“What are you here for?” I asked, happy grin on my face, as I saw Etienne waiting for Cain and me at the foot of our building.
“Well, I have personally come to escort you to your workplace, as I, gentleman that I am, assumed you didn’t see the regional warning,” He handed me his phone after exchanging a kiss.
“Huh?” I exclaimed as I read the text on screen. “Cain, did you not tell me about a government message?”
It had been sent out some half an hour ago and read:
Attention to all residents of Paris (excluding districts 7,5,15,16,17). High activity in Wild Lands located in the west districts has been detected. Public transport will be reduced, with a possibility of a full shutdown by noon. Please use teleportation circles when possible. Your fares will be partially reimbursed on
Public gatherings including planned strikes and spontaneous protests are temporarily forbidden.
“Nuh-huh,” Cain replied, not even a tad apologetic, as he slowly made his way down the stairs, his hands and eyes glued to my phone.
“Let me check if my class changed to Oracle, because that was one sick prediction.” Etienne joked.
I briefly smiled. It was nice seeing him like that, as he joked freely about his class. It was almost as if we were back to those days where we’d just met, and had nothing worth hiding from one another. Except that it had been months since then, and we’d gone through a whole lot together.
“That being said, I don’t have work till 4, and you are going to be late,” Etienne continued.
“Cain!” I yelled, trying to get him to haste.
----------------------------------------
The snow had mostly been cleared out, having only survived in small irregular piles under trees and on the few narrow public gardens this side of town. That did not prevent Cain from kicking into almost all of them as we hurried up Montmartre.
Etienne and I chatted about the news, and thankfully we’d arrived at Manon’s before the topic of my looming promotion, and my even more looming refusal of it could get brought up.
What neither of us had expected was to see Manon herself waiting in front of the door, outside in the cold, arms crossed over her chest. She was wearing a brown business suit, which by the looks of the trouser trims had seen at least one puddle between her house and Montmartre. Her long black hair was tied up in a messy bun, and she wasn’t wearing makeup. I wasn’t sure where she’d just come from, or where she was rushing to after this, but I had never seen her this dishevelled.
“Good morning,” Etienne greeted her first, and I soon followed.
Cain had ducked behind a wooden sign of the neighbouring souvenir shop.
Manon dismissively nodded at my boyfriend, before turning towards me.
“I’m surprised your imaginary illness has miraculously gone away today.” She spoke with venom reserved only to the croissant delivery guy who accidentally messed up a bulk order two months ago.
“I’m really sorry. I had a stomach bug.” I lied, maintaining my composure. After waves and waves of monsters, and a man-eating dungeon, my manager was the last thing I was afraid of. Although I would be further lying if I said it didn’t take a lot to stay calm under her metaphorically venomous glare.
“That’s right,” Etienne joined in, putting a hand over my shoulder.
Manon scoffed.
“You two can have ‘stomach bugs’ together on your respective days off. This is irresponsible behaviour. Do you not care about our clients, Laura?”
I glance past Manon, inside the coffee shop. I wasn’t sure what had pushed her to open half an hour early, as she’d clearly hadn’t had the time to restock the vitrine yet, but it already had a few people in it, fault of it prime location. Between a very short man with a big moustache, and an even bigger wizard hat, a lady in partial chainmail, and two teenagers with markers in hand and runes drawn on their faces, there were three adequately dressed tourists.
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“I’ll get downstairs right away,”
But I wasn’t even able to take a step forward before Manon extended a hand, telling me to stop.
