"What…
…what is that!?"
And for a moment there, everyone just held their breaths as the rude customer pointed at Lucian, who was also pointing at him while just standing on Rosa's shoulder. And for a second, or perhaps 3, everyone just looked at each other with shocked expressions on their faces, except for Lucian, of course.
"That… what kind of creature is that!?" And finally, after a second more, the rude customer's hand trembled.
"The kind that will flay you alive," Lucian stretched his arms to the side, and as he did so, his hair immediately grabbed his Scorpion Assassin blades that were inside Rosa's bag; the blades, also stretched to the side as Lucian just smiled menacingly at the rude customer, "You want to buy Rosa? Which god did you say blessed her again?"
"You're… you're talking—" The rude customer did not even finish his words before turning around and just running away as fast as he could.
"Oh no, no, no, no…" Lucian shook his head several times as he just leaped from Rosa's shoulder.
"Lucian!?" Rosa tried to catch Lucian, but he was too fast and she could really only watch as he slithered away into the crowd and streets of Scualor 7, "M…Mr. Hawk! Please watch our shop! I'm going after Lucian!"
Lucian did not really stop for anyone — the laughter that was escaping his lips, resounding loudly in the air and making the crowd wonder where it was coming from.
"Hey, watch it!"
The rude customer, however, was well aware of where the laugh was coming from — he looked back and down, only to see Lucian just swiftly weaving between everyone's feet while chasing him.
"S… stay away!" The rude customer screamed as he pushed and rammed through the crowd.
"Why are you running!? Why are you running!?" Lucian, however, seemed to completely enjoy scaring the rude customer as he just dodged everyone's feet; slithering left and right through the forest of legs around him,
"What the—" He could not, however, help but stop as a large, clearly mutated leg completely blocked his path, making Lucian lose sight of the rude customer momentarily. He quickly slithered around the huge disgusting feet, only to find that he had completely lost the rude customer.
"D… damn it!" Lucian slapped the disgusting elephant's foot with his tail.
"Hm?" The owner of the mutated foot looked down, but before he could see Lucian, Rosa swept in and quickly grabbed Lucian from the ground, "Who… are you?"
"Oh, I… I was just admiring your feet," Rosa could not help but just blurt out anything she could as she quickly hid Lucian behind her and smiled at the man.
"...Ew," the man looked at Rosa from head to toe, "I don't swing your way, honey."
"Right…" Rosa forced a smile as she just very slowly slid away from the man before just quickly running away before anyone could notice Lucian; going straight back to their humble stall and not stopping at all.
Rosa was surprised that Hawk was still there and did not try to run away at all — but her surprise did not last long as she just quickly crouched down on the side of the street and glared at Lucian.
"Why would you do that, Lucian!?" Rosa whispered extremely loud, "What would have happened if the others saw you!?"
"Someone already did see him," Hawk let out a sigh as he joined in on the conversation, "I agree with Rosa — it was a stupid and impulsive thing to do."
"Oh…?" Lucian peeked out from Rosa's hand, "Why… afraid I'll decide to leave the settlement and make it hard for your buddies to come and get you?"
"That…" That was pretty spot-on. Eventually, Lucian is going to use the Geiger counter—no, he might have even already, and they will see they are in the Scualor Settlement nearest to the Verdant Turtle.
"Why are you shifting the topic to him?" Rosa pouted as she continued to glare at Lucian, "You promised to stay by my side."
"...I didn't promise that," Lucian scoffed, "And besides, it's fine…
…nothing will happen."
***
"Doctor! Doctor!"
A few minutes later, the rude customer that was being chased away by Lucian was now inside some sort of facility — this facility, however, was almost the complete opposite of Scualor 7. While Scualor 7 was built on wood and rust, the facility was clean, immaculate even.
The entire ceiling produced a soft light, veiling each and every part of the facility — it was hard to see what sort of facility it was, however, as the rude customer was still running through its hallways; his loud breaths and panic, drowning the ominous whispers that were somewhat lingering in the air and seeping from the doors of the hallway.
"Doctor, I found… I found a great candidate for the Fury project! Doctor!" The rude customer continued to yell, "And also… I found…
…I found something very interesting! It's… it's a very special creature! A Spirit… a Sacred Spirit! Doctor!"
