Wardi managed to get that sleep he so desperately craved. Rhua had a pleasant night, and Lucy found herself abruptly waking up to her own bubble bursting in the afternoon.

Pop

"OH MY HEAD, OW," Lucy held her hands over her face, trying to hold back a little tear from shedding. The tear train isn't stopping here, little hatcot.

Wardi and Rhua had been lingering outside the tent, eagerly anticipating the little Hankae's awakening.

"I will have my vengeance for yesterday's madness... Let's be vague and berate her with no context, heh."

"I normally wouldn't agree with these sorts of things, but...helvete. I'm feeling great after making a superfan."

"Yeah yeah, we get it; you're the cool one in the party now. I'm thinking we go with 'I hope you're proud of that' and 'We're going to have to make MC really work for that coin now, thanks Lucy.' What do you think? Can you work with that?"

Rhua peeked inside and saw Lucy begin to stir and stand up.

"Yeah, I can wing it. But don't do it for too long; she'll cry, and then I'll lose my buzz."

Lucy dressed herself as quickly as her sore limbs could manage. Putting her clothing back on felt as if she'd be hitting her 30s in crazy hat lady style. Why did I drink? Why do people do this so much? Ugh. She struggled with her thoughts just as much as she struggled to fit her face through the hatflap; she eventually managed to squeeze in though. She stepped outside, eyes retracting into the abyss as the bright wennesdeh afternoon burned her retinas out.

Wardi took the opportunity for her temporary debilitation to begin operation 'Bully The Lucy.' He walked towards where she stood, pretending he hadn't noticed her yet, and stood there facing her, pinching himself to get rid of the smile. Now a cold, maddened Wardi was ready, or 'Madward,' as I'm going to call it from here on out.

Lucy's vision returned to her. Slowly the face of Madward formed in front of her. Standing there cold and with his hand at the rapier hilt. "Morning, Wardi." Lucy smiled as she greeted him and stretched in the air. He didn't respond and continued to stare at her. "Is something the matter Wardi? It's not like you to skip pleasantries..."

You brought this on yourself, you little mischief maker, Wardi thought as he began to shift his hand from the hilt and pointed it at Lucy. "I hope you're so, SO proud of your behaviour last night." Shaking his maddened head.

Confused and starting to remember very small bits of Tuusdeh night, she hesistated for a few seconds and then asked him, "...What happened yesterday? It's all a bit of a blur."

Rhua took her moment to step into the scene. Cue dramatic badass moment as she stomped in, flicking her hair, thinking she's from that questionably erotic Beachwatch show from the 80s led by the Nuff. "A line lasting centuries. Gone overnight." She joined in with Wardi, though she took on a more emotionally saddened face for impact.

"Line? Herregud! Please tell me, what did I do!?" Tears were not welling up, but fear was across her face as she began to tremble. A memory popped out in her head. Sitting with some soldiers sharing a questionably tasting drink.

"It'll take months to pay back the damage done. Thanks, Lucy. Really appreciate it." Wardi walked away, snickering in a way that sounded as if he was beginning to cry. Rhua turned around, pretending to wipe a tear from her eye. "I can't look at you Luce; I'm honestly heartbroken. I thought you were the sweet one in the group..."

Lucy ran up to her, but Rhua turned around so as not to let her see a face. "I don't know what I've done, Rhua! Stop it, PLEASE!" Lucy frantically tapped Rhua's armour, little dink and plink noises were made as she did so.

"Good day to you both!" Came the joyous tones of Bagu with Marcel in the distance talking with Wardi.

"Bagu!" Lucy shouted, running up to him. He was startled when she began shaking him down for answers. "Please~ tell me what happened yesterday. I can't remember anything, and Wardi & Rhua won't say. He led her away from the camp and towards the castle. Wardi still glaring as she passed by only made her rush there even faster.

Dozens of soldiers were lined up. Listening to the orders of an officer.

"So uh...quite an event happened last night." Bagu's words began to trail off, and the soldiers turned towards him in unison, throwing their weapons to the side and laying down some sweet grooves.

You thought it fun to have a drink.

And sat down with new friends.

Then you asked to try their stuff.

Burned your nostrils, and you coughed.

But it turned to four

TO FOUR

Then you waved that little wand.

Twinkled it across the yard.

Stolen novel; please report.

Got some soldiers in the rear.

And a wall went

KABOOM.

All~

From just.

One drink.

TO FOUR.

But it's ok Lucy.

You've changed this place, FOR GOOD~

Last Tuusdeh noight~

you did a lot of stuff, got in trouble with the boss.

Last Tuusdeh Noight~

Climbed to the roof and.

Shouted your socks off.

Then ya fell.

And Wardi? He catched ya!

You said.

I say to you.

That I, Lucy.

Declare that, Bagu!

Becomes the new King~

"Oh my god, I really said all that? And why is my voice all weird? I don't sing this well."

The narrator, He did something special that makes your voice pitch-perfect. "Perfect? OOOoooOOOOOoooWOAHHHOHO, oh GOD, I HATE IT."

Last tuusdeh noight~

We held a vote.

They made me king.

But I said no. Now we're a republic; we're a republic.

All thanks to youooOWOAHOHOOHHHHHYOUUUU~

***

The soldiers parted from the flash song and dance, and life slowly returned to normal.

Bagu composed himself and spoke to Lucy, "By the way Luce. The drinks were just joos [juice], so how did you get drunk?"

"WHAT?" Her words echoed across the courtyard for all to hear.

"B-b-but the liquid came from a keg!? And the soldiers were merrier as they drank..."

