‹‹ マハリ ユワレ ガアイェ サヴァナレ ››

Listening with unusually rapt attention, Ai absorbs this new information. So the blonde’s powers weren’t magic like so many others in the city, but something he felt like he could understand much better. Fire wasn’t his element, and everyone could touch darkness, so he’d always been a little jealous of Flame. The way the other Ignis made fire dance in his hand and wasn’t burnt because it was a part of him had always fascinated Ai. A power he’d obviously transferred to his Origin, Takeru. But, seeing as how Ignis and Origin shared a special bond, he supposes he shouldn’t be disappointed that it wasn’t a skill he could learn.

He wonders if the bond between Origin and Ignis was anything like the bond the man was describing between him and his flames.

“They’re called Promare? That’s so cute! Can they speak? I know- well knew,” he corrects himself, unable to keep the sadness out of his voice, “someone who was like a living flame. He lent his powers to a human too.”

His ability? Did he mean how Ai could manifest out of technology? “You mean this?” He leaves his drone on hover and transports into the store’s T.V display. He waves to the man from the bigger screen. “Hi~ My name is Ai~ I’m on T.V!” Popping up back in his drone, he hums in thought. “I suppose it is. In my world, only a handful of people could do it, and I haven’t seen anyone with similar powers in this city.”

He just couldn’t get the multicolored fire and the image of Flame out of his head. “Is it really such a bad idea for me to try and hold them? I don’t suppose you’d let me try?”

lio's not.. entirely used to this kind of reception about the promare. having someone react positively to them and even seem so excited about them isn't - it's not uncomfortable, but he almost feels a little out of his element. in a good kind of way, though. he's.. glad that, for once, someone's celebrating them.

even if he hasn't been back where he was before in over a year, hasn't seen another burnish in that span of time either, he's grown.. okay, somewhat, with being here. not used to, not completely. he'll still try to find a way back to them all. but for now, this is nice.

"Yeah, their voices have been quieter for.. awhile, but at one point I could hear them more clearly, when some of my power was returned to me." which makes.. sense, if more of his flames comes back, the promare are the flames. but the urge to burn came back a little more, too.

but.. hearing that someone else was like a living flame, who did something similar to the promare, lio tilts his head slightly. he's interested, absolutely. but his attention drifts when ai transports into the display, and he blinks in surprise. "No one from mine can, so.. that kind of adds up to me. It's cool, in any case." smiling, he forms another ball of flame in his palm. because.. they.. they won't necessarily hurt him, and he trusts them enough to know that they'd know that's not what he'd want — maybe it couldn't hurt?

Whatever he was about to say next is cut off as Lio pets his ears, a pleased expression crossing his features as he leans up onto the pets, tilting his head a bit. “Yeah! When the sun’s down and then the moon comes out. ‘Cause I’m a werewolf for Halloween.”

“I’ll stay home tonight so you can see! And on Halloween I’m gonna pass out candy.” He’s been coming home at night and just plopping onto his bed. His room is definitely covered in a lot of bright blue fur now, and that would have to be cleaned later.

While it does hurt Galo when Lio hurts - he’s been inside his head and he knows that Lio misses them, and he knows that Lio wants them here. But still, he’s looking up at Galo with that look of his and he can’t help but feel warm.

“I mean, aside from all the bad stuff that happens, I kinda just wish everyone from home was here too!” He misses Burning Rescue, and although his feelings of loneliness were close to Lio’s they were still different, and he didn’t have that guilt he knew Lio felt. He remembered his - Lio’s - heart in flux in his - Lio’s - chest last winter.

“But I’m also thinkin’ that they’re probably pretty glad their Boss is getting a break, too!” He announces, walking toward the place with the flowers. Something different, huh?

He doesn’t quite know why that gets him excited, and makes his heart beat fast. “I bet when we hold it we’ll get some huge flower. Something really cool, reflecting our burning souls!” And he’s off, moving toward the platform, turning back to Lio to grin brightly. “The line’s not long at all!”

it wasn't even a second thought, truthfully, that galo would be able to empathize with him in this regard. he's certain they were important to him, and he wouldn't take away that feeling from him. there's no reason to, because on a fundamental level caring about other people is a good thing. there's no need to compare them.

and he laughs — light, with the whole of his chest, "You think so? I hope they're getting a break, too." he didn't imagine he'd be in a position to enjoy himself so much anytime soon. he had his moments with them in between periods of relief, so it's a little strange not to experience things with them anymore. he has hope he'll return back someday, though. he doesn't imagine he'll ever give that up.

but lio's excited too. they don't have much point of reference for what the flowers look like in the first place, but he tries to picture it the best he can. galo's words definitely have an influence on them.

