Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hushby had a wide grin spanning across his face as he walked away from the closest Bards and Owls to his dorm. The mimic had bought a stack of discount books and was carrying them to his room so he could thoroughly go through all of them in peace. He was offered a bag to hold them so he wouldn’t have to awkwardly hold them all in his claws. He had foolishly declined it in his own way, which was saying nothing and hastily leaving the store without it.

He had become friends with Iyari from the Lost Clans. He was determined to make it a lasting friendship. However, he wasn’t used to spending time with other beings and terrible at holding up conversations. He thought buying some books would give him more to talk about and maybe help him learn more about horsemen, the world, and humans. The war mare’s words about humans had made Hushby feel unsettled towards the creatures. He still couldn’t fathom why the creatures that generated the FEAR that made everyday living possible would do something so terrible to the horsemen. He wanted to attend a class about humans to ease is mind, but he lost his calendar and missed it. Regardless of what he learned, he knew that it was unfortunately to late for him to prevent the damage that had already been to done to Iyari’s people.

The hopeful mimic reached into his pile of dated books and grabbed a thin one. He had only grabbed this particular book because he saw the phrase “war horsemen” in it. To his dismay, he realized it was merely a book filled with silly jokes. It was unlikely that he would be able to learn any interesting information about the Lost Clans from this book. But, Hushby looked through it anyways since maybe his new friend would be impressed by his sense of humor.

Iyari looks like she could use a good laugh. Now where’s that page I saw earlier? Hushby struggled to fumble through the pages as he held the book up with his left claw and balanced the other books in his right. His yellow eyes brightened when he managed to find the right page. He squinted a little as he read the joke. It said, “What makes the war horsemen fly through time?” He thought hard about the question. He was taking it very seriously. He wondered if certain Elder war horseman had the ability to travel through time. Now he was really interested to find out the answer so he read further to look at the answer. It said, “They have wings on every rear.”

Hushby blinked then threw the book into the bushes. He figured telling Iyari a joke like that would end up with a kopis blade lodged in his face. He could quickly see now why the joke book was at a discount price. He shrugged it off and reached into his pile of books again. He eagerly pulled out a travel book. But, as he opened the travel book with one claw, he dropped the rest of his books. He made a low squeak as he rushed to pick all of them back up. He gathered all of the books he could find. His head started swinging around when he realized he was still missing one book. It was a book filled with dessert recipes. He had never baked before, but he was willing to give it a try. He wondered how far it could have possibly been thrown. He frantically searched nearby and dropped the rest of his books as he did. He really should have gotten a bag.

Hushby's eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of the recipe book. He saw that it was now in someone else’s hands and he started to approach her. He was awful at asking for things. That’s mine. I bought it. Give it back. He thought in is mind as loud as he could, but none of the words made it out of his mouth. He was about to move closer to Mea when he saw her take a bite out of the book. He stopped in his tracks and all he could say was, “Dammit!”

The mimic watched Alamea look through the book but finally approached her as she started to walk off with the book. She seemed full of energy and he felt like he had to move as quickly as he could or his book might be gone forever. He lunged in front of Mea, dropping all of his books for the third time in the process. He stared awkwardly for a moment. He wanted to say something profound to the girl, but all that came out was, “Dammit…”

He struggled to quickly regather the books as he looked over at the recipe book with a chunk out of it. “You picked up the book I bought. I was going to try to make some things from it. Now it’s all… bitten.” He sighed as he reached for the book with one claw. He was unsure if the girl would be willing to release it.

Hushby spoke meekly as he grabbed the book, “It’s not for eating. It’s for learning to make stuff to eat. I bet some of the recipes are half gone now and…” He stopped as Mea moved towards him and sniffed at him. He shook a little since he wasn’t used to anyone being this close to him.

“I-I don’t have anything on me…” his voice quivered as he tried to speak. He could only think she must be smelling the bits of pumpkin cake he had for breakfast that had fallen down into his outfit. He was impressed if she could really detect that on him. He squirmed as he replied, “I’m not hiding anything. And I don’t need help carrying these. Just go…” His soft voice cut out as he finally looked Alamea in the face. He stood shaking for a few seconds before he looked down and regained his ability to communicate. “Go get me the ingredients for these.” He held out his book and showed Mea a picture of some crispy, chocolate spiders. “Then I'll make some and you can have one. I could get them myself! I just don’t know where they are in the store and-“ The mimic trailed off into mumbling before he looked at Mea’s piercing eyes again. “What are you staring at?”

