The Miscreant slipped off his bed without much else but a snicker, of which Lyric couldn't seem to find the meaning. He was sure to pick up all the gear he'd been given, bar the greaves, opting to leave them at the door. After all, it wasn't like he'd need armor for bedtime.

The beginning of a word from his partner prompted a look back from the open door, the Seraph picking herself up before he was able to comment.

"Hey, before you're in there... How long do you think you'll be up tonight?"

"'Till I crash, I guess. What's up?"

"Nothing in particular. I get most of my ideas at night, so sometimes they just kinda blurt out when I've got somebody to talk to."

"Gotta deal with it somehow. I'll probably have my own keep-me-up bugs, so shoot if you've got ammo to burn."

"Sure thing. If I'm asleep when you get out, wake me up. Can't be a hypocrite."

"Heard, will do." Kyoya caught himself holding back a laugh, but a glance at his partner revealed that she found just as much fun in the remark.

Something about her, something he couldn't even hope to pinpoint with any amount of certainty, brought about a level of calm comparable to that of an easy day in the highlands. Had it not been for what he could only call a seriously sketchy prophecy, he'd consider himself beyond lucky to be in a situation like theirs.

Yet, if that wasn't enough, there were even supposed to be eight more people, just the same as her?

It wouldn't have taken a genius to figure that he thought a bit too much about the little things.

Of course, it also wouldn't have taken a genius to figure that a certain Seraph didn't waste any time catching him zoned out.

"How much longer are you gonna stand in the doorway like that? Staring's rude."

"Tch, like you're one to talk about being rude. I'll be out in a bit. Are you sure you want me to wake you up if you fall out?"

"Yep."

"Suit yourself."

With that, Kyoya finally got to actually look inside the washroom.

It was a definite step up from waxed wood: a granite tile similar to the pinnacle's covered the floor leading to a large, open bath. Without much else to do beyond what needed to be done, the Miscreant hung up his spare clothes, stripped down, and set to work.

Needless to say, he'd already done plenty of thinking for one night. Any more, and he'd have been in the bath for hours.

Putting on his new clothes was less of an endeavor than he'd thought it up to be. The top was astoundingly light and even more maneuverable for such a supple material, and the fur at his shoulder was almost soft enough to fall right asleep on.

His pants' fabric was just tight enough to avoid looking baggy, while offering enough of a loose fit to be swift and comfortable. Emerging from the washroom door with soggy hair and remnants of the bath's warmth to keep him company, nothing in the world could disrupt this sensation of pure, fashionable bliss.

Nothing except a peacefully sleeping Seraph.

Lyric lay soundly on her bed, laying on her side, facing his bed. Her hands were still on the book's cover, and soft breaths were evidence enough of a sound fall. He'd been instructed to wake her up, so Kyoya approached the cot with an extended hand.

Then, he froze. Kyoya had every intention to do as asked, but one looming question seemed to blot out his assigned duty. "How?"

He'd never really had to wake someone up before, somehow or another. Sure, he'd pulled plenty of friendly pranks on slumbering friends, but never once had they wanted him to wake them up. Especially now, without any funny business, the matter was so foreign. "Okay, come on, it can't be that hard." He shivered, taking his hand back. " Maybe... I could just tap the bed—"

"Oh, hey, my bad... The book I swiped from the Archive really mellowed out quicker than I'd hoped."

Lyric had awoken without any intervention from the Miscreant, lightly rubbing her eyes and stretching. Following that, a weight of innumerable boulders lifted itself from his back. "You done in there?"

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"Yeah, all set. Think you can do the same if I end up asleep by the time you're out?"

"Honestly, I rinsed off ages ago. You took a while, so I just did that and fell on out." Lyric shrugged to a perplexed Miscreant.

"...Rinsed off?"

"...Oh, right, you probably don't know mixed Bursts too well. When you use multiple elements, like Thunder, Water, and Air, going through the daily motions isn't really a thing. I don't actually have to use a bath because I can just rinse off whenever I need to and then use the Air bit to dry everything off. But it still falls short of a soak in a warm bath, that's for damn sure... It's mostly just a convenience."

