jigokulogs | OPEN; SUB-STORY THREAD

Entry tags:

OPEN; SUB-STORY THREAD

Who ⬤ Croix Meridies and you [OPEN]
What ⬤ Substory: Can't Download a Clue
When ⬤ September
Where ⬤ Executive's son's internet cafe
Content Warnings ⬤ Theft? Will Update as needed.

This was almost too easy.

Security at this cafe was, frankly, as embarrassing as its attendance. All Croix had to do was show up and claim to be from the "head office" and explain that someone had complained about one of the computers malfunctioning. She was here to provide "tech support", but she had to take it in to the "head office" to ensure it was working properly.

And so she was walking out of said place of business carrying a box with the computer tower, monitor, and all associated accessories in a box, and was being trusted to bring it back. This had gone off without a hitch, and Croix was practically almost home free.

It'd be a bad time for someone with reason to question her to immediately question her to walk in, wouldn't it?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Hm... Well, she supposed it was good Croix was finding work that suited her talents. ]

That's fine! I promise it won't take too much time...

[ She was pretty sure nothing the stars had to say about this place would convince the owner to just. Not. ]

[Despite herself, Croix actually found herself smiling.]

For you, there's no such thing as "too much time", I assure you.

[ There was a certain pang of familiarity that came with hearing that. Any time Chariot would get apologetic about making Croix stay up with her to figure out a certain spell, or to just help her study, practice something, to sharpen up those metamorphism spells that had started her notoriety...

All nature of helping a friend aside, they both kind of knew a lot of it was just an excuse to spend more time together, in halcyon moments...

Despite how often her past could tug at the chains of her heart, she smiled, despite herself, dwelling instead within the warmth of that nostalgia. She gave a nod. ]

Then let's get started. I'll get the crystal ready and charged, you can balance the astrolabe. The stars here match up close enough with the stars over our own Japan you can probably eyeball the measurements easy enough.

[ Not that the stars were out, at the moment, but hey, one could easily use the relative position of the sun, too. ]

[Croix nods, and wordlessly begins setting to her task. This isn't her field of expertise, but she did well enough in her astrology course to set it up properly, using the position of the sun, just as she was taught all those years ago.

Eventually, she speaks.]

Heh, this reminds me of the time I helped you set up for your final in astrology, way back when.

I was pretty sure I was going to vibrate myself into another dimension, if I hadn't had you there to help calm me down.

[ If the inheritor of the Shiny Rod had failed astrology, she'd have a whole new shame to drag her down into hell with. Well. More figurative than the hell they were currently in, at any rate.

By that point, the owner had pulled away from their own busy work (playing solitaire) to check out what it was they were doing. Ursula, thankfully, fielded their questions well enough. ]

... Of course, keep in mind that cosmic mana works in ways we don't fully understand, still, so there's a chance the reading results could be difficult to interpret.

[ The guy nodded, not at all deterred by that fact. Ursula, at that point, gestured at Croix to keep the guy busy while she focused on channeling her magic into the crystal ball, letting her eyes close as the gentle, viridian mana poured out from her hands and into the translucent sphere, light starting to form within it, forming an array of miniature stars... ]

All I did was be there for you. You aced the test on your own.

[Croix nodded when Ursula passed the owner off on her, and began explaining something about how he might improve the connection in his cafe...which he seemed to be half-listening to.]

[ In a world like the one they found themselves in, there was a certain mundane nature to magic that nothing about what Ursula was doing seemed particularly fascinating, either to the owner or to the one quiet old man silently browsing unmentionable websites all the way in the back corner.

By the time Ursula was done, she set about her work, projecting out a map of the outer heavens around them, eyes searching the patterns of stellar energy throughout the various heavenly bodies.

She had aced that test on her own, true. Even without the Shiny Rod, Croix knew... Ursula had always had a connection with the stars, profound and intrinsic. Her understanding of them came so much more naturally to her than to others... It was no wonder she wound up teaching the class, later in life.

... A shame about everything else, of course, but in that moment, she was focused on her reading.

Occasionally she made adjustments to the astrolabe beside her, and also taking notes on a nearby penpad. After a moment, her eyebrow raised. ]

Well things look... complicated, to say the least, but a more immediate concern seems to be that even as we speak, someone's trying to fleece you.

[ The stars tattled on Croix. ]

[THEY SNITCHED. THE STARS FUCKING SNITCHED ON CROIX. She freezes and tries not to look too suspicious, hoping that her change in intentions will get her out of this.

Meanwhile, the owner gets a confused look on his face. "Like right now?" he asks. "Someone in here?"

His eyes scan the room, and immediately settle on Croix...before moving on and settling on the man looking up unmentionable things.

"Hey! You! Did you pay with real money when you came in here?!"]

[ But the old man said nothing. He just kept browsing. But he did notice he was being talked to, unplugging his headphones and unleashing some... embarrassing sounds and voices into the cafe.

It was enough of a distraction that even Chariot missed the shift in Croix's look. Her face burned red and the magic in the ord began to become unstable, fitzing out like bad radio reception. ]

H-hold on, It didn't necessarily mean someone in the cafe!

[Croix seized the opportunity, doing her best to ignore the...sounds.]

That's right. Didn't I tell you I needed to repair one of your computers? Who exactly sold you these machines, hm?

