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Chapter Text

Kyana felt her wings falter, but she could stop. It would soon be day and she had heard someone utter the name of one of her soulmates. She had to hurry before the sun breached the sky. She had to hurry before she lost track of her soulmate. Kyana heard the name again and her wings felt as though they would shatter as she forced herself to be faster.

She saw a building, a home. As she flew closer she saw more, eventually leading up towards tall buildings. They weren't as tall as those "skyscrapers," but tall enough to be the sign of a city. A neighborhood on the outskirts of a small city then, that would easy enough to adjust too.

She fluttered down towards the house where the voice repeating "Dani" in a conversation spoke. She landed in the his garden, hiding in flower bushes to listen. "Dani, please pick up the phone.." The man muttered to himself, pacing across a tile floor.

Kyana knew, vaguely, what a phone was. She had seen ads as she flew and heard a million conversation too, so she didn't move from her spot in the bush. She heard a click from his phone, followed by a voice. "Finbar..? What the hell, man? It's 6 am.." Somebody on the other side of the voice questioned.

Kyana found herself immediately ecstatic, not only did this man know one of her soulmates, he was one of them. She fluttered her way onto his windowsill, trying to get a good look at Finbar.

Oh!

He was so tall! Bald! Had a slight beard! Dressed like a grandfather despite looking like he was only in his late twenties, maybe thirties. He was surrounded by magic, he was practically made of it! The magic was also untamed, following around him not due to force or intention, but fondness. Finbar being well liked by magic made Kyana feel quite happy.

"Dani, what did you do to my coffee grinder?" Finbar said through the phone to Dani, still pacing around his kitchen in frustration.

"You said it was grinding well anymore! I fixed it! And now, if you wind it, it grounds on it's own!" Dani replied, seeming quite pleased with herself.

"I'm fine with that part, that's fine! I'm upset that it now makes my coffee taste like oil, and I can't find where the oil is the clean it off!" Finbar replied, pausing by the mentioned coffee grinder and scowling at it.

"Oh.. oops." Dani said with a chuckle. "I'll come by after work and take it apart to clean it! It'll be fine! You can watch me the whole time!" Dani assured, still chuckling about something.

"Fine, fine.. but you have to wash your hands before washing the pieces and wash your hands again before putting it back together. And your tools!"

"I got it, I got it.." Dani grumbled. "Can I go back to bed now?" Dani asked.

"Yes, you can go back to bed. Sleep well, Dani." Finbar replied, and Kyana heard another click from the phone. Finbar set his phone down carefully and turned towards his sink with a sigh, only to spot Kyana on the windowsill. "Oh.. hello there.." Finbar spoke softly.

Kyana decided this would be the best way to meet him right then and there, and then she'd also avoid the sun. She bonked her head against the glass to keep his attention. Finbar slowly opened the window with one hand and grabbed a dish towel with another. "Are you hurt, sweetheart? It'll be alright. You don't look like a local bat, you must've traveled far." Finbar scooped her up with a dishtowel and wrapped her bat form in it.

Kyana let out a happy sound at him, letting herself be held gently in one hand. "Look at you.. golden little nose and white fur.. you definitely aren't local.." Finbar whispered to her. "I recognize your species.. oh, what are you doing in this country? You are far from home, little angel." Finbar cooed and Kyana decided to just sink into the towel. Maybe she didn't need to reveal herself for another few minutes.

Finbar moved quickly, pulling a small box of some kind out from under a counter and placing several clean dish towels in it with his free hand. "Here you go, little angel. Get comfy. I'm sure you're hungry." Kyana was set down in the box, and as Finbar moved to go grab something from a fruit bowl, she noticed three names in gold on his arm and one in silver.

Dani, VR-LA, and Kyana. Her own name was written like something you'd see on the formal documents of her era, was it perhaps to represent her age? Dani and VR-LA were the same as on her own arm, completely identical. The silver name was Elyse, written in a curling font, surrounded by twisting grape vines. It was quite beautifully written.

Kyana adjusted in her comfortable little towel box and watched as Finbar cut out slices of a pear. "This should be safe for your species, but it's probably sweeter than your used to." Finbar whispered, setting a bowl of pear slices down next to the box. He took one out, and held it out to her. Kyana knew this wouldn't fill her stomach, but being fed by her soulmate would certainly feed her soul, so she happily chomped down on the pear. "Oooh.. look at your little teeth, aren't you so cute?"

