GRYD Season 2 Episode 9: Conflicting Information
Two weeks had passed since Glyph had fought Primrose, two weeks since Primrose vanished without a trace. Night let Glyph and Macro know every day if there was an update on the situation with her, but there was not. Things only got more curious when Primrose's father flew to the school to get his daughter after he couldn't reach her, only to find that she wasn't there. The argument between him and Night filled up the whole school, but eventually he left.
As for the rest of Team PRME, things were tough on them, much of the school had learned from Glyph's example, and with Primrose there, they were rather hard on Maggie and Rita. Elenor managed to get by, because anyone with eyes knew that she was innocent in all that happened. But her sadness was evident to Glyph, he could tell she felt bad for the hate Rita was getting, and likely was worried about how Maggie would act without Primrose around.
"Is she a threat?" Glyph asked Elenor when they were alone in a hallway and after everything had died down.
She thought about it for a bit, but shook her head, "No, I don't think so. Primrose and Maggie gave each other strength, even if it was only strength in numbers. Which of course was bolstered by Rita. Now that Primrose is gone...they're kind of...umm..."
"Listless?"
"Yeah, that's one word for it. I wish the others would lay off Rita though, she didn't do anything to your teams in regards to the "pranks"."
Glyph chuckled softly, "Not this time, but you know as well as I that Rita had a hand on plenty of other things at Primrose's behest."
Elenor made to speak, but stopped herself when the truth weighed on her and she sighed, "I know, but she is different now."
"I know."
"Really?"
"Yeah, when the "pranks" were going on, I could tell that Rita didn't know about it, just like you said. So I reached out to her and told her loosely what would happen."
"Why would you do that?"
"Because I asked her to protect you when the fallout was to come. I knew Primrose would try and make your life miserable after I beat her, I made Rita promise that she wouldn't let that happen."
Elenor cycled through emotions at the revelation, but ended up with a smile and a blush, "I don't know what to say."
Glyph again chuckled, "Technically you don't need to say anything, Primrose left before she could do anything. As for Rita? You can thank her in your own way if you want."
"I will. Glyph? Where do you think Primrose is?"
"I don't know, that's what worries me. But what's important is that she's not here, so she can't bully us or anyone else, and that's good. Ok?"
"Ok."
With a smile to the other they headed down the hallway and tried to put Primrose out of their minds, even though it was impossible for them, albeit for different reasons.
The next day came, and at the end of the day was combat practice with Professor Lochen. The matches were as intense as usual, and it ended with Macro getting a hard-fought victory over a member of VEXD. Once done, Lochen clapped and laughed in his usual way before addressing the students.
"Well done you two," he declared with a nod to the two, "and to all of you! A very well done day of fighting. That'll be all for now. Dismissed."
The students rose from their seats and made to leave, including GRYD and MEAL. But as they made it to the stairs Lochen's voice rang out.
"Mr. Masterson, a word please?"
Glyph was surprised by this, Lochen had never called anyone down after class, he looked to the others before blinking down to the professor.
"What can I do for you, Professor?" asked Glyph sincerely.
At the question, Lochen got nervous, another thing that Glyph had never seen him do, "Yeah...what I need...um...you know what? Meet me at my office after dinner. You know where that is, right?"
"Yes Professor. Is...everything ok?"
"Oh, yeah! You haven't done anything wrong, trust me. I just need some help on a...sensitive matter. And it's best we don't do it here."
"Understood."
"Good, I'll see you in a few hours. Off you go."
Lochen gave him a motion of the hand to leave, and Glyph did so. Lochen sighed heavily and shook his head when he was alone, "Kid must think I'm crazy, maybe I am for asking him to help me on this."
After Glyph teleported into the hallway, the others approached and asked him what was going on, but he couldn't tell them much as he didn't know what was going on himself.
Macro was particularly puzzled about this, "Maybe it's about a mission? But...why only talk to Glyph about it? Not to mention...if it was a really sensitive mission...it'd probably come from Night, not Lochen."
"Agreed," added Yasmine, "Lochen helps guide things on missions, but he doesn't set them himself. Did he give any clues as to what he needed?"
"Said it was a 'sensitive matter'", answered Glyph.
"What could be sensitive to Lochen?" asked Reyson as he played with a pen in his hand, "You know, save for his leg. Oh! Maybe he wants you to amputate his leg! I wish he had given me that honor, my swords would slice through his skin like butter."
"That's gross, Reyson!" said Lelani with clear disgust.
"What? You never had to cut an animal before? The slicing feeling is so..."
He stopped when he saw everyone was glaring at him, Glyph and Yasmine in particular.
"Wow...tough crowd."
"Dumb joke, and in bad taste," noted Yasmine.
"Meh, I'm allowed one per semester."
Aaron cleared his throat to gain their attention, "Getting back on track, we're not likely to guess the answer for a very simple reason."
"Which is?" asked Erin.
