Zuki walked back over to the group and gave Lue Reeq a cheerful smile, clasping her hands behind her back. “We’ll be your bodyguards on your trip! We’re rather new to this land, so I hope you’ll forgive that we don’t know much about it’s residents or the area in general... Still, you can be sure that we’ll do our best to protect you!”
At hearing her voice, Cielo stood up, several different types of flowers and leaves in his hands as he hurried over. He grinned excitedly, bouncing on the flats of his feet. “So, I take it we got the job? Are we gonna go and see the outside world?!” Zuki laughed as he held his fists up in front of himself, flowers sticking out from between almost every one of his fingers. “Yep! We just gotta keep a low profile and stick close to Lue Reeq.”
Heat lifted his head up from one of the several flowers that Cielo had handed to him, putting down all except for one flower that had caught his eye. It was deep red in color, and had petals that branched out in a star-like pattern. Cielo had found it growing on a rather odd vine, one with leaves that grew in needle-like points.
Despite the fact that Cielo had cheerfully handed it to him, saying that “the red suits you like a glove, brudda!”, he couldn’t help but feel like it meant something else...
He shook his head slightly, clearing his thoughts. Why should a flower of all things scare him? It wasn’t like it would poison him by touching it or something like that. It was probably nothing.
Still, he held onto that flower as he stood up, walking over to the group as Cielo handed her a rather odd-looking white and yellow flower. It’s bottom-most set of white petals blossomed downwards, while the center-most set streched upwards into a shape that reminded him of a cup. She smiled and took it, deciding to slide it it in with the hair that she kept tied back, situating her red chord so it’d hold it in place.
....It rather suited her, honestly. Kind of cute.
He walked over to her as Cielo tried to weave a couple of surprisingly large flowers that seemed to resemble orange and yellow firework explosions into a couple of his braids. He grasped her arm, nodding to the Exarch and Lue Reeq as he pulled her over towards the tree he and Cielo were just standing by. She looked up at him in confusion as his grip tightened just slightly and he narrowed his eyes at her.
“What did you say to him? How did you convince him to let us go?”
She cocked her head to the side for a moment before sighing through her nose, lifting her left hand up to ease his off of her. Zuki’s hand lingered gently on his wrist as she met his gaze. “I simply told him... some of the truth. I told him that we’d likely be able to stand up against those “Sin Eaters”, and that the three of us would be more than enough to keep Lue Reeq safe. I did divulge the fact that you keep denying as well to seal the deal.”
He gritted his teeth, shaking his hand free of her grasp to cross his arms. “And what fact would that be?”
Hurt crossed her features for a moment, causing Heat to feel a pang of regret. Zuki put her hand on her hip, now half-glaring up at him. “I think you know it very well. I shouldn’t have to tell you. Especially since you’re not the only one who’s affected by it.” She closed her eyes, turning her head away from him.
Why did he feel like that had a double meaning to it...?
He opened his mouth to reply, but Zuki was already turning to leave. “Come on, we shouldn’t keep them waiting.”
Zuki quickly made her way back to the group, leaving Heat to stammer for a moment before scrambling to regain his composure(or previous lack thereof) and catch up with her. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down from Heat’s ‘interrogation’, before giving the group an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that! We’re ready to go whenever you guys give the ‘OK’-!”
Grrrrrrrmble~
Zuki blinked in surprise, looking between the people present to see where the sound came from, only to let out a soft laugh when she noticed that Cielo was holding his stomach with an embarrassed grimace. He pouted at her, wining softly. “Ey, it’s not my fault that we didn’t eat any real food before stormin’ the Karma Temple!!”
Unfortunately, his dismay only caused her to laugh a bit harder, now holding her stomach with one arm as she tried to muffle her mirth with her free hand.
GRRRRRRRRRRRMBLE~!!!
The pair jumped, eyes wide with shock as they stared back at the red-head who now stood behind Zuki, arms held casually behind his head. He looked back at him, cheeks flushed just slightly as he looked away, glaring at an empty bench further away from them. “What? You guys know that long fights like that make me work up an appetite.”
Zuki started sniggering again, only to freeze when her own stomach growled softly. Slowly, she wrapped her arms across her stomach, sheepisly smiling at the Exarch. “S-So...haha... What were you saying before about a place called the Pendants...?”
vaporwave
2087
theartofmadeline
