Pruned Trees Re-Sprout!! ~ Ragazza Volpe Magica ~

Chapter 301 - 249 - Avoidant

"Hrmph…" Shouri glared at one of his tuner screens, a deep frown plaguing his lips.

"What's up, Sho?" asked Rebecca. She plopped down next to him, on the edge of their bed.

"Elijah just avoiding talking to me directly. I message him and one of his people contacts me instead," the boy grumbled.

"So? He's always been a businessy kinda guy," Rebecca said with a shrug. "He's just probably wrapped up with whatever his pops got him doing," she added.

Shouri shook his head, not satisfied with that explanation. "It just feels familiar, but I can't place why," he mumbled.

Seeing how much this was chewing him up, the fire fox wrapped her arms around him. "Chill bossman, he's probably fine."

The boy grunted, his scowl sharpening. "Aura," he spoke on a breath.

"Huh?"

"It reminds me of what Aura did," he whispered.

"Oh, just vanishing?" Rebecca guessed. "You talked to her, though," she pointed out.

"It just bugs me because they both just stopped talking to me." He tightened the grip around the tuner. "Did I do something wrong?" he wondered quietly.

Rebecca's brows rose with worry, his storm of emotions washed over her with ease given her current position. She tightened her embrace, and rubbed his arms as she nuzzled into his shoulder. "No, we'll find out what their deal is; or beat it out of them," Rebecca assured her Maestro.

He managed to crack a smile, and adjusted his arm to return his fire element's hug in kind.

After some time sharing in each other's warmth and rhythm, the pair made their way out of their room.

"Where's Paci and Taika?" Rebecca wondered.

"I know Paci said she was gonna help Colette and Kaira through some etude exercises, and Taika ran off with a bucket of paint. I think she was working on some of the spare rooms," Shouri informed the vixen who kept him company today.

Rebecca yawned and stretched. "Not used to being the last one up, I guess." She rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

Shouri smirked and elbowed his girlfriend in the side. "Toldjya you should have come to bed earlier."

She returned his smirk in kind. "Fuck you."

The two tussled for a moment before Shouri had her in a playful headlock and tousled her hair.

It was another brisk February day, though it was a touch bit warmer than it had been over the last couple weeks. After the whole ordeal with Colette and Kaira, normalcy had returned to the humble little Dallivan guild, and the days passed by in relative peace. That was until today; rather than the usual maintenance of the guildhall, today was special.

Emily burst out of her room, depositing a rolling bag by the wall before she retreated back into her room.

Rebecca's ears twitched as the princess barked commands of her Resonators from within. Ritika and Albarich groaned and complained the entire time.

The vice guildmaster flew out of her room again, and ended up face-to-face with Shouri and Rebecca. "Ah!" She brushed her loose bangs back as her trademark goggles hung around her neck.

"Shouri!" Her chest rose and fell as she finally tried to catch her breath, being stopped from her frantic tizzy.

"You alright?" questioned the guildmaster, resting his hands on his hips.

"A little busy, just gotta get packed and--"

He took up her hand and their eyes met. "Relax," he spoke calmly.

Emily exhaled, allowing herself to etude with her fellow guildmaster. "Right right," she breathed.

After a moment, Shouri let go. "You good?" he asked.

"Yeah, thanks," she replied.

Shouri and Rebecca watched her return to her room with less stress on her shoulders.

"She's the only one outside of us you etude with like that," Rebecca noted.

"Lunar culture thing, supposedly," Shouri told her. "I respect it," he added.

Rebecca nodded slowly. "Ah, makes sense. Wonder why we're so cagey about it down here?"

"Dunno. Probably intentional though," the Maestro grunted in annoyance.

The pair decided to wait for Emily and her trio in the guild's office.

"I dunno, there's just so many benefits to etude. But I guess I didn't realize that until I met you," Rebecca picked up their prior conversation.

"If I ever figure out who's bright idea it was to villainize à deux, I'm gonna punch them in the face," Shouri grumbled as he flipped open his laptop to get some guild work done.

