Stephen and his brother Sean fluff and adjust their white cotton button up shirts as they walk down the sidewalk in the unseasonable autumn heat. Away from other houses and a stones throw away from the town's fortified palisade sits a modest two story home encased by its own protective wall. As they begin to walk parallel to the wall on the way to the main gate, Stephen sticks out his hand and glides it along the smooth, white surface that coats the coil printed cement.
"This polymer shit really does the job when it comes to holding things together, don't it?" Stephen says to his brother but Sean is too filled with anxiety about meeting their old friend to reply. "It's too bad the elders won't let us use it," Stephen says to himself as he adjusts his faded denim pants by his leather belt strap.
Nearing the main gate, Sean makes sure his hair is still fixed proper while he gazes over the courtyard wall at the coil printed cement house that is covered in the same white polymer. The roof's solar tiles make Sean squint his eyes as they gleam in the afternoon sun. Stephen has his eyes cast elsewhere, gazing down the street at the large cottonwood tree that looms over part of the neighborhood.
Now in front of the solid metal gate, Sean nervously presses the visitor announcement button. Looking back at his brother, Sean slaps Stephen on the shoulder to snap him out of his slack jawed reminiscing.
"Fix your vest and act proper!" Sean scolds. "We're here to give our condolences to our old friend, not look like idiots."
Stephen immediately gets irritated with his brother's tension . "Fuck, man, I was just looking at the God damned trees we used to climb when we were little. What are you getting so worked up about? It's just Lucian. So what if he's our official soul taker, now? He's still our friend from when we were kids, Sean!" Stephen belts out, causing Sean to get flustered but he quickly swallows his anger as he hears a door open and faint footsteps coming towards the gate.
As the latch is forcefully opened with a grunt, Stephen tightens up and imitates his brothers composed posture. As it creaks open, the brothers both look up with surprise to see a very tall woman Servants of Law looming in the archway. From underneath her dark eyebrows, her steely gaze forces them to shift their eyes to the ground.
Taking a quick breath in through her nose, then clearing her throat gruffly, she spits near their feet. "Well?" she asks with irritation seething out from her voice as she shakes her high held ponytail free of the stubble from the lower half of her shaved scalp. Sean, never having seen a woman soul taker, is all the more befuddled by her unique hair style along with her imposing height over the two of them.
While Sean is trying to stammer out an answer, Stephen intercedes for his brother, "We're the Miller brothers and we've come to give our condolences to our childhood friend, Lucian Cavinough the Fourth, on his father's passing." Sean breathes out a sigh of relief after hearing Stephen smoothly state their reason for the visit.
With her hands resting on the pistol handles of her holstered Lazblades, she continues to stare at them in silence as she shifts her jaw around and purses up her thick lips into a sneer. The silence lingers unbearably for the brothers but Sean is having the worst of it as he is on the verge of losing his control over his anxiety. His heart begins to visibly shake his arms with each beat as the sweat beads up on his brow.
"Rheya!" a voice booms from the front of the house. Snapping a quick look behind her then back at the brothers, she sneers at them then steps aside from the archway. A tall Servant of Law with a short mohawk, stands on the porch of the house, chuckling to himself as Stephen and Sean look up and immediately recognize Lucian's wide, toothy smile. "Stop scaring them and show them in," Lucian tells Rheya as he adjusts his neatly pressed hakama then walks back inside the house. Glowering at them, she points at the house with her chin as she adjusts her haori forcefully. Sean and Stephen take heed of her attitude and scuttle into the house as Rheya slams and latches the heavy gate.
Sitting around the small four sided dining room table, the three men are talking casually and sipping iced tea. Rheya, uneasy with unannounced visitors, stands like a statue in the living room, keeping an attentive eye on the brothers as the small talk turns into a conversation.
"It's been too long, Lucian," Stephen says after he takes a long swig of his tea, trying not to stare at Lucian's assortment of small scars across his face. "Too bad your dad had to die for you to come back," he adds without thinking. Realizing what he said out loud, Stephen gets wide eyed and freezes up while Sean looses all the color from his tan skin. "Oh, geez, please forgive my indelicate comment! I said it without thinking! Please forgive me!" Stephen nearly shouts as he repeatedly bows his head with each sentence. Sean, seized with fear, stiffly lowers his head then unblinkingly looks over at Lucian to see his reaction.
