true moon

MONSTER: GORGONIC GHOUL

Listening carefully to the description, Alcor found he could easily form the image in his mind—perhaps because this individual that Rei was describing matched up with the one he had met only a week or so ago. That with his large, billowing cloak, and a strange mask on his face, he could easily have been mistaken for some sort of phantasm..

But Alcor knew it was not so.

"Please calm yourself, Shingetsu Rei, lest you worsen your condition. Even if such a thing were to exist, it would not be within so dense of a place as Toshi City."

"Do you recall the men we have encountered on several occasions? I fear that this "specter" may have been in league with them. So long as you continue to associate with me, such attacks may become normality for you."

Patting the last of the bindings down, he withdrew his hands, though his look was grave. “You have lost blood, but you will be able to survive this wound without medical care so long as you are careful. But perhaps this is the last time we ought to meet…”

At least, until Alcor could get to the bottom of this strange, cloaked attacker.

"Do you trust yourself to be able to make the journey back to your quarters, or must I escort you?"

Rei stopped his frenzied movements and allowed himself to be reassured for the moment. The longer he listened to Alcor’s words, however, the more his frown deepened, and his brow creased beneath the bandages.

“Th-that’s fine! I’m not afraid of them, Alcor-nii!” he said hurriedly, pointedly ignoring Alcor's offer to escort him back upstairs. No weird specter was going to keep him away from Alcor-nii! “Those thugs are no problem! Just let them try to catch me!”

Please. Comparing the “specter” to those pawns who couldn’t have come up with plans of action if the blueprints were shoved into their gaping, drooling mouths. It would be advantageous to the “specter,” of course, but it was still funny. His head was throbbing again, and he had to internally calm himself a little.

“We don’t HAVE to resort to splitting up, do we?” he asked, a pleading note in his tone, knowing full well that the final word was up to Alcor. He was prepared to work with however the situation developed, but he was still going to pull on this string as far as it would agree to go. After all, there was a meaning to it.

One last possibility occurred to him, and he presented it slowly, hopefully, his eyes never leaving Alcor’s expression. “Maybe…maybe you could…teach me how to fight…!”

MONSTER: GORGONIC GHOUL

Fighting the urge to sigh at the long list of accidents (this was just so typical of Rei), he nodded slowly in understanding. He could at least relate to the cyclist part. Alcor himself had gotten run over not too long ago by a high school student on a pure white road racer…

"I see."

That last part, though… It sounded out of place, and abnormal. Rei was accident-prone as it was, but surely even he wouldn’t do anything to invite something like that. …Right?

Then that only meant…

"Perhaps it was my fault…?"

A question mumbled more to his hand than the wounded boy lying beside him. Rei had dragged Alcor into several situations with other groups, and Alcor had had to fight to defend them both. He wasn’t nearly as prolific as his brothers were, but he still had his own fair share of enemies, and the possibility remained that Rei could have been targeted because of him…

He returned to tending to the wound, carefully winding bandages around the boy’s head, his eyes pensive all the while.

"Do you remember anything about this individual’s appearance?"

“Hm?” Rei asked in reaction to Alcor’s muffled statement, though he had heard well enough. He winced a bit when the bandage was wound tightly around his head, but remained still without flinching.

“Uh….” The boy screwed up his eyes and thought, concentrating on parsing his thoughts, and began to describe slowly. “A dark and purple cloak…with a hood…I think? That might have been why I thought they were so big, the cloak was flying everywhere….” He made a flapping motion with his arms for emphasis. ”And…” he frowned. “Weird…I don’t remember a face…. For some reason, I got the impression that they didn’t have a face?” He considered this sentence. “But that can’t be possible, huh…. Unless…?!”

He looked straight at Alcor in alarm, then cried out. “Uwaah, Alcor-nii, what if it was a ghost?! What if there’s a ghost in Toshi City?!”

MONSTER: GORGONIC GHOUL

With no towering bag of groceries in hand this time, Alcor was very aware of his surroundings.

