∗ 98﹕ sender confronts receiver about their unhealthy behavior .
(unhealthy to kagetsu)
Kagetsu of Elusia is no hunter. He is not capable of the extended silence of thieves and assassins nor their long stretches of patience; his hunts are loud even if his bites are quick, preceded by the vocal clamoring for attention and his many requests to duels. No hunter, to be sure, but a far greater finder with hawk eyes that few friendly faces can escape. Harmless and little applicable to true enemies and as much a useless talent as his one of premonition.
(or not harmless, depending on who one should ask.)
A fly of steps thunders across the cobbles whipping up a storm of dust. When at last that storm subsides, a flying leap with open arms wraps the taller in a tight embrace - or attempts to. Always has Zelkov been good at dodging Kagetsu.
"What joyous reunion! Welcome, welcome! At last you have come, my friend. I knew you could not be confined to Elyos for long with your dear relations here. When the tree of Queen Ivy moves, it is the roots that need follow!"
The tall form wrapped in a cloak of obscuring midnight. . .that silent gait, ebon skin, and golden eyes of dagger-grade sharpness. . .it is him. Zelkov. At the sight of his friend, Kagetsu's heart shivers as does the steel in his scabbard, both beyond any figment of a doubt, for both know it cannot be anyone else. Neither man nor metal might ever forget the first force to serve them defeat and Kagetsu in his entirety, head to toe, mind and body, shall always remember his first defeat, his first colleague, his first friend.
But there is one problem.
He frowns and steps back, both hands nocked moodily upon his hips. The puffy pout of inflated cheeks another telling accessory to mood. "We are both roots and retainers of Queen Ivy, you and I, but also bestest of friends! Why did you not join the Knights with me? As you are, you will always be doing things by yourself, Zelkov! No, no, that will not do!"
Kagetsu is the tide. For a brief moment, irregardless of any enjoyment Zelkov could derive, the moon was empty and the tides fell enough to… to…
…to miss their constant presence.
Now, the moon is once again bright in the night sky, illuminating the dark, and for the tides’ inevitable return, for Kagetsu crashing violently into Zelkov’s immovable shore, Zelkov will let him.
His name being shouted is more than enough of a warning to give the former assassin plenty of time to dodge his colleague’s onslaught. Zelkov allows him this one strike. It would be enough force to knock a man off his feet, if that man weren’t so accustomed to and familiar with Kagetsu’s antics. Zelkov holds sturdy, and for the briefest of moments, his hands find Kagetu’s sides in a rather lacking return of the affectionate gesture.
The slightest flinch of Kagetsu’s body that signals his body pulling away from Zelkov’s sees the taller man’s hands returned quickly to his sides, though he can’t help but notice the way Kagetsu covers those same spots with his own hands as he gives Zelkov one of the most asinine scoldings he’s ever received.
“By myself?” he asks in response. “It is Queen Ivy that is an instructor at this institution. If we are to be the roots following the lead of her trunk, then does it not follow that you should be joining us as professor?”
If there had been a scant ghost of a smile on Zelkov’s lips, then Kagