My foot reached past the edge, gravity had done its job and pulled me to the ground. With silent steps I landed, I was only a couple blocks walk away from where I wanted to go. Briefly I thought back to the spies that had been following the duo but I didn't need to worry about them, I made sure to arrange a little accident for them before anything. Though I didn't just target them, no, I targeted many others to throw off the scent. I needed them to think that this was a coordinated attack from the other kingdoms so that I could divert their attentions toward each other while I had Aoif and Darwin sweep up the real prize in the chaos.
Though soon those thoughts were put to the side as I reached the shop that I had headed towards. Glass windows filled with plushies of all make and size, price tags were checked out by the curious children that the parents had been dragged out by.
How they were able to ignore the terrorist attacks, I don't know and neither do I care. Well I do sort of know, it was not hard to when you had all the documents and had seen the aftermath. In the wake of the death and confusion of the officials, the highest rank had declared martial law and started to compartmentalize. Following the guidelines he had been able to suppress the news of the king's death while a regent was sought after.
'Again' I thought to myself, I had again and again kept on thinking about the situation and all these other factors when what I really wanted to focus on was the cute stuffed animal that sat in front of me.
It was a penguin, or at least a look alike. The penguin had a butler outfit and parted hair that swirled up at the edges. It was too cute, I needed it. Ever since I had seen it while watching the duo's date I knew I needed it.
Immediately I snatched it up, both hands holding it to my chest as I brought it to the register. The young lady that manned the counter looked quite nervous. Though that didn't stop her from ringing me up. With a clatter of coins the bill was paid and I walked out, intent on continuing my watch of Aoif and Darwin.
'Before that though' I thought to myself, my hand pawing at the stickers in my pocket.
…
A light tap and the penguin was marked with one of my stickers, though I needed to stop calling him the penguin.
'But what would be a good name for him' All the while that I thought about this I was not idle in my espionage. I had already found Aoif and Darwin sitting on a bench enjoying the artificial weather in the park.
It didn't seem like they were going to go anywhere which was why I was sitting at a bench that rested at the opposite side of the park watching them while I thought up a name for the penguin in my lap.
"Hm…" I hummed to myself, my hands busy rocking the penguin in my hands. "Eclair, your name will be Eclair" I proclaimed as I looked down upon my pen- Eclair.
'Yes,' I thought to myself, 'A dignified name for a dignified penguin.'
"Delta?" I heard a voice call out to me, my muscles unconsciously tensing. I had not noticed how close Aoif had gotten to me. I was completely focused on Eclair and now I was surprised at the sudden visit of Aoif.
"Yes?" I responded, looking up from Eclair and into Aoif's eyes.
"I was going to ask about the information but now…" Aoif trailed off, her gaze falling towards Eclair in my hands.
"Eclair was cute. So I bought him" I justified and Aoif nodded along, it seemed like that reasoning was enough for her as instead of pushing the topic Aoif opts to sit next to me on the bench.
Her head fell onto my shoulder as she hugged my side. "What info did you get" Aoif asked, her eyes closed.
"Not much, a potential location for one but for the other eight we will have to find in the other kingdoms."
"Other kingdoms?"
"Yes, this isn't the only one…" I pause, letting that sink in with Aoif before continuing, "Each is near their own realm protector but none of them were powerful enough to defeat them."
"Hmm" Aoif hummed as her eyes opened and her back straightened at the incoming presence. Darwin had appeared from wherever he had been with food in his hand.
Enough for all three of us. Either Aoif had told him I was here or one of them was hungry enough for two. No, judging by the slight hint of surprise in Darwin's eyes it was definitely the latter.
That didn't mean I wasn't going to steal one of the meals that he had grabbed. With a swipe of my hand the scone in Darwin's hand was grabbed and taken by me. I took a small bite and was surprised. It was a breakfast scone, weird. It had bacon, eggs and some cheese alternatives native to this world.
I looked up to Darwin from my food. 'I wouldn't take him as a breakfast person' I thought, though I couldn't really judge someone by their build and guess what they liked to eat. However Darwin did look very disappointed, like the food was so important to him. I never noticed but Darwin might be a foodie. Wouldn't that be interesting.
Either way though Darwin sat down and handed the other scone in his hand to Aoif who happily ate it despite the feeling of betrayal that Darwin was feeling at my theft of his other scone. It brought a slight smug smile to my face that he picked up on.
Though he wasn't the only one as Aoif seemed to have noticed it also and had decided to set her head onto his chest and climb into his lap to help him feel better.
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