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920. It's A Date!
🕑 Added 2025-01-22 10:19:20 +0000 UTCH5 had become a popular place for Jury and Frost to visit from time to time.
It had nothing to do with the scenery, nor its extravagance. The City of Diamonds surpassed the City of Hearts in every conceivable way in that department.
For instance, the quality of services, ingredients in restaurants, the accessibility to a Guild, the number of luxury items for sale – such as high-range Artefacts sold by reputable Purveyors who often represented a Kingdom directly or sold.
Rarely were Purveyors independent, as Gifts were already hard to come by. Lesser versions of Purveyors were Arcanists who created magical weapons rather than products from Gifts. Furthermore, not all Gifts could be used to create products.
At least not intentionally.
Frost flickered through a small notebook, reading the contents that described the types of Gifts that were recorded from the Timeless Ruins and the Maw of the World.
She had been standing beside a fish fountain for the last twenty minutes waiting for her partner to arrive. It was strange for her to be alone. They had left the Nexus at the same time after all.
But in true Jury fashion, she wanted her apparel today to be a surprise.
Please don’t be bikini armor.
The inner cynicism in her believed that there was a small but not impossible chance that her lover’s surprise would be a set of clothing that she deeply despised. Another part also considered the possibility of Jury arriving in other questionable outfits.
She had seen what was kept within her wardrobe like treasures.
Furthermore, her curiosity had gotten the better of her just hours ago when she was left alone in the room bare naked.
Bunny outfits, maid costumes, cosplay outfits for characters I’ve never seen before. Not to mention what was behind that ‘For Future Night Activities’ door.
Among them were a myriad of items that she would rather not know what their true purpose was.
They were due to meet at 11:00. Frost looked up at a clock that hung at top of a lamp post, and the time read: 09:50. Her reason for arriving at 09:30 was because they usually met an hour earlier than the agreed time.
Frost adjusted her shades, and the suspenders latched to her shoulders. The simple act attracted unwanted attention to her. Men and women alike could not help but have their hearts stolen by her as they passed by. Though her eyes were glued to the notebook, she could see everything around her thanks to her omnidirectional vision.
At one point she saw a woman slap the back of her partner’s head for staring at her while their partner was watching them.
After a long sigh, she flicked back through the tea-stained pages.
They were much thicker than normal paper. This was because this notebook was written by an Exalted Ex-Inflow Direct member who had reached the second deepest known layer of the Maw of the World.
*
The Eye of Elysia.
The pressure alone down there would a tear sheet of paper apart. The page of this notebook was a composite of powdered steel and Quality 7 Cloth, which had allowed it to withstand the strains of those depths of the world.
Approximately 39,000 to 50,000 meters comprised of The Eye of Elysia. Few, including Galia, managed to reach as far as the 40,000 meter mark. Afterwards, beyond The Eye of Elysia, was Deep Time as far as they were aware of.
There was no consensus of what the Eye looked like. It appeared differently from person to person. According to the author of the notebook, it was a ring of light accompanied by the sound of a haunting ticking.
Frost’s privileges as the Amalgam gave her access to high-level intel. It was especially important to learn about Emvita since it was her next destination. As such, the Maw of the World was on her radar.
One other tidbit of information that surprised her was that the Subderma Layer was mentioned as a Layer of the Maw of the World. So far, the known Layers were the Outer Rim, the Forest of Wanderers, The Plains of Fruits and Miracles, Eternal Hunger, Deluge of Tears, Chamber of Refraction, Chasm of Souls, The Subderma Layer, The Great Unknown, The Eye of Elysia, and finally – Deep Time.
The Layers were comprised of the Timeless Ruins, but not the other way around. What existed within the Maw of the World was unique to only that place. This included common Gifts, such as the Acedia Navigator or the much rarer Fragment of a Hidden Star.
Aside from the Subderma Layer. Unlike The Derma Layer, this place was physically connected to the Epiderma Layer.
Although, the fact that Complex Hearts could reach the surface hinted that the reason why they hadn’t physically connected with the Derma Layer was because of its enormous depth.
Few Adventures had the privilege of reaching those same depths.
They were heralded like heroes of folklore, akin to the sailors who charted the distant seas.
And not even the Beholders were immune to the curse of the descent and the ascent.
*
Frost spotted a pair of golden eyes amongst the crowd. Past the ears of Demi-Humans and the tentacles of Aquatids was a breathtaking sight.
