001b - King and Pawn (Planeshunter's turn)
Ravel's eyes open slowly as the progressively brighter lamp finally drags her to the land of the living. She blinks a couple of times, her sleep-addled brain pleasantly surprised by the lack of something unpleasant she's come to expect at this point. It takes a moment for her to realize the light doesn't sting her eyes in spite of the intensity.
Some sort of radiation filter? She's pretty sure that shouldn't work, but two months living with Theo have taught her to take physics as loose suggestions.
She smiles fondly as her brain conjures up an image of the messy-haired pretty boy. She had never expected to fall so hard for him, back when she originally made plans to meet him. There were only rumours of his once-in-a-lifetime genius for her to go by at the time, and half the reason she had gone with the plan to investigate him was the chance to mingle with partying teenaged mortals.
More a chance to cut loose and have some fun than a serious project, away for once from the serious and sophisticated image she strived to project in devil society.
Getting that much into it, or getting a boyfriend out of the evening certainly hadn't been part of the plan, but Theo was nice, smart and pleasant to look at. He also had a certain distracted nonchalance that she found adorable. Not much can bother a man who doesn't care about much. That's not usually a good trait, but he manages to turn it around with his passionate dedication to the few things he does care about.
Up to date, that means science (Sorry, SCIENCE!) and Ravel herself.
Is that gap moe? Has she fallen for a gap moe bishounen? Probably worse things to fall for, out there.
Still, as much as she doesn't want to admit it, and as much as she likes the dorky boy, what made the relationship into potentially more than a simple summer romance was his genius. The reports she'd been working with at the time had grossly understated her abilities.
That microwave he tuned up in a couple of hours was sent to experts in the underworld. The end result? The Phenex family has now the patent and monopoly on a new fission reactor small enough to not only fit in a car, but save around three hundred points of weight. There were very specific disclaimers about misuse and irradiation involved, but they're making money in spades.
Theo might've been born human, but he's the next Ajuka Beelzebub and it would be a waste for him to die of old age in less than a century. That's what made her beg for her own set of Evil Pieces, and also what convinced her parents to acquiesce.
Oh, Satans, Theo was right that first morning, she wants him only for his brain!
… Well, no. Not just his brain.
Introducing him into the world of the supernatural was… bafflingly easy. After days agonising over how to go about it, exhausting hours preparing the perfect speech and nerve-wracking minutes as she told him the truth about devils in a way that wouldn't paint her -admittedly morally-loose- species in a -too- unfavorable light, his reaction had been…
Just nodding and commenting how it made sense. That was it. When she questioned his nonchalance, he'd just explained how nothing had changed. The world was still the same, and his awareness changed nothing. She was still the person he'd fallen for -and hadn't that made her face feel uncomfortably warm- and her species changed nothing. And he was still the person he had always been, and his goals hadn't really changed either.
That nonchalance of his at play again. The supernatural didn't matter to him, besides potentially expanding the breadth of science he'd now be able to learn about. And, of course, now he had much more time for both that… and her.
Reincarnating him took a single Pawn. Probably the best use out of a single Pawn in the whole story of the Evil Pieces. Probably the best reincarnation trade off in the whole history of devilkin, actually. But she would've done it even if it took her throwing her entire set of Evil Pieces at him.
It takes her a good half an hour to get up from bed. She used to complain about how Theo was never still in the bed when she woke up in the morning for some early cuddles, but then he designed this bed and she had to take back everything. It's not fair that a bed can be so utterly comfortable. If she had Theo with her on top of everything, she'd never get up at all.
She finds her boyfriend in the kitchen, fiddling with a big crystal and some spare pieces she doesn't identify at the top of her head. In a painfully predictably fashion, clues about an aborted attempt to make breakfast can be found all around him. Like it's happened every morning since they first met.
If nothing else, you can respect his tenacity, not letting a couple thousand failures deter him. That'll serve him well now that he had the long life of a devil to take the long approach to things.
