[ToxicShadow]

For once, the pair didn't have to go looking for leads, as one came to them, in the form of a flier delivered directly to their mailbox. Something about that made Chevalier a little uneasy, but both Blayze and Emilia had reminded him that such things were still possible, even in their seclusion and without being listed publicly. After all, there were plenty of beings and folks that could use magics, or other methods, of simply dropping a note into any and all mailboxes, all across the lands, without even knowing where exactly they were. It would be impossible to rule out such possibilities. Just the fact that one appeared in their mansion mail meant that it needed to be investigated, sure, but they didn't sense anything malevolent, at the very least.

"Given the celebratory season, it's very likely an advertisement for another event or celebration," Blayze had reiterated that very morning as the four sat around the table for their breakfast and morning meeting, as he looked it over once more. He'd been the one to check and collect the mail that morning, as per the usual, and brought it in for the others to see.

"I agree; that's very likely the case," the lady of the house, whom appeared as little more than a child in her contained form, spoke her agreement.

"We still cannot be certain with just speculation," Chevalier insisted.

"So we'll look into it!" Blayze decided.

From his chair, Adair sighed, and adjusted his glasses, before standing up. "Let me look at it," he said, holding his hand out toward the other Roosken man.

Blaze nodded, willingly handing the flier over to him with a smile.

The blond haired man read it over, before he looked up at the others and gave a single nod. He already knew where this was going, and that there was no way to stop it, so there was no reason to fight it. "Blayze and I will go have a look. Perhaps we'll find some more information once we get out there."

That was how the pair of Rooskens ended up here, standing just steps outside of an unfamiliar gate, with an unreadable sign.

[Section 1: The Front Gate - Post #1]

[ToxicShadow]

Adair, out of the two of them, looked rather unimpressed. It took some research to even find the address and correct location of the place they were supposed to go, but he didn't find the place particularly interesting or impressive upon his first impression. Was this even really worth bothering with? He highly doubted it, and sighed quietly.

"You really are making a bad habit of that," Blayze, whom stood beside him with only a small space between them, but still not small enough for the Blaze Roosken man, commented.

The blond turned his head sharply toward the other man. "A bad habit of what?"

Blayze met the other man's gaze effortlessly, wearing a somewhat amused expression as he answered, "Of sighing like that. It's like you're getting old and stuffy."

[Section 1: The Front Gate - Post #2]

[ToxicShadow]

Adair realized that he was about to sigh again, upon hearing the red head's words, and found himself frowning a little bit instead. Maybe the other man was right; he'd been sighing a lot lately, it becoming a more common occurrence day by day. Of course, it was usually the other man that was the reason for his sighing. With a "Hmph," he turned his gaze away from Blayze. "Well, if I'm old and stuffy, all the better. I'm sure 'old and stuffy,' isn't your type, so maybe I'll finally get some peace."

Watching what transpired in front of him only made the Blaze Roosken man all the more amused, finding Adair all the more adorable as he caught himself before sighing again, and looking away as if he really had been insulted to comment on Blayze's feelings rather than his own. "Don't worry~" he reassured the Treasure Roosken man. "Even if you get old and stuffy, I'll still like you~"

[Section 1: The Front Gate - Post #3]

[ToxicShadow]

Although Adair had always rejected Blayze's advances, he had sometimes ended up humoring the other man, accepting that the red head's feelings for him seemed to be genuine, even though he could not reciprocate and answer his feelings with his own. Depending, he'd even humored him to the point of holding his hand as they walked through a crowd, but he couldn't bring himself to do much more than that. Hearing the other man's reassurance, though, he couldn't tell exactly how he felt about it. In the past, which was growing more and more distant, he would have been disgusted, or at least bothered, by his sickly sweet words. But now... Maybe, just maybe, he actually liked hearing them. Although he would never admit it to the other man.

"Forget it. Come on, let's go," he said, though not without having a faint smile twitch onto his lips, as he stepped through the gate and onward, not even bothering to pay much attention to which direction he was going.

