Phoenix

Sabertooth

"That doesn't count!" Emi replied seriously. "I wanna go first-hand. Maybe to a faraway village or up in the snowy mountains. Or what if it's a really cool historic information request? Maybe searching through old ruins in a library to figure out some cool mystery! Maybe--"

"We'll give it a couple days before we go on one. I have to do some formal master stuff or whatever."

Emi sighed and quietly pouted as she finished her ice cream.

-------

"So this is your office?"

"I mean, I guess so. This is my first time here without being yelled at."

"I think it's a little boring. I mean," she drawled as she pointed to a blank wall, "there's nothing on the walls at all and the furniture is all brown."

"The Master wasn't that keen on things other than being strong, so I doubt he cared."

Emi's face twisted in disgust, simply explaining, "It smells."

She walked over to the desk and coughed when a cloud of smoke billowed out of one of the drawers that she opened.

"He must've never dusted this place. God, what a mess."

Sting chuckled quietly by the door as Emi continued to explore. The white haired wizard disappeared momentarily, but she quickly rejoined Sting, holding a blank sheet of paper and a writing utensil.

"Okay! We need a plan."

"A plan? For what?"

"There is no way in hell I'm staying here if your office looks like this."

"Oh come on. It ain't that ba--"

Emi cut him off when she pushed the couch off the wall to reveal a couple of dead rats.

"Stop being so stubborn and grab a cloth."

Sting laughed loudly, but searched for a cloth nonetheless. He was instructed to dust the desk and windows while Emi disposed of the dead animals and swept away the cobwebs. Sting involuntarily gagged when he lifted the cloth to his nose.

"You idiot. Why would you smell that?" Emi scolded. "Your nose made it even worse."

The dragon slayer laughed nervously and turned back to his duties when she snapped her fingers.

"Sting!" Lector screamed as he padded into the office. "We should totally show Lady Emiko the...what are you guys doing?"

"Em's making me clean the office, buddy."

"That's right. And we're going back to wherever you live next. So it better be clean, Lector."

The exceed paled and bolted out of the office.

"You gotta give me a little bit, Lady Emiko! It's not clean yet!"

Sting laughed at the familiar scene and cracked open the window to air out the dust and smell. He leaned his back against the desk and crossed his arms casually.

"So what're we doing tonight?"

"Depends on what time we finish here."

"Oh hell no. Because when we get home you're gonna do the same thing and then we'll get absolutely nothing fun done."

"Then you shouldn't be so messy."

He rolled his eyes and made his way over to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind while she wasn't paying attention. His face nuzzled into the side of her neck and his hands held her arms by her sides. Emi let out a small hum as she rolled her head back to rest on his shoulder.