"Why, we don't know Professor Lochen that well! We know his personality type, what he likes to teach us, and other basic things. But we don't know him personally. Does anyone here even know how he hurt his leg?"
The others looked around at one another until they all shook their heads in reply. The last to do so was Diana, who walked up to Glyph and patted him on the shoulder before saying, "Well, partner, guess you're going to just have to wait and see. It was nice knowing you."
This joke got everyone to laugh, even laugh as he shook his head at Diana. But knowing it wasn't good to dwell on it, they all left.
Hours passed, and Glyph approached the door to Lochen's office, he knocked on it after a deep breath.
From inside, Lochen's voice rang out, "Come in, it's unlocked."
Glyph opened the door and stepped inside the office. At first, he noticed Lochen, who was sitting at his desk, but rose to greet Glyph when he entered. But Glyph's eyes wandered, and took notice of the office that he was in.
He could instantly that the place was rather halfhazardly kept. Papers were everywhere, and yet seemed to have a method of some mad mind, in this case Lochen's. On the walls were posters of various events, mainly things like festivals, or fighting tournaments. A few newspaper clippings were around as well. Glyph noticed a special place where Lochen hung his crossbow like a trophy, though under it were a variety of Dust pellets, clearly signaling that he would be ready for a fight when needed.
Lochen noticed Glyph's wandering eyes and laughed, "First time in a teachers' office?"
Glyph gave a small smile in return and shrugged, "At Beacon."
"Well played, as you can see, I'm more unbalanced in my personal space than I am in my lessons. Gotta keep up appearances and all that."
"Indeed."
"Right, so, let's get to it...uh, have a seat."
Lochen motioned to the chair in front of his desk, which was also full of clutter. Glyph sat down and looked at Lochen with a blank expression, waiting to hear what he needed from him.
"I apologize for...bringing you hear like this, I don't ask...much from people when it comes to my...when it comes to sensitive matters...it's not my style."
"I understand perfectly."
"Heh, I had a feeling you would. I...um...this is about...uh...it's about your Professor...Vixi."
Glyph leaned in at the mention of her name, expression shifting to concern, "Is she alright? Do you need me to do something for her?"
"What? Oh, no, she's fine, I'm sorry, I'm not good at stating things like this," Lochen said, clearly rattled by the shift in tone. "Look I'll just say it...I need your help connecting with Vixi."
"Connecting?"
"You know...like...romantically?"
A silence filled the room, Glyph's expression returned to being blank, making Lochen uncomfortable. It shifted again soon to one of not being amused, "Is this a joke?"
Lochen managed to chuckle at this question, "I only joke when there's a crowd, or I think someone will get the joke. You're not that kind of kid."
"So you're seriously asking me to help you hook up with Professor Tod?"
"You make it sound so dirty when you say "hook up", I prefer date..."
"...that's better I guess."
"Can you stop with the judgment? I'm asking honestly here, you know how hard this is for me?"
"Why?"
"Why is this hard for me?"
"Why are you asking me for help? Shouldn't you ask someone like Night? Or Professor Chestnut?"
Lochen laughed harder at this one, "Trust me, Night's not the guy to talk about relationships with. As for Barker, I know you haven't met his wife, but Leif? Dang, she's terrifying to behold, makes Barker look tame in regards to personality. Think of it like Reyson's bloodthirst mixed with male Aaron's personality and bravado"
"...that is terrifying to think about..." admitted Glyph.
"Exactly! Besides, Barker would just say I have no chance and to find someone else."
"Sound advice given you and Professor Tod's current standing."
"Fair enough...which is why I'm asking for your help."
"How so?"
"Do I have to say it?"
He waited for Glyph to reply, but he didn't, making Lochen scoff and laugh in return, "Wow, I really have to say it. Ok, fine, this is like you and Diana, but in reverse!"
"Meaning?"
"Really? Geez, kid, I'm like Diana, and Vixi is like you. I'm pining for her, but she keeps shutting me down because of how I'm acting. Get it?"
Glyph thought about it for a sec, then nodded in acknowledgment of the comparison, "Yeah, that tracks."
Lochen rolled his eyes at the nonchalantness of the reply, "You're the limit, Glyph."
"Maybe, but I speak the truth. Speaking of which, I'm not with Diana, so how can I help you?"
"Because I'm sure that somewhere along the line you advised Diana on what to do IF she wanted to be with you, right?"
"...yeah."
"So give me that advice! Help me get on the path to at least have a shot with Vixi!"
"Why?" Glyph asked.
"Why should you give the advice?" asked Lochen back.
"Why do you want to be with Vixi?"
"Why wouldn't I want-"
"Stop. Answer honestly, or I'm gone. No jokes, no puns. The truth. Now."
Glyph glared at Lochen to show he was serious. Lochen could tell he meant it and sighed heavily, "Fine, fine... Look, guys always say that there are three kinds of girls they would want to be with..."
"I don't say that."
