A Grim Masterpiece [Awakening/Sakuya]

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya nodded as Jaelyn mentioned that she was prepared for this somewhat. Well, the fact that Sakuya had tried to hide her true nature to her. Eventually, Sakuya had realized her folly when she completely forgot Jaelyn's current condition. Yes, she was still quite hurt. Sakuya sighed and hugged Jaelyn again. Soon, she spoke. I don't really tell anyone this, but I have a home out in the Shadowlands. It's not as clean as the flat I have back in the city, but all the goods I store in there I purchase from the city so it's as clean as you're going to find in the Shadowlands... Unless, of course, you want me to take you back to the city, that's also fine... Sakuya said slowly.

She offered Jaelyn the decision to decide where she wanted to take things easy. Right now, Sakuya's priority was keeping Jaelyn safe and letting her recover from her wounds. Eventually, her voice reverted back to the original, human aspect. "I'll get you to a place where you can get some rest, then."

[Jaelyn Callahan]

A home in the shadowlands? Jaelyn supposed she shouldn't have been too surprised. There were plenty left over to choose from. Just pick one that was still in good condition, move in some stuff from the city to replace anything that had been ruined, find a way to keep other shadows out, and it would be fine. It wasn't like anyone would complain. Jaelyn suspected that everyone who had lived in the outer circle before was now either trapped on the inside or dead. Heck, if not for the fact that she tended to exhaust herself within a few hours of venturing into the outside, Jaelyn might have considered setting up a safe house for herself.

"It's fine," Jaelyn said. "Your place out here, I mean. I don't really want to go back to the city looking like this anyway." With any luck, Sakuya would have a change of clothes available too. The ones she had on now were utterly ruined. But either way, she wanted to at least avoid going back looking like hell ran her over. Maybe some day, the story of how she ran into a shadow looking like her mother and beat it with an insane emperor of Rome after another shadow saved her life would be fun to tell. Right now, though, she didn't want the attention of anyone except Sakuya. "Go ahead and take me, then. Although...I'm not sure if I can stand at the moment."

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Jaelyn seemed to be content with Sakuya taking her to her Shadowlands villa. At the same time, Jaelyn's clothes were all ripped and it might have been dangerous to take her back into the city in her current state too, so Sakuya simply nodded and looked about, wondering if there were any straggling threats. Meanwhile, she thought to herself and wondered if she had a spare change of clothes. She probably did, she'd just hoped Jaelyn wouldn't mind wearing it. Fortunatey they were a modest set of clothing. Jaelyn looked like she couldn't stand though, and to this Sakuya made a sudden display of strength and took Jaelyn in her arms, performing a bridal carry, letting Jaelyn cling to Sakuya as the latter carried her if she so wished.

"Alright. My place isn't that far from here. Unfortunately I couldn't get any light fixtures working there, so the only light that's gonna be in the villa will be a buttload of candles," Sakuya said as she began to carry Jaelyn to her place. "Hope you don't mind. For the meantime, you need to rest."

The Shadow began carrying Jaelyn to safety...