Chapter 2: Delivery in Thirty Seconds or it's Free!

Being a magical girl protecting the city can be hard work. However, it’s not exactly a profitable thing to do. Even the Royal Elements have to pay for their bills, so they work other jobs with guarding Ayres City in the background.

Fiamma and Aria, in particular, work at a fast food place called the Flying Chicken. While they usually work the graveyard shifts, sometimes they’ll work during the late afternoon. Fiamma is located in her red-plastered room, getting her work clothes and other items together.

On the red bed, a large, brown, and red salamander is scuttling across the sheets. It approaches Fiamma, noticing that she’s preparing for something. “What’cha getting ready for?” the Salamander comments.

“Oh, hey, Sally,” Fiamma greets the Salamander. “Just getting ready for work.”

Sally’s expression changes to one of surprise. “You still go to work? How do you still do that as Royal Fire?”

Fiamma lets out a small chuckle. A drawback of being a Royal Element is the fact that her magical, fire-like dress is a permanent part of her. “Don’t worry, Sally. Aria and I got a pretty good disguise.” Fiamma says to the talking Salamander.

Later on, Aria and Fiamma are working together at the white and blue Flying Chicken. Each of them has a disguise on, that being a simple blue worker shirt with a gold name tag on their left chests slapped on top of their dresses. On top of that, Fiamma and Aria have blue and white visors with the Flying Chicken’s boxy logo around their heads.

“You know, my advisor didn’t know that we still go to work,” Fiamma tells Aria as she gazes at the blue, moderately quiet dining area.

“Sounds like someone should talk to them more often!” Aria replies.

“I mean, yeah, but what could I talk about with a salamander? I don’t think Marina and Tierra talk to their advisors much, either.”

“Well… I sometimes talk about my thoughts to Feather during the night,” Aria says as an example. “He’s actually a pretty good listen-”

The conversation between Fiamma and Aria is interrupted by a man entering the beige back area of the restaurant. The man has messy, brown hair, a short beard surrounding his mouth, a black worker shirt similar to the two girls’, and cerulean jeans. He is holding a clipboard in his hands.

“Aria, Fiamma, I need you two for an emergency meeting,” the man commands the two workers.

“Oh, hi, Ashton!” Aria greets the man. “Sure, what do you want?”

Aria and Fiamma head deeper into the kitchen. “You see, Dane had to call in sick for today,” Ashton explains.

Aria gasps while Fiamma stays expressionless with her arms crossed. “Aww, not Dane!” Aria whines.

“I’m gonna need to adjust who works for what today. Aria, you’ll take Dane’s place for delivery.” Ashton continues.

“Uh, delivery?” Aria tilts her head. “Sure, I think I can do that.”

“Fiamma, you’re gonna have to juggle the grill and the cash register,” Ashton tells Fiamma.

Fiamma lets out a groan in response. “Fine. It’s not like anyone else can handle the grill here.”

Aria chuckles sheepishly, remembering the time she cooked at the Flying Chicken. “Yeah… let’s not burn the place down again.”

Ashton sighs, recalling the same memory Aria just had. “Don’t screw this up, okay? Anyway, I’ll go manage the drive-thru as usual. And management. If we can pull through, I’ll give you two a little extra.”

“Got it, boss!” Aria says with confidence as she salutes. “See you later!”

The brunette boss walks away, double-checking the papers on his clipboard. The moment Ashton is away from earshot, Fiamma lets out a loud growl. “Today’s gonna be a bitch and a half!” Fiamma complains.

Aria swings her hand in a dismissive wave. “Oh, don’t worry, Fiamma! We can just use our powers to make things easier!” Aria nonchalantly reassures her friend.

The burgundy-haired worker rolls her eyes. “I’m not setting the chicken on fire,” Fiamma sternly says. “There’s an obvious difference between fried chicken and roasted chicken, you know!”

“Well, I’m gonna still use my powers,” Aria replies. “Our chicken’s gonna fly!”

“Good luck, I guess. Just don’t get on the news again.”

After some time, Fiamma and Aria get prepared for the work day. Fiamma’s cooking and tending to customers, while Aria is outside in the back, having a bag of food from someone who ordered a delivery. Aria lifts the large bag triumphantly. “Alright, Royal Air, time to deliver this food!” Aria speaks to herself. “I’m gonna save the world from the lack of fried chicken!”

