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

Cold. That’s what young Taika felt as once more, her pushy otter friend had dragged her into the water this fine Tuesday morning. Truth be told, she did get used to the water like Pacifica insisted, but she kept that to herself – it sucked at the moment and that’s what mattered.

That being said, day by day it was getting easier to swim. The young fox grew more confident, though the deep end of the pool still looked daunting.

“Okay but watch!”

Even with Pacifica scrambling up the diving board and hurling herself into the air to do cool tricks before she splashed easily into the deep end of the pool. It didn’t help that Taika knew Pacifica could breathe underwater.

Hard to be afraid of the murky depths when you could breathe unimpeded, supposed Taika.

“What’s up?” Pacifica was suddenly in front of her

“Ah!” the vixen yelped, startled by her friend’s appearance.

A moment of silence. “Well?” Pacifica asked expectingly.

“N-Nulla! Non è nulla!” Taika insisted

“Doesn’t seem like nothing.” The otter, of course, could read all of her friends like books on a shelf, and Taika was no exception.

“It’s nothing,” the lunar element repeated, now growing annoyed with her friend’s pushiness.

“Ah.” Pacifica wilted slightly, sensing Taika’s irritation. “Sorry,” she muttered, quickly floating away.

Bitterly, Taika turned her back to the retreating water-element. “Great,” she mumbled. She sure was doing a fantastic job alienating all her friends.

Rebecca came back to mind. Of course, it was her fault. Everything got weird when she came into the picture.

“So please, give Rebecca a chance”

Ruffling her hair in frustration, Taika sighed. Shouri specifically asked her to drop the hostilities. He even said he needed her! There wasn’t a point in being so catty with her. All it was doing was putting her in a sour mood and driving her only friends in the entire world away.

It wasn’t going to be easy. But Taika needed to figure out how to...

become friends with Rebecca.

Twitch twitch

Taika’s ears flicked at the clacking sounds above her. She was lying on something warm. Ah, it was Pacifica again. Glancing up, she saw her fellow Resonator was holding some sort of black plastic thing which was the source of the clacking. Pacifica’s focus was directed towards the television.

Oh, Pacifica was playing a video game. Taika had seen them before in passing, but never got a chance to try one for herself. For some time, the lunar fox lay there, trying to take in what exactly was going on. The gameplay appeared fast and confusing. All Taika could make out was that Pacifica was playing as some white-haired armored robot boy? Followed by a red and white orb. There was a lot of dashing around the screen and running into walls and enemies, but it didn’t seem like Pacifica was sloppy. No, each impact looked intentional and only served to make the numbers on the screen grow.

At least as far as the uneducated fox was concerned, her otter friend was pretty good at this.

Whatever it was.

Time passed, with Taika only really becoming cognizant of where she was when she heard Shouri’s voice in the distance. Unconsciously she began to wag her tail which of course alerted Pacifica. “Sleep well?” the otter asked.

“Si...” Taika yawned, curling up a bit.

“Good,” Pacifica giggled, stroking her friend’s hair.

Soon Shouri and Rebecca joined the other pair in the living room.

“Morning Sho,” both Taika and Pacifica greeted their Maestro.

“Time of day,” Shouri said through a yawn.

“Morning Rebby,” Pacifica additionally greeted the fourth member of their group.

“Morning Pacifica,” Rebecca mumbled groggily.

Taika shifted around uncomfortably, still with her head resting on Pacifica’s lap. “R-Rebecca,” she muttered.

“...Taika,” the fire fox greeted back – though they both spoke at a level that only they could hear each other.

Either way – this was going to be more difficult than the young lunar Resonator had envisioned.

Around lunch time the group convened at the table to decide what to do. Pacifica’s parents were out dealing with some non-specific business so that left the younger group to fend for themselves.

A frightening prospect indeed.

“So what do we want to do for lunch?” Shouri queried the group.

“Fish fish fish!” Pacifica pounded the table

“Blech no.” Rebecca grimaced at the prospect of seafood.

Taika shot a glare at the fire Resonator. She didn’t care for seafood either, but most seafood places from her own experience did have non-fish items. The vixen decided to give her fellow fox a piece of her mind.

As she opened her mouth, however-

“Please, give Rebecca a chance”

-Shouri of the past cut her off at the pass. She snapped her jaw shut. It was really just that easy to hate Rebecca, huh? She hadn’t realized how often her thoughts soured whenever the other fox so much as opened her mouth. Her expression soured further. When did she become this nasty? This wasn’t like her.

Her heart began to race. What if Shouri decided she wasn’t worth the hassle?

“Taika?”

“CHE?!” The lunar jumped.

Three pairs of eyes stared at her. Shouri and Pacifica were wrought with worry, while Rebecca seemed indifferent.

Taika felt her brows descend into a glare directed at Rebecca, who was all too ready to return the scowl.

“Hey, cut it out you two,” Pacifica intervened.