Rebecca pulled a chair around to watch him work. She didn't understand what he was doing, as her mind drifted too much, for her to focus on any one thing on screen. She did have a solution to her brain fog, however. The vixen leaned on her beloved, and reached around his back, prodding him with her rhythm. He reciprocated gesture and allowed their rhythm to flow seamlessly between them.

As her mind sharpened, her eyes took in every aspect of her Maestro's work.

Their guild email box was filled with various official requests. Usually staff requests for hunting. It explained why they still went out to hunt nearly every night. If she was read it right, though, they got paid marginally better than average hunters just for showing up.

The other emails were applicants for guild membership. She had to give it to Shouri, he was a fast reader. Rebecca broke her gaze on the screen to see what his face looked like. He was focused, his eyes darted back and forth at an impossible clip. She couldn't imagine what was going on in his brain, though she could feel it. He processed a lot very quickly, his rhythm flared almost as brightly as it did in battle as he scrutinized the various resumes.

He shook his head and typed up a response. Rebecca noted the response was curt, dare she say unprofessional. That's why the addressee wasn't the applicant, but Cheryth.

That woman doesn't get paid enough, Rebecca decided.

Then she got to see how much money they had. Her eyes bugged out as she took in the number.

152,201

"W-we have that much money?" squeaked the Renard.

"This is the guild treasury. Personally we as in, you, me, Taika, and Paci have a couple thousand," Shouri replied. "This money is specifically for guild business," he added. "Stuff like making sure our residents have food and whatnot."

Rebecca nodded. "That's still a lot of money."

Shouri grunted, his lips curled down as he glared at the screen. The boy shook his head slowly. "Not nearly enough. Cheryth said she can get us a small building built under government contracts with this money. Enough for a decent sized house," he explained. "Definitely not enough for a second guildhall like I want."

His frustration was palpable. She held him tighter--she was getting quite the rhythmic workout today. "We'll get there with time, bossman," she assured him.

With a slow nod, he accepted her words.

"Breathe, push your rhythm towards your partner." Pacifica sat cross legged on the ground, with Colette and Kaira in front of her.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Nina watched warily from nearby, her feathers ruffled as she kept a close eye on the otter.

To say the Ethereal was protective of her Maestro was an understatement. It did ease Pacifica's concerns about the bird (at least in the aspect that Colette was probably safe with the Ethereal by her side).

No, the worry in Pacifica's heart was how Nina would get along with all of the other Resonators and Maestros that now surrounded her. The otter sensed this was a situation the phoenix of legend wasn't accustomed to. Her previous Maestros must have kept her as a solitary Resonator. Small things about the fire element stuck out--she was a sucker for praise and attention; she loved being fawned over.

Probably a bad trait for a Resonator that attention brought danger to their Maestro.

That wasn't Pacifica's place, but perhaps it'd be something she'd mention to Colette.

The otter and phoenix met eyes. The Ethereal's gaze narrowed, as she curled in on herself and tensed up.

Maybe bringing this concern up to Kaira would fair better. At least with Kaira being Colette's "medicine", she'd be less "expendable" than Pacifica would be in the Ethereal's eyes.

Or at least, that was the theory.

Either way, that wasn't what was in front of her. She focused back on the two girls who had yet to sort their feelings for one another.

Kaira was back to silently pining for her Maestro, and while Colette remained as dense as a rock regarding her jackal's feelings. However, it was clear that the scholar sensed something was off.

The real question was how could Pacifica play match maker to get Colette to realize what was in front of her?

Another round against Desmond was probably easier.

For all her mental griping, Pacifica did have to admit--Colette was more approachable with her discordia managed.

Poor Kaira wasn't used to having so much of her rhythm cycled on the regular. From a Resonator's perspective, helping one's Maestro with discordia didn't take away from their rhythm, but it was exhausting if they did it all day.

On particularly stressful days Pacifica noticed Taika grow weary as time passed. They have had nearly a year to get used to it, so Taika held up far better. Pacifica and Rebecca could even fill in, though it took much more of their strength to rein in Shouri's wild rhythm.

