"Are you sure you can drive?" Ritsuka asked as Lee Seng got into the driver's seat. He slid in as Ritsuka quickly went to the other side and got in.
"I'm fine." Lee Seng reassured him for the 100th time. Ritsuka and Lee Seng closed the door to their side. The car roared to life and Lee Seng played with the heat, defrosting the windows and locking the door.
Ritsuka seatbelted with Lee Seng following suit. It hadn't gotten too cold and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.
"Are you sure? I can drive." Ritsuka asked, again. Lee Seng looked at him and nodded.
"I'm fine. I'm glad you're worrying about me, but stop it. It's making me uncomfortable." Lee Seng told him. He mumbled something about "how I'm uncomfortable" under his breath as he put the car into reverse and backed out of the driveway and into the street.
"It looks like Sara didn't do anything to the cars." Ritsuka casually brought it up. He looked at Lee Seng as Lee Seng shifted the car into drive and started off towards the Mail Center.
"She's smart enough to know when I'm serious." Lee Seng replied in a "matter of fact" tone. Some time had passed and they were waiting for a stop light to turn red.
"So," Ritsuka began. Lee Seng looked at him before looking at the light. It turned green and the car started to slowly roll forward, again. "Have you thought about what you're gonna do while you're not forced into training?"
"Train." Lee Seng replied. His eyes watched the cars in front of him as he quietly tapped away to the song that came on.
"You sure? You could barely keep up when you came to class."
"I think I pinpointed it down to my legs." Lee Seng told him. He lightly tapped his thigh. "I tried to run a mile but I was feeling a lot of pain by the time I finished one… I just wanna run a couple miles." He began to pour as Ritsuka shook his head.
"You haven't been able to run in like two months. You must feel out of it."
"Yeah, I do." Lee Seng slowed down and clicked his blinker to turn right. He turned and followed the road a couple houses down and found the Mail Center to his left. He flicked the signal to left and waited for cars to pass before he pulled into the parking lot. "I'm itching to train myself but everyone tells me to take it easy.
"It feels like there's this energy in my chest that's telling me I need to get back into shape." Lee Seng pulled into a parking spot and put the car into park and turned to look at Ritsuka. "That reminds me. Have I been acting weird to you?"
"Huh?" Ritsuka looked up from his phone and looked at him. His mind registered the question and he shook his head. "No, I think you've been you. Even when you were talking to Sara. You were 100% you. Why?"
Ritsuka and Lee Seng unbuckled themselves. The car doors unlocked and the car shut off as the two of them got out of the car and closed the doors. Lee Seng locked the car as the two of them met in front of the car. Lee Seng looked around to make sure no one was around before he asked Ritsuka the question he was curious about.
"When did I look like a normal human?" Lee Seng asked. Ritsuka looked at Lee Seng and gave him a confused look.
"What do you mean by that?" Ritsuka asked. He turned and slowly started walking to the front entrance. "You've always looked like you? What, you're supposed to look like something else?"
'Hmm, is he being serious? The fact no one has brought it up to me scares me even more… Did their minds get wiped?' Lee Seng thought.
"Hurry up!" Ritsuka called. He waved at Lee Seng as Lee Seng looked up and jogged towards Ritsuka. The two friends opened the door and stepped inside the warm establishment.
The Mail Center lobby was large. There were people standing in the open lines and being called over to the next open clerk. PO Boxes lined on the right as Ritsuka and Lee Seng stood in one of the lines and waited.
"Are you pulling my dick?" Lee Seng asked. Ritsuka turned slightly to the left, and looked at him.
"No. You've always looked like you. What're you supposed to look like?" Ritsuka asked. They moved to the front of the line as Lee Seng casually nodded his head.
'So they don't remember at all… Does that mean nobody remembers my actual form?' Lee Seng wondered.
"I can help you over here!" A woman waved for Lee Seng and Ritsuka. The two of them wandered over and greeted the woman.
"Hello." Lee Seng and Ritsuka greeted each other.
"Hi, what can I do for you?" The woman looked between the two of them.
