falnerestate | [closed] Look at your life choices, Sophie

[ He gets the message right about the time he's fixing breakfast for Lyall and Hikaru. When he sees the sender though. ]

Hey, Sophie. What's wrong?

[ He'll be able to call in a bit. ]

Edited 2014-09-03 02:24 (UTC)

So you know how I'm genetically predisposed to act before I think?

I kind of convinced a scary murderous Russian Bladian to become my mentor for this ASC deal.

[ Excuse him if he takes a bit before he responds. He was trying not to laugh. He's also finishing up setting the rice cooker to cook so that he can actually call you. ]

CALLING: SOPHIE MORGENSTERN

I never thought I'd live to see the day.

[ Does he sound amused? He sounds amused. ]

[ Yeah Josh, laugh all you want.

She picks up a bit hastily. ]

Yeah? I could've sworn she has already killed people in cold blood.

[ She's...okay, perhaps a bit amused, much to her annoyance.

Amused and annoyed at the same time? Looks like a classic Sophie emotion mix. ]

[ Glancing over to where he left Lyall with something to watch on her tablet ( thank you, Disney for creating Frozen ) before he steps off to one side to light up on the stove. ]

She has. [ Saying that evenly now, like he was commenting on the state of world affairs. Yulia's one of their best, and her primary's Zangyaku. It kind of goes with the package.

But let's qualify that: ] It was Grendal, so it's no great loss to humanity.

I was joking. Mostly.

[ ... ]

She sort of said she would kill me, though. Well, those were her exact words. I'm trying to think of it as a Bladian way of saying "break a leg!" but...jeez, even that sounds a little too violent.

[ Small pause. ]

Look, I already spoke to one Bladian about her. Or tried, because she was all about not spilling the beans on others, which made me slightly more concerned to be honest. I know you're her friend, so I know you're not going to trash talk her. That's cool, I don't want that.

[ Oh God is she rambling? ]

Just tell me what the hell am I dealing with here.

Which Bladian?

[ Because he knows a handful, and while that knocks out the Brands ( Saxon and Breton come as a set and if you asked them about Yulia they would probably talk your ear off ) and you are obviously not talking about Hikaru-- ]

Actually, nevermind.

[ He chuckles for a bit, and then that sound tapers off into a more serious tone. ]

Yulia's one of the best we have out there, and no, I'm not saying that because she's actually one of my best friends. She is perfectly capable of killing you and likely has thought about a dozen different ways to do so less than five minutes into a conversation.

[ A pause, as he takes a drag from his cigarette and peers over to where Lyall's moved to the couch to lie on her side, eyes still glued to the tablet. ]

She was top of her batch in Jotunheim and was a Sixth Circle Hunter by the time she reached her twenties. So she was my senior for awhile before I moved my own ass and earned my stripes at Netsach. It's also her dream to be a member of Zangyaku's Searing Wind.

[ If you've done your reading, which he'd like to think you might have since you're gunning for Zangyaku anyway, you'd have a general idea of what a big goal that is. ]

If you want to learn from one of the best vets we have available, she's your girl.

Oh, Liana?

[ Sorry Liana, she's not calling you "The Scatterblade". Not yet anyway, she still finds titles a bit silly. ]

Yeah, she had that look. I think she probably has that look all the time.

[ Sophie listens and thanks that she actually went to read about Zangyaku the very same night she met Hikaru. Suddenly her own quest looked a lot smaller compared to Yulia's. ]

...provided she doesn't break me in the coming six months. Anyway, if she says she will mentor me, she really does mean it, right?

Edited 2014-09-03 16:27 (UTC)

[ Huh. So you've met The Scatterblade. Interesting. But he's actually... not surprised that she didn't say anything. She's a vet on a whole different level. And someone that, at the beginning of it all, Josh thought he'd only get to read about given the circumstances of her death. 2064 changed all of that though.

But back on topic. ]

Did she say she'd mentor you specifically?

[ Because to be completely honest, he's still wrapping his head around the idea that she did. He's going to have to grill her tomorrow. Maybe. ]

She made me answer why I wanted her to mentor me and why I wanted to join Zangyaku and then some...and then I sort of pressed her to say we had a deal?

