The Stars Will Aid in Her Escape

[Syani]

[Timeframe as to not be confused: This happens before Syani met Kaekeru in Yuki Mori]

A few different styled compasses, both the navigational instrument and drafting implement, sprawled across a wide desk occupied by a particular cartographer. She had her long dark hair in a ponytail behind her, and her hands and arms are filled with blotches of inks and seams from putting her hands on a piece of old paper for so long.

Grande Archieve hosts almost no paper at all, but Syani had chosen this library as her study due to its pride of having the largest collection of information in all of Domain, digitically at that. She has a bit of trouble with the computers but once she gets the hang of it, Syani had managed to use it to make a graph of all the data she had collected.

Ever since Syani had discovered her ability of teleportation, she had used that sort of gift to make a map of the entire domain, hand-drawn, with very specific data. So the half-vampire had been traveling in all of the countries; recording geographical statistics, landmarks, information of every known places of the Domain, and is now basically compiling all of the information she collected into a large gigantic map.

She can use it for her profit, plus she can modify it to help travelers traversing through the different lands with added information on what to look out for and what could they expect. It's a huge project, but Syani is happy to be distracting herself like this.

As she gently draws a delicate line on the paper to mark the latitude, she uncosciously hummed a soft melody. Not long after she started humming did she opened her mouth to sing very quietly, almost in a whisper... [Skip to 2:10]

"I took the stars from my eyes,
And then I made a map..
And knew that somehow
I could find my way back."

Her voice is so faint, she could only hear her voice clearly because she's bending right on the table, her face very close to the paper and her voice could be heard clearer in her ears.

"Then I heard your heart beating,
You were in the darkness too.
So I stayed in the darkness..
with you..."

Tap.

A drop of water dripped down on the paper, luckily it did not touched the lines she had so carefully drawn. Syani stared at the spot, wondering where that came from, until she realized that it's actually her tear.

Not long after that, few more tears escaped her eyes, but Syani manages to hold those drops in mid air with her telekinesis, floating there. More and more tears dropped from her face and stopped in mid-air, and Syani didn't move a muscle as she stared at her floating tears.

Releasing her grip of the pencil she's holding, she places her hand under the tears and allow gravity to take its place. The tear drops wets her palm, and at the touch of it, her whole body started shivering.

Slowly, she moved away from her desk, settles herself on the floor in the corner just a few steps behind from her desk, propped her legs up and hugged them with her arms while resting her face on her knees. She took a deep breath slowly, and then muffled up her cries and tears with the fabric of her skirt.

No matter what Syani does, no matter how well she distracts herself, the tears will just keep flowing with how she's feeling. It shocks her how much that person is impacting her, and it disgusts her that only when he disappeared did she realized how important he is to her.

Deep inside.
She won't say it out loud, but deep inside, she wondered if she can even find him by using her map.

The pencil she had dropped on her map rolled slightly and paused, its tip pointing right at Yuki Mori.

[Open]

[Prince]

Eyes looking up towards the tops of the skyscrapers in Gradia as she stepped off the ship. Prince took in a deep breath of the clean air, glad to feel a sense of familiarity on her way back to Veyyard. Since she was passing right by Gradia, she decided to pay a visit to the maker of her Gunblade as well as to get a maintenance check on it. It was functioning perfectly still, but she figured it's always still a good idea to double check for potential kinks.

Prince made her way to the store where she had bought the gunblade, only to find it refurnished into something completely different. Without a change in her expression, she entered the new home decorating store and inquired with the manager regarding the last owner of the building. There, she was told of the infection that had spread throughout Gradia a couple of years ago. As it turns out, the maker of her gunblade was one of the ones infected and died during the battle to overcome it.

Prince lowered her head and closed her eyes, allowing a moment of respect for the creator of such an excellent weapon. When she was done, she left the store without another word and continued walking around Gradia. Deciding to find out more information on this infection, she headed to the Grande Archives.