"You're you! I would be shocked if you did! And maybe it's a generational thing, I don't know, I'm just making a point. Can I continue?"
Glyph nodded, and Lochen leaned back in his chair to think about everything going through his head, "The first kind of girl is one who fawns all over you. I've dated a few like that, eventually the fawning stops and you realize real quick that they only liked the "image" of you and not you for who you are. Then there's the nice girls, the ones you can't help but love because of their pure spirit and innocence and kind nature. Like a certain Faunus you're dating..."
Glyph smiled at the compliment of Leilani, "She is all that."
"And there's nothing wrong with that. The third type is the spitfire. The ones who don't let you get away with anything, who keeps you strong, but also put you in your place. That's Vixi. She's so strong, so proud, so smart. She never lets me get away with anything...and I don't mind that. She's special..."
"Yet you don't treat her like that."
"Oh?"
"You toy with her constantly, I can tell when you to are together she's on edge because she expects you to do something stupid or rash. She's literally waiting to chastise you."
"The voice of experience?"
"The voice of someone watching Reyson and Yasmine go at it constantly."
Lochen couldn't help but laugh at this, "Yeah, I'm sure we come off as that sometimes. But to quote Diana, I thought we were doing a dance. But it takes two to Tango as we adults say."
"And you want to be on her dance card..." teased Glyph with a smirk.
"Yes, I do. So please, help me change into who I need to be to impress her, get her to at least tolerate me to start."
"Well that's your first mistake, you won't gain anything by not being yourself."
"But she hates who I am..."
"No, she hates how you act around her. I hated how Diana acted around me when she was trying to woo me, but I never hated her. There's a difference. Vixi likely doesn't hate you, she just hates how you treat her, so that's your first step."
"I'm listening," said Lochen as he righted himself in his chair to focus on Glyph.
"Well, like you said, she's proud, in the right ways. So don't antagonize her whenever you get the chance. Compliment her, praise her, do basic things. You're not changing who you are...you're just changing how you act around her," noted Glyph with a shrug at the end.
"Sounds simple enough."
"And that's how you start, with simple things. How do you greet Vixi when you see her?"
Lochen tugged on the collar of his shirt as if to let hot air out, "With a pun or a joke..."
"There you go, don't do that next time. Here's what I want you to do..."
The next day, Professor Vixi Tod was walking down the hallways of Beacon. She had on another flashy business-style suit, this one more black than orange. As students passed her she smiled and said hello to them all. Her tail lightly bobbed up and down as she walked by everything on her way to her class.
After a while, Lochen appeared at the far end of the hallway, Vixi immediately tensed up but tried not to let it show, Lochen didn't make a motion to her or anything, but just proceeded to where he was going.
As they passed one another Vixi said, "Lochen."
Lochen replied, "Good morning, Vixi, I hope you're doing well today."
This statement and compliment took her off guard, she stopped in place and turned to Lochen, who was still walking down the hallway, "That's it?"
At the question, Lochen stopped and turned to her, his expression mostly blank, "What's it?"
"That's...all you have to say?"
"Did I say something wrong?"
"No, that's the problem. You usually joke, or do a terrible pun, or tease me about my looks or something. Where was that?"
"You don't like it when I do that."
"...no, I don't."
"Well...I wanted to stop, I'm sorry for doing it before. I'll try and not do it again."
"...thank you, Lochen," replied Vixi, confused and unsure what was going on.
Lochen nodded, "You're welcome Vixi, have a good class."
With that, he departed down the hallway, leaving Vixi still stunned as to what was going on here.
Back in his office the day prior, Lochen mulled over the assignment from Glyph, "You think that'll work?'
"You have to start somewhere, a kind word and an apology goes a long way with the right person. She is in that category," stated Glyph.
"Oh yeah, she is. Fine, I can do that, I'll do my best to keep calm and smooth in my answers."
"Good, that's important, tone can convey intent. And as you know better than most..."
"Vixi's good at reading intent, I know. Alright, so after that? What do I do?"
"You need to continue to show your own intent."
"Meaning?" Lochen asked, confused as to Glyph's choice of words.
"Meaning...you be nice to her in the right ways that are beyond dialogue. For example...is there anything she's wanted for a while but can't get herself?"
A few days later, Vixi entered her office, but was surprised to see that there was a package waiting for her on her desk. She went over to it and examined it. It was a regular square box, and it seemed harmless enough. Vixi noticed a small card on it and it read, "Heard you wanted this, - Lochen".
She scoffed, "Oh great, probably a prank like my last "birthday gift"."
With a heavy sigh she carefully opened the box, but to her surprise, in it was a smaller box of sweets. Vixi gaped at them, "How did he...?"
Flabbergasted, she looked around the room as if to make sure she wasn't being watched. Then she opened the box of sweet and pulled one out. She was hesitant, but eventually succumbed and ate the sweet. Almost immediately her expression melted into one of pure delight. Vixi even pounded her desk with her hand before going, "So...good..."
