"Good," Adele nodded and loosened her grip on her student just enough so that he could breathe. Her ears twitched. "Oh. I didn't realize she was here." She released Hikaru in favor of wandering towards Alexia. "Play nice, Miyazaki-chan."
"Thank you Onee-chan!" Tia grinned and wrapped her arms around Hikaru's arm.
Zechariah smirked at Hikaru. "You wanna see some of Tia's drawings? She's really good at it," he offered. Once they had gotten Hikaru to their room, Tia would be free to give him a makeover.
Adele smiled upon seeing a familiar face. "Alexia-san! It's nice to see you, how are you?" She smiled at one of the only shinigami she had ever gone on a mission with.
The moment the Pierce estate came into view, all of Udo's thoughts were washed away by the myriad of lights and reflections shining from the decorated trees and magnificent manor. He'd seen some nice buildings before, but this one really turned up the glamour for the occasion. While he knew Adelaide quite well, he'd never actually visited her house before. The fact that it wasn't on fire was most impressive.
As an officer of the Eighth Division, in other words one of those ones with a noble captain, it was Udo's duty to uphold their standing. Carrying out such a serious, important duty, would challenge this spell-blade, to say the least. Today, instead of his usual standard shihakusho, Udo donned a deep navy kimono with his lime green hair somehow held under control by a pair of thin, black hair clips. Needless to say, it wasn't him who figured out how to do that.
A pair of well-dressed ladies welcomed the reaper into the establishment, but as servants of the red-head fire mage they would certainly be out-of-bounds. Udo made the customary greetings before setting off to his first stop on the social adventure - the booze.
Alexia turned to see the self-proclaimed nekogami greeting her. Naturally her eyes flickered to the top of Adele’s head, where she knew those ears were. Quickly though, her eyes moved back down as she responded.
“Sorry, force of habit. It’s good to see you Adele. I knew Adelaide liked you, but folding into her nobility I did not see coming. But I guess it must be an improvement on the home living, no? Where is your...should I say sister? And I mean the captain, not your little ones,” she stated.
Finally inside after a slow walk past the gorgeous trees outside, mother and daughter handed over fur coats at once to the servants that greeted them. Still no sign of Arthur, but he was likely still trying to convince someone in charge that the mead was ordered and not just a surprise to boost his sales.
“Mom, isn’t that Tsubaki? I heard about her fights in the tournament, quite something. As you’re both in the same division, shouldn’t we say hello?” said Kasumi, nudging Miya’s notice towards the former templar queen.
“Sure, I should probably be cordial” Miya signed back to her daughter. Her true motives were not far off from wanting to appear emotionally healthy. If her white mask condition was ever discovered, part of putting off instant execution would be showing that she was completely in charge of the creature within. That would likely still mean exile, she craned her neck as if stretching before shoving that horrible thought to one side. Tonight was a time to be happy.
Weaving through the guests the pair of women made their way to the black haired former captain. Most of the guests were already talking to one another, it would be rude to interrupt.
“Hello Tsubaki-sama, my name is Kasumi. And this is my mother, she’s actually joining the third division in the morning and she wanted to say hello,” Kasumi translated some of Miya’s sign language and making parts more diplomatic.
Adele's cat ears twitched under Alexia's gaze, but remained unhidden, proudly perched atop her head. "It's fine, Alexia-san, I don't really mind it as much as I used to," the feline Mystic assured the green haired woman. "You know, I actually offered to share my family with Onee-chan, I was surprised she said yes. Her house is a lot nicer than where my siblings used to live, which is not so surprising."
In response to Alexia's request, the nekogami's left cat ear rotated and then stopped. Adele turned her head in the direction of her ear and gestured, "Addie-onee-chan is over there, it looks like... like Reshin-san is talking to her." She blinked. "I didn't realize he was here."
As Udo made his way to the alcoholic refreshments, the blonde Tegishahara began to walk through the growing crowd, emerald eyes set on the amethyst-eyed Soul Reaper. Just as his fingers graced a red cup of the liquids he sought out, his wrist was grabbed by a delicate hand, soft and slightly colder than expected. "Udo~"
The young Nevada grinned, stealing the cup from his reach and sipping it tauntingly. She moved closer to him, but kept away enough for him to not feel claustrophobic. "Captain Adelaide is here. Can we get our marshmallows?~" she asked, grinning wider at the mention of the mushy goods she was here for. The party, she could've cared less about, it was all about the marshmallows. It's always about them!
