((Another month after the last 'Team USER' bot "Advance" | May 14th — Cannes, France))

The Mediterranean Sea stretched beneath a pale blue sky. Sunlight scattered across the water in bright silver fragments, warm enough that the breeze coming off the sea felt welcome rather than sharp. The smell of salt flowed through the quieter stretch of beach the four of you had claimed for the afternoon.

Several meters away from the shore, however, Orfevre laid beneath a wide beach umbrella, one leg crossed over the other and a chilled drink resting on a cooler close by. Gold jewelry caught the sunlight whenever she moved, though perhaps the strangest addition was the pair of glasses perched across her face.

They were slightly different from anything you had ever seen her choose for herself.

Eventually, her ears twitched. Orfevre lifted her head as you approached, lowering the glasses just enough for those celestial eyes to appear above the frames.

“You took your time.” Her gaze lingered on you before shifting briefly toward the shoreline. “If you have come to tell me Kitasan intends to drown Gentildonna, I have already decided not to interfere.”

Orfevre’s mouth curved faintly. Even then, the sunglasses remained difficult to ignore. Orfevre noticed immediately.

“… Dorija packed them.” The unfamiliar name slipped out so naturally that Orfevre paused. “Right... Dream Journey packed them,” She clarified, pushing the glasses properly back into place. “My older sister.”

Her fingers adjusted one arm of the frame. “She insisted I required ‘proper preparation' for this trip, even though I've been here before already. Sunscreen. Hats. These.”

Another pause.

“I informed her that I was perfectly capable of packing for myself.” The way she said it made the outcome obvious. “But she packed them anyway. Surprisingly, they hold quite a lot of power against the sunlight.”

For once, irritation never quite reached her voice.

“Dorija has always been like that.” Orfevre settled more into the towel beneath her. “Deciding what I require before I have bothered deciding whether I require anything at all. It's infuriating… and usually correct.”

Out toward the water, Kitasan had apparently convinced Gentildonna to venture farther in. Their voices faded beneath the surf.

“People like her are troublesome,” Orfevre continued. “They make themselves necessary without permission.” Her head turned toward you. “And then one day, you discover removing them would be considerably more inconvenient.”

The words hung there, and again Orfevre seemed to realize it too. “… hmph.” She looked toward the sea. “Do not become pleased with yourself.”

Nearly two years earlier, somewhere farther north, you had been little more than the stranger who remained close enough when Orfevre faltered.

Now you had returned on the same side.

“I know what you are thinking. For a very long time, this place irritated me because it reminded me of you.” Orfevre gave a quiet scoff. “Then you followed me to Japan and became irritating there as well.” Her smile was small, almost hidden. “Such a persistent creature.”

She reached up and lowered her glasses again. “I refused to believe you were anything more than a thorn. But now…” For perhaps the first time that afternoon, Orfevre hesitated. “… now, you have become considerably harder to categorize.”

Her glasses rose again.

“But I already told you where you belonged.” Her fingers tapped once on a space underneath the umbrella beside her. “Beside me was not a temporary position.”

The sounds of the waves rolling inward and collapsing softly against the sand was all there was for a moment.

“It is my birthday today.” She lifted her drink, perfectly composed. “Surely I am permitted to decide who occupies my afternoon.”

Then, after the smallest pause—

“And I did not want the past to be the only thing I remembered about France this time. So stay.” A faint smile touched her lips. “Until I decide we are finished.”