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Post by Kuroishi Ayame on Oct 29, 2015 21:03:02 GMT
" ...Ahhh, crap...", she murmured groggily.
From a table-top sea of papers, books, and the occasional pen, a child's head lifted from obscurity. Her head arose and emerged from the gaping cave that was her favorite bomber jacket which at first glance might have looked like an item discarded amongst the mess; no thanks to her size.
It seemed currently...that favorite was entirely too big for her...
Her long, messy, raven black hair cascaded over to shade her tired and increasingly irritated glare into outer-space. This child leaned forward and grunted half sleepily, half dismissively. She then stood, allowing the 'gigantic' jacket to slide off, to wander away from her office desk to her closet to change.
At this point...there just wasn't any use in getting angry about it.
"...Guess I'm taking a break.", she murmured.
..............
Thirty minutes later the raven haired, keen-eyed child emerged from the dorm room she'd clearly taken as her own dressed in a perfectly business causal ensemble: a white button-up blouse, black slacks, and a pale brown bomber that actually fit. Making some use of her lazily combed back-length hair, she bothered to style it just so that it'd hide her face a little without getting in the way. Mostly due to the concept that this place was one of Magi...and although the designation of sealing was prohibited...
'Ah well...they'd have to figure out I'm worth sealing first.', she thought.
She locked her dorm room with her key-card, 'Ayame Kuroishi' flashing over its surface.
Her hands stuffed themselves into her pockets, hidden by the veil that was the bottom length of her jacket.
Though fatigue still loomed over her, she could not be still or simply sleep. Chaldea's very existence had her mind racing since she'd gotten here. After what felt like hours of application work, then study over its design, and the very reason she'd decided to participate in this organization's cause...her mind had nothing more to focus on. The processing of it all was too great a bait for her occupational curiosity. So this black haired oriental child would be noticed with puzzled glances and occasionally addressed by concerned adults as she pondered on these things. The walking would help her ponder without actually applying hard thought; dispersive thinking.
It wasn't until she'd found herself near the administrative wing, clued in by the glass barriers poorly shielding the hallways and its denizens from the ocean of noise produced by tired, irritated applicants, and equally fatigued staff...Idle curiosity had her stop in her tracks to gaze with-in the hustle filled offices from her chosen barrier. There she probably looked like some waiting child expecting to see someone wander out, she imagined.
For whatever reason she didn't assume that would draw forth unwanted attention.
tags : Atha
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Post by Atha on Oct 29, 2015 22:42:23 GMT
“...It never ends, does it?”
Grumbling to himself, the beleaguered diplomat sorts between a huge mess of paperwork. One pile was research sent for him to read and become knowledgable out for his meeting with the Russian goverrnment, some were the required paperwork to file in order to arrange a potential meeting with the United Kingdom, and a requisition form asking him to supply confirmation paperwork to the higher-ups...not to mention the fact that he had to go back and properly file his own entrance paperwork! He was scouted for this, and yet he still had to do something so basic? It was grating, but nothing that he wasn’t used to.
Just a few years ago, he wouldn’t have batted an eye at it. But now, it was just so -mundane-
He was getting sick of paperwork. Pretty soon he’d be in line with the rest of humanity in despising it. It was so much harder to see a perfectly written and executed form as a powerful weapon when he’d seen real, world-altering weapons in action, after all. Still, Atha had a job to do, musings about taking a different path through life came afterwards. It’d certainly be easier to get into the Association with this under his belt...
Deciding to take a break, he makes a round through the hall to the water cooler. As usual, it seems someone else had the same idea, attempting to test his impatience with their mere presence. However, it wasn’t one of the office workers that normally cluttered up the hall...it was a young girl.
“Are you looking for someone, child?” He asks the question just as much to get a look in her thoughts as it was to receive a verbal answer. A direct action usually corresponded to a direct mental response, even if the verbal one that came later was deceptive. Still, he didn’t expect all too much, only to know if she was to be escorted to one of the actual agents’ rooms, or back to the residence hall.
