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[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=92278f][b]Location:[/b][/color]The City of Thorinn, Aetheria[/right][/sub][/color]
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Missy was losing time, again. It had not been morning before she blinked; she had been kneeling on the floor of her room over a mess of papers, working by the uneasy marriage of moon and candlelight, jolting occasionally whenever she knocked against one of the many empty potion-flasks strewn around her. It had been going well, she made excellent progress, devised a good plan—but she’d lost the time. Her mind was fogged, she’d lapsed in her potions and now her body was feeling the familiar pangs of sleep deprivation—what was it now, six days? Seven? The magic and medicine gluing her together made it hard to be sure. 

It was morning now. She crawled across the floor to her bag, and found within it one more phial. Her healer-friend from the other tavern was away—business with friends whose names he knew—but he’d left her this. High-level alchemy, something to quell fatigue, much like his own spells. Ought to work, he said, better than the brighteye-draughts the denizens sold, many of which lay drained and discarded behind her. Should keep her going another day or so. That’s all she needed. She’d sleep after this was done. A few hours. She could handle that much. Just a few little hours to reset herself. Trembling fingers popped the cork, her nose filled with the scent of petrichor. 

Seele pushed the door to the Laughing Worg open with her back, arms full with papers folded, rolled, or stuffed into files. She dipped and snaked past the other early-risen patrons with only a few bumped shoulders and chirped [color=92278f]“Sorry!”[/color]’s. No one seemed to mind. Between the sheets, she caught sight of Alja and gasped, nearly dropping the entirety of her night’s work onto the ground.

[color=92278f][i]“Aljasweetieohmygoshyoureokay!”[/i][/color] Seele cried, scrambling over to dump her papers on the table closest to them both, then throwing her arms around the giant of a woman. [color=92278f]“You all never came back, and we heard all these rumors—and with the—oh, forget all that, you’re alright! You’re alright, aren’t you? You—”[/color]

She cut herself off, partly because she realized she was rambling again, and partly because she'd nearly talked herself out of breath, and needed a moment to ensure she could [i]continue[/i] rambling. [color=92278f]“I'm sorry, that was so rude of me. You’ve clearly been through a lot, I’m just glad you’re back. You did all make it back, right? Did you see Graves on your way in? I’ll need a word with him when he gets here—a word with everyone actually. There’s this thing with the Drox fraternity that Kazuki, Benkei, Alex and I were looking into, and I sort of took the work home with me last night. Oh, but listen to me, I’m babbling. That can all wait, tell me about the sewer! I have a feeling you ran into more than just a few little rats.”[/color][/indent][/indent][/indent]