"And so I will be sending you away to a place filled with many people I have no relation to in a self discovery journey." Said Aki, with a very serious face toward the tanned woman with short wavy hair that perfectly framed her heart shaped face and almond eyes.
They both stood a bit to the window, she was sat in a chair over the coffee table of his office and he stood, brewing a bit of tea, which just now got ready and sitting himself in front of the beauty.
"Uh, what?"
"Yeah, jokes asside, I'll be direct with you Nat, there's nothing I can get you to do around here, and hardly anyone would like to have you around." The woman was already frowing in an adorable way, but she could see there was a 'but' in there. "That's why I'm sending you to one of the only fuckers that might just become your best friend and into a job that perfectly fits your abilities." He said while smiling sweetly and extending his hand, as if asking for a dance.
"Why are you telling me like this them?" Natalie was confused, she'd noticed how he wanted to care for her and there was even a bit of a spark when she gave him her hand.
"Because even now you are already developing a crush for me, aren't you?" He asked seriously while holding her hand between his. "Don't. Even if I consider you adorable, I simply wouldn't be able to satisfy someone as clingy as myself with my current schedule, which is something I quite like. Throwing it away for a maybe would be stupid and change me a lot. Do you understand?" He calmly explained to the serial kidnapper in front of him.
"I, think I do. Could you let go of my hand now?" She seriously replied.
"Ok. I'm clingy with my friends too though, so tell me if you need a hug." He did as asked and shrugged. "Now, just to confirm one thing, you said all of your lovers were men, but do you have any attraction to females? Would cause some problems with that girl, but you two could probably use a..."
"Nope, pretty sure I'm straight." She raised a hand and interrupted him.
"So said a lot of women she'd seduced too, but if you garrantee yourself, than that's fine." He smiled and got up, offering a hand. "Welcome to the Shield agent Romanoff."
"Were you trying to make a reference to the avengers just now?" She asked while taking his hand and shaking it, a brown raised. Not all people who go to hell are nerds.
"Maybe." He admitted.
*****
"And that's why I'm here." Explained the hooded woman in front of Robin. She couldn't help the twitch in her eye when she heard that voice, but she mostly kept a serious expression. She was about to quickly dismiss her so they could talk later, but her next question caught her completely by surprise. "I'm sorry to ask, but how do you see me?"
That made her completely stop for a moment.
"What?" Was all she could muster. Aki had said her partner would be strange and that she shouldn't be too much of a manipulative bitch and use her character against her unless she went nuts, but this was so much worse than anything she imagined.
For herself, of course.
"I have a curse that makes everyone see me as their ideal of beauty." Fuck me. "Though it's not perfect and doesn't change my actual appearance much, it's just a bother really." Deep breaths. "And we are going to work together for a while at least, so I thought it would be something interesting to know." She awkwardly suggested. If she'd noticed the impact she had on the bunny girl, she hid it well.
"Sounds quite useful. I'll tell you later, I have a performance now and the owner is already looking at me." She said and pointed to the man behind the counter. Robin had been singing some songs Aki had lent her, with outmost glee one might add, and practically didn't have to pay for any room, food or reputation she wished for during her travels. Without going to the underworld, adventurers guild or whoring around!
All of that was on the premise that her 'siren-like' voice wouldn't falter and didn't surpass a certain quality though.
Robin would not let her shocked state interrupt a presentation. She'd long surpassed that. At worst she'd over-perform and call it a lucky day or say she'd had an epiphany.
From her point of view, she'd just picked a random song and dedicated some thought to singing it while using most of her brain power to solve the current hurdle her new 'partner' presented.
To her audience, it looked like she'd sang a self composed song about herself, her experiences with the hardships of life, a indirect story that told herself not to cry over all the tragedies and mistakes of her choices.
Women related greatly to the song. Man wanted to protect her. Some respect her, some pitied her.
(Robin is singing 'Princesses don't cry' from Avivas/Caris)
*****
"So, what were we talking about?" Asked the semi naked rabbit-kin drying herself with a towel while directing herself to the divisor on the room so she could dress herself.
Truth be told, she didn't seem like a person that cared if other people looked while she dressed, just someone following a social nicety.
A necessary habit when you combine her personality with her body. Just the glimpses Natalie got made her quite uncomfortable with herself, and she actually looked her best below the curse.
Acording to Aki, it was yet another irony supposed to help her fall in dispear and stay there. It was fairly effective.
"We were only getting to know each other really. Unless you think there's something important I should know or we should agree on..." She left it in the air, the other woman already humming while thinking.
"Our cover story for knowing each other? Just saying, I won't be all chummy out of nowhere, so no long lost sister or lover thingy." Said the rabbit, already wearing a thin top and putting a 'dress' that looked like a bolt of silk a princes would wear or something.
The desert country, even if magical, was still windy and hot, so the fashion around was either to have exposed skin, or simply being completely covered with protection. Just image your stereotype of what a hijab looks like, but longer.
The one Robin put on showed her now tanned midriff, hid her ears, and was forest green in color. Paired with puffy white pants and delicate shoes that hugged her small feet while offering magical traction, she looked like a beautiful woman making a living a a bard/adventurer around here, if clearly foreign.
"I was actually thinking distant cousins. I decided to go out in the world and heard a familiar face, who I'd not seen in years, was passing through. You didn't like me as much as when we were kids but the two smart women decided it'd be better to work together to start a new life." Nat narrated a story she'd thought of. It would practically explain every interaction they had. Even the different species could be explained with some more casual bullshit that would rapidly become small talk.
