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Eunmi pressed her index finger and thumb to the bridge of her ********. 'Let's teach her both korean and english! She'll be bilingual! It'll be great!' Thanks, MOM."

Eunmi murmured.

Eunmi dropped her hand, catching Henrietta on the shoulder, putting a bit of weight into her arm to force Henrietta to sit back down.

"If you're going to go scouting out Gorm," Eunmi paused, making sure by Henrietta's expression, and anyone else's for that matter, that she was speaking english. "Then you're gonna let me finish eating and we'll go with you."

She angrily sat back in her seat, glaring at her sandwich and then suddenly pointed at Henrietta.

"Don't ******** argue with me, either. You're not going off alone." She turned her attention to Salieri, now pointing at her. She took an angry bite from her sandwich.

"You really think you can take that guy?" Tone still a bit annoyed.

((And end flashback razz ))

Salieri found her eyes darting back and forth between Eunmi and Henrietta as they spoke. Was this what they called a lover's quarrel? They're just trying to protect each other. Oh, so cute!

She shook her head at Eunmi, still smiling. "Are you kidding me? That guy helped to punch out a building without ever touching it. I stand a very little chance. But still, I just have to experience that fighting prowess first hand. And maybe I can get a sneak attack in and knock him out!"

With that last sentence, she clenched her fist and brought it up next to her head, accidentally punching the Air Balloon. It popped instantly, sending Chen Zhen onto the ground butt first. "Sage!" he yelped before looking at the remains of his new ride.

Then Salieri pointed to Henrietta, not noticing the damage she had caused. "You make it sound like your only goal on this journey is to survive. There are plenty of better things to strive for." Sal tapped the shinai holstered at her side, not as a taunt but as a reminder to Henrietta that she had purposefully weakened herself to get farther along. "It's certainly harder to do that without a soul, either way. If she's helped you for this long, don't insult her by turning her away now."

"Pa-paaaan," Chen Zhen mumbled, his bottom lip quivering. Salieri now turned her head down to the popped grey balloon he was holding in his hands.

"Did I just do that? Aw Che Zhen, I'm sorry." She frowned. Immediately after, an idea swept across her face. "Oh oh oh, Chen Zhen! Use that new move! The useless one! Uh, uh..." She snapped her fingers, trying to think. "Bicycle? No, not that. Oh, Recycle!"

Chen Zhen nodded and clapped his hands together, holding them their with his eyes closed. Two light green arrows of light began to circle around the air balloon, which began to reform as though time was moving backwards for it. It began to reinflate, and the hole Salieri had made fixed itself. The Air Balloon was as good as new, and the Pansage caught it between his hands happily.

"Ya-pan!" he cried out as he hopped back onto the balloon, riding it around some more. Salieri sighed in relief.

"Looks like that move isn't so useless after all."

It was an insult? Henrietta looked over at Eunmi like she'd hurt the girl. She recalled her words, Eunmi had said it herself, that Henrietta needed protection. That she would do it and they would be friends.

But I don't want her to get hurt for me.

"I'm sorry," she said. Her eyes downcast, her head tilted slightly down. "I-i j-just... Don't see why you would fight for me. And I... I don't like seeing you hurt. When you fought that man in the tournament, when I saw you, I... I felt so b-bad." She couldn't bring herself to look up, it was hard enough. Eunmi was pissed and only now did Henrietta realize what might just be the cause of that.

That brought things back to what Henrietta wanted to know before. "Why did you lie to me and say you couldn't fight?" Surprised by her own icy tone she hastily added, "y-y-you h-had me w-worried wh-when you said you c-couldn't."

Eunmi set her hand on the table, leaning now on the arm she had just held up.

"When you're that high up and you come crashing down," Eunmi started with a sigh, leaning back in her seat. "It's not something you're proud of."

The teenager looked over to Salieri and Robby and then back to Henrietta.

"I don't always think through the consequences of my actions," Eunmi admitted, something she would usually say with a weak smile, but she sounded pretty serious now. "To be honest, I don't really care that my lie worried you.

"We don't know each other that well," she said softly. "It's sometimes easier to pretend to be someone you're not to hide your vulnerabilities."

Eunmi smiled now, but it was a sad sort of look. She was staring at her nails, fidgeting with her fingers.

"That said, actions speak louder than words. I can't change to not know how to do something I trained to do," Eunmi shrugged. "But dreams change..."

<...or at least, people do.>

Eunmi regretted ordering such a large sandwich - her appetite was gone now. She prodded the sub as if it were alive somehow and then shoved the plate aside. Maybe Robby would want it.

"That's what friends do, Henrietta," Eunmi frowned, looking slightly bewildered by the question.

"I mean, if our roles were reversed," Eunmi said, waving her hand between herself and Henrietta. "Then wouldn't you do the same?"

She wouldn't know? Eunmi couldn't help but smile. It was sort of cute in a pathetic puppy dog sort of way.

"...Alright then," Eunmi stretched. She wasn't hungry anymore, so she figured they might as well do what Henrietta wanted, since she was so eager.

"You wanna go look for Gorm now...?"