[Event] Blossoming Twilight Rose (Akeya/Leila Vergious)

Job Details:

Akeya wasn't sure whose idea it was to add some kind of temporary marriage to the task of helping distribute chocolate, but it sounded too much like someone trying too hard to make something special of the event. It might catch the interest of the more passionate person, someone who was invested in the world of romance, but for the stoic and generally solitary dragon it was mostly just a minor nuisance. At least they had the foresight to make the marriage only last for one day rather than leaving it up to those mages willing to help to fix the mess afterwards.

Did it even count as proper marriage if it only lasted for a day? She wasn't certain since it was years since she'd paid attention to that kind of thing. Even when she felt interest in someone on a more intimate level marriage wasn't what was on her mind, if only because she didn't feel like she needed it.

Regardless, that was the situation right now. To help deliver some chocolate for Valentine's Day Akeya would be asking Leila whether the goddess would be willing to put up with some strange ideas and old-fashioned traditions. Honestly she wondered what her friend's take on the human tradition was. Did she also believe in the whole matrimony business, or was she more in agreement with Akeya that it was an odd procedure to try and make a bonding between two people feel more official?

She would be finding out soon, since she had arrived at the Silver Wolf guild hall. A somewhat troubling affair in itself given that the Silver Wolves had created a barrier made of a permanent blizzard to keep out unwanted visitors. Supposedly someone who entered that storm with ill intentions would never find their way back out, although Akeya had yet to find out for herself since she had little reason to wish harm upon the Silver Wolf guild. Landing in front of the entrance she stepped into the lobby and looked around before quickly heading towards her goal. Giving some waves and nods to anyone looking in her direction to show that she wasn't trying to pass by unnoticed she headed for the living quarters, which thankfully weren't restricted access (they probably thought it unneeded given that those who wished to inflict harm would already have been weeded out by the blizzard). Given Leila's impressive magic reserves it wasn't difficult to sense her location.

So it was that Akeya ended up standing in front of one of the doors and knocking on it while also calling out. "Hey, Leila? Would you be interested in an easy job? It rewards well but it can only be done in pairs, and it's about delivering chocolate for Valentine's Day." There was a small grimace on her face at that last part. She really wasn't that much of a romantic herself.

WC: 484
TWC: 484/1000

Oh, what were the joys of adventuring in comparison to being holed up in one’s own room doing paperwork all day? Truly, the days of when she was in the process of creating Silver Wolf were all but in the reach of her fingertips! Or at least the memories of such days, the hours spent communicating back and forth with the Magic Council and much more. While the guild was of neutral alignment, there was still some process involved. Especially if the girl didn’t want the council to see her haven as an enemy of public safety or something.

Shedding tears of corporate shackles and oppression, she had all but lost all hope, the soul nearly leaving her body before hearing those unexpected knocks on her door. So much so that her entire body moved in surprised, causing the girl to swiftly lose all sense of balance and plummet to the carpet-covered ground from her wooden chair. The small impact was probably even audible beyond the equally wooden frame, the doors fitting it swiftly opening up and the familiar silver-covered head peeking out to see who was out there. The dragoness named Akeya, a friend of Leila’s by now.

“Huh? Akeya?! What are you-” Quickly cut off by the explanation brought forth, it seemed that her friend was always at least one step ahead? And although what she had said covered all bases and made perfect sense, it still seemed to somehow bewitch the spirit girl’s mind. A job of delivering chocolates that required two individuals, even ones as powerful as was herself and the dragoness? Were they delivering these chocolates to the throne of the Allmaker himself or something? A wind of suspicion blew across her expression, still, she opened the door fully.

“Well, if the reward is worth it… I do have time right now, anyway. Where do we begin?” If this truly was naught but delivering some transformed cocoa beans to a recipient, then there was no reason to refuse. And Akeya did appear like a pers- a dragon that would not take upon a task unless there truly was something in it for her. Not that Leila wanted to be stereotypical or anything, but the scaled beasts were known to sit upon mountains of treasures in the tales weaved together by the common folk. The image of the Twilight dragon in such position even made her chuckle a bit.

“And why does it require two people anyway? I get it that it’s Valentine and all, but… well, we’re both girls. One is also a dragon while the other is… me. Doesn’t exactly sound like your ordinary pretend couple.” And that was uttered before she even knew about the marriage magic which would be at play. Oh, that will warrant a response on its own, a big one, too. While Leila might not have been fully mortal, she valued Earthland’s customs greatly. After all, she desperately wanted to see herself as nothing more than another human.

