Chapter 41 : Tempus Fugit - Happy to be back to school
With a beaming smile on her lips, a pep in her steps and a cheerful 'umu' in the back of her throat, Rias probably had a very unpopular opinion -at least among humans- right now, but she was actually happy to be back to school.
Firstly, because it meant that she was back in the human world full time, instead of only episodically to oversee her territory while spending most of her time back in hell in her parents' mansion. She loved the place -and her parents- to bits, for sure, she had made most of her cherished memories there, after all, but, well, it was in the underworld.
And the underworld was stuffy, old fashioned, and, above all else, very boring.
Alas, since she had a month's vacation, she had been called back home, her mother Venelana wanting nothing more than to spend some of her time with her after most of the year being apart, which was sweet and all, sure, but it was in the underworld.
And being in the underworld meant not being able to do away with her heiress status, having to go to high class parties with other devils her age, acting all regal and noblish-
-and she hated all of this with a burning passion, to the point that she was slightly mad at Sona for having somehow managed to dodge that particular bullet under the pretext that she had a new peerage member to teach and that 'it wasn't the time for her to go down yet'.
If only Prima-chan wasn't so, well, her, and Rias had been able to soft-sell her offer to the maybe-a-protagonist, totally-an-atheist, possibly-a-delinquent -not that this last one was true, but the Kuoh High's rumor mill kept insisting on it, somehow- girl, then she'd also have a good excuse not to go back down and having to put up with, well, everything on top of Riser's shenanigans.
Frowning -and certainly not pouting!- as she makes her way down the road in Kuoh High School's direction, Akeno trailing silently next to her, she cannot help but to have the urge to strangle the Phenex scion once again as she recalls how he had barged in one of her tea parties with Seekvaira -sweet girl, if a bit obsessed with mechas, but who was she to judge, really?- to demand that they spend time together, as fiances are wont to do.
…She may have been a bit rude in her rebuttal, annoyed that the majordomo even let him in in the first place, but, well, she hated the idea of not having the right to choose who she was supposed to marry in the first place, and having it thrown on her like that the very same day of her debut in Devil's society had soured all possibilities of an at least cordial entente between the two of them.
Overall, the sojourn had been more positive than anything else, but it did not stop the sour points from shining in stark relief in her mind, and that's why she was happy to be back in the human world, where she felt more at home than, well, at home.
Secondly, because she actually missed her human friend, Prima-chan having been more-or-less a constant of her stay among the mortals so far, and, even if she still was ignorant of the wider world, a far better conversationalist than anyone else her age she had ever met so far, bar Akeno.
Was Rias biased because her human friend could actually follow when she goes into a rant about a character arc not making any sense, or how awesome an action scene was?
Maybe.
Did it matter?
Not really.
Hell, Prima-chan didn't even follow the seasonal anime anymore -the girl's words, not hers- but she was at least capable of following her train of thoughts along, better than Akeno even, and visibly knew all the possible tropes there were, just like her!
She seemed to find the titles particularly funny though, for some reason.
Anyway, she had missed her friend, and, while she had wanted to invite her for tea yesterday, she had some unpacking to do and some time to spend with Gasper -through the door, but it was still something!- after more than two weeks spent apart, and so she'd be seeing her for the first time in a whole month today!
Which actually made her wonder if her friend would be happy to see her back too, the communication between the two of them having been spotty, to say the least, considering that the poor girl didn't have a Devilphone and had a tendency to forget her little -pink!- cell phone lying around.
Which, understandable, because Rias would certainly be annoyed if she had to deal with a little flap screen unable to connect to the internet!
…Maybe she could give her something better for His Son's birthday? She'll have to think back on it, maybe it was a bit much, after all.
Anyway, they didn't speak much during the month's long holiday, and, when they spoke, the human girl had mostly complained about the heat and how it was killing her motivation to do about everything, which had made Rias remember one of their very first conversations about Japan's climate and its woes, things that would've gone over her head if she hadn't gotten a human's perspective on it -Akeno and Yuto-kun's own being a little more than skewed after years lived as Devils- and, in turn, made her miss her friend more, because she still had this little mundane spark, with mundane problems -bleeding nethers, who would have thought?- ones which coincidentally made her forget her very-much-devilish issues and made her feel normal.
Unburdened, free.
Like Rias, instead of being the heiress of the Gremory house of the 72 Pillars.
And so, she couldn't help but be excited and happy at the idea of going back to school, to continue her little Japanese adventure!
If she finally succeeded in finding an opening to make her offer to her friend, all the better then.
Turning at a right angle, Rias instantly perks up as her eyes land, then roam the assembled crownd in front of Kuoh High School's gates-
-and, if anything, her smile turns even brighter as she finds her friend, leaning against the wall with her bag thrown over her shoulder, looking, somehow, bigger than reality, for some reason, like an anime protagonist.
"Prima-chan!" She calls, her tone maybe a little more bubbly than usual, barely hearing Akeno sigh next to her as she makes her way to greet her friend.
