Work Text:
Elves, as far as Layla knew, had some weird allergy to iron and technology.
So when Lesley sent her a messenger bird—which was rather outdated, in Layla's humble opinion—saying that Miya and her would be coming over for the Festival of Enlightenment in Eruditio, Layla was equal parts excited and deeply concerned.
"Inviting an elf to Eruditio?"
Layla paced around the office, trying to ignore the accusatory tone in her partner's question.
Ixia scoffed from the row of tables, feet kicked up on Layla's desk as she slurped on the last drops of her iced coffee and burped all over her papers. "That sounds like a planned murder."
Layla grimaced, not liking the idea of her old friend accused of murder. "We don't know that."
"It's a possibility." Layla caught on the sound of a plastic cup thrown into the trash can, followed by an ominous rustling of papers. "Your friend has a long history of violence, you know..."
"Lesley wouldn't do that—"
"This 'Lesley' you're talking about would do that, based on her records." Ixia raised the papers for her to see, as if Layla wasn't the one who put together those records herself. "She's an assassin, and the elf is a high-profile figure. It's a classic murder motive—you know this!"
"They are my friends." She turned to face Ixia. "I know them long enough that—"
"How'd you manage to be friends with these people, anyway? Aren't they too old to befriend teenagers?"
"—unimportant. Met them in Moniyan." She brushed the remark. "Look, I know them well enough that—"
"'Well' is not good enough!"
"—that—"
"Shouldn't you get any personal feelings away from an investigation?"
"—who said anything about investigation?!" Layla pulled on her twintails. "Look, Lesley is not as bad as you think she is!"
"You're not exactly a good judge of character," Ixia deadpanned. "No offense."
"Okay—" Layla stopped in her pacing, deciding to grab her melted iced coffee from Ixia's territory and take a heavy slurp instead.
Ixia snorted at that.
"What should we do, then?"
"Well, isn't it obvious?" Layla watched as Ixia dropped her feet off of her desk, weaving her hands in front of her like an evil mastermind. "We'll spy on them."
Layla nearly spat out the coffee on top of her (precious) work documents. "No way!" Lesley and Miya could be here for a honeymoon, for all she knew. Layla ain't gonna spy on that! "They're here for a date! And they've made it very clear that Eruditio might as well be the 'last peaceful sanctuary' in the Land of Dawn where they could just be with each other 'without any disturbances'!"
"Are they for real?" Ixia frowned. "What's wrong with their empires?"
Layla shrugged. "I don't know. They're both famous people. Maybe they had paparazzis or something."
"Oh, and surely, Eruditio, the city where people from all kinds of background gather, would be the perfect place to escape the paparazzis."
"Wouldn't our diversity made them less... stand out?"
Ixia snapped her finger. "Optimal condition for a quick assassination, if you ask me."
Layla let out a long sigh, finding herself craving even more iced coffee as she found the large cup devoid of the drink.
"Lesley's a good person, I swear." Layla went to throw away her trash. She could practically feel Ixia's smart debunk coming a mile away, so she interrupted her before the latter could speak. "Look, can we please talk about this later? I think I'm going to need more coffee."
Ixia, to her surprise, neither scoffed nor continued on her conspirational theories like usual. Instead she merely let out a noise akin to disappointment, and Layla turned around just in time to see Ixia placing two plastic bags of mysterious origins onto her desk.
Wait, where did that even come from—
"What you need is food," Ixia said simply, taking out a medium-sized box from one of the bags. The smell of hamburgers subconsciously drew the other girl closer, her partner wordlessly sliding the other bag towards her as she neared the desk.
Layla's eyes slowly watered at the sight of cold hamburger served right in front of her hungry eyes. "Have I ever told you that I love you?"
"Girl, get yourself a seat or something. Sit down."
"How long have you had this?!" Layla dragged the chair from Ixia's neighboring desk and plopped down in front of her.
"It's been here with the coffee. You just didn't see it." Layla does not believe her, and Ixia seemed to be aware that she doesn't. She's a marksman; she knew she only saw the coffees being on the table before. Maybe Ixia hid it away in the cabinet? In her cabinet, full of important not-supposed-to-be-food things?
Either way, Layla's got food now.
"Sneaky," she teased, taking an appreciative whiff of the lunch Ixia bought her. Before she took her first bite, however, she looked at her and made a show of pointing at her eyes and then the other's ruby eyes, saying: "I know what you did, you know. I'm watching you."
Ixia's response was one of her typical smirks, just less sharp and more toothy. "Watch me more. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two."
"Watch it," Layla said through a mouthful of food, narrowing her eyes.
Ixia merely responded with a short laugh before she bit into her own food. Her eyes sparkled at that moment—in a way that only Layla was able to see, much to the confusion of the team—and Layla wondered, right at this moment, if Ixia found the cold hamburger as great as it was to her right now.
"...You're my shining star, you know that, right?" The words slipped out before she was even aware of it.
"Gay," was Ixia's cheeky response. A playful punch landed on the girl's shoulder and her face broke into a grin, the Sand Hunter using her free hand to tug on Layla's hair in retaliation. "Keep eating, Layla."