金玉其外

"How does that feel and look?" Hansol asks curiously. Truth be told, Oliver had told her about this friend of his. That they were from the same world, and how cute it was to hear Oliver wanted to get her something but wasn't sure what to get her.

He had asked Hansol for help, and this was the perfect time than any!

"it is cute," giselle agrees, "but the brim's so wide it even blocks the view. um, i guess that's the point?"

less view, less sun. that made sense. she twirls in front of the mirror to check herself from all angles.

"i used to think only people in movies wore hats like these," giselle mutters. sure, she had her share of fashion hats too, but they were small and hardly blocked the sun!

It'd be easier to explain when she saw the sun the next morning. For now, it was already set. It was evening, and the sky was a different hue from its usual bright, clear blue.

"This world doesn't need to be saved. At least not like ours, you know?"

Their food arrives and is placed on the table. Oliver doesn't dig in just yet, trying to gauge her reaction at least.

"so we're like, on vacation now?"

no more fighting or deployment or balancing essay assignments with late-night missions and half the extra crap that came with being saviors on call while dealing with compulsory education?

"ugh, then what about all the time we spent training?"

"i don't wanna just waste time here. oliver, we should find a way to get home!"

she stares at her plate before catching sight of two pretty sunny-side-up eggs smiling back at her.

"The sunny side up! It's really good. You'll see." he gives her another big grin, and when the server comes to take their order, he's ordering for them both, cheerfully.

"yeah, i saw those. there's one that looks like a donut and the other that makes up its hole, right?"

she tries glancing out the window for them now, but they're on the wrong side of the diner to catch the view. taking another sip of her milkshake, giselle glances back at oliver while feeling a touch bit anxious.

"it's not—it can't be the sun, right? we haven't even done anything yet!"

She seemed to negotiate it just fine though, and before long the same server that had given her order to someone else flagged her down to receive what had been accidentally taken from her. "Om." She didn't hesitate to take a bite.

"that's so cute! i'm Giselle, but Gigi's fine too."

"does everyone call you Lulu?"

it makes sense, right? anything longer than three syllables was easier to say in shortened form.

"and oh my gosh, don't worry about it! my baba* gives me a huuuuge allowance every month. though, um, i guess i haven't figured out how wire transfers work here yet..."

"you're at least 5th—no, 6th place on my list of people to dream about!"

ugh, oliver was so embarrassing. you couldn't just say things like that, it sounded weird!

It is a shame that the others aren't here, but to see Giselle here, it's nice. He's happy or something.

"sSsip. ok, so spill."

And of course whatever it was that Architect was wearing.

"i sleep in my onesie, not track dirt on it from outside! i bet you even wear your shoes indoors, you—you dried fish!"

and in weather this hot, she was probably sweating in it too. ugh no ewww.

Another day meant another act of destruction Architect did to try and break her boredom. Maybe her friends were starting to have a point in the idea the doll should get a job instead of this. Or at least make a living out of this. Today wouldn't be that day as the dust continued to come out from the wreckage but at least it wouldn't have been too boring. Not when she barely moved her head from the very painful clunk the asphalt would've had on her head...

"if you were really a grandma, you'd already be dead in the crater!" giselle shot back.

"and what if i was a baby? i couldn't have crawled out of the way before you exploded the entire street!"

now that the dust was clearing, she could finally get a better view of the culprit. the other had a head and four limbs like any other human, but—

"huh? are you four years old?!"

The cause of the mix-up was obvious. The one handing out the order was not the staff member that had taken it, so he'd probably just looked for a "teenaged girl", and they were the only two that fit the bill in the store at the time.

"what?"

"wait—you're kidding, right? that'd be so unprofessional, ahhhh—"

she jumps to her feet the next second, eyes blazing despite the growing flush on her cheeks.

"hold on and don't do anything. i'll go fix this."

this part of the cafe is located in a covered area outdoors, the better to see the sea. giselle straightens herself up before marching straight inside, the clip-clop of her heels echoing against the floors.

" Huh? "

There's a teenager there, bright pink hair clad in high fashion. Rich brat. He only partially notes this as he wakes up. It's a good thing he's not feeling nauseated right now at least but he does look like a ghost with the pale face and messy hair.

" What did you say? "

He bounces on his feet there eyes on the bulletin board now. As he stares something else comes to mind too.

giselle frowns but stands her ground, hands on her hips. "i saaaaid, this is the last stop before the train starts circling the ward again."

"you're not gonna sleep here overnight, right? i thought everyone got assigned housing."

the guy looks like a bad extra outta a vampire movie. he miiiight be okay if he cleaned himself up, but right now he was a disaster. the poor guy was losing his memory and hearing in real time.