It’s a little later than Ai usually stays out, but he’s sure it’ll be fine. Less people means there’s less of a chance of him getting into trouble, right? Suddenly, the lanterns near the shop he’s hovering in front of burst into multicolored flames. Surprised and a little dazzled, he turns to see where they’re coming from, only to be met with a ball of fire inches from his face.

“Eep!” He gives a small squeak of shock before ducking into the screen of his duel disk, the marks on his back from his last encounter with fire a dull reminder of what a dangerous element it could be. 

To Ai’s shock the flame stops before hitting him and zips back into the palm of… a person? In the dim light, Ai can barely make out a figure with light hair holding a flame and he gasps in surprise.

“Takeru? Flame?” As the person moves closer, his hopes are immediately dashed. No red high-lights in the hair and the colors of the fire are all wrong. “Sorry, I thought you were someone else for a second,” he says, unable to hide his disappointment. Ai pops mostly out of the screen, changing moods on a dime.

“Geez!” He huffs, hands on his hips, “You nearly scared the circuitry out of me! Still, you can control fire in the physical world? I’m always amazed by what the people in this city can do.” He muses over something for a moment. “I don’t suppose that’s a skill you could teach someone?”

it's not unnoticeable — that he had startled him. lio looks apologetic, closing his hand around the flame and it dissipating in response. whoever he was hoping he was, lio's honestly a little upset. not because he wants to be that person, but because he.. evidently has not seen that person. probably one of the many who were separated from those he cared for. he can empathize with that, deeply so, so he knows there's no words he can say that'll make that feeling go away.

instead, he shrugs his shoulders, "It's not a problem; sorry." and he.. seems to recover rather quickly from it. it's a little endearing, really.

— he pauses, a momentary hesitation thinking about talking about the promare. it's long past the time where he's nervous about the idea, if only because this place doesn't share the same feelings about what the burnish are. it took awhile for him to grow to feel more comfortable with it; he wants more than anything else to share it with the others. it wouldn't be their city, but it would be a step-up from those in the last.

..it wouldn't hurt to answer, he's guessing, "Yeah, more or less." but skill wise.. that's a different way he's heard it described, "These flames are called promare. They're... not something I learned how to manifest, but I do wonder if it's possible to resonate with them here. Once they do, you can use them." it is a painful process, though. you burn from the inside out, and their voices are so so so loud. he remembers his awakening clearly. vividly. he can still feel it.

“They were able to help you ‘cause you’re a strong person. I think it’s unfair to you, but man were those flames not burning at all.” He smiles fondly, as though this was a particularly funny memory. And in a way, he was just ribbing Lio. “Maybe it really was all the Promare! Those funky little dudes really saved you, and then you repaid them with that ice cold rampage! You’re lucky that I saved you and all, and ignited that burning passion.” Looking back over to Lio, a lazy smile was on his face.

It felt good to just be able to talk, and he figured Lio needed a little playful banter to get him out of that dark place he went. That place he always went if they talked too much about home.

The flame lit up the place, and then Lio spoke again. Speaking of dark places:

“The g-…Kray had me thrown in prison for about a week. You actually busted me out of jail on accident.” Lio was definitely an expert at jail breaks. His gun dipped a bit, but he shook himself out of it and lifted it back up, continuing now that he could. “After the cave I went to go confront him. Sat outside his office all night that night!” Had he never mentioned this.

“Your passion, the way you spoke - why would you be lying about something like that? I had to go confront him about it, because I couldn’t live with it otherwise.”

it's probably one of the few moments where lio cracks a smile in response, "I wonder if I should turn up the heat, then." as if that were what he was suggesting at all, but he knows it's not, and as galo goes on, lio breathes out a quiet laugh, "I think that was the most I ever burned before." not since his awakening, when it first burst him apart at the seams. galo took him out of it, so in a way he almost feels indebted to him. "You know, it was kind of nice to cool off."

and he realizes he doesn't know when the last time he was able to to talk like this with someone.

galo's efforts to lightening the mood's definitely working, but he's not sure what to say when he mentions that — even if the extent of their jailing was probably different from one another's, he knows it's not a pleasant experience. it's meant to be uncomfortable. it's meant to let you know where you stand.

apparently, in kray foresight's eyes, that meant out of sight and out of mind.