He heard a slipping of feet, a misstep—and once more, a flash of orange tumbled down the stairs, hurtling right towards him.

"…!"

Managing to catch the boy before he hit the ground without getting knocked over, no amount of preparation could ever prepare him for what he saw next.

"…Shingetsu Rei…?"

Rei was bleeding from a gash that was relatively small, but had cut into a rather large artery. And by the look in his eyes, it seemed that he had lost quite a lot of blood already.

"What happened…?" No, he couldn’t just stand there. Rei’s life was bleeding out as they spoke. "Come. I will treat your wound."

Without waiting for a response and regardless of any protest he may have had, he gently lifted the boy into his arms and carried him back to his own suite.

Medical procedures were not unknown to him, especially given his rather hazardous line of work, and within moments of returning to Room 2, he had laid Rei’s head down on a cushion, finding several others on which to rest his legs. As he dabbed away at the blood, he spoke again.

"I will ask again. What sort of mischief afflicted you with such a wound?"

He had expected to hit the ground. Instead, what caught him was a set of slender arms and a voice that he recognized immediately.

The parts of Rei’s mind that could still function whirred at top speed. Now, he had been seen…. Well, there was no struggling against it now. What mattered was what to do next.

“Alcor-nii…”he murmured vaguely, before closing his eyes and letting his body go limp. When he next opened his eyes, it was to the ceiling of Alcor’s room. Though he had passed by or stood at the entrance on plenty of other occasions, he’d never entered quite this far in before. Moving his head slightly, mouth slightly open, he took in every detail of the room while his eyes shifted and sharpened, now that he was no longer one towel away from splattering half of his body weight on the stairs.

He took a moment to process Alcor’s question. “Umm…well….” Rei furrowed his brow into an expression of deep thought. “Today, I…fell down the stairs…ran into a railing…got hit by a cyclist…hit my knee on the bottom of a desk,” he listed off, pointing to the locations of various bruises as he did so, “…and…. Ahh!” He sat bolt upright, immediately went dizzy again, and had to lower himself back down.

“I…there was this big person who ran past me!” he said, raising his arms weakly to emphasize the size in relation to himself. “I think…. Well, I wasn’t paying attention to them at first, but then they bumped into me…and I felt this sharp pain, like, shingg! – and I didn’t know what was going on, and I panicked, and I ran back here, and I was bleeding…! I…I guess they had a knife!”

MONSTER: GORGONIC GHOUL

Rei, standing on the stairs, managed a couple of steps before slumping against the wall, breathing heavily. The towel pressed to his head was rapidly turning scarlet from blood, and he couldn’t see the bottom-most steps clearly at this point.

The first thing Vector had done was run back to the apartment and stow away his cloak and mask, but an injury was not to be placed aside so easily. Adrenaline and the frantic dash back to Marigold had not exactly helped to stem the flow of blood, and his arteries seemed to be pounding in his head. He had lost more than expected, considering the bullet had only grazed his head! He cursed it again, watching the stairs refocus beneath him as he rested.

He didn’t have any first aid in his room, but he couldn’t just waltz into a store with his head bleeding and ask for some bandages. It would be far too suspicious, even for Rei, who had already built up a reputation for clumsiness. Perhaps one of the other occupants of the apartment wouldn’t notice if he stole in and borrowed some of their bandages. He knew that one of the adults living on the bottom floor often went out drinking around this time…. If Rei could just make it there….

He tried to continue forwards, and stumbled – and then fell headlong down the stairs, once again, but this time for real.

SPELL: CURSED CHAOS

ryuuenjisenpai-blog

—This batch of criminals were crafty indeed, scattering about all over the place and dividing the police force into smaller groups. There had been no word on their capture yet, but they should’ve been in the area. Tasuku had been ordered to remain in this spot to block off any potential escape route. He could only hope the other officers were having more luck; it was a rather uneventful post, all was quiet—

"…?!"

