You head upstairs

You make your way up the staircase at enter the hallway leading to the bedrooms. There are several doors here, but you're only here for Alice's room, which is straight ahead at the end of the hallway. Planning to give Alice a nice wake-up surprise, you quietly creep forward, and slowly nudge the door open.

Sliding in, you peer across the room and notice that Alice appears to still be asleep in her bed, buried underneath her blanket. 'Perfect', you think to yourself, 'Maybe this time I'll be the one to get the jump on her!' With your eyes on the target, you take stealthy strides towards the bed, and get ready to make a move.

"Wake up! Surpriiiise!" You yell as you yank off the covers, fully expecting to find here underneath. However, to your own surprise she's nowhere to be found! What you find instead are bolsters and pillows arranged to look like a person underneath the blankets.

"Well, this is embaressing," you murmur to yourself, "where in the world cou-"

Suddenly you find yourself knocked off balance as you feel someone grabbing hold of your body, wrapping themselves around your arms and torso. Your shock delays any response as you fall face-forward onto the bed. Only when you land on the pillows do you start struggling in earnest, but you stop as you hear a familiar voice shouting triumphantly, "Gotcha Lua!"

"Aliiiice!" You cry out, voice muffled by the bed.

"Hehe, sorry Lua," she teases you, "You tried your best, but that ain't good enough to beat the Master!"

"Okay, okay, you win. Now will you please let go of me?"

She complies with your request, releasing you from her grab and helping you up from her bed. Shifting to sit on the edge of her mattress, she looks at you with an impish smile.

Much like her older sister, you've known Alice for most of your life here in this town. But where Carol basically acted as your part-time caretaker for when you weren't as independant, Alice was the sister you wish you always had. The two of you naturally grew close to each other, given that she was only several months younger than yourself. Much of the time spent together was used to entertain yourselves acting out various 'Damsel in Distress' scenarios, and though she insisted that you both spent equal time as the damsel, you knew that you were more frequently at the receiving end of the ropes.

"So Lua," she asks, "what brings you here? You wanna have some 'playtime' again?" She winks at you for the second question, eyeing you up like prey.

"I just wanted to see your cute face before I went off to the guild," you reply, smirking back at her. "Where in the world were you hiding anyway?"

"Oh, just inside that wardrobe," she explains, pointing towards the furniture behind you. Your eyes follow the direction and you notice the wardrobe door left ajar, with some clothes and ropes spilling out onto the floor. "So," she inquires, "where are you heading off to get tied up next?"

"H-Hey! It's not always like that," you sheepishly murmur, "not ALL my missions end up with me... well..."

She giggles at your embaressment. "Aw, you don't have to be so shy about it. Some might think you even like being bound so often." You protest briefly at that comment, but she shushes you down. Thinking briefly, she perks up with an idea. "Hey, how about I help you with this?"

"What do you mean?" You ask, intrigued.

"It's simple! We'll simulate a fight between the two of us," she explains, "and whoever wins gets to tie up the loser!"

"You just want to play more 'tie up', don't you," you say, giving her a mildly exasperated glance.

"Yup," she answers gleefully. She's not even trying to hide it. "C'mon Lua, it's gonna be fun!"