Lucian weakly smiles and waves off Stephen's apology. "Stop. Stop," he urges. Stephen nervously looks up from under his eyebrows to see Lucian casually scratching his wispy reddish brown chin hair with no hint of anger in his eyes. "You two are too used to dealing with L3," Lucian scoffs. The brothers sharply let out the air they were holding and untense their postures. "Lucian the Third was a very tenacious man and an excellent teacher but was not someone I thought of as a father, much less very fond of. There was no love lost upon hearing his passing," Lucian says as he stands up to go refill his glass of tea.
Rheya grits her teeth as she fights to keep her mouth shut about Lucian's blatant disrespect of his father. "Four years of combat and he's never once told me such things in confidence but throws it out to them like gold coins to a cat," she grumbles to herself. Lowering her eyes to the polished synthetic wood floor, her anger turns into jealousy and dejection at how comfortable he is with commoners but not her.
After a moment of silently staring out of the window and sipping on his tea, Lucian talks out loud, "It feels weird being back here in this old house, ya know?"
"Why does it feel weird?" Sean asks, genuinely wanting to know why after noticing his old friend sounding melancholy.
A long sigh comes out of Lucian as he sets his tea on the window seal then clasps his hands behind his back, flicking his thumbs nervously. "Nothing has really changed here," he says. "It was nice being a kid here," pausing as he's trying to word his feelings. "Climbing that tree with you two to sneak over the wall at night," he mentions which immediately makes Stephen smile and nudge his brother, who lightly smiles back in response. "Y'all dragging me into more mischief outside the town walls under the cover of night than I care to admit," he adds with a smile.
"Yeah, like almost getting killed by that bison stampede," Sean says which gets a pleasant smile in reply from Lucian as he comes back to the table and sits down.
"You saved our butts that night with that Lazblade of yours," Stephen adds.
"Fuck, that just made me remember," Sean lights up. "Remember when we had those raiders blow open the wall and try to raid the town?"
Stephen's eyes light up in remembrance of the night it happened. "Oh yeah! I remember hearing some gun fire from our house and seeing Lazblade beams light up the night sky." Sean nods in agreement. "How old were you then?"
Lucian is blankly looking at the table then counts on his fingers, making the brothers look at each other in confusion as they easily recall their own ages from that time. "13, I believe," he says with some hesitation. "I was a year ahead of y'all in school, right?" The brothers nod in reply.
Silence is uneasy for Sean as Lucian continues to blankly stare at the table. "So, why did the raiders attack us that night? Did you ever find out?"
"I'm not allowed to discuss details of any raider activity, past or present, with civilians," Lucian answers curtly, making Sean and Stephen panic to try and change the subject.
"I still can't believe that it was just you and your dad that saved the town that night," Sean says full of pride for Lucian but notices no such enthusiasm from him.
I cut 35 people into pieces that night," Lucian whispers. "L3 killed 28 of them," Lucian pauses to collect his memories while Sean and Stephen go quiet. "After reequipping, and following their tracks back to their camp, I slaughtered the families that were left behind. They were mostly women and kids so I didn't count them cause they didn't really fight back," he adds casually then goes silent. Struggling to remain placid, Sean and Stephen try to keep their composure and not reveal their horror with their expressions. "After that night, L3 said I was ready and shipped me off to Shit Outta Luck a few days later." Lucian's eyes stare unblinking at the table as Sean and Stephen give each other strained looks.
"And ten years later, here you are, still looking like a young man while we look closer to a well used 30," Stephen trying desperately to derail the previous conversation but gets no reaction from Lucian.
"Shit out of luck?" Sean asks, still puzzled about what Lucian said earlier.
Shaking his head to come back to the present, Lucian realizes that he was asked a question. "That's our little inside joke about the Servants of Law certification academy. S-O-L, to which most civilians took to calling us Soul Takers from the abbreviation and how often we kill people," he explains to which the brothers both exaggeratedly cue in on what Lucian was referring to.
