“I’m guessing you didn’t really plan anything, right?” I asked Luna as I sipped my chocolate milkshake. I had originally picked water but Luna convinced me to not be so frugal with such a small amount of money.

“No, not really,” She replied, sitting opposite me on a small, white, circular metal table with the paint chipping away. My chair rocked unevenly on the stone slabbed ground and the red-and-white umbrella was unfurled above our heads even with the minimal sun.

S1 and S2 seemed ambivalent towards our conversation, S1 sitting silently while S2 drank her milkshake quite noisily. They sat to either of our sides, making the already small table quite cramped.

“Then why suggest to go out somewhere?”

“Because! It’s what young people do?” She sounded a little uncertain.

“Are you trying to fit into an archetype or something?”

“No? I just thought that perhaps you’d have some input as well...” She glumly replied, avoiding saying anything more by drinking.

“What? You want me to decide where to go?”

She didn’t reply to that. Instead, she just looked up from her drink, her brown, hazelnut eyes pleading.

“We could...” I racked my brain, trying to dig up whatever knowledge of social gatherings I was aware of throughout the city. “Go to the museum?” It was the best that I could; either that or the library, but that one didn’t seem particularly social.

“Stockton museum?” Luna replied, an amused look on her face.

“Oh.” I forgot about that.

“I mean, we can if you want to. I know I would find it interesting.”

“But it might not be open yet?” Cognitively, I knew it was silly to dispute a helping hand but just ignoring this issue felt too disingenuous to do for me.

“So? I’m sure observing the aftermath would be just as interesting as wandering inside, if a little shorter of a journey.” Her voice trailed off towards the latter half of her sentence.

“If you’re fine with it… I guess we could go.” Frankly, I didn’t really go out with other people, much less three other people, so this situation made me feel a little awkward, not that the other three participants seemed to feel the same way.

Both the servants seemed either indifferent or happy once we had come to a decision.

I wonder if I’ll ever see S2 without a smile on her face?

From where we had stopped to drink some milkshakes, the museum wasn’t actually that far away from us. Obviously, Luna had led us into the city centre since the docks weren’t known to be all that welcoming to a ‘group of girls just looking to have a fun time’.

The whole journey there was quite a quiet affair; Luna didn’t seem to have anything in particular to say, I felt too awkward to talk with three other people in public while walking, and neither servant were of the predilection to start up conversations. For how much livelier S2 was than S1, they shared the same reservedness.

Eventually, after a grueling, we arrived at the museum--or, rather, the straight directly outside it.

All the outside walls had massive cracks running through them--some either had gaping holes that were currently covered by tarps and scaffolding. The ornate decorations that adorned the exterior had broken or fallen off, and the whole structure looked like something that hadn’t been touched in a century--a startling contrast from the grandiose form it had just over a week ago.

The sight alone had a profound effect on anyone that walked by it; they’d see a building of far more opulence than you could hope to live in, a grade 2 listed building that held special protections provided by the government, a building that had a varied and storied history, and all of that meant nothing in the end. Like a simple caravan in a park somewhere, it was infested and destroyed.

A solemn and somber sight to behold.

“Do you think a hive emerged in there for a reason?” Luna asked me, her tone uncharacteristically serious. She didn’t look at me; she just stared at the fallen building being repaired.

“What? No.” Everyone knew that it was random; any patterns people claimed to have observed were superficial and meant nothing.

“I find it hard to believe that it’s random, though. It happens too often without a reason.” She had a dour expression on her face.

“Why do you think that?” Her sudden change was strange to me.

“I can’t explain it. The systems, the hives… It was all so sudden. It shouldn’t have happened.”

“Of course it was sudden; it was impossible!” I exclaim. I wasn’t sure what Luna was trying to get at.

“You’re right; it’s impossible. Forget what I’ve said; it was strange.” A smile fell upon her face again and it seemed she was back to normal. “Anyway. Enough of this sad sight. We should do the thing that I had suggested in the first place to do.”

“Shopping?” I said, my voice as unenthusiastic as possible. It wasn’t like I particularly disliked the mundanity of the activity, just that I’d rather reserve my funds for more pressing issues than something as frivolous as a few more clothes or what-not.

“Yep, because I do not have enough clothes with S2 here now,” She explained.

That does make sense.

“What did you do with S1?” My interest was piqued.

“You mean with clothes?” She asked me to clarify.

“Yeah.”

“I just gave her some of my own.” That did explain S1’s fashion sense, now.

“How do you choose what to wear?” I asked S1, turning my head back towards her.

“I choose whatever allows for the most flexibility,” She answered.

I’m a bit surprised that Luna doesn’t offer her input.

Luna was leading the way--apparently familiar with the local clothing stores in the area. When asked where we were going, she simply replied somewhere cheap. Whether she didn’t know the name or just didn’t care, I didn’t know.