The rude customer then opened one of the doors. And there, a man wearing a lab gown was currently rummaging through… some sort of dead creature.
"A Sacred Spirit… you say?" The doctor whispered out, not even bothering to look at the rude customer as he continued rummaging through the guts and blood, "And pray tell…
…where is this creature?"
***
"I… I can't believe we're already down to our last stuff."
Rosa's deep breaths almost overpowered the noise of the entire city as she wiped the sweat on her forehead. The cold of the night had already veiled the sky, and yet Rosa could not help but just keep her hood down since the cold seemed to not be able to penetrate through the chaos of the city.
It also didn't matter that half of her face was completely disfigured and melted — half of the people who were walking down the street had some kind of deformity on their bodies.
"...I envy your ability to adapt to this place, Ms. Rosa," Hawk breathed out as he glanced at Rosa, who was still waving at people to buy the last of their stuff.
"...I'm just distracting myself, Mr. Hawk," Rosa shook her head, "W—Ah, are you interested in buying?"
Their conversation was cut short as a customer was eyeing on the last rifle they had placed on the floor. The customer did not really haggle much at all and just bought it — and finally, after probably more than half a day…
"...We did it," Rosa breathed out in relief as she stood up and stretched her limbs, "...Now we have more than enough money to find somewhere to sleep. I… don't want to spend one more night sleeping on the ground."
"Are we not going to sell the gold plate?"
"You want to die, Baldie?" Lucian poked out of Rosa's hood and pointed at Hawk, "It's mine, alright? It's my precious. Anyway, make yourself useful and go lead the way to a hotel or something."
"...I don't think you can find a hotel in this place," Hawk could really only let out a short but very deep sigh as he started walking, "Stay close, Ms. Rosa — the crowd's different at night."
"I'm not a child," Rosa lightly clicked her tongue as she followed behind Hawk, "And stop trying to treat me well or being friendly with me — Adelfred… has departed; there's no need to keep up the facade."
"I'm not," Hawk shook his head, "Lucian told me you were pregnant."
"Wh—Lucian!?" Rosa gasped as she violently shook her shoulders to disturb Lucian while she continued to walk, "Why… would you tell him that?"
"I don't know, slip of the tongue," Lucian shrugged, "And there really are too many people here… too many."
"That is not really something that—Eep!" And before Rosa could finish her words, a man suddenly bumped into her.
"Watch it, Woman!"
"You watch it, Buddy," Hawk quickly moved in between Rosa and the man, "You're the one who's not looking in his way."
"What the fuck did you say?"
"Yow, it's not worth it, man! Let's go!"
"Tch…" The man spat on the ground as he glared at Hawk while walking away with his friends, "...Fucking Egghead motherfucker."
"That… was close," Rosa let out a sigh of relief as she held Adelfred's ashes close to her, "I… almost dropped you, Adelfred. Mr. Hawk… thank you for—"
"There's really no need to thank me," Hawk just shook his head and continued to walk.
"Am I… being too harsh on him, Lucian?" Rosa whispered while shaking her head, "I don't really know what to do… he's only here because you're threatening to kill him."
"..."
"Lucian? Why are you so quiet?" Rosa then shook her shoulders again… only to find there was no weight in her hood at all, "L… Lucian?"
Rosa quickly started moving her hood and patting it; her breaths, turning heavier by the second, "Lucian!?"
"Ms. Rosa!?" Hawk quickly approached Rosa and also started looking around, "He's… gone?"
"No…" Rosa gasped as she once again held Adelfred's ashes tight, "No… not you too… Lucian. Where—"
"Oh…" Hawk blinked a couple of times as he looked at the direction they came from, realizing something, "Those men…
…I think the man that bumped you took him."
***
"...Interesting."
And while Rosa was starting to panic that he was missing, Lucian was just oddly relaxed as he lay splat inside a small box. He was being carried somewhere, but since there were too many people in Scualor 7, it was hard to feel the surroundings — but soon, however, Lucian heard the noise of the city just dying down almost instantly,
"Oh…
…now where might they be taking me?"