We Are Not Afraid to Play
[Yasaka]
She was a happy woman.
There were many reasons for that as of late, despite all the bad that life brought to her, to them. At that very moment, the biggest of those reasons was the way Joshua smiled, a soft and fond thing full of warmth, as he flipped a card between his fingers. Occasionally, he would stop and stare at the circle drawn on one side.
Even she didn't know what that was all about, but she knew it had something to do with Kunou. Apparently, she had made that one card herself and Joshua seemed inordinately happy about it. Yasaka herself was content to see her partner happy and so were Serafall and Gabriel, but the detail about her daughter made it all the better.
Furthermore, he'd been way too stressed as of late, even after the whole deal with Ophis was done.
"Someone's in a good mood," Azazel said and Yasaka half expected Joshua's mood to plummet. His annoyance with the fallen had far from gone away, after all. Surprisingly, the man merely turned towards the Governor, smile still in place. Maybe it was just that good a day for him, indeed.
"I am," Joshua replied, his smile widening a little more. "But that's neither here nor there, I guess," he added, his smile dimming as he seemed to refocus on the meeting and what they were discussing. Yasaka had no lost love for Azazel herself, admittedly. Not at all. But her distaste grew even more pronounced at that. She'd much rather Joshua stayed distracted, if it allowed him to be happy and relaxed for a bit. "What were we talking about?"
"We were about to get to that spell circle you mentioned in your report. Do we know anything about that?" Azazel asked and maybe he was trying a new tactic of some sort, but Yasaka noticed how he was speaking and looking pointedly at Joshua. Both, Serafall and Gabriel, stiffened where they sat as they saw the same thing she did.
He was singling their man out, for some reason. None of them were happy to realize that. That couldn't be good, no matter how they looked at it. Especially when it was Azazel that did it. Maybe she was biased – she definitely was –, but Yasaka was sure whatever the man was thinking was bound to ruin whatever good mood Joshua had. And, if that happened, they might need to go through with some of their plans.
"I've been looking at it and I have some ideas, but I need more information. I've also contacted House of Water for help analyzing whatever Khaos was trying to do there. It's slow, but we're making progress," Joshua explained rather calmly, but confidently. That was a field he was confident in, after all, so it was no surprise. Yasaka had to admit, she liked the look he had whenever he was that sure of himself. "Far as I can see though, my best guess is that they botched whatever they did when they tried to take a part of Sephiroth Graal, or maybe it was a faulty process to begin with. Now, they seem to be trying to fill in some of the voids left by that process."
Azazel narrowed his eyes at that.
He was the expert in that area, so he probably had plenty of ideas of his own in his head. Yasaka might not like the fallen much, but she could admit that he was, likely, one of the – and likely the – foremost experts in the matter, actually. She had trouble thinking of anyone that might know more about Sacred Gears than he did, the same way she did with Joshua and Ward Magic… or Hex Magic, or Boon Magic.
"A report on what you find would be most helpful," Azazel said, and the words were fine, but there was a slight edge there. It was subtly, very much so, but it was there, and if they could notice, then it was on purpose. Even Joshua seemed to notice, in an impressive show of improvement on his social skills. Maybe he was right and he was actually picking up on stuff from what they taught him and just spending time with them.
Yasaka didn't know if she was proud or sad about that, because Joshua's non-politically-oriented self was something she was fond of. It was too much to ask for him to remain like that though, she supposed. Especially considering his situation, the people he surrounded himself with and the way the world just pushed for him to be at the center of such attention. If he weren't learning, they'd likely be concerned.
Still though, it was a shame all the same.
"I'll be sure to send something to you as soon as I feel like it's conclusive enough," Joshua said and a similar edge to the one Azazel had used entered his tone. She wasn't sure what the fallen was trying to achieve there, but his mind seemed to be a mystery in the worst of ways those days. "Speaking of reports, how's your spy doing? I notice we haven't gotten much from him in a while," he added.
