AN: I'm really liking how this drabble thing makes me condense my writing. It's something I need practice with for sure!

Explore (Elliot, Bridget)

He heard clapping from behind him when he'd finished, and he turned to see an impressed looking Bridget looking on.

"Wow, Elliot! You play the piano too?"

"Not really," he said with a sheepish laugh. "Just the basics. Sis taught me a little bit but my heart was always in the strings, y'know?"

"Still, that's really impressive."

"Thanks! I've always meant to try and teach myself more, but…"

She smiled in understanding. "I get it. That said… we have some time. Would you like me to show you a few things?"

He smiled back. "Yeah. I think I'd like that."

Stars (Machias/Emma)

The very air around her is thrumming, and when Emma holds out her staff in front of her all Machias can do is stare, utterly transfixed.

"Great stars in the heavens above – answer to my voice, and heed my call!"

A pillar of light surges and roars, rending the sky asunder before twelve linked sigils coalesce out of nothing; symbols of her strength, harbingers of the battle's end.

"Zodiac Rain!"

Divine wrath blazes forth, and the light is bright, bright, blinding.

Emma stands tall afterward, exhausted and trembling and so, so proud.

She has never been more beautiful.

Skin (Friedel, Towa, Loggins)

"… Oh. Oh my."

"Multiply that by one hundred and you might be where I am right about now," Towa mumbled, reaching over to reclaim the sketch.

"T-The outfit certainly is unique, I'll grant it that," Friedel began, trying to be as delicate as possible. "The stage presence you'll have will be nothing short of unparalleled, I'm sure."

Her gaze lifted a little. "You think?"

"Yeah! I mean, how could y'not?" Loggins chimed in. "Takes guts to show off that much skin, people'll respect that for sure!"

Towa blanched.

"Loggins?" Friedel said, eyebrow not quite twitching.

"Yeah?"

"Stop helping, please."

Lost (Bennet, Oscar)

Today, victory would finally be hers.

"Oh, hey Bennet!" Oscar greeted, completely oblivious to the trump card she was carrying as he removed a tray from the oven. "Just in time, I tried a new recipe and kinda need a second opinion. Would you mind?"

She sniffed imperiously but nodded, casting a critical eye over the offered bun's crusty topping.

"Careful, it's hot," he advised, watching as she took a bite and –

Oh.

Oh, damn it all.

"It's a recipe from the East," he explained cheerfully. "A sweet bun stuffed with red bean filling and topped with peanut streusel. Thoughts?"

Travel (Gaius, Laura)

So lost was Laura in the novel feeling of soaring through the clouds that it took Gaius three tries before she turned around.

"My apologies, Gaius. I was… distracted."

"No apologies needed," he said, joining her in gazing at the landscape below. "I can't blame you for being caught up in it all. This was actually the first place I sought out once everything was settled."

"Oh? Was there any specific reason?" she asked, watching as he smiled.

"I used to dream of riding the wind, of seeing the world as Zeo saw."

She smiled back. "And now you are."

Disarm (Ka-fai, Rean)

He was fighting well today.

Normally Rean was content to let his master set the pace of their practice duels, but the boy had come out far sharper than normal; there were no tell-tale openings, no wasted movements. For the first time, Yun Ka-fai found himself being pushed by his younger pupil.

Taking only a moment to drop into stance, he waited until Rean had committed in earnest and with the blink of an eye -

"Second Form – Gale!"

- came the flash of steel.

Rean watched as his tachi flew through the frozen air, helplessly flexing his now-empty hands.