Sera was a good liar. She had been even before she’d joined the Mediators, and training under them only made her more adept at it.
Despite that, Sera felt her smile slip off her more than once as she silently went over Lena’s situation. It was difficult to maintain, though it shouldn’t have been a surprise. The young girl had described the worst case scenario without even realizing it, and Sera planned to keep it that way. If she could help it, Lena would be able to leave without ever understanding the danger she’d been in.
“You didn’t have to give me a fucking demo,” Lena said, grumbling quietly. “Mediator or not, I should report you for sexual harassment.”
Sera laughed loudly, as she put a finger to her lips in a mock shushing motion. They were on the streets of Redstone now, walking over to the Guard Station so Sera could officially meet the Otherworlder. Sera’s first thought was to reprimand Lena for talking about her identity out loud, but the quiet whisper was probably Lena’s way of keeping it secret. It was a painful reminder that she was dealing with an amateur, not another Mediator.
One thing that Sera hadn’t mentioned to Lena was that while the Mediators did have tabs on several dozen Followers around the world, all of them were trained professionals. Sera herself had come to the city to become a follower but had apparently been beaten to the punch by a random girl from the middle of nowhere. Sera looked up at Lena’s frowning face and found herself being unsurprised by the revelation. Lena was objectively beautiful, and with the Otherworlder being a young boy, it wasn’t a huge stretch to think that he could fall in love with her so quickly. Sera didn’t think that Lena understood it herself, with the way she was painfully unaware of the stares she was attracting just by walking down the streets. If she was uglier, she might not have become so entangled in this mess.
But there was no point in pondering hypotheticals. Sera had to focus on two things. Keeping Lena unaware of the danger she was in, and fixing it before it became worse.
“Sorry about that,” Sera said, with another laugh, as if nothing was wrong. “I wouldn’t blame you if you reported me, but I’ll ask that you don’t. I wouldn’t get arrested, but if my superiors heard about what I did, I’d probably get a huge scolding and a few months of pay docked from my salary. Took a real risk doing that, you know.”
“Then why’d you do it?” Lena asked, shaking her hand violently, as if that would remove the memory of what it had touched.
“I had to do something to put a smile on your face,” Sera said, unfazed by Lena’s deep frown. “Or a frown. Anything was better than that dead-inside look you had.”
In response, Lena’s frown flattened out into a thin line as she gave her a blank stare, as if trying to deny her the satisfaction of doing what she set out to do. Sera was surprised by the genuine chuckle that bubbled out of her. She’d only known Lena for a couple of minutes, so she was surprised that she’d become so attached to the girl already. She supposed it made sense. The girl was smart enough to realize what was going on with minimal explanation. It made Sera cautious about what she said, lest she gave away something that would only send her into a panic, but it made it easy to assume that she’d make a good Mediator if she ever had the desire.
Not that she would. Sera vowed to herself that Lena would never become a Mediator.
“Cute,” she said, reaching up to pat Lena’s shoulder and giving it a brief squeeze.
Sera wondered if Lena was even aware that she was leaning into the hug, as if seeking comfort wherever she could get it. Sera’s hand lingered for a few more seconds than it needed to before she eventually let go. Lena made a shooing motion, as if she was shaking off the feeling of Sera’s hand from her shoulder, but Sera didn’t miss the way that she held herself tight when she did. Poor girl.
It wasn’t long before the two got to the Guard Station and walked inside. Sera excused herself from Lena to go talk to the guard on duty to let them in to see the Otherworlder.
“Hello, sir,” Sera said, flashing a smile at the guard. “May we come in?”
The guard raised an eyebrow at her, scanning her body up and down incredulously.
“And who might you be, little miss?” he asked.
“Your boss knows who I am,” Sera said. “Didn’t he give you orders to let me through?”
“I doubt that the captain has a habit of letting random girls wander into the prisons as they wish,” the guard said, crossing his arms and giving Sera an unamused frown. The size difference between them was immense, even with the guard sitting down behind his desk, but Sera didn’t act bothered at all by the basic intimidation.
