Sui groaned as she pulled herself out of ‘bed’. Turning left she headed for her ‘door’ only to be rudely awakened when she slammed her forehead into the wall with a thud. That got her eyes open.

Where the hell am I. Sui spun around to find Aife’s living room and then started to calm down as her memories untangled themselves. Oh right. Aife’s house. Looking around it appeared to be sometime in the early morning the next day.

Hmm… should I just hang around? I wouldn’t want to… Sui’s thoughts were cut off as Aife opened the front door covered in sweat. “What happened to you?” asked Sui with some concern

“Uh… I was running.” said Aife confused.

“Oh… right” said Sui. Apparently, I’m still a bit tired. I can’t believe I forgot that Aife runs every morning. Aw well it isn’t that important. “What is Trina up to?”

Aife looked Sui over “Well, I imagine she’ll still be asleep” said Aife as she walked over to the kitchen. Pulling out one of the coolers, Aife started to unload various foodstuffs and started slicing some bacon, presumably for breakfast “Want something while I cook for myself?”

“Whatever is fine” said Sui

Aife glared slightly at her but didn’t say anything, unwilling to speak up about Sui’s blasé attitude towards breakfast. “Hey while you’re doing that, where are the showers” asked Sui

“They don’t work so you’ll have to use the river” said Aife.

“Wait you guys have a river?” asked Sui

Aife shrugged “Well, we don’t really have a river. It’s on the old folk’s part of the property but I haven’t seen hide nor hair of them recently”

“Oh” said Sui

Aife chuckled “Oh don’t worry, I mean like past month recently, pretty sure they are out partying somewhere, who knows”

“Oh?” said Sui settling down at the table.

As Aife continued cooking, Sui tried and failed to get a proper grasp on the threads that made up her outfit. Why is this so infuriating. My power tells me I have it right there, but I just, can’t, move it.

Aife meanwhile managed to finish a healthy serving a bacon and eggs on toast. “Hey wait” asked Sui “How does your stove still work”

“Oh, it’s gas powered and we got the tanks refilled just last week actually” said Aife.

“Hmm” said Sui. Now that Aife mentions it… weren’t there a few things that were working at Grandma’s place… but we don’t have a gas oven… or do we? I’m not sure I ever asked but I don’t think we ever got new gas bottles.

“How have you been keeping the food fresh” asked Sui

“Ah, well Trina managed to work out pretty quickly that time doesn’t pass for whatever you put in it” said Aife

Sui nodded as she ate a large chunk of toast. “How did you test it?”

“Well… uh…” said Aife “I wasn’t really paying attention at the time and I didn’t ask”

Sui nodded and went back to eating. As she was picking up her slice of bacon, she heard a door unlock. Looking up she saw a bedraggled Trina. It was times like this where she looked the least like her two friends.

In terms of height Trina sat in the middle of Sui and Aife, leaning slightly towards Aife’s height, and towering over Sui, because that was simply the norm. Her long frizzy brown hair was now every more puffed out because of her recent awakening. It was dangerously close to looking like an afro based sheerly on volume alone.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Trina’s face, which occasionally sported glasses, when she was disinclined to wear contacts, was currently hidden by the abundance of hair held back by the valiant efforts of a sleeping mask pulled up like a headband.

Trina’s face itself though, was shockingly sharp. Eyes slanted slightly with eyebrows to match, giving her the appearance of constant anger, which was only true when Sui was doing something stupid… so about 50% of the time.

Her clothes were actually a nightset that had been made by Sui. They were a silk-like wizard’s robe with little stars sewn into them. It was actually quite a few years older than they looked, but Sui had originally made them deliberately oversized.

Now, five years later, they fit rather well, and hugged her shoulders and hips slightly but as they were only nightwear it was never a concern. There was a hat to go along with it but Sui couldn’t see evidence of it anywhere.

“Can you two keep it down” yawned Trina “It’s too early for breakfast”

“What?” said Aife “It’s already 6:00am”

Trina turned to glare at Sui “I thought better of you. How can you be up at such an ungodly hour? Aife I can accept, I’ve grown used to it… but you?”

