caught in the middle // paramore (i’m just a little bit caught in the middle / i try to keep going but it’s not that simple)
kill the ghost // motherfolk (you probably think that i’m trying to kill myself / cause i don’t give a damn about my health / but underneath it all i’m scared as hell / of what comes after this)
long hair // moontower (i don’t wanna be still / i just wanna move in slow motion / i burn out until it breaks me / always sleep with one eye open / so would it kill you to be honest with yourself? / i’m not sticking around to find out)
nighttyger replied to your post “Persona 5 Royal Review/Analysis”
@seasaltmemories I don’t want to read the post because of, uh, spoilers, but my big question is mainly if this is a good version of the game if you haven’t played the base (or uh, any persona for that matter?) ive wanted to get into persona for a long time but I’ve never had the money to invest in more than one console so I never had the right one rip
No worries my dude, this was also my first Persona game and I was able to follow it fine, the biggest stumbling point was the fact the game starts in media res and I worried it was some sneaky sequel or something
From what I can tell, basically they upgraded and tightened the gameplay and then added on new content, so I think it is a perfectly fine version to play
kk-dirge replied to your post “Man Kibi can you imagine if Gen 8 had a character who had all the best...”
wait beta n design....... ��
nighttyger replied
beta designs?? Hello??? where can I find this
oh they’re great....i love that i get to reintroduce them so often because tragically few people have actually seen them!! ksdlf here’s screencaps from the interview or whatever where Masuda showed them off
this is the most infamous one...i really want to know who drew this like..was it Masuda? because it’s so hilariously off-model for Pokemon...there is so much to unpack here...he’s so gritty. and that horrible snarl...! such charm! this looks like concept art of a Silent Hill character...i love him and desperately wish he was real. 10/10
note the missing eye-- he appears to be missing his left eye, while Ghetsis wears an eyepatch over his right (and i know the marks on his face are supposed to just be shading from his hair...but i like to pretend it’s scarring because that’s what i thought it was supposed to be when i first saw it sdkfljd...JUST GIVE ME SOME SCARS YOU COWARDS)
getting more into safe bishi territory here...but still note the discolored left arm-- again, parallel to Ghetsis' discolored right arm that can be seen in the opening of BW. they were clearly going for a visual dichotomy between their designs, but for whatever reason decided not to go through with it. the symbolism there is pretty on-the-nose, buuuut i think it would have been kinda neat...
the cynic in me thinks that PC might have been worried that players would have more trouble sympathizing with N if he wasn’t super anime-pretty... :( either way guess we just weren’t ready for a cool anti-villain character who also happened to have some physical disfigurement...and instead we got stuck with just Ghetsis as representation in that regard. and he’s the most morally corrupt and detestable character in the entire series to date 😩
aaaaand here’s pretty close to the design that we ended up with................god he’s so boring in comparison. only thing of note here are the mom jeans
Cabanela is Dance Uncle, of course Also you know how Kamila likes to make all the contraptions and stuff? Now add Yomiel teaching her computer stuff into the mix
I mean my first thought was Weird Uncle, so that’s more flattering, but of course both are completely true.
And yep! That’s where I was aiming. It starts as just telling her some things and answering some questions and next thing he knows he’s actually teaching her stuff.
Merry Christmas to @nighttyger! I’m your Rhythm Thief Secret Santa, and I hope you like what I wrote for you!
The first time Raphael met Charlie, Private Eye and never a constable, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to think of him. It was hard to be intimidated by someone shorter than himself that wielded a soccer ball as if it was an ultimate weapon, really.
The ball came flying out of nowhere, and it was pure instinct that kept Raphael from receiving a nasty hit to the face. As it was, the flip was probably unnecessary, but if he was going to dodge an unexpected projectile then he was going to do it with style. At first he suspected a game of sorts being played by someone nearby, but a quick scan of the area revealed no players.
“Was that on purpose?” He murmured, finally spotting a figure moving out from behind the tree. The boy that had appeared was shorter than Raphael- well, Phantom R at the moment- with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a confident walk that drove him right up to Raphael.
