"I will admit, ya are a pretty fun fella." Fatera said, slamming the door to her own floating house shut before she stumbled to bed. She's all lively and energetic when it comes to fighting, but when the task at hand was to have fun, relax, and enjoy herself, she started dragging her feet mere minutes after winning the Arrow Tag MVP award.
She even tried to return and exchange the prize for some festival tickets for food, but Wu was able to drag her away from embarrassing both herself and him.
"It's all about having fun...just go with it. Put it next to all of your...other trophies." Wu said, dangling the prospects of smashing some meats from the barbeque stalls in front of her. Alas, she calmed down, followed his lead, and enjoyed his treats.
After stuffing their stomachs to their absolute limit, Fatera called it a night, while Wu trotted back, went for a late-night shower, and headed to sleep even as the party went overhead.
The next day, he is paired with Augen, the other member of the secret Fatera and Augen pairing, and he is sure to get some gossip about the two of them.
"Hello."
Augen's voice, though lowered through a whole octave and a scratchy filter put on, came from behind him the moment Wu stepped out from the gates of Illiol college. Wu spun around rapidly, and the green-haired boy smiled and waved towards the air next to him.
"Ah. Good try." Wu giggled as Augen cursed under his breath before turning slightly to the source of his voice.
"One day, I will have it." Augen said, pointing a finger straight back as Lera headed out mere steps behind Wu and glanced towards the two of them before meeting up with Ver who swallowed her up with Whirlpool Purple, "I did cheat a little bit today, though."
"Compared to your peers, your Wave sensing is rather..." Wu said as Augen turned and hopped onto the Chariot he rode in with, "Incredible."
"Gotta survive somehow." Augen shrugged, his fingers dancing along the Chariot’s control before it smoothly lifted off the ground and started heading up towards one of the higher levels.
After dealing with the tough customer that was Fatera for a whole day yesterday, Wu is perfectly content to let Augen take the lead today, and from the way he is piloting, it was clear that he had somewhere he wanted to go.
"So...I know I don't exactly know you the best..." Wu said, looking at Augen who carried a relaxed smile as he felt for the ebb and flow of the Wave around them, "And when you suddenly showed up to our doorstep, it was rather...strange."
"Ah, so today is that kind of a day?" Augen smirked before he turned to face Wu with amusement written on his face.
"I suppose it is..." Wu muttered, reminiscing as Augen reached into his pocket and handed him one of the playing cards he always carried. The current one was half blank, and incomplete Cast lines decorated a corner of the card while leaving the rest untouched.
"When I first uncovered the flashes of the future, I was struck with so much uncertainty that I didn't know what I should do, or if anything I do matters." Augen explained as Wu drew his eyes onto the complex line work on the card, a far more intricate kind of Cast writing that even Wu struggled to understand after his studies, "But then I realized something, thanks to your help. Like an incomplete Cast, the future can be anything. It can be brilliantly intricate, or devastatingly destructive...All depends on how we write it all."
"So right now, I am just going to live one day at a time~" Augen continued, "Following my wishes, and doing what I want and think is right. And that meant we are going to shop for books. Originally, I was planning to check out the Union treasure hunt though..."
"Ah, so it really is that kind of a day." Wu smiled, returning the card back to Augen's open hand before the Chariot skidded to a stop in front of a network of semi-transparent structures with books seemingly floating within it. However, upon closer examination, all the books are contained within semi-transparent book shelves, and the individual shelves are what's floating in the sky above.
“Yeah. A relaxing kind.”
"This is so weird..." Wu said, chuckling as Augen reached his hands forward, a line of the Wave extending out like a fishing line before it hooked around the nearest floating shelf, and he stood up when suddenly, his body started floating upwards. Augen leaned forward, and suddenly, a strange disorienting sensation filled his stomach as if gravity had been turned off in the area by a clever manipulation of the Wave…
"Can you feel this?" Augen asked, spinning his arms in midair and trying to turn his body around when he saw Wu being picked up by the straps of his Void suit. Instead of the anti-gravity Cast affecting his own body, it merely acted on his suit.
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Well, at least he won't be stuck to the ground here. Wu thought, when Augen reached out with his hand and held onto Wu firmly.
"You know this joke is coming, but did you foresee this too?" Wu asked, his legs still feeling heavy and the tightening of fabrics around his crouch starting to threaten his livelihoods downstairs.
"And the answer is always the same, no. Eventually, this joke is gonna get old." Augen said, pulling Wu up towards the nearest bookshelf. He flew helplessly towards it, his wrists clashing into its surface and Wu's fingers dug into the railings along the bookshelf.
