The evening air was colder than Aris had expected. He stood still in front of his door for a long moment, breathing in the sweet spring breeze. The noise of the children playing couldn't be heard anymore, replaced by the quiet rustle of leaves swaying with the gentle zephyr.
Aris took a moment to consider where to go, he had remembered to get access to his bank account from Lyra earlier, so getting a taxi was going to be his best option if he wanted to find a good grocery store.
Well,
It should have been.
Aris glanced down the empty street.
Not a single vehicle passed by.
Not a single pedestrian, either.
The realization settled in slowly.
"…Right."
Of course.
This kind of place didn't need taxis.
Everyone here had their own transport.
Aris stepped off the porch, the soft gravel crunching faintly under his shoes as he made his way toward the gate.
There wasn't any point in standing around.
And he was hungry.
If taxi's didn't come here, he was just going to have to walk until he found one.
Very simple.
The streets were quiet as he walked past, the pristine condition it was kept in a little unsettling after his years in the pink district. True, that place had its own flaws, but over time Aris had started finding comfort in the little wrongs of the pink district.
The same couldn't be said about the Crown district.
It was just, a little too ordered. A little too coordinated. Aris hated things like that, things that pretended like it knew what it was doing in this chaotic world.
Time passed by slowly as he walked, the ambient light around him dimming down as the sun lazily settled into the horizon. The street lights flickered on one by one, bathing the streets in its fluorescent white lights.
The change in atmosphere had been immediate the moment he stepped out of the bounds of the crown district. It wasn't anything too apparent, just the small details, the change in the way the roads were kept, the conditions of the street side architecture, the return of the quite buzz of human activity.
Aris breathed in the familiar comfort of human civilization, then scanned the road for a passing taxi, managing to wave one down after a few minutes of looking.
The grocery store he picked wasn't anything too fancy, he didn't have the need for one. He asked the taxi driver to drop him off at a relatively normal looking store for the crown district, taking a moment to study the building before he stepped in.
The shift came the moment he stepped inside.
Fluorescent lights hummed faintly overhead. The cool air carried the scent of packaged goods and something faintly artificial, clean in a way that didn't try too hard.
Perfectly normal.
He walked between the aisles looking for things that he wanted. Ten minutes in, the shopping cart he was dragging around was already full, filled to the brim with ingredients, snacks and other stuff that would be essential for him.
There was a small line at the counter, Aris quietly joined the queue, not much going on in his head other than wondering what he would make for dinner.
He was almost at the front of the line when he noticed her walking in.
Not because she stood. Not because she did anything unusual. No, the reason was the exact opposite of that.
For as long Aris could remember, he had always distinguished people by the quality of their presence. It was a weird way of remembering people, but for someone who at a young age, had learned the consequences of choosing to trust the wrong people, it was imperative. Each person had their unique quality of presence, their scent, the way they breathed, the noises their body made, the nature of their mana, it would all conjoin in this concoction of presence that Aris used to distinguish between people.
So for the first time ever, when he sensed the presence of someone who was perfectly... normal... almost balanced in all of that aspect, he was quite taken aback.
No, not taken aback. That was the wrong word.
He was feeling curious.
The women herself wasn't anything unusual for this kind of place. Expensive looking lounge-wear, a beautiful face that screamed 'awakened', and the discipline of a seasoned warrior in her movements.
Though her presence, it was like a perfect flat-line. Almost like, her existence bore no weight against reality.
Which was weird. Because traditionally, the stronger a person was, the bigger the weight of their existence.
And this woman looked strong.
Almost as strong as he himself.
She stepped inside the grocery store unceremoniously, no one batting an eye as she walked over to the snacks section.
Aris let out an exhale, his grip on the cart loosening.
He was just curious. That's all.