The city was quiet but this would change. Soon the Plaza would be filled with explorers from around the world. Small groups started to appear. Some by the map, some by the tree. From the King's Lookout I saw explorers enter and exit the Kadish gallery and pass through the canyon mall. Occasionally one would jump from the holes in the walkway towards the lake before panic linking out only to return a few minutes later to repeat the process. Poor fools I thought. Trapped in their GZ calibrations. I chuckled to myself as I remembered doing the same thing years before.
Sure enough, I was joined on the King's Lookout by many friendly faces. Flora and Hannah Renshaw were joined by Artus Matloff and Eric Gibson. Sometimes we'd watch the groups moving through the canyon mall or give style points to those leaping off the cliff only to return moments later.
"Wait, wait, wait." Artus Matloff, or Vinsce as he had recently chosen to be called, struggled to keep from laughing. "How long have they been trying to get that marker?"
"Maybe an hour?" I replied. Vinsce could hardly contain his amusment.
"Come on now, Vinsce." Hannah was trying to take the high road, but she couldn't help but smirk. "Surely you went through the same thing when you got here?" Vinsce shook his head while laughing silently as he showed her his KI. Hannah punched him in the arm. "You! I don't believe you!"
"What is it?" Flora's interested was peaked.
"The dunce never calibrated his KI." Hannah started ranting. She just couldn't understand how someone wouldn't want to calibrate their KI. Vinsce could only laugh making her more flustered than anything. Eric, who had been leaning against the railing as we watched this exchange leaned over to me and directed me to look across the way. Torri was on her way.
".shorah, everyone." Torri spoke very softly. almost not audible.
"Hey there, Torri. What's up?" Eric asked. He took care as he removed his sunglasses and placed them inside his jacket pocket.
"It's been a bit rough at work lately." She seemed to be counting the stones on the floor. "My manager," she began, "Always makes me deal with the unhappy customers. It's pretty stressful," Torri said. She seemed pretty frustrated.
Flora quickly took her to the side and spoke to her in a hushed voice. Vinsce and Eric exchanged glances as Torri threw her head back in laughter. Flora kept giggling as Torri struggled to catch her breath. Artus shook his head and sighed as he turned back to the balcony to watch another attempt by the most unfortunate explorer.
"So, what's this about a Heek Tournament I've been hearing?" I asked.
"We've been practicing." Hannah said with a glace to Torri. "It's a lot more in depth than I thought."
"Who would've thought Torri'd be such a ringer," Vinsce said.
"Well..." A sly smile crept across Torri's face. "Don't give me too much credit." Torri said.
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