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After finishing up the last morning procrastination task she could think of, Lina stared nervously at the door leading out of her room.

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Lina: *low whisper* Come on Lina... it's been almost a phase already, you can't stay afraid of everybody forever.

```

Hearing a knock at her door, Lina jolted up in a mixture of shock and terror as she heard Vivica's voice asking to come in. After a few panicked breaths, Lina calmed herself down enough to reply.

Not sure what to expect, Lina froze in place and watched Vivica enter her room.

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Vivica: How ya doin'?

Lina: *nervous* Well~ *awkward chuckle* Sorry, for taking so long... I-I'm just slow in the morning.

Vivica: Not really, you get up pretty early, you're just afraid to come out. Which is what I wanted to talk to you about. I don't mean to eavesdrop, it just kind of happens. *nervous fidgeting* So, first off I wanted to say, I'm sorry for listening in on you talking to yourself all the time. *nervous chuckle* And since I only get to hear one side of your conversations, I wanted to see if you'd tell me the other. Maybe I can help you get less nervous around everyone.

Lina: *nervous gulp* Y-you've heard me talking to myself?

Vivica: Pretty much everything you've said to yourself every morning and night since you've got here.

Lina: *hard gulp*

Vivica: I-isn't it kind of relieving to know that you've already been talking one-on-one with someone for hours on end about personal things?

Lina: *nervous utterance* I suppose that's a nice way of looking at it...

Vivica: To be honest, at first I didn't really like you. I kind of thought you were a stuck up village girl doomed to drop out, but after listening to you, I've come to realize I was way off. You're really funny, i-in a good way, and you're not as self-centered as I thought you were. You're genuinely terrified of everyone for some reason. Anyway~ if I haven't completely freaked you out, I was thinking we could do our morning regimen separately from everyone else today. I already got Wa-su and Bora-su's approval.

Lina: *nervous* Al~right...

Vivica: Try not to be so nervous. Remember, you've already talked to me about all sorts of stuff. *playful smile* Anyway, let's get going.

```

Lina followed Vivica into the trainee common where she awkwardly waved a good morning to everyone on her way to the pot room, then goodbye to them as she followed Vivica out the door.

Reaching the rope ladder, Lina cringed as she instinctively reached up to rub her aching shoulders.

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Vivica: *concerned stare* You know I could use some practice climbing while carrying someone on my back if you're interested in helping.

Lina: That sounds dangerous.

Vivica: We'll use a support rope just in case.

Lina: *hesitant* Alright.

```

Lina blushed heavily as Vivica grabbed a rope and tied it around her waist.

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Vivica: No point in getting too excited, I have no idea how to tie someone up like Mirra-su does.

Lina: I-I wasn't.

Vivica: *knowing smile* You really should get over your lying habit. It's your least appealing trait.

Lina: *nervous sickly expression*

Vivica: Why try and lie about being aroused, anyway? With all the stuff you've seen around here, do you honestly think anyone is going to think less of you?

Lina: *awkward fidgeting*

```

Vivica bent down in front of Lina and told her to hold on tight.

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Vivica: You know the full moon's coming up soon, you should probably get permission from Bora-su to go solo camping, or maybe stay at a village keepers in your case... It's not that you'd be forced into anything if you stayed, but you'd cause a lot of frustration if you stayed and were off limits.

```

Not sure how to reply to Vivica's comment, Lina quietly got on her back.

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Vivica: Feel free to talk on the way down, I'm going to be moving slow since I'm pretending you're injured.

*long silence*

Vivica: How about a question to get things rolling? What does your family do?

Lina: *hesitant* A little bit of everything ... that villagers do. *awkward chuckle*

Vivica: *inquisitive* Like?

Lina: (*Inner voice* I hope I get all this right... I wished Cerina would have come up with a simpler lie.)

Lina: I come from a big loose family, my eldest and elder fathers are custodians, my eldest mother is a seamstress, my elder mother and youngest sister are performers, my younger mother and elder brother are shopkeepers, my younger mother and elder brother are cooks... and so forth and so on.

Lina: (Veck, I think I got half of that wrong... stupid inability to memorize things is why I've always caused so many problems for everyone.)

Vivica: Sounds like it would make some interesting conversation at meal times. Since I grew up in the farmlands, we all just considered ourselves farmers. Some of us were better at some things than others, but for the most part we rotated work around fairly evenly to keep things fair, and as exciting as farm life can be.

Lina: (Why couldn't my story be that simple?)

Lina: Sounds quite a lot different from the way Kion was describing his farming family.

Vivica: Ye~ah, I'd say my family is more "normal". Most farm families take advantage of our high status. We never spent time doing anything we didn't have to do. Yi-su's family is more or less like my own, but she got special treatment that she hated due to her small size.

Lina: Jhe is quite small...

Vivica: *snickering* When we picked up her training uniform the seamstress thought she was making a uniform for a kid performing in a play and accidentally made her uniform out of the wrong materials not expecting it to see any real use.

Lina: How does she feel about her size?

Vivica: She's pretty proud of herself, and she loves all the extra attention she gets around here because of it.

Lina: Is Mirra the same way?

Vivica: Mirra-su is on the shorter side, but she's not normal... Yi-su's tough for her size, but Mirra-su's tough for someone three or four times her size. One thing to keep in mind is that she's the fourth highest ranking rammu, and there are zero handicaps for size or anything else in the games.

