A quiet laugh escaped his throat as Akihito noticed his own bare feet glowing in the dark grass that night. His skin was so pale he could see his toes curling into the dirt. The world was beautiful now, full of wonder and surprises that he found everyday. Akihito wasn’t sure how he had found this place, time was still catching up to him.
Oh, what did it matter? Voices, laughter, and the warm glow of lanterns was what he was headed for. He was eager to see people through new eyes; heavy blue eyes that no creature could possibly recognize as his own- or so he hoped with all his heart.
I'm not a demon anymore, after all.He thought to himself decidedly, standing taller as his confidence grew. At least, I won't be to them. I'll be just another soul. An average stranger.And that sounded perfect to him. The lights drew nearer and soon enough he was hurriedly making his way up an ornate, stone staircase and finding himself amongst the merry folk he'd been longing to see. He smiled excitedly and took cover under a canopy, hoping to disappear between faces and simply spectate for a while.
Light from torches hid stars up and overhead, casting odd shadows along clan members. Everything laid distorted, loud, overwhelming. The crackle from flames overpowered her hearing, almost as high in volume as was the talking, laughing, chanting.
Lost from the vibrations stirring throughout her drink, a shove from a passerby brought the Mender to her senses, however, seeing doubles in everything. Stumbling forward, eyes adjusted to wherever her legs took her-- though refused to focus in any particular direction. The ringing, echoes... Was there someone screaming?
Before she had realized, she stood in front of Lavon's table, only to find the chef absent but plenty snacks laid about. Doubles that actually existed in reality, calming the calamity of oversensitiveness.
Snatching goods off the table, fairy drifted around the mesa, offering (though mostly shoving) tiny desserts into clanmate's hands.
"Take one."
Such was no different when offering to the stranger, mender fidgeting slightly to move on and elsewhere.
Noticing the advance of food first, he smiled brightly and said with great enthusiasm, "Oh my, thank you so much!" After taking one, he looked up at her and his heart jolted.
This girl, she had quite nearly the face of the woman he'd been craving for all of these years- only younger. This is certainly how she would have looked in her youth, he thought. Unless Yuuki had conceived a child, how could it be possible for another creature to look so like her? A child with Apollo would have surely looked different. Am I in the past? "W-wait!" He said before she could move on from him, "Who are you?"
Dead eyes dropped down and away from the stranger's gaze, focusing elsewhere as she continued to try and escape elsewhere. He fit into the rest of the crowd well- too well- and it wasn't as if she'd spoken or seen him before, either. In fact. he could be just another really loud double running around. Perhaps that's what he was?
"Yuuka. Mender."
She huffed, tossing one of the toppings into her mouth as she looked up for her next target.
A pair of narrowed blue eyes stared at the interaction between the two. Ookami's gaze generally followed Yuuka wherever she went just in case she happened to get herself in some sort of trouble as the mender was known to do. What with her absent-mindedness.
She was offering snacks to clanmates and was mostly left unbothered until a man Ookami didn't recognize grabbed her attention. They were a little too far for the mender to hear every word but his persistent nature was something he was not too fond of at the moment.
Yuuki? An angel? Perhaps a term of endearment but that name...
Yuuki...
That name was familiar somehow. Either way, he kept a steady eye on the two in case things went past his comfort point.
Determined to get rid of the buzz in her ear, she upped her speed and practically forced more snacks into her clanmates' hands. Only when the mender realized the decrease in quantity did she whip around and move upon him, stuffing a dessert right into the halfling's mouth, no consent necessary. Finally the buzzing ceased.
"No wings; not angel. Maybe fae."
Yuuka huffed, patting a hand on her chest. She didn't know the stranger, and the angel wasn't really listening in anyways, with the festival going on.
"Yuuka isn't sure; never asked."
Only realizing then what she had done to him, she outstretched a hand, wiping off the smeared berry along his cheek.
Akihito blinked in surprise, gulping the dessert down in one swallow. "Never asked? What do you-" He paused as she cleaned his face off, his cheeks filling with warmth. "I..." Lost in her touch for a moment, he felt as if he were drifting off. It was long since he'd been touched by a creature such as her. Coming back now. "I am called Akihito. You said you never asked, so you know her? It's very urgent that I speak with her, can you tell me where she is?"
Ookami had never felt so... irritated. At the sight of Yuuka wiping off another man's cheeks, a constant gnawing feeling was overtaking him. Starting from his chest, extending to his shoulders and splitting up to his head and down his fingers. So uncomfortable that he had to clench his fists until they had whitened to release some pressure. It didn't do much. His teeth were slowly grinding on each other.
Unbeknownst to him, he was psychically pulling on Yuuka's hair. A small section, lifted on its own, and was repeatedly pulling towards Ookami's location. Nothing harmful but it was putting his displeasure on display for anyone who was paying attention to see. Luckily for the mender, his attention was focused on calming himself down.
Wrinkles became more distinct on her face as she stared at him in confusion. For a moment light reentered her eyes, but quickly diminished with little protested effort. She didn’t quite know how to answer him— at least, she wasn’t focused enough to do so, distracted by the tugging at the side of her head.
“She’s not, so...”
Hand moved up to flatten the hair, unaware of its physical tug. Only when she was caught by it moving up did she turn face, noticing the one staring at him.
“Try again later.”
With a quick glance back at Akihito, she paused a moment before dashing over to Ookami and stuffing the very last dessert into his mouth.
Akihito was left standing with his mouth gaped. "Try again later..?" He repeated to himself. What kind of shit is that?He thought. A familiar, stinging warmth of anger was welling inside his chest but he doused it quickly. No. I'm an angel now.Aki took a cooling breath before following after Yuuka again, still not noticing Ookami.
"You don't understand- I absolutely must talk with Yuuki. If you know a woman named Yuuki please just me where I can find her!"
He was not liking this one bit. Not only was she talking to a stranger, Ookami didn't remember a clan member looking like whoever was following Yuuka around.
He was momentarily confused at having food stuffed into his mouth but didn't mention much and just continued on munching. Ookami nodded in thanks.
Blue eyes stared at Yuuka for a moment, flashing up briefly at the stranger before settling back on hers.
"Who?" He motioned with his eyes, blinking over at the man approaching.
A half smile appeared on her face as she watched Ookami munch on the dessert she bothered him with. She thought not much of Akihito’s pestering until the mender himself addressed the stranger, attention returning to him.
“Aki... Aki.”
She referred to him, assuming that was what Ookami was inquiring about.
“Yuuki left, so Yuuka doesn’t know anymore for Aki. Sorry.”
Immediately thereafter, she “introduced” the two, spoken with their given nicknames as she took to holding each of their hands.
Akihito straightened, immediately giving Ookami a polite bow and saying, "I am honored to meet you, Crow." He then swiftly pulled his hand out of Yuuka's little fingers and looked at her. "She left...?" This he was muttering to himself more than anything, voice laced with disappointment. "I see..." Hearing that this was all the information he was going to get from the girl, he bowed to her. "Thank you, Yuuka...I apologize if I bothered you." He stepped back to let them be, now watching the crowds with dimmer eyes as though suddenly the world was less interesting.