Adair was a few steps away already when Blayze bounded forward, his steps faster than that of the other man in order to catch up to him, though he slowed down and matched Adair's pace once he was beside him once more. He began to look around, once he had caught up, and seemed to realize that the other man just started out without any sort of direction or destination in mind. "Hey, do you see that smoke in the distance?" The Blaze Roosken man drew attention to the smoke rising far off in the distance, motioning toward it with his hand when the blond looked up and around for it. "That's gotta be worth checking out." From where they were, they could only really see the forest and the barn from here, neither of which seemed that exciting to Blayze.

Adair couldn't deny that the smoke was the most curious thing of this place. If someone was here, perhaps they could receive some actual answers. But what if it was a trap? That was another possibility that he had to consider, given they didn't know anything about this place or the sender of the flyer that ended up in their mailbox.

"Let's not go straight there," Adair suggested.

Blayze seemed to pout a bit at that response, but nodded his head, anyway. "Okay. Fine by me." Under these circumstances, he thought it best to just follow along with the other man.

The pair ended up entering the forested area, full of trees as they walked.

[Section 2: The Frozen Forest - Post #1]

[ToxicShadow]

Though they hadn't been out in the snow for very long, Blayze shivered. They both dressed for this weather, to some extent, but his insistence upon wearing delicate-looking robes, although they were thick and well layered, seemed to backfire against him, even though he'd never admit it. He began to rub his hands together, as he'd made the mistake of forgetting to bring gloves along to wear while out in the cold.

Adair, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine as they made their way through the forest. At first, though, it seemed normal, but it became... strange, soon enough.

In spite of the cold, when Blayze saw the fully bloomed, although frozen, flowers, he beamed. "Wow! Look at how lovely they are!"

[Section 2: The Frozen Forest - Post #2]

[ToxicShadow]

Without thinking, the red head ran ahead of the other man, to give the flowers a closer look. He didn't even consider how unusual it all was as he, instead, was marveling at how wondrous it was. Once he approached some of the flowers, he knelt down to admire them more closely.

"Blayze!" Adair called out after him, taking a few hurried steps forward as well. "You know that's not natural! Stay away from them!" He couldn't get the idea of his head that this place was possibly dangerous.

[Section 2: The Frozen Forest - Post #3]

[ToxicShadow]

"Oh, they're just flowers!" Blayze responded, not even bothering to look back at the other man, although he could hear him approaching as his foot steps crunched through the snow. He reached out to touch one of the frozen flowers with one hand.

But, before he was able to, Adair suddenly gabbed Blayze's hand with his own, preventing the other man from touching the strange flowers. Though, with the contact, he realized just how cold the other man's hands were, and even after he pulled him up back upright, he didn't let go of his hand. "I told you. You need to be more careful."

[Section 2: The Frozen Forest - Post #4]

[ToxicShadow]

Only once his was pulled upright, not fighting against Adair, did Blayze notice that there was no footsteps from which they had came. Not even right behind the Treasure Roosken man, even though he'd heard him closing in behind him in a hurry. This place was strange, indeed. Though, even with these thoughts running through his head, he was able to smile when he realized that the other man had not yet released his hand.

He glanced down at their joined hands and couldn't stop himself from grinning at the sight. Before giving Adair the chance to let go of his hand, Blayze maneuvered his hand so that he was holding onto the blond's hand, as well, and began to hurry forward, deciding not to alert the other man to the strangeness of their missing footsteps.

The Treasure Roosken man had considered pulling his hand away from Blayze's when the other man obviously took notice, but considering that his bare hand felt cold, even through his own glove, he decided against it.

Instead, he was willingly pulled along behind the red head, until the other man came to a sudden stop, some time later, where the snow seemed to stop falling. He heard Blayze gasp, and when he looked ahead of them, his eyes met with something even more spectacular than the frozen flowers- the frozen lake.

[Section 3: The Mirrored Lake - Post #1]

[ToxicShadow]

Now, bodies of water were typical able to be frozen, unlike the fully bloomed flowers that retained all of their splendor from before, but this had the same unnatural quality that nearly made Adair's hair stand on end. Of course, it was the same strange beauty that seemed to amaze Blayze, whom dragged the other man along until they reached the edge of the lake.

