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It was a pretty calm morning in MidiCity as the 4:00 news played in the background of the ShingancrimsionZ studio, although no one was really paying attention to it. No, the Crimson Quartet was much too busy packing up a van for the long trip ahead of them.
Since opening for Trichronica one time, Shingan had skyrocketed in popularity. They were now almost at least twice a year going on tour, and doing shows outside the city. It was a great experience for them getting to see other places, but the worst part about it was the readiness for the hellish five hours in the van that awaited them.
"Aion, for the last time, you do not need five bags!" Rom yelled, as he stuffed Yaiba's luggage in the back.
"This god will be gone for five days, one bag for each day is roughing it." Aion replied, holding his hand over his face.
"Be careful with my valuables, and hence!" Yaiba yelled out in the background, trying to tug Rom away from his things.
"Will the three of you stop arguing?" Crow said as he walked outside, shoving Rom back so he could straighten everything out. "You three need to relax, this is a music festival, we're gonna have fun! If you fight now, we're not gonna have any energy to hype up the cattle and let our crimson souls unleash our music upon them!"
"That sounds a bit far fetched, even for you, Crow, and hence." Yaiba pointed out, straightening his glasses.
"Oh yeah? Well I don't see any of you being effective at helping me pack the back of this van! Where are we supposed to put our instruments if all we have back here is junk? I don't even need that much, see?" Crow said, holding up one small duffle bag full of luggage.
Suddenly, Aion walked up to Crow, gently nudging him on the shoulder to remind him that his little bag was in the front of the van in his seat, as it always was, making Crow blush.
"Ah, that's right! We can't forget Aion's little princess gets special treatment." Rom teased, making Aion send him an unruly glare.
Yaiba looked over at the leopard, "Rom, Crow is right, let's not start an argument this early in the game. We need to get on the road so we can get there early to test our sound equipment, and he-"
"Blah, blah, blah," Crow said, tossing in some of Aion's things, and setting the guitars and Yaiba's bass up on stands. "It's too early in the morning for this. Rom, get your drums in the van so we can head off."
"Fine!" Rom huffed, going inside to get his carefully packed drumset to bring on the road with them, and placing it inside before finally shutting the van.
After that, the four of them got into their respective seats. Rom always drove on venues that were this far away, Yaiba sitting next to him on the passengers side with Aion and Crow sitting behind the two of them.
"Are we absolutely sure we haven't forgotten anything?" Rom asked.
No one said anything, not being to think of anything they could have left behind on accident.
"Alright, let's hit the road," Rom said as he turned the key and put his foot on the gas, driving off into the distance, pass the limits of their home city.
It was about an hour or so into the long ride, and Crow was starting to get a little bit fussy. He started pulling on Aion's jacket as a sign he felt little, and wanted to regress.
Aion gave a soft smile, unbuckling Crow's seatbelt to pick him up, and sit him on his lap. "Does someone feel little, sweetheart?" The lion asked, holding Crow closely.
Crow nodded, having what Aion fondly nicknamed a "quiet day." Although, he did shake his fist a little bit, telling Aion nonverbally that he wanted his rattle.
Aion didn't even have to ask, he knew which one. Around the first month or so Aion knew Crow regressed, the first present he ever gave him was a rattle handcrafted by him to look like his guitar, Red Tomahawk. Crow loved it very much, he would always play with it, or have his papa shake it so that he could feel better when he felt fussy, and as Aion reached into the bag...
he didn't feel it.
Aion's eyes widened, he vigorously looked through every little thing in the bag, but it just wasn't there! They had left the house without it!
"Uhm, little one..." Aion half smiled, once again posing with his hand over his face, "papa can't find your rattle, sweetie."
Crow looked at Aion in shock. He was going to be gone five days, without his biggest comfort item? The poor little one couldn't help it, as he felt himself falling down the latter in age, and the overwhelming emotions inside of him colliding made him burst out into tears.