"Funny, I was going to talk about something similar," the fallen followed up smoothly, as if he'd been expecting that. "Some of Vali's reports said something about there being a bit of a buzz in Khaos lately. Specifically, since around the time you started coming to these meetings less and you got all withdrawn. Said they were more active than ever, even though he didn't know why."
Silence followed that little speech and Yasaka had half a mind to say something herself. She could see Serafall and Gabriel being of the same mind. Yet, if they interfered, wouldn't that undermine Joshua? It wouldn't be the first time they helped him out or outright spoke for him, admittedly, and he never seemed to mind, but there was a difference in that moment. It was important and if he could handle it, he should.
"Are you trying to imply something, Azazel?"
"Not at all," the Governor answered, easily and relaxed. "Just that it's a little rich that you were so angry at me for keeping my cards close to my chest and-"
The man was cut off as magic flooded the room. Yasaka saw Penemue, next to Azazel, stiffen. It was, after all, decidedly less pleasing to be surrounded by Joshua's magic when you weren't someone he cared about, when his magic didn't wrap around you like a blanket and the warmth of a campfire on a cold night. It was absolutely jarring when it was, instead, the cold of a blizzard storming around you, with no mercy and no end.
"Maybe-," Joshua said, his smile from before turning into something more bitter, more angry. "-that has something to do with the fact that I can't trust you anymore, Azazel. Because you kept your secrets and they fucked us over. Last I checked, what I was doing didn't end up with your faction being attacked and someone you love being in danger… But don't worry, maybe we'll get to that."
"Is that a threat, Joshua?" Azazel asked, stiffening.
"I don't know what you're trying to do, Azazel. That's part of why I don't trust you. I don't know why you insist on poking me, poking us, like you expect something to go well for you somehow even though all you do is be annoying or downright antagonizing," Joshua said, putting into words and voicing what they all – maybe even including Penemue – thought.
Well, they did have some guesses, but Joshua didn't seem to understand them. Frankly, Yasaka didn't want him to understand them. She liked that he couldn't understand the need to be on top of things, to look like you had things in control, even when you didn't. She didn't think he'd be the same person she loved, if he could understand why Azazel had to try to "win" even when he clearly couldn't, because the alternative would ruin him, ruin his standing, and potentially even ruin his faction.
There was a limit to how much that could happen though, and Azazel had gone past that a while before. At that point, he just looked desperate in her eyes. He looked like a man trying to make something work, even though it was clear that he couldn't. He was fighting a losing battle on several fronts, but he kept going, because… Because what? He was too fond of that little half-devil? The one that seemed to be happily living amongst terrorists while doing nothing to help the cause he was supposed to be helping?
Because if he really was that bad of a spy, then Yasaka couldn't help but wonder what Azazel was thinking, setting that up in the first place.
And it was sad, if he really had trusted Vali Lucifer, because the child clearly cared not for the position Azazel was in at the moment.
"But that just makes me trust you even less," Joshua continued, his anger cold and sharp after so much time to let it cool down. Normally, he might have even been considering forgiving Azazel, Yasaka knew. He was that kind of man… but only when the other side offered something, showed something. Everyone Joshua forgave, they changed, they showed him they could be different. That was not Azazel's case, at all. "Besides, I believe I made my stance very clear from the beginning. It's not a threat, Azazel. It's a promise. Especially because I've yet to see how any of what you pulled was worth it."
"And what about what you've pulled, whatever it might be." Yasaka knew, as she heard the words, and saw where they were going, that it wasn't going to end well. Joshua had suffered all those weeks trying to keep everything from crumbling around him. He wasn't going to just sit there and take anything from Azazel of all people. "Because I'm not seeing-"
"Maybe you have the wrong idea of what's going on here, Azazel," Joshua interrupted, almost like something had just come to his mind, casual and disinterested in whatever the Governor was saying. Yasaka thoroughly enjoyed all the little annoyance signs she could see on the fallen. Maybe she'd show Joshua how appreciative she was of that side of him coming out after the meeting. "But we're not your subordinates. We're not even your partners. You are a minor part of this alliance. Have been ever since we realized that we can't trust you and that you won't work with us as you should, as we expected you to. So, the only reason why you are still invited to this is because we can't afford to turn away allies… but give us half a reason more and you're out of here. You might even be turned into an enemy."
