A/N: So... I don't even really have an intro... or an author's note for this one...? I guess it's taken a little longer than it should have because I just recently got a PSVita, and a whole bunch of new games, literally, as I'm writing this, steam just popped up and told me that Magicka 2 has finished downloading. Beofre anyone gets on me for buying a PS Vita, and spouting shit about the console wars, to be fair, Microsoft hasn't made a portable console yet, and, also to be fair, I also have an Xbox One, so... maybe that makes me a double agent? Fuck it. I don't even care anymore. Rage if you want to, that's what freedom of speech is for. Matter of fact? Let's actually debate this, maybe not here, in the comment section, I'll see if I can open up a forum, someone just tell me to do so if that's an actual good idea (it's prolly not tho) and we'll debate to our heart's content. My word, my ability to go off on tangents is marvelous.
Edit: I forgot to put in a chapter title and left out a whole chat in the end slate, there's no new chapters, sorry 'bout that, but I just felt the need to fix that.
Without further ado, here's:
Chapter Five: In which Maxi meets the White Oracle Sage and his companions have a Lawn-front brawl.
"Look, Lady, I just want to return the damn wallet!" Maxi was having a very heated argument with the young lady at the front counter. Tall and light skinned with milky-blue hair and low pigtails, and yellow ocher glasses and short bangs, Mina Nishizawa was also a librarian at the same library that he'd found Blanc Whiteheart to be, even though he was still entirely confused by the fact that he was dead certain that Camilla had been the only librarian before hand. Now, he wasn't even sure where Camilla was. "I don't care whether or not she's available, if she's not, take the wallet and give it to her when she IS available, and if she's available right now, then just let me give it to her."
"I told you already, Blanc is not available and I will not take something of hers." Mina replied, her arms crossed. "If you need to consult her, come back tomorrow."
"Can I just leave the wallet on the counter here? Like... right here? Can she grab it herself?" he asked, holding the wallet just above the counter, "Is that an option?" Mina looked at the wallet in his hand, as if registering something.
"Oh... you..." Maxi raised his eyebrows. "You actually... what was I...?" Mina looked very confused as if she'd been doing something else just before now.
"You alright...?" he asked, now slightly concerned.
"Um... yes? I'm fine, thank you, but where... where am I?" Maxi shook off his previous frustration, this was the thrid time within the week that a female had come to him for assistance with something. Not to mention, that wasn't counting how many times Felicia had helped him and he'd helped her, and it also wasn't counting Vert, though that kind of worked as well. He tried to formulate a plan. After failing to do so, he figured it would be best to just answer her questions.
"Brookhaven Library. Know the place?" he asked. It was possible that she didn't. If she was with Blanc, which was possible, then maybe she was from another world? If she was, then he wasn't sure how to help her, but he'd figure it out. "You don't, do you?"
"Not personally, but I do recall having read up on it. It's where Blanc and I... I'm sorry, who are you?" she seemed to be trying to recall multiple things at once. Maxi brushed that off and got to the question.
"Maximillian Penumbra, at your service Ms. Nishizawa. My friends call me Maxi, feel free to do the same." he said. He immediately regretted it afterwards, noting that she wouldn't have remembered telling him her name. She looked at him peculiarly, indicating that it probably was her name, and she hadn't told him. He nodded. "Beg pardon, I apologize if that isn't your name, I have a friend who looks quite like you, though I suppose her hair was more red...? Hm... never mind that. She looks like you and has that name, though her name is Jollisa?" he was making all of this up. "My apologies, what is your name?"
"Mina Nishizawa, pleased to meet you, Maxi, and please, Mina is just fine." Mina bowed slightly and held out her hand. Maxi took it and shook it with a friendly smile. "I suppose I'm a bit new here still, I don't suppose your a frequenter, are you?" Maxi subtly noted that he wasn't the only one who could make things up. Camilla was like... twenty something? She had no intention of retiring anytime soon. Something was up with that, but it was too sudden to bring it up now. "Oh, nevermind that, what can I help you with? We can chat afterwards... My apologies, what do you need?" He lightly chuckled from how scatterbrained she was when she was startled.
"Ms. Whiteheart? She works here as well, yes?" Mina nodded, a faint smile forming on her lips.
