When Silver Rose finished her homework that Thursday night, she didn’t think her day could get any better. Her mother had been slightly nicer to her all day, slightly, and she had performed pretty well in the fencing club as well.

When her phone starting ringing beside her papers on the desk, Silver’s heart skipped a beat. It was an unknown number, but she excitedly picked it up.

“Hello?” she smiled and waited.

“Hello? Is this Moonglade?”

Silver’s heart started fluttering when she heard the voice. It was Home Run’s. He had finally called! She thought she had failed to catch him, but maybe she hadn’t. She was so happy she almost forgot to reply. Finally. An opportunity to bring home some food.

“Home Run? Yes, it’s me,” she said in Moonglade’s voice. “So nice of you to call! What can I do for you?”

“Hi, yeah, I was wondering if you… wanna talk?”

“Talk?” Silver repeated. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Oh well… You know, to get to know you better and stuff…?”

“Oh, you do!” Silver tried to contain her excitement. “How about we meet tomorrow? Let’s say at four-thirty? We can meet somewhere close to your school.” She put a finger to her chin and thought about it. “How about the park around there? That’s a nice enough place, right?”

“Okay, I know the place. Well, I’ll see you there tomorrow?”

“You will,” Silver sighed into the phone for added effect. “I can’t wait, Home Run. See you tomorrow!”

When she hung up, she cradled the phone to her chest, unable to contain her smile. She had done it. She had been successful in her hunt. She almost wanted to jump up and down on the spot, but she managed to contain that. Plus, Home Run had been on her mind for sometime now. She had really wanted to see him again. Perhaps like this, she wouldn’t need to pretend to be in love.

“Well, we’ll see what you feel like tomorrow, hmm, Moonglade?” Silver said to herself. She got up and threw the study room door open, rushing for the stairs. “Aunt Ivory! Aunt Ivory! You won’t believe what happened!”

When the bell rang on Friday, Silver Rose quickly packed her things and rushed out to the carpark, where her aunt was already waiting. The girl wasted no time in getting in, counting the seconds as the car headed back to the Wings’ Estate.

As soon as she got home, Silver dashed out of the car, running for her bathroom, ready to change personas. Taking a nice long shower to remove her current dye, the young changeling washed herself before applying Moonglade’s dye. When she was done with her shower, she entered her large closet and picked out her regular apparel for Moonglade before tying up her braid and donning her glasses.

“I’m ready.” She looked at herself in the mirror, then left to find her aunt waiting outside in the car. “Did you even park the car, Aunt Ivory?”

“No point,” the older changeling said. “I thought I’d just wait out here till you’re back so that we can leave at once.”

“Well…” Moonglade walked around and gave her aunt a hug. “Thanks for always watching out for me and driving me to places.”

“Hey, anything for you, sweetie.” Ivory placed a hand on her niece’s cheek. “Someone’s got to be there for you.”

The blonde haired girl smiled at her aunt, then got in the car, buckling herself in.

As they traveled to the park where she was supposed to meet Home Run, Moonglade looked out at all the passing buildings, still trying to map it all in her head. She’d been able to go out for a few weeks now, but so far, she only knew the rough path to most places. The only one she really remembered was the theme park, seeing as it was huge and it was really fun to go to.

Moonglade lightly smiled to herself. Perhaps if things worked out, she could come here with Home Run someday.

Eventually, the car stopped outside the park Moonglade had told Home Run to go to. She looked around the area from inside the car, examining each person, trying to determine if there were any dangers out there.

Her aunt must’ve thought the same, because she reached behind the seat and picked up her dart rifle. “I’ll have my eyes on you the whole time, sweetie, so don’t worry yourself. I’ll keep you safe.”

“Alright. Thanks, Aunt Ivory. I’ll try to do better this time.”

Taking a deep breath, Moonglade stepped out of the car, adjusting her glasses before strolling down the paved path to one of the nearby benches. She kept telling herself that things were going to turn out differently this time. She would ensnare Home Run and make sure never to let him go. Picking a shady spot, Moonglade put herself under the shade of a tree, leaning back against the wooden back and sighing. It was a nice breezy day, not too hot, not too cold. Sometimes, Moonglade found herself walking out to the lake at their mansion just to enjoy the scenery and the wind. Lately, since starting school, she hadn’t had the chance to do that a lot, so this was nice.