That last part seemed to take both fallen aback. Penemue looked downright terrified and openly so, as she should be. Azazel, for all his denial delusions, seemed to realize that maybe the situation was serious. It was sad, that it'd taken that much for it to happen though.
"Joshua, that's frankly a-"
"I'm done here," Joshua said, turning absently towards the card still in his hand and flipping it once. "I'll go see if House of Water has anything else on that spell. Then I have business completely unrelated to this or any of the factions involved in these talks," he explained casually, giving Azazel a look, a smile, that spoke of no good things whatsoever. "And then I'm gonna be looking at Project Descension, which does involve one of the factions at this table," he added. "I hope that's open enough for you, Azazel. At least that much would have been appreciated when you pulled your stunt."
With that said, he left a very pale-faced, terrified Penemue, and a slightly shaken, disturbed Azazel behind as he turned towards Yasaka and the others. And oh were their expressions just a delight to see. She had to, however, turn towards Joshua once more a second later.
"I hope you can wrap things up from here?" he asked, and there were both, contradictorily, a plea and a command in his voice. Yasaka found herself gulping and Gabriel seemed to have lost her ability to speak somewhere in that exchange. So, it was up to Serafall to answer.
"Leave it to us, hot stuff~" the Satan said and… the blush on her cheeks was a little too blatant, let alone the emotions in her voice or her expression… But then again, Yasaka wasn't one to talk.
Maybe it was for the better that Joshua seemed too distracted to notice any of that as he teleported away.
[}-o-{]
[Agnes Waterhouse]
"This is… a lot more than I thought you'd get," Joshua said and she had to try very hard not to preen at the praise. Although, she was also the smallest bit insulted. How slow did the man think she was gonna be when he'd very specifically and very intently asked for help in something that she could clearly do? Then again, maybe everyone seemed incompetent when you were that talented.
"I have plenty of people working on this. I do have a lot of power as House of Water's director, you remember?" she asked, trying and likely failing to hold back how proud she was. "You should, since most of that power, I have you to thank for," she admitted afterwards, because she was not ungrateful, at all. Even with all the strings she was pulling, Agnes wasn't getting that much off her debt… but she was getting something done.
She'd take what she could, at that point. She had accepted that she'd never be out of that hole, but she could make sure she didn't look like she'd given up, like she'd decided to take all her blessings for granted. People could think what they wanted of her, but she was not one to leave debts unsettled, no matter how incredibly overwhelming they might be.
"You do remember I told you to keep things secret, right?" Joshua asked and there was the smallest shift in his voice that told Agnes she was in dangerous waters all of a sudden. Thus, with all the panic that annoying the man brought her, she hurried to explain. Dying because of a misunderstanding would just be sad.
"Of course," she immediately answered. "Everyone working on this has sworn an Oath. Not one of them will be saying a word of this that's not in the reports they give me and that I give you," she explained quickly, before he could get the wrong impression. Evidently, he hadn't expected that, if the pause was anything to go by.
"Everyone swore an Oath?" he asked, looking up from the file she'd given him and staring at her. "How'd that happen?"
"Believe it or not, Joshua, there are a lot of people very eager to make an impression on you. Part of the agreement was that I'd specifically mention them and their collaboration to this in the report," she answered dryly.
Really, it'd been a matter of people being too eager, actually. Agnes had gotten people figuratively – and sometimes literally – throwing themselves at her to be part of that job. She'd made the Oath they had to take as harsh as she could make it, after Joshua had thoroughly ensured she knew the seriousness of the situation. People had still barely hesitated.
And she'd made sure to thoroughly ignore those that did.
