Double Image

[Thexare]

Unusually, today Mystic was dressed in a very normal outfit. A simple slate blue shirt, light khaki pants, and his hair drawn back in a loose ponytail. Across the court, Lauren wore a red tank top and a loose black skirt.

In tennis, after all, you need far more freedom of movement than Mystic's typical outfits provide. It was once again his ball, and he let loose with a forceful serve. Lauren would've been able to return it, were it not for a freak bounce off a stray pebble sending the ball off to the side.

"Hah! Fifteen-love."

"You lucky bastard!" she shouted, returning to position and tossing the ball back over the net. Second serve, this time returned gracefully. A brief volley ended with Lauren overextending, and being unable to catch up in time on Mystic's return shot.

"That makes thirty," he taunted, taking the ball back to his position. Third serve, surprisingly weak. The ball bounced too low; Lauren's return hit the net. "Now forty!"

"Just serve the damn ball."

"As you wish," he said with a smirk, smashing the ball at full force. This time, Lauren held back, returning from near the baseline. Despite a few attempts to get the ball over Mystic's head, this point again ended in his favor, for the game. Just as Lauren had taken the ball for her turn, she saw a familiar face.

"Hey, Mystic, looks like Tits showed up," she said, glancing over at their visitor.

"Yep! So did the rest of me, but I understand how you missed that," Mia replied, smiling.

"How'd you find us, anyway?" Lauren asked, a little confused.

"Oh, I just followed your car after I saw Zack getting in." A sharp glare from Lauren was the response. "Relax, I'm kidding. Alicia told me you'd be here. Thought I'd see how things are going," she explained, looking at Lauren and adding, "That outfit looks really good on you, by the way. Definitely your colors."

"Any news?" 'Zack' asked, to Mia's disappointment.

"Aw, is the act over? Fine, fine, since she knows. Elections in Kusari were held recently, Gallia's still crawling up Bretonia's ass, but all's quiet on the blue front. Weirdly quiet. If I had to guess, they're holding back until all the people are done fighting."

"There's some rumors out of Texas about something, but I don't have anything concrete yet... anything else?"

"Well, there's a lot of angry people at Freeport 6 lately, but I doubt that's anything important. You know how moody they can be. Now get back to that game, I wanna see someone that can finally beat mom and sis in doubles."

"You're in for some disappointment, then... Lauren's a lot better than I am. We're at one and five so far."

"... Well, maybe me and Lauren can win one. Keep playing, I still wanna watch."