Word Count: 499 / 1,000

Hearing the sound of a body hitting the floor left Akeya somewhat confused at the odd reaction to her knocking. Had she interrupted her fellow mage while she was deep in focus or something? She mentally shrugged as she dismissed it as unimportant. As she expected the fall was only a minor delay before her friend was already opening the door as the dragoness explained the situation succinctly. Not surprisingly Leila looked somewhat confused and suspicious about the job description, just like Akeya herself had been before she investigated it a bit further. She had no idea what drove humans to make such a big deal out of a celebration like this but she had accepted it and would just take advantage of it where the opportunity was presented.

"The location is Rose Garden. They have a warehouse filled with chocolate but they can't get it to the shops due to an insufficient amount of couriers." Stepping backwards Akeya gave Leila the opening to step outside of the room if she so wished. "And I would say that the reward is worth it. They're specifically calling for mages to help out and they're offering a special type of chocolate as reward." She wasn't a sweet tooth but the special effect of this chocolate... "It's difficult to produce so it's normally impossible to obtain. According to them the chocolate puts you in an elevated state of mind which allows you to absorb information and process it at rapid speed while also causing your body to develop much faster. In other words, it's a special consumable which allows the one who eats it to improve at a drastically increased pace.

It sounded like quite the miraculous effect, and from a piece of candy no less. The serious-minded assassin had been rather sceptical at first but after some information gathering it looked like there was actually some truth to the story. "I'm guessing that they want to make sure it works for all kinds of people while limiting their losses if there's flaws, thus why it's a reward for us mages who come from all walks of life." While she'd noticed the chuckle she didn't react to it as she instead shrugged physically this time in response to Leila's string of questions regarding the whole 'do the job in couples' clause.

"I don't think they care much about gender or species. They just want to advertise romance so they can sell more chocolate." She grimaced and rolled her eyes while resting a scaled hand on her hip. "They're even going so far as to have any two mages who take the job together get a magically enforced marriage to make it even more of a spectacle. Fortunately it's only for twenty-four hours so we don't have to play along with that human ceremony for the rest of our lives just to get the reward." She dropped that tidbit rather casually in a display of apathy. "So, do you have a method for getting to Rose Garden quickly or shall we go there the normal way?"

WC: 512
TWC: 996/1,000

Leila had been a mage for long enough to learn that not every job was exactly as advertised. Especially when it came to rewards. Shady clients were awfully common and she had learned how to deal with them. But this was different indeed. Effectively, their employer would be a huge chocolate producing company. Not exactly an entity that could afford to lie to them too much. Listening to Akeya for a bit, Leila would sigh as she stopped outside of her room fully, closing the door behind her before leaning against it with her hands behind her back, tilting her head to the side slightly.

“I suppose it makes sense. And here I was hoping for a moment that someone would remember I once was the holder of the Goddess of Ishgar title… did all that popularity really disappear in the few months I was missing?” It seemed that the modern world was moving forward rather quickly and mercilessly if that was indeed the case. Not that it was of huge importance. Frankly, the popularity was something Leila could get used to but didn’t actually require or was explicitly seeking.

Then there was the question of the actual reward. Special chocolate that could greatly enhance someone’s cognitive abilities for a limited amount of time. Unlike Akeya, Leila remained pretty unsurprised here. “Something like that is not actually super uncommon. I mean, anyone remotely close to my line of interests and work has a pair of magical glasses that can help you read an entire book in a matter of few minutes, sometimes even seconds depending on the number of pages. Applying magic to certain items can yield results like that. Though often not super healthy for the mortal body.” Not that anyone would be consuming such items at large.

But the sound of such a reward was indeed quite alluring to the girl. Her long absence meant that she had fallen behind her peers. Having a boosting item like that available would perhaps let her catch up a little bit. And other items like that were awfully expensive, so having a chance to effectively get one for free, as delivering chocolate hardly sounded like something difficult, was beyond reasonable to go for. Nodding mostly to herself, Leila made up her mind that she would go. Though there was of course still that one fairly important bit of information to be heard.

And the moment Akeya had spat it out just like that, it was as if the metaphorical cogs inside of Leila’s brain screeched to a halt for few good seconds. After the pause, her face became as red as a freshly picked tomato, her hands moving from behind her back and around her face as if she was trying to shield herself from an incoming attack. “Wha… wha- enforced marriage?! What are you talking about, how could anyone try to force a maiden like me to- ugh!” Realising she might have said a bit too much, the goddess cut herself out.

