Changing perspectives

"Everyday gets weirder and weirder!" Ven said with a curious glance as he walked with Avis and Vinea down the streets of Diminutive. "Well... You are old? Maybe you're not hip with the kids, Rabbit?" Avis joked, walking along beside him with Vinea.

"Hey, I'm young! I may be dead, but I'm not old." He said with a smirk as some skin from his jaw peeled off, quickly putting it back on. The trio laughed together as they wandered around, observing the sights of the tiny city scape. The buildings made from differing materials varying from regular concrete to old cans and bottles. It was a bizarre sight for Ven, who's only real city experience was sneaking around the back alleys.

Tid-bit was scanning the area repeatedly, trying to see if there was any traces of The Sub-mind's signature, though coming up empty. "I can't find The Heart. There seems to be no trace of it and the ones I do find are too old for me to trace." She said solemnly into Ven's ear as he tried to wave off her voice. "Can't you let me experience a new environment? I mean, we'll find it eventually."

Avis rolled her eyes as Vinea was using his vines to sneakily grab a bowl of Ramen. "Want some?" He said with a grin as he offered the bowl to Avis. "I'm not going to accept stolen food... So I'll just assume you quickly payed for it." She let out a small chirp like laugh and took a few noodles in her hand, eating them with a smile on her beak as the trio walked around.

After a few hours of aimlessly walking, avoiding a few Decaynines, exploring, and Vinea stealing more food, the trio sit down outside a clothing store called "Ex-Chitin New You". 

"So. We know absolutely nothing about this place and don't know where Eido and the sub-mind are?" Tid-Bit asks through Ven, to the others nodding in agreement. Vinea glances around, looking back at the clothing store and noticed something interesting. "Hey... wait a minute." He said to himself as he checked out the advertisement. It was a picture of Eido hugging a nervous young woman with Antenna, with bold writing on top saying: "Come to Eido's Clothing store! Ex-Chitin new you, Owned by Senshi Centapila. Maker of Eido's first outfit!"

"Well that's convenient." Vinea says with a laugh, motioning for the others to take a look. Ven lets out a tired electronic sigh as his rabbit ears twitch slightly. 

"I hate shopping."

Avis flicked one of his ears as she stood next to him. "I guess we're going to shop our hearts out." She said with a slight sparkle in her eye. Tid-Bit took over as she looked over the advertisement. "Eido's concert is tomorrow night... And she has the sub-mind in a hall... We need to-" Before Tid-Bit could finish, Avis let out a giddy: "ARE WE GONNA STEAL THE SPOTLIGHT!?" Her eyes seemed to shine in excitement as Vinea began dragging her into the store.

Ven took back control and nodded with a grin, leaning on Heartbreaker like a cane and doing a click with his heels. 

"I guess we should shop for a bug girl and get some info, ay Bit?"

"Everyday... It's not Everyday you get to see a pair of sunglasses this cool!" Avis said as she looked over a pair of white rimmed sunglasses, putting them on and turning to Vinea with a smirk on her beak. "How do I look?" 

Vinea rolled his eyes, taking the glasses off her and putting them on before saying with finger guns: "Like a pretty cool chick." The duo laughed to themselves as Ven sighed and approached the front counter, his ear twitching in slight annoyance to his new friends Antics or that they were having fun with out him, hard to tell. He glanced around the bright sterile white store, clothes stacked high and all over the place, yet seeing no one was currently there, not even staff members. 

"Hey, anyone here?" He yelled out, before noticing a time sheet behind and realising that the store was currently empty because it was closing up for the night. "Damnit!" He let out a frustrated grunt, lightly banging his head on the counter. Tid-Bit's holographic arm leaned next to him like a sassy woman in a TV show. "You know... I remember from your memories the time you broke into a store for that coat of yours... Why not just... Ya know?" She said with a chipper giggle.

Ven shot up straight, turning back to still see Avis and Vinea messing around with sunglasses still. "You know what? Screw it, yeah. Let's check the back." He said with a slight grin, seeming more into the idea of being a bit bad. "Hey... I'm gonna check the back, watch my back." He said to the duo as he hopped the counter, heading through a door. 

"What was that?" Avis asked, turning around with 3 pairs of sunglasses on. "No idea. I guess... We try on some clothes?" Vinea said as he began walking off to a clothing rack, much to Avis's delight.

Ven walked down the back rooms of the store, noting how boring and flat its colours where compared to the already boring white of the front of the store. "Bit... Is anyone even here?" He asked out loud, a slight bit of nervousness in his voice. "Are you scared, Ven?" She asked, peeking out from a corner of the hallway, causing him to jump. 

"Look, last time I wandered down a place that was supposed to be an easy job... I ended up meeting "You know who". I don't fancy doing that again." He laughed. Tid-Bit smiled and began scanning the area, before stomping her foot on the ground in annoyance. 

"I think I'm getting a bug... I keep detecting something's heart beat. It's stationary, but it keeps disappearing? Weird. Oh well." She grumbled, causing Ven to quickly pull out Heartbreaker and ready himself. 

"I don't think you're broken Bit. I think you just caught something." He sighed, continuing on. He began searching different rooms, using his night vision to see in to them, only to either find spare clothes or materials. He continued this routine of thinking he found something for about 8 rooms before he began to hear a soft humming from the other room.

Ven's ears twitched a bit as he recognised the song, motioning for Tid-Bit to do... Something. "Bit... Can you analyse what song that is?"

She appeared in front of him with her arms crossed with a blank stare. "Are you seriously having me remember a song for you? I'm your friend and life support, but don't ask me to do this again. I'm not a phone app... yet." She giggled, her form fading out before reappearing again. "The song is called "Dismantled by Nekonomicon." She said with a smile before motioning for Ven to continue on.

He sighed and began heading forward, reaching a large steel door that was sealed shut. "Whelp... I've always wanted to try this." He grinned, aiming Heartbreaker against the wall next to the door and loading in a "Building killer" round as he called it. "Wait... Wait. WAIT!" Before Tid-Bit could even get to reason with Ven, he fired a custom round that was the equivalent of an anti tank round the size of a regular bullet. In an instant, the wall blew open in a blaze, shaking the building and knocking him to the ground.

"Holy... THAT WAS AWESOME! I never got to use em when I was alive." He laughed before noticing his arm was broken off from his body. "Oops." He chuckled, grabbing the chunks of his arm as Tid-Bit appeared in front of him with a scowl. "You do know I can't heal every injury, right?" She said as tendrils shot out from his body's arm socket and attached his arm back on as good as new. "Thanks, Bit." He said as he grabbed Heartbreaker and walked through the wake of his explosion.

Inside the room was what appeared to be the remains of a laboratory, everything covered in dust and decay. As Ven walked around, he saw some canisters labelled "Dragon's Mist", seeming to recall his time at Lily Gate. "Is... It couldn't be that... Right?" He asked himself as Tid-Bit began analysing the canister. "It seems to be similar to the mist you encountered at Lily Gate... But altered in some way that I can't pinpoint... Exactly... Uh..." She said as some drool dripped in-between the two, causing Ven to slowly look up in slight dread. 

He stared up to see two eyes stare down at him, whatever it was, its face was obscured by shadow. He took a deep electronic breath before aiming Heartbreaker at the creature.

"Friend or Foe?"