Her boots let out an echo with each step as she walked across the tile corridors towards the main public research area. She stopped as she entered the room, taking a brief moment to look around. She saw what look like the figure of a girl leaning over a table in one corner, as well as a couple of other people on computers spread out across the wide expanse.

Setting her sights on a database near the girl, she made her way over and settled herself into the chair there. She glanced over at the girl once more, rather curious as to how she might look from the front. She rather enjoyed making beautiful women happy, so, when she saw the figure of a woman from behind, she had a tendency to become curious of how they really looked.

Being unable to see her yet, Prince turned towards the database in front of her and typed in the search 'infection in Gradia'. She began to read a number of articles regarding this issue when she heard the faint sound of a female voice singing. She couldn't make out the words, but the voice sounded rather solemn. Breaking her concentration from the article in front of her, Prince looked over towards the girl on the table from before. She glanced around the room from where she sat, noting no one else nearby, then returned her eyes towards that girl. Prince figured that the girl there must be the source of the sad voice.

Prince continued to watch the girl even as her voice stopped, seeing her move away from the table after a bit. A part of her began to lurch forward at the sudden wish to help cheer the girl up as she realized the girl was crying. Prince stood up after regaining herself and slowly walked over towards where the girl was crying. As she passed by the desk the girl was sitting at, she glanced at a rather extensive map she figured that girl must have drawn of the expansion.

She eyed the map a moment longer, rather impressed by it, before returning her attention towards the crying girl. Prince walked over to the girl, stopping right in front of her and knelt down, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "My dear, what, may I ask, is troubling you?" She asked the girl in a very gentleman-like voice that bordered on sounding like a woman's voice. A faint expression of concern along with the slight inklings of a smile rested on Prince's face as she watched the girl before her.

[Syani]

At the sudden touch on her shoulder, Syani let out a horrified gasp and a violent jerk to the back, almost smashing her head against the wall behind her as she pulled her face from the fabric of her skirt all too suddenly.

Her golden eyes are wide and moist, and her face is rather red by how much she's crying. She was so distracted by her breaking emotions, she can't even sense an aura of a person approaching her anymore. Syani kept her eyes wide and shocked as she stared at this person in front of her a moment longer, now registering her hearing senses in time to hear her question.

With just that simple innocent inquiry, Syani immediately was taken to the memory of how Kaekeru saw her crying one night near the night club and approached her. He said that very same thing this stranger is saying too. At this, her face grows even sadder and burst out a few sobs openly.

"I don't know where he is and it hurts..!" She bubbled along with her gasps of air. The half-vampire must have looked ridiculous, with swollen eyes and scrunched up face like this, so Syani decided to reach the rubber band that was holding her hair in a ponytail behind her and pulled it off.

Her long black hair slides smoothly to frame her face and effectively blocks anyone's view of her streaming tears now. She lowered her head to let her bangs hide her eyes from this person and weeped silently this time. Only the jerks of her shoulders are the signs that she's crying.

"Please don't....mind me.." she let out with a choke, slightly pushing her cold hands against this person to leave her. Then, as she pulled her arms back to hug her propped legs, Syani summoned her large red cloak as it materialized around her out of nowhere, warming and comforting her at the same time.

"..I...I-I'm s-sorr..." She tried to apologize for disturbing this person, but her annoying convulsive gasps of air kept blocking her voice from coming out. At this, Syani gave up and slumped back her head against her knees with a sigh.

[Prince]

When the crying girl in front of her reacted so strongly to her touch, Prince pulled her hand back and bowed her head respectably. "I apologize for frightening you, my dear. I was just expressing concern."

When she lifted her head and got a good look of the girl's face, Prince's gentlemanly smile held even moreso an expression of concern in it. She listened quietly to the girl's pain of not knowing where someone is. Prince began to think over what she might be able to do to help this girl while keeping an eye on her. She noticed her removing the elastic band and letting her hair fall in front of her face in an attempt to cover it and Prince smiled gently at this.

