A/N: I'm sorry for the hasty update of the last chapter, the author's note is there and the pagebreaks have been added =3
Disclaimer: I will own Grand Chase when Willow-chan's radioactive llamas steal the deeds to it and I manage to beg them out of her. I wouldn't hold your breath waiting.
Chapter 19: Catching Up
The first thing Arme had learned upon standing up was that she was mostly healed.
"Those four days of sleep actually really helped, despite you not taking your potion." Lass had said, allowing Arme to quickly check her wound. She hadn't been expecting the skin to be only ever so slightly dented, light scarring around the spot and the bruise that was beginning to fade. The other bruises she had got from all of the fights that had occurred fairly recently were also beginning to fade, and Arme sighed in relief. It was nice to feel somewhat uninjured, even though Arme didn't doubt it was only temporary. Her excitement at being back in Bermesiah was more than enough to make up for the fact that she was beginning to believe it was inevitable that she would be damaged again.
The second thing Arme learned was that Jin and Ryan weren't currently in the castle, but Elesis, Ronan and Amy were. The three had returned the previous day, the six conscious members of the Grand Chase sitting down to have a discussion. In this discussion they had come to the realization that both of the members that had just collected their shards would have to go back to the guild to get their new weapons, which wouldn't take so long if they took the direct path back to town. This was followed by the realization that they would also need time to train with the new weapons. The first idea was that they all head back to the main house to wait for the druid and fighter; Elesis quickly dispelled this thought on the basis that they had already wasted too much time. A compromise had finally been made after several minutes of confusion; the two members were to head back and train for one week while the others moved on to the Ellia continent. They would then meet up in a selected village and regroup, heading to where Kaze'Aze's castle was. That would provide a good opprotunity to do a search of said castle to try and find leads as to where the witch had moved (if she had, in fact, moved at all).
"Why would you think she's moved from her castle?" Arme had asked curiously. Lass had sighed, seeming almost reluctant to answer the question. There was a minute of silence before he responded, voice quiet.
"The last time we were there we had to retreat, but the castle was in shambles because of the fight." The assassin replied, helping her off the bed. Retreat? Any questions she had wanted to ask about the issue were carefully avoided, and Arme had eventually given up on asking them. The two had made their way down the staircases rather quickly, Sidtri flying behind them as they made their way to the first floor, their current location. Arme gave a light wave to Ronan and Amy, who were sitting in two couches in the main room. They stared at her disbelievingly before Amy shot up and out of her chair, running over to the mage.
"Arme! Do you feel okay? You slept for a really long time, and I was told you-..." Her voice trailed off quietly, though Arme was unable to find out why, "But anyways! You're all better now, isn't that good news? Elena wasn't there to get the letter because she's on some sort of trip, but Ellyrine was taking over for her and she said that you using the pot was fine! You met Ellyrine when you went to the Serdin castle, if you remember? She even sent a book on it for you!" Arme blinked, eyes wide.
"How did she send a book?" At this question the Sidtri lighted down on her shoulder, chest puffing out proudly. Amy giggled, nodding as she pointed to the bird.
"Somehow Sidtri was able to carry it~ Which reminds me! Lass, tell her the good news!" The dancer exclaimed, fingers lacing together as a wide grin spread onto her face. When Arme looked over at Lass she felt the urge to do the same thing, his face twisted into an unusually deep frown. The white haired boy took a deep breath before responding ever so slowly, glaring at the beige and maroon bird on Arme's shoulder.
"Apparently that thing seemed rather... Impatient to send the return letter. That gave Ellyrine the wonderful idea that it wanted to be over here, which also caused her to conveniently remember that aside from Ronan's dragon, we really have no way to send letters. She therefore decided that the Sidtri will be travelling with us until further notice." He stated frustratedly, attempting to ignore the bird as it looked at him with an air of superiority. Arme smiled, then an expression of confusion crossed her face.
"W... Wait. That means you sent the first letter by dragon?" She cried, staring at Ronan.
"Well, the dragon is actually pretty fast so long as no one's riding on it, even if the Sidtri is faster. And really, we didn't have all that much time to waste." He explained, standing up as he looked over to the window, "Elesis'll be relieved to hear you're awake, I'll go let her know." He said, moving to the door. The other inhabitants of the room watched him leave before turning back to Arme, Lass still glaring at the Sidtri.
