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The night was cold. Lingering. Like the air itself waited quietly, with bated breath.
But not to Fiammetta. She could hear it in the air, wailing. Calling to her. Mostima had left for a distress call, leaving her to keep watch near the temple whilst the other two slept. Left alone, all night those voices ached at her consciousness, screaming, howling, drawing her closer and closer as she-
“WAKE UP!”
With a jolt, Fiammetta shot up, ice-cold water dripping from her hair. Her hot red glare could have boiled it off, however, as she stared at the Lupo in front of her, cackling.
“I’m going to kill you, Lappland.”
“Hey, hey! It wasn’t me!”
“He’s right,” Patia dropped the empty cup on her head, moving to stand with Lappland with arms crossed. The two liberi stared each other down, until Patia sighed, despondent as she pinched her nose. “They’ve been getting worse, haven’t they?”
…
“Fine, we’ll speak about this later,” Patia threw Fia a towel, letting her get cleaned up. “We have a job to do right now. But don't think you’re getting out of this. We could both hear you practically sobbing in your sleep.”
Fiammetta stretched, her back clicking several times. “What does the Emperor want from us now?”
“Not an order from the Emperor this time,” Patia handed her a tablet, with various messages already on the display.
“...Rhodes Island? Don’t you two normally handle all their jobs?”
“Not this time. I don’t know all the details, but from what they’ve described, we might need your heavy ordinance for this one.”
“Ehi, you’re useful for once, Pollo! How great is that?”
…
“Fia, you’re going to break my tablet.”
“Can I break her skull instead?”
“No, you can’t,” Patia took the tablet from Fia’s hands before she cracked it, hitting the Lupo on the head with it as she walked away. “We leave in an hour, grab some food and change out of those clothes. You’ve been in them since yesterday.”
Fiammetta scowled as the Liberi left, but she couldn’t really argue with her. She did a final stretch as she clambered out of the armchair she’d spelt in, taking stock of the room around them as she hunted for her clothes.
“They’re in the duffel bag over there,” Lappland mumbled through a cup of coffee, jabbing a thumb at a bag in the corner. “I washed everything last night.”
“Thanks,” Fia fished in the bag, swapping her clothes out. “How come Rhodes Island needs my help, anyway? Aren’t they a pharmaceutics company?”
“Eh, beats me. But that Blacksteel company are on the job too, so this should be fun no matter what.”
“Mhm.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure your little chicken brain can manage to keep up with the rest of us, piccolo fuoco .”
“...I could kill you before Patia could get in here.”
“You can try~”
This was going to be a long mission.