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Ayda tossed and turned on the bed. There was someone or something going through her kitchen. She could see the light from the fridge and and heard the mecha-magical humming of her microwave. The sound stops before the microwave starts to beep announcing its ending meaning... Fig is once again coming late.
Ayda decides to go back to sleep as her girlfriend steps inside their room. “Mind your step...” She mumbled as sleep was in her grasp.
Fig awkwardly got into bed alongside the bird-woman. There was the smell of fire clinging to her clothes so Ayda turned her head to the other side.
“You didn’t wait up for me did you?” Fig asked her.
“No, just a bit after dinner.”
“It was good from what I just had.” Fig’s voice was slowly turning low with sleep as well. Soon the devil woman fell completely asleep. Ayda turned back to look at her. She was always a bit annoyed that Fig could always fell asleep so fast in comparison to her.
Eventually, Ayda also succumbed to sleep as well.
That morning Ayda woke up early. Leviathan certainly didn’t rest and, incredibly, its readers also didn’t. She did her morning rutine as she always did and ate what she had made for dinner last night as a quick breakfast. Fig was soundly asleep through out all this so Ayda left her be as she flew to her job at the library.
The pirates came and went as did the hours. Jawbone’s birthday was today so they should be going to Mordred tonight. That meant for Ayda to put on some nice clothes and she should find something to bring there. There’s a nice bakery some levels over, maybe a nice pastry will be enough.
Ayda’s crystal recieved a couple of messages as the afternoon rolled out.
Fig: thanx for the lunch!
Fig: do u know what can we get for jbone?
Ayda responded with her idea of food. Fig answered back.
Fig: awesome!
Fig: ill pick it up now
Fig: love you!
Ayda looked at the last message for a long while but didn’t answer back.
Mordred was as lively as ever. All the Aguefort faculty as well as Fig’s extended family would make any place seem small and yet the building felt rather cozy. Ayda wanted them to get there on the dot while Fig wanted them to be fashionably late since the party wouldn’t start until at least an hour later. By the time they arrived the gathering was going at full swing and Ayda didn’t know where to actually go without breaching into cliques she didn’t care about.
Eventually the two of them found both Jawbone and Sandralynn in the center of the party and Ayda was happy to have a dedicated people to talk with. The rest of the bad kids got there and gave the wolfwan his presents. Fig was then taken away by Fabian and Kristen which left Ayda by herself to find another group.
The other half of the bad kids were also by themselves so she decided to walk there hoping either Adaine or Gorgug told her to join them.
“Ayda hi! How’ve you been? It’s been a while!” Well that was fast.
Conversation flowed easily with them four. Although Riz felt weird since this was the longest he and Ayda ever spoke to each other.
“How’s the library?”
“Good... how’s the PI thing?”
“Good.”
Genuily the longest.
“How was the show last night?” She asked Gorgug.
“It was fine I guess. Trolls really like to overstay their welcome though. I fell face first into bed when I got home.”
“Fig did the same.”
“She got home fine then? I told her that the after party would end very late.” Gorgug streched and yawned. Ayda grimaced. “I honestly don’t know who she can stay up so late.”
“Me neither.”
A crash of somethings got them to look to one side finding Fig, Fabian and Kristen hollering about nothing and trying to stay up by leaning next to a wall. Ayda sighed again as she rubbed her forehead.
“Maybe I should go and help them?” Gorgug asked as if asking someone else to go with him. Riz and Adaine did rock, paper, scisors and Riz lost so he went with him. Ayda thanked them not wanting to be in the midst of those other three.
Fig had to use the half-orc as a walking guide while Fabian and Kristen were getting draged by Riz. Ayda would have laughed if it didn’t make her feel so much pity.
“What are you thinking about?” Adaine asked beside her.
“Lots of things.” Ayda said in monotone.
“But what are you thinking about now? You are clenching your jaw. You only do that when you are overthinking.”
“Oh, so I do it all the time then?”
“Pretty much. C’mon tell me.” Both young women were leaning on the wall of the house but Ayda had decided to sit down. Adaine followed after her.
“We are friends right?”
