Darrell just chuckled in response.

"Heh. Fair enough." he said.

"I'm looking forward to it." he told her.

"This is rather exciting for me." he went on.

"I'm eager to see what happens when we get there." he continued.

"See what life has in store for me now."

Darrell chuckled as well.

"Really." he said.

"Well, I'll be another without." he told her.

"So there's that." he said further.

"And a while ride, eh?" he asked.

"Sweet!" he exclaimed.

"Then ONWARD!"

"Sure thing!" Darrell exclaimed, letting loose a wild howl of excitement from the dive.

"HEEEEEEELLLLLLLLL YEEEEEEEEAH!" he screamed out.

---

The sun was just starting to rise, with Lindsay smiling at it.

"Beautiful as always" he said to himself.

"Guess I should..." he started to say further, before he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, there they are." he commented.

He then raised his arm, pointed a finger to the sky, and sent a small red fireball up into the air, almost like a signal flare for what he saw.

"Oh, terribly!" Lindsay replied with a dramatic flourish.

"You know how lonely I get when we miss our fortnightly torrid extramarital affair!" he exclaimed.

"It bothers me SO!" he then declared.

"....." Darrell was silent, unsure as to what to make of all this.

"Relax, I'm kidding." Lindsay assured him.

"Welcome, Darrell." he then greeted him.

"Hey." Darrell replied.

Darrell nodded and followed her inside, as Lindsay looked out at the sunrise again.

"Hm." he mumbled.

"Wonder if there's time for a quick jog before breakfast..." he said to himself.

Meanwhile, as Ashleigh and Darrell descended into the house, Darrell looked around.

"So..." he said.

"That accurately set the standard for humour around here?" he asked, referring to the interaction that her and Lindsay had had on the roof.

Darrell looked around at the room, and was about to say something, but paused.

"....wait..." he said.

"We're... not alone in here." he told her.

It was then that another young male, looking to be the same age as Darrell... suddenly pounced out from underneath the bed, and launched himself right towards Darrell.

In response, Darrell was quick, and manoeuvred so that the figure went soaring above him... but he grabbed one of their arms and used their own momentum to slam him down onto the floor, on his back.

".....woah." was all the figure had to say, getting his wind back.

"Never thought grandma's combat lessons would come in handy in THIS manner..." Darrell admitted.

Evan shook his head vigorously to clear it, and brushed himself off.

"Yeah, I'm cool." he replied.

"Just had the wind knocked outta me." he said.

"That was the intent." Darrell responded.

Evan than shot a look right towards Darrell.

"You're a mana hunter!?" he exclaimed.

"I... yeah..." Darrell responded nervously.

"....that is SO COOL!" Evan exclaimed, much to Darrell's shock and confusion.

Evan looked at Ashleigh silently for a moment.

"Early." he said.

"Got up 30 minutes ago." he told her.

"Left my window open, heard mice chittering about outside. Woke me RIGHT up." he continued.

"...just decided it was time to be up at that point." he shrugged, before looking at Darrell.

"Name's Evan!" he introduced himself, extending a hand.

"Darrell." Darrell replied, accepting the hand and shaking it.

"Coffee would be great." Darrell said.

"I'll just have juice." Evan told her.

Darrell was silent, before letting go of Evan's hand.

"Want help unpacking?" Evan asked him.

"Yeah, sure." Darrell replied.

"Aunt Ashleigh'll call you when the coffee's ready," Evan then said.

"........" Evan was silent, and looked away.

"........sorry..." he apologised quietly.

"I've learned my lesson, I swear." he said.

Darrell just looked between the two of them clearly confused.

"What, you want me to let her push me down the stairs or something?" Evan then asked Ashleigh.