BEEP !!

Flash coming from the screen of her communication blinked twice , thrice. An unknown number flashed on top of her screen and nimble finger would swipe the screen of her touch-screen and quickly read what was sent to her. How could someone sent her a — what is this ? Crimson locked onto the message for a minute or two , thinking whether or not she should dismiss said message or reply for the sake of formality. Another minute of contemplation and she decided to–

                                                                           ***

TO :: UNKNOWN NUMBER FROM :: CH’EN

Who’s this ? How did you get my number ? Just in case you sent it to the wrong person. Recheck and resend. Careful to not make the second mistake.

oh — wrong number huh? well... it happens, but before he replies to this person he looks through the list again; the person he was looking for was above their name, so it was his mistake. were he to feel embarrassed by something like this, he just might have. he's not.

to. › ??? from. › Lio Fotia.

It's Lio, and this number is in my contacts. Have you seen it? The long list of people listed there? But, I'm sorry, also. I must have misclicked.

a short pause. 

The increase in Lio’s body temperature is noticeable the moment he grasps his hand, and the expression on Lio’s face betrays that something had happened before he was even able to get out of the hole. Preoccupied with Lio’s well-being, had Lio not shouted and obliterated the debris completely, it would have hit Galo head-on. Looking up in shock at the island that had manifested, he turned back to Lio following gemstone eyes to-

He froze.

“Kray-” Something not dealt with something hovering just above the pit of his stomach, an unresolved feeling - his own fists tightened. They would only have another moment to themselves before he came to the ground. Teeth clenched for a minute, before he turned back to Lio. Lio who was trembling, holding himself back, who was about to erupt and replay that same grisly scene.

“Hey,” Lio’s arm was grasped, grip firm. Steadying.

“Stop making that face, this isn’t anything we haven’t dealt with before. Maaan, you’re really lucky to have me, you know!” He snatched the green flame, holding it gently in his palm. He was nervous, shaken to his very core but he could be steady, a steady flame in his own chest.  And as though someone, somewhere, had sensed his distress, a light shone in the sky as another piece of debris fell.

No, not debris. His Matoi Techlaunched down from the sky, plunging into the earth next to them. It wasn’t a mech, but-

“OOOOO-” The shout was loud as he clamored on it, orange machine whirring to life.Matoi tech grasped in his hands, he turned to Lio.

“HEY NOW! THAT’S A WAY TO GET A GUY FIRED UP! Now, Lio,”

His expression serious, a green glow emanating from where Lio’s flame hovered just above his chest.”You gotta get fired up, too!”

his breath catches when he feels pressure on his arm, and at first he doesn't register that galo spoke. but his voice helps him weave through the accumulating static, and it clears. he releases this breath, and though his fury is not wholly gone - it's controllable. because it's not anything they haven't dealt with before, he's right, he's right.

and lio is rather lucky.

seeing that familiar matoi tech pierce the ground next to them is a comfort, too. and when galo calls out, it feels like when he'd offer his own chant to the other burnish members; it's inspiring, and it makes him want to do his best. not being eaten up by rage, not allowing himself to be, so he takes a step and before it meets the ground flames burst forth, harden around him, enveloping himself in his armor — and he rolls his shoulders while cracking his neck.

he can get fired up.

"I know you know what you're doing," he trusts him enough to know, "So let's get rid of him."

he doesn't want him to show his face here again. he doesn't want to see him again. and if he's here, he's only received half of what he deserved before. and, no, lio doesn't want to kill him. he just wants to make him pay.

more flames materialize into his outstretched hand, and he breaks apart a piece into a blade.

kray's descent almost feels as if it were in slow-motion, but he knows it's not. he's focused enough, raising his opposite hand and more flames form before shooting in quick bursts. he hopes to slow him down a bit, or give him some kind of distraction so when galo is able to retaliate that he can; and the closer he gets, the more he realizes this doesn't look entirely like kray. there's something off, almost as if he were moving mechanically.