"I see, I will call her for you, I'm sure she'd be happy to have such a cute boy come to see her." Maxi managed not to become flustered, maintaining his professional attitude.
"Ha ha, I'm afraid your mistaken, Mina. I'm here to return her wallet, nothing else. I simply happened across it while taking a walk. Being the good person I like to think I am sometimes, I came to return it." He told her. She smiled and moved over to something that looked like an intercom panel.
"Right, right, I'll call the lady for you." Maxi noted the tone of her voice. She said Lady respectfully, not jokingly, so Lady was probably her title. Lady Whiteheart, huh? He'd be sure to refer to her as such. "Blanc, there's someone here to see you." she called into the panel. There was no response, but Maxi figured the message had gotten across. The girl entered the room and looked him in the eye. Her sandy coloured hair and blue eyes caught his attention before he noted her white and blue hat with similarly coloured outfit, ribbons and accents adorning her clothing in various places, as well as a blue gemstone on a ribbon around her neck. Maxi made a quick mental adjustment to not try and flirt with her. Just looking at her and reading her aura told him that she wasn't very fond of such things. He straightened himself out, correcting his posture and attempting to be professional.
"Can I help you?" she asked. Her voice was gentle, soothing even. Maxi liked the sound of it. He presented her wallet to her without speaking. She took it and gave him a bow. "Thank you. I was wondering where I'd left this." Maxi nodded.
"It's no trouble. It was out by the beach. I imagine you must have been reading there and it simply slipped out of your pocket." Blanc smiled slightly at his intuition.
"You're very perceptive." she told him, "piecing that together by yourself." Maxi shrugged.
"Maybe. though I suppose it's also just the fact that your a librarian. Not to mention, I've done so a few times myself." he brushed his hair aside with his hand, the motion was smooth and unintentionally suave. Blanc's heart fluttered slightly without her permission. "It's a natural thing to do, so don't think too much of it, I'm just glad it was me who found it, and not someone who would've merely taken it for themselves." suddenly, his eye lens blipped slightly, displaying something to him. It had analyzed the mysterious currency in her wallet and presented him with a name. "That's an awful lot of credits you've got there, would really be a shame to lose them all. I bet it was hard to earn them." Both Blanc and Mina seemed to stumble over the processing of this sentence. He had just used the proper name of a currency that came from a world other than his. How as that possible? Blanc wasn't sure whether to confront him to assure this wasn't a trap, or to act like it was normal. Maxi spoke up before she could decide. "Ha ha... my bad. Those credits, not from this world, right? Their appearance and your unusual name lead me to figuring that out. So maybe I ought to redo this, because I think I've figured this straight." He bowed on one knee, brought his fist over, bending his arm in front of him, bowing like a knight before a king. "Lady Whiteheart, I welcome you to the city of New Kory." he stood and smiled at her. "I hope you enjoy it as much as we as the residents do." She smiled at his introduction, unsure of whether it was silly, flattering, fitting, or just downright strange. Maybe it was a combination of all of them? Whatever it was, she sort of liked it. Blanc was starting to think she sort of liked him, and she had only just met him. Well... what was the trouble with that? He was a smart fellow, he'd figured all of this out on his own, he was a polite fellow, he'd returned her wallet and welcomed her to the new city, and, this was the interesting part, she found him to be... handsome wasn't the word... but... good looking. Like... really good looking. Something about the way he appeared visually really appealed to her, and she couldn't pinpoint what it was. That was, until she thought about why her mind was hooked on such a subject.
Blanc was very into reading, as Maxi had deduced, it was the main reason she'd chosen the guise of a librarian for the time she was spending here. AS such, she'd read quite a few books, magna novels, and even some fanfictions that were centered around love. Not only that, but she'd observed couples around the city, most notably on the beach, the one she'd chosen to read at, displaying small, yet meaningful, means of affection to each other, even though they were in public space and openly visible. They were small, a hug, a kiss, holding hands, sitting very close together, she'd even observed a couple simply longingly staring into each others' eyes on one of the docks. One of the series she was in the middle of had a heroine very similar to herself. A young librarian, even similar in appearance and attitude. She young man she'd fallen in love with was a business man. One who'd started his own business at a young age after losing his parents. Blanc silently wondered if Maxi was anything like this boy. That was what drew her to his appearance though, he looked, detail for detail, exactly like the boy in the book. As such, Blanc had an undeniable urge to try and talk to him, to get to know him... to... true goddess, this was embarrassing... she wanted to know what it would be like to... how did she word this? She wanted to take strolls with him in the evenings. She wanted to have casual, maybe flirty chats him. She wanted to be the couple staring into each others' eyes on the docks. She wanted to feel her lips touch his. She... crap. She liked him. That was what she was looking for.