Noticing how uncomfortable the air is between them after his story, Lucian stands up with some lively vigor. "I forgot I have other appointments this afternoon and I need to get ready for them," he stated formally, giving the brothers the hint that they should leave.
"Oh, sure!" Sean says and smiles as he quickly gets up from the table and bows toward Lucian. Stephen follows suit with a happy smile. "It has been really good to see you," Sean adds but receives an unexpected hug from Lucian. Sean freezes up at first but then hugs his much taller friend back. Lucian then hugs Stephen too who readily embraced him back with a good squeeze.
"It is good to see you both," Lucian says as he pats them on the back as they are walking toward the front door. Rheya is standing tensely, eyeing them on the way out. Feeling her stare, the brothers make sure to avoid eye contact with her. Standing with them at the front door, " Y'all stop by here anytime," Lucian says to them. The brothers nod and smile at Lucian while still trying to avoid Rheya's glare. "I mean it. I would love to hang out with you two and catch up some more," Lucian assures them which puts them at ease as they slip their shoes back on in the entry way.
"Really?" Stephen asks.
"Yes!" Lucian says enthusiastically. Sean and Stephen smile as they begin to see their old friend's personality return to how they remembered him.
"You'll have to stop by and hit some of Schneider's apple hooch," Stephen says as he opens the door.
"Don't tell me he's still doing that," Lucian starts out, "What am I saying? He was great at that before I ever left," he adds with a chuckle.
"It's gotten better," Sean chimes in with Stephen as he walks out with him.
Lucian grows silent for a moment, conjuring out an old memory. "Remember that time when we got lit off some of that stuff he snuck into school for us?" Stephen slaps his hands together and laughs loudly while Sean's smile nearly draws ear to ear on his face as he remembers the warm memory himself. "That was some funny shit, in'it?" Both of the brothers nod in agreements as the chuckling dies down.
Hesitantly, Sean looks over at Lucian who is rubbing his mohawk as he smiles. "Lucian?" he says to get his attention.
"Hmmm?" Lucian answers as he tilts his right ear towards them.
"We'll be having a house party in two weeks, would you like to stop in?" Sean asks, making Stephen give a strained look at Sean for bringing it up.
"That's gonna be your Harvest Moon party, right?" The brothers nod in reply. "I would love to," Lucian says without hesitation, smiling widely, making crows feet appear at the corners of his eyes. "I'll do my best to stop in," he says then looks back at Rheya. "She'll see y'all out," he says with a devious grin.
The brothers hide their sneers as she quickly walks around them down to the gate and throws it open, glaring at them as they hustle out. Slamming the gate behind them, Rheya is relieved to have them gone but then tenses up again as she looks back at the house.
Walking back up the cement path, Rheya tightens her ponytail and adjusts her hakama after she angrily kicks off her shoes once she's inside the house. Looking around for Lucian, she hears him walking around in the room above her. Thudding up the carpeted steps, she clenches her teeth behind her pursed lips as she walks close to where Lucian is standing by the south window. His hands clasped behind his back, Lucian watches Sean and Stephen walk back home as the sun is setting. Sighing loudly, Lucian turns to face Rheya whose eyes are focused out the window, not wanting to confront his.
Walking next to her, his eyes level with her flexed jaw muscles, he focuses up at her sour expression. "You disapprove of how I am with them?" he asks her flatly. She looks reluctant to reply. "Speak your peace," he tells her with a chuckle as he takes a few steps away from her to lean against a nearby wall and begins to pick at his fingernails.
"Yes," she dryly replies. Lucian scoffs with amusement. Irritated by this Rheya goes on to say more. "You are too friendly with the civilians which could put you in easily avoidable danger."
Lucian nods and looks to mull over her concerns as he walks around with his eyes cast down at the floor, shifting his lips around as he thinks. "I understand, but this isn't NYC."
She ignores his downplay. "Moreover, they do not understand our way of life or the burdens we bear. That should have been very evident as per their reaction from the story that you told them," she adds to stabilize her stance on the subject. Another scoff comes out of Lucian but this time he sounded affronted. Rheya stiffens up, not sure if she's gone over the line.
