IT Part I

(Sophie will be narrator for this section. Rebecca's commentary will be indicated.)

About a year and a half ago, I was a poor teenage girl, using my alchemy to make a Zand here and there near the ruins of Senhopen. Not that I made them, but I earned some. Anyway, my teacher had turned me loose on the world and I was ready to show it what I knew. The only problem was, fewer and fewer people had need of an alchemist beyond fixing something that could've been fixed by normal means or hardening armor or something. It paid the shopkeepers, but it was so boring!

Rebecca: Maybe you should've gone into a town instead of hanging around ruins.

Sophie: I had my reasons for staying. Regardless, I felt stuck in a rut. What was the point of learning alchemy if that's all I was gonna do with it? That's when two wandering mages came through. I asked them if they needed my services, but they declined. If I had eaten that day, that probably would've been the end of it, but I hadn't so I kept bugging them. "Are you sure? If your sword has lost it's edge, I can make it better than new," I said. One of them, the man...

Rebecca: Just say it was Sagus.

Sophie: Quit ruining the dramatic effect! Anyway, _Sagus _stopped and said he could in fact use his sword sharpened, and not as a euphemism for wanting a handjob. You have no idea how common that was. 'What luck' I thought. Then he said that he and his compa...Marianne (happy?) needed a place to rest for the night. I didn't want to, but I offered them one of the buildings that was still kinda standing after the fire. Aren't I nice?

Rebecca: You probably thought they were a couple and wanted to see them make love.

Sophie: I did not! Why would you say that?

Rebecca: I assumed you wanted them together because you enjoyed listening to love-making.

Sophie: Pervert!

Rebecca: You can't tell me it's not true. I remember last time we stayed in a hotel, you had your ear to the wall all night. The wall that separated our room from Sagus and Marianne's, as I recall.

Sophie: I...just wanted to make sure they were safe, okay?

Rebecca: As in, that Sagus would use birth control?

Sophie: May I continue my story?

Rebecca: If you must.