Characters: Laurence, Gehrman, Micolash, Rom, Maria, Willem, Lyza

Word Count: 6.537

Summary: Laurence finally turns fifteen years old so that he can get his blue whistle. He also receives some gifts and goes to his first delve in the second layer with Gehrman.

(Author's note: Finally I can end the hiatus. I had really bad brain for Made in Abyss stuff in early 2022 for various reasons. At the same time, I ended a longfic for a different fandom and spent some time cleaning it up and correcting the grammar.

But now, I finally got my brain for this AU back and could jot down the next chapter. We officially start the Blue Whistle arc now, which I look forward to, because teenagers are stupid fun to write and especially Laurence is just a little shit a lot of times, I love writing him in this age range.

Ah, the world is still fine and while I surely will have fun with this arc, I look forward to the pain (TM) I have planned.)

"Feral beasts! Valuable relics! A mysterious curse! All of this is found in Orth's landmark, the Abyss!"

Laurence stared at the group of tourists which he had prepared sufficiently for the last hour to take in the sight of the Abyss, all of them staring at it in awe.

"Because that has been the last location on today's tour, I will now be answering questions.", Laurence said.

One tourist raised their hand and asked: "Is it possible to visit the Abyss as well?"

"If you want to die a horrible death.", Laurence said with a straight face, noticing how quite a few of the tourists chuckled. "I was not joking.", he said, "Only the delvers are allowed to visit the Abyss. You need a permission to delve and believe me, we know if someone tries to delve illegally."

Another hand was raised: "How do you know if someone is a legal delver?"

"That's easy, delvers have their whistles. There are five colours. Red, Blue, Moon, Black and White. White whistles are the most rare and only a very small amount of delvers ever gain one. The delvers who wear a white whistle are basically worshipped as heroes here in Orth."

"Wait, you said that everyone who wears a whistle is a delver. But you are wearing a whistle too." A girl around Laurence' age had asked that question.

"I am a Red Whistle.", Laurence said, taking his own whistle in his hand and showed it to the group, "It's the lowest rank you can get."

"But you are like... twelve.", the same girl said and Laurence made a face at her.

"I am FOURTEEN and I let you know that I have delved for almost five years now and will soon be promoted into the next rank."

The group started to murmur and then one of them said: "You went down there since you were only ten years old?! But you were still a child."

"Yes?", Laurence said, not getting what this was about, "Everyone in Orth does? If you don't become a delver, what are you even doing here?"

"You... you don't see anything wrong with that?" This question was asked by a woman who looked old enough to be Laurence' mother. If she would still be alive of course. She had her hands on the girl's shoulder. Probably her mother.

"No, I don't?", Laurence said, baffled at this tourist group basically horrified that he had delved since he was ten years old. He thought they would be a bit more impressed by his feats. Mainly that he still was alive after almost five years of delving.

"That is so cool!" Ah finally someone who got it. A boy who might be a year older or so than Laurence, "Hey, can I become a delver too?"

"If you register yourself with the guild and pass the test, sure.", Laurence said, "But don't expect to ascend from your first delve without puking. Oh, and you probably have to join the fresh Red Whistles, so you can have fun feeling like the babysitter."

The boy turned with glowing eyes to who probably was his dad who only gave him a look that said: "Absolutely not."

"Well, any other questions?", Laurence said, waiting for the group to speak up, but the magic was gone and soon they scattered away once Laurence had collected the payment from everyone.

Once he was done, Laurence turned around to see the Abyss being doused in the sunset. He never would get tired of this sight. It was one of the most beautiful views in the world. He swore, when he was really quiet, he could hear the Abyss sing.

Laurence looked at the whistle around his neck and murmured: "It has been a nice time, but it is time to move on."

Laurence was woken up the next day by someone nudging him. "Hmm... five more minutes.", he murmured, pulling the blanket over his head, not wanting to get up yet.

"Laurence, come on, get up, it's literally your birthday." That was the voice of Micolash and once he had finished the last word, Laurence was wide awake.

