Vere leaned forward, his chin resting on his hand. His demeanor shifted to become a lot more amiable, and his ability to mold his mood was used in full effect.
Morrigan noticed the change, warming up to the man substantially because of it. His inviting feeling was somewhat infectious, though not entirely convincing.
"What can I do but agree? But, please, lead the way." With a tone full of warmth contrasting his naturally cold face, it was like a lit furnace in the winter. His slightly puffy, tired eyes folded shut as an even smile bloomed on his face.
Even the burgundy walls of the office seemed just a bit more luminous at this moment.
"That's what I like to see…now follow me." Getting up from her sitting position with a series of stretches, she sashayed over to the window. A glance over her shoulder and a mischievous smirk followed the lifting of the glass.
Right before, she dived out of the window.
"Huh. You see something new every day, I guess." Vere shook his head and arched his back, winding his arms and massaging his shoulders as he walked. Beneath the listless apathy of his eyes lurked a keen perception that scanned the streets below quizzically.
There wasn't even a corpse. No red pools or scattered viscera. Words buried his mind, and he couldn't help but reflect on their nature.
This wasn't the real world. This wasn't a dream. Pure…
"…Fantasy…" He mumbled. Something was nagging in his head that told him what he was about to do was unfathomably absurd. He stretched his languid bones, working up the nerve to perch over the edge of that damned window.
As his face greeted the outside air, he couldn't help but marvel at the sky. Above hung five moons, and the stars twinkled so brightly. The filled sky was burdened with objects, yet it felt so lonely.
It made him reflect on the sad truth. He was in a new world. Whatever far-off memories of home couldn't compare to the situation, there was no possible way five moons could hang together so closely, and such a blatant ignorance of gravity was as if a child had drawn this world from pure imagination.
This world worked on pure imagination.
This is the real fantasy—!
With those thoughts in mind, the drop from the third floor of the Old Westwood Warden Headquarters didn't seem so fatal. Instead, a faint excitement grew louder as it echoed into his jam-packed mind. He felt as if he was a freight truck stuck in traffic.
"Well, nothing to do but to fall."
Hand resting against the top of the window as he adjusted his bowed legs to instead hang freely into the air, he sat on that windowsill. A deep breath sought him out before he could even think to steel himself.
Jostling some change in his pocket, he took a step.
And the world folded over itself, revealing a pitch blue abyss.
——
Hands placed in his pockets as he fell, an updraft pushed his coat ends to the sky.
Eyes were watching from the blueness. And there were cameras aimed at him.
Behind a screen sat distorted figures and a barrel of ice cream. They were watching Vere through the static.
Their mouths frantically moved as their whispers materialized into physical things that surged into the screen.
Invisible texts wrapped Vere, and he could hear faint discordant notes plucking in his ears. Yet, despite the stinging tune, he smiled.
It reminds me of jazz, he thought.
Things fluttered past his eyes faster than he could register them. Words formed into their physical objects and morphed again, and fantastic sights unfolded before his eyes.
Days blossomed above the buds of flowers, and the whole place reeked of blood. A flood emerged from the pocket gap, washing over him thoroughly.
As he sunk into that fluid, he closed his eyes once more. A subtle rise of the chest brought relief to his psyche.
Hands folded closed to obscure his form, carrying him into a pool of static noise. Then, as he was dipped into the clamor, he opened his eyes again.
"Wow, you certainly took a while~! So how was the Brain Hazing?"
Morrigan's playful smirk was the first thing he registered, and the next thing was that her face was above him. A soft texture rested on the back of his head, and he felt his messy ponytail slide along the ground as he sat up.
"Brain Hazing? I'll assume you meant all those surreal images. It was like looking at Salvador Dali's work."
"Pfft? What are you even talking about?" The gloomy woman chuckled as if he had told the funniest joke she had ever heard.
He didn't even say anything funny. Vere wondered what Morrigan would be like if she ever heard an absolute joke…maybe her sense of humor was more jagged than a rusty razor.
"Never mind that. Do you always place men on your laps when they're having seizures, or am I just lucky?" Vere's look became slightly frigid as he glanced at her resentfully.
He didn't seem to be a big fan of touching things unless it was related to his work. Morrigan noted this and thought it was associated with his black gloves.
It was something like that.
"Yeah, today's your lucky day. There are many handsome people in the world, and only you got to sit on my lap. So be happy, okay?"
"Somehow, I doubt that's accurate information." Vere dusted off his upper legs and took in the environment. It was like an endless blue grid, and a dark light source expanded infinitely into the horizon. It seemed to be this place's replication of a sun.
Or, more likely, it was a moon. It resembled the one he had spotted—let's say moments—prior. The cracks and crevices were distinctive, and a clear symbol was visible on its surface.
"Hah. Sorry, Inquisitor. Anyways, do you like the view? It's the B-Side."
"…So who named it that?" Vere glanced over his shoulder, finding the name a little odd. A futuristic world had vinyl. Do they even have pop singles?
He missed the authentic tune of rich, experimental acoustics. That wasn't to say he wasn't a fan of electrically amplified instruments, but they'd have plenty here. Or so he thought.
"Some music nerd up the Warden ladder. He's the big man in the food chain—big into that old stuff. I think you'd like him, at least if he didn't nick your jacket." Morrigan snorted derisively and shed the joking tones. She snapped, drawing Vere's attention.
Which was unnecessary since he was always aware of her movements. He wasn't the trusting sort of man.
'Sadly.'
As he turned around and met her eyes, he caught a darkened bracelet hurtling towards him, only his hand shifting to catch it.
"Good reflexes. That's a Superego Amplification Device or a SAD. We…aren't the best at naming things, so it's better to go by acronyms." Morrigan shrugged with a squeamish look as if the name disgusted her.
Vere's eyes narrowed, revealing their somewhat serpentine, somewhat feline-like shape. The crescents were readily apparent, and his black pooled irises had the slightest hint of japery.
"We? Did you help name this, or what?"
A shot in the dark.
Morrigan winced a bit but gave no concrete answer.
"Okay, if you have no more questions—and you don't—I'm gonna teach you allll about Cognitive Force, Thought Power, and pretty much everything you need to know. First, register yourself onto that SAD so that we can know some of your data."
Vere inwardly chuckled at the poor attempt at sidestepping the way he wanted to steer the conversation, acquiescing to her desires.