Lily hummed appreciatively as she stalked around Avyr, occasionally leaning in close to look at a particular part of Avyr’s new gear. “Hmm… yes, yes. I see. Hmm…” she stroked her chin, head tilted slightly up, the very image of the superior cultivator. “Very good, hmm. You’ve done well, disciple Avyr! This one can only commend you for your success!”

  Avyr gave her a weird look. “Can human women even grow beards? I thought humans only did that if they had beards…”

  “How many human women have you seen with beards?”

  “How should I know? All you humans look the same to me.” He was silent for a long moment as Lily gave him her best judgmental stare, before sighing. “None, really. That’s why I was asking, you know.”

  She rolled her eyes, flopping down against him with a sigh. “No, human woman generally don’t grow beards. Asking for an explanation ruins the joke, you know?” Still, she wasn’t too upset. It was good to see something actually get done for once. Now if only she could muster up the courage to just do things.

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  Logically, she knew that these sorts of matters couldn’t be rushed— it’d only been a few days, and she was only just narrowing down her search to alchemists who would actually see someone without credentials, and that she wasn’t being at all lazy in the meanwhile… but it was all just too easy to spend her time studying for class and learning ahead and practicing formations instead of actually…

  She sighed. “I’ll get you that pill soon.” No two ways about it— she just had to stop procrastinating. Or work harder. Either or…

  “Don’t push yourself,” rumbled Avyr at her, as though he could read her mind. It was weird the way he could do that… she guessed he just knew her well. “The pill isn’t so important that it needs to be done immediately.” Which was the truth… which was, in turn, another reason to procrastinate.

  “Ha!” She sniffed snootily, as pretentiously as she could manage. “I’ll see about that. Who do you think I am, to let something so meager as objective reality get in my way?” Avyr laughed, but in some small way, it was the truth. Were they not supposed to be cultivators?

  For a moment, though, she sat together, and enjoyed each other’s company… Soon, though.

  It was a promise. To herself, if nobody else.

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