Sui shrugged “I get up whenever. I think I was asleep for like fourteen hours so I suppose it was about time to get up”

Trina opened her mouth to argue but closed it shortly after, taking a second to think “Fine”

“Hey” said Sui “Did you want me to fix up your nightgown at some point? Or like all of your clothes?”

Trina eyed Sui who was practically drooling over the chance to get access to her closet. After a few… noteable incidents, Sui was forbidden from opening Trina’s closet. Sui had the bad habit of fixing dresses, or just forgetting them and never mentioning it to the original owner.

“Fine, but just this one dress ok” said Trina.

In no time flat Sui had sped to Trina’s side and placed her hand on Trina’s shoulder. Ooh. Good job past me. As Sui’s awareness of thread filled her mind, she was happy to note, this was one of her better works.

A little tearing here, some loose threads there, it only took a minute for the minor defects to be ironed out. Once she was finished and stepped back though, Trina glared at Sui “I did not say you could do it right now!”

“Why not?” asked Sui

“I’m still wearing it!” said Trina

Sui shrugged “I don’t see why that is an issue”

“Look” said Trina “Just… don’t fix my outfits while I’m wearing them ok?”

“Sure, I’ll make sure to take them off you first” said Sui

Now. A lesser woman would have nodded. Aife would have nodded. But Trina was more than aware of Sui’s bad habits. “You will not use your thread control to take my clothes off of me so that you can fix them. Wait till I myself remove them… deal?”

Sui pouted but said “Fine… I don’t see why it matters anyway”

Trina slumped down in the chair next to Aife “Oh Aife where did I go wrong with that girl”

Aife shrugged “Dunno, I’d say it’s genetic but I’ve never met her parents. Don’t think there was much we could do”

Trina would have believed Aife’s concern was genuine more easily were she not finishing her third slice of toast (actually 5th) and second egg. “Got anything for me?”

“I can cook some more if you want” said Aife

Trina waved Aife down “No it’s fine. Ok, while we are all here, Sui what are your stats?”

“My what?” asked Sui

“The numbers you assigned yesterday” said Trina

“Dunno, don’t really care either” said Sui

Trina groaned “Please, check for me. Say ‘System, show me my stats’”

Hmm… would it be easier to ignore her and get back to sewing. Sui’s thoughts were waylaid by Ito, who let just her eyes pop out of Sui’s arm to glare at her. Ok fine, ,I’ll check on my stats.

Sui has the following stats

Strength 3

Agility 4

Constitution 4

Intelligence 11

Wisdom 10

Willpower 6

Charm 4

Dexterity 6

Sui read aloud the numbers to Trina. I don’t see why they even matter. I’ve got on just- “WHAT!” said Trina snapping herself awake “Your stats are nearly as broken as Aife’s. What the hell Sui

Sui shrugged “What do you even mean”

Trina sighed. “Ok… so after some testing, we think that everyone is graded on a scale of 1-5. With 5 being the absolute peak, and one being crippled essentially. What I want to know is… how are your stats so good?”

Sui raised an eyebrow “I’ve got a fairly even spread. Though if it’s 1-5 why is my intelligence a 10, and why do I have a bunch of sixes?”

“Well, that is the second half of the equation. Every level we get two points, and at level 5 we got one in everything” said Trina

Sui shrugged “So?”

“I didn’t get a five in ANYTHING” said Trina “Muscle, brains got a five in quite a few, strength, dexterity, willpower, wisdom, and charm”

“What can I say” said Aife “I’m a perfect specimen” Aife flexed with a goofy grin on her face.

“Ah yes, with your two int as well” said Trina

Aife shrugged “Better than your two in strength considering you did Ti Kwon Do with us for years”

Trina spluttered but had no comeback.

“Wait… but I only have a three because of the plus one, right?” asked Sui confused “What makes her more laughable then me”

They both turned as one to Sui and said “Because your tiny”