When the girl tried to push her away, Prince did not budge. She merely sat there and smiled with concern at this girl. She was about to speak when the sudden appearance of a cloak around the girl surprised her. She stared briefly with widened eyes before relaxing her face back into her concerned smile.

"Nonsense." Prince said in a gentlemanly voice as the girl was trying to apologize. "I could never leave a beautiful woman alone to cry."

"I will try what I can to help you find this man that you seek, my dear." Prince said kindly with her concerned smile, now looking less concerned and more charming. She lightly bowed her head down again and placed her right hand over her heart as if she were making a pledge. "For now, I am at your service. You may call me Prince." Prince left her head bowed for a moment longer before lifting it again with her gentlemanly smile watching the girl for a response to her offer.

[Syani]

Syani was forced to hold herself from any more outbursts due to how emotionally unstable she is right now. When this woman refuses to leave her, the half-vampire was just planning to use her telekinesis to just simply push this lady away or scare her, but then her next words just made Syani feel all the more miserable because she reminds her of him too much.

"Y...." Syani tried to say, now reaching out her hands from under her cloak to cup the woman's face. "Y...You're SO MUCH LIKE HIM~" She cried as she said so, "But prettier and pinker..!"

At this point, anyone could tell that Syani is a little bit out of it, and most people would just leave her alone to her own sorrows due to how unbelievably strange she is. She released the woman's face and dropped her own on her knees to wither in her own strangely amusing-looking misery.

Syani slowly lifted her head back up, but only slight as to only her eyes are visible, and blinked ever so often. "..Sniff... You're a really...pretty prince.." She muttered out. How could she just so easily throw in a compliment right that in the middle of her spiraling sadness is a mystery.

"It's oka-ay..." She sobbed. "Y-you don't...ha-aave to... B-because I....a-am making....tha-at.." Her finger pointed to the table she occupied earlier, with the large map of the whole domain.

[Prince]

Prince's eyes widened in surprise as the girl suddenly grabbed hold of her face and claimed that she was so much like him. When the girl added saying she was prettier and pinker, Prince chuckled lightly and smiled in her gentlemanly manner at the girl. "Perhaps that is why I should be the one assisting you, my dear."

Prince found this girl's outbursts to be amusing, but really did feel a sense of pity and desire to sincerely help her in whatever way possible. She maintained that gentlemanly smile and waited for the girl to calm down and respond to her more.

When she spoke up again, calling her a pretty prince, Prince couldn't help but chuckle lightly again. "I thank you, my dear." She said, still smiling at the girl. "And, despite your tears, you are very pretty yourself."

"That?" Prince questioned, then followed the girl's finger towards the table with a turn of her head. She smiled, then turned to face the girl again. "That is a rather impressive project, my dear. You have covered much of the expansion beautifully."

"In what way, may I ask, do you intend to find this man simply using a map though?" Prince asked, a hint of concern within her gentlemanly tone as she smiled kindly towards the girl.

[Syani]

"You even chuckle like him..." Syani wasn't sure if she's just missing Kaekeru too much that everything this lady does is starting to overlap with her memories of him, or Prince is really his twin. "You're not a vampire..right?" She asked, just to make sure.

Sniffing a bit more and wiping her face using her cloak, Syani decided that this is enough bawling. There's a person here intent on helping her, and she doesn't want to burden the poor soul. In the midst of drying her face, Prince had thanked her, and then continued in calling the half-vampire pretty.

Syani paused for a moment, and then continued wiping her face with a small smile. She doesn't even know how she even looks like, so small compliments of her looks sometimes makes her so happy. "Eheh, thank you."

Now finished in drying up her face, only her cheeks and nose are left in a red flush due to her earlier crying, and her slightly moist eyes. Prince had followed to look where her finger is pointed at, and Syani's face slowly lightens as her map was praised.

