#sorry dh cae is very touchy and also about to break

[miraiq]

a certain dragon delivers intense stares though curious of what was troubling the trailblazer. perhaps the vacation in penacony wasn't precisely what he expected, judging by the look of his face. "did something happen? you look troubled." (dan heng @ caelus)

Caelus was ecstatic upon Dan Heng messaging him saying that the raven haired lad was making his way to meet the Express crew down on Penacony. He had missed Dan Heng, but was also worried. Caelus wasn't sure why he was worried, this was the Dan Heng we're talking about. The man is the body guard of the Astral Express. The dude's a powerhouse! But, who could blame the silver haired man for the unnecessary concern. Everything was going wrong the second they warp jumped. First Caelus had that weird dream on the train that he couldn't even remember- though could recognize that it wasn't a good one based on the fact that he had been startled awake, covered in his own tears. Pom-Pom had simply said it was the lad not handling the memoria in the planet's atmosphere well, but something told Caelus that was only part of the problem.

Then they had troubles with their reservations, which made no sense to him since they (well technically not him but semantics) were invited, and had the same amount of bodies as their r.s.v.p..? Whatever. A guy from the IPC helped settle that, then proceeded to single him out and spew out cryptic nonsense-- aside from the fact that the blond had somehow had known Caelus housed a stellaron. Which that was also concerning-- how? What would that man do because of, or with, that information?

Next, the trailblazer had run into someone looking like Sampo, who then attacked(?) him. Well.. going unconscious and waking up without the accused party kinda makes it seem that way. So another betrayal at someone the man knew and (mostly) trusted.

And to top it all off, as if the universe really wanted to play some nasty tricks on him yet again.. Caelus made a friend. Another kind soul, struggling to make it by but finding the joy in the little things. It was worse than when... when Tingyun.. when she.. Caelus had to once again see a friend die right in front of him.

He got to know Firefly a bit more than he had with the Foxian, which made it all the more devastating when the man watched the girl get impaled by that dream creature. He vaguely remembers Black Swan or Acheron telling him the monster's name or title.. but he doesn't remember anything outside of the sheer size of it, the screeching sounds it made, the smoke stifling the surrounding air.. Caelus watched her body shake with fear before she apologized to him (why? why would you do that?) before she fell down into his arms just long enough that he felt her body turn into that odd liquid and vanish.

And the photo.. oh, the photo. Just an extra punch to the gut.

Wasn't he just "born" several months ago? He can't take much more of this.

So, it isn't really a surprise that the archivist could tell something was wrong. Though, Caelus knows that he doesn't hide his own emotions very well. Probably didn't help that shaking hands had reached out to lightly grasp Dan Heng's arm the second the silver was close enough to touch his party member, just firm enough to settle himself, but relaxed enough that if the raven had wanted to remove his arm from Caelus' touch he could easily do so. Caelus just couldn't stop himself. He desperately needed to feel a physical body, one that was warm, solid.. not ice cold mist that could slip through his fingers again.

" Can't get anything passed you, can I ? "

His voice is so soft, so raspy, the silver hopes that Dan Heng could at least hear his attempt at words to set the other at ease. After a chuckle to himself, a tiny alarm went off in his mind. Something about how Dan Heng showed up after texting each other related itself to Black Swan and their conversation.. and the chat with the real Black Swan right after. Could this be 'Dan Heng', the same one that meet him earlier as 'Sampo', tried to trick him into giving out dangerous-in-the-wrong-hands-knowledge 'Black Swan'?

He learned his lesson the first time. He's not going to make that mistake again.

" H..Hey. I know this is a bit.. strange. But-

Can you tell me your secret phrase you have with March?

You know, the one you used to help us out on Belobog to get away from the Silvermane Guards the second day we got there? "