"So, when are we leaving?" The magician asked happily, more than ready to get on with their journey. Amy shrugged.
"Probably tomorrow, I'd like one last night in a decent bed before we go~ Unless, of course, you're not feeling well enough?" Arme shook her head quickly, looking over to the assassin to her left.
"Nah. Lass can probably remember how restless I was getting, and I don't think you want to deal with me on bedrest for any longer." Lass nodded in agreement, letting out a sigh.
"And how excited you were to cook. Speaking of which, I'm all for roasted Sidtri for dinner." The bird spread it's wings angrily, one at such a length it nearly hit Lass in the face.
"Or you could cook!" Arme exclaimed, watching as Lass glanced at Amy and let out an awkward laugh.
"Of course not! After all, we all know I can't cook." He said with an overly fake smile. The violet haired girl next to him rolled her eyes, petting the bird.
"Definitely! Now where would I have gotten that idea from?" She asked sarcastically.
"I feel like I'm not getting something!" Amy pouted, looking back and forth between the assassin and magician. This statement got a sigh from the two, one out of relief and one out of exasperation.
"Lass-" Arme started the sentence and then looked over to the white haired boy, who was staring at her pleadingly with a look that said something along the lines of 'I've-been-hiding-this-for-over-a-year-so-please-don't-give-me-away-and-make-me-cook-for-the-rest-of-my-life'. This look was also accompanied by possibly the most begging face Arme could ever expect to see on the face of the assassin, and the amethyst eyed girl sighed.
"Wanted me to tell you he likes your cooking." She finished lamely. What followed this was a complete minute of silence, Lass staring at Arme with an expression disbelief (most likely due to her less-than-convincing sentence change), Amy staring at Lass with an expression of confusion, and Arme looking back at the two with a somewhat embarrased smile. After a moment Amy coughed lightly.
"Well! Uhm... Thanks, Lass!" The dancer said, looking over at Arme with raised eyebrows.
"No problem." The white haired boy responded quietly, moving to lean against the wall near the door, "But just so we're clear on everything, any questions, Arme?" The magician was silent for a moment as she contemplated Lass' questions. The first that came up were among "Why was I sleeping one moment and in the hospital the next?" and "Does anyone know what's actually going on here?", though she silenced them to ask something slightly less pressing.
"You said Jin and Ryan went back to practice their weapons... I have a new weapon too. Why didn't I get sent back with them?" Lass answered immediately.
"Because I have enough trouble keeping you safe when I'm right here, and I have therefore decided you're not allowed to be more than a few feet away from me at any given time. I'm not going back with them, so neither are you." Arme blinked slowly, both herself and Amy turning to stare at the assassin, who was looking back at them somewhat disinterestedly.
"Well, that and the fact that we weren't sure when you were going to wake up, and we didn't want to delay their departure." He admitted a few seconds later, "So we figured it would be faster to just send them and wait here until you woke up." Arme nodded, face turning red from his previous comment.
"Wh-why didn't they just collect their shards with you?" Was all she managed to make out after a few more seconds of silence, Amy the one to answer.
"Well, when we were sorting everything out for our month long break Jin didn't want me going out to do my shows alone~ Ryan said he had something he needed to do and he kinda left before we had a chance to discuss it all with him... Lass was just going to wait for them, but in the end he decided to just go collect shards alone because he had nothing else to do for the month. It's a good thing he did, too~!" The rose haired girl said, grinning as she looked at Arme. The front door creaked open, capturing the attention of the three inhabitants of the room as Elesis burst in with Ronan in tow. With wide crimson eyes she looked over Arme several times before letting out a sigh, placing the back of her hand on her hip.
"Arme, are you feeling alright?" She asked, receiving a slight nod from the magician. Amy giggled, leaning over to whisper in Arme's ear.
"Elesis was worried." Elesis huffed indignantly, face turning slightly red.
"I was not!" She insisted, Amy nodding.
"Just like you weren't worried when Jin almost broke his leg a couple months ago? Or when Ronan caught a fever and you-"
"Shut up!" Elesis' cheeks were a bright red when she nearly hit the muse in the face in an attempt to get her to end her sentence, fist mere inches away when Amy ducked and backed away, laughing and smiling.