If Rui had known it was out of some form of trying to… what, bond? with him, maybe he would have just up and left. Even if it was out of empathy, he would have seen it as pity; fully bothered by that, he would have left. Rui isn’t the sort of person who deserves pity. He knows that much.

It’s better that he just thinks it’s for help with the game.

“There’s not that much to it to be ‘impressive’.” He’d simply played as logically as he thought he should. Things fell into place, and that was that. Maybe he’s used to that sort of thing, that convoluted train of thought, himself. He’s not sure. He doesn’t care much to look too much into it. “It just – happened.”

It’s sad, though. He craves this sort of interaction, in a way. That sort of gentle… living, just spending a moment with someone doing something together. Even if it’s with some stranger who’d only recently taken a seat beside Rui, it’s just something… normal, to do this. It’s human.

… how miserable.

“… it doesn’t matter to me.” It’s blunt, but it’s honest. The words sound harsher than his voice does, though. “I don’t know how often I’d play. I…”

Being given something, even if he gives it back, feels – wrong. Shouldn’t he have to earn it?

“It would… probably be better for you to keep it.”

he considers his words for a moment, but he listens. whether it's because he has difficulty accepting praise or something like that, he doesn't really want to push for him to. so he smiles, raising his hand to place his own cheek into the palm, elbow resting against his leg. "But it was enjoyable, yeah?"

well, for all he knows, maybe he's played the game before. he doesn't get the inclination that he'd pretend he didn't, but generally workarounds to these kinds of things was a kind of ability. if your trains of thought work differently than other people, how you arrived there is just as important.

and he shakes his head, "Well, you wouldn't have to play every day if you didn't want to. It's kind of nice like that; being able to pick up wherever you left off last." it's almost as if time weren't lost. ''I think it'd give us more to talk about the next time we see each other." because he wouldn't mind, really. 

“Well duh, not whatever, you clearly just want to burn everything!” Did he really have to spell it out for this guy!? Come on, even he wasn’t that dumb. His glare matched the other’s mirrored glare as he grimaced. Even in his predicament, he was working on getting himself free, although damn was he tired up pretty tight. Now this guy was laughing, and asking more obvious questions. It was kind of irritating.

“You think I’m dumb?! Of course that’s what you’re doing. It’s you guys giving the other Burnish a bad name - “He thought back to the pizza place, feeling irritation prickly at the base of his neck. But he stopped what he was saying, face moving into a scowl. Really, it would be easy to just blame this guy, but Freeze Force wasn’t any better. Indiscriminately hunting down people just trying to live their lives…

But his next statement caught Galo by surprised, and then pissed him off.

“What do you mean? We’ve met because I’m one of the people who stops your fires! There’s not really wool to pull over my eyes if I see it all myself!” While he did want to know what he meant, Kray Foresight had given him the chance to live his own dreams, to protect other people and prevent what had happened to him from happening to anybody else.

“And there you go again, saying more vague things! How are they going to die? Without you? That’s pretty high-and-mighty, going around accusing people who are just trying to stop you of tricking me, and then talking about how your gang of Burnish can’t live without you! Maybe they can’t live with you!” He felt himself heating up, and he was leaning forward, and yelling a bit.

“I watched someone get arrested just for being a Burnish, because you guys keep attacking Promepolis! People just want to live their lives, not just rally around you! Damnit, I’m really heated now!”

"It's not our choice." he almost clenches his teeth, but refrains, "These flames are a part of us." they have to. they have to. "We must burn in order to live — that's the way we are." he remembers saying this to him before. in the beginning. when he'd allow himself to be captured so he could be brought to where the others were.. it's funny how he's repeating himself. "We can't ignore their cries. To burn stronger, to burn hotter." and... "They're alive. ... and there's always a route out, whenever we attack a town. We don't kill people."

but when it comes to giving the others a bad name... he doesn't believe that, either. he can feel himself growing increasingly irritated talking to him, but he has to. and it's not that they can't live without him — he's certain that they could.