"I'm here to pick up a package for Lee Seng Chang." Lee Seng answered, pulling a piece of paper out. He had been told by Olivia to print the email out in case he was asked for it.
"Okay, can you give me that paper notice and a form of ID?"
Lee Seng fished for his wallet and took out his ID. Ritsuka got a glance at it and noticed he was way more muscular in his photo.
"Here you go." Lee Seng handed it over. The woman typed in some information and nodded.
"I'll go get your package for you. One moment, please." She set his stuff to the side and wandered into the back to find the package.
"You lost a lot of muscle." Ritsuka told him. "Your ID photo made you look way more muscular. I don't think I've seen you with that much muscle before."
"Yeah, that's when I was really into the whole weightlifting thing. I got threatened by people at the gym I attended so I stopped going. I was powerless then but if I walked in there now, I think they would be hesitant to tell me to get the fuck outta there." Lee Seng told him.
"Ahh." Ritsuka nodded. "You ever wanna be that big again? That looked like a lot of work."
"Nah, I just wanna get back to how I was. I think I slimmed down a lot." Lee Seng looked down at his chest and grabbed his pec. 'They were so beautifully sculpted too." He fake cried.
"Alright, I have your package here. I'll just input this into the system saying you received it." The woman told him.
"Alright, thank you." Lee Seng gave a small nod at her. The boys watched her do her work and quickly slid the ID into the large box and pushed it towards them.
"Anything else I can help you with?" The woman asked.
"Nope, that's all." Lee Seng grabbed his ID and slipped it back into his wallet before grabbing the box. "Thank you."
"Thanks." Ritsuka waved.
"Have a good day." The woman bowed. The two returned outside and to the car. Lee Seng opened the back trunk and put the box in and closed the trunk. He got into the car where Rituska was buckling up.
"Lunch time?" Lee Seng asked.
"Sure. I don't have anything else to do today." Ritsuka nodded.
"You already finished the homework?"
"After yesterday, I had so much time. Did you finish it?"
"Nah." Lee Seng reversed the car out of the parking spot and started his way out of the lot towards the KBBQ joint.
- Daros -
Roughly a month has passed in Daros
"The point of this exercise is to see what senses are available for you to use." Gorrum told Keng. A bowl of water with a floating wood piece in it sat in front of Keng. They were sat at a table. Gorrum sat in front of him with the bowl of water and a floating piece of wood.
"You will focus and feel the energy with your hands. You need to feel for the energy in the bowl with your sense of touch. Keep your blindfold on and it will dull your other senses. If you feel something, tap twice. If you feel nothing, tap once, got it?" Gorrum instructed.
"Yes." Keng nodded.
"Start." Gorrum motioned. Keng put the blindfold on and immediately felt his senses disappear. He could only feel his touch. He slowly moved his hands from his face to down. He carefully moved until he could feel the table.
He could feel something vibrating. He slowly moved his fingers forward as Gorrum watched.
"You're finally testing for his senses?" Elder Jyu'so asked.
"Yes, Elder." Gorrum nodded. He motioned for Jyu'so to sit and Jyu'so did so. "He grasped the concept of Energy Manipulation quickly. Touch was one of the ways I used it and it seemed to work. I want to know how sharp it is."
"So you're using the faux bowl method." Jyu'so nodded. "Do you think he'll know the difference?"
"That there's no water nor a wooden carved piece in it?"
"Mmm." Jyu'so nodded. They watched as Keng's hands found the bowl and wrapped his hands around it. His mouth twitched and he slowly moved his hand up to the top of the bowl.
"The faux bowl is a sure method that works on those who aren't used to illusions. They may see the water and floating wood piece but it isn't until they start feeling for it, that it's not there."
Keng's finger slowly moved into the bowl. He could feel something there but it seemed… Ethereal. He tilted his head in confusion.
'There should be water, right? I feel nothing but a strange energy. It's… ghostly.' Keng thought. His finger tapped the bottom of the bowl and then pulled out. He knocked twice before pulling his blind off.
"It feels… ethereal." Keng looked at Gorrum and joined Elder Jyu'so in front of him. He looked at the bowl and focused on it. "That's an illusion?"