With a skip and a leap, Aria takes flight into the sky, using her magical powers to float and soar through the air. Aria lets out an overenthusiastic ‘Wee’ as she takes in Ayres City from a bird's-eye view. As she flies, the blonde woman looks at the delivery destination on her smartphone and adjusts her trajectory towards there.

A quiet, yellow house lies in a suburban neighborhood. Aria lands at the brown door at the front of this building and knocks on it. The door opens, revealing a brown-haired woman with a purple shirt and black pants. Two kids, a boy and a girl, with the same hair color as the woman and blue and pink clothes, respectively, stand behind her.

“Here’s your food, ma’am,” Aria tells the woman, handing her the bag of food she’s carrying.

The woman hesitates for a bit as she takes her food. “Thanks. Uh, what’s with the dress under your shirt?”

Aria pauses, caught off guard by the lady’s question. “Uh… It’s uh… a mascot suit!” Aria stammers, making something up on the fly. “Yeah! I dress up as a chicken at work?”

“Okaaaay?” The woman says, confused.

The little boy speaks up. “Chicken? You look more like a piece of popcorn!”

Both the boy and the girl giggle at the former’s joke. “Hey!” Aria shouts. “You little…! I’m a pretty princ- I mean chicken!”

The young girl then spits out something, too. “Nah, she’s not a piece of popcorn. She’s a fart cloud!”

Aria freezes up for a second. On the next, she turns around and leaves, trying her best to hold in the anger and embarrassment inside of her. Once she begins to fly again, Aria murmurs to the void. “What rude kids. I hope the next customer is nicer than them.”

Returning to the Flying Chicken to get her second batch of food, Aria is greeted by Fiamma, who seems to be having a relatively decent time. “Hey, Fiamma!” Aria says to her friend. “I’m back from delivery!”

Fiamma twists her head to look at the worker. “Already?!” Fiamma shouts in surprise. “Jesus, it hasn’t even been ten minutes!”

“I told you that my powers would help greatly!” Aria smirks with a wink.

“Well, hot damn! At this rate, it’ll be as if Delivery Dane wasn’t sick! Well, I’d say that, if we didn’t have a second order,” Fiamma explains as she points to a collection of food bags on a silver table.

“No problemo!” Aria replies, taking the food. “This should be just as easy! Good luck with the customers, Fiamma!”

“I know I’ll need it,” Fiamma returns. “Rush hour is kicking in.”

As Aria leaves for her second batch of orders, Fiamma notices a long line that has suddenly appeared. God damn it, here we go, Fiamma growls in her head.

The second place Aria goes to is an apartment complex with lavender buildings. The place has seen better days, with some of the architecture being worn down thanks to time. Aria lands at her second customer’s door and presses the doorbell.

A guy comes out of the apartment. He has dark skin, black hair, and brown eyes. He wears a white and black tank top with the number thirteen on it as well as black shorts. Notably, the man has various cuts, bandages, and bruises on his face, arms, and legs.

“Aria? Is that you?” The guy asks, recognizing the worker.

Aria realizes who she’s talking to after a moment. “Oh, hi, Uriel! Yeah, it’s me, Aria!”

Uriel chuckles a bit anxiously, not anticipating seeing an old friend of his.  “It’s been a while. We haven’t seen each other since high school, haven’t we?”

“Geez, it’s been that long?” Aria asks, thinking back to her high school experience several years ago. “Heh, well, long time no see then! Hope you’ve been luckier than you were!”

“Heh, I wish,” Uriel murmurs. He then asks a question shortly after, noticing the outfit on top of Aria’s cloudy dress. “So… you’re working at the Flying Chicken now?”

Aria nods. “That’s right! Here’s your food!” Aria confirms as she pulls out a crumpled bag of chicken and hands it to Uriel.

“Thanks. You look pretty, by the way,” Uriel compliments the blonde.

Letting out a wide smile, Aria returns the thanks before saying her goodbyes and travels to the next customer. But, as Uriel heads back home, he suddenly trips on his doormat and drops his food, spilling it all over the room. After wincing in pain, Uriel witnesses the scene in his relatively empty home and sighs sadly.

Back at the Flying Chicken, things are starting to heat up for Fiamma, but she’s able to manage them without much help. Aria can take her third order and lands at its destination: a yellow home that seems to be separated from the other homes close by. She knocks on the door, and it takes several seconds for it to open. She can hear someone speaking on the other side, seemingly sounding like Aria came at a bad time.

