[Jaykobell]

He had never looked his best, often sporting a disheveled look akin to that of a street punk. Even when wearing a suit, he never quite managed the "professional" and "clean-shaven" look all that well.

But as he ran through the port town, he looked his worst yet. No colors anywhere! Had that scientist lied? She'd said there were still colors here! He needed colors. Any colors. He just needed colors.

"Sorry!" he asked a random passerby, intercepting during their walk. "Have you seen any color around?"

He asked this from a few people, but he was only given grunts and angry snaps for responses. "There are no colors!" was usually the answer. Everyone seemed confused and frustrated over the situation, and with no answer to make it any better.

After a few fruitless interactions, he dropped onto a bench. He bent down and held his head, his hands frantically rubbing the hair. He needed a moment. He needed to calm down. There had to be color somewhere around here. Even just a little bit would help! He just needed to find it...

[zapdragon555]

"Jeez. What a fuckin' dump." Charcoal-black hands gripped at the popped collar of his jacket, and Chroma took a brief moment to observe just how utterly grey the ocean was. Normally a beautiful teal-blue, it had been sucked of all its vibrancy, and it made Chroma's lips purse in a slow single-note whistle of sympathy for the old thing.

He turned on his heel, heavy boots thudding the wooden pier as he slid his hands into his pockets. At the moment, he was cloaked. He visited this plane with his cloaking already on, on principle, as most general human life was not keen on the sudden appearance of anyone out of thin air, human-shaped or not. Running a dark hand through dark locks, one look at the bright colors in his bangs told him that uncloaking would have worse consequences, as well. Chroma stuck out like a sore thumb, his jacket decorated in splashes of wild color, his black underclothes and fingertips a deeper, richer black than the faded mess that lurked in the shadows of buildings.

And he would have kept this cloaking--would have held it very nicely, and easily, for he'd had quite a bit of time on his own plane to rest--if not for tripping and spilling over a foot, belonging to a man who held his head in his hands. He shouted and caught himself on the arm of the bench, his every-color-streaked eyes wild with surprise as he shot a look at the man. Well, he was seen, now. The rest of the pier was empty for now. This would be a fine test.

[Jaykobell]

His mind was looping nervously, imagining all sorts of worst-case scenarios. He didn't even know how much time he actually had to find colors. And at this rate, even all the time in the world wouldn't be enough. No one knew where the remaining splash of color was. Maybe that scientist had been just as desperate. Maybe she'd lied to him.

His thoughts were interrupted when something — someone? — tripped over him. He yelped in pain at his foot getting knocked in the process, straightening up like lightning. "Wh-what the hell?!"

He'd uttered the words out of generic shock, but the wind caught in his throat when he saw—

"C... Colors!" he squeaked, his voice rising to an embarrassing pitch, but the excitement couldn't be contained. His eyes rounded, big as moons, as he looked over the bright colors the strange sported. Well, they sported some other things — weird things — but he was used to weird things. He didn't care about those weird things.

"Gosh, sorry, I-I mean," he stammered as he offered to help up the stranger. He hadn't even seen anything before this newcomer had tripped. Regardless, this stranger had colors. And he had to convince this strange to part with them. "Gosh, are you okay? Did I trip you? I-I didn't see you there." He rambled, he rambled when he got frantic. He needed this stranger to trust him.

"M-my name's Hori, by the way," he said, knowing introductions were a pave way to forging trust. "Who're you?"

[zapdragon555]

He'd dropped more than just his visual cloak, it seemed. Once glance behind himself showed the long flowing tail that swept the floor, shifting colors of paint seeping through fur at the tip. With a flash, he hid it, disappearing it away along with the animal ears perking his hair. Chroma shifted his jacket with an agitated movement, drawing it tighter around himself as he stared levelly at this stranger.

"Hey," he said after a moment, when the man finally took time to breathe. He reached out and placed a hand on the man's shoulder, his eyes lidding and mouth stretching in a smile. "Shut up. Slow down, and leave me be. Whatever shit you're babbling, it's not my problem, yeah?"

Chroma's smile turned sweet, and he patted the man's arm, before tucking his hands back into his pockets and continuing to walk.

[Jaykobell]

A lot of people had been short with him ever since he'd arrived in this port town. It had to do with the colors being gone, he figured. But typically, he could tell the anger wasn't directed at him: it was second-hand anger at the whole situation. He did kind of get it. He was stressed, too.

So when this one stranger, whom he had tried to help, spoke to him that way — it flared up his anger. "Hey!"

He dashed towards the man, and he abruptly swerved to block his path. "I'm sorry, alright? You tripped over me!" It didn't seem like this guy would make it easy for Hori to earn his trust, but fine. He could be pushy. He would be pushy. He needed to be pushy. "And I don't care about you, or your shitty attitude, but you're the only one here with any kind of color on you! Why? Where did you find it?"

