Almaria watched with a ponderous gaze as Garath got to his feet and offered her his outstretched hand. The separation between his off-putting visage and the tenderness of his words perplexed the pregnant woman, but she accepted his help and stood.
“Thank you,” she said, still mulling over their conversation in her mind. “I will talk to my family now and we can talk again later.”
Almaria turned to walk back into the building and Garath watched her go until she was out of sight before sending a private message to Warrion. He sat back down on the bench while he waited for the Assassin to make his way there.
"So, couple things,” Warrion said as he reached earshot of Garath. “One, was Sharon's grunt a yes or should we look for another healer? Two, what was that about?” Warrion made a gesture with both hands over his stomach, poorly imitating a pregnant woman. “And three, is it just me or is Sharon super hot now? Think I could hit that?”
"Dude!"
"What? You don't think she's hot?"
"She looks the same to me. Smells better for sure, but whenever I look at her I just see that bitter old lady who thinks I'm responsible for everything wrong with the world. And in regards to 'hitting that', she probably doesn't even remember how."
"Whatever, Sharon loves you. Think she's gonna come?"
"She'll come," said Garath as Warrion sat next to him on the wooden bench. He opened his MENU panels and scanned his friends list to get a location on Athios. When he located the little green dot on his map, his face screwed up in confusion. "My map shows Athios inside but I didn't see her, did you?"
"No. But isn't her room one of the upstairs ones?"
Garath didn't answer. He figured that simply asking Athios where she was would be more effective than speculating the possibilities with Warrion. He sent the Dimensionalist a private message.
Private Message from Garath to Athios - 00/00/06 @ 19:56:
Hey, you busy?
Garath was still not used to the new Global Standard Time system that The Culling had brought with it, even though it actually made more sense to the Necrologist that everyone across the globe would refer to the same moment with the EXACT same number, rather than having the number vary depending on location. That didn't make the three-hour difference between GST and PST disappear though. Eventually humanity would adjust to the change and stop basing their concept of what 'time' it was on the position of the sun. For now though, what would be 10:26PM PST, with the sun completely out of view beyond the western horizon and only the pale moonlight to illuminate the landscape, just didn't feel right with the corresponding numerical value given by the GST system. He didn't think about it too long, as he received a somewhat alarming reply message almost immediately.
Private Message from Athios to Garath - 00/00/06 @ 19:56:
Don't freak out, okay?
Garath didn't freak out, immediately... First, he turned and looked back through the open doors of the converted school building, but didn't see anything alarming. He looked at Warrion, who must have noticed Garath's urgent searching and started frantically looking around as well - without knowing exactly what it was he should be looking for. A white disk appeared out of nowhere below Garath's feet and he sank through it.
The next thing he knew, the Necrologist was dropped like a newborn giraffe onto a smooth, white surface, landing on his hands and knees. A rank but familiar smell stung his nostrils and he found himself face to face with an army of long, menacing fangs. Panic overtook him and he shifted instinctively to cat form, then scrambled to escape. It did not go as planned.
The tufts of white fur sprouting from the underside of his paws slipped and his claws failed to find purchase on the smooth surface. The result was a wild flail, somewhat resembling an adorable, feline version of the Tasmanian Devil's signature spin.
"I specifically told you NOT to freak out!" Athios shouted amidst uncontrollable laughter.
Garath promptly stopped freaking out and took in his surroundings. It didn't take him long to figure out what had happened. He was standing on the roof of HQ, the place that the Ice Drake, Aldrasyl, had claimed as his perch. The white, school-bus-sized reptile had spent most of his time since The Culling soaking in the golden sunlight sprawled out up there, soaring off to hunt only in the dark of night. Athios, still doubled over in a fit of hysterical laughter, had apparently taken Daisy to the roof to meet Aldrasyl and overheard Garath asking Warrion if he had seen her when she received Garath's private message.
"MEOW!" Garath meowed irritably. ‘God damnit. Every fucking time,’ he chastised himself internally for yet again attempting to communicate verbally while in his feline body.
*Who's freaking out? I'm not freaking out,* he projected the thought to the cackling Dimensionalist while attempting to regain composure. *Who would freak out from something like being unexpectedly teleported right in front of a DRAGON that has literally killed them before? That's just crazy talk.*
"Yo! Athios!" Warrion shouted from below. "Can I get a lift?"
Athios continued laughing at the Necrologist as she walked to the ledge and cast Ally Transport to relocate Warrion to the roof as well. Garath, a little wounded from the embarrassment, felt that Athios definitely found too much humor in her own twisted joke. He shifted back into his true form and raised both arms, palms up and eyebrows raised.
"It really wasn't THAT funny," he
