"Didn't you just say to save the fluff for when we get back?" questioned the Miscreant.

Lyric matter-of-factly raised one hand, bringing up her index as if to prove a point. "Yeah, well, deal with it. Since I'm the one that made the rule, I get to make the exceptions. Duh."

Kyoya hung his head.

"...Right."

Altaire's king took center stage before they could continue that back-and-forth. He rose from the Colosseum's throne once again, now joined by Solitaire and Alexandria at his sides.

"My friends, I do hope this year's opening exhibition suited your tastes! Once more, before they take their leave, please extend your kindness to Lyric Seraphim and Kyoya Miskrit!"

Mostly used to it by now, Kyoya didn't flinch when the crowd ran wild with excitement. However, he shifted in place under the watch of so many eyes.

As they turned to walk back to the entrance, he took it upon himself to wave back to those that cast him their cheer. A newly fulfilled Miscreant paused for a moment to take notice of his partner.

She stood with pocketed hands; an absent gaze drifted about the battleground.

The boy snickered and nudged her shoulder, apparently reeling her attention back from whatever she'd been occupied with.

"What? We already—" Lyric trailed off, seeing that he'd already turned back to the crowd to return their praise. "You're really gonna make me do this?"

"Hey, don't tell it to me. They're the ones putting us on top of the world... It wouldn't hurt to give them some credit."

The Seraph stood quiet for a moment. Same as ever, he couldn't quite nail any real read on what may have run through her head.

However, seeing her smile with a sigh and turn toward the audience put any doubts to rest. She pranced around with one hand waving back at the stands, laughing all the while. By now, the loss of such a title must've meant little more than the dust kicked up in the wake of her celebration.

This display of mutual admiration continued until that cheer eventually faded behind them. Soon, the Legends found themselves standing just outside the gate they'd raced to earlier.

Just as when they'd entered, the entrance was still teeming with traffic, with several passersby offering congratulations to the pair. Nothing caught his eye beyond that; the greater majority of had either made their way to the spectators' areas or were wandering about the central plaza.

"Talk about a way to kick things off." She cornered her eyes to look at him, tilting her head up a bit.

"If it's something big for you, it's huge for me. Even in Teleo, we never really had stuff this far-out."

What looked to be a realization practically slammed into Lyric. The girl's eyes gleamed in another apparent eureka as she turned completely to face him.

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"That's right! When we get back, you've gotta tell me more about Teleo, and what it was like when you lived there, and..."

Her tone narrowed somewhat; it morphed into that same disguised tension from their talk of the Demon's appearance the previous night. "...I want you to tell me how you managed to get a bounty on your head; there's no way some nobody from the boonies could have two-million Chell out for his life by dumb luck. Even I'm smarter than that."

The sudden shift in topic nearly swept him off his feet. The thought that he might soon have to reveal the less-forgettable end of it all had begun to loom over him, now.

However, before he could offer any response, a sudden, acute presence enticed the Miscreant to cast his gaze left. The sight of an approaching Solitaire inducing a terribly awkward pressure in his stance.

She offered a simple wave in greeting. Lyric turned to meet her in a sprint.

"Hey! It's great to see you out in the world again, Ace!" The Seraph skidded to a halt before the Adventurer-Princess. The both of them reachedfor imaginary swords at their hips, then drew them and met in a momentary clash. They quickly returned said blades to their just-as-imaginary scabbards afterward.

They both placed a fist on their chest, then extended that fist to meet the other's side-to-side, completing yet another of Lyric's eccentric handshakes. "Alright, you've been studying!"

An apparently flustered Solitaire made a meek attempt to brush off the praise, waving her hand with reddened cheeks. He'd only then noticed the tone of her eyes: a cobalt blue-gray that gave more credit towards Kyoya's comparing her likeness to that of tempered steel.

"I wouldn't call it 'studying,' I merely felt that failing to remember wouldn't be something that a..." Her statement slackened briefly, the Princess apparently trying to find the right words. "...friend, would do."

Seeing the woman's nigh-indestructible plume turn to ruffled emotion so easily was a shock beyond a shock to a side-lined Kyoya. He sighed at the thought of being under such stress from so little as her gaze, whereas his partner could crack that front like an egg.

"So you HAVE been studying! Good on you!" Lyric gave the Princess a light pat on the back, laughing herself off soon afterward. Once she'd had her fill of teasing, the Seraph brought normalcy back to the forefront. "So what's up? I've never known you to be much of a go-getter."

Solitaire stood straight again, reinstating her usual imposing demeanor. Yet, now that he'd had a taste of what she was like on the lighter side of things, it was almost comical to see her trying to hold it up.

"Well," she began, a look being sent Kyoya's way, "'go-getter' or not, I'd be a fool to say the appearance of one bearing such a title as his wouldn't attract any attention. It didn't take long for word to spread of your discovery—a potential contributor to our efforts—to reach more of Altaire..."

Solitaire paused, looking back to Lyric. "Put simply, I have questions. Of course, I wouldn't go without compensating you for your time, should you feel inclined to accept my request." She extended her right hand, revealing a small, but hearty sum of Chell bills. "Would it suit you if we talked over lunch?"

Lyric thought it over; a silent glance his way suggested that she didn't intend to make the decision. He couldn't weigh much in terms of any negatives, on account of any information being worth its weight in diamonds in his case.

"I'll learn about Fate, Solitaire gets answers... Not a bad deal," mused the boy. "I'm game. How's that sound to you?" Kyoya returned the look to his partner, who shrugged in return.

"Hey, you're the one getting interrogated," snarked the sly-eyed Seraph. "I'm just getting fed, so I've got no place to say."

The boy nodded back to himself.

"Can't argue with that."

However, one detail of the offer seemed to sit miles above the rest—the re-emergence of a certain feeling that had been dulled and numbed by the exhilaration of his journey into this new world.

Now reminded of the necessities for human survival, a gnawing realization chewed its way to the front of his mind.

The feeling that had been shoved aside in place of excitement was none other than hunger: a glaring result of the fact that he hadn't eaten in well over a day.