Sancre walked out of the room, blanketed by the grudge-tainted walls that exposed several faulty wires. The static buzzing of the electric particles that fell from the busted panels felt like music in his ears.
The hallways had various doors, many of which were fashioned into member-specific rooms. The place he was heading for was the painter spot, where Aotori and Mirasol normally hung out together.
Well, Aotori was in here more than Mirasol. In Sancre's opinion, the birdy boy was just too lazy and self-indulgent. At least that sunflower actually did the work that was allotted to her…
Even if she risked their existence by painting across the City with Aotori. Sadly, one just didn't come without the other. They were like conjoined lovers that chose to forcefully attach themselves at the hip.
Even if they didn't admit the validity of their relationship.
The large, rusted metal door had bright yellow and aeon blue splatters. A rattling creak foretold the door's opening, and the first thing that greeted Sancre's eyes was an annoyed expression.
It was from a Suspect who sat at the very top of a ladder, leaning forward and scratching at the wall with brusque, grand strokes. A soft scoff sounded as the flickering lightbulb illuminated the entering grizzled man, and he reluctantly turned away from his punkish work.
Aotori. An attractive young man with willowy features and sharper brows. His eyes were like a condor's, and he had lightish blue hair with white and yellow sequin rhombus patterns lining it. His hair was absurdly long and extended down past his waist and swept to the left, a long lock falling down the left of his face as well.
He sat at 5'7. His almost feathery arms were expressed by the blue feathers poking out of and sticking to his suit, and his fingers ended in sharp nails. A couple of chains lined his pockets, dripping paintbrushes lazing peaked out from the same pockets.
This Suspect had a frumpy expression on his face as he gestured towards a ripped beanbag, beckoning for Sancre to sit. A mocking painting was drawn on the back, flawlessly depicting very specific images from Sancre's past.
"Hmhmhm…" He laughed as he witnessed the silver blondie's sinking eyes. Then, energy flowed and materialized as an orange, fancy longsword appeared in his grip.
"Aotori. Felicidad has an assignment for you." His teeth ground together as he attempted to reign in his irritation. It wasn't a stretch to claim that the Pursuit of Happiness acted like a family at times…including all the negatives that came with it. So it was only natural that some of the members would seek to antagonize each other for whatever long-standing grudges they held.
"Hm…well, that's pretty interesting. Do me a favor," he turned around again, resuming his painting. Bluebird feathers materialized around him as his paint emitted a hellish glow, his fingers expressively twirling and forming hand signs as he worked.
"Go get someone else to do it. I'll deliver the message, as is my job-"
"Enough with that. Sure, we recruited you under the premise of you acting as a messenger, but you need to do things every now and then. Besides, Felicidad mentioned you by name this time." Sancre swiped with his left hand, his posture becoming more aggressive.
Aotori picked up on this and burst into uproarious laughter. A garish smile revealed his white teeth, and he barely turned his head.
He revealed just enough of his face to lock gazes with Sancre, staring him straight in the eyes. The hazy particle light emitted from his paint grew in intensity as the aegean blue squirmed, and the feathers falling from him gained a sharp luster to them.
His right hand was painted, and his left hand formed a hand sign that looked like a bird.
"Good one, good one!" He forced these words out of his heaving chest as he wiped away a tear.
"But unfortunately, if you want to order me around, you should work on your demeanor. Because in my eyes…."
Murky glimmer surged out of the paint and surrounded him, rotating in a paint-etched spiral. The Suspect's presence grew much more evident, forcing people to acknowledge him.
Though the waves couldn't even dream of getting past the veil that Felicidad had set, it was very noticeable to all within the PoH Zeppelin.
"…You look like you want to fight. So come on."With a metal grinding shunk, Sancre buried the top half of his Glass Armament blade into the wall. More glimmering glass shards materialized and rotated around his wrists as they surged to coalesce into twin axes. Multiple large, misshapen fragments gleamed dangerously as they floated behind his back.
"Fine then. Fine by me…." With a sprint and an irritated expression, he shot forth, ginger glass shards reflecting the dim light as they lingered near his body.
Swip! His left hand dashed to the side as a bluebird's caw sounded. Then, a spiritual image of a bedazzled, large bluebird head sprung into existence as it jutted out from nothingness and aimed its beak at Sancre's side, causing him to slide to the right!
Slamming his twin axe blades down into the bluebird's beak, he forced it to disperse in a cloud of feathers…but not before he used it as a foundation to carry him forwards! Jumping off of it, Aotori made a hand sign downwards as another bluebird sign image smashed down from the ceiling and aimed to beat the ex Warden down.
Glass platforms formed beneath Sancre's feet as he hopped to and fro, swiftly avoiding the sign image via roundabout and bounding towards the painting young man.
He flicked his left hand and switched, allowing a bluebird sign image to appear from the right and smash the ginger glass platforms Sancre was using to traverse the air!
This resulted in Sancre twirling midair, rotating as he willed the shards to form an exceedingly sharp spear. Then, kicking the end of the shaft into the bluebird's beak, he used it as leverage and deflected more and more of Aotori's attempts at resistance.
This prompted him to sigh, standing up and dropping his paintbrush. Then, bending at the knees, he crossed his arms over his chest with his hands held level to his cheeks.
Then a barrage of frenzied hand signs appeared! Various twisted and contorted elements made up the image—the very perception of a bluebird formed and warded off the glass wielded Suspect from advancing. Blue blood stained the floors, while the expert dispatched every sign image with extreme prejudice.
Launching himself forward as multiple mirrors carrying shattered ginger glass and statued grasping hands formed behind him, he aimed to plant a foot in Aotori's face!
He was forced to stop, however. Why you might ask?
Felicidad kicked the door open with even mightier prejudice, almost causing it to fly off its hinges. Pure mirth radiated from her eyes as a black shadow eclipsed the room, coupled with a rainbow-tinted glossy fluctuation.
"Aotori! The paintings you left around the city are actually pretty useful for once! The energy Signature I want you to trace has lingered around your paintings slightly, sooo you can track down who I want you to be. Go investigate him. You'll know when you see the most handsome face ever."
She added the last bit as a nip at Aotori's ego, as he was pretty confident in his own looks.
And the bite landed precisely. Aotori promptly slid down the pole on the side of his latter, picking up his paintbrush with a disdainful expression.
"Hhhhh…fine. Let's see if this pretty boy bastard is good enough to draw a portrait for…." He pursed his lips before smirking, sending a disdainful glance Sancre's way as he passed the enthused frame of Felicidad.
After he left the room, she abruptly straightened her back. Three sets of lips appeared on the sides of her face and cast a sidelong look at Sancre as all three mouths spoke at once.
"It's. Not. Worth it. Wait for when that day comes to...express yourself…." She tapped a finger against her arms for a moment before leaving.