Silence as he walks by her on his way back to the window and begins to look out of it again. "Do you know how many fellow Advocates have died with me?" Confused by where that question came from, Rheya decides to stay silent. "How about how many novices have died next to me before you were assigned to me?" Sighing loudly again, Lucian runs his hands over his mohawk then down the back of his neck, leading his hands to grip onto his haori collar, letting his arms hang loosely.
"I felt it was improper to ask you," she says with some weight and sullenness to her words.
"Two Advocates and five novices," he mutters. Rheya clenches her jaw then sees Lucian's reflection in the window: His eyes are closed and his eyebrows furrowed with his lips pressed tight. Taking in a sharp breath, Lucian lets it out through his mouth and relaxes his shoulders, letting his arms fall to his sides. "My bloodline has been tweaked very effectively, which makes me very hard to kill," he says then pauses momentarily while glancing back at Rheya. "But it also means I have to watch many around me not survive."
Rheya casts her eyes at the floor, feeling the weight of his words while also stirring old memories of her own: The many friends she's known who have died since her deployment along with the betrayal and death of her first master. She grits her teeth and clinches her nails into the meat of her fists to control her emotional state in Lucian's presence.
"But you have been with me the longest and have become my first Second in Command," he states. "You are formidable even by my standards," he adds with a chuckle,making her face become flushed due to his rare words of encouragement.
"Please don't compare my paltry fighting skills next to your unparalleled battlefield prowess," she humbly states as she goes down to a knee, lowering her head to conveniently hide her blushing face.
Turning around, Lucian walks over to Rheya and pats her on the shoulder. She raises her lowered head to listen to his command. "Follow me," he tells her as he walks down the stairs.
Walking down to and through the living room, Rheya follows Lucian into the storage room where a few unopened packing crates are still stacked in a corner. On the opposite wall hung a skull with a small shrine dedicated to Lucian the First, Second and Third underneath it. The pictures were of them all in full regalia along the medals they accumulated over their lives decorated the edges each frame. After knocking over his great grandfather's portrait with his foot, Lucian spits on his father's portrait, causing Rheya to gasp disgust.
"Lucian! Don't desecrate the shrine!" she exclaims as she begins to kneel down clean up what he had done.
"Don't," pausing for emphasis, "TOUCH IT!" Lucian growls, instantly making Rheya stiffen up.
"Oh shit!" her thoughts shout. "I've only ever heard him get like that in combat," she relaxes back into the seiza position before the shrine. Lucian calmly sits down next to her in the same fashion, no longer exuding the angry aura that he formally had.
"Life with that man was hell. And during that hell, I tried to have some kind of childhood with my friends. That caused me to rebel against him a lot, getting me plenty of beatings," he explains as he rubs the left side of his head where his skull became overly thickened after being hit with the butt of a Lazblade. "He was not a father in any sense of the word. He fed me and trained me rigorously, having me get in the mind set to kill in combat by wanting to kill him. He purposely instilled in me a hatred for him." Lucian rubs his hands before he crosses his arms tightly across his chest. "I'll never forgive him for that, no matter how he justified it," Lucian says barely above a whisper, as if he was arguing with himself.
Flicking her fingers, Rheya is trying to work up the courage to ask more about Lucian's past. "After he died, did you access his memories to find out why he was so harsh with you?"
Lucian nods slowly. "I knew from the start why he was that way with me," he boasts dryly. "22 years before me, there was another Lucian that was given to him to raise and train."
Rheya raises both her eyebrows in quiet shock. "But you're the fourth, not the fifth. What happened to that Lucian?"
"I died at the age of 15 while L3 took me out scouting. My former self was ambushed and killed by raiders due to a lack of diligence on my behalf because of L3's wanting to be more of a friend than a teacher. Knowing he failed me beat his moral down, causing him to transfer to this isolated post to reassess himself. During those years, he trained two novices into Advocates, then requested for me, again. After I was delivered to him at seven, expecting a warm welcome, I got quite the opposite. The first thing he told me when I got here," Lucian takes in a deep breath and releases out a heavy sigh. "Things will be different this time. If you don't live up to my standards, you're not going to live very long." Rheya understands the inference of his father's words: Suffer and thrive or be killed in the process, the old mantra of Servant's training.
