FATE CHALLENGER

     “I am grateful that this year’s Halloween is a little more...      quieter than usual.”

⚡ Zenitsu nods lightly. He is still not sure he really wants to know. Or what this kind of knowledge is even going to do. But on the other hand, he might brag about knowing it to someone else at… some other time? Besides, he knows he would feel bad if he turned down a cute girl’s offer for help. “Oh uhm, sure. That’d be nice.”

“But only if it’s not too much of a circumstance.”

     “Let’s see...”

Lucina looks it up, humming as she reads an article about glassblowing. It truly was an interesting subject to learn about. Such an art existed in her world, but at a low quantity. There weren’t a lot of glassblowing artists like there were painters in Ylisse, that’s for sure.

     “I am guessing they use a metal flower, as they are least likely      to melt underneath a certain temperature, so they can easily      build the glass around it. It is quite fascinating....”

Looking up at the male, Lucina smiled gently.

Makoto can’t help but snort. “Please, do you know how many awful things people do before saying ‘well, it’s just my job!’ Like when I smashed that window, but it was the wrong window, so I-”

She stops short, laughing before she incriminates herself any further. “A-anyways! If parkour isn’t your thing, you could always just say you have somewhere to go and walk very fast, or maybe you could lie and say you’re a cop and have important things to do. Ooh, or maybe you could give really bad answers on purpose and hope they just leave you alone. Now that I think about it, there’s lots of ways to get out of this.”

Feels like that should be enough for to soothe this girl’s woes, but Makoto always saves the best for last.

“There is one other thing I can think of, but… I dunno. It might be too powerful a technique for you,” she says, tapping her chin. “I mean, I don’t know you that well so maybe I’m not the best judge, but that kinda move isn’t in everyone’s comfort zone…”

     “I suppose there is truth to your words...”

Even if it’s someone’s job, they shouldn’t go and harass people, especially if it’s clear that they don’t want to be harassed. It’s not that Lucina has a problem with saying no, she just feels bad when technically they could be doing something worse. Besides, she’d rather them harass her than someone who will hurt them. The window smashing bit does cause a concerned look to blossom on Lucina’s face.

     “That’s true. I’d just worry they’d go off and harass someone      who would hurt them. Considering this place certainly has...      people who are not afraid to throw their powers around like it      is no big deal.”

It’s that line of ‘well they deserve to get hurt for sticking their nose into places they shouldn’t’ and also knowing that they’re not aware who is dangerous and who isn’t. The most innocent people can look the most dangerous, after all! The other woman’s words made Lucina tilt her head a little, in curiosity.

⚡ The youth wouldn’t pay these objects much attention at first. He simply didn’t care enough. But as the young woman wonders out-loud how they’re done, he can’t help but agree. And then, he picks up a glass bauble with a flower inside. “Huh? How did they get the flower in there?” He turns it around in his hand. There is no opening to it. It doesn’t look fixed, either. More importantly though, is it a stupid thing to not know how these things are done?

“Have you tried to look it up online already?”

Oh, what an interesting art piece! But she also has the same question - how in the world did they get a flower inside of that. Did they put it in there after the fact? No, it would have had some opening, right? It didn’t seem to have an opening of any kind.

     “Perhaps they build the glass around it? Or, er, made the glass      around it...”

“Hmm… I suppose I am, indeed. It’s rather out of season for flower viewing, but given that these are rare, it can’t be helped. Really, though…?” Crossing his arms, Rinnosuke thoughtfully pondered over such a thing. “I know of flowers whose poison can kill, but soothsaying flowers seems rather far-fetched.”

“Unless they’re magical by nature. Given the proximity of these pixies, I wouldn’t be too shocked were that to be the case.”

     “Out of season for flower viewing, though there is a lot about      this world that is not like the world you and I come from. But      yes, there is a part of me that believes the legend of these      flowers may be a little far fetch.”

She feels bad for saying that, considering Sumia likes to use flowers for her fortune telling, but Lucina always thought with her logical side of her brain rather than her creative one. She was a little too much like her mother at times.

They really redid the whole ward where she lived. The entire thing. Her favorite noodle stand was gone. Makoto takes back every nice thing she’s ever said about this city. She’s trying to get a feel for the new layout when a harried-looking party-goer interrupts her fuming.

“Huh? Oh, no, they’ve all been avoiding me. Do I have my RBF on?” Makoto feels her cheeks for a moment, brow furrowing as she realizes she already had her brow furrowed. “Well that explains it…”

Stretching her expression brings Makoto back to her usual self, and she looks back to the blue-haired girl. “Honestly, if people start harassing me I just run away or climb up a building or something. Usually they leave me alone after that, but I dunno if it’d work for you. How good are you at parkour? Like, on a scale of one to ten?”

