BM - Chapter 2 - Wishes and Ideals
It took a little bit to shoo away Kiara, ever the invasive extrovert. But eventually, Calliope and Amelia were alone in the time traveler's room. Amelia's nerves really began to spike in fear now. She didn't sense any hostility from the Reaper, but just her cold glares and tone of voice set off alarm bells. Mortals were probably wired to fear Reapers since they only showed up when you were going to die. Amelia hoped that wasn't true in this case.
"So, what did you want to talk about, Mori?" Amelia tried to start up the conversation. Calliope sat in the desk chair, while Amelia sat on the bed.
"Just call me Calliope or Calli. Hearing Mori just sounds weird to me," Calliope extended an olive branch to the other girl.
"Oh, ok, Calli. You can call me Amelia or Ame if you want to." Amelia grabbed the olive branch and extended one of her own.
"I'll think about it, Watson." Calliope rejected it. A slightly awkward silence descended on the room again.
"How'd you find this place?" Amelia once again tried to start a conversation.
"Kiara felt something was off a few years ago, as you know. We've been looking for whatever, or in this case, whoever caused it. We eventually found out that it was you through some research I did in the Underworld and have been trying to track you. When we found an agency known as Hololive, which is known for recruiting extraordinary individuals, we assumed that you would end up there eventually," Calliope explained. Amelia followed her logic easily enough, even though it was a little creepy to think she'd been getting tracked by a Reaper and Phoenix since she'd arrived. "What about you?" Calliope put an extension at the end of her part in the conversation.
"Hololive pretty much forced me to join. I think you and Kiara...Kusotori… What should I call her?" Amelia became slightly side tracked.
"Call her Kiara. Kusotori is her real name, but you should call her Kiara." Calli explained. For the first time, an adjective other than cold could describe the Reaper's tone of voice. It almost sounded sarcastic.
"Ah, ok. Well, you and Kiara are probably the only talents here that joined willingly," Amelia said.
"I can understand the Priestess, but why force the Atlantean to join?" Calliope questioned further.
"T-That's something for her to explain," Amelia said, remembering the terrifying red eyes of her Primal instincts.
"I will, but right now I'm talking to you. I would like to apologize about my aggressive behavior and accusations from earlier. We should start working as more of a team in the future and not treat each other so harshly." Calliope's voice, as always, lacked an emotional tell as to whether or not she was being genuine with her apology. Amelia accepted it either way.
"It's fine. We were all nervous back there. Well, except Kiara I guess." Amelia allowed for a slight laugh at the end of her sentence. Calliope returned her first, slight smile.
"She is a handful sometimes. I take it upon myself to keep her from getting too far out of hand," Calliope said a little warmer than usual. Amelia liked that change.
"Sounds like you enjoy being around her a lot," Amelia commented. Calliope hummed her agreement.
"We've known each other for a long time. We've been through some pretty serious battles and hardships," Calliope stared off into her past, "Nothing can break us apart." Amelia smiled, her nerves calming down the more they spoke.
"An inseparable duo. Me and my timeline's Ina were like that, and when I met that version of Gura we became an inseparable trio." Amelia glorified her past. Lying about it was starting to become a habit.
"From what I gathered from your story, you all went through a lot. I'm not surprised that would happen." Calliope continued to stare into the distance. Her mind was running through all of her past adventures with Kiara. It would be nice to be able to share them with someone…
"So why are you interested in me?" Amelia shifted to a related topic. Calliope's cold glare returned and she fixed it back onto Amelia. The time traveler gulped, her nerves acting up again.
"You're a time traveler. Why wouldn't I be interested?" Calliope repeated what she'd said before. Amelia didn't buy it.
"You came in here looking for me. What about me and my past interests you so much?" she questioned further. Calliope seemed to become upset by this.
"I don't have to tell you anything yet, Watson. Just so you know, I still don't believe you're telling the truth about your past."
"Don't dodge my question!" Amelia leaned forwards, aggressively. This prompted Calliope to grip her scythe tighter. Amelia backed off. The sight of Calliope with her scythe was definitely a scary one. She would not be trying to threaten that anytime soon.
"I won't tell you anything I don't need to. We are not friends, nor do I intend to be. We are partners who will work towards a common goal," Calliope explained.
"Oh, and what 'common goal' would that be?" Amelia mockingly used air quotes and a different tone of voice. If she couldn't physically hurt Calliope for revenge, she was definitely going to try emotional damage. However, Calliope seemed unphased by this.
"I would need a larger audience. I don't want to repeat myself too much when it comes to explaining what I intend to do. But rest assured, you will want to join me." Calliope's cold tone was back in full swing. Amelia kinda missed the warmer version from before. That person she might even be friends with, given enough time of course.
"So you want to take me somewhere?" Amelia tried to get some answers out of the stoic Calliope. The Reaper stared at her.
"Do you know where the Hatchery is, by chance?" she deflected with another question. Amelia was angered by this, but chose to keep calm on the outside.
"No, I don't really know what you're talking about. One of the others might know something, though." Calliope suddenly stood up and turned towards the door. She kept her eyes locked with Amelia's, however. It was surprisingly disturbing.
"Well then, I will talk to them about this." She began to walk towards the door, finally breaking eye contact with Amelia. The time traveler also stood up and called out to the Reaper.