“A- anyway! This is ridiculous… why would there be such a requirement… I’d rather not divorce before even finding the love of my life! But, ugh… I can at the very least warp us there if you want.” Saying that she simply waved her hand and a bright blue portal opened up at the end of the hallway. Since Silver Wolf’s specialization was research and creation of magical artifacts and magic itself, there was plenty of means to easily open up a portal like that almost anywhere within the hall, as long as one actually knew how to, anyway.

Word Count: 1,100 / 1,000 (Complete)

Seeing that the goddess still wasn't exactly passionate about the project Akeya folded her arms. She wasn't exactly all happy and eager about the idea either but she at least wanted Leila to have enough motivation to come along. Although when her friend mildly complained that nobody seemed to respect her any more for her accomplishments in the past the dragoness flashed a grin before it was overtaken by her usual more stoic expression.

"I think you might have that the wrong way around. The more impressive the mage the more likely that a company would want that mage to help advertise their product. Having a Goddess of Ishgar deliver chocolate is much more likely to attract curious customers than your average mage apprentice." She tapped the floor with the tip of her tail as if to emphasize what she just said. "It's impressive how good humans are at overcoming feelings such as awe and fear if they think there's profit to be had. Even dragons aren't that aggressive when it comes to amassing wealth." Of course Akeya lived a self-imposed ascetic lifestyle which made her stand out from most dragons, but she was aware that most of her kin had an entirely different set of priorities.

She had to admit though that Leila's lack of interest in the chocolate was a bit of a disappointment. She was aware that there were other items which also helped speed up your learning ability but the idea of becoming stronger at an increased pace just by eating a snack was something she personally thought was pretty intriguing. Even if it wasn't the first product of its kind. "It's true that there's other items which have similar effects but being able to get one for as simple a task as delivering some chocolate still makes it worth it I'd say."

What happened next definitely caught Akeya by surprise. She'd thought that just like herself Leila wouldn't put too much value into human ceremony: seeing the white-haired goddess first freeze and then turn scarlet in the face from the embarrassment had the twilight dragon staring in open surprise. Listening to the objections just increased her puzzlement before she shook her head and rolled her shoulders while looking up at the ceiling. It looked like she would have to be more careful dealing with this. While she could just find another mage who was less interested she didn't want to go on a full on a goose chase. Especially since it took some effort to find a mage Akeya could get along with.

"Nobody's forcing you. That said I'd say it's safe to treat it as nothing more than a contract with some unusual wording." She quirked an eyebrow as Leila addressed herself as a maiden but refrained from commenting, instead turning towards the portal which was now opened. However before she'd step through she'd first have to convince Leila to come with because there was little use in going to Rose Garden without a partner. "When I say magically enforced I mean they'll use some ritual on us which causes the same effect as marriage would. However it's not going to be registered in any way since it's just a stunt to get more customers. If it helps you can just treat it as play pretend with some magic to fool the audience better." She hoped that she was selling this the right way. If Leila took marriage seriously then trying to write this off as fake might just make the goddess feel offended at how a sacred ceremony was treated as nothing more than an unusual form of advertisement. "And there's no official divorce involved either. The magic sustaining the effect will simply expire. Anyway I didn't think you'd find it a big deal, but even so I'd like for you to come along. Even if it's nothing more than a quick delivery I'd rather endure the smoke and mirrors with someone who doesn't get on my nerves." From Akeya that was already a pretty big admission.

WC: 674
TWC: 1,670/1,000 (Complete)

Narrowing her gaze, Leila actually pouted as she listened to Akeya’s excused. Even if she meant it seriously, it still seemed as if she was just saying things to make the girl feeling better. “What you’re saying is true, but they also didn’t ask me to do this. You’re asking me to do this. On your own.” So basically they weren’t recognizing her status and skills, Akeya was the one doing that. And even then, she might have been only recognizing Leila’s ability to get along with most people in existence rather than anything else.

Oh well. It wasn’t like Leila was explicitly against helping the dragoness. She was just flustered by the idea and how suddenly it was thrown at her. “I never really planned on leaving you dry alone on this. Just… promise me to forgot all about this once it is done so we can pretend it never even happened afterward.” It wasn’t also necessarily that the girl saw marriage as some incredibly sacred ceremony that should never be defiled. But it was certainly important enough to her that she would love to have one of her own one day. With someone she loved, not someone randomly picked out.

“You might not understand, as most dragons lead solitary lives. I’ve lived like a human for years. And humans, in most cases, cannot survive alone in the wild. They require one another, as well as their culture, to move on. And marriage is part of both of those aspects. To someone like you, it might seem silly. But to someone who is actually part of that culture, such things might be vital in life.” It might have been a strange concept to try and understand. And, of course, there were also many exceptions confirming the rule.

