Loud cheers rang out all around. Most of the lively crowd's attention was directed toward a large circle, six or seven meters in diameter. People cheered and drank as they watched the spectacle unfold. Others sat a bit farther off, aet at the calmer parts of the bar, playing cards and enjoying the lively atmosphere.
A lone glistening black feathered bird had settled on one of the ceiling supports, watching the crowd with an emotionless gaze, a golden shimmer reflecting in its eyes.
It was difficult to tell with all the surrounding people crowding around the circle, but Noctis did feel no need to search for a better space to look upon the focal point the people were cheering about. He would have been able to describe it by heart if asked what was happening at that specific spot. Noctis had seen it so often that he had long lost count, the once attractive spectacle long reduced to an occasional event in his eyes.
In his mind's eye, the large circles inside were painted in all sorts of pastel colors- blue, yellow, green, pink, purple with the center-most place, the smallest of all painted segments, colored bright red.
At the moment, a headless bird was running around in that circle, trotting about as if it had not just been decapitated, its head still in its killer's hand, taking its last steps at that very moment, a red streak following its course, and one of gol….
"So what color did you bet on?" Trisha asked from Noctis's left, not quite interested, but more to start a conversation.
Not particularly bothered by the random small talk, Noctis ruminated on her words for a bit before slowly shaking his head in regret, he spoke his words, dragged out.
"I didn't bet... This isnt… is no longer my sort of game."
In response, he was immediately pierced by a disbelieving stare, her reaction far quicker than his own, as if what he had just said was totally out of character. Her next word only reinforced the impression.
"Who are you, and what have you done with Nox?"
Trisha jabbed, her finger tracing a glass placed before her all the while.
Wincing internally, Noctis shook his head in regret. What could he do? Noctis did not dislike such games. Games where you mostly relied on luck could even be considered his greatest joy. It always gave him a wonderful feeling of ecstasy when he won, but when he bet on this game in particular…
Noctis's pupils drifted towards the headless chicken still trotting about one more time, with little hope that he would actually see it. Surprisingly, a line of sight had opened itself at that exact moment, making it possible to spectate. To spectate the headless chicken, accompanied by a bundle of golden thread leading its future path.
At the moment, it was near the middle, a bit more on a blue square than on the exact center. The line of gold leading from there would split and divert slightly along its way. However, all strings inevitably ended on the same green-painted square, a few steps away. For Noctis, this game was no longer one of chance, but one where he would have to choose between winning and losing on purpose.
It had lost the lure that other games held. Of course, he wasn't above cheating, but at the moment he didn't lack money, and who knew what security measures the owner had in place. There were little technical devices that could detect his actions, he knew of, but it wasn't out of the question that the owner hired an Authority Wielder or two as overseers of the establishment.
Noctis would only risk it when truly out of options. This was, after all, his favorite gambling den, as far as he was concerned.
Feeling a sudden pressure on his shoulder, Noctis subtly shifted uncomfortably as he looked over to the owner of the subtly electrifying hand now wrapped around his neck. A slightly uncomfortable prickling sensation engulfed wherever skin met.
"This is a sure win for myself, I might say."
The yellow-robed youth spoke with satisfaction.
Not bugged by the peculiar choice of words, Noctis shot back while subtly freeing himself from the embrace.
"You bet? I would have thought you weren't a fan of such activities, with your strong Daoist beliefs."
Little Lightning shook his head in response, a bit of smugness perceivable in his posture.
"This is no mere game. It's a show of fate."
Trisha did not give the remark a second thought, as her finger started to trace the rim of a half-filled glass once more before taking a sip, her eyes closing as if enjoying the taste of her beverage. Her glass held some kind of bittersweet drink. Noctis had tried it once but never really found enjoyment in the mixture of bitterness and the sweetening aftertaste.
"And what fruit of knowledge does fate give you, through betting on the place of the bird's demise?"
Noctis asked, seemingly in jest.
In truth, he was quite curious about Little Lightning's knowledge of fate. Oracle was one of the city's most famous names in matters of fate, only rivaled by the weavers' cult and their bastions of knowledge. But unlike them, Oracle had a stable seat and was acknowledged as an orthodox city. Noctis had even heard that, like the name "Oracle" suggested, it was led by true Oracles. People who read the signs of fate.
Still staying cautious, Noctis didn't like to show his interest openly. In a negotiation, it was key to hide one's desires, or others would play one for all one's worth.
For now, Little Lightning was Noctis's only source of information on the matter. After all, this city had scarcely any records on fate, and the relationship with the surrounding ones was… complicated.
Noctis would eventually have to learn about it if he ever wanted to understand what he was made to see on a daily basis. It was a basic need of his if he didn't want to continue stumbling in the dark, like the headless chicken was at this moment. If he did not, the foreseeable future could mirror that of the chickens.
The chicken was stumbling freely now, still near a blue space, its thread of life slowly growing indistinct as it began floating upward.
"It's symbolic of fate's blessing. If it truly lands on green, it means I'm following its path and am there by a blessed of fate." Little Lightning said in a slightly absentminded yet serious tone. A bit out of character for the youth of similar age.
"Do you mean that you'll have good luck? Well, couldn't I have guessed that from the outcome of your winnings?"
Trisha interjected, a bit confused by the topic, but nonetheless intrigued. She was truly curious in nature, similar to Noctis, just far more direct in her approach.
Looking over at Trisha, Little Lightning slowly shook his head at the same moment Noctis watched as the thread before wrapped around with the chicken's very essence completely freed itself and started drifting upward, now freed of its shackles, before suddenly disappearing completely.
Something dark flashed before Noctis's vision so quickly that it appeared a mere blur. With it, the loud exclamation of Little Lightning rang out at his win, interrupting his own attempts at explanation.