The tail end of her explanation carried a mock-sadness with it, bringing a grin to the both of them. Kyoya walked to the foot of his bed, jumped up onto it, and laid back. Pillows were always so inviting.

"So... Got any of those 'ideas' you mentioned earlier?" Kyoya looked her way, hands interlaced behind his head.

"Oh, do I," challenged the Seraph. "But, I guess it's more of a single idea. At least this time, anyway."

"Yeah? Do tell."

The girl leaned back on her hands and stared up, seeming to pierce straight through the ceiling that tried so hard to prevent the stars from reaching her.

Yet, a thought afterward made him wonder if it was actually trying to keep the stars safe from her.

"See, I did some brainstorming while you were freshening up. Between you and me, you don't act a smidge like I'd think anybody on the D-Team would... but I was thinking, what if it's not the be-all-end-all with whatever's written? One of those 'eye of the beholder' type things... Y'know?"

Kyoya blinked a double take. Up until that point, everything about the legends told to him were clear-cut and set in stone. The idea that any bit of it could be more on the subjective side was no doubt a curveball, but not something he was ready to dismiss right away. Judging by Lyric's lack of any humorous flair with her statement, it seemed that she felt the same.

"I never really thought about it that way, now that you mention it. I can't say that there's a lot about me that screams D-word, but I'm not the one who's looking for it, either, so... who am I to know?"

"That's where you're off, newbie." Lyric nodded with closed eyes. "I'll admit that I've only gotten to see you work once, but once was all it took for me to know you're right up here with me... If not that, then Alex pulling your numbers should be proof enough."

The record she recounted was one that, oddly, didn't trigger any of those headahces from so many times prior. It's absence in such an explanation offered up a less than comforting vibe, but he'd have plenty of time to wallow in that later.

She followed that with a sigh, laying all the way back with both arms out. "...Long story short, the dreamer in me wants to believe you might be one of them. Who knows which one. Glory, Potential, Pace, Valor, Comfort, Love, Serenity, or Being..."

"Really makes me wonder just how deep the rabbit hole goes when you put it that way. Even if I'm not, it sounds like a blast, getting to go around and seek out big names like that."

Lyric's eyes found whatever laid beyond the stone canopy once again, that amber glint shining in reply to her star-bound listeners. "Oh, it goes way-deep... but, with the way things are looking—if you really don't plan on jumping ship when things get moving—I might be in the best shape I've ever been."

The boy hadn't an answer for a pep talk quite like that. She'd given an unmistakably clear response to his claim of not knowing what about him could be called 'Defiant', and in that, he gained an even clearer insight as to where the future could take him.

Of course, even clearer was still far from truly clear, but as he'd learned time and time again, every bit was to be accounted for.

"You've got me all tangled up, again... Good going."

Kyoya smiled at the ceiling with her. He had no idea what it was that she found so fixating about it, but the thought that maybe it would reveal itself to him by mirroring her was too tempting to pass. "Now I've got tons to think about."

He turned to face the window, pulling the sheets up to his chest.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I just tell it how it is—no more, no less." She leaned over and blew out the candle on the nightstand between them, then turned to the other side and pulled her blanket up as well.

"Yeah, right."

Warm, soothing darkness covered all but a dimly lit lantern hanging from the ceiling, providing just enough visibility to see the outline of their forms in the window's reflection. Following a few minutes of restful silence, Lyric softly added to his list of reasons to trust in whatever she had in store for them.

"Hey... I don't really know how to put this, but... thanks for today, Kyoya. I really, really had a lot of fun, even if it was a little sketchy down the middle. We'll have a lot to do pretty soon, and not all of it's gonna be easy, but we'll clear it without a hitch."

The Seraph took a long, hard pause before finishing. "And, if it turns out that, by some stroke of bad luck, you're not really one of the D-Team after all..."

The silence that overtook them was intimidating, but Lyric did away with that with ease. "Let's stay like we are... I think you'd be cool to have around, legend or not."

His reply needed no further thought.

"That wouldn't have been a question anyway, y'know... but if you have to hear it, I'll bump to that. Deal."

"Bump to what?"

"It's a figure of speech, Seraphim."

"You're a figure of speech."

"G'night, Lyric."

Her sheets rustled for a bit before she spoke again.

"Yeah... Rest easy."