“You are free to believe whatever you wish,” Mizuki demurred, though she tilted her head, questioningly. “Still, you yourself said you don’t believe in ‘hocus pocus’ and last I checked, you have no background as a medium or exorcist. So, without sacrificing your principles you seem so enamored with...what will you do?”
Rodessa turned away, hands clenched at her sides, but chin raised in stubborn defiance. “If you’re not willing to help me,” she said shortly, “I will find someone who can.”
Snatching up her jacket, she stalked from the room.
“I’m done here.”
---
A little over an hour had passed since Rodessa had left the meeting with a bitter taste in her mouth. True to the word of the priestess, not a single person would answer her questions concerning alternate methods of dealing with spirits. If it weren’t for the fact that she had left the room far before the Demon Hunter had, she could have sworn that the priestess had vowed them all to silence, just to be petty. However, unless she could somehow pull that off without crossing paths with Rodessa herself, then pretty much everyone here was convinced of the exact same thing.
But whether or not the people would cooperate with her, Rodessa simply wasn’t the type of person to give up at the first hurdle. If people wouldn’t tell her, If they were so stuck in their ways and wouldn't even think of another way, then she would research as much of this hocus pocus as she could until she found the answer herself.
Which led her to sit in a secluded section of the dining hall, several different books lying open in front of her, her meal tray left forgotten on one side as she tentatively combed through the tomes for anything of use buried in archaic words. It was enough to give even the most fluent a headache, considering how convoluted much of the contents was, or how vague others were, leading to the grand conclusion of ‘well there could be something else but there probably isn’t’.
If it wouldn’t get her banned from the library for damaging property, thus leading her minus one more lead, she was horribly tempted to trash the useless garbage where it belonged.
Sighing in frustration, she pulled yet another book towards herself, hoping this one would be at least a little less of a waste of time. However, she paused when a shadow fell over the table. Blinking up from the text, she found one of the waiting staff taking away her neglected meal, stone cold by now, and replacing it with a steaming hot substitute. Seeing the expression on her face, the middle aged man smiled.
“Sorry for interrupting,” he said gently. “But I thought perhaps you would prefer something warm. You look as though you might need it. Many a student find it difficult to research on an empty stomach.”
After so many uncooperative people here, it was nice to see someone with some decency.
“Thank you,” she nodded, before pausing. She hadn’t realised just how parched her throat was until now. Probably from messing around with dusty old books. “...Do you have any coffee?”
“Yes,” the waiter nodded. “How would you take it, ma’am?”
“Black. Three sugars. Please.”
With a nod, the man left.
Sighing, Rodessa slumped again, absently flicking through one of the more potentially useful books she had skimmed through previously. Under the eye rolling title of ‘Guide to Mystic Spirits: Edition No. 40’ - god, even the titles were unimaginative… - the encyclopedia sized tome was littered with at least thirty or so post it notes at odd angles.
It honestly would have been so much faster if people would just point her in the right direction, even if they personally didn’t want to help in any other way, if only so she wouldn’t have to waste her time like this. Rubbing her dry, strained eyes, she couldn’t help the bitter snort breaking from her. True they were dealing with some kind of ghost, but that ghost had been a living person once. A victim in her own right. ‘Help the people and bring balance’ Bull shit! What use was such a motto if they wouldn’t even try?
“Ridiculous,” she grumbled.
Yes, the whole situation was ridiculous. Ridiculous that they were so set in their ways. Ridiculous that they wouldn’t help. Ridiculous that it was someone once in the business of taking lives that would have more respect for the once human than monks and priestesses.
Shaking her head, she pulled the new tray to herself, eyes still on the book and took a mouthful. Paused. Blinking, she glanced over at the dish curiously. It was...oddly familiar. A slightly nutty undertone, faintly sweet. The thick...porridge (at least, she thought that was what it was) had the vaguest taste of sesame and something else she couldn’t quite place. But she knew she’d eaten something like this before… She couldn’t remember when, exactly, but she was pretty sure that she hadn’t been alone when she ate it. She could recall long, platinum blond hair and eyes the colour of tea-
She sat up straight as a solution to her current problem crashed into her mind.
“Hue,” she breathed.
Huxian. Even if she hadn’t known about some of his solo missions until recently, the man apparently had some knowledge of the mystic world. He had to, considering he was leading those Pandora agents overseas. Maybe he wasn’t a stuffy priest, but surely he would know something. If not something she could look into, then would know someone she could find some answers from. Either way it would definitely cut down on the time wasting in her research.
