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It had been a rather productive day, even if most of it was routine. At least today Amaranth had the pleasant company of Brielle. After a good while spent working in the greenhouse, the clock was ticking in to the mid-afternoon hours, Amaranth suggested to her friend that enough had been done for the day, and that they have some tea.



The home she shared with her employer and boyfriend stood not too far beyond the greenhouse, and had a charming old English cottage look. It was large, composed of two floors, as well as the basement apartment, but got most of its size from the high ceilings of the main floor. In front of it was a small gate and arbor flanked by a border of hedges that enclosed a small front yard of sorts. A cobblestone path led up to the steps to the front door, which Amaranth pushed open for Brielle, inviting her in which her usual bright smile and bubbliness.

The interior of the house maintained the rustic cottage charm, while also bearing a modern clean orderliness. Some decorative elements and lighting fixtures could be spotted with faux antlers, while the cream, rust, and forest green colors of the paint and other various decor complemented the hardwood floors and other accents. It was a warm and inviting place, despite an emptiness.

Amaranth led her to the sun room and pulled out a chair to the little table therein.

"I'll go start the kettle - any kind of tea in particular you'd like? Dom kind of likes to try out all sorts of different teas, so we've got a lot of options," Amaranth said with a hint of laughter in her voice. The amount of tester baggies with rater creative blends was getting a bit excessive. Not that she minded. Trying out the new tea of the week was something she actually looked forward to.

Speaking of tea, she hadn't asked about how things had gone with the Bank while they'd been working in the greenhouse....

After filling the kettle and setting it on the stove, Amaranth began flicking through the little wooden mini half-crate looking container with all the little sample baggies of tea.

"You know what," she said, picking up the whole thing and bringing it over to their table in the sun room, "I'll just bring the whole thing and you can decide what sounds good."

She wasn't kidding when she said there was a lot to choose from. Amaranth had already written the banana-nut muffin flavor as one to order more of, and the elderberry was already a cabinet staple. There were other more thematically-named flavors, some clearly book-fandom inspired - because Dom was a novel nerd and it was the little things like that he let show every now and then. Otherwise he didn't let on to the person underneath the suit and genuinely kind and calm demeanor. Not easily at least. She probably wouldn't have found out about their shared music preferences so early on, and bonded over them, if she hadn't ridden with him to grab groceries that one night, seemingly so long ago now....


Amaranth sat back down while they waited for the whistle of the kettle, "Ooooh, really?" she asked, chin now resting on steepled fingers and a sparkle in her pale eyes. Her feet swing gently under the table, brimming with curiosity, but careful not to accidentally kick her friend. Not that her legs really had the reach anyway. She was genuinely excited though. She didn't get much gossip these days since she cut off old not-really friends when she dumped her ex and left the girlfriend-of-an-aspiring-rock-star-playing-at-the-local-bars scene.

Many of the satchels of loose leaf tea didn't give much of a choice in avoiding their aroma or not. Giving them an even closer sniff would have been totally fine! Still, she plucked out Brielle's choice, as well as her own - a cranberry apple tart herbal blend.

Then she took in the news, with only vague recollections of hearing, and reading, some things about royal senshi, but she at least recognized the one name from Cybele mentioning them before. She loved the idea of magical princesses and princes, and the fairytale feeling of it all - if only it weren't all so real and...not so happily ever after in their reality. Amaranth chose to live on the brighter side though, holding on and highlighting the good. And this was good! Great, even!

"Oh my goodness!" Amaranth gasped, "Congratulations! That's like, a cosmic promotion! Recognition of everything you've endured and overcome by the mysterious powers that be," she beamed, truly happy for her friend.

Of course, she knew it couldn't be all sunshine and rainbows - greater power always had a cost - but she was never one to rain on someone's achievements. They were to be celebrated! Especially in these trying times. She would have to see if they still had any homemade cookies or other desserts. Maybe there was still some cheesecake in the fridge....