"Thank you." she told him, a small smile crossing her lips. She wanted to ask him so much more. She wanted to talk to him, and get to know him, and even take a walk with him, but she knew that was simply a dream. He raised his hands in a more casual, laid back sort of shrug. True goddess, that move was exactly like the boy from her book.
"It's no trouble. Now then, I hate to cut this short, but I've got to get home...?" she stepped over to him, holding out her hand slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words. It puzzled Maxi, but made him pause. "Something I'm forgetting Lady Blanc?" he asked. He knew this next comment was risky, but he just couldn't help himself, "I don;t suppose you want a goodbye kiss, do you?" Mina giggled lightly behind the counter, knowing exactly what was going on in Blanc's head, and debating whether or not Blanc was about to say yes. The comment caught Blanc off guard, he even sounded and spoke like the boy from her book.
"Um... heh..." 'Damn it, Blanc! Speak! Don't make yourself look like an idiot!' Blanc silently argued with herself. "A question for you, just a really quick one." Maxi nodded and repositioned himself, so he was no longer facing the door, and walked back over to her. He stopped at about where he was before, Blanc slightly disappointed that he hadn't come closer. "Do I seem... approachable to you?" she asked. She knew that her attitude was slightly standoffish, she just wanted to hear it from him. Maxi simply nodded. She gave him a blank stare. After a moment or two, he spoke to clarify himself.
"You come off as perfectly approachable to me." he said calmly. "Matter of fact, I'd consider you more approachable that I'd consider any of the other people I've talked to recently." the funniest part was that he wasn't entirely making that up. Neptune was a wild card, Noire was tsun all over the place, and Kupo was the kind of guy who would walk into a tavern in old ages and lay his sword on the counter saying 'god send me no need of thee!' and by the third or fourth drink, he'd draw on the barkeep for no reason whatsoever. That aside, the only one that didn't apply to was Felicia. He found Felicia more and more approachable by the day now, matter of fact, he found that he was happier more often when he was with her, rather than without. It had even gotten to the point where he would stumble over himself and even get frustrated and upset more easily when she wasn't around. "Why do you ask?" he replied to Blanc, coming back to his senses. Blanc cleared her throat slightly.
"Just, errrr... curious." she responded slightly shakily. "Glad to hear it though." she said this, her smile returning and a very light blush crossing her face. "I don't suppose you could elaborate though?" she asked. Maxi took a moment to contemplate his answer closely before replying.
"Alright, sure." he said, "Just don't take this the wrong way, but you are a beautiful young lady, and I can see how a lot of people would want to talk to you, it's natural." he made sure to cover all the topics with precision and in the most concise manner possible so as not to waste her time, "But now the problem comes in when you attract the wrong kind of attention, you wind up with guys who want to force themselves onto you, I'm sure you know what I mean?" she nodded silently, "Yeah, yet you have a very calm and cool demeanor, so that covers you on that front, you can keep your cool with the best of them, I can see that, it's just..." he paused, trying to think about how to word this. "Not all guys are scumbags." he said, deciding on a phrasing, "The ones that aren't, who would like to talk to you, might get slightly put off by your demeanor, it would be easy to mistake it for coming off as cold. So a good guy might be slightly disinclined to talk to you. You know what I'm saying?"
Blanc considered this, trying to think about how her book's heroine would react. "Yes." One word, yet a sufficient answer. Nailed it. "So, a good guy like you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly, trying to make herself look flirty. This flew over Maxi's head as he had to cover his mouth as he burst out laughing. Mina, who had been watching with eager eyes and receiving thorough entertainment, now looked slightly concerned. "Did I say something funny?" Blanc asked, a bit upset that her line had missed him entirely.