On the other end of the house, the older Tegishahara was standing by, watching Reshin suck up to Adelaide, Hikaru speak to the younger Pierce's and out of the corner of her eye, she could see Alexia and Adele speaking to one another. She raised an eyebrow slightly at the well-endowed warrior that entered the estate, curious on how she and the nekogami knew one another. Was this the Alexia Adele spoke of months ago?
Ren gingerly sipped a small wine glass, holding it securely in her hand as she turned her head to see Nevada speaking to Udo. All was going well, at least. The Spirit of Christmas reached everyone. No fighting, no bickering - Hikaru's bickering was expected however - and nothing bad. Just friends, family, comrades and strangers enjoying the ending of the year.
Tsubaki turned wordlessly, diverting her gaze from the spirited painting of some far-flung landscape on the gallery's wall towards those who addressed her.
Her eyes went back and forth briefly, inspecting mother and daughter behind the veil of an utterly passive presentation. Neither one seemed to be looking at her like the walking atomic monster that most soldiers of the Gotei had been content to as of late, and if they were made unsettled by the jagged scar on her face there was no tell of it on theirs.
"Amaterasu Nana is a rather lugubrious woman, despite the level of speed and strength in her employ. Great care is advised when dealing with her." The words were delivered without comedy or omen, meant only as they were spoken. The girl's mother had yet to speak, meaning either she was cautious or coy. One had a place in the Third, and one did not.
"Does your mother come from a different battalion or is this her first assignment?"
“Forgive me, my mother’s name is Miya,” Kasumi began very roughly translating the flurry of sign language for her mother, substituting or omitting entire sentences of what was conveyed, “She was in the twelfth division quite a while ago before an incident took her out of active duty for some time.”
“That’s not what I said,” Miya signed directly at her daughter, with a flustered look upon her face “Just be blunt, tell her I was in prison.”
“As you can likely tell, she’s incapable of speaking so I’m filling that role. Part of why she’s joining the third is a close friend of hers, Arthur, is also among your ranks. Perhaps you’ve seen him. Seven feet tall, broad shoulders, blonde hair. He’s hails from the Netherlands during the country’s golden era. I believe he brought some mead to this event for sampling, but I don’t see any out as of yet.”
Kasumi completely disregarded her mother’s annoyed stare as she filled in the blanks as best she could. Such was the way of being a pacifist, knowing what to say and when.
Miya meanwhile stopped signing and simply smiled towards Tsubaki before giving a polite nod of her head in hello.
Running in head first, not listening, your brat definitely takes after you, hissed the snake with a chuckle, I like her.
[223/890]
Note
Figured I'll italicize the sign language but put it in quotes to make it easier to make out which is which.
As Tia wrapped her arms around his the older man felt his face begin to flush with embarrassment, "Umm, I guess so. But-but no dresses!" the mage stammered, as the young civilian pulled him away to God knows where. Hikaru just hoped where ever Adele's sister was taking him didn't involve any cross dressing on his part.
How do I get myself into these things? He asked himself sourly, Adele must've put her up to this on purpose. Why else would this kid be so fascinated with a shinigami anyway?
Tia giggled merrily as she dragged Hikaru away to her room. Zechariah followed, looking around to make sure no one saw them kidnapping the swordmage. Once they got to Tia's room, the pale girl released the shinigami's arm and disappeared into her closet. Zechariah leaned against the door to block their victim's only exit.
"You know, Mr. Frog, you don't seem so bad. Imouto-chan must be exaggerating when she talks about you." The afrosoul commented casually.
On one wall a rather realistic portrait of Adele sans kitty ears hung. The young woman in the picture smiled happily with a carefree look that would never find its way onto the present nekogami's face. Her hair was straight and the curled ends brushed her shoulders. A few stray strands floated. The girl in the picture had shining, hopeful eyes and a pleasant smile. Curled eyelashes looked as if they might flutter in a blink at any moment. Lips curved into a smile could have opened to draw breath or let out word at any moment.
"Alrighty!" Tia returned, her arm full of various things. "Sit down, Kaeru-kun, we've got work to do!"
“Oh, my dear spellsword, you don’t need to worry about any rift between the Eighth and Tenth. I started out as an Enchanted Blade, and was a personal student of Captain Takimoto’s predecessor. In his recent absence, I’ve been keeping something of an eye on your division out of this deep love,” explained the Captain. Sympathy rang in her tone; she was sure he had to apologize for Miyazaki a lot. She expected most Blades did. He was a problem child, one she had only barely managed to calm. “No daylight exists between our homes. You can be sure of that.”