However, the result was not what he expected. Her mind was...loose. Slippery. He couldn’t get a hold on it, but in a way, it felt familiar. He’d reached the thoughts present in a mind like that before, but it’d certainly been a while...it was clear that this person had some rather unique properties. It shouldn’t take too long before he had the hang of things again.
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Post by Kuroishi Ayame on Oct 30, 2015 0:13:25 GMT
After a while the amazingly 'normal' sight of unceasing bureaucracy seemed to lull her into a daze of idle thought. Whatever had been in her dispersive cache was long gone, and doomed to only return to remind her of her previous mental queries. At this point, something new had invaded her idle thoughts...Memories of the rare battle that supposedly should not have happened for another hundred years. The war that was currently being used as a framework to save humanity...
As the child stared vacantly through the glass barriers she recalled the days from six years ago. The horrors that came from the war, both spiritual and physical. The allies and enemies she'd made alike...vaguely she wondered what became of the people that she knew survived. Save for a few, that is...Tohsaka Rin, for example, was an easy enough guess. She was likely either here or at the clock tower training to further herself as a magus...Malia also was an easy guess. Though only because the irritating woman had kept her quite updated on her weekly activities like some kind of doting mother...The thought made her roll her eyes.
Then...she saw a reflection in the barrier.
That was when the words drew forth acknowledgement.
“Are you looking for someone, child?”
"...Huh?! O-Oh...", she reacted as if startled," No. I'm ju--...", she began to explain as if feigning to play the part. Which probably would have worked if had not suddenly found herself staring up at a certain painfully familiar Greek like a deer caught in headlights. The words caught in her throat, for a moment she idly wondered if her ability to hold her composure was weakened by her current degraded form. Her voice cracked as if sound had intended to leave her open lips, which then promptly snapped shut. She cleared her throat sharply--and instantly her expression soured.
'Awwwww, hell!!! ATHANASIOS ZACHARIAS?! Why the hell is he here?! Why -now-?!'
Her head lowered instantly, quick advantage of her lengthy and unkempt hair to hide her face for just a moment. She needed her composure back--she'd remembered at -basically- the last minute Athanasios' rather terrifying ability to read minds. Although she was aware in this situation they were definitely allies--unless Athanasios ENJOYED the idea of not existing (Not a chance.)--her rather vivid memory of actually attempting to kill him once and vice versa didn't exactly make the new sudden meeting easy. Especially since she'd rather inexplicably and temporarily, regressed physically into a child barely physically identifiable as anything beyond nearly a preteen..
"...I'm...J-just loitering.", she'd reply truthfully before looking up with a rather passive, controlled expression.
If there was anything Ayame was extraordinarily good at--it was the disinterested poker face.
tags : Atha anton
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Post by Atha on Oct 30, 2015 0:34:21 GMT
A Mindwalker of the Zacharias family trying to read the thoughts of someone who was not quite human was something akin to attempting to tune an old stereo. The base settings didn’t give a clear picture, and when you tried to attack the information present in the air in another way, it was difficult to find what was the precise way to interpret things. While he could detect a general feeling of apprehension that spiked when she noticed him, he couldn’t get any specifics. However, this mind was similar enough to one that he had already found the “tuning” for, so it took him only a short time to begin piecing the thoughts together.
Why is HE here?! Why -now-?!
“Just loitering, hmm? Well, that’s not good. People work here, you see.” Despite his words, he couldn’t quite believe what he was sensing through his magic. This little girl recognized him, and with enough vehemence to think about him like that? That’s certainly not something he expected. Even if he hadn’t read minds, though, between the sudden shift of expression and the crack in her voice, he could tell that there was something up about this little girl. The niggling sense of familiarity that her mental “voice” seemed to have didn’t help either. In the end, he decides on just trying to get her to think more, to get a feel for what was going on.