Only once they were that close did Adair finally resist, pulling back on the red head's hand, as a means to prevent him from stepping out onto the ice. Blayze, for his part, was totally captivated by the sight and, once at the edge, he looked down, noticing his reflection staring back at him on the surface of the ice.

[Section 3: The Mirrored Lake - Post #2]

[ToxicShadow]

His reflection was all Blayze first noticed, but it was not long before he caught a glimpse of something moving around under the ice, just out of the corner of his eye. No longer focusing on just his reflection alone, he looked outward and then gasped at the sight of the abundant, glittering koi fish that swam beneath the water's surface.

"Oooh, Adair, look!" he pointed out at them with his free hand, excitedly turning his head to observe the other man's reaction.

Adair's eyes followed the direction in which Blayze pointed, his eyes widening ever so slightly at the sight. It was marvelous, though he did feel concerned, somewhere in the back of his mind. This was at least... possible, he supposed. Maybe. Though it all seemed very strange to him.

"Why don't we head toward the smoke?" he suggested. While everything was strange here, he doubted they'd actually find any real answers if they didn't keep looking.

[Section 3: The Mirrored Lake - Post #3]

[ToxicShadow]

Blayze had the desire to step out onto the ice, to test its strength, and go gliding across the surface above all the beautiful koi, but he was well aware that Adair wouldn't be in favor of that. He'd probably tell him how dangerous it could be; which was true, walking on ice without the experience of knowing it it was thick enough or not was potentially dangerous. There was the possibility that he could fall through the ice, although he got the feeling that such a thing wouldn't happen.

In the end, after considering just pulling away from the other man and slipping onto the ice or to not to, Blayze nodded his head once, as he made his decision. "All right. Let's check that out," he agreed, giving the blond's hand a squeeze. In the end, although it sounded like a lot of fun, and he was sure he could even get Adair to enjoy himself, if he would just give it a shot, he didn't actually want to make the other man worried or upset.

Since Blayze agreed, Adair began to turn away from the lake, and lead them toward the smoke in the distance. The red head fell into step with the blond, and never let go of his hand. It seemed that, once again, he was granted the privilege of holding hands with the man that he loved, even though he wasn't certain as to why Adair was allowing it this time. A small part of him wanted to ask, to hold some sort of hope, but wasn't brave enough to ask, believing it likely that the other man would pull his hand away if he happened to bring it up.

Eventually, using the smoke as a guide, the pair made it out of the peculiar forest, and the cottage came into sight.

[Section 5: The Cottage - Post #1]

[ToxicShadow]

When it came into view, neither of the men stopped walking, continuing on toward it with some caution. Adair was carefully observing their surroundings, while Blayze was taking in the sight of it. Though, he noticed that there didn't seem to be anyone around outside. Adair worried that they were just being watched from elsewhere, but to Blayze, it was more strange that they didn't see anyone, rather than expecting someone to be hiding from them.

"I supposed this would be the farmhouse. But, even with that smoke, it doesn't look like anyone has been here." He glanced over at Adair as he spoke.

"It's possible that they're just hiding from us," the blond voiced his thoughts.

"I don't sense anything dangerous, though," Blayze replied. Perhaps he wasn't the best at these sorts of things, and he could always be wrong, but that was what he felt. "Why don't we check it out?"

[Section 5: The Cottage - Post #2]

[ToxicShadow]

They didn't really have a choice. If they wanted answers, they'd have to take a proper look. That much was unavoidable. So Adair agreed. "Yeah, let's go take a look."

As they continued to approach the cottage, they each noticed the scent of the burning fire and the far more appealing scent of freshly baked bread. Someone was cooking?

Rather than allowing Adair to continue to lead, Blayze took a few steps forward in front of the other man as they got close to the door of the cottage. He fully expected the other man to hesitate, to remain overly cautious, but the red head knocked loudly on the door several times, shouting out, "Hello! Is anyone home?" as he did.

[Section 5: The Cottage - Post #3]