The Rorden Gamsy was the kind of restaurant where the menus didn't have prices, the water was imported from pristine mountain glaciers, and the lighting was carefully engineered to make everyone look like a minor deity. It was located on the top floor of a massive glass spire in the central district, offering a breathtaking, view of NQSC's sprawling metropolis.
Sunny hated it immediately.
"The structure of this glass floor is entirely dependent on localized kinetic dampeners," Cielle observed , staring down at her feet as they rode the crystal elevator upward. "If someone deployed a high-tier sonic attack, we would plummet eighty stories to our deaths."
"Please do not give anyone ideas," Sunny muttered, adjusting the collar of his dark, tailored shirt. He felt like he was suffocating, though he had to admit, he cleaned up well.
Cielle, however, was a completely different story.
She was wearing the emerald green silk blouse from the mall, the fabric draped flawlessly across her frame. Over it, she wore the obscenely expensive Cloud-Strider jacket, the plush, starlight-soft collar framing her face. Her white wings were tucked neatly against her back beneath the open-backed silk. She looked breathtaking, ethereal, and completely lethal.
There was only one slight issue with her ensemble.
She was currently holding a massive, extremely fat orange cat in her arms.
"Cielle," Sunny said slowly, staring at the Neighborhood Menace. The Supreme Beast was purring so loudly that the glass walls of the elevator were faintly vibrating. "Why is the cat here?"
"He wanted to come," Cielle stated, perfectly deadpan.
"It's a high-end restaurant! They aren't going to let you bring a pet inside! Much less a Great Beast!"
"He has the [Perfect Disguise] attribute," she reminded him. "To normal people, he is just an emotional support animal. If they try to stop me, I will tell them he is vital to my medical well-being. If they try to take him, I will snap their wrists."
Sunny rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. "Okay. Fine. But no snapping wrists. We are here to eat overpriced tiny food and endure Effie. That is all."
The elevator dinged, the doors sliding open to reveal a lush, heavily decorated reception area. The maître d'(Yup) took one look at Cielle's terrifying, angelic beauty, Sunny's deeply menacing scowl, and the fat orange cat. He wisely decided that he was not paid enough to enforce the health code today and immediately led them to a private booth in the back.
Effie and Kai were already there.
Kai was wearing a stylish dark red coat and a wide-brimmed hat to avoid being recognized by his legions of fans, though his effortless charisma still bled through. Effie was in a stunning, crimson cocktail dress that highlighted her muscular build. She was already halfway through a basket of bread.
"Look who decided to join polite society!" Effie cheered loudly, waving a half-eaten breadstick at them. "And oh my gods, Cielle, you look incredible. You actually got Doofus to buy you nice clothes?"
"He has a lot of money," Cielle confirmed, sliding into the curved booth. She placed the Neighborhood Menace on the plush velvet seat beside her. The cat immediately curled into a ball and went to sleep. "And he is very warm."
Sunny slid into the booth next to her, his ears burning as Effie let out a delighted, obnoxious cackle.
"I am going to pay for your meal, and in exchange, you are going to stop talking," Sunny threatened Effie, picking up a menu.
"Deal," Effie agreed instantly, grabbing another breadstick. "Because you're going to need to pay for my meal anyway. And Kai's. And the fifth person's."
Sunny froze. The menu in his hands stopped moving.
His shadow, which had been lazily stretching across the floor, instantly retracted, snapping back to his heels like a coiled spring. His eyes flicked upward, narrowing into dark, stormy slits.
"Fifth person…" Sunny repeated, his voice dropping all of its previous annoyance. It was suddenly very cold, very flat, and extremely dangerous.
Kai winced slightly, looking down at his water glass.
"Yeah," Effie said, her boisterous tone softening into something much more careful. She set the bread down. "Look, Sunny. I know things are… complicated. But she's been asking about you. She's been worried. So I invited Cassie."
The silence that fell over the table was absolute.
Sunny's jaw clenched so hard his teeth ached. The memory of the Forgotten Shore, the crimson spire, the absolute, soul-crushing betrayal when Cassie had given his True Name to Nephis….flared violently in his mind. He hadn't seen the blind oracle since they returned to the Waking World, not after their encounter beside neph. He hadn't wanted to. He hadn't forgiven her. He wasn't sure if he ever could.
Cielle, sensing the immediate, drastic shift in his presence, turned her head. Her green eyes went completely flat, losing their relaxed warmth. She assessed the room, instantly shifting into something dangerous.(Yeah yeah, they wont eat your femboy)
"Who is Cassie?" Cielle asked quietly, her hand slipping under the table to rest on Sunny's knee, a silent promise of violence if he gave the word. "Is she an enemy?"
"No!" Kai interjected softly, trying to defuse the bomb. "Cassie is our friend. She's… part of our cohort. She and Sunny just have a difficult history."
"She made a choice," Sunny said, his voice like cracked ice. He stared at the polished table. "I survived it. But I don't have to eat dinner with her."
He started to slide out of the booth. "Cielle. We're leaving."
"Sunny, come on," Effie pleaded, reaching out. "Just give it an hour. Please. For the cohort."