Without a further moments' hesitation she started devouring the rest of the sweets.
Back in the office, Glyph couldn't help but laugh at the suggestion, "Sweets? Really?"
Lochen wagged his finger in reply, "No, no. Not just sweets. Minstrel's famous flavored honey sweets. Trust me, it's to die for, but it can be hard to get from Vale. Thankfully...I have a contact who owes me a few favors and can get them to me rather easily. She'll have it within a few days."
"Whatever works."
"After that?"
"Just start with that for now. Be kind to her, don't antagonize, patronize, tease. Make a joke if it's appropriate, but not aimed at her. Make her laugh, instead of being the one being joked about."
"Got it."
"After a week? We'll see where you are I guess."
"You should charge for your services," teased Lochen.
"Ha ha, trust me, I don't want to do this more than I have to," answered Glyph with a shake of his head.
"So why help me?"
"Because you do care about her, and you're willing to change. I respect that."
"And I respect you helping."
"Yeah, well, don't tell anybody I helped you, I already have one wrongly interpreted reputation, I don't need another."
"Ha! I understand, Glyph. And to that end, don't tell either your team or MEAL what I asked you for."
"I promise."
Appreciative, Lochen smiled and then stood up, Glyph did the same, "I appreciate the help Glyph, I'll let you know how it goes."
"Ok," he replied, "just remember one thing."
"Oh?"
"She might still say no."
"Yeah, but at least this time it'll be because she just doesn't want me, and not because of how I've treated her. I can take that."
Glyph smiled at the wise statement, "You don't get enough credit for how smart you are."
"Story of my life, which I'm sure I'll tell you sometime as payment. But until then, go back to your team."
"Professor."
"Glyph."
Glyph blinked out of the room, Lochen chuckled when he did, then pulled out his phone and made a call. When Glyph returned to his room, all the rest of GRYD and MEAL were there, all curious about what he wanted.
He kept his word and didn't tell them, but he didn't lie either. He just said Lochen wanted some personal advice, and that he knew Glyph could relate to it. The others seemed to be ok with this, even though Diana, Erin, and Reyson kept pushing to know more in their own ways. But Macro shut them down by mentioning if this was their own personal matter, they wouldn't want the Professor to leak it to the others. This got them to back down, even if only reluctantly.
A week past, and when Glyph saw Lochen the professor gave only small visual clues as to how things were going, but they never spoke of the matter.
Unbeknownst to them though, Vixi was having her own thoughts on the matter at hand. Though she wouldn't voice it to the other Professors, or Night. She knew she had to get a more calculating and objective opinion on the matter.
Therefore, she waited for one of her classes to end, and when the class started to depart she called out, "Mr. Camof? Could you meet me in my office? I need to discuss a matter with you."
The others were curious about this, but Macro waved it off, "It's Professor Tod, she probably is going to ask me about an upcoming mission or something."
Content, they left, and Macro followed Vixi into her office. But unlike their last chat, she locked the door to her office before sitting at her desk.
This change in security got him anxious, "Is everything ok, Professor?"
"I'm...honestly not sure Mr. Camof, and that's what worries me," she said with clear uncertainty in her eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"I've noticed that there's someone in this school acting very strange. For certain reasons, I can't tell you who, I hope you understand."
"I understand, need to know."
"Yes, good. As you know, I can read people's intents very well, and this one person has always been very clear to me in their intents. Yet recently, they've done a complete 180. They're gone from rather mean and disingenuous to nice, kind, pleasant."
"...isn't that a good thing?"
"Usually, yes. I would praise this kind of thing, especially if it was a student who was misbehaving regularly. But for this person...I suspect foul play."
Macro made a sound of understanding, "You think this is a trap of some kind? Like they're going to pull something?"
"Possibly, and I feel that I'm the target of...whatever this is," answered Vixi, her expression ripe with worry and confusion.
"Do you think this is going to be like the Primrose situation?"
"Not likely...or at least I hope not. But I can't rule it out, not with this person."
"I know you said you can't tell me, but is it a member of Team PRME? Because my team and GRYD can stop this before it starts."
This got Vixi to smile and laugh, "Your support means a lot Mr. Camof, but no, it's not PRME, not this time. Trust me, it would be easier if it was them. But no, this is someone else. I just don't know how to proceed with the situation. I was hoping your tactical expertise would allow me some new insight into my next moves."
Macro crossed his arms and pondered the situation, "Well confrontation likely wouldn't be wise. Because if they're playing a game, they wouldn't admit it to you via confrontation."
"That's true, and I did call them out on their new behaviors and all they said was that they were trying to be better. Not that I believe that."
"You sure we're not talking about PRME?"
They shared a laugh before Macro continued on with his analysis, "Ok, well I bet part of the this...whatever it is...is mental manipulation. They're likely trying to lure you into false sense of security and then spring their trap on you. Basically a False Flag Operation."
"Hmm...I didn't think of that. So what do you suggest?"
