"Lisabeth" Viper called. She was feeling crabby, and Skull was still not helping. "Lisabeth, where are you?" She yelled, stomping.
"Coming" A voice said, as Lisabeth hurried down the stairs. "What is it?"
"Where were you?" Viper asked crossly. "I've been calling for ages"
"It was only a few minutes" Skull corrected, irritated.
"I was just preparing something" Lisabeth said, as a familiar figure came down the stairs after her.
"You" Skull said, pointing at him. "You're the mean guy who upset my sister earlier"
"You don't have to keep being her closet boyfriend, you know" They said, looking down from the top of the stairs. "I would think that you'd be grateful for the opportunity I gave you both"
"Kirito" Lisabeth said, sighting. "That really is Viper's brother"
There was an awkward silence. "Sorry" Kirito said, "I really thought that she was your lover"
"Kirito" Lisabeth said, shocked. "Their avatars are significantly aged up from real life. What on earth did you do to the poor children"
"He propositioned me" Viper said, complaining. "Of all the icky things to do" she complained.
"Kirito" Lisabeth said, turning to look to him in disapproval. "I thought that we were dating exclusively" she said, upset.
"But Lisabeth" he said, trying to defend himself. "I wasn't being serious!"
"You'd better not have been" She said, putting her hands on her hips, "But why were you even flirting with someone else at all?"
"I thought that they were spying on me" Kirito defended.
"And that somehow is supposed to make it better?" She wondered.
"But they were asking about the Divine Dragon Guild" Kirito said. "I thought that if I insulted them-"
"That they would target you even more?" Lisabeth asked. "Because that's the most it would do, other then you cheating on me"
"What's cheating?" Skull asked.
Turning to the now obvious child in the room, both of the teenagers looked away. Neither of them wanted to explain.
"I think that it's what guys who flirt with someone while avoiding their girlfriends do" Viper said, "And the thing that girls who flirt with people do when avoiding their boyfriends"
"How do you know that?" Lisabeth wondered, not really thinking that it was very safe for one twin to know such a thing especially when the other one didn't.
"It's annoying when they try and do it with me" Viper said, "the couples tended to throw that word around a lot when I tattle on them"
"Oh, you poor girl" Lisabeth said, horrified by what was apparently happening. "I think that it might be safer if you went in an avatar a little closer to your real ages, at least to stop people from doing that"
"But one time someone who looked like a little girl tried flirting with me to" Viper said.
"Oh, dear" Lisabeth said, shaking her head in upset irritation. "That does sound like a real problem. At least you don't have any codes to dismantle the moral code" she said, seeing a guilty look. "Right?"
"Isn't that what Kirito said he would tell you?" Skull asked, breaking the rouse a second time.
"Kirito" Lisabeth said, turning to her boyfriend. "I cannot believe you!"
"But I said that I was sorry, and how was I supposed to know?" he said. "People really should get in their real skin when they have the option to, that's what I think at any rate"
"I don't want to lose my clients" Viper said, frowning.
"I don't want to lose my fans" Skull added.
Lisabeth sighed. "Both of those are good reasons, I guess, but what are you doing here?"
"Agil kept on acting like we were a couple" Viper said. "We were trying to avoid it"
"And do what?" Lisabeth said, knowing Viper enough to know how rare a purely social visit was from here.
"Would you like to buy some of the pelts that we got?" Skull asked. "Agil upset Viper with his mind games, so she decided to see if she could sell them to someone who she wouldn't need to try out tricks on"
"I'm honored" Lisabeth said. "What do you have in abundance?"
"We have dire wolf pelts and yeti pelts galore" Viper said. "I want to get a profit, but I need more storage space more than that. Besides, they could help you continue to improve your skill" she said.
"Thanks" Lisabeth said. "Some material would be appreciated" turning to Kirito she added, "by the way, I'm breaking up with you"
It said something about Kirito that he didn't even try to make her change her mind. "Ok" he agreed, and immediately started thinking about how he could persuade someone else to date him. "We're still friends at least, right?" he asked.
"Fine, we're still friends" Lisabeth agreed after a moment of thought. "But I'm putting off our planned attack on the Frost Dragon until another of my friends can join us"
Flinching, Kirito none the less tried to curry favor, "No less than I deserve, right?"
"I'm glad that you understand" Lisabeth said. "And that doesn't mean that we're suddenly going to date again"
"I figured" Kirito said, going back to his plan. Now, how was he going to romance Lisabeth's friend- Asuna was her name, right? Either way, she was his next target for a girlfriend.
"Now, about how much would you be actually able to use?" Viper asked. This wasn't an investment, this was her strengthening ties with a friend- and possibly convincing said friend to do the same for her in a similar situation.7
Looking back to her storage chest, Lisabeth calculated. "I have enough room in here to store ten stacks of something, but I'd need other things in order to make something with the hide. I think that five stacks are the most that I would actually benefit from, but I am a dozen coins short of being able to purchase that much and I have no real idea when I will get my next customer" she said, tallying up facts.
Viper worked on that at the same time. "Do you have any extra rooms here?" She asked.
"Yeah, I have one room that's currently unused in this building. I wouldn't have any, but two-bedroom houses were the smallest that contained a workable shop and some equipment that I need" Lisabeth said.
"How about you get all of those pelts free and Skull and I get to stay in the extra room?" Viper offered.
"You don't already have a house?" Lisabeth asked, surprised. "I would think that someone with Skull's fanbase would be more than able to afford one"
"That's part of the problem" Skull said, admitting. "I rarely have enough time to rest at all"
"It's simply to much effort defending a house when you rarely live in it" Viper said. "Even though I certainly miss sleep. So, do we have a deal?"
"Yes" Lisabeth said, smiling. A thought striking her, she asked, "If we're going to be housemates, is it alright if I hug you?" She asked.
"Sure" Skull said, happily hogging a hug.
"Only if you stop people from flirting with me in the house" Viper said. "It's annoying"
"I was already planning on doing it" Lisabeth said, smiling. Accepting the pelts from Skull happily, she tucked them away in the locked chest. "Do you want to get back to seeing what you can sell?" She asked.
"How about Skull stays with you while I haggle so that I can worm a good deal out of one-time clients for once" Viper counter offered.
"Sure" Lisabeth said, "So long as Skull agrees"
"I can tell you all about my magnificent adventures" Skull said, cheering. "Yeah"
"Alright. Have fun, Viper" Lisabeth said.
"I will" She agreed, wondering how much money she could get for her money without Skull ruining her intimidating businesswoman persona.