“You’ve got guts, Phantom R!” Were the first words out of his mouth, accusing tone so similar to that of the constables, and Raphael couldn’t interject with the witty remark he would’ve liked before the boy picked up the soccer ball and began to speak again.
“Trespassing in Constabulary HQ? I will apprehend you now, and prove my worth in the process.”
They were a solid few feet away from each other, and while the boy’s words amused him, he knew better than to underestimate an opponent. As logical as that sounded, however, he could hardly help throwing on something of a smirk.
“What’re you talking about? You don’t look like a constable to me.” And he really didn’t- the constables had their hats and blue uniforms, and this boy was dressed more stylishly, with a matching brown hat and coat- not to mention that Raphael was fairly sure constables had to be older than this. Granted, the boy didn’t seem far from Raphael’s age, but one didn’t exactly need to be a certain age to be a thief and dancer.
This seemed to be exactly the right thing to say for all the wrong reasons, because the boy scoffed and looked like Raphael had just told him the earth was flatter than a pancake.
“I would never be a constable!” And just a moment after, his expression was serious once more. “I am Charlie, Private eye. So, you come quietly, or do you require a penalty kick to the head?” The boy’s words- Charlie, Raphael would remember- were sharper now, and while he should have found it intimidating, Charlie’s words felt like a challenge. Phantom R’s eyes narrowed, and his response was deliberately delayed, gaze rising to meet Charlie’s eyes. Fondue only added to his effect, growling at the boy as if prepared for a fight.
“Is neither an option?”
Charlie’s response was almost as delayed, but with the full confidence from earlier.
“No! So I will choose for you!”
Charlie immediately rushed at him, soccer ball in on hand ready to be thrown, and Raphael found himself flipping through the air to avoid being tackled to the ground. His current rival reacted quickly though, and with seemingly no hesitance spun on his heel and flung the ball at Phantom R’s still flying form. Raphael couldn’t mask his surprise at his opponent’s and it took instinct once more to twist his form out of the soccer ball’s way. That was when he grinned- this was going to be fun!
0 0 0
The second time Raphael met Charlie, Private eye and always prepared, he did so with the knowledge that Charlie was Vergier’s son, and that bit of news couldn’t have made the second encounter more interesting if it tried. Then again, the next conversation also included a hang glider. It was all sorts of interesting already.
He’d just successfully acquired the Queen’s Pendant and escaped the constables through the roof of the Paris Opera house this time around. Gazing at the city below, he’d already begun a trademark grin- at least a little celebration of success was in order, wasn’t it?- when he heard a shout from above. But that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? He was already on the roof-
“I’ve been waiting for you, Phantom R!”
No- Raphael knew that voice! Both he and Fondue looked up, and he could hardly contain his surprise at the sight- high above and closing in fast on a hang glider was Charlie, who he now knew to be Charlie Vergier, son of the Inspector! The new news of his lineage might’ve been more of a shock upon seeing the boy again if it hadn’t been for the hang glider, really. The two hardly looked alike.
When Charlie jumped and flipped his way onto the ground, though, Phantom R pushed down any surprise or shock in favor of wit. That had seemed to work well so far, and he could hardly help a little sarcasm here and there. Still, Charlie won first words once more.
“With all the constables below, I thought you might head for fresh air.”
His usual menacing look was in place, even with such an incredible view around them? Raphael could only feel slight pity, there. Some people just needed to stop and smell the roses once in a while, take a break! Those were just as important as catching famous art thieves. Actually, why dedicate so much time to catching art thieves if one didn’t stop to appreciate the art they were trying to save?
“And you had a hang glider ready? Are you always so well prepared?”
After the slightest pause, Phantom R just had to add a little more icing to the cake.
“On second thought, maybe you’re just obsessed with catching me, like your dad.”
The words had exactly the desired effect, with Charlie’s face taking on that same fiery expression from before, when Raphael had compared him to a constable.
