The morning sun slowly crept over the horizon, giving light to the entire city. It filled Ethan’s room, stirring him from his slumber. He mumbled under his breath, ‘Drat, forgot to close the blinds.’ Turning his body from the window, he shielded himself from the blinding light, so he can return to sleep. Several minutes go by, however, and he has yet to fall back to sleep. Ethan sighs tiredly and gets up.

Bending down, he stretches out his back from sleeping uncomfortably last night. He rises back up, and looks around the room, the bland white walls reflect the sunlight, straining his eyes. His gaze shifts over to the stack of boxes by the wall. Knowing that he has to change into new clothes, he walks out of his room toward the kitchen. After several minutes of searching, he finds the drawer filled spoons, forks, and butter knives. He grabs a knife and heads back to his room.

Grabbing three boxes that are labeled ‘clothes’ he lays them down on his bed. The early morning is a blur to him as he begins to cut open the boxes and takes out several stacks of clothes. While he went back and forth sorting between clothes for the closet and the dresser, he thought of his plans for the day.

‘Hm, I might as while go out and buy some groceries. If I remember, my truck should be downstairs in the parking garage. I just need to stop by the front desk and pick up my keys.’ Finishing the unpacking, he grabbed a new set of clothes and went to the restroom.

Finishing his morning routine, he went back to his room, rummaging through his carrying bag for his wallet then headed to the kitchen grabbed the same cup of water and took out his medication. 

‘Bottoms up’ he thought as he downed the pills with the water. Putting the cup back in the sink, he made his way to the door and exited his apartment.

Shortly after that, he arrived in the lobby which was fairly packed with people who were also leaving to do their daily jobs in the city. Ethan stepped up to the front desk, greeted by the same clerk from last night. 

“Ah, good morning Mr. Willburn. What can I help you with today?” Ethan responded calmly to the clerk, trying not to let his anxiety get the best of him. 

“I’m here to pick up my keys to my truck.” The clerk nodded to his request and leaned over to the side, opening a small drawer that contains a single pair of keys.

Leaning back over to Ethan, the clerk held them out to him. “Here you go sir, I hope you have a great morning!” The cheerful response slightly fazed Ethan as he took his keys. He hid it as best as he could when he responded. 

“Y-you too as well.” He nodded his head and turned toward the parking garage.

The drive over took half an hour. Finding a spot was easy since there were at least four lots open for parking. Turning off his car, Ethan made sure that his keys and wallet were with him. Satisfied, he walked out of his truck.