"I'm going outside before Elesis tries to kill me, bye bye~!" Amy called back cheerfully, skipping out the second door to the room while the other chasers watched her. When the dancer was completely out of the room Elesis gave an irritated sigh, looking back at Arme.
"I'd tell you to get rested up for our departure, but I guess you've already covered that." The spear maiden said briefly, "So be ready to leave early tomorrow." She promptly left the room, turning back out the way she had come.
"What... Did she do?" Arme asked Ronan slowly, eyes on the amused-looking dragon knight.
"I was pretty sick so I don't remember it all that well, but from what I've heard Elesis tried to make some soup... All I really remember was drinking it." He said this with a shudder, looking over to Lass.
"Yeah. His face went so blue... We called Ellyrine right away because we were already at the Serdin Castle, and at first she thought someone had given him a vial of rat poison. It took longer to fix that than it would have taken the fever to go away..." The assassin recalled with a chuckle.
"Well, at least she tried something! And she did feel pretty bad about the whole thing after, so..." He trailed off quietly, turning back to the door where Elesis had gone off.
"I'm off to see what she's up to, when she's upset she tends to get a bit... Destructive." The knight finished, brushing a strand of blue hair behind his ear as he turned to follow the fiery-tempered sword-wielder. This left Lass and Arme, the magician stretching.
"What time is it?" She asked after a moment, looking out the window. Lass shrugged.
"Probably around five in the afternoon, I'd guess. What are you planning to do?" Arme looked at him as though it should have been obvious, glancing over at the stairwell.
"I'm going to the library, of course! We're leaving soon and I haven't gotten to read anything!" The assassin nodded, following the violet girl as she began to walk up the staircase. At the third floor Arme hesitated, unable to locate the staircase. Lass took the lead quickly, moving past the magician and motioning for her to follow him. With the silvery haired boy guiding her they made it to the intended room in less than a minute, Arme running over to the staircase she had been at the first time she entered the library. Lifting up and off of her shoulder, the Sidtri quickly flew up to the top of the bookshelves to look over the entire room. After selecting two thick volumes Arme hoped she could finish before they had to leave, the magician made her way over to one of the couches. Lass took a seat on a couch a few spots over from her leisurely a moment later, a light book in Bermesian sitting in his hand. After a moment of reading Arme glanced up to where the assassin was sitting, blinking slowly. The book was open on his lap, but sapphire orbs weren't focused on the pages, instead resting on the purple haired girl. His gaze didn't waver even when she stared back, and eventually Arme gave up their small staring contest in favour of continuing her book. She remained uncomfortably aware of the silver haired boy's gaze on her even as she read, and after a moment the magician set her book back down on her lap.
"Lass?" The addressed boy nodded, still watching her lazily.
"Were you serious?" Lass' hair swayed lightly as he tilted his head.
"About...?" This was where Arme hesitated for a moment, cheeks flushing again.
"About the whole me not being allowed to be more than a few feet away from you thing!" She exclaimed after a minute, pulling her book closer. There was a pause before Lass replied, blinking slowly.
"Pretty much. Until everything stops targeting you, at least..." Arme gave a light, hesitant nod.
"B-but what about going to the washroom? And sleeping? And-" The assassin cut her off with a sigh and a roll of his eyes.
"There are some exceptions, of course. You-" Before Lass could finish his sentence a large crack sounded from the floor his sofa, and within a second the entire couch had fallen down and into the room below.
"Lass!" Arme's eyes widened as she ran over to the hole, still trying to grasp the abrupt event. Lass himself appeared slightly shocked, though otherwise uninjured. The sofa itself lay in cracked pieces around him, the impact having broken it.
"I'm fine." He replied after a moment, jumping back up to grasp the floor of the library and swing himself through the rather large hole, "But you should get further away. The ground'll be pretty weak around here now." Offering out a hand to help Lass up, she wasn't surprised when he ignored it. The book he had been looking at was somewhere underneath the couch below, though Lass didn't seem to care. He was more occupied with pulling Arme over to the other seating area, and he made sure she was properly seated before stepping back.