“Let’s get this over quickly then, shall we? I don’t really have great experiences with this event, so…” Hinting at her past failures a bit before pausing, the girl sighed and entered her own portal, expecting Akeya to follow. On the other side was one of the side alleys of Rose Garden, as it would be a bit panic-inducing if they were to randomly open portals in the middle of a busy street. And it seemed the celebration was already in full swing.

Many red and white hearts and flowers were ornating the homes and the environment as a whole. Despite the still somewhat chilly temperatures, many couples were out and about, too. “And to think this event might have evolved from something even more sexual, involving the killing of a goat and then washing off the goat’s blood with milk…” Just a small investigation of the event that Leila did a good while ago. Apparently, that was where the color scheme of red and white came from. But then again, she found no concrete evidence so it all might have just been an old legend.

Still, there was an awful lot of people all around and Leila had no idea where to go. So she obediently waited for the dragoness to come through as well so that she could lead the way.

Receiving the retort that it wasn't like the company itself had asked for Leila the dragon shrugged. "I'd be lying if I denied that. That said instead of requesting specific mages they're asking everyone, or at the very least accepting all comers. I'm just saying that if you show your face they'll probably show you that respect you're looking for. They'll just show respect and hope you'll help advertise their chocolate as well." While she could understand her friend's desire for some respect Akeya took the stance that there are better times to worry about respect than when you're delivering some chocolate on valentine's day for a reward.

"That's fine by me. I'm just in it for the reward anyway." She figured that there might be people who'd also just find the idea amusing, but if Leila would rather pretend that it never happened once it was over and done with it was no skin off of Akeya's back. She tilted her head to the side as the goddess followed up with an attempt to explain why for someone like her it would hold actually importance in contrast to the reptilian mage. Once Leila was finished she nodded. "Well, that's true. I do know a lot about how humans live their lives but you're right that I have little interest in those cultural traits which are strongly influenced by the strong habit of living in groups. If I want to spend my life with someone I'll do so without any ceremony or ritual involved." Of course the fact that dragons had an inclination towards polygamy might make that more interesting than most humans were interested in but who said that what humans preferred was of any importance?

She raised an eyebrow as Leila subtly hinted at the idea that valentine's day wasn't one of her best days. After brief consideration she decided not to inquire further until they'd at least finished the delivery the dragoness followed the goddess without further ado. Once on the other side the two of them were met by sunny weather and a lively city. The cold edge of winter wasn't entirely gone yet but the sun helped take off the worst of it. Taking a couple of seconds to stretch and sniff the air the austere assassin mentally located herself on the map of Rose Garden to figure out where they should be going next.

"To be frank that sounds like it would have been a more interesting experience than the modern variant. This stuff with the hearts and the candy is too sweet for my tastes by a large margin." She pointed in the direction that they had to go before heading there herself. "The warehouse isn't too far from here luckily. Although I have to say I didn't expect quite this many mages out and about delivering chocolate." Those with sharp magic sensory could pick up on the fact that there were far more mages present in the city than usual, and most of them were in pairs. "That or they're just enjoying the day. Rose Garden is one of the more popular places in Fiore after all."

If the two of them walked at a steady pace it'd take mere minutes before they'd be approaching a large warehouse where there was quite a lot of activity. It was located in a wide street where large vehicles could be unloaded and filled up with little issue. There were several couriers running to and from the warehouse carrying packages of various sizes, and if the two of them looked at the operation from above they'd see that the couriers spread all across town to resupply various shops.

As more chocolate was brought into the warehouse from outside town a man stepped out of the large building while saying something to another courier who immediately dashed off. Going by how the man was dressed (pretty flashily) and the fact that he wasn't doing any other work Akeya guessed that he was the one who oversaw the distribution of the tasks and headed towards him. Given how both Akeya and Leila had a distinctive appearance the man spotted them quickly and gave them a quick nod until the assassin was in range to speak.

"You look quite busy. We're here for one of those delivery missions."

"Ah yes, I thought so." The man inspected them briefly, but didn't give any commentary on what he saw and didn't show much on his face either as he continued speaking. "We're actually making great progress but more helping hands would certainly be appreciated. It seems like the more mages we send out for deliveries the higher the demand. You're both aware of our, ah, special requirement?"

"The marriage bonding yes."

