Love to Tela, Fushica, Moussi, K005, Anonymous, Ellie, and Hikahika for giving reviews! I survive on them, gimme!
Filler-ish chapter. More like character focus, I felt that these three need some spotlight. It's not mind-blowingly funny, but I hope it's interesting. Argh, there's so much more I want to write about them, but 1. I'm lazy and 2. You'd find it boring.
Scene IX - Canal
"Maurice! Maurice! I"ve lost my goggles! I svear, zey have eluded me once again!"
"...They"re on your head, Dr. Pedre."
"Oh! So zey are! vhat vill I do vithout you, Maurice!"
"My name is Iry-"
"Not now, Maurice! I'm in ze middle of my experryment!"
It was a lost cause. Irya decided that she might as well not have said anything at all. The jaws on the elderly biochemist's shoulders made savage snapping noises and spat out a small fireball as he cackled while dropping some luminescent green liquid into the pot of an equally suspicious-looking blue plant.
She had often wondered what purpose those jaws served, other than effectively keeping a 5-feet radius of no-man's land wherever a biochemist went.
"Destroying evidence." Once her mentor had told her, with a menacing, toothy grin. He was, for a more positive way to describe, eccentric, and on the other end of the spectrum, downright insane.
The alchemist carried a few empty pots out of her rather destructive mentor's way and looked longingly out the window of the greenhouse.
Alde Baran was the kind of place that would suit perfectly with the lull of soft accordion and violin music. Long-time residents of the city grew up listening to the lullaby created by the gurgling of water that flowed through limestone paved canals. Gondolas coursed the waterways as travellers lounged in the abundant coffee stands that were mostly situated on the banks overlooking the long, thin boats drifting by. The clock tower stood, watching over the city with its ever-solemn presence, white bricks drenched with the orange of the setting sun.
It had been three weeks since she left Yuresia in Hugel with Hiroki. To be quite honest, she still felt like a cactus had grown in the pit of her stomach when she thought about it, but was abashed when she knew deep down that Yure would never trade her for any man.
"Hey, hey," Someone nudged her with an elbow, working a mortar and pestle with both hands"he gonna pick you up again today?"
"Who?" Asked the platinum blonde absent-mindedly, turning her head away from the window.
The other alchemist, who also worked under the mad scientist Dr. Pedre, grinned slyly and rapped the girl gently on the head."The champion! Who else?"
Irya stuck out her tongue and made a face, concealing the fact that her cheeks felt a bit warm. "Yes, but he's just a friend!"
"I'm sure the stalker you're with on weekends is 'just a friend' too." Snickering in a teasing fashion, her co-worker nudged her again.
"He is." She replied simply, which was also the truth.
"You luckiest girl in Alde Baran!"
Irya was doubtful of the integrity of that statement.
Domm, domm, domm, domm, domm, domm.
The familiar and tell-tale deep tone of the clock tower struck six. The two alchemists stopped what they were doing, and looked towards the crouching figure of the old biochemist, who was now scraping some things off the leaf of a plant into a test tube.
"...right right, zat vill be all for today, Frederic, Maurice!" He mumbled in mid-scrape, though acknowledging nothing but his plant. However, that was the signal for dismissal. Irya and her co-worker packed up their potion bottles and tidied the counters. Of course, those were not really their names, but he had a certain tendency to call people by a random name of the opposite gender.
Irya stepped out the alchemist guild with her cart in tow, the sky was darkening fast in the autumn season, and street lamps guttered to light one by one. She spotted a familiar figure by one of the posts across from the street. His gauntleted arms were folded across his chest, the long thin strands of cloth hanging down from his head weaved in the afternoon breeze. A few girls who were sitting at a nearby coffee shop giggled amongst themselves as they threw furtive looks at the man. He didn't seem to notice anything.
"Genbu!" The alchemist dashed up to him. The champion standing under the sodium lights smiled slightly and waved.
Every night that she worked, and after she finished for the day, Genbu would always walk her to the market to buy groceries before all the merchants close for the night, and then he would walk her to her rented house on the upper-left district of Alde Baran before bidding her goodnight and heading back to the inn. The clock tower city was well-maintained and well-policed, there was rarely any crime, so this protectiveness was perhaps in excess. But Irya enjoyed these moments. In that time, she would chatter on about her internship, her insane boss/mentor, what looking interesting in the market that day, and anything that came to mind. She was grateful that the champion not only let her talk to her heart's content, but actually listened. Genbu may not speak nearly as much, but he has surprising insight in most topics they talked about. And little by little, she was figuring out this man who preferred to talk with actions more than words.
When she ranted to him about her worries for Yuresia and Hiroki, he revealed that his high priest friend was an idiot in those respects. Once a priestess confessed to Hiroki, but he misunderstood every word she said. It made the alchemist laugh, and Genbu seemed amused.