She finished the pear, immediately being offered a second slice by Finbar. She happily chomped down that that one too, promptly refusing the third one when Finbar offered by not biting at it. "Okay, so, now I'll have to call around to see if any place can take you.." Finbar said, turning to grab for his phone. Kyana wrestled her way out of the towel, fluttering her wings to fly off the table. "Oh.. no! No! Don't fly! I can't lose you in my house, little one!" Finbar yelped, dropping his phone and trying to grab a dish towel as Kyana promptly landed on the floor.

Kyana placed herself and wrapped her wings around her, shaking a bit before releasing the magic that allowed her to be a bat, willing herself back to her true form. With a "poof!" she turned back into a human, sitting criss cross on the floor. Finbar stared down at her wide eyed, dropping the dish towel and immediately grabbing a broom to wield like a weapon. Kyana stared up at him and blinked a few times before raising up her arms in surrender, making sure he could see the golden writing on her arm.

Finbar narrowed his eyes before slowly narrowing him broom. "Who are you?" Finbar asked, his grip still tight on his broom. Kyana decided to keep her arms up in the air.

"I'm Kyana! I'm a vampire! I'm searching for my soulmates! I heard you saying
'Dani' from miles away and rushed here in hopes it would be the same Dani! Then, she said your name! So, I'm pretty sure you're also my soulmate!" Kyana rushed her way through speaking and Finbar slowly loosened his grip on the broom.

"Why did you stay in your bat form so long, Kyana?" Finbar asked, doubt still evident in his voice.

"You were being sweet and I haven't had a pear before! I've seen em, but haven't eaten em!" Kyana declared. "I also needed a moment to comfortably leave my bat form." That wasn't necessarily a lie, form swapping was harder after a long flight.

"..I would've still given you the pear." Finbar said, slowly moving and picking up the tiny bowl of pear slices, offering it to her.

"No thanks! Human food isn't filling, and it's been long enough since I drank that I should avoid it! Also, the sun is rising, can we move to a room with curtains that actually block light?" Kyana asked, motioning to the window with cute, but see through curtains.

"Yes.., yes! You're right. We can keep talking once you are in less danger!" Finbar said, picking up his phone and leading Kyana to his living room which had dark green curtains. He pulled the curtains closed quickly. He still seemed a bit confused by the whole situation, but he at least wasn't afraid of Kyana for now. "So, uhm, Miss Kyana? Can I take a picture of your arm to send to my other soulmates?"

"Yes, of course! Check whatever you need about my arm." Kyana smiled at Finbar, careful not to flash her fangs at the man. Finbar gently took her arm, taking a photo of it with his phone and sending it as a message to three people. "Are you having them compare your name on my arm to how it is on their arms?" Kyana asked.

"Yes, I am. I'm still not quite sure if this is all real.. I'm sorry." Finbar apologied, anxiously glancing between Kyana and his phone before he got a sudden flurry of messages from the three numbers on his phone. "I have to respond to them, one moment.."

Kyana nodded and waited, letting Finbar text what were likely both their shared soulmates plus Elyse. She took a seat on his couch, watching as he paced and responded to each message. He eventually stopped as the messages slowed. "Right.. looks like you definitely are our soulmate. I'm sorry for being rude.. and almost attacking you with a broom." Finbar said, offering Kyana his hand to shake. Kyana eagerly took it and shook his hand.

"It's fine! I've received ruder greetings!" Kyana replied, still smiling without teeth.

"That's concerning." Finbar immediately replied. "I'm Finbar, as you probably already know. It's nice to meet you. VR-LA and Dani are both rushing over to meet you, according to their texts.." Finbar said sitting down next to her.

"Nice to meet you too! I can't wait to meet them! I've waited 500 years since my turning for your names to appear, y'know!" Kyana declared, seeing Finbar's eyes widen at the high number.

"500 years?" Finbar let out a whistle. "That's quite a lot.. how long were you searching for us?"

Kyana hummed in response, thinking momentarily before answering. "Well, I've wanted to meet you since your name appeared, but I wasn't allowed to leave the community of vampires I was in. When VR-LA's appeared, I was again stopped." Kyana explained. "I only managed to leave a few years after Dani appeared! So, I've been flying for over a month straight now!" Kyana declared, clapping her hands together.

