The walk home was, actually spent in a surprising air of silence, Cel’s energy more or less diminished either from the planning at the bar, or the fact that the sights weren’t so new now that he’d been through here at least once before. Still, the streets were no less busy so the hunter made sure that the very small and easily crushable monochrome being stayed close, with Sirius at his other side.

            However, when they got back to their one-sofa room, Orion noticed that Cel was…while not really acting very much different than he normally did, there was a newfound frenetic edge to the toon’s movements, coupled with a slight, tense air to his attitude. It was almost like the monochrome being was…afraid? What did he have to be afraid about, the hardest part of the day was over with. Unless, perhaps this was some worry regarding the upcoming trip around town with Iris. After the toon had fallen silent, leaning forward while sitting on the sofa with both hands clenched on his knees and taking a particular interest in the wall, Orion decided to speak up.

            “Cel, I-.”

            “She seemed excited t’see the towers, so we can maybe go there first ‘cause they’re pretty close, bu’ I was wonderin’ what we’re gonna do after that, ‘cause th’ other stuff’s in both the North and South parts of town, an’ you wanna go see the ocean which…I’m not really sure of how t’get to but I can figure that part out-wait, I cut you off, didn’t I?”

            At Orion’s somewhat bemused stare and resounding quiet, the toon flinched down, pulling his hat down over his eyes with a slightly squeaked ‘sorry’. Though, the hunter couldn’t find it in him to be too angry, or even really frustrated. It did answer his question, at any rate…

            …And, perhaps, give him an idea of how to proceed.

            “Cel.” The toon jumped a little at being addressed, but when mismatched eyes peered up at the dual, yellowy set that Orion had, the hunter made sure to keep his expression at the very least unthreateningly neutral. “…I’m, not very good at planning. In fact, I think your efforts would probably work better than mine, but…I can help you with one thing.”

            “What’s that?” The toon asked, peering up at Orion to the point where his hat was in danger of falling back off his head if not for a gloved hand quickly coming up to steady it.

            “I know where the beach is. We still have enough time to be back before nightfall.” The hunter explained, turning to head back out with Sirius in his wake, the hound’s tail wagging a bit at the prospect.

            “Oh, alright.” Cel agreed, before realizing that Orion was actually leaving. “Wait, you mean right now?!”

            “Why not?” Orion replied, only just picking up on a note of ease that he hadn’t heard in his own voice in some time. It was exceptionally striking given that the train ride had been his least favorite part of this whole trip. “We have time.”

            “Wait, I’m right behind you!” Cel hollered, throwing himself over the worn arm of the sofa to catch up. Orion did end up grabbing the toon before he could hurtle too far over the landing and crash into the wall, but instead of simply putting Cel down he opted to levy the small being back up to his perch on the hunter’s shoulder. The toon settled easily enough, though at the fidgeting when they were trying to get onto the train, Orion offering the last few arrowheads he had made months ago for payment, the hunter let the monochrome being hop off and into a seat. Sitting down next to the toon, Orion gestured for Sirius to hop up onto the seat opposite and out of the way, after which the train started with a jerk. As they settled in for the ride, the conductor drifted past, uniform clinging to his translucent, ghostly looking frame. He was a regular, one that Orion remembered from when he’d used the train more often.

            Seemed like he remembered the hunter too, as the conductor’s featureless face turned to look at them for a moment before focusing entirely on Orion, a somewhat faraway, masculine voice speaking up.

            “Good to see you again, it’s been awhile.”

            Thankfully that was all, while Orion remembered the guy he certainly didn’t remember his name. Not to mention, while the people of the train had been sympathetic to the hunter when he rode, he didn’t want their pity. Back then, he just wanted to be left well enough alone, the well-meaning efforts at conversation grating on his already tense nerves. And, while he wasn’t precisely in the same frame of mind that he’d been before, he wanted to…more or less remain in the relatively calm, less emotionally-mired state he was in currently.