"Something our P.R. department cooked up. Can't say I would've thought of it myself but the results speak for themselves." Reaching into a pouch hanging from his waist the man fished out two rings which had a weak enchantment on them. Peering at the rings he put one back in the pouch and rummaged around until he procured another. "Each of you put one of these on your finger and the enchantment will take care of the rest. They come in pairs for obvious reasons. You can hand them in at the end destination, although the enchantment itself will linger for a full day. Once you've gotten used to the sensation it should be barely noticeable though. Of course aside from this you'll also have to sign some papers here and at the shop so you won't just grab some of our merchandise and make a run for it." The man muttered under his breath. "You'd be surprised how many mages thought we'd just give them chocolate and expect them to deliver with no contract or other security measures."

Akeya took the offered rings, inspecting one of them before offering it to Leila.

There was absolutely no doubt that many individuals would find an opportunity like this great to some degree. Perhaps even wizard couples that were out in the world who wanted to try being engaged before actually committing. But this duo? Well, one could hardly find someone less appropriate. A dragoness who was in the whole thing just for the reward and a pseudo goddess who reacted to that somewhat harshly and thus wanted to pretend like the whole thing was not even happening. Oh, joyful Valentine. Regardless of all that, Leila wanted to at least finish this whole thing so that she would not disappoint Akeya who wanted the special chocolate.

It didn’t even surprise Leila to hear that the dragoness would have possibly enjoyed the suggested ancient form of the holiday even if it did involve the killing of an animal for no good reason. Oh well. At the very least this day was a peaceful one where everyone was simply enjoying the romance, not focusing on the bad of the world. “At least this amount of mages might offset the absence of magical energy in this place present since the disappearance of Rose Garden. Considering that it still seems like the entire guild and people in it disappeared overnight…”

A strange case indeed. As far as the girl knew, no one was able to figure out what had actually happened. Though the most popular theory was that the guild master, Izayuki, who was also a powerful yokai, had something to do with it. Perhaps even sacrificing the entire guild to some other powerful deity such as Inari. Or spiriting it away to another realm. Whatever the case, it made Leila glad she decided to join Golden Phoenix instead of Black Rose when she first came to Fiore. Though she couldn’t quite shake the feeling off that with the guild, something else important to her disappeared as well.

Not that she would be able to just figure it out on her own, it seemed that there were certain holes in her memories for a while now. So simply shifting her attention to the job at hand, just as they arrived at the warehouse and an individual who was apparently in the charge of this entire operation. Seeing how Akeya also took the charge, the goddess decided to stay behind a bit, almost even hiding behind the dragoness. Listening to the man just made her upset all the more, not that she did anything about it.

Once the ring was offered to her, Leila took at and stared at it for a moment, as if trying to figure out what to actually do with it. After sighing, she quickly put it on her right index finger rather than her left ring finger. Eyeing the other girl as well as the man, her gaze narrowed slightly. “This is fine, yes? The enchantment is still being applied.” She really didn’t want to use the ring like a real deal. After all, it would be even more trouble if someone had recognized her and started circulating some weird rumors. The last thing she needed was people thinking that her disappearance was her actually eloping or something.

Akeya frowned as the mysterious guild was mentioned which had disappeared without warning or explanation. She never had much to do with Black Rose herself but for a long time it had been an important presence in Fiore. It always had been one of the stranger guilds as well, with plenty of rumours that they had a purpose far different from simply granting mages an opportunity to work or improve their skills. Rumours about strange creatures and stranger customs. She didn't know how much of that was true since she never figured out how to invade their headquarters without being detected. However it was true that there had been a high percentage of folkloric and mythical creatures in the guild.

The disappearance had been worrying but there wasn't a lot she could do about it. First of all nobody knew what had happened. Even those mages who had been part of the guild but who were still in Fiore weren't aware of what had happened to the rest of the guild. There was no way to defend against something of which you didn't even have the faintest clue what had actually happened beyond the simple fact that one day there had been a prestigious guild, and the next day there wasn't.

"Rose Garden has always been a place with one of the highest concentrations of magic in Fiore, so it'll bounce back from the sudden loss as long as nothing else disrupts it even further." Of course restoring the magic levels wouldn't bring back those who had disappeared, but Akeya wasn't going to say that out loud. She was aware that Leila was a lot more caring about life than the cold-blooded predator of a dragon that she herself was.

Having a goddess effectively hiding behind you was an odd sensation, although Akeya was aware that it wasn't fear that made Leila stay out of sight as much as possible. Which was also why she was taking care of all the paperwork and administration. Given how her pale companion had reacted to the situation so far it was better to not force her to do more than was needed. Especially since things might become complicated if her friend completely lost her temper and created a scene. Although it would be interesting to see what would happen...

