“Stop laughing Aife, it wasn’t that funny” said Trina “And Sui, have you seriously not found anyone attractive? Never even tried to date a boy?”

Sui shook her head “Shouldn’t you know this? There was just that one time in tenth grade where I traded a boy a kiss for two bolts of thread. Hehe, it was such a good trade”

Trina’s face drained of colour “You can’t just do that Sui!”

“Why? He offered… actually wait, I feel like I remember having this conversation with Grandma… Ah right now I remember, I promised not to do it again, she said it was wrong… not sure why we both got what we wanted from the trade” said Sui

“Aife… please tell me I’m still asleep and I didn’t just hear Sui say that” begged Trina

“Pretty sure. This is real” said Aife still doing push ups.

“Can you not, while I’m having a crisis here” asked Trina

Aife shrugged, shifting her shelving slightly as she did so. “It’s not a big deal, pretty sure we’ve heard this all before from Sui. Just don’t worry about it”

This is starting to get strange. “Sure” Instead of continuing to look over the carpet Sui started to focus on her recent conversations with Trina. Something is seriously wrong here. She’s yelled at me more times in the past two days then she has in the rest of her life…

Is dating Aife really such a big deal? Sui shuffled through her memories of previous conversations from earlier in the year. She seemed so in control the last few times we talked? I mean seriously she’s treating it like the world is ending or something… Oh

“Trina, are you ok?” asked Sui

Aife paused halfway through her push up to watch Trina’s reaction, and it was very telling. She had completely frozen up, as if someone had just thrown cold water in her face. “Of… of course Sui, I’m just… annoyed you are having such a strange reaction, and I don’t know how to handle it” said Trina

Sui grinned “I don’t think that’s true” said Sui as Trina paled “I think this has more to do with the fact the world seems to be crumbling around us. Well, it isn’t really, but I think it’s getting to you”

“You don’t know that. You can’t possible know that” said Trina voice getting quiet “I’ve seen you try and talk to people, and half the time they run away scared”

Aife snorted slightly in the background but muffled it with a grunt as if she was lifting a particularly heavy bit of furniture. “True” said Sui “I remember that time those girls tried to bully me in high school and sliced my hair up. They weren’t prepared for me to pull out my own scissors, fix it in a few seconds and then chase after them… ah good times”

“So, you see my point” said Trina praying for Sui not to notice her trembling hands.

“Yeah, but that’s just it. Those were strangers. I’ll admit I don’t do people all that well, and I’m glad you both hang around. The thing is though, I have a good memory, and I have never, once seen you this panicked

“Not even the time I stole half your closet and was halfway through reworking it when you found me. Sure, you yelled a bunch like you have been, but it was nothing like this… or that time I destroyed all your makeup because it was ruining the clothes I made you because you didn’t know how to put it on or take if off. Or, or…” Sui trailed off.

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As she was going on Trina let herself fall. Aife quickly returned the shelving to her inventory, and reached out to catch Trina as she fell before letting her fall to the ground. “You… your right” said Trina “I hate it but your right…

“The world is practically ending around us; I don’t know how we don’t have blood on our hands you know… I can still feel it… that first time I was attacked, the blood, and gunk, even as it vanished from my body…

“And without Aife, I don’t think I could have done it… the first few rounds… I mean… they weren’t horrible, but I just… I couldn’t” said Trina

“Hey, it’s ok” said Aife bringing Trina into a hug “I thought we talked about this, you assured me you were fine, and quiet loudly requested I stop asking”

“I just… I will be fine it’s just… I’ve seen where this leads you know” said Trina

“No, I don’t” said Sui, and for her trouble she received a glare from Aife, to which Sui and Ito returned. I seriously don’t. Trina is acting like the world has already ended and we might as well give up. It hasn’t really been that bad, and I mean surely the world isn’t really over, just a bit more deadly, but we get cool abilities as well.

“Look… so… I mean… obviously I’ve never done this” said Trina gesturing in front of her “but like… I’ve read a few books, and these types of stories… they just tend to get more and more brutal”

“What are you talking about Trina” asked Aife

“Look… just… stuff happening to Earth I suppose… I mean, look. I don’t want to talk about it” said Trina

Aife snorted and raised an eyebrow “As if we hadn’t noticed. If even Sui can figure out you aren’t feeling well then I think it’s time you relaxed a bit”

“See, that’s my whole point” said Trina trying to wiggle out of Aife’s tight grip to gesture “You guys aren’t treating this seriously at all”

“Look, Sui isn’t going to care until something threatens her thread, or life. She just gets over things like that. I bet she was scared during combat though” said Aife

Sui nodded, seeing what Aife was doing “Yeah, I was quite out of it when I got hit by the rabbits”

“What rabbits?” asked Aife

Sui froze “Did you not have to fight rabbits that shoot horns at you?”

Trina and Aife faced Sui wide eyed “No? Not at all… how would they be scary?” asked Aife

“The little buggers launched their horns out at me. One actually got me in the side” said Sui innocently, with no care in her voice.

Trina couldn’t help but let a laugh escape her, and once it started, she couldn’t stop. Aife picked up the laughter as well, and Sui managed a small smile. As it continued Trina’s laughter developed into more of a cackle, and then into a hacking teary mess.

It took a few minutes for things to settle down after that. Sui was careful not to let her attention drift to the carpet again while Trina was recovering. I can look at the carpet later. It seems like Trina was under even more pressure than I thought. Her behaviour wasn’t that irregular… or was it?

Meh, it’s Aife’s problem now. I’ll just keep paying attention a little bit just in case though. Ito tapped Sui on the shoulder and when she met Ito’s eyes it was clear the little spider was glaring at her. Fine, I do care about her. You happy?

Ito nodded, and then sunk back into Sui’s skin. What does she do under there anyway? My whole body is covered in that white string isn’t it? Aw well, I’m sure it’s important. Maybe she still needs rest for some reason.

Just as Sui was about to stand up and start checking her supplies for her complete closet overhaul of her two friends’, familiar words popped up in front of her eyes.

Sui, wave 6 will be commencing in approximately 5:00 minutes, please ready yourself, be in an open area approximately 10m across.

Well, that’s new. Looking up at Aife and Trina’s still forms, it was clear they had just seen the message as well. “It seems I won’t be upgrading your wardrobe in time… though I guess I could get started on a completely new outfit once this is over”

“Ok” said Aife forcefully “How do we want to play this. It says we need 10 metres of space, assuming you all got that message” the others nodded “so, does that mean we each need 10 metres? Or will ten metres between the three of us be fine?”

“I doubt it will matter” said Trina as she extricated herself from Aife’s firm grasp. “The only way to get that sort of space is outside. So, we should all have enough space”

“True, but what if they can’t overlap? We will have to pick either all within ten, or all far enough away we won’t interfere with each other” said Aife.

Hmm… I wonder if Ito counts as well? I imagine that if she is in my skin it should be fine… I hope anyway. And dammit, we haven’t tested Ito’s thread creation either… curses