However, no matter how her curiosity plagued, and how subtle she was about it, the one topic he refused any input on was his past. The alchemist thought it unfair, hers was far from glorious, yet she was not ashamed of speaking about it, much less brooded over it. Genbu did seem at times to brood over certain things known only to himself.
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Things were as different as fire and ice when the stalker was the one to meet her on days when she went to vend and buy things from the market, usually appearing in a cloud of dust out of nowhere. Irya often attracted more attention that usual when she was with a stalker, as is with their brethren (or rival), the assassin cross, they do not tend to walk about in broad daylight.
Irya did not dislike Penguin, especially when he had warned her about Hiroki and tried to free them from AYUS. The stalker may look hostile and cold, and not to mention having a venomous tongue. But she felt oddly comfortable with him, even though rogues were natural enemies of merchants, or so nature dictated.
One thing that peeved her was that he never addressed her by the name, which by now she was sure he would have picked up, even if she never told him directly. There were various substitutes: alchemist girl, dumpling head, Maurice (how the hell did he know?), but mostly just alternated uses of 'girl' and 'you'.
"Look, can't you just call me 'Irya'?" She asked him one day, considerably irritated.
"Oh." Penguin replied, as if he hadn't noticed anything out of place, "You call me 'Penguin'. Yet that's not what I really am. Right?"
He then continued walking as if nothing had happened. Irya nearly fainted, torn between throwing an acid at him and just laughing it off as a joke.
"But...I thought that's what your name is...you told me that time in Prontera!"
"Nickname maybe, but not my name either."
"Hey!" Irya stopped and pouted, "Liar! You said you have no name!"
He blinked his icy eyes at her as if she had gone mad, "Absurd, of course I do. Everyone has a name. It's the very basic of what they are."
She almost forgot that he was not a rogue for doing nothing. And denying that they ever said something in the first place was what they did on a daily basis.
"I don't think it's...polite to refer to me as 'alchemist girl' all the time. So pray tell, and we can be even."
"What's 'polite'? Something that goes on a kebab?"
Argghhh...
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The Damn Penguin always preserved a healthy amount of antagonism towards Genbu, and vice versa. It was petty, in Irya's opinion, yet she did not know why they still loathe each other so much. The two avoided each other most of the time. It was awkward, but probably for the better because whenever they met, the results were explosive.
In the three weeks, she had to pull them apart two times, thankfully, no historical monuments were harmed in the process. But Irya had grown to tire of this activity, it constantly had her nerves high strung, fearing that she won't be there to stop them the next time they start to tear at each other's throats. They were like children, wrecking havoc the second when your eyes were not on them.
They have to learn to get along. She decided. It had to be done, or else she will go mad.
Therefore, in the afternoon of the beginning of the fourth week, there were two men who were glaring at each other like mongoose and cobra, with an alchemist standing sheepishly at the side.
"I thought," Penguin started, directing his words at Irya and eyes not leaving the champion, "when you said, 'meet you at the base of the east bridge at six', I presumed you'd come alone."
Genbu did not utter a word, but Irya had a faint idea he was thinking the same thing.
Ignoring the stalker and clearing her throat for courage, Irya announced, "I've called you both here...to apologize to each other...resolve your differences...and make up."
What followed were blank, incredulous stares directed at her.
"Excuse me?" Said the stalker, raising an eyebrow, "but you two, the city nursery is on the other side?" He gestured with a hand. Irya sweatdropped, her patience slipping.
"Look, your...conflicts are getting ridiculous." She supressed her temper, "I want it to end...please."
An awkward silence followed.
Genbu turned his gaze away from the two people in front of him and towards the water and the banks on the other side of the canal, his eyes were distant, but his tone was firm when he said it.
"I hate rogues."
The stalker raised a corner of his upper lip in disgust. "You think numbskulls like you are loveable? Or are you just spiteful because I'm stronger than you are?"
"You joke. Ever considered being a bard?"
"Oh, that stung." Replied Peguin in an unenthusiastic tone, "But I never joke. Have you already forgotten the lesson you were taught in Prontera?" There was a strange edge to his voice, Genbu's eyes narrowed dangerously as he clenched his teeth, likewise his fists. Irya presumed it to be what happened at the inn...but...why was Genbu still so worked up over it?
That lightning was whipping around the champion again, crackling in the dry air. The stalker saw and smirked, drawing out his dagger with one fluid motion.
Everything was wrong! Wrong wrong wrong. Thought Irya, distraught. They were going to fight again! She couldn't figure out why, it all seemed so...trite, yet they were both supposed to be intelligent men. Why was there no logical reason for their fighting other than baseless mutual hatred?
