Nozomi Tojo had been spending more time here, at her favorite bookstore, a smaller shop than hers even, off an alley she wasn't sure how she'd found the first time. It was a cosy aesthetic, a little cluttered but still giving off a sense of sparseness, of spaces you could expand in to as you considered what the day had brought to you. And no Russian spices drifted in. The prickly kind Hanamaru Kunikida and her partner, Yohane, had set up a nook for Nozomi in the very back, there was even a very ancient Japanese screen Yohane swore she knew the noblewoman who'd originally sat behind it for days when Nozomi wanted no prying eyes. Today, Nozomi was at a more central table, frowning over her cards, she could feel herself biting the inside of her lip whenever she put down the mug of tea. The central card in this three card spread had stayed her hand, flipped her stomach. Death. Nozomi was too experienced for the rookie mistake of letting the Death card make her fear for her mortality, but she was too too aware that it was a glaring neon sign, especially in the central, present spot that change, capital C Change, major LIFE CHANGE™ was on the Cosmic menu. Add in the reversed quality and there was the screaming sense that Nozomi was avoiding something. With The Chariot bold to the left of it, one might venture a guess that Nozomi was avoiding someone charismatic, determined. The Four of Cups nudged Nozomi to reach out for an opportunity. Nozomi groaned and lowered her head to the table.

"Nozomi-chan?" Hanamaru's soft voice drifted through the incense and Nozomi felt the swoosh of a fallen angel swooping in to eavesdrop on her reading.

"She's avoiding something, Zuramaru. The Death card is flipping her off and the Four of Cups is calling her out for low self esteem." A deep voice echoed around Nozomi, who refused to raise her head. "Has she met someone recently?" A huge intake, and then the deep voice screeched into a higher register, "Is that why you've practically moved in? Who is she?" Another voice switch, "The Fallen Angel Yohane will cast her net into the abyss and pull forth a lantern to shine and show her fellow wanderer of Destiny the path forward."

Nozomi heard Hanamaru tickle her lover, who squeaked, and flumped down onto the pillow next to Nozomi while Hanamaru sat less dramatically on Nozomi's other side.

"Nozomi-chan…" Hanamaru wheedled. One of the reasons Nozomi felt so comfortable here is that Hanamaru had also grown up in Japan, Nozomi just wasn't sure which era, and refused to give up her vocal tics, even when she spoke mostly fluent English.

"Her name is Eli." Nozomi felt Yoshiko sit up next to her with a hiss of breath, but Nozomi managed to grab the Fallen Angel's hand before she touched Nozomi's cards, Nozomi raised her head, smiling at both her friends. Hanamaru was in a floral skirt and soft fuzzy tan sweater that complemented her eyes, fair hair framing her face. Yoshiko was in a leather jacket, sugar skull splashed across a black tank top, and torn jeans, midnight hair in a bun. "Use your own, devil."

Yoshiko grumbled, looking to Hanamaru for support, but the fair haired maiden just shrugged. Yoshiko hung her head for a minute, but when she raised it, her violet eyes were aflame with inspiration. She grabbed Nozomi's tea cup before Nozomi could react, swallowed the rest of the tea, turned the cup three times while humming complacently and then slammed the cup dramatically back on the table. When it finished rocking, unbroken, Yoshiko inched forward to peer inside.

"Is it a bomb?" Nozomi giggled.

"A blonde." Yoshiko muttered. Nozomi froze.

Yoshiko leapt to her feet, throwing both hands up, "The Great Yohane has called forth success in love as great as her own for her…" she looked sideways at Nozomi, who frowned with the slightest shake of her head, "her great and wise friend, Nozomi, washed up from the far reaches of the East on this Western shore. If, "And here Yoshiko flopped next to Nozomi, head on Nozomi's shoulders, "she'll stop hiding in the back of her best friend's store."

"Oh." Nozomi mouth matched her choice of word.

"Yoshiko-chan is very wise tod…"

"Yohane…"

Hanamaru leaned over to kiss her lover on the cheek, "Thank you, Yoshiko-chan."

Yoshiko blushed, and pushed away from the table, "I've got a meeting tonight. I'll see you later, Zuramaru?"

"Looking forward to it," Hanamaru managed an endearing and unique blend of cheeky and cheering whenever Yoshiko needed push.

"Meeting?" Nozomi asked as the door chimes played Yoshiko out.

Hanamaru froze, hand on the teapot. Nozomi became instantly suspicious, "Maru-chan?"

