[ Creatures were being held hostage? Left in cramped living conditions? By the same group in another ad asking for the death of another creature?
This horror can't be allowed to continue.
Which is why Red had no hesitations upon signing up, practically glowing at the time (maybe a little literally) and carrying that energy throughout the day, until the time for meeting at the destination handed over came, and Operation: Free The Poor Cute Cuddly Creatures was to be initiated.
And when they said they wanted lookout, that's exactly how they planned to use their help. Which is why Kor and Red now stand at complete opposites of the road leading to the Beastmaster Hunting Guild's building, usually with little activity around this time. The pair were given each others names, and told to make any diversions if they saw trouble. Well, first trouble had to come around. For now, everything was relatively quiet. ]
Hey... Kor, is it? Am I doing this right?
[ Except for that mind message from your company at the other end of the road, Red. ]
[Something about the job made Kor's blood boil, or at least the way it was describe. He'd helped out the guild a few times taking down large threats, and that was fine. A lava basilisk, a giant luchador snake... those were all dangerous to the safety of others! It was fine. But the idea that they're holding poor defenseless creatures that have done nothing wrong hostage, in terrible conditions, it just... it just didn't sit right with him. It made him feel like he had been used.
When the opportunity presented itself to do something to try and make things right, well... he was all over it. He was informed there was another person who was also taking on the job, and that was fine. The more the merrier, after all!]
[It was Kor's day off, and so he was taking the opportunity to sleep in and catch some much needed beauty rest. But a disturbance in the balance of his bed causes him to stir from his sleep, a rarity. He groggily opens his eyes to see why his bed feels so strange.]
[ So perhaps you were heading somewhere, just walking, Kor; or perhaps you happen to be near the Tree of Memories for your own reasons, such as Enforcer reasons, or other.
But it just so happens to be, with the day already late and the posts alight through whichever means, there happens to be a certain boy here sitting upon a step with his hands clasped on his lap, one of those large petals inbetween them. One of those colour-named boys, looking in your direction.
[It was rather late, but it was also the end of a shift for Kor. He was on his way home, and by chance, he decided to pass by the Tree. Now and again he likes to see what's going on with it. Never for long, just a couple minutes to check on its state, see if anything has changed about it. So he never expected to be called out, not at this time of night, at least.]
--Oh, Red!
[It was Red. He hadn't seen the boy since Sosyne's attack. He was sure the boy had been around, but their paths just never happened to cross since that time. So, in a way, it was a bit of a relief to see him, alive and well and here.
[Sorey will receive a rather impromptu mental message from Kor later in the day. His excitement and enthusiasm permeates through the link to Sorey's side.]
Uwaah, thanks so much, Sorey! I'm not really sure what a "Valentine's Day" is supposed to be, but these chocolates are great!
[though he'd probably eat anything as long as it wasn't 80% miso.]
[Somehow a box has ended up at Kor's place of residence. It's a package tied shut with a dark green ribbon, a handwritten note attached to it.]
Kor:
Lately I've had a good deal of time on my hands, resulting in a lot of time spent cooking and more food than I know what to do with. I thought to leave some of it with you so it wouldn't go to waste.
- Dezel
[Once Kor opens the box, he'll find it full of butter cookies.]
[At some time in the day Kor should get an urgent little ping through the crystal. It wasn't a frequent one either.]
Hey, Kor, are ya there?
[He meant to ask sooner, but, well, yesterday was a pretty hectic day. So it had to wait. Thankfully now there was plenty of time to talk about what happened.]
[The ping comes rather as a shock to Kor, as he was in the middle of a lunch break. So in response, Emizel will be a rather sharp pang suddenly come from Kor's end, one of pure shock, before he responds. His poor sandwich...]
Kor! Sorry this is short notice but could you please come to Lloyd's apartment? And bring some friends too? I need to talk to you about something pretty important.
[He's been a little distracted this month by things, but there's definitely something that hasn't escaped his notice.
Lithia is gone and Kor is understandably upset. He's not sure how he'd react to any of his friends from home leaving at this point. And, well, he doesn't want his first Verens friend to be upset. And he has an idea, but... he's not sure how the other boy will take it.
So, he just goes ahead and contacts him anyway. He'll deal with consequences later.]
[While he felt a little bad about asking Kor for help so soon after the guy offered him a place to stay, he's gotten himself stuck in a silly situation and could really use some advice. Plus Kor being as friendly as he is might mean he's full of ideas to help solve his problem.]
