Crescendo

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

Brandy followed Song into the decrepit kitchen, the already eerie atmosphere only augmented by the green light his jar was emitting. He couldn’t help but glower at the mess, torn between wanting to grab a broom and sweep out all the dust and skittering insects or do a 180 and leave. He managed to suppress the urges, instead nodded at Song’s suggestion to follow him to the cupboards.

Since the item-hunter was taking care of the higher cupboards, the rabbit decided to check the cabinets. They were mostly filled with dusty and cracked china, though he quickly shut the door when one revealed a skinny rat with glowing eyes.

He couldn’t help but jump when Song shrieked, nearly hitting his head on an open cabinet door above where he was crouched. He stared over to where Song was looking at, catching a glimpse of the furry shadow before it scurried away through a hole in the back.

“Perhaps we should check another area,” Brandy suggested, looking to where the stove was. His nose wrinkled at the unpleasant smell emanating from the area, immediately regretting their decision to tackle the kitchen but tugged Song deeper into the area despite all the warning bells going off in his head in response to the rank stench that grew stronger the closer they neared the pots. At least there should be no rats here- his ears twitched, not hearing any scratching or squeaking.

Tentatively he lifted a lid, sighing in relief when it revealed nothing but cloth and metal. And yet, there was something familiar… Taking the cleanest looking ladle from the rack, he gingerly lifted up to reveal an old and tattered uniform of the bunny guards.

“Why is this here?” He furrowed his brows in confusion, only yelp and drop the ladle when a loud clang reverberated through the room.

He stared at Song with wide eyes, one hand over his pounding heart. The white-haired man had gone pale, having slammed the lid down on the pot he was checking, a rotten stench billowing out from the pot that made Brandy's eyes water, lifting up his sleeves to cover his nose and mouth.

“Song, are you alright? What-"

The light from his lifted jar now dimly illuminated the wall behind the other Nobody.

Dun dun duuuun

Brandy stared at the words, eyeing the rusted knife used to carve out the sentence that was still embedded in the last letter. What was it supposed to mean? Who was free?

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Aliquam: The Tailor’s

"Mind if I request some backup? This is more your forte than it is mine."

Aria blinked up from her dress, grinning when she spotted her friend standing beside her looking rather overwhelmed. Xan had never been interested in anything overly glamorous, so it made sense that the metallurgist would be rather bewildered. She gave her friend a gleeful pat on the back, draping her chosen dress over Xan’s arms. “Leave it to me! I’ll definitely find something that’ll catch the men’s attention, don’t you worry.”

With a teasing wink, once more Aria dove into the racks with a determined glint in her eye. She hadn't expected Xan to approach her for help- The tailor or perhaps Amy would have been more knowledgeable in choosing these outfits, but since Xan was trusting her enough to let her pick the outfit then Gods forbid if she let Xan down. She didn’t think her friend would want anything too fancy or bold, so perhaps something in a subdued color? It would probably be long sleeved as well; the girl had always been rather self-conscious of her prosthetic arm.

A few minutes later, Aria was back with two dresses in each hand.

“How’s this one? Or this one perhaps?”

Before she could hand over the two dresses for Xan to make a decision, Dylan bounded up to them, mood looking to have improved from his glum demeanor by a lot judging from the gleeful smile on his face. Aria floundered, giving the man an awkward pat on the back while trying not to drop the hanger, laughing as he embraced Xan before dashing off again.

“I… Guess he really likes clothes?” Aria shook her head in amusement. “Though I’m glad he’s feeling better. He was looking pretty gloomy back there for a while. I wonder why?”

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Awesome to hear the good news about your dad, Buns! ^ O ^ And awesome drawing! Moira and Syed look so fanceh <3

Bun

/o/ next time I draw with paint I'll need to dig out my tablet or at least use a mouse ahahaah /brick'd

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Aliquam: The Tailor’s

The multitude of colors and fabrics took Aria’s breath away as she stepped into the shop. Although she felt a little guilty about the bill being footed for them, it was hard to repress the excitement of being able to pick out anything they wanted without needing to worry about the price.

Lily moved quickly, taking down each member's measurements and directing them to the appropriately sized section of the store. Aria was directed to a section near the middle, where she quickly became immersed in the multitude of choices available. The variety of selection really was astounding, with everything from fluffy ball gowns to frilled summer dresses. What kind of attire would they be wanting for the party? Would it be a formal affair or a more casual one?

Stepping back to see what the other were picking out, her eyes landed on Lucien who unexpectedly had managed to put together quite the suave outfit already- looks like the outfits should be on the formal side- before topping it all off by plopping down a fluffy panda shaped hat on his head.