"Hey, is that where you want to take me?" Amelia seriously wanted answers this time. Calliope stopped and turned to face Amelia, once more.
"Yes, myself and Kiara intend on going there. However, we don't know the exact location of it. When I find out, we will travel to the Hatchery," Calliope explained briefly. "Now don't ask me any more questions. I will answer them later." With that, the Reaper left.
Amelia wasn't confused by what Calliope had said, just angered. That girl was just going to take her somewhere without even giving her a choice. She hadn't even been given a reason as to why she would want to go. It frustrated her to no end.
She also left the room and headed back to the lounge. Calliope was sure to already by interrogating her other two friends already. When she entered the hallway, Kiara poked her head out of the room. Amelia gave a short, friendly wave to the girl. It was returned with haste. At least one of the newcomers was nice.
Sure enough, Calliope was in the process of rudely interrupting Gura and Ina's previous conversation. The nasty looks they were giving the Reaper were products of that. Calliope was unperturbed by this, though.
"What do you know about the Hatchery?" The question was directed at both of them. Gura looked confused along with Ina. However, Ina's expression soon shifted to one of understanding.
'The Phoenix Hatchery. We know this place,' the Ancient Ones spoke to her.
"Uh, it seems like AO-chan knows what that is," Ina said nervously. Calliope stared at her for a moment.
"You mean the Ancient Ones? I don't trust them one bit," she was straight forward with the Priestess. Ina seemed saddened by this.
"Well, I sure don't know what you're talking about," Gura interjected, "Maybe Enma knows something, but I doubt it. Sounds like trusting Ina might be your best bet for now." Gura stood up for her friend, earning a nice smile from her.
"Enma, the manager? These nicknames serve no purpose," Calliope huffed. Amelia stepped fully into the room.
"Don't you have a nickname for Kiara?" she teased. The Reaper turned to glare at her before abruptly walking away. She left the room to presumably find Emersyn.
"Hopefully she won't cause too much trouble out there," Gura commented. Ina nodded as Amelia sat down on the couch with them.
"Maybe I should go and get Kiara. She seems like the only person who can keep Calli from going berserk on us," Amelia hummed to herself.
"Using a nickname with her already? Didn't she just call them useless?" Ina let out a curt laugh. It was obvious that she did not feel comfortable around the Reaper. Her feelings were shared by everyone in the lounge at that moment.
"She insisted on it. Sounds like it is a front, Gura," Amelia confirmed her friend's earlier theory, "Hopefully we can bring that down and actually be friends." Gura and Ina were uncertain about that, but agreed that it would be nice to be friends with someone they would be working with in the future.
Calliope suddenly burst back into the room, scaring Ina slightly. The Reaper glared at the three on the couch and walked over.
"You were right, Atlantean," her gaze shifted over to Gura specifically. She quickly moved it again to Ina, "What do the Ancient Ones say about the Hatchery, Priestess." The use of titles and races was so formal it nearly made Amelia laugh. To think she'd been scared shitless by the Reaper only a few minutes ago.
"There's an island off the east coast of Japan," Ina began to recite what the Ancient Ones were telling her, "The island appears to never grow closer, no matter how long you travel. On that island, the Phoenix Hatchery is located." Calliope turned her gaze up to the ceiling, seemingly to think about the place before looking back down.
"I know that island. It always struck me as odd that I could never go there. But if Kiara can't enter it either, then how are you supposed to get to it?" Calliope asked more questions.
"That sounds like what happens around Atlantis," Gura chimed in. The attention of the room turned to her. "If you aren't supposed to be there, some kind of field around it makes you get lost. I've heard it described as, 'never getting closer'."
"Well how are you supposed to enter?" Gura thought for a bit, recalling previous instructions on that topic.
"You need someone that is supposed to be there. The rest of the group needs to become unaware of where they are going. If they can do that, then they should be able to trick the field into letting them pass, since they would have no idea that they were even lost in the first place," Gura explained to the best of her abilities. Calliope did her usual stare until she decided to speak.
"I don't know if I trust you, Atlantean. Same goes for you, Priestess and Watson. But unfortunately, it seems that I must for now." The Reaper's body noticeably loosened, as if she'd been holding her breath. Huh, did Calliope ever breathe before?
"G-glad I could be of service," Ina said quietly. Amelia and Gura stifled a laugh at their friend using such formal language. It seemed like she was being affected by Calliope's way of speaking.
"Watson," Calliope's cold tone cut through the nice moment, "we will be leaving shortly. Pack anything you need for a couple hours trip." It wasn't a question, but a command. Amelia met Calliope's glare with her own.
"First, you need to tell me what the fuck is going on."
Author's Note: A bit shorter than usual, but I think this is a good place to take a break.
Ina and Gura using their brains together to come up with the plan that Calliope never could. Their decades and centuries of knowledge sure comes in handy every now and then. I wonder why the Hatchery's and Atlantis' cloaks sound so similar...
Once again, I love writing Calliope. These first three chapters feature her a lot, so it was a ton of fun. Her personality contrasts so spectacularly with everyone else's (possibly not Emma's) and it makes for some fun and dynamic conversations and scenes between them. All of that is coming to a head next chapter, though.
Next Chapter: The Plan
Any feedback/criticism is appreciated!