Catching up (Private Venir/Tatsu)

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

She rattled her brain trying to see if she could recall anyone by that name. When it came to memory Venir's was more than a little complicated. Through a series of events she had come to lose almost all of her memories. Of course, that wasn't to say that she was without hope. Often times when meeting someone she had met in the past, she would upon occasion have a fleeting feeling of deja vu. If she was really lucky she'd remember a moment or two but she wouldn't remember everything. The Tatsu person who had sent the letter was not one she could recall but she must have known at one point with the letter her sent her. Venir had to applaud him though for being able to get the message to her at all. With her complicated status of living, Venir had taken to wandering throughout Fiore until she could properly control her powers so as not harm anyone like she had her guild.

Her control over her flames had improved some but not much since she had taken to wandering. She didn't suffer from spontaneous combustion anymore but her own physical body temperature would rise to dangerous levels if she didn't focus on keeping it as low as possible. Her constantly high body temperature left her feeling more than a little cozy most days, Venir had yet to experience the feeling known as cold. All she really had to focus on was not accidentally burning the things she touched....Which she had yet to burn anything too badly that day. A new record for her really.


She stood before a structure that seemed to be a cafe of sorts. The name of the establishment was the same as the one on the letter...Running a quick hand through her mane of messy blonde curls, Venir entered the place. She had to will her hand to not melt the handle of the door, but the next person to touch it would still be unpleasantly surprised. Once inside she was greeted by a hostess who only gave her a rather quizzical stare before inquiring as to whether or not Venir was in the right place.


She rubbed at the back of her head awkwardly as the woman's eyes sharpened into a glare. The cafe wasn't particularly formal or anything of the like, it was simply that Venir was incredibly informal. She dressed in the various articles of clothing she had acquired through her travels, which gave her the wandering adventuring and possibly trouble making mage sort of look. Rather than the "I'm here for a cup of coffee" customer that the cafe was used to. Her attire in itself wasn't terrible or anything of that nature. Perhaps the hostess' was merely a green eyed monster who didn't care for Ven's attire because of the way her chest threaten to spill out of her tube top, or the small section of exposed toned skin on her midsection. The hostess had asked her to leave but Venir interjected,

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

The hostess lead her to the table that held the supposed Tatsu at it. She couldn't help but slightly grin, the pair had the same shade of golden blonde hair. In turn to his rather exuberant response at just her presence alone Venir couldn't help but wave rather guiltily. He had managed to recognize her in even this form yet Venir could not say the same to him. She couldn't recall if she had seen him before in her life. Which made his excitement that much more difficult to handle. Venir could only pray that he wouldn't be too disheartened by her lack of memory of him. Tatsu or who she believed to be Tatsu had oh so gentlemanly kicked out her chair for her, not that Venir minded. She muttered a quiet thanks before seating herself, smoothing her back skirt down so that it rest between her body and the chair protecting it from the burning touch of her skin.

She had barely managed to sit down when a question had escaped his lips, she herself still feeling guilty about his prior comment. Amethyst orbs flickered off to the side in thought, "I've been better... You?" There was a lot of change in her life at the moment, some good some bad, but there was an undeniable weight on her shoulders accompanied with a hefty does of loneliness. Which is why she had been distracting herself with idle wanderings and the occasional job here and there. Having not yet touched her menu the woman took in a deep breath, she needed to let him know that she quite frankly could not recall him. It by no means any fault of her own that she could not remember him but that didn't make her feel any better.

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

A huff of air escaped Venir's lips when the waiter had spoken up. It wasn't his fault that he had came into their conversation at a bad time, but it was rather difficult for Venir to push her annoyance down despite knowing that. She hadn't always been one to get annoyed easily, in fact she had always been very patient until recently. This sudden change in patience and temperament clearly had a link to the lacrima in her belly having finally awakened. Either it responded to the subtlest of her emotions and amplified them or the lacrima itself was creating new emotions within her. "Hot Chocolate as well please." Venir had always been one to enjoy sweets, "Extra hot." She added finally giving the waiter a smile despite being irritated. Soon enough the waiter had left to fetch their orders leaving the pair somewhat alone.

