“You’re concerned that putting such a strain on them too quickly would cause that progress to shatter,” Kota finished.
“Exactly.”
“Well, I say different,” Kota contradicted, waving a hand to the folders before Violet. “I’ve read your girl’s file and compared it to the young mistress’. It could work. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting throwing them at a god-tier opponent just yet. I’m just suggesting that we have them face a threat above their current levels if they were to face it alone, thus meaning they must work together to overcome it.”
“Hm…” Violet leaned back in her chair, approval glimmering in her eyes. “That sounds reasonable,” she agreed. “Besides, we will not be far away. It may be a good place to start, once this case is concluded.”
“That be as it may,” the monk said slowly, “I do believe we should consider this a little more carefully…”
“You’re too cautious, Old Man,” Kota waved off the priest’s worries with a flap of a hand. “Let the kids find their way - with a guided hand, of course.” he met the monk’s eyes with a steady gaze. “Have more faith in your pupil.”
---
Temple life, while usually peaceful, was rarely absolutely still. Part of this was due to the job that the monks and priestesses held in the Mystic world, which often required them leave or return to the temple at any time of day. After all, spirits rarely operated at respectable hours. Thus, it was not strange to find The Grandmaster once again hosting the Mistress of Pandora and the current trainer, Kota, within the meeting room for a peaceful early breakfast, having finalised some of the plans they had been discussing involving their young students.
What should have been strange (but was sadly becoming far more commonplace of late), was said peace being interrupted, not by a worried monk hoping get attention for something gone horrifically wrong, but rather the bickering sound of Mizuki and Rodessa.
Almost as one, The Master and Violet sighed. Once, the master would have been shocked to hear Mizuki’s voice at all unless it was directed to him, but since Rodessa came it was almost as if the older girl’s fire somehow lit Mizuki’s under her habitual ice. It would have been joyous, if it weren’t for the fact that said fire was always in argument on both ends. Now the Monk couldn’t help but join Violet in rubbing temples to stave off the oncoming headache, no matter how fond the two of them were of their respective students
Shooting an amused glance at the synchronized exasperation, Kota bit back an amused chuckle, instead leaning on his hand and listening as the raised voices finally became fully audible to the trio.
“-Again,” the sound of Mizuki’s voice was short, obviously in the middle of lecturing the recalcitrant Rodessa, a slight tightness to the tone that most would otherwise miss under icy flatness. “You were to follow my lead.”
Rodessa barked out a bitter laugh, the sound of her shoes making it obvious she had whirled to face the other girl.
“And ‘again’,” she sneered, “You couldn’t lead a whore to a brothel!”
Huffing, the footsteps began again, the sound of material being shifted as Rodessa removed her outer jacket and loosened her tie.
“You know,” Rodessa continued as the voices closed towards the room, “It’s like you have no soul, or are severely lacking empathy. They’re going through mourning, they’re stessed, thought that bastard lost his fucking mind and killed someone when he’s part of their family and an important part of it, too!”
The sliding door slammed open abruptly as she stalked inside, still hissing over her shoulder, expression akin to a storm cloud.
“Now he’s gone, and they’re turning on each other, blaming each other and they think a ghost of all thinks is haunting them!,” her lips curling into a sneer at the thought. “And that’s not even mentioning the deaths. You might want to, I don’t know, have a heart and be a little softer in your interrogation or forced cleansing or whatever. I know its hard for you, Tin Man, but at least pretend to have a heart-”
Mizuki’s face was more stoneline than the master had seen in a while as she had entered, obviously holding herself back from the insult at Rodessa, yet again, renouncing the mystic. Instead, presenting her case. “It is for their benefit that I was not wasting time and getting to the heart of the matter,” she responded cooly. “Empathy is something that requires time we did. Not. have. There was resistance in that house-”
“Yeah, a resistance to your as-matter-of-fact attitude!” Rodessa snapped, “to you insistance on your cleansing ritual or whatever. Scary words, scary sounding facts, hypothesis or otherwise - they would petrify the superstitious, never mind freak out a non-believer.”