"This place is falling apart, like I told you when we came here. I'm pretty surprised that it happened to me and not you, though... You don't seem to be very lucky when it comes to things like this." Arme nodded with a sigh, waiting for Lass to sit back down before she opened the volume up again. Azure eyes were still watching her, and even though Arme had become somewhat accustomed to Lass' stare it made her feel odd.
"Lass?"
"Mm-hmm?" Arme took a deep breath before continuing.
"Why are you staring at me?" She inquired, not quite certain of what answer she was expecting. Lass didn't look to be entirely certain of the answer either, but he still didn't look away. Arme had almost given up on receiving one and started reading her book before the assassin's voice filled the room quietly.
"Because I don't want anything to happen to you. When we were fighting the Gorgos... I had only looked away for a second when you were bitten. I take my eyes off you again in the forest and you get mauled by a troll... Then the harpies... Followed by you starting to pull bombs out of pots... I'm not taking any more chances." He stood up again with another sigh, "And those are just the major injuries." Arme laced her fingers together, looking down at them guiltily.
"I'm sorry..." She whispered, closing her eyes, "I don't mean to make you worry, honest..."
"Hey." Arme glanced up from her hands to look at Lass, "Don't worry about it. I'm not going to let anything like that happen to you again." Arme couldn't help the small smile that pulled across her face when the silver haired boy said this, and she quickly looked back down to her book in an attempt to hide her embarrasment.
"Thanks..." She said quietly in response, trying to focus on the sentences before her. Lass didn't respond, sitting back down in the chair he had been in moments before. Silence filled the room for less than a minute before footsteps were heard rushing through the halls, and a second later Elesis and Ronan burst into the library.
"What was that crash?" Elesis demanded, glancing back and forth between Lass and Arme. Ronan had noticed the hole in the floor several feet away, and he walked cautiously towards it before Elesis caught on.
"Lass was sitting on the couch and it fell through the floor." Arme explained, still reading. It wasn't long before chuckles filled the room, and Arme looked up from her book to see Elesis holding her stomach as she laughed hysterically.
"... What?" The purple haired girl asked after a minute when the laughter failed to cease. The others in the room seemed just as confused as Elesis took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself, finally wiping a tear away from her eye as she stood up straight again.
"You're telling me Lass sat on a couch and it fell through a stone floor? Seriously, Lass, you need to lay off the pie!" Elesis began to laugh again, Arme's giggles joining in a moment later despite the glare coming from the silver haired boy.
"The floors really are weak, then... It would be nice if we could fix this castle up some day." Ronan remarked idly, ignoring the laughter from the two females in the room as he kneeled down to check the edges of the floor around the hole.
"We did quite a bit the last time we were here, though... Otherwise there wouldn't be running water." Elesis commented once she'd calmed down again, walking over to join Ronan.
"That's true, but still... This place has a lot of work that needs to be done. It was so beautiful in the past..." Arme nodded in agreement, receiving a surprised glance from the others in the room.
"It was built about five hundred and fifty years ago for Sieghart the Legend, so they still had accounts of it in Old Bermesian." The magician explained, continuing her book. With a shrug, Elesis stretched.
"Well, we just came upstairs to make sure you guys weren't being attacked or anything. I'm headed back down, I'll see you two at dinner?" Arme and Lass nodded, Ronan turning to follow the crimson haired knight out the doors. The violet haired girl still had a small smile on her face as she flipped through the pages, trying to get through the book as quickly as possible.
"Arme?"
"Mm-hm?" The amethyst eyed female looked up from her page at the sound of Lass' voice, turning to where the white haired boy was sitting.
"It's about six." He informed her, "And the ingredients from lunch should still be good." Arme nodded, folding the corner of her page and setting it down on the small table in the middle of the circle of chairs. Glancing up to the top of the bookshelf allowed her the knowledge that the Sidtri had fallen asleep, and she walked over to shake the shelf lightly.
"Or," Lass continued as the bird roused, "We could always cook the Sidtri. As previously stated, I'm good with that." Arme giggled as the cream coloured bird hefted itself up and off the shelf, lighting down on her shoulder moments later.
"We're not cooking the Sidtri, Lass." She said, turning back to him as the fowl curled up sleepily, "But food really does sound good right now... I haven't eaten in four days." The assassin shrugged, leading the way down several stair cases and to the kitchen. Looking over the foods in front of her, Arme turned to look at Lass with a smile.
