— MY GOD, MY UNIVERSE ...

Jill would've been one of them for sure. Compared to others it was still just a smaller inconvenience compared to what some people the bartender met had to deal with. But that didn't stop her from wanting to vent regardless. Words like that were usually the best way to get something off one's chest, especially when the person that did ruin your life was right in front of you.

"Kinda the same back home too. Everything was all regulated, corpos all couldn't give a rat's ass, and your life was either just painfully average or in the middle of about fifteen different shitholes. Thankfully I didn't get too involved but plenty of people came to the bar to talk about it."

So really she was involved. Just by being their talk buddy rather then directly in it...

there was no choice in the matter, merely a force of acceptance, if one were to at all.

her mind races thinking on what she might do if they were to ever show their smug, masked faces, knowing all too well how she reacted toward luka in the past. ❝ Yeah. A lot of these places, they look like they share that in common, ❞ she assesses, the way she sits straightening as hands move to rest in her lap. ❝ ... you must hear a lot pass through your bar, huh? ❞ she voices this thought aloud, curious as to how so many people might find comfort in speaking of something so deep to someone they had only just met. nor could mizi trully judge them, the exact same having transpired just moments prior, even if it was due to their related captivity.

“Hey-!” He’s about to start towards the person who’d thrown the snowball at Mizi, his arms out to the side aggressively to make himself look bigger, when Mizi drags him behind the snowbank. He blinks at her with wide eyes, as if taking a moment to process what she’s suggesting, before he barks out a laugh.

“’I can’t think of anyone I’d rather go into battle with!’”

While he'd meant to jokingly quote a line from an old movie he’d seen on TV, he’s a little surprised to realize that the sentiment… isn’t inaccurate. This was play-fighting he knew and was familiar with, but if the situation were more dire… He trusts Ivan to have his back just as much, but he’d be worried about that idiot trying to do something self-sacrificial. While Till knows Mizi can be that way too (their whole little group could be, he supposes, and some warm feeling swells in his chest to know that somehow in their fucked up world that he’d happened to find such an exemplary group of humans with such love in their hearts to give) he know that at the very least, if it came down to it, Mizi would go down swinging.

He wonders at how his perception regarding Ivan and Mizi had shifted in that regard. In his mind, Ivan had always been a fighter, but he’s realizing more and more that it’s Till who brings that out in Ivan. Mizi had always been much like a flower to him; beautiful, something perfect to be admired. Till would still compare her to a flower now, but in the sense of a flower’s imperishable nature. How, despite long winters and wildfires, their green bulbs break through the ground again and again, year after year.

Taking the proffered snowball, Till turns around and whips the snowball at the guy who’d thrown one at Mizi, triumphantly watching it explode against his coat.

“YEAH!” Till pumps his fist as he sits back down, but his celebration is cut short by a snowball hitting the back of his head, which was peeking just above the top of the snowdrift.

her thoughts shut off immediately, cut away from where they were headed, like something in her simply locks in place to avoid those haunting, stressful memories.

instead, she gives a firm nod in response to his words of comradery, a shift into 'battle-mode' already registering as she moves to pack a bunch of snow in hand. ❝ Right. Same... ! ❞ and though her lips don't turn into that of a smile back just this moment, there is an enthusiasm in her voice, ready to take down anyone who sought to overthrow their little, makeshift base.

❝ I've got some more ammo ready to go whenever we need, ❞ she reports, quick work made despite the chill that runs through her hand at the endless snow. despite the way it stings on bare flesh, it was something refreshing to the touch, an experience that she, at least for her, never quite got to have until this very moment. is that why she relishes it so much despite knowing she should otherwise recoil from it? the way it was a different type of cold than the ones beneath the waves of her guardian's domain. not to mention the adrenaline rushing through her and till's veins at the sudden declaration of warfare. ❝ Whoa. That's amazing, Till! ❞ they hadn't planned for it, but it settles a kind of warmth in her chest, permeating to the pits of her stomach, to know they were willing to jump to one another's defense.

just like back home, that willingness to forsake the overall, desired picture in order to scribble across the canvas to reach for a fate of their own making.

and only when the sound of kicking can be heard, coming from another source than till's own work, she alerts to the situation at hand. peeking over the swiftly rising top, eyes pinpoint where it comes from: a few of the kids trying to ruin all of till's hard work.

