It didn’t take Lucian long to reach his apartment, considering the distance.

  He shot through the streets and wove through alleyways at a swift but manageable, for him, pace.

  He walked into the apartment building and made his way up to his room. Everything looked the same as it did when he had left it. He opened the closet and pulled out his suitcase, then went through his dresser and retrieved some clothes.

  He looked around the room and gathered a few other important things into his suitcase, making sure he didn’t leave anything he might miss behind - in case he didn’t get a chance to come back again.

  Lucian grabbed the handle of his suitcase and slipped out once again. As he began to journey back towards Annabelle’s apartment, he took a moment to go over his stats in full, bringing them to focus in his mind.

  He smiled, “I’ve gotten quite a bit stronger than since this all started…” He mused to himself as he recalled his first encounter with a monster, the bird that had sent him careening into a wall. He idly put his 3 free points into Finesse, bringing it up to 28 - he felt like as he got faster and faster Finesse would serve him better and better, giving him a finer degree of control. He chuckled and kept moving.

  He stopped to watch a group of soldiers deal with another giant bird, which he actually took the time to [Analyze] now that he could.

  He blinked, “Ah, I was right the first time. The one I fought wasn’t fully grown.” He considered lending a hand, but the group was actually doing fine on their own. One of the soldiers carried a bow, instead of a gun - Lucian assumed he was classed but didn’t bother checking with [Analyze].

  His assumption was proved correct when the man drew back an arrow, which began to shine with a dull light, before letting it loose at the Greatvulture. The arrow shot through the air and hit the monster with more force than it should have, punching into its chest with a thud. Despite this, the injury wasn’t lethal, and the bird didn’t go down. He kept watching. He wasn’t going to step in unless someone was going to get seriously hurt, but he thought letting them fight it properly would be better for them.

  A couple more empowered arrows later, and the bird fell dead, and Lucian continued on his way.

  He arrived at Annabelle’s door, and knocked twice. After a moment, she opened it and let him in, “I need to get you a key.” She laughed.

  “So we’re already moving in together?” Lucian teased.

  “If you would rather sleep in whatever’s left of your place, be my guest.” Annabelle teased back.

  “Yeah, yeah…” Lucian smiled, setting his suitcase down, "I'll take a shower and change, then we can get going?”

  “Sure thing, golden boy.” Annabelle gently tapped his shoulder, before walking into her room and closing the door to give him some privacy. He wondered how long that would last.

  He removed his outfit and spent a while cleaning up, before changing into a new pair of jeans, his tail poking out above his belt, and a white button up shirt. He rolled the sleeves up to his elbows and ran a hand through his hair, and smiled at himself in the mirror, “Yep, the cat ears are an improvement.”

  He exited the bathroom and set his old clothing aside to wash later, then knocked on Annabelle’s bedroom door, “I’m ready!” He chimed.

  After a moment she opened the door, then blinked, looking him up and down, “Damn.” She smirked. She was wearing a grey turtle neck sweater, red hair tumbling over her shoulders. And like Lucian, she was also wearing a pair of jeans.

  He smiled, “You look cute, too.”

  She rolled her eyes, “Obviously. Alright, let’s get going!” She hummed, “It’s not far, so we can walk there.”

  Lucian nodded, “Sure thing. The weather’s pretty nice right now too.”

  They left Annabelle’s apartment hand in hand.