FUNCTION DISORDER :: VOLUME ONE

12

Kaleva wasn't sure what to expect from Vex's pack house, which he learned lay in a clean-looking yet jungle-like and apparently mostly human neighbourhood in Puddledock, in the North of Arillien. Outside, it was adorned in dark, sleek tiles and was smoother and softer in design than the Pale Bastion's precise angles.

Vex had met him and Rain at the door with a cheeky little foxy smile.

Entire rooms scattered with pieces of either broken or partially-assembled magic technology made sense to Kaleva, given what he knew about Vex. Grey-black walls decorated with cheerful rainbowy LED strips seemed kind of appropriate, too, although they made him feel like he had been trapped in the future.

Rain gave a little pounce and jumped at Vex, grabbing onto him softly. "Aaaaaaaa‼!"

"Eeeee!" Vex caught Rain, picked him up and spun him around before setting him down on the soft carpeted floor.

Kaleva's attention was stolen by the gadgets strewn all over: semi-permanent metal plate style mage foci like his own, handheld devices like Ryan Rexham had, elegant headsets, visor-type eye augmentations, and even full sets of mage's battle armour – very expensive and a bit impractical, but he thought they looked cool and clearly Vex did too. He did not expect, however, to be led to a radically different room that resembled a luxurious versions of a padded cell, with dark orange cushioning on the floor that extended all the way up the walls. It's like those rooms they have in Pale Bastion hospitals, except cosy.

"Hello! How are you fearsome happy boys feeling on this great radiant evening?", Aly called from within a big rectangular cage of glistening aluminium, lightly wrapped in at least two blankets, looking thoroughly contented.

"I'm kinda tired, I guess, and been nervous lately...", Rain explained, looking back at Aly in acknowledgement, as if this were totally normal, before rubbing his own head with one front paw. "I'm going out with Kota tomorrow, I'm supposed to meet Syro then, but like, he hasn't replied to me in days."

"That's a pity", Aly responded, shuffling a little closer, poking her narrow muzzle between the bars of her cage. "I'm sure you'll have a great time anyway. Besides, Kota will like it!"

Kaleva nodded. I'm always down to go cool places with Rain, as long as we don't get attacked again. He was about to say something in agreement with that idea when his bemusement and burning curiosity made him blurt something else. "Uhh, why are you in a cage?"

Vextari suddenly reinstated himself, striding in from somewhere behind Rain, and gave a great arcing leap from where he stood, all the way onto the cage. "I put her in it. Alukari belongs to me, and so does the cage, so I can do that." He sat triumphantly atop it for some moments while grinning playfully to both Kota and Rain.

"Well, um, okay then!", responded Kaleva as Vex's shadow reached across the weird room. "Is she... okay with this?", he then asked awkwardly.

"Yes of course.", Aly chirped up.

"Okay, if you're sure!" It's so hard to tell when people are really okay when something weird is going on, or if it's easier to pretend to be okay for just a little longer, or if they've lost themselves and can't tell anymore. My old Pale Bastion friends sure as hell weren't okay.

"Here's the real fuckin question.", a shadowy shape, which Kaleva hadn't noticed until now, enquired from a corner of the room. "Where the fuck is Shaeyd? That's what I wanna know."

Kaleva peered over to the source of the voice. Loss was slumped against the wall, idly sipping on what appeared to be bubble tea, except it was the colour of sadness.

"There's no more news since earlier in the week.", Vex replied. "Aside from that, you know more than we do."

"He's still out there somewhere. I reckon he got imprisoned for knowing too much.", Loss growled. "Now the expedition is fucked."