take our reward and leave this stupid town."
"Uhm... okay!" He came running after me.
I slapped my forehead and stopped dead in my track.
"Forgot something!" I turned around to the stupid girl still standing in the same place, murmured some words and pointed at her. "BURST RONDO!" And Lina Inverse-imposter-girl went flying.
"Whaaa! Lina! Why did you do that?"
I shrugged and started walking again. Maybe it's because I have too much energy. That sounds good if you think about it. I'll remember that.
So Gourry and I went searching for the city hall... which wasn't really hard to find because it really was a small town after all. The only problem was...
"You are the major of this village?" I asked the old geezer whose inn I had blown up earlier. Great..
"You bet I am. And I thank you for giving us back the ring. You have redeemed yourself for blowing up the only inn that this town had and thus ruining it for tourists."
"Uhm, yeah, what about the reward?"
"That is the reward."
Thought so... I sighed and turned around. I had enough of this place and its people. And of this day. I wasn't even in the mood to argue about my reward anymore.
So Gourry and I walked down the main street where now people were coming out of their houses and various market stalls were being opened on each sides. We followed the street outside the village and headed in the direction of the forest. I didn't have any intention to hang around here anymore. And my stomach hurt.
Wait... of course my stomach hurt! I stopped abruptly and let myself fall on the ground.
Gourry looked at me, slightly irritated, "What's wrong?"
"I am hungry! I still didn't eat anything since this morning!", I whined, "And it's already late afternoon! I'm really going to die!" As if to support my statement my stomach made a loud growling noise.
Gourry sighed, "Right. I am hungry, too". He looked back in the direction of the village, "I think I saw some of those stalls selling something to eat. Should we go back?"
I put my head on my knees and made sobbing noises, "I don't wanna go back there. And I can't walk anymore at all because I'm starving to death!" I looked up at him with watery eyes.
He sighed deeply, "Okay, I'll go back and get us some food."
"Yippie!", I jumped up, "And I'll go a few steps into the forest and wait there! Hurry!" I waved and winked at him before sprinting in said direction.
"Uh... didn't you just say...?"
Whoops.
I followed the road into the forest and looked for the first tree that looked like you could comfortably sit under it. All that mattered was that I didn't have to see that stupid village anymore.
I sat down under an oak just a few steps from the road where Gourry would certainly notice me, leant back against the tree and closed my eyes waiting for him to return with my well-deserved food. Speaking of... I smiled a little when I thought back to what he had said about me earlier. It felt... nice.
Hey! There's nothing wrong with being happy when someone said something nice about you!
So... what was that 'She's a thousand times prettier than you'? Did that mean he thinks I'm pretty? I blushed a little. Or that this girl was that ugly that even I was so much prettier than her? Geez...
My stomach growled.
Ooooh, whatever, if he doesn't come back really soon I'm gonna get very un-pretty...
I must have dozed off for a moment and woke up from the sound of Gourry's footsteps coming near. "Lina!" He called and I opened my eyes, yawning. He stopped in front of me and I happily grabbed the big basket he was holding in his hand. I was about to dig into the various fruits, vegetables and bread I discovered inside of it when he cleared his throat. I looked up at him questioning.
"Don't you want to know what I'm hiding behind my back?", he asked.
Behind his back? Oh, right, he was hiding his left arm behind his back. Didn't notice it. I was concentrated on the other hand with the basket before. I was actually kind of curious, so I decided to play along instead of just grabbing his arm and taking whatever he had in his hand.
"Oh, uhm, what are you hiding behind your back?" More food?
He smiled brightly and sat down next to me, holding something in front of my face... What the..? It was a large bouquet of flowers!
"Uh..." I stuttered and blushed furiously. I didn't know what I was supposed to say. I took it into my hands and stared at it irritatedly.
"Don't you like it?" Gourry asked worriedly.
Don't I like it? You've got nerves. The bouquet was beautiful, with lots of orange, yellow and red flowers and blades of grass in between. I mean, it's not like I didn't get bouquets of flowers from guys everyday but... Okay, maybe I never got bouquets of flowers from guys. Are you happy now?
"Uhm...", I looked into his eyes and could feel myself blushing even more, "Of course I like them, they are beautiful."
"There was this woman selling flowers in the town and you seemed kind of frustrated to me so... I thought maybe it would cheer you up", he explained a bit sheepishly.
Isn't that sweet?
...Did I just think that?
"It does. Thank you, Gourry." I said softly and smiled at him. He smiled back brightly. Then my stomach growled.
I laughed nervously. I forgot about the food! I was ready to dig into it again but... "Say, Gourry, you didn't think about where I am supposed to put that thing, right?"
"Huh?"
"I thought so", I sighed, "Well, I can't just carry them around, they will be withered soon."
"Oh", Gourry understood and then looked sad, "Sorry, I didn't think about that."
Why am I not surprised? I carefully laid the flowers on the ground next to me. "You never think anything through, hm?"
He gave me an apologizing look. "Sorry, I just wanted to..."
"Whatever", I interrupted him to not give him a chance to make me feel guilty about complaining, "It doesn't matter. I'll see what I'll do with it later. Let's eat!" And I generously handed an apple over to him. His face was brightening up again, "Sure!" He reached out for the apple...
"Hey!"
I was already biting deep into it. "You waited too long..." I shrugged and turned my attention to the rest of the food.
"Whaaa! Lina, you are eating all the food!" He joined me, trying to save some of it for himself.
"Hey, I saw that one first!"
"No fair! That's mine!"
"Stop it! Gimme that baaaaaack!"