I mean, I told her I'd stop bothering if she said we had an agreement and she would mentor me, so she said yes. Well. she said okay.

[ Sophie realizes that by now she might not be the only person feeling a bit confusing by how things went. ]

She wouldn't back out, would she? Regardless of what I said, her being my mentor feels...oddly right.

[ Maybe she has a death wish. ]

[ Oh, kid. If you could see the way he's actually rubbing a hand on the back of his neck.

He is definitely going to speak to Yulia. Tomorrow. He'll leave it for tomorrow. ]

Yulia makes it a point to keep her word. [ That's not an outright, "yes, she will mentor you, don't worry about it," mind you. ] But you might want to go and clarify with her the terms of your mentorship.

[ Because honestly, without the exact phrasing, he can't really say for certain that she agreed or not. His Second was their Whisperer for a reason, and the mentors she'd taken on in the early years of their run as the War Hounds had taught her really well to the detriment of her own blademates. ]

I'll try to talk to her soon. That's going to be something...

[ Every time they had talked it's been loaded, to put it in a way. ]

Sorry for bothering you with this, by the way. It's probably all stupid student stuff to you.

[ He leans sideways on the nearby wall, weighs her words. ] Not a bother at all.

[ Should he...? Yeah... okay. ] And it's not stupid student stuff. Finding a mentor is hard. Took me almost two months in Netsach before I found mine, and he took convincing.

[ There's a fond note in his voice when he says that. At the time, he'd pretty much been fumbling around trying to find someone -- anyone -- willing to teach him how to be a "proper Sin-Eater". Meeting Gabriel Marlowe and being taken under the Throne's wing had been both a relief and a challenge. ]

Just talk to Yulia when you can. She's not an easy person by nature. I should know.

Still, I'm not overly fond of asking for help. Thanks for listening. I'm not keeping you from anything right?

[ She didn't interrupt some awesome morning sex right??? ]

I can tell. I don't know the details, but it's not hard to tell she has been through some really bad things. I'd know.

Anytime. [ He does mean that. ] Wouldn't have given you my number if I wasn't open to getting calls at weird hours.

[ It's... kind of SOP in the Vigil anyway. Timezones and actual 9-5 hours are not really a thing. ]

And no, just making breakfast and keeping an eye on an eight-year-old Changeling who is currently watching a classic Disney flick.

[ You'd hear the smile in his voice.

As a parting shot though: ] Just a tip, Sophie -- and you don't need to take it -- but asking for help isn't a bad thing in the Vigil. There's a reason why lone wolves don't really fall into our line of work.

Lyall, right? I've seen her running around, but I haven't talked to her; I'm pretty bad with children.

[ They are, to her understanding, noisy, dirty and prone to do the exact opposite of what they were told. Many a tiny runt had ended up crying after spending ten minutes with her. ]

Hrm.

[ It's not a word, but more like an interjection. And then silence for a while as she processes it all. Old habits, dude. They die hard. ]

I...I'll keep that in mind. I'll probably need to hear that again later though.

That's the one. [ He's actually wondering what it is that's got her gnawing on the edge of her sleeve. She looks pretty serious.

It is the part where the sisters are singing, Joshua.

And there's his Persona coming around the couch to rest his chin by Lyall's legs.

Aaaand that's a Mitsuru climbing said lion Persona to hop up onto the couch and curl around the tyke's head. It is the most "normal" he's ever seen Lyall so far.

Back to you now though, Sophie. He caught the hesitation in that last response. ]

You do that. [ Saying that warmly now, even if the look in his eyes is serious. ] And you have my number, so.

Edited 2014-09-09 14:37 (UTC)

I will. [ And after a moment. ] Thanks, again.

So I guess I should, uh, let you have breakfast now. Say hi to Hikaru for me? [ That's the polite thing to do, right? ]

Bye.

Anytime. And will do, Soph.

[ A beat. Yes, he tends to ding people with nicknames if they don't already have one. ]

I'll see you around.

[closed] Look at your life choices, Sophie

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