This is a work of fanfiction. All characters (except Emerald) belong to Aphmau / Jessica Bravura.

Cover Art belongs to Aphmau / Jessica Bravura.

Please don't sue me.


"You're deep in thought today. Something on your mind?"

Ava glanced up from her phone at Em. The older woman was sitting on the former's bed, idly petting Johnny. However, she didn't seem relaxed at all: on the contrary, she seemed like there was something she really wanted to say, but was holding back for some reason. "Just thinking about this text from Lorelai."

"About the Fall Festival?"

Ava nodded. "A pro is if we don't go, I can just sleep more and do whatever I want without the weight of the world judging me on my shoulders!"

Em raised an eyebrow. "That's a pro?"

"And the con is we can just sit here in the apartment... in our rooms... doing nothing... as always... "

"Speak for yourself. I've at least gotten out to buy groceries." She looked thoughtful. "But... you do have a point. It feels like we've just been coasting through everything, especially this week."

"Everyone in my school has been going to the Fall Festival since we were young, and Lorelai did say some friends from high school were going to be there for sure, so there's no way around it." Ava closed her eyes. "But... high school for me was... "

"I, ah, heard about some of it. My parents filled me in on a little, but I don't think they really knew everything going on."

Ava shrugged, opening her eyes to stare forlornly out the window. "I mean, a lot of my school life was like that. But if I see people who I didn't like before, like... everyone... " She sighed.

"I don't think anyone really has an 'easy time' of it in high school." Em returned her sigh, leaning forward to rest her arms on her knees. "It's part of the reason I joined the Air Force. I just wanted to get as far away from here as I could." She let out a humorless chuckle. "Look how well that turned out."

"I've been meaning to ask you: where are your parents? I remember you all being super close when we were younger. Unless... something changed?"

Before Em could answer, the muffled sounds of Leif grumbling in the living room broke through. "Asch, give me the remote!"

"Over my dead body!"

"That can be arranged!"

Both women let out soft chuckles. "Maybe... they'd want to go?" Ava asked, looking at the veteran.

Em nodded. "I think we could all do with some time outside. Besides, it'd be a good chance to expose them to some casual Earth culture, let them blow off some steam."


Both women stood and headed towards the door. Just before Ava opened it, Emerald paused as a whiff of something familiar assaulted her nose. "Ava, wait! Don't - !"

Too late. The shorter woman entered the living room before pausing as if she'd been slapped. Her hands immediately came up to cover her nose as her eyes began to water. "What the - why does it smell so bad?!"

Emerald shook her head. "That is the musk of a group of dudes who haven't bathed in way too long." She snorted out a breath. "We had a guy I worked with who absolutely refused to take a shower. It got so bad we had to send someone with him to his dorm room to actually make him bathe before he was allowed to come back to the shop."

The Daemos continued arguing, oblivious that the two women were now present. "We both know I'm stronger than you," Asch bragged as he and Leif fought for control of the remote.

"We've never really tested that out now, have we?" the former assassin shot back.

"No," Pierce answered simply from his perch on the end of the couch.

"Shut up, Pierce!"

Asch renewed his efforts to secure the remote. "I'd challenge you to a combat, but I do not want to miss Socky's next grand adventure!"

"I need to watch the show about the murders!"

"You can't even remember your favorite 'Tee-Vee' show's name! You don't care about it!"

"I only pay attention to certain parts!"

"Hey guys, time out!" Ava called, stepping forward even as she kept her hand firmly pinching her nose closed.

As soon as he heard her voice, Asch let go of the remote. This resulted in Leif landing flat on his back on the floor, although he did now have the remote in his hand.

"What the heck is going on?! Why do you guys look so... beardy?"

"And smell so bad?" Emerald stepped up next to her, albeit reluctantly.

"I can answer that!" Leif shouted, hopping back to his feet. "Rhys is having us conserve magic."

"He's concerned that, at the rate we're using it, we won't have enough to return to Daemos." Pierce sounded oddly subdued.

