Cold. That was the first thing Cyn felt as consciousness slowly tugged her back. A chill seeps into her body, cutting through the heat that still clings to her insides. Her eyelids fluttered, heavy until she forced them open.
A pale face swam into view above her, framed by long silver hair that shimmered faintly even in the darkness. The woman's violet eyes blinked with concern, and her soft voice broke the quiet.
"Are you alright?" Emilia asked, brushing a strand of hair from Cyn's damp forehead. Her tone was gentle, careful, but behind it was relief.
Cyn blinked again, her vision still swimming. Emilia's gaze lingered for a moment longer than most people's would. The girl's visor-like eyes - unnatural in their... uh... unnatural socketry - made her pause. strange... she thought. But rather than recoil, Emilia's expression merely shifted into a brief flicker of confusion before softening again. choosing to accept her differences.
"Does anything hurt? Can you move?" Emilia continued.
Cyn stared at her, lips parting, but no immediate answer came. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to feel: pain, exhaustion, or maybe nothing at all. But the one thing she did feel was an unbearable heat, and right beneath her + next to her, was an amazing, fully functional fridge to cool herself off.
A shaky breath slipped out of her. Before Emilia could ask again, Cyn shifted, still sprawled in the girl's lap, and pressed herself closer against the source of that refreshing chill. Her arms latched tight, face nuzzling into the fabric of Emilia's dress.
"Mmm… cold," she hummed, almost melting into her. The words were followed by a low, vibrating... purr...? as she completely ignored Emilia the person's words. As shoving her face into the fleshy ice cube was more appealing than communing.
Emilia's shoulders jerked in surprise, her hands hovering awkwardly above the girl clinging to her. Wide eyes darted down, searching Cyn's face as if to make sense of what she was hearing.
She… wasn't a cat demi-human… was she? There's no tail or ears, so why-?
She glanced at Puck, still floating near her shoulder. His tiny paws lifted in an exaggerated shrug, the little spirit's whiskers twitching with barely-contained amusement. Deciding to be useless was a great option right now.
Emilia blinked rapidly, flustered and utterly confused.
Cyn only snuggled closer, purring louder.
.
.
.
"U-um… hello? Are you okay?"
Her words drifted uncertainly, trying to gain the attention of the vice-gripping child, but sadly, they fell against Cyn like a droplet fighting iron. No reply came, no words acknowledged. Just the continued, weird low rumbling sound that mimicked a cat pur, as Cyn pressed her cheek more firmly into Emilia's lap, clinging as though she'd just discovered the world's most precious treasure. This was a weird experience if Emilia had to say to herself, considering most children feared her, and from what Emilia knew, also didn't pur.
So all Emilia could do was stand frozen herself, giving a glance to her only parental figure in her life currently, puck. Floating nearby as his little tail twitched with his eyes narrowing with a feline curiosity, as a cat would do when they find a non-kitty... purring. Perhaps if she were a cat-demi-human, it wouldn't be weird, but no, no signs of anything cat-like.
The warmth radiating off Cyn's body was almost feverish. Emilia bit her lip as concern knitted her brows. She was kindhearted by nature (some would say too kind), so there was no way she could ignore a child who clearly suffered alone to fend for herself. Carefully, she lifted one hand above Cyn's back.
A faint mist gathered around her fingertips, sparkling as it spread through the air. The temperature shifted instantly as coolness began flowing like a breath of fresh winter wind.
For nearly a minute, she let the magic flow, soothing away the heat. The girl stirred faintly in her lap, clutch tightening, and a content hum slipped out of her lips. "Mmm… cold."
Then, like a trap being sprung, Cyn suddenly bolted upright. Her head darted left, right, then left again, eyes wide and frantic. She scrambled off Emilia's lap, hands fumbling as if searching for something invisible. "Panicked searching!" she blurted, dropping to all fours before scuttling across the dirt with surprising speed.
Emilia blinked, hands frozen midair. "...Eh?"
"Eh?" Puck echoed, both of them sharing the exact same brain cell. Sadly, this (icy elf) runs on PG-13 filters (because icy kitty decreed so), which sadly meant no what the fu- for them.
Cyn's movements were clumsy, gravity itself apparently her worst enemy. Every few steps, she nearly tripped over her own feet. After some quality time f̶l̶a̶i̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ searching, her eyes landed on Subaru lying face-first on the stony ground, still enjoying his world-class nap after a club auditioned for the role of "blunt trauma" on his head. (perfectly accurate re-cap.)
Cyn dashed over, only if "dashed" meant tripping and then crash-landing on her knees right beside him. (Not intentional. But since god and anime are on her side, she landed the fall gracefully...) She hit the ground and immediately grabbed Subaru's shoulders like she'd been aiming for that the whole time. Perfect landing.
"Subaru-kun? Subaru-kun? Wakey wakey," she pleaded? shaking him with the urgency of someone trying to get a vending machine to cough up all their goods.
Poke to the cheek. Poke to the forehead. poke to the eye. hmm? nothing? violent shakes should be the answer...
...
Still nothing. Subaru groaned faintly, face firmly in dreamland, optional optional is optional.
Emilia stayed kneeling where she was, silver hair slipping over her shoulders as she gave Puck a sidelong glance. The spirit hovered with his tail twitching lazily, eyes narrowed, still as bemused as she was.
Neither of them intervened. Instead, they simply watched the... what was happening, occur. one, a kindhearted half-elf baffled by the child's strange behaviour, the other a spirit who found amusement in the extremely odd events unfolding before him.
Emilia stayed kneeling where she was, silver hair falling over her shoulders as she traded a look with Puck. The spirit's tail twitched lazily, his little eyes narrowed in amusement. The half-elf was baffled; the cat was entertained. Neither of them moved to intervene.
After a good minute of relentless poking, Cyn froze at a polite voice behind her."Excuse me," said the very nice refrigerator.
Naturally, Cyn liked refrigerator-san, so she turned her head, tilted it like a curious bird, and said, "questioning expression. Yes?"
The refrigerator (actually Emilia, but details are overrated) blinked again. Her lips pressed together awkwardly before she managed a small, careful smile.
"Um… he should be fine. Subaru's just sleeping, I think. Nothing to worry about," she offered gently, as if explaining to a child that no, just because you can put your hand in a fire for a fraction of a second, you can't lie in it.
Cyn nodded gravely, as though this was deeply profound medical knowledge. ("i see" i said mentally, but did not add because... because)
Emilia hesitated, then decided… small talk. That was the thing to do, right? She smoothed her hands over her skirt and tried."My name's Emilia," she said kindly. "What's yours?"
Cyn blinked at her. "…Cyn. short for cynnamon," then Cyn blinked again, and had a confused expression.
Puck snorted loud enough to be audible. Emilia blinked twice, visibly trying to process whether that was serious or not.
Cyn... was still confused on why she had said that... and also what was cinnamon?
A/N Im back, and I have decided that random bullshit go is a great writing strategy.
Please comment if I make mistakes, and I hope you comment on how much you liked a certain joke. Because I love making jokes. And reading comments gives me happiness and motivation.
Anyway
see ya!