As Sui was packing the cooler, Aife walked back out and started to give her a hand. Sui was more surprised than she cared to admit that Aife didn’t just pick up the fridge and shake what she could into the cooler.

Once it was full Aife picked it up. How! And made it vanish before a second cooler replaced it. “This ones fer stuff in the freezer, we’ve got most of the stuff from the fridge” said Aife

Sui nodded, and helped with the freezer. It didn’t take too long, because Aife was much faster than Sui and had also managed to move the cooler beside the fridge, so it was just a matter of dumping stuff in.

“Finally done then” said Aife. “Time to go” Aife went to pick Sui up once again, but Sui stopped her.

“Wait. What about some of my other stuff, like my mannequin and the bed?” asked Sui

Aife paused. “Well, I’m full up. I doubt you can lift the bed, so I guess I can trade you. Probably isn’t a bad idea to keep it. We were going to offer you the spare room, so I guess this works out”

Sui nodded, and led Aife back into her room. She went straight for the mannequin. Sui had to strain a bit to lift it. Her hold was awkward, and it was taller than she was even though the stand had been lowered as much as possible, because she’d always needed a larger one for her two much taller friends, she didn’t have a better option.

As Sui struggled to hold it, a slightly annoying thought occurred to her. How do I put this in my inventory? What even is an inventory? That should be like a store room or something but I get the feeling that isn’t the case. “Hey Aife, what am I doing”

Aife let out a throaty chuckle “Holding onto a mannequin like an idiot”

“Well tell me how to put it away” said Sui

Aife grinned, though Sui couldn’t see it with a mannequin in the way and Aife was behind her in case she actually started to fall over in her wobbling “Just say store. It can even be in your head”

“Store?” said Sui b but nothing happened.

“No, with feeling” said Aife

“STORE!” Shouted Sui, and the mannequin vanished.

Aife pretended to clean her ears out “What was that fer? Why would you shout?”

“You said it had to be with feeling” said Sui, looking at Aife confused.

Aife put her hand over her eyes and sighed. She’d somehow managed to forget Sui’s likely reactions in the few days since the start of the apocalypse. “Ok, my bad. You don’t need ter shout. It’s more about the intention”

Sui nodded, “Ok, that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but then again, a lot of this doesn’t make a lot of sense. So… what do I need to grab off of you?” asked Sui

Aife nodded, and another crate appeared. This one was much smaller and had a number of other miscellaneous boxes. Sui didn’t even ask what it was before she picked it up and thought STORE. And nothing happened. Looking over at Aife with a slight frown Aife explained.

“Five seconds. You need to hold it for five seconds”

Sui nodded and tried a second time, finding it worked.

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Aife for her part walked over to Sui’s bed. Aife got to the foot of the bed and stood on the frame. The whole bed tilted forward under her pressure, the sheets and pillows falling off the bed in question once she did so. Aife then turned around as she let it fall catching it on her back.

Lifting her knees slightly she raised the frame off of the ground and held it perfectly still. Five seconds later, it vanished, leaving behind the pillows and the top layer of sheets. “You’ve still got a few slots for whatever you want. Is there anything else to grab Sui?”

Hmm, ok so I have five slots, I’m using one for the mannequin, one for box Aife gave me and I have three spare. “What constitutes taking up a space?” asked Sui

“Well, it has to be one object. So like, you saw how the pillows fell off and didn’t get taken, but the bottom sheets did. And that crate I gave you, because it’s all in the crate it’s all fine” said Aife.

Sui nodded. Ok, so I should probably pack some clothes… Sui had a flash of annoyance as she remembered she did not in fact need any additional clothes, and in fact they would be largely useless. Um… hmnm, in that case I guess the pillows, and my loom maybe?

That got Sui thinking. Do I need that at all anymore? I’ve got my needles, scissors and a grand stockpile of thread inside the cupboard that Aife is carrying for me. I have my thread control ability so it might not be necessary to take it with me…

But then again, it still might be useful, and I’m not sure I could bear to leave it behind. Sui quickly. But I never did find the rest of it. Shit. I doubt Aife will be willing to wait that much longer.

Sui rubbed her eyes as she struggled to think of things she needed. I’m too tired to be dealing with this right now. Sui absentmindedly stored her pillow in the third slot. Two more I suppose. “Aife, what should I take. I only have half a loom and I don’t know where to find the rest. The sewing machine doesn’t work with the power out, and I’m not sure about anything else”

Aife looked at Sui strangely “What about oh I dunno, some clothes fer yourself? That seems like the sort of thing that you’d be on top off”

Sui growled at Aife “Pull this dress off of me”

Aife looked at her friend strangely “Why?”

Sui glared back, and Aife paled “Do it”

Aife very confused by the request declined “No. Do it yourself” she said not liking the direction the conversation was going.

“Fine” spat Sui. She threw the clothes off over her head roughly kicking them when they were on the floor, leaving her half naked.

Aife raised an eyebrow to and was about to comment but Sui raised her hand in the universal stop gesture. After a few seconds her dress shone and it reappeared on Sui as if it had never left “Ok that is kinda freaky” said Aife “Wait, and isn’t that the outfit you were working on for Trina? Or not quite…”

“It was” Sui growled “But now it’s magically stuck to me and I can’t keep it off. It just comes back after a few seconds. The longest I’ve managed is five minutes when I showered, but I had to keep it real close otherwise it comes back”

“Why are you so angry? That seems useful” said Aife thinking of how nice it would be to never need to pick out new clothes. She regretted her words as soon as Sui turned and glared at her.

Sui’s whole aura shifted, and she held Aife’s gaze with a primal fury that almost seemed to be leaking out of her. Sui didn’t notice, but Aife did, when her dress started to shift and ripple as if it was made up of millions of individual snakes ready to strike at a target. “First off, this is unfinished. An unfinished product I will never be able to complete

“Secondly this is a gift for a friend I will never be able to give. I can’t take it off, and I doubt Trina would want it now that I’ve been forced to wear it” Aife thought Sui was overreacting but chose not to comment “Thirdly. It doesn’t FIT! It’s not even close to my size, the sleeves hang, the shoulders are around my arms because mine aren’t broad enough. The sleeves bunch around the elbows because they are much too long and this was supposed to be a mini skirt with stockings”

Once Sui finished her rant, she seemed to retract herself. She stood up straighter, and her dress stopped moving. Her eyes soften and she let out a sigh. “That feels much better to have out. I apologise Aife, but this is perhaps the most offended I have been in some time. You did not deserve that, but it did feel good to yell about”

Aife nodded, and pretended she wasn’t sweating slightly. Sui had told the truth about one thing; she had not been that angry in a long time. The only other time that even came close was when Sui had been knocked into a display once when they were shopping and that tore one of the outfits on display.

The poor sod was never the same after that. Though, she had allegedly picked up sewing afterwards, so Sui would have said it all worked out well. Of course, that might have something to do with how terrifying Sui was when she was angry… not even her small size helped diminish the fear she could instil in people.