The revelation that Lucian has died once sent Rheya's mind reeling. Added with his description of home life and the new light shed upon his father, Rheya can barely comprehend what his childhood must have been like. "My mother could be strict and a harsh trainer but at least she tried to love me like a child needs," she tells herself in her own mind as her imagination becomes overwhelmed at the thought of how Lucian must have been treated on a daily basis, but also had to go through it twice over. "No wonder he never said anything to me about his past."
"You know that story I told the Miller brothers that made them get squeamish?" Rheya nods. "It had some parts missing from it," he confesses to her with a grin.
Rheya braces herself mentally for what Lucian has never told her. She can feel that it will probably be bad since she's seen how he is in combat: A bloodthirsty, adrenaline junky that finds pleasure in the slaughter of any and all that go against him. The memory of a time after a recent skirmish pops into her mind as she watched Lucian with two, older Master Lazbladesmen, throw bandit children into the air and cut them into as many pieces as they could before their body parts hit the ground.
"When we showed up at the break in the wall in full gear, we seen that the raiders had outdated space monkey laser weaponry. I gathered that they were there to raid and kidnap as many women and children as possible to trade with the space monkey slavers. I assume they thought the town was unoccupied by Servants since it was so isolated . The raiders, not being equipped with Lazshielding, were quickly overwhelmed by us and began to retreat, but we didn't let them get away."
Breathing lightly for a moment as Lucian stares at his father's portrait, he begins talking again. "L3 praised me for the first time and patted my head, telling me how proud he was that I was able to kill more than him," he says with a bitter smile. "It felt so good for him to say that to me, he could have asked me to sever off my arm and I would have done it if it meant more praise."
"Lucian the third was getting pretty old for a third gen, wasn't he?" Rheya asks, getting a nod from Lucian.
"20 some years away from his generations mandatory retirement from field operations I think," he pauses as he mentally counts, "98, I believe he was. He was certainly slower than he was 17 years earlier when I was first put with him, but he was still faster than me at using a Lazblade. His ability to run on the other hand..." Lucian takes a moment to chuckle. "He was noticeably winded and feeling his age after the skirmish."
"Did you two head to their base camp that night?" Rheya asks.
"No, he sent me alone and told me to kill everything that moved at that camp. He gave me instructions on what to do and that if I was killed, he would kill himself in tribute to my life and for being a failure as a teacher," Lucian grimly explains.
"What did he have you do out there?" Rheya reluctantly asks.
"I watched him take out a few camps before, so I did as I was taught: Ambushed them as they slept and decapitated the bodies. After impaling all the kids bodies on tree branches, I burnt the adult's bodies in a pile and stacked all the cut off heads in a neat pyramid and surrounded it with their broken laser weapons. It gave a nice warning to other nomads that might have thoughts of working with space monkeys," Lucian explained lightly. "Oh, and he told me to bring back the best looking head as a trophy."
Rheya grimaces at the old skull above the shrine, now knowing why it's there. Rheya grows a repulsed look thinking back when she had seen old masters showing each other their trophy heads: It was a once common practice that is now frowned upon but not outlawed either.
"She had the most tranquil expression on her face," Lucian mumbles as he looks at the skull while he tugs on his chin hair. Getting back on subject, Lucian continues, "What I didn't know was that he followed me out there and watched me do it. He came out of hiding to congratulate me for the second time when I finished. I was positively high off of his words of praise."
Rheya stays quiet as she's not sure how to respond. Having known of Lucian's blood lust and viciousness in combat, now understands why he goes to such an extreme degree when it comes to killing. Her own Minas blood line has been conditioned to improve overall athleticism, strength, size and mental stability during battle. From what is known and rumored, Lucian Cavinough's bloodline has only had minor adjustments pertaining to strength and mental imbalances that were apparent in the first Lucian: Who was said to be some kind of legendary enforcer before the Machine War 246 years ago.
"Why did you take over your father's post here?" Rheya asks bluntly.
"I wanted to see if I could be happy here," he says honestly. Rheya grimaces at his confession and Lucian notices it before she can hide it. "Speak your peace," he sighs out as he rolls his eyes.
Rheya huffs at Lucian's condescending tone and the show of emotion that he has recently began to show more of in the past few weeks. His lax attitude has seemed to be going against the Servant's ideals of suppressing their emotions and it is starting to unnerve her. "My first master tried to do much the same as you are beginning to do now," she explains in a sullen tone.