“So you would rather I risk their lives while I lie to them just to make them feel better?” Mizuki snipped back.
“I’m saying you should shut up and think about it from their perspective!” she shot back.
“Yes, it would be convenient,” Mizuki agreed, cold voice snide. “Just as that would be convenient enough for the spirit to pick them off one by one.” she turned cold eyes on the taller girl, arms crossed under her sleeves. “For every minute that spirit is out there, the more deadly it becomes and the more lives lost. What we need it to be fast and efficient to prevent the worst case scenario-”
Rodessa’s lip curled. “Oh honey, you must have a loooooot of friends with that attitude.” she leaned forward a little so they were almost nose to nose, lips twisting into a smirk. “Oh yeah,” she drawled. “I remember, the only people you’re allied with is your master and his associates. Ha, and you barely have that, now do you?”
Mizuki’s face practically turned to marble as Rodessa tossed her hair. “It fucking amazes me that someone who claimes to be fighting for the ‘mortal folk’ can be so fucking antagonising towards the very same people she’s meant to be protecting. I mean gods above!”
Emotionless blue stared back. “Because you are so different.”
Rodessa stiffened slightly before rounding on the shorter girl. “Oh shut the fuck up!” she snapped. “Oogie Googie doesn’t just show up every day!
“The world of the Mystic is side by side with the mundane,” Mizuki retorted. “Thus it is an every day threat.”
“Not to most people!” Rodessa threw up her hands in exasperation. “This shit ain’t normal to the average joe. They’re just stories with morals, superstitions to make you a better fucking person, just the imagination running wild! That’s what it is to modern man - science and logical thinking disproved all of it years ago. So now we’re not afraid of the dark. We apes have light, the police and a stick in our hands to defend ourselves.”
“And the reason it is ‘disproved’,” Mizuki shot back. “Is because there are organizations like Pandora or dedicated Demon Hunters keeping the few neutral ones from the public or taking out the malevolent. We make it safe so that they can live with that blissful ignorance.”
“I’m sure that’s true in some capacity,” Rodessa admitted, before her expression hardened again. “But you aren’t the shining beacon of that, now are you?”
The priestess’ eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”
“You’re excused,” Rodessa snided back.
The marble expression on the Masuyo’s face, if possible, became colder. “You don’t even believe what’s right in front of your face. You neglect your studies, take nothing seriously and then have the nerve to disregard everyone’s way of dealing with threats they were trained for.”
Rodessa snorted. “I’ve read all the books. They all seem outdated at best and some methods even seem to contradict themselves. They’re archaic at worst and inhumane. Some of these creatures seem to have intelligence and a conscience and yet the way your demon hunter books treat them is as if every single one is vicious animals that should all be slaughtered. Have you people ever just sat down and talked to one?”
Mizuki’s grip seemed to tighten slightly under her sleeves and the watching trio, who already knew her backstory half expected her to strike. However, she remained still, merely tilting her head challengingly. “And do you stand and talk to every terrorist you faced in the FBI? After all, even they are intelligent beings with a conscience. But with these creatures here that would knowingly destroy lives, I personally would shed no tears were they to disappear.”
“Woooooow,” Rodessa whistled. “I don’t think the title of Heartless bitch is even on the table with you, because that’s not the same and you know it!” she snorted, eyeing the girl. “Bitch, who killed your puppy?”
“You insufferable-!” Mizuki’s lips whitened, her flare of rage shoved back under the ice. “Look at the damage it has already caused! Tell me you honestly believe that this is ok and it can be reasoned with at this point.”
“You haven’t even tried!” Rodessa shot back, jabbing a finger in her chest. “Better yet, I don’t think you even want to.”
Ice broke. Ice like glass shards, Mizuki snarled. “How dare you-!”
“‘How dare you’? Seriously, what the fuck happened to make you this jaded?” Rodessa shook her head and huffed. “Better yet, detract that question. I don’t care that much about you, your backstory or your racist...speciesist? Mysticist? ...Whatever it is way of thinking. It’s closed minded at best and hateful at worst.”