Buoyed by the realisation, she shoved the books to one side and pulled out her laptop, furiously typing up her hypothesis and all the compiled notes she had thus far, along with what she was now capable of doing after her training with Kota over the past month. She would likely never as mystically gifted as the Demon Hunter apparently was. That would take time, effort and a lot of control that she didn’t have time to master right now. But she could do wards and basic cleansing for weak sprites and the like. Theoretically, this was the same principle on a larger scale, right?
Notes put together into order, she was ready. Whipping out her phone, she dialed the number faster than she ever had in her life-
A giggle broke her thoughts.
Pausing, thumb over the dial key, she railed herself in, a frown settling on her face. That’s right, she was in the dining hall right now. Secluded corner or no, conversations going on around her or no, if she started this conversation, someone was bound to overhear. Considering how everyone had been acting about her proposal, if they heard her, they’d try to stop her.
Think smart, Ro, She reminded herself.
Well, it wasn’t as though she hadn’t done this kind of thing before. With Huxian, she was practically a veterine of coded conversations and she knew that even if she gave no warning he would instantly be aware of what she was doing.
Besides, its a bad day, she reminded herself, a faint smirk gracing her lips. Might as well have some fun while I pull the wool over everyone’s eyes.
That in mind, she pressed the last key and the phone began to ring.
---
Huxian had to say that it was nice to be able to move around in his favoured form rather than being more or less trapped in the form of a fox. With the barrier being maintained by the system devised by the reinforcements, it no longer fell to Huxian alone to keep the Jiangshi at bay. Though the situation was hardly rectified, it meant that, once he had regained his strength and they had finalised their tactics, Pandora would be able to make their final move on the undead horde. After that, the one behind the plot would be wide open.
Still, one step at a time, as the saying goes. As much as Huxian would love to set the instigator alight with blue flame, or sink his teeth into the one who dared try such plans in his territory, he was a patient creature. He could rest, regain his strength and devise plans until they were all ready to bring down divine retribution. But he wasn’t above doing the former things at the same time. It was only efficient.
Humming, Huxian leaned over the map, coppery eyes narrowing thoughtfully at the display the other tacticians had presented to him, a thoughtful hum at his lips.
“...The south and east side of the barrier remains clear,” he felt his lips quirk slightly. “Curious, wouldn’t you say? It suggests that they have little intelligence of their own other than whatever is directed at them from the one controlling them. And even that is only the basic objective. It gives them little room to think, to try circling around the barrier and attack from other angles. But it gives quite the opportunity-”
The sudden sound of a wolf howl made Huxian twitch slightly. The howl repeated and he held up a finger, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone, which howled again. Only one person had the ‘ring tone’ set to a howling wolf. The person in question had practically tried to wrestle the phone from his hand when she first discovered he had set that to her name. But why would she be ringing right now?
Then again, from their recent conversations, she had been having some difficulties. As awkward as his own situation was, it was currently stable. A slight delay on giving the proposal wouldn’t affect anything, especially since it needed him recovered and the current plans to be fulfilled for them to pull off, while his words to Rodessa could mean a lot on her end.
“Please, excuse me,” He said finally. “I need to take this. It might be important.”
Answering the phone, he put it on speaker, but locked the phone, just in case. A picture of himself and Rodessa appeared on the screen - a regular phone call, rather than the usual video one. It seemed that she had a similar idea.
“Well now,” he chirruped lightly, even if inwardly he was ready to jump onto whatever code the young woman would decide upon. “I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon, dear heart.”
“Baby!” Rodessa’s voice cheered from the other end of the phone, like a ditzy lover that Huxian knew she would never be like normally, quickly morphing into some kind of pout. “Thank heavens you picked up. I missed you terribly.”
Ah, so they would be using that code. Always fun. Though considering she essentially just said ‘What took you so long, you idiot!’ in said code, just confusing everyone and making them spluttering, blushing messes wasn’t her (only) intention.
“I’m sorry, darling,” he cooed back, easily slipping into one of their oldest codes. “You sound flustered. Something on your mind?”
He knew she would have heard ‘I’m guessing you’re in an area where you can’t exactly talk right now?’ which would both clue her in he picked up on which code she was using and prompt her to tell him the situation.
“Can’t a girl call her lover now and then?” Rodessa simpered. “I was wondering if you could help me get off…” (‘Well, I need your help,’ she admitted. ‘And I’m getting nowhere fast, so…’)
He had to bite back a grin at the choking sounds he could hear both in the background of Rodessa’s phone and from some of those from the room he was in. The code was always fun to use. It often sent people off in various stages of fluster. Though what it must be like in a place filled with monks, shrine maidens and their tutors he could only guess. Likely trying not to faint, turning crimson or giving her sharp looks, no doubt. Hell, he could practically hear the smirk in her breath at causing such discomfort amongst them, one that would likely mirror his own fox-like smirk.