The door eventually swings open, revealing a strange, overweight man. He has shaggy, brown hair and a brown beard that complements it. He dons a cyan shirt that says ‘DON’T TRUST ANYTHING’ on it with an equally conspiratorial red and blue hat with the eye of providence. His blue shorts, however, only match the color scheme of his shirt.

The man takes in Aria’s appearance for a moment before speaking up. “Oh, my food has arrived!” He says, looking a bit spacey.

“Yep! Here’s your food, sir!” Aria says, handing the meal she has to him.

“Thank you, ma’am. Sorry about taking a bit to arrive, I was in the middle of recording a video.” The man explains. “Remember this advice from Conspiracy Carl: always watch your six, double-guess everything, and have a good day.”

“Heh, alright!” Aria answers before saying her goodbyes and walking away.

However, as Carl heads back into his house, he catches a glimpse of Aria leaping into the air and suddenly flying like an airplane. He almost drops his meal in response, his mouth agape, witnessing her. “Ho… ly… shit,” Carl whispers to himself, before rushing back into his home.

Aria returns to the Flying Chicken to check on Fiamma. “Doing alright?” She asks.

Fiamma is currently manning both the cash register and the fryer, taking turns every thirty or so seconds. “Eh, I guess,” Fiamma replies. “I’ve been having to handle two fryers at once, though.”

As Fiamma returns to one of the fryers, Aria talks back to her. “Gee, didn’t think we’d suddenly get this much traction.”

“Yeah, I know,” Fiamma agress. “There’s yet another delivery for you, by the way.”

“On it!” Aria responds as she takes the bag of food and flies away. Aria’s next destination is in a colorful-looking neighborhood, with various reds, oranges, and blues that remind her of Mexico. The particular house she visits is colored a pinkish red with a mustard yellow door.

Once Aria knocks on it, another mysterious person comes out of it. Similar to her and the other Royal Elements, he has a magical, royal outfit, though it’s that of a prince instead of a princess. He has dark skin, black hair, sunglasses in front of his eyes, and an orange and yellow crown on top of his head. The person has an orange cape, a tangerine-colored, princely vest, and sunset-like pants. Funnily enough, what appears to be a blue floating tube surrounds his lower torso.

“Aw, sweet, the food’s here!” The man enthusiastically says.

“Here you go!” Aria chimes, handing the person their bag of chicken. “You look… rather fashionable.”

“Ah, don’t sweat it,” He replies. “I just got off an… act. The name’s Suman.”

“Suman… that’s oddly… familiar,” Aria says with confusion, thinking about that name.

“Anyway, see ya, Royal Air!” Suman tells the blonde before heading back inside his vibrant home. Aria’s eyes widen at what Suman said, and she begins to wonder how he knows that name as she hears the voices of Suman and three other guys from the other side of the door.

Aria eventually brushes it off, assuming Suman just knows via word of mouth, but more importantly, because of her schedule. A few more, less mundane, orders whiz by for her. Fiamma’s pace is struggling to keep up with the orders, but she’s still able to give Aria some work to do. After a while, Aria finds herself another strange customer.

The next destination is a secluded, red, blocky-looking home. The architecture simply screams rich and modern, even though it’s an odd choice of color. When ringing the doorbell, an eccentric figure with a shirt with various squares shaded in different kinds of red, maroon pants, crimson gloves, and a large, scarlet, cuboid mask that has a smiley face on it comes out.

“What up, man, it’s ya boi, Cubeface!” The figure exclaims while posing with two rock and roll hands.

Aria freezes in confusion. “...Uh, what?”

Cubeface clears his throat. “Sorry, force of habit. So, you got my food, ma’am?”

“I sure do!” Aria answers, pulling out a small, blue cardboard box with a white handle and a chicken on it. “Got this Fluttering Chick meal for your child?”

Cubeface nods no. “Nah, it’s gonna be a prop for one of my videos. Be sure to like and subscribe to my InterVision channel if you wanna see what I’ll use it for!”

Aria raises an eyebrow. “Okay…?”

Aria leaves Cubeface’s weird location. As she leaves for the next location, she decides to check out Cubeface’s channel on her phone. Turns out, the channel on InterVision is just full of flashy, cash-grab videos that might entertain a five-year-old, but they just make the blonde’s eyes roll. 

After getting off her phone, grabbing the next order, and going to its destination, Aria notices she’s back at the same old lavender apartments she was at. She knocks on the door and notices Uriel. “Oh, hi again, Uriel.” Aria greets him. “Uh, did I pick the right house?”