Hananamaru blew out a long breath, her eyelashes blinking wildly, "You know how Yoshiko…"

"Yohane" Nozomi deepened her voice and Hanamaru flinched, then scowled, her nose crinkling up. Once again, adorable.

"Is interested in cryptids?"

Nozomi nodded.

"There's a reading group. Sometimes, they meet here, but mostly they meet…" Hanamaru paused, "somewhere else."

Nozomi couldn't help it, the huge laughs just rolled out of her, while Hanamaru watched curiously and mildly concerned. When Nozomi came up for air, she smirked at her friend, "You, Kunikada Hanamaru, are a worse liar than that grounded Fallen Angel you call your girlfriend."

Hanaamaru's eyes were blanks as she replayed Yoshiko's latest pronouncement, "Displaced Celestial Being. Yohane is rebranding."

Nozomi still had a chuckle left, "Oh, that's a good one."

Hanamaru passed a hand over Nozomi's cards, "If you actually stopped avoiding this Eli, maybe I could be laughing at your girlfriend."

"Oh, so you want revenge, ZURAmaru." Nozomi leaned in with a leer.

Hanamaru turned away, her profile scorn, her eyes saucy, "You know Yoshiko doesn't like it when you call me that. And yes."

Nozomi gathered her cards, "I'll put that on the pro side of the list."

"Nozomi..." Hanamaru's tone matched the message from the cards in severity. "You know ignoring answers is throwing kindness back in the face of the gods."

"Ah, Hanamaru, but…" Nozomi searched for the right word.

"Fearing." Hanamaru dove in.

Nozomi countered, "hesitating in the face of change is so deeply human that surely the gods will be patient with me."

Hanamaru stood, "Gods may be patient, girls not so much."

Nozomi knew Yoshiko and Hanamaru could be trusted to speak the uncomfortable truths. She leaned back, remembering Eli's bright blue eyes and wondering what they were looking at now.

###

Nico Yazawa was lying on their couch, her green, avocado based beauty treatment slathered all over her face. She had her cellphone raised and was snapping a selfie.

"We are not getting Russian food again. Nico loves you, but…" Nico sighed as she hit send, "But Nico misses the honey mustard drizzle over a LIGHT salad from Muskies. Just send the fortune teller a text and ask HER out for heavy Russian food."

Eli frowned, fidgeting with the edge of the couch cushion. "Have you asked out the feral DJ who hates me yet?"

"Maki" Nico drawled, "is currently out of the country, in Toronto, with K Pop stars hanging off her arms. So Nico is waiting to ask in person. And sending selfies."

Eli sat up from the other side of the couch, ripping Nico's phone out of her hand and reading her last message:

"Hey, Ripped and REDonkulous, stop by Nico's when you get back into the country." And there was Nico's green goop coated face, tongue sticking out, eyes wide and twinkling.

"You really did send a pic of you in that slop."

Nico rolled her eyes and grabbed her phone back, "Nico always looks good. And Maki appreciates honesty. None of the K Pop stars will let her see an eyeliner smear, let alone the night before look."

Maki's ringtone went off.

"What did she say?" Eli was genuinely curious. Nico and Maki's courtship was outside the boundaries of anything Eli considered a lead up to dating, but Nico seemed pretty calm and happy about her situation, unless Maki had posted a pic from gig recently.

"Are you auditioning for a zombie flick?" Nico almost flinched. No one but Eli would have noticed. Nico tossed her phone to the side, "So why won't you text Nozomi?"

"What do I say?"

"Hi, remember me, we agreed to be friends because I'm too much of a coward to ask you on a date."

Eli reached behind her to grab a pillow and toss it at Nico, "I'm not a coward…" Eli's voice dropped to a whisper, "Things are just weird right now. And I have a lot going on besides the..."

Nico leaned forward, using the pillow to prop her elbows on, "Ask her when she's in, go have tea, let her read your future, and talk, Eli." Nico tilted her head, almost smiling at her phone, "Even if they don't say much, it's still nice to have someone open your text, you know."

Eli sighed, laid back down, her long legs stretching out next to Nico's shorter ones, "Yeah."

Nico watched her best friend, not hiding the sadness she knew was weighting her gaze. Eli wasn't paying attention to her anymore, staring at the ceiling, thoughts elsewhere and Nico wished she had something comforting or constructive to say. And then her notifications pinged. Diamond Princess had posted a TWIG shot from tonight's gig and there were five girls in skin tight clothing stretched out across her rig, mugging for her camera. Nico had problems too, even without monthly fur outbreaks.