A loud crinkle alerted him to a rapidly approaching presence from behind and he whirled around—

—and a sudden, sharp pain erupted in his torso.

…Huh?

A blade had buried itself in his gut, all the way to the hilt, and it took him a while to process it. He’d been stabbed. He’d been stabbed, and liquid metal pooled in his mouth as he spat blood, and the culprit was pulling the knife out, slowly, painfully—

—and he was falling.

His shoulder hit the cement hard, but the impact was nothing compared to the gaping wound in his abdomen. Warm blood spilled onto his hand as he instinctively grasped at it in a futile attempt to stem the blood flow. He was in trouble, he was lucid enough to realize this, and the other squads were far from this area already…

But he wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Gun in hand, he raised a shaking arm as the cloaked individual turned and aimed a shot at the masked visage that slowly slid into view.

#ryuuenjisenpai #:^)))))))))))))))))

Shit. Shit. Fuck. Shit. Fuck.

He’d actually been stupid enough to step on something, and Ryuuenji had turned, and now the attack hadn’t gone as calculated – no, no, stay calm, it’s only minor, he only noticed you a little earlier than you had expected, it’s not as if he’d have stayed ignorant after you’d stabbed him, idiot, it’s not a problem – the knife had sunk deeper than he’d intended and he slid it back out gradually instead of wrenching it out in victory and satisfaction, as he would have preferred.

He had been aiming for a clean stab wound, easy in, easy out, but this angle had gotten a little twisted. Whatever. The job was done. Ryuuenji collapsed at his feet. Vector hastily stowed the blade back into his cloak, before he turned and left –

Except that the last part didn’t happen. A loud bang resounded through the alley and seemed to tear through his ears, a fraction of a second before something physical truly tore through the flesh on the side of his head, skimming his face just above his brow. The mask cracked and split where it had been pierced, but to him it felt more like the thing had shattered. He clapped a hand immediately to the momentarily exposed skin. It hadn’t reached bone or anything, but his head was bleeding freely, and he could feel the warm liquid soak into his glove.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

He couldn’t risk being hit by a bullet. It would have been evidence against him. Had Ryuuenji seen his face?! No, no, that was unlikely…. But it was a dangerous possibility if he continued to stand here. He didn’t know if the brat even had the strength to fire off another shot, but he couldn’t risk it. Cursing his failure to pull off the scheme clearly, he whirled around, and, stumbling slightly with the dizziness of blood loss, sprinted away from the scene.

SPELL: CURSED CHAOS

Vector slipped into the shadows of the nearest alley, the fleeting tail of his deeply colored cloak disappearing into the darkness. Everything had gone according to plan.

It had been a pain, of course, to scatter and disperse the various forces of policemen by making them think the smuggling ring they were pursuing had split up, and that they needed to split up as well if they hoped to catch them all, but he had managed it. Of course, there had been no smuggling ring in the first place – it was not the first time Vector had managed to fool others into thinking he was multiple people. A few faked incidents at the scene – trampled papers, scattered chairs, and a few bangs and clatters as the “multiple” criminals ran away in panic from their interrupted meeting – and the already-agitated police would not have had reason nor wits to suspect a thing.

Moving quickly, he turned the next corner and immediately ducked down into a low sneak. He had spotted his target. Normally, Vector would have wanted to carefully memorize the appearance of someone he had designated as a target for the first time, but it wasn’t really necessary in this case. No one else on the police force was a thirteen-year-old with a shock of bright blue hair, after all.

He had considered aiming to kill. Tasuku Ryuuenji was considered a prodigy, after all, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt to have him out of the way permanently. Most importantly, finishing off the victim would ensure that no evidence would be left – dead men told no tales. But he decided that it would be better to let the police divide their attention between being distracted by an injured officer and chasing down a group that didn’t exist – and besides, if he decided in the end that the kid needed to be offed after all, well, it wasn’t as if a wounded child in a hospital bed would be able to give much of a fight.

