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

May 31st, 2018AR

Another Thursday morning and another morning where Shouri Tomoshibi found himself wrapped up in a cocoon of tailed girls. Taika was the recipient of his embrace this morning, with the typical arrangement of Rebecca and Pacifica flanking their backs. Rebecca and Taika could at least deal with one another’s presence now, which was an improvement, though asking them to hold each other would probably cause some animosity.

Baby steps with those two.

Either way, today had been booked pretty heavily with each of the three girls wanting to do something different.

Unlike back in Riva Sranvi where Pacifica and Taika wanted separate “dates”, today the three wanted to do things together.

It was relieving that they were growing close to one another.

...

Was this really okay?

Was it okay that he was happy with these three?

What if she was in pain somewhere and he was wasting his time here?

“Sho.” Pacifica’s voice roused him from his thoughts. “Don’t think like that.”

“What, you a mind reader now?” he whispered back.

“No, but I know what that face means. Especially now.” She smirked.

Another day had begun and Shouri would focus on the day ahead of him.

Rebecca took the lead as they walked around the historic streets of Leono. “The buildings around here are so different!” Taika exclaimed, taking in the rustic brick buildings they passed by.

“Leono has been around for a couple hundred years, it’s a really old city that prides itself on its storied past,” Shouri explained.

“It’s a lot cleaner than I expected.” Pacifica too was studying the local architecture as they passed by various locally run shops.

The group’s current leader came to a stop in front of a certain building. “Here we are.” Rebecca flashed the tuner to the group and pointed to the business they had gathered at.

“The Forum Australis”

“What... is it?” Pacifica asked, not gleaning any useful information from the name of the shop.

“Well if Rebecca wanted to go here, there must be a reason,” Shouri decided. “Come on.”

Piling into the small shop, their questions remained unanswered. There was a variety of smells in the air: earthy odors, but also the distinct aromas of flowers and other natural scents.

The quartet started to slowly look around, finding there were prices on various items in the store, along with names.

They found clothing, jewelry, pottery, furniture, paintings and drawings. Looking around further they found hand-made kitchen utensils as well as soaps, bath bombs, and other artisan goods.

“What is this place, Rebecca?” Shouri quietly asked his Resonator, feeling it rude to raise his voice any further.

“I-I thought it was like an art museum or something and I thought you’d like nerd junk like that,” the fire element hissed; ears folded back as she desperately tried to hide her embarrassment. “Sorry for wasting our time,” she muttered quietly.

Before Shouri could try to console Rebecca, Pacifica stepped between the pair. The otter excitedly presented a bar of soap to Shouri. “Sho! Sho! Can I get this!?” Pacifica cared not about the atmosphere here, using her normal speaking voice.

Shouri smirked, glancing over at Rebecca. “Certainly. I’m glad we came here,” he declared, also in his normal speaking voice. Rebecca kept her head lowered, but smiled.

For the second outing of the day, they found their way out of town. Thankfully Leono was on the smaller end of the large Lyberteran cities and as such it only took a small bus trip to get out into the wilderness.

Pacifica led the way to their second activity, her own tuner in hand just as Rebecca had before.

“So where are we going now?” Shouri questioned as they disembarked from the bus. There were many other tourists also disembarking. Many had large backpacks for camping or were generally hiking.

“This is the Evergreen Bayou – it’s a super famous spot a lot of otters come to. I just had to visit it while we’re here!” Pacifica beamed.

“It’s stupid humid here,” Rebecca noted.

“Don’t worry about that!” Pacifica wrapped an arm around her fellow Resonator’s neck. “You’ll be perfectly safe with me!” the otter declared, her tail wagging excitedly.

“I’m worried,” Rebecca groaned, ears folding back once more.

“I’m also worried,” Shouri muttered.

“I’m sure it’ll be okay Sho.” Taika patted her Maestro’s back, though she spoke more to convince herself of her own words than him.

Unlike Rebecca, who didn’t even know what her choice of destination for the day was about, Pacifica had already made all the proper reservations needed. With a quick exchange of paperwork, they were ready to go.

