Chapter 68 – Luna’s Outing
[Can you do the finishing touches in a mont, Lilly?] (Luna)
[Certainly.] (Eva)
It was the afternoon and it was Luna’s turn to walk about the town. Of course, she was doing that together with Eva and Syrus, but with the extra effort of speaking in one particular character, Luna had been forced to sit back.
Not that she was particularly upset about doing that, but it was for the best that they all had an equal chance to move.
Before Eva started with the physical changes, Luna had a few more items of clothing to put on.
They bought new clothes specifically for Luna. She wore an oversized brown dress that went down to her legs and whose sleeves covered her hands. Along with the new shirt, she had a new backpack, a much smaller one compared to their large one, but that was fine as they would only be using it for short trips. For pants, she had a pair of cheap grey leather ones and a rope belt to keep them up, they were also a bit long so she had to curl up the bottom–that was to be expected for most pants as they didn’t have many sizes.
None of them were really ready to splurge on clothes. So cheaper options and alternatives were what they looked for.
There was a bit of laziness to the disguise, with them wearing their normal city shoes. They had two pairs, one for going outside the city for gathering–more boot-like but not exactly proper boots–and another pair more appropriate for going in and out of buildings.
Luna’s disguise was a greater departure than Syrus’ disguise was. They wanted the identity known as ‘Syrus’ to be close to what Syrus actually looked like when she was in control. This would allow, when they got older, Syrus to be in complete control without issue; this ant Eva wouldn’t have to dictate and maintain Morph at all tis, which would be useful.
[Okay, weapons ready.] Luna placed a band with string wrapped around them on her arms under her long sleeves.
[Are you sure you want to help?] (Eva)
[Yes, I wouldn’t have it any other way.] (Luna)
Luna's public attributes were going to be Space and Manipulation. She thought about the other options–Space was always going to be one of them and Moonlight was never going to be–but she felt Manipulation worked best. Fire could’ve worked and Blood would’ve been interesting, but Blood had issues for the ti being with the body’s recovery and there was no real problem with Fire; Luna just preferred Manipulation in this instance.
Eva started the process; first, she grew out the hair a little bit and then began the physical changes. Anna’s hair turned from their multi-coloured arrangent to a solid dark grey, and their eyes switched to Luna’s pink eyes. However, she didn’t remove the horn at Luna’s request.
Like Syrus' disguise, there were only two changes, just different changes this ti.
Luna initially planned to go with simply black hair, but after deciding to keep the horn for her disguise, she felt it would be fitting to keep her hair partially white, which led to her selecting grey hair, which contrasted well with their horn.
There was no one reason why she decided to keep the horn, just a collection of small ones, even though she didn’t have any particular feelings for it like what Eva was currently experiencing. It made a good disguise, differentiated their looks strongly, and was a small laugh towards the church.
They weren’t worried about being identified. Hair and eye colour were a big deal, and then there was the way Luna moved and talked, which was a lot more professional than Syrus’ seemingly casual attitude. Clothes were different, and then there was the fact that ‘Luna’ clearly had an exotic gift lineage.
The afternoon walk started pleasant enough. The cool breeze felt nice dancing across her face, and the city was quieter tonight due to being in the middle of the week. Luna didn’t know if attributes had an impact on preferences, there were studies for and against it, but she did enjoy being out at night.
Unlike in other towns, if Anlesa went out like this, no one was really staring. The fact that Eva’s physical difference was only minor definitely helped.
Luna was prepared for the worst to happen; besides reading so unkind works, she had unfortunately seen so of the church’s wrath on those with exotic gifts. Knowing that in most places they were treated normally did ease her heart in a way and was just another reason to hate the Aurora Church, and she can’t go wrong having more of those.
Moonlight reflected off their dark greyish horn, and birds started to quietly sing before sleeping. Eva’s horn parted the long fringe loosely covering it, not hiding it anyway, if anything making it more visible.
[Any plans for tonight?] (Syrus)
[No, just out to breathe, mostly.] (Luna)
The first thing Luna did besides walking was get sothing to eat. They often ate out at inns, not because they particularly wanted to–the food was good but money was still money–but they had nowhere to cook or store food properly.