Officer Ryuuenji was standing still. Now was the time. Inching a few steps closer to that small back, he rose like a rearing snake in a well-practiced motion and thrust forth a knife from the folds of his cloak.

But there was something he hadn’t calculated. In his haste to attack as soon as there was an opportunity, he had missed the piece of foil on the ground, something that a litterer had thrown away, and as it met the bottom of his shoe, it crinkled with a loudness that belied its size.

#ryuuenjisenpai #please don't match length don't do this to yourseLF

"Ah…haha… I see. So it is a vendetta against me personally."

Nothing new, of course. Each individual brother had his own shadows tailing and haunting him; it was impossible not to make enemies in their line of work. Even their father was not immune to such things—though more often than not, anyone who crossed him completely vanished off the face of the earth. As if they had been erased from existence, consumed by the void…

"Do forgive me, but I cannot recall what I have done to wrong you." He had done far too many things to remember each and every one. "But I hope you realize that an attack against one of us is considered an attack on us all. You may claim to be solely my enemy, but you may find that you will have to combat far more than just myself."

Septentrione was a single unit, after all, a force that moved and controlled the world by Polaris’s command. Unified in consciousness…as much as Alcor denied it.

"It is true that little has happened as of yet, but I must fulfill my duty." He reached into his pocket, where his phone was. "This route is not to be seen by outsiders… And while I am curious of the circumstances of your grudge, our time here must end."

Would the mystery man flee? Would he get caught by the reinforcements Alcor was about to summon? There was no telling what he’d do.

“Aww, you don’t?” Vector questioned in a high, simpering voice. “I’m so hurt, Alcor. Honestly, how could you say such a thing? It’s like you don’t have a heart, or like you’re not human.”

Suddenly he broke into a sneer, and though the change in expression would have been impossible to see behind that near-blank gray mask, it wasn’t difficult to infer from the acid that hissed fleetingly from his voice when he next spoke. “Doing your duty, is it? Typical, typical…. Ah, well….” The boiling tone dripped gradually away as he continued, but the heat of it seemed to linger in the air for a moment longer. “While I’d love to accompany you longer, I’m afraid we’ll have to part ways here. After all, I’ve obtained what I came for tonight.”

He wasn’t stupid enough to stand here and wait for Alcor’s little cronies to come. It would cause way too much unnecessary trouble for this early a stage. And besides, Vector preferred to calculate these kinds of circumstances. Testing his luck was the route of idiots who lacked both the capacity for planning and anything to lose.

“See you soon, Alcor, dear!” he concluded, adopting that high tone once more – “it would make for lovely entertainment if you’ll try and catch me, so follow up on that and don’t disappoint, would you? You know, the way I’m sure you disappoint your father and all” – and leapt back into the obscuring veil of darkness, away from Alcor’s probing eyes. Yes, they would see each other sooner than Alcor-nii would ever expect.

What he hadn’t anticipated was for the voice to echo from the rooftops. Positioned at such a height, the cloaked figure was safe; Alcor was no sniper. But of course, that was hardly a good thing.

To say nothing of the scathing comments…

"…Are you finished?"

Trying to make out the facial features of the figure impossible in the limited light. His ailing eyesight could detect movements and subtle changes with ease, but that was just about where it ended.

"So you know of us," he muttered, pacing slowly along the edge of the sidewalk whilst keeping the hooded figure in his sights at all time—just in case he wasn’t, in fact, only observing. "If you seek to learn of our movements, then I can only assume you are the enemy. Am I correct?"

"Will you not reveal yourself? Or do you cloak yourself in fear of what we are capable of?"

#equesstellula #alcor-channnn

“Finished? Hm, hm, hm! Oh, you wish, Alcor, dear…but I’m only getting started on this little game.” He hummed and skipped along the rooftop as his prey paced below.

“Your enemy, huh? That depends on how you look at it, you know? On one hand, I’m not really your enemy – but on the other, I am certainly your enemy – get what I mean?” He laughed. “Or, on the other, other hand…no one is exactly my friend either.”