"Huh… That's surprising," Joshua mumbled. It was kind of baffling that he still didn't understand how the regular magician saw him. Agnes didn't think there was any point in trying to educate him on the matter either. She didn't think there was a chance of that going anywhere at that point, honestly. "Hm… Well, I'll have someone keep track of those that stand out to me so you can make sure they are paid well," he commented idly, his attention going back to the file.
Some people were going to be very happy, it seemed.
Including Agnes herself, because if someone was worth something in Joshua's eyes, then they were worth investing on. She'd done that with the Stars, for example, and now she had strings attached to a bunch of Egyptian-blessed agents, apparently. Levi in particular had become a research god, far as she could see. People were flocking to him now, because he had all the knowledge in their library in his mind at all times now that Thoth was there to help him process all that information he had so eagerly drowned himself in all those years.
He'd gone from a decent asset to a crucial one in the span of a night and Agnes had never been more relieved that she'd been smart enough to be kind to him and to make sure her association was. Joshua was just a talent magnet when it came to magicians, really. Or maybe he was a talent magnet in general.
"I can do that," she reassured and Joshua nodded without saying much else afterwards. That was fine. Agnes was more than happy to leave him to his reading, especially because he seemed, at the very least, not displeased with what he was reading. She'd been a little – a lot, really – worried that things could backfire on her and whatever she found could make Joshua angry because of incompetence in one or several of the magicians she hired.
It'd been a possibility that was there, after all.
Idiots seemed to appear at all levels of skill in their world, if some of the reports she got from Joshua's class were anything to go by. Agnes herself made sure to blacklist all of them from her association's hiring lists. She also made sure to appropriately punish or treat any members of her association that did anything stupid in his classes. Things had calmed down a lot on her side, but other associations weren't nearly as smart…
Now, if that was because she tried not to let too much of what happened in that class get out, then that was not her problem, was it?
They should keep a closer eye on those students themselves, really.
"Hm, that confirms it, I guess," he commented after a while and Agnes was a little disappointed and annoyed to see that he was looking at the second file he'd been given. That one, she had nothing to do with, unfortunately. "Good job, by the way, Elizabeth."
"Of course," the woman replied, all smug and flaunting it immediately. Agnes had half a mind to curse that superior look off her face. Alas, they were reluctant allies once more, sadly. "This isn't a normal group we're dealing with. It only makes sense that someone with my connections would be able to help with this."
Agnes wondered if Elizabeth didn't realize that it wasn't precisely good that she had such connections, but it was true that they seemed to come in handy from time to time.
"True enough," Joshua agreed with a nod before looking up and it was Elizabeth's turn to grow nervous. Evidently, she wanted his gratitude, but his full attention was still heavy to be under. Agnes could understand that completely. "Speaking of…"
[}-o-{]
[Elizabeth Báthory]
She was doing Joshua a favor.
She really was.
So why was it that she was the one grateful?
There was something very wrong with that, yet it was the case anyway. Because, as she walked beside the man, Elizabeth knew that she was going to get a lot of points with her circles by just walking in with Joshua. Nevermind the fact that the man had told her to navigate things in his stead, since he both couldn't be bothered and didn't know how anyway.
Idly, she also noticed that the man cleaned up well. There were bound to be a lot of magicians that would be jealous of her for just that… About as much as she was jealous of the man's partners, but that was neither here nor there. Agnes and her were in agreement about one thing and that was that it was not worth it to get involved with Davis that way. Sometimes, one needed to know their place and, as bitter a pill as it was for her to swallow, Elizabeth knew that was not her place.
"So, anything I should definitely know?" Joshua asked, looking plenty uncomfortable in his clothes, even though they suited him incredibly well. Elizabeth noticed though, that he got his act together fairly well when people appeared in sight. At least he knew how to do that much, which was a relief.
She knew that he could behave himself in formal settings, she'd heard enough about his appearances in certain events, but it was a different matter to do so in that setting. The people she dealt with tended to… overestimate their own importance. They had egos the size of their associations, at the very least, and that made them… tricky.