The conversation on the way there was mostly about clothes--seeing no reason to deviate from the topic--and mostly between just Luna and I. I hoped a few times S2 might chime in but she didn’t; the discrepancy between her bubbly and energetic personality with her quiet manners was unexpected, but perhaps that’s something inherent to the nature of being a servant.

Meanwhile, I got to appreciate Luna’s lack of an expansive style. She never gave the impression she disliked any sorts of clothes but her opinions on them were very… Utilitarian; she’d describe her appreciation for the quality materials and the well-cut shape of it all but never on the fashion or style.

The only way I could grasp her opinion in that respect was by the clothing that she does wear--particularly athletic in nature or hardy. Purposeful, is one way to put it.

What caught me by surprise was her shocked reaction when I told her I didn’t like skirts--not once had I thought she’d have a fondness for those pieces of cloth.

“I just feel so vulnerable in those things!” I explained, my voice incensed with unchecked passion. I admit, I had not expected to opinionated on this topic.

“But that’s the good thing! They’re not restrictive at all and give you the ability to move around.” Her perspective was predictable if unique. I doubted whether many girls in my school would’ve shared her views.

“It’s not about the practicalness of them; it’s about how they make me feel.” I was beginning to feel mild embarrassment over expressing my dislike at a simple piece of fabric.

“But don’t you feel safer knowing that you could run away unimpeded?” Luna asked with sincerity.

“I’d much rather not have to run away in the first place. Besides, even if I did run, I’m not fast at all,” I held my ground.

“S1, who do you agree with?”

That’s not fair; she’s just going to agree with you!

“I agree with my master; skirts seem very pragmatic,” S1 predictably answered.

“Do you even own a skirt?” I asked incredulously, because I highly doubted that she did.

“I do not as Luna doesn’t either.”

“Wai-” Luna began before I quickly cut her off.

“No buts, Luna! Since you don’t own a skirt and I do, you are in no position to convince me of the benefits to them. End of discussion.” I put my foot down before it got any more out of hand.

With the forcefulness of my tone, one that I hadn’t really used around them before, Luna sunk into silence. Frankly, I was surprised at how quickly she acquiesced to my decision.

She stayed that way for a good few minutes.

“You… Own a skirt?”

Oh. She was thinking, not sulking.

“Yes, from when I was younger,” I replied quickly. I felt that the latter half was important to dissuade any misconceptions from forming. “What of it?”

“Oh, nothing.” She replied cheekily. Her words may have expressed no further interest but the look on her face showed she thought all of this was nowhere near a loss to her.

And when I realised that, I let out a chuckle; it was, frankly, ridiculous to have gotten so riled up over something so inane. It was amusing.

Luna gave me a quick glance but neither S1 or S2 seemed to find my quiet outburst strange.

“We’re here,” Luna said after a good bit of walking later. We had walked through over half of the city, by my estimation; we had crossed straight through city centre and was now closer to the middle-class, residential area than the docks.

“I’ve actually been here before.” Luna gave me an interested face but didn’t say anything.

It was a stout building cradled between two other shops--a fish-and-chips shop and a hairdressers--with blue paint peeling off the sign. It’s big windows showed a veritable plethora of different items but inside, it was fairly empty--showcasing the lack of popularity for the establishment.

“You buy your clothes from a charity shop?”

“Yeah; it’s good value.” Contrasted to what I expected, Luna seemed to show no shame in exposing this information.

Perhaps because she’s older, this isn’t as big a deal to her? Or maybe it’s just Luna.

Once inside, it was like Luna was in her element. She held no awkwardness about her and looked upon the clothes lining the walls, asking S2 what she liked. For the most part, S2 just responded that she’d be happy with whatever Luna picked out but when pushed to give a clear and formed opinion, S2 personally chose some clothes.

They possess individuality but are reluctant to express it.

Luna actually caught me off guard when she asked me if there was anything I wanted. I impulsively declined before I could’ve actually looked around to see if there was anything I wanted to buy; whether that was from instill social stigma preventing me from doing so or for another reason, I didn’t know.

But once we had paid for the items, we were done.

“Are you sure there’s nothing you want to buy?” Luna probed once she had given the bags to S1 to carry. She was quite insistent.

“I’m positive.”

“But you haven’t bought anything apart from a milkshake all of today.” She was being forceful but the concern--Why is she concerned--to her tone precluded me from taking it rudely.

“I just think that I should save up my money since there isn’t anything a really need to buy.” I gave her a measured response.

“So that means you’d buy something if it’s practical?” She asked, unable to sense her motive through her tone.

“...Perhaps,” I relented. I wasn’t an incredibly frugal person by nature and it felt weird following Luna around on a shopping spree while I wasn’t getting anything for myself.

“Then how about this: we could buy something that would be useful in clearing a hive?”

“And what would that be?” I asked after a bit of thought. In reality, it could’ve been any number of items.