He twirled on the spot and paused. “Reveal myself? Oh, oh, contain your eagerness, dear Alcor,” Vector chided, and split into a secret predatory grin in the darkness. “And think about it. Why should I reveal myself now, when nothing has happened yet? Hmmmm? No, no, that wouldn’t be much fun at all…. If you want to see my face, you’ll have to see it when someone else’s face has my foot on it, if you catch my drift.” As if to prove this point, as if to say “you can stop squinting at my face now,” he pulled at his hood slightly, only enough for the flickering light of the nearest streetlamp to fall upon the curve of his Barian mask. It was a smooth gray thing that was almost featureless – only a vague ridge of a nose and two black slashes from the eye holes.

The only people who had seen Vector’s mask in person were either dead or very, very far away. (He may or may not have made sure of that.) But he wasn’t looking for a reaction – not an immediate one, anyway. He meant this display as a taunt – just try to figure out the meaning of this mask. Struggle in vain. Catch me if you can.

"…"

Not much on the menu tonight, it seemed, but Septentrione was finding every reason to employ Alcor in its assignments. It was punishment, perhaps, for interfering with Void and staining its relationship with his family, but he would take it, as he always did…

There was little going on on this darkened intersection at 2:39 AM; not a soul wandered it at this time of night save for Alcor. He was simply here to secure a route…

Ah, but it seemed as if company had just joined him.

"And how long do you intend on hiding?"

His voice was not particularly loud, but it carried far and throughout the entire intersection, addressing any individual who was obscured in the shadows—though there was only one.

"Your presence is known to me. You may reveal yourself now."

#DAMN I WROTE THIS FAST AT 1AM ok throws myself into bed now #equesstellula

From within the darkness, Vector laughed – a vaguely maniacal sound. It was a laugh of tall highs and deep lows, a laugh with few reservations, a laugh that seemed to imply the knife that lurked around the corner or the fanged trap in the dark. Few could have easily associated that laugh with a clumsy middle school boy.

“You might have been able to sleep easier if you hadn’t pointed me out, Alcor-chan,” he said slowly, with the shadowy hint of a growl. “After all, tonight, I’m only here to observe…. I couldn’t miss a chance to watch and see some Septentrione work, now could I?”

He stepped out and looked down at his prey from atop the roof of the building he was perched, head sunken deep within a hood that nearly matched the color of the night. A cold breeze stirred up the ends of his cloak.

“Aaaalcor, looks like you’re just as loyal a dog as ever, huh?” he continued, even more slowly this time, drawing out the sentences on his tongue as if every syllable were fine cuisine. “Good to know, good to know! Tigers don’t really change their…stripes.” And he set off laughing again, as raucously as if no one was there to hear him.

Alcor-nii?

Well… That was the first time he had ever been addressed as such. He was among the youngest of his brothers, and that came with about as much respect and recognition that one would expect. To be suddenly thrust into this position felt somewhat strange.

He found himself not minding, though.

"If it feels most natural to you, then I have no qualms about it."

…Though any warmth that had arisen in his chest quickly faded when he saw Rei tumble down the stairs again.

"…"

At this point, he couldn’t even bring himself to feel surprised or even worried. He was just exhausted.

"Indeed, you did not."

With a heavy sigh, he walked down the stairs slowly (as if to demonstrate the proper method in which to descend a staircase without any unfortunate accidents), stepping down beside the fallen Rei and plucking the mop from his hands. His own hands were completely full with buckets and soap so he had to rest the mop on his shoulder as he continued on.

"That would be all the assistance I require today." He hated to think of what else would befall the both of them if he continued to allow Rei’s “help.” “I need nothing else. You may go if you wish.”

Another sigh. He walked ahead, where the daunting task of cleaning the lobby awaited him.