"And how did it turn out for him?" Lucian asks in a disinterested tone as he stands up and sloppily bows toward the shrine.
"He became drug addled and tried to rape me," she barks out causing Lucian to stiffen up. "His extensive war record allowed him to commit seppuku," she pauses to control her tone. "But I made sure I was the one to take his head off when he did it," she finishes, hoping the story will strike a cord in Lucian.
Lucian is quiet for a moment then squats down next to Rheya and talks to her candidly as he stares at the shrine of his forebears. "I'm sorry, Rheya. But you never have to fear that I would be so dishonorable to do something like that to you." With his eyes lowered, he grows a weak smile. "You amaze me at how strong you are. You are the epitome of the Servants. I hope you know that."
Lucian's aberrant show of concern and caring strikes down Rheya's emotional barrier, causing her face to contort as her eyes watered. Rheya turns her face away from his to hide her shameful inability to control her own emotions. Biting into her lower lip, she struggles to overwhelm the tears with pain that are trying to spill down her face. "Stop," a crack in her voice stammers her speaking. "Stop saying such kind words to me. I don't want to become soft and spoiled like a house dog," she explains to him as she grips onto her hakama with tight fists.
Lucian scoffs lightly while giggling to himself as he stands back up. "I'll say the truth to you, good or bad, as I see it. Understand my Second in Command?" he says firmly but with no tension in his voice. She vigorously nods as she makes sure to keep her face hidden from him. "A vicious attack dog can still be loved by its master," he adds in a patronizing tone.
As he begins to walk away, Rheya spins around still in the seiza position, throws out her hands onto the polished floor and presses her forehead in between them. "Please don't go chasing after the past like my first master! Your life is too great to throw it away frivolously in search of a fleeting emotional state!" she yells loudly, making Lucian stop at the entryway. A momentary silence lingers in the air as Rheya tries to control her breathing while keeping her face locked to the floor, scared to look and see if she made him angry.
"Look at me!" he commands her with a voice that reverberates throughout the house. Snapping her face up from the floor, not caring if he sees her tears now, she is more afraid that she offended him. When she locks eyes with his, she sees that his face is calm and placid, holding no emotion in his eyes. "I've been dead for quite a few years now. And if I can't feel alive even when I'm here, then it's time to let go of this body," he says calmly then begins to walk toward the kitchen.
After looking in the cold storage unit and scowling at the lack of food, he says aloud, "Come on, lets walk around town and make ourselves known." Rheya wipes her face off and jumps up to quickly follow behind Lucian.
Walking out the front door, Rheya quickly hustles to open up the front gate for Lucian as he looks to be deep in thought. Pressing on the thumb scanner in the archway, Rheya locks the gate behind them and goes to catch up to Lucian. "I'm sorry for my outburst, earlier. I hope I didn't upset you," she says with a slight bow, fishing to see if that is what's bothering him.
Lucian waves her off and smiles. "I was just wondering what to eat tonight," he explains as he begins to look up at the clouds that are billowing on the horizon. Rheya lets out a quiet sigh of relief.
"I was wondering about that earlier since I didn't see any food printer blocks in that huge cold storage unit. And why is there a weird fire stove in the kitchen? Surely they don't recook the printed food, do they?" she says, hoping Lucian would fill in the blanks.
Lucian grins upon hearing her ignorance. "No printer food blocks for us unless we fly to a trade city and get them. Way out here, people still grow their food and trade it at the local market. They live off the land, so they need larger kitchen appliances to prepare and store food."
Rheya draws back her upper lip into a sour expression. "Cave people," she mutters looking contemptuous, causing Lucian to chuckle. After walking a ways in the direction of the setting sun, Lucian nudges Rheya with his elbow and looks up at her with a devious grin. Rheya is uneasy with Lucian's friendly attitude and doesn't know how to respond since he has never acted like this toward her.