"And you're going to help me cook, right?" She questioned, smile changing to a light frown as Lass shook his head.
"Didn't you want to cook?" He asked as he moved to sit at the table, from where he could still see her. Pressing a knuckle to her lips for a second, Arme's grin returned.
"But Lass, I can't cook with the pot! And you never know what I'll set on fire without supervision!" The magician exclaimed.
"You have supervision, I'm sitting right here. And you don't need the pot, just use the frying pan." He explained, not moving. Arme huffed, crossing her arms.
"But I want you to cook with me! It gets boring cooking alone!" She complained, walking over to tug on the silver haired boy's arm in an attempt to pull him off the table.
"Can't you cook with Amy, then?" Lass questioned, not budging from his spot. Arme pouted further, releasing his arm.
"Please, Lass? I wanna cook with you!" She insisted. Silence filled the room for a few seconds before the azure eyed boy sighed and pushed himself off the table.
"I'm not cooking when we're travelling, though." He warned as he stepped into the kitchen, followed by the magician a moment later.
"Thanks, Lassie!" Arme cheered, clapping her hands together excitedly. The Sidtri had by that point realized that Lass would be joining himself and Arme, and he flew off her shoulder displeasedly to perch on the edge of the counter as the two chasers began washing and preparing the ingredients.
"So, I'll just be training on the go?" Arme asked when her eyes passed over the pot, receiving a nod from Lass in reply.
"You should probably start reading that alchemist's handbook as well." Lass suggested, slicing the various fruits up as Arme pulled out a large bowl from under the cupboard and rinsed it out.
"I'll do that after dinner!" The magician said as she grabbed the head of lettuce and rinsed it off as well, tearing off leaves of the vegetable to add them to the bowl. When this was finished she walked over to where the silver haired boy had cut up the fruits. They were also added to the bowl of lettuce, a few spices from the cupboard mixed together and included to make a rather simple salad.
"Hm... Do we have anything else that can go with this?" She asked after a moment, stirring the salad.
"Amy hid some of the harpy meat from lunch in one of the cupboards, it'd have to be re-heated." The assassin replied, beginning to open the cupboard doors.
"That'll work, can you find it for me?" Arme requested as she pulled out the frying pan, adding a dash of water before she placed it on the stove. Nodding, Lass handed her the meat a moment later. It was quickly heated up and put on a plate next to the salad, which had been placed on the table minutes early.
"Dinner's ready?" Arme looked over from the cupboard to see Elesis standing in the doorway of the eating room, blinking slowly as she stared at the food.
"Yeah, could you call Amy and Ronan?" The shorter girl asked as she began setting five places. The redhead nodded, "I'll be back in a minute!" Arme took her seat as Elesis shot out of the room, and her footsteps were heard thundering down the staircase as she ran to find the other two members of the chase. Lass sat down in the seat across from her, not bothering to wait for the Grand Chase's leader to return before he took a piece of harpy meat to stick on his own plate.
"Shouldn't you..."
"Wait? Not unless you're not planning on getting any meat." The assassin cut Arme off before she could finish, and the magician laughed quietly. The Sidtri came out of the kitchen as Arme began to put food on her own plate, resting on the table next to her to drag a piece of meat off her plate and onto the table.
"That thing's stealing your food..." Lass commented aggravatedly, glaring at the animal. It glared back as it took a bite of the meat, expression changing only to a calmer one when Arme patted it's head.
"That's fine! There's plenty to go around!" She grinned as she continued eating, taking a bite of her meat as Elesis ran back into the room.
"You started eating without me!" She exclaimed, running for her chair as Ronan and Amy entered behind her in a slightly more calm manner. Once everyone was seated Arme was the first to start a conversation, poking a fork into her salad.
"So, we're going to... The Ellia continent?" Ronan nodded, looking up at her through indigo eyes.
"How long is it gonna take us to get there? We're meeting up with Jin and Ryan in a week, right?" Elesis was the one that responded moments later, mouth still full of harpy meat when she spoke.
"It'll take a day to get to the harbour, but by boat it'll only take us a few hours to get across Partusay's Sea. From there..." She stopped speaking when she realized Arme's eyes had widened.