"Please just...stop! It's stupid! I don't understand!" Instinctively, she reached out and grabbed Genbu's wrist in one hand and Penguin's dagger-equipped fist in the other, aiming to stop them from coming into contact with the person opposite. In the next instant, she found herself being hurled effortlessly into the air.
Splash.
The two men turned around to find the spot where a silver-haired alchemist had been standing on...empty.
And someone was flailing in the water just below the edge of the stone banks.
"Irya!" "Alchemist girl!"
It was a good thing Irya knew how to swim, but her boots and cape were heavy and it dragged her down. The canal wasn't very deep, but still could drown a person. She waved her arms and kicked her legs wildly to stay above the surface, but that did not stop her from taking in a few gulps of the canal water, which was not extremely pleasant. She soon felt two hands grab her arms and pull her up towards the bank, she clung onto the stone and drove her boots into the cracks of the slabs, heaving herself from the water.
Her furry muff and cape had soaked through and through with moisture and hung slack and heavy on her back as Irya knelt with her arms supporting in front, coughing canal water from her system. There seemed to be voices around her, but she was not listening. Her ears were stuffed with water, and even her eyesight was blurry. Slowly, she got to her feet, but did not bother parting her long hair from her face as it hung in a pale veil in front of her eyes. The panic from before had evapourated quickly, replaced with...rage.
"Irya! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-" The champion apologized hurriedly, looking genuinely worried, and breaking his usual silent demeanor for once. No one caught the stalker breathe a sigh of relief before he scowled.
"Yea, it was his fault." Penguin stated, not a sliver of guilt in his voice. Genbu felt his temper rise again.
"Why you--you chucked her too!" He growled at the stalker, who looked away.
"...just shut up..."
Irya mumbled through her dripping wet hair and muffler, the two men did not seem to hear her.
"What? Trying to pin the blame on someone else? Some superhero you are."
"狗娘養的..." Genbu murmured, but not quite soft enough to not be heard. (1)
"What's that? I don't speak Doofus."
"JUST SHUT UP."
They did, this time. Because the voice just then sounded like something that would strike from the darkness and rip their heads off.
The alchemist stood there, arms dangling at her side with her head bowed and face concealed with hair, a pool of water was gathering at her feet. For an instant, Genbu thought of one of the old oriental tales, of a girl who had been pushed down a well and died...but had crawled back out and started to kill people.
"You two are always bickering and fighting over the pettiest things..." Irya continued to speak in a detached, eerie voice. "I'm tired of it...too tired..."
Looking up, with anger smeared across her face and blazing from her eyes. She reached one hand behind her, and took out four bottles gripped between all of her fingers.
BOOM!
"WHY CAN'T YOU CONTROL YOUR TEMPER FOR ONCE YOU STUPID OAF?!"
BOOM!
"WHY CAN'T YOU SHUT YOUR STINKING TRAP YOU COCKY JERK?!"
BOOM!
"WHY DO I HAVE TO PICK UP AFTER YOU TWO EVERY. SINGLE. TIME?!"
BOOM!
"I DON'T WANT TO SEE EITHER OF YOU AGAIN! EVER!"
Irya flung her hair back viciously and stormed from the charred and smoking scene, which held a few small fires and two men beside themselves with shock in its midst.
After a few mutually silent moments, which were laden with ambient night sounds and the soft lapping of water against rock. The stalker spoke.
"That was...an eye-opener."
"For once, I agree."
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(1) "Sonnuvabitch" in Chinese XD (Oh I teach children bad things)
A/N: Last filler-ish chapter before the plot moves onwards at breakneck pace! I HOPE /swt. Next chapter is boring PLOT, with AYUS people, maybe bit o' HiroYure.
有時我真的很想用中文寫，不過不曉得有沒有人看得懂。名字是個大問題。玄武，企鵝，伊里亞還好。優蕾希亞讀起來好彆扭……煩惱的是Hiroki.該怎麽翻譯呢? orz
Sal:還有沙肥拉呀！七千卡路里的！
Safira: -Jupitel Thunders-
Doesn't matter if you can't read Chinese, I said nothing of importance up there XD
AND I HAFF TEH NEW SPOILERI-FICARTS IN PROFILE PAGE. LAWL NOT REALLY BUT Ok, go and take a look if you will :D
I will procrastinate if I don't get reviews, I'm serious, I will.
K005: Irya is a good girl who deserves a good guy... I like the both of them, but I know which one I'm rooting for. /gg
Anonymous: Sorry, actiony parts won't come for a long while... and Vanhugen is doing something behind the scenes as we speak. You like HiroYure? I like HiroYure, it's all cute and fluffy and thus so nice to torture later on. /gg
Game References:
Bomb - Alchemist skill :D Creates a small fire that destroys weapons.