"That must've been exhausting.." Finbar clearly had questions, but he also choose not to ask them. "I know vampires drink blood.. but, I don't think I can get you that. Are you thirsty? You said you haven't drunk in a while."

"I can hunt tonight, don't worry about me! I won't hurt anybody due to my thirst or anything!" Kyana responded, swinging her feet a bit.

"Hunt what exactly?" Finbar asked.

"Birds, rodents. I can get a deer if I try!" Kyana replied, and she saw a lot of tension suddenly leave Finbar.

"You can bring the bodies of anything big you find back to me. I used to hunt, so I can keep the meat from rotting out there." Finbar said, clearly more relaxed than he had been at any point prior.

Kyana couldn't hear as well outside her bat form, but she could still hear boots against stones for a moment before the front door burst open with a loud bang. "Finbar! Where is Kyana? Where is she? Where is our soulmate?" She heard Dani call, with her slamming the door behind her.

"Living room!" Finbar called, and Dani immediately began running again, bursting into the room with another loud bang of the door. Dani made direct eye contact with Kyana and froze. Dani looked like a pretty normal human woman, wearing a sleeveless sweater in the middle of summer. She had black hair with random, messy blue streaks, like somebody had pranked her in the middle of the night and couldn't finish the job.

"Hello! I'm Kyana! You are Dani, right? It's nice to meet you! I've wanted to meet you for so long!" Kyana said, smiling without her fangs showing at Dani, careful not to freak this soulmate out like she had Finbar.

Dani relaxed a bit, although it was clearly forced, and walked towards where Kyana was sitting. "Hi. I'm Dani. Just Dani." Kyana felt Dani's eyes on her arm. Kyana didn't mind, it made sense.

"Hello!" Kyana said again, watching as Dani immediately sat down next to Finbar. "I should warn you, so I don't freak you out like I did Finbar by accident. I'm a vampire!" Kyana announced all too casually.

"You're a vampire? Like the real thing?" Dani didn't seem too stressed when Kyana nodded in response. "I think one of my coworkers is one too, but nobody is sure if they are messing with us or telling the truth."

"Oh! I hope I don't end up invading their hunting grounds then.." Kyana said, immediately concerned. She didn't want to fight somebody on her first day in town.

"Mandy just buys blood online, I think." Dani said, chuckling when she saw Finbar's tense expression. "Chill, buddy, Mandy won't bite you!"

"You can buy blood? Online?" Kyana asked, tilting her head at Dani.

"Uhm, yeah? I thought that would be normal knowledge for a vampire.." Dani said, scratching the back of her heard.

"I've never been on the internet. I've only just learned about it this month.."

"What." Dani immediately replied, seeming more shocked than she had when Kyana said she was a vampire.

Right at the moment, Kyana heard footsteps walking up the stairs of the porch. The door opened and somebody walked in. "Finbar? Which room are you in?" A voice called, and Kyana immediately got excited. The last of her soulmates! VR-LA! She would finally have met them all! She'll have completed her only goal!

"We're in the living room, VR-LA!" Finbar called, and Kyana heard VR-LA stepping down the hall before entering into the living room.

"Good morning." VR-LA calmly called. VR-LA looked like a very normal human, but he also had a prosthetic on his left arm and one on his left leg. Magic swirled around his prosthetics, neat and clean, like somebody had contained it there for his use. VR-LA's eyes were a vague brown, seemingly unexpressive as he looked over at Kyana and hummed. "And, you are Kyana, right?" He asked, slowly walking across the room to where Kyana was sitting.

"Hi! I'm Kyana! It's nice to meet you!" Kyana offered her hand to shake, and VR-LA took it, giving an oddly square shake. Kyana smiled up at him, again careful to avoid showing her teeth to her human soulmates. She knew they tended to scare her prey, so they'd probably scare her soulmates at first too!

"I'm VR-LA. It's nice to meet you too. I'm glad you found us. I've tried searching for you in the past, but found nothing on somebody with your name who had my name on their arm." VR-LA said, gently letting go of Kyana's hand. "Would you be alright with me sitting next to you?"

"Yes! Go ahead!" Kyana said, watching as VR-LA carefully sat down next to her.

