It was the following morning when Lizu gave a hearty yawn. A sign of a sleep well dreamt, giving Enetha and herself plenty of time to recover from any lingering impact those icy slushies might've had. And had there been anything, it wouldn't have mattered that much, given what day it was.
Feeling like it was the effect from the divine gaze of a Stigmai, Lizuranti Feubread was blessed by the greatest of news. It was a piece of news so appealing that it had the dragolyte sleeping extra soundly and beaming in the afterglow of a dream, one where it consisted solely of her plans for what she'd want to do all day with Inkaro. Lizu's elation couldn't be higher. After all, what could be better than getting to relax on a day that her brain was telling her she was meant to be going to school? The girl could think of a few things, not that she'd vocalise them or realise them for a few more years. All these thoughts were brought to her mind by the recollection of what the current day was: it was an inset day, meaning she could indulge in the delights her dream had presented her: hanging out with Inkaro, sleeping more. Oh, and most importantly, eating as much of Inkaro's cooking that she'd naturally consume on the weekend.
Rolling about from her side of the bed, Lizu migrated and traversed across every inch of the comfy resting place. She moved with such an unconsciously relentless might, which made her tail bounce and slap against the sleeping Inkaro as the barely conscious Lizu's antics barely stoked even a forceful expulsion of air out of him when her wild tail struck him in the gut. At least, that was how it appeared for the many minutes that Lizu meandered the folds of her beadsheets until she ended up rolling off the bed. As her sleeping form fell, it was only then did Inkaro suddenly shot a hand out and snatched her by the back of her onesie, saving her from an untimely meeting with the floor.
Although, the sleeping guy's aid didn't come without consequences. Due to the unconscious target of his clutching, an increase in strain and tightness was applied against Lizu, mainly resulting in a somewhat suffocating sensation around her chest area. Sadly, Lizu awoke. Groggily, doing so from a tinge of annoyance at being deprived of reaching the end of her dream, the dragolyte slowly peeled her heavy eyes open.
Only then did she swing forward, making her fully open her eyes, from Inkaro letting her go the moment he sensed she was awake. She hit the floor with a heavy, but muted and muffled thud. Her completed tumble was followed by a drawn-out series of differently distorted squeaks as she raised her head. Looking around, Lizu figured out that which broke her fall: a collection of plush toys, having been impromptly positioned there by the worker beegirls, having anticipated Inkaro's thoughtless release of Lizu would happen.
Lizu considered snickering but decided against it since it would be wasted if Inkaro wasn't awake to hear it. That, and she was too sleep-brained to be able to compute such an action without it sounding dumb. But hearing the buzzing of the beegirls bumbling about in the garden, doing beegirl business, and the few of them in the bedroom that she could only call her saviours, Lizu felt a quaint calmness overtake her, different from the kind sleeping gave her, but similar to the feeling having Inkaro around her gave.
At seeing Lizu was alright, the worker beegirls gave each other highfives before they flew off, leaving the one they 'saved' to laze about some more, only on the floor now. Rolling around a bit until she was on her back again, Lizu simply led there. For about twenty minutes straight, she remained mostly motionless in place, only making the slightest movements to breathe in the early morning air that had been warmed from the orange-distorted sun. Watching as cyan and golden energy that resembled tiny sparks shimmered from her palms, Lizu let her mind wander just a tiny bit. "It truly is surreal, being able to consciously control your dreams, that is. Hmmm... wonder if I'll end up like those people Nuli complains about when she's livestreaming her games?"
"I doubt that is a possibility," Inkaro commented, already fully awake and dressed in his usual attire. Lizu was devastated, brought to her knees even by the dressed guy's state of dress. She followed that acting up by employing a breakdance-like manoeuvre to effortlessly flip herself over and plant her knees on the landing of plush toys, followed by the usual hands slammed against the floor indicative of someone being devastated. It didn't last long, though. It was so short that Inkaro didn't even get to comment on Lizu's actions before the dragolyte hopped to her feet, sporting a small smile.
"Really, getting dressed? People usually take chances like these to dress ultra casually, or not at all, you know that?" Lizu whined in a somewhat gloomy tone, having wanted the two of them to lounge about on the sofa while watching TV in their sleepwear. And now having those plans dashed right before her eyes, leaving her a little, tincy bit miffed. Not enough to pout, though.
"Your attempts to herd me into changing back won't bear fruit," Inkaro stated frankly, speaking with a slightly different tone that momentarily made some worker beegirls near the window turn their heads in confusion.
"Oh, man." Lizu slumped her head, knowing she had no hope if Inkaro was going so far as to quote something he's read. Bitter as it was, Lizu swallowed her pride and hopes before finally letting up, with a deep sigh of sorrow. She even added in a little kick against a small plush toy and locked her arms behind her waist before following up those two actions with an especially cute pout. She hoped it would get to Inkaro. Despite all the effort she put into her little act, Lizu knew it was no different than her doing nothing, with all the effect on Inkaro it had. But the tidbit of its ineffectiveness wasn't about to stop Lizu from putting on a whiny tone as she turned her nose up at the guy: "You're being so mean, Inkaro; how am I supposed to enjoy my day if I am not entirely sure you are also in pinnacle relaxation conditions?"
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"It just sounds like projection to me," Inkaro stated calmly whilst G.Galore was busy dive bombing into and getting comfortable inside the hood of her creator's hooded and white fur trench coat.
