[Chipper and bright as he eyes the drastic dip in the energy levels from that single button push. Venat's apt and quick response is reliable - now it's down to resource management, which-
Sucks.
Oh well. He continues on - hand gently pressing against his own door button when rapid footsteps start bolting down the hall. An image he barely catches in the security camera. Issue avoided.]
It was about a haunted convenience store and it warped the people involved in it. Those who shopped there suffered horrific deaths. Everything from being bludgeoned, stabbed, suffocated and more. It turns out the reason everyone was going through such an experience was because the store owner mistreated a contractor.
[Creature gone from his side and cameras clear, he reopens the door.]
The contractor, in his rage, broke tombstones and used it in the store's foundation. Some employees are condemned to haunt the store and continue the vicious cycle for all eternity.
[It's FUN.]
I wonder if that's going to be us. Wouldn't that be interesting?
Of course. You can guess, like as not, what I already feel. Some small measure of guilt, and some larger measure of grief. Naught of concern, I believe, for what emotions could come more naturally in this happenstance?
[Without hesitation, Venat turns, a sweep of her hand summoning the silvery manifestations of her weapons. Between her magical attack and her attempt at binding Robin Hood, she judges that Akechi relies heavily on its ethereal nature. These weapons are pure conjurations as well, however, infused with aether and more than capable of striking at a foe with no proper physical presence. That ought to bridge the gap.]
[If it doesn't, well, this will be a bit embarrassing.]
[With swift gestures of her hands, Venat bids portals open around Robin Hood, each of them immediately hurling several copies of a weapon at the manifestation.]
[After a moment, Venat taps the light again. The coast is, for the moment, clear, and thus she quickly releases the door to ameliorate its drain on power.]
I say, that is certainly an interesting response to mistreatment. I doubt most people would immediately decided that, upon being ill-treated, the proper course of action would be to break gravestones and store them.
[She gathers up the small, rectangular device that shows the sights seen by the cameras, only to immediately frown.]
I should say, not of concern on a professional level at this time, as I cannot see any way those feelings are abnormal or maladaptive. I would of course expect you to care on a personal level.
I do know Eren, yes. We have fought together on occasion.
[ She's ridiculous... He's so fond. Not even gonna address professional vs. personal care at the moment. ]
Have you? I bet you two make a terrifying team.
He's become a dear friend of mine. So much so that when he and a few others moved onto a farm that he bought, he gave me a permanent guest room there to come and go as I please. It really was too kind of him...
Anyhow. My point is I now have free use of a really, ridiculously nice property. And a baby chick who thinks I'm its father, which I suppose is a bonus.
Come spend some time with me here. I want to hear about how you're feeling, even if it isn't abnormal or maladaptive.
I'd say the latter was an unintended and happy consequence, but I would be lying, and I can't lie to you.
Please come over any time. I'm just hanging out by the pond, you can't miss it.
[ Location sent! It really is a very nice farm. Maruki's lucky to be able to call it another little slice of home.
It's early evening, the summer sun just beginning its inexorable descent below the horizon, and he really ought to put said baby chick in the coop for the night. But she's asleep in some flowers and he's comfortable leaning up against a rock to read, so if Venat does choose to join him, that's how she'll find him. ]
[As should be no surprise, Venat arrives by air-dog not long after he'd extended the invitation. Luckily, she is keen of eye, and understands he's out here for more than just a place to read against a rock, so Venat lands Argos some distance away. The two approach on foot instead, with her hand raises to greet him.]
[ OH. Unintended bonus, perhaps: Argos might like the farm too! Do familiar dogs need to run the way real ones do? Probably not. Maruki doesn't know animals, much less familiars. But it's a thought that crosses his mind as he stands, book dog-eared and left aside, and makes his way over to meet them halfway.
He's been deliberately slow introducing Venat to the finer points of partnering with someone (get bent, BB) – and happily so, at that. It's more enjoyable this way, easing into even the simplest shows of affection that no one would think twice about back in his true reality. It lends a significant weight to every act, and for an endlessly sentimental guy, that's only ever a boon.
Still, though, there is always this: Greeting Venat with arms outstretched to wrap her up in an embrace, hugging her close before separating just enough to be able to look her in the eye, smiling like every star in the sky. ]
Thank you for joining me. It's a nice place, isn't it?
[ To say the least. Eren's wish had been for a simple farm; what he got is a little absurd, including the massive farmhouse some distance behind them.