"You are right! I am turning fifteen today, which means that I finally get my blue whistle!"

Laurence zoomed out of the bed and got dressed in record timing, still busy with putting his shoes on when he passed Gehrman on the stairs, who started with a "Happy" but couldn't finish the sentence.

"He really should slow down.", Gehrman murmured to himself, crossing his arms as he watched the younger boy storming out of the door, only to come back ten seconds later. Gehrman uncrossed his arms when Laurence passed him again, involuntarily blocking the way up the stairs.

"Have you decided to slow down, Laurence?", Gehrman asked.

"No, gotta pee first.", Laurence said and it was clear he wasn't happy with Gehrman currently blocking the stairs.

"Oh.", Gehrman said, stepping to the side, "Sorry."

He watched as Laurence vanished into the direction of the bathroom and emerged from it shortly later, running past Gehrman again, who extended one arm to catch Laurence, who almost had toppled down the stairs if Gehrman wouldn't have held him.

"Laurence, slow down. I know you are excited, but let's eat first and then we go to the guild together, alright?", Gehrman said, "Also, happy birthday. I can't believe that you haven't let me say it yet."

"Alright alright.", Laurence said, taking a deep breath. He had gotten a bit too excited, he had to admit, "Let's have breakfast first. Besides, you have to give me my gift."

"Now you are in the right spirit.", Gehrman said as he led Laurence towards the dining room, "Though I am afraid it will have to wait until we know if you get promoted or not."

"What are you talking about? I surely will get promoted.", Laurence said. He had proven his worth as a delver in the first layer for five years now. He was more than ready to delve deeper, now that his body finally was strong enough to endure the curse better.

Micolash was at the table with Maria and Rom. The two girls wished Laurence a happy birthday in unison as he sat himself down next to Gehrman and opposite his three other friends.

"I wish I could get my blue whistle as well.", Maria said, "But as the youngest of us, I still have to wait."

"I am sure you will get it right away.", Gehrman said, "What do you want to eat, Laurence? It's your birthday after all, so you can wish for a meal."

"Omelette.", Laurence said without hesitation, "With the mushrooms we collected last time in the Abyss, made out of Hammerbeak eggs."

"I am getting to work right away.", Gehrman said and got up, strolling towards the kitchen. In the meantime, Laurence watched how Micolash slurped some mush."

"I sure am happy I don't have to eat this today.", he grinned and settled himself in his chair.

"It's not that bad.", Rom said, "It's made out of apples and is pretty sweet actually."

"Yeah, I like it as well.", Maria said.

"I don't like sweet stuff, remember?", Laurence said. The only downside of getting a meal that he wished for was having to wait for it. He sure was lucky to have Gehrman as a friend, who was the best cook in their group, followed by Micolash of all people. Rom was third and then came Laurence, though everyone always told him his food would be a lot more edible if he would use less salt and then... Laurence looked at Maria. She would even manage to burn water if unsupervised and he was sure that everyone in their group would rather eat Laurence' oversalted dishes than a dish of Maria.

The omelette was done after around fifteen minutes of waiting and Gehrman settled himself down with a bowl of the same apple mush that the others had. "Enjoy.", he said, "I made sure to salt it extra. We all know how much you love salt."

"Which also ensures that none of us will want to eat it.", Micolash commented.

"Thanks.", Laurence said after glaring at Micolash and then dug in. The omelette was super tasty. Abyss food just tasted different. They had a few chickens in Orth, but Laurence found their eggs vastly inferior to Hammerbeak eggs. Gehrman had topped off the dish with seeds of the flowers of fortitude, the flower that grew literally everywhere in Orth and the Abyss.

After having eaten and not leaving one bite left, Laurence got up. "And now we'll go to the guild.", he said.

Gehrman sighed as he got up. "Maria, Rom, Micolash, please handle washing the dishes for me, I am afraid Laurence won't be able to wait any longer."

"Neither would I.", Maria said as she collected the bowls.

