#;shin

The Chosen herself sat beside Lloyd, smiling at her friends’ animated conversation. Each of them had a big plate of food in front of them, but in front of Colette there was nothing. It smelled delicious though, and she was happy everyone was enjoying their last big meal before leaving in the morning. With the situation as tense as it was, she was so happy everyone was able to have a little bit of fun the night before like this. 

Lloyd tried to include her in the conversation, but Colette couldn’t stop her mind from wandering, as much as she tried to enjoy the moment. She wanted so badly to hold on to this feeling of being close to her friends. It was her last chance. 

Something in the corner of the inn lobby caught her attention, however. A feeling of being watched. 

Colette glanced over her shoulder, trying to be subtle about it. There, at a tiny table against the wall, sat a young man with teal hair, whose face raised some strange feeling of recognition in her, though she was sure they’d never met before. He was dressed so strangely, and seemed a bit lost. 

The feeling only grew, pulling Colette towards him. Her brow furrowed as she stared into the wood grains of the table, trying to settle on a decision. Quickly, she got Lloyd’s attention and wrote something on his hand. 

“’Be right back’? Where are you going?”

Colette pointed, and smiled at Lloyd as she stood from the table. The rest of her party members glanced at her curiously, and as Colette hurried to meet that familiar stranger, Lloyd explained it to them. “I dunno. Do we know that guy?”

Thankfully, the tiny lobby made it so it wasn’t like they’d be out of sight from her group. She knew Lloyd would be keeping an eye on her, and that felt reassuring.

In front of the table, she paused. Oh no, it wasn’t like she could actually speak with this person normally. She should have asked Raine for something to write with. After hesitating, she pointed to her hand, pretending to write on it, and then held it out, silently asking for his. 

It felt weird, doing this with a stranger, but at the moment there wasn’t another option. 

Colette turned his hand over and, using her finger, spelled out her question on his palm:

Do I know you?

This time, after watching Shin play his game some more (and after they’d ordered a yummy take-out dinner to be delivered), Colette asked if she could make her own character. Shin had seemed surprised, but he was so into this game! Plus, it seemed kind of fun, even if she didn’t understand a lot of it. 

After a long time of indecision, Colette finally decided to make a dwarf character. They were so small and cute! Even on the character creation screen she was having some trouble, though, having to continuously check the keyboard to make sure she was hitting the correct buttons. 

She spun her character around, currently on her next very difficult decision: a hairstyle.

“Hmm. Shin, what kind of, um, class do you think I should be?” Colette glanced over at the sidebar where she could pick from a few character types... some of which she’d already forgotten what they did. “My character should look the part for her job! Right?”

That day, Colette decided to take the more scenic route home from Mariela’s shop. It was fun, getting things started up there again and helping out, feeling useful. On top of that, this area of Whisperwood was so beautiful and quiet, surrounded by acres of orchards.

She realized she wasn’t alone when her hearing picked up a quiet hiss, like someone in pain. Standing on her toes like that would give her a better vantage point, Colette whipped her head around this way and that before finally her eyes landed on a familiar head of green hair. 

Her heart pounding with worry for her friend, Colette’s feet brought her to him in record time. He sat on the ground, carefully grasping his leg near his ankle.

“Sou!! Are you alright?” Before waiting for an answer, Colette knelt beside him, taking in his condition. There were no visible wounds she could see—though, the only visible parts of his body were his hands and face, really. 

@agalere​ asked: ‘ you’re so warm. ’ shin [ sweet & sour ]

     They’d been growing closer recently. Not only with their hearts, but also with their bodies. Shin had always kept a respectable distance between them, and she could often measure how much she could infringe upon it by how flustered he became. But today, as they sat on the porch together, he sat quite close to her - close enough that she could feel his warmth on her, that a single movement would allow them to touch.

That gentlest of kisses to her temple made her heart sing, and she couldn’t help leaning into him the slightest bit. She shouldn’t push him when he’d already taken the initiative. Her smile grew further as he kissed her cheek, lovely and tentative, and she watched him with both interest and encouragement, wondering how far he would go.

     Everything. Is what she wants to say, really. But she doesn’t want to fluster him too much. Even though the way he flusters easily is definitely a very cute trait of his. “How gentle he is.” Which is probably one of her favorite things about Shin.

“He’s quite tall and has big hands.” Not to mention the mask and the red eyes hidden behind it, as well as the energies that surround him. At first glance, Shin could be mistaken for a dark and mysterious figure. That imagery shatters quickly, though. He’s an absolute sweetheart. “But his touch is always gentle.” 

     She was definitely not just seeing things out of the corners of her eyes. There was something there with her. Harmless by the feel of it, but also playful. Perhaps even mischievous. Wherever she looked in search of it, it darted off just as quick, not allowing her to see its true form. Still, she continued to play the game, tracking it along Shin’s garden to see what it wanted from her.

Closing her eyes, Alice found that she could better see the little ayakashi, its footprints causing ripples in her awareness like droplets breaking the surface of a placid lake. Curious, she followed after, peeking back into the physical world every now and then just to watch her step.

She was led to a nearby tree, stopping as the tiny squirrel-like creature climbed up and along a branch above her, hiding just behind a flower, making it glimmer in her second sight. Smiling, she opened her eyes and found the flower, climbing atop a boulder to try and reach it. The flower remains just outside of her reach, and she can almost hear a tinkling noise akin to chuckling ringing gently in her ears.

Stretching herself as much as she could, she managed to graze the branch, trying to move it closer with the momentum. And maybe it was her own fault, but a few birds ended up taking flight from the tree, startling her into losing balance and falling backwards. Alice braced herself to painfully meet the ground, only to be caught into an embrace instead.

Blinking, she looked behind herself and found a flustered Shin, which made her smile despite how worried he was. “Sorry, Shin...” A meek apology mirrored in the way that the flower gently fluttered down over them.