"Well, the point of a False Flag is to lower guards, so don't. Keep it up, no matter what they say, what they do, don't let your guard down. That way you'll be prepared for when they do spring their trap because you'll be on edge every time they do something, even if it seems innocuous."
Vixi mulled over his advice, then nodded and agreement of the plan, "I will do that. I usually would not encourage such...heh...paranoid behavior...but this is a special case."
"You sure you can't tell me who is doing this to you, Professor?" asked Macro, now slightly unsure of his plan. "I can better help you if I know the target in question."
"I promise that if this escalates that I'll tell you, but until that point, I cannot, not yet. Your advice is good though, and I will use it. You are dismissed."
Macro rose and gave Vixi a small salute before heading for the door. Before he reached it though she called out to him, "Oh, and I hope you won't tell your friends about this. I don't want them worrying about me as well."
"Need to know, I get it."
With that he left, and returned to the others, and not unlike Glyph, he kept the details of the meeting short, stating only that Vixi needed his military training to ascertain how to move forward in a situation. Everyone believed him, including Glyph, as they should have, as he wasn't lying, he was only being vague.
The next day, Vixi again walked down the hallway towards her class, and not unlike a certain other time, Lochen was walking down that same hallway. He smile as she approached and said, "Good morning, Vixi, I-"
"Need to get to class, bye," she said briskly, cutting him off and not looking at him as she walked by.
"Oh...ok..."
He watched her until she got out of sight. When he was alone in the hallway, he walked over everything he did in his mind, but couldn't figure out what went wrong.
"My tone was fine, I smiled...I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"
Not sure what to do, he just scratched his head in frustration before walking down the hallway in his own direction.
A day later, Glyph teleported into the office of Lochen, who barely acknowledged him when he arrived. Glyph took one look at his professor and could tell he was seriously down in the dumps.
"Something go wrong?" he asked, though he clearly knew the answer.
"I don't know what happened," admitted Lochen, with a shrug of his shoulders and arms and a depressed expression on his face. "I thought I was getting through to her, but then over the course of the last day or so? She barely talks to me. Doesn't even acknowledge me when I greet her, or try to make peaceful conversations. I would argue that she's straight up avoiding me!"
"Hmm...that's odd. That's not her style."
"I know, right? It's weird. She usually calls me out on my crap, but this is much worse! Why do you think she shifted in tactics?"
"Tactics?" Glyph muttered to himself, but he shook off the idea that came across his mind, "More than likely, she doesn't think you'll tell her the truth if she were to ask you straight-up what's going on."
"Which I would for the record!" interjected Reyson with slight desperation.
"I know, calm down."
"Right, sorry."
"It's fine. Anyway, she's probably playing it safe and just ignoring you hoping that whatever this is will just go away."
"That's mean."
"She doesn't know what's going on, so this is unintentional."
"Right, right, so what do we do?"
"We?"
"Fine, me! I still need your help though. Please?"
Glyph groaned and rolled his eyes, but a look at Lochen's pleading expression got him to sit down and think, "Alright, fine."
"I know this isn't your forte, but your last set of tricks worked! I was making an impression, It's just...I don't know what happened..." lamented Lochen, going back to his depressed state.
"Well...it'd be stupid to go back to the direct stuff. She won't let you do it, right?"
"Not based on what I've seen in the last day. Should I just keep going with the gifts? I know she ate those sweets, she even thanked me for them...reluctantly though."
"Hmm...no, let's not risk it. In this state she might just go and throw them away rather than give you a foothold."
"Relationships are complicated..."
"That's why I've been single most of my life," noted Glyph.
The two looked at one another, then let out a laugh in their own ways. Lochen loudly, Glyph softly.
Lochen recovered first, "I needed that, thanks."
"No problem."
"Seriously, what now?"
"You need to show this isn't an act. So if direct things won't get her to listen...I guess indirect things will work."
"What?"
Glyph sighed, "My parents were...simple. They rarely fought. But my dad always knew how to get my mom to forgive him when they did. He would never ask for forgiveness though, he knew mom wouldn't give it so easily. So he would go to the other villagers, and get them to help out by doing things he knew mom needed done. And they would tell her that it was him that suggested they do these things for her to help her out. Mom would love the sentiment and the helpful hand, and she'd forgive dad."
"Wow."
"Yeah, they're...special."
"There's more to that story, isn't there?"
"Yep, but that's not for today. Point is? It worked."
"Ok, but you said no gifts."
"This isn't gifts," pointed out Glyph with a wag of a finger, "this is action. A gift is a bribe more-or-less. An action is a service. Find out things that Professor Tod needs done physically, see if you can get people to help you get these actions done. They'll mention to her what you helped do, and she'll...well, she'll hopefully respond well."
"Like I said, relationships are complicated."
"The good ones always are."
Lochen chuckled, "You don't get enough credit for how smart you are."
"Story of my life," joked Glyph at the reversal of the lines.
"Alright, I'll see what I can do."
