She’s really upset that Orpheus didn’t return last night.
She’d stayed at Delora and Magnar’s home in order to give Orpheus space. She’d come here this morning, since Emerie and Ingram were already imposing on Mayumi and Faunus.
“I know I said it when you waltzed in here, but I’ll say it again.” Mayumi regarded her morose friend shrewdly as she laid down a berry porridge in front of each of them. “You look like shit, Reia. Go home.”
“I can’t do that,” Reia said while shaking her head. She reached for her spoon to play with her food, rather than eat it.
“I’m sure Orpheus would prefer you near,” Mayumi rebutted while climbing onto the big chair that was obviously made for Faunus. “Out of all the Duskwalkers, he’s the most... clingy.”
“I know,” she mumbled, plopping porridge into her bowl. “Which is why, if he wanted me with him right now, he would have collected me from Delora’s. I really miss him, but I’m worried if I go home, he’ll just want more space and go off by himself into the Veil. I don’t want him to endanger himself.”
Emerie’s eyes crinkled in sympathy for her, yet she found Reia’s care for Orpheus sweet. She was willing to put herself through a tough situation and be away from him, just to make sure he remained safe.
Mayumi’s lips tightened, but she didn’t argue back.
Like he didn’t care for the conversation, Ingram reached up to steal Emerie’s bowl before she could dig into it. He pressed the tip of his claw into her food and stole a piece of fruit with the very point.
“What is this called?” he asked, eyeing the red berry he’d taken. He sniffed at the freshly cut open half.
Emerie took her bowl back and then placed it as far from him as she could. Porridge was one of her favourite breakfasts, and she’d be damned if she let this Duskwalker play with it.
“It’s a strawberry,” Reia muttered, as if she was used to having to answer random questions.
“A strawberry. I see...” He placed his other hand over his beak in thought, before gesturing it towards Emerie. “This smells like you, along with something else, but I am not sure what. A flower of some kind. It is nice to have a name for it.”
“I smell like strawberries and a flower?”
“Delora has a bunch of flowers at her place,” Mayumi said around a mouthful of food, chewing obnoxiously. “Maybe go through her garden and see if you can find it.”
Emerie just looked at her, bewildered, unsure of why she was encouraging this weird conversation. Noticing this, Mayumi’s eyes crinkled with humour.
Faunus lifted his head to look at them. “I don’t smell strawberries from her, but I do smell a hint of primrose.” He plopped his head back down. “Mayumi smells better. Like pumpkin and sleep.”
“How can a person smell like sleep?” Ingram asked with his head tilting.
“I don’t know the name of the second half of her scent, but I can only explain how it makes me feel. One day, I will find what else she smells like.” He hunkered down further into his cushioning seat. “Until then... I will continue to rest peacefully with it.”
Emerie shook her head, obviously puzzled, which caught Reia’s attention. “Just ignore it,” Reia murmured. “It’s a thing they all have. Magnar says I smell like sticks and thorns, but Orpheus says I smell like roses and elderberries. They’re scent orientated creatures, and we just let them muse over it, so long as it makes them happy.”
“Might be because they’re born with their noses and ears first,” Mayumi chimed in.
A short pause of silence fell over them. The women ate, while Faunus rested back with his children, and Ingram remained fascinated by the strawberry. He even began picking the seeds from the outside of it in curiosity.
Reia was the one to break the quiet. “Hey. So, I was thinking,” she said lowly. “If we’re going to go after Jabez, Emerie is going to be in some real big danger.”
“Yeah, I was thinking about that too,” Mayumi muttered back.
Reia’s green eyes connected with Emerie’s. “I’m going to give you my diadem. It’s enchanted to protect the wearer from smaller and most medium-sized Demons touching them. Big ones will still be able to grab you, but none of them, no matter how strong, can touch the diadem itself. Not even Jabez.”
Reia wasn’t wearing it now, so Emerie didn’t know what she was speaking of, but she’d take anything if it allowed her to breathe another day.
“That’s a good idea. There’s no point in any of us wearing it when we can just turn into a Phantom to protect ourselves.” Mayumi then nodded in the direction of her weapons. “You’re welcome to take whatever weapon suits you best. I went back to Hawthorne Keep and stole a bunch since I know all the secret tunnels and can just move through doors and shit. I have everything from spears, bows, swords, to whips.”
“You still need to figure out how to keep that teleporting bastard still,” Faunus growled out. “Otherwise, you won’t be able to touch him since he’ll just disappear from your hands.”
“Not really,” Reia answered slowly, while drifting her tired gaze to him. “Delora said that when she grabbed his hair, she teleported with him.”
Mayumi’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
Reia rubbed at her neck. “I didn’t really get a good chance to watch Orpheus fight Jabez, but I knew he couldn’t keep his claws in him. When I brought this up to Delora, she mentioned when she clung to his hair, instead of disappearing from her, she disappeared with him.”
“Could that be an Elf-related thing?” Mayumi pondered out loud. “Like... maybe a magical weakness?”
“Who knows?” Reia answered, lifting a hand to shrug. “Better than nothing, right? If it’s true, then Delora handed us a way to trap him or stop him from getting away, and I know for sure if we cut off his head, he’ll die.”
Emerie stayed quiet and soaked in all the information. She’d never met the Demon King, only read of him, so she had nothing to add. She also wasn’t sure if what she’d read could even be accurate, since some of it was contradictory.
“He seemed cocky when I met him,” Mayumi said with a light chuckle. “Never know, maybe Jabez will like the idea of a bunch of women throwing themselves at him.”
Reia snorted a laugh, her lips curling into a weak smile for the first time since she’d arrived. It died the moment the front door opened with a bang.
Everyone startled, with both Reia and Emerie gasping in surprise. Reia turned to look behind her, just as Orpheus shoved himself through the doorway.
Even though his skull was expressionless, his orbs were a swallowing, deep colour of blue, and his body language screamed he was unsettled. The fins on his arms were raised, and the ones along his back were lifting his shirt to the point Emerie thought they were moments from tearing it apart.