Grabbing a map on a kiosk, he looked to see which section of the market he should walk to first. He took mental notes of key locations to remember, then proceeds to walk toward the entrance. 

~~~

What he thought would take a couple of minutes turned into four hours as Ethan was taken back by the enormous amount of people in the market when he had collected his groceries.

Sure, society today prefers to order everything online or having someone drop it off for you, but it was surprising just how this market is able to thrive and how everyone here seems to enjoy coming to each venue and seeing at what was being sold. It was even more so surprising seeing how openly conversational the citizens of Aelwynne were with a complete stranger, seeing how he was giving multiple recipes and trinkets to decorate his empty apartment. 

Ethan's appreciation of Aelwynne slightly grew as he likes how the city wasn't completely advance as it seems and the people living here weren't closed off. Fumbling around with his four bags, he makes his way out of the market, thinking of which recipes he should try first before hearing a familiar voice passing by.

"Darn it, Ruby! You said you would be back in a few minutes! Where are you! Were are gonna be late!"

Swiveling around, he sees a disgruntled Lily, dressed in a grey and white striped t-shirt and black leggings, mumbling to herself and twisting the end of her braided hair as she paced back and forth waiting for her twin sister who seems to be absent.

To be honest, it was a relief for Ethan to see an acquaintance that didn't have that much of an effect on his anxiety during his outing, seeing that Lily might also be a little socially awkward as he was.  Putting on a kind smile, he made his way over to her.

"Good Afternoon Lily." He said half loudly, not wanting to startle her as she was having an internal monologue with herself. It had seemed it worked since she was snapped out of her thoughts and focused on the voice who called out to her. 

Her eyes widen as she recognized Ethan. Returning a smile, though it seemed a bit strained, she greeted him.

"Hello, Ethan. I'm glad to see you again. I see you are enjoying the market." She said as she eyed the multiple bags filled with trinkets.

"Heh, yeah. I had to go out and get my groceries. I didn't expect to be handed out all of this, but it does help with making my apartment feel a bit more welcoming." He said. 

Lily let out a humble chuckle at that. 

"Heh, yes. The people here tend to do that with newcomers...Oh! Might I ask you something real quick?" She inquired suddenly.

Ethan nodded, waiting to hear her question.

"Did you happen to see Ruby in there? She and I came here for errands and we were supposed to leave a few minutes ago but she got a bit distracted by some new items at our favorite venue and sped off before we were set to leave."

Ethan thought for a moment, seeing if he could recall seeing her sister anywhere as he explored the market, but nothing came to mind.

"Sorry, I don't think I saw her." He said with sincere honesty.

"Oh well. Another lecture with our father again." She sighed tiredly, pinching the bridge of her nose.

This put Ethan off a bit as she spoke about her relationship with her father.

"Um, is your father that strict or..."He couldn't help but ask, wanting to sedate his thoughts of worry for the twins if they were going to be in trouble with their father.

"Hm? Oh! No, no!" Lily immediately exclaimed, frantically waving her hands dismissively, telling him that the truth behind his lecture.

"It's just we have an join our father at an important meeting later and he expected us to be back. And this sort of thing with Ruby making us late is a usual occurrence, so it will be a few days before we could go into the market again." It seemed that Lily didn't seem too worried about that punishment as she huffed and looked back into the market, waiting for her sister to walk out.

"Huh, well, can you at least explain to him that you don't have to be grounded as well?" He asked, hoping to help Lily avoid this unfair sort of punishment.

Lily turned to speak before being grabbed from behind and swung around by whoever was holding her.

"Nah, cause she's got to watch over me for the time being. Isn't that right, Lily?" A playful voice answered Ethan's previous question.

Ethan stood in shock but as in enjoyment seeing Ruby had finally returned and surprised both of them by hugging and swinging Lily around.

"Wha-! Lily! Stop! PUT ME DOWN!" Lily demands fell onto silent ears though as Ruby continued to jostle her sister around. 

Ethan chuckled at the scene before him, seeing that he has nothing to worry about. He shouted goodbye to them as he walked towards his truck.

But, what he wasn't aware of was that the two sisters had stopped their sisterly antics to watch him disappear into the crowd. They then turned to each other, as if to start a conversation, but only nodded to each other as they started their walk back home. But, that didn't mean they weren't conversating among themselves since their eyes were glowing a bright pinkish hue.

~'You little-Why did you have to scare me, Ruby!'

-'Sorry, I got worried when I saw you talking with that guy. Are you ok?'

~'Wh-Ruby? Did you forget already? This is Ethan, remember, from yesterday?'

-'Yeah, yeah, Eddie or whatever...'

~'What, n-'

-'More importantly, I'm worried about you being alone with him...'

~'Oh, so NOW you're worried about me?'

-'Shush! You know what I mean...'

~'...Yes, I know...but he seems nice...'

-'It doesn't matter if he's nice or not, we have to call in, just to see if he's...you know...'

Lily sighed, knowing what she has to do. Lifting up her arm that had her silver wristband, she tapped the black square three times until a digital screen emitted out of the square, showing a woman with bright red long hair.

"Girls, it's been half an hour, your father is still waiting." Her voice sounded serious and a bit annoyed. 

Her only response was Ruby's howling laughter and Lily's nervous stammering.

“Haha, a-ah, w-well, it's Ruby's fault for making us late, but..." She hesitated to continue.

"But...?"The woman on the screen pushed, wanting to know what she was about to say.

"...we had a run-in with one of the new humans here at the market. And...I think he might be on your list for potential recruits...so you might want to meet him...as soon as possible." Lily regretfully admitted, hoping that Ethan won't think badly of her for what she had done.