Later that night Duan Cai could not help but have the urge to get some air so he climbed up from his bed. Not wanting to wake up the others in the house he slid his window open and climbed outside. With a soft thud he landed on the ground and walked off. At night the city lights were always beautiful and bright, but in the neighborhood his family lived it was still dark and dreary to look at. It took him a while to reach the more well lit streets.
"Duan Cai, what are you doing out so late?" a soft and shy voice suddenly echoed from behind him.
As Duan Cai turned to see who it was he caught a glimpse of a shy and blushing Shea. She was outside in a soft pink hoodie that had fur trimming around its hood and cuffs while she wore a pair of tightly fit jeans below it. The usual pink flower pin in her hair was clipped to hold her bangs back from her face. It was obvious at a glance that the girl was embarrassed to run into him on the street.
"I'm taking a walk.. Why are you out so late in the night? I believe for a girl this situation is worse." Duan Cai sighed and reached out his hand to flick her on the forehead with his finger.
Shea blushed deeply and held her hands over her forehead as she glared at him for flicking her forehead. Puffing her cheeks she stared at him for a moment in silence as she tried to collect her flustered thoughts.
"I live around here you know!" She huffed.
"Right.. I remember that." He replied with a cough to try and cover the fact that he did not recall that from his memories right away.
"Sure you did. ~" Shea teased him slightly with her words.
Duan Cai was not sure what to say to the girl in front of him. He had simply wanted a bit of fresh air from the stress of the emotions he was feeling from being near his family all day. After coming outside for a walk he was not expecting to run into Shea of all people on the street at the same time.
Shea could easily see on Duan Cai's face that something was bothering him. It was not as obvious to himself because he was not adapt to human emotions, but to her she could see it clear as day because she grew up with Duan Cai. If he showed the slightest emotion she could easily tell when something was on his mind. A sudden thought came to her and she quickly grabbed hold of Duan Cai's wrist and started pulling him along with her pace til they were both walking.
"What? What are you doing?" Duan Cai slightly startled at her suddenly pulling him with her. It was something he was not use to personally. From his memories he knew that it was not something new for the old Duan Cai and her to run around together, but for him it was something completely new.
"Shh.. It's a secret!" She put her finger over her lips with a smile and kept on pulling him along.
"This girl.." He sighed to himself almost feeling embarrassed by her actions towards him. Inside he knew he had to tolerate it, however, for the sake of the body he was in when it came to the close friends and family so he kept quiet and just endured her pulling him by his hand. Normally he would not like to be pulled by his hand from another person, but for some reason at the moment he did not mind it so much when it was Shea.
After a while of walking they ended up at a local park. There was nobody out because of how late it was, but in the air you could see the faint lights of fireflies every so often lighting up the park from all around. Shea ended up pulling Duan Cai over to a swing and pushing him to sit down on it. She quickly moved and sat on the one next to him and smiled at him as if her plan was working. The little actions she was doing almost made him want to laugh at her. He could truly tell how pure and childish she was, but at the same time he did not mind it.
Shea did not say anything to Duan Cai. She could read by his expression that his stress had already let up a bit from just looking at him so she remained quiet and just enjoyed the fresh air. It was one of her favorite places to sneak off to at night in the city because she enjoyed the quiet and watching the night fireflies. There was not many places in a large city where you could view something so simple yet beautiful and it was something she cherished. Even when they were little she would often drag Duan Cai around by the hand when she would find him in a fit and eventually they had found this place together during one of their little walks as kids. She knew he might not recall such a thing, but to her it had become an important memory in her mind.
Duan Cai watched the girl silently for a while as she reached out and allowed a firefly to land on her hand. Her face was lit up with a happy expression as she was enjoying her surroundings. A strange warmth welled up in his chest at the sight.
"You enjoy the lights?" He asked curiously. The memories after all were not his of the girl so remembering everything was difficult for him and even if he had there was still areas that were unclear to him or simple things the old Duan Cai had been too unaware of to notice or ask people about.
"Yes, they're very beautiful." She smiled up at him causing him to wonder if she was happy because he simply asked a small question about her.
"Hm.. Wanna see a magic trick?" Duan Cai asked after a long moment of silence between the two of them.
He could see the puzzled expression on her face, but he felt he would have no reason to not show her something better than fireflies. At the moment he was certain she would never do something to try and harm him in the future so he felt there was no reason to not take a moment to do something simple for someone else. Mortals to him felt easy to please and he was certain she would love to see something that only he could do for her.
He slowly closed his eyes as his body was enveloped in a bright golden light. The aura slowly started to sparked out from his body and shot into the sky before breaking apart as if it was shattering like glass in the air. As he opened his eyes they were glowing gold. The shattered aura slowly raining down from the sky above like it was raining golden stars from above. Little golden lights that would suddenly dissipate the second they landed.
For Duan Cai it was a simple trick with his gold aura, but to Shea it was one of the most beautiful things she had seen in her life as she watched the night sky rain gold. It was like the heavens was pouring down on her.
Duan Cai watched Shea as she stared at the lights with a blushing smile on her face. He could tell she was enjoying the view by her reaction. When it was all finished he could only imagine how many questions she would probably have towards how he was able to do something like that. It was not that he could not answer her questions, but simply that he had no desire to tell her about it so while she was admiring the last of the falling golden lights he quickly and quietly had vanished from her side without her noticing.
From a roof top far away he had his sight zoned in on her location to watch her leave. After using his aura to such an extent he simply wanted to ensure that she left safely. If he had accidentally triggered a near by cultivator on his presence to attack he would have put her in danger to not make sure she left safely before leaving himself. There was no way Duan Cai would have someone else take the fall for him over something so trivial as a play with lights from his aura. That would be like a self insult to his pride as a deity.