"Lets run to the market with our armor deployed, making everyone think raiders or some shit are attacking, then duck into the store like nothing's wrong. That should scare the piss out of them! Sound good?" he asks with building enthusiasm . Rheya is partially appalled at his childlike behavior and it becomes apparent on her face. "Loosen up, Rheya!" he yells out as he throws his arms up in frustration. Armor begins to ratchet out over his arms and legs while his hakama conforms to his calves and his kimono sleeves begin to do the same to his forearms.
"Oh shit! He's really gonna do it!" the words explode inside her mind. "Lucian, I implore you to act dignified!" Rheya tries to scold her master. Snapping a look back at her, Rheya stiffens up and grows remiss about the tone she used on Lucian.
"Or what?" Lucian yells at her, making Rheya lower her head immediately. Stomping over to her as his segmented torso armor begins to unfold from under his haori locking together down his torso and groin, he places himself directly in front of Rheya. "You seem to be forgetting your place, Miss Minas." Rheya knows she's in for a severe reaming when Lucian uses her last name. "I'm home and I plan to die here. So! During the time I have between now and my glorious death, I plan to have a lot of fucking amusement to determine how long I feel like staying amongst the living. Do you understand me?" he barks, causing Rheya to tense her body.
Rheya vigorously nods with her eyes tightly shut. "Sir!" she adds in confirmation.
"Since you soured my mood, you are to go back to the house and contemplate your station here," Lucian explains with intensity as his hood with segmented armor under the cloth, clinks up the back of his head and stops at the beginning of his mohawk.
Rheya opens her eyes and hesitantly looks at her master. "Sir?" Rheya asks, hoping he's really not insinuating what she's assuming.
"You go back to the house and decide whether you can deal with how I am or I can transfer your ass the fuck outta Long Pine, you hear me?" Rheya is in wide eyed shock at his ultimatum. With mouth grimaced and eyes squinted, Lucian's protective demon mask slides out from under his armored hood and conforms to his face, leaving only mirrored, angry shaped lenses for Rheya to stare into.
As Rheya is still trying to process, Lucian yells at her to snap her out of it, "Get fuckin' moving, second!" Rheya quickly spins on her heals and sprints down the block all the way back to the house.
Growling in anger, Lucian's mask augments his voice to sound more beastly as he begins to walk to the farmers market once again, black Lazblade in hand.
Back in his normal Servant attire, Lucian walks into his unlit house as he carries a few cloth bags stuffed with an assortment of raw food. Making his way through the house, he sees Rheya sitting at the kitchen table with a remorseful face. Setting the bags down on the table, Lucian pays no attention to her. As he begins to put the food into the cold storage unit, he notices a folded piece of paper lying on the table next to Rheya's arm which causes him to cock his eyebrow.
"I hate reading with my infrared on," Lucian says under his breath as he hangs up the empty bags near the kitchen doorway then flips on the lights. "Alright, get it over with," he barks as he stands rigidly in front of her. Rheya takes in a deep breath and stands up then lowers her head below Lucian's height as she formaly hands him the paper.
"A letter of apology, my master," Rheya says with a dry throat.
Lucian slaps the paper out of Rheya's hands while firmly staring at the top of her dark brown hair. Rheya snaps her hands to her sides but remains bowing, trying her best to keep breathing quietly.
"Tell me, Rheya, why are you apologizing when all I asked of you is to decide to stay or leave?" Lucian's tone now bordered on irritation as he begins to pace around the kitchen.
Trying to work up enough spit to swallow, Rheya clears her throat to speak. "It seemed that I upset you by speaking out of turn. I wanted to formally apologize to clear the air between us so that you would permit me to stay as your second in command," Rheya explains softly, trying to control the wavering in her voice.
"FOOL!" Lucian booms, making Rheya tense up. "I expected determination and instead I get timidity and over concern for something so trivial as my opinion of your behavior. How common!" Lucian pauses to let his loathsome words sink into her.
"Remember, I gave you the choice to leave or stay whether I was upset with you or not." Lucian pauses to think as he huffs out his breaths. "But you still act like a novice and want me to make your decisions!" he bellows as he stomps around. "Stop bowing, damn it!" Lucian shouts as his irritation with her formality is evolving into anger.
Snapping upright, Rheya stares straight forward, making sure not to make eye contact with her master.