"Good luck."
"Thanks, I need it."
Glyph teleported out of the room, leaving Lochen to think on what to do next.
A few days later, Vixi was in the library of Beacon when a student approached her, "Excuse me, Professor Tod?"
She turned to the student when called and smiled, "Yes? How may I help you?"
"I was wondering if I could ask you some questions on the history of combat in the Vacuo region and how their culture grew from it? I was hoping to use it for some techniques of my own given my Semblance."
"Ah, how creative! I'd be happy to help you. Let's get some books first..."
Vixi helped the student for the next half-hour, by the time they were done, the student had written down a lot of information, "This will be most helpful in my research, thank you Professor Tod."
Vixi beamed at the praise, "You're very welcome, I'm glad you thought of me."
"Actually, Professor Target thought of you."
"...pardon?"
"I thought this was more a battle tactics question, so I went to him first. But he noted that because Vacuo's tactics grew with their culture that you would be more of an expert. He was adamant you could help me, and he was right."
"...yes he was, I'll be sure to...thank him when I see him next. Off you go, and good luck with your training."
The student bowed to her and departed, Vixi lightly pounded the desk, fuming at what just happened, "Lochen..."
After cooling down, she went back to her office, but before she entered, a deep voice called out to her, "Vixi!"
She turned to see Heathern Squire approaching her, he gave her a bow of the head before addressing her, "Glad I caught you."
"How can I be of service?" she asked kindly.
"In this instance, I'm hoping to be of service to you. You recall that expansion you desired in the gardens?"
"Oh yes, I wanted to grow some special plants that are usually restricted to the various areas of Remnant. Help the students not only recognize them, but know what to do with them in cases of need. With plants it's always better to do things hands-on. It'd help both me and Barker to be honest."
"Yes, I agree, and Night agrees as well. When the semester ends you'll have another 50 feet of land to work with."
Vixi was surprised by the offer, "Wow, that's very generous. Thank you."
Squired waved it off and departed, "No need to thank me, it was Lochen who helped push the idea through. Good day."
She gaped at this when Squire said it, then fumed again, "Lochen...!"
Later that night, Vixi was in her office reading a book when a knock came at her door, "Come in."
The door opened and Barker Chestnut entered, a smile on his face, "Vixi! I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time?"
"No, just trying to distract myself," she noted with a small yet heavy smile.
"From what, dear friend?"
"From whom, actually. It doesn't matter though, what do you need?"
"I wish to collaborate with you on something, if you would hear me out."
"Of course, I'd be happy to hear what you have to suggest."
Barker beamed brightly at this, "Wonderful! Well, as you know, Night is going to be assigning another forward mission soon. But I feel that this could be more than just a survival mission, or even a culture mission, I'm thinking a unique fusion of the two."
"Oh? Go on..." said Vixi intrigued at this.
"Recall our mission where we helped people fix their villages? That was wonderful. But what if we pushed that further? What if we did a mission where we send in the teams to clear out an area of Grimm, and then have them stay as they help build a brand new village for people! We could send them to various areas of Vale, Atlas, maybe even Minstrel, and help expand their eyes and feelings as to what goes on in the world! It would have everything they need for a complete Huntsman and Huntress experience!"
"I must admit, that does sound appealing. What made you come up with the idea?"
"I've had this floating in my mind for awhile, but I couldn't really form it. I was talking with Lochen about it when-"
"When he helped you flesh it out, and then asked you to get my approval on the matter?" interjected Vixi, suddenly angry.
"Yes, exactly," answered Barker, confused at the sudden shift in tone, "how did you...?"
"Lochen...Lochen!"
She roared in anger and threw her book at a wall before storming out.
Barker watched all of this and when he was alone he asked, "What did I say?"
The next morning, Macro was working on some techniques with his E-Tool when his phone went off. To his surprise, it was Vixi on the line, he answered it, and before he could speak he heard, "Please come to my office. I need your help again."
She hung up before he could reply, and though he was confused by the nature of the call, he went to her office no questions asked.
When he arrived he could see that Vixi was very much frazzled. Her hair was a mess, her outfit wasn't as well-kept as it usually was, and as she paced back and forth her tail wagged wildly. She only stopped when he arrived, "Good, you're here."
Macro cautiously approached her, "I'm guessing something happened? Did the trap get sprung?"
"Thankfully no, but it was almost as bad. The person I mentioned before? They're using other people now to get to me. I shut them down, and now they're bringing in others to tighten the screws!"
"Can you tell me who it is now?"
Vixi almost spoke on who, but she shook it off, "I know I said I would Mr. Camof, but I must ask for a little more privacy. Just until this gets settled. It's too embarrassing at this point."
"I see..." said Macro, not convinced, but respectful of her wishes. "Well, if they're upping the stakes, so must you."
"Meaning?"
"The best way to shut down a prankster is to either expose their prank beforehand, or do one on them. You don't know what this person is going to do. So you need to get to them before they get to you."