“If you have a problem with it, I suggest you take it up with your captain,” Sera said, peering to the side of the desk where a large envelope sat, stamped with the official seal of Redstone and the words ‘Urgent Instructions’ scrawled hastily underneath it. She pointed it out. “Do you typically leave your communications untouched like that?”
“I was getting around to it,” the guard said, swiping the folder away from view.
“Well, I suggest doing it now. I know we’d both hate it if we went to your captain. I’d lose some time, and you’d lose some dignity.”
“Don’t tell me what to do, little girl,” the guard said, standing up in his seat with a snarl. A few feet behind her, Sera heard Lena audibly wince at the loud reaction and shot the guard a harsh glare. The guard grimaced and sat back down behind his desk.
“Just humour me, okay?” Sera asked. “I promise if it says anything other than, ‘Let the petite redhead do whatever the hell she wants,’ I’ll leave you alone.”
The guard looked like he was about to argue back, but Sera shot him another glare, quickly silencing him. The guard nodded subtly at her and opened the envelope, pretending to scan the document with his eyes before setting it down.
“You’re free to go,” he said, standing up and walking to the gate that led down the hall to the cells. He glanced at Lena and Sera subtly shook her head. “She’s with me. She’s coming along too.”
The guard raised an eyebrow for a split second before gathering himself. “Whatever you say,” he grumbled, offering no other resistance.
Lena seemed hesitant in following Sera down the hallway, but after a slight beckon, the girl followed, running past the guard quickly.
“What was that about?” she asked, once they were out of earshot.
“Hmm?” Sera asked.
“Why didn’t you just show him your tattoo? That would’ve been easier, right?”
Sera held back a sigh of relief, choosing to smirk at Lena instead.
“It would’ve been easier, of course. But I did it because the less people that know that the Mediators were here, the better. If people know that the Mediators were here, that means they know there’s a reason for the Mediators to be here, and we don’t want to start a panic,” Sera said.
“Oh. I guess that makes sense.”
Sera nodded, glad that Lena accepted it so easily. It wasn’t the whole truth, but Lena didn’t have any reason to know about the secret conversation that had happened under her nose, with the Mediator that had disguised himself as a regular city guard. The entirety of their secondary conversation had taken place through coded twitches and eye movements, though they had gotten a little sloppy near the end. In most circumstances, the conversation as a whole likely wouldn’t have needed to happen, but the revelation that Lena was a Chosen Follower with a Love Interest status had bumped up the danger level and priority of this particular Otherworlder. Sera hoped that her request for additional support and resources would prove to be unnecessary soon, but she wasn’t arrogant enough to deny the possibility of failure, even if she desperately wanted to.
Sera glanced to the side, where Lena’s expression was becoming increasingly complicated. She could see hope there, but she could also see that Lena was desperately quashing that hope as best as she could, not wanting to be hurt when it failed once more.
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The sight drew pity into Sera’s heart, but with the sympathy came determination. She would save Lena or die trying.
Sera was the Lead Agent for this Otherworlder mission. She’d been given the responsibility over Ryuji because, out of all the available Mediators, she was deemed to be the most skilled and experienced, regardless of her age or perhaps because of it. When she was five years old and had first joined the Mediators, she had made a vow to herself that nobody would ever die to an Otherworlder in front of her, ever again. It was a foolhardy goal and Sera knew it, but it didn’t stop her from dedicating her entire life to the study of Otherworlders, a dedication that had drawn the eyes of the higher-ups.
The Mediators knew that Ryuji would be a powerful one before they had her team teleported to the city nearest to the first sighting, having enough power to freeze time for every sentient being in the world for almost an hour, but when every Otherworlder had the potential power to destroy Materia in some way, Ryuji being more powerful than most was of no real concern.
What was concerning, were his actions.
Within the first week of his arrival, he had slain group of innocent Goblins, forced the villagers of Plainswood to cheer for him while he did it, kidnapped a girl from her home, and murdered a man who had offered to give them a ride. Because Sera had only heard second-hand details of these events, protocol would have had her interrogate Lena for more details as a primary witness, but the girl seemed so hurt and traumatized that in a moment of weakness, Sera decided not to force the poor girl to relive those moments. Besides, the evidence made the truth rather obvious, regardless of whether she had the finer details or not.
