RotF stands for Return of the Fight.

I'M EDITING EVERYTHING, IT'S NOT YET READY FOR MORTAL EYES

Okay, description/summary: also might change but here

yeah this is definitely changing

[code for video game characters that I haven't given a proper name to yet:]

1) A character follows it destiny laid by its ancestors and does not stray.

2) No member of a Plot Twist may tip off the Hero or otherwise hint at a twist, no matter if the information given is real or fake.

3) Villains are not to be mistreated and are to be recognized as noble and vital characters in their own right.

4) No character will be killed before the start of a game unless absolutely necessary to protect the game from corruption.

5) Before release of their game, Heroes must protect any and all innocents they may happen across.

6) If any character dies without proper reason, the game is cancelled for that generation and is passed to a later generation.

7) A character does not interfere with the affairs of a game that is not their own.

8) Non-Player-Characters made to aid the Hero on his or her journey will do nothing to overtake his or her role.

9) Mentors must train the Hero to know all that is necessary for the Hero to pass the tutorial before the game begins.

10) The Hero cannot teach a new mentor what the next Hero must know until after their game is complete.

Prologue --- being edited currently

Dear Reader,

There are many ways to write. There are many stories to tell. And a lot of those stories create a new world you can explore and enjoy. A lot of stories like that require careful setup to bring the reader into the world in the author's head.

Thing is... I got a story to tell, and d*mm*t I wanna tell it. I wanna take you and put you in a world, drop details when they're necessary, and hope you get something out of this bleeding mess of a story. I'm blunt. I make mistakes and like them to be pointed out so I don't look like an idiot. But I mean everything I write. That includes everything in this Prologue.

This was supposed to be a sacred, special chapter, the Prologue, where I would reward hardcore book fans with a touch of background on a different character every book. Instead, I'm dedicating this particular Prologue to setting the world up a bit, something many great editors have pointed out that I should probably do. You have them to thank for this. So, I'll answer some common questions.

(Note that I said 'some'. I can't tell everything. There will be things I want you to figure out on your own. If you're not okay with that, you may not be okay with this story.)

In this book, there is a system of inheritance that decides the fate of everyone. Everyone fulfills a role of a parent or other relative similar in appearance. If a character fights this system, they are a 'Rebel'. Several Rebels in close proximity of generational existence create a 'Rebellion'. At the time of this book, there have been two Rebellions, one of which is still happening.

Librada is the goddess of their world. They will take her name in curses, they will thank her for good fortune, etc. There are other minor gods and goddesses. They won't be important yet, and even when they are relevant, you'll only have to worry about two.

Each video game is its own province in what's known as the Land of Librada. Each province has its own government set up by the game itself, but there's a larger government made up entirely of retired characters (characters who have made a game or are too old to make a game).

Yes, it's confusing. Yes, it doesn't make sense. But neither do many other things in video games, like jumping 5x your own height, or magic, or multiple lives. With luck, everything will make less and less sense, until eventually everything falls in place and it suddenly hits you that this story does, in fact, make sense, in a nonsensical sort of way.

Happy reading,
Ahudrim and Alphadawg.

Chapter 1

Lilith tilts her head backward. It's been years since her previous visit to school. She whispers again to her friend outside the window, her voice ringing slightly in the cool nighttime air. "Qehna, wheren is it that the day goes?"

She hears her friend sigh. It isn't out of exasperation for Lilith's lack of understanding, but out of thoughtfulness, knowing her friend won't comprehend the scientific answer. She spends many nights like this, sneaking away from the family that keeps her to the outside of Lilith's open window and answering the questions that she will never learn without school. "It goes to the other side of the world for a while."

"But why?" Lilith's gaze traces the cracks on her ceiling's texture.

Qehna thinks a few seconds more. "Because without the sun, the people on the other side of the world couldn't see what they're doing."

"Oh." Lilith falls silent, but is not satisfied. "Why don't it jus' stay with both sides've the world?"

Qehna falls again into a short silence. "Lilith... when you look at a tree, can you see the ants on the other side?"

Lilith is silent for a moment, then gasps in realization. "Ooooh, the sun can't see us when it's with th' other sides 'f the world?"

"Yeah," whispers Qehna, shrugging to herself. The sun can't see.

