MOVED TO VALORICE

SHE WASN’T exactly sure of what she’d find when returning home — maybe the sight wasn’t that all weird, aside from the crushing aura one had; it hit her like a brick in the face, lips pressed together before moving, waving a hand so which the intruder was freed. Scoldings would come later, as they had promptly walked away the moment they saw her. What a nuisance living there was.

“ —- What do you think you are doing? Surely you realise that you are trespassing?”

     Frigid winds die down before too long -- as the guards release him, he too calms down, placing a hand on his hip and staring at the woman that had commanded them to leave. ‘You’re the boss, huh... Royalty, or...’

     “Hmph.” Clicking his tongue, the wanderer, gave her a half-hearted shrug. “What else does a trespasser do, huh? I haven’t stolen anything yet, if you’re so paranoid. ...Not that I came here with the intent of ransacking such a giant castle.”

It started out with the most horrible smell. It was a certain smell she only smelled when something very particular had happened. If she had left the milk out for a couple of days or if her eggs had long since spoiled, she would understand why she was smelling– well, this, but Genna was out in town and nowhere near a bakery, so that only meant one thing: something dark was nearby.

And it wasn’t the normal kind of darkness that came with how the Heartless smelled. Sure, they were still quite repugnant, but more like wet socks or mildew. This was different because it was coming from someone, not just some thing. She followed the darkness that now flowed into the streets, stopping to peer around the corner of a certain alleyway containing a particularly peculiar specimen.

As the ice shattered, Genna blinked. That was the person behind all of this? He looked too.. snazzy – but, so did most of the people she knew that dabbled in darkness. Maybe when you always smelled like rotten eggs and spoiled milk, you felt like you had to make up for it with the way you dressed? Thankfully, Genna would never have to find out.

“I’m not much of liar, sorry,” she retorted, giving a small shrug of her shoulders. “You’ll have to do better than that if you’re trying to threaten me.” Though the whole shattered ice bit was enough to unnerve her as it was..

     Sure, she just had to be mouthy. Eyes narrowed as Kaitou cast a withering glare at the brunette, arms crossing defensively over his chest.

     “I’m not threatening you yet,” he hissed, the sound of crackling ice lacing his words. After a moment’s hesitation, however, he switched gears. The hostile expression on his face melted away in favor of a neutral frown, and he let his arms drop to his sides.

     Darkness flooded the small alleyway, completely obliterating the squad of Heartless that had appeared in Radiant Garden’s streets. It continued to surge through the neighborhood even after fulfilling its purpose, much like a torrent of water, until it eventually leveled out and died away in cloudy wisps.

     At the epicenter of the corrupt energies stood a figure covered in faintly glowing ice. Once the darkness had receded, the form shattered its frozen carapace, revealing a well-dressed young man. Cerulean orbs scoured the alley, searching for any remnants of Heartless.

     In the wake of his attack, all that was left was a brown-haired girl. The male frowned, folding his arms and giving her a look.

“Maybe a little bit of both.” 

Hummed in response, a sad smile momentarily slipping across his features. It’s gone in an instant, replaced by a curious smirk as he raises a brow. 

“And who, exactly, might you be?”

     “Hmph... Both, he says.”

     The blond shakes his head, folding his arms before casting his darkened gaze away from the other.

     “I’m nothing and nobody. Just another passerby.” Itching to vent his anger out in the worst possible way, too. But he wasn’t going to say that out loud.

- ♫ -

     “I am quite sure. I’ve had this horn my entire life and have gotten along just fine thank you very much. And please, stop calling me ‘babe’. My name is Eiko, please use it.”

     “I am curious about your wares though. Have you any staves or rackets for magic users?”

     “Ha-ha! Eiko, huh? Never heard of a name like that -- it’s weird, but cool! Just like your horn!” He smiled and even had the nerve to chuckle at the statement -- just where was this kid’s tact?

     Well regardless, at the mention of his wares, he became quite animated, waving his arms around as he spoke. “Wait, really? You wanna buy something? No way! You’re a total looker and a fighter! Alright, alright, lemme whip something out...” Nathan tugged his long scarf off from his neck, rolling it up tightly before sharply unraveling it to the side. The orange cloth suddenly expanded, and weapons of all sorts could be seen resting on the cloth as it rolled itself out. Some looked completely ordinary (broadswords, a pistol, a wooden buckler), while others clearly did not belong in Gaia (an arm-mounted automatic crossbow, a flaming axe made of obsidian, what looked to be a large Moogle gripping onto a pair of sabers...).

     “Here, here! Will this suit your fancy?” Gesturing, the redhead walked over to a wand made of white oak with small teal gemstones dangling from leather cords at its base. He picked it up and daintily handed it over to the summoner. “That’s my only oak wand -- I ran out of crystals after creating it, so I haven’t had the chance to craft another. It can’t hold a very strong concentration of ether compared to other wands of its kind, but the crystals make up for that -- they’ve been saturated in pure Mist for five weeks before being cut and refined, and act as auxiliary mana pools.” Nathan’s grin widened, and he folded his arms.

- ♫ -

     “Erm.. yes. Yes It is a horn. It is mine. It’s attached to me.” 

     “I don’t know why it’s such a big deal. There are demi-humans with horns larger than mine.” She stared at him with narrowed eyes. “Are you not from around these parts?”

     “Wow... You know, that looks like a really dangerous poking hazard... And what would happen if a thunderstorm kicked up?! Shouldn’t you cover that thing with rubber?”

     “Oh, jeez. Was it that obvious?” Scratching his head, the male gave her an apologetic smile, his curiosity withering at the sight of her irked gaze. “Yeah, I’m a traveling blacksmith! I hop from town to town, trying to shake as much money out of the coffers as I can with high-quality armaments! I’ve never had demi-humans in my clientele, though...”

- ♫ -

“W-what?! A nail?! I–”

“–Wait do you mean my horn?”

     “...Wait.” He was already halfway into the process of summoning his hammer (hammers were always the solution for pesky nails) when the girl admitted...