"You're going to need new clothes, a registration and an excuse for your curse." The older woman mentioned without looking at the sinner, now unhooded, for long.
"Aki had me do a whole three character backstories and had documents with my current and normal looks made. As if I'd re-issued them after having an unidentifiable face. And made me choose five changes of clothing then shoved them in this dimensional artifact." She pointed to the bracelet on her wrist. It didn't seem to have any space between her skin and it's surface, but Aki was adamant on that feature. Suddenly, the shorter woman noticed something and hurriedly checked herself as if looking for something, before stopping, rolling her eyes at her stupidity and summoning a pair of golden earrings, they were diamond shaped with emeralds in the same shape in their middle.
"He told me to give you these. It's a temporary holding amulet or something, it can be stored inside other dimensional items and doesn't leave trace. There's a normal holding item inside so you can store the supplies inside and five more of these temporary ones. They only work for twelve hours after being activated, but otherwise don't have any other differences." She explained while handing the earrings to the stunned woman.
"He wasn't kidding... This will save me so much time and work." She groaned.
"And us in the future." Natalie tried, causing the bunny girl to stare at her for a bit, as of uncertain of what to say. Robin opened her mouth a bit, and just hanged it there for a couple of seconds before closing it again.
"Sorry, this is normally the moment when I lie my ass off. Yeah, having a long term partner that isn't there just out of duty of blackmail doesn't sound to bad. I'm still going solo for this next mission though." She explained and pointed out, getting a small smile out of her new partner.
*****
Siting over a pile of laid bodies, there stood a werewolf. Shirtless and combing his wild hair.
"And that's why you interrupt people during their speeches, transformations and idiotic wondering over the truths of the universe." Aki stated, much calmer now that he'd practically shoved a dick in the throat of every adult vampire in his state.
Truth be told, the idea of skull fucking so many beautiful people until they are gagging and begging was attracting for him, but it didn't take any thought to deem such idea as a bad one.
"And what does that Intel?" He slowly intoned before randomly picking one slightly less beaten vampire.
"Only monologe if you want to buy time." The frail looking man with a monocle suddenly felt much better before getting a hand sign saying he should carry on. "Use important info if needed, wide speculations are more likely to be reached than the truth and this way several misunderstandings and doubts will be created." The count finished with a smile.
"Good. Just never forget your opponent might be aware of your tactics and is preparing to counter them. An example being what everyone else can see." Aki nodded and caught the knife magically hanging just a bit above the neck of the man who'd answered his question and twirled it in his hand a bit, showing the man in question. "Your opponent can always be more than they show. Some can be madman and woman who will not care even if you show your worth. The best in those situations is to make sure they can't get their footing no matter what, otherwise, be fast to pop your head off, because death is going to be much easier to deal with." He said and clapped tunderously. "Class is done, just one announcement before you all leave. Monocle here is going to be our first honor student. The first abyssal vampire. Able to walk through the sun and much less affected by all of your weaknesses. That's not because he has secretly gave head, tortured or conspired, but because he knew how to use all his strengths and overcome my requirements. Which of course, include some of the before mentioned, but still." That got him some chuckles out of the more dirty minded, but everyone was quite jealous of the man in a tousled suit right now.
They'd be a lot less envious if they knew that they'd need to develop sun resistance through several hours of healing against the effects of several light tipes concentrated against their bodies until they reached a point they could actually benefit from the ultraviolet destroying their bodies and properly got immune.
As Aki pondered over such things, he'd already put on a noble shirt and some less battle ready shoes.
'It's almost time.' He noted while checking the very expensive clock he'd bought. It was just a cheap thing with silver working on it. Wasn't even that good and he had to use enchantments to get it somewhat more precise at determining the time and more durable since he couldn't coax the system into making a proper clock.
No, Aki wanted an ebon carved clock case with perfect workmanship on the cogs so he could use the whole space for more useful enchants. He'd not been able to find a better clock to buy or rob, so he was still looking. If possible, one with direwolf designs, but he wasn't going to be picky with the appearance of his spy tools first.
Much like the girls working for him, Aki was going for an operation in some moments.
"I'd rather be tall, I'd rather be smart, I'd rather you know I care! Wherever you go, whatever you start, I'd rather be sure you know I'm there! I'd rather I always be a part of whatever you do! I'd rather be me with you!"
He, instead, was singing the song of a cartoon show instead of edgy teen music. Not many people could hear him either, there were only a few guards and the occasional carriage on the road.
Considering it was merely a 'rehearsal', it was more than ok for it to be like that. The difference between level 8 and level 10 was still great though, which is why there suddenly was a mass of guards proposing and several couples suddenly having that flame rekindled.
"And since I'm technically in a stealth mission, a bit of American gods." He murmured as he reached the outer gate of the ministry of magic.
At the ritim of a great sound track, all guards at earshot suddenly had glassy eyes, their minds convinced it was not worth it trying to stop the man in front of them. They'd do their outmost to forget.
Whoever was later told to check who'd robbed a wizardry fortress, could only curse at all rituals involving the sacrifice of children, because each and every guard had completly erased the problem from their minds.
Read the book. And damn all man on it but aunt Nancy, for me. Almost all of them deserve it.