“Uh, yes, you did, Aria,” Uriel replies anxiously. “I ordered a second meal. I… uh… spilled my first one.”

“Ah, I see! Well, here you go, Uriel!” Aria says as she hands the second bag of chicken to Uriel. “Make sure to hold on tight this time!”

“I wouldn’t be sure if that would help,” Uriel remarks cynically. “But thanks for the advice regardless,”

When Aria leaves, Uriel places his meal down on his coffee table. Inside is a drink, a carton of fries, and a small box with a chicken sandwich inside. But Uriel gasps and groans when he inspects his chicken sandwich, which has mayo splattered on it. Of course, they forgot to not put Mayo on it. I’m allergic to eggs! Uriel thinks to himself, disappointed that he can’t eat his food.

In the Flying Chicken, Fiamma is currently swamped with customers. She has to juggle between making various foodstuffs and taking orders for a long line of people. Now Fiamma has to rush through all parts of the kitchen to keep up, but she loses her focus the moment Aria enters yet again.

“Alright, Fiamma, I’m another set of ord-” Aria stops, noticing the chaotic scene at hand. “Uh, are you okay, Fiamma?”

“What does it look like?!” Fiamma barks as she’s flipping a bunch of chicken in a fryer. “I’m cooking for like two dozen people at once!”

“Sounds… uh… stressful!” Aria says, a bit intimidated.

“Understatement of the century. This shit’s more stressful than an all-you-can-eat buffet!”

“Oh, I bet. Celeste doesn’t even make us train as hard as that,” Aria comments.

Fiamma packages a chicken basket meal and places it on the pickup station. “Well, we got a lot more orders. Even with your speed, it’ll take you a while, so good luck.”

“You’re certainly right about that,” Aria agrees, taking the bags, barely able to hold all of the food. “Do you need any help?”

“Yes. Please.”

“Alright, just let me deal with this delivery.”

Aria takes off from the Flying Chicken yet again. During the downtime she has between orders, Aria tries to assist Fiamma by taking some of her orders, though Aria can’t do much to alleviate her stress, thanks to the constant flow of deliveries she has to do. Even the deliveries are dense; sometimes Aria has to do multiple at once. Aria’s even done up to three at once at some point.

Several orders and deliveries later, Aria notices that she’s in a more unusual location: the metropolitan area of Ayers City, which is full of tall, glassy skyscrapers. Usually, this district of the town only has businesses and people working, not living spaces.

Landing at one particularly tall building, Aria notices an old businessman waiting. He has the typical black suit, slate gray hair, and all. “Ma’am, do you have my food?” The businessman asks in a gruff voice.

“Ah, did you order from The Flying Chicken?”

“Yes, I have,” The man confirms. “I thought I’d try their food.”

“Then here you go!” Aria replies, handing the man a bag of chicken.

The man takes a look at the food inside. “So, this is your food, hm? Doesn’t smell so bad, at least.” The man says, looking back up at Aria. “Heard from my co-workers that Taco Thursday is better, apparently.”

“What?!” Aria shouts, looking offended. Taco Thursday is the competitor of The Flying Chicken. “That is totally untrue! Our chicken sandwiches are way better than that floury wasteland’s chicken tacos!”

“Well, I don’t know,” The businessman says with honesty. “I’m new to this city, so I don’t know all the dining places yet.”

“Well, be sure to come to our place again!” Aria tries to convince him. “We have a two-for-two deal happening every ‘Fryin’ Friday’!”

“Sheesh, what a product placement,” The businessman whispers under his breath. “I’ll think about it, ma’am.”

Aria returns to the Flying Chicken to tell Fiamma about her encounter with the worker. “Someone wanted to visit our competitor, Fiamma!”

“Not now,” Fiamma bluntly blerts as she flips some chicken patties. “Cooking.”

“Well… okay…”

Aria shrinks away to do another delivery. For a moment, the mention of Taco Thursday invades Fiamma’s mind. She shudders, wondering what it would be like to be the only worker at that much more popular establishment.

Meanwhile, Aria takes more orders and brings them to various homes. Most of them are mundane, but all of a sudden, one particular order has Aria traveling to a faraway place in Ayers City. In the adjacent woods of Lakewood Forest, there’s a wooden cabin standing by itself.

Aria looks around at the new scenery. The bushes and the trees are a vast contrast to where she was. The setting sun nearby gives the forest an extra dank vibe. “Geez, I wonder who lives all the way here?” She asks herself.