"Uh... are you guys planning on returning soon?" Ava seemed sad at the prospect.

"In time," Asch sighed. He didn't sound very enthusiastic about it either.

"We haven't really talked about it. We still need to talk about how we're going to get - " At the glare from the Daemos prince, Leif cut himself off. " - uh, um, who gets the remote!"

Ava let out a small huff of annoyance. "Marriage again, huh?"

Emerald gave her a sideways glance, thinking back to the conversation she'd had with Rhys last week. 'No, it's much more than that,' she thought. 'They're concerned about human behavior and culture, but only in ways that would let them blend in on a superficial level. They want Ava because they think it'll give them some level of control over the humans here, but why is that necessary?' She shook her head lightly, the vague worry tickling the back of her mind growing a little more insistent. 'If nothing else, I need to keep playing along with this so they don't hurt Ava.'

"Let's just talk about what's in front of us right now." The veteran indicated their appearances. "What does conserving magic have to do with the smell and your beards?"

"We can't clean ourselves," Leif answered bluntly.

"Wh-what?!" If Ava had been taking a sip from a drink, it undoubtedly would have sprayed all over them in her shock.

"We rely on magic as you do to keep ourselves clean." Asch seemed equally unconcerned.

Pierce nodded. "Not a substantial amount, but enough to keep our appearance."

"Wait, so that's why you guys were so confused about our showers and baths?"

Emerald looked between all three Daemos. "Hold on: you guys understand we don't use magic to keep clean, right?"

"You don't?" Pierce frowned.

So did Asch. "Then... what do you do?"

"I take a bath, like you guys have accidentally seen me do before." Ava stressed the accidentally part of the statement, glaring at them.

"And I don't have any magic, remember? How else would I be staying clean?" Emerald gave them a confused look. "Don't you guys do that when you run out of magic?"

"We've never ran out of magic," Pierce confessed.

"Huh?"

The Daemos prince narrowed his eyes at her. "You heard him."

"Does everyone have magic where you guys come from?"

Leif nodded. "Yeah, at least the Daemos."

"It's an inherent trait of our world. Our society is built around it, which is why many of your things fascinate us." Suddenly, Asch's expression fell. He sounded... sad. "Which is why we should, perhaps, begin thinking about when to return to ours."

To Emerald, it was some of the best news she'd heard in days. While it was true she'd miss them on some level, all of that was secondary to getting herself back on track. 'The sooner they go back to where they came from, the sooner I can focus on getting Ava set up and - '

"Aww, that's too bad," Ava spoke up, a mischievous grin on her face.

She glanced at the shorter woman in horror. 'Oh no. Don't you dare, Ava. Don't you fucking - '

"And here I was, going to take you all to the Fall Festival."

As all the Daemos rushed forward in their excitement, the shorter woman didn't hear the soft string of frustrated cursing that slipped past Emerald's lips. Instead, she took an involuntary step back. "Oh God, the smell... "

"Are you actually taking us out again, Prisoners?!" Asch's eyes shone in anticipation.

"As long as you guys allow us to teach you all proper human hygiene then yes, we'll take you guys out." The veteran tried desperately to get in a breath that didn't smell like an elk had died a week ago after someone had coated it in corn chips.

"Deal!" The Daemos prince turned to the others. "We will have to postpone our meeting about the eventuality, I suppose."

"Yes!" Pierce didn't sound at all upset by the news.

"Now, hold it right there," Emerald cut in. "No one is going anywhere until we get this mess figured out."


A few moments later, all five of them were gathered in Ava's bathroom.

"I still don't know why we have to use mine for this," Ava sulked, crossing her arms in a pout.

"Because your bathroom is a lot bigger than mine, so it'll be easier for all of them to see what we're doing." Emerald rolled her eyes. "Besides, can you imagine trying to cram the five of us into mine? We'd be lucky to be able to move around at all."

"Fair enough." She turned to the Daemos. "You've been here before, but the bathroom is a very sacred and private place. People want privacy to be able to take a shower and get ready for the day and stuff."