"We're taking a boat?" The magician asked excitedly, staring at the spearmaiden. Elesis nodded.
"Unless you can think of another way to cross. Ronan's dragon can't take all of us in one trip, and that would take too long for us to go on separate trips." A wide grin spread across Arme's face, and she continued eating energetically.
"You look excited." Lass observed as he finished with his food, placing his utensils across his plate as he stood up. Arme nodded several times.
"I've never been on one before! I always wanted to travel!" She smiled, receiving a stare from Elesis.
"Aren't you already travelling?" She questioned, finishing with what seemed to be an overly large portion of harpy meat and reaching for more.
"But this is travelling on a boat!" The lilac haired female emphasized, eyes sparkling brightly.
"Well, I'm not a fan of boats, but..." Elesis sighed. Arme tilted her head, looking at the cherry haired girl in confusion.
"You don't like them?" Arme asked, getting a nod from Elesis.
"The last boat I was in capsized. On Partusay's Sea." The redhead stated briefly, causing Arme to frown.
"Don't say that, Elesis!" Amy chided, "That was only because Partusay was rampaging!"
"Doesn't change the fact I almost drowned..." Elesis muttered, getting a smile from Ronan.
"It'll all go fine, Elesis. It would go better if you'd let one of us teach you how to swim, though." The scarlet female blushed and shook her head, leaving her plate on the table as she turned to leave the room. Amy followed a few minutes later, albeit she put her plate in the kitchen before exiting. Arme, finished before Ronan, moved into the kitchen to wash up the dishes before moving on with her day. This didn't take long, Lass watching from the table. When everything was back in it's place Arme left the kitchen with the pot in hand, the assassin following behind her.
"Where to now?" He asked, moving slightly over to avoid the Sidtri as it flew behind Arme.
"The book's in my room, right?" She waited for Lass to nod before continuing.
"I was thinking of picking it up then going to read in Amy's room, I haven't gotten to talk to her very much since she got back." Lass chuckled quietly and nodded, shrugging.
"If you think you can get any reading done with Amy in the room, it's a good plan." He agreed, "Though I personally don't understand how Jin can get anything done spending his time around her." Arme smiled.
"I think I'll be able to get enough read." The conversation fell silent after this, Arme grabbing her book from her room before looking to the left and right in the hall.
"Do you even know where Amy's room is?" Lass asked after a second, watching as Arme shook her head. The assassin sighed before grabbing her arm, pulling her up the nearby staircase.
"I think I know where her room is... You should really think to figure this stuff out before you make a plan."
"W-well I'm sure I could find it on my own!" Arme proclaimed defensively.
"Arme, there are almost one hundred rooms in this castle. Good luck with that." Blinking, Arme allowed herself to be dragged along with the silver haired thief until they reached a room that stood out a fair bit.
"Oh, come on! I totally coulda found this on my own!" Arme exclaimed as she stared at the room with a bright pink piece of paper, 'Amy' scrawled in a hot pink across it in Bermesian. Quiet singing could be heard coming from inside, and Lass shrugged.
"I wasn't expecting her to put this sign up." He reminded her, watching as Arme knocked and reached out to turn the door knob. A voice came from inside the room, but Arme was unable to make it out until she had stepped into the room. When she did the magician blinked in confusion; Amy was sitting on the floor, various screws, pieces of metal, a book and a long, staff-like object lying infront of her. Lass, staring from behind Arme, placed a hand on her head before turning around.
"Well, I'll be going." The assassin murmured, "I trust Amy to not let you fall down the staircase or anything of the likes. I hope." With this Lass walked away, leaving Arme to walk into the room and over to Amy, who was looking at her in surprise.
"O-oh! Hey, Arme!" The muse greeted, still looking at Arme as she sat down.
"What are you doing?" The magician asked curiously, looking at the supplies, "that looks like a really long staff! Planning on becoming a magician?" Amy shook her head.
"Nope~ Well... I suppose it couldn't hurt to show you! I was planning on talking to you about this some time anyways~"' Picking up the long, staff-like piece with a large, purple orb at the end, she turned it into a four-pronged piece of metal. Pushing herself up off the ground and setting down the object, Arme then realized it was somewhat more of a microphone.
"That's..."
"A kleiophone~!" Amy exclaimed, spinning around with it, "but it's not done yet~" Arme nodded slowly.
