CRUMBS. ◈ TOG Snippets and Scraps

1

It was only a short while until they reached their destination, the shop on seventh street. "We're here, Michael."

"Good, and you know what we're looking for?"

"Lapis Mineralium!", Valen answered, seemingly having forgotten about the fight as stars danced in her eyes. Confusion fogged in Y/N's mind as she took note of her expression, believing Valen to be the true embodiment of a rollercoaster of emotions. In one moment, she could be at a rising high then fall to a sombre low in the next. What a wild person.

Bringing her thoughts back to the task at hand, the masked girl pondered, realizing that she didn't know much about the object of their mission, other than to find and retrieve some stone. An Elder of FUG entrusted them, a group of four Regulars, with this job, though she wasn't exactly sure why. None of them were particularly remarkable but she supposed it was a good thing. Trouble tags along with attention, and she was one to stay out of the limelight.

Meanwhile, Valen's excitement had dissipated as she miserably twisted and turned the door knob to no avail. "Damn, it just won't open! Is this key even useful?" The white-haired woman did not have the time or patience now; she just wanted to bust in, get the stone, and claim victory already. Why was it taking so long to enter the blasted shop?!

"Hey, keep it up and you'll break it."

"Like you're doing anything helpful.", she scoffed.

Y/N took it as a challenge. "Fine, let me do it then." She plucked the key from Valen's fingers and tried it for herself. Sure enough, with a twist of her wrist and a distinct click, the door was unlocked. Swinging the key around with her finger, Y/N turned around to face her abashed partner. "Easy, right?"

Valen turned away with puffed cheeks, a red tinge dusting her face. "Yeah, I guess so."

Stepping inside, Valen didn't even get a chance to look around before a hand roughly grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her down, making her yelp in surprise. A stray lance of yellow whizzed by her head, the crackle of hot energy nearly bursting her eardrums as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Fighting to keep her heart from climbing up her throat, Valen's hazel eyes shook as she looked to Y/N for an explanation.

Nothing. Just silence.

It was times like these that Valen wished she knew the face behind Y/N's stoic mask. Was she as frightened as her? Was she startled? Did this woman feel anything at all?!

Valen couldn't tell. But something's off, though, she thought as the smell of something burnt wafted by her nose. Realizing where the horrid scent was coming from, her eyes widened as she glanced to her right.

"Y-Y/N, your hair..."

"It's fine."

Valen grimaced, a gruesome scenario brewing in her head. That could've been my face just now.

With her partner fearfully clinging to her arm, Y/N scouted the inside of the shop, eyes darting from one area to another. Shelves were toppled over left and right while clothes were scattered across the floor in disarray; it was too much of a mess to decipher where the laser actually came from and if it would strike again.

"Sense anything, Apple?"

On the other side of the line, the blonde woman donning purple eyeshadow stopped typing and peered into the Lighthouse's screen. "No, I can't read any shifts in the shinsu. It was probably a one-time hit."

"What now?"

"Move further ahead, there should be a painting on the wall to your right."

The pair walked ahead, stopping in front of said painting. Y/N could feel the goosebumps rise on her arm as she took a look that she later regretted. With horribly smudged lipstick and blotchy, colored makeup, a woman posed seductively on a beach, dark eyes staring into the viewer's soul as she bit her lip. Y/N didn't understand how...or more importantly, why the artist thought to create such an...interesting...piece of art and the reason why the shop owner had bought it. Was she the one without taste?