Chapter Text
Blink.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Stare.
Blink.
An upbeat tone jars Marion from his haze.
He turns his head and glances at the screen of his phone. It was Glasspole. Were they supposed to do a collab today? Or was she calling to offer to hangout with a friend? All the same, Marion supposed he should answer and curb her worries.
“Salut.”
“Hey, are you free? I could use some advice.”
“Coffee is good to warm up on such a cold day.”
“The usual? Or are we trying something new?”
“The usual, of course.”
“Alright.”
She hangs up.
Splashing water onto his face, Marion wonders what became of his striped sweater. It was a gift from his sister after all. Shrugging on his coat, he locks the door and walks off into the cold November air—all thoughts of his sweater forgotten..
Gloria Glasspole, art student at College Weird, has a problem. Akira had stated his desire to give her a second chance. She was—and still is—ecstatic, but it was initially her fault they had broken up. While she is pleased that he trusts her enough to ask her out again, she doesn’t trust herself.
When in doubt she calls Marion, and she was drowning in doubt.
She arrived first, unsurprisingly, as her apartment was closer to the town central than Marion’s. In fact, if she remembered correctly, he lives on the outskirts. Still, he would be here in no time.
And just like that he’s here.
With his black locks looking as wet as ever and his heterochromatic eyes scanning for her, Marion came off as relaxed. Despite that; he looked tired. Gloria knew he hid the dark circles under his eyes with makeup, but what could she do? He did try and sleep sometimes; other times he’s just doing something. Marion was always doing something. If his body was still then his mind was not.
Café Yum has a welcoming atmosphere. The warmth reminds Marion of sitting at a fireplace. Struggling off his coat he smiles as he finds the silver locks of Glasspole’s hair. He supposes he should call her Glo or something. She didn’t mind being called Glasspole but it was better he called her Glo as they are friends.
She must have noticed his contemplative look as when he sits down the first thing she says is, “Salut, Marion! A penny for your thoughts?”
“A mere penny is all my thoughts are worth to you?”
“We have to start somewhere.”
“So Glass, how’ve ye been?”
“Marion, please. We live in the same city an call each other regularly, you know how I’ve been.”
He chuckles, “Do I? I never saw it that way.”
“Anyway, I need advice.”
They pause momentarily and order coffee.
“Well, what do you need advice for?”
“Akira asked me out.”
“Ah. Tell him you have something you need to work on before you can answer honestly.”
“How did you-?”
“You’ve been mumbling about it for a few days now.”
“And you just-!”
“How was I supposed to know you wanted advice? Yes, you needed it, but did you want it?”
“…”
“Besides, I can’t solve all your problems. You knew that, that’s why you took so long to ask for advice.”
The two friends sit there observing the snow piling up outside the window. The small chatter from the surroundings made excellent background noise.
The way Glass’ hair reflects the café’s golden lights is picturesque. Marion smiles softly.
“Why are you smiling?”
“You look like a painting.”
With an over the top, high-pitched giggle, “You flatter me.”
They spend more time drinking coffee and when they finally move to go their separate ways the snow had stopped.
Marion walks up to his apartment, intrigued. He has been hearing sirens since he left taxi, what could be the cause?
The woman that lives in the apartment above his is standing on the lawn. She seems oddly frail.
She looks as if she’s seen a corpse.
Oh, dear.
“How long have they been here?”
She jumps at Marion’s question, she hadn’t heard him approach her? How strange, the snow crunches awfully loudly under his boots.
“For an hour now.Your neighbour…she--she was found hanging from the ceiling lights.”
“Hanging from the ceiling lights?”
“They’ve ruled it as a suicide.”
Marion doesn’t believe that it is. Her room is on the third floor and has a window overlooking the forest. If the fall didn’t kill the wild animals in the nearby forest would have found her unconscious and finished the job. Besides this would be if she was suicidal in the first place. She got engaged yesterday and she was so excited. It doesn’t make sense.
All the same it wasn’t Marion’s business. He’d tell the police his suspicions that it was murder if they asked, otherwise it was none of his business.
An hour later the police and Marion climbed up the stairs to his apartment. Unlocking the door quietly and slipping in, he felt cold. Would she really have? Nothing can be done now, so there’s no point in thinking about it.
10/01 (News Broadcast Transcript)
The sudden death of the rising star Andromeda caused high tensions in the entertainment scene. Many upcoming stars canceled show and those that didn’t were poisoned. The police have found that band members or managers were responsible and have thus declared it a separate occurrence from Andromeda’s death.
