A Reunion of Sorts

“Hmm...same old same old, I guess.” Ryan sighed as he observed Lobby Plaza from his seat in the coffee shop. His tea was not as enjoyable as it once was. The guild had seen its numbers dwindle after the old master Daniel left in a fit of rage.

“Couldn’t blame ‘im,” he thought as he absentmindedly stirred his black tea, “people that have significant stress in their lives tend to be more emotional than others. With the attempted repeal of net neutrality we keep seeing as the news headline, many people are bound to be upset because of it.”

His eyes flickered to the left as he saw a name in his peripherals. “Eh? Fred’s Daphne? Now that’s kind of funny. That takes me back. I wrote a couple of stories for those two users. Honestly, they were atrocious and trashy. I feel like I could do better now, but honestly I have no motivation. It hasn’t been the same when those three left. It practically transformed into a sausagefest plus circlejerk combo.”

Ryan couldn’t live in Germany anyway. He can’t stomach too much meat and any sort of alcohol. Ah, he went off topic. Speaking of, “Whom art thou?” he quietly questioned as he began to sip his from his teacup.

“Let’s ask her.”

Ryan’s heart jumped in his throat at the sudden interjection. Consequently, he choked on his tea that went down the wrong pipe.

“Are you alright, dear?”

Oh. It was the waitress with the check. Ryan calmed down as he was able to breathe correctly again. He tilted his face up and squinted at the faceless waitress, trying to make out who she was. Why did she—

“...Adecyn? Holy crap! How are you?”

“First of all, language. Don’t you dare fucking speak like that in front of me again. I will not tolerate this crass and uncouth vocabulary from you. Do you fucking understand?”

“Yes ma’am.” he squeaked.

“Second of all, yo.”

“‘Yo’. That’s all you can say when—“

Adecyn waved a plastic spoon threateningly in the air, to which Ryan flinched before rewording, “erm, what I meant to say was, Why did you all essentially leave without telling us why? Was there a falling out that I don’t remember? I-“

Ryan was silenced by the finger to his lips.

“I never actually left. I still have the key, after all. I was really busy and tried to deal with my daily routine. Spending time in the guild is a recreational activity for me. I miss you all of course; do not doubt that. As for Daphne, why don’t you ask her?

For some reason, I didn’t notice the second person sitting on the table next to me.
Green hoodie and a Pokémon themed backpack? Check.
Thick, wavy medium length brunette hair? Check.
Impish grin and snaggletooth? Check.
Yep, it’s her alright.

...

“Why are you drinking my tea?”

“I don’t know, why did you pick shit tea today?”

“Touché.”

“Ahem.”

Both of us turned in the direction of the voice.

“Ow, fuck!” Ryan exclaimed in his mind as the plastic spoon smacked the place between his eyes, leaving behind a red mark. “Why does it hurt that much?

“Je suis désolée. Pardonne-moi je t’en supplie!” Daphne blurted out, stopping the lethal cereal killer from marring her face.

Daphne calmed down and turned back to me. “I didn’t want to leave, but it was something I needed to do. As I said in my goodbye message I sent to Chris and the laconic message I sent to you, I was really stressed at the time. The guild wasn’t exactly the best place to be due to how volatile and stressful it could be at times. I reluctantly left the guild with a heavy heart. Honestly, I felt dead inside for the next two days. However, we have to move on with our lives, so I had to get over that and deal with other stresses afterwards. I know it’s not really an excuse, but—“

Daphne was cut off as I pulled both her and Adecyn into a hug.

“It’s okay, and I understand. No need to ask for forgiveness or anything. Would you want to return to the guild? I said before that the door is always open.”

The two agreed, and after I paid the bill, we set off towards the guild.