Comfortember 2022

Wandering - Sateriasis Venomania/IR

25. Lost

Warning: modern AU

***

Weekends were always when the mall was crowded the most, so many people want to wander around, buy things, and have fun with their friends or loved ones. The sunlight from a glass room or a regular light from above kept the place brightly lit at all times.

In the midst of the crowd was a pair walking together. One of them was a purple-haired with ponytail, wearing a suit shirt and black pants on while looking somewhat like a businessman. Beside him was an albino girl with braids, wearing a red hoodie with cat ears on the pulled-up hood. She also wore a black long skirt and had a plush red cat hiding in her hoodie.

As they walked beside each other through the crowd, the girl let out a huff. "So, do you have a destination in mind, Venomania?" she grumbled. "Or do you just intend to lead us around in circles?"

"Relax, I know where we're going. You just parked the car on the opposite side from where the store is, IR," he chuckled, and felt the girl's glare on him. He was used to her yelling at him, so it didn't bother him at all. "By the way, why are you wearing that outfit in summer? Aren't you overheating?"

"You think a sorceress handling fire overheats easily?" IR replied dryly. "Besides, It helps me blend in with the crowd in this form. I think I handle blending in a lot better than you do."

"Yes, I know you're a witch. You don't have to dress like one," Venomania remarked, slightly annoyed as he pulled down the girl's hood. She glared at him once again as he heard a slight hissing coming from the inside of her hoodie.

She eventually broke her gaze, once more lowering her voice to avoid attracting attention. "You're lucky we're in public, or else I'd-"

"Threaten to burn me to ashes again?" he joked, receiving a sharp embow jab in the stomach. "Ow..."

"Just shut up and get us to the store," the mage ordered. Venomania could only laugh at the woman's expression, she really was cute when she was angry. Even so, he did what she said quickly because of her short temper. He didn't feel like getting clawed by her today.

They continued walking together to the other side of the wall while IR grumbled about the crowds, but  they eventually did reach the store that Venomania wanted to access all along. He didn't have a license; the mage had only agreed to drive him in exchange for an uninterrupted nap later.

What the man had been looking for all along was a jewelry store to have a reliable watch fixed. He had it for a few years before it broke, and he wanted to get it repaired quickly. IR didn't care much for these things, so she waited outside for around twenty-five minutes.

Finally, Venomania came back out with his watch fixed. "Alright, now we can go," he decided, and IR let out a sigh of relief.

"Good grief, you took quite a long time in there," she told him, keeping in step with him as they went  back the way they came.

But as they continued, the shops started to look unfamiliar to them. They kept walking, but they soon realized that they had absolutely no idea where they were at all. And with the amount of people around, they couldn't see a map showing the way out anywhere.

"Way to go, idiot!" the mage hissed. "Now we're lost in this damn mall!"

"Don't worry, it's easy to get out of this. We just have to find any exit and then look for the entrance we came through from the outside. We can find your car then," Venomania declared, looking proud of himself for coming up with the idea. He had little time to dwell on it though, as IR grabbed his sleeve and began dragging him around.

By the time they found the exit, it was nearly mid-afternoon. However, they didn't know which way the exit they came from was. They decided to head left to walk about the outside of the mall, and they ended up walking nearly three-quarters of the mall's outside before they found their car.

When IR realized that they could have just gone right and saved themselves the effort of walking for a long time, Venomania had to remind her that she was currently driving the car to prevent himself from getting clawed.

***

Art credit: 3175993 on pixiv