"VR-LA. She's never used the internet before.." Dani said, seemingly still stunned.

"Oh?" VR-LA questioned, tilting his head. "That explains why I couldn't find anything on her."

"I think the more important thing is that little miss there is a vampire.." Finbar said, patting Dani on the back.

"Yup! That's why I never used the internet! My community didn't have computers or anything!" Kyana explained, swinging her legs as she looked between all of her soulmates.

VR-LA didn't look too startled by the statement. "That's a surprise, I didn't know my final soulmate would turn out to be a vampire." VR-LA looked briefly like he had something to ask, but he kept quiet after his initial statement.

"Well, have either of you eaten breakfast yet? I can make you both something while you talk to Kyana." Finbar offered, already standing up.

"Nope, haven't eaten!" Dani declared, leaning back in her spot on the couch.

"I have not yet eaten either, but wouldn't you rather get to know Kyana too?" VR-LA asked, only to realize that perhaps his phrasing would put pressure on Finbar. "Of course, you've had the most time with her already, based on your texts."

"I'll have plenty of time to get to know her while you both eat." Finbar said, patting VR-LA on the back as he passed. "And, I got quite the scare when she appeared, so I need a moment."

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! I thought that would be a more gentle introduction!" Kyana said, looking like she genuinely felt bad. "I'm not used to human interactions.." Kyana hadn't fed in a long enough time, so her cheeks couldn't flush, but she still looked quite embarrassed.

"You scared Finbar, how'd you manage that?" Dani asked, finally pulled out of her stunned state. It was clear it was with the intention of messing with Finbar in the future.

"..I'll go make breakfast." Finbar sighed and immediately left the room, walking down the hall to the kitchen.

"How'd you scare, Finbar?" VR-LA asked the second Finbar was out of earshot.

"Well, I.." Kyana began.

Chapter Text

Kyana followed VR-LA happily, passing through the area that had become her hunting ground in the short week since she had found her soulmates. "Are you sure who we're going to see will be fine with meeting me?" Kyana asked, glancing around high alert for anything that might hurt her soulmate in the woods around them.

"Maxim actually requested to meet you, which is why I wanted to bring you along with me this time." VR-LA explained, gently steering Kyana in the right direction as she got slightly off the 'trail.' Kyana looked over at VR-LA, seeing a curious expression on his face, one she'd assume was directed at this 'Maxim'. "He researches the supernatural, like I said earlier."

"Are you fond of him?" Kyana asked, putting emphasis on the word 'fond'.

"Maxim has been a good friend to me for a long time. So, of course, I am fond of him." VR-LA replied, raising an eyebrow when he saw Kyana's smile. "Why do you ask, Kyana? Was there a hidden meaning behind that question?"

"There was no hidden meaning, VR-LA! I was just curious!" It would be rude to ask VR-LA to say anything too personal before he willingly brought it up himself. Kyana still felt a little happy about the idea that her platonic soulmate had been courting somebody though, even if he didn't say it outright. "Do you want to tell me about him?" That question seemed safe enough.

"Maxim is a very intelligent man." VR-LA began, taking a deep breath to allow himself a moment to think. "He altered my prosthetics with magic to make my life easier, and just asked me to ask a colleague of mine to contact him in return. He regularly does maintenance on them too. He's incredibly talented." VR-LA, from the moment he finished his breath, didn't seem like he was talking to Kyana anymore.

"Oh?" Kyana immediately knew that VR-LA, who was basically her brother after only knowing him a week, was not doing the courting, but definitely being courted. She should be observant of Maxim, then. She needs to make sure he's good enough. "What do you both usually talk about?"

"Anything of academic value. From the theories on alternate universes, to recent medical discoveries." VR-LA explained, as they both came into view of an oddly uniform home to just be out in the wilderness. "Maxim has the greatest interest in the supernatural though, so that is one of the most common discussions we have."

"So, that's why you are introducing me to him?" Kyana asked, keeping her tone even and positive for VR-LA. She was genuinely interested, wondering if VR-LA had introduced all of their soulmates to Maxim, or just her due to her supernatural nature.

