Higher Steps

Arcturus herd a soft thud and he peeked just to make sure he hadn't messed this up some how and luckily it didn't seem like he had. He smiled a bit with a glance down at Vanille before he turned his attention back to the woman running the stand to see what their stones were supposed to say about them and their future. He really hadn't thought much of this when they stepped up to the both, pretty skeptical about the whole thing really, but when she told them that shame and guilt from the past had been effecting them and how this was encouraging them to move on from it his expression faltered a little with surprised blinks. Maybe it was all coincidence, but it just seemed too on the nose to be entirely by chance.

The fortune teller went on, mentioning how the strength to overcome that would come from their family. He peeked down at Vanille, curious to see how she was taking all of this. He had already mostly figured out that his family could—and had—helped him with his own grief and guilt, but he knew there was still more work he needed to do on himself and he was still trying his best to make Vanille feel welcomed into his family so that she could do the same. He knew that they weren't her family by blood, but he did hope that one day she could be as much a part of his family as he was in every other regard. Still, regardless of how her relationship with his other family members panned out, Vanille was just as dear to him as any of them were and he considered her a part of his family.

As the chimp came over to move the stones around and they were invited to throw one again he waited to see if Vanille would want to before he repeated the process of closing his eyes and reaching for a stone, giving her paw a gentle squeeze as he did so. With how their first reading had gone it made him really curious to see if it could be just as telling the second time or if this time would show that it was mostly all chance and luck. He tossed the stone and waited to hear the soft thumps again before he blinked open his eyes again, waiting eagerly to hear what the woman had to say.

"Arc & Vanille"