While the murder was intially ruled as a suicide, more evidence had been discovered, and there are now suspicions of foul play.
08/02 (Lucas McNab’s Journal)
The Ghigliottinas are a proud family whose wealth has existed to centuries. The patriarch, Luchino, is known for his refusal to tolerate fools. When he disowned his son, Laglino, a few years after his marriage, many thought the patriarch had grown tired of his wife and when Laglino had refused to divorce her, he disowned him.
Imagine their shock when Elizabeth—Laglino’s wife—constantly visited him after he disowned his son. Their children, Leonora and Libertà, have remained in contact with their grandfather. However, they are not in contact with their father.
Libertà opens his balcony doors gracefully, with the elegance of a prince. He enjoys the morning air momentarily before getting dressed for breakfast. With his appearance reflecting the surfer he is,he heads to the dining room.
Only to be turned back by his mother who reminds him that his grandfather despises his sandals.
Feeling a little sheepish he puts on a pair of loafers instead and resumes his journey.
When he arrives, his sister passes him a bottle of syrup. Passing the bottle to his mother, he begins to eat his pancakes.
After breakfast, he sits in the garden with his sister listening to her practice the flute. The winding melody comes to a halt and Libertà opens his eyes. His grandfather stood there as stern as ever.
“Libertà, when was your friend’s flight to land?”
“At eleven, nonno.”
“I see. Will you go with your mother to pick them up?”
“I intend to. Did you need me for something?”
“Come with me for a moment.”
Libertà follows his grandfather to his study. When they arrive, his grandfather fixes him with a fierce stare.
“You are aware that Leonora will inherit the family business and most of my wealth, yes?”
“Yes. It’s been set in stone the moment she was born.”
“Do you bear resentment for that?”
“Of course not. I’m happy that she inherits most of your expectations.”
“Don’t think I don’t expect things of you, Libertà.”
“Nonno, I’m scared to end up like Father. To disappoint you that much. So, I’m happy I don’t have that many chances to disappoint you.”
Luchino pauses, “Libertà, I’m proud of you.”
He awkwardly hugs Libertà, smiling gently. Libertà returns his smile in relief.
Clearing his throat, he continues, “I actually wanted to talk to you about protecting your sister.”
Libertà tilts his head in confusion, “How exactly can I be more responsible for her safety than her bodyguards?”
“There are events and the like she wouldn’t take her bodyguards with her to. I’ve tried to talk her out of it, but she stood her ground. So in such a circumstance, it falls to your duty to protect her.”
“Won’t she use her self defense training as an excuse to not take me?”
“She understands there is a chance that there might be more than one person attacking her at a time so she agreed.”
Libertà nods cheerfully, and with a smile he adds, “Of course she did. Why wouldn’t she want to take me with her?”
A knock comes at the door followed by Elizabeth saying, “Nora and Nova are landing now.”
Nova stares out the window watching the ground come closer. He’s excited to see Libertà again. They had been separated by their career choices, Libertà is studying marine biology at the University of Queensland while he studied avation at the US Aviation Academy.Everything went as smooth as air travel usually does and as he and his mother stand outside the Venice airport, Aunt Liz and ‘Bertà rush forward, welcoming them.
Later that night, Libertà and Nova sits on the roof staring at the stars.
“Hey, Bertà.”
“Hm?”
“Do you miss last year?”
“It does feel as if everything’s only gotten worse.”
“Yeah…”
“Look, Nova! A shooting star!”
“Shh, what if they kill the witnesses!”
Their laughter echoed through the night.
20/01 (Unknown Scientific Journal Page)
….There has been a discovery of a new parasite, while its effects on humans or animals are unknown (as it was found in a dormant state) scientists fear it may be dangerous. Research is still ongoing…
Domino works the night shift at Café Yum. It gets tiring occasionally, after all, there have been a lot of people traveling by in large groups. Was it road trip season? Do people go on road trips in mid-January?
The sound of a customer entering causes him to look up from the table he was cleaning.
“Welcome to Café Yum,” he says reading the customer’s body language, trying to guess whether or not his polite waiter mode would be appreciated.
The glint of moonlight reflecting on a metal causes his heart to race.
‘Do they have a knife?’ he wonders
They reach into their pocket and pull out a lighter, lighting a cigar.
“I’m sorry, you can’t smoke in here. Please put out the cigar.”
They pause momentarily and step outside, leaving the scent of tobacco in the air.
Domino blinks and continues cleaning tables. It’s just another night, no matter how odd that was.