Never once did he imagine shopping for books in a simulated zero-gravity environment would be this...exciting.
"So, what books are you looking for?" Wu asked, flipping a few of the switches within his void suit and using jets of Wave to reorient his body in the air.
"The Book of Prophecies. It should be the shelf floating in the middle." Augen explained, pointing towards one of the shelfs towards the middle of the floating pile. However, in order to get there, they needed to make their way through dozens of excited students who are just jumping back and forth between the floating shelves. Thankfully, all of the shelves are fixed in space, so they won't budge that much when being pushed or pulled by others.
"I thought you just said we are living in the present..." Wu said, as Augen tapped his finger along the Winter Bark Cast card, creating a small gust that swept up both Wu and himself before they started flying towards the targeted shelf. As Wu approached, he caught a glance of the projection atop the shelf that said "Sarcastic Works".
He got it now. So Augen just wanted to check out the sarcastic work of fiction that just happened to be named the Book of Prophecies, perhaps as a way to signal his detachment for always pursuing a future that is seemingly set in stone. Deep down, Wu is happy for him, or Augen’s just trolling him hard.
"AHHH! Watch out!" Suddenly, a voice came from next to him, and Wu turned sharply to see a couple flying towards them at a dangerous speeds. His fingers twitched, and Wu immediately flicked on Bubble bubble before the boy held his hands around the girl's waist before spinning around in midair, his feet kicking onto the shield Cast and shattering it easily.
However, that was also enough to break his forward momentum, and the two of them were able to just latch onto the shelf that Wu and Augen is on.
"Thank you..." The young man said, smiling apologetically. He had golden eyes and long white glowing hair tied behind his head, and his facial features mesmerizingly handsome to even Wu as he can't help but admit how stunning he is. Right behind him is a girl with dark brown hair and pale skin, and she slapped the young man lightly in the back, complaining about his recklessness, "We get rather excited when there is a book we want to read..."
"This?" Wu asked, pointing to the rows of Sarcastic works, "I suppose this kind of fiction is rather popular around here?"
"It's more of an acquired taste, though it still tastes beautiful." The young man examined Wu, his eyes scanning into Wu's whole being before a look of intrigue briefly flashed over his face, "I am Mus."
"Hui." Wu said, shaking his hand before he felt the surprising warmth transmitted through his palms.
"This is Mila." Mus half-turned and gestured to his girlfriend who's scanning through the rows of books. She heard her name called, and she waved her hand at the two of them before Augen placed a hand on Wu's shoulder and also introduced himself.
"So...what book are you looking for?" Mus asked, and Wu ran his finger along the rows of books before he spotted the title Augen was searching for.
"The Book of Prophecy." Wu said, sliding the book back and feeling its inertia in his hands, "It's rather...hefty, actually."
"It is." Mus said, pointing his hands towards it, "Mila! We found it!"
"You wanted this book too?!" Wu raised his eyebrows as Mus looked a little disappointed that Wu had found it first, "Is there another copy of it somewhere or..."
"It is the most acquired of tastes..." Mus murmured, "Like an obscure song lost in the wind, its tunes only understandable by the few..."
"They got it first though." Mila reminded, and Mus nodded in defeat.
"How about a little game?" Mus asked, looking towards Wu, "The winner gets the book?"
"A game?" Wu asked, looking at the rough book cover before dropping it down. However, before he could reply, Augen squeezed him in the shoulders and rested his chin over it, a smile quickly put upon his face.
"I...am feeling a little unwell, so you can have the book for now..." Augen said, coughing to the side as Wu quickly spun around to catch him. The book dropped in the air before it floated towards Mus, who pinched it with a pair of his fingers.
"Are you certain?" Mus asked, handing the book to Mila before approaching Augen and Wu. However, Augen nodded sharply before he grabbed around Wu's shoulders and excused the two of them off the floating shelf.
Flying back, Wu held onto Augen before adjusting their courses with small blasts of the Wave from his suit.
"Are you okay?" Wu asked, his voice quiet and wary, "What did you notice?"
"That man...he had no presence in the Wave, just like you." Augen said through his hands, his mind expanding outwards and making sure that the two of them are not followed, "But it wasn't genuine like yours. It was like he is so perfectly adept at controlling the Wave within his body, everything was pressurized within, waiting to explode... If your presence in the Wave is a blank, then his is pitch black intensity...He is bad news, and he is hiding something."
"I trust you." Wu said, looking back at Mus and Mila as they conversed while reading the pages of the book, and Mus turning to glance in their direction, "Let's go back and figure out what this means."