“And I suppose you’re a saint,” Mizuki responded, tone bitter even under the reformed chill, though whether at Rodessa, at the conversation or herself it was unclear.
Rodessa tilted her head a little, her one visible eye seemed to gleam in the meeting room’s dull light, a humourless smirk crossing her lips. “Far from it, sunshine. I’m the voluptuous devil herself in five inch heels. Death’s daughter, the monster who slays other monsters. That was my job before I got saddled with this shit show.” Her expression smoothed. “No, I’m not perfect. But at least I’m trying to meet your weird sort halfway. You, sweet cheeks, certainly don’t seem to be trying the same.”
“Because your ‘attempts’ can barely be classed as that considering that this entire time you’ve essentially referred to all of us as genocidal supersious neanderthals-”
“But you are, darling-”
“OK, that’s enough!”
Both girls stiffened as a third voice interrupted the argument like water over a campfire. Whipping around, they finally noticed that they weren’t alone in the room. The Grandmaster and Violet were both blank faced, but the speaker, Kota, simply leaned back in his chair, eyes glittering with amusement.
“Come, have your breakfast and chill for a moment,” he waved at the free seats, taking a sip of his coffee. His expression twisted into a grimace, before setting it down again. “Honestly, will these walls never know peace again?”
Unphased by the various levels of animosity in the stares of the students, nor by the fact that neither moved to sit, Kota hummed. “Honestly, you both brought up good points,” he pointed out. “Efficiency is a good thing, but not at the expense of empathy. There is more to our job than slaying the unruly mystic-”
Rodessa straightened, triumphantly. “Exactly! That’s what I’m saying-”
“Saying that,” interrupted Violet. “This spirit in question is unlikely to be open to negotiation. The wound is too fresh, the grudge too strong. The longer we weight, the worse the outcome.”
“Which is what I was saying,” Mizuki agreed, almost relieved to hear someone agree with her reasoning, but paused as Violet raised a hand.
“The key,” Violet continued. “Is finding the balance between both. One can certainly learn from the other.”
For a moment it looked as if both had been turned to stone, before the two, as one, slowly turned their heads to look at each other, sizing the other up, before rounding back on the three elders.
“To be honest, I don’t think its possible for that tin man to gain emotion,” Rodessa denied
“Nor you focus on what’s important,” Mizuki murmured.
“I’m an assassin, sweetheart,” Rodessa quipped. “Efficiency is my job.”
“Threats again?”
A smile that didn’t reach her eye touched the ex-FBI’s lips. “No sweety,” Rodessa mockingly simpered. “Just stating facts.”
Rubbing his temples, the Head Monk sighed, already tiring of the two arguing. Honestly, they were like oil and water. If it wasn’t necessary for them to work together, he would have assigned them at opposite ends of the country.
“Enough!” he demanded finally, quietening both the girls before they continued their bickering. Sighing again, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “What does one have to do to have a peaceful morning?” he groused, before directing his sharp eyes on the two young women. “If I hear another word out of either of you for the duration of breakfast, I’ll have you both cleaning the stocks,”
Mizuki froze a moment, before she bowed low, respectfully. However, as he requested, she said not a word.
Rodessa, less politely, merely hummed in agreement, sauntering over to one of the seats and lifted the cloche covering the breakfast to peruse what was there, only to pause when Mizuki sat down - directly in front of her. True, it was the only seat left at the table so there wasn’t much of a choice, but it wasn’t as though either were thrilled with looking at each other for the entire time they were effectively muted. As such, they studiously kept their gazes focused on the food, if only to prevent the temptation of sniping at each other once more. Or losing their appetites.
Checking to make sure the fragile peace would hold for a moment, Kota turned back towards the gathering with a cheerful, “So! Shall we get to the report, Madam Povell?”
Dabbing her lips daintily with a napkin, Violet straightened in her seat, surveying the now attentive listeners.
“Indeed.”
[END]