```

Reaching the bottom of the tree, Lina got off Vivica's back and started jogging beside her.

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Lina: As trainees, do we get to go to the games?

Vivica: *stunned* That's an odd question. Haven't you ever been to one of the games yourself as a citizen?

Lina: *nervous utterance* Uhm, no, I was never interested in them before. *awkward laughter*

Vivica: Wow, I've heard of people who don't care about the games at all, but honestly hadn't ever talked to one and never thought I'd meet one trying to become a rammu... of course that does explain that conversation you were having with yourself the other night.

Lina: *cringe*

Vivica: Anyway~, yes. It's a big social event for all of us who are too low ranking to compete. Of course every year the more spirited and full of themselves trainees compete against each other in their own unofficial ways, which can sometimes result in humorous unofficial cards being created for trainees. One of my most prized cards is an unofficial one of my brother after he botched an attempt to show off and wound up covered in azure berry pie. *suppressed snickering* Do you have any prized cards?

Lina: No, what about rammu-jhu? What do they do at the games?

Vivica: Nothing officially. Rammu-jhu as a whole have their own mini games twice a cycle and tend to get in trouble with their mentors if they try to stir up anything at the annual ranking games.

Lina: Do rammu-jhu have ranks then?

Vivica: Kind of, they have point scores. So more than one rammu-jhu can be at any given spot. Right now, the top spot is held by four people. My brother Dasak being one of them. *prideful smile*

Lina: *nervous* I-isn't it kind of weird to also have your brother as a rammu? D-do you two ever, you know?

Vivica: No, but that's because I'm not really interested in that kind of stuff. That said, even in the rammu, most people who are same or half-bloods tend to avoid each other just as they would in any union situation.

Lina: What other unspoken rules are there? How does being a rammu differ from being in, say, a union or co-union?

Vivica: I'm going to be honest and say I have no real clue at all. Remember, part of the job requirements to be a rammu is having virtually no romantic history. From what I've heard, what we have is substantially less political and more stable. Co-unions require a lot of setup and can break apart easily, larger unions can be strange complicated beasts of odd rules between its various members, and even smaller unions require a lot of group discussions about love, sex, and obligation whereas being a rammu you're free to bound and do with whomever as we please, as long as they're also rammu, of course.

Lina: *nervous* You're saying we could have sex right now and that would be fine?

Vivica: We could, probably not... Besides the fact I'm not interested in sex, I'm also expecting you to be mad at me here soon... *nervous chuckle*

Lina: *heart broken* You're not interested?

Vivica: Don't take it personally. I'm just not interested in it much at all. I'll do things with people sometimes, but it's just for their sake. I think that's one of the reasons I like Kylola-su so much. She's one of the only girls I can be around who never gets touchy.

Lina: You don't like any touching?

Vivica: I enjoy things like cuddling, kissing, and handholding, but not, you know.

Lina: I see... *stunned* Wait, why did you say I be mad at you?

Vivica: We~ll I'm sure you've heard I'm not good with secrets ... which is why I'm also not going to ask why you lied about your family coming down the tree.

Lina: *nervous* W-what are you talking about?