The two are quiet for a while. Finally, Qehna asks, "Are you going to the place again tonight?"

Lilith closes her eyes. "Qehna... you knows I am. I gotta go. I gotta..." She can never explain her motives.

There's so much more to it than she just has to, but there's no other way to put it, so to everyone but herself, she just has to.

"They know about it now, though," Qehna says quietly, all thoughtfulness replaced by a fear that made her eyes sting in the thin fog that rises from her breath. "This isn't some cute game anymore, Lilith--"

"It never was!" Lilith clenches her teeth to control the volume of her voice, but her friend's calm, if frightened, words soothe her wild, underdeveloped temper.

"You and I know that, but do they?" She pauses to steady her voice so it doesn't break on her next words. "If they catch you, they'll stop you. Lilith, what you're doing is illegal. They caught you once, they'll catch you again." She hesitates, gazing imploringly at the moon that covers the swaying and clipping grass with a pale blue light. "This is serious stuff."

Lilith turns the words over in her head. "I can't jus' let em pushn me round anymores, Qehna."

"Not even for me?"

The question catches Lilith off guard and she opens her eyes. As much as she likes to believe her friend understands, she remembers once again that no one ever will. "I..." She loses the words as they come to her. She switches tactics. "They dunno I got my sword back. That's in Town Hall. If'n they don't catch me there, they won't be catchin' me anywhere else no mores."

For a few seconds, neither talk. Qehna, with the perceived confirmation that she will always come second to Lilith's schemes, gets up, wishing Lilith a quiet good night, and leaves to return to the home of the family that currently cares for her. Lilith stays for several minutes more, nearly falling asleep, but forces herself awake and stumbles to her bed, where a chipped and tarnished sword is hidden under the mildewed mattress.

------------------------------

Lilith soon finds herself in the clearing where she always practices sword-fighting, using the trees as dummies to practice with. Village NPCs, or Non-Player Characters, like herself are forbidden to learn anything pertaining to attack or defense, skills left instead to the Hero in her game. However, since she's never given a valid reason to stop, she continues her practice.

Unfortunately, her activities have slowed down since a tree she particularly liked to practice with had fallen during one of her sessions, alerting the other people of Saile'm to her activities. She was now on nearly constant surveillance, but the guard at the front door of the house never catches her sneaking out of her side window.

She practices all through that night, reviewing what she'd done before. All she has to work with is made-up sword-fighting techniques that years of self-training had taught her to do with finesse. By the time dawn has nearly arrived, she's carved a dent in an ancient tree and cut back encroaching branches, leaving ragged mulch scattered among the long grass and bright indigo flowers. She smiles at herself, leaning momentarily on her sword and finding shapes in the clouds.

"Having fun?" asks a high, yet certainly male, voice behind her. She wheels around, finding a single village NPC behind her.

"Umm..." she looks around, finding a place to run to. She edges to the left slowly, dropping her weapon so it won't hinder her escape.

"Don't even try it," he says, gesturing to the trees. She glances in the direction of her travel, and deep in the forest, she sees a slight glow of flame. She looks all around, but all she finds is distant fires. The man smiles genuinely. "Now Lilith," he says, opening his arms in a friendly gesture, "You know we're not cruel people here. It's just not how we're designed! Just like how you're just not coded for this... Hero's work! Haven't you learned the dangers of this?"

Lilith shakes her head, but not in a way that says "no". It's more like she's trying to move things into the right place in her head, hoping to make sense of them. For some reason she can't place, it never makes sense that any part of what she does will endanger the universe. "Yessir, I've been hearin 'bout it--"

"Then why--WHY-- do you keep doing this?" The man puts his head to the side in polite concern.

"I don' get it," Lilith says through her teeth, as the approaching firelight becomes torches in the hands of courteously angry village people.

"You don't have to get it," says the man with sickening charisma. "Just stop. If you would have stopped, we wouldn't be here now."

Lilith recognizes with a slight panic the glint of pitchforks in the light. Then she feels disappointed, realizing that she wasn't worth getting creative over. She takes a deep breath. She can fight fire with fire and charge the villagers with her sword... or....

She looks up. It's something she's never done before, and a bit of a risk. Well, a lot of one.