"These people, they are prideful, as much as you can imagine."
"Oh, joy," Joshua replied dryly and Elizabeth wondered if they were going to have a problem. Not that she wasn't going to side with him if something happened. She wasn't stupid. But still, she'd rather not have to lose as many contacts as she was likely to if that happened. "Well, I guess I gotta play my part now," the man added, cracking his neck as they passed by some inconsequent magicians outside their destination and then paused for a moment.
Then they walked in.
Immediately, she could tell that almost the entirety of the room turned their attention towards them. And those were the blatant ones, because Elizabeth was sure that everyone had their eye on the two of them. Joshua wasn't precisely inconspicuous with the amount of magic rolling off of him and flooding the place.
"Elizabeth," a deep, smooth voice greeted amiably and she narrowed her eyes. "So good to have you here," a bald man with an admittedly handsome face added, all but beaming at her as he approached. "And this must be Mr. Davis. It's an honest honor to have you with us tonight, sir."
'Now, that's a first,' Elizabeth thought to herself. Micah wasn't one to call anyone "sir", but that was Joshua. Nobody was going to outright be rude to him, at least not right off the bat… and if they were, then whoever their director was would deal with them if they caught wind of it.
"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Cantor," Joshua greeted smoothly. "I have to say, these are some impressive defenses you have around this place," he added, smiling as if he truly meant what he said. "Very ingenious. The… enhancements really make them pull through despite how simple they are."
All of a sudden, Elizabeth wasn't sure if he was giving a true compliment or a backhanded one. Calling the defenses "simple" couldn't be good, after all, right? But he said they were impressive and ingenious so…
"We can't all be the Domain Authority, unfortunately, so we had to look for alternative ways to protect ourselves. I'm sure you understand, Mr. Davis," Micah replied, apparently unbothered. Elizabeth knew that he was probably making a mental note in his grudge book about Joshua though.
Rather dumb of him, but that wasn't her problem.
"Which is fine. Everyone has their specialties, right? That's why Joshua is here looking for people with specialties in things he's interested in," Elizabeth took over as smoothly as she could before things could escalate. She really would have to do the talking, as it turned out.
All the better, in a way, even if it was scary to speak for Joshua of all people.
"Oh, and what could our humble associations offer someone as accomplished as Mr. Davis?" Micah asked and Elizabeth could already see the scheming gears turning in his head. Alas, he really didn't know what he was getting into. Joshua would squash him like a bug if he so much as tried to do something funny. And Elizabeth would happily help him, or do it for him if it came to that, really.
It'd still work in her favor, after all, even if it'd be a shame to have to lose more contacts.
Joshua was worth all her contacts and more, of that she was sure.
"Soul Magic, Micah. That's what Joshua is looking for," she said directly and even Micah paused at that. She could almost feel how the atmosphere at the gathering of stray magicians shifted. And in the middle of all that, she turned to see Joshua grinning, his whole presence shifting as someone from the Egyptian pantheon peered from inside his skin and through his eyes. The stray association's director in front of them shifted, maybe even shivered, under that look. "I hope you can help us, Micah," Elizabeth said with a soft, kind smile that spoke of things of an entirely different nature.
It was so good to be on the side of the strongest person in the room.
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How's it going?
Azazel just keeps digging that hole without any concern for his health or general wellbeing, I guess. I'm trying, guys, I really am. I keep giving him chances and he keeps pulling that shit no matter how hard I try…
So, yeah, that's fun.
On another note, House of Water keeps winning, and they feel rather conflicted about it.
Not much else to say though, so I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.
As always, if you can't wait until next week for the next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Patreon (linked below).
Random Question: How's it going? I ask that in all my notes, but I think people have gotten rather desensitized to that part, maybe, and just read past it without thinking. I'm doing well all things considered. I haven't been struggling too much with my writing as of late and I started hosting sessions for my campaigns after months of scheduling problems, so, yeah.