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Part 1- Familiar sights
Liz, Alex, Bip, and Tobin walked down the bustling and busy streets of capital city at midday. The air was filled with the sounds of people going about their business and car driving down the street. Liz looked off down the street and let out a sigh of contentment.
“Ahh… it’s good to be back in the big city, it’s been too long,” Liz said.
“We’re not here to do sightseeing. We should head to the guild building straight away, we’re already cutting it close as is,” Tobin replied.
“Yeah.. I know,” Liz sighed disappointedly.
Alex walked up to his traveling companions with Bip following on behind him. The pairs stomachs let out a loud gurgling grumble. Alex reached down and grabbed his stomach as it continued to ache.
“Cant we at least stop for something to eat first? We’ve barely had anything since we left Steel Lake City,” Alex moaned.
“No… It’s like I said we’re cutting it close as is,” replied Tobin as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out two small grey bars wrapped in clear plastic and held them out to the pair. “Here, if you’re hungry you can have these to tide you over till our next meal, they're full of vitamins and nutrition.”
Alex and Bip reached out grabbing the bar from him. They slowly unwrapped the plastic around the bar and began to lifelessly chew on the tough, flavorless mass.
“I can't keep doing this… I need some flavor in my life,” Alex complained through a full mouth.
“Don’t worry brother… we can get through this… it doesn’t taste that bad… and once this is all over we can have a feast for kings,” Bip said, trying to stay positive as tears began to well up in his eyes.
“Grow up you two, you’re not gonna starve. Come on let's get moving, we don’t wanna be late.”
Liz walked off down the street followed behind by Tobin. Alex and Bip slowly dragged themselves forward still gnawing on the grey bar.
Part 2- Something Big
Liz, Alex, Bip, and Tobin stood in front of the small rundown guild building, somehow looking even more disheveled than the first time they had seen it.
“I still can't believe that the guild chooses to operate out of a building like this,” Tobin said.
“Guess when you get big enough you don’t have to care as much,” replied Liz.
“Come on lets quit all this talk and just get this over with already,” Alex said as he marched towards the front door of the building.
Without warning the door to the guild build came swinging open stopping Alex in his tracks. After a few seconds, 5 came walking out of the building with a fed-up expression on her face. She stood next to the door and leaned up against the wall before closing her eyes and letting out a long, irritated sigh. She opened up her eyes once again, her eyebrows raising in surprise to see the group standing in front of her.
“Oh hey… when did you all get here?”
“We only just arrived… how have you been? 5 wasn’t it?” asked Tobin.
5 took in a short, deep breath before forcing a wide smile across her face.
“I’m just great thanks for asking… how have you been.”
“That’s not very convincing,” said Liz.
The smile on 5 five quickly sunk away as she let out another long sigh.
“Guess I’m not a great actor huh.”
“What’s up?” Tobin asked.
“Well 2 asked me to be in charge of organizing this whole meeting thing and well I couldn’t say no. I thought it would be easy, I mean I’ve organized guild events before… but I guess I underestimated how much work there would be with two more guilds tagging along. Plus not to mention it doesn’t seem like any of the other guilds have anyone to help me out. So yeah guess I’m just a little stressed,” 5 said before letting out yet another sigh.
“Geez… sound like you’ve got a pretty full plate.”
“So you’re organizing this? So you must have some idea what’s going on then?” Liz asked.
“Honestly, beats me. We were given instructions from the government to arrange this whole thing but didn’t get much more detail than that .”
“The government… for real? If they're being that secretive about whatever’s going on then it must be big.”
“It definitely seems that way,” 5 said before looking down to her watch. “Oh crap… looks like time got away from me, I’ve still got some work to do before the meeting begins… you guys should get inside and get ready.”
5 stood up from the wall and turned to walk back into the building.
“So the governments involved in whatever this is,” Alex said
“Yeah… the plot thickens, come on let's get inside and find out what's going on,” replied Liz.
Liz walked up the stairs, opened the door, and walked into the building followed behind by the rest of the group. As they entered the room they sore Mia sorting some papers behind the desk.
“Hey Mia… hows things,” Liz asked#
Mia looked up from the papers to look at the group. Sweet began to beed up on her forehead as she smiled at them.
“Oh hey guys… it’s good to see you again. Sorry I can't chat, I’ve got to sort all of these sign-in documents, which reminds me,” Mia said as she wiped the sweat away from her brow. She reached into a draw and pulled out three sheets of paper and a pen clipped to each. “If you wouldn’t mind signing in so we can tick your name off the list.”
The group approached the desk, reached out, and grabbed one of the sheets. They detached the pen and began filling out the information on the page. Liz glanced over to the several large stacks of papers messily pilled up behind the desk.
“It looks like you’ve got a lot on your plate.”
“haha… yeah just a little,” Mia said awkwardly as she once again wiped her brow clean.
The group passed the papers back to Mia. She quickly glanced over them to make sure all the information was filled out before placing them back on the pile.
“Very good, now if you just want to step through that door and they will begin shortly.”
The group looked over to the door next to the desk and walked over it. They stood in front of the door looking at it for a moment. Liz took in a long deep breath.
“Right… let's see what this is all about then.”
Liz reached out her hand and turned the door nob before slowly pulling the door open.