[Kyrit]

Their relationship had started a bit.... Rough. Zae was a little bit of a clean freak, keeping her clinic sparkling clean. The moment Faen had walked in with Ailou keeping anything clean became damn near impossible with trails of gooey black ichor dragged across the previously plush white carpet. Apparently showing her a creature she had never seen before had been able to smooth things over a bit, even if she still wasn't happy. It had been enough to grant Faen at least a chance at getting Ailou some help.

[Kyrit]

Most people at large either didn't know about Chaos or flat out didn't believe in them. As a fellow scientist, Zae had told herself that if anyone ever brought her proof that they existed she would believe. She remained a bit skeptical, but Ailou was pretty hard proof to dispute. Even if she seemed to be... falling apart. That was something Faen had been able to explain though, as the one that had caused it all.

[Kyrit]

Ailou was an attempt at producing a young Chaos that did not need to eat Dweller meat to survive. One that had been genetically altered while still developing in its egg to contain Dweller DNA. It hadn't worked out as expected though. Instead her body was constantly attacking her own cells unless Faen was able to supply her with an adequate supply of Dweller meat, which was incredibly hard to come by. With time it had gotten worse, and without a lab of her own there wasn't much she could do to help Ailou any more. She considered the small Chaos much like her own child though and couldn't just give up.

[Kyrit]

That was where Zae came in. They had talked for some time, and if Faen agreed to share her knowledge of the Chaos and further research of fixing Ailou's cellular integrity, Zae would allow her to use the lab at Evo-Lux Emporium in Aldrect as her own. At least for the time being.

It hadn't been long since her arrival in Aldrect before Faen realized that the festival of the golden thread was quickly approaching. It held.... strong memories. Some good, some less so.

[Kyrit]

The last time she had participated in the festival she and Enair had made loads of Keystones by buying a bit of paint, using one of her Chaos serums, and painting her scales gold to assume the part of the faithful 'dragon' in the story. The less good was... well, they'd abandoned their companions in what they thought was a terrible situation beforehand. Sure, everything turned out alright in the end, but it still reminded her of past failures.

[Kyrit]

Regardless of her feelings on the festival, Faen knew it was a great business opportunity. For one, she could enter the contest again and use her actual Chaos form to hopefully win again. Secondly she told Zae all about what the festival was really about, how Gendragutte was no 'dragon' as everyone claimed and how maybe they could find some other Chaos slinking about the festival. If they could find someone they could get some fresh DNA samples to take back to the lab.

[Kyrit]

Granted, showing off her Chaos form was also a risk if there did end up being any other Chaos lurking about the festival. Sure, they had survived the ordeal with The Collector, but it was always possible there were still others out there that knew the true origins of the story and would be after her the moment they saw her scales. The money would be so so nice though.... At the very least enough to send back to Haru so he could get the apartment cleaned.

[Kyrit]

With her mind made up to make the cash, the two had agreed to close up Evo-Lux Emporium for the duration of the festival. There likely wouldn't have been much business coming in anyways, and the loss of what little business would have come in would be worth it if they did run into any other Chaos. Zae even got in touch with some of her own colleagues and learned that at least one of them already planned on being in the area as well.

[Kyrit]

Not long after arriving at the busy city center the two women split up. Zae went off to figure out where her colleague had set up and Faen went off to join those in line to sign up for the festival. Along the way several sights fought for her attention, though the booths with the spools of thread won out. More horrible memories. Not of the actual thread from the story, but close. It had tied her to Dr. Habersham, allowing them to share thoughts as the story had described.

[Kyrit]

Unlike the thread of the story though, had their ties lingered she would have become nothing more than a puppet of his. A Weaver. A shudder passed through her body at the thought and the once human woman forced herself to continue on with a shake of her head. The Collector was gone, Dr. Habersham was gone. They could all safely celebrate the holiday that humanity at large barely understood, and she could rake in the money - if she wasn't too late to join the contest.

(Join the contest)

[Kyrit]

Go figure, she was too late. A frown spread across Faen's lips as the host told her how she'd just missed the chance to join in. The last entrant had offered to sign up as a duo though, so it wasn't all bad news. As she stared into his striking orange eyes though she had a bad feeling about joining up with him. A particularly unusual color of eyes, the pause before calling Gendragutte a dragon, tripping over giving his own name.... perhaps she was being a bit on the paranoid side, but it wasn't hard for her to guess that in all likelihood Auberon was a Chaos doing his best to fit in among the crowd.

[Kyrit]

If Auberon was a Chaos as she suspected that would make her choices difficult. There was the possibility he just wanted in on the human festivities, perhaps learn a bit more about the world that mirrored his own. If that was the case Faen would want to help him enjoy his time to the fullest. She knew Chaos weren't inherently evil. She'd lived along so many back in Essolei and now she lived with Haru.

The possibility that he did want to cause trouble weighed heavily on her mind though as her own fingers nervously trailed through her hair, catching on a few of the golden strands.

[Kyrit]

"I..." she stated out, followed by silence for a time. She couldn't risk showing her Chaos form in front of the crowd now she thought to herself as she stared into those burning orange eyes. Sure, the entire point of bribing Zae along was to introduce her to any Chaos that was caught lurking about, but now as one possibly looked at her right now she was.... scared. Should she have been?

Probably not. It was just one. They had taken on foes of a grand scale twice now and she'd made it out just fine. Had even been blessed with control over her form by the gods. So why was she scared now?

[Kyrit]

It must have been the knowledge of the dragon's fate eating away at the back of her mind, causing her to worry deep down that by feeding in to the festival and showing herself off she'd be announcing to him and every other possible Chaos hiding out in the crowd that in a way the golden Chaos lived once again.

She should decline and just watch from the crowd. If he did transform on stage and prove her right she could always approach him later. The average person in the crowd would think it was just magic anyways as long as he didn't hurt anyone, so there would be plenty of time.

[Kyrit]

But.... she did really need that money. Could she really pass up the chance at such easy cash when it was right before her? Plus if she was up on stage with him if he did try to attack anyone she could get in the way if she absolutely had to. If he did want to just put on a show she'd be able to play along with it easily.

Slowly she removed her hand from her tangled locks and held it out to Auberon. "I'm not very confident I can pull off the role of an angel," not that she wasn't tinkering with a new serum using one of Safi's feathers she had taken, "but I think we could manage somehow. I've got a bit of experience with this contest, so I'll do my best to support you."

(Team up with Auberon)