Awkward Killing

Nat has been starring at one whole cake on top of a counter inside Dies Irae's mess hall for a few minutes now. The cake was one of his own manual making, born of manual labor, attention to detail, and love. But he couldn't help feel that this won't be enough, that it's not as perfect as Nat wants it to be. And while the cake looks exceptionally stunning with the soft bread layers being hugged together by soft creamy icing that hosted a sprinkle of orange bits, the carrot cake will never be enough let alone perfect for its intended purpose. Nat wanted to smoothen things out with his mentor Sivvy that he had been wanting to spend more time with once he was worthy it. As Co-Ambassador, she was understandably busy but it doesn't help that the time that she was free and was able to demonstrate the growth, there had been numerous... developments that have begun to question himself and was hoping this job with his mentor would help straighten him out.

Sighing at how hopeless the situation is, which was made worse by the glares he'd get as he tried to lift and deliver the cake to Sivvy's. It's no surprise that everyone has ready Sorcerer's Magazine, it's very popular after all and feels as if it's a standard issue to all mages. Even Nat couldn't believe what he had just done as evidenced by his shaky hands made prominent by the thudding of the box containing the cake. But even with that handicap, he was able to arrive just outside Master Sivvy's room. He moved his left hand in the center of the bow and held his right hand out to knock. Yet, he wasn't sure what would await, or if she even wanted to see him, but the letter he had just received merits further investigation.

It was now, or never, Nat mustered what little courage he had and knocked. His entire body feeling cold afterwards. As if the knock stole all warmth of life from him. After he had knocked, he opened the door slowly, the creaking made the entire situation all the more awkward and dreadful. When the door was opened wide enough for him to go through, he tilted his upper body through. "Master Sivvy?" he spoke softly and unsurely. "I brought cake. Uhm. Also, there's this weird letter handed to me in town earlier. It's like an emergency. Uhm. I was hoping you'd take a look at it?" he continued nervously.

WC: 421
Group: 421
@Sivvy

Sivvy wasn't usually one to keep up with Sorcerer's Magazine unless it had something in her friends about it or some other kind of info that might be useful in Dies Irae's goals. However, this last issue that she'd picked up was for a more selfish reason. When that reporter had come calling about her interactions with Thana, the woman had found herself...conflicted. Not only did someone know about something she'd made exactly three people promise not to talk about, but it implied that the reporter had spoken to the very subject of some very complex feelings Sivvy didn't yet know how to filter through. The clone was still trying to come to terms with whether her life was something her decommissioned mind had crafted for her like some sort of twisted afterlife, of if Thana had just been a very crafty trickster. Sivvy waffled back and forth constantly on the matter, sometimes feeling her friends were real and clinging to the idea, while others she was in abject misery thinking everything was a lie and nothing mattered, wondering if it was okay to pretend that her made-up life was real to comfort herself. What did she believe? She had no idea. It didn't help that it had all just happened, and Artemis wasn't around for her to try and talk it through.

Sivvy just wasn't in a good place. Not that anyone would really know.

When she'd opened the colorful pages to the interview, she noticed that while her side was sparse, her nemesis had been quite chatty. Something deep within her twisted as she read the words so glib. Her breathing quickened when she read Thana's version of what happened, trying to figure out why her chest tightened as her failure was outed to the world. There was no real point in asking her friends to keep her shame a secret. How...weak. She was so weak. Sivvy was disgusted with herself, and she hadn't felt that since not long after she'd left Dr. Raelin.

But then she read the last part. The passed along message left Sivvy visibly confused, which was quite the feat. Even after reading it once, she blinked her squinted eyes, rubbed them, brought the page closer, and read it again. Aloud, this time. "Please pass along to your darling protégé Nathaniel that I had a wonderful time at our impromptu date in Crocus the other night," she started, brows knitting together as she went silent for a moment, reading the next line before she spoke again. ".... 'our daughter'...?"

Sivvy was quiet in her room for a long time after that, staring out of her window and trying to figure out how to process this information. She felt something similar to what'd she'd felt in the Unknown Lands that one time she'd watched one of her clones mess with Artemis, but it wasn't quiet the same. It wasn't as fiery and uncontrollable, yet felt bad on some other level she couldn't put her thumb on. She and her mentee had never been exceptionally close, if only because she had a difficult time bonding with her guildmates with the exception of Johann and Amalie, whom she'd made friends with back in the WFTC. Being a leader was a difficult enough challenge that it made her already strained personable skills even more frosty. Still, knowing that Nathaniel had had relations with the only person outside her sisters that she had heavy conflict with was... disappointing? That didn't seem like the right word. And just thinking about Thana messing with her mentee made the hairs stick up on the back of her neck and her jaw clench. She was pretty sure that she was feeling anger...toward both of them, even if it was somehow different between the two.

The knock at the door was heard, but not answered. Her enhanced sense of smell had picked him up before he even reached her dorm. Sivvy didn't really want to see him-- or anyone-- right now, yet still her unlocked door creaked open and her treacherous mentee spoke. The pinkette didn't even turn when he mentioned cake, which had to be a first. "Set it over there," she said flatly, meaning the table in front of the couch. Or any surface really. She didn't care. The magazine was still rolled in her hands, being idly twisted in them as her mind wandered.

