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“Morning George,” a long bearded fellow said.

“Good morning to you as well,” George replied.

It was the morning after story time and after having a nice relaxing sleep they were forced to get up to go on a walk with George.

[Red… why do I have to do this…?] (White)

[Weren’t you the one who said we should make a good impression?] (Red)

White could feel that Red was smiling, which just made her more annoyed.

“Anna, say hi.” George pushed Anna forward.

“Hello,” White replied, her uninterested eyes examining the world around her, not caring about their neighbour. They had met them before, but not directly, just in passing.

[You should’ve just let me sleep.] (White)

[So you wanted Lilly to do it?] (Red)

[...] (White)

[Sorry…] Lilly felt the need to apologise, she also didn’t sound good when she replied.

[Nothing to feel sorry for.] White quickly tried to comfort Lilly.

This walk and morning meeting should’ve been fine.

Red was a morning person, and she was normally up while White and Lilly could just disconnect from the body–which Lilly didn’t usually do–and rest in Soul Space. Even if it wasn’t really effective for resting, at least they wouldn’t directly feel the body’s exhaustion. So normally they left it to Red to deal with anything 5~6 AM early, but Red, upon hearing this walkabout involved a proper meeting with their neighbour, decided to shove the responsibility onto White.

[She’s right. Blame it on me.] Red added, [I hate dealing with annoyances, if I didn’t have to deal with one personally, I always gave the trouble to lefty or righty.]

“...Morning…” The bearded man replied, “Still a little tired I see.” He returned a light chuckle.

[He seems a little freaked out, good job.] (Red)

“Not really, I’m usually up this early,” White replied, during her previous life it was standard to wake up at 4 AM every day and sleep at 10 PM every day unless there was an emergency occurring. However, even with her newfound freedom which she took in great earnest to sleep in, she still was perfectly fine to be up early. Even though Anna’s body wasn’t perfectly adapted to trying to move while tired, White was used to that experience.

White smiled with her plastered fake smile which seemed indistinguishable from a genuine one, “You seem tired yourself, mister.”

White’s eyes, which were called the eyes of a saint–a blank stare that seemed to register everyone and everything equally–were very unsettling when she wasn’t in her position of power. Eyes that watched everything as unimportant…

“I’m… good.” He looked back up at George, “Not as lively as she was before.”

“When it’s playtime her inner beast comes,” George laughed. “I remember her catching your kid in a second Henry.”

While the adults began their discussion.

[Erhh… I feel sick in the stomach] Lilly had a problem.

[Blame the mana, it's still spinning] (Red)

[Tell it to stop… or I might actually be sick] Lilly begged.

White who was already in a bad mood dealing with this man, yelled [Stop connecting to the body then!] Noticing her tone, she quieted her internal voice, [The last thing we need is to vomit mid-conversation.]

[...I understand] Lilly went quiet and sat in the void of the Soul Space.

[...Dammit] (White)

White stayed silent for a moment regretting her action.

[Lilly you there?] (White)

[Nope, she is laying down in the void.] (Red)

The only situation where they wouldn’t be able to hear each other was if someone was completely controlling the body, and another person in the void had moved a long distance away from the pool.

[Argh what a delightful pain, for why can’t I control my internal voice!] (White)

I didn’t want to upset her… White thought. They were still able to keep their thoughts to themselves, even if their companions could feel the emotion of them.

[From my experience, that tends to be the norm for people who perfectly control their outside voice.] (Red)

White couldn’t tell if Red was insulting or consoling her.

The conversation between Henry and George had been continuing and led to Henry inviting them into his house for a quick snack over

“Unclean,” White commented, Her expectations were low because they were commoners, but compared to their home, the difference was night and day.

Clothes, dust, and stains galore.

“Yeah… My wife hasn’t returned to clean yet.” Henry replied. White had overheard earlier that she was out for business for the last week.

“So you’re a mess?”

Henry doubled back and looked at Anna.

“Kids are brutally honest aren’t they,” George laughed, finding the situation funny.

Their trip to the neighbour was thankfully quick for White’s sanity. She just smiled brightly the entire time hoping the conversation would hurry up. However, once the talk was done and she tried to speak to Lilly, she found herself stopping herself–scared.

Argh…What is wrong with me… White lamented, letting Red take over the body for the rest of the day.