“If you don’t have business here, you should probably be off. Still, of all the places to loiter, why the administrative wing? Were you trying to play a prank?” With a chuckle, he gets himself a cup of water. “You might want to think about heading home. This isn’t a place for children.”
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Post by Kuroishi Ayame on Oct 30, 2015 1:35:29 GMT
"...A prank? Like hell...I feel like I'm the one who got pranked...", she'd mummble," I...uh..I-I mean..I thought being in the hallway wouldn't bother anyone. Anyway...what would you know about whether or not I'm supposed to be here?"
As she replied she crossed her arms and looked up at him defiantly. Irritation shown on her expression; honest irritation. While she doubted the situation would cause her any especially problematic issues, it was frustrating that she couldn't just show her ID. After all that in any other scenario would have solved everything outright. Though...she also imagined she probably wouldn't have been treated like a child in any other scenario but this one...
She frowned thoughtfully and heaved a tired sigh...
'Honestly...Why does everything have to be so complicated?'
She gazed up at him then for a moment and shrugged," Am I in the way, then?", she'd question point blank.
tags : Atha
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Post by Atha on Oct 30, 2015 1:53:39 GMT
Her reaction was powerful, Athanasios allows a smile to form on his face at the sight of her grumbling. Even better, despite it only coming out audibly as a low mumble, it was there. He could use the words that only barely manifest into voice and have it just come off as good hearing.
“You’ve been pranked? Why so? I hope you weren’t made to come here in order to satisfy some silly game.”
Her thoughts were loud and grumbling. If only I could show my ID. I wouldn’t have been treated like a child in any other scenario but this one. Well. That made it rather clear she was more than she seemed to be. Why was she playing along, then? Someone that prideful would honestly have something more to do than simply loiter in order to avoid simply identifying herself as more than a mere child. There were certainly more than enough homunculi or the like that it wouldn’t have been an odd explanation, either.
In the end, Athanasios just shrugs back. “No, you’re not in the way. Still, it’s unfortunately my responsibility to at least send your legal guardian a notification about where you are. Regulations for unattended children under fourteen, I’m afraid.” Looking back at his office, he shakes his head. “It’s a bother, but I’ll do it. If you have an I.D. number, that’d be most convenient, but otherwise I can just look you up by name if that’d be easier.”
Between the general feeling he got from her mind, and her obvious inhuman nature...he could say for sure she was very reminiscent of someone from his past in particular. Could she be a member of her family, perhaps? It certainly wouldn’t be a stretch. “I could also look through personnel files for your guardian. Do your parents work here? Older sibling, perhaps?”
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Post by Kuroishi Ayame on Oct 30, 2015 14:01:36 GMT
"...Ugh...Just a moment.", she'd say distantly before allowing her eyes to drop from contact with his.
This was irritating.
The entire ordeal was grating her nerves.
Half the reason she was having so much trouble was because she was too fatigued to think clearly.
The other half was simply the allowance of this situation to affect her emotionally.
'How unlike me...I suppose I've become too comfortable with the new luxuries allotted to me.'
With this understanding she shoved her hands into her pockets and closed her eyes for a moment to clear her head. Her prana began to circulate to disconnect herself from his mental reach if it was at all possible. While she wasn't entirely sure if he could just casually read minds with so little effort she did remember the odd sense of mental invasion he'd cause when forcefully attempting to pry. Not that it mattered, if he could read minds whenever he wanted he'd probably heard just enough to know something was off. In which-case...it was not as if he wasn't an intelligent man...
The most advantageous move would be...
"If you have access to personnel files, that makes you part of the administration staff. In that case this simplifies matters."
Ayame's eyes moved to lock with his again. She corrected her posture and waited for his reaction to gauge her situation. Chances are she'd already shown too much of her hand as it was---and at this point was little more than a mental chewtoy to this man. So...she'd play accordingly. First though she needed to confirm that he was telling the truth...She focused in on his presence and for a moment seemed to stare 'beyond' him. Perhaps rather...'into him'. While she could not read the mind or know specifically what lie there might have been told...she could at least gain a general comprehension that something was 'false' in his words. As usual...she'd recall the 'truth' she'd seen with-in him. Her expression shifted gently with acknowledgement--people where people. Regardless of how different their situation.