Before Sunny could stand up, the soft, rhythmic tap-tap-tap of a wooden cane echoed over the ambient hum of the restaurant.
Sunny froze. He looked up.
Cassie was navigating her way through the tables. She looked older, more fragile than he remembered, yet carrying an aura of quiet, deadly power, Sunny knew best just what lied under that unassuming appearance. She was wearing a simple, elegant white dress, a silk blindfold covering her unseeing eyes. Her blonde hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders. She looked nervous. Terribly, heart-breakingly nervous.
Sunny's anger warred violently with the residual, stubborn affection he still harbored for the frail girl he had carried through the Dark City. He let out a long, shuddering breath, and slowly slid back into the booth.
"One hour," he muttered to Effie.
Cassie reached the table. Kai stood up, gently guiding her to the empty seat opposite Sunny and Cielle.
"Hello" Cassie said, her voice soft, trembling slightly. "I'm… I'm glad you came, Sunny. I know you didn't expect me."
"Hello, Cassie," Sunny replied, his tone polite but entirely devoid of warmth. It was the tone of a stranger.
Cassie flinched slightly at the coldness. She clenched her fists, taking a breath to deliver what was clearly a heavily rehearsed, agonizing apology.
She turned her head toward Sunny, activating her aspect to "see" him through the future, trying to gauge his mood.
She looked at Sunny. Then, her "sight" naturally drifted to the person sitting pressed flush against his side.
Cassie's mouth opened to speak.
No words came out.
Instead, a violently bright, unmistakable shade of crimson instantly flooded Cassie's pale cheeks, traveling all the way down her neck and to the tips of her ears.
She saw Sunny's dark, gloomy shadows literally wrapped around Cielle's waist like a blanket. Her dormant ability still gave her a lot of information, of course that included sunny and his…. Friend. Cassie had seen things she should not have, things they were doing things, that would make a sailor blush.
"Oh," Cassie squeaked. Her voice cracked, pitching up an entire octave. She dropped her cane. "Oh. Oh my."
Sunny frowned, his cold demeanor breaking into confusion. "Cassie? What is wrong with you?"
Cassie slapped both hands over her blindfolded eyes, entirely overwhelmed by the memory that had been FORCEFULLY shoved into her brain. "I—you—she—" Cassie stammered, completely losing her composure. "The shadows! They're—you're—oh, gods above! Y-your cielle right?"
Effie, who understood exactly what Cassie would have "seen," threw her head back and let out a laugh so loud it turned the heads of three different billionaires at the next table. Kai covered his mouth, his shoulders shaking with hysteria.
Sunny's eyes widened in dawning horror. He remembered Cassie's aspect. He remembered what she could see.
His face instantly ignited into a burning, furious red. "Cassie, turn your aspect off right now! Turn it off!"
"I can't!" Cassie wailed, pressing her hands harder against her face, looking like she wanted to slide under the table and die. "It's passive! Sunny, I didn't know! I didn't mean to pry, I swear!"
The suffocating, heavy tension of the betrayal had been completely shattered, replaced by an atmosphere of pure embarrassment.
Cielle, who was entirely oblivious to the concept of modesty or why Cassie was currently having a mental breakdown, decided this was the perfect moment to break the ice.
She reached beside her and hoisted the Neighborhood Menace into her arms.
She leaned across the table. With a heavy, thudding grunt, she dropped the fat orange cat directly onto Cassie's lap.
"Oof!" Cassie gasped, her hands dropping from her face as forty pounds of fluff landed on her silk dress.
"This is my cat," Cielle introduced bluntly, ignoring Sunny's strangled groan of despair. "He is very heavy. You are the blind one. You cannot see the menu, so you can touch him while we wait for the food. He is completely indestructible."
Cassie, still blushing furiously and entirely disoriented, instinctively lowered her hands to the creature on her lap. Her fingers brushed against the soft orange fur.
The Neighborhood Menace let out a purr that sounded like a diesel engine. He bumped his large head against Cassie's hand, demanding scratches.
Cassie's sight automatically scanned the cat. She expected to see a normal pet.
Instead, she saw a singularity.
Cassie froze. Her jaw dropped. She looked toward where Cielle was sitting.
"Is this…" Cassie whispered, her voice trembling with absolute, unbridled terror, "Is this a Great Beast?"
"Yes," Cielle nodded, taking a sip of her water. "He is the Neighborhood Menace. He tried to open my window, so I broke his neck. Now he is an Echo."
Cassie stopped breathing. She looked at Sunny, her sight picking up his utterly defeated, world-weary aura.
"Sunny," Cassie whispered, gently and terrifyingly petting thing n her lap. "Who is your girlfriend?"
"She isn't—" Sunny started automatically, then stopped. He looked at Cielle, who was currently staring at a butter knife to see if it could be used as a throwing weapon. He looked at the Great Beast purring on Cassie's lap. He looked at Effie, who was crying tears of laughter into her napkin. Kai was already a lost soldier.
Sunny let his head fall forward, resting his forehead against the cool mahogany wood of the table.
"She's Cielle," Sunny muttered into the table, completely surrendering to the madness. "And if the cat tries to eat the breadsticks, just let him."