She wasn’t here to think about those things though. She wanted to escape captaincy for a time, even if it was a short time. “Feel free to drop by my office if you, or any Enchanted Blade, needs help honing your synergy of spell and sword while Kago deals with some family affairs.” She was kind, motherly and caring but she also wasn’t going to dwell on this any longer, “At the moment, though, my duties as Women’s Association president require me elsewhere.” It was at least mostly true, she had to mingle. It was her party, after all, and midnight ticked closer each second. So many people would appreciate a few moments of her time, and there was still a figure unveiling to do before the end of the year.
At the entrance to the estate, three figures approached. One was a tall man with shimmering hair of gold falling to his shoulders and a rather imposing appearance. He wore a suit of Western design, certainly a respectful thing to do to a Briton. It was gray from the jacket to the vest to the slacks, even his pocket watch was silver. He was attended to by a woman with long hair of a seafoamish bluegreen and a beautiful evening dress of emerald silk. The third figure, a slightly shorter blond woman, wore a long pale blue dress and silver jewelry and her long golden hair fell behind her. She wanted to try and clean up Mingzhu and take her along, but Ieosepheus wouldn’t allow it.
When they were asked if their coats could be collected, the man simply walked passed, ignoring the orange-haired girl. “I’m so sorry,” remarked the blond woman to the attendants, “my brother is a little single-minded.” She continued along, though, as did the other. They were in his shadow, and apologizing for his rudeness as he went along.
It was around the moment she ended her brief conversation with Reshin that the Briton noticed the annoyance provided by Miyazaki was missing. It averted the headache she expected to get from him but it also inspired worry. Either he was doing something or Tia was, and either way she was certain it was going to end badly.
“Uddy?” Adelaide called, approaching the Tegishahara she didn’t know as well and the tinkerer she did, “you’re existing again? What a pleasant surprise. Is the Gotei just used to your unusual relationship with time now? No one asked me to prove you were who you claimed.” She loved giving him a hard time. Odds were good she’d still massively outrank him if he hadn’t developed the worst temporal problems she’d ever seen, but that certainly helped her ensure her ‘student becomes the master’ nature over him.
The blade arcanist didn't even have to search for his second priority. He smiled and said to her, "Definitely."
Udo winked at Nevada, hinting that he had a fun plan in mind, then lit up with joy when he heard a voice that had not passed his ears since the last time he vanished. The space-mage turned around to see his long-time shinigami friend, and now captain, Adelaide Pierce.
"Hey! Long time no see! Yeah, I'm existing again at the moment, fingers crossed. The Ninth were on to it this time so I didn't have those identity concerns again. I've got a bunch of new students now, and here's one of them-"
The reaper put his hand on Nevada's shoulder and said, "Nevada Tegishahara, the sister of one of yours, Ren Tegishahara."
Udo gestured towards Adelaide and said, "Oh and Nevada, if you don't already know, this is Captain Adelaide Pierce, one of my students."
"So Addy, how have you been? How's your division? You still striking true with the ladies?"
The young Tegishahara smiled surprisingly sheepishly as she was introduced to the captain, offering a hand to the Briton. Unlike her sister, the blonde spellswordstress was the less 'cultured' one of the two, taking a liking over Western mannerisms than the Eastern ones Ren exhibited. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain Adelaide. Big sis Ren tells me a lot about you. You're as pretty as she said you were," Nevada spoke in her normal slightly speedy way of talking, a rather excited tone in her voice.
She smiled brightly as Nevada all but answered the question that Udo had posed, “Apparently my charm hasn’t gotten rusty,” she offered a small laugh. It also made the Briton feel more comfortable being addressed with the more relaxed approach of Western customs, and settled back into them in this present company rather easily.
She turned that charming smile directly at the younger sister of Ren, “His students tend to surpass him and embarrass him greatly. Particularly the pretty ones. It really is just a matter of time before you outrank him, I’m sure.” It was odd that she was doing so much socializing with the Eighth, but so many of them had come to her party, and she wanted to do right by her comrade Kago, even if he was something of an absentee leader of his division.
So she found herself making a now too familiar offer, “When he can’t teach you anymore, come by my office. I’d hazard a guess there is no more talented practitioner than I when it comes to Kenkyouka. And as much as I hate to admit it, Uddy here has some responsibility for that.” It was the nature of her friendship with Udo, she enjoyed a bit of fun teasing and taunting of the poor green-haired gentleman.
The sword mage looked about the room with scrutinizing eyes, searching for any escape route he might have. Sadly however his way of exit was currently blocked by the green eyed afrosoul, and Hikaru wasn't sure how he could escape the room with out harming him. Tia however had disappeared into a large walk-in closet, no doubt full of dress up items she intended to torture him with.