"Do you understand yet?"

She looks down and around. There's bushes. Thick ones. She can already see her skirt getting caught in the thick of them.

"Lilith, I want you to listen to me. We can't let this happen again. Do you understand what we have to do?"

She begins inching back toward her sword.

She can make out the outlines of the villagers now, approaching at a steady march. She hears the grass rustle as they stride onward, sometimes clipping through the edges of trees to keep from bumping into each other.

"We're going to get rid of you, Lilith,"

She picks up her sword, but abandons it, deciding instead upon one of the downed branches instead.

"We can't be the reason that the universe collapses. You understand, don't you?" She looks the man in the eyes, his apologetic smile not promising any verbal escape from her situation. She picks the stick up and steals a glance at it. It will have to do.

"Ruamus!" shouts one of the village people, and the high-voiced man looks around, searching for and finding the owner of the voice, a man of larger stature. The faces of the people are now clearly visible. "We're ready at your word!"

Ruamus, governor of their settlement, rocks onto his heels before resting on the balls of his feet, causing him to appear an authoritative figure despite his height. His warm smile is transformed into a cruel, victorious sneer in the torchlight.

"I hate to do this to someone with such... potential," he says with a new edge to his tone. "But we have no room here for kids like you."

With that, he nods to the deep-voiced man, and as he approaches, Lilith holds her stick in front of herself, running at the NPC. She flings the stick at him, and though he does his best to fight it, the codes of the game override his orders, and the stick phases through him, leaving him cowering and covering his head. Lilith dodges around him, running for the dent he left in the circle of NPCs.

Nearby villagers move their arms in the way to stop her escape, but as they move their feet to close the ring, Lilith dodges between them from under their hands and slides between the legs of the village person behind them. It was easier than shed thought it would be, the frost covering the ground coating the grass and making it slippery.

Stumbling to her feet, Lilith runs back to the village, where she at least knows there are places to hide. Through the sound of feet pounding behind her, she can hear the governor's remark: "I suppose she didn't understand."

When she reaches the village entrance, she realizes that she doesn't know where she's going. Still unsure, she dodges into an alleyway, hoping to deter the villagers behind her.

She hears a slight pause in the steps behind her as the mass of NPCs struggles for a moment to sort out who should go first into the relatively narrow corridor. Veering back onto a main road, she finds the street lined with bakers and farmers setting up shop for the morning that would soon be upon them. She ducks behind an unattended booth and waits, trying to control her breathing, as the people file into the road, figuring out the way to go. After several moments of confusion, they split off from one another and search nearby alleys.

The sun is nearly rising now, touching the tops of the tallest buildings. Lilith smiles in spite of herself, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. Though she can't sleep, she uses the murmuring of the village in the early morning as ambiance to let her mind wander through.

She imagines how gamers see her world. Her nose scrunches as she pictures having to read what people say rather than actually hearing the voice of a character. Her own game is scheduled to be the second installment in the franchise with voice-acting. Having played the game (though she didnt get far) and heard her own predecessor's voice, she begins to wonder if shell ever talk so nicely and correctly.

She feels a hand on her shoulder and is pulled from her thoughts with a start. She looks to the owner of the hand, feeling a fleeting hope that it might be Qehna. It's not, and her hope that the un-Qehna shaped and un-Qehna weighted hand was Qehna's was dashed. The gruff-looking, bearded man stares at her for a long moment with shiny black eyes. The only action she could muster was stuttering "Kkhh-whaa?"

The man leans down. Lilith leans back from his foul breath, focusing on his other hand, hoping it wouldnt bring her any problems, too.

"I'd like to set out my goods," he rumbles politely. "Could you please move elsewhere?"

Lilith looks up at his face, her eyes widening. The light reflects off of his eyes in a kindly manner. Shaking, she nods and stands. She steps out into the busy street of the marketplace. Behind her, the man rumbles appreciatively and starts placing trays of homemade cookies from his cart onto the counter of the shop.
"There she is!" Lilith takes a second to process the words, then whips around as the voice continues, "Get her!"