Maxi managed to regain his composure just enough to speak. "A good guy, huh? Nope. Doesn't seem like me." he said, "assumptions, infamously making an ass out of you and me. Let's not go there. Keep you judgments to facts, not to look Blanc. A good guy is one of the last terms I'd go to for myself." Blanc now looked on with curiosity. He had purposely thrown off that compliment. The boy from her book would have done the same thing, yet if he was just trying to flirt with her, surely he would have taken such a compliment and run with it. Blanc supposed that she had unintentionally tested him, and he had unintentionally passed. She smiled.
"So if that's not the terms I should use, what term would you have me use for you?" she asked, setting him up, seeing if he would pick up. Maxi realized what she was referring to, recalling the line from the book in his head. he recited it with the utmost verve.
"How about friend? Can we do that?" technically the line was used twice. Blanc was hoping he might use the second version. The first one, used earlier on, was the one he'd used. The second one, used later, replaced the word 'friend' with the word 'lover.' Blanc took a moment to have a deep breath and calm herself. She'd just met this boy and she was already slightly obsessing over him.
"I'm sure we can work that out... so long as... maybe we have some more time?" she took a risk, maybe he would accept it? Maxi pondered it for a moment. He did need to get home, but at the same time, he wasn't entirely inclined to leave Blanc just yet either.
"Yeah, I'm sure I've got some time." he said, relaxing. Something about her made him curious, and he wanted to find out what it was. Granted, he was missing all kinds of excitement at home, but that could wait. Could it? Probably not, let's have a look at that.
Felicia and Kupo had arrived quite some time ago and handled the introductions in a nice and neat fashion. Granted, that was probably done as an alternative to writing yet another introduction scene, but in all seriousness, for continuity's sake, it wouldn't make any sense for the previous teleportation only to arrive now. Kupo was in the armory, yes, Maxi has an armory, cleaning his equipment, getting ready to have a new adventure. He had planned to try and travel dimensions, or go to another world, maybe one like the one his buddy Saito had told him about, Noire walked in while he was doing so.
"What's all... what the fuck?!" Noire was quickly cut off by her own reaction of this room. The walls and shelves were lined with different kinds of weapons, from swords, to spears, and axes, and guns, to... was that a yo-yo? There was a few shoulder cannons over there, a repair arm too, as well as several add-on limbs, it looked like Maxi had previously been running around with several arms. Was that a flamethrower? Why did Maxi have a rocket launcher? Was that a grenade launcher? Er... why was that... was that a ukulele? True goddess, Noire wasn't even sure what some of these weapons were, and Maxi seemed to have at least two or three of everything. Were those qatars? Noire slightly jumped when she realized that all of these weapons were sharpened, loaded, had several spaces for extra add-ons, and were all very real and probably quite dangerous. She had a look around, spotting several things that looked highly impractical, yet very interesting. She picked up a black and cyan blade with cyber designs running up the side. It kind of looked like hers. Then again, Maxi wouldn't know anything about that. "Do we have any rapiers laying about that I could use?" Kupo turned to her.
"Your reaction changed quite quickly, didn't it?" Noire turned to him, a hand on her hip.
"Something wrong with that? Do you have a problem with a girl that values a sharp blade and a formidable form of self-defense?" Kupo was slightly taken aback, but was, at the same time, slightly relieved that Noire wasn't an extremely girly kind of girl. He had a feeling that he wouldn't get along with her very well if she was.
"Not at all," he suddenly shipped the blade in his hand over at Noire, leveling it at her. Noire flinched.
"What are you-?!" he smiled and chuckled a bit, swishing the blade quickly in a circle twice, now holding out the handle to Noire. The fashion in which he held the blade somehow managed to keep him safe from slicing his own hand. Noire took the blade and gave it a look over. "Er... right. That window in front of you, you are going to watch, I presume?" Kupo shrugged and grabbed another weapon to clean.
"I wasn't going to, I'm quite busy prepping my gear for my next expedition." Noire huffed. "I can watch if you want me to, but I think there are better ways I could spend my time." Noire simply stood staring at him, even though he went back to work. After a while, he spoke up again. "If you're just going to stand there, I hope you aren't planning on accomplishing anything. I'll glance out here and there to see how you're doing, just do what you will and leave me to the same, won't you?" Satisfied, though not entirely, Noire set out to try and show off to see if she could make him eat his words. He must have taken her as only an amateur, maybe not even that. She'd show him. Using all of her flashiest moves, Noire shadow fenced against a wall, her shadow, and eventually a training dummy. About and hour had gone by when Kupo stepped outside,two training rapiers at his side. She crossed her arms.
