A Path Through the Woods(A RiaEgg Story)

CHAPTER 1: "It's Strange, Isn't it?"

Ria spawned into the lobby by herself, sitting alone in one of the dropship chairs...Once again, MrEgg was off doing God knows what after his shift ended, and by this time, the crew had begun to notice this...As a matter of fact, it sounded like Player and Veteran were discussing the matter right then.

"You don't think somethin' bad is goin' on with him, do ya?"

"I can't say for sure, Veteran...I hope not, though; you know how hard he's had it for most of his life."

"Yeah, but he's got a girl now, right? Seems to me that he's NEVER been so happy...Unless, you know, there's something up between them we don't know about."

"Mind if I cut in?"

Ria finally hopped off the seat and made her way over to the ketchup-and-mustard duo.

"Oh, hey, Ria!" Player greeted. "Everything okay on your end?"

"Yeah, MrEgg isn't around much anymore," Veteran remarked. "Anything goin' on between you two?"

She sighed deeply, then shook her head.

"It's...mainly what's not going on between us," she admitted. "For almost the past month, he's been disappearing for pretty much the whole day everyday except the weekends. And what's weirder is that he says it doesn't have anything to do with his job."

"Well, what does it have to do with? You know?" Player asked.

"No, he...He always just says that it's nothing important. But if he's out doing stuff from five o' clock to TEN after he gets out of work, I can't imagine that he's just strolling down the beach that whole time, you know? I-if he WERE doing that, then...he'd be bringing me along with him, right?"

"I would think so," Veteran replied. "Well...Unless he were doing that with someone else."

"Veteran!" his best friend snapped, shooting a glare at him.

"What? I'm not sayin' he IS; it was just a thought."

"Yeah, it was a stupid one," Player retorted before turning to the lime crewmember again. "Don't take what he said seriously, Ria; he says a lot of crazy stuff like that...Personally, I can't imagine MrEgg cheating on you with anyone after I saw how happy he was to win you over; he's not that kind of person at all from what I've seen."

"Yeah...H-he wouldn't do something like that, would he?"

"I highly doubt it. There's gotta be some kind of explanation for all this...You said he's only doing this on weekdays, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, maybe he's working part-time somewhere else!"

"But wouldn't he tell me if he was doing something like that? I mean, I wouldn't mind him doing something else to give us a little more income...Except for the fact that he's almost never home anymore during the week. But he won't tell me anything."

She sighed again.

"...I miss him, you know? And I don't know what on earth he's doing that I can't know about...It's strange, isn't it?"

A spark of worry glimmered in her visor for a moment, and she turned to Veteran.

"You...you don't really think he could be seeing someone else behind my back, do you?"

"I mean, I gotta admit, what MrEgg's doing is kinda suspicious."

"You're not helping, Veteran," Player growled at him under his breath.

"Buuuut, I mean, Player's got a point, too. He could just be out doing some extra work...And not telling you about it for some reason. I dunno. It IS pretty weird. But everyone's got SOME reason for doin' the weird stuff they do, right?"

Ria's head tipped downward, and she broke her eye contact with her two friends.

"I don't know, guys. There's a lot I need to think about in regards to all this...Thanks for trying to help, though. I appreciate it."

"Hey, what are friends for, am I right?" Player smiled, trying to give her a bit more reassurance. "I'm sure it'll all work out okay."

"...Thanks, Player."

"Alright, everyone! Let's get ready to roll!" Captain announced. "Time to get this show on the road..."

The countdown started up, and it wasn't long until everyone was either doing their tasks or searching for victims...But all the while, Ria's mind continued to race with thoughts of what her dear MrEgg could be up to that was so secretive.

And most of those thoughts filled her head with worry and her heart with doubt.