“That won’t be necessary.” She spoke, the sourness in her tone now void of anger and almost gone. “I think-” she paused as if struggling to get the words out. Her eyes briefly flashed yellow, before returning to their natural black, as she continued, “That your promotion is off the table. And so is your job for that matter. There is only so much I can excuse. Missing days with a minute’s notice, bringing your little cousin to work, talking to ex-employees about need-to-know business,”
“Don’t bring him into this!” I protested, gesturing to Etienne. “And - you…” I took a deep breath in, “You could have texted me. You could have called. I understand your reasoning, and I do ask for you to reconsider. Please. You are one of the only people not to ask for my full ESW when recruiting, you-”
“Well perhaps I should have,” She muttered, before turning around. With one hand on the metal door handle, she paused, the reflection of her eyes faintly flashing yellow. “This is final Laura. Leave.”
I reached after her, but Etienne took my hand and shook his head.
“I’ve never seen her like that.” He spoke.
“Yeah, she’s pissed,” I replied. “But if I go in there now, and start serving coffee she’ll forgive me in no time.”
“Or she’ll get even more mad, and ban you from the store.” Cain joined us. “I’m going to go steal some more ugly pastries before that happens. I’ll save you a muffin.” He added, before running off, up the street that would eventually branch out to the alleyway behind the café.
I bit down my lip, and scratched under my eye, unsure of what to do.
“I’ll go talk to her.” Etienne decisively stated.
We exchanged a look, where I silently asked if he was sure, and he nodded in reply.
The little bell above the door rang, as he quickly joined Manon at the counter, and they began exchanging hushed words. I anxiously watched; them, the patrons who weren’t drinking their coffee, probably because it was Alex, whose coat was hanging by the unlit staircase, who’d made it –
Mind Stop
Effects of Double Mirror negated
Holding Void
Blade of Namura
Soul Mirror; Paired – TM - LD
++ add item ++
MP - 2
Even without the reaction time increase I managed to pull out Namura just in time to block a dagger coming from the shadows. I was surprised by my reflexes, an expression that got mirrored on the face of my assailant who appeared from said shadows.
“Can’t say I expected you petty thing like you to block that.” They spoke.
“I don’t think you know what petty means, Hyeonmin Nam.” I replied.
The weirdest thing in that moment was that I was scared. Not only were they one of the main book characters, but they had also shown open hostility, in a public place, which they’d only done a handful of times in ‘immoral immortality’, fault of having crowd control skills – or was that Dong-hyuk?
Right, the weirdest thing was that I wasn’t that scared, all things considered. And I wasn’t sure if it was Cain’s and Etienne’s proximity, Namura, or my own skills that were to thank for that/
“It’s Nam Hyeonmin,” They corrected their tone briefly shifting from hostile to pretentious. “And you are going to start talking, otherwise I have to employ more drastic measures. I’ll start by illuminating that woman,” They gestured vaguely in the direction of the café, probably meaning Manon.
“What?” I raised my hands in confusion.
They pointed their knife at my throat, quickly making me bring Namura back within stabbing range, as they continued:
“Where is my brother? Where is Nam Dong-hyuk?”
“I don’t know.” I smacked the knife away.
Now that I had had a chance to have a proper look at them, they definitely looked worse for wear. Their white business suit was smudged with either mud or dried blood, and the knife they were threatening me with had several knicks in it. Hyeonmin’s usually pristine hair was messy, and as dirty as the outfit. Their face seemed to be the only thing that had survived whatever they’d been through, although that could easily be explained away with access to a sink and running water.
“And I have no way of knowing. I don’t want anything to do with you, your brother, or your company. Now leave me alone, or I’m calling-” I was going to say the cops, but I realised that my side pocket was empty, “my boyfriend.”
They lowered the knife, other hand clenched to their side, likely wounded, as they glanced to the coffee shop once more, while I gave them a distrustful glare. We were certainly making a commotion, in a very touristy area of Paris, in broad daylight, and yet no one seemed to notice.
“Oh, you’re the one with the crowd control skills…” I muttered my realisation.
They gave me a look that was a mixture of suspicion and disdain.
Before I could react, Hyeonmin crushed something that they’d been holding in their other hand, and the two of us were enveloped in yellow teleportation magic.
[https://imgur.com/9snlqZe.png]