Aion knew what he had to do, and he had to do it now before things got any more out of control. "Rom," Aion began, "turn this van around, we're going back to BRR studio."
"What? Are you kidding me?" Rom said, pulling over to the side of the road and looking back at Aion. "We're an hour in, Aion, have you lost your mind?"
Aion covered Crow's ears for a moment, and then said, in his deepest voice possible, "you listen to me, you pathetic rodent. My baby is upset, and it is my fault, if you do not drive us back to the studio in which this god's mistake occured, I will personally throw you into the back seat and do it myself."
Rom gulped, and without saying another word turned the van around on the way back to Banded Rocking Records studios.
"Yaiba," Aion said, still posing, but not forgetting to bounce Crow on his leg in an effort to calm his cries. "Get Plasmagica on the phone, tell them we've lost Crow's rattle, and to be on the search for it until we get there."
"I will, and hence!" Yaiba said, dialing their number, and beginning to call them.
As Yaiba did this, and Rom was busy driving, Aion whispered sweet nothings into Crow's ear, and held him closely in an attempt to get him to hush his cries, but it didn't work. Crow didn't know where his rattle was, and that made him very upset.
"Rere..." Crow said through his tears, nuzzling closer to Aion.
"I know, sweetheart," Aion soothed. "We'll find your rere baby, it's okay. Thank you for talking to papa, I love to hear your sweet little voice."
Crow continued crying, but calmed down just a little after hearing Aion be so nice to him.
In about 45 minutes, they had arrived back at the studio, where Plasmagica had had absolutely no luck in finding Crow's rattle.
"We're sorry, y'all," ChuChu said, shaking her head. "I checked all over the cafe, but I couldn't find anything there."
"And I looked around the practice room and recording studio, pedu." Moa said, hanging her head in shame.
"Me and Cyan looked all over his nursery, and his big room, but we couldn't find any traces of it either," Retoree reported.
"Well that's just great," Rom huffed. "Now we're gonna be stuck with a crybaby Crow forever."
This made Crow cry even harder, spouting sorry after sorry to Aion.
"My little baby," Aion hushed. "It's okay, my crimson angel, you're not a crybaby. That's not true, Rom is just very grumpy."
ChuChu walked over to Aion, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Now, Aion, I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but having a little myself, I say it's best to replace the comfort item. Moa loses hers all the time, I just replace them, and she never finds out."
"But Crow will," Aion whispered. "He knows what every single inch of that rattle feels, looks and even sounds like. If I got the wrong wood, or even the wrong kind of filling, or paint for the rattle, he would indeed notice," the dark sun god continued. "He's very particular about details."
"Is there any room we haven't checked?" Cyan spoke up.
"Only the rooms that Crow never goes into." Retoree answered.
"Like where?" Cyan pressed.
"Oh you know, our rooms, that one hallway no one uses, the laundry room-" Retoree continued.
"Rom, didn't you say that you took Crow's sheets off to wash them when you got back before you left this morning?" Cyan inquired.
"What are you getting at?" Rom asked.
Cyan sped off to the laundry room and dug through Crow's sheets, and there it was. His rattle was wrapped in there the whole time! "Guys!" Cyan said, returning to the main room, shaking the rattle so Crow could hear it. "Look what I found!"
Crow immediately perked up hearing the familiar noise, "Rere!!" Crow babbled, reaching out and making grabby hands for his rattle.
"Aww, here you go, sweetie!" Cyan smiled, handing the rattle to Aion, who immediately began shaking it so Crow could hear it, making the little one giggle.
After that, Plasmagica planned to leave for their own tour anyway, and since they were headed to the same music festival, they both left together. In the end, Rom ended up apologizing to Crow for making him more upset, Aion held a sleeping Crow for the rest of the trip, and Retoree was happier than ever with her own baby girl for thinking of where Crow's rattle could have been. And rather they realized it or not, every single one of them made a mental note never to leave to go anywhere without that rattle ever again.