[zapdragon555]

Chroma wasn't going to stop, really. In fact, he wasn't even going to look back. But the slew of hot-headed words that suddenly tumbled from the person's mouth brought a small smirk of amusement to his face. And, well... he had asked. Unfortunately, Chroma didn't have very many answers for him.

"Oh this?" he asked, turning around and reaching to flick a piece of colored hair at his forehead. "Dunno. To tell you the truth, it's been a minute since I visited this plane. Last I checked, this port city was vibrant and beautiful..."

Chroma hummed out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders, a grin tugging at his mouth. Pointed canines were revealed as he winked. "I'm thinking the people of this plane must be shit outta luck. Something like this can only herald the coming of a disaster, after all. I won't stay long... just wanted to visit and enjoy myself a bit." The demon's eyes drifted over to the street, just a ways away from the pier, then back to the man with an easy smile on his face. "You seem desperate. S'kinda cute. What's got you so worked up, other than all..." He raised a hand to twirl a finger around, gesturing vaguely to the whole area around them. "...this?"

[Jaykobell]

Hori was pleasantly surprised by the demon's reaction. After being told to "shut up", he had had little faith in this stranger cooperating. He might as well take advantage of the fact he was talking, then, even if his answer failed to help Hori in his mission.

But some of the things this demon said did stand out. Specifically, the fact he wasn't from here. He wasn't here when this shitshow happened, he thought as he stared, and as the demon spoke of this place being out of luck or something like that — Hori didn't pay much attention to that part. That attitude was grating. That's why he still has colors.

And then he heard the word "cute", and that just got the demon to fall down another notch. And his expression vocalized that, too. "Cute" is gonna be my foot in your ass, Hori thought, biting his tongue internally. As grating as this demon was, he was the only source of color he had found. He needed the colors. And he had a feeling the stranger wouldn't give them up so easily.

It was hard to reel in the comments he wanted to say, but he needed this demon on his side. "My friend is dying," he explained dryly. Doubt you'd know what friends are, or how that feels. "They feed on colors. Like a vampire, just without the blood." Saying this to a mortal human would have earned Hori a visit to a mental institution, but he figured this demon ought to be familiar with this sort of thing.

"So, yeah, I am desperate," he admitted, but with little shame. "I don't want my best friend to die."

[zapdragon555]

Chroma blinked. He... admittedly, hadn't been expecting something like that. A frown crossed his face as he eyed Hori levelly, exhaling long and slow through his nose as he ran a hand through his hair. It seemed like he was weighing the man's words, testing if they had any sort of truth to them. "A color vampire," he finally echoed, disbelief crackling at the edges of his tone. "If I didn't know any better, and I don't, I'd entertain the idea that all of this mess was caused by something or someone sucking out all the hue. You sure your friend wasn't in on this?"

It was said with derision. Not a real question, then. Chroma couldn't deny, he did have a heart, but the agitated vibe this man gave off was hardly anything to sympathize with. "Where are they, anyway? This friend of yours."

[Jaykobell]

The words left Hori looking and feeling appalled. God, if he had any sort of knowledge on how to beat people up. Maybe he should shove that foot in this demon's face instead of his ass.

"You're a piece of shit." Maybe he wouldn't resort to lunging at this cocky bastard, but his mouth sure failed to filter his words. And he was so, so conflicted: the urge to walk away, to tell this guy to go fuck himself, it was so powerful. Even if he'd agree to give his colors, the thought of owing this guy anything made Hori's skin crawl.

And he didn't expect any sort of explanation to make this guy feel bad. That didn't seem like his type. "I'll repeat it since you don't look like you got it the first time," he snapped. "They're dying. They're on their death bed. I left them back home to try and go find color for them! And if I could let them—" He stopped himself. It went without saying that he would have been happy to let his friend feed on his own colors, but that was impossible. He was just shades of grey, too, just like the rest of the world.

"So I don't know why you'd even imply anything," he added after a second, "but they don't work like this. The colors they drain and eat come back over time. They'd already be dead if they worked that way."

[zapdragon555]

It seemed he'd struck a nerve. Chroma eyed the steaming man, his ears burning slightly under the words. Ah, what malice was behind them. Chroma couldn't read minds, but damn if he could sense venom when it was present.

He supposed... this guy really cared, huh. And he had a point about the vampire--no sense in draining a food resource until it was completely gone. Even the most base lifeforms in nature knew that. Finally, the demon let out a huge sigh, leaning backwards slightly and tilting his head back to accentuate just how arduous this whole thing was. "Fiiiiiine," he drawled, straightening up with an unnatural balance and leaning forward to put his face in Hori's. "But if this saturation-sucking bastard drains me dry, I'll break their fuckin' neck. Hear? I gotta get home somehow, too."

He cracked a grin over his face and straightened up, calm once more, adjusting the cuffs of his jacket with an aloof air. "So how am I supposed to find this person? You got a car, man? Bike? A dream and some pixie dust?"