Kor! Hey, I need your help. You're free now, right?
[It's not like he's busy working or doing anything surely!]
[Kor was pleased to hear Caius contacting him on the network. ...Sure, he saw the guy every day at home, but he was pretty new to the place, so him reaching out so readily's a good sign to him!]
Well, I'm just making my rounds right now, but I can chat at least! What's up?
[ It's been a month since Pearl moved in with Kor and she's still only managed to say a few words to him since their first argument. He's got nothing out of her other than a few unimpressed comments here and there, topped off with some eye rolling. Yes, she felt guilty about lashing out, but Kor was saying so many things about her and Rose and it was easier to not speak to him than to have to think about all these things she didn't want to think about.
But then Kor vanished midway through the month and Pearl got so used to him being gone that she's stopped avoiding the living areas when she thought he'd be around. She's spent the evening relaxing in the kitchen with a newspaper and a plate of cookies she'd made for Steven sitting untouched on the counter. She was totally not expecting Kor to walk in on her. But now he's in the doorway and Pearl looks shifty and it's just. so. awkward. ]
[Even though Kor had agreed to let Pearl move in with him and Steven, relations between them were awkward, strained even. They rarely spoke more than a few words to each other. And then the dream dust incident happened and Kor was out of the house for a while.
He'd almost forgotten she was living with them, until he runs into her while coming into the house.]
H-hey there, Pearl. [Super awkward time is go.] H-how are you?
[ It's October, Kor. Do you know what that means? Even if you don't, you're getting a package anyway.
Wrapped up in a nice purple bow is a bright orange box, and if Kor shakes it, it's evident that there's something inside...as difficult as it may be to open. Maybe it was accidentally glued shut? Enough effort will eventually pop the top of the box open, out of which will bounce a stuffed ahriman toy and a small handful of orange-and-purple confetti. While the ahriman waves back and forth on the spring he's attached to, there's a small pouch inside what little room is left inside the box. Are those pumkin-shaped cookies? Yes, yes they are. There's also a little note attached to the ahriman's wing:
"Happy All Saint's Wake, Sparkles."
Don't worry, the cookies are perfectly safe and edible. ]
[Yang doesn't usually sign up for the food testing tasks. No offense to the makers of these experimental foods but playing guinea pig just for the chance of free food and a little cash just isn't her thing.
This time however, all the possible side-effects were right up front from the start and honestly not that bad. Yang wasn't exactly shy with her compliments to begin with.
And of course, after she's seen who she's taste-testing with today, she's extra glad she signed up for the task.]
Eat some chocolate and get 100 sylvs. Pretty great, right?
[She's still nibbling on a small piece of chocolate bark, regarding Kor with a cheery expression.]
[Likewise, when Kor saw the details of the job, he immediately leaped on it. Getting paid to eat chocolate and say nice things? He already does that for free!
He was holding onto a particular large hunk of bark, of which he bites into and breaks off a decently sized mouthful to chew on.]
Mmm! You're telling me, I wish all the jobs were this easy, I could do this all day long!
[Merry Santamas, Kor, and welcome to the scarf brigade! Asbel sends an extra-long red scarf your way as well as a small assortment of mabo curry buns - it's the food of friendship, really!]
[ When Kor wakes, he will find that his crystal is glowing! His emotion drops for the month of Ennea have resonated with Empatheias' giant crystal, and a reaction has been formed.
By his feet, he will find a container of pogs. The pogs' designs are of the Arehtei, some figures in Verens, Sharnaath, Theasthai, and Briarlan.
(Thank you for submitting to the Emotion Tracker!) ]
[It all happens so suddenly. One minute Steven was by Beach City, triumphantly riding on Lion's back with Connie; the next he finds himself on his own in a bedroom far, far away.
He looks around for a moment, disoriented, as he collects himself and recognizes where he is.]
...Verens? I'm in Verens again. [And then, he goes on a little louder.] Kor?!
[He was gone again... that had to be what happened. Hopefully his roommate is still around!]
[It was probably a good thing for Steven's sake that he showed up early in the morning while Kor was still in the house as opposed to later in the day when he might be god-knows-where.
The smell of toast wafted through the kitchen. Kor was in the process of trying to make himself a decent breakfast before heading out into town for the day. At first, he thought he was hearing things, the sound of someone talking in the house somewhere. But he had to be imagining that. ...Right?