Leif sighed in boredom. "Okay, we've been here before."

"What do we do here?" Asch seemed genuinely curious.

"First, let's work on your shave." Ava led the way over to the sink.

"Our what?"

"We'll explain as we go." Emerald gestured to the wooden stool she'd set up during the explanation. "Now, who wants to go first?"

Before anyone could even begin to answer, Leif phased over and settled himself.

"Guess that answers that question," she whispered to Ava as the shorter woman squirted out some shaving cream and applied it to the former assassin's face. Once he was soaped up, she turned and applied some of the cream to her own face as well.

"Pay attention, because I'm only going to show you this once!" Looking in the mirror, Ava quickly pulled the razor across her upper lip. "See?" she asked, turning back to them.

'Probably not,' Emerald thought. 'You blocked their view with your body, and I'm pretty sure they weren't paying attention to the mirror.'

Leif scoffed. "That's easy," he boasted. "Gimme that!" He snatched the razor from Ava and dragged it down his left cheek, eyes going wide as a small trickle of purple blood began dripping from his face. He let out a shocked yell.

The veteran was already prepared with a few small bits of toilet paper. She quickly stepped forward and pressed one against the cut.

He stared at her accusingly. "Why didn't you tell me the stick had tiny blades?"

"You didn't wait long enough for us to get the chance." Emerald deftly took the razor from his hand. "Now hold still: I'm going to show you how to do this without taking half your face off." With a few expert swipes, she removed the rest of his facial hair. "Done."

Ava stared at her in awe. "How'd you know how to do that?"

"I had to help my dad shave for a while after he broke his dominant hand once." She motioned for Leif to get off the stool, then pointed at Asch. "Your turn."

"You better not cut me," the Daemos prince warned after she'd put the shaving cream on his face.

"Then you'd better hold still," she shot back, carefully scrapping the razor across his chin. When she completed the task without incident, Emerald nodded to the last Daemos. "Pierce?"

He nodded back, settling himself onto the stool as she got the cream ready. "Okay."

Another few short minutes, and the last Daemos was clean-shaven once again. "Okay," Ava called out, sighing as she thought about what needed to be done next. "Now it's time for you guys to, uh... take a bath."

"Whoa, I'm gonna pump the brakes on that right now." Emerald held up a hand. "Do you know how expensive the water bill is going to get if they're all taking baths every day? Showers are faster and use less water."

"Yeah, but... uh... " Ava was blushing furiously. "We're more likely to see their... dangly bits."

The veteran sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose under her glasses. "I think your 'delicate' sensibilities can deal with it for the purposes of teaching, don't you?"

The shorter woman shook her head furiously. "There is no way in hell I'm taking that chance."

Emerald frowned, thinking hard. "Okay, how about this: I'll teach one of them how to take a shower, while you teach another how to take a bath. Whoever finishes with their student first teaches whoever is left over."

"Seems fair."

"I want Ava to teach me!" Leif piped up, phasing over to the bathtub.

"I would prefer to wait for Princess Ava to teach me as well," Asch announced. "I'm sure her teaching method is superior to whatever you have, guardian."

"And yet, I'm the one who had to step in and teach you all how to shave," Emerald muttered under her breath. She spoke louder as she met his gaze. "Okay then, but if I'm done teaching Pierce before Leif is finished, you're going to come with me. Understand?"

"I - "

"If this takes too long, we won't have time to go out." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You want to go, you listen to me. Got it?"

Asch scoffed, but spun around and went to wait in Ava's room. The veteran turned to Pierce. "I guess you're with me. Go ahead and wait for me in my bathroom: I need to get something from my room first."


Pierce was standing near the bathtub as Emerald came in, having changed into her swimsuit. Thankfully, the Daemos himself was still fully clothed.

She shut the door, then began gathering all the supplies she would need. Once preparations were complete, she turned to face her student. "So, here's what's going to happen: I'm going to get into the shower and show you what to do. Then, I'll get out and you can get yourself clean. Sound good?"

