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The trees in the park were awash in autumn colour, with oranges competing and intermixing with shades of reds, yellow and on rare occasion a bit of green.

It was also quiet, the paths and surroundings mostly empty, perhaps in part due to the time of day but also in part due to the chill n** of cold in the air.

But whilst the park was mostly empty, it was not completely empty.

There were two figures by the bridge that crossed the small stream that wound its way along the south end of the park.

The first, was a dark-haired male garbed in a elaborate costume and holding a takeout cup of some sort of hot drink.

The second...?

The second looked suspiciously like a cat.

As it happened the second was a cat..

Or perhaps it was true to say that the second figure was actually a mauvian, something - for those in the know - marked by the jade green star on his furry forehead.

Athene fiddled anxiously with the mostly empty cup of hot chocolate, because his one and only meeting with Elvira hadn't gone well and he wasn't even sure that she was going to turn up.

In fact he didn't even have her contact details, although it had transpired that Liryn did - which in part explained the mauvian's presence...

Although in part, it was also down to the fact that the tabby bobtail have refused to let him come on his own.

For now though, all that he could do was wait - and wait and see if Elvira would turn up.

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Liryn glanced over at Athene with purplish eyes that was unusually serious as he watched as the dark-haired eternal fiddled with the take out cup in his hands.

"I'm sure she'll come Athene" he said, as he watched the fiddling for a few more moments before springing down from his perch and padding over to brush against the other's boots in an attempt at reassurance.

He had messaged Elvira earlier, when Athene had asked, the message a simple one



And whilst he had been the one to actually send the message, by virtue of being the one that actually had Elvira's contact details, the message had come from Athene.

He had actually been planning to message Elvira himself, because he had felt that she needed to know about what the two of them had found out, but then Athene had spoken to him about trying to track her down and so Liryn had passed on his message instead and then had stuck to Athene like glue - because Athene had been slipping out on his own a lot and he wasn't about to let the dark-haired eternal get away with doing it this time round.

"She'll come" he repeated as he brushed against Athene's boots again.

Athene had given Liryn a small smile at the small mauvian's attempt at reassurance, but it hadn't stopped a part of him from still feeling anxious.

He fiddled with the takeaway cup some more and then seemed to realise that he was fiddling with the cup and quietly sloped off to deposit it in a nearby bin before returning back to the bridge and staring down at the water.

Minutes passed, time trickling past and a part of Athene started to think that perhaps Elvira wasn't going to come - that their disastrous meeting from before had put her off - not that Athene blamed her.

Liryn didn't seem to be any less certain however, which in turn pushed Athene to continue waiting...

Because whilst there was a chance that Elvira might turn up then he owed it to her to wait.

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It was hard to tell what was going through Athene's head as the dark-haired eternal shifted to move over to the side of the bridge and glance down at the water.

But Liryn wasn't going to push - or at least not for now.

Because for now, getting Athene to take him along with him for this meeting was enough.

There was a definite change to the weather, a n** as Athene would probably call it to the air, although his winter coat had grown leaving Liryn even more fluffy than usual.

The sudden flare of aura had Liryn's attention shifting from Athene, purplish eyes glancing down towards the end of the bridge even as he called out to the dark-haired eternal with him "Athene..."

It was a Super's aura and it was close and Elvira was a Super Senshi.

And then his ears picked up on the sound of approaching footsteps - quickly approaching footsteps.

And then the source was stepping into view...

Elvira.

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Athene had looked up from his 'perusal' of the stream as the sound of Liryn's voice broke into his thoughts and nodded slightly at the small mauvian - because he had felt the flare of aura too.

It wasn't long after that for the source to step into view and Athene couldn't help but feel relieved - because Elvira had chosen to come after all.

"It's okay" he said simply in answer to her apology for keeping them waiting. "I don't think I asked Liryn to put down a specific time" and even if he had then it would still have been okay.

"Thank you for coming" and then because it had to be said and he knew it had to be said "And I'm sorry - for before."

Because in the end it seemed that both she and Liryn had been right about Ida.

He absently fiddled with some of his hair as he continued "I recently received a message - about Ida - one that suggests that she's alive."

Athene had waited politely to let Elvira catch her breath because it was quite clear that she had been running.

He hadn't expected the hug, his startlement reflected in the way his eyes widened slightly beneath his glasses, although he didn't try to pull away or push Elvira away.

And whilst his cheeks may have reddened slightly, the small smile that he gave her was genuine.

"The message didn't say much" Athene admitted "Just that Ida was alive and that she's currently on Ida and whilst it wasn't from Ida" because Ida would have simply messaged him directly - well at least Athene was assuming that Ida would have just messaged him and whilst the message in itself hadn't been enough to convince him, the message plus the fact that someone appeared to have been around the apartment whilst he was away and not just to feed Lola had been enough to convince him.

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"Athene's been away" Liryn explained as he padded over to brush against Elvira's legs. "And only received the message on his return."

He brushed against Elvira's legs again as he continued "And I didn't really go to the apartment much while he was away" just the odd visit here and there with the stress on the odd.

His normally cheerful voice was serious for a moment "And while it's not much - it's a lot more than we had before."

The cheerfulness slipped back into Liryn's voice as he continued "I like hugs" adding with a hopeful note "And I like scritches."

Like was perhaps something of an understatement - Liryn loved scritches.

"It can get a bit confusing" Athene admitted quietly with a slightly rueful quirk of his lips "Although I'm pretty sure that we take our name from our home worlds."

The not-quite-smile faded as his quiet voice turned serious "And if Ida's on Ida then I don't think that there's much that either of us can do about it on that front except wait for her to come back."

He absently fiddled with his hair, "But I can try messaging some of our mutual contacts in the same was as I did.. As I did before and see if any of them have heard anything."

Although he wouldn't approach her family. He had already talked about it with Liryn and whilst Athene thought that they equally should know, they had both ended up agreeing - albeit with Liryn slightly more reluctantly - that telling her family was something that was probably best coming from Ida.

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"I can try messaging people too" Liryn said in a voice that was part purr.

He really did like being cuddled because it was nice being held and he also liked being scritched so that fact that Elvira was doing both was like double the bonus.

His purr deepened as Elvira managed to scritch an itchy spot behind his ear "Although Athene and I both think that we should avoid telling..."

His voice trailed off mid-sentence, purplish eyes suddenly distracted as his ears pricked up - because he could have sworn that he had just heard something.

"Did either of you hear that?"

Athene nodded in agreement "Maybe we should..." he started to say quietly, with the intention of suggesting that perhaps he and Elvira should also [/]scan each other into their respective phone contacts.

Liryn's voice distracted him, however, as his gaze shifted towards the small mauvian.

And then all thoughts of phones and contacts slipped from his mind..

...Because Athene was pretty sure that he had just heard someone or something call out and beg him to come help.

"No you're not going crazy" he said, his quiet voice slightly distracted because he was getting a really, really strong feeling that he not only needed to be somewhere but also at that somewhere now.

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Liryn rubbed his head gently against Elvira "We should go - all of us should go."

Because he couldn't escape from the feeling that there was something or someone out there that needed their help - and needed their help now.

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"Yes" said Athene simply and it was an answer to Liryn and Elvira both.

He started to hold out a hand and then remembered that Elvira's arms were currently full of fluffy mauvian.

"Shall we check it out together?"

Because 3 sets of hands would be better than just one or even two.

Orangeish Sherbert

fin on your tag and move over to go save Ida?