10 Morning Practice? No Sweat! (1/2)
Kalin's dreams scattered from his thoughts like cockroaches after turning on a light. While he rubbed his eyes opened, the sleep left his brain and his thoughts organized themselves, allowing him to start thinking properly. Though no sunlight shone through the window, his internal clock had told him that it was time to wake up.
Looking around the room, it didn't take him long to remember that he wasn't at home. He recollected his memories from the prior day and felt a strange feeling gather in his chest. He couldn't help but feel a little nervous, and greatly excited about his visit to the church today. Looking at the two girls on the bed with him, he could barely resist the urge to wake them due to his overflowing feeling of excitement. The only think preventing him from doing this was thinking about how 'scary' Lili could be when she got up in the mornings.
Mei was wearing a simple light blue Nightgown, devoid of any lace or frills. The hem of the nightgown loosely draped over her upper thighs, leaving the long, smooth legs almost completely in view. Though her hair and clothes were slightly disarranged, as is common with most sleeping people, she still had an air of dignity to her. The same, however, could not be said about Liliana. Her own nightgown was a light pink, filled with tons of lace, and was almost completely sheer. Only a single button on her gown was clasped, although it was the second button and the third hole. She was sprawled out across the bed, slightly drooling, and was devoid of the slightest bit of dignity.
Going through his bag silently, Kalin pulled out the egg before lying back on the bed. He looked closer at the surface of the egg, and noticed the white surface was somewhat translucent and glossy, lacking the porous and slightly bumpy surface common to most eggs. Barely visible underneath the surface, were faint vein-like lines that created, what looked like, a strange magic formation. Kalin felt all his attention drawn toward this tiny egg, that was no large than a finch egg. It was warm to the touch, and he felt it was calming to hold it close to himself. He wondered if it would ever hatch, and what kind of friend he would emerge from the mysterious egg.
His thoughts were brought back to reality after hearing the rustling of sheets next to him. Looking over, he saw Mei lift her upper body, stretch her arms out, and blink several times to readjust to the still somewhat dark room. She noticed a pair of violet-gold eyes staring at her, glowing in the darkness. They looked like the eyes of a predator as they seemed to reflect light, not unlike a nocturnal beast. While they were somewhat off-putting, they seemed to suit the adorable child that owned them. She couldn't help but remind herself that her observation wasn't wrong, as the innocent child in front of her may be one of the most feared nocturnal predators to ever exist, though, perhaps in a different sense.
Kal looked at the subtly changing facial expressions on Mei's face as he smiled and cheerfully said, ”Morning, Mei!”
Mei couldn't help but feel her heart melt as she responded, ”Good morning, Kalin.” A small smile crept upon her face, without realizing it herself.
She looked at the unrestrained body of the small 'elven' girl lying between them, before sighing. Lili always had a way of making herself comfortable no matter where she was. It was a unique quality that made her surprisingly easy to approach. Though, it also led her to be unfettered and act haphazardly. She was the main reason why their party was somewhat infamous in the past.
Turning back to the small child, she asked, ”So what are you doing up so early?”
Kalin looked at her before quietly answering, ”In the mornings, Lili usually teaches me how to fight.”
Mei nodded and said, ”I usually go out to train in the mornings. Do you want to come with me?”
Her question was met with an excited nod as the two of them got dressed and headed to the gated backyard of the eatery. The area was spacious, allowing for enough room for several separate sparring matches to happen concurrently without fear of interfering with each other. The only other word that could be used to describe it is barren. The occasional patches of grass were somewhat pitiful, while the majority of the yard was heavily downtrodden. There were various training dummies and targets closer to the edges of the yard, all of which showed a high amount of ware from their heavy usage.
As she walked out the door, she grabbed a wooden sword that was leaning against the house before pointing to a barrel and instructing Kalin to pick one out.
As he was searching for a suitable weapon. Mei spoke, ”Because you have a long day ahead of you, we'll just do some light training after warming up a little.” Although the morning air was bitingly cold, Mei was wearing only a small pair of shorts and a simple tank top, not unlike Kalin's workout clothes. Perhaps due to his admiration of 'adventurers' and 'heroes', but Kal had a strong fascination toward her muscles. Every time he looked at her, he couldn't help but feel an admiration that bordered on worship.