But then he hears it again, specifically, someone calling his name. That sounded like... Steven? It was Steven! Kor lights up, pleased that his "little brother"'s finally back. He knew he would be returning sooner or later; he's been through this whole "disappearing from the world but leaving your amulet behind" thing a fair few times with other people already. It was just a matter of when.
Knowing he left Steven's amulet in the boy's bedroom (because boy he'd learned his lesson about keeping the amulet on him from previous times, he drops what he was doing and runs to the bedroom, pushing the door open.]
[A familiar litter wyvern flies into Kor's room instead of the usual messenger bird, dressed up in holiday festive decorations and an a trusty themed sweater to stay warm in. He excitedly chirps at Kor for treats and affection, not even realizing that in his wyvern sized backpack was a letter addressed to Kor. Attention is the more important thing right?]
[But if Kor can get it out, it was definitely a note for him.]
I know we haven't said anything to each other in awhile, but I wanted you to have this. They supposedly help people stay together, I hope it manages to bring some luck.
- Emizel
[Inside the paper was Emizel's take on a wayfinder, that Sora had told him about once. The polishing and all was too expertly done that Emizel must have gotten an artisan to work on it, but the materials were something he collected (with Malenzio's help). Kor may or may not recognize them as the rainbow shells from the oasis last Helisium.]
[It's actually not Kor who initially greets the wyvern, but a pair of wyverns already living in the home, a smaller red one and a larger white one, who both enthusiastically greet Malenzio by nudging him and jumping all over him.
It's not until Kor hears all the commotion going on in his room that he comes in, only to spot a third wyvern in the room. Judging by the way it was dressed, it obviously belonged to somebody in town, and it didn't look like one of Sora's. He approaches Malenzio, shoving his way in between the two.]
Down, Peridot! C'mon, Pyrox, you're better behaved than this! [Well, they had to learn that excitable sort of behavior from somebody, Kor... Still, they settle down a little from Kor's scolding, at least enough to allow him to get to Malenzio and check out his backpack to see if there's any identification.
And what he finds inside is a letter addressed to him. His heart skips a beat as he opens it, reading the note and seeing the gift for him. From... Emizel. Kor's never seen a Wayfinder before, but he's heard about them enough from Sora that he's able to recognize it as one based on the note. His heart sinks. He hasn't talked to Emizel in a while, having felt guilty he wasn't able to help Emizel the way he wanted to. The way he was supposed to. And he couldn't bring himself to talk to Emizel until he figured out a way to properly help him.
But despite all that, Emizel was reaching out to him. He couldn't ignore this. His emotions welling up, Kor contacts Emizel via amulet.]
[ ...This is well overdue, but that still doesn't make it easy. But Ruby has missed talking to Kor, and while she hasn't been avoiding him, exactly, she hasn't been seeking him out, either. Which isn't fair to someone who was so kind to her during Selenium. They'd really come to understand each other better there, and then she just...ran away. Because she held his hand for, like, half a second.
...Actually, maybe she should go bury herself in the desert for a hundred years instead. ]
[Kor feels his heart skip a beat when he hears Ruby suddenly contact him there. He'd tried to give her some space when she'd run away like that, he was always told that sometimes you just need to give a girl some space, and she looked pretty worked up and flustered there. That was fine, that's kind of how the festival goes.
But when he never heard from her since, he honestly started to wonder if maybe he'd done something to upset her. But what? How could he apologize to her if he didn't even know what he did?!]
Uhh... Yeah, sure, Ruby! What's up? [He does his best to sound like his usual cheerful self.]
[ Merisia's had a busy few months, and that's the excuse she's using to explain why she hasn't contacted Kor earlier. Well, that and the fact that her reasons had been thrown into question for some time, but she's far less willing to admit to that.
All that said, Merisia had plenty of other questions stewing in her mind for quite some time anyway, and it's taking a lot to keep that curiosity from getting the better of her. The layer of calm she's using to keep it under control is practically paper-thin. ]
You have a minute, Sparkles? I've been meaning to ask you something.
[Merisia contacting Kor was a rarity, enough so that it takes him completely by surprise. It wasn't a bad thing that she didn't normally contact him. That was just her style, she wasn't the type to reach out to people all willy-nilly, especially just for idle conversation.]
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