“So what exactly are we doing here?” Shouri braved asking.

“BOAT!” Pacifica excitedly shouted.

Rebecca paled at the idea. “No thanks, you can have my share.” She hugged herself, tail wrapping around the inside of her leg.

“Come on Rebby! I’ll keep you safe! Promise!” Pacifica pleaded with the fire elemental.

“I can’t swim and lake water is cold, and smells,” Rebecca countered.

“The smell is the best part!” the otter insisted.

Shouri and Taika’s eyes went back and forth as Pacifica and Rebecca had their minor disagreement about lakes.

Finally, the Maestro decided to cut in as the voice of reason. “Pacifica, this is all fine and dandy, but you need a license to drive a boat,” he pointed out.

The otter all of a sudden gained an aura of smugness, clicking her tongue in pity for these fools. “My dear Maestro, your Resonator came prepared with her boating license.” Reaching into the inside of her swimming trunks, she retrieved the plastic card and presented it to her Maestro.

Lybertera

Boater Card

Resonant Registrant

Pacifica (W/P) [Otter]

Date of Issue

2/23/2014

Maestro Registrant

Priscilla Nicchi

Sex

F

Eyes

BLU

Hair

BRN

Hgt

5’5”

DOB

2/23/1999

Sure enough, it was a valid card alright; though it was registered to her mother rather than Shouri. “Resonators can get licenses?” Rebecca questioned.

“Yeah, there just has to be a Maestro attached to the license as well for liability reasons.” He looked to the proud otter, who stood akimbo wearing a big, bright grin on her face. “Are you sure your mom is cool with you using this?” he inquired wearily.

“Yeah yeah!” She nodded enthusiastically. “I got that license on my fifteenth birthday specifically so I could go out boating. She wouldn’t have signed off on it if she didn’t want me using it,” Pacifica told her Maestro, her air of pride nearly taking tangible form.

He sighed. Hopefully, nothing too crazy would happen – he didn’t want to have to explain himself to her mother. Handing the card back to its owner, he acquiesced to her desires: “Fine Fine, we’ll go along with it.”

Pacifica lit up even further and practically assaulted her Maestro with a hug. “YES! Thank you so much Sho!” She squeezed him tightly, shaking him back and forth.

“Guhhh we’re all wearing life jackets though!” he managed to get out.

“They really just let you rent boats too huh...?” Rebecca mumbled to herself while she secured her life jacket. Shouri shot a glance over to the fire fox, noting she wasn’t having any trouble with the vest itself, but still seemed bothered by something that wasn’t the water.

“Hey, what’s up?” he whispered to the ombré fox.

“Ah.” She shot a sidelong glance at Pacifica, who was showing Taika the various parts of the speed boat they had rented.

“I-it’s nothing,” she decided. As she turned her head back to Shouri, she caught his disapproving glare. “Try again?” she hesitantly asked. He nodded.

She blushed, averting her gaze. “I... like cars...” she sheepishly admitted.

Shouri was surprised by that. “Really?” he asked. She nodded quickly. He hummed studying his Resonator.

“Do you want to drive?” he asked.

The fire fox lit up but quickly snuffed out her excitement. “N-no! It’d bother you...” she muttered. A squeak escaped her lips as Shouri placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair.

“It bothers me more that you’re not being honest with me.” He grinned toothily.

The blood already rushing through her cheeks only intensified. This boy was too much. “It’d bother you,” she repeated.

“Hey! Get over here! Let’s get going!” Pacifica shouted, interrupting their moment.

“We’re not done with this conversation,” Shouri warned Rebecca before turning to address Pacifica.

“Mmmrgh...” To say she still wasn’t used to him was an understatement. This was a good problem to have, regardless.

The four passengers got onto the boat, Taika and Shouri taking the sides, with the water-wary Rebecca between them. Pacifica was at the back manning the motor. “AWWW-RIGHT! LET’S GET MOVING!” She kicked the idling motor into gear and blasted off from the dock.

