Aria's lips twitched despite herself. "Teamwork? They look like they're slow-dancing at a tavern."
The skeletons, still locked together, staggered a few awkward steps and collapsed in a heap. A single femur rolled away with a mournful clatter.
"Fine," Laxin muttered, scrambling to pile them back up. "They're still… choreographing. Just needs polish."
"One of them tried to grab my skeleton's waist," Aria said flatly.
He gasped, scandalized. "Impossible! I didn't program romance into their mana flow."
"Maybe you didn't. But apparently they did."
Before Laxin could retort, one of his reassembled skeletons stood, snapped rigidly upright—then immediately faceplanted, skull-first, into the dirt.
Thunk.
He froze, staring down at it with twitching eyes. "…Okay, now they're just mocking me."
Aria lost it. A laugh burst out, sharp and bright, breaking through her controlled exterior. She tried to smother it behind her hand, but another chuckle slipped free.