Maruki unwraps one arm from around her to extend a hand to Argos as well, never one to leave him out even as he's unwilling to let go so quickly. ]
But it hits. A jolt to his psyche, a piercing force against his soul itself. That's not a normal attack. Nothing she does is, but that in particular-
Oh, he hates that.
Whatever smug bastard energy he was exuding? Gone. He's irritated. Every weapon strikes Robin Hood over and over and over. His least valuable persona - he doesn't really give a shit that it's 'damaged' by her ability. Stamina drained almost completely by that power, the entity vanishes at the end of the attack.
It doesn't hurt Akechi either. Not in the way he's used to. Drains. As if Robin Hood's weariness is his own. That I Am Thou Thou Art I resonating in full.]
Nice job, I suppose. I didn't think that would work. I guess that's why you were able to kill such a formidable foe. What a blessing it is to have you on our side.
Then I shan't. I would hate to have you regret not stopping me, were something to happen.
[She wonders why he pretends so hard, when she has on several occasions basically written a signed and notarized document testifying that she is On To Him. Perhaps he is self-aware enough to understand that she knows perfectly well what he means, and sees no need to make things clearer?]
[The sound of heavy footsteps clunks around for a moment, as if coming down the hall on his side -- then stops.]
[By the time Robin Hood disappears, Venat is already charging white-blue aether into her conjured sword. Stopping the second part of the attack midway has all the grace of stumbling over her own two feet, and after she recovers from the jolt, she has to stand straight and shut her eyes, the better to focus on liberating all that aether back into the environment.]
[When she speaks, though, her voice shows no hint of strain.]
Battling incorporeal foes is fairly common practice for those of us who have skill in combat. Channeling aether through our weapons is a simple matter for addressing both those and several other potential issues that might arise.
[The vision of her stumbling will be in his psyche forever. Bless this moment for that singular memory.
Yet, she somehow doesn't sound exhausted. That is infinitely more annoying, when his own voice is strained despite how he didn't battle at all. Robin Hood mirrored in him - they're one and the same.]
How adaptable. As expected of someone with your experience.
[Irritating.]
I thank you for indulging my requests today. That's all I wanted to see.
[Venat doesn't particularly take note of his aggressively-intrusive thoughts, because despite her inability to understand his eternal façade, she does not for a second doubt his commitment to it. Besides, the consequences of giving in to such a thought are far too obvious. What would actually be fun about it?]
[Looking up from the camera view, Venat taps the button for the lights on her side just long enough to verify that nothing is amiss. When she looks back --]
Ah. Something is emerging from the curtains. Yet while I watch, it is unmoving.
[This gesture, the warm and casual hug, the emotions -- they're all very foreign, as he well knows, and in some respects uncomfortable and even scary. Yet in the same moment, they hold warmth and comfort and delight. So Venat ignores all her negative feelings, or rather challenges them quite directly, by returning the hug without hesitation. The only barriers between them are ones she has constructed, and thus, ones she must dismantle.]
[Argos noses on up to give Maruki's hand a sniff and a quick lick. Between the man doing a decent job at making Venat happy and proving he's no weakling during the battle against the Green Knight, the dog has fully accepted Maruki as worth being around at this point.]
No doubt I'll agree once I actually view it. I fear you've taken up my attention entirely.
[ And yet, for as foreign as he knows it all is for Venat, she's not bad at this at all. (Then again, has she ever truly been bad at anything in her long life? Somehow, he doubts it.) A faint flush rises in his cheeks at that, but he doesn't fluster or try to hide it. ]
Well, loath as I am to leave that spotlight...
[ And he does linger there for a few moments longer, merely smiling at her, bringing a hand up to stroke a few loose strands of hair back. It's a powerful affection he feels, constantly squeezing his ribcage; these small outlets for it matter.
But then he swings around to stand by Venat's side instead, an arm still wrapped around her waist, the other gesturing expansively to the fields, the farmhouse, the barn, that tree off in the distance that's perfect for napping beneath. It's a bucolic, beautiful place, and Maruki has to laugh a little. ]
You'd think that cottages and castles would be the most jarring sights for a city guy like me to contend with, but no. A farm is somehow much stranger. Still, I'm becoming fond of it.
[Patience is a virtue. Waiting isn't. Sitting ducks in a center room, surround by enemies on all sides.
Door opens. Light off. Akechi studies the TV and the flaring curtain on it - the different buttons and phone.]
We could attempt to alter this world in a way it doesn't expect. Cognitions are easy to distort with the right motivation, so to speak. The right keys. Are you amenable to trying?
[Whether she is, or isn't, lmao. lol. He's doing it anyway.]
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