Arriving to the city of Ripglen was…. Interesting to say the least. Beatrice and I had been staying near the ballista because weirdly enough, be it because of the two angels she had contracts with, or some other reason, the voice would be much quieter when I was near her.
This however had become rather awkward because of the thing at the dinner. It had caused a few things, the first being that Beatrice would always swipe and bite at the small balls of light that were apparently her angels while saying sharp sounding things at them in that strange language of angels.
I tried to avoid it, but I found myself watching Beatrice more than before, and occasionally turning away when she looked back at me. This simmering embarassment was bubbling in my chest for some reason and wouldn't go away.
Never thought I would be the civilized one in a relationship.
The thought shot through my mind as I took a moment to stop and wonder where that came from. It was almost like a living temptation, that stray thought that slipped into my head and projected itself before I could stop it.
I always wondered what made love so good that Orion risked everything.
I was so wrapped up in trying to silence those thoughts that I rolled from the Ballista mount and fell beside the door as Selene opened it.
"U-Uh, Jax? Are you ok?"
"I'm good, didn't anticipate the stop right."
I grumbled as I stood and shook myself off. The embarrassment clinging to me more than any dirt. Liora jumped down from where she had been sunbathing on the roof of the trailer as Thalia exited through the door, yawning as it seemed like she just woke up. I heard what sounded to be barely contained laughter as from the roof Beatrice gave me a small smile as she peered over.
"Dumbass."
The light and gentle way she said it, almost like it was endearing, made a small war occur in my head, as thoughts battled for supremacy.
Who taught her curse words, She learned how to speak like 3 weeks ago, how is she already cursing fluently!
One side barked as the other side was just saying the word cute on repeat.
To distract myself from the thoughts about raising arms in my head, I began to look around and survey the city around us. It was covered in tall towering square buildings, nets of all kinds existed overhead between buildings as people seemed to bounce on them as if they fell from the sky. The sound of rushing water sounded from deeper into the city as the buildings and more made the city feel strange and more cubical in nature than most.
"This place sure is a different look than most."
Liora said, putting her hands on her hips as she looked around at the buildings around us. I turned to Aiden as he stretched.
"Man, those upgrades made everything so much more comfortable."
I chuckled as I shook my head and turned back to the city. We had come on our way down to the games, and to finish our 2 remaining quest quota. However what had everyone tense was the fact that the quests we were doing were now D rank. This meant better rewards and stuff, but also more danger.
We made sure everything was locked up before we started down the road. As we walked our eyes trailed to different buildings. Shops, homes, and all types of buildings lined the roads. It didn't take long before we found ourselves standing around a central fountain, though the fountain itself was strange. The water seemed to pour down from a large black and white circle in the sky, a similar one sat at the bottom of the fountain. As we stared, unsure of what they even were, we watched a group of kids go diving in. Before we could ask or say anything we heard them overhead as we saw them falling from the hole in the sky and bouncing away on the overhead nets at surprising speed.
"Well… That's one way to get around."
Beatrice said as she stared upwards at the nets. We ended up just standing there watching people jump in and go bouncing away for a good half hour before finally Selene said.
"W-We should find a quest to do before it gets late."
There were a variety of agreements from nods to grunts of approval as we all continued down the road. We split up with Selene, Thalia, and Liora heading to find the guild to grab a quest while Aiden, Beatrice and I would go looking for a shop for Aiden to resupply on herbs. Beatrice wanted us to go with him in case the angels could find a herb that can help with the lingering insanity.
We made our way to a simple shop that was up a ladder to a doorway on a small platform set up next to the nets as we entered into the shop. The place itself was simple, with little in terms of actual ingredients aside from the popular ones like those used in healing potions. Aiden made a beeline for the counter as he pulled out the little journal he had and flipped to the page and began to ask about the apparatus he would need to make the potion for Selene.
While he was doing that, Beatrice and I were looking around the herbs section. My eyes kept drifting the shelves but not really looking at anything in particular. A few customers came and went, but after a minute Beatrice made her way back over.
"I couldn't find anything, sorry."
I nodded, turning back to where Aiden stood at the front, but my eyes drifted back to Beatrice, taking a moment to just watch her as thoughts of what my brother had risked for love flashed in my head. As I watched her I felt a strange pulse in my chest, almost like my heart was pushing out a different, better blood through my body. The feeling seemed to intensify the longer I stared at Beatrice before she turned back and meet my eyes. She gave me a pitying look before she nudged me with her shoulder and said.
"We will fix this, now let's see where Aiden went."
She didn't wait for my reply as I watched after her as she walked towards the front of the store. My heart was pounding wildly like it might explode as I could hear it in my ears
Your Insanity has shifted
Insanity has become Obsession