The Wonderful World of Skullgirls

Chapter 7: Heart-to-Heart

Noon was finally upon Canopy and the brutal rush finally eased up now that most of the younger customers were in school.

The Player was on break while Feng, Filia and Squigly were all free to go home since they were under 18 and didn't have to work the same hours as the Player, the only exception was Squigly, she was the senior of the group at 28 years of age after all, but her physical appearance was that of a teenager so she got privilege of leaving early. Regarding the Player it was never established how old he actually was but, for a rough estimate, he had to be around 18 years or so - older than Filia but younger than Parasoul.

The Player, Filia, Squigly and Feng were out in town enjoying their free time at a bakery, snacking on sweets after a busy day. The three girls stood outside waiting for the Player to join them.

Feng opened wide and bit down on a jelly filled doughnut. The powdery white sugar on the surface made a small mess around her mouth as she chewed. "Mmm! That's so good."

"Certainly is." Filia spoke between chews on a piece of hot cinnamon bun. "I'm glad we were able to finally check this place out, Squigly."

"I feel the same." She agreed. Following her friends lead Squigly broke a piece of her strawberry shortcake with a plastic knife and brought it up to her mouth only to realize she was unable to bypass the stitches after accidentally hitting them. Her eye peered over to Feng who observed curiously. "...Heh. Actually, I'm not all that hungry right now."

She was obviously lying as traces of disappointment could be seen on her face after she laid the fork and cake back inside its small triangular container to save it for later. Leviathan was going to have to consume the cake for her in order to receive the nourishment but what's better than getting to feel the cake melt away on your own tongue.

"Why not just take the costume off?" Feng suggested. "Aren't those stitches just for show?"

Squigly raised her sleeve up to her mouth to cover the stitches. "Oh, um-"

"Actually how are you able to do that thing where you speak without using your mouth?" Feng asked another question almost immediately after the first.

"That's-"

Feng took a closer step making Squigly back her head away from the sudden intrusion of her personal space. "And how do you make that echo after talking? Do you have some kind of voice box device?"

"I-I-I... Uh, Filia?"

Filia wasn't going to be of any help and she knew that the moment Squigly called her name out assistance - the only thing Filia could do was shrug her shoulders while holding a grin of uncertainy.

Luckily the Player was finally done inside the bakery and had his bag of treats. "Ok, I got everything."

Squigly seizes this moment as her get out of jail free card by wrapping one arm around the Player's and pointing to the distance with the other. "Oh! Would you look at the time! It's time for us to get going. It was really nice meeting you, Feng!"

"...Sienna, what are you doing?" The Player had lowered his head to whisper down to her.

"She keeps asking questions about my 'costume'. I clearly don't have any answers for this!" She replied in similar tone though with a bit of panic.

The Player retracts his arm from Squigly's grip and stands upright. "Well I can't just leave. I'm only on break, I got about 25 minutes left before I head back in for work."

"Oh yeah. What time will you be home?" Squigly asked.

"Around 5, the usual."

"If you'd like, Filia and I can stick around and-"