POV: Trigger.
After a bit more resting in my room, Bell suddenly came out of the coffin while pointing at her mouth and was hitting me with her tiny fists. It didn't take a genius to know she was hungry. Since most people would have left the cafeteria by now, I went there.
Made myself a meatloaf sandwich and another one for Bell, who tried to throw the bread away, to what I responded with a disappointed frown. She pouted and tries it without much complaint. After the first bite, she changed her tune real quickly, it was pretty good.
I was going towards Safety again, and saw Mathias, who was walking towards me. He was carrying a box with him… new E.G.O, "Hi there Trigger… you look a lot better today." Shrugging at him, I looked at the box. It's of similar size to the one that had Gold Rush.
"If you say so. New E.G.O?" He nodded and hoisted the box while opening it, a vicious claw covered in cobalt fur and blood. I narrowed my eyes, feeling the scars on my face throb in anticipation.
I looked down at my free hand and back up at Mathias, "Where is this coming from?" Mathias blinked and simply shrugged.
"Lady Binah said it would 'show all he has' or something like that."
Blinking at the words, I looked down at Gold Rush, "What's her job exactly?" I found myself asking, still staring at my gauntlet.
"She extracts all the E.G.O for the corporation, seems to be the only one that knows how to do that." He answered with a weird tone of respect.
But I kept those words running through my head. If she works so much with it… she understands it better than anyone else. My eyes widened while staring at Gold Rush... a memory of our first talk.
"Indeed, then fear is the one that moves you to act, that inadequacy that moves you forward has been turned into a tool to progress... fascinating."
She had me figured out from the start, and maybe if I had seen our first conversation as more than small chat, I would have noticed it earlier.
Under this revelation, I… didn't feel anger. Even if she meant it or not, I found more about myself... that I was trying to put into a corner in my mind.
I was grateful… who knows what that could have turned into if I ignored it. I looked back at Mathias with a slight smile on my face, "Well, let's see how it fits me." My reply caught him off-guard.
In a good way, he chuckled the surprise away, "Definitely looking better. Here, try it." Putting the claw on my left hand, I felt… something very familiar to me creep into the back of my head.
That animal instinct and brutality that I rely on when I'm fighting, it wasn't anything new to me, less so considering how my past few days have been going. My smile felt more nostalgic now, "Heh, like putting on an old glove." I commented while staring at Mathias, who hummed.
"Well, Amelia got her stuff from the altered Fairies and you got your new glove, Cobalt Scar by the way… oh yeah, should tell you, Fairy Festival's rank got changed to one similar to the Funeral of Dead Butterflies." I quirked a brow at him before nodding. So HE with a WAW weapon… guess they are too afraid to not show their teeth.
Seeing Mathias leaving, I rose my voice so that he would hear me, "Tell Binah I'm grateful. Don't worry… she'll get it." He waved at me without turning, I could see the small nod too.
I felt a small fist land on my cheek, and saw Bell massaging her ears, mustard from the meatloaf sandwich covering her mouth and hands. I rolled my eyes and offered my new furry gauntlet so that she could clean herself. After she did that, Bell flew back inside the coffin.
Making my way towards Safety once more, I found Amelia near the elevator wearing her new E.G.O set. It was… interesting, the first difference that I took note of is that it was a more tight fit than the other ones. It was still a suit but tighter, the neon-like aquatic green changed to a deep and crude green, more similar to the Festival's current form along with gloves. Her weapon were two weirdly small forearm blades strapped on her arms, a bronze edge with the rest of the blade being of the same green the suit was.
Walking next to her, I could tell she was both comfortable and uncomfortable with the suit she was wearing, "Problems with the new gear?" I asked her. She glanced at me once, and I managed to feel a flash of… anger from her, before turning to surprise.
"You could say that… this thing shouldn't feel this right to wear. It's kinda like wearing a skintight suit, but it doesn't feel like it at all, it's confusing." She growled at her current clothes.
Humming at her, I gave her a pat on the back, "Well, we can always do some E.G.O training to get you used to it." She now turned to me fully, giving me a surprised frown.
"You seem… relaxed." Humming to myself, I nodded. Yeah, that seems correct.