When Leila put the ring on another finger than the one to signify marriage the man opened his mouth to explain that since this was meant to be a commercial event giving the impression of being married was kind of the point. However those words died in his mouth when Akeya narrowed her eyes slightly and gave him a stare which wasn't so much hostile as deadly cold. This was accompanied by a voice which was calm as the depths of the sea, but with a deadly undertone and an emphasis as if to hint towards hissing.

"Let's take care of the paperwork."

To his credit the man didn't appear to be shaken too badly, but he certainly didn't bother arguing and hastened to get the papers. Akeya meanwhile looked at the ring still on the palm of her own scaled hand. Picking it up with thumb and forefinger she curled her tail so she could place the ring over the tip, using a tiny bit of force to shove it far enough that it wouldn't easily slide off. Once it was set in place she moved her tail from side to side a couple of times, the ring on the tip of her tail flashing as it caught the sun.

"Jewelry isn't really my thing." She admitted. Now that the two of them had their rings they would find themselves with a somewhat odd sensation. While of course they could already sense each other with their normal senses with the rings on it would feel as if they somehow intuitively knew where the other was and whether they were in good health or not. As if suddenly distance had no meaning. Akeya tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes before shrugging.

The rest of the administration was simply filling out some forms so they were approved for handling the packages. Once both mages had signed they'd be given several boxes of chocolate and sent on their way. Akeya grabbed the boxes and quickly shoved them inside the shadow pocket dimension she used for storing pretty much anything she couldn't carry on her body. Motioning for Leila to follow she set off into the direction of the shop, her tail making a sinuous trail behind her so the ring would flicker and glimmer in the sunlight.

"You're really not happy about this are you." Akeya stated abruptly once they'd already gone far beyond earshot of anyone at the warehouse. While there were plenty of people about on the streets everyone was busy with their own business so they could talk without worrying about being overheard or eavesdropped in on. As long as they didn't cause a scene at least.

Leila clearly was not the only person here that didn’t plan to put the ring on the right finger. In fact, Akeya decided to not put the ring on a finger at all, but instead on her tail. It was… well, it was a bit strange, even the silver-haired girl had to admit that. Thankfully no one tried to actually stop them in this. Well, they were two rather powerful mages, so that much was to be expected. No one would dare to cross someone so strong, especially not over delivering some chocolate. But Leila had to chuckle a bit, finally breaking the gloomy aura she had until now.

“And here I thought dragons loved hoarding treasures. Oh well, it looks well on you.” Continuing on, it finally hit just how mundane this task actually was. Yes, they got a gaze here and there from smaller children and even some adults who might have been planning on trying to steal the chocolates. But none of them so far would dare to try and cross a dragon-like woman who walked next to someone with enough power to probably level this entire city in some way or another.

Leila herself held the box of chocolates in her hand. She could do something similar to Akeya and toss it to the Gardens of Eden for safekeeping, but it would be more hassle than this was worth. As they walked, the situation became a tad bit more awkward. Especially with the whole marriage enchantment. Though the goddess was not too put off by it, as it actually felt very familiar to her spiritual bond that she had with the strongest spirits of Gardens of Eden. Which actually made her wonder if Aurora could feel this new temporary link. Probably not.

Then the whole situation was brought up into question. It made Leila jump a little when the dragoness suddenly spoke out an called her out. “That’s not… it’s different… it’s just…” a loud sigh. It was not that she was unhappy with the situation, but there was a lot of factors playing into this. Eyeing Akeya for a little bit, the goddess considered her options. They were working a lot together lately. Perhaps she could trust her? Not that she was about to say something sensitive or confidential… just something not many knew about.

“I’m not sure if you know, but I’ve disappeared for a good while a bit over half a year ago. This was not exactly of my free will. IMy magic is very different from any other magic you could see in this world. It evolves along with me. And as such, it started ascending. This forcibly returned me to the Gardens of Eden, my realm. In the last stage of the Ascension, something unexpected happened… an event known as Shatter occurred. Eden fragmented part of my memory in order to remove parts of it to protect me from an incoming emotional shock.”

Looking around, the girl signed once again. “I didn’t actually realize this until we came here. To Rose Garden… the reminder of Black Rose allowed me to piece everything together. There… was someone I wanted to be romantically involved with. But they disappeared along with the guild. Eden sensed this while I was in my realm and promptly executed the Shatter so that the realization shock would be lesser as everything came to me more gradually.” Taking a much more firm hold on the wooden box in her hand, she looked at the dragoness with a faint hint of tears in her eyes.