Thirty minutes later the two stood in the guild, which was already sufficiently filled with delvers of all colours. A Moon Whistle was hurrying a group of screaming Red Whistles along, some Blue Whistles looked at the job board and some Black Whistles stood in a corner talking to each other. Gehrman and Laurence went right to the counter, waiting for their turn.

"Do you want to report your delve?", the clerk asked upon noticing the Red Whistle and the Blue Whistle in front of them.

"No, I want to take the test for the blue whistle. Delver Laurence.", Laurence said and removed his red whistle from his neck, showing it to the clerk.

"Alright, let me just look if you are already of age...", the clerk said and opened a drawer with a lot of heavily filled binders, picking the one out labelled with L and flipping through it. "Ah, here, Laurence, your birthday is 14th of June and you were born exactly fifteen years ago. You are really on time, huh? Don't you want to celebrate your birthday first?"

Laurence just shook his head. He had to do this now.

"We also tried to tell him, but he just wanted to come here right away. I am just glad I got him to eat something.", Gehrman said.

The clerk rummaged around under the desk for a bit and then produced a test sheet. "There is a written test for the blue whistle and once we make sure that your knowledge is sufficient, then we will have to take a health exam. You can take the test in the back room. No helping." That last line was directed at Gehrman.

"I don't plan to. Besides, I don't think he would let me.", Gehrman said.

"The hell I would.", Laurence said, "I waited five years for this fucking moment, I won't let anybody ruin it."

"Language.", the clerk said, giving Laurence a disapproving look.

"He just picked up too many words on the marketplace.", Gehrman said, leading Laurence to the backroom, thinking back fondly at his own test. "Come, Laurence, let's take the test at a quieter place."

Roughly fifteen minutes later Laurence was at the counter again and handed in the filled test sheet.

"That was quick.", the clerk said, flipping through it, noticing that indeed every question was filled out.

"That test was easy.", Laurence said, "I can't believe you've let me wait five years until I finally could leave the first layer."

"Don't get too cocky, kid, the second layer is something else.", the clerk said, "Please wait until I looked over your sheet. If you managed to score more than 70 points, then I'll call a doctor for the health exam."

"I surely got a hundred.", Laurence said, letting himself be led away by Gehrman. The both of them sat down near some Black Whistles and listened to their stories. Well, Gehrman listened, Laurence was far too excited for his results to listen to anything right now.

The clerk came to them not too much later. "You got a full hundred on the written test, so I called a doctor. Please come with me."

"Told you so.", Laurence said and then followed the clerk, feeling a bit unsure, "Uh, Gehrman, they don't do anything weird during this exam, right?"

"Nah, they just do stuff like measure you and weigh you and make endurance test and stuffs. And they may also test how easily you puke, because the curse is getting worse in the second layer. I didn't think anything weird was happening. Honestly, the punishments of the orphanage are worse than that."

"Ah good.", Laurence said.

Like Gehrman had said, the health exam wasn't a problem at all. He was told he was a bit small for his age though, as if Laurence didn't know that, and that he was surprisingly skinny. Laurence just never seemed to get any meat on his bones, regardless of how much he tried. Not eating sweets might also be a factor...

After the endurance test and the motion sickness test (which Laurence managed to pass without puking, so he didn't feel too well after it), he was left back into the main room and after a short talk with the clerk, he held his brand new blue whistle in his hands.

"Do you want to keep your red whistle, as a memory?", the clerk asked. Laurence nodded as he attached the blue whistle to the cord he wore around his neck.

"Congratulations on your promotion.", the clerk said, "And happy birthday."

"I am so happy I want to run into the Abyss right away.", Laurence just said and ran out of the guild, with Gehrman hurrying after him, shouting: "Laurence, no!"

When Laurence and Gehrman arrived back at the orphanage, Micolash, Rom and Maria were busy with getting a banner up. Or they were still stuck at the discussion which banner they wanted up.

"Should we use the 'Congratulations' banner or the 'Better luck next time' banner?", Micolash asked, looking up at Maria who stood on the ladder and waited.

"The 'Congratulations', of course.", Rom said, "Even if he didn't make it, it's still his birthday."

