#leafslash

' YOU DON'T NEED TO COWER, YOU KNOW. ' sighing wearily into his glass of wine, break doesn't even look into the direction of ashton as he speaks up. they're relatively close to the table where he originally got the glass from in the first place, so it makes sense for the man to stumble across him without meaning to— is he squatting behind the table?

   taking another sip, he crosses one arm over the other, tips the heel of one shoe into the ground a couple of times. ' i'm not going to beat you up again ... as long as you don't give me any reason to. wouldn't want to make a scene unnecessarily, hm? '

"How inconvenient for you," Aurelius spoke after a while.

"They hardly seem like they belong."

And so, a hand darted forward to grab the one on the right around its body to give a mighty yank.

As night quickly fell, Edgar had chosen a ward to explore today - wandering his way into Cotes had brought him into the market town where shops lined all the way down and held a lot of interesting items sold by all kinds of different people. Wares caught his eye more then the sellers did, hardly batting an eye - but they were people he’d have easily crossed paths with back at home.

What he doesn’t fully expect to see, though, is some poor soul who looks entirely dismayed standing in front of a stand that looks fine at a glance, but...

...the whole thing seems fishy at a better look, even from here. If the bits of conversation he can hear are anything, the shop owner is trying to dupe this poor guy. It’s maybe against Edgar’s best interests, but he finds himself approaching anyway.

Welcome back to scenic Isola Radiale, Ashton!

You will be housed in YOUR PERSONAL HOUSE.

You will retain everything you were given in your previous stay.

[ Where did you leave off here?  Goodness, everything was foggy...Vague memories come back, but that’s all they are.  You don’t know why they’re so close, yet still so vague.  Interdimensional travel took a bit to catch up with you, you figured.  And honestly, you’d rather it be your thinkpan lagging behind than something else.  Not that you want to get into that, with this inner dialogue in your head. ]

[ There is one universal constant you know for sure, though.  And that’s poor saps who fall for your schemes.  And by luck, you’d have come across him.  He hadn’t seemed to be paying you much mind.  As, he most likely hadn’t noticed you nor cared to look up from what he was doing.  So, you clear your throat. ]

Ahem.  Anchors.  It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

We have some catching up to do.

[ Anyone with a sense of dignity would know there was an implication there, but, Ashton had fallen for his insurance scams once before...Who’s to say he won’t fall for it again?  You consider yourself a rather persuasive fellow, and you do know what you’re talking about.  You drone chasing bastard.]

Do you have a moment?  I’d love to chat.

“It seems I have missed this ‘White Day’ holiday people were talking about.

“oh, please don’t worry about it. i’m sure it happens to the best of us.”

a rare smile has graced albedo’s face as he sets his fork down on his plate, though behind it is a curious glint in his eyes as he leans his cheek against his hand and watches ashton profusely apologize for his dragons’ behaviour. though they had managed to snatch some of his food, he doesn’t seem overly bothered by it. if anything, after a moment, a bit of a laugh leaves him. he must find the situation a bit on the amusing side.

“they’re just hungry, yes? though i didn’t know dragons enjoyed fish. well, then again, i suppose carnivorous dragons aren’t uncommon.”

a shrug, and what remains of a plate of sunshine sprat is pushed forward.

“you might as well let them have the rest, seeing as they’ve already taken half of this plate. quite a mischievous pair, hm.”

“I don’t think we’ve had a chance to catch up ever since the... You know, the whole security breach. The city’s still standing, so I guess things worked out, but who exactly were those guys in the cloaks?”