The faint steam still curled from the strange cup between them.
Aziel leaned back, his gaze fixed on Alkroz, now less a stranger and more a mystery waiting to unfold.
The silence that followed wasn't empty, it was dense, layered with unspoken questions neither seemed ready to voice.
"Alkroz, huh," Aziel said finally, his tone casual but his mind still grinding through possibilities.
"You don't really strike me as the friendly scientist type."
Alkroz chuckled softly, sitting back down. "And you don't strike me as the kind who should even exist here."
Aziel smirked faintly, tapping his fingers against the table.
"Fair. I guess introductions should go both ways. Name's Aziel."
The way Alkroz's eyes flicked up at that name, briefly, sharply, didn't go unnoticed.
A flicker of recognition? Or just curiosity?
It was hard to tell.
"Aziel," Alkroz repeated under his breath, almost as if tasting the word, then nodded slowly. "Strange. It doesn't sound like a Plasma name."