Now worked up into a full fury, Lucian is glaring at Rheya up and down. "Since you would rather beg for my approval instead of assert yourself," the air is thick with his disgust as he pauses to organize his thoughts, "I'm transferring you out of here!" he angrily concludes with some reluctance written on his face before he begins to stomp out of the kitchen.
Swimming in all of her overwhelming emotions and thoughts, Rheya feels like she's been hit in the stomach, causing her to break out into a cold sweat. Repeating Lucian's words over in her head, she snaps out of her dejection and bounces back into a state of ascending rage. Wanting to scream out every obscenity she can think of at Lucian, the only word that she is able to yell out is, "NO!"
Lucian stops mid step and turns to look at her with narrowed eyes but changes his expression to that of shock as he sees what she is doing: Harakiri.
Switching off the Lazshield on her obi, Rheya begins to pull open her hitatare and slides out her arms, exposing her naked upper body. Flipping out her right handed Lazblade, she grits her teeth as she begins to aim its barrel just below the lower left side of her rib cage. Before she can pull the trigger, Lucian kicks it out of her hand, sending her Lazblade flying into the washroom.
"You fucker!" she shouts as she begins to throw blows at Lucian. "You let me have a decent death!" Lucian narrowly evades her attacks with speed and maneuvering within the close quarters. "I'm not gonna suffer another inferior master!" she yells as she gets more aggressive but still can't hit Lucian. Swing after swing, she is evaded or blocked but continues to try and hurt him.
Moments later, breathing hard, they have made their way into the living room with their fists still up, glaring at each other in a stalemate. "I don't want to be transferred to another master! It would be humiliating!" she gasps out.
Relaxing his stance, Lucian grows a smirk across his face, "Why would it be humiliating, Ray?"
"You're the best Master Lazbladesman alive, and you trained me! I know I'm better than any other Master Lazbladesman on this continent by far!" she says with exasperation then hawks out the gummy saliva build up in her mouth.
"But you believe you're not at my level?" he asks, getting a head shake reply from Rheya. "You do realize that during that spat, I could not attack you because I was too busy defending myself." Rheya just glowers at Lucian in silence as she lowers her hands to her sides, sweat beading up on her exposed brown skin. "You are at least on par with my skill level," he says with a chuckle as he begins to walk over to Rheya, causing her to put her fists back up.
Lucian holds his hands up with the palms out to show he means not to fight. Standing in front of her, he looks up at her face and smiles as he pulls her hitatare back over her shoulders to cover her upper body. "Are you ready to see yourself as an Advocate now?" he asks her. Rheya stares blankly over the top of Lucian's head as he loosely tucks her hitatare back into her obi and turns her Lazshield back on.
When he's done, he guides her into the kitchen and sits her at the table. "I'll cook you some cave man food to celebrate your promotion," he says with a forced snicker to try and lighten the mood. As he cooks, Rheya slides her arms into the sleeves of her hitatare but continues to blankly stare at nothing. When the plate of food is placed in front of her, she looks over at Lucian and watches him eat.
"You provoked that whole scenario to get me to see myself differently?" she asks listlessly.
Lucian shrugs and half nods as he chews on some stir fried beef, "Today wasn't planned but I've been wanting it to happen. You presented an opportunity for me to build your confidence and break your idol worship of me," he says between chewing the food rolling around in his mouth.
Rheya nods with no emotion as she looks at her food. Picking up her hashi, clicking the ends momentarily, "I hate you," she mutters then begins to cautiously eat a steaming vegetable.
Lucian nods in agreement with a somber expression. "Good." The crunching of vegetables could be heard as they chewed their food in the quiet house. "After you get the confirmation of your new status, you can go where ever you want. You don't have to put up with my bullshit anymore. I accomplished getting you to think more of yourself. I can die satisfied now," he tells her while he finishes the last of his food. As he gets up from the table, he notices Rheya staring at him. "What?" he asks with a furrowed brow.
"Physically, I may be your better, but you still have a lot of knowledge that I want. I'll stay here until you die," she says in a solemn tone.
"That shouldn't be too long then," he replies back with a wink and a forced smirk before he goes to get a second helping of food.
Rheya huffs as she narrows her eyes and grits her teeth, "Don't bet on it," she mumbles to herself before continuing to eat.
