Essentia Animus

25-Murder Mystery

By mid afternoon, everyone had grown tired of shopping and had decided to take a break and get some fresh air. The busy stores of the malls had been stifling after so many hours, even more so than their previous mall trip.

Sryine reviewed another of the boxes she had purchased before giving it back to Jwyexzn for him to continue carrying. This proved to be advantageous after all, as Jwyexzn had been willing to bear the burden of their purchases for himself. It might have been helpful if he had taken the financial burden as well, but Sryine knew such would not have been fair. As is, him carrying their physical load was making her feel especially guilty. However, taking a few of the boxes from the top wasn't appearing to have any visible effect on the burden. The best she could hope for was to keep an eye on him and his condition, and in his moment of weakness be there to relieve him of much of the burden. However, Jwyexzn was determined to at any cost not show even a moment of weakness, keenly aware of Sryine's eyes watching for just such a moment.

Having left the mall, the four of them travelled along a quiet and empty underground pedway between buildings, the rush of the mall having been left behind them. In fact, everything was silent once again, a feeling they had been missing for several days now. The plan was to continue along to a nearby park, but their destination was certain to be loud once again. Sryine was already starting to get tired too, so the four of them stopped for a break. They could enjoy the park a bit later as their last stop before returning to Irongate Bridge. The four of them found a nice bench nearby, leaving the comfortable seats for the two elves. The two actual elves, Riyxia didn't count herself in that assessment, although no one spoke of such around Jwyexzn. With Riyxia's enhanced stamina and accurately reproduced senses, she had the best of both in that regard. When you include her spectral senses and the technicality that she actually had more stamina than even Vwyx, it was basically cheating. Sryine at least was quick to think so, realizing that only her and Jwyexzn were anything close to tired at this point. She remembered tales of the Terran Mythos, there was word of a half-elf back then who seemed capable of changing the entire world at a whim. Certainly such tales were nothing more than fanciful fiction, but Riyxia here somehow seemed equally capable in those rare occasions in a much more mundane way, something much more realistic.

"So, can I take any of those boxes yet?" "Oh, I've got this, don't worry. Totally on the ball here, nothing to fear. We can keep going at any time, no problem." Sryine had no idea why Jwyexzn was working so hard or what he hoped to accomplish from it, but it was far too obvious that he was suffering even worse than she was. Such was actually why she had asked for a break, mostly out of guilt. The stupid reporter was being almost impossible, making her regret trying to include him earlier. After getting to sit for a while, she started to grow tired of sitting to rest, and got up. Jwyexzn stood along with her, still himself not fully recovered. Sryine sighed, having him sit back down.

"Riyxia, since you're an elf and everything, it might be a really smart idea if you took an opportunity to take a break too. Wouldn't want you to get tired or anything. You can have my spot, I want to stretch my legs while we wait. Jwyexzn is going to keep sitting there though, it would be horrible if he dropped all that stuff while standing around." Sryine played the one card she had left to her to enable her to get her way. Riyxia really didn't need to take a break, but understood that she had an appearance to keep. Jwyexzn meanwhile became keenly aware of the potential threat implied by the statement, that dropping a single box might mean his end. Jwyexzn decided that sitting while he remained allowed to do so might be the best idea, especially considering how tired he really was. Riyxia however wasn't going to take the whole sitting down process.. sitting down. Letting her physical self relax, she started to wander around as her spectral self instead. Without much of an opportunity to wander, she started off with simply standing near Sryine and Vwyx. Vwyx rolled her eyes as Sryine stifled laughter, the three girls were in a way standing together without Jwyexzn present.