Out of This World Gaming [~ read description]

Chapter 41: Emotions Vs. Logic

The small group returned home from their trip to Vintondale when night fell upon them. After turning off the car's engine, the group climbed up the steps onto the porch. "So, how did you and Zerrin meet up again?" Ken inquired. "It was when we betrayed Satara in her lair, though I didn't plan on her dying." he lamented. 

"Nobody planned it to be honest." reassured Stephanie as she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Let's just head inside, alright?" 

Upon coming inside the house, the group was immediately greeted by a charming aroma that wafted throughout the living room. "Something smells good." Pippi observed. They heard the sound of bare feet running quickly across a tile floor until they met the footsteps' owner when her head poked around the corner. 

"You guys are finally in time for dinner. So, how'd it go? No, don't tell me, tell all of us at the same time, we've been waiting on you for five minutes!" the youth excitedly told them as she beckoned them to the kitchen. 

"Hey, welcome home." Zander greeted from his spot at the dinner table. Sotoro and his group found their spots and sat down in them. "So, how did it go?" Zerrin asked the small group as she stabbed a chunk of steak with her fork. "Well, it didn't go as well as planned." Ken took a seat at the table and eyed the steak saved for the group. "Why not?" the programmer responded with a hint of annoyance and disappointment hiding in her tone as she stuck the morsel into her mouth with narrowed eyes. 

"See, the aquamarine crystal isn't being sold in the jewelry shop because it's actually in an area that's usually restricted. There's going to be a tour in the near future and maybe one of us could go scout it out and grab it once a route's been secured." Pippi informed. 

Larkspur's motions froze; with an open mouth and astonishment residing in her expression, she wasn't paying attention to the mashed potatoes that sloppily fell off of her fork and back into the pile it was snatched from. She sat back up and looked at the small group that came back, save for Zucchini since he sat on another side of the table. 

"Why would a jewelry store hold tours?" Larkspur asked herself. "It's not like it's a museum, is it?" 

"That's just it, though. That jewelry store was just an ordinary store until the Battle of Virginia in 2007. Ever since that whole fiasco, Virginia split up into Lockwood and New Virginia, the latter consisting of the remaining portion and West Virginia." Clover spoke as though she was an encyclopedia. 

"What are these names you speak of?" Iris spoke up. "We live on a big landmass split up into fifty regions called states. Lockwood is one of them." Zander summed up for the child. "So it's just like the regions back home, only this place isn't too messy with them." Larkspur mused. 

"Wait, so why does the state splitting up involve the jewelry store?" Zerrin inquired to bring the conversation back on track. "Well, the war not only almost caused an economic failure, but the tourists just stopped coming. In order to bring back tourism to coastal Lockwood, city names were changed, the capital was moved, businesses from the mountains came down here to fuel the economy, businesses that already existed tried entirely new things, and so forth." Zander explained with the best of detail. 

He took a sip out of his glass of water and continued to speak. "Despite all of that, we still have what we call the Seven Cities even if the names have changed. I could go into more detail about it, but that'd take all night."  

"Never mind the city names, I want to know what you meant by securing a route and snatching the aquamarine." Larkspur furrowed her eyes at the small group. "Hey, relax, what's the big deal? If we can get Ziazan revived then we're one step closer to our goal." Zerrin wrapped an arm around Larkspur's side and brought her closer. "What's the big deal? What's the big deal?! I'll tell you what the big deal is!" Larkspur forced her teammate off of her and took a deep breath.