Aya left the arcade with a copy of City Warrior and a coupon for a tech store within Axen City and Mars in tow. The streets were less busy now that it was past noon.
"I know that tech store," Mars said, chewing on some soft candy she had picked up on the way out of the Pinhole Arcade.
A high sun greeted them on their way out, nearly blinding Aya from the light as her eyes adjusted to being out in natural light.
"All that sugar's not good for you," Aya said after a while of walking. Mars hmm'ed shrugging as she continued to chew.
"Here for a good time, not a long time," the girl said, winking at her friend. Aya laughed.
On their way to the bus stop, Mars took notice of something peculiar, someone was following them.
Aya stopped, catching Mars' eyes, the girl had noticed it too. It wouldn't be the first time she was tailed by someone strange. All her years living in Axen had subjected her to just as much.
If the man wanted to mug them he was going to have to try a lot harder than simply following them with his hands in his pockets.
"Follow my lead," Aya whispered, already knowing a surefire way to lose their stalker. Mars nodded, allowing Aya to lead her into a random bus slowly boarding its passengers.
The man had no choice but to follow, getting on the bus and sitting away from Mars and Aya under the impression they hadn't noticed him.
"What now?" Mars whispered to Aya. The brunette motioned for her to follow, quietly following the bus's back exit, dismounting, and walking off. By the time the man noticed his targets were gone the bus was already moving.
Mars and Aya watched him run to the window, pounding on it as the bus drove away, it wouldn't stop until it got to one of its stops no matter how much he protested.
"Once again I'm impressed," Mars said.
"This isn't the first time someone's tried to follow me home," Aya revealed, the two began walking toward the Seelim bus also boarding passengers. Aya regaled Mars with tales of how she’d almost been kidnapped multiple times within the city.
"For real?" Mars said with a frown, every time she heard something about Aya's life within Axen her chest tightened with anxiety. It was so different for the safety of Evangels.
She had to convince this girl to move to Mericross or something, or just move in with her.
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The ride back to the apartment complex was silent, Aya hummed happily to herself while Mars checked her phone.
"I've gotta ask, just what have you been looking at all day?" Aya asked with a giggle. Mars smirked.
"I noticed for someone so adamant about being in production you don't do a lot of producing."
Aya pouted but nodded. Mars went back to staring at her phone.
"I'm compiling a list for you, of the rare plants, recipes, and items that go crazy on the auction house. It's not a lot because they're rare but this should help," Mars explained. She lifted a finger to tap Aya's nose.
"When you get home, do some producing!" Mars said with a laugh.
"Hey, I produce stuff!" Aya rebutted. Mars flicked her forehead playfully. Aya whined, rubbing the sore spot on her forehead.
"And you still owe me one Ever Bloom," Mars reminded as she continued to tap her phone’s screen.
"They're growing!" Aya whined. Mars laughed.
"This is me being nice and helping," Mars said with a shrug. "Silly girl,"
"Can I see?" Aya asked leaning over her seat to peak at Mars' phone, the dark haired girl presented it to her.
Aya scanned the page critically, reading through it.
"Heartish Robin Eggs?"
"Yep, they're notoriously hard to find, just one of them goes for a ton of gold, Alchemists need them, and chef classes need them for good food with stat buffs," Mars explained.
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"Good thing I have some then, I'll auction them off tonight!" Aya said. Mars sputtered.
"You what?!" She whispered.
"I completed a special quest and found them in an abandoned Outpost," Aya said. "I was just going to cook them but now, I guess I could auction some,"
"Could you sell me 3?" Mars asked, holding up three fingers. "I'll give them to you at 75 Gold each, that's the highest you could possibly get for them,"
"Mars! I would literally give them to you for free! You're my friend,"
"That's why I'm giving you the highest price, I know never to take a friend's earnings for granted," Mars said.
Aya opened the app and swiftly traded 3 of the 9 Heartish Robin Eggs in her inventory. She receives 225 Gold in total, 75 per Egg as Mars promised.
"Phew that's a weight off my mind," Mars said relaxing into the headrest of her bus seat.
"What do you need it for?" Aya asked.
