“Hey Sybil! It’s great to see you again- it’s been sooo long that I was scared you were avoiding me, but Loup told me that you were just shy.” Lucy leaned down and ruffled my hair with a smile as I leaned back in response. Manners…manners…what manners do I use here? Start with a left hook?

    “Lucy. Hi.” A greeting, that’s cultured right? Lucy’s now playing with my hair, chatting animatedly as she braids a few strands of my hair together. I feel the finished braids standing out from the rest of my head but it’s not much of an issue I guess. Honestly, if she didn’t look at me with such a weird expression I wouldn’t care too much about her presence, but that’s just how things folded out. Two more braids added and some chattering later, we set out to gather some laughing mushrooms, found near my little hill. Well, littler hill- I have grown some.

    Can’t fit in my cave anymore, had to dig down just to be able to crouch in it as I sort my baubles inside.

    Come to think of it, I also have to crouch down a little right now…why? Weight on my head, the smell of flour- Lucy.

    “Can you get off my head?” I ask out loud, which lessens the pressure but I still feel her presence right next to me. I turn my head to look in her direction, which apparently sets off whatever thoughts were rattling in her head.

    “So! Sybil, you’re fey-touched right?” She inquires cheerfully, obviously ignoring my confusion, “My cousin’s just like you in some ways so it’s pretty obvious! I asked the matron about it but all she said was a couple new words to me, which was soo rude I think; anyways if you want I can tell you her tips in order to, uh- what’d she call it? Mask? Mask whatever weirdness you put out so cutely! Then people will stop bothering you so much and you’ll be able to hang out with me more.” She grins at me showing all her shiny teeth and I feel a rumble starting in the back of my throat but I ignore it in favor of interpreting whatever the hell she just spewed into the air.

    Then she pokes a finger to her chin and tilts her head a little and then she adds, “You can keep being weird around me though! I like hearing your purring- it’s like when I kept a kitten when I was little.”

    My hair gets ruffled again. Why am I here on this earth? To suffer? Based on past evidence, signs point to yes.

    “So! Rule number one is to change your tone of voice more often! I think it’s cute but sometimes it’s hard to tell when you’re angry or not because your facial expressions don’t change very much- flat expressions and a flat voice make it easier to misinterpret or you have to repeat yourself more- that wastes time! Time you could be spending getting spoiled by the cutie-me!” Lucy then pokes a finger in my view and tells me to follow it with my eyes, where she leads it to rest between her eyebrows, “Rule two! Keep your eyes here so it looks like you’re keeping eye contact; Karin said things got a lot easier after she started doing this, and you can occasionally see people’s eyes without it being ‘a torture’!”

    Oh, she has blue eyes. Neat, didn't know that; also don't know anyone else's eye color but that can apparently change. I kinda like this method, it’s a little less awful this way and helps people get fooled into thinking I’m locking eyes with them. How useful, though it still kinda sucks.

    “And rule number three is to stop going fzzt in social situations! Very simple and easy rules! Well, Karin probably had more but she kept comparing it to snails and crabs, which was like, super weird and papa came over to take me home so I couldn’t hear everything! Super lame.” 

    Much like when Lucy says ‘so’ the way she says ‘super’ is also very stretched out like she’s trying to take up as much of my time as possible; it’s fine, it’s cool. I don’t really care, it’s just odd that she’s the only one to talk this way in town. Lest the miller talk like that as well; big brawny dude going ‘laaamee’ is a funny thought.

    I shake off the whining Lucy and go back to looking around the forest; Loup is taking point, a short spear hanging by his side, relaxed as he glances left and right. I join, looking behind us and occasionally up: never trust in spiders as they say. Lucy is currently swishing a stick around whenever she’s not chattering to Loup and me, she’s trying to get my attention or is very close. I’ve never fought monsters before, but I imagine that she’s easy pickings with all her squawking and inattention. Is this her first time as well?

    “Hey.” I call to Lucy, to which she jokingly gasps and leans in with an overeager expression, “How long have you been with the guild?”

    Lucy blows a long gust of air as she looks off to the side, moving her head from side to side, “Wellllll…I’ve been active since my own Ritu, so like…oh wow eight years. Crazyyy right? So no worries kitty- I’ve been fighting goblins since before you were a baby, though that was with daddy backing me up; maybe you can get that weird orange dude that hangs around to help out with your next quest? Oh, but I’m always free so I can go too!”

    Loup perks up at that. 

    “Then maybe you and I could do a quest on-”

    “Sorry I’ve got chores to do that day! Sooo unfair right? Anyways Sybil my schedule is, like, wide open so just give a shout if you’re bored and want some support.” She lowered her voice and then said, “Because you’re looking at the next saint candidate! Fits right?”