Lox was sitting on one of the outside tables of the cafe. He had been somewhat released from the hospital for now, even when he was still recuperating from Doireann’s stab.
Long story short, as long as he didn’t move around too much, the wound would remain closed, he would be free to roam around, and also free from doing any work.
It didn’t matter if Doireann was sorry or not from letting her Velvet take advantage of her… upfront personality, causing such a catastrophic defeat and delivering a devastating blow to the noble’s confidence, with an extra blow to Lox’s own chest; since at the end, Doireann’s own parents, which were his Selectors, took it as a ‘Character building skirmish’, or ‘Children’s play’.
What if he almost died? Well he didn’t, so it wasn’t a problem. To them, at least.
Laying back on his chair, he took a cigarette from his pockets, lit it with a lighter instead of magic, and put it into his mouth.
The doctor had banned him from smoking, since the wound was quite close to his lungs and some other reasons he didn’t bother to remember, but Lox wanted to scratch the itch of addiction.
Doctor’s orders were just doctor’s suggestions if one didn’t care enough, after all.
Trying to take another puff from his cigarette, he stopped inhaling once no smoke came out.
Lox pulled it away from his lips, looking at the tip. There, something closely resembling bite marks had appeared, ‘eating’ the fire.
“It's a bad habit.” He spoke out loud, nonchalantly.
Really now? Of all the weirdos to encounter…
“Hm? Isn’t it the same thing as only eating the smoke? It’s even faster.”
“But it doesn't hit the same.” Taking off his lighter, he turned it on again.
“Ah… I don’t get it, I don’t get it.” Cheron said, appearing from thin air, her long sleeves almost reaching the floor. She made no motion to use her hidden arms to move the chair backwards, and yet, the chair did so on its own, its legs sliding over the floor and positioning itself next to her.
Cheron sat down on the opposite side of the table, remaining silent. The only noise coming from her being the dragging of her sandals moving back and forth over the ground.
Even when she was probably almost an adult, Cheron was on the short side, barely a meter and half tall.
Makes you wonder where all the things she eats go… He thought, eyeing Charon’s legs.
It was just an instant, but Charon turned her head to stare at him. “Hm? Did something catch your eye?”
“Nothing.” He quickly answered.
“If you aren’t looking at anything, you aren’t using your eyes, so I can take them.”
“I’d rather you didn’t.” Cautiously, he used some magic to block the feeling pricking behind his eyes, slowly; so that it didn’t feel like ‘tempting’ Cheron’s appetite. Though, if she were to keep pushing…
He was still recovering from a stab dammit. One just couldn’t enjoy a smoke in this place, couldn’t he?
Fortunately, Cheron didn’t keep trying to bite him, at least for now.
A ‘for now’ that he gave like five minutes to be maintained before she tried once again to bite him. That was how things worked with her, after all.
Honestly, if he tried to advance and fully open his Esca, one of the biggest reasons for that would be getting away from mages like her.
But, once again, he didn’t want harder missions. It was a lose-lose scenario.
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He preferred to stay like this, decaying, like his Paradigm suggested. At least until his ‘debt’ with his Selector got fulfilled, and he became free from his current obligations.
He had no use in progressing while being subjected to a second party whims. Not like he was the only ‘novice’ mage stalling, from the list of mages wrapped in an undesirable contract with a Selector.
“Your brain is rotting.” Cheron interrupted his thoughts. “Would be a shame if it went too bad to eat.”
Here we go again. “So it’s yours.”
“I will eat mine before it goes bad.”
That’s the thing worrying everyone… Lox was sure that she would do so. In fact, it was somewhat public knowledge that Cheron had eaten her own hands, maybe even more.
It wasn’t a proven rumor though, since no one could confirm to have seen what laid under her sleeves, but her Esca was located on her neck, which, asides from special occasions, only happened when a mage didn’t have hands.
In addition to that, some mages weren’t allowed to advance due to risks, and Cheron was one of them. She would remain stuck at the peak of their rank, her Esca never fully opened.
And it would stay that way, at least until her mind became unable to hold it together anymore. Once that happened, well, death was the only remaining option.
In Lox’s opinion, she had lasted longer than he expected, probably due to being under Hasdrubal’s care, who kept her mental state stable. Stable enough to not go full witch, that is.
Anything aside from that was… well…
Both of them remained in silence for several minutes. A very uncomfortable silence, which felt like hours for him.
Especially because some things close to him kept getting bitten. The cake he had ordered and abandoned, for starters, found half of its portion ‘disappearing’ into the air, together with a chunk of the plate.
Resigning himself to being the one to poke the hornet's nest, he opened his mouth. “So… what brings you here today?”
“Right!” Cheron cheerfully jumped, as if she had been waiting for it. “I had to deliver a message to someone from Arhontissian nobility, but none of them let me in… So, Bal-bal just told me to give it to an intermediary instead.”
By Bal, she must mean Hasdrubal… Of course no one let you in, they probably even activated security measures just in case! “Yeah, I can do that.”
Joining her sleeves together, Cheron smiled almost innocently, making Lox feel a cold sweat crawling down his back. “Great! You know? Somebody once told me that killing the messenger sends a message.”
“But… you are the messenger.”
Pondering for a few seconds, Cheron exclaimed in surprise. “Oh! Then that won’t work!”
“Just give me Hasdrubal’s message…” It almost pained him. Being so used to dealing with weirdos, that he already knew how to manage several of them.
“No need to be so jumpy.” Cheron complained, before tilting her head. “We’ve found the bug, and its eggs will soon follow. That’s the message.”
“Cryptic.” Lox said, even when the message wasn’t for him.
“It’s actually quite simple, you silly! Bugs lay eggs on food, and taking a bite of infested food can sour a meal!”
Cheron, define what you consider food. He thought.
“Not that I mind eating bugs.” She clarified. “But people usually remove the parts touched by them.”
“Is it referring to a mole…?” Was there a traitor on the Arhontissa side? No, Hasdrubal wouldn’t bother sending a message if it was, and it felt more like a threat than a warning.
Did Arhontissa have someone infiltrated on the Mergifari’s inner circle? Or well, had, since they had been found already.
Of course, Lox hadn’t participated in the Opening competition of this year, nor had he been present during the hijacked ritual that unsealed a Devil, nor had he seen the aftermath. The only information he possessed were the comments and rumors coming from the novice mages that did participate, even when those were half-truths at best, and useless bragging at worst.
He didn’t stick his nose where it wasn’t needed, and didn’t ask questions that didn’t need to be asked. And it had been working great for him!
Ignoring the latest incident with the stray stab.
“You really should check up on that brain of yours.” Cheron said, getting up from the chair. “Because, if you keep waiting, you may find that nothing remains.”
He didn’t answer anything for a second, taking a deep breath from his cigarette.
“Say, Cheron.” Lox finally said. “Do you think it’s the mage that picks a Paradigm, or it’s the Paradigm the one who picks?”
Cheron stopped, turning towards him. “It’s the same thing. I am Gluttony, and you’re Decay. You stop being only you when you swim on that sea.”
“So that’s your answer.” He didn’t stop her a second time.
You liar. Lox scratched his head. If you were fused with your Paradigm, you wouldn’t be unable to advance.