            Besides, this trip was not really for his benefit, the hunter turning back to the thoughts he’d been cycling through before deciding to go on this particular venture. Glancing over at Cel proved that the toon seemed to have calmed down some, curiosity and the change of scenery taking the anxious edge from his mannerisms. Still, there were some things that the hunter wanted to be sure of. One was, well, that the toon wasn’t just trying to please his family here in some misguided attempt to make Orion happy, because both outcomes were rather divorced from each other at this point. Not to mention that trying to appease the former was like trying to appease an insatiable hydra. Quite frankly, Cel didn’t need to bother with it. It was just too much of a headache with too little reward.

            That didn’t mean that he wasn’t serious regarding the trip; Orion would much rather Cel came if for any other reason than that this conversation between the hunter and his cousin had been mostly a flop. The toon was good at breaking down barriers, and if he could do the talking, it would be good for the young goddess to be familiar with the area. And what better way to do so then to go with people who already knew the ins and outs, especially given that most people with unsavory attitudes towards others tended to avoid Orion when he was out on a walk. As far as the hunter was concerned, it was a solid plan, especially given that Iris did not seem the type to be forceful or adventurous. They show her around, and then drop her back off at the bar. Easy.

            The train rattled as it rolled through each stop, until, at the end of the line, Orion finally got to his feet and gestured for Sirius to follow him. Cel, who had been staring out the window, eyes half-lidded with his face almost pressed to the glass, jumped once he realized his housemates were leaving, though Orion had been a few moments from tapping the toon on the shoulder so as not to leave him behind. Once they stepped out of the station, it really only took a few minutes of walking to get to the sea proper, Cel’s attention immediately becoming riveted by the boardwalks that were bordering the beach. And, while Orion’s path did take him through these, he didn’t stop at any of them. While a lot of the vendors were content to ignore the insectile hunter as he walked through, the more curious toon did get a few sharp looks, the message getting through to Cel pretty quickly that he was not welcome. Which did, in some manner, make sense. The more readily chaos-based beings were likely to frequent places like this rather than what the pair had left. The higher-ups on the cosmic food chain didn’t have as much reach down here, and as such, the less-powerful had an in. Didn’t mean that the vendors had to like it when something broke though.

            At any rate, it pushed them up past the vendors, to the less occupied parts of the boardwalk. Orion was a little surprised to see that the spot he had frequented was, pretty much the same as he remembered it. A simple, but sturdy bench big enough for five larger frames, sitting next to the wooden railing overlooking the beach, and consequently the ocean. And, with the noise of the vendors so far away, the only thing that could really be heard in evidence was the crash and lull of the waves. Overall, a very picturesque, even calm scene.

            Well, as long as they were here…

            “Is it alright if we sit here for a while?” Orion asked, the sudden speech catching Cel off guard for a moment before the monochrome being managed to find an answer.

            “Oh, uh, sure, that’s fine.” At the response the hunter settled down on the bench, partially leaning on the armrest so he could look around at the beach, particularly the blue, churning waters that he could remember as a constant. Always, always in his life there had been the sea. And, as such, it was the one thing that could reliably bring some stability into his life. Distantly, Orion registered Cel sitting down on the opposite end of the bench, glancing over his shoulder to be sure Sirius had a clear place to lie down. For a few minutes, there was nothing but the roll of the waves, and the gentle lull of the salt-smelling air around them. However, judging from the near-silent fidgeting on the seat opposite, Cel likely was a few moments away from breaking the quiet. When a few moments went by with nothing, Orion opted to make it a little easier on the poor toon.

            “Did you want to ask something?”

            “D’ya come here a lot?” Cel question after a beat, voice much quieter and more than a little hesitant to disrupt the apparent peace around them. Still, the hunter didn’t mind answering.

            “Every now and again. Not often lately, though.”

            “…Was it ‘cause I started crashin’ at your place?”