Laurence had heard enough.

"Why are you even discussing which banner to use?!", he said, rushing in, giving Micolash a nudge so that he let the 'Better luck next time' banner fall to the ground, "Of course I made it, there was never any doubt. Look!"

Laurence presented his new blue whistle to the other kids who all awed over the item. "Have a little more trust in me, really.", Laurence crossed his arms, watching as Micolash and Rom hastily handed Maria the correct banner. Gehrman went and helped her installing it.

"You have been away pretty long though.", Micolash said, "What was the matter? Did the test take so long?"

"No, I had to run behind Laurence and prevent him from taking a walk in the Abyss.", Gehrman said.

"The guards did stop me from entering anyway.", Laurence murmured, "I still can't go in without being registered."

"I am sure there are ways around that.", Micolash said.

"Don't enable him!", Maria and Gehrman shouted at the same time and then chuckled when they looked at each other.

"Those two need to kiss already.", Laurence said as he looked at them, they clearly were in love with each other, but neither of them ever made a move. He then looked at Rom and Micolash who... pretty much were the same.

And then there was him, who still didn't have a girlfriend or anyone he could even call that. Gehrman had told him that he would know when he fell in love, but for Laurence it just never had happened. He wasn't too peeved by it, exploring the Abyss was more exciting than being in a romantic relationship anyway.

Once the decorations were complete and Maria and Gehrman were down their ladders, Laurence said. "And now you can give me my gifts."

"Modesty isn't your strong point, isn't it?", Gehrman said, earning a little glare from Laurence, "I am just joking, I'll get it. I am sure you will like it. We all did our part."

"And we also got something extra.", Micolash said.

"Now I am interested.", Laurence said, sitting himself down and waiting. Maria and Rom joined Micolash and the three of them shared knowing looks, making Laurence even more impatient.

"That is even worse than having to wait for the day of delving.", Laurence murmured. Finally Gehrman came back and handed Laurence a package. The thing inside was clearly lengthy. Oh, maybe it was a new fishing rod! Laurence was proud to be the best fisher in the orphanage and he had complained quite a bit about his old fishing rod over the last year or so.

When he removed the wrapping paper though what he held in his hands was even better than a new fishing rod.

"Gehrman... you really built it?", Laurence said, in awe as he saw the cane that he had thought up years ago, lifting it up in awe.

"It was a bitch to build.", Gehrman said, "And we all had to work together to get the materials. That is only a prototype so far, but I added the function of it turning into a whip. Press the button on top."

Laurence did as told and his eyes sparkled when the blade he could spot inside the cane turned into a row of razor sharp teeth which were still connected with each other.

"You are allowed to carry weapons now, Laurence, so we thought it would be the fitting gift.", Gehrman said and then pretty much got buried by Laurence who held him in a tight hug.

"I love you, Gehrman.", he said and as he looked up and saw the faces of his other friends, he added: "And you too, Micolash, Maria and Rom."

"We have a second gift, but you don't feel ready for it.", Rom said as Laurence finally let go of Gehrman. Laurence however had a different opinion.

"I am always ready for gifts.", he said.

Maria and Rom then left the room to come back with...

"A new fishing rod!", Laurence jumped up and ran over to inspect it, "How did you know so perfectly what I wanted?"

"You just told us over and over again.", Micolash said, "Every time we delved you complained about not having a proper weapon, every time we went fishing you complained about your old fishing rod. You really like complaining, Laurence."

"Hey.", Laurence said, on the fence if he should feel offended or take it as a friendly jab.

"It's because he can never shut up.", Gehrman added, "If he isn't complaining he's talking about the Abyss, if he isn't talking about the Abyss he's talking about fishing, if he isn't talking about fishing he's speaking whatever is on his mind at the moment. Honestly Laurence, sometimes I wonder if you can go five minutes without talking."

"Okay, I decided, I am offended now.", Laurence said, turning around, "I totally can go without talking for five minutes."