"Oh yeah..."She laughed almost nervously that sudden spark to tell him having been firmly put down by the interrupting waiter, "I was just gonna say..." Amethyst orbs looked down at the menu before her, "That the waffles here look really good." It was the first thing on the menu that had caught Venir's eye but she hadn't even touched the menu itself. She didn't trust her hands to not completely incinerate such a thin piece of paper. That and leaving burn marks on it wouldn't exactly be very polite nor did she want to scare the man across from her. "Just tell him." She internally pumped herself up, getting ready to let him know the truth once more. Yet it would seem the waiter had very bad timing or he simply took pity upon the blonde male,

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

Venir barely repressed a groan at the waiter's terrible timing. The warm drink he offered was the only thing that had saved him from her wrath. She took the glass of warm cocoa with a quiet thanks. As the waiter took Tatsu's order, Venir absentmindedly looked down at her glass of hot coco, her gloved hands already wrapped around the warm mug. There was a hefty pile of whipped cream on the top but it was rapidly beginning to melt into the cocoa. Steam rose from the cup as Venir heated it herself to higher temperatures, almost to the boiling point. "Waffles extra syrup oh and banana slices." The waiter quickly jot down the orders before departing once more. When the whip cream had thoroughly melted into her extremely hot beverage, Venir finally took a sip but had to stop herself from spitting the burning liquid out of her mouth at the sight of Tatsu. Finally she let out a small laugh, setting her own mug down before snagging a napkin and offering it to him.


She let loose another laugh, finding his antics rather amusing. Venir was half surprised her didn't have a whip cream mustache. She leaned across the table, and delicately as if she was afraid she might hurt him brushed the whip cream off of his nose with the very edge of the napkin. There was no skin contact of any sorts from Venir, that much the blonde woman made sure of. "All better!" She chirped much like how a mother would or even an elder sister. Readjusting herself in her seat, Venir took another sip of her still boiling drink.

A sort of a silence had enveloped them but it wasn't unpleasant necessarily. It was almost a content sort of silence but at the point Venir was too lost in her thoughts as she took comfort in her hot beverage. How hard was it to admit to someone you had no idea who they were? Taking one last sip of her drink Venir double checked to make sure that the waiter with poor timing was nowhere in sight. The only employee she spotted was the hostess from earlier carrying a platter of food. "Okay Tatsu I need to let you know that-" It turned out the hostess from before, the one carrying the food was actually carrying their food. Yet Venir refused to be interrupted this time, and with a burning sort of irritation that bordered anger she continued on refusing to be interrupted by anyone,

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

Not a hint of rose decorated Venir's cheek despite her outburst that others might have considered embarrassing. Yet he didn't seem to quite understand what she meant. Tatsu hadn't exactly been around to know just what had been going on in the fire mages life. The woman set their waffles down upon the table before quickly departing, and Venir promptly sat herself down trying to figure out where to begin. "Well, I don't know who you are. I've never seen you in my life..." The blonde mumbled, her life had gotten so complicated recently and she could only imagine how explaining it might sound. She herself wasn't even completely sure about who she was or what she was doing anymore. Everything she knew about herself she had learned from outside sources. She picked at the waffles in front of her, her appetite suddenly going down the drain.


Venir finally managed to look up from her plate ready to finally tell the truth to someone. Her mouth was open ready to say those words out loud, ready to admit that she was an experiment who had gotten loose, that countless spells had been placed on her to change her appearance to hide the truth. That at one point her memories had been wiped when she was growing too strong, getting too close to the truth and that any memory of him had been erased. Ready to admit that she had done something horrible to her guild. A guild that was nothing more than ashes and bitter memories but....He couldn't understand that, he couldn't understand her. All it took was one look at his emerald orbs, filled with confusion and she knew. For some reason that made her angry, the lacrima within her beginning to burn, firing itself up ready to explode in a moments notice.

She slid out of her chair smoothing out her back skirt with her palms. With excellent aim she tossed some jewels onto the table, more than enough to cover their bill. She had moved a few steps away, ready to depart before speaking up once more. "You seem like a great guy." The problem was that she wasn't great, that she wasn't nice, "So I wish you good luck in finding that person who you must have gotten me mixed up with." She did her best to suppress that anger, not daring to look back at the blonde male. Instead she departed from the cafe with an audible sigh.

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

The sudden feeling of a touch upon her wrist was unexpected her body physically jolting from his touch. "Stop you'll hurt yourself!" Was the first that escaped her rose lips, more concerned for his safety than her own. Yet it wasn't as if she could simply grab his hand to take it off of her, that would only serve to put him in further harm. Despite not wanting to harm the male she couldn't help the sudden increase in her temperature thanks to the sudden spike of anger or was it pain that ran through her. With a great pull Venir tore her arm away from the man wrenching him away from her burning skin.