There were many passing people, some of them bringing different kinds of balls in to play, like soccer and football. Moonglade didn’t particularly like those two sports, but she figured she could pick a sport up one day, preferably something she enjoyed.

One particular group of people who caught the young changeling’s attention was a family consisting of two parents and one boy, tossing frisbees from one to another. Moonglade smiled as the boy missed the frisbee, running back to get it. She would say it reminded her of her family, but it didn’t. Her mother had never played with her, nor did she really spend time with her like a normal parent should, except for alchemy and shooting lessons, which in the end, were just lessons and training, and that didn’t count. Watching the family, Moonglade couldn’t help but feel that she was missing out a lot in life.

The girl removed her glasses and wiped at her eyes. She wished her mother could be more loving and motherly, but she knew many things couldn’t happen with her mother the way she was.

She couldn’t see, but soon, she smelt a presence closeby. A familiar one. “Hey, Moonglade, are you okay? Something happen?”

Ah, yes. The prey is here.

“Home-Home Run…” Moonglade wiped her eyes one more time and put her glasses back on. “I’m sorry. I was just… thinking of something.”

“Something bad didn’t happen, I hope?” he smiled and sat down on the bench beside her.

“No, no, not too bad…” Moonglade suddenly reached out for his hand and held it. Right now, she felt she just needed someone. Someone real. “I’m sorry. May I? I really… I just need to know I’m not by myself right now.”

“Oh, um… yeah, sure.” Home Run scratched at his cheek, blushing a little.

Moonglade and Home Run sat in silence for a while. Moonglade continued to hold firmly onto Home Run’s hand, wanting the reassurance that there could be someone there for her. It wasn’t a bad idea.

“Sorry, I’m just thinking about my mother,” Moonglade started. “She’s so… busy that she rarely ever has time with me.”

“Yeah, I guess it comes with being the daughter of the acclaimed Ebony Wings, huh?” Home Run rubbed his head with his free hand.

“Oh, you found out already, hmm?” Moonglade smiled softly.

“Yeah. Umm, I kinda have two uh…” Home Run scratched at his head. “Friends obsessed with your mother. Yeah. A day rarely passes by that they don’t mention her. Of course, they’ve mentioned you recently, so yeah.”

“Yeah, guess I couldn’t hide it for long.” Moonglade gave his hand a squeeze. “Thanks for being here. I feel better.”

A word of advice drifted to the forefront of Moonglade’s mind. Her aunt’s advice.

Let the prey do the talking. All you have to do is look pretty.

“Glad to help. So… The other day, at school,” Home Run said, making almost no eye contact with Moonglade. The girl inhaled, smelling the thin trail of affection from the blue haired boy. “You… Did you really mean, uh, what you said? About thinking of me?”

“Would I lie to you?” Moonglade said, fluttering her eyelashes, while internally thinking, Yes.

“Well, I don’t know…” Home Run scratched his cheek again. “But… you were right, you know? I, uh, was thinking about you. You’re an interesting person.”

“Am I?” Moonglade said coolly. “Why’s that, might I ask?”

“Oh, uh, you know… You’re not from school and… stuff, and you, uh, you-you were coming really close to me the last time we spoke. Sorry about that, by the way. It just kinda spooked me. I wasn’t sure how to react.”

Moonglade did her best to look politely interested. “Uh-huh,” she said, mimicking what her mother had said once at an interview. “So I spooked you? Why would you be spooked by me?” Moonglade put on her best innocent face and twisted the hem of her skirt.

She glanced back to the car and saw the dart rifle’s muzzle dip slightly. It looked like she was doing alright.

“We-well, I’m not used to that, I guess. Girls don’t normally stand that close.”

“Well, have any girls taken an interest in you before?” Moonglade put on her best smile. “Because I did, Home Run.”

“You did? Why? There’s nothing special about me, is there? I’m just… Home Run.”

Because my aunt and mother seem to think this is a good idea and a fast way to harvest love. Well, also partially because you’re rather cute, but that’s not the big point.

“Let’s start with the easy one.” Moonglade finally let go of Home Run’s hand and pushed her blonde hair behind an ear, then she blushed slightly. It wasn’t exactly easy for her to utter these words. “You... seem to be a nice boy. It’s rather easy to tell with you and I like that. And well… y-you’re quite, um, good-looking yourself… Uh, another one is that you’re not here just because I’m Ebony Wings’ daughter. Right?”

