Eifion speaks to Vastorie some more; they come up with a plan, but they need to set up a bedrock in place so everything runs smoothly.
"So, let me get this straight-" Eifion opened the discussion, with a poor choice of words. He knew how Vastorie would retort, but there was no other way to start this conversation.
"Which, I'm obviously not…" Vastorie chided through the receiver, lips curling into a smirk.
"Of course, you had to go there…"
"Well, you're a prude, and you're dealing with me. Don't make it easy."
"I'm not a… you know what, back to the topic."
"Hold on, I heard a little hesitation… have you by-"
"NOPE! No… No… No… back to the topic. Your father is outside these gates, searching for a weakness. Unless you want him to grab your son while the defences are down, we need to talk about this logically."
Vastorie sighed in defeat. His voice became stern, speaking like a teacher rather than his usual demeanour "Right, well, unfortunately, there's no fun to be had when daddy dearest is watching…"
"Vas…"
"Don't… get your knickers in a knot. He's watching, and he will be searching for a weakness. You won't be able to keep the students inside all years, and with the midterms coming up, they'll want to go on break. Lucky for you, he won't strike then… he'll strike when they come back."
"I'm so relieved…" Eifion oozed sarcasm, "how do we stop him?"
"Well, you can reverse the inscription across the continent, but even I wouldn't have enough aura to re-power that field up. And it'll be a one cast thing, so out of the question."
"Other options…?"
"Inch out the inscription bit-by-bit, kicking him out every time…"
"But then the location boot is randomised. We got lucky last time. Two months before he came back…"
"Well, try kicking him into the middle of the ocean… or a volcano next time."
Eifion rolled his eyes, annoyed at the suggestion. Vastorie knows his weakness, so why even bother offering that suggestion?
"I felt your eye roll from here… Even if we further the border, you'll need a decoy and skilled Inscriber to plant the trap, which means…"
"The fence will be down."
"Exactly, hence why you'll need to dangle a juicy steak in front of the man… someone like me."
"Which, you don't want to do…"
"Exactly, I rather rip his throat out and use it like a harmonica… I'll play coming out songs, kissing boys and liking it… you know… the gayest hits!"
Eifion sighed, "This is so painful… between dealing with your humour and your father circling the school-"
"Like a hungry, hungry hippo…"
"Yes…" Eifion sighed as he rubbed his eyes, groaning more at how stressful the situation is than the joke his mentor made. Given the fact that Victor will not leave them alone until either Daniel and Killua leave, or Vastorie comes down here himself to personal deal with his old man, this was going to be a long few months "The whole situation is draining me… sucking the LIFE out of me for what…? Petty revenge?"
"I wish…" Vastorie shifted his gaze over his desk, eyes falling on a family photo Kurapika had the nerve to place down. He liberated the hollow space, to place down a photo of his family.
Vastorie found himself smiling at the photo for a moment, enough time for him to realise his greatest weakness. He pressed his hand against the top, using enough force to tip the photo so it's facing the desk, "he has bigger goals on his mind."
"Wait, what…?" Eifion leaned forward, over his desk and phone, "What is this bigger goal he wants to achieve? I would've thought his ultimate goal is to kill your son… you know… for removing the Nen ability he placed on your son?"
"First of all, Killua removed it. So, he'll be first in line…" Vastorie flicked out a second finger, "and second, of all… you're not the only one who has his ass being unpleasantly ridden… Cheadle has been breathing down my neck. She wants him gone… like all her problems stem from this one man. Victor is officially, an S-class criminal… without it being broadcasted…"
The man shifted his gaze back to photo "However, with all this happening… you're not exactly correct with your assumption, nor would you be wrong about it… his entire goal of dealing with the situation would be to abuse my… as one would put it, my weaknesses…" the man air-quoted the last word, hoping his sarcasm would be enough to deter Eifion from asking further questions on the matter.
Eifion smiled slightly, he'll have to come back for the comment later, fist they'll have to at least come up with a plan "Which means your father will become unhinged if we don't deal with him soon, correct…"
"Like an acid-spitting spider…" Vastorie commented with a sly smirk, "Which now brings us to the core of our problem… dealing with the current issue, if I can direct Victor's attention away from the school's boarder, we can reinforce the barrier and fuck over Victor that way… or…"
Eifion heard some rustling in the background, a few papers being thrown around, "I might know another way… but Mikkel Clausen, Ashton Nieves and Rosalia Servedio will hate me for this…"
"What you mean, a blacksmith, a fashion designer and your best inscriber are going to hate you."
"How many kids you have right now…?"
"Ah…" Eifion flipped through a few documents, "Currently…" searching for the current update number, "Ten-thousand, two hundred and… thirty-eight, with twenty-two coming next month."