And Laurence intended to do just that but then... then he looked at the fishing rod in his hands and suddenly not being able to talk felt like not being able to breathe. After only one minute or so had passed he just had to turn around and blurt out all the words he had to say about it.

"Damnit.", Laurence said, falling down on his chair, "I really can't shut up."

"Well, I personally think it's quite endearing.", Gehrman said, "Come, the day is still young, let's have some fun. After all, that is your day, Laurence."

Finally it was the day of delving again. It would be the first time for Laurence in the second layer and it would be a bit different than usual. They would stay for a few days in the Abyss. The group consisted of Laurence and Gehrman as well as Master Willem as their Moon Whistle. Master Willem was already pretty old and often left the delving to the younger teachers in the Orphanage, but once in a while he still had it in him.

Laurence had checked the schedule a last time before they had left for the Abyss. They were supposed to stay five days. One day would be spent to reach the second layer and their delving location, then they would search for relics for three days and spent one day to get back up. If they were lucky, thanks to the curse the ascend normally took longer.

Laurence had been a bit worried about having to sleep outside, but apparently they would rest the nights at a place called Seeker's Camp, which was basically a safe place for delvers in the second layer. After that, he had started to get more and more excited for his first delve into the second layer.

As predicted, the descent took roughly one day. Laurence thought that they probably had been able to get down sooner if Master Willem would have been younger. The old man really needed to retire soon or only guide fresh Red Whistles who weren't delving deeper than 100 metres.

"As you already know, the second layer is a lot more dangerous than the first layer.", Gehrman said, "So you can't wander away on your own. You'll always stay at my side. If you need something, tell me so that we can solve it together. Don't run after anything that catches your interest, even if it looks like a valuable and rare relic, understood?"

"Understood.", Laurence said, standing at the edge of the first layer. "I don't plan on dying so soon anyway, so I won't wander away on my own, don't worry about it. I know that the second layer is more dangerous. There are corpse weepers down there."

"While the corpse weepers are certainly dangerous, there are more primordial beasts that can cost you your life.", Master Willem said, "I am sure in time you will learn how to avoid them, but for now do as Gehrman said and don't leave our side."

Master Willem ruffled Laurence' hair and then put his helmet back on it, which Laurence once again had removed once they had taken a short break. He just hated the helmet, even if he knew that it was dangerous.

Soon, the three of them were roping themselves off the cliff and Laurence took his first steps in the second layer, called the "Forest of Temptation."

"Woah.", he just said as he took in the sight. It was beautiful. Even more beautiful than the first layer. The trees were huge and everything looked like it was in reverse. Even the waterfalls seemed to flow upwards instead of downwards. Laurence asked himself if the fish he would catch in a reverse river would be reversed too, but what kind... would their tail fin be where the mouth was or would they be inside out? Yuck, what a nasty thing to think about.

"Don't stand around and dawdle, let's move.", Gehrman said, squeezing Laurence' shoulder, "Besides, if you don't move you might regret it."

"Why should I regret-", Laurence said and gasped when something landed just next to him. Something that looked rather nasty. As he looked around, he saw a whole slew of monkey like creatures called Inbyo if he remembered correctly, who weren't too happy that someone crossed their territory.

"Because of them.", Gehrman said, practically dragging Laurence along, "Believe me, you don't want to get hit by what they throw at you, you won't get the smell out of your clothes for days."

Laurence was agreeing that he wouldn't want to get hit by whatever they threw and followed Gehrman and Master Willem who already knew the second layer better than him and found a route down which didn't leave them in too much trouble.

Still, the second layer was a lot more dangerous than the first one and so they had to hide from the more dangerous predators a lot more often and when they finally arrived at the seeker's camp, Laurence was exhausted and hungry. No wonder they had made an endurance test before he got his blue whistle.

"Uh, and how do we get in here?", Laurence said as he looked up. Why was it even up? That meant the curse would hit them.

"Oh, you just ring the bell and they will lower a gondola to ride up with.", Gehrman said, and then demonstrated it by ringing said bell. After only a short while, the gondola arrived. Laurence was still hesitant to enter it though.