He nodded, once. "Okay."

"Good." The veteran reached over and turned on the water, waiting until it warmed up sufficiently to pull the knob to the 'Shower' setting. She stepped through and grabbed a wash cloth. "First, you need to get yourself and this cloth wet. Once that's done, you're going to take this."

She held up the fresh bar of soap she'd retrieved. "It's called soap. Rub this against the washcloth to get some nice bubbles going," Emerald demonstrated, showing him the result. "Put the soap in this indent, then scrub this cloth all over your skin." She demonstrated again, albeit a bit quicker than she would if bathing for real. "Make sure you get all the dirt and stinky gunk off. Got it?"

"Yes."

"Good." The veteran carefully exited the shower, grabbing a nearby towel and wrapping it around her shoulders as she turned away from him. "Go ahead and get in. Let me know if you have any questions."

Behind her, she heard the telltale sounds of clothes falling to the floor and the light *splish* as he entered the water. She heard him inhale quickly, as if shocked, and turned her head slightly. "Everything okay?"

"It's... a little cold."

"Oh, I can fix that." With practiced ease, Emerald reached in and adjusted the temperature without looking. "Is that better?"

"Yes."

A comfortable silence passed between them as Pierce cleaned himself. After a while, she noticed it was quiet. "Almost done?"

"I am unsure how this cloth will clean my hair."

"Oh. Yeah, I didn't go over that part." Emerald hesitated, as if mulling something over. "Would you be comfortable with me getting in there to help you wash your hair? I'll try to be careful around your horns."

A pregnant pause passed between them. "Yes."

The veteran let the towel fall from her shoulders as she took a deep breath. 'Okay, Emmy: eyes up. Focus.' Letting it out, she stepped inside to join him.


"What's taking so long?!" Ava was standing in front of the bathroom door, eyes averted and closed with her hands over her face.

Leif was sitting in the bathtub full of water and bubbles, but showed no interest in actually doing anything. "This is boring," he stated flatly, glaring at her over the rim of the tub. "I don't wanna do this."

"Well, you're going to do this if you want to go to the Fall Festival."

"I've been meaning to ask: what's a Fall Festival?"

"I'll explain later, just wash for now!"

"No, this is boring." To show her just how little regard he had for her instructions, the former assassin sank further into the water until only his eyes were visible above the bubbles.

Ava groaned in frustration, stalking across the bathroom to the linen closet on the other side. She rummaged through it until she found a blue toy motorboat she still had for some reason and tossed it into the water.

It floated across the surface, poking Leif in his left eye. He sat up immediately, indignant. "Ow!"

"You can play with the boat after you've finished washing yourself." Ava's hands were once more covering her eyes. "Now do it!" She turned and carefully stalked out of the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

To her surprise, Em was standing there waiting for her. To her further surprise, the woman was wearing a swimsuit with a towel wrapped around her waist. "Not going well?"

"Oh, shut up," the shorter woman grumbled. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be teaching Pierce?"

"He's already done."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. He's a pretty quick learner. I sent him back through the portal to get into his human clothes." The veteran turned to Asch. "Which means you're stuck with me, your highness. Let's go."

"B-but I wanted Princess Ava to - "

"Nope. We had a deal. I finished first, so you're coming with me. No shower, no Fall Festival." She pointed at the door. "Now scootch."


It went about as well as Emerald expected. Although he did pay attention while she showed him what to do, Asch quickly began rushing through it once it was his turn.

"Pfft," he scoffed as he scrubbed the shampoo into his hair. "This is stupidly easy."

"Well yeah, it's gonna seem easy after I basically showed you exactly what to do." The veteran huffed, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. She turned to look at him. "Uh, you might want to raise your head. Some of the shampoo is starting to run down - "

"Don't tell me how to do this!" he barked, turning swiftly to face her. The trail of soap was quickly approaching his eyes.

"STOP!" Emerald reached in, slapping the washcloth over his eyes as she pulled his hair to force his head back up. They both paused, aware of how awkward the situation had suddenly become.

