Rijin had a complicated relationship with his own mother. She was a very loving and caring woman, she was greatly respected by the people of Midoku as well as his father who loved her dearly. Unfortunately, these were only things Rijin had heard about his mother. He had never had the pleasure of actually getting to meet her since something happened to her before Rijin was born. He may not be able to relate to much with Lia and Adonis, but this was the first sense of common ground he felt he had with them. While Garus and Fuju held back humor and jest, Rijin did not find the situation humorous at all, especially seeing Lia and Adonis's reactions.
Lia was doubled over looking at the ground. Any time someone tried to comfort her, whether it be a party member or one of her handmaidens, she simply waved them off. Adonis just stared into the middle distance in disbelief. "My mother is…a prostitute…" Adonis said faintly.
"If it helps at all," Prometheus said, "she is the head prostitute."
Lia gagged like she was about to hurl, "that does not help even in the slightest Prometheus." The visage of their mother floated on the disc in the middle of the party. Why was it still there? If it was so horrid then why leave it for them to still look at? Rijin couldn't see the reason.
"Can you get rid of the image of their mother? It does not seem to be helping," Rijin said.
"It is more than an image," Prometheus replied. He stuck out his hand and spoke, "play." The visage began to move and change. The sediment contorted and shifted to make a flowing image come to life before them.
"Greetings," the visage said, "this message is meant for the Council of Zerlif, I am Lisandra, the Oiran of LES and assistant to Mr. Goshiki. I would like to have a meeting with my daughter and son; Adonis and Lia. I will leave it to them to decide how the meeting will be conducted, just please let me know by sending me a message by midnight tonight. I look forward to seeing the both of you and…catching up." The visage stopped moving after that and then condensed itself back to what it was before.
Everyone was silent for a moment. The sound of the waves in the bay and revelry around became much louder than before. No one wanted to speak until Lia or Adonis had a chance to speak first.
Adonis opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He just continued to look puzzled. Lia looked angry, incredibly angry, her eyebrows fully furrowed. "That bitch," she suddenly said. Rijin's mind completely froze. He looked around at the other party members who all had similar reactions themselves. Qrow bursted out laughing.
"I guess that is one way to put it," he said through a laugh. Lia shot him a look and he quieted down quick enough after.
"This woman leaves when I'm a child, says she is going on a spiritual journey, then shows up in my life 20 years later as a prostitute. What a joke." Lia says. The tension is thick in the air. Rijin is surprised to see this side of Lia.
Adonis, still in a shocked state, looks towards the group, "What do we do?" he asks.
"Well we have to meet with her," Fuju answers, speaking up. "No matter how we may feel about it, she has a device." Everyone agreed but not many were willing to speak their support. For they knew that if any one decided to speak out then it would be too presumptuous of them to assume they could determine Adonis or Lia's will.
"Yes," Adonis says, "we should meet with her. I will go alone."
"Absolutely not," Lia says, "you are not talking to her without me."
"She may have hurt me but she hurt you more Lia. You are not ready to confront that pain," Adonis says.
"Isn't that for her to decide?" Qrow says. Adonis ignores Qrow's words.
"Adonis…" Lia starts to say.
"This is an order Lia, as your ruler," Adonis says in a forthright manner.
"If I may interject," Rijin spoke up. Instantly Adonis looked at him with anger. Rijin knew he should take the hint but his morality would not let him. He knew he had to say something, "as someone who also has a complicated relationship with their mother, it is best not to leave your sibling out of the conversation. Both of you are hurting because of this woman, neither of you should have to endure that pain alone." Rijin expected backlash or anger but that was not what he received. Adonis's eyes softened and he looked at Lia. Rijin knew what he was thinking. He had seen the same look in his own sister's eyes before. Adonis just wanted to protect his sister, but protecting her here was doing more harm than good.
"Adonis, your heart is in the right place, but don't push her away just because you don't think this is a burden she should have to bear. I know from experience, that is something for her to decide," Rijin continued.
Adonis nodded as he kept looking at Lia, "if you are ready to face her…" he said uncertain. He turned towards Rijin, "thank you…I think I needed that advice." Rijin suddenly felt a way he was not used to feeling; bashful. He nodded but didn't say anything else.
"What the hell just happened?" Qrow asked in shock. "Did Rijin just do something helpful and not antagonistic!" Qrow said, putting his hands on his cheeks in an exuberant manner.
"So tomorrow…morning? Lia and Adonis will go see their mother, while the rest of us need to figure out how to get these devices and get into the base under LES," Fuju said.
"That is too much for all of us to do separately," Lia said, "we have not had much luck with splitting up."
"What if we didn't split up," Garus said smiling. Everyone looked towards him, "what if we made them come to us?"