#catfishtail

The beach felt ill-fitting to some degree from his inexperience, but the pack whom had gathered around one of the tables close to a drinks vendor was a bizarre combination by anyone’s standards. Their faces were all familiar, even if he had yet to meet one in person prior to their descent around the table.

                They had been much of his team during the incursion - or, his mirror’s; one member absent - Aigis alone had evaded the extraordinary reunion.

And yet, he couldn’t help feel a minute relief; her lack of codenames might allow some small degree of order.

But strange still... how the five of them had managed to find one another yet again, perhaps guided by the Alters whose memories had merged with their bodies?

“It’s... been some time, has it not?”

                                                     Awkward.

Out of nowhere, the flames apparently ignited, feasting on the air and blowing out the windows of the building standing with the heat radiating outwards. The story of many structures - if not decimated entirely. Aichi’s shoulders sagged heavily; ordinarily, the sight might have been cause for concern, but also jests and easily dealt with.

      But when his eyes were pulled away to the sight of a figure departing from the blazing threshold, he started forward. How long had they been in there? Were there others? Then they needed to call assistance for anyone who might be clinging to life inside - giving up on them, despite the slim odds, until it was certain they were gone, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

                    --Though the sight of blood slathered over that lengthy blade had him second-guess the idea. His legs stopped, scuffing against the concrete of the sidewalk and staring in astonishment at the figure.

Wasn’t that the male who fell out of a tree and onto him while helping a cat?

Infiltration successful.

The parallel Hive was fit for a war-zone by the point of inception - decimated to a vast degree; that much was visible from home. Or what they could consider home... what was their own? How did they-- Irrelevant. He had to proceed with the mission.

                   He’d orders from the king before the first wave of invasion; that Gaillard was to follow and regroup with other soldiers he knew in varying degrees.

By his side, but a child; the battlefield- the front line, even, was the last place he wanted the youngster to be. But the threat of some reckless party attempting to invade their own city... it was too great to leave Chrono unattended. He needed to be among... familiar faces. And it was a task he’d been charged with by the king himself.

The first, whom he registered as an ally from viewing her within the king’s legion prior to the attack, made his way toward him. Slowly, they were descending. But for certainty’s sake

--a hand rose, the gleam of his silver ring. His boots scuffed against the ground, inching in front of the boy whose hand he clasped with the other. “You are our Namazuo-san, correct?”

           She just stumbled about, a hand tracing the walls beside, the other cautiously rubbing her neck, sore and bruised from the attempt on her life. She’d seen death in the city, heard of it, but never once imagined she’d ever come so close to experiencing such a thing.

Her senses flitted in and out of focus; vision blurring and then attempting to reestablish itself, her hearing muffled. Her head ached, for various reasons, not least the burning from where her hair had been torn. But also the incredible effort it took just to stay conscious.

Though she clung to hope that she’d managed to wander away a safe enough distance to avoid any pursuit. The girl seemed hardly in the state to mastermind much, but there was no telling. After such an unpredictable move. Misaki paused, hunching forward and attempted to clear her throat lethargically.

          And in having ceased movement, the urge to simply drop and sleep had grown, making it all the more difficult to fend off. Her body swayed, tilted forward and crumpling into a ball on the street, succumbing to that overwhelming urge to sleep.

While they were still looking for work, the application processes were turning out to be mostly difficult, Honebami and Namazuo trying to find alternative activities in the meantime. They needn't search for long, however, for their landlord had been looking for some helping hands for some time now, reading off some chores they could readily attend to (with promises of a monetary compensation at the end of their completion). Eager to get started, and Honebami having written down a handy list to remember everything, the two Wakizashi brothers got started immediately, running about the city with enthusiasm. 

Their abrupt removal from their time had thrown a rupture into their routine--and with no horses to attend to, no fields to plow.. no evil forces to drive back, Honebami and his beloved brother were quite out of their element. This sort of life was livable, but drab, a small apartment housing even smaller beings as they kept together like peas in a pod. Today was another uneventful day. With Namazuo napping against him, head nuzzling into his lap all the while, Honebami pulled at his plush cheek incessantly, monotone voicing out quietly as he spoke.