“You leave my father out of this!”
But Raphael barely gave Charlie a chance to reply again, simply giving him another grin and tilt of his hat before speaking once more. I hate writers block
“Like to fly solo, eh? Too bad, because you’ll need an army to catch me!”
Charlie glowered at him, seemingly irritated by his arrogance. Was it really arrogance if it had already been proven often enough by the constabulary was the question, here. He was sure Fondue would agree.
“You won’t be talking so tough when you’re behind bars, mate.”
And with that, the battle begun once more.
0 0 0
The third time Charlotte Vergier saw Phantom R, escape artist extraordinaire, was in a significantly more tame location and with significantly less robbery involved, though she almost spilled her tea. That would’ve been a disaster- she was wearing one of her few dresses, and she really did need those for off days and school days.
She’d had a terrible day already, actually. Failing to apprehend Phantom R the day before, at the Paris Opera, was already a blow to her pride. She’d been perfectly prepared, and he bested her yet again- and saved her right after, to boot! His arrogance would be his downfall someday, she was certain! After that, a fight with her father, and a half-day of storming through the streets of Paris until she reached the cafe.
Charlotte was about to take a sip from her tea, finally feeling relaxed, when a boy that seemed oddly familiar walked up to her table. He walked with an irritatingly recognizable confidence that, for some reason, did not remind her of anyone in particular. His face was partially hidden by a blue hat with a red stripe- again, familiar- and when he spoke it was familiar as well.
“Bonjour, Charlie. Is this seat taken?”
Charlie finally took that sip of tea, eyes still scanning him to figure out where she knew him from. It wasn’t until she focused on his face that she recognized him, and the shock threw her from her chair, knocking it back when she yelled.
“You! Y-Y-You’re Phantom R!”
Phantom R seemed delighted for just a moment by her revelation, before casually taking a seat as if nothing had happened. People had begun to stare, which prompted his ever present grin- she hated that thing! One day he would be captured, and that pompous expression would disappear faster than he could say that line he always shouted to his dog- cheese it, Fondue, wasn’t it?
“Now, now- we wouldn’t want to disturb the other customers.”
Unfortunately, he had a point, and with a scowl she put down her tea to fix her chair. He spoke as she did so, chattering away like he had all the time in the world.
“I’m just as surprised as you are! I never thought that you’d look so good in a dress!”
Just like him to comment on the unimportant details. Charlotte nearly scoffed when she finally sat down.
“So, the truth’s out. This is how I look when I go to school.” With that, she gave him a piercing look.
“What do you want?”
Phantom R tilted his hat once more- why he felt the need to do so, she had no idea. It was as irritating as the rest of what he did.
“I’ve come to ask for your help.
0 0 0
The fourth time Charlie Vergier saw Phantom R, she wished she could punch his lights out and be done with this entire mess. How an art thief had gotten himself involved in a plot involving resurrection and magic violins, she hadn’t the slightest of ideas. But still, she could grudgingly admit that currently, he was doing the right thing. Saving the blonde girl, Marie, and stopping whatever these… undead soldiers were doing was crucial to keeping Paris safe, and if she could help her father realize that he didn’t have to shoulder that burden alone while she was at it, then Charlie would tolerate the red-headed menace for now.
Charlie’s role in this plan was fairly simple- act as a distraction on her hang glider and activate the trick in the fake dragon crown remotely so Phantom R could get Marie out of the Eiffel tower and away from Napoleon. Which she was still trying to wrap her head around. Honestly, what was that Phantom even thinking?
The plan was going perfectly, too- Napoleon had fallen for the thief’s desperate act, demanding the crown be given before Marie was handed back to him. The moment the smoke screen went up, Charlie soared in- dressed as that dancing pest, so as to cause confusion, and exactly as planned, the undead emperor and his legion of clawed knights was looking up at her and lost sight of the real Phantom R. She continued to distract from above as R took down the knights below until he got to Marie, dragging her out of their hold and towards the planned exit point.