As Aria approaches the door, she snickers as a thought pops into her head. “It’s probably some old witch, or something,” Aria whispers to herself as she knocks.

The person on the other side of the door turns out to be a girl in a typical witch outfit. She has a red robe with black outlines, red thigh-high boots, blonde pigtails, and a red, stereotypical, pointy witch hat. A heart symbol is on the girl’s chest, complementing her ruby-like eyes.

Three other girls are in the cabin, which is full of seemingly personally-made furniture. The three girls have outfits just like the one in front of the doorway, but two of them have inverted, black outfits. One girl has blue eyes, black, longish hair with a spades symbol on her chest. Another has dark skin, brown hair, blue eyes, and a club symbol on her chest. The last one, the one in red, has long, orange hair, red eyes, and a diamond symbol on her chest.

“Guys, guys, look, the spell from the magical tablet worked!” The girl in pigtails tells the others.

“Ooooh! That chicken smells heavenly!” The brown-haired girl comments.

“I’m sorry, what?” Aria asks in confusion, but the girl with black hair approaches her before she can process what’s going on. “Ah, sorry, here’s your meal!” Aria says, handing her their meal.”

“Th-thank you so much, ma’am!” The black-haired girl forces out, her attitude showing a sense of anxiety.

Aria notices that the orange-haired girl is holding a tablet. “What else could we do with this magic tablet?” The orange-haired girl says as she stares at the tablet’s screen.

“Uhhh… what are you talking about? That tablet is magic?” Aria asks, confused again.

“Why, of course!” The girl in pigtails answers. “The person who gave us this says it can do anything! It can make frames of reality itself! It can summon people like you! It can even make worlds inside of it!”

“Oooh, that reminds me, let’s summon some sheep!” The brown-haired girl suggests.

“Let’s summon some chips, too!” The orange-haired girl adds. “We could use some extra cash.”

The black-haired girl puts in her idea. “M-maybe we can summon-”

All of a sudden, the glow of the tablet turns off, its life having been drained away. “Hey, what’s the big idea?!” The orange-haired girl shouts, noticing that the tablet’s energy has faded.

As the four girls jiggle the tablet around and wonder why it’s suddenly turned off, Aria is just standing there, asking herself what she’s even witnessing in her mind. Eventually, Aria just decides to leave, weirded out by everything.

“Man, that was really odd,” Aria comments to the air. She eventually realizes that those women were familiar; they looked like the main characters of a cartoon show she watched as a kid called The Ace Mages of Casina. A small wave of nostalgia hits her, but Aria shakes it off to focus on the next series of orders.

Aria takes one last round of delivering as the day turns to night. As she soars, however, she accidentally drops one of the meals. “Ah crap!” She shouts.

Aria attempts to fly down to rescue the food, but she’s too late. The food splatters all over a random sidewalk. Aria stares in shock for a moment. “Ah crap,” Aria whispers. “I’ll… just refund whoever that was and deal with them later.”

Meanwhile, Uriel is standing near his doorstep. He stands there for a while, wondering when his food will arrive. A few minutes later, Uriel’s thoughts begin to rise. I swear my food should’ve been here by now. Did something happen to it?

At the Flying Chicken, Aria returns yet again. She notices that Fiamma is less stressed out than usual. “Looks like Rush Hour has finally started to subside,” Fiamma sighs to Aria. “Thank god. I’m tired as hell.”

Aria looks at the white and blue dining area. There is indeed a more usual count of customers at the Flying Chicken, that being a few. “Yeah, sure looks like it,” Aria says to Fiamma.

“Pretty sure there’s only one more delivery you’ll need to do before we close it for the night,” Fiamma mentions, soon pointing to a single bag left on the silver table.

“Alright, this’ll be easy-peasy,”

Aria takes the meal and sets off to the final location. As the moon shows itself, Aria comes across a very familiar place for her final delivery. The house she looks at is colored white, though it has a very slight purplish tint. The roof tiles are mauve, and there’s a symbol above the door.

The symbol resembles an orange circle with a triangle, square, and another circle within each other, surrounded by the five other colors of the rainbow. Geez, is it just me, or do I know this place? Aria thinks. Is this my house?

When Aria knocks on the door, someone she knows comes right out. The leafy shoulders, the brown hair, the crystalline dress, it’s Tierra! “Tierra?! This is my house!” Aria confirms out loud.

“Aria…? Aren’t you supposed to be working right now?” Tierra questions her blonde friend.