"Really?! Yay! I'm super glad, I've been working on that for months now..." Feeling that her usual obnoxiousness and energy is returning, the raven-haired smiled to her companion for the day. At Prince's question though, her smile faltered slightly.

"Ah...um.." Scratching her cheek with her index finger, unsure how to word this out to her. "Luck." She only stated with a grin. "I haven't covered most of the areas yet, especially the foresty ones, so I'm gonna focus on there soon." And she just came up with that plan just a split second ago. Forcing up a smile back on her face, Syani nodded to her own statement with confidence.

"Alone." She added, now looking at Prince with more seriousness. Reaching out her hand again, but this time to pat Prince on the shoulder, Syani grinned again. "I have a high-chance of finding him if I'm alone. But thank you for offering your help!"

Pulling her hand back, she just sat there with a smile on her face. "You really cheered me up lots, so thanks so much for that!"

[Prince]

Prince smiled in a gentlemanly manner at the crying girl, holding back another chuckle from hearing her say she even chuckles like the man the girl was looking for. At her next question, Prince's expression turned into utter surprise. "A Vampire?...' She asked in a bit of quiet surprise, then continued in a calm manner. No... I have never even met such a creature, nor thought them to exist."

When the girl smiled in response to Prince's compliment, her gentlemanly smile grew a bit more, glad to have finally succeeded in receiving a smile from the pretty girl. "With a smile on your face, you look even more entrancing, my dear." She said with intention to make the girl's smile grow even more.

Prince felt more relaxed and glad that this girl was becoming happier in response to her complimenting the impressive map. Prince was even more impressed by the sheer length of time this girl has been spending on such a thing, yet also a sense of pity towards how long she has been looking for this person.

When the girl then admitted that her only plan to find him was luck, Prince slowly took in a deep breath as the girl went on then let out a small sigh. When she stated she would be looking alone, Prince looked up at the girl again, a bit curious. "Alone? It might be dangerous in certain areas of the expansion, my dear." She said, even after the girl explained she had a higher chance, Prince felt worried for her safety.

At the girl thanking her for cheering her up, Prince smiled brightly in response to the girl's smile. "Perhaps there is still a way in which I could help, my dear." She said in her gentlemanly manner with her gentlemanly smile. "If you tell me certain things you know about him, particularly in his outward appearance, I could search the database in case there had been reports about someone matching that description anywhere in the expansion being sighted."

[Syani]

Syani blinked at Prince's apparent surprise when she mentioned of vampires. "Really? Well, you're looking at one now." The black-haired grinned, pulling a bit of her upper lip up to show the small fang that she has. "Well, I'm actually half a vampire, hahah. Dude I'm looking for is pure one." She explained cheerfully, and then added as an afterthought, "I won't bite though!"

Syani had to cover her face with both her hands as Prince began to compliment her again, "No no no, stop. I don't take well with too many praises, stop stop." Peeking her eyes from her parting fingers, it's easy to see there's a smile in her eyes despite how she's covering half of her face. "I don't get how pretty people say that about others when they themselves are pretty.."

When Prince had asked how she's going to fine Kaekeru and added that its dangerous for her to go alone, Syani laughed nervously. "Yeeaaahh, I know. I'm an escape artist though, so no worries~ I can get out from anything." Bringing out a weak thumbs up, there's certainly doubt in her voice, and Prince's sigh of her reply only made Syani grinned almost guiltily.

Prince's suggestion on how she could help her had gained a curious look from Syani. "Data..base..?" She questioned inquisitively, but described the person she's looking for anyway. "Um... He always wears this white cloak, often with the hood on because he can't stand the sun. He has...blonde hair, sorta spiky, and... his...h-his eyes...a-are...." Before she could even end her description, her eyes are getting glassy again.

"Man! Why am I so pathetic..." Dropping back her head to her knees, Syani stayed that way in a depressive manner and sighed. "This is not...cool.."