#equesstellula #HI..............................#here's something scary on Halloween. the return of satan. I mean

Rei’s eyes lit up from his position flat on his back, and he sat up with a flash, nearly hitting himself in the face with the handle of the mop as he did.

“R…really?!”he nearly shouted at Alcor’s perfect descent, the hands that held the mop clenched tightly in excitement. “It’s okay? You said it, right?” Without waiting for an answer, he leapt to his feet after being relieved of the mop. “Yay! Alcor-nii! Alcor-nii!” Where his new “older brother” walked, he immediately began to follow, until the words that followed cut off his route as if sealing it off.

Well, seals were meant to be broken, though.

“Eh?! But, but, I want to help Alcor-nii!” he protested, and this time his fists were both clenched in protest as he danced nimbly about the man. “Do you want me to hold the bucket? The soap? The mop? I can hold the mop again. I can hold the mop! Ah!”

In spite of his enthusiasm, though, he jumped out of Alcor’s way when he was needed to and did not attempt a snatch at any of the items, even if Alcor put something down; only stayed prepared in case his new older brother dropped anything by accident. He would be on the alert for the sake of Alcor-nii!

Alcor resisted a cringe when he heard the boy bounding up after him, only to apparently fall victim to another mishap. When he glanced back to see the newest stains, he could only sigh internally. Wonderful… If this was the price of one pear, Alcor would have preferred to leave it to rot.

"I think," he said, fighting another heavy sigh. "That I will be fine. If you wish to accompany me to my room, then I will not stop you. I need only assistance in carrying the cleaning equipment down."

He hated to think of what other disaster would befall him if he allowed Rei any more than that. But, he supposed, he ought to at least indulge the boy with his name.

"…My name is Alcor."

Not checking to see whether Rei was following along—whether he decided to keep to his word or run off back to wherever he had come from, there would be little difference either way, he thought—Alcor finally reached his room. Double-checking to see whether his shoes were clean, he stepped inside and deposited the salvaged groceries in a safe place before grabbing the mop and pail. Ahh, he’d need a bag to put all the soiled food and broken cartons too…

When he emerged from the room again, cleaning equipment in hand, Rei was still there. “If you still wish to aid me, may I ask you to carry this down to the ground floor?” He held the mop out. At least, with just the mop and nothing else, the possibility of any more accidents taking place was reduced. Or so he hoped. “Please do not drop it.”

#'m going to give alcor a break I'm not going to write yet another clumsy disaster' I said to myself but then I did #equesstellula

“Alcor…Alcor-san!” Rei repeated the name to himself and nodded firmly. Somehow, excitement was building up within him. “That’s a cool name, Alcor-san!” He followed closely all the way to Alcor’s room and observed the small of Alcor’s back.

Ah…really? You haven’t even bothered to give a false name? Making this a little too easy for us, aren’t you? Waah~ That's a little boring! Well, not that it matters, since we already know – but you could play along for a bit, get into character, heighten the drama, just a tad. Liven up the stage a little, you know, while you’re still standing on it! Oh well! You might as well go ahead and simplify this game, if you must. After all, the ending will be the same, and the chase will still be fun.

I can’t wait to sink a dagger into this back.

Rei waited patiently at the door and pretended not to sneak a peek at the inside of the room. When Alcor re-emerged, he was more than ready to go.

“Okayyy!” Rei nodded so vigorously that for a moment, his head was like an orange flare bobbing up and down. Leave it to me, Alcor-nii!” He paused a moment, then clapped a hand to his mouth. “I mean…oops, that kind of slipped out! You just seem like the reliable big brother type, is all…the complete opposite of me…. Well, anyway! No worries, okay! I’ll show you the best mop-carrying you’ve ever seen!” He seized the mop in both hands and bounded back down the steps –

The legs of his school uniform were just a little too long, maybe, or something else went wrong while putting one foot in front of the other, and suddenly those steps were rushing up to meet him and his elbow slammed into the wall –

At the bottom of the stairs, he laid on his throbbing back but raised the unharmed mop triumphantly. “Ah…. I didn’t drop it!”

