(Nitrine pays for his apartment by doing chores for Shirona, his landlady.
Shirona: celestriakle. deviantart .com/art/Yeah-You-re-Screwed-186225538
Jade: celestriakle. deviantart .com/art/Deca-Jade-183587888
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Wizeman had seen everything. From the moment an eye had caught a glimpse of Lucent's breakdown, he had stayed tuned and watched concernedly. Not for Lucent's safety, heaven's no, but he worried. Such emotional instability could be a great liability, especially if Lucent decided to try to seek his equilibrium by hunting down other marens. A wizehand turned just as the voice reached his ear.
"You called, Master?" asked Reala, down on one knee, bowing with a fist over his heart.
"Yes... Your son is in the Waking World, attacking humans before they sleep."
Reala looked up in surprise. "Lucent?"
"Yes. He is unstable; return him to me immediately."
An affirmative nod, and Reala was on his way, but as he left Wizeman's chambers, he couldn't help but wonder: Why were all of his sons so troublesome?
"Nitrine, you've been washing that same plate for the last fifteen minutes," observed Shirona, leaning up against the kitchen wall.
Nitrine jumped and nearly dropped the plate he was holding; only his wild flails saved it. "Aah! S-s-sorry, Shirona..!" He put the plate down on the counter with the other clean dishes. "I've just been a little distracted today, I guess." He moved onto the next dirty piece of glassware.
Shirona snorted. "Isn't that the understatement of the year. This has been what, the tenth time I've caught you spacing out today?"
"Twelfth," he corrected, a tad embarrassed.
"Twelfth." She walked over and examined the dishes. "At least you don't have to redo these." More than a few of his chores had required redoing because of his spaciness. He just nodded, and she eyed him a few moments. "...Alright, I give. What's on your mind?"
"Well..." he said, not quite sure how to start, then his head snapped up at the sound of a knock. "I'll get it!" he volunteered, eager to escape the subject, then flew to the door and opened it. "Aunt Jade...?" he asked, mystified. Jade smiled.
"Good to see you too, nephew. How've you been?" she asked.
"You have the weirdest family members," Shirona interjected, but Nitrine didn't respond.
"I... I've been pretty good, I guess. What're you doing here?" he asked.
"Well, unfortunately, I can't say I came for a friendly visit. I'm looking for Lucent." Jade peered in, looking around. "No one's seen him all day, and usually that means he's come here. You wouldn't have happened to seen him, would you?"
Nitrine's face crumpled with guilt, and he looked down, avoiding her eyes. "N-no... Not since this morning..."
How extraordinarily easy. Jade wasn't quite being honest when she said no one had seen Lucent. "Hm... That's worrisome..." She furrowed her nonexistent brows and put her chin in her hand as she contemplated. "I hope nothing's happened to him."
Nitrine squeaked, then blurted, "We got in a fight! Sort of! He told me he loved me! And, and, it freaked me out, especially since he was sleeping by my bed when I woke up! He was really sad, and and! Come on!" He grabbed onto Jade's arm and dragged her out. "We gotta find him!"
Jade chuckled under her breath as she stumbled along after him. "Ok, ok; take it easy. If we keep our cool, we'll find him."
Shirona frowned at the mess Nitrine had forgotten about in his rush, then clicked her tongue and shrugged. "His loss~" She flicked off the breaker switch to his apartment before showering and retiring to bed.
(To be continued.)