“So that’s why… today is a day when love is supposed to be celebrated. But I’ve only lost my love, it seems. I don’t even know if she is still alive. And if she is… will my emotions be played with again? There was a man who had rescued her when she was kidnapped by some cult, tortured by them… he freed her and showed her how beautiful the world can be. How was I supposed to even compete with that… and now his corpse lies in a ditch and she is gone!”

Almost appearing as if she was someone completely else for a moment, Leila quickly calmed down. “So that’s why. I continued to one-sidedly love her even when my feelings and trust were betrayed. But now she is actually gone and I feel like I might never be able to find someone I could love again.” That was the long and short of it. Just a broken love. And yet, it managed to impact the goddess this much.

"Different dragons have different preferences for what they hoard. We do tend to universally have an obsessive streak for something or another. In my case I have a strong inclination towards accumulating knowledge." And maybe things of artistic beauty, although she wasn't going to say that part out loud. Jewelry and the like could only hold her attention if it was some kind of masterpiece. To merely glitter and gleam was not enough to catch and hold her interest. Only when something was clearly made with precision, care and skill could she find herself appreciating it fully.

Or beautiful people. Those also counted even if with those she refrained from hoarding and just looked at them when she didn't have more important matters to keep an eye on.

The stares the two of them received were for the most part ignored by the blunt-natured Akeya. She wouldn't be so careless as to completely ignore the people around them but she couldn't give a damn what they thought about her appearance or that of Leila. Or the two of them together. On a day like Valentine's people drew all kinds of strange conclusions which made no sense anyway, so why let it get to your head?

"You're clearly only doing this because I asked you to do this and you didn't put a lot of effort into hiding your resistance towards appearing to be married. I don't hold much value to the ceremony of marriage so you won't find me judging you over it, but I do pay attention to how my partner is behaving." She said this as Leila tried to deny that she was having issues with the current situation. From the dragon's perspective it was pretty straightforward.

And then came the explanation. It wasn't the first time that the goddess had memory problems, although Akeya had believed that those had already been resolved. But apparently there was some more still, and this time around being reminded of Black Rose had triggered at least some vague memories.

Now that she was getting a more complete view of what Leila had been thinking of it was easier to imagine why the white-haired girl wasn't exactly comfortable with the current situation. While Akeya didn't slow down or deviate from her course her ears did show that she was listening attentively, the fin-like protrusions spread to catch every sound. She glanced aside and down to see that Leila's eyes were actually forming tears as she told the rest of the story. A lost love and a feeling that it could never be resolved. Akeya would, once again, likely not admit it, but this brought back some memories of her own.

Of course in Akeya's case she got over that kind of loss quite quickly due to simply not being very emotionally driven. Leila was a lot more open with her feelings. She probably also just had much stronger emotions. For her moving on wasn't as easy, for her other people were extremely important. No wonder that the goddess was in such a state. In the past Akeya would have dismissed it and just kept going, telling Leila that while she could understand it shouldn't get in the way of the job.

She got the feeling that was the wrong course of action this time.

Lifting her scaled and clawed hand she placed it on Leila's head even as she kept walking. The tall dragoness had little issue reaching that height with her hand, and she lightly moved the draconic claw in a somewhat clumsy attempt at patting the goddess's head.

"I can't say it's the same as with you, but I've also lost someone before with no warning or opportunity to say goodbye. I say that it's not the same because unlike you I find it difficult to bond closely with people. I think my blood is too cold for it." Her emerald eyes were still at the street ahead as she talked. "But I think I can understand how unpleasant all of this must be for you. Sorry for that. I'll see if I can get you somethng by way of apology once the job is complete and before we leave."

Unfortunately this sappy moment was interrupted by a series of oddly-shaped knives flying towards the two. Given that Akeya was permanently on some level of alert she noticed it quickly enough to react: a black shell formed from which all the knives bounced off. The one throwing the knives grabbed another set before he found himself grabbed by black threads which pulled him towards the dragoness. Without a word her tail wrapped itself around the man's midriff, arms and neck, the tip pressing against the part of his chest behind which the heart was hidden away.

"If the next thing out of your mouth isn't an apology for bothering us I'll give you a present. It's Valentine's day after all, everyone should receive a heart. Even if it's their own heart, surgically removed after they suicidally attacked a dragon and a goddess." She still hadn't removed her hand from Leila's head.