"Ashton is going to kill me if I suggest that…"
"Suggest what, exactly? A new uniform with a built-in crazy idea?"
"Maybe if I give her freedom…"
"No way… the current white and black uniforms look great; she'll go extravagant on these poor kids."
"Right…" The older man looked down at the table, constantly tapping his finger against the surface "the 1990s disaster…"
"The wardrobe malfunction more like it… Well, to be fair… she wanted regal and royal…"
"Blue and purple made the poor kids look like a censored crime scene in clothes…" Eifion whined out loud, annoyed that they're even humouring the idea.
"How about… a new…" Vastorie rolled his wrist, trying to think of the best thing they could change about the uniform "insignia… something fancy, but not outrageous…"
"And how do you suggest I get these insignias on the uniforms? With spit and slap…"
"Alright, now you have to tell me… who you're dating?" Vastorie's lips widened into a smirk. It felt so unnatural to hear Eifion make these kinds of jokes with him. Someone has made a positive impact on his student's life, and he wants to know who it is, "Sarcasm was never your strong suit…"
"Vastorie…"
"Please… I want to know if one of my students has grown all up…" The man faked a proud sniff. He was prepared to sob in tears of joy if it gave him the answers he seeks.
"You never told me your plan…"
"You're terrible… No fun at all…" The older man pouted, sinking further into his seat
"The meaning of fun is out of the dictionary… when you have a mega genocidal maniac outside your school grounds, which may I remind you… wants to kill YOUR son and HIS boyfriend…"
Vastorie took a deep breath, "Spoil-sport. Sadly… you're right. I plan to revamp the blazer badges so that the kids are connected to the school grounds when the man attempts to touch any of the students, it'll trigger the school ground effects and spirit him away to some ditch in the middle of nowhere…"
"You think that it's possible to create that kind of inscription? Wouldn't they need to be on the grounds to work, like, it does for me…? Wouldn't they always need to wear the uniform? Also, wouldn't they remember someone trying to grab their shoulder… so it'll be harder to check who has been affected."
"Not entirely… he has a passive Nen field around him, constantly wiping the memories of those who have encountered him. They'll forget all about the encounter… which would also make you right, about being worried who he has attempted to speak to. However, yes, that is someone thing to be concerned about… it'll give us more time to come up with an even better failsafe. He'll retreat and try to think of a way to better approach the school after that… He won't start killing students indiscriminately. He is more of a… hands-on kind of guy… He'll rely on his claws and fists, never ranged weapons…"
"Which now brings me back to the others…" Vastorie sat upright, leaning his head against his hand as he spoke in a pained tone, "Ashton will love me, she's always wanted to add a bit of flair to the uniforms… Then there's Rosalia and Mikkel, who'll hate me… Mikkel because I need to get him to build the plates for Rosalia to inscribe on… and Rosalia, because she'll need to inscribe the script on all the plates herself… But like you pointed out, this will only work if the kids are wearing their uniform at all times."
"Which is impossible to enforce…"
"Exactly…"
"What about a keychain…" Eifion asked in a hopeful manner, one he already knew he was doomed from the start "something you know you can attach to their keys…"
"They'll consider it tacky… so, no go…"
"So, our plans right now… are to extend the fence, force the students to wear their uniform outside the gates… Or…"
"Or…?" Vastorie raised an eyebrow, "a badge they'll need to swipe to enter buildings. They'll be always forced to carry it, whether they like it or not…"
"Then I'll only need to involve Mikkel and Rosalia… still ten-thousand plus students… no way they can do this in a month or two… What we'll need to do first, is reinforce the border, while they work on this method at the same time. What I'll do, is get an Inscription hacker onto your grounds. We'll get them to add another layer to the field so that if Victor sticks too close to the border, it'll send him flying to another country… hopefully, he'll be gone long enough for them to finalise a working, roaming version of your ability, built into these badges… that draws from the power of your field."
"So… currently our plan is split into two parts. First, reinforce the field so he stops circling the area… and the second part is to reinvent our logo, so we can replace the students' badges…" Eifion let the plan linger, while he tried to imagine how he planned on making these reveals first to the teachers and then to the students, without spiking anyone's curiosity to the lingering problem outside their gates "I'll have figure out how I plan to reveal these changes. That being said… I need you to send me the inscriber's schedule. I'll get them on as a security planner, that way they can get to work without being bothered…"
Vastorie fell silent, the words getting lost on his tongue, "Good… Good…" There was a topic he wanted to broach, but considering the circumstances, he thought it was unwise to do so.
He was already putting his son at a huge risk by helping Eifion improve their defences. Anymore, will only further anger his father, as soon as the man finds out he had been interfering with the situation.
