The Restoration Protocol

9 || into the mire

It's a quiet and peaceful walk to the PIPTIA station. Compared to Wynsmith, New Floravale sleeps much more soundly in the night hours. No loud music and rowdy street performers to beckon Mariko's short attention span and draw her away from the bigger picture this time — which is staying out of plain sight.

They end up making a few brief stops along the way. Brief, as Julian reminds everyone, assuming his role as quite possibly the only sensible one in the group, and evidently not caring one bit if any of them should role their eyes at his impatience. Mariko finds it admirable, in some sense. As little as she cares for adults in general, Julian balances out their otherwise chaotic little group nicely. And she can tell that some of his disapproving remarks and looks are a façade, anyhow. For example, a feigned lack of interest in the spectacular array of jewelry displayed in the window of a humble shop, which Julian chooses to observe in silence as Sebastian purchases snacks from a late-night market across the street.

"You have time to shop a bit," Mariko says to him. But Julian promptly insists that he wasn't even looking at the jewelry to begin with.

"Not interested," he says while playing with the dangling moon-charm of his earring. "And besides, they look awfully busy. Best not."

The front counter is visible from outside the shop. There isn't a single customer to be seen.

Being a self-disciplined adult must be tough, Mariko thinks. But someone has to be the responsible one out the five of them. It can't possibly be Sebastian; Boey just goes with whatever Mariko wants to do, and even when he tries to persuade her against something, the willpower that drives his moral compass grows ever dull with each second they spend together; and lastly Soleil proves once again that her attention span and self-awareness rival that of Mariko's own — in that they can be rather poor at times. The two girls stare in awe at a shop displaying decorated knives until Julian has to snap at them to get moving.

Not before Mariko purchases one for herself, however. She presents the excuse that she never did get back her own knife that was confiscated at the Marble Dome. And even Julian cannot abuse his authority enough to persuade that girl against her 'innocent' desire to own an authentic New Floravale dagger.

They come to a unanimous agreement along the way that Hollowmire should be their next destination — against Sebastian's initial desire to visit the kitsune tribe, of course. But Lotus's words struck the chords of curiosity in all of them.

Mariko has never seen Jugo before. She knows next to nothing about Hollowmire, either, save what little information the prince shared with them before they parted ways at the Greenhouse Manor. It's a humble and secluded civilization, home to a rather cold and private people — Jugo being perhaps the coldest and most private among them, it would seem. Yet Lotus made a point that they should dispel that very same presumption before it could even begin to take root in their minds.

Mariko finds herself staring intensely at the déVaLore insignia as she, Boey, Soleil, Sebastian, and Julian all step into the PIPTIA station together. Safe and sound and without a single encounter with the WPD. It's unlikely they already headed back to Wynsmith, but at the same time, Mariko still wonders how they managed to get here so fast to begin with. With the considerable stretch of land that lies between the cities, they would've had to have left for New Floravale no later than this morning to have arrived by nightfall — and how could they have known this is where Soleil was even headed? No one was tailing them when they first entered the PIPTIA station at the crack of dawn. She's sure of it. At least...she thinks she's sure. But those pictures Officer Rose showed them down at the station haven't fully left her mind, either. Who exactly took them? And if they had time to snap some shots, why hadn't someone brought Soleil in sooner?