"What. Are. You. Doing?" Asch's voice was dangerously quiet.

"I'm trying to keep you from hurting yourself with the shampoo." She carefully let go of his hair, then dragged the washcloth up his forehead to clear away the soap. "Try to keep your head up so it doesn't run into your eyes. It'll sting if it does." She paused as she turned away. "I'm sorry for grabbing you like that."

The Daemos prince was thoughtful. "You... were trying to protect me?"

Emerald let out a soft laugh. "I mean, I guess you could call it that." She rubbed the back of her neck. "You should probably finish rinsing that stuff out. The sooner you finish, the sooner we can get going."

Asch nodded carefully, mindful of what she'd told him about keeping his head up. "... thank you," he whispered, hoping she wouldn't actually hear him.

He didn't notice the small smile she let slip at his words. 'So, he is learning some manners,' she thought. 'Guess Socky's doing some good after all.'


"Well, what do you guys think?" All five of them had gathered in the living room, the two humans facing the Daemos. Emerald had just finished brushing and tying Pierce's hair back into his signature ponytail.

The guys were now dressed in their human clothing, smelling and looking better than they had only an hour ago. The veteran had changed as well, her swimsuit hanging up to dry in the laundry room.

"It was, uh... interesting," Asch admitted, staring pointedly at his feet.

"Refreshing." Pierce sounded pleasantly surprised.

Leif gave off a toothy grin. "I enjoyed it!"

Ava stared at him flatly. "Of course you enjoyed it, you locked yourself in the bathroom so you could play with the boat."

"But it got the job done!"

The shorter woman slapped her forehead in frustration, but quickly shrugged it off. "Alright, listen: we're going to be going to the Fall Festival. Do you guys remember Lorelai?"

"Yes."

"Of course we do."

"Who?"

"Well, I decided that we're going to go out and kind of try to meet her and her friends there." Ava's face fell. "Some of those friends are old acquaintances of mine."

"You're making that face again from before." Leif looked at her, his own face oddly concerned. "Should I bring my weapons?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Emerald looked between them, sighing. "In fact, I'm relieved that Rhys forbid magic usage because that makes me a bit more comfortable with taking you guys out into such a large group of people."

Unexpectedly, Pierce silently raised his hand.

"Why... are you doing that?"

"Because Socky raises his hand to ask a question."

Asch glared at the former general. "Have you been watching Socky behind my back?!"

"Yes." Emerald could hear the smile in Pierce's response, even though it didn't show. She barely held back her own grin as Asch let out a scandalized gasp.

"Aww, Pierce. That's polite. I'm glad more than one of you are learning something from Socky."

"Wait... " Ava interrupted. "How does Socky have hands if he's a sock and what does he wear on his feet?" She closed her eyes, lost in her own thoughts. "Deep questions."

"May I ask my question now?" Pierce seemed concerned he'd apparently been forgotten.

"Oh, sorry." Emerald nodded at him. "Go for it."

"What exactly is a Fall Festival?"

"Ah, that's right. We never really elaborated on that." She paused for a moment. "Well, you see, a Fall Festival is an event that celebrates Fall. It's kind of like a party, where a lot of people get together to eat all kinds of food and play games." She paused again. "I don't suppose you guys have anything like a Harvest Festival or something similar?"

"So... why are we going?" She wasn't sure if Asch was purposefully ignoring her question, or if they just didn't understand the concept enough to provide an answer.

"For one, we've been cooped up in this apartment for nearly a week. You guys have been so absorbed in the TV, you didn't even notice when I went out for groceries the other day."

"I also want to... try more," Ava broke in. "I know I don't do nearly as much as I could to help out around here, and I know it can get tiring trying to push me all the time, so... I want to take the initiative for once." She smiled at her roommate. "I mean it."

Emerald returned the expression. "And I appreciate that." She turned back to the Daemos. "Alright. So remember: no magic. And please... try not to get dirty since we just got you guys cleaned."