###

You Watanabe's least favorite thing about her job as the Coast Guard's LAPD liaison was that she rarely got to wear her uniform. Too often she needed to slip under the radar, or pass as a someone out boating, or just be able to wander without her clothes or posture screaming "COP." So she slouched, tried to bring back hacky sack, and switched her uniform hat for a dad cap. Of course, the friend she was meeting had it worse; at least You didn't have to keep a pair of wings on the very low down low. Yoshiko, You had known her for a long time, most of them late nights in dark places, so Yoshiko allowed You to call her by her human name. These were human streets and it helped Yoshiko keep a barrier between these meetings and those with the more than mortal. You understood that, she too swam between two worlds, land and sea, footed and finned.

Yoshiko was whistling as she approached; You didn't even have to turn, Yoshiko just settled a couple feet down the pier, leaning back against the railing, hands in the pocket of her leather jacket. No gang insignia on the back, just a pair of black glittery wings and Gothic graffiti reading "Dodged the Sun; Kicked the Moon." You once again found herself taking a moment to appreciate how carved out of breathless glory Yoshiko looked when she forgot to dim the glamour. Then You stomped on her own foot and muttered, "friend, dating another friend, don't go there."

Yoshiko looked straight up, stretching her throat, then tilted her head to flutter eyelashes at her rendezvous mate, You was just glad the Fallen Angel wasn't looking directly into the sun. That was always disconcerting.

"What's up, Captain? What dark horrors can Yohane assist you in sealing away in the pit? " Yoshiko sounded amused under the flare of drama, but whether she was reading You's face or thoughts with those piercing purple eyes didn't matter. You had been born an open book where women were concerned.

"The usual." You chuckled, but her blue eyes flashed fierce. "Rumors. Bots. Trolls. Closed Facebook groups. TWIG hashtags. Social media chaos starting to spread, viral werewolves who transmit lycanthropy via saliva, mermaids drowning swimmers, wildfires being started by mutant Trinity Alps salamanders who breathe fire." You hung her head, hands behind her neck, sighing, "It's a flood."

Yoshiko frowned. Hanamaru was pretty internet allergic, so Yohane spent maybe ninety minutes a day on the basics, on her phone, mostly responding to messages. She'd found it best to keep a low profile. It was too easy to feed the glamour greed; to start to crave the crowds, to yearn for the veneration. Hanamaru had pulled her back from that summit once; Yoshiko had kept herself grounded since then, helping others, in this world too modern and cynical to promote new gods to more than temporary power.

You continued, "Patterns seem to indicate local actors, a cell recently set up somewhere. There's too many details and specific targets identified." You took a piece of paper out of her pocket, "I think you'll recognize some of the names."

Yoshiko read quickly and then with a snap of her fingers and a spark the paper was gone, "I'll warn them." Yoshiko turned so she was facing You, "But what do I tell them?"

"The same thing I'm telling you." Yoshiko's name had been the first on that list, "Keep a low profile. Be wary of new people. And don't have any more meetings at the bookstore, you goof."

Yoshiko sighed, "Zuramaru will be sad; she likes making everyone cookies."

"She can still make the cookies." You was still not used to domestic Yohane, so concerned about the very prosaic activities of her partner.

"Oh that reminds me." Yoshiko pulled a wrapped square out of one pocket, "She made you Orange Carrot Cookies. Says you need to fatten up."

"Too busy burning off calories." You's best friend was the pool at her condo. Laps and lounging made her less likely to find leisure making her lonely. "Tell Hanamaru I appreciate the home baking. Does a sailor's heart good."

Yoshiko snorted, "Try that line on someone single, not MY wife, who's waiting for ME."

"Wife? You did it?" You's voice went shrill with surprise, carrying over the water.

Yoshiko startled, "Never mind that. Don't tell Zuramaru I said….just…" Yoshiko closed her eyes, once again carved out of some substance more striking than flesh, her voice resonant with ancient echoes. "I gave up everything for her. And realized it had been nothing at all." Yoshiko stood tall, grace in her smile as her voice softened."Find you someone like that, my friend."

"If only." You pushed herself off the pier rail. "Take care of yourself. Tell Hanamaru I'll stop by for dinner soon."

"Good." Yoshiko giggled, "You look hungry."

"Or something…" You thought to herself as she waved Yoshiko off and turned to watch the sun drop into the iridescent sea.

A/N: I've been working on this for awhile, on and off. Turns out I miss writing a werewolf AU while spending my summer Shakespeare-ing. And I haven't really had the chance to write anything complicated with Aqours and I've been wanting to. So here we are. Enjoy!