The girl with a side-shave head turns her way as she hears her.
Their eyes met-
-and the human girl softly smile her way, hip-checking the wall to straighten herself-
-before, without too much reluctance, opening her arms wide as the two of them collide, to Rias' delighted giggle.
The two hug for a beat, not paying attention to the whispering crowd around them, before separating once more.
"Hi, Rias." The dark-blue eyed girl greets amusedly, before dipping her head in Akeno's direction, "Good morning, Himejima-san."
"The same to you, Hanako-san." Her Queen greets back amicably.
"I missed you!" Rias blurts out as soon as the two finish, "One month was too long!"
At her heartfelt confession, Prima-chan snorts a little laugh, before shaking her head ruefully.
"No offense, Rias, but I would rather have it been longer." She drawls, "I think it's actually the first time ever that I'm more exhausted at the end of the holiday than at their start. I could use another week, honestly."
At her friend's words, Rias can't help but feel a little downtrodden-
"But, you know what? I think I missed you too."
-but only for a beat, as she perks up once more upon hearing the human girl reciprocate her own feelings.
All is well in the world, then!
The human world, that is.
"Say, what do you think we're gonna study this semester? I was thinking-"
Humming a tuneless song, Rias shrugs off her top, not paying attention to her surroundings as the whole class and her get ready for PE.
She's so lost in her own world that it takes her a few seconds to properly register the few gasps of shock mixed with awe echoing around her like a staged play, making her brows furrow as her superior hearing catches Prima-chan's name being -rather unkindly!- uttered a few times.
Getting fed up by the happening, she drops her blouse before about-facing-
-only to halt in her motion so fast she could swear she probably just made an indent on the floor as her eyes lands on her human friend's form and she realizes that something is amiss.
No, that isn't quite right.
Some things changed, more like.
Progressively, as she takes in the changes while the inked girl shimmies out of her clothes, Rias' jaw drops.
Gone are the tattoos her friend previously harbored, having left their place for true, honest to Lucifer, works of art.
The least changed of those is the line of text just under the neck, still reading 'Duty is Forever', albeit now in a stylized, kinda gothic font, over a 'vellum banner'-like background, like the depiction of knight's banner.
Following that, the previously open tome on her left side was now ornate, with filigree of gold, the previously indecipherable text now clearly reading 'Veritas - Spes - Valor - Omnia', two words a page, in an altered, less grandiose font than Prima's motto, but no less gothic. Two bony hands, so real you could swear they moved with the human's every motion, hold it open in front of a white shrouded being, those face is left in the shadows, without any hint at the rest of their features, the roiling, almost living, darkness under the hood leaving those at the imagination of the observer, even if the bleached white skeletal hands gives a hint.
On the exterior of her right hip and thigh, the arming sword held at arm's length also got a massive makeover, the limb now lithe and feminine, the guard ivory white, drawn so precisely you'd think it's right there for the taking, and the blade rose-gold, trailing some sort of rusty-looking dust in its wake, Prima-chan's motions once again giving the illusion someone's brandishing the implement of war as she moves.
But all of those had nothing on her shoulders.
Where before the inked girl had sported two open eyes atop a 'I' in a blocky font unknown to Rias, there was now nothing left of the previous, simplistic design.
On her right shoulder and the top of her right arm both -conspicuously stopping before the level that a half-sleeve would show- a mass of snow-white and gilded gold feathers, mixed with many, eerily realistic sky-blue eyes, mixing and mashing without rhyme or reasons, once again moving with her friend's every motion-
-and in stark contrast to the mass of bone white teeth set in the middle of cruel jaws, amid a chaotic mess of vantablack claws, paws, hooves and tentacles -complete with suction cups and vicious barbs- either furred, scaly or oily, on her left shoulder.
From what she could see, as her friend keeps silently and efficiently putting her clothes away, they even go down as far as the topside of her scapulas!
There was no way she managed to do that herself!
"There's no way you did that yourself!" She ends up blurting out, her eyes still trailing the captivating -and slightly frightening, what with the iconography- spectacle.
Her words, having been registered by the girl with a side-shave, makes her pause in her attempt of putting her jogging pants on to throw a look in her direction-
-before smirking smugly.
"Oh, but I absolutely did, Rias." Her human friend answers proudly, almost preening, "Granted, I had to take a few awkward poses in front of my mirror, but this," she gestures in her own direction, "is all me. Not like, as a minor living in Japan of all places, I could've found someone to do them for me in any case."
Rias doesn't answer right away, still in awe of her friend's artistic prowess, but the muttered 'bullshit' she heard someone else mutter translates what she feels pretty well.
"You have to admit, Hanako-san," Her Queen starts conversationally, Rias catching her look at the human girl with an intrigued and appreciative glance, "That you got us used to, let's say, worse."
The devil wouldn't have put it like that exactly, but there was some truth to it.