"Morning Theo."
"Hey there, gorgeous!"
"Inspiration struck again while cooking?" She asks, amusement surging forward as his expression turns sheepish. Some things never get old. "What are you doing this time?"
"Well, I'm experimenting with mixing magic and technology." He shows her the crystal piece, which seems to hum softly to her magical senses now that she pays attention. "Since I don't have much of the first, I'm trying to focus on finesse for now, getting the most out of every single drop."
There's a sort of… ring around the crystalline core. She isn't sure what it does, but that's clearly the 'technology' part of the deal. Theo will wax poetic about his new project for hours if she asks, and that's normally a pleasant enough way to spend time, but now she's hungry, so she just nods with a noncommittal hum and starts putting the scattered food supplies back together to get breakfast ready.
Living in a flat in the human world alone with her lover for a couple of months has done wonders for her perspective, letting her appreciate things she used to take for granted. Like knowing how to properly make eggs and toast with grated cheese without burning anything down.
She's not insecure about her intelligence or capabilities, but she's not ashamed to admit -to her own mind- that she had a minor breakdown when she realized how utterly incapable of seeing to her own basic needs she was without servants. It's funny and a bit scary how she'd never even considered that until it became a real, tangible problem. The mind truly works in strange ways.
It's not until the table is set and Theo has reluctantly set his project aside to have breakfast with ther that she finally addresses the elephant in the room
"So, you leave for Japan today…" She starts leadingly, not sure of where exactly she wants to go with her words.
Not everything was good news this summer. Riser had thrown a hissy fit when she decided to leave his Peerage to strike on her own more than a year ahead of schedule and had managed to somehow drag her into helping with his marital schemes. How that meant she had to send Theo to study in Kuoh Academy to keep an eye on things there, she'll never understand, but that's how things are.
It was hamfisted and poorly thought out, and it was unlikely it would achieve anything except make the tensions rise even higher. But she was stuck with it. Sometimes being a good daughter really didn't seem worth the hassle.
"Yeah? Is… something wrong?" He asks with that mix of sharp perception and delicious cluelessness of his. "I mean, it's not the first time I take a flight, and with the [Devil's Gift of Tongues] I don't have to worry about the language. I'm not thrilled we won't be seeing each other so much anymore, but we already talked about that. You have your own duties and can't spend your whole life on a vacation."
"I'll miss you too, but that's not it." Rave shakes her head in fond amusement. He doesn't even seem to care that she's turning his life upside-down. "I mean, aren't you upset my family is setting you up to study in the other corner of the world?"
"Well… I'll admit I was hoping becoming a devil meant I could skip the waste of time that's institutionalized education, but since that's off the table, it doesn't matter overly much where I am studying."
He shrugs good-naturedly, taking a bite of toast with visible glee. The sight of her beloved enjoying the food she's made causes something to flutter in Ravel's stomach. Maybe there's something to be said for that handmade lunchboxes business after all.
"And I hear good things about Kuoh, at least. Maybe they won't reject my applied physics club proposal out of hand there. I swear, you include the schematics of a pulse maser with the paperwork on accident and they think you'll become the next Sith Lord..."
At least Theo will academically show up the rest of the student body by himself, she consoles herself with a smile. That is, of course, assuming he cares enough about class to pay attention.
[Prototype Azrael (Promise of judgement and retribution)]
A focusing crystal loaded with devil magic. A minor artifact capable of very small-scale gravitational effects. A pseudo-perpetual motion array carved within its core makes the magic keeping it functional last way longer than it would seem possible. It can be programmed with simple instructions or remotely controlled by the owner.
I have a P-treon thing now! Actually I have had it for years, but only now I'm using it. Just add Planeshunter after the dot com and it should take you straight there, there's a 18+ warning since the stuff I publish in Questionable Questing isn't for all public though. If you can spare some loose change and feel my writing deserves it, please consider a small pledge.