At first the assailant struggled, but when Akeya turned her head far enough to look at him from the corner of her eye he froze, then babbled out an apology. Once it was received Akeya lifted him a bit higher before dropping him, followed by her pointing at the opposite direction with her tail. "Now go away. In fact, don't bother anyone else for the rest of the day. I'll check to see if you've done, and if so I'll make sure you provide some heart to everyone whose day you ruined. Of course given that the human heart is quite small I might have to cut it into very tiny pieces if you're as stupid as you look."

Without even looking around to watch whether the man would actually listen Akeya looked at Leila instead. Behind them the assailant clumsily pushed himself back upright and ran away, his pants having a dark streak in them as he also left behind a bunch of those oddly shaped knives. Like broken hearts.

"Best I can say is that I find the best way to live my life is to keep moving. With that said we're already almost at the target destination, so just a little bit longer and we'll be done."

Everyone had their set of hardships in life. In fact, the things that trouble Leila were far from the nightmares some people must have been going through at that very moment, somewhere in this world. And yet, it was hard to put into words… that it could feel like the end of the world itself from the view of the silver-haired maiden. It was no surprise that even someone like Akeya had her own problems. Though there was something else that most certainly did end up surprising in a big way.

When the clawed hand landed on Leila’s head, she almost jumped a little, her eyes widening as she looked over at the dragoness. It was about the last gesture she had expected from her partner, given how she usually was. And, well… there might have been a small part of the girl that was just a tad bit worried that those razor-sharp claws could awfully easily find their way through her pale skin and skull. Though Akeya managed to not do so in the end. In its own right, this was quite amusing. A switch of the roles. Wait, did she learn to do this from Leila by any chance…?

Before being able to think it all through, yet another unexpected thing happened. An attack under broad daylight and in a crowded street. Leila would have been more than capable of defending herself, but the dragoness took it upon herself to deal with this one. And in her usual mercy devoided style, she scared the man half to death. Suffice to say, Leila couldn’t really argue with her there. She used to do exactly the same thing when she started with her magical career and it was effective. In fact, she even though about adopting her more brutal style again these days…

Regardless of all that, the girl could only sigh and smile as she wiped away those small tears of hers. “Sorry, and thank you. It’s been a while since I felt the need to shout my feelings out into the world and hopefully, this will last me a while. You’re a good dragon after all.” As a bit of a reward for listening, Leila would mimic the dragoness by patting her gently, and admittedly probably much more comfortable with her soft human hand. And just as she mentioned, the shop was now visible in the distance. Not much else to do aside from giving them the chocolates and receiving their rewards now.

Once the assailant was gone Akeya returned her focus to the path ahead. Given how the man had obviously been too weak to be a real threat she was more annoyed than anything else, although that also disappeared as she took a deep breath. The scaled hand on Leila's head didn't move, the sharp talons only lightly brushing against the scalp to prevent the threat of tearing it open. A dragon's natural weapons could easily split open a vulnerable target like that, but Akeya had both learned and trained for restraint. Someone who couldn't control what their weapons did was just a fool.

"There are very few people who would agree with the assessment that I am a good dragon. In fact I don't think you would be able to find any even if you looked." The dragoness stated bluntly and without any hint of regret or resignation her voice. Being a good person had never been on her list of priorities. While she wasn't a sadist and left people alone for the most part if they didn't bother her for her most other people were variables to be dealt with on the path to the objective. Of course there were exceptions like Leila, but beyond that? Altruism wasn't Akeya's strong suit.

When she felt the hand on her head she stiffened, her eyes widening before she sighed and relaxed her body. While she didn't like being patted herself things would only get more complicated if she started making a fuss about it. Especially since she began by patting the goddess so if she complained about the favour being returned it'd just make her look petulant.

With the shop in sight she slightly hastened her step. The trip hadn't been too arduous but she still wanted to be done with this. The reward was the only thing she was interested in here. It also looked like Leila had no need to linger any longer than necessary, so the two mages quickly arrived at the shop to deliver the packages. After a brief inspection of the wares it was concluded that they had in fact delivered the chocolate as requested. Once that was done they could hand in the rings and sign the forms saying they had done as asked and received their payment. Once the rings were gone the sensation of the bond would immediately fade away into nothing more than a faint tingle in the back of the head, barely noticeable unless you were reminded of it.

Once that was done and once they were outside Akeya put her hands on her hips and let out a deep sigh before looking at Leila. "Well, thanks for the help in getting the reward. I'll try to repay the favour in the future if possible. I'm guessing you want to return to the guild, so I'll go and keep track of that fool with the funny looking daggers to make sure he isn't doing something immensely stupid." With a nod she turned around and walked away, raising one claw as a last greeting before disappearing.