"I could be better. By the way, aren't those things a little too small for combat?" Pointing at her blades, she smiled viciously. And as if by magic they grew three times in size, barely longer than her own arms along with serrated teeth, as if the blades were made to rip and rend flesh.
Well… that solves it. She 'retracted' the blades into a smaller form and went inside the elevator, "You are coming?" She asked with smugness, I nodded with a small smile.
Once inside, it turned shit eating, "So how long did Gonzales stare?" In a flash, she punched me in the shoulder while I let out a belly laugh at her small blush. While the elevator was going down, she was threatening me to not bring that up ever again.
I was too busy laughing to agree.
Huh.
It has been a while since I have just interacted with people like this. The door of the elevator opened, and I walked out, a slightly flustered Amelia behind me.
In the Main Room, I saw Tiffany talking with Jeremy. It was a weirdly spirited talk about… Shi and Zwei?
"I'm just saying that if there is no one to cause problems, then things would be better." Tiffany said while smoking through her pipe.
Jeremy denied this, "The whole point is to keep people safe, not seeing ninja assassins put people in body bags."
"True. Just saying that a more permanent solution is better than body shields." Tiffany said with a smile.
Amelia waved at them, "Let them dream, Liu would handle it better anyway." Why does it feel like a bunch of kids are talking about their favorite show?
"What about you, Trigger? Which Fixer Association would handle covering an area with ease?" I know little on the subject, aside from the Hana Association, which is apparently the best one by default.
Probably not fair bringing that one up… the hit you don't see coming is the most dangerous one, or something like that. So… "Shi, if you don't see it coming, then you can't prepare for it." I answered with a shrug.
Tiffany smiled at Jeremy who chuckled in response while Amelia was staring at me like I grew a second head.
"Didn't think you'd see assassins that well."
"I see little issue in the work people chose to do." She gave me a slow nod, why do I have a feeling she was expecting something more sensible out of me?
Amelia shrugged at my words and looked at Jeremy, "So, what I'm working with? Before the Manager starts the day." Jeremy pulled a couple of papers from inside his suit and looked at them.
"You are dealing with Der Freischütz for today, Tiffany is working on Yin-"
"Fuck!"
"-And Trigger will be handling King of Greed while I hourly feed the 'Fairies' after their change, they need to be fed constantly, or they will breach." He finished reading while not even throwing one angry or annoyed look my way, unlike Tiffany and Amelia, who stared at me quite literally screaming 'your fault' with their eyes.
King of Greed, the abnormality that was used to make Gold Rush. At times, it feels like fate just wants me to face my demons.
…
I'm probably onto something there, "Anything I should need to know about her?" I asked, briefly reading information of Abnormalities was something I often did, but the refresher would be nice.
Jeremy nodded, "Instinct or Attachment. Seems to love to be in the presence of shiny things, also turns into a slug that eats anything in its path and moves at the speed of a drugged and impaired slug." Those aren't words I thought I'd hear together.
Giving him a thumbs up with Gold Rush, I glanced at Tiffany once before saying nothing more, she told me to keep my mouth shut.
"All Agents prepare for Work"
Perking up, I glanced at Amelia, "Time to do my part, keep up your good attitude." After she said that, she left towards Der's chamber.
Tiffany grumbled while walking past me, something about 'fuck that stupid pendant'. Seems she doesn't like dealing with Yin.
Jeremy handed me a bucket and a rag, "King of Greed likes it when you clean her… cocoon, or so it seems." I looked at both my hands covered by one gauntlet each and back at Jeremy, who simply shrugged.
Should have seen that one coming. Some butterflies flew around the bucket and rag, carrying them for me, "I'll get going then." Jeremy blinked at the butterflies before simply humming at the side.
I looked at the door of King of Greed and felt slightly curious as to what Jeremy meant by cocoon… oh.
Once inside the chamber, I could actually see the tanned woman inside an actual cocoon, with a design similar to Gold Rush, "Alright boys, get to work." And with a mental command, the butterflies started working together to clean the cocoon.
I smiled at the handiwork before setting my eyes on the girl inside it, her emerald eyes were staring back at my red one's.