“Pft.” As silly as it looked, to an extent it suited him though she wasn’t sure how happy the tailor would be with his choice of accessories. Shaking her head in amusement, she went back to attempting to find the right dress for the night's party. No doubt it would be fancy, and yet a full on ballgown might be a bit of an overkill... Perhaps it would be similar to the higher class parties in Los Paraisos?

After diving through several racks of dresses, Aria finally emerged victoriously with a dress in hand. She couldn’t help but glance at the price tag, eyes widening as she took in ridiculously large number and resisting the urge to put the dress back where she found it.

“I’m not so sure how comfortable I am with making someone I don’t know pay for this,” she mumbled, before peeking over a few rows over at where Dylan was.
“Are you sure this is alright? The whole ‘pick whichever one’ deal… Everything in here’s a lot more expensive than I thought it would be.”

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

aaand posted /o/

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Super happy birthday to you, Buns!

I'm typing up a post /o/

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Rushed up a post :') Last exam tomorrow morning- I don't want to write three essays halp OTL

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts: Theatrical Hall

Aria heaved a sigh of relief, exceedingly glad that the student council president had calmed down considerably. Deeming it safe to approach now, she moved over to where Lute was crouching besides the box of fallen instruments just as Trixie went off to rescue poor Lucien whose escape had failed miserably, and was now dangling in a rather unconventional and painful manner from the moustachioed horse’s mouth.

“We’re uh, very sorry for the mess,” She bowed with a wry smile to Rose, joining Lute in attempting to salvage the fallen instruments though judging by the look of that dent on the tuba and the slightly bent flutes, they would be needing a professional to repair the damages. Perhaps Xan would be able to help?

Before she could voice her idea, they were joined by Dalia.

“Oh no...you, catch up to your friends. Rose, why don’t you tell me what happened here?”

“Perhaps we should go, there’s not much we can do to fix these…” She gave a particularly remorseful look at a broken violin bow, helping Lute up from where he was crouched on the ground.

She gave the two a bow again. “I’m not sure if this would be any help, but my friend’s a metallurgist. Perhaps we could ask her to help with the dents? Though for the strings…”

After Lute finished his apologies, the two made their way back to the rest of the group. Lucien had been mercifully released, and the illusionist managed to catch some mention of a party.

“Did someone say party? I’m up for it,” she grinned, before catching the unusually sullen, even angry looking Dylan. Was he alright? It wasn’t like the matter artist to be so moody.

The group had made their way into the theatre that had mostly filled up in the time that they had spent exploring the prop room. Luckily, there was still a large section in the back large enough to seat them all and they slowly filed in as the orchestra started to tune.

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts: Theatrical Hall

The resounding crash of fallen instruments followed by the loud shrieks of the people around the disaster site made Aria cringe. She glanced at Rose apologetically, only to shrink back further with a small ‘meep’ at the cold fury that burned in her gaze that turned back onto poor Lucien and Lute, promising a good thorough thrashing for the two guilders.

"...ah, I'm sure they'll be alright."

The illusionist peered at Marcus disbelievingly, one eyebrow raised at the easygoing smile on his face. She could only sigh as Keeva agreed with him. None of the guides seemed to be very willing to sacrifice themselves for the safety of the two men, though it was understandable.

“I’m Aria. Pleasure to meet you- it’s been a wonderful experience so far.” She shook Angel’s proffered hand, giving a friendly smile in turn. Normally she would have been more pleased to be greeted by a cute guy like Angel, but currently she was rather distracted by her friends' impending dooms to focus on him.

As the guides retreated, she couldn’t help but look back to the cowering figures of Lucien and Lute, now joined by Trixie. Perhaps she could try rescuing them- She winced as the intimidating aura around the council president intensified, quickly moving to go join the other in the theatre. She’d buy Lute dinner later to make up for abandoning him- if he survived, that is.

Another crash, this time at the entrance had had her whipping around only to catch sight of Moira and Syed, followed by Dalia and the rest of the guilders, as well as an unfamiliar blue-haired man entering the wobbling doors.

“M-moira! Dylan, Xan, Amy, everyone, over here!” She waved from the doors of the theatre with a sheepish laugh, hoping that Rose would be too distracted to pay attention to the new arrivals. She wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to see Moira and Rose butt heads- something told her it wouldn’t be too pretty.

“You’re all just in time, haha-! The performance is about to start!”

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Really sorry to hear that, Danni D: We're really going to miss RPing with you. Best of luck with your real life!

I'll be getting up a post soon /o/