“He looks so somber,” said Sakura, watching Edge sitting alone at the bar.

“No. He looks cool. The strong silent type.”

“Do you think his hair is really that colour?”

“No way. Its gotta be a game thingy. How else would it stay spiky like that even in the rain.”

Sakura acknowledged Daphne’s pointed examination with a slight raising of her thin pink eyebrows.

“This is our day off. You think he’d want to do something fun,” spouted Daphne, “Like another picnic.”

“Do you think, maybe, in real life . . . he’s an old man?” It would explain the white hair too.

“WHAT?” Daphne exclaimed too loudly, drawing the attention of a few NPC’s and a glance from Edge. She crouched down in her chair. “You really think so? He doesn’t seem . . . too old.” But now that Sakura mentioned it, he did treat her like a little girl.

“I think I like older men,” said Sakura, surprising herself.

“Is he gonna sit there all day and drink tea?” Daphne scratched her cat ears. The furry parts of her avatar itched all the time.

“We should do something.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. A vacation!”

Really?

Edge sneezed into his teacup. Great. The world was plotting against him. He drank from the sullied cup anyway. It was only digital snot and not real snot, he reasoned. Sakura had given him an allowance of three green crystals, which was only enough money to buy a single cup of hot water. She was so stingy. Arguing with her was out of the question. It just wasn’t in his nature to socialize. He could always go farm a few geckos if he wanted more crystals, but he was determined to enjoy his day off. “I won’t move from this chair no matter what,” he whispered, resolutely. Pushing himself hard during training had helped his main stats rise one more point, but in return he was continuously sore. Hurting all of the time was why he wanted to escape into this game in the first place.

“Are you talking to yourself?” asked Sakura. When had this dynamic duo snuck up on him?

“Yes,” he answered honestly. It wasn’t like he was hiding the fact. Eugene had long ago forgotten to care about what others thought of him.

Daphne stood a foot shorter than Sakura, with an athletic frame and her typical white sundress, offsetting tufts of orange fur, a fluffy tail, and matching white whiskers tattooed on her face. Her orange ears were currently curled backward in a strange manner he’d never seen before. She held her knees tightly together, and clutched her hands over her thighs, batting her eyelashes.

Beside her, Sakura wore her usual tight blue outfit that left little to the imagination, and offered up a lot more. She always held herself tall and straight. It occurred to him that she could be a noble or something in real life. Normal people didn’t stand like that all the time. Edge slouched on his stool to prove his case. Sakura elbowed Daphne. He hoped these two weren’t fighting again.

“Edge,” Daphne began one word at a time. “Will. You. Take. Me. On. A. A. A. PICNIC!” She ended up yelling with her eyes scrunched closed.

Eugene sighed. What was she doing with her face? It did look cute, he supposed. Sakura elbowed Daphne again, a bit harder this time. Edge was afraid he’d see her health bar decrease.

“Oh, and Sakura wants to come too,” Daphne added, haphazardly.

‘Baldor, save me,’ he begged with his heart. Was it just his eyes playing tricks, or did Baldor suddenly get farther away? “Fine,” he said, after a long pause. So much for his one day off.

“What are you drinking?” Sakura made an unpleasant face at the cup filled with hot water, and a handful of grass and carrot leaves.

He’d added the last in hopes of making his own green tea. One point in alchemy had to be good for something. Honestly, it was disgusting. But he’d spent his precious three green crystals on this drink, and he wasn’t letting it go to waste. “Green Tea,” he answered, pretending it had a luxurious foreign taste.

“I’ll have a carrot juice,” cheered Daphne.

“A green tea for me as well, Baldor.”

“That’ll be ten emeralds for the lovely ladies.”

“Oh no problem. It’s important that we treat ourselves on our holidays,” smiled Sakura.

Daphne nodded the affirmative.

Edge silently sipped his swamp brew, but his eyebrow screamed out in righteous fury!

(Author Note: so short! You guys need another! I'll work on it for tonight)