Wardi and Rhua were aware of this and watching through peepholes that hadn't quite been fixed in the wall yet. "And now the penny dropped." Rhua's words caused Wardi to smile, and they began to head over to Lucy.

"That's because you drank Ulvsbane joos. It's their regional delicacy, bitter with an alcoholic smell to it." Wardi and Rhua were howling in the distance with laughter. Lucy was overwhelmed with embarrassment as it dawned on her that she managed to placebo herself into being drunk.

"Herregud… I'm never showing my face around here again." Marcel, having been out of view, said to her from afar, "Don't worry, little madam; worse things have happened. Take it on the chin."

It earned Marcel a huff in response. Easy for you to say, she thought, wanting to run from shame.

Wardi ended his bullying operation, bringing things back down to Maliterr again. "On the bright side, Luce, they've become a republic now. It was a landslide victory for the people."

Another round of shock for her: "What! Since when?"

Bagu sighed and asked, "Did you not hear the words earlier?"

"I declared for you to be the new king?" She replied, not understanding how they're linked together.

Bagu let out a sigh. "Never mind. I was voted in. But the people wanted a change. So, I suggested we become a council with elected officials. Now we are Republic Un Nom Générique! Led by me, Marcel, and Lumra.

I did something… I made a real-world change... For the better? Lucy thought, looking around and feeling the atmosphere. Still retaining embarrassment, but there was a feeling of pride too.

"Make a statue in her honour," Wardi joked with maximum sarcasm in his tone, but this wasn't a time for joking. He wanted to get out of here.

"We'll see you again soon, I'm sure of it." He nodded to Bagu, Marcel and Jaqim, who had packed themselves close to each other as a trio. "Is everything packed up, Rhu?" "Yeah, good to go," she replied.

Wardi began setting up the G&S Slingshot, and Lucy said her goodbyes. "It was nice to meet you all. I'm going to miss you though Bagu. It was great seeing you again. I'll try not to make a fool of myself next time." He walked up to her and gave her a hug. "Say hi to that Horace fella; you talked about him a lot yesterday." Lucy pushed him away as he laughed and zipped up her hatflap shouting, "BYE."

The trio bunched together as the slingshot pulled itself back. Despite Rhua hating it with a passion, she missed MC's announcement when they used it. "It's odd being in this and MC not initiating countdowns...or playing that god-awful music."

"Aye. It's the little things we often miss. I miss the Zings." Wardi was happy as he thought about it.

"I miss those weird little gestures he does with Wardi and Horace. The thumb thing." Lucy was more at ease than happy.

The countdown initiated amidst their talking. Flinging them high into the sky. Rhua hummed the song as they traversed across, looking around to see if anything stood out. The clouds were too thick to see through, however. And it wasn't long before they were descending towards the landing pad on top of A Bottle Or Two LTD.

Returning their transport to inventory. The trio tried to see if Barry was home. He was not however. "Guessing he's still on his way back or something. I'll try the others again," Rhua began swiping around her status window whilst Lucy and Wardi spoke among themselves.

Wardi pulled the map up, hoping to see a good sign. "Damn, I was hoping the map would still show their position. If I know MC, he would have suggested they take Spooks Woods over the road down south."

"We split up; that's probably why we can't. What route should we take from here anyway? I say we take the Rickety Rocks route." Lucy pointed at the coastal path straight south from Hawkestown that leads to the Tusen Atoll.

"Why that route? It's going to take us longer. We're already late as hell with the request."

"I know. I thought it would be good practice for the future, with just the three of us. It's a little more challenging, don't you think so too?"

Wardi looked over to Rhua, slapping her status windows in frustration. She was grunting and shouting profanities like 'Fy Faen,' 'CONT-inental breakfast,' and 'Helvete.'

Well, that's a more compelling reason; she needs tiring out, Wardi thought and laughed. "We go with your route then Luce. Rhua, we're taking the Rickies Ragged Rocks route."

"FY FA~ Oh, ok, cool. They didn't answer. I'll try Larry while we're making our way down there." "With all our recent level ups, I think we'll get down in there by nightfall. Let's get going, troops!"

The trio began making the southward-bound trip. A road that they could probably traverse with their eyes closed. The familiar blues and whites of hebbacin [hyacinth] flowers blooming with their enticing aroma always drew their attention. One that invokes strong feelings of nostalgia. The grittiness of the road felt less monotonous when they would look across the endlessly flat farming fields.

"Wonder how the harvests are this year." Wardi noticed a Felidhan scything hypnotically across a Pummypin [an elongated yellow pumpkin that can get up and move by itself at night] Patch. The yellow little buggers like to bounce onto vegetables growing in farmers' fields and whatever they land on.

"I'd imagine it will be good. Whitters Alternative Day is next month. Do you think we should go?" Lucy was excited at the prospect; she loved any excuse to dress up.

"Maybe if we have the time amongst all this madness. With the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up cancelled."

"I got through to Larry!" Rhua said, quickly diverting the conversation over.

"Ah, Rhua, how the devil are you? And the rest of you four?"

"It's just me, Wardi, and Lucy for now. The other three are doing a separate job. Speaking of which... have you heard from them at all?"

"Oh, I wasn't aware. Who's the unlucky bugger that you roped in then? And no, I can't say I have myself."

"Better for us to show you in person sometime than explain over a call."

"My curiosity is on the rise. Fair enough. Let me know if you hear from them; catch up again soon."

The trio pressed on with their travels. The big orange friend had begun to slide down to bed. And two moons would stretch up to say "Hello!" It would not be long before the trio would join the B.O.F in resting too.

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