[ Things were already going poorly. She'd thought it was a pertinent warning to give, but then the porn sounds flooded the cafe, which just made the owner yell at the old man even more loudly, and...

Unfortunately, Chariot's embarrassment and mild panic at just how south the situation had gone caused the stellar magic to whack out entirely, backfiring and causing a small blast behind her, sending the table and astrolabe into one of the other computers, knocking over a whole row of of still working computers down to the floor with a massive crash.

... Suddenly, all you could hear were the porn sounds as everyone else went deathly silent. ]

Um... S-sorry...

[Oh. Oh dear. Croix felt the pangs of guilt as suddenly everything went crashing down around them.]

...I'll repair all of these. Free of charge.

[She could do no less, even if saying so left her feeling as though she'd been punched in the heart.]

[ The owner mostly just stood there in shock while the porn was still blaring behind him. He slowly panned over the room, from the two witches, to the wrecked computers, to the old man...

At a slothly pace, he moved to the old man's computer, shutting it down hard-way and silently directing the old man to leave, whom thankfully did so without another remark. With that same deliberate sluggishiness, the owner moved back to their desk, and slumped down. ]

"I'll still pay you. But I think I'd really just prefer it if you both leave. I'll call you tomorrow about the machines."

[ Chariot, for her part, looked like she could shatter at any moment, seized by anxiety and guilt. She'd lost control of her magic like she was 15 all over again... ]

Yes, of course...

[Croix frowned deeply, and turned towards Ursula. She saw the look on her face, and felt like she'd been stabbed in the heart. With a knife she herself was holding.

Quietly, she tried to usher her out, and once they were out of the cafe.]

That wasn't your fault.

[ It hadn't taken long to gather up the crystal, the astrolabe, her table curtain... the backpack felt too heavy to shoulder, despite having literally not changed in mass, so she carried it in her arms, gripped into her chest.

Croix's words were heard, understood even, but... she couldn't accept them, all the same. Not in the state she was in at the moment, just shaking her head. ]

I'm the one that lost control...

Ursula. Chariot.

[She placed her hands on the other woman's shoulders.]

The owner made an assumption and caused a scene. That perverted old man made it worse by doing something so indecent in a public place. You were using a spell that requires absolute focus...no matter what caused the reading [read: me], they escalated it. Anyone would have had trouble holding it together in there.

Not just anyone! I'm supposed to be a professional here!

[ She... hadn't meant to yell back at Croix, and immediately winced at her own raised voice, once more drawing into herself, clenching the backpack as if it were a life preserver, keeping her from drowning in a black sea... ]

I can't just shrug off my own culpability...

[ In the end, she was the one that lost control. She had needed to be better, and she wasn't.

Same as it ever was... ]

...

[Croix let out a sigh.]

You want to talk about culpability? Fine. The person your reading identified was me. I was going to steal that computer, until you walked in. Everything bad that happened in there? Was because I was too selfish to stay on the right path again.

[ That... was enough to snap her back to the present, though certainly not in a pleasant way. The crushing, dysphoric waters she had felt pulling her in before only seemed to calm, but hardly went away, hardly seemed less overwhelming. Because one dread simply switched for another, and no doubt Croix could see that in Chariot's eyes, as she regarded her. ]

Croix...

[ It wasn't just disappointment in her voice, but... a great, many turbulent things, things that she hardly had the wherewithal to express in that moment with words, but... no doubt Croix could feel them in the way her name sat on Chariot's lips, in that moment. ]

[Croix slumped, feeling that stabbing in her heart sensation yet again. She turned her head away, unable to meet the other woman's eyes.]

I've still not changed. I have...a ways to go. But I'd rather confess every dark emotion and intention I've ever had that see you blame yourself for something that's my responsibility. You can hate me as much as you want...

... You have changed.

[ The grip on her backpack loosened just slightly, finally able to find her breath again. ]

The old you... wouldn't have done this. Owning your own guilt, to spare mine...

[ It may not have seemed significant to Croix, but... it meant the world to Chariot, to hear that. ]

[Okay...that wasn't something she expected. She looked up at her, jaw dropping a little bit.]

I...I suppose that's true...

[She thought about how she once said she wanted to steal or crush Chariot's dreams. That had been arrogance and pride blinding her at the time, but...they truly did feel like a lifetime ago. Had she truly changed more than she thought she had.]

Chariot, I want you to know. I'm serious about helping the owner. I. I will return later to fix everything...!

[ Chariot took in a deep breath.

... Then another.

... And another. ]

In truth, Croix... I would probably not be that upset if you didn't.

[ Fuck that guy. ]

[Croix stared at her for a long moment.]

That's...certainly not what I expected to hear you say.

[And yet a certain part of her is...appreciative.]

[ Chariot just gave a sigh. Honestly, she hadn't expected it either. Had two months in literal hell really made her that callous? But honestly, she couldn't ignore the facts of what she'd seen in that star reading, letting out a pathetic little groan. ]

That star reading was a total disaster. I was trying to be kind about it, but the fact is, this man isn't just destined for failure, he's destined to bring others down with him. He's a scumbag! Just a rich brat trying to scam his way out of taking responsibility for anything!

OPEN; SUB-STORY THREAD

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)