The man with the deep voice is coming at her with what looks like half the village on his heels. In a panic, she sprints in the other direction. Though the angry mob calls for others to assist in her apprehension, the people of Saile'm's daily commutes go uninterrupted by the chase. The man with the gruff voice, however, suffers an unfortunate disappearance of an entire plate of cookies.

Lilith runs back toward the entrance to the town, hoping to find other options for escape. However, she rounds a corner only to come across, heading down the street in her direction, Ruamus with another posse of angry villagers. She swerves left, scraping for options, but is cut off by yet another swarm of villagers.
She skids to a halt, falling to a sitting position as she does so. She pulls one of her knees in front of her, lifting one of her hands in a silent plea for mercy. As she does so, a strange new feeling washes over. This is it, this is the end, there's no continue button, there's nothing after this. Her hand falls as she accepts her fate, her gaze following it.

She closes her eyes, hearing the crowd's relief from having finally finished the pursuit.

"What in the name of Librada is going on here?"

Lilith opens her eyes and the villagers fall silent and face the visitor. Lilith stands, not able to completely straighten her legs for the scare she just had. Before them sits a hodgepodge of tattered rags on a horse. But under the soft hair that looks like it has never missed a day's wash are a pair of green eyes that flash with an authoritative ferocity. The tight frown and disapproving eyebrows give him a feral look. They all know him. They don't even have to ask his name. His name is Raiden.

The Hero of the game.

Chapter 2

Raiden stares down at the NPCs. Tired of just watching them gape and blink, he asks the question again: "What is going on here?"

Lilith is dumbfounded. This level of plot convenience is usually reserved for Heroes, yet somehow at this exact moment he decided to just show up? The silence stretches a few seconds more, and she feels her cheeks and the bridge of her nose grow unusually warm as she realizes she might have to be the first one to speak.

"U-um..." she stutters.

"N-nothing of any importance, I... I can assure you... sir," Ruamus says, abandoning his usual charismatic atmosphere for something more on the side of panic or anxiety. "Just making this town the best it can be! And, er... might I ask... what you might be doing here?"

Raiden ignores his question and nods toward Lilith. "You. What's going on?"

Ruamus stutters indignantly before glaring at Lilith, as if daring her to speak. Lilith looks back at him uncertainly, not sure whether to obey his silent command.

"Hey." Surprised, her attention snaps back to Raiden. Why is he still here? He needs to be... doing Hero stuff. "Don't worry about them. What's going on?" He moves his head to the side, the middle pieces of his dark brown bangs falling over his right eye. He doesn't look at her like the village people do, but it's not like Qehna does, either. He seems angry, but that anger is going over her head to some unseen target far above her.

Lilith doesn't know how to act. A moment ago, she was staring down death. Now, the Hero is staring down at her, expecting her to speak with a voice that was almost silenced forever. "Um... well, they was gonna have me killed, sir."

"Kill... you?" Raiden raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"No!" Ruamus leaps forward, blocking Raiden's view of Lilith. "Don't listen to this child's foolishness," he hisses, gesticulating grandly all around, invoking nods and agreements. "She's well known for the trouble she stirs--"

"SIR," Raiden interrupts, with more authority than the governor could ever muster. "I was listening to a rather interesting story before you rudely interrupted--"

"And that's all it is!" Raiden dismounts his horse as Ruamus cuts him off. "A story! A story from a lying little--"

Raiden raises his hand in the air and the man is silenced. Raiden is only a little taller than the governor, but still shorter than most townspeople. "I believe I can choose for myself what is true."

Ruamus looks as though he's about to say something, but instead lets out a huff and walks stiffly away, arms crossed, stopping not too far from the group.

Raiden stares after him for a few moments before walking to Lilith. He puts his hand out as though offering to help her up, but she staggers up on her own and dusts herself off quickly.

Their eyes meet, at the same height. Lilith somehow imagined him being taller. From the look he gives her, it seems he expected the very same.

After a pause that is longer than either intended, Raiden asks quietly, "Were they really trying to kill you?"

Lilith nods.

"Why?"

Lilith looks around, then nods in what she guesses is the direction of her clearing. "I been practicin... using my sword..." she turns back to see him frowning thoughtfully. "They don' like it."

Raiden shakes his head slowly. "Why don't they like it?"

