Red Roses

Chapter 7 (Fool's Gold Arc)

Several days have passed since the incident at the circus. Ardit sits at one of the tables outside a local cafe that he intends to meet his two newfound companions at. He tapped his feet, the anxious thoughts about what was going on grew within him. Beside him was a muffin with blueberry bits that he ate while waiting. This was an item he bought with his own money. Despite the fact that it wasn't really his own money.

Noticing the two approaching from the opposite end of the street, he smiled and waved. Jade and Zolio gave a gentle wave as they approached and sat at the table that he was resting his arm on. As Ardit looked at the two, he sat up to fix his posture. He cleared his throat, deciding to be straightforward, "I got some info out of that ringmaster after what happened, I ended up figuring out what the hell the extinction event was." The other two shifted glances at one another, worried but interested.

Taking a deep breath, Ardit looked at the two. He explained to Zolio and Jade in a cautious manner, "I didn't find out why, but the government plans on getting rid of the humans." The two of them flinched at the thought of it. Zolio questioned, "What do you mean by getting rid of the humans?" Ardit shrugged, "Why do you think it's called the extinction event?" He said in response. Zolio's eyes widened in fear. Ardit was in fear of his own life, Zolio was in fear of the lives of all humans, and Jade was in fear for the life of her best friend.

Zolio spoke up about it, "What then? Are we just supposed to sit and let them take us?!" Ardit rubbed the back of his neck, glancing away from her. Jade sat silently, thinking to herself about the near future. Ardit tapped his fingers against the table, deciding to tell Zolio, "If you really want to find a way to survive whatever's going to happen, I guess I'll do my best to help, since this also affects me and could ensure my safety. If we want more info we can start by looking for help from other grandmasters or other higher ups who might know a thing or two about what's going on." Zolio was incredibly happy to receive all the help she could get, looking up at her friend, Jade gave a thumbs up for approval.

Looking at the two, Ardit smiled and nodded his head. He exclaimed with ambition, "Alright! It's settled, we'll try to find a way out of this mess. That starts with finding out some important info through a grandmaster! There are tons of magic types so there's got to be tons of grandmasters right?" The two girls looked at each other and shrugged. Zolio looked at the two, "Let's try and find what we can and meet back here in about an hour, sound good to you guys?" Jade was a bit hesitant but nodded nonetheless. Seeing her approval, Ardit decided the plan was good to go as well. As they rose from their seats, they head their separate ways.

Zolio had taken a direct approach, asking people on the sidewalk about what they knew. She was met with negative results each time. Either people didn't know about any nearby, people didn't want to tell her because she was human, or both. In a wave of disappointment, she cut her losses and returned to the table, waiting for her friends' return.

Jade always chose the indirect path of things, deciding to go for a stealthier approach. She tapped the back of her left hand and slid her other palm down until both palms touched. While her fingernails brightened a red and yellow pattern, she was nowhere to be seen. This gave her plenty of opportunities to overhear conversations as well as overlook papers that weren't initially meant for her eyes. Realizing that she can use this to be stealthy in other ways, she took a moment to consider helping Ardit one day. Realizing she was getting distracted, she got to work. Looking over people's shoulders and listening in on conversations. She eventually overheard two females in beige wealthy clothing. They discussed the performance of a grandmaster known as The Maestro.

Jade was much more interested in these two now than ever before. One of the two spoke, "The performance will be at the Nasrinth theater 4 days from now once the clock hits midnight! May you accompany me?" The second nodded, but seemed confused. The other person responded, "Sure, but you're my friend, you don't have to act polite around me just because people have big expectations for you." At this point in the conversation, Jade stopped paying attention and left the two, decloaking and disabling her magic. As she returned to the table she gave her best friend a hug. Zolio returned the hug smiling. She asked, "Looks like someone actually got something useful?"

Ardit made a fruitless attempt to ask people directly. Unfortunately he was met with the same fate that Zolio did. However, on his way back to the cafe, Ardit noticed something. He noticed the heavy scent of expensive cologne. The scent traced back to a flashily dressed male ganyma. Ardit pondered in his head, "This idiot clearly has no sense of financial management! Oh well, we can't all be winners~" following the man from behind, Ardit suddenly quickened his walking speed by a lot. This made him bump into the ganyma. Looking up at him, Ardit exclaimed, "Hey! You have a death wish or something? Watch where you're going!" The man scoffed, he didn't have the patience to deal with a human's temper tantrum. As the ganyma sped up to get away from Ardit's fit, Ardit put the heavy sum of Bristles he snatched from the man when bumping into him into his hip bag. Ardit mumbled to himself "Thanks dumbass~" as he finished his trip back to the overs while giving them a gentle wave.

Ardit took a seat and explained to the others, "Sorry I was gone for so long, I had a bit of trouble with someone but I'm back! I couldn't find anything, what about you two?" Resting her elbows on the table, Zolio shook her head. She then remembered, "Jade found something though!" Jade nodded, however she was internally panicking because she realized she had no way of relaying this information to the other two. Realizing this issue, Zolio gave a gentle sigh, "This is going to be a long charades game.." Ardit on the other hand wasn't having it, so he stood up and walked into the cafe, returning after a few minutes with a pen and paper. He handed it to Jade, speaking in a blunt tone, "Write it down this time." With that, Jade nodded, grabbed the pen and paper, and began writing.