"And the curse?", he asked.

"It isn't as strong here as it is in the rest of the second layer.", Master Willem explained. "Because it is far from the center. But you still could experience some symptoms, because it is your first time ever experiencing it."

"Even I still get nauseous.", Gehrman said as he entered the gondola, offering Laurence a hand so that he could enter as well. Master Willem was the last to enter and then they were pulled upwards.

Laurence was used to the curse of the first layer by now. It was mostly an intense dizziness and headache which was best counteracted with massaging the temples and closing one's eyes to not get nauseous from the world seemingly spinning around someone.

The curse of the second layer felt very different. That wasn't just some dizziness, that was full blown nausea that felt impossible to ignore. He clasped both hands over his mouth, and he wasn't even sure if he did it, because his arms felt strangely not responsive and once the gondola came to a stop, he stumbled to the side of the wooden bridge to puke.

While Laurence was busy emptying out his stomach, he vaguely could hear the voice of a woman who said something like: "Hello, welcome to the Seeker's Camp. I have already expected your arrival and... Oh, first time?"

That must have been directed at Laurence because Gehrman answered for him. "Yes, it's his first time.", Gehrman said. His voice sounded a bit strained as well, but at least he wasn't puking his guts out.

"I am not surprised, everybody has to vomit their first time.", the woman said. Finally Laurence' stomach seemed to calm down, but he still stayed where he was, breathing heavily. He vaguely noticed that Master Willem stood next to him, having rubbed his back.

"I am fine.", he said, blushing a little bit. He surely didn't need to be treated like a small child. He scrambled on his legs as quickly as he could only to fall over because his legs were pins and needles at the moment. Gehrman caught him.

"Relax Laurence, you aren't used to the curse yet. You will feel your limbs again soon.", he said, gently lowering him to the ground, supporting his weight.

"You must be hungry.", the woman said, "I was about to prepare dinner, so you are welcome to help and join me."

"I am not hungry anymore...", Laurence murmured, "And who are you anyway?" He hadn't been informed they would meet with someone.

"You can rest up until you feel better. You will be hungry once your body recovered from the curse, I promise. And my name is Kari, I am the current guardian of the Seeker's Camp."

"The camp always has a guardian.", Gehrman said, "It usually is a Black Whistle. Often it is a group of delvers who watch over the second layer and the delvers who want to descend into the third layer. Though we stay in the second layer obviously."

"I will show you boys a room where you can rest.", Kari said, "And you must be exhausted as well, Willem, at your age..."

"I am fine.", Willem said, "Though I will take the opportunity to rest."

"I am fine as well.", Gehrman said, "I will accompany Laurence to the bedroom and then help you cook. I am quite good at cooking and believe me, you don't want Laurence in the kitchen."

"Hey.", Laurence complained weakly, but let Gehrman help him to the bedroom where he laid down on a bedroll, having to wait for his body to recover from the curse.

"It shouldn't take too long until you can walk again.", Gehrman said, "Once you get used to the curse, you will be able to stave off the feeling as if your limbs fell asleep and you won't puke anymore. But believe me, the nausea stays. It's no wonder they don't allow Red Whistles down here, the curse would be too much for them, if even us Blue Whistle's have so much trouble."

"I noticed.", Laurence said, staring at the ceiling, "At least I don't have to worry about being attacked here I guess."

"Oh yes, the Seeker's Camp is great.", Gehrman said, "Not only can you sleep without worry, you can also go to the bathroom on your own and the food is great."

"That certainly is the most important thing.", Laurence grinned. Gehrman removed Laurence' curls from his forehead, letting his hand rest there as if checking for a fever and then left, probably to help Kari with the food.

Laurence stared at the ceiling waiting for his limbs to be sensible again. If that was the curse of the second layer, he understood why they only allowed adults into the deeper layers. It had been enough to render him completely useless and the curse was said to be weaker at this place. A child certainly would have passed out if the curse would have been at its strongest.