A face that had been so prone to smiles before had suddenly gone awry, twisted into a grimace of mixed anger and pain. "How would you know who I am when I don't even know who I am!" Her memory span spanned back a year at the most but that time as a pink haired bikini wearing mage was not part of that memory, and anything even before that was far out of her gasp. Amethyst eyes for a moment clashed with emerald, burning anger meeting a piercing sort of lightning. However, her gaze was quick to avert elsewhere, "Don't look at me like that." It wasn't just her gaze that made her uncomfortable it was the other patrons in the cafe that made her feel uncomfortable. How long till one of them recognized her, till they reported her to the local Rune Knights or worse yet to Fairy Tail? Surely such an upstanding guild wouldn't stand for someone of her kind within their city. She had single-handedly burned her guild down to nothing but ash and a memory. There was no longer a home to those in need of redemption, a place for her to go back to. Golden bangs fell over her eyes, her hands clenched tightly into fists as she desperately repressed the urge to explode in anger. She pushed all of her flames down and managed to collect her thoughts enough to utter them through clenched teeth,

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

A laugh was at the back of her throat, but it was not one that expressed her humor. It was a dark and cynical laugh that threatened to escape her lips at his words, amused and confused at to how trusting he was. A million questions and answers popped in her head as to why this boy was so determined, why he believed so whole-heartedly that he knew who she was and that she was a friend. "I must have been a pretty upstanding citizen then." She wanted to joke, "What'd I do to ya kid? Kiss ya?" and countless other sarcastic and biting remarks were at the tip of her tongue but none escaped or were uttered. Instead she fell silent not having a reply to either of his statements, or at least not having a nice reply. She blamed the sudden bout of ill remarks on the flare of her uncontrollable temper. Yet that burning flame of irritation, hurt, anger, and guilt simmered in the back of her heart.

She managed to mutter, her curiosity getting the best of her. Regardless of form or age or memory her sense of curiosity and adventure ran strong. Enough so that it took her mind off of her anger just long enough to flicker her gaze from the floor to the blonde boy before her. She visibly winced feeling guilty at having lashed out at him. "What you gonna turn me in? Kill me?" The sarcastic jokes were once more held back. Deep down she knew that he wouldn't do those things, woman's intuition she supposed or perhaps even it was some premonition granted to her by some divine flame goddess somewhere. "Well, if he does end up turning me in or killing me I deserve it but...if he doesn't....What have I got to lose?" She let loose a huff of air before giving him a response,

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

The walk was a silent one, for that Venir was grateful for, it gave her sometime to cool her head off. The irritation was still there but she wasn't quite as ready to explode anymore. Especially since the judgmental eyes of those within the cafe were no longer on her. That and nature always had a somewhat calming effect upon her. Though Venir didn't get to enjoy the scenery for very long as Tatsu kept their pace fast. The blonde male was fast, there was no doubt about that, but Venir stayed behind him letting him lead. She hardly broke a sweat, and she maneuvered around the various obstacles in the forest with an almost practiced ease. She was never this graceful before but she supposed it was just another side effect to having gained a body capable of destroying a goddess, not that she had done so yet.

Venir skid to a stop, kicking up a good chunk of earth with her, right next to Tatsu. Before them was an entrance to an ominous cave of sorts. It was like peering into a wall of solid darkness, and the wind that blew into it made the cave moan like death itself. Yet there was no fear in the blonde's eyes, even after Tatsu had mentioned a creature dwelling within that cave. "Is that so?" As to what a monster or ghost would be doing in that cave Venir did not know, "Wait you're what!?" She snapped, pushing back a stray lock of gold that the wind had displaced, "Don't be a fool! You said it yourself you're not even sure what's in there it could be a ghost or a monster or both!" She scolded, protective and big sister like. Despite her scolding she was still following him into the cave, her own unspoken curiosity glinting in her amethyst gems.

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

She made a face at his comment, suggesting just how worried she was over his safety. How could he have possibly survived up until this point with such an attitude? Venir didn't realize that she once, and to a certain extent still held the same views as he did. It was just in her current nature to worry for and dote upon others regardless of the situation or circumstances. The inside of the cave was dark, but not for long as Tatsu produced a torch from his bag. She was curious to see what other things he might be hiding in it, but her attention was soon focused on the flame. Her mouth watered at the sight of the flickering, golden flame but she resisted the urge to consume it. Doing her best to distract herself Venir lit a small ball of flames in her hand, they danced in her palm but didn't cast much light because of their dark nature.

The two ventured on in silence save for the occasional click of their boots upon the earth. The sudden sound of a squeak cutting through the silence made Venir herself squeak in return, almost throwing the ball of fire in her hand out of reflex. Once it felt like her heart had returned back to a semi-normal pace the blonde weakly pointed towards the silent side of the fork, though she did not necessarily notice how eerie it was.