Emilia pushed her sunglasses back up so they sat correctly on her face.
She was for sure relaxing a bit more now, since the weather was certainly helping. Though, it was still present at the back of her mind, of the incident with Lazare.
She still wasn’t really sure if any of that was real, but it also didn’t really matter to her. As long as she’d be left alone, she’d be okay. She also hoped that by the time she returned to her apartment, everything would still be okay. Since there was the possibility that everything could be burned down or covered in glitter when she got back.
Putting it all into factor, she was probably staying at her aunts subconsciously because she didn’t want to face that scenario.
(Sorry, this rather late– I got distracted with my response and forgot– but you're good. Again, sorry, I'm awkward and don't want you to think I ignored you or something! :)
Lazare reached the edge of the park, whispers following them all the way. They ran their hand over their hair and it changed to its natural white color. Their eyes faded to like green, and the berth people have them got much wider. But Lazare's mind was focused on the sword. It wasn't new to see doomsday fanatics and all those types, but one with a sword emblazoned with Crin's symbol? That was definitely unusual. Maybe this situation they'd blown out of proportion was actually as big as they'd said it was. If that was true, it really wasn't a good thing that Emilia had turned her back on the quest. They could always get another random mortal– maybe someone a little more gullible– but they still wanted it to be Emilia. Even though it was foolish and obviously never going to happen. Lazare was about to launch into a monologue about how unlucky they were, but the sound of a distant explosion shattered whatever metal speech they were about to compose.
(It’s chill. No worries!)
She passed a flower shop now. The same company she originally bought her flowers from, just a different location.
In the window were all the same beautiful but overpriced arrangements. Anything simple wasn’t really shown in the windows. The arrangement she bought today was of course just as a reference with high priority. Her favourite flowers to buy were Iris, Orchid, and Peony. Though because they died eventually, she just got them for special occasions. She could always go to her aunts place to look at the flowers too.
Emilia smiled a bit to herself, her mood improving with the passing moments. She should let her mind rest for now, so she focused on the relaxing evening to come.
Another explosion rocked the air, the sound echoing around the buildings and down the roads. People stopped in shock, all looking towards the sounds of the explosions. Lazare only hesitated a moment before taking off towards the sounds. They wanted to make sure it wasn't anything to do with Crin. If it wasn't… meh. If it was, though, people were dying. If they could get their hands on them, that is. People were starting to run away from the site of the explosion, though Lazare couldn't quite see it yet. They were still carrying the sword– it was proof, just in case they ran into Emilia again. It was unlikely that would happen, unfortunately. Though it might be fortunate in this case. They really didn't want her near an explosion. Lazare reached an intersection and looked right. Where there once had been a police station was now a pile of smoking rubble. A crowd was forming near it, though law enforcement was already moving them away. Lazare turned invisible and slipped through the crowd and under the line of police tape. The building was pretty much destroyed, but on a half-destroyed wall, painted in red, was the mark of Crin.
Another commotion was starting now, not necessarily by people arguing.
Emilia looked over her shoulder, in the distance was smoke and quite a few people running away. A building had probably exploded, and how she ignored that, who knows. She didn’t want any part of the trouble that came with a broken building, so she kept walking. Though the passerby’s screams and shouting didn’t help keep a serene environment.
Emilia didn’t feel bad about ignoring the situation either, since there was probably enough people and authorities on the scene already. She nearly brought back the idea of Crin and Lazare and the whole ruling the world thing. It seemed a bit too close, but with a city full of people, lots of stuff could go down. She had no reason to think Crin was connected to this either.
Lazare ran their fingers over the paint and found it to still be wet. It appeared that the culprit had painted it on after the building had exploded, based on how clean the paint looked. Lazare closed their eyes, trying to find where the person who'd painted this had gone. They got a slight ping a few blocks down, moving slowly. Probably walking as to not draw any attention. Lazare dropped their hand from the paint and turned, weaving around the rubble until they made it to the sidewalk. Once they were a decent way away from the explosion, they appeared again, following the trail. Hopefully, it would be a follower of Crin and not some random person who thought her symbol looked cool.
Emilia moved back to thinking about flowers and plants.
If it wasn’t too noticeable she could probably take some clippings from her aunts. Though, she needed to take plants that wouldn’t die very easily. Since she knew they would very much end up dying.
It might be a bit too risky to take some clippings of the plants though. She could ask … then her aunt would just tell her to become her gardener. It would probably be taken the wrong way, something along the lines of ‘If you want some of my plants so badly, just take care of the ones here for me’.
They were gaining on whoever had painted on Crin's symbol. Only a block away now, and gaining fast. Whoever it must've been walking at a glacial pace. Good for them. Lazare dodged around a group of people and sprinted across a street, narrowly avoiding being run over. The sounds of honking followed them as they kept going. They were close now, almost right in front of them. Lazare took a few more steps, only to pass them, somehow? Glancing over their shoulder, Lazare noticed a small alleyway snaking between two buildings. Lazare slowed down, still looking over their shoulder, only to run straight into someone. They stumbled backward, a look of annoyance on their face. "Sorry." The word was short and sharp, more to make sure no one slowed down their pursuit of the bomber than anything.