❝ Huh? A-Are they allowed to do something like that?! ❞ all was fair in love and war. she recollects reading something of that nature from one of the books anakt granted them permission them to peruse. it was a fleeting glance, one taken from ivan's collection trove, yet it had always lingered with her in some way. ❝ Hey! Cut that out?! ❞ as if they were to listen to their enemy, not without proper incentive.

an idea springs to her mind, muttering a half-heard sorry toward till's way with what that entails. she begins to scramble upward, using smaller pockets as footholds, soon enough surmounting the top. and without a moment's hesitation, her foot stomps atop it in quick succession as a line begins to zip through the compact snow. it makes an audible crack noise. and then it all begins to shift, causing mizi to let out a yelp as her balance becomes lost. she falls onto her back, cushioned only by a fluffy plot of snow with a soft oof.

What a striking face.

It's the first thought that floats to the forefront of his mind - and what he's thinking when he gets caught staring. Oh, that's - rude, right.

"Sorry! Sorry, I just - you, uh, you remind me of someone I know."

What was he doing? He looks down at the phone in his hand, the text from Satoru asking him to pick up something from a bakery in Archimedes. Some seasonal flavor he absolutely had to have.

Yuuta can feel a headache brewing behind his eyes already.

❝ ... but someone you know? Like a friend? ❞ why she feels the impulse to ask is unknown to her, something she felt right. it makes her wonder what he must see in her appearance. was it the vibrant, pink hair that one scarcely sees in passing? or perhaps the myriad of burns that mar her once pristine face.

whatever the case might be, she is brought back to reality at his question一

It wasn't that unfamiliar of a scene. They had shared moments like this at Anakt. Physical gestures like those that Mizi employed could say more than words if both parties understood them. Sua didn't have any desire for power, she had always been satisfied allowing Mizi to take whatever she wanted from her. So long as she could be with Mizi, nothing else had really mattered.

Her wrist still in Mizi's grasp and her fingers pressed to her lover's cheek, Sua waited until the question had departed Mizi's lips before using those fingers to graze her cheek delicately. The question wasn't one she could provide a convincing answer to. She didn't get to decide if she came or went. It was an unintentionally cruel question for that reason.

as she stares down at the woman pinned beneath her, she can only take in what she says 一 i don't want to. was that a satisfactory answer? mizi knows it was an avoidant one at its very best. and yet, she doesn't mind hearing it in place of what she truly wanted to hear come from sua's mouth.

again, their lips press to one another, the woman taking another kiss for her own self-satisfaction, as if in doing so would transform whatever she had said to the 'correct' answer. it lingers a little longer than prior, fingertips now ghosting along what exposed skin they can find before she pulls away to speak. ❝ Really? That makes me glad to hear. ❞ her voice is nigh a whisper, beath ghosting along skin as with every taken breath, as if she were breathing life back into a woman who would only remain dead were she to leave this island once more.

❝ ... Sua, ❞ the name falls from her tongue, withholding herself from the want to repeat it over and over again. mizi's body shifts, allowing her head to rest beneath the other's chin and against her collarbone, fingers now lacing between sua's own. ❝ It's good that you're back. I missed you a lot while you were gone. Is there anything we'd like to do now that you're here again? ❞

𝄞 Sua's reappearance in the city had been sudden, but it had been even more sudden to find herself dropped into a home she hadn't lived in before. Ivan, Till, and Mizi all seemed to live there as she'd been informed, but rather than wait around for the boys, she ended up immediately going into Mizi's room.

Not to do anything bad, but to wait on her bed until she returned. It was preferrable to her than having to do their reunion in public, especially when she wasn't sure how Mizi would react. Would she be surprised? Would she be happy? Would she be upset? Would she be mad?

gently, as if even the slightest touch might shatter her very existence, she pushes her back onto the bed, only to crawl onto it and hovering over her thereafter. fingers trail along the outline of her body, stopping once skin greets her own, taking the other's wrist into her grasp and lifting to press the warmth of her body upon her cheek. she holds it there, looking down at sua as she hardly moves, terrified that one wrong motion might take everything from right beneath her.

silence engulfs them for a single moment, until一

the notion alone almost makes her sick to her stomach.

for that alone, it only makes sense her grip would tighten moreso, knuckles now a translucent white. no matter how she looks at it, there is no sense of remorse in those prickling tears, let alone in how he responds to her. ❝ Why don't you? ❞ another illogical question falls from her lips, jerking him in tandem with those very words. already she can feel her blood beginning to boil throughout her veins, knowing well that nothing luka might say could quell its searing ire.

and without an ounce of hesitation in her gaze and motion, one hand pulls back, balled tightly into a fist before it comes to collide with one side of his face. it pulls back immediately, almost as if winding back for one more, halting momentarily.