"You are part of the administrative staff, correct?"
tags : Atha
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Post by anton on Oct 30, 2015 16:18:17 GMT
"Sign here, and here." The secretary was as polite as possible, but honestly Anton felt like he was opening a bank account again. He'd done it more than enough times in his youth that he equated paperwork to opening an account. It was all rather monotonous. Thankfully no one was complaining or yelling at him for breaking the Venetia diving suit, well not breaking but rather being lightly damaged. He was lucky to be alive after the suit became compromised during his most recent Ray Shift. Thankfully everyone was rather understanding of the plight he had just survived.
He'd even gotten a good job/nice to see you alive memo from the development team. Still though he had to report his findings, his experience, his thoughts and complaints to the administrative wing. He had literary damaged a priceless 600 year old relic turned one of a kind mystic code.
"Aaand that's it, the board will review your reports in the next meeting, Mr Artzen."
"Uh huh." Anton mumbled, putting the pen back on the table and passing the last of the papers. "Any news on how preparation for my workshop is going along?" He asked, leaning back on the chair. "Gimme a second to check." The secretary began typing on her computer. Anton could tell what the reply would be from her expression. Well it was no big deal, he could still wait. As long as they laid off sending him on more suicidal missions.
"Looks like the request is still pending."
"I see, well thanks for checking."
"I'll ask around, see how its going." The secretary offered him a sympathetic smile. "Thanks, that'd be great." He smiled amiably as well. Anton stood up and left the little dispatch office.
---
As he walked back to his dormitory slash workshop. Anton overheard what sounded like an argument further down the corridor. He was about to round back and go a different way, in hopes of not getting dragged into anything. But then he heard what felt like an oddly familiar voice coming from that area. He couldn't quite place it at first, it sounded oriental and he'd lived in Asia for some time. He had actually spent his childhood moving from country to country, but that voice felt more recognizable than usual, not quite the same but it felt oddly familiar. So out of actual curiosity and because if it was an acquaintance of his mother he was obligated to greet them.
As he got closer he saw it was a man and a small person who were talking. It didn't look like an argument but there was obviously a discussion going on. Anton squinted since his farsight wasn't that good, but he managed to make out the details of the girl. Black hair, piercing red eyes... It was almost the spitting image of someone who was close to his family albeit way younger, way younger.
Kuroishi, Ayame was a good friend of his mother. She was also probably the closest thing to an actual elder sister figure to him. He had Seluna of course, but though she was older than him it usually felt like he was the oldest and more mature of the two. But Ayame was one of the few people that left distinctive memories in Anton's memories of his youth.
So Anton's curiosity was peeked even more. There was also the fact that he was raised in a manner in which he saw friends as family, and their family were his family by extension. That meant that if somehow that kid was related to Ayame, who looked out for him and his sister years ago. Then he was more than willing to get tangled in what anything he'd normally avoid.
He began walking more briskly. The closer he got, the more uncanny resemble he saw between the kid and Ayame. They must be relatives. If he didn't know better he'd mistake it for Ayame's actual child. He also hoped that the kid was at least half as cunning as Ayame. He decided to go for the classical bluff to get someone out of trouble.
"Sorry Kuroishi! I got held up, let's go ok?" He said, as he drew nearer. He gave a polite nod with a polite smile to the blond man, he was probably wondering where the kid's parent was or why there was a kid in Chaldea in the first place. Couldn't blame him, he'd do the same once the coast was clear.
"I'm sorry if she caused trouble. We'll get going now."
Anton's plan failed for two reasons. He didn't know the bridge for his bluff had crashed and burn before he appeared. Also he did not know that he was talking to a telepath. Luckily he had one unaware advantage should his mind get probed. There was clear concern in his mind, confusion as well but well intentioned emotions came from him.