Ava narrowed her eyes at the Daemos. "Be good while we go out."

"You guys are going out."

Everyone turned to see Rhys and Noi standing behind them near the portal, the former holding a book.

"I wanna go, too!" the latter cried excitedly, eyes lighting up.

"Wait... " Ava sounded horrified. "We've got to CLEAN YOU GUYS TOO?!"


Emerald's propensity for problem-solving was on full display today.

She immediately told Ava to start filling up the bathtub in her bathroom while she got the Daemos clean-shaven. As soon as they were done, the veteran pushed Noi towards the tub while she led Rhys to her own bathroom.

"Dame Emerald?"

"Look, we don't have a lot of time." She shut the door behind them, immediately turning on the faucet before she began to remove her clothes. "I'm just going to jump in there with you so we can get out of here before Ava decides maybe this whole thing is too much work and she should just turn around and shut herself back in her room for the entire weekend."

"You... really want her to go out today, don't you?" He slowly began to remove his robes.

"I've been as patient as I can, but even I have my limits." Emerald stopped, already stripped down to her underwear as she checked on the water. Satisfied it was at an acceptable temperature, she pulled the knob to start the shower properly. "You get in first, then I'll join you."

Rhys raised an eyebrow. "You have no reservations about joining me in such a compromising position?"

She waved him off. "Oh please. It's nothing you haven't seen from when Ava and I were in your 'hot tub.'" She actually made the quotes with her fingers. "Besides, I had to get in with Pierce earlier to help him wash his hair. I'd say I'm pretty committed at this point, wouldn't you?"

The spectacled Daemos had no answer, instead taking off his glasses and carefully placing them on top of his clothes before stepping into the shower.

"Is the water warm enough? I had to turn it up for Pierce earlier."

"Uh, no. It feels fine." He was a bit startled as she immediately pulled the curtain aside and entered, maintaining eye contact as she started soaping up the washcloth for him. Once it was properly sudded, she handed it to him.

"Scrub this all over your body, except your hair. Let me know when you've gotten all the dirt off." She closed her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited.

Rhys did as she said, focusing on some particularly stubborn spots. As he cleaned himself, he couldn't help but study the human only a foot away from him. "Is that the scar Leif keeps going on about?"

Emerald's eyes shot open as if she'd been slapped. "What?"

He pointed briefly at the long, jagged scar that ran across her lower abdomen, just visible over the line of her underwear. "Right there. He was adamant about showing it to us after you fell asleep in the... hot tub, but Pierce wouldn't let anyone else see."

She chuckled, looking off to the side. "Yeah, that sounds about right," the veteran muttered, more to herself than anything. She shook her head and met his eyes again. "Yep, that's it. It's the reason I had to leave the military."

"What happened, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Just... a stupid accident. I'm a bit hazy on the details myself." She shrugged. "Are you done scrubbing yet?"

"Oh, uh, yes."

"Good. Rinse off, then face me and look up so your hair gets wet. Once it's wet enough, I'll help you out with the shampoo." Another chuckle. "And make sure you don't look down once I get it on your head. I had to pull Asch's hair to make sure it didn't get into his eyes."

Despite himself, Rhys chuckled as well. "I imagine Prince Asch did not appreciate that."

"No, he didn't. But he listened to what I said and was even nice enough to thank me."

He paused. "Wait, really?" He let out a disbelieving chuckle. "It's too bad no one else saw it."

"Oh please, you know he never would've done it if there were witnesses." She motioned for him to step forward as she turned around and grabbed the shampoo. "Now look up: I really don't want a repeat of earlier."


"The carnival!" Ava giggled out happily, practically giddy with excitement. "Oh my God, I remember when my dads would bring me here when I was little this is going to be so fun I - " She cut herself off as the *bloop* of a new text message went off on her phone.

Hey, I don't know if you're going to the Fall Festival or not, but if you are, I wanted to let you know we're going to be running late. Bad traffic. Hope to see you there!