Of course, that was when things went wrong. The moment Charlie was out of sight- and by extension, unable to see what was happening- she heard a gunshot.
Making the u-turn in the air from where she was really was no easy task, and figuring out what angle she had to dive in at to get the Phantom out of whatever mess he’d landed in was something that she wished didn’t take her so much time. Along the way, she also discarded the Phony R suit- it would only get in the way if she kept it on.
And Charlie arrived just in time to grab his hand and pull him up into the air, away from the new man with the weirdly purple hair who had a gun pointed at his head, where R had stood ready to protect Marie anyways-
Ugh, that insufferably noble Phantom R was going to be the death of her.
Quick AN: This is based on a game called Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure. Nobody’s ever heard of it, it’s okay, but the mc is a thieving redhead who wears mostly black/red and has a backstory involving his father abandoning him like this AU was begging to be written. The cutscene where father abandonment happens is actually oddly similar to the recent official animation about Silver too I can’t make this up
“Grrrrrrr…. Ruff!”
“I-It’s just a- a Growlithe, right? A cute, fluffy-”
“RUFF! GrrrRUFF!”
“AIIIIIEEE!”
Silver shook his head as the police officer ran off. Goldenrod’s police force was far too easy to work around. Though he had been forced to get a bit closer to that Arcanine than he would have liked to get the recording. But now that the police officer was gone, Silver could be on his way. After the chase the police had given him, he just wanted to head back to his apartment and get some rest.
But who could blame the police, really? After all, Silver had just made off with one of the Goldenrod Museum of Art’s newest pieces – an ancient piece of jewelry known as the Bracelet of Lugia. It was aptly named; it had been sculpted to look like Lugia was circling around the wearer’s wrist. Silver shifted it on his wrist as made his way down one of Goldenrod’s busy streets, relying on the crowd to hide him. It was even busier than normal, seeing as the city was getting ready for its annual festival to honor Johto’s legends. In fact, there were so many people that Silver decided to save himself some time by cutting through one of Goldenrod’s central parks. Sneasel would keep watch from his shoulder, just in case.
The parks, oases of greenery in the concrete jungle of Goldenrod, were strung in lanterns for the upcoming festival; vendors had already moved in to take advantage of the visitors that had started pouring in, even though it was almost a full week before the festival would start. The scents of dumplings and noodles mingled in the air. Silver wished he could get something, but he couldn’t exactly afford to do that in his current outfit.
He had just reached the fringes of the park when something crashed into him, causing him to stumble backwards and Sneasel to yelp on his shoulder. Something rose past Silver’s face; he grabbed at it on instinct and found himself holding the string of a purple balloon. Loud sobbing drew his attention downwards to find a small girl crying on the ground. The balloon must’ve been hers, then. Before Silver could make an attempt to give it back, though, a young woman with pigtails rushed over and kneeled down next to the girl.
“Oh no, are you okay!? You’re not hurt, are you?” The smaller girl looked up, sniffling, and shook her head no.
“Okay, that’s good. Here, c'mon, get up.” The pigtailed woman helped the young girl up, showing her simple blue and white dress, before bending down again to pick up something. Only when she stood up again did she seem to notice Silver standing there. After staring at each other for a moment, she smiled and pointed to the balloon. “Is that yours?” The girl nodded, so Silver tried to make himself look as unannoyed as possible and handed it to her. He’d been told he always looked annoyed far too many times to count, and he really wasn’t; he doubted the girl had meant to run into him.
“You what else’ll cheer you up?” the pigtailed woman asked, winking at Silver with a grin. She then began to unzip the object she had picked up, which Silver now realized was an instrument case. From within she pulled a violin that shone in the lantern-light, which she put to her shoulder and began to play.
Silver had to admit, she was pretty good. The song was unfamiliar to him, but she played with an obvious passion that pulled you in. Even Sneasel was watching her. Then something on the violin caught Silver’s eye. Was it… the mark?
“It’s him!”