Emilia yawned, covering her mouth as she did.
Thinking about doing more work for her aunt was tiring in itself. She probably should be properly and regularly taking care of those plants anyway, putting it all into factor. It definitely showed that she was slacking off a bit. Though, it didn’t help that her aunt financially supported her in that department.
Other alternatives could be for her to just take pictures of the plants. She could buy fake ones too. Her aunt might be offended by that though. Her money being spent towards useless and meaningless decoration.
Or at least that was how it was viewed. Emilia could technically just use different decoration though.
She blew a strand of hair out her face. Maybe she could have chosen a slightly shorter route, though she did want to stay away from whatever had happened. She could’ve brought headphones too.
Lazare started down the alley, their eyes finally fixing on a figure walking down the alley. They slowed down, keeping their footsteps quiet. But they weren't exactly the stealthiest being, and the person noticed them. The bomber turned around, his mouth turned down in disappointment. Lazare stopped a few feet away from him and gave him a quick once-over. They didn't see anything obvious that proclaimed him part of Crin's… whatever, but they didn't rule out that possibility. The man also looked them over, his eyes widening slightly in surprise when he saw the sword in Lazare's hand.
"You're part of the group?" He asked slowly, looking from the sword to Lazare's face. "No… you're not."
"No, but you are," Lazare said, pointing the sword at him. "Why the blown-up building, darling?"
"To make a point. People need to know what's in store for them." The man grinned wickedly and held up something that looked a lot like a hand-held detonator. "I thought I might be followed, so I have a backup plan. Shouldn't have followed me, kid." The man pulled out a package and tossed it at Lazare's feet. "Bye!" He clicked the button and ran. Lazare stared after him in shock, then looked down at the package. And then it exploded in their face.
She jumped a bit as another explosion went off, probably closer this time it seemed. Then she zoned back out again.
As long as she wasn’t effected, she wouldn’t care. Her aunt could do whatever she wanted with her money, so there wasn’t really anything for Emilia to care about here. Though she supposed it could be a bit upsetting to the people involved.
A small square of cloth caught her eye, and she wandered over to a shop window. The cloth was a flag, the kind that could be used as a children’s toy.
She leaned in to look at the colour better, “Mmm … that could look nice.”
She slipped out her phone, snapped a picture, and continued her walk. She could sample and save the colour later, then it would go with every other reference she had.
When the smoke cleared, Lazare was standing in a circle of destroyed rubble. They rolled their eyes and ran after the man. After bursting out onto another large road, they turned and started down the road, following the guy down the road a bit and into another alleyway. They were only a little way into the alley when they found the man. He was dead, probably because he'd figured out a god was going after him and chose the better option. Lazare growled and turned back around. The only good thing about this whole thing was that there was one more thing that could convince Emilia that she should actually help. Maybe they should find her… but first they had to make sure the news actually picked up on this being Crin's work. It was only a quick stop and might make her take them seriously.
Emilia got to the next bend on her path, then turned on her heel after seeing how many people were there. They’d probably all been running away from wherever the explosions came from. So she’d just have to take some shortcut instead.
She sighed, reaching to put her hands in her pant pockets, before remembering there were no pockets. It annoyed her that she couldn’t do that, and that she wasn’t wearing a sweater with pockets.
She ran her fingers over the brick wall as she turned a corner into an alleyway. If she was navigating properly, then down this way would lead past all the people.
Lazare walked out of one of the many news stations, having planted quite a few clues leading to the fact that Crin was probably taking over everything. Now to find Emilia… which would be rather difficult since she'd taken all the business cards off her person. Time to run around the city until they found her. Wonderful. At least they would be getting all their exercise from this outing. They started running, turning themselves invisible again since they would be running a little faster than normal humans could. As an afterthought, they also made themselves able to walk through stuff, just so they didn't have to expend energy moving around people. At least they were practicing using all the different types of magic they had at their disposal. Another plus!
Now Emilia was just running out of things to think about. That was also on her because she didn't want to think about flowers anymore … or her drawings, or anything else that happened today.
The sunlight became a bit dampened in the alleyway, as one would think. The temperature had dropped as a result, but it couldn't have gotten that cold anyway. A bit of sun still shone in through a stained glass window on one of the buildings and at the end of the alley that opened up to a street.
As Emilia had hoped, the alley did open past majority of the people, though there were still quite a few people out. It would only make sense though, in a city full of people. As sacrifice for her avoidance of everyone, she'd be walking directly into the sunlight. Even her nearly black sunglasses couldn't completely protect her.
After practically running around the entire city, Lazare finally found Emilia. They were a bit out of breath from all the magic use they'd done that day, of course from running around an entire city. Lazare paused for a few seconds, trying to figure out exactly what they were going to say. In the end, they just decided to go for it. Before they dropped their invisibility, however, they turned their hair and eyes into more natural colors. They didn't want Emilia to get unwanted attention from other mortals because a god was talking to her like they were best friends with her. After checking around to make sure no one was really paying attention, Lazare dropped the invisibility and fell in step with Emilia. "So, have you changed your mind yet?" They asked, looking at her.
