Just Someone Who Passes By~

Pitter, patter. Pitter, patter.

Everyone greeted Phainon with a smile, and he did so in return. His optimism was infectious. Those who were looking down in the dumps perked up right away upon seeing him spread his heroic joy. He wasn’t doing it for the attention or anything of the sort. Phainon was just… like that.

Pitter, patter. Pitter, patter.

The wagging of his invisible tail would have long since knocked Stelle off of her feet. She felt like she was taking an overgrown dog for a walk, only her “puppy” broke free from the leash time and again. On an occasion, though unintentionally she assumed, Phainon would wander off, yet quickly notice that Stelle had left from his side and stopped to allow her to catch up. Phainon wasn’t a small man in the slightest, though his body could not contain the sheer amount of energy he had. Stelle wasn’t the only one trying to keep up with his sheer amount of energy.

Pitter patter. Pitter patter.

Phainon had been too distracted to notice the small companion that had accompanied Stelle on their outing. Phainon’s interest wasn’t piqued until he heard its mews of exhaustion after having chased him down for the umpteenth time.

"Oh? Who’s this little guy joining us today?" Phainon said, looking down.

"You’re only just noticing him?" Stelle said, bending down to pick up the little blue chimera wearing a hat, sunglasses, and floaty ring. "This is Bubbles. I met him at the baths not too long ago.”

Bubbles looked at Phainon with his big eyes.

Phainon looked at Bubbles with his wide eyes.

Telepathic communication between two fluffy creatures appeared to be taking place, only there were no thoughts being exchanged at the present moment.

[What is with this guy?] Bubbles asked.

"What a strange little creature," Phainon said.

"If it were not for the glasses and the hat, I would’ve thought that you two looked identical to each other," Stelle said.

Bubbles turned around and tilted his head. Phainon tilted his head at Stelle. Were they aware that they were only proving her point?

After a moment of thinking, or perhaps, none at all, Phainon said, "I can fix that.”

Wandering off as per usual, Phainon walked down the street a few steps to a clothing vendor located off to the side of the walkway. He grabbed a large hat and a pair of absurd sunglasses off of the racks and put them on, now resembling a taller and slightly more absurd Bubbles.

Stelle squinted, holding the little blue chimera up by the scruff beside Phainon. Big eyes, big smile, big hat, big sunglasses, they looked almost one in the same.

"Hmmm....something’s missing," Stelle said, scratching her chin.

Bubbles didn’t say a word and simply dangled in her grasp, way too relaxed to care, but Phainon was equally as intrigued as she was. Phainon looked at Bubbles, then at Stelle, then back at Bubbles again. And he was thinking. Thinking very hard. He was missing a certain...cat-like aura. Phainon, of course, not short on great ideas, had a plan to rectify this problem.

He lifted up his arms and hands like a chimera begging for food, or pets, or something.

A lightbulb went off in Stelle’s head.

"Indistinguishable,” she said. Whether or not she actually meant it remained a debatable fact.

The words of praise made the dog-chimera-boy Phainon rather pleased. And like any well-behaved domesticated animal, Phainon demanded his fair share of some form of reward. He walked forward and practically shoved his face into her chest, knocking the edge of his hat into her face. She pushed his hat back to give herself some breathing room and pet his hair while simultaneously trying to nudge him off of her. Bubbles remained relatively unbothered. He was still held firmly by the scruff; his body relaxed and smile as dumb as ever.

It was quite the embarrassing scene to the onlookers around them. The stand owner wanted nothing more than for them to pay for those accessories, if they were going to at all. Not to mention, they were taking up a considerable amount of space in the walkway, and people had to go out of their way to step around them. Simply witnessing the scene itself inflicted major secondhand embarrassment.

This was their Deliverer. It was reassuring to know that he was quite the caring person...but would it kill him to be a little more mindful?

Stelle finally nudged Phainon back off of her, and he looked back up at her as if he didn’t get enough attention.

"We should probably be on our way," she said, "that vendor looks like he’s about to hit us with a bat if we don’t decide if we want them or not."

The vendor wouldn’t dare do such, not to Phainon of all people. The bat, or anything for that matter, would break upon impact with him, and Phainon would be left unscathed. That is not stating that the idea hadn’t crossed the vendor’s mind, however.

Phainon looked back and forth between the shopkeeper and Stelle.

"...You’re not actually thinking of buying it, right?"

Somehow, Stelle felt as if she belonged more with the average citizen of Amphoreus than the two besides her. A grown man and a chimera were both proudly marching down the street together wearing sunglasses and a hat. Bubbles and Phainon’s sense of fashion were equally awful. At least their steady pace of "aura farming" kept them from running off.

As embarrassing as it was to be around Phainon, it was a small price to pay to Stelle. His smile and idiocy were gifts to be treasured, especially in the end times were talks of apocalypse were rampant. The impending doom of the Black Tide and continuation of the Flame Chase Journey were bound to strip him of the light in his eyes, and Stelle wanted to drag out these moments, even if it meant Phainon retaining his happiness for just a little bit longer.

THATS A LOVE FILLED GAZE😢🙏