A shout from behind made Silver and Sneasel both jump and look behind them. To his dismay, Silver saw yet more police officers. He bolted past the pigtailed woman, Sneasel digging his claws into his suit jacket and chirping apologetically.
—
As the police ran past her, the pigtailed woman frowned in thought, momentarily oblivious to the girl tugging on her dress. She had thought the young man in the fancy suit looked familiar with his blazing red hair and silver eyes. But why would the police be chasing after him?
Realization struck her, making her gasp. He couldn’t have been…
Phantom Kaito?
It took almost fifteen minutes for Silver to shake the police. He ended up having to circle around the park and a couple of city blocks, finally losing them when he ducked into the maze-like system of back alleys that led him to the seaside streets.
There was a bit of a wind off of the ocean, but it felt refreshing after all the running. Silver breathed in the salty air as he strolled along the street, watching the boats docking and disembarking at the pier. It wouldn’t take too long to get back to his apartment for here. And the view was nice, too.
He was almost back among the city’s buildings when someone knocked into him, making him stumble back a few steps. Sneasel yelped and scrambled for purchase on his shoulder.
“Watch it…” Silver grumbled under his breath. Then he realized that the person who had knocked into him was the pigtailed woman from earlier. She darted past him onto one of the balconies built into the sidewalk and looked around frantically, gasping for breath.
“There she is!”
From the same direction the woman had come from ran out a group of people in black uniforms, Pokémon trailing beside them. When they saw Silver, they stopped, and a man in a white suit sauntered forward from within the group. Silver wondered why someone would be running around the city in a suit before remembering that he was doing the exact same thing at that moment.
“Move, child. This doesn’t concern you.”
Silver was momentarily miffed at being called a child – just because he was short, that didn’t mean he was a kid! But he quickly pushed the thought out of his mind. He knew trouble when he saw it – he couldn’t get distracted. He looked at the woman over his shoulder. He should probably leave before he got caught up in something. But he doubted she had done anything to get the attention of the gang other than exist, from how frightened she looked. And he had thought he’d seen the symbol on her violin earlier…
The woman caught his gaze, her expression pleading. Silver sighed and reached into his pocket. He couldn’t believe he was actually going to do this.
“Sorry. Not going to do that.”
He released Alakazam as Sneasel jumped down from his shoulder. The gang seemed to be using mostly Golbat and Raticate.
“Icy Wind! Focus Blast!” Silver ordered, and his Pokémon jumped into action. Sneasel attacked first, his Icy Wind causing ice to form on the bodies of the gang and their Pokémon, slowing them down and allowing Alakazam to bowl over several of them with his Focus Blast.
“Keep it up!” Silver told them as he ran over to the woman. “Come on, we should get out of here before something else happens,” Silver told her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her back into the street. She nodded.
“Yeah. Th-Thanks.” They started running, Silver leading her back towards the bulk of the city. He knew he could lose them there.
“Cover us!” he yelled to his Pokémon as they ran past the fighting. Sneasel and Alakazam fired one last attack and then joined them.
“After them!” came the voice of the white-suited man; soon enough, a mass of footsteps pounded on the pavement behind them. He could hear the sounds of attacks being fired at them, but he didn’t look. He’d only distract himself.
Suddenly, something slammed into him from behind, knocking him to the ground. He felt claws dig into his back. He tried to get up, but the weight on his back just dug its claws in further and shoved him down again. He heard Sneasel growl and something else squeal above him, and then the weight fell off and he scrambled quickly to his feet. He ran towards the pigtailed woman, who had come to a stop a few yards away, but she shouted, “Behind you!” He wheeled and lashed out with a desperate kick. He thought he saw something glow out of the corner of his eye, but any thought he might have put to that was quickly taken over when his kick launched the grunt that had been about to attack him like they’d been tail-swiped by a dragon. They flew backwards into the group of people and Pokémon behind them. Silver stared in shock. There was no way his kick should have done that.
He was suddenly pulled out of his stupor by the pigtailed woman grabbing his hand and pulling him away.