“Well,” he purred in return, both to keep the pretext going, while giving her a little information in return, “I’ll certainly try my best, babe, but I am in the middle of a meeting and you are on speaker. Can’t exactly whip it out, jerk off and send you the video, can I?”
“Good god!” spluttered one of the more straight laced of aides, face the picture of embarrassed outrage. “Do you have to do this now?!”
Huxian blinked at him ‘innocently’. “Well, I’m not in the business of denying her so...yes, yes I do.”
He didn’t even bother hiding his grin when the man dropped his head into his hands. Poor guy, he really should have read the warnings on the files. Any mission with him in it practically needed a warning that sanity was at risk. Teaches them for skipping on the reports.
“I’ll try not to moan too loudly,” Rodessa simpered in reply, a laugh only he could hear barely suppressed in her tone. “Lest your peers get off on our love time.” (‘Oh, this should be interesting!’ she was trying not to snicker)
Oh, indeed it would be interesting! That’s what you get for leaving him as a fox with those girls constantly bothering him with pets and cooing. True they were innocent people that could only be brought to base so they wouldn’t get hurt by Jiangshi, but there was only so much he could stand without some form of a break.
“Now now, dear,” he purred, almost sinfully. “I’ll be more than happy to get you off, but your moaning is for my ears only, got it?” (‘You think?’ he was laughing, ‘I’m having a blast, breaking up the stiff meeting I was having. But go on, dear.’)
He could hear her chuckle. “You know, you could take me off speaker,” she pointed out. No code needed there. She was just plain amused.
“Not a chance, kid,” he sang songed in return.
“Oh hue, you’re such a tease,” she snickered. Ah, he missed having someone who got his sense of humour, even without knowing his nature as a supernatural being. You’d have thought agents would know better, considering that they should know by now what beings like him were most well known for. Other than their legendary tempers, mischief was their defining traits.
“Take it off speaker!” wailed the man from before.
“Nope, nope and nope,” Huxian waved a flippant hand, not even bothering to look over at the poor man in question, his attention back to Rodessa. “Now, sweetheart, back to you. How can I help you get off? I can hear the stress in your voice. You sound like you need to unwind. I can certainly help with that, if you tell me.” (‘Now, seriously, how can I help?’ he asked. ‘You sound tense. What’s happened?’)
“You can help by going to your room,” grumbled the blushing man.
“Shut up, Reggie!”
“But that’s not my-” The man spluttered, but Huxian had stopped paying attention to him. Whether his name was Reggie, Ronald or something that sounded nothing like either didn’t particularly matter. Though the faint chuckling he could hear from the other end of the line did seem to be cheered a little by the banter, there was still a bit more tension there than he’d like. They still hadn’t covered the heart of the problem, code or no.
“Well,” Rodessa chimed finally, a coy note to her tone, “I’m sending you a few pics and some love note I thought you might wanna look at. I could read them out, but-”
The very reason she could not ‘read them out’ interrupted from Rodessa’s end. “Miss Hunter, refrain from reading suggestive notes in the dining hall, if you please.”
“There so noisy! But then again darling,” Rodessa sighed, as if put out. “Public decency and all that. I could whisper honeyed words to you all day, but alas...It’s so dull here.” (“We better cool it,” Rodessa was warning through the code. “But I sent the files to your communicator. It’s about the case. I’m not getting anywhere here”)
A faint ping on his communicator came not a moment later.
“Ah, just got your pictures, babe,” he drawled. “Let me see what you have for me.”
Quickly, he swiped up the device, making it look like a sly, casual motion to keep up appearances. Even so, he was curious as to what she had found that was stumping her so that she couldn’t find the answer to in one of the local hubs of supernatural training. It wasn’t to say that Huxian couldn’t run rings around the trainers with brute force of his power as a nine tails alone, or didn’t know subtleties in sorceries, but Rodessa didn’t know that right now. So that means she either thought he knew more than he was letting on, or she couldn’t trust answers she was getting. But which was it?
“Oh for the love of-!” Reggie or whatever his name was spluttered, but Huxian ignored them as he flicked through the files she had sent with a critical eye, not even twitching at the protests. They looked like meeting notes discussing the movement of some kind of vengeful spirit, slides for a presentation, sound files of some kind of interviews that he would have to listen to alone to get a good idea of exactly what was said, though there was a summary of the contents attached to the files.
