Miratta sil Nimoc's Story

A young Siqari made her way though the Commons, hefting her overly large backpack up every few minutes. "Taro, c'mon. You're heavy and it's been a long day. Can't you at least walk to the hotel yourself?" the woman questioned, panting a little. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and glanced around as she waited for the response. Their current hotel wasn't much farther, but she was tempted to check out one of the new kiosks along the way. Of course, she knew Taro wouldn't like any sort of delay.

"No, no, no. I spent most of the afternoon wandering around by myself and I just want to sit in the tub and soak. Please, Miratta. You owe me at least this much after all I've done for you." "He" squirmed a little in the backpack, causing Miratta to readjust it again.

"Yeah, yeah. I know, I owe you my legs for as long as we both live, right? Just because you took care of me as a kid..." Miratta responded with a sigh, looking at the kiosk longingly as they passed it and continued onward to their hotel. "Alright, but you better let me take a bath first this time. I feel all sweaty and gross, okay?"

"This is an acceptable compromise. Oh, and remember to go to sleep early tonight. You have to work an early shift tomorrow."

"Yes, mom," Miratta teased, adjusting the backpack again. Taro huffed a little in response, but Miratta could hear a concealed smile.

Lorn was a very busy man and it showed as he rushed through the busy walkways with little to no regard for who he ran into. The mage held in his hand a few old documents kept in several vanilla folders along with a dark leather bound book latched shut with a strange image bound to the lock. The man kept on running only to stumble every now and then as he was late for a rather important meeting on his performance this last year. Of course he was always late for these kinds of things but he had assured himself that this time he would arrive on time and maybe even be a few minutes early so he could catch his breath and get something to eat.

Miratta turned slightly as something across the street caught her eye, putting her slightly off balance. Then, in a single moment, she felt her shoulder brushed by and she fell sprawling to the ground with a soft gasp. Thankfully for her, she braced her fall with an arm and her backpack cushioned the rest of the blow. Taro wasn't as lucky. He let out a grunting shriek as he was hit with all of Miratta's weight.

Miratta threw off the backpack straps and frantically rolled over to check on Taro. "Oh, no! Are you okay, did I hurt you?" she cried out in distress. She glanced around and tried to find the person who had bumped her, calling out, "Hey, jerk, watch where you're going!" Taro, on the other hand, pulled himself out of the backpack and began checking himself for injuries, mumbling angrily to himself the whole time.

The young girl and her friend were rather unlucky but it was after Lorn bumped into her that his luck went from going well to drastically bad in a few seconds. It was as if it happened in seconds as Lorn fell forward and lost all of his work in the process. The folders opened up and his paperwork flew out into the street only to land in a puddle while some were stumped and crumble underfoot by other who simply passed by. "Drat, this cannot be happening, my work has been..." His eyes suddenly went wide as he scrambled for the dark leather journal and snatched it up just to let a sigh of relief escape. For a moment he was completely oblivious to the young Siqari and her friend except when she started yelling at him to watch were he was going.

"I am so very sorry." Lorn quickly stuttered as he reached for some of his papers that survived the fall. He brought his gaze towards the two and nodded to them only to reach for another paper or two. "I was in a hurry and I was not paying any heed for those around me."

Miratta scowled and huffed to herself, making sure Taro was okay before grabbing up a handful of the man's notes and glancing at them. "That much was obvious...What's so important that you'll risk stepping on any Matango you happen by, huh? I'm sure you wouldn't've noticed them in your hurry, either!" She was tempted to throw the papers away again, but instead just brandished them towards him.

"Don't be rude, Mira," Taro scolded softly. The little mushroom was bruised up quite a bit, but he didn't seem shaken by it. "Let's just go on to the hotel, forget about this mess." Taro stood up and brushed himself off a little before grabbing the backpack and pulling on Miratta's sleeve.

"He could hurt someone, I'm not being rude! He needed a wake up call..." she mumbled back, not being as careful about him hearing her comments.

Lorn looked almost astonished and hurt. Of course he was not paying attention but he had no idea that his trying to be on time would put anyone in harms way. The mage suddenly began to worry a bit as he though of what other horrors could have transpired instead of simply knocking someone over. What if this girl and her friend were pushed into oncoming traffic, or worse!? "A thousand apologies." Lorn quickly uttered his words before deftly taking his papers back and looking over them just to try and make some kind of order for them to make sense. "I am terribly sorry."

Miratta deflated a little as she pulled on her backpack. "Yeah, well...I forgive you. Be more careful, though, really." She sat down as Taro scrambled up into a comfortable spot in the backpack again. She hefted him back up as she stood. "There aren't a lot of Matango up here, I guess, but you should still watch where you're walking." The Matango people were more her family than the Siqari and they were always first in her mind. Taro, on the other hand, didn't seem to care much.

"Let's go, let's go, Mira. It's not our trouble anymore." He was already lounging again, eyes closed. "And go slowly, my body aches."

Mira shuffled a little, staring at the man for a few more seconds. "Besides, it looks like you hurt yourself, too...So, yeah..."

Lorn had a slightly perplexed look on his face while his right hand went to investigate the right side of his jaw a little. To his surprise he found he had scuffed his face. "I think you are right." With great haste Lorn simply gathered the rest of his things and rushed back to were he had came. He needed to fix this now and make extra copies in case he lost his papers again.

Miratta continued on her way after watching him run off. He was sort of a funny human, not that she really interacted with a lot of humans except when she was working. "I wonder what his big rush was, anyway," she mumbled, moving as gracefully as possible to avoid bumping Taro around.

"Something important to him, but not to us. Let's just get back, Miratta. I want to soak more than ever," Taro replied with a soft sigh.

"Yeah, yeah. But remember, you promised I could have a bath first!"

In an alleyway across the street, a duo of Xeraph Phantoms were looking out at the disheveled Lorn Berek. Given who he was and what his family history contained, he was of special interest to the government. The Phantoms were given "special orders" to monitor Lorn's movements.

Given that his father was a known Manasphere demon worshiper, the Union could never be too sure the son wouldn't take up the same legacy. They watched, stone-faced as he collided with the siqari woman and her matango companion. They exchanged apologies, numerous times, and went about their own businesses.

As Lorn made his way down the road, the Phantoms followed, invisible to all those wandering the streets...

Lorn made another turn and stopped for a quick moment as his eye was drawn to a few posters outside of a small shop. He made a quick mental note and continued to rush off towards his apartment were he would make a few copies of his papers while simultaneously checking his dark leather bound book to make sure it did not loose any pages. Within were his ideas and theories about the Manasphere and what it can and could not do. He was determined to make an impression and wanted research materials to prove not just to himself but to others that he was correct.