"Yes and no. He has met both Finbar and Dani, so that, in the case of a medical emergency or some other issue during my visits, he can contact them." VR-LA said, and Kyana nodded. That was good. She'd have to talk to Dani and Finbar about their opinions on Maxim later. VR-LA continued speaking. "You don't have a phone yet, so Maxim can't call you in an emergency, but when you do, I can just put his number in your phone."

Kyana nodded, only understanding half those words. VR-LA had paused, not yet approaching the building to finish talking to Kyana. "If you are uncomfortable with being asked about your vampiric traits, you can stop him. Don't be aggressive or anything, he'll listen if you say no. If he pushes, at all, we'll both immediately leave, I don't want you to be uncomfortable." VR-LA said, a very serious look in his eye.

"I don't have to answer any questions, if I don't want to?" Kyana asked, looking up at VR-LA curious as to his reaction to the question.

"You don't have to answer any question you don't want to answer. I trust Maxim, but I also know what it's like to be meeting him for the first time.." VR-LA said, looking incredibly genuine at the comment. Kyana nodded in response, giving VR-LA a reassuring smile. "Alright, are you ready to meet him?" VR-LA asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready, VR-LA!" Kyana replied. VR-LA walked over to the door with Kyana happily following behind him. There was a lot of magic in this place, almost the same as on VR-LA arms. The magic here was more refined, more uniform. Barely exposed to any other magic in any other way.

VR-LA pressed a button underneath the handle of the door, uttering the phrase "Ad Astra Per Aspera" into the door. Kyana heard a series of clicks inside the door and VR-LA opened the door. Kyana followed VR-LA inside, the smell of magic lingering inside the building strongly.

A witch, huh? That made sense, witches' couldn't smell the magic, but they'd certainly create an environment like this. The magic was incredibly neat, like somebody had untangled it into its own individual threads. Maxim was a very talented witch then. "Maxim?" VR-LA called, not yelling, but not necessarily using his inside voice.

"VR-LA." A voice from another room responded. "Come in."

VR-LA guided Kyana into the room, inside she saw a human man. Everything about his appearance was uniform and even, a sterile white coat pulled over black pants and a black shirt. All of it looked like it was missing seams, which confused Kyana. Surely, weaving fabric into a shirt like that would be inconvenient? He had a weirdly sharp jaw too, which felt uncomfortable when combined with his stoic expression. "Good evening, VR-LA."

"Good evening, Maxim. I apologize for how late my visit had to be. This is Kyana, my platonic soulmate." VR-LA said, motioning to Kyana.

Maxim's face was expressionless as he looked Kyana up and down. Kyana waved politely at him. "Hi! I'm Kyana."

"I am Maxim. You are the vampire VR-LA has told me about, correct?" Maxim asked, striding across the room towards them both.

"Yes, I am!" Kyana replied, grabbing onto VR-LA's arm to keep as close as she observed Maxim. She kept her tone positive and light.

Maxim nodded at Kyana and motioned to a table with three chairs at it. Kyana now noticed that he had a prosthetic finger, made in the same style as VR-LA's prosthetics. "Feel free to take a seat. I have to do my usual maintenance on VR-LA's arm. If you would allow, Kyana, may I ask you some questions?" Maxim asked.

"It depends on what your questions are." Kyana replied. VR-LA chuckled at her tone of voice, already heading over to take a seat.

"That is acceptable.. I have some blood I purchased for analysis, which I no longer have any use for. Perhaps you could accept the blood bags as payment for answering a few questions?" Maxim offered.

"Again, it depends on the questions, but I am willing to accept it." Kyana repeated herself, she was mostly curious as to why he had blood, but decided not to ask.

"I fully understand." Maxim agreed, and picked up a box off a desk in the room. VR-LA took a seat, so Kyana followed and sat next to VR-LA. "Have there been any issues with your arm as of late, VR-LA?" Maxim asked, taking a seat across from VR-LA.

Maxim opened up the box, taking out a bunch of small delicate tools. He set them on the table in an incredibly organized fashion and VR-LA laid his arm across the table, rolling his sleeve up. Kyana watched quietly as Maxim began doing checks on the arm, waiting for Maxim to speak first.

"Kyana, how old are you, if you are aware?" Maxim asked.

"I was turned by my sire 523 years ago at the age of 19." Kyana answered, the question wasn't too personal. She could answer that.