When he finally decided to take a good look at the orchestrator of his misery, a young boy probably around Tasuku’s age, he had raised his head just in time to see his foot hovering over a fallen banana.

"Watch your—"

Too late. He watched, one part disbelief, one part horror and one part awe as one accident led to another. The boy just managed to orient himself in the worst positions possible, and by the time he had done his damage, a huge pool of milk covered half the lobby, the crushed carton still spurting the remainder of its contents pathetically, and a pile of tomatoes lay crushed and mushy after the impact. This, among other things…

"……"

He stared in dismay at the mess. In all of his nineteen years, Alcor had never, ever seen anyone capable of creating a disaster of these proportions. And the worst part of it was that Alcor would probably be held responsible for this if he didn’t clean it up.

"…It is fine," he said stiffly. The boy’s sudden cheeriness was somehow very overwhelming. "It was an accident…" Curse his bleeding heart; he couldn’t even bring himself to accept the kid’s money. Not with that guilt-laden voice, or—or the fact that he was a child at all. "…Shingetsu Rei, yes? Do not worry about the expenses. It will just fall on me to clean up this mess…"

At least one onion had been saved… And the loaf of bread that the boy had originally reached for was relatively unscathed. Some groceries still remained untouched at the very bottom of the bag. It would at least be enough for dinner…

With a sigh, he picked up the near-empty bag, walking past the boy and up the stairs that he had tumbled down. He’d deposit the groceries in a safe place, then get the mop… Hopefully, no more unfortunate accidents would come out of this day.

…. ….

…Ohh? Oh, oh, oh? You were raised in the darkness of criminal life, and yet, you’re not going to hold a grudge? It may simply be a few groceries, but it’s still like a stain on your pride, you know? You were born out of a world where damage and disrespect merit payback, and yet, you’re going to let this go? You’ll really take pity on this child’s pathetic face? Then, it’s just as the rumors have said, isn’t it? Good, good! Isn’t it wonderful when people are so predictable? Yes, wonderful!

Kya~ Don’t make that sort of face!

Oh, his neighbor was walking away…. Before that happened, he had to…! Rei snatched up a pear from the floor, which neither of them had seen because it had been behind him (he’d nearly sat on it, in fact) and hopped up the stairs after his neighbor. On the fourth one, he tripped over his own foot and fell forwards, but was able to just barely catch himself on the railings – safe! He’d bumped his elbow quite loudly though, and there were some tomato juice stains on the wall now.

“Um, wait, you forgot one!” he said, making his way over excitedly and placing the pear into the grocery bag with a hint of triumph and a bounce. Probably at having delivered it safely.

“And, well, at least let me help clean up the mess!” he offered. “I can carry your bag too, and take it upstairs, just let me know which room – oh wait, I guess that one wouldn’t work, huh? Never mind –,” He put his hands together with a clap. “And, and, one last thing! Neighbor, what’s your name?”

#equesstellula #:^)

This did not bode well. This did not bode well at all.

Usually, when burdened with such a towering bag of groceries, misery befell him. People ran into him, he ran into people, he tripped over things, he got attacked by geese… (Though that last bit would happen regardless of whether he was carrying groceries or not.) And yet, Alcor had managed to place himself in this situation again after forgetting to attend to their dwindling stock of food for an entire week. He would just have to be especially careful this time…

Luckily, all of the experienced he had amassed over his stay proved handy as he weaved to and fro through the crowd. There were no stray joggers this time, no delinquents loitering around and stealing cards… He had entered Marigold without any problems… Yes, yes, perhaps he’d make it, he thought as he strolled on past the stairs—

—Or not. A cry sounded, and no sooner than that did someone bowl him over, sending him reeling to the ground and his groceries flying everywhere.

"……"

With a dejected sigh, he didn’t even look at who had knocked him over, simply pushing himself up and reaching for the nearest bruised tomato, trying to ignore the stinging in his side.