Switches & Spices

Chapter Two

"Hey, Hero!"

Maybe I should've asked his hero name first, waited for him to introduce himself. Maybe the quickness I was so used to was working against me. My lips pursed in thought, my smile fading as I shifted anxiously for a moment. Maybe he was busy and-

"Suneater. That's my Hero name." His voice was a little stronger this time, his indigo eyes unafraid to meet my own, curiously enough. I blinked at him a few times, running through my mental list of heroes and statistics, snapping back into focus as he stepped forward.

"Oh! Suneater! I thought I'd recognized your face... Well, from that raid years back. Sorry I didn't remember the name first off." I swallowed down the lump of misplaced guilt, fingers gripping the bag of ginger tightly. His head tilted a little, a perplexed look crossing his features. His eyes were easy to read, I already knew where this was going.

"Were you-"

"No, no I hadn't been called in for that. I just remember reading a file on it, since..." I trailed off, grumbling to myself and pinching my arm in a bit of punishment. There was something entirely disarming about him, that made my defenses simply want to fall apart. Familiar, even... Strange.

Suneater was one of the good ones in my mind, from what I had seen on paper. That fierce loyalty that shone through his actions, his unyielding support of his teammates. There had been numerous accounts of his heroism, many swearing by him. A tiny smile found its way back to my lips as I looked back to him, turning again to the shop's doors.

"You want some tea before your shift, Suneater? My friend makes a yummy cup." He was also another that I was supposed to work with if the BMI Hero had cleared the papers. Stupid really, I should've recognized him... I let out a dejected sigh, shoulders slumping ever so slightly. He'd probably take offense once I told him who I was, and-

"Here. It is through here, right?" His voice snapped me out of my anxious thoughts, stiffening briefly as he reached past me, tugging on the handle of the door to open it. I knew I had been anxious, but his presence was so soft and nonthreatening it caught me off guard when movement came past my hood. I stepped to the side and nodded, bowing my head absently in thanks and flashing a practiced smile to him, stepping quickly into the spice shop. Was he able to tell, and respond to my anxiety? Was that a switch of his?

"Thanks. Get a little trapped in my head sometimes, you know how it goes. Ugh, did these things die again?" I reached up and poked the side of my earbuds, huffing in annoyance as the click did nothing. Tugging the ear pieces out, I looked down at them, eyes narrowed and grumbling slightly before shoving them in my pocket. I'd have to get a new pair, again.

Couldn't be helped, but at least I still had them in case I needed to fly away in a hurry. Whistling wind in the ears did not help focus at all. I had forgotten them one time, and had a migraine all day from an hour flight without them.

"It's... Hard to find a good set for all-day use, isn't it? Unless you want to pay an arm and a leg." Suneater spoke again, a sliver of humor in his tone. My cheeks heated faintly in embarrassment, before I shook it off with a little laugh, an honest grin darting across my lips before I could stop it. Humor. Gods, how I loved humor in heroes. Maybe he wasn't as rigid as he originally came across. Anxiety did present in different ways, after all.

"Oh, absolutely... And they don't accept fried chicken as payment, rather not lose mine. Honey, I'm hooooome~!" My voice called out at the latter half, turning back into the store and pushing the secondary swinging doors open, immediately assaulted by the combinations of fresh spices and incense. 

Mana must've freshly ground some herbs for medicine. There was a lady that had come earlier, looking for pain relief after all. The low hum of a favored song of Mana's filtered through the speakers behind the counter, just quiet enough to almost blur the lyrics and leave the beat.