Ryuji was a murderous sociopath.
It was both fortunate and unfortunate that that wasn’t an uncommon psychological profile that was shared amongst many Otherworlders. Unfortunate because, well… who wanted to deal with catering to the desires of a murderous sociopath with unlimited power? The only saving grace was that it gave Sera, and every other Mediator, a whole archive of past examples to draw experience from.
There were many things that the sociopathic Otherworlders typically looked for in their Followers. There were a personality traits that an Otherworlder would seek out in their Followers, but Lena was too strong-willed to fit any of them. She was just a normal girl who had somehow taken charge of an Otherworlder situation she’d been wholly untrained for. She was honestly quite amazing.
Which was why Sera had been so distraught by Lena’s mention of an Affection rating.
While it wasn’t a common aspect among Otherworlder powers, Sera remembered reading about a horrific Otherworlder that had existed about a few centuries before, dubbed “The Harem Lord.” He wasn’t a known Otherworlder to the public, since his actions didn’t have as widespread of an effect and the Mediators of the time had been able to stop any news from spreading, but that didn’t make him any less terrifying.
He had been the reason why the term Bland Love Interest Syndrome had been coined. Sera shivered to think of those poor women who had been stripped of their personalities, transformed into mindless automatons that live just to stroke the Otherworlder’s ego. Sera imagined Lena as a BLIS girl and shuddered.
It was disgusting.
Sera didn’t know if this Affection rating that Lena saw was anything similar, but she didn’t want to gamble on the chance that it wasn’t.
“Lena,” Sera said, as they approached the door to Ryuji’s holding cell. “When we get inside, do your best to play along with what I say. I wish I could give you more time to brief you on what’s about to happen, but it’s better to do this as fast as possible and you don’t have to do anything difficult. Just agree with whatever I say and no matter what I do, don’t act surprised.”
“Okay.” For all her grumbling and cynicism, Lena was quick to nod. The frown on her face was strained, as if she was purposefully keeping herself upset so she wouldn’t get upset when things ultimately failed. Sera had the urge to tell her to stop, and remind her that she needed to smile in front of the Otherworlder, but she didn’t want to stop her from doing what she needed to do. Lena had survived this long without any help. Sera decided to trust that she knew what to do.
“Oh, and one more thing,” Sera said, her false smile finally cracking as she grimaced at what was to come. “Please don’t think badly of me for what I’m about to do.”
Before Lena could answer, Sera opened the door.
Sera’s plan to replace herself as Ryuji’s love interest wasn’t a suicide mission. There were proven ways to avoid falling to BLIS.
The most common way that a Mediator did this was to become a Slave. While slavery was illegal in all human civilizations across Materia, the Mediators would often fabricate an entire slave economy with paid actors once they learned of an Otherworlder’s arrival. It was unsavoury and sickening, but so many Otherworlders had a preference for Slave Followers for some unknown reason and the success rate of Slave Followers was so high that it was often used as the most reliable method of becoming a Follower with the least negative effects.
Unfortunately, false slavery wasn’t a viable option for Sera to take since they were in Redstone already. The only way to fabricate a slave trade in the middle of the city would be to inform everyone that there was an Otherworlder loose in Redstone, and there was no doubt that would end poorly. There was the option of waiting until Ryuji arrived in a false city where “slavery” was much more common, but she didn’t have the time. Lena needed help now.
With Slavery not being an option, another reliable method was to adopt a false personality to match the Otherworlder’s ideal type. This would achieve two things.
Firstly, by presenting herself as the Otherworlder’s ideal type, she could convince him that she was a much better option than Lena and outright replace her. Even if this Otherworlder was the type to take multiple Followers, she hoped to cement herself as the main love interest and eventually ween Lena off of the Otherworlder’s influence slowly.
Secondly, she would be protecting herself. While the Guide was omniscient, the Otherworlders were certainly not. Some displayed signs of clairvoyance and precognition, but complete omniscience had never been observed in an Otherworlder before and because Otherworlders exerted their powers based off their desires, as long as she presented a false identity that was already perfect, there would be no reason for the Otherworlder to mold her mind any differently.