“I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise, would I?” Luna replied mischievously.

“I’d still prefer to be told.”

“Fine,” She relented under just a small amount of pressure, “I was going to go to an archery store.”

“But you already own a bow?”

“And an unlimited number of arrows as well,” She replied flatly before setting off, presumably towards the auspicious archery store.

Annoyingly, the store was in the heart of the city--so we probably should’ve gone there first and then the charity shop second--but Luna, and the servants, seemed unperturbed by the unnecessary extra walking (not something I could sympathise with).

Eventually though, as my feet were hurting and my legs aching, we had arrived. By now, I felt that I had done more exercise than I did yesterday when I had planned for today to have been a rest day.

The store itself was more expansive in size than the last one we went to, if more limited in scope; through and through, it was a store dedicated to archery. From standing outside, you could see rows upon rows of varying types of bows nestled against the back wall as shelves of accessories and arrows dotted the floorspace, interspersed between the entrance and the bows.

Luna, just like with the charity shop, showed no hesitation but an abundance of familiarity with the place--which, I suppose, made sense--and walked right on in as the three of us trailed after her.

The store wasn’t busy--with only a handful of other customers perusing the merchandise--but Luna paid no heed to them, planting herself firmly in front of the three of us.

“So, Charlotte, what do you think about using a bow?” Shouldn’t you have asked that before dragging me here?

“Not much?” I replied tentatively. I hadn’t an interest in archery nor did I really know much about them. The max exposure I had was with archery as a sport.

“Well, put it this way; do you have a preferred weapon of choice?”

It seemed that my role as a non-combatant wasn’t up for debate, not that I minded much. For the most part, weapons were highly used for clearing hives as only a minority of Specialisations directly supplanted modern weapons as a way to kill monsters.

Monsters being the uncivilised, low-technology sort with minimal intelligence (mostly) also meant that a wide variety of weapons could be used, where personal preference was the most important factor rather than the most effective one. For instance, someone with superior strength would likely rather wield a sword rather than a gun.

As to what I’d be doing… I actually hadn’t thought about that yet. Realising that was mildly uncomfortable--how I’ve put so little thought into an activity that’s so dangerous. For now, I had chose to shelve that thought, however.

Thinking back to my--rather limited--experience with hives, the first one, Luna used just a knife; the second one, Luna used a bow while S1 used a knife; and for the most recent one, I had used a standard kitchen knife.

My experience therefore only existed with a knife and, after yesterday, I felt confident that I could conclusively say: No fucking way.

Knives conferred so little reach that only after my adrenaline-addled state had calmed down did I realise how incredibly terrifying what I did was. And how magnificently stupid, as well. There’s no way in hell I’d rationally want to get as close to a monster as I did before, and I’d gladly take a ranged weapon to keep them away at that.

“I suppose a bow will do,” I summarised my thoughts for Luna.

Having said that, she then advised me on buying a bow. The advice didn’t really mean much because the vast majority of the bows on display was outside of my price range (bows are much more expensive than I had thought) and so out of only a handful of bows that I could reasonably afford, I ended up with a simple recurve bow. It looked far less complex than the high-end compound bows but Luna reassured me that didn’t mean anything.

As for herself, she spent a considerable amount of her funds on just arrows. Most arrows, it seems, are ill fit for hunting and are, instead, made for competitive archery. So far, Luna had to make do with either arrows she made herself or cheaper arrows that barely manage to pierce flesh deeply. To rectify that, she bought a handful of broadhead arrows, after reassuring the cashier that they wouldn’t be used for hunting animals.

With that, some of the day had passed and we were getting hungry--not that either servant professed such a sentiment. We ate some lunch at an inexpensive location, had a pleasant conversation, and parted.

Luna suggested letting her take the bow I had bought back to her warehouse where it’d be nice and safe and with her own bow but I declined; as irrational the feeling was, I felt better keeping my own possessions with me.

And so, I made my way home, thoroughly exhausted two days in a row. Unfortunately, my woes were not over yet; I had a bow I needed to smuggle into my room. Once I realised that, I slightly regretted not taking Luna up on her offer.

The bow came with its own hardcase but even then, I was doubtful my grandparents would let the mysterious case go without an investigation.

For a preliminary check, I activated my Specialisation just to see what my future actions might be.

It turns out I walked straight up to the front door, opened it, and walked straight inside. I had my bag and the bow with me as well, so perhaps they just weren’t home?

Too tired to rack my mind over coming up with an ingenious and in-depth plan, I decided to go with my gut, trust my system, and walked straight up to the door.

Locked?

Thankfully, it seemed that the worst didn’t come to pass. For some reason, the house was empty and I silently trudged my way up to my room and stashed the bow somewhere discreet and secure.

With all that done, I collapsed onto my bed and just laid there, too tired to move.

Today was exhausting.