"Are you okay, Pacifica?" asked Colette.

It was odd for the scholar to catch on to small emotional shifts like that. She didn't have the tact not to ask questions, though. At least this was a more appropriate one.

"Just thinking. Haven't had to teach another pair how to manage discordia. Me and the girls just had to do it for Sho, and we did it without really thinking about it," Pacifica explained. "From what Taika said, she didn't even know he had a condition for the longest time."

Colette hummed and nodded. "That makes sense, I think." She eyed her Resonator. "It's weird," mumbled the redhead.

Kaira's smile brought ease to her heart like no other did.

"I'll make sure you're well. Just please rely on me," urged the earth element.

"Definitely! It's nice to not feel weird when I walk into a room!" Colette beamed.

Pacifica let out a relieved sigh. She'd get them together one way or another. Her attention once more met the phoenix in the room. Hopefully Nina wouldn't become an obstacle. For all the confidence the otter had gained in the last few months, she wasn't sure if she could best an Ethereal one on one if it came down to it.

Taika scrubbed the railings on the second floor with a sanding sheet. It was hard, monotonous labor, but she had decided the paint on the metal was too far gone for a new coat to make a difference--so for that she worked it down.

The vixen's ears twitched as she heard car doors slam shut. Poking her head up, she saw Shouri and Rebecca hop into the van with Emily and her trio packed up and ready to go. She watched them depart with a tinge of sadness in her heart. They'd return yes, but there was always that tiny insignificant voice in her head that whispered: "But what if they don't?"

There was no sense dwelling on that, so to her task she returned. Most of the railing had been stripped down to its bare metal by this point. She'd make sure to get the good paint when they went shopping later. Couldn't have metal exposed to the elements wearing the cheap stuff.

A door opened from behind her, and the fox's tail bristled as she found herself in the company of the one person in the guild she couldn't see eye to eye with.

Miro's ears folded back as he realized he was alone with Taika. "Perdonami," he mumbled.

Normally he'd scuttle away to avoid the vixen's wrath. Today was different though, he was alone with Taika. Perhaps it was foolish, but the opportunity inspired some curiosity in the young Natural. He turned to meet her glare. She huffed and brushed past him toward the stairs. Even so, he threw his question out for her.

"Di dove sei?" asked Miro. It was an honest question--he hadn't heard about the vixen's origins, at least not in depth. Given that she spoke Naturalian by default he had his supicions.

The vixen paused, her back towards the Natural. "Non sono affari tuoi," came the gruff rebuttal.

Miro expected her to not be forthcoming with that information, but still his curiosity raged on. He opened his maw, but closed it. His stomach churned even having to ask this question, but still he pressed on. "Chi ti ha possedeva?" uttered the fox boy. His phrasing was intentional, but still "owner" was such a nasty word to use in reference to another living being.

Taika hung her shoulders, her tail bristling up at the question. Miro braced himself for a fight, but no physical aggression came his way.

Much to his surprise, the lunar fox answered. "Clan Voli."

His eyes widened as his breath caught in his throat. If the Natural had visible skin, it would have paled. "Per gli divinità! Ti povera ragazza…" he uttered without thinking.

She turned to him, a wrathful fire in her eyes. "Non azzardarti a dirlo a qualcuno," snarled the Resonator. The beads under her shirt clattered wildly, as if being suppressed by their wearer. Her suffocating rhythm washed over him like a sandstorm. He knew Shouri and his trio were strong, but he had never imagined Taika herself could let out this much raw power.

She demanded his silence--not to tell a soul what she just revealed to him. Miro waved his paws and shook his head."Non lo farò! Promesso!" he cried out, desperately hoping that was enough to stem her blazing rage.

Her glower remained on the smaller fox for a moment longer. Finally, she snorted sharply. "Good," Taika huffed. She turned and strode down the walkway, not paying the Natural any more attention.

Miro let out a held breath. Rather than fear or anger, the little Natural pitied the poor Resonator. Now knowing Taika's past, he understood the full scope of the picture, he couldn't blame her. "Clan Voli… Non mi meraviglio che ci odi."