“I don’t want to I- Hey! Let go!” snarled the mimic as he was pulled along. “I’m not new. I mean, I’m new to the school but I’ve been to the store before. I just don’t know where everything is.” Hushby’s glowing pupils darted around. He was nervous and wasn’t sure how to handle the bundle of energy pulling him. She had his books now and his claw now. He wasn’t used to moving at such a pace and his heart was getting a sudden and complete workout.

“You’re not new I’m guessing. You’re really know how to get to this place fast,” peeped Hushby as he struggled to sharpen his conversation skills. “That’s good, I guess… Because I really don’t like being stared at. There’s always so many eyes everywhere.” He trembled as he was pulled through groups of various monsters and demons.

The mimic had never been handled in such a way. Most scenarios involving physical contact and him had resulted in him fleeing and hiding as long as he could. Being rushed around places with virtually no way to protest with someone he was unfamiliar with left him in sort of a daze. The ghoul that pulled him along had a seemingly boundless energy that he could barely fathom. A weak “R-right,” was the only word Hushby could really push out from his jaws.

The store had plenty of corners and objects that Hushby could hide in normally. But they were unavailable to him as Mea pulled him along. His breathing was strained as he realized how out in the open he truly was. “Chocolate… We need chocolate… Now.” The mimic tried to stay calm and focus. He looked at Mea and attempted to hide behind her, even though they were a similar height. He wanted to hasten their time in the open. “Spiders!… Don’t forget the spiders. Nnngh and cooking oil!” He was afraid that the ravenous ghoul would get distracted by all of the other snacks surrounding them at the moment.

Hushby was deathly afraid of interrupting the bouncy Mea. He waited a few moments after she asked him his name to speak. “Huh? Of course I have a name.” He stood awkwardly for a moment before he peeped out, “Hushby… That’s my name. Don’t laugh!” He twitched a little bit before following up with, “And yours? Tell me because… because I want to know!” He continued to shake and wince.

His eyes caught a glimpse of the arachnid section. He extended his claw to point. “Spiders! The ones we need.” He took a strained breath. “We need fresh Red Phantom Tarantulas. They look spiky because they have a parasite called Fang Fangus attached to them. It keeps them bound in the material world. If you try to pick one up without the fungus growing on it, it’d just vanish.” The mimic’s voice fizzled out as he spat out one of the longest strings of words he had ever vocalized. “Then I’ll-We’ll need Inquisition oil. And all seven of the Deadly Sins chocolate and…” His voice puttered out when we realized he was getting ahead of himself.

“Alamea? What a- agh!” Before the mimic could properly reply, he felt his claw being shook hard. It startled him significantly. While still a little rattled he peeped out, “I know cause I read about it. I have a lot of free time to do stuff like that.” Hushby blinked as it appeared his words went through one of Mea’s floppy ears and out the other.

He sighed and followed Mea as she marched down the aisles. He stopped to pick up a bottle of Inquisition oil. “This is the oil. So all that’s left is the chocolate,” coughed the mimic. He looked over at Alamea and twitched while fishing out a few words. “You sure like food a lot.” He felt stupid for saying something so obvious. He was trying to appear less awkward than he was and failing terribly.

Mea’s gluttony for food was not something he was particularly accustomed too. When he was much younger, he associated gluttony with larger beasts, whom he feared would want to devour him. He wasn’t fond of greed, but he found Mea’s seemingly boundless energy and passion for something as simple as food refreshing. “We should really only get what we need,” peeped Hushby as he crept over towards the barrel. The aroma of the sweets quickly conquered his nose. “Well… maybe you should get some more too… We might need extra… And we might want to experiment. And maybe make a new recipe of our own.”

The mimic was defeated by sweets and peer pressure. He grabbed all seven of the required Deadly Sins chocolates, plus another flavor that smelled intoxicating. He walked into the line feeling a little more relaxed. A barely-visible smile appeared on his face. “Oh, and… thank you for finding my book and not eating it too."