“Come on!” she shouted. Silver shook his head, and they started running again. Silver took the lead once more, taking them through the twists and turns of Goldenrod’s side streets, even after the sound of footsteps behind them faded away. It seemed both an eternity and an instant before they finally came to a stop, and the night sky above gave no frame of reference. Silver recalled Alakazam as everyone caught their breath.
“So…” Silver looked over at the pigtailed woman as she began to speak, her eyebrow raised. “You’re that thief, right? Phantom Kaito?”
There wasn’t any use in pretending he wasn’t, he thought. It was more of a statement than a question. Silver sighed.
“Yeah. That’s me.”
“Right. Kinda like that anime.”
“…You could say something like that.” Silver wasn’t about to tell her that that was where he’d gotten the name. “Just so we can get this out of the way, you’re not telling anyone about me, got it?”
“Got it,” the woman said with a grin. “I mean, you did save me and all…”
“You’re taking this far too well.”
The woman just shrugged in response. The two were silent for a few moments before Silver’s eyes drifted to the violin case slung on her back.
“Can I see your violin?” he asked her.
“You’re not gonna steal it, are you?” Despite her words, she was already moving to take the violin out.
The woman opened the case and took out her violin, holding it out towards Silver. It looked fairly unremarkable without the glowing lantern-light on it. But there, on the body of the violin – his eyes hadn’t been playing tricks on him earlier. The symbol, the same one on his coin and the bracelet, was carved into the wood. It looked like some sort of Pokémon, but not one that Silver had ever seen, with a large head and feet, and a tail as long as its body. It was in the same style as the art of Kanto and Johto’s ancient civilizations.
“Do you know anything about this symbol?” Silver asked, reaching up to brush his fingers over it.
“That? No, though I wish I did. If I did, then I might be able to find out more about where this violin came from.”
Silver looked up from the violin to stare at the woman. She didn’t know where the violin had come from? He started to ask how she’d gotten the violin when the symbol on it began to glow with a soft golden light. He watched it for a moment before looking up again to find the woman staring at him with a mix of wonder and excitement. She started whispering animatedly about how cool it was. Silver just looked back down to the glowing symbol and realized that there was a similar glow from his sleeve. He pulled it back to find that, as he suspected, the mark on the bracelet was glowing too. The woman got even more excited when she saw the bracelet and reached out to touch it. Silver let her – he had better things to think about.
First the bracelet. Now the violin. He hadn’t expected to get so many leads.
On one hand, he could just steal the violin now. She’d be upset, but that wasn’t really his concern. He just wanted to know how it all connected. How it connected to his father. But something told him that the story of how this woman got her violin was important.
Silver had done a lot of unbelievable things that night. He’d robbed one of Johto’s most famous museums. He’d saved a random stranger from a group of thugs. And, perhaps most unbelievably, he was about to reveal himself to that random stranger. He sighed.
“What’s your name?” The woman stopped whispering to give him a curious glance. But after a moment, she smiled.
“Kotone.”
“Where do you live, Kotone?”
“Well, you’re interested in my personal life all of a sudden. I live in the southwest district.”
A decent part of town. But also on the complete other side of the city. That wouldn’t do.
“…My apartment’s not too far from here. Maybe you should stay there for the night.” I can’t believe I’m doing this.
“And why would I want to do that? Saved my life or no, you are a stranger.”
“Maybe because there’s a good chance those people will find you again if you try to go home? It seemed like they were after you, specifically.” The woman frowned. “They’re less likely to try something during the day. You can go home then.”
“…Only if I get to let my parents know that I won’t be home tonight.” She stared at him, determined.
“As long as you don’t tell them who I am.”
“Deal.”
Kotone started dialing the second Silver closed the apartment door behind them. While she waited for someone to pick up, he folded his torn-up jacket and put it on his desk. Sneasel put his hat on top. He’d taken them both off once they’d gotten closer to his apartment, as well as pulling his hair up into a ponytail. The less he looked like Phantom Kaito, the better. He’d also had Kotone stash the bracelet in her violin case.