“Anything missy?” The waiter at the inn asked.
“Standard course, please.”
“Coming right up.”
“Thank you.”
Carlman Tavern was located on the 4th Street east side. It was a smaller place compared to the taverns on the main street, but the dinner area was open to the elents, which ant it had a great view of the sky. It was also near the library, which, sadly for Eva, was currently closed at the mont.
[This fish is alright.] (Luna)
[You haven’t had good fish.] (Syrus)
[Fish is weird…] (Eva)
[The country of Eletscoep has rivers but isn’t near any major fishing spots, so I assu you never ate much before?] (Luna)
[Yeah…] (Eva)
They did fish at their ho, but Eva never really enjoyed them, which George noticed and made it less a part of their diet. As long as Eva still ate the fish, he wasn’t going to force her to fall in love with the dishes. The trio never talked about fish before; the topic never ca up.
[I think you would like it better with sauces and seasoning.] (Syrus)
[Are you a professional chef now?] (Luna)
[No, but I knew a few.] Syrus, with confidence, declared, [If one is going to celebrate after a successful mission, you better be eating at the tastiest places; one gets given a paycheck for a reason. Had a friend who spent their cash on making their own fruit garden… their oranges were amazing.]
[Sure.] Luna wasn’t going to debate with Syrus.
“Anything else I can offer you?” The sa waiter ca back–a young boy about fourteen years old. Dressed better than Luna, the simple uniform of black pants and shirt that spoke of at least a little bit of money was used to make the staff appear presentable.
Luna answered. “Nothing else at the mont.”
After a while of enjoying their al and nearly finishing it.
[I think soone is staring.] (Syrus)
[Where?!] (Eva)
[East side, but I see nothing there at the mont.] Syrus relayed.
Nothing happened but they were on alert. Luna finished eating and, having already paid for her food, left without issue.
Luna walked down the streets, going in the opposite direction of their ho.
[I think our looker is back.] Syrus warned.
Then, as Luna turned down an ally, a voice called out behind her. “You're new around here.”
She turned around to face her new acquaintance. A few tres from the entrance of the alley was a tall man whose figure was shrouded by the night, but his light blueish bony-like exoskeleton shone, reflecting the light. The large bones covered all over his upper body and arms; he wore no shirt, and the skin was clearly stuck into the bones. His face even had a few plates, and his dark blue spiked out from his bony helt.
Luna replied, “Correct, nice to et you too.”
[Lilly, prepare your Manipulation around the rope.] (Luna)
[What do you exactly want to do?] (Eva)
[I’ll trust you to make that decision, but I’ll flick my wrist up to allow you to release the string if there’s trouble.] (Luna)
[!] (Eva)
Eva’s self-imposed training to increase her combative use of Manipulation hadn’t gone particularly well. She had no idea where to start, so she focused on becoming better at controlling longer objects. Out of the options of controlling a flying object or a rope-like one that was attached to her body, she found the latter much easier.
So, the fact that Luna genuinely trusted her made her scared but happy.
Syrus eyed for a mont the sharp claws on the man’s hand. She was confident about getting away, but any injury would be devastating to their current body. She expected his legs might be similar, but they were covered in baggy pants so she didn’t know if they had a dangerous pair of sharp pointers down there as well.
The man walked closer and raised his hand… in the opposite direction of Luna.
“If you have any trouble, I live at 8th Street, Able House.”
Luna replied without a hint of being scared or worried, “Thank you for the information.”
The man’s eyebrow raised for a mont, slightly surprised the interaction went so well. “Good, don’t stay out too late. There are lots of people, but also not enough people moving around.”
The man turned around and left the alley.
It took a mont, but Luna turned and walked towards their ho.
[.........What was that…] Eva's adrenaline shot up before, but now all that energy felt like it was dumped in an icy lake. [We didn’t even get his na.]
[That’s what you're most concerned about?] (Luna)
[Soone who might be socially awkward or just has a really bad awareness of their actions.] (Syrus)
Because the actual answer would be unknown to them no matter how much they guessed, they left that topic alone for the night.
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