"An elixir in Beast Hollow, I need to bring it to an NPC Shaman to complete a quest, some items can only be found in other regions and I knew to find some Heartish Robin Eggs I would need to go all the way back to Alquisia," as the answer tumbled out of Mars' mouth, Aya nodded and smiled.
It was always nice to hear about Mars' side of the game. Moon Valley Online was a really big game after all. And it only continued to grow.
Like a branching tree of sorts, more things would always be added, more mysteries, more quests, and more secrets.
"I'm glad I could help with your quest, I just finished one for the Aruergo merchant and it was the toughest I've done I think," Aya said.
"You mean Aruergo, as in one of the three great merchant families?" Mars gasped. She smacked Aya on her arm playfully.
"Why didn't you tell me, it's very rare for them to give out quests!"
"I didn't know that!" Aya said laughing. "He lost his stuff on the way to Bloom Haven. I had to fight a ghost, a zombie, and some kind of weird plant man!"
"Must have been one hell of a quest, so that's why you aren't producing," Mars teased. The two girls laugh.
"I'll get to it, I just need to fulfill these ghosts' wishes and I will," Aya said. Mars nodded.
"I believe you, need I remind you, you need to find out what connections your parents have to the game and you can only do that by completing the quests tied to your special class Aya," Mars said.
"You're right," Aya said, nodding. "I've got to unlock the secret room within the Rose Manor,"
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They disembark from the Seelim bus, watching it drive away with no other passengers. The apartment complex always ended up being the last stop. As long as Aya lived here, there would always be someone to take the bus to the top.
"Let's go back in, I need to catch some z's," Mars said.
"Did you just say catch some z's?" Aya laughed, Mars glared, raising her hand to playfully smack the other girl. Aya ran off before Mars could land a hit on her.
The staircase was bare with no sign of Lydia on the prowl for Aya and her whereabouts.
"She's not here thank God," Aya said heading up the stairs with Mars. The dark haired girl escorted her to her apartment. As they reached the door Aya's hand hovered over the door knob before she noticed something.
The brunette pulled her hand back, then leaned forward to inspect the strange markings she had noticed on her door. Her customs locks, the keyhole, in particular, had been scratched up. The culprit was obviously trying very hard to break into her apartment but failing.
"Someone tried to break in," Aya whispered. Mars gasped, coming to the level of the door and observing.
"Do you think Lydia tried to test the locks again?" Mars asked. Aya nodded, immediately fishing out her key from her pocket and slotting it into the lock.
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The apartment was still in pristine condition when they stepped in, everything was left exactly where Mars and Aya had placed them from the previous shopping trip. Aya searched the small apartment space looking for just about anything that would give away a successful break-in.
Nothing out of place.
She exhaled in relief, feeling a weight lift off her shoulders, those locks were the best things she ever purchased, time and time again they continued to protect her from the machinations of her aunt.
"Do you think it could have been that guy, the one that tried to follow us on the bus?"
"How would he know where I live?" Aya asked.
"He was tailing us, chances are he wasn't just some mugger Aya," Mars said. Aya took a step back shaking her head.
She had her reasons to dismiss the man as a mugger, but she had even more reasons to consider this might be something more. Her Aunt or Fido trying a new tactic to get her to release her grandmother's property.
"Stay safe Aya, and you know you can always sleep at my place if you so choose," Mars said scanning the home for any signs of danger. "I know your grandmother's deed isn't here, but I don't think Fido and Lydia know that,"
Aya sat at the counter with her head reeling, the next time she came into this apartment would someone have successfully broken in?
"Mars, what am I going to do?" Aya asked, looking up at the girl from where her head was bowed. "I don't know if I can live with this, I've done it for as long as I can,"
"Don't worry Aya, I'm here," Mars said, her eyes softened as she stared at Aya's cute oval face. Mars sighed and grasped the girl's hand in her own.
"You aren't safe here," Mars said. "We've got to find a new apartment, both of us," Mars said.
"But you haven't even been here a month," Aya said.
"That doesn't matter, I've been found and you've been found. The best thing for us to do now would be to disappear," Mars explained. "So I have just one thing to ask you?"
"Yeah?"
"Come to Mericross with me,"