“Of-of course!” Adaine said with surprise. “Why are you doubting it?”
“Sometimes I think that you are all only Fig’s friends and I only have you when I’m with her. Sorry if that has caused me to not hang out with you.”
“Oh, com’ere you!” Adaine gave her a side hug as she fuzzed. “Look, even if Fig is nowhere around we are still your friends. We were friends first, remember?”
Gorgug was now wearing Fig as a backpack. The devil woman was humming one of her songs. Ayda grimaced.
“Yes, thank you for clarifying.”
Ayda asked Garthy for advice. They told her to deliver the news at a calm pace. To be tactfull and mindfull of Fig’s feelings. Ayda took it to mean she should be as quick and direct as posible. Why would anyone want this to happen in a different way?
“I think we should break up.”
It was the day after Jawbone’s birthday and they had just finished their breakfast. Fig had her spoon with her last bit of food up to her mouth but she let it fall from her surprise.
“...wh-what?”
“I think we should break up. I haven’t felt fine with us for a while and I don’t think this could be something we could fix.”
Fig was completely silent as Ayda made her case.
“I can help you get your stuff unless you don’t want me to but-”
“WAIT! WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT! Wait a second!” Fig quickly interjected. She was visibly shook and took one of her hands. Ayda let her. “Wh-why are you saying this? Why now?”
“Because Adaine assured me we’d still be friends even if I broke up with you.”
“WHAT!?”
“You asked why now.”
Fig inhaled and exhaled sharply. She tried to calm herself before speaking.
“What made you wanna break up? Why you think we can’t fix it? Te-tell me and I’ll change. I promise!”
“You are asking.”
Fig sighed. “Yes, Ayda. I am asking.”
“No, you are asking. You don’t know it.” Ayda lips turned into a thin line and her ears moved up her head a bit. “Fig, I barely see you. And when I do, you are almost always too tired or with something in your system.”
“That’s not... I’m not...” Fig tried to come up with words but not one came. “You barely see everyone else as well! You don’t call Adaine or Gorgug unless they call you first and you don’t even speak to Riz, Fabian or Kristen.” Shifting the focus was not missed on Ayda. Fig must feel desperate.
“They are not my partners. I care about them but I don’t expect what we have from them. What I though we’d have.”
Their shared apartment was silent for a while. Ayda stood there uncomfortable while Fig teared up. The bird-woman’s heart was beating faster than normal and her head felt as if it was trying to escape from the rest of her body.
“I think I should go.”
“No, wait.” Fig took her hand again. “I can change. Please, just tell me what I have to do and I’ll do it. Please.”
“Do you think you can stop with your excess? The shows. The parties. The everything?”
Ayda waited for Fig to speak but the words couldn’t come out of the other woman.
“I thought so.” And Ayda teleported away.
Riz’s crystal rang out. It was Gorgug.
“Hey man, wasup?”
“ARE YOU CLOSE TO MORDRED!?” The orc man yelled into his ear. Riz flinched.
“No, not really. What’s going on?”
“Ayda called me.”
“Weird.”
“Not the time! She told me to tell you-”
“Even weirder.”
“NOT! THE TIME!” The sound of transit and honks came from the device. “She couldn’t get a hold of Adaine so she is asking us to look after her. Fig is gonna kill her.”
Riz laughed a bit at that. He was used to Fig’s antics. “Alright. What happened now?”
“Ayda broke up with her and apparently something Adaine said was the thing that gave her the bravery to do it.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“...Riz?”
“FUCK!”
Riz would get to Mordred later than Gorgug and he would bare witness to one of the messiest sights he has seen. One part of the building had caught fire while the other part was now yellow in color. The surrounding earth was upheavaled and tossed while the sounds of several rats came from everywhere. Sandralynn and Jawbone were in their pijamas looking disappointed.
Finally, Fig was tied in a net. Gorgug had been quick enough that nothing else had been destroyed. The devil woman looked utterly distraught and broken. Adaine was beside them when Riz got there. She had her crystal to her ear, probably Ayda, and her face changed to a sad grimace.
Riz deduced this would be such a troublesome time. He just couldn’t deduce when it would stop.