The mention of the letter required her direct attention, though. The Ambassador turned, her strained crimson hues settling on him. "Let me see," she said, concise as ever and ignoring his anxiousness.

[wc: 765 || total: 1186]

Nat entered the room slowly. He had actually thought about taking his greaves off so as not to make any sound in a quiet room. As he walked incredibly slowly, the uncertainty of his actions just oozing out from every step, he had the chance to glance a peek out the window where his mentor who was just staring out of it stood directly in front of it. The sun was out and its heat and light shined bright and true through the window. So why does it feel like the frozen north in here, he thought. Not only that, he saw her clench the magazine issue with such hatred that it was all curled up and twisted in her grasp. And from Nat’s perspective it was not at all difficult to correlate such action as a symbol. That as if that is what she could be doing to his treacherous actions or quite possibly to his peepee that went in crazy. No. She probably would have done something much, much worse.

Not only that, Nat’s gambit of somehow easing the tension didn’t help. The cake had been dismissed easily. Perhaps he had chosen the wrong flavor? Or perhaps it simply didn't matter? Many thoughts flooded his mind as to how to turn things around with his mentor. He really didn’t know much about her and he was hoping this trip would change that. But yeah. No. He’d probably be dead by their enemies or by Sivvy herself.

It took a while but he already got to place the cake by the table near the couch and that was when Sivvy turned around to go see the letter for herself. Physically, Nat just stood there frozen, while handing out the paper to the lady. Internally however, he was screaming for dear life, fearful that she could have harmed her as she turned around and he was ready to scream “Please don’t kill me!” Thankfully, she really did just read the letter for herself and Nat was able to let out a sigh of relief that he was still alive.

He thought it good to expound upon the letter, to show his preparedness to take on the task with her as he held up a fist near his mouth and cleared his throat. “This appears to be a request to neutralize conspirators that threaten to neutralize political peace. The coordinates in this letter would suggest that the base in question is in the Neutral Grounds.” He spoke attentively. “It sounded pretty important if a shadow organization could succeed in toppling world order and thus I believed it is a job for someone such as yourself. However, this letter was handed and addressed to me so perhaps the man I thought I could do it too.” he continued. And before he could say anything more, he lowered his head and his voice softer, as if he was speaking more on a personal level, as evident by his shame and shyness resurfacing once more, the elephant in the room being addressed emotionally for being the failure of a mentee that he was. “So I was hoping you could see how much I’ve grown and…” he gulped before continuing “... maybe we could get to bond… uh… share some things… uhm…” he would pause, trying to think what else to say but at the same time feeling he had very well crossed a line and decided to press it any further. “Uhm… maybe… this was a bad idea… uhm… sorry to bother you master… uhm… I can go by myself or with someone else. Maybe Masha or Danny… uhm… y-y-ou can keep the letter, master. I uh… memorized the coordinates already.” Finally he stopped talking and thought he had managed to salvage what he could from the conversation. He wanted to turn around and walk out the door slowly, but still fearing for his life, Nat simply just backed away slowly with a lowered head that was his way of showing respect.

WC: 667
Thread: 1,853
@Sivvy

"Stop stammering. It wastes time and looks weak," she instructed, simply staring at him as her stoic nature seemed to double down on itself in an effort to remain unaffected. Sivvy could separate work and personal things, though she'd never really had to before. It was only recently that she'd had any personal life at all, and she was quickly finding out that it complicated things just as her creator had said. Bonds and emotions, whether dream or reality, seemed like nothing but varying levels of pain and distraction, yet she couldn't break away. She'd progressed too far. She wasn't 7 anymore. The people she was attached to would have to disappear for her to go back to how she was, and even then, she wasn't sure if she wanted to. Either way, none of that had anything to do with why Nathaniel was stuttering in her room right now and trying to escape after leaving what she could only see as a peace offering. Was it enough that he knew he'd messed up?

Her pink head tilted a little as she seemed to consider the request. "If it was addressed to you, it's only fitting your mentor to accompany you on something so pressing. Masha and Danny aren't good choices for a mission of this caliber. Are you prepared to go?" she asked coolly, walking over to one of her closets, which served as her personal armory. She began arming herself since her magic would be of no use where they were going. That didn't bother her, though. She'd trained extensively to be just as viable without magic before her lacrima was ever implanted. Hopefully, Nathaniel had been honing himself as well to be ready for every circumstance, and if he hadn't, she'd train him now. Even if she was angry with him, she still had responsibilities to Fiore, Dies Irae, and her mentee. "If you're not ready, hurry and do so. I'll meet you in the main hall and we can set out right away." Sivvy kept to the more important matter at hand, not knowing what to say about his request for bonding and sharing, so she'd ignore it for now. If it was truly important, he'd bring it up again while they were working. She wasn't looking forward to it, but she never backed down from anything. "This will be a good test of your skills. We can go from there."

She might not let him see it, but she was definitely having a piece of the cake before she left. It smelled delicious.

[wc: 428 || total: 2281]