Lilith feels her face grow warm with something between anger and embarrassment. "Because I'm no Hero, not like you are, sir." She turns her head away. Not sure what to do with her hands, she grabs her right elbow. Now what will her right hand do?

"Was this your first time doing it?"

"No, I been at it for a while." She dusts off her skirt lightly with her right hand. Yeah, that seems natural.
Raiden is absorbed in his own thoughts. They always know he's the Hero. This is nothing new to him. This is, however, the first time he meets a villager that's so clearly under-educated, but also so strong-willed.

Maybe this is a story, though. Maybe she's making it up to cover up a childish prank.

No. He has to see for himself, before he assumes anything.

"Show me the clearing."

Ruamus whips around. "There is no-"

"Okay," says Lilith, walking to the town entrance.
____________________________________________

When Raiden enters the clearing, the first thing he sees is several inexpertly attacked trees. He stops at the edge of the trees, watching the girl in front of him--she called herself Lilith, didn't she?--walk near the center of the grass. He hears the sniveling man behind him mutter insults under his breath. Anyone else in the crowd was dismissed by Raiden himself. Too big of a group would just cause problems and be too hard to handle.

He watches as the girl pulls a sword out of the grass. "Let me see that," he calls to her, and she looks to him and nods.

"She could turn against you here," Ruamus says, but it was in a way that made Raiden whip his head around to make sure he was the right guy. He hadnt been like this earlier when Raiden met him, yet Ruamus had spoken nearly as casually as if he were talking about the weather. "She could point that blade at you and take your life at any time."

Raiden shakes off the ominous threat as the girl nears him, holding the sword out to him like an offering.
Lilith feels her brain go numb. Raiden is here, but it doesn't make sense. Oh, gosh, what's he even doing here?! This is nowhere! And what does he want with her and Ruamus, anyway--

Raiden points the sword at Ruamus, having looked at it and disguising his disdain at such a neglected piece of weaponry. "You feel threatened by a dull sword and an amateur owner?" He spins on his heel, throwing the sword at the village girl's feet as he does so and, facing the governor again, points at him and says, "How weak does a town have to be to need a village to stop a child?"

Lilith had stopped paying attention, instead wondering if the sword now coming out of the ground was actually in her foot or just under it. Her mind eventually recognizes the sound of arguing, and she turns and walks away without another word. Whatevers going on, shes clearly not part of it. Ruamus calls angrily after and pursues her, but Raiden just stands, watching them leave.

He looks tiredly at the sword he'd left at the girl's feet.

No town is worth the fight anymore.

He returns to town to finally get his traveling clothes patched up by Saile'm's renowned designer, Braxton.

Chapter 3

Lilith sat in her room, watching the world outside. Qehna was nearby, sitting on the floor and staring at the ceiling texture. Lilith had decided it would be best to hide out here while things calm down, and Qehna had caught wind of what had happened and came to check in on her friend.

The peeling white paint gave the impression of the space having once been clean, but also being very boring. The dirtiness of the space at least added some character to it. It wasn't necessarily a bad room, Lilith was just bad at taking care of it.

Staring out the window, Lilith found she could always tell where Raiden was, even if she couldn't see him. Some people would run from the trouble that follows him while others went to him expecting protection. She sighs.

"Okay, that's nine times you've sighed like that, what's going on?" Qhena picks up a rat and pets it absent-mindedly.

"Hmm?"

"C'mon, you know what I'm talking about." The rat squeaks and she scratches its ears. "What's going through your head?"

Lilith looks at her friend, smiling. "What'n if I were to run away with'n 'im?"

Qehna stops mid-pet, her mouth dropping open. The rat chews at her hands desperately, but she takes no notice. "Leave with the Hero?"

"Yeah." Lilith's smile takes a mischievous turn.

Qehna rolls her eyes, wrapping her fingers in the rat's tail. "No."

Lilith laughs a little.

"It's not a joke, Lilith!" Qehna smiles in spite of herself.

"I know," says Lilith.

They stare at each other. Qehna hopes its not too late to change her friend's mind. She sighs pensively.

The girls sit in silence for several minutes, each weighing Lilith's question. Lilith decides Heroes can still have peanut butter and banana sandwiches, so it might be worth the risk.

"Why d'you look so sad?" Lilith asks her friend.

