the influence of alcohol beckons a wave of serenity that crashes onto a shore of consideration, only brought forth when she slips further into her cups. nerezza threnhold no longer keeps count of the number of goblets she refills since the affair began, somehow a measurement on its own account. the warlock enters a realm of concentration entirely unfounded in this state and reels anyone in heedless enough to answer her offer of conversation.

all factors of the circumstances direct her to the belief the stranger shares her elevated sensation.

does her mind wade upon the cosmos currently as well?

He had to put it all behind him and move on, didn't he?

It didn't take him long to find his way back outside, just walking around the desolate wasteland that had once been a city that he had loved and yearned to be a part of...

By the time he returned to the daemon city, he was exhausted. He didn't say a word to anyone, just found himself curling up near the fire and passing out. He would leave with the rest of them, and maybe he would never have to come back here. Maybe he could leave all of this where it belonged... And maybe it would stop hurting so much...

"Would a worm see where the lion walks?"

Gazing upon the other boy slowly eased his aching heart. While the pain ensued, its powerful thumping in his chest threatening to reel him into an anxiety attack, the strong and composed disposition of the blonde.... his ability to protect him.... brought forth an unexpected solace within him. L-Looking at him just.... brought him some sanity...

The world passed around Yagi Veruna in shades of grey, a bittersweet strum of melancholy plucking at the chords of her heart. In a world that in the best of times was painted with strokes of dull and fading color, was now devoid of such light and vibrancy – Kyoto Jujutsu College the worst offender.

The rest of what she has to say cuts into him deep like a knife. Words on the tip of his tongue get choked down. So that's how she felt. Like he'd left her behind to be discarded and forgotten. Anger and sadness, conflicting emotions, struggle for a place on his face. Eventually, they settle into a stoic frown.

"I had to leave, to think - to process something I'd been ignoring for the last eleven years." that he was still ignoring now. "I couldn't do that with you or Kiara around. It's something I had to do alone."

"And I'm not lying either. You're gorgeous..."

There it is again, the spark that floods his world with color. Xander ran away from it last time. Afraid of what might happen if he lingered outside the black and white panels that were his life. He refuses to turn away.

"You're breathtaking, Suzume. A masterpiece."

Dense, suffocating, a cloud of distrust and paranoia poisoned his city. His memory of home was tainted by knowledge, by the truth. While he was trying to raise an empire, the woman he'd loved had been suffering. Used and abused by a man he'd considered his friend.

A wave of quiet anger bubbles in his chest. Inside his pockets, Killian's fingers curled into fists. He wasn't far from the casino, and with Kaito not around - it be easy to get revenge. Burn his whole operation down to the ground and be gone by the time the sun came up. Temptation gnawed at his mind, but a deep breath lulled it to sleep.

He wasn't here for revenge today.

The SPEAR lieutenant crouched down to look the pyro straight in the face, giving her a cheery smile. "Listen, I don't got a whole lot of strength left to carry ya back, so if ya resist arrest I might just have to shoot ya and call it a day, but I ain't a murderer... So ya come quietly and give me the name of the one that got away and I might just put in a report that I lost ya while trying to save the shrine, ya hear?"

The grin that was smeared across his face when the SPEAR Elite and his partner showed up was just unimaginable. "Well now~ Looks like ya caught me!"