"So... What does it do?" Amy paused in her spinning, almost dance to look over at the violet girl, tilting her head and pursing her lips.
"Well... You know how classes have stages and all that?" Arme nodded again.
"I'm a dancer, so... I don't really have that. In other words, there are no other dancers. I have no set classes, so I have more of a... Freedom? When it comes to my classes. It means it takes a bit more effort to get a weapon, and to make that weapon work in battle. I just basically... Think of skills I have, and try to manipulate them into a job. This one is kind of like a microphone, but... More deadly. Ish. I named it~" Arme continued her nodding, still somewhat confused.
"How are you going to fight with that?" She asked after a moment, watching as Amy twisted off the purple orb and showed her the oddly-shaped end of the pole.
"I started this with the base of a microphone when we were back at the main house~! After coating it with a couple more layers so it would be stronger, I upped the audio frequency it could get to~ Meaning if you turn this," Amy gestured to a pink piece of metal wrapping around the upper part of the kleiophone, "can go up to thirty thousand hertz." Arme's mouth gaped open as Amy spiralled the sphere back on.
"Thirty thousand? Amy, that's... Really high!" Arme exclaimed, remembering vaguely having read something about sound frequencies. Amy nodded, a pleased grin coming across her face.
"The good thing is that 'cuz it's so high it won't be a distraction on the battlefield, but monsters can hear it perfectly well! And since it's re enforced, it can also be used for bashing monsters in the head~!" Arme laughed quietly, then looked over the kleiophone.
"What's left to add to it?" She asked after a second, sitting on the bed.
"Mainly decoration, but I was also planning on asking you if you could do something for me~"
"What?" Arme asked after a second, "I don't see what I could do to help here..." Amy held out the weapon before explaining, allowing the magician to take it from her after she had set down the pot.
"I wanted to ask if you could leak some mana into it~!" Amy exclaimed, watching Arme's expression change from confusion to understanding. Mana leaking had also been something she had read about over the past month; adding magical qualities to an otherwise normal object. The form it would take would depend on the wielder's powers and ambition, but more often than not it would end up enhancing the powers of an item or weapon.
"I... I've never done this before, but I can try..." Arme murmured pressing her hand onto the periwinkle orb.
"Thanks! Normally we go to Ronan if we need magic added to anything, but I have a feeling your mana is more powerful than his~" Arme smiled, cheeks turning slightly pink from being complemented.
"Ronan is also probably better at this, though..." She said, watching as the orb began to glow, a bright, amethyst shine coming from deep within the sphere. Stay focused... The glow in the center was slowly growing, and it looked as though it was about to overflow when Arme released, letting out a large breath.
"I... I think it worked." She said quietly, handing the kleiophone back to the excited muse. When it left the violet haried girl's hand the glowing dimmed significantly, a pale, small coral glow eminating from the core.
"Ooh! This looks good!" Amy exclaimed, spinning the stand around again. The glow brightened with each word, paling out when she again became silent. Amy grinned as she noticed this, looking back over to Arme.
"It's pretty!" She called as she sat down again, looking over various pieces of pink and gold metal that littered the area, "I'm going to try to finish it tonight~ What did you come here for~?" Arme lifted up her book to show Amy the cover, "I thought I'd read in here for a while. Is that alright with you?" The muse nodded, back to the task of working on her kleiophone. Shrugging, Arme stretched and lay down on the bed on her stomach, lifting the pot up to sit next to her as she began reading. It was rather light despite the fact that Arme knew if she reached in she would most likely pull out a bomb, but Arme didn't bother to ponder it further. It's magic, right? There wasn't much point in questioning it.
The night set in earlier than Arme would have expected, and she was more than delighted to remember she was allowed to conjure flames to assist in her late-night reading again. This also helped Amy a fair bit, the muse nearly done with fixing up her new weapon. Over hours of idle chatter and work both had furthered their projects, Arme a few chapters into her book and Amy nearly finished with her weapon.