     “RBF?”

That was a strange... word? Acronym? Did it stand for something? It must have, right? Still, it seemed like this girl was upset over something. Perhaps it was the ward changing that upset her, but Lucina didn’t really see why it would be too upsetting, aside from maybe someone missing the aesthetics of it? She wasn’t sure. Well, she couldn’t really judge if someone missed something; if they missed it, then that was their business.

     “Parkour... I suppose you can say I am decent at it, but...”

     “There is a part of me that feels rude for wanting to      avoid them. They are just dong their job, after all.”

     “... I had no idea how annoying journalists can actually be...      Have you been having trouble with them as well?”

     “Are you here to look at the flowers as well? Their hue is nothing      I’ve ever seen here before... According to the people living here,      however, they say couples read their fortune with these flowers,      that they’ll loose their glow if someone gives it to their lover in a      doomed relationship...”

     “The glass blown souvenirs are quite interesting to look at.      I had no idea such things could be created from glass in such      a way.”

“To say the least. A ship’s in need of her captain, after all.”

And Syldra, dear Syldra…

“I trust you aren’t exactly gunning for a masquerade. Got business of your own, lad? I’ve been tryin’ to figure out what I can, but without much luck finding any diamonds in the rough.”

     “I see... So you are a captain, then. A pirate, perhaps?      Or simply a captain of an army’s ship?”

How interesting... She’s never met any pirates before. Only heard of them from her father’s tales. At the mention of her own business, she frowns.

“Hm.”

“Has anyone even started figurin’ out what’s goin’ on here? I’d appreciate being able to get back to my men as soon as possible, not stayin’ in some uncomfortably large city.”

     “It seems not.”

“Am I looking – guh, wha–? No! Hell no!”

“I’m, uh, a supernatural! I’m dead. And so, like – I’m used to most people not being able to see me, and I’m kind of, um, on thin ice with some stuff back home. Not like, illegal stuff! But uh, I was kinda made to do some things that I didn’t really have a choice in, and some dumb kid who thinks he’s hella hot shit wants to try to take that away from me! When I’m just trying to live, y’know? So, here… it’s been really nice! ‘cause people can see me, and I can be normal, and so, um…”

Mitsuba fidgeted slightly.

“I sorta thought it’d be like, ‘hey, here’s your year-long vacation, now get back to it’, at most, maybe, and not… not seven years. I… that’s half my life! That’s – that’s a lot!”

     “I see...So, this is another chance at life for you, is it not?”

And a chance to get away from whatever was happening to him back in his world. The poor boy... Even if he is one of those, how the kids say, ‘gremlin’ types. Maybe he was just one of those misunderstood types? Despite being a ghost, he truly did act like a normal child. For a moment, Lucina found herself smiling softly.

“I think I’ve had my fair share of looking for answers where I shouldn’t, rea–”

H. Hold on. Hold on sorry what? Hold on huh? What? Huh what huh?

“S–seven–”

“HHHHHHHHHUUHHHHHH?           You – you mean you just – you showed up one day seven years ago and you’re still here? Do many people stay for seven years is that normal? How long has this place been around? Do these sorts of things always happen? How do you just get used to that? Does that mean I’m not going to go home and I can just keep living here!?”

What was that about answers again? Sorry Lucina.

     “Well...”

Ah, she really made him worry, didn’t she? Cough.

     “Between this place and the last place I was in, it was seven      years total. Most normal people seem to go home, but alas...      I have not seen home for a good while now. I believe I went      back for a month, but the time was so short. I have a feeling      that whatever god or goddess exist out there may be a sadist      of some kind.

     “ With all that’s happened, it’s brought up a lot. But thank you– and if you’re looking for any answers, I hope you also find them. “

     “So it seems you have some unfinished business with home,      then?”

“Uh…”

“Genuine – genuine question, on the topic of answers, I guess, but like, if – if you’re less patient about that kinda stuff, shouldn’t you just, uh… try to go find the answers yourself? And, like, if you’re just too lazy to do that, or it’s the sorta answer you can’t get, maybe that’s for the better? You can’t really go sticking your nose in everything. It hardly ever ends well. Unless you’re a dog, probably.”

     “Perhaps you have a point with that. Most people tend to get into      trouble when they try to look for answers that may not want to show      themselves quite yet.”

     “And yet, as someone who has been in this situation for about      seven years, I am slowly reaching some kind of breaking point.      I am not one to stick my nose into certain places without prompt      or reason, but...”