Taika began screaming at the sudden acceleration.

Shouri held on tight and whipped his head back, angrily yelling something at Pacifica.

And Rebecca...

She smiled. Her heart raced; her breath deepened. She forgot all about the sloshing underneath her, the tight vest binding her chest, the cold water splashing onto her face, the lakey odor – she was numb to it. The speed, the feeling in her gut, the scenery blurring by; she loved it. She wanted to urge Pacifica to go faster, but her heart hammered with such excitement she found her voice stuck in her throat.

She felt... alive.

Evening arrived and Pacifica got her fill of boating, much to the ire of the rest of her party. The quartet returned to town, moistened and exhausted from the day’s events.

However, it wasn’t over yet. It was now Taika’s turn to pick where they would go, and like her two contemporaries before her, she led the way with tuner in hand.

“Dovrebbe essere in questo modo...” the lunar fox mumbled to herself, comparing the map on her screen to the landmarks around them.

“Are we lost?” Rebecca questioned wearily.

“I-I’m sure Taika knows where she’s going – she has a map.” Pacifica tried to head off the fight at the pass.

“Does she know how to read a map?” the fire fox added, brow raised.

“Rebecca, behave,” Shouri chided the snarky fox.

Thankfully for the peace of the city streets, Taika was much more focused on navigation than she was on Rebecca’s snide remarks. Suddenly her ears perked up and her tail swished excitedly. “Here it is!” she exclaimed, rushing away.

The trio gave chase and turned the corner to find Taika pointing at their destination. It was a small building, matching the surrounding aging infrastructure quite well. The front was illuminated by lights and the sign that hung off the front of the building

“Ronny – Q’s” was the name of the establishment. And it seemed to be quite the popular little joint, as there was a not-so-insignificant number of people loitering around the entrance.

The group gathered together and Taika led the way. “Scusami, are you waiting in line?” she asked one of the people hanging around the door.

“No, you gotta reserve a table with the waitress,” the patron told them.

“Ah.” Shouri nodded.

“Hopefully the wait isn’t too bad,” Pacifica chimed in.

...

“Yes, currently for a table of four, we’re looking at a wait of about two hours.”

Shouri and Rebecca turned and glared at Pacifica.

“Okay look! I didn’t think that would excite the wish sage!” the otter barked in her defense.

“It’s okay, we can just go elsewhere,” Taika decided, ushering the group out of the packed building.

“Yeah! I’m sure there’s plenty of restaurants we can go to here.” Pacifica patted her fellow Resonator’s back as they made their way out.

...

“LOOK! SAHJI IS AFTER ME I SWEAR,” Pacifica cried out, cowering from the ire of her friends. Once more she was forced to defend her honor as Rebecca and Shouri towered over her.

Taika frowned at her tuner – they had been to half a dozen different spots around town and none of them had reasonable wait times. She sighed, turning off the screen. “Who is Sahji?” She decided to sate her curiosity over her hunger.

“He’s one of the Seven Sages, specifically the one lording over hopes and wishes,” Shouri began.

“His thing is tricking people into stabbing themselves with his muse, the End of Desire,” Pacifica chimed in.

“Real nasty thing that is,” Rebecca commented.

“What’s that?” Taika raised a brow. It was kind of inconvenient growing up in a Natural town – this kind of human-based mythos was totally lost on her.

“It’s a sword belonging to Sahji. Supposedly it has the ability to grant any wish – should you survive running it through your heart,” Shouri explained.

“And Sahji will appear before people he’s taken an interest in and offer it to them, usually leading to their death!” Pacifica added.

“Basically, he’s a bad omen,” Shouri concluded.

“Ohhhh, I get it. If he’s interested in you, it’s super bad.” Taika nodded.

“Right. Over time it became pretty commonplace to curse your bad luck as Sahji trying to make your life more 'interesting' for his own sick amusement,” Shouri told her.

Rebecca rolled her eyes, folding her arms across her chest. “Well, he certainly made our dinner choice 'interesting',” she huffed.