"Would you mind telling me the name of your sire? I have records of some historical vampires." Maxim asked and Kyana narrowed her eyes at him. Maxim wasn't looking at her to see, staring down at VR-LA's arm as he worked.

"I will not be answering that." Kyana said, looking over at VR-LA. VR-LA returned the look, nodding reassuringly at Kyana.

"I understand." Maxim said, only briefly glancing at Kyana before looking back at VR-LA's arm. Maxim took a small tool that looked like a dull hook and began examining wires. "I do actually have a list of questions, so my apologies if any of these questions seem odd or unrelated to previous questions."

"That's alright!" Kyana replied, letting her normal cheerful tone seep back into her voice. "I'm not sure what exactly is common knowledge or not about vampires to humans, but I'd certainly be happy to discuss what is common knowledge to vampires."

"I fully understand. I shall avoid any personal questions and stick to general knowledge instead." Maxim said, grabbing a different tool to clean something within the mechanics of VR-LA's prosthetic.

"I'm quite curious as well, even if I'm less educated on the topic." VR-LA added, his eyes very obviously focused on Maxim's hands. Kyana held back a giggle upon seeing how unsubtle VR-LA was. It was cute, Kyana thought.

"Kyana, could you perhaps tell me about how vampires hunt animals? Humans already have some knowledge of this, but much is outdated and from observation rather than an inside perspective." Maxim asked, pausing before elaborating. "What instincts tend to go into it? What do you look out for?" Maxim kept his voice flat and stoic, but Kyana could sense excitement beneath the surface of those questions.

"To make it easier for me, I'll talk about what would go into hunting a rabbit.." Kyana said, humming in thought as to how to explain it. "Vampires usually start a hunt using our bat form, as it's something that won't disturb most prey animals if we are careful. We have significantly enhanced hearing in this form, so we merely follow the sounds of our prey."

Maxim nodded to show he was listening and Kyana was very sure VR-LA was only half-listening, his eyes still following Maxim's fingers against his prosthetic. Kyana, again, withheld a giggle to be polite. He looked so focused.

Kyana took a deep breath and continued. "With smaller prey, vampires swoop in using their bat form, sinking their teeth in. We don't use our humanoid form until the prey is dead."

"And with large prey?" Maxim questioned, his checks on VR-LA's arm coming to an end, with him carefully putting everything back into place.

"With larger prey, we'll get right above in bat form so we can fall right onto it when we return to our humanoid form. We'll get our fangs into its neck, draining the blood until we kill it or get our fill. Most creatures cannot fight nothing on their back, especially a vampire." Kyana explained, leaning back in her chair a bit. Maxim nodded as she finished, returning his tools to their box.

"Thank you for answering my question, Kyana." Maxim said before turning back to VR-LA, who had already straightened his expression. "VR-LA, your arm is in perfect working order as always."

VR-LA nodded politely and smiled. "Thank you for your time, Maxim. Your help with my arm is always appreciated." VR-LA said, and his expression was so soft. Kyana felt that maybe Maxim was alright.

Chapter Text

 Kyana poked her head slightly out of Dani's pocket, the hooks of her wings kept her snuggly inside as she looked around. She could see a bunch of buildings nearby, and Dani seemed to be walking up some stairs, so they'd probably get to Dani's apartment soon. She couldn't crane her head far enough to see Dani's face, so she just pulled herself back in the comfortable warmth of the pocket. 

  Kyana felt a hand lightly pat against the pocket and heard Dani's voice. "Kyana, we're almost to my apartment." Dani said, her hand waiting outside the pocket. Kyana climbed into the hand, letting herself be held in front of Dani. She could see Dani's face now, her usual grumpy looking expression on clear display. "You might want to be out of your bat form when you meet Plug.. I think he'll try to eat you if you stay a bat." 

 Kyana gave the closest approximation to a nod she could in her bat form. She climbed to the edge of Dani's hand, gliding off onto the ground. She wrapped her wings around herself, releasing the magic that kept her as a bat to return to her true form. She was back to being just a bit smaller than Dani, and her limbs felt numb from lack of use. She stretched, getting some feeling back into her limbs as Dani unlocked the front door of her apartment.

 "Plug! I'm home!" Dani called into the apartment, looked back at Kyana. "Come in." Dani invited, walking into the tiny hallway. Kyana immediately followed, examining the apartment. It was nearly completely empty, and a bit dusty. There was a cat tree though, with a chubby gray cat inside it.