Thankfully, his body recovered rather fast and Laurence started to feel his limbs again. His nausea also subdued and as Kari had said, he certainly was hungry now. Well, no surprise if he had puked out everything in his stomach (which hadn't been much to begin with) just half an hour earlier or so.

Still, the acid taste was awful, so Laurence found his way to the bathroom to wash out his mouth. On his way there he was rather fascinated by the place. It was literally built into a big tree, he had seen it from the outside and even the stairs in there were carved out of its wood.

Thankfully they didn't lead high enough so that the curse would hit him again. Or maybe the curse was gone completely inside of the tree. There were a few places where the curse was absent, even though they were rare. Laurence knew of only three of them inside the whole first layer.

Once Laurence made it to the bathroom, he washed out his mouth and used the toilet when he was already at the right place for it. Gehrman was right, it was nice not having to worry about getting attacked. Once he was done and his hands were washed, Laurence searched his way to the kitchen.

He found it by following the voices and once he was close enough he heard Gehrman say: "It's not that he can't cook or anything, he just has a tendency to drown everything in salt and make it inedible for everyone but himself."

"Talking shit about me behind my back, huh?", Laurence said, stepping into the kitchen.

"Oh, Laurence, are you feeling better?", Gehrman said and Laurence could see the hint on red on his cheeks for having been caught.

"Obviously.", Laurence said, "And when I come to help I have to hear that my help isn't wanted."

"I don't mind if you help.", Kari chimed in, "Though please promise to not touch the salt."

"Oh, please think about this another time, Laurence has enough salt inside of him to make the food salty with his presence alone.", Gehrman said, in such a casual way that Laurence had to glare at him.

"It's good to see you kids getting along so well.", Kari said, handing Laurence a knife and some fruit, "Please cut those up. And like I said, please stay away from the seasoning."

"None of you has any taste.", Laurence murmured, but did as told. While he certainly didn't understand why everyone liked to eat their food so bland, it was something he had to accept. The food was done not so much later and they had a rather tasty meal before they got send to bed.

"Tomorrow we start our work.", Gehrman said, "So make sure you are well rested. The second layer is dangerous and it could be that we have to retreat or even fight whenever one of the larger predators is around."

The next day their work started like Gehrman had promised. It honestly felt pretty similar to searching relics in the first layer, just that the relics were different and they had to be more cautious.

Laurence and Gehrman were on their own, though Master Willem wasn't too far away. They had to promise him to never let the other out of their sight and especially Gehrman took this very seriously, downright calling Laurence out when something caught his interest and he wandered off to examine it.

Laurence actually had hoped to maybe find some more rare relics, but all he seemed to find were egg shaped stones. "They are everywhere.", he complained after the fifteenth one or so, "What are they even good for? I can't see any purpose in them."

"Maybe they are valuable trash?", Gehrman said, taking one of the egg relics to examine it closer, "Or maybe failed relics? Whoever made these things might not have had success right away."

"We don't even know if someone actually made these things or if the Abyss just gives birth to them or something.", Laurence muttered, groaning when he picked up another egg shaped relic. "They remind me a bit of the boob stone from the first layer, but not as soft.", he said.

"Oh yes, some of the most valuable trash.", Gehrman said, "They always sell for a high price."

They worked a bit longer in silence until Laurence broke it. "Say, Gehrman, does the boob stone feel like the real deal?", he asked.

"Why are you asking me?!", Gehrman said, from his tone he was clearly taken aback.

Laurence stopped scouring through the grass and looked at Gehrman: "You tell me that you never touched Maria's boobs before? You two are practically undressing each other with your glances."

"I don't even know where you got this idea. We don't have that kind of relationship.", Gehrman said, a bit too fast for Laurence' liking.

"Come on, Gehrman, she never has let you touch them?", Laurence dug deeper. His interest was piqued now and he would get answers.

"No and I have never asked!", Gehrman said, "If you are so interested, why don't you ask a girl yourself?"

"Oh, I would, but for some reason once I start to talk to them they always have something else to do and go away."