Grr... looks like I'm stuck here, for now. Hikaru groaned disdainfully and turned about the room again, When I get out of here Adele is in for it. The neko probably put them up to... Huh, well that's a nice painting. Hikaru turned and took in the large framed depiction of Adele on the wall. Not many people knew it but the spell-sword was very devoted art nerd. If it had to do with music, dance, or the visual arts this soul knew almost everything there was to know about it. Many of the four centuries he spent on earth was haunting museums, art galleries, theaters, opera houses, and concerts; it would be very accurate to say he was a modern day phantom of the opera.
So as Tia walked into the room carrying an armful of clothing he saw his chance to avoid his over-starched "fabricey" fate. "Tia, did you paint this? Its amazing!"
The young Nevada smiled as she looped her arm sneakily around Udo's while Adelaide took the moment to tease Udo."If the pretty ones surpass him, then it's only going to be a while before I get stronger than you, Udo~"
The girl snickered quietly as she looked up to the sapphic captain, tilting her head. There was a lack of gears turning for a moment before she remembered one thing she wanted to ask the Briton. It revolved around the situation between her and Udo and their possible future. "Captain Adelaide, what would you think about me coming to the Tenth? My big sister's there, so she can show me the ropes! And I know a few of the people there and I'm there so much, it's like a second home. Captain Kago doesn't pay much attention to us. Udo might as well be the new captain for the Eighth," she joked halfheartedly at the statement, looking up at the amethyst-eyed shinigami. Her emerald orbs turned back to Adelaide's own as she smiled. "So what about it? I could pack my bags by the end of the week and move in!"
Adelaide's remark about her being the most talented practitioner of Kenkyouka, the central technique of the Enchanted Spellblades, left Udo with a sour taste in his mouth. Her achievements could not be scoffed at, but still, the fact that one of the best spellblades isn't officially a spellblade did not help Udo's pride in his division, which had been slowly growing ever since he joined. There wasn't anything Udo could say to counter it, so he just had to let that pass. For now.
The blonde's decision about moving to the Tenth came without warning, but he had no counter to this, either. Was he doomed to be on the losing side of this conversation?
Finally, an opening appeared. Nevada's quip was one he could respond to. He asked her, "So what would happen if I got a make-over?"
Adelaide as expected was quite the host with how she carried herself, and on top of that her mannerisms were also characteristic of a true noblewoman. Everything the Tenth captain said and did always seemed to be done in the most polite fashion possible, as was understandable because of her standing. Once the conversation had ended Reshin couldn't help but wonder how lucky the Tenth Division was for having such an officer like her.
Not one to look like the odd man out he decided it would be alright to enjoy a bit of stargazing while time ticked down on the upcoming year. With his initial plan to ruin Hikaru's life foiled he didn't have anything better to do but wait around. On the flip side though he was certain that the Tenth Division captain would take him up on his offer to get the two divisions together.
"While your condition is unfortunate I'm sure the Captain will welcome someone who is unable to talk back." A slight shrug accompanied the comment, though neither rang as truly insulting. It would do no favor whatsoever to any of the three to pretend that the woman's handicap didn't exist, and the sooner it was addressed and moved past the better.
"As for the man you described I can't say I know him, though at that height I am not sure how I missed him." Another pensive shrug accompanied the motion as Tsubaki tried not to antagonize the upset mute any more than necessary.
"I wish I had," Tia looked at the portrait with an odd expression on her face. A combination of uncertainty, envy, admiration, and bitterness was visible in her eyes for the briefest of moments before it was replaced by enthusiasm. "Alright! Sit down," she pushed Hikaru into a sitting position on the floor. "You've got good hair," she said admiringly, running her fingers through the swordmage's spiky hair.
"Don't worry, Froggy-san." Zechariah smirked. "You'll get used to this. Adele-Onee-chan couldn't protect you forever." The puffy haired boy retrieved a sketchbook and handed it to Tia's captive before resettling in front of the door. "Take a look through those, Tia-imouto-chan drew 'em."
The pale girl grinned as she began to flat iron Hikaru's hair, slowly taming the wild spikes into a smoothness that would make supermodels jealous. "I like to draw and paint, but I couldn't make a good portrait of Onee-chan without her kitty ears because she's had them since before she found us."
"Yeah," Zechariah nodded, "I remember. Some jerks tried to mess with her ears, but she kicked their asses and Onee-chan wasn't even a shinigami yet."
"But the first one in that book is what she looked like when we first met her," Tia informed him around the large hair clips she held between her teeth. The young girl proceeded to bind sections of Hikaru's main with the clips to keep it out of the way. "You like art?"