They were all famished at this point, skipping lunch in favor of Pacifica’s boating adventure.

“We could get those.” Taika pointed to a little sub shop just up the street that looked pretty empty at first glance.

“I’m willing to eat anything at this point.” Shouri started walking that way.

“I hope they toast ‘em. Want something warm right now.” Rebecca rubbed her rebelling stomach, hoping to calm it for a few more minutes.

“I’m just gonna shut up in case Sahji is still watching,” Pacifica mumbled with a nervous chuckle.

Indeed Sahji had stopped watching them it seemed as not only was the sub-shop empty outside of its Resonator employees, but it had everything the starving group wanted.

They had opted to eat there, and no leftovers remained despite each of them getting full-length sandwiches.

Finally satiated, the four made their way back to the MA Office, this time Shouri in the lead with all three of their tuners by his side.

“Wait, Sho.” Pacifica stopped him.

Turning back, all three of his Resonators faced him.

“It’s funny we talked about the sages earlier,” Pacifica started. “Cause today is Sage Luca’s day.” She smiled.

He gulped, hard. “R-right. Sage Luca is the sage of Life. Today is May 31st.” The boy’s mind raced. He spaced on this – today was the day when people profess their love for each other. And his three Resonators were giving him a particular look.

Pacifica reached out and grabbed Shouri’s hands.

“You saved my life.” The otter smiled brightly.

Taika grabbed his and Pacifica’s hands next. “You’ve given me a life I thought I could only dream of.”

Finally Rebecca too joined in the gathering of hands. “You freed me from being a thing, an object.”

He stared at the trio of girls who spoke from the heart. He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t find the words.

“We know what happened in your past.”

“We’re here for you now.”

“Come hell or high water we’ll always rush to your side.”

“You’re not gonna scare us away.”

“You’d probably have a difficult time chasing us off.”

“In fact, I’d say you’re stuck with us.”

The boy remained awe-struck as they each spoke in turn, the entire time their rhythm rushing through him, wrapping around his form and holding him tightly, validating the truth of their words. They smiled serenely, taking in a breath.

“Thank you so much for being our Maestro, Shouri!”

The first June morning began with a request from Pacifica: “I wanna call my parents if that’s okay.”

“Sure, I don’t have a problem with that,” Shouri replied.

They left Taika and Rebecca to sleep in for a little bit longer while they snuck out of the room.

Like nearly every other MA Office, the Leono branch had a small common room with vending machines and computer terminals (mainly for Resonators to use).

“Holler if you need me.” Shouri loitered in the hallway, to give his Resonator some privacy with her parents.

Pacifica smiled as she typed in her mother’s number and initiated the call. It didn’t take long for the older woman to answer. Her mother, Priscilla appeared on the screen. “Good morning my little otter! Where are you at today?”

“Morning Mom! We’re at the Leono MA Office,” Pacifica replied.

“Oh, we haven’t been there yet, your father will be jealous for sure. Did you go to the Evergreen Bayou?”

“Sure did! I rented a boat and took it for a ride!”

“It sounds like you’re having a wonderful time with your Maestro.”

“Definitely, Sho is the best! Though it hasn’t been all easy.”

Priscilla raised a brow. “Oh? Do tell.”

“I-It’s nothing we couldn’t handle!”

“Pacificaaaa...”

The otter crumbled under the pressure. “Uhhh, so remember the first night I called you after I got my Maestro...?”

Pacifica poked her head out from the common room, call completed. Shouri stood against one of the walls, checking the latest headlines or whatever as usual on one of his tuners. She stepped out, biting her bottom lip as she racked her brain trying to figure out how to break the news to her Maestro.

“Heyyyyyy Shooooooo...” she called out to him

There was something about her tone that immediately put the Maestro on edge. “I already don't like where this is going.”

“Ahahahaha nothing gets by you...” She averted her gaze, continuing to chuckle nervously.

“What did you do?” He narrowed his eyes.

“Right, so my conversation with my parents didn't go according to plan. Aaaaand they just MIGHT be on their way to pick us up right now.”