“Oh, well, no,” Home Run said. Moonglade sniffed again. He certainly didn’t smell like he was lying. “You, um, looked like you could use a friend…? You know… Umm… Yeah.”

“Is that what we are?” Moonglade tilted her head to the side. “Friends?”

“I mean, if you want. We could be.” Home Run flashed her a smile. This time, he met her gaze for a second longer, before looking away again.

“I don’t have a lot of friends, you know,” Moonglade remarked, finding the trail of affection growing in power.

“I can be your friend, Moonglade. I do want to get to know more about you.”

“You do?” Moonglade feigned extra excitement. “So do I!”

“Oh, that’s great!” Home Run sat up straighter.

Moonglade nodded. “I’m glad I can call you a friend, then! You’re my first outside friend, you know?”

“I am?” Home Run looked a little confused. “How about the sirens? They’re your friends, right?”

“Yeah, they are. You know them too, huh? Seeing as you go to the same school,” Moonglade said. “Are they your friends too?”

“I guess you could say that. I mean, I’m trying to be. Only Sonata seems to open up to me. The other two… not really.”

Sonata was always too exuberant for her own good… Moonglade thought, flicking her eyes to the side.

“Anyway, now that we’re friends, what happens next?” Moonglade tilted her head to the side and adjusted her glasses. She didn’t know how these worked, so it was better if she listened to her aunt and let the boy lead the way.

“You know…” Home Run rubbed the back of his head. “We can meet up time to time, exchange information… stuff like that.”

“I would love that.” Moonglade put on her biggest smile. Moonglade started to blush, so she used it to her advantage. “W-Would you con-consider our meetings as… as going out on a… on a d-date?”

The blue haired boy’s cheeks blushed to match hers. “Uh, um, s-sure, if you-you’re okay with calling it t-that…”

“Really?” Her smile grew even bigger. Her plan was actually working. “You don’t know how much this means to me, Home Run!”

“That’s good then,” the boy chuckled. “I’ve, uh, never really had a relationship before…”

Moonglade decided to take Home Run’s hand again, giving it a light squeeze. “Well, neither have I, so we can figure it out together!”

“Sure, that’ll be something.”

“So how about we meet some place tomorrow?” Moonglade inched closer to him on the bench. “Somewhere for a drink, perhaps?”

“Oh, I know a good place for that.” Home Run nodded. “Ever heard of Sugarcube Corner?”

“You did well, my little niece.” Ivory Wings gave Moonglade a hug as soon as she entered the car. “Now that’s how you get things done.”

“And I have a follow up too!” Moonglade said happily. “We’re going on a date tomorrow! A place called Sugarcube Corner! I can’t wait!”

“My, it pleases me to see you so happy, Moonglade.” Ivory rubbed her niece’s head. “Now, remember, Moonglade likes the boy. Chrysidea sees him as a source of food, yes?”

“I’ll remember that, Aunt Ivory,” the girl answered obediently.

“Good.” The older changeling returned to the wheel and started the engines. “So what would you like to do for the rest of your Friday? I kind of had a chat with your mother. She agreed that you can go out on the weekends again.”

“You did? Thank you, Aunt Ivory! You really are the best! Hmmm…” Moonglade touched a finger to her chin. “How about a movie, Aunt Ivory?”

“Splendid idea!” The white haired woman smiled and turned the steering wheel. “We can head home and collect the sirens, then I can drive you girls to the theater.”

“You won’t be watching with us?”

“Don’t you worry about me, sweetie. You go have your fun.”

“But it’s more fun with you,” Moonglade reasoned.

Ivory chuckled and removed one hand from the wheel to pat Moonglade on the shoulder. “Maybe another time, sweetie. I’m still working on a way to fix the sirens’ gems, so I’ll have to pass. You go have fun.”

“Oh, alright...” Moonglade sighed and looked out the window. She forgot the sirens were very dear to her aunt. Wanting to restore their powers would be very high on her priorities.

“Hey, no need for that emotion,” Ivory said, turning another corner. “I’ll spend some time with you another time, hmm? Maybe we can play more of that game that has your mother.”

“Sure!” Moonglade’s eyes lit up. “I’d love to spend more time with you, Aunt Ivory.”

“What a good little changeling.” She rubbed her niece’s head again. “Your mother should be proud to have such a good and beautiful daughter.”