"You think that'll work?"
"If you make them think they can't get you back without hurting themselves more? That hurts morale, and that'll cause them to back off."
"Ok, I'll think of something. Thank you, Mr. Camof."
"Are you going to be ok?" Macro asked as he noticed her demeanor was not really improving.
"I'll be fine," she replied with a forced smile, "I'm just waiting for this be over."
"Understood, if you would, just let me know when you're going to do what you think of doing. I'll want to hear how it goes."
"That's fine. You can go."
Hesitantly, Macro left, leaving Vixi to her own devices.
Days passed, and one afternoon, Glyph and Macro were working outside on some homework together when both their phones went off at basically the same time.
"Huh, timing," remarked Glyph with a small chuckle as he picked up his phone.
"One of your team?" asked Macro as he picked up his own.
"No, it's...uh, Professor Target."
"Huh, convenient."
"How so?"
"Mine's Professor Tod."
"Convenient indeed."
The conversation paused as they opened up the messages from the professors, answered them, and then put the phones back down.
"I didn't realize we were so wise," noted Macro with a joking tone.
"I've always known you were wise," replied Glyph seriously.
"Well thank you, but I meant it in the fact that our teachers are asking us for help and not the other way around. Lochen is asking you for personal help, and Vixi is asking me for help with a pest problem."
"Pest problem? I thought you said she needed your tactical knowledge."
"She did, er, does. Look, I promised I wouldn't go into it, but someone at the school is bothering her something fierce. She wants it to end."
Glyph went quiet as he looked as his phone, then returned to look back at Lochen, "...did she say who's bothering her?"
"No, and that's the truth. All I know is that this person was mean to her, then started acting nice, and then got other people to help out with their act. I won't lie Glyph, I'm worried about her, she's really agitated about this," he said with concern. "She thinks this person is going to hurt her, and so I told her to strike first."
"Oh crap."
"What, what's wrong?"
Glyph grabbed his phone and showed Lochen's message to him, "Lochen is the person bothering Vixi! Except he's not bothering her, he's trying to romance her! That's what I've been helping him with!"
Macro gaped at this, then failed to stifle a laugh, "You're helping someone with a romance problem?"
"Macro, focus!"
"Right, sorry. So wait, she doesn't realize that Lochen is just trying to woo her?"
"You tell me! You're the one offering advice on how to stop him, right?"
"Oh crap."
"That's what I said!"
With a shake of the head Macro grabbed his phone and showed him Vixi's message, "No, you don't understand, Vixi is about to do something to Lochen right now! We got to get to them and tell them what's going on before...well I don't want think about it."
"I know where Lochen is, where's Vixi?" he asked standing up.
"Should be in her office still. What's the plan?"
"Really fast teleporting, hold on."
Glyph grabbed Macro by the shoulder and vanished. Not too far away, Lochen was mumbling something in front of a mirror when he blinked out of sight. Vixi was in her office, smiling somewhat evilly at a box that was on her desk. But before she could pick it up, she too blinked out of sight.
When Lochen and Vixi reappeared, they were in the amphitheater on the battle field floor. They quickly looked around for a reason why they were here and eventually saw each other. Their reactions varied wildly.
"Vixi?" asked Lochen confused.
"Lochen...?" responded Vixi in kind, but with anger building up.
"What are you doing here?" they then asked at the same time.
"We brought you here," answered two voices.
The professors looked up to see Macro and Glyph in the theater seats, looking down at both with slightly displeased faces.
"And why did you do that?" asked Vixi, now mimicking Lochen's confusion.
"Because what we have here..." started Macro, "is...a failure to communicate."
"Meaning?" wondered Lochen.
Glyph stood up first, but didn't look at Lochen, but instead at Vixi, "Professor Tod, the reason Professor Target has been acting nice to you and getting you gifts and such was because he asked for my advice on how to impress you."
Before the Professors' could respond, or even look at one another, Macro rose up and addressed Lochen, "Professor Target, the reason that Professor Tod here was avoiding you after you did those nice things was because she thought you were planning some elaborate trap or scheme for her. So I was telling her what I would do to avoid it."
"There is no trap, Professor Tod, he's just trying to get on your good side so that you might like him as much as he likes you."
"And she's not ignoring you out of spite, Professor Lochen, she was just afraid of what you might have done given your history of endless teasing."
The two paused after they said their pieces, and for the first time since their dramatic entrance, the professors looked at one another, before looking away in embarrassment.
Glyph smiled at this, "We won't tell you what to do now."
Macro smiled and shrugged before noting, "I recommend a chat, though. No one is here but you now. Right Glyph?"
"Right."
Glyph grabbed Macro's shoulder and vanished, leaving the two professors alone. At first, the two just looked to where their students were before they teleported, but then slowly, very slowly they turned their eyes to one another.
A long silence filled the room, then Lochen attempted to start something up, "So..."
"So..." she replied in kind.