Qehna shakes her head. "I'm not. Just thinking." She then realizes she has a rat in her hands. She scratches it lovingly behind its ears. It thrashes again, but to no avail.

Lilith looks around the room awkwardly. "So... were you meanin' it when you said 'no'?"

"You know what you have to do, I guess. I know you're always gonna be chasing your crazy dreams." She's used to feeling second. She's used to feeling helpless to stop these crazy plans. But how could anyone be serious about something as stupid and crazy as going outside the village, where they'd been safe from monsters all their lives?

Lilith stares at her friend, registering her words. She knows leaving will hurt them both. She knows she might not even come back. But other than Qehna, she has nothing else here in Saile'm but people glaring at her, and now wanting her dead. "I... I been thinkin' actually. I been thinkin' that'n I might learn some writin', be able to talk with'n you over mailin' er somethin'."

Qehna nods. "Wouldn't have to wait if you'd've gone to school."

Lilith shakes her head slowly. "What they teach over there doesn' feel right. Somthin's missin'."

"You've said that before."

"I gotta find out what it is! People can't be thinkin' I'se crazy forevers."

Qehna boops the rats nose and it once again goes still, its breathing fast. 'I know you know how to talk. You'd better not talk like that in your letters." After witnessing a greatly exaggerated eye roll, she offers the rat to Lilith, who hesitates before patting its head gently. The rat nibbles feebly at her fingers, but has otherwise given up hope of escape. "And please, for the expulsion of Librada's barbarous curse, do not talk like that in front of the Hero!"

They sit in silence a while longer, both staring at the underside of the roof. "So you knows I'm goin'?"

Qehna sucks in her breath. "I'm not going to stop you."

Lilith nods. "Okay then."

Qehna nods. "Okay."

They sit in silence a while longer.

'So when are you leaving?"

"Nightfall tomorrow. That's when Raiden's leaving," Lilith explains.

"Ah. Wait, how do you know that?"

"Hmm? Well, he's gotta leave, right?"

"Wha- no, not that! How do you know... when?"

"Oh." Lilith turns red and coughs. "Um, well, y'see..." she laughs nervously.

Qehna stares at her blankly, then shrugs. "I'm... not gonna touch that one."

More silence, except for a long, sustained squeak from the rat.

"Umm... do you need travel clothes?"

Lilith looks down at her skirt, once reaching the ground but now above her ankles, and the same dirty shirt she'd worn for longer than a shirt's lifespan usually allows. "I dunno. Why?"

"Because it looks like you need travel clothes," says Qehna. "We can talk to Braxton tonight. He should know what to do." She looks down at the rat. "Mind if I keep this?"

Lilith looks at it blankly. "Umm... I mean, he's not mine... you can keep 'im, I guess."

-------------------------------------------

Braxton is working late that night on a new style of belt. Previous generations carrying his name had never thought to change the design of the belt to help differentiate characters and show their personalities and stories, but new ideas, he supposes, are at the very core of his character design. He's carefully stitching green thread into a leaf shape when there's a knock at the door.

He laughs dryly, picking up a towel and wiping the sweat off of his face. Even in the cold of his workshop, his age wears him down faster every day.

"Who could be up at an hour like this," he calls to the outdoors, laughing and coughing. "I don't suppose it to be Lilith, stealing away like a thief in the night, just to steal time from the life of a working man such as myself?"

He opens the door and laughs lightly but gratingly at Lilith and Qehna's bewildered expressions. "Don't look so shocked; I know ya better by now." He starts closing the door. "I made those dilapidated rags fer ya; do ya really need much else? I'll not have ya waste my time on any childish games, neither."

He goes to close the door, but Lilith sticks a hand and a foot in the way. "Not no game, mister. I need your help, now."

The man peers around the door with a cautious and suspicious curiosity. "Aye? Go on, then...."

"Lilith, don't use double negatives," whispers Qehna.

"I'm in need of a travel clothes."

"Not 'a travel clothes', just travel clothes--"

"I ain't got no nothin' to do with none of yer travelin' clothes."

Qehna looks from her friend to Braxton and back again before, anguished, burying her face in her hands.