Emilia paused, still registering what was happening. Then sighed.
“You’re back again? Already? What makes you think I changed my mind? Like I want anything to do with you.”
So much for a relaxing evening. Emilia would probably just be up and waiting for her to be told the world was ending.
It ticked her off too, that this Lazare guy here was so persistent. Why wouldn’t he just find someone else? There were so many other people out there, and some probably better suited for saving the world. How could she even believe anything he said?
There were probably whole groups of people who believed random stuff like that. Lazare was supposed to be the God of Chaos or something like that … so how could she trust that he wasn’t the one who started this in the first place?
"I am back. Did you miss me?" Lazare grinned at her, though it didn't last long. "Well, look at this." They held up the sword and pointed at the spot where Crin's symbol was etched. "Someone stabbed me with this. One of Crin's fanatics. And another one of her followers blew up a police station. I'm sure you heard that?" They raised an eyebrow before continuing. "Before he… disappeared, the bomber said something about letting people know what's in store for them. Which just might be wide-spread destruction. You live here, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to get destroyed, right?" They asked, looking at her hopefully.
There she went thinking about everything all over again.
She yawned, “There’s not much for me to accomplish here, so I don’t really care. And how could I trust that you didn’t start this incident in the first place?”
On the inside, Emilia was just really hoping that he’d go away. For good this time. She didn’t know what to think of the sword … or of this guy getting stabbed. If he did get stabbed. Bombers and terrorists, and whatever else went into that category, claimed stuff like that all the time. So, if someone said the world was ending, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.
"Ah, how dare you!" Lazare gasped, looking appropriately shocked. "I wouldn't do something like that! I mean, possibly, but only to people that really deserved it… and those dead police officers didn't deserve it." They huffed in annoyance. Yes, they totally could have done this. They had done it a few times, but not this time. This is what they got for everything in the past, wasn't it? If only they could give up on Emilia, since she'd already given up on them. But no, their heart was insisting on her. Maybe they should just go off the other side of the world and forget about everything. But they couldn't let Crin get away with this, especially since she had the skull. Lazare growled softly, grabbing the blade of the sword with their other hand and squeezing it. The sharp edge cut into their palm and fingers, drawing silvery blood.
Emilia watched Lazare. It seemed they were getting a bit angry too. As long as she was left alone though.
“Well … if we’re done here, I’ll be going now.”
It might not be the greatest time to exit, but Emilia still just wanted to move on. Crin could do whatever the hell they wanted, and whether or not the world was taken over … it wouldn’t matter.
To a god, this was probably only a minor inconvenience that could be ignored. This also brought up the question of why this was so important to Lazare. In a few centuries this wouldn’t matter anymore, right? So, Emilia was still left without a reason to care.
Lazare stopped walking, letting Emilia take a few steps in front of them. Maybe they should just let her leave… they could steal the skull from Crin, disappear into the void of space or whatever, and let it explode. It would probably kill them, but right now, death seemed like a pretty nice option. But no, they weren't quite there yet. Lazare started walking again, jogging a few steps to catch up with Emilia. "Please–" They only got out one word before they were interrupted by screaming ahead of them. A crowd was forming, and Lazare couldn't see what everyone was freaking out about. But the screams helped make sense of it. Much of it was unintelligible, but two words kept repeating: 'crazy'… and 'bomb'.
Much to Emilia’s dismay, Lazare was still trying and there were now more people crowding up ahead. Screaming and shouting too.
She made for another alleyway, still wanting to avoid what was happening. Now, it did seem a bit close- the explosions and the talk about Crin. Episodes like this happened sometimes too. Emilia didn’t want to be anywhere near here, being involved in stuff like this was stupid.
She was a bit curious about the situation, but it’d all be reported on the news later. Whether all of it was 100% facts, she didn’t care. Life would just go on anyway, or … if it was really happening- the city would just go up in flames. It still wouldn’t matter though.
Lazare was drawn through the crowd, and only realized when they were at the front that Emilia had disappeared. Fine, for now. They had to check who this person was. They moved around a person and saw whoever it was. Another fanatic, holding a detonator and wearing a mask. From the looks of it, whoever it was was going to set off the bomb, killing themself and everyone else around them. Normally, Lazare didn't really care, but Emilia was close and it was one of Crin's people. They snapped their fingers and the bomb at the fanatic's feet turned into a pile of flowers. While everyone was staring at it in confusion– most of all the fanatic– Lazare turned and headed toward where they thought Emilia might be.
Walking through a different crowd of people would have to suffice for now. It seemed like some of them were headed towards where she just came from. As usual, curiosity overtaking the crowds.
Hopefully, this would just mean that there’d be less people on her way back to her aunts. There wasn’t necessarily that many people there anyway, since her place here was a bit far. Who knew how much money her aunt had. She was probably just paying people to stay away. Though it seemed like a better alternative would have been to hire security guards or something, instead of bribery.
Emilia tapped her foot while she waited to cross the street. A child somewhere nearby was crying and whining, and it was very annoying.
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