#blazingdawn

TO: STELLE FROM: AVENTURINE ❇️

[ 1 / 1 ] : 100,000 DUST SUCCESSULLY TRANSFERED.

And yet, fate has its ways. Phainon waking up in an unfamiliar world and an unfamiliar city, a place beyond the reach of Irontomb or Nanook or any other being. But not is all sunshine and rainbows — it’s merely a transference of captors, from Lygus to another jailor, and the very thought of that makes his blood burn.

But at least, Amphoreus will be safe while he’s here. At least Irontomb would not awaken, not when its most important factor is missing. All that is left for him to do is to just…live, really.

Live with familiar faces, as it would seem. But in the deepest of his heart he is glad, to see someone trustworthy by his side.

“Deciphering clues, looking for treasure…This sounds like the essence of trailblazing. Do I have this right, partner?”

How does one breach the topic of everything they have learned and experienced? Phainon does not know. So for now he tries his best to smile, to pretend that everything is fine and nothing is wrong, and perhaps this little game of treasure hunt will relieve their hearts a little.

And he wasn't sure what to do with it. Harpuia didn't need organic sustenance. He didn't technically need a steady source of income, except...well. He did enjoy cooking for others, and he had roommates who did require food. He hadn't seen them yet, however, having arrived to Spirale in the dead of night and entered the condo while they were asleep.

And...he enjoyed clothes. That was something he'd never been able to do in Neo Arcadia, as the General of the Strong Air Battalion--he'd never been able to use clothing to express himself. In the near-year since the Fall of Ragnarok--ever since Harpuia and his siblings had submitted themselves to the justice of the new ruling Council of Area Zero and been shown mercy--Harpuia finally had that chance. He'd been encouraged, even, to find clothes he liked, to try new styles. (Ciel was simply too good to him. Zero was an idiot, but also better to him than he deserved.) That was how he'd discovered his predilection for not just clothes that covered him well, and not just heavy-textured fabrics, but skirts. He liked the way they moved. He liked that when he sat down, it was like having a blanket over his legs.

So perhaps he did need money, after all, if he wanted to continue buying clothes, to continue to explore new modes of self-expression.

Speaking of new modes of self-expression, he thought wryly, staring down at the small boxes in his hands. Harpuia had gone out on a whim early in the morning and purchased, with his limited funds, a hair-bleaching kit, and two boxes of hair dye. He'd had this idea for a while, but. A Reploid didn't make changes to their body like this lightly. Reploid hair didn't grow, after all--if he messed up, or if it looked awful, he was stuck with it. (Hopefully not. Hopefully it would eventually fade out. But he wasn't much used to hope.)

Harpuia wanted to try bleaching the tips of his hair and dying them green. He'd been hesitant in the last year, worried that his siblings would make fun of him--especially Leviathan. She wasn't as malicious as she used to be, but could still be, well. Kind of a dick.

The other box of dye was a dark, matte black. Just in case it all went to shit and he had to dye over the mess and hope for the best.

An hour later, a muted screech could be heard throughout the condo.

Another hour after that, Harpuia emerged from the bathroom with a foul expression.

Everything had gone wrong. The bleaching, the green dye--the application, the effect it had with his hair, the way it looked against his skin, the steadiness of his hands--especially the steadiness of his hands, he was too damn nervous about this--everything. So, he'd had to use the contingency plan. Goodbye to his delicate, pale-brown almost-curls, he supposed. The bleach had destroyed not just his hair color, but the fine texture as well, turning it heavy and clumpy (albeit still with a fluffy sort of movement). Maybe someday it would fade out completely, but probably not soon. Leviathan was definitely going to laugh at him when he came home.

Harpuia looked his roommate dead in the eye and scowled.

It is a warm summer morning.

One of the issues with being physically middle-aged, mentally elderly, and also having had your inhuman body go through many different traumas is that when one of the found-family you've trauma-bonded with comes and tackles you, you are often ill-prepared for such things.

And as such, you, perhaps, stumble backwards in the attempt to catch the Trailblazer. "Stelle-"

Welcome back to sunny Isola Radiale, Stelle!

You’ll be staying in CONDO 425!

You will retain everything given to you during your previous stay.

Enjoy your stay!

How could he laugh at this, when he can feel the love and care that were put into crafting these snowmen? Phainon could easily tell who is supposed to be who, and that alone leaves a pang in his heart. He misses his parents now that he is trapped here, but at least he knows that they are alive and well. He hesitates to touch the ones here, too, as if his heat would melt down the snow and whisk the magic away.

Phainon thought it would be that, and a thank you was already about to leave his lips, when another surprise has been waiting for him. His hand trembles at the charm, very familiar with the weapon that Stelle carries upon her person. But there will be no tears coming from this Deliverer, not when he is happy beyond compare.

❍ "Oh! Miss! Miss? I'm down here..." Castorice's hands had been tied. She was in bit of a sticky situation and had needed a little help to get out of it, and Stelle was one of the few people she felt comfortable enough asking for help with it. It wasn't really that much of problem after all.

She was just laying on the floor of an animal shelter, covered in cats.

Slash - wasn't here at all.

"Sorry about that- you were saying something about an Express? Do you usually live on a train?" He'd mentioned something about the shop, and one thing led to another and suddenly there was a train involved.

He'd heard weirder.