White hair, dark skin, golden eyes, those adorable ear flaps, the giant tail that was wrapped around her neck like a scarf – and her attire.
“Froooost~! Aren’t you early?” She bubbly called out, a hand waving at her.
“Holy…”
Frost was utterly mesmerized and at a loss for words. It wasn’t only her. People around her turned their attention to the jogging Jury who smiled radiantly at the sight of her.
“Enjoy.” Nav simply said.
And enjoy she did.
Jury wore a pink half-cropped jacket. It was half unzipped, revealing a white crop top beneath. White fur lined the top of her jacket as she let it hang just off her shoulders.
Her black, baggy jogger pants contrasted with the tightness of Frost’s own jeans, and the white sport shoes she wore had a black feather embodied into the side, reminiscent of a vaguely familiar shoe company’s logo back on Earth.
Her hair was styled into a long ponytail, held by a black, gold and white hair tie to represent them both.
But these were mere extras to Frost. Her eyes hadn’t moved an inch from Jury’s belly.
“Tadaaa~ Not bad, right? I had Ber tailor what I thought you’d like.”
She twirled once she reached Frost and did a small dance to show off her clothes. She then brought the oversized sleeves of her jacket up to her mouth and tilted her head to the side.
An arrow pierced through Frost’s heart. 200 Love Stacks nearly destroyed her rationality. She tried to find the words to say:
“A- It’s… Woah…”
But she couldn’t stop stammering, her gaze umoving from her lover’s bare, sweaty abs.
She must have run here. Don’t tell me that’s why she wanted to meet separately? So she could show me this? How dare she… Man…
“Got anything to say?” She lurched forward with an innocent smile, waiting for Frost to comment on her.
“It’s perfect.”
“Whew! I was worried you’d find it a bit too much, since you’re already not a big fan of bikini armor. That was my close second. A skimpy bard outfit would’ve worked here too~!”
“Eh?”
“Kidding~”
“Haaaah. I can’t tell when you’re joking when it comes to your deviant side. Oh, yeah – that kind of style doesn’t exist in this world, huh. No wonder so many people are looking.”
“Ber will love to hear that! If people start liking it, then they’ll start making their own. Imitation is the best form of complement~!”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens. The City of Hearts are fast to get on trends. Earth fashion reigns supreme at the end of the day. But when we start considering the Ateliers and the Nexus…”
“Frost.”
A pair of hot hands cupped her cheeks. Then, her mouth was filled with the taste of apples and mint.
“Slurp.” Jury winked, retrieving her tongue before adding: “Is it weird that I get the urge to want to suppress you when you go off on a tangent?”
“Not really. I don’t think. Hey, is this the kind of conversation we should be having right now?”
“As long as we’re not too loud.”
Jury didn’t mind nor care what they talked about. She just liked hearing Frost talk. Although the paradox of wanting to suppress her for running her mouth was… strange, to say the least.
Not that Frost cared. To her, it was a new way of inciting Jury to make a move on her. She took her lover by the hand and began following the crowd.
But she did notice something.
The back of Jury’s neck was red, as were her ears. While Jury had been becoming bolder and confident during the last few months, she still wasn’t exactly as outgoing as she could be in public spaces.
Her eyes continually swept through the streets. She was aware of the types of looks she was receiving.
“You’re so funny Jury.”
Frost strengthened her grip.
“I guess I’m the only one who gets to see the real you. Lucky me. Finally, I’m the one in charge.”
“You’re always the one in charge when it matters. I don’t think I can take on that level of responsibility. One Atelier is plenty enough.”
Jury’s contributions to the Nexus weren’t lost on her. She knew how much work it was to sift through every single report, and to read through the extensive lists of physical, emotional and psychological trauma her patients endured.
“Jury, you’re taking lots of breaks, right?”
“Every time I can. But don’t worry. My workload will drop by a huge margin soon. I put my blood, sweat and tears into building the first thing that I can say is mine.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Jury’s tail flopped to the side to simulate a head tilt.
“My Gift…?”
Frost reached up to her toes and took her lover’s tail. Then, she wrapped it around her neck like a lasso and grinned. Her next word caused an uncontrollable wave of love to assail her.
“Me.”
In the next moment, she dragged Frost into a nearby alley way and assaulted her lips for the next thirty minutes.
Suffice to say, they were late to the reservation Jury had booked in advance. The two laughed at each other as they stood in front of the restaurant’s reception. They were fully packed and booked for the rest of the day.