"I want to free them." he can feel his brows furrowing, "I want them to live. And the reasons for hunting us down are more than just because of our fires. With the Foundation after us, it's dangerous for them. For the Burnish who aren't a part of Mad Burnish, they would continue to be hunted down even if we didn't." he's trying not to let his voice crack while he speaks, "We're dissected. Cut apart. We regenerate until we can't anymore, and then we turn to ash. We keep dying at Kray Foresight’s hands. We keep dying for research. We keep dying." he has to take a deep breath, but he's still mad - "And we're not allowed to be left alone to live our lives. We don't want to stay in Promepolis."

he wants to build a city for them. 

it's easy to find the group to blame. it's easy to shove off the reasoning for something as one thing. but the truth is that they would die anyway. when he'd joined, he only wanted to bring them with him. he only wanted to save who he could. his still mourns those he could not.

Damnit, that smile was really pretty. Way too pretty. It caught his attention, and it held it in place. Way too enraptured by that expression, he almost trips his way onto the eyes as he makes a doofy grin. It was stupid to be so excited, but he was self-admittedly pretty stupid and Lio’s hand is really warm as their palms meet each other’s.

He’s tugged ahead by that warmth, and he can feel his heart beating in his chest - loud and ringing in his ears and everyone around them could probably hear it too. He fumbles once more as he gets his footing - he was good at balancing, his Matoi didn’t exactly have feet more than points after all, but he also usually just used his boots for skating.

He decided to voice that, “Heh, I’m not used to actually using skates, normally I just skate in my boots.“ He grins, getting his own footing. Lio is squeezing his hand as he tries to gain his own balance, but he doesn’t let go when Lio doesn’t let go after they’ve both steadied.

Finally, he starts to move one foot in a gliding motion, pulling Lio along with him.

“You know, it’s really nice we can do this. Since we uh,” he grimaces, ever expressive, “Kind of melted the lake back home! So when I saw this, I thought, ‘hey, Lio and I can actually ice skate now!” His expression eases back into a smile as he starts to gain a bit more momentum with skating, pulling Lio along with him.

“Your boots can glide across this?” he didn’t see it for himself before, but even if ice were slippery and he expected anything to, he’s kind of surprised. would those that fight fires want that? to slip across instead of wear something that has grip? it doesn’t really matter. thinking about whenever ice was coated against him — he can almost feel the chill to his bone, so he doesn’t want to think about it anymore. “I don’t know what I expected otherwise, just... that’s neat.”

being on ice, rather than covered by it, feels odd, admittedly. he has an aversion to it, naturally, but when it’s like this — when it’s not used as a weapon — he can almost see why people would enjoy this kind of thing. he certainly is.

he allows for him to be pulled along. he’s still not used to it, after all.

and he lightly laughs, ”You wanted to back then?” not that he minds. he’s given the chance to think about stuff he can do now, rather than what he needs to do to... well, survive. stuff he’d want to do in the new city. ”It is nice, though. Good thing we haven’t melted through this either.”

he’s not sure when he grew more relaxed with the way of life here, but he knows it happened sometime after he eased into the thought that galo would be here. he doesn’t feel as if he’s replacing anyone — rather than that, it’s that he wants them to meet him. he wants to extend this state of ease to the others that he cares for.

📚  Pot, chicken, seasonings… He’s making meticulous notes of what they got so far. He draws a line then to add what they still need. Vegetables. That would include salads. But that’s not all, right?

He thinks a moment about what they’re using for when they’re grilling meat out in the wild, and well… there’s not much more than that. He’s searching for ‘barbecue’ through his phone to find the significant differences.

“This says we also need mittens, a tong and a spatula. That makes sense. I think we also need a grillage.” Reading up more about barbecues, he starts to wonder if maybe he’s going at this the wrong way? He hates to think that way, but… what would his brother do now? Or any other person who doesn’t spend most of their time in libraries?

“Apparently… what differs a barbecue from just going grilling outside, is that you’re doing activities. It’s apparently more like a party or an event of sorts. We… could do a beach barbecue? We’d eat these chicken sticks and salads first and then go to the boardwalk together? What… do you think?”

”Mittens...?” why would they — oh, wait, it’s because what they’d be using is hot, isn’t it? that’s not so much a problem for lio, but.. as far as he knows, this person isn’t a burnish. burns would be more detrimental. nonetheless, he nods. even if he’s pretty much all over the place when it comes to working, he saves. he’s certain he has enough to grab whatever they need.

and he instantly feels a rush of excitement; doing things like that sounds fun. relaxing. especially with someone he’s growing ever fonder of.