"Your son is okay."
Vastorie took in a deep shuddered breath, his hand covering the receiver in hopes of giving him time to not only recover but give him room to deny what just happened "What…?" Vastorie faked his confusion, pretending as though Eifion had made a random off-handed comment "Is this you trying to pretend as though you can read my mind? It'll take you years before you can pretend as though you know what I'm thinking…"
"No… If I was pretending to read your mind, I wouldn't have been able to cut this thick tension lingering in the air… I know you're worried about Daniel… your family… You're only choosing to ignore the question you want to ask me… to ask them… I know you're not a man who wants advice, but please… reach out to them… they miss you."
Vastorie fell silent, trying to think of a way out of the conversation. He doesn't like being pressed into this conversation, "While you assume that's something I want to hear, it's wrong… They'd never want to talk-"
"And you called me dense for years… why can't you reach out?"
"After how I treated them, I'm the last person they want in their life right now."
"Well, it's not like you tried to kill them… like your father is attempting to do right now. It's not the end of the world all you have to say is-"
"I screamed at not only my husband but my son who was behind me at the time… that I wish Daniel wasn't born…"
"Oh, it's that bad huh…"
"Worse, considering I never said goodbye to Nathaniel. And I only reach out to them to warn them of surrounding dangers…"
"Except that one time you told Daniel that he should ring Nathaniel…"
Vastorie scoffed at the question, he was merely redirecting his child to ask the one person willing to talk to him, about his music choice… that's all, "Who told you?"
"Nathaniel… He does in fact, miss you…"
"Well, he's an idiot. After everything, I said to him… I wouldn't even want to get back together with myself…" He tried not to be, but it was hard to hide the remorse in his voice.
"Did you…" Eifion's eyes widened. The man showed signs in his voice that he had some lingering feelings of self-hate, ones brought about by his actions. Vastorie regretted screaming at them, he was just trying to pretend as though he wasn't feeling any pain from his actions.
The man decided to use that against his mentor "You care about them because you regret your actions."
"I do not…"
"Why don't you reach out to them then?"
"I said I don't…"
"Then why do you sound so sad?! Why is your voice filled with remorse?"
Vastorie opened his mouth to reject the idea, but he soon found himself closing it. Eifion was right, he does regret the actions and words he said to his family, but he's right to push them away.
His father abused all he weakness…
He will not go through that again…
"Drop the topic… NOW!"
"NO! Did you not scream at me to reach out to others… did you not say to Madelyn that she's to build a connection? Why are you burning down this bridge to rubble?! Why are you-"
"I said… DROP… IT!"
"You're just scared… aren't you…? Of losing the few people you cherish the most…"
"SO WHAT?! You do not know my father, like, I do… he'll kill them in a heartbeat!"
"Aren't they already in danger? Will he not, kill them as soon as he has them in his grasp…?"
"No, he'll use them to barter for my attention. At least if he does get through your defences, he won't instantly kill them."
Eifion smiled at the fact that Vastorie had finally acknowledged he does care about his family.
"You finally admitted it…"
Vastorie bit his lip before relenting to the fact he was pushed to reveal his hidden truth "Well, that just means they're in danger if I get pressed."
"Then you should be the one to make them stronger… to help them protect themselves."
"Well, unfortunately, they've already surpassed that peak. I can't teach them anymore, because what they need right now, is to do some soul searching… to find what they want. Wing… Bisky… all those who have taught them Nen have done a fine job. I've given them advice… pointed out some flaws in their abilities… but what they do with that information, is for them to decide now."
"Well, the ten on the list won't be able to help them…"
"Become stronger… No. Learn more about my past… sure. But before I met Nathaniel, they'll never understand that part of my life… nor do I plan to tell them about it."
"Well… you should."
Vastorie shook his head, ignoring that last comment, "We have a plan in motion… I'll update you as the news comes along."
"Well… once that field goes down, we'll need you here. You can't keep running… you know that…"
"I don't plan on running forever. I'll lure him into a trap, and take him down with me…"
"Will that make you happy…?"
"At least they'll be protected…"
"Fine… you want to be like that?" Eifion let out a loud guttural sigh, taking in a deep breath before speaking to the one man he'll forever cherish, no matter what he has done in the past to him or others "will your family be happy with that choice?"
"This is the end of that discussion."
"Well… I can tell you for a fact, none of them will be happy with your decision. All of you will continue to feel more pain until your able to talk it through… you taught me that. Now, why can't you apply it to yourselves?"
"Goodbye…" Vastorie shut off the phone, casting it aside as he covered his eyes, refusing to make a sound of anguish. He won't break… he can't break…