Vivica: *awkward chuckle* Sorry, I can sometimes hear what people are saying internally when their heads are close to mine. A-anyway I also told you this morning I've heard a lot of what you've talked to yourself about in your room...

```

Lina came to a sudden stop as her mind frantically tried to recall everything she had talked to herself about since becoming a rammu.

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Lina: E-everyone knows--everything I've talked to myself about!?

Vivica: Not--everything ... just some ... Which before you panic everybody thinks your fantasies are cute and are looking forward to you bringing them up with them...

Lina: *blushing heavily* *hard gulp* That doesn't sound as bad as it could be... I-if that's all there is, though, I'm not going to be mad at you... just terrified that everyone knows how bizarre I am.

Vivica: You really have nothing to be ashamed of fantasy wise, which is why it was really easy for me to slip up on those... That said, I kind of figure you'll be mad at me for the one thing I let slip...

```

Lina's heart stopped and her entire body went numb as she frantically tried to recall if she had said anything out loud about her true identity.

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Vivica: I may have accidentally let your smuggled in junk food slip in front of the wrong person... and when we get back, we're going to be punished. *awkward chuckle*

Lina: *heavily relived sigh* Thank the watcher... I-I-I mean W-what kind of punishment?

Vivica: That was an odd reaction... Any~way I don't know... generally our "punishment" for something like eating refined village food would be going through a strict cleaning diet, but I doubt that'll be it since your body isn't even used to wild food yet.

Lina: Also, why did you say, "we're going to be punished", aren't I the only one in trouble?

Vivica: No, rammu rules dictate that if you get someone else in trouble, you have to share their punishment with them.

Lina: That seems weird...

Vivica: The idea is that as rammu we're supposed to be able to wholly trust one another. Even though you didn't willingly put your trust in me, I still broke the trust between us. Which is why I wanted you to know that I'm truly sorry... a-and give you a chance to be as angry with me as you'd like without the others knowing. I really didn't mean to get you in trouble, me and Re-re were reminiscing about village junk food, she brought up sour kettled root chips and then the next thing I knew I was blurting out, "Lina seems to really like them too, she even snuck some in with her", and, of course, that's when Bora-su just happened to be walking by... *awkward fidgeting*

```

Not sure what to say, do, or even how to feel about things Lina watched Vivica fidget around until their eyes met at which point she stared into her pleading eyes for a great long while until she couldn't help but smile.

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Lina: I forgive you.

Vivica: *excited smile* R-really?

Lina: Jsha... *blushing heavily* You're too adorable to be angry at, and it's not like you meant any harm. Last night I even had a fun conversation with Reteh about sour foods, which I'm guessing I wouldn't have had if it wasn't for your slip up. *raspberry*

Vivica: *blushing* T-that's good, at least something good came out of it. *awkward chuckle*

```

Lina stared at Vivica's lips as she waited for her to try and kiss her.

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Vivica: S-suppose we should get moving again.

Lina: *perplexed* Aren't you going to kiss me?

Vivica: W-why would you think that?

Lina: Everyone else kisses when they make up.

Vivica: That's true, but we also have a history of kissing one another already. I wouldn't want you to waste your first kiss forgiving me for being a ditzy spy...

Lina: *somber* Oh. *cheerful* Th~an do you just want to kiss for fun? *goofy smile*

Vivica: *stunned* W-why would you want to kiss me for fun? I've been eavesdropping on you, sharing your secrets, and getting you into trouble...

Lina: Jsha, all of that is concerning, but maybe it's all for the best? You've been listening in on me, I want to be more open with everyone... I just can't... My mind wants to say things, but my mouth won't cooperate unless I'm alone and just talking to myself.

Vivica: I kind of have the opposite problem myself... My mind wants to keep things secret, but my mouth just says it anyway... *awkward chuckle*

Lina: I'm not sure how to help with that, but perhaps I can make you feel better about it by giving you a good use for it?

Vivica: What do you mean?

Lina: I want you to keep listening in on me and telling others what you hear, but I want you to do it while I'm around.

Vivica: Okay, but do you think that'll really work? I mean, I know I can keep being a blabbermouth, but do you think you can talk to yourself knowing I'm listening in?

Lina: I don't know... I think so, though... At least as long as you promise never to come in to reply to anything I'm talking to myself about.

Vivica: That's a promise I can keep. *enthusiastic smile*

Lina: Good. *long deep breath* Now about that kiss. *nervous smile*

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