While Rebecca huffed and turned away, Taika lowered her head, ashamed. “Non ho fame…” the lunar fox muttered, before excusing herself from the table in a rush.

Pacifica got up to chase after her friend but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. However, it was not Shouri who had halted her.

“Let me go talk to her.”

“R-rebby?!”

The otter looked from her fellow Resonator to their Maestro. His eyes were locked on the fire elemental. He didn’t need to say anything.

“I won’t cause trouble,” Rebecca acquiesced to the unspoken demand.

“Good. Go.” He motioned his head towards the hallway Taika had retreated down. “Pacifica and I will figure out lunch when you two are done.”

Taking in a deep breath, Rebecca slowly left the dining room. She crept down the hallway, giving herself ample time to consider what she was going to say to the other canine girl.

Standing at the bend in the hall, Rebecca’s ears twitched. The faint sound of breathing was coming from the right room – one of the guest bedrooms.

Stepping into the doorframe, Rebecca looked around the room. It was full of nick-nacks like Pacifica’s room. Trophies and ribbons from various competitions, though she wasn’t nosy enough to actually see what kind of events or even who they were awarded to.

No, she was there for the black-clad lump that had her back towards the door.

“Hey,” Rebecca spoke up.

“Vada via,” Taika grumbled, curling in on herself.

“Tch.” The fire Resonator clicked her tongue – once more she tried to extend an olive branch only for it to get smacked out of her hands. She had opened her mouth to voice her opinion but stopped short.

What was this feeling? While emotion was her strong stave, she was nowhere near the almost mind-reading high level that Pacifica possessed.

Even so, there was quite a strong reaction from Taika. One which Rebecca picked up on. Her expression softened, ears folding back. “What happened to you?”

Taika sat up suddenly, directing her confused gaze towards the other fox. “Che?” she breathed out.

Rebecca shook her head. “N-nothing. It’s nothing,” she decided.

The two foxes lowered their heads, averting their gazes from one another. Both awash in emotion and thought they remained rooted in their respective places: Rebecca at the door; Taika sitting up on the bed.

“I’m sorry.”

They both looked at the other, having spoken in unison.

“For what?” Taika queried suspiciously.

“Snapping at you all the time. Shouri is our Maestro, but I just got so used to my Maestro’s other Resonators hating me.” She paused briefly, considering her thoughts. “It just became so easy to build walls instead of bridges," the fire element admitted with borrowed words.

Silence.

Taika slowly opened her mouth, allowing it to hang open for just a moment before finally speaking her mind: “I’ve never had a Maestro, and I’m so scared of losing him. Nobody can replace him.”

Rebecca’s jaw hung open slightly, shocked that Taika had allowed herself to be vulnerable like that. In the same respect, she was hit by Taika’s true feelings: she was afraid of being replaced. With as many times as Rebecca herself had changed hands; she had grown numb to such a feeling. Seeing someone else go through it like that was eye-opening.

“I’ll try to be better to you,” Taika spoke up.

“Me too.” Rebecca forced a smile. “Come on, they’re worried about you.”

The two foxes wouldn’t instantly become best friends, but certainly, this conversation was the first step in steering their ship in the right direction.

The work week faded into the weekend, all of which passed peacefully, the group of four young adults just lounging around the childhood home of Pacifica. Though they were content to just hang out and relax for a change, the actual owners of the home began to disagree with the freeloader’s perceived laziness.

On the evening of Sunday, June 10th, said homeowner made her thoughts known:

“Shouri hold up.” Priscilla grabbed the boy as he passed by the master bedroom.

The boy jumped, startled by the other Maestro emerging from the darkness. “Mrs. Nicchi,” he addressed her respectfully as he had taken to during the past week.

“Follow me.”

Seeing how she was currently housing him and his three Resonators for free, he didn’t argue and did as she requested.

Once more they stood at the edge of the pool, this time under the light of the waxing moon. “You all have been here just about a week now,” Priscilla started.

Shouri shuffled awkwardly, figuring she was about to tell them to leave.

Of course, this was Pacifica’s mother he was talking to – she was practically a mind-reader herself like her daughter. “I’m not asking you all to leave. But I would like if you did something with your days here. You’re only a young adult once, make the most of it.”

He didn’t get what she was necessarily implying, so he went with the direct approach. “What are you asking?” he queried.

“Canolapra is a beautiful city. Take your girls out on the town, go see some parks, take Pacifica swimming, anything besides waking up and collapsing on my couch until dinner,” the woman said with a chuckle. “We also have a very active hunting scene. You should check it out.” It was at this point in the conversation that Priscilla went to take her leave, walking back to the sliding glass door. “With your skills, I wouldn’t be surprised if you became a local legend,” she spoke knowingly before re-entering her home and leaving the young Maestro alone with his thoughts.

“I guess it has been almost a week,” Shouri mused to himself.