"Gah!" Lizu blurted out a truly bizarre noise for her instinctual reactions to Inkaro calling her out, sounding like the bizarre blend of a cutely endearing 'eep' and a mortified yelp. Just as quickly as she'd recoiled from the call out, Lizu slumped her shoulders with enough force to almost sweep herself off her feet as her tail matched her body's velocity. "You're getting too good at reading me."
"So it would seem," Inkaro remarked before Lizu started slowly climbing onto the guy's back like a lazy house cat, haphazardly at that, as she only vaguely wrapped her wings around the guy to keep herself in place.
"So what do 'you' want to do then?"
"Hmmm, what do I want to do on this day? Perhaps, I'll try my hand at making another magical device to act as a medium for my Calamity Fractal and potential future ones." Inkaro tapped his chin, already mulling things over, as he descended the staircase that made a point of only manifesting its steps when someone was about to step where each step would be.
Having heard the guy's proposition, Lizu swiftly formed an endearingly wicked grin. Seeing the perfect opportunity to not only course correct and get back onto her intended plan of spending the day hanging out with Inkaro, but at finding the optimal chance to show off her memoria magic without it appearing as the case, Lizu had an idea.
"Oh-oh, if new magic is what you're after, then do I have the thing. For. You~" Lizu whispered into the guy's ear, employing her most professional and salesman's voice to get across how serious she was being. Inkaro slightly turned his head towards her, even halting his step right above the first floor's floor. Lizu mentally did a double fist pump. Opening her mouth briefly before just letting it hang slightly open, Lizu caught herself from bursting into a truly childish explosion of gleeful pride at getting Inkaro to stop in his tracks, meaning she'd captured his magic-focused mind. His silent reaction was all the proof the girl needed. But she wasn't about to come off as desperate by doing all that so early in the morning, so she elected to press a firm finger against the guy's cheek, fuelled by nothing but self-indulgent teasing: "Oh-ho-ho, got your interest have I, and is this a blush I see?"
Indeed, the guy did have a small blush on his face. But even Lizu knew it wasn't from embarrassment, far from that. Although she could dream, imagining Inkaro being flustered by her words. Indeed, she could dream all she wanted.
Inkaro raised a hand, harnessing an uncommonly seen eagerness from the present him, as a gather of floating grimoire syntax snaked around his hand before combining into a grey, spatial-type SSS: AW ring. Its size was sufficient, made visually apparent by its diameter surpassing the duo's horizontal surface area. The grimoire crafter snapped his fingers. In a flash that could be —and was by Lizu— in the blink of an eye, Inkaro teleported himself and Lizu to a familiar location: Inkaro's floating island. Lizu didn't even get a chance to register the change to an early teenhood scenery before Inkaro flexed his legs as a snowflake-like web of bronze, physical enhancement-type PSG:TE etching flashed onto his body.
Inkaro leapt right for the crown of his tree, blasting himself and Lizu skywards and shooting straight through the leaves of the large oak tree rooted deeply to his floating island. They continued, soaring higher and higher, which should have long sent the duo through the top of the tree, before they finally emerged into an open space, one that didn't consist of leaves being right up in the mana-veil sheltered duo's faces. Instead of some clear sky that was slightly ahead of the one over Solicrave, the duo had emerged into a spanning sphere wall of oak leaves with a bronze wood platform that resembled a checkerboard: Inkaro's isolated magic testing grounds, having been made solely to avoid any further alterations to his hometown, whether accidental or not.
Instead of waiting for Inkaro's feet to touch the ground for her to disembark, Lizu shot her wings out, stretching them out to their full wingspan, and halted the duo's descent, narrowly avoiding Inkaro from making touchdown by half a centimetre thanks to Lizu keeping hold of him by the shoulder blade area of his coat. It wasn't anything but intentional, aiming to recreate the tightness in the chest sensation the guy had given her. Well, she tried, only to realise Inkaro lacked the physical build for such a tightness to be all that impactful on his breathing.
She pouted, but not all that seriously; after all, she had a backup plan: "Oops, my hands slipped."
Lizu released her firm grip, and Inkaro barely went down by a few inches, leaving the guy to comment on it. "Usually, people do that when there's more space under their target."
"And ruin the mood, fat chance," Lizu shot back playfully and with a wink at that. Lizu flapped her wings in a short burst of motion to put some distance between her and Inkaro, but not enough so that her tail couldn't reach Inkaro if she tried grabbing him with it, before she landed with grace. "Now, are you ready to have your socks blow-"
But she cut herself off, catching sight of something that caused the butterfly that swarmed in her tummy to rage to life, as Inkaro swung his arms up and audaciously at that. He took in a deepbreath, naturally indicative of an impending proclamation.
"Have at it! Show me. The magic that you poured your heart, soul, and passion into!" Inkaro proclaimed, bearing a wide smile that could only be called a testament to mortal infatuation in the bizarre and fantastical. With the guy's arms raised high, Lizu quietly giggled to herself. She had to squeeze her belly to knead out and restrain the buzzing sensation welling up in her core, just to keep herself in check and avoid passing out from her head's violent spinning.
Even if his fanatic-worthy enthusiasm wasn't aimed at her personally, Lizu couldn't keep herself from sticking the end of her tongue out the side of her mouth, absolutely ecstatic down to the bone, whilst swishing her tail with as much vigour as her heart was passionately beating. She wanted to do nothing more than get lost in those sparkling eyes of his, and having them aimed at her would be a welcomed bonus. But being inactive would only serve to go against her own desires, and she knew that. So, with a shakily anxious-sounding, but not emotionally so, voice, Lizu muttered out something: "Y-yeah, you got it. Be sure... to praise and spoil me, okay?"