After a moment of hesitation, Silver decided to change out of his costume. She already knew where he lived; there wasn’t much more he could do than that. He grabbed a t-shirt and some sweatpants and went into the bathroom as Kotone started talking. He could hear her talking through the door, but couldn’t understand much; he could tell she’d used the “staying at a friend’s house” excuse, though. She seemed somewhat uncertain when he came back out.
“-uh, she’s…” Kotone glanced at Silver, then at the door he came out of. “She’s in the shower right now! I’ll have her call you back when she’s done, okay?” Her parents must have agreed, by the relieved look on her face. “Okay! Love you! Bye!” She hung up, then blew out a deep breath. “Do you mind if I call someone else?”
“Your friend, I’m guessing?”
“Yeah.”
“Go ahead.”
Kotone nodded and called someone else, who picked up much quicker than her parents had.
“So, I may have told my parents I’m staying with you tonight. …Yes. …No. …Yes, I need you to cover for me. I told them you were in the shower.” There was a longer pause. “Thank you so much! We’ll go get lunch or something, okay? …Cool. Thanks! See ya!” After she hung up, she rolled her eyes. “She’s so dramatic sometimes. Going on about how I’m finally growing up, sneaking out at night.” She was smiling, though. Then she turned to Silver, who had sat down on the bed.
“Alright. First thing, mystery boy. What’s your name?”
“Silver.”
“Silver, huh? That’s actually a pretty nice name. Okay, second thing, Silver. Why are you so interested in that symbol?”
Silver looked away from her, out the apartment’s sole window. He wanted to tell her this even less than he’d wanted to tell her who he was.
“Can you get them out?” he said, motioning towards her violin case. Kotone nodded and unlatched it, revealing the violin and the bracelet, the symbols on them both still softly glowing. She set them down on the bed, and Silver picked the bracelet up. The symbols stopped glowing once they were barely a foot away from each other. Then he reached over to his desk, pulling his torn jacket over and pulling a coin out of the pocket. He held it out so Kotone could see.
“My father left this here when he left.”
“Oh… I didn’t… You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I didn’t realize-”
Silver shook his head.
“The same symbol on this coin, your violin, and this bracelet from thousands of years ago? This is bigger than I thought it was. It’s probably better if you know. That’s really all there is, anyway. I want to know what this has to do with my father.”
“You want to find him?”
“Not for the reasons you think. I don’t care about him. He abandoned us by his own choice. I’m more concerned about what he might be doing.” He looked Kotone in the eye. “He’s a criminal. And if he’s back in the game… Then I’m going to stop whatever damn plan he comes up with.”
Kotone looked down at her violin. She seemed deep in thought. Finally, she looked up again.
“Stopping a criminal from messing with ancient conspiracies, then? Sounds like a good cause.”
“You don’t seem even mildly concerned about any of this.”
“Oh, I am.” Kotone’s expression turned serious for a moment. “It all sounds very dangerous.” She shrugged. “But I can’t let it get to me. I can’t just ignore something like this!”
Silver just shook his head.
“What about your story then?” he asked. “You mentioned something about how you got your violin earlier.”
After another moment of thought, Kotone nodded.
“Yeah, I did. But I think it’d be better if you saw where it happened, too. How about I show you that before I go home?”
“Okay. But we should probably sleep then.” Silver glanced at his clock. It was a little after one AM. “I’m not sure where you’ll sleep, though…”
“Just give me some blankets, I’ll be fine! I sleep on the floor at sleepovers all the time!”
I’m not sure I’d call this a sleepover, Silver thought, but he pulled a couple spare blankets out of the closet and handed them to her.
“I only have one pillow. Sorry.”
“It’s fine!” She bunched the blankets into a pile and burrowed herself into them. “Goodnight!”
“Goodnight,” Silver mumbled, if only to be polite. But his mind raced with the pieces he’d found that night.