            It was such a frank question that for a moment, Orion was taken a little off guard by it. However, as he looked from the blue waters to the huddled monochrome toon, sitting just far enough away that he looked like he’d come here on his own rather than with Orion. There was also the matter of the fact that while his arms were wrapped around his knees, his left hand was firmly clamped around his right wrist. It brought to mind the first time that he’d noticed the small toon’s…less than toony traits. After all, toons were not supposed to scar, any damage easily clearing up so long as they could make it funny.

            Granted, with so many things mixing, ‘not supposed to’ easily turned into ‘rarely’.

            “…No. I wasn’t leaving the house very often when you came.” Orion replied, feeling more than seeing Cel’s mismatched eyes flick to him at the information before turning back to the ocean to quietly digest it.

            “Cause of, everythin’?”

            “Because of everything.” Orion answered, the tension that the statement would have normally bought eased by the sound of waves and the smell of the salt water. The admittance did ease some of the earlier thoughts from the hunter’s mind, and he eventually decided to just get down to the point.

            “It’s not that I don’t appreciate what you’re doing, but I just…I want you to know that you don’t need to go this far for my family. It’s not always reciprocated on their end. Besides, if I get in trouble with Hades, I get in trouble with Hades. You won’t have to take any blame for it.”

            “I get it, but I don’ mind helpin’, especially ‘cause Iris does seem t’need somebody t’talk to.”

            “She does?” Orion asked, drawing out of the sea-calmed haze at the information. “How do you know?”

            “Well, I dunno if you-I mean, I was kinda carryin’ the whole conversation. She was interested in what I was talkin’ about, for sure, but she didn’t really have a whole lot t’add. Wasn’t sure if that was ‘cause she wasn’ interested in talkin’ or just didn’ know what t’talk about, but I think it was the last one.” A brief pause before Cel spoke up again, this time a little more hesitant. “D’ya think somethin’ happened with her dad, with Hades? She didn’t seem t’want t’talk about him, but she had no problem talkin’ about her sister. Maybe they’re fightin’ an’ that’s why she left, or maybe it’s-.”

            The spurt of speech was cut off as Orion gave a sigh, and quietly reached over to pull Cel’s hat down over his eyes in a distraction.

            “I don’t know,” the hunter replied after a beat, letting the silence carry before breaking it. Cel peered out from under his hat, monochrome eyes attempting to read Orion’s face. Still, given that he knew his features were not the best for expression, the hunter decided to throw the toon a bone. “It might not be so simple as people fighting, though knowing my family it’s always a possibility. Hades was always the more reasonable of…everyone, though, at least from what I remember.”

            The toon seemed to digest the information, before another thought seemed to come tumbling out of his head.

            “Maybe she didn’t want t’leave, an’ Hades said she had to?”

            Orion shrugged in response this time, not willing to give the postulation more than a noncommittal grunt.

            “Could we really do anything about it?” The hunter finally offered, Cel gesturing his conceding at that point. Still, he had one more thing to add.

            “’S just…this kinda stuff’s no good when someone’s bent outta shape over things. Kinda the point of it is to make ‘er feel more at home. Doesn’t help with family problems.”

            “…True.” Orion agreed after a moment of thought. “I still don’t think you should be getting too invested in this. People, my family especially, can be very hard to please. She might not want to do this, or see us again afterwards.”

            “I think she does want to though, she was givin’ me all kinds of suggestions for where to go. We decided on about five places, so includin’ here that’d be six stops for sight-seein’.”

            “We don’t have to come here if we don’t have time.” Orion put in, though Cel quickly shot the hunter down.

            “Hey, hey, don’ worry about it, it’s fine. We’ll work it out. Heck, maybe I’ll pay the train fare next time!”

            “Would you even have anything that you’d be willing to part with?” Orion asked, considering that as far as he knew, the toon guarded his reels, projector, and various musical instruments with extreme fervor, taking care of them with just as much zeal. Granted, they were toon-made, it wasn’t very hard.

            Cel, for his part, waffled for a bit before answering.

            “…Maybe? An’ if not I can get somethin’. It’ll work out!”