Corra Reist

going back to sleep

 One year later.

"Well, just keep these here for me since this is my actual office anyways, it's not like I'm leaving," Corra said as she dryly stared at Ronan Shale—the EIC she trained for 9 months to take over her position in Dressi—whose eyes were wide, looking at her as if she'd abandoned him. She internally rolled her eyes. This behavior is so familiar, she thought. It's like he's a variant of Lalina, who's also currently moping around in here after her farewell party ended. Like mistress, like subordinate.

Corra sighed. It's like handling two Lalinas whenever they're both upset at me at the same time. One is loudly whining and sulking in the corner, while the younger one just stares at you with cute doe eyes and follows you absolutely everywhere. Corra swears these two have attachment issues, and she can't believe Lalina found someone worse than her. It's fate, she thought. Well, I don't mind anyways, cute animals are my weakness.

Lalina would for sure gasp in betrayal if she knew Corra sees her like a pet. A cute one, but still!

"Can you guys tone it down a little bit? I already promised to be Dressi's consultant, and you guys are still acting like I'm quitting Lali Games." she pointed out, genuinely confused. "I'll still have to go to this damned office if need be since I also co-own this company, and you'll see me regularly like any other normal day. I'm literally going nowhere, and you guys know where I live. Haven't you had enough of my face? Even the farewell party was unnecessary,"

"It's not the same, okay!" Lalina sniffled. "It's rare to have you present all the time,"

Ronan nodded in agreement, fidgeting with his naoirse.

"See, even Roro says so!"

"Okay sure, let's say that's the case, but so what? You guys barge in my house wherever you like anyways, and you—" she points at Lalina. "—even taught Roro your bad habits of being like so,"

Lalina huffed and looked away as she crossed her arms. "Hmph."

"See, and now here's your mood swings,"

"I'm just hungry!"

"Roro, see, this is a bad example of being a molhukhan. Don't be like her, okay? You gotta control your khanzei, unlike Lalina here who lets it run wild on me. Understand?" Corra said as she patted Ronan's head, hoping that the he won't be as impulsive as Lalina. God knows how his race are protective of their own, especially a molhukhan, and she also can't handle two Lalinas. It's bad enough that they team up whenever they're upset at her at the same time.

Ronan belonged to the Ignessi race, known for their technological prowess. The majority of the workforce in the tech industry of all Azgarbi were Ignessi, thanks to their inherent heightened comprehension of computations and systems. In fact, the owner of ARMA Explorations—the leading company in galactic explorations—is an Ignessi.

Despite months having passed and Corra already meeting Ronan's family, she was still suspicious of how and where Lalina managed to find him. While it's not that rare, an Ignessi wanting to be in the fashion and magazine industry was certainly not common. But what made Ronan even rarer was the fact that he was a molhukhan Ignessi—a rarity within their own race. 97% of Ignessis were ullreakhans, and in their society, molhukhans were so valued that they were often kept hidden. Not exactly hidden as in trapped somewhere, but more like... cherished, which explained Ronan's naivety.

This is why, right after meeting him, Corra had ordered Lalina to organize a meetup with his parents. But for an ullreakhan Ignessi, they were both... eccentric, so Corra had ended up dropping her queries about why they'd consider handing their son over to Lalina, a complete stranger. Not only that, anyone who meets Lalina first hand will definitely see how much chaotic she is. The only time she's calm is when she develops or creates games. Corra was definitely wrong about her first impression of Lalina, given that they met when she was creating Who's The Priest?. Rolling her eyes internally, she literally got scammed, initially thinking of the other party as a quiet and hardworking Azgarbian.