[Jaykobell]

Hori was ready to fight, face red and anger bubbling in his chest. He was ready to fight back, ready to tell that demon how horribly wrong he was—

"Wh... what?" he mumbled, his voice squeaking as the stranger made some exaggerated movements until he had his face right into Hori's. He spoke the words, and Hori heard the words, but in his stupor, it took him a hot minute to process the words. "What?"

His anger shifted to become unfiltered surprise and confusion. He ended up answering the last question first. "I... I came by plane. I-it was too far of a drive." The thought of flying back helped him put the words together. "You... What changed? You'd just... You'd just come along?"

"A-Arjuna wouldn't do anything like that," he then added, catching up and picking up on the assumption this guy had made, once again. "It's painless, and the color pigments come back over time. It's like hair growing back."

He stood there, still stunned. Part of him thought the guy was just pulling his leg, making fun of him, playing on his desperation. But what if...?

[zapdragon555]

"Don't be annoying, or I'll change my mind again," Chroma muttered, although he was quite entertained by the dumbfounded look he'd been given. Cute. He picked at a large canine tooth with his pinky finger, eyeballing the area around. "I dunno. Just never met a color vampire before. Think of it as, like, a trip to the zoo. Humans do that, right?"

Plus... a plane. Wow--he'd actually never been on a plane before. Never had a reason to. He could just teleport most places, and security was a hassle, he'd heard. But... a plane... Chroma couldn't hide an odd, boyish excitement to his step as he started to trot away slightly. "So, airport? You should lead the way. Without any color, my memory of this place has gone all topsy-turvy." Not really, but it was funny to watch the man try to make sense of things. Better than television, even.

And admittedly, Chroma was curious about this color draining thing. He wondered if it was a power that the vampire could teach. He wondered if a demon could achieve it, too. These were questions he'd touch on later--no sense in arousing suspicion for now.

[Jaykobell]

Was this... condescending way of talking just this demon's whole shtick? Hori frowned a bit. He worked with someone who did have a sharp tongue, but his coworker wasn't nearly this bad. But, if Hori could apply that kind of reading to this similar attitude... It might make the demon tolerable, yet.

"You belong in a zoo," he retorted, though the anger was mostly gone. He figured this guy could dish it and take it. So then, maybe a drier tone would hit the mark better than fiery anger. Sarcasm might be good, too.

He looked past the demon, out in the distance. "Yeah. Yeah, we gotta get to the airport." He tried to visualize the town as they started to walk. "It's not all that far from here." As he spoke, he pulled out his phone, and started typing away. "Just need to book a flight. The flight's not long, so there should be a lot of cheap ones."

There was a moment of silence as he busied himself looking for a good flight. As he did that, he glanced at the demon. "What am I supposed to call you, anyway?" He'd introduced himself way back at the beginning, without so much as getting a name back. "Or am I supposed to register you as 'Asshole' on your plane ticket?"

He still didn't quite like the prospect of owing this guy, but the thought of having found colors left him too elated to care. If all he had to do was handle a plane ride with this attitude in order to save Arjuna, it would be worth it.

[zapdragon555]

Chroma's eyes lit up slightly at the retort, the words even bringing a small snort of amusement out of him. It sounded more genuine than derisive, this time. He kept stride with the man, eager to stretch his legs in this plane after having been mucking about in his own for so long. Shame to then be all cooped up in an airplane but... an airplane! It was terribly exciting, all of it.

"Mm. Can't help you on the money front," Chroma admitted, keeping the grinning smirk on his face as he walked, casually folding his hands behind his head as he moved. At the man's question, Chroma gave a small roll of his eyes. He knew better than to give his name to a human. Names were powerful, and could easily be used against demons by knowledgable folk. At best, he'd get a ding in his head every time it was said, like an unignorable text message without sound. "I'll take care of that part. Don't you worry your head about it. You can just call me... Epson. You know, that color printer company. S'cute, ain't it?"

He grinned, showing fangs, clearly amused at himself.

[Jaykobell]

Hori didn't really care about the money. Fortunately, the plane ride would be short, and there were so many a day that the tickets were cheap. He also didn't want to admit that, technically, it was more than a fair trade to pay for Chroma's ticket if his colors could save Arjuna's life. He was in this demon's debt well enough already.

"They're cheap tickets," he repeated, his eyes still on his phone. A nice little bundle was available: perfect. Standard economy class, nothing fancy. For what was roughly a two-hour flight, they didn't need anything fancy.

Chroma's name humor didn't quite land with Hori, but he let it fly. Whatever kept this demon in a relatively good mood until they got back to the company. "Sure," he said passively, sort of dismissively, still primarily focused on finalizing his purchase on the tickets.

He wondered how much this demon knew. If he knew that specific company, then maybe... "I work for a company called Liquid Color," he shared. "Ever heard of it?"

[Omnisearch's & Zaps Color Harvested]