"No wonder, you never shut up...", Gehrman murmured, silence coming over them again, which only lasted for ten seconds before Laurence broke it again.

"Admit it Gehrman, you totally want to touch her boobs."

"Laurence, stop this already.", Gehrman groaned, "I mean, of course I would like to, but we don't have that relationship and I don't know how to ask and asking a girl on a date only with that as goal feels really scummy and why are we even talking about that?!"

"Because I really want to know if the boob stone is named correctly.", Laurence said, "And if whoever named it was some horny guy who only could think about girl boobs or something. Like, you would have to know how they felt like to name it like that, correct? Otherwise someone might have named it fluff stone or something or soft stone, because it is soft. I just try to get into the mind of that apparent pervert."

Laurence fell silent for a few seconds and then murmured. "And besides, I think it would be nice to touch some boobs in the future. I really want to know how they feel like."

"I am afraid you have to wait until you organized yourself a girl that doesn't run away once you open your mouth.", Gehrman murmured.

"That's not fair.", Laurence said and then murmured, "Maybe I'll ask Eileen."

"Please don't, I don't want to collect your teeth from all over the stairs.", Gehrman replied.

Their conversation suddenly was interrupted by a chuckle, which made both Laurence and Gehrman feel on edge. They soon found the source in the form of a girl around their age, with long blond curly hair, wearing delver's gear. She was sitting on a branch of a nearby tree and seemed to be clearly amused by them.

"Who are you?", Laurence asked, eyes resting on the blue whistle around her neck. He had never seen that girl in the orphanage before. "Also, don't you think it is rude to listen in to our conversation?"

"Especially when it was about that topic.", Gehrman murmured. His head was red as a beet and he did his best to search thoroughly through the grass.

"I am sorry, your conversation was just too amusing.", the girl said, "So you wanna try?"

"Try what?", Laurence said, standing up and leaning against another tree, staring at the girl suspiciously. She was a Blue Whistle like them but seemingly on her own despite looking around the same age as Gehrman.

"Touching them.", she said, "To find out if the stone got an accurate name."

Laurence pretty much let his pickaxe fall to the ground at that suggestion. "You aren't serious.", he said.

"Well, catch me and find out, ginger boy.", the girl said and was gone as suddenly as she had appeared.

"Ginger boy?!", Laurence' face scrunched up in anger and he shouted: "It's auburn, not ginger!"

The girl was already gone though and Laurence turned to Gehrman.

"What was that?", he said, "Do you know her?"

Gehrman just shook his head. "No, I have never seen her before.", he said, "Do... do you think she was serious...?"

"No way.", Laurence said, "And I am surely not trying to catch her, I still value my life." Laurence lowered himself back on the ground and picked his pickaxe back up, "Let's just continue work and hope that this mysterious blondie won't eavesdrop again."

(Author's note: Yes, the boob stone exists. It is a manga only thing and I just found it too perfect to let two teenage boys having an awkward conversation about girls and their own inexperience with them. Though, it made me think, was this thing really named by some pervert who could only think about boobs?

At first I didn't want to have the canon MiA characters too much in this, because it is very much an AU which focuses on the other characters, but also... I couldn't sleep on Lyza! When I thought about the Blue Whistle arc and what to do with it, Lyza appeared in it, at this point in time the same age as Laurence and his friends, and everything just got so much better.

We don't actually know a lot about Lyza, other than she was probably a very mischievous adventurous girl, so that is how I try to write her. If you are surprised why Laurence doesn't chase after her, he actually is a bit of a coward, and if he can stay save he will certainly prefer to stay at the save place where he can find relics instead of chasing some girl which offered him something that he thinks is a joke anyway (and it totally was a joke, Lyza was just trolling them).

If you are surprised that Ozen isn't the guardian of the Seeker's Camp, that only happened in canon once she found Marulk. At this point in time Marulk hasn't even been born yet, so yeah, I made up a background character as guardian for the Seeker's Camp.

Huh, this chapter got longer than I thought. I wanted to add more stuff, but I think this will have to happen in the next chapter.)