❝ You keep pretending to be all righteous. Like you've never done anything wrong yourself. Neither you nor I deserve to be here. We shouldn't get a second chance. Not like the others do. ❞

no... the more she thinks about it, maybe this wasn't truly about sua being here. rather, she was seeking an answer to the very question she has been asking herself, time and again, since stepping foot in this strange city. in the end, this was about how they were never supposed to be here in the first place, only meant to lament and wallow in their own, personal hell back home.

He reached out towards the person he had just tumbled into, grabbing onto their shirt mindlessly. It definitely softened his fall, and he was able to slowly lower himself to his knees, breathing heavily in exhaustion. He was, indeed, still gripping their shirt, stretching it out rudely, before his gaze slowly drifted upwards. His breath caught in his throat, eyes widened, and his fingers tinging purple.

He was currently kneeling, covered in sweat, paler than usual— grasping onto Mizi's shirt like a child as he stared up at her, effectively stunlocked.

and almost as if on instinct, fingers grip the collar of his shirt, pulling him upward, though hardly to aid him in his apparent distress. ❝ You... ❞ her voice trails off slightly, as if searching for something 一 anything 一 to say, to explain why it was him and not someone else. instead, all that can come to her was a rush of sudden, triggering memories.

the way he mimicked sua in their round after her inevitable death. how the bullet grazed through till's throat upon luka's win. her stinging knuckles after those last few punches upon a teary face shortly after hyuna's last breath. those searing, unruly flames...

fingers tighten their grip upon his shirt as she jerks him closer.

And, well,

When she didn't move in a while ago, he hadn't quite expected her.

He's also stepping on an empty pizza box.

"Hey? Till? Guess what?"

The house was a complete disaster. Neither of them were particularly good at cleaning, having either lived in cages or as pets their whole lives. It was the worst-case-scenario of a bachelor pad, a concept Ivan didn't quite know about, but if both bachelors had been treated as animals for most of their lives.

Also the two large animals here. For once in his life he felt kind of embarrassed. It was...New.

"Mizi's...here. Hi Mizi."

“…Haaaaah…?” Till says, at length, blinking slowly at him from the couch. Sluggishly, he looks for the telltale sight of pink hair. Of course, Mizi was here? Why wouldn’t she be? She never napped too far away from them at Anakt—

“OH SHIT-”

Till sits bolt upright, eyes and hair wild. Startled, Yvain leaps off of him, putting more holes in his already ratty t-shirt and boxers. While the large cat takes off at a run, Till struggles out from underneath Orthus’s massive head.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SHE WAS COMIN’ OVER?!” If Till had been looking more closely, he might have noticed the unusual shade of pink Ivan was sporting for once, close to his own. Instead, he’s taking in the utterly disastrous state of their home and his own appearance.

Jumping up from the couch, Till slips on a takeout container and goes sprawling, landing flat on his face. He makes no attempts to get up, lying on the ground in defeat.

of course she is well aware of all their collective pasts, something which they all carry within them even now, a drag path that has etched itself into them from the very lives they once held before this strange city. in the end, all three were raised as if they were merely some leashed, marketable animal, all for the entertainment of those aliens around them. to be poked and prodded without relent beneath blinding, fluorescent lights, forced to perform on command of their respective guardians, could she truly blame them.

well, yes, after all these years here, and yet一

she walks over to where till has planted face first into the ground, leaning down to start tugging him upward to get him up, keeping a keen eye on ivan so that he, too, didn't suffer the same fate as till with that box under his foot.

❝ It's not as if he knew. ❞ not that she had told either of them her decision to finally move in, simply taking it upon herself after they had offered so long ago. ❝ Did you two really let this place go so badly? ❞ was this considered scolding them? she doesn't feel so, rather a sense of trying to wrap her head around everything. another tug is offered to help till again, only for one of her feet to lose traction, all thanks to a sauce packet that had burst open beneath her weight.

there was hardly any stopping the way she slams onto the ground, one of the treats for the animals launching out from beneath her and setting them off to go and chase after it, scattering even more of the trash about in their wake and tearing right toward ivan.

"Makes no sense doesn't it? They give you a room, a place to stay, money and the whole hundred yards. Yet each one of those things has about a million different downsides you won't see right off the bat. And that isn't even taking into account people you might meet, both familiar ones and new people."

The worst part to the city in her case. Not because she didn't want to meet new people but the chance certain people might show up...

maybe it was a validating feeling, and yet, she feels a sense of guilt over it. ❝ It isn't so different from what I'm used to with the Segyein. Being treated like pets, like dolls, and even property, ❞ she admits after a few moments of thought. having it all lain out like that only made things all the more clearer, even if she had already been drawing those self-same conclusions.