"I'll take my apology now," she said, assuming that he'd brought these swords so she could teach him something, "Let's hear it." she continued, turning her head to the side, putting a hand to her ear. Kupo shook his head.
"'Fraid not, Noire." he drew one blade and handed her the other, "do me a favor, come at me with whatever move you want to." she drew the blade and stabbed forth with all the speed she had, but he stopped it with relative ease. "So, I want you to know that I say this in the nicest way possible," he said, "but you're either out of practice, or you really just aren't suited for a sword like that." She crossed her arms.
"And why not?" she asked, her voice slightly on edge.
"No offense, that was one of the worst stabs I've ever seen someone make." Noire lashed out in rage, aiming for his head, but he caught her blade with his own, somehow having enough precision to counter the blade, the tip against the actual thin blade of the rapier. "Good, you've got the idea already." he spun his rapier around hers, grabbing the hilt, and swishing the blade around, then pointing the blade at her. "Shall we? Mayhaps a bit of a sparring session would help to bring your experience back around?" Noire went at him again, stabbing twice, and getting deflected each time. She continued at him for the better part of thirty minutes before he swept her off her feet with a well placed swipe. She sat up, glaring at him. "Do me a favor, stand up." she did so and went to swipe at him, but he moved in such a way that he was right next to her. "Alright, now shift here, extend your arm just a little bit to here, now shift your back foot back just a little, adjust this a bit, now do this... alright, now do it again." Noire's face had gone furiously red and she wanted nothing more than to swish his head off with the blade. She did the motion as he said, however, and this time, she noted that the blade tapped his shoulder before he was able to deflect it. "Alright, good. Now then, do what I showed you for some of your other strikes, play around with them a bit, and we'll go again in a few minutes?" the raven-haired girl could help but be intrigued. The one simple change had made everything so much better. She had at the training dummy again, noting that each strike had more speed and strength than it had before. What's more, is that she was able to return to her defensive position much more quickly than before. Suddenly, Noire heard a siren go off. Kupo looked up from sharpening his actual rapier, a noble looking thing that was much sharper, deadlier, and much more regal than Noire had ever seen. She went to hand him back her sword, but he wouldn't take it. "Think you'd better hold onto it if that's what it could be..." He grabbed a few daggers from the table in the armory before swishing his hand over his shoulder. "Come on, Noire! Let's move!"
She quickly followed after him, wondering what might have been wrong. Kupo grabbed a sword from a nearby room with a purple blade. "Hope this works..." he muttered to himself. As they ran by the living room, Neptune joined them in dashing down the hall. "Hey, Nep! You know how to use a sword?"
"You bet your booty I do, Kupo!" she yelled back. He tossed her the purple bladed sword he'd grabbed a few moments earlier.
"Then put that to some use!" when they got outside, Kupo was slightly startled by what he saw. One man was leading a group of... things... They were monsters, like the kind that you found in an rpg game, but these were very real. Felicia popped into existence next to him, sporting several daggers, two handguns, a sword of her own, and a pebble. "Fuck's the pebble for?" he asked. She turned to him.
"In case Maxi gets back in the middle of this. He won't use daggers, just this." Kupo shook his head.
"Hope he learns quickly." without drawing his weapons, he called out to the one man. "Hey! Buddy! You got a problem or something? Get your 'pets' off my lawn!" The man ignored his question.
"This is the residence of Maximillian Penumbra. For Lady Arfoire!" drawing a sword, the man charged, the monsters following suit behind him. Kupo drew his own blade, then jumped into the middle of them, slashing through the monsters with great strength and speed. Felicia, without hesitation, threw a solitary dagger, the blade landing squarely in the man's forehead, knocking him onto his back. Much to their surprise, the man dissipated into shadowy particles. Felicia wasted no time on this fact, and drew both handguns, firing into the crowd of monster with one hand and throwing daggers with the other. Neptune and Noire got their hands dirty, jumping into the fray with their weapons drawn. Neptune cut through the monsters like butter, and Noire stabbed through them like thrusting through air. Kupo's instruction earlier had really helped. Even with every hit downing a monster however, there were a lot of them. Felicia, decided, at that moment, to cease holding back, and tossed her hand guns aside, drawing her blade, which split into two, and she jump straight up in the air, and slammed into the middle with tremendous force. When the enemies were launched into the air, several light green spears pierced through them, finishing off whatever was left. Everyone turned to see who had just unleashed such an attack, a mature, blonde, green-dressed girl standing over towards the side.