Unfortunately, the method wasn’t as reliable as the Slavery tactic. Not only was it more difficult to maintain, even for the most experienced of actors, but it was also difficult to get right. Often times, it would need at least a few days of intense study of the Otherworlder’s psychological profile to accurately determine their ideal personality type, making it no less resource intensive than the Slavery method, but Lena didn’t have that time. For all Sera knew, Lena was already affected by BLIS and would only deteriorate further if she didn’t do anything to fix it immediately.
She would have to forge a personality off of the little that she knew. It was dangerous, but she didn’t have much of a choice. Fortunately, she had all the important pieces.
Ryuji was a murderous sociopath. These types craved control over the world around them, especially the people. The perfect Otherworlder for these types was someone that seemed easy to manipulate and control. Weak-willed, easy to please, and dumb enough to believe anything that their Otherworlder would say. Sera could craft a vague personality out of just those requirements, but there was also the concern regarding Ryuji’s name.
Ryuji, a name that sounded like it came from the Earthian nation of Japan. Many Otherworlders seemed to hail from that nation, for some reason, giving the Mediators an entire archive on their specific tastes. The ideal types of the Japanese were varied, but there were a few personality quirks that most of them seemed to desire.
Steeling herself, Sera took a deep breath and stepped towards the Otherworlder.
She immediately tripped over her own feet and stumbled forward.
“Wahwahwah,” she said, as she pretended to struggle to catch herself.
Sera saw the Otherworlder’s eyes widen as she barreled towards him but made no moves to stop her. That was good. He was receptive at the very least.
Sera let out a loud cry as she gave into her momentum and tackled the Otherworlder off his seat. As she flipped head over heels, tumbling to the floor with the Otherworlder, she caught a glance of Lena’s face, which was a perfect mixture of horror and confusion. Sera shot her an apologetic smile that she was sure the girl wouldn’t see, but it was the thought that counted.
Sera and the Otherworlder rolled over twice more, with Sera controlling their momentum so they wouldn’t injure themselves on the sparse furniture that littered the cell room. Sera subtly shifted her body to match the Otherworlder’s, manipulating his position to suit her purposes. Once they came to a stop, Sera sat up and pretended not to notice the situation that she’d put herself in.
“Ouchie,” she whined, rubbing her head to soothe the non-existent injury. “I’m such a clutz.”
She then looked around the room in an exaggerated manner. “Huh?” she said. “Where’d that cute boy go?”
After a moment of silence, she looked down to see the Otherworlder laying on the floor, directly beneath her. His face was a bright red and his eyes were fixed forward, nearly bulging out of his head. Her skirt had been flipped up during the tumble, and if it weren’t for her underwear, his nose would’ve been touching her crotch directly. Sera tried not to gag at the idea. Using the anger she felt at the Otherworlder as inspiration, she summoned a deep flush to her cheeks that would hopefully look like a blush of embarrassment.
“Kyaa!” she cried, in that overly exaggerated way that many Japanese Otherworlders seemed to like. “Pervert!”
Sera would never claim to understand what made Otherworlders tick. Too often, she attributed their looks to their mindsets, thinking of them as regular human beings with godly powers. But there were some examples of Otherworlder behaviour that truly baffled her. Her current act was based off one such example. While it was baffling to think that Otherworlders enjoyed being humiliated and physically abused, the evidence showed that a majority of them sought out at least one such Follower that would act in a way.
The idea that physical punishment was a reward to them, even when they weren’t necessarily masochistic, was a strange fact to acknowledge, but it was still a fact. While most Otherworlders had a basic power to understand the spoken language in Materia, and have their own language automatically understood by anyone in Materia, there were some Otherworlder concepts that didn’t exist in Materia and didn’t have a proper translation. The concept of “tsundere” was one of these concepts.
Sera didn’t understand it, but she trusted in the evidence enough to raise her hand and slap the Otherworlder as hard as she could.
“Kyaa!” she cried again.