 It seemed like Dani was only ever in her apartment for her cat or to sleep. Dani walked over the cat tree, giving the cat, presumably Plug, several scritches under the chin. Kyana approached the cat tree carefully, watching Dani pet Plug. Kyana wasn't really sure how to introduce herself to an animal.

 Kyana kneeled next to the cat tree, holding her hand out to Plug. Plug sniffed at her and turned around in the cat tree, laying down and ignoring Kyana. “Oh, hey, he doesn’t hate you!” Dani said, giving Kyana an awkward pat on the back. 

 Kyana glanced around, feeling even more how empty Dani’s apartment was. There wasn’t even a couch. “..why’s it so empty in here?” Kyana asked.

 “Well.. uh..” Dani stopped, seeming to think. “I pretty much only come home to take care of Plug and sleep, when he can’t just come to work with me.” 

 Kyana wasn’t sure if that was healthy, but she didn’t say anything.

  “You don’t cook or anything?” Kyana asked.

 “I use a microwave.” 

 “I don’t think that’s cooking.”

 “It’s not.” Dani shrugged, petting Plug some more. 

-

 Kyana was back in Dani’s pocket again, being taken to go see Dani’s workplace, ‘The Heap’. Kyana was starting to wonder how often Dani washed her jacket, but decided not to focus on it. Dani was walking through a junkyard currently, trying to get to a main building towards one edge, her hand shielding Kyana’s pocket in case Dani bumped into something.

 Dani got to the main building pretty quickly, slipping in through a garage with old cars getting repairs. Kyana poked her head out just enough to see Dani waving at them and receiving waves in return. The waves didn’t seem necessarily friendly or mean, just tired and neutral. That didn’t seem very good. 

 Dani headed into another room, which had a bunch of workbenches with various projects in progress on each one. Dani walked to one towards the end of the room and took Kyana out of her pocket, setting Kyana down on the workbench and sitting down.

 Somebody walked over to Dani’s desk, a guy who looked to be slightly older than Dani and who smelled so strongly of oil and charcoal that it made Kyana’s nose hurt. “Dani, hey, could you-” He paused, spotting Kyana on Dani’s workbench. “Why is there a bat on your desk?”

 “Don’t worry about it.” Dani said immediately, waving the person off.

 The man stared at Kyana, who puffed up slightly at him. “It doesn’t look real at all, it looks like a kid’s toy, but I can see it moving. Why do you have a bat, Dani? Seriously, why?”

 Dani stuck her tongue out at him like a child. “Don’t worry about it, Roy. ”

 The guy frowned at her. “Fine, fine. Whatever. This isn’t the weirdest thing you’ve done.” He left, heading off into a connected room. 

  Kyana seriously wondered what the weirdest thing Dani had ever done was.

 -

 The sun had set a while ago now and Kyana waited outside a convenience store as Dani bought herself some snacks. Kyana turned her head as she heard the doors slide open. Dani stepped out of the convenience store with a plastic shopping bag full of snacks.

 Dani waved and quickly walked over to Kyana. "C'mon, we can go hang out at the park." 

 "Alright!" Kyana happily let Dani lead the way, looking over the patches on Dani's jacket as she walked a few steps behind. "You've got a lot of those! Do they mean something?" 

 Dani gave Kyana a confused look.

 "Your patches!" Kyana clarified.

 "Oh yeah, uh…" Dani took a moment, thinking of how to explain it. "My patches mostly don't mean anything. I've got the one that matches Roy, a few flags for different friends, weird shit I found." 

 "Flags?" Kyana asked. "Like country flags?"

 "Pride flags." Dani said, rather flatly.

 "Oh, I've heard of those!" Kyana smiled. 

 "Bi, trans, and ace." Dani pointed to the respective flag. "Not telling you for who, not your business." 

 "That's fair." Kyana walked a bit faster so she could walk next to Dani instead. "What about the other ones? Like that weird black thing with the red eyes?"

 "Mothman."

 "What?"

 "Mothman." 

 "I don't know what that is, Dani." 

 Dani started sprinting.

 "Wait- hey!" Kyana chased after her.

 Dani cackled.

 "That's so childish! Come back!"