"Oh my goodness - I'm sure it's amazing! Ugh, I love a good princess dress - I'm sure it puts Disney to shame~"

And Amaranth was well-versed on animated princess wares. As a little girl she had been obsessed, much to her parent's dismay - the consumerism was just appalling to them. Their daughter wasn't indulged with merch, just movies, leaving her to long for it all the more, and be envious of her peers, but she threw herself in to it as much as she could.

With her own flights of fantasy one would have thought that she would have done more with her own magical identity until now, but a lot of the wonder and wish for a fantasy had left as she thought she needed to buckle-down and 'adult' by the time that happened. It made her think of that scene in The Last Unicorn when molly first saw the unicorn. The 'Why Now!?' and bitterness had stuck with her a while.

A lot had happened though, since coming here, to bring her back to her fanciful self, and she embraced the magic and strange worlds and the darkness they fought against with wide-eyed wonder. The way she felt before was all a forgettable moment in the rest of eternity.

"I look forward to seeing it! I'm sure your world is gorgeous too -- caaaan't really say the same about mine. I think I need to spend more time on that, but, what even is time, haha."

Sure, life was busy, and finding time was hard, but it was fulfilling in a way, too. But speaking of time, it was time to get the kettle, as it let out a shrill shriek that demanded silencing.

"I'll be right back!"

Taking the kettle off the hot stove eye and setting it on one of the unused ones, Amaranth took a peek in the fridge and saw the container of cheesecake. Good - there was still half there! She grabbed the container, and the one with the cherry topping, balancing it on top, along with some plates, a cutting knife, and forks. With that balanced in one hand and the kettle in the other, she returned.

"I found some cheesecake!" she announced.

"Right!?" Amaranth exclaimed in regards to the cheesecake, "I have to admit, I'm more than a little spoiled."

Amaranth gladly accepted the help with all that she was carrying - it was a bit of a balancing act after all!

She was lucky that Dom rather enjoyed cooking and baking, and they often did that together, foisting the spoils on others because they certainly couldn't eat it all themselves. Having help to polish off the cheesecake was more than welcome.

"It means whatever you make it mean~" Amaranth said in a warm and confident tone that was a gentle change from her usual bright and bubbly energy.

Amaranth was sure there was really no right or wrong way to be a magical space princess - especially when the job didn't really come with any sort of guidebook. Brielle - Cybele - had all the freedom in the galaxy to carve out her own definition of what being a princess meant to her and what values and ambitions to uphold.

"you've got the opportunity to blase your own trail and forge your own path, and no one can tell you it's right or wrong," she smiled warmly, "And myself and others will be right behind you."

The freedom could be scary, it could be overwhelming, but Amaranth, Steins, would be there to help in whatever way she could. she was sure others were happy to support the newly crowned princess, too! Over all, Amaranth wanted to be optimistic for her friend, and uplift her, despite the often grave reality of this war they were a part of.

She then sat down, pouring warm water in to their cups, and serving up slices of cake - they could add toppings to their own liking! She then sat back and thought a moment.

"Hmmmm, new with me~ Well, I can't say there's much of anything. Between work and work it has been fairly unremarkable. I could probably put in the work to punch a few more faces, she chuckled a bit.

She was more prone to picking fights with monsters, rather than people. Maybe it was because she was still a bit unsure of herself - maybe part of it was a sense of self-preservation. Keeping a target off her back, so to speak. Although, as she understood it, being associated with Cybele automatically put a target on her, but she hadn't encountered too much trouble so far. Amaranth counted herself lucky.

"Oh!" Amaranth perked up as she remembered something. "We did adopt a dog recently! He belonged to one of Dom's recent clients. The family didn't know what to do with the poor thing after the passing of its owner. Dom always kinda wanted a dog, but with his job, time to train one wasn't there. Welllllll~ this big ol' pupper was a service dog, so like, really well trained and all. I think it's 'job' was mobility assistance? He's a really pretty dog, too!"

