[SFW VERSION]
🌹 There's something wonderful in those who stare death in the face. Even in a world wracked by relentless calamity, flowers blossom between a sea of corpses, the shapeless crimson rivers marched over by mechanical instruments of mass...
It doesn't matter what anyone else says. You belong to me.
. . .
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You feel the soft press of eyes at the back of your head. A long, distant gaze watching you from a place you are unable to perceive. You spin around, swearing to yourself you very well feel the murmur of something calling to you. A voice — no, a whistle — or perhaps it is just as you initially thought. Eyes coldly scaling your body, hidden although this predatory illusion is as warm and real as a shallow breath on your neck.
You are brought out of this trance when a fluffy head of fur nuzzles into your open palm. You look and remember where you're at, crouched over a field of grass.
"Scoops, pay attention!" someone says.
"Jeez, Trainer, you feeling okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost," someone else speaks to you. "The dogs really want your attention — look!"
Dogs seem to swarm you, and so too do the fears weighing on your mind.
It's hard to wake yourself from this state on anxiety, but still you hardly manage and respond respectively to the dogs, as well as the ever-eager Nero and Biscuit.
* * *
Another day.
This time, you feel those same eyes rolling over your body in the midst of a bustling mall. For but a moment, the haughty voices of commercial salespeople are drowned out, your ears pierced by a shrill ringing. You press a hand to the side of your face, stopping dead in your tracks. Passersby continue to flow past you, brushing your shoulders, not batting an eye for you who has suddenly halted in a quiet fit of fear.
Someone is watching you.
They were there at the Happy Zoo. Now they are here at the mall. You can taste the pressure of their presence weighing down on you, though veiled as to not show their true self. You feel like you're looking around forever, peering over here, over there, your eyes failing to find anyone who stares right back at you.
Your heart races. Soon it will pop out of your chest, and yet still you will have been unable to learn just who is watching you like a hawk.
Someone grabs your shoulder and you leap. An involuntary shout gapes your mouth as you twist, facing a young pink-haired Nikke who stands before you. She pulls her hand back as you jump but never stops looking at you with worry in her eyes.
"Commander, it's okay! It's just me!" Pepper's cute voice. You calm your nerves and look down at the girl. She is genuinely concerned, and you don't have the energy to make her worry any further.