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Post by Atha on Oct 30, 2015 17:14:25 GMT
The general sense of irritation was the most telling thing about it. It was somewhat clear that she was simply being obstinate. The thoughts she let slip didn’t help her case, He blinks visibly as her prana cycles, for the first time since she began talking. His ability to walk in her mind was temporarily disrupted before his own prana settled back down around her, oozing back into the air and taking note of electrical impulses by simply sitting and feeling
“Hm? Yes, I have access to those files. I’m in a position of some authority in this place, though that isn’t necessarily my area, basic personnel information is available to all with a certain basic security clearance.”
Then, he saw it. The one thing he remembered most about his fight with the half-human years ago, back during the Grail War. Those eyes, those sacred eyes. He could feel her determination to use him, to see the “truth,” of his motives, and to an extent, his existence. It was quite a curious sensation to be examined...he imagined it’d be something similar to knowing one’s mind was being walked around inside.
That settled matters. This girl was of the same breed as that woman Master he fought back in the Grail War. Miss Ayame Kuroishi. How very interesting. The similarities beginned to weight down, the mind was extraordinarily similar. Almost too similar for even family, thoughts were generally distinct even then, but here...everything felt similar, though he couldn’t remember exactly what happened years prior.
“To an extent. My general position is bringing communication from the true administrators to foreign parties, but I do have payroll and privileges as a member of the staff. But really, I thought the questions were about you, not about me. You said you had identification, didn’t you?” He almost wants to head back to his office to check the personnel files for Ayame herself, but he’ll settle for the child for now. Hopefully it could be found out without a detailed database check.
Just then, someone else stumbled down the hallway, clearly recognizing the girl. Normally he’d give him no mind, but the emotions jumbling off the young man were clear as daylight. Confusion at the situation, concern for the girl, and good intentions in general. Clearly he had a very solid connection as well. As if to confirm his suspicion, his words, blew things out of the water. “Kuroishi, you said?" Yes, that makes quite a good amount of sense. His thoughts confirmed the connection between her and Ayame, he too was shocked by the similarities. Very, very interesting.
“Oh no, it was no trouble at all. However…Kuroishi, you said? I’ve been trying to locate paperwork from a Miss Kuroishi for some time. Is there a way I could get back in contact with you both, or whatever family you may have?”
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Post by Kuroishi Ayame on Nov 1, 2015 19:41:50 GMT
"I apologize but trust is not something I am normally so lax about handing out. Though apparently I was blind-sided this time around.", she'd reply with a soft glance around herself. Athanasios likely could imagine what she saw just from the motion alone. The 'truth' visible to her was not limited merely to people...
Surely enough she saw them, the way she perceived prana to be. A kind of 'current' that traveled through the air like a haze...She could see the 'inquiry' wrapped around her small form and she made a point to glance it over with interest as if to pass on a message likely only Athanasios could comprehend. In some way it might have been an admittion that her cover was all but blo--
"Sorry Kuroishi! I got held up, let's go ok?"
...wn.
Kuroishi's eye's just barely resisted widening in surprise. The tone and words that followed took a moment to process but she understood their intent. Yet still she had to turn her head and view the source of the voice to fully understand what'd just happened. When her sights fell on Anton she recognized him almost immediately. She stared at him for a moment as if to process...Was this the 'Wow, you've grown!' kind of effect she'd always experienced from her own rel--They were not relatives. They are not relatives. Malia is not Japanese. She was never Japanese. There is no blood relation between the two of them and there never will be. Her expression hardened just like that for a split second. She heaved a sigh after the fact and readjusted herself to the scenario.
"Yes, yes...I'm sorry I caused trouble, Administrator-San. Since you know my name, I guess there's no sense in delaying the inevitable.", she'd say pointedly--while 'for whatever reason' staring directly at Anton with a certain gaze he probably knew a little too well. It must have been amazing that a child could produce that kind look so potently.
Fucking Artzens! Every goddamn time! There's no escape!
tags : Atha anton
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