"Look I didn't-"
"I didn't know that you-"
The two stopped when they realized they each tried to get their words out at the same time, then proceeded to laugh at the irony of it all.
"I'm sorry, Vixi. I didn't know you were stressing about all of this," admitted Lochen with clear regret.
"Well I shouldn't have been so paranoid about it," acknowledged Vixi, "I should've looked beyond the teasing you've done and seen the kind gestures you were doing."
"I didn't give you much reason to believe they were kind gestures given my...how did he say it? Oh yeah, history of endless teasing."
"Maybe. So, you really were trying to get me to like you? In a romantic way I'm guessing?"
Lochen laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head as he avoided Vixi's now playfully piercing gaze, "Heh, yeah, basically."
Vixi did her best to hide a smile, "And you've liked me for how long exactly?"
"Quite a while."
"Yet you teased me needlessly...because...?
"I thought you would come around to it. Treat it like a game, one-up me and all that. But that wasn't the right way to go about it, I'm sorry."
"Has your "game" ever worked on a woman?"
"...one." he answered honestly. "Long time ago."
"What happened to her?" Vixi asked, now curious.
"Our line of work happened."
"I'm sorry, Lochen."
He shrugged it off, "It's ok, I dealt with it. Night helped out too. Thought that was the end of me and relationships, that whole cliche. Then I met you..."
"Another cliche..." joked Vixi, which got him to laugh.
"The notion, yeah, but not you, you're not anywhere close to a cliche. You're far better."
"Now THAT was a compliment I can appreciate."
"Good to know. So...what now, Vixi? You know my feelings, you know it's not a game, or a trap, or whatever else you were thinking. What now?"
Vixi paused for a bit and thought it over, then shrugged herself, "I don't know. I've been so worked up the last few weeks over the idea of you pranking me that I never thought about this. We're adults, Lochen, I'm not going to be some schoolgirl-type and just let this happen because of some hilariously ironic circumstance."
"I wouldn't want it to be that easy, that wouldn't be you," noted Lochen with a smile to her.
"Keep that line of honesty up and you might have a chance with me."
"Really?"
"MIGHT...have a chance. Tell me, did Glyph tell you to get me those Minstrel Honey Sweets?"
"No, he told me to get you a gift, the sweets I knew you would love."
Vixi nodded her head at this, "You were right. Get me another couple boxes and I'd say your odds have improved even more."
A pause arose, and then the two burst out in laughter.
Lochen was the first to recover, "I'll do it, for real, because I want my odds to improve. I'm not saying we'll work, Vixi, but I'd like to try."
"Maybe I'll let you," teased Vixi before morphing back into her usual expression of seriousness. "But not today. Let's take a break from all this...petty drama, and we'll see what tomorrow does for us. Ok?"
"Ok."
With a nod to the other, they left the room together, as they entered the hallway a thought came across Vixi's mind and it made her get quite uncomfortable, "Oh, right..."
"What's wrong?" asked Lochen, now worried at the shift in demeanor.
"Oh, I was instructed by Macro to do a strike on you to get you to back off. It's literally sitting on my office desk."
"What was it?"
"Paint bomb wrapped up like a present. I was going to give it to you and then...well you know."
"Clever, I wouldn't expect a trap in a present from you. Especially not with what I was doing to impress you."
"Yeah, I'm not proud of it now. I'll disarm it when I get back."
Lochen scoffed, "Don't do that! That's a waste of a prank!"
"What?"
"We give it to Barker, but not say who the present is from. He'll be paranoid for a week!"
Lochen laughed loudly at the idea of Barker's reaction, Vixi rolled her eyes at first, but then joined in on the laugh, "That actually would be funny to see happen."
"See? This is the beginning of a beautiful-"
"Stop."
"Ok."
With a final smile to the other, they walked down the hallway in silence before departing from one another.
Far away, in the Emerald Forest, Primrose Madonna sat next to a fire she had made. Her outfit was heavily ripped, she had cuts and bruises over her body, and her expression was one of fury. She bit into a couple of pieces of fruit as she stared into the fire.
"I'll get him, I'll get him, I'll get him," she muttered to herself.
"Not in that condition you won't, "stated a voice.
On instinct, Primrose grabbed her poleax and whirled it around towards the location of the voice. To her surprise, the person looking at her was Taupen Wizzer.
"I know you...you're from KGHT."
"Taupen Wizzer, at your service, and I do mean...at your service," he said with a small bow.
"What do you mean?" asked Primrose suspicious.
"I know a thing or two about revenge, and I've been watching you over the last few weeks. Seeing how far you would push yourself to get your revenge. You haven't wavered, and I'm impressed."
"Good for you, but how does that help me?"
Wizzer smiled, "Simple, what if I told you I can give you the power to beat your rival, and everyone that tries to help him? Would you be interested?"
The fury melted away from Primrose's face. Longing, desire, and more replaced it. Then, an evil smile emerged on her face, "Yes."
*credits*