Despite that, everything seemed to be coming to quite precise conclusions of the movement of the spirit, the cause of its desires and the key people to need further protection or investigation. With the resources available to the temple, considering that top agents had trained there, he couldn’t see what, exactly, Rodessa was stuck on. She seemed to have it pretty well handled - her FBI background coming in quite useful for ground research.
“Sweety,” he purred back, mindful of their current code. “Your love letters are as passionate as always, but tell me you aren’t just leading me on with your honeyed words. You know that the logical response is a simple-”
Rodessa heaved a heavy sigh. “That’s the problem…” she admitted finally. Code or no code, the heaviness he heard in her tone was real. “One of my...girlfriends…” The word was used with the type of tone that suggested she was using that word as loosely as possible. “Says that particular date location is the only one, but I don’t think that’s so.”
“Hm…” Huxian glanced at the notes, mind easily translating what Rodessa was saying. So, considering the information, it seemed her current partner believed that a full exorcism was the only way to end this particular spirit, but Rodessa was having problems accepting that and thought there had to be another way. The problem was that...well, the priestess wasn’t exactly wrong. Vengeful spirits were tricky things, not easily swayed from their revenge and the methods needed to even attempt that required a lot of power and no little amount of control. While Rodessa was learning the basics, that certainly wouldn’t be enough. Not without so many details conveniently all falling into the exact places. And that wasn’t even thinking about the potential personal backlashes if even one of those things wasn’t calculated exactly so.
He hated to do it, but Rodessa’s safety was his top priority.
“I see no problem here,” he admitted. “You’d be a fool not to go there. Tell me how it goes-”
“No!” Rodessa interrupted, agast. “Seriously, you agree with her?! Baby, come on...you’re supposed to be on my side here…”
“I am on your side,” Huxian reasoned. “But I rather you enjoy your time on your date if I can’t be there. I’d rather you didn’t overdo it.” He hoped to the gods that she understood that he was worried that without his back up he needed a damned good reason to risk her life when she had the quickest and safest option right there. He wished he could help her, but even the best precautions he could give her right now were hit and miss.
“Aww, come on, I bet I could convince you. Take me off speaker i rather the bystanders not listen to our dirty talk…”
Against his better judgement, Huxian pressed the button and held the phone to his ear, trying not to let his worry show on his face. Likewise, on Rodessa’s side, her voice dropped into an almost whisper.
“Hue,” she begged quietly. “That site is spiritual ground. It’s almost sentient. There may be resentful energy coming from that place, but somewhere in there is a small shrine. It’s broken and not emitting much purity and it’s fading fast. Even so, I can’t just sit back and watch it fade to nothing.”
It was still in code, but she probably thought it best to keep it quieter than the rest of it, if only because talking about spiritual ground instead of spirits might still garner just a bit too much attention. At least making it seem like she was going to be whispering something naughty would at least put off any potential listeners. Even then, if people did hear her, they might think it some case study instead.
Even so, it was still pushing the code a little more than either was used to. It was only from the years of knowing her he understood what she meant. From what he could gather, the ‘spiritual ground’ in this case was probably referring to the ghost, but she could still tell (Likely from her old jobs needing interactions with humans and learning their tells and body languages) that the ghost still had a part of humanity left in her that she thought she could save. That she was desperate to save before it faded completely.
Dammit, this wasn’t the same as adopting a stray fox as a pet or taking in a seemingly hapless child (hell, even the latter should have warned her off this-)
“No. No, you really shouldn’t do that,” he tried to get across how against the idea he was without panic in his voice. “It’s way too expensive! Not to mention the structure is really unsteady. You could get really hurt if it falls in while your visiting it.” (“It’s too dangerous, even for you,” he begged. “You’re not at the level needed to try out what you’re proposing even with a partner, never mind alone!”)
“So you would watch the shrine cave in?” Rodessa’s tone was almost unreadable. “What if it was your home? Could you stand to see it become a shadow of it’s former self?”
Huxian forced himself not to twitch. That...hit a little too close to home, even if she was actually talking about spirits being corrupted with rage, not shrines being abandoned to disrepair. But the picture she was painting still hurt when he remembered-
Dammit, leave the past where it is, this is more important!
But even not taking her words at face value and looking at what she was actually saying in code still left him agitated enough that were he in true form his hackles would be bristling. Did she honestly think that he would leave her in such a state if it were her that was the ghost, not Yumi?