"There will be time for explanations later," she said, "But for now, Maxi is in danger. Let's hurry." Kupo checked the capsule in his pocket to make sure it was secure, then nodded, and the group of five ran off towards the library.
So now, wait... do I even have any trivia to cover this time...? No? Let's reply to comments then, Maxi, pull up the comments for me.
Maxi: Alright, so, ignoring the ones from Mr. DxD and Mr. Cloud, mainly because there was a whole PM chat on those and because they pertain to the first chapter, We've got five to talk about.
24: Alright, hit me with the oldest one first.
Maxi: Okay, so Mr. G1 ArchAngel said: This is cute and fluffy with the appropriate amount of snark and drama AND I LOVE IT!
24: Oh cool, thank's G1! I really appreciate that kind of comment, it lets me know what I'm doing right. I hope that the other chapters have been up to standard for you as well.
Maxi: Okay, next up we've got Mr. JotAfonso: Not bad, keep it up
24: Thank you, Mr. Afonso. I will be sure to see this story through to it's end.
Maxi: Alright, next comment is from a guest. It's a question one: What other weapons and powers does Mazimillian have? and after noire, could it be vert or blanc after this?
24: Uh... we kinda already answered that one... didn't we? Sorry dude, I took way too long to answer that question. Um... Weapon assessment on Maxi? Weeeeell, Maxi is a smart guy and can outwit his opponent quite easily, but he can also duke it out with the best of them. Maxi has very good endurance and an extremely quick and very efficient metabolism, making it so that food and drinks give him his energy back much faster. Maxi also has Myous which gives him some good magic spells, as well as his mighty pebble which he uses to smite thugs in chapter two, and Felicia's teleporation. I count that as a weapon because Felicia is very much like a person, but she is fully at Max's command, and has several available forms of combat, as demonstrated above. Other than that, Maxi is proficient in hand to hand comabt in the use of daggers, axes, pickaxes (yes, that's a thing), and spears, as well as having experience with several types of guns, but Maxi is unable of wielding swords, hammers, qatars, whips, staves, and wrist blades to any degree of usefulness. Anything else he's anywhere between okay and great with.
Maxi: That assessment out of the way, next we've got Mr. Moppin' Glow: It makes me wet...
jk it wuz noice
24:*overdramatic exasperated sigh* You sir... ugh... [This response is a joke, this commenter is a friend of mine irl]
Maxi: Er... right, last but not least in the current comments Angeldoesmc said:very exciting I have found another jew in the pile of HDN fanfics, great job man!
24: Okaaay? I have no idea how to respond to that? Another 'jew?' Is that a typo? I think that's a compliment, so thanks? Um... Yeah it says great job... Thanks, Angel!
Maxi: Alright, now that's all the comments, but you and I need to talk.
24: Alright? I'm all ears, Maxi. What's up?
Maxi: The other day we had a talk in chapter eighteen of the Paradox, I don't suppose you remember what we talked about?
24: Was it my upload schedule? Or maybe the fact that we haven't updated that story in quite a bit?
Maxi: It was mainly the latter, though the former could also use some work.
24: Duly noted.
Maxi: Since you promised Jayden that you'd get him a new chapter of Paradox to play with and read, I highly recommend you do that before uploading this story any further.
24: So... that all?
Maxi: That it is, if you need assistance, you know you can ask me.
24: good to know. I'll try to put out a chapter for Paradox in between every two or so chapters of this one. Guess I'd better get to work.
Maxi: Aren't your chapter questions due tomorrow.
24: . . . Shiiiiiiit... that they are, Maxi.
Maxi: Here, lemme give you a hand with those such that we might get back on this.
24: Much appreciated, lemme do the outro first though because,that's all I've got for you this time!
So then, as always, I hope you all have a lovely evening, and, be it here or anywhere elsewhere, may we meet again upon another chapter. See ya!