Trisha was amused by the guy's sudden outburst as she patted him on the shoulder, offering words of encouragement.
Noctis, however, stayed silent, a bit confused, as he stared at the scene. The chicken's corpse was lying there, its headless body pointing towards the three of them, or was it him specifically? He couldn't tell with the distance separating them.
"What was that just now?" Noctis muttered quietly. The golden thread of life, which had been drifting a moment ago, had suddenly disappeared.
It had been slowly growing indistinct and translucent, but considering the pace, it should have taken ten or twenty minutes for it to fully disappear.
He had watched this process a few times now and never seen such an exception. It always felt like they were dragged off to some far-off dimension, not simply disappearing from one moment to another.
Elijah's pitch-black thread had not been dragged off like the others, but it seemed to decay or liquefy as it lost its substance. That had been the only exception to the rule Noctis could observe, and it had been surrounded by far more factors. Clearly different from the current situation.
"What was what, just now?" The words took Noctis out of his thoughts, making him aware of his surroundings.
At some point, Trisha had come uncomfortably close as she watched with a curiosity-filled gaze. Little Lightning was watching him with a weird intensity, an unexplainable emotion in his gaze.
Unable to concentrate on Little Lightning, Noctis's face grew hot at the sudden contact of her pressing against him. Carefully backing off as he shook his head, his eyes subtly wandering through the room in search of any discrepancy.
"It… was nothing," Noctis answered, his mind not truly in it.
Suddenly feeling a pain in his cheek, his eyes wandered downward, this time not continuing their search. Whatever it was, he had lost it already. There was no point in continuing the search and wasting his precious free time.
Watching the modestly, or how she would call it, festively clothed Trisha, staring at him with narrowed eyes, as if accusing him of something. At the same time, she was pulling at his cheek with enough force to make Noctis budge. Their faces coming uncomfortably close.
"WHHat isss ittt?" Noctis asked through lisped words, his face slowly pulling back.
"You know you should enjoy the here and now a bit more. Don't lie about it."
Freeing his reddened cheek from Trisha's iron grasp, Little Lightning was on his way to collect his winnings, having disappeared out of sight before Noctis could inquire as to why he reacted so weirdly.
"What is this now? I thought I lived my life quite laid back, enjoying every intricacy of it. And lying? That's coming out of the blue. I might not be the most honest person in the world, but I wouldn't call lying a particular problem of mine." Noctis leaned back until his chair was just on the verge of falling over, his eyebrows slightly knitted.
Seemingly not getting the answer she wanted, Trisha simply shook her head, as if annoyed or resigned. It seemed she was already used to it and fed up with such a response.
All the while, Noctis could only grumble in displeasure.
'What did I do?'
When she finally spoke, her words perplexed him even more. Her first words were mostly tuned out by the loud music playing in the background, only bits and pieces understandable.
"…Filling and tuning out the truth isn't… enjoying it."
Not giving Noctis a moment to reply, she continued. This time, every word came through clear as day.
"You know, whatever you see and try to overlook will only burden you more with time.
You have to take the good with the bad. That's the true joy of life."
Not exactly understanding her meaning, maybe because half the sentence was swallowed by the crowd, Noctis shook his head one last time, let his eyes wander throughout the crowded room, and slumped into his synthetic wooden chair with a final deep sigh.
'Sure, it's a day off, then let's loosen up a bit.'
'Wait, what?' Noctis suddenly thought. That wasn't his own thought.
"Ouroboros, shut up! We agreed that you're only allowed to talk in emergencies or when I'm alone.'
Gulping down his beverage in one go, Nocits breathed out. His breath certainly carried the stank of his purely sweetly brewed beverage, and he lifted his hand as if showing that he had nothing, the complaints completely forgotten.
The beverage had little alcohol since he disliked the feeling of altering his state of mind, but the gesture was clear.
"So… is your leg fully healed?"
Trisha asked, her gaze relaxing, with a certain calm air to it, as her left eyebrow lifted barely.
Noctis took a quick glance downward and tilted his head slightly.
"What, this old thing?" Noctis jumped up from his chair with surprising energy, firmly landing on the floor the next moment.
"It has never been better." Hitting the all-healed-up leg as a sign of prof.
"If it hadn't, Sisyphus would have probably exchanged it for a prosthetic in my sleep," Noctis added in a joking, but at the same time somehow uneasy tone.
"Ha, ha, you paint the picture of the devil whenever you speak of him." Trisha laughed.
"You aren't wrong about that," Noctis replied quietly.
"But one can't deny that his devotion to his machinery is truly enviable." Noctis threw this out more audibly this time, with a certain wistfulness.
"Enviable?" Trisha asked back, a bit confused.
"Well, having a purpose that is more important than your life. I can't think of something like that for myself. Do you have such a thing, my fair lady?"
Falling silent for a moment, Trisha nodded along, not feeling the need to add on, her gaze a bit deeper than he had expected.
"So are you going to ask me to dance, or why are you still standing?"
Looking up and down between them for a few moments, Noctis had already gotten used to her teasing.
"The Labinnac ball is going to be held in a month. So knowing how to dance can't be harmful." In the same breath as his words left his mouth, he stretched out a hand as if to gesture for Trisha's hand.
A bit pleased by the bold move, Trisha elegantly pulled herself out of her chair with the help of Noctis's hand.
"You know I'd be really interested in what you really want. Hm hm."
Hearing the devilish chuckle, Noctis tilted his head back, his gaze wandering upward to a beautiful crow perched in a crevice of the ceiling, something wormlike in its beak, watching him.
Looking back towards Trisha, Noctis's thoughts drifted to the question she had posed, as the image of a certain elderly Doctor slowly came to mind.