“That’s not the same thing,” he bit out, hoping the almost animalistic growl in his throat was not obvious, but he couldn’t calmly take either scenario she had painted. “I would never let you-” Dammit he couldn’t even keep the code straight now. Damn her... “I wouldn’t let it get that bad. I’d guard it with my life, you know that.”
“Hue, please,” she begged. “I’m going to save that shrine one way or another. Now, I could go in blind and risk getting cursed or worse...or you can help me find a way to do this safely. I even have my notes. Take a look.”
There was another bleeping on his terminal, but Huxian couldn’t bring himself to look at that moment, needing a moment to compose himself. Running his hand through his pale hair, he closed his eyes. “Damn you…” he whispered, already knowing with that ultimatum that he would help her do things her way. And if this all went wrong and something happened to her…
He ran his hand from his hair to his face. “...Damn me too…”
---
From the other end of the line, Rodessa winced slightly, both from the heavy sigh and the whispered words she only caught the edges of. In her mind’s eye, she could picture his pose and the likely pained expression he would be wearing, as if dealing with a petulant child he couldn’t refuse. Even so, she felt a little bit guilty at basically telling him to help her or fret as she tried anyway, but it was something she had to do. But she needed his help for this. She’d figure out how to make it up to him later. But she needed him on her side here.
“I know I’m asking a lot,” Rodessa admitted. “But...Hue...please. I need you. I need you to trust me...to help me...my love.”
“....You just…” Huxian sighed. She could picture the weary, wiry smile on his face, pinching the bridge of his nose (or possibly massaging his temples. “You don’t play fair, do you? Ro. Roza. Rodessa. Rodessa Meia-Matus Destiny Kariudo. Why? Why must you always be like this?”
“I’m sorry, love,” Rodessa apologised gently.
Huxian snorted. “Not enough to stick with the simple option,” he groused.
“Nope,” Rodessa’s lips twitched up, if sadly. “Forgive me, Hue.”
He sighed again. For a moment, Rodessa half thought he had hung up. However, finally, he spoke again. “...Did you get my gift?”
That threw her for a loop. “Huh?”
“The gift,” Huxian repeated slowly. “Remember the one I said I’d send to you a while ago. Did you get it?”
“Oh!” Rodessa breathed, her eyes dropping to her wrist, As she tilted her wrist, she could see it shift slightly, the tiny bell like charms clinking gently against the chain. “Yes, I got it. The bells are cute, but...I think they’re broken? They don’t ring.”
“Oh no, they’re working just fine,” Huxian denied, a smirk in his tone. “I’m glad you think they’re cute though. I made it myself. Anyway, that aside, hold the phone to it for a sec. I need to activate the charm if you insist on this course of action. I expect compensation for this, sweety.”
“Wait, what?” hold the phone to her bracelet to activate a what now? Was it even possible to do something like that over technology of all things?
She could practically hear him roll his eyes. “Just do it.”
Shaking her head, bemused, she did as she was told. Sometimes it was easier to just do what he said when he was like that. Even so, she hadn't even thought he could say charms or the like. Then again, he had apparently been working for Pandora a while now, so maybe he was just further along in all this than her.
Holding her bracelet up to the phone, making it look like she was simply pressing the phone closer to her ear if any nosy passer-by were to look over. Though she couldn’t quite hear what he was saying - and with the speed of it she couldn’t even pinpoint the language - he chanted something before suddenly, the bracelet felt warm at her wrist. For a brief moment, she thought she could hear them give a tiny, tinkling ring, before falling silent once more.
“And done,” came Huxian’s muffled voice.
Flipping the phone back around so it faced her ear once more, Rodessa bit back the burning question on her tongue about what he actually did - he probably wouldn’t tell her just yet, considering how she coerced him.
“So, about your compensation-” she started, however, Huxian interrupted.
“Ask me again once I’ve given you a solid plan.”
Her heart warmed, glad that her partner was on board with her. Hell, the compensation was probably just an excuse. A way to switch to her side of the argument without encouraging her (what he perceived as) ‘reckless behaviour’.
“Thank you,” she smiled, wholeheartedly. She really would make it up to him.
“Hmph,” the man snorted. “I just want my woman back in one piece.”
She couldn’t help the slight laugh that bubbled up at being called ‘his woman’, even if it was just a code. Still, if she just laughed after that, he might rescind his help out of feeling she wasn’t taking things seriously when he was obviously concerned for her.
“I promise, I’ll come back in one piece,” Rodessa assured. “Even if I have to do the brunt of it alone.”
“I’m holding you to that.”
Honestly, she couldn’t help but believe he really, truly, was.
[END]
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