"And that'll make me the first with a third job~!" The rose haired girl exclaimed sleepily as she stood the kleiophone up, watching the flicker of the flames reflect off the golden pieces of metal, "I can't wait to use it in an actual battle~" Arme nodded absentmindedly, focused on her book as she flipped through yet another page. The pot was becoming slightly less difficult to deal with as she read through the book, and she was pleased to find that after several attempts she could reach into the pot without accidentally summoning an explosive. It's summoning things other than bombs that's gonna be a challenge... The magician had come to realize quickly, sighing as she heard a loud yawn from Amy.
"It's getting late..." She remarked when she looked outside, the moon already high in the sky. Amy nodded, rubbing over the orb of the weapon with a cloth one more time before standing up, "And I think I'm done~" She said tiredly, wandering over it to flop down next to the Sidtri, who had curled up and fallen asleep hours previously.
"I'm going to head back to my room now, thanks for letting me stay here..." Arme responded, fatigue starting to hit her as well. Lifting up the sleeping bird and cradling it to her chest, Arme threw her alchemy book into the pot before heaving herself off the bed.
"Night..." The dancer replied lazily, crawling under the blankets. Arme waved halfheartedly before dispelling all of her fireballs except one, keeping it with her to light up the corridors as she made her way back to her bedroom. Making her way down a staircase, it took Arme several tries to find the door to her own room, and when she made it inside the girl nearly collapsed on her bed. Shaking her head to keep herself awake, she placed the Sidtri down next to her pillows and the pot next to her nightstand before moving over to the armoire. In this her clothes had been piled messily, and Arme selected a pair of pajamas to change into before walking back over to her bed.
"Could you not?" Arme's eyes widened as a voice reached her ears, her hand releasing the edge of her shirt as she whipped her head over to look in the direction of the sound.
"L-lass!" She spluttered, noticing the silver haired boy she had missed in her exhausted stupor. His eyes were averted from her, cheeks painted a light rose that matched Arme's own once she acknowledged his presence, "Wh-what are you doing here?" She asked embarrasedly, pulling the pajama top protectively against her as her fire ball moved closer to illuminate the assassin's features.
"I told you I wouldn't let anything happen... That includes you being protected while you sleep..." He murmured in response, sapphire eyes directed at the ground.
"B-but you said there were exceptions to that!" Arme exclaimed.
"And sleep isn't one of them." Lass replied quietly, not budging from his spot. Arme paused for a second, looking down and at her lap.
"Then how are you gonna sleep?" Arme questioned, watching as Lass' eyes looked up to meet hers, "I... You won't sleep in the same room as any one else, will you?" The azure eyed boy shook his head in agreement with the statement.
"I won't. We're leaving this castle tomorrow... For tonight I'll be fine." Arme blinked slowly as the meaning of Lass' words sunk in.
"Lass... Are you trying to say you're not going to sleep?" She asked incredulously, watching as the assassin rolled his eyes.
"It wouldn't be the first time." He answered, watching as Arme stood up to walk over to him.
"You can't just not sleep, Lass! I'll be fine, go to bed!" Arme insisted, trying to pull the white haired chaser out of the chair. To her surprise he did stand up, though he didn't do what she had wanted. Instead Lass reached down to pick Arme up, walking her back over to the bed to set her back down on the covers. Arme's heartbeat sped up rapidly when the assassin hovered over her, letting out a sigh as he released her.
"Go to sleep, Arme."
"B-but..." Arme stuttered, the fire ball wavering with her voice.
"I'll be fine." He repeated, watching curiously as Arme's cheeks burned crimson at their proximity.
"But Lass..."
"No more buts, alright?" He said, ruffling her hair lightly before walking back to his chair. Glaring down at her lap in exhaustion and slight frustration at not being able to get Lass to sleep, Arme soon felt her energy levels winning out. Shuffling over to the bathroom to change quickly, Arme sighed. Cyan eyes were still on her when she re-entered the room, and they didn't waver in the slightest as the magician curled up under the blankets.
A/N: I apologize for the late update... Again... I had burn camp last week, this week I'm supposed to be going away too... Neh, I have too many distractions xD;; Anyways, this chapter involves mostly speech... Yeah. It's mainly here because it had to be, and there's mindless fluff in here because I wanted to write it 8D I really want to read something completely fluffy right now D8 I don't feel like much happened in this chapter x_x At least we'll be getting to important stuff soon! Next chapter or the chapter after that 8D Thanks for putting up with me and my late chapters~ o_o
-Utsuro