“Don’t worry, I am working!” Aria clarifies. “I’m just substituting Dane for the day.”

“A worker had to call in sick? That’s unfortunate. So… got my food?”

Aria appears confused. Usually, Tierra is the most health-conscious one in the group. “Your food? Didn’t think you’d order fast food for yourself.” Aria replies as she hands Tierra’s bag to her.

“Eh, thought I’d treat myself for once,” Tierra simply answers.

“Welp, see ya again when I’m off of work, Tierra!” Aria shouts as she begins to leave.

“See ya, Aria.”

Aria makes her final trip back to her workplace, where she notices Fiamma next to the cashier. Unbeknownst to her, Fiamma is nodding off. “Alright, Fiamma, that should be the deliveries dealt-”

The blonde worker eventually notices her friend’s catnap. “Geez, the rush hour really got to you, didn’t it?” Aria says with a grin.

Fiamma jolts straight awake all of a sudden, startling her friend. “Welcome to the Flying Chicken, how can I help you today?” Fiamma questions with a slightly manic tone.

“Fiamma, it’s just me.”

“Ah, sorry,” Fiamma apologizes before letting out a yawn. “I knew I should’ve gotten that espresso. Damn work shifts always vary from starting at five PM to ending at five AM.”

“Guess you’re all ‘burnt out’, huh?” Aria teases.

Fiamma moans annoyingly. “‘Aerate’ your jokes somewhere else.”

It doesn’t take much of the night for Fiamma and Aria’s shifts to end. The two go up to their boss, Ashton. “Alright, our shift’s finally over,” Fiamma tells him.

“Yeah, I know,” Ashton replies. “Hey, thanks for being here for that manic day. I could tell you two were pretty stressed.”

“Heh, I had a way to decrease it,” Aria comments.

Ashton sighs before quietly talking to himself. “Of course, Dane had to get ill on one of our busiest days.”

“So, uh, can I go to bed now?” Fiamma asks.

“There’s one more thing I want to say,” Ashton answers. “I’m feeling extra generous today, so I’m making you two the employees of the month. I know we usually only do one, but I’m making an exception here.

Both workers light up at Ashton’s words, with Fiamma’s tiredness being lifted for a moment. “Ah hell yeah!” Fiamma exclaims. “Do you know what this means, Aria?”

The two girls hand five to each other before simultaneously saying ‘Free lunches!’. Ashton speaks up one last time. “Alright, with that out of the way, you two may clock out of your-”

Before Ashton can finish, a customer walks in. “Ah, a customer!” Aria brightly points out. “I’ll deal with this one.”

Aria goes up to the register and notices that it’s Uriel. “Hi, Uriel! How may I help you?” Aria asks him.

“Don’t mind me… I just want to try and get a chicken sandwich one more time.” Uriel explains. “I’m hoping just eating here will fix my bad luck.”

“No problem, I’ll get that for you! That’ll be $6.99!”

Fiamma and Aria get Uriel his order before clocking out and heading back home to rest. At one of the blue booths, Uriel looks at his meal. Finally… I get to enjoy this meal! Uriel happily thinks.

But, unfortunately for Uriel, he accidentally makes his drink fall thanks to his hand hitting it. The soda spilled over both the chicken sandwich and the fries he was about to eat. Uriel stares at the soiled meal for a moment before thinking again. Why do I even bother…

At the Royal Element’s home, Aria is lying on her bed in her yellow-themed room. “Man, today was pretty interesting,” Aria says to the air.

A fat, yellow bird flies up to the bed and perches next to Aria. “What do you mean, Aria?”

Aria tilts her head to look at the bird. “Oh, hey, Feather,” She greets the talking bird. “Just talking about today. Had to do delivery.”

“Sounds stressful!”

“Eh, it wasn’t that bad,” Aria admits. “Though I forgot how strange some people can be.”

Aria thinks about all the people she gave food to. Sure, some of them were average, but others left her head scratching. Some were quirky, others were just plain weird.

“Heh, that’s just Ayres City, though.” Aria eventually says. “It’s not Ayres City without it being a little weird!”

“You have a point,” Feather replies, before flying to a nearby pole for him to sit on. “You and the other Royal Elements have a reason to protect it, after all.”

“True. I guess we’ll just have to see what else life has to offer!”

Aria slowly but surely drifts off to sleep, appreciating the city she enjoys. Alongside that, she also anticipates the next day. Maybe it’ll be something magical, as usual.

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