"Oh, Lorelai's running a little late." She immediately regained her earlier enthusiasm. "Well, that means we can do things together!"

"You're really into this, huh?" Emerald smiled at the shorter woman, lightly nudging her shoulder. "You know, there's lots of other things to do throughout the year worth getting out for. You might find more things you enjoy, maybe make some new friends... "

"Yeah yeah, I know," Ava huffed. "You know, sometimes you make me feel like I have three parents."

"Uh, what do we do, exactly?" Asch interrupted, looking confused.

"Well first, I have to get us all tickets so we can get inside. Wait here." Emerald turned and began walking towards the booth.

"Wait, I'll come with you!" Ava ran over, quickly falling in step with her. "I think my dads might have dropped off something for us."

The veteran gave her a sideways glance. "So, you were planning on coming the entire time. Otherwise, how would they have known to have the tickets waiting?"

"Well, I wasn't 100% sure. But I might have mentioned I was thinking about it when I texted them yesterday."

The rest of the conversation faded out as the women walked away. Once they were sure they were out of earshot, the Daemos turned to one another.

Leif immediately began whining. "Being without magic sucks, Rhys!"

"Sucks?"

"Yeah, like, it's not cool."

"Cool?"

"It means good," Asch cut in.

"Wait... you guys are teaching me things?!"

"Yeah, what of it?" Leif shot back cockily.

Rhys let out a small laugh. "I just thought I wouldn't live to see this day."

"Shut up!"

"I do digress." He sobered up, looking around at the others. "It seems like we are all becoming more like humans, even in our mannerisms."

Noi nodded. "I noticed that! It's... kinda nice."

"We do need to start thinking about when we are executing our final plan and going home." He looked to the Daemos prince. "Are we still trying to win Ava's affections? And have we made a decision about Emerald?"

"Eh, we'll speak of that later," Asch waved him off nonchalantly. "For now, I want to experience this carnival."

"You do realize, if the Magic Crisis happens, the way of life on Daemos will drastically change." Rhys grew quiet and serious. "Much like we can't function here without Ava and Emerald's help, so will be the fate of everyone back home."

"It can wait one day," Asch growled through clenched teeth, glaring at him.

"Oh, so you guys can't use any magic at all!" Noi broke in, seemingly oblivious to the conversation's tone. "Like, not any?"

Rhys shook his head. "None. Even hiding our horns is excessive, but for outings and security it's the only thing I will allow."

"I would very much appreciate if we can just enjoy our time here at this festival and not worry about those matters." Asch grew thoughtful. "I know very well we have to make a decision, especially regarding Emerald, but I want to make sure it's the right one."

"Very well."

"So, what'd you guys think about the baths and showers?" Noi looked around at them again. "Oh, and shaving!"

Asch grinned. "Leif cut himself," he teased, drawing a blush from the former assassin.

"Nothing new, but it did catch me off guard. Normally I'm used to things like that in combat."

"Alright you guys, we got the tickets!" Emerald called, waving at them and giving Leif a way out of the conversation.

Beside her, Ava gasped loudly. "Balloons!" she squealed, immediately running off into the carnival. "Oh my God!"

The veteran watched her go, then shook her head as she turned back to the Daemos. "She'll calm down in a bit. Just let her get it all out now." Emerald motioned for them to follow. "Come on: let's go before she runs off and forgets she actually came here with other people."


They had barely gotten past the front gate when Ava came rushing back over, holding a bright pink balloon in her hand. "Look, it's a balloon!" she exclaimed, eyes sparkling with excitement.

Rhys cocked an eyebrow. "Do you eat it?"

"Why do you guys always want to eat new things when you see them?" Emerald scoffed.

"Why do humans make things look delicious?" Pierce shot back, although he also looked confused.

Ava laughed. "I mean, you're not wrong... but anyway! Follow me! I want to show you everything the festival has to offer!" She turned and practically ran towards the Midway. The others exchanged a brief glance before following along.

It was shaping up to be an interesting afternoon.