Lunar Cycles
I. Absent:
The seat is empty.
Where there were once dozens of little islands, there are only waves reflecting the moon and stars. That is the way of the Fantasia Archipelago: to forever move and shift, staying in no ocean or form for long. Could a place impossibly woven with magic and music in every being and fiver be any other way?
The only proof this wandering legend was ever there is a ship.
The wood it is carved from seems to glow with the golden illumination of the bloated moon hanging over its sails. On the bow are two figures. Light they give off is their own, starting soft white at the tips of their toes and gaining deep color the higher it goes. The one on the right is green, with a long braid flowing from the nape of its neck. That on the left is turquoise, hair flowing in a sharp bob about its face. Their genders are impossible to tell, despite the fact that they wear no clothes; they are light and vague shapes with delicate dragonfly wings protruding from between their shoulder blades. Holding hands, they smile faintly at one another.
"Time to venture out, little sister."
"Definitely time indeed, little brother."
II. Breath; Footfall
There is nothing but the air in her lungs, rushing past her lips and into leather. Orange eyebrows outlined with golden ink furrow in confusion as she steps through empty streets of cobblestone. "Well!" She exclaims to the echoes of her footsteps. "That didn't go like I planned." Nothing but mists and corpses.
"But it made a good show!" a voice calls, sounding only vaguely male.
Another which is just as vaguely female adds, "Want to hear an offer, amber-eyes?"
The alchemist tugs her pointed, striped hat over her eyes. "Better be quick before the navy gets here."
III. Connected
Titles like 'runaway', 'exile', and 'criminal' are things they all share. Fairytales, friendship, and loud music in a ship which can wane from gold to silver to black draws them all together.
IV. Create
"A ship like this must be an extravagant cost when damaged," Vexen notes one morning as Kaiya tries to steal a part of Xemnas' breakfast. Looking across the table to Amber, he asks, "Can a circus keep it properly maintained?"
The alchemist-captain just glances out of the corner of her golden eyes. At the very end fo the table, surrounded by the wooden cases of instruments, are the twins. They bicker in low tones, their language indescribable and incoherent but musical. Her painted lips stretch in a smile.
"We manage."
V. Devotion
"Did you just call my friend a b***h?" Kaiya asks, all green amidst snow white. Her knuckles crack together menacingly.
"Oh no you didn't!" a certain satyr crows. When the merchant just tells him to shut up in less than polite terms, another familiar fae shows up out of nowhere, gaze fuming and dark.
"Better check yourself before your shop gets wrecked!"
The rest of the crew just stands back, startling nonchalant if not getting ready to join the fight, save one. Looking awkward, the short girl with the pointed hat and lavender hair asks, "Shouldn't we stop Kaiya, James, Amber, and Sev from getting in a fight?"
"We probably should," a dark-skinned acrobat with blue hair acknowledges. "But we won't."
VI. Figment; Fragment
"What a douche," Xen whines as she and Sev crawl out from underneath washed-up sails.
"p***k," Amber agrees as she empties her goggles of saltwater.
"******** pirates," Kaiya grumbles while she and Tuna cuddle together for warmth with their poor soaked lions.
James is most savage as he kicks a piece of the driftwood that was his ship. "Captain [********] Xaldin."
VII. Guide
Years ago, they bought a map, a compass, all the necessities for sea travel. To this day, they lie unused underneath Amber's bed.
Why map their course when the waves know more than a piece of paper could ever tell them?
VIII. Holy
"So what the hell is with all the mice?" Xigbar asks, holding one of the furry creatures by the tail. It appears to be wearing a rather floppy hate and a shirt, and doing its best to look adorable. "Do you feed Simba, Archie, and Nala too much or something so they don't catch 'em?"
Kiba just shrugs, looking around awkwardly. "I'm not sure. I think James and Seven's religion has them as holy animals."
"Never heard of a religion with holy mice before," Xaldin says, watching as the mouse is dropped and left to scurry away.
"Well, apparently it's called 'Disney' and the main god is called 'Walt'..."
IX. Ink
"Not bad." Amber squints one eye. "Not my best work, but not bad."
James just smiles, despite how his cheeks hurt with the expression. "Marvelous," he says to a reflection of freshly imagined tan skin and black ink.
X. Joker
"Knock knock."
"Heard it, Kiba."
"So a doctor and an engineer-"
"Heard it, Amber."
"Supercalfragalisticexpealdoucious."
"Still not a joke, James."
"I have drugs to kidnap those hot adventurers rooming with us."
"...Are you serious or not, Sev?"
