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“If you like her, you should really buy her flowers.” Arsene said a-matter-of-factly and Alessio stared up at him blankly. It should be noted in his culture flowers have no romantic connotations – they use gemstones with romantic meanings instead. There were some cultures that used flowers, but Alessio was willfully ignoring that.

“I – What? No!” He stammered, heat rising to his cheeks. Arsene was smirking infuriatingly.

“So you don’t like her?” He peppered.

“No! – I mean yes – but not –“Alessio viciously tugged at his hood before remembering it wasn’t on his head and turned an every deeper shade of red and didn’t dare glance in Leana’s direction.

“Why don’t you buy Crorie flowers!?” He blurted and Arsene flushed.

“We’re just friends.” He lied hastily.

Alessio – the human lie detector – gave him the stare of judgement.

“We’re all going shopping for new equipment.” Arsene changed the subject. “This isn’t an optio-”

“We are not going shopping!”

 

Alessio stood in the shopping isle his arms scrunched over his chest in protest looking like a wet cat. Piles of colorful boxes, bags, shapes and gizmos he’d never seen before splattered like a bazaar. The floors click-clicked too loudly and reflected like glass.

And he was trying not to peek glances at Leana.

He didn’t have a crush on her! He just wasn’t used to nice people, it was as simple as that, he just wasn’t used to it! It might be perfectly normal for everyone else, but it was unreal to find a gentle, determined, kind person who would actually talk to him like he was a person too and…

Alessio mechanically twanked his head against a wall repeatedly.

Then he stepped back, pretended nothing had happened and ignored Hades looking at him with an uninterested frown.

“So…you’re married?” Alessio attempted slowly still in mild disbelief and then half mumbled, “I thought you were like my brother’s age.”

His brother was a marriageable age but Alessio had never actually thought about that and now he was slightly baffled by it. Maybe possibly because he still remembered Leander in his teens and early twenties when he was still little and didn’t quite connect the dots that his brother was technically an adult. He hadn’t quite caught on that decent people could also be adults.

Alessio narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the weapons lined in the isle, long enough somebody working there apparently cleared his throat.

“Can I help you find something?” He said

“What do you get out of this?” Alessio asked

“I was told to provide what you need for your Trials free of charge.”

“Nothing’s free of charge.” He retorted “Are they enchanted or cursed?”

The man looked like he was trying hard not to roll his eyes at wary teen. “No, they are not.”

“Do they actually work or will they malfunction the moment we need them?”

“They work just fine!”

“Then why are you giving them away?” Alessio insisted

“Because that’s my job! Lord Amnesia is funding it!” The worker finally snapped and stormed away, apparently done with this person.

That’s supposed to make me feel better…?

Several seconds passed as Alessio bit his lip.

“You mean the Lord Amnesia who kidnapped us and sent us here to die or live in agonizing torture in various ways for the purpose of scientifically extrapolating from our misfortune how to properly, sadistically entertain himself at our expense?” Alessio finally blurted innocently “That Lord Amnesia?”

A loud frustrated “Aghhh!” met him.

Alessio rubbed his arms and watched the weapons stacked on the shelves like they were going to attack him.

 

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