Amaranth pulled out her phone and pulled up a picture of a lovely large silver, black, and white Saluki mix - all long legs and feathered fur.


It was a blissfully mundane thing to be excited about in comparison. So normal and far from the pressure and worries of war and magical duties. But it was grounding too - a foot still placed firmly in some often much needed normalcy. Amaranth got a feeling Brielle didn't get to embrace much of that. She hoped to offer some of that every-day mundane comfort.

"Yep! His name is Graham," Amaranth replied, bringing her phone back towards her to type out a quick text, "I'll have Dom send him over."

And just like that the text was sent, and a short time after, buffered by tea and delicious cheesecake, the quiet sound of the door opening, and the soft tapping of claws could be heard as two figures, tall, dark, and lanky, entered the residence.

Graham heeled to his human who made the vaulted ceilings look standard height but moved without a sound. It was funny how the old adage of 'pets tend to look like their owners' applied. Although Dom's sharp and angular features were softened by his kind and gentle expression. He made no remarks until he was closer, and when he spoke it was apparent why.

"So you wanted to borrow my assistant?" Domcallion asked in a quiet voice. If some men's voices could be described as gravel-y, then his was coarse sand. Amaranth liked to compare it to the singing voice of Bryan Addams, although Dom himself would never have been able to reach nearly the same volume or project his voice like that. There was also the barest whisper of an accent there, coalescing with the occasional crack or croak.

"Yes!" Amaranth replied excitedly, turning first to face Dom who was slightly behind her chair, and then back around to face Brielle, "This is my friend, Brielle - I just had to show him off to her."

Dom had certainly been aware of Amaranth's friend there, but for all of his confidence and almost-extroversion with his clients, less professional interactions still left him more introverted and anxious. Especially with introductions. Thankfully Amaranth had no such weakness, and this allowed him to more easily ease in to it.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Domcallion, but most just call me Dom. I'm glad Mary has friends she's willing to bring over. It's a big house and it can be rather quiet around here." Did he have to stop himself for describing it as 'dead' instead of quiet? Yes. "You're welcome any time. But, you're not here for me," he reached down to ruffle the dark feathery ear of the dog that was still practically glued to his side.

With a quiet command, the dog seemed to change his vigilant demeanor and relax, tail softly wagging before trotting over to a basket of toys and coming back with a stuffed duck.

"Well, I need to get back to work," Dom said, resting a hand on Amaranth's shoulder, who looked from Graham, who wanted to present Brielle with his 'catch,' to Dom, the light hint of formaldehyde and Dial gold soap a reminder of what she had probably interrupted. "You two don't spoil him too much."

"Oh, we'll spoil him rotten!"

Dom gave a soft sound that may have been a chuckle, before bidding them both adieu.

With the click of the door, they were now free to completely spoil this absolute unit of a Good Boy.

Amaranth expected Dom's appearance to be quick - outside of work he had a particular shyness. He handled strangers better one-on-one when it didn't involve the business - his comfort zone, his domain and castle. If he were meeting Brielle for the first time by himself, he may have been a bit more confident and talkative, but juggling two people, even if it was her, was a bit out of his wheelhouse still, it seemed.

As for Graham, he squeaked the plush duck in his mouth when Brielle spoke to him, and his silky tail waged softly across the floor like a fancy broom. He was a very calm and polite dog, but even then, still sitting, his paws did little tippy-taps as he wiggled closer. For a moment he seemed to think about weather he would give her his duck or his paw, before settling for the paw.

"Yeah~" Amaranth responded, nothing short of fondness in her voice, "He is a total tree, but he's really sweet. I'm working on that shy streak though!"

While most would all but kill to have their man in a suit, Amaranth wouldn't rest till she had him wearing his secret collection of band tees and myriad of earrings out in public. Helping him to build his self-confidence outside of work was her second full-time job at this point! Everyone needed to know and see the sweet, well-read and witty man she loved.