Instead of getting offended, the inked girl lightly shrugs, pulling the hem of her jogging pants up to hip level and hiding one and a half tattoos at the same time with the motion.
"Guess I got better, then." She answers nonchalantly, "Which is handy, since I took a decision."
"About what?" Rias hears herself ask back, her eyes still following alternatively the mass of roiling, threatening darkness and the gilded vision of holiness in turn, as if she is under a spell.
It's one, no, two of the most mesmerizing and beautiful things she has ever seen in her life, sue her!
Even if the white and gold one slightly gives her the creeps!
"What I want to do after high school." Prima-chan answers easily, "I'm going to become a tattoo artist, the best this world has ever seen."
Her statement makes Rias pauses for a beat for two reasons.
For one, because, if this is the human girl's true skill, then she absolutely has what it takes to make her vision come true, in her layman's opinion.
For two, because it was another obstacle put on her recruitment attempts, and she really did not need that, at all!
"Did you name them?" Rias carries on, still reeling a bit when put in this situation, asking the first thing that came to her mind.
"Actually, I did in my scrapbook." Her friend answers with a nod, before tapping her breastbone, "This one is self-explanatory, this one," she taps her side, "Is 'To strive for', this one," she taps her hip, "Is 'Mort-Sûre' -got a chuckle out of myself with that pun- and the last two are 'Biblically accurate'."
At her friend's self-satisfied expression, Rias can't help but gape a little, because she was persuaded she didn't care for 'senseless mythos', albeit 'reluctantly praiseful of their iconography'-
-but she was now indirectly compared to a representation of primordial evil, one drawn so realistically that she could not help but be begrundgingly in awe of it, and, even worse, it was next to something that would throw the whole of the church into a tizzy if they knew!
…She almost wished she'd be a fly on the wall, in true Beelzebub fashion, when/if the true angels learn about it in the future.
An artist, a modern Michelangelo, comparing them to eldritch amalgams of feathers and eyes!
"I'm not going to lie," Her friend carries on, unaware of her inner turmoil, "I'm very proud of myself on this occasion."
The statement wrenches back Rias to reality, and she offers the human girl a smile.
"You absolutely can, Prima-chan!" She beams a smile her way, even as she internally sulks at being indirectly compared to something this eerily off putting, "I'm sure you'll get the job you want!"
But at least, the angels got the same treatment!
You had to admit though, as far as art went, it was actually pretty awesome-
-and it kind of made the devil want something of her own.
Imperceptibly, Rias' eyes narrow.
…Roses, maybe? She always was fond of them.
"Say, Prima-chan?" She starts, a bit leadingly, eyes locked on the many-formed mass of blackness, "You're really good at that, yes?"
"...You literally have the result under your eyes?" She answers, a bit puzzled, even as she finishes putting on her t-shirt, before amending, "Had."
"Yes, but would you be confident-" Rias starts, perking up a little, after having seen the kind of results her friend can achieve.
"No." The girl with a side-shave answers flatly, giving her a deadpan stare and crossing her arms together in front of her for emphasis.
"Y-You didn't even let me finish!" The devil defends herself, feeling her cheeks darken a little.
"I know what you were going to say, it's written all over your face." Prima-chan rolls her eyes, "Doesn't change the fact that you're underage. I'm not stepping into a two meter radius of you with a needle without a good design that means something, truly something, to you, and an authorization signed by your parents-"
Rias nods at her words, having a few ideas about how she could swing that with her mother-
"-and your 'very protective' -your words, not mine- older brother."
-only to freeze as she registers the last words.
"B-But he'll never allow it!" She cries.
"Sounds like a 'you' problem."
"Mou!"
"Don't try to be cute, I'm not budging."
"Mou!"
"It may work on Akeno because you got her whipped-"
"That is uncalled for, Hanako-san."
"-but I will not change my mind. Tell your folks, convince them, and only then we'll look for a design that suits you."
"Mou…" Rias slumps, dejected-
-before the fire of determination lights itself in her as she clenches her fist.
She'll get Prima-chan this authorization, even if she had to get creative about it!
[AN: Hiyo, folks.
Sorry for going dark the last few days, but Rogue Trader both captured my life and proved to me that I needed a little break, so, I listened to the spirit of laziness and just gamed away my time while waiting for my muse to come back.
Guess her vacation stopped when I reached Commoragh, lul.
-Fucking city, fucking Drukhari-
Anyway, for clarification, no, her tattoos aren't magical, they're just beautiful -in their own way and theme- to the point that they look 'real' and 'alive'. That's what you get when you channel the essence of beauty of a whole fricking universe in yourself while drawing/tattooing.
BTW, for all of ya who were theorizing about Prima's future job/money making scheme, why did you keep speaking about portraits and the likes when the story is literally tagged about tattoos and body mods, lul?
IDK, just got me in stitches.
'Mort-Sûre' is a French play on words. It sounds exactly the same as 'Morsûre', which means 'Bite', but actually means 'Certain death'.
Glad to be back, hope you enjoy, xoxo]