Lilith continues, "Sir, I truly n honestly have no idea what you said, but if you'll be listenin--"

"You's lookin' to run away with that Hero boy, ain't ya? But I'm not playin' no part of yer childish schemins no more, hear me, Ms. Lilith?"

Lilith looks up at the man, her eyes resembling that of a puppy begging for a treat. "Please, sir--"

"I'll have none o' that!" Braxton tries to nudge her foot out of the door with his own worn boot. "You leave here this instant, Ms. Lilith! I remember last time I had proffered you help, out 'f the goodness from my very soul, and just how that had turned out. I'll have no part of your pranks, I say!"

"Yeah you will, sir."

"And why's that?"

"'Cause Qehna's gonna talk it into you." Lilith looks back at her friend, whose jaw drops.

"Wh... ME?!" With the eyes of both grammatically incompetent NPCs on her, Qehna feels the pressure to appease them. "Fine, alright, um... please help Lilith. Okay?" She puts her arms up in a shrug. This isn't something she's made for.

Braxton raises a grey eyebrow at her and Lilith's expression turns to desperation and pleading.

"Aaagggghhh..." Qehna lets her arms and head sag with the weight of the boundary she was about to break. "Okay... debate. Umm..." standing back up, she looks to the sky for inspiration. "Umm..." didn't she already say that? "Look, Braxton... you, you know Lilith." He nods slowly, waiting for more. "Yeah! And umm... well, yeah, she plays a bunch of tricks and pranks." He nods, small and bouncy this time, agreeing. Lilith widens her eyes at her, terrified of where this is going.

Qehna takes a deep breath. Shes being so smooth! This is fun!

"Okay, yeah, that's just kind of her thing, but the thing is, sir, she's--" oh gosh, where am I going with this?!-- "this isn't just a prank this time!" He looks at her blankly, waiting. More, oh high Librada, he wants more! "A-and that's because... she's..." she pleads with her brain to clear up and keep making up arguments "...she's finally just trying to work toward something--you know! Like, you like making--" she looks into his workshop-- "belts!" He looks back at his work.

She finally has some footing in this debate! "Well, she likes doing Hero things!" He looks back to her and nods affirmatively. Yes! "And there's a Hero here she wants to run off with and I mean well if you're allowed to do what you like why shouldn't she like for real all of us do what we like to do except her and it's not fair at all so yeah she needs travel clothes if she's going to go anywhere but you're the only one who can make anything like that--" Qehna abruptly falls silent, face red and gasping for air. She doesnt believe half of what shed said, but at least it was over with.

Braxton stares at her, blinking. Then he looks to Lilith. "Alrighty then, youngster. But just so yer friend ain't got a need fer killin' herself over lack f breathin. Come on in, and we'll talk travel clothes." Lilith enters, the bounce in her step pronounced out of victory. She smiles back at Qehna and mouths thank you as Braxton closes the door behind her.

Qehna blinks up at the candlelight as it disappears. After listening to muffled discussion behind the door for several minutes, she stands, smiling at no one. As she turns and goes back home, she mutters, "I should be a lawyer."

-------------------------------

Lilith waits patiently for Braxton to finish writing measurements in his illegible handwriting so she can go home and sleep. Already, her eyes are closing, too heavy to stay open much longer.

"Lilith," says Braxton.

"Hmm?" She replies, coming out of a half-sleep.

He's silent for several seconds, then says, "Considerin' you ever come back, mind tellin' me if time's changed?"

Lilith thought about this. "What d' you mean?"

Braxton snaps his notebook shut. "I never wanted sewin' belts," he says, pointing his pen at his project. "You go out there an' you change things, an' I can do what I wanna, no more of interferencin'. You go fix things and I can do what I want."

Lilith feels the weight of his request. She doesn't realize the gravity of what she's planning to do yet, but she knows that Braxton is getting more out of it than she is, and if she fails to succeed, she fails him.

She sets these thoughts at the back of her mind, where they merely continue to disturb her by sending the feeling of cold water down her spine. "Mr. Braxton," she says hesitantly, trying to change the subject. He's absorbed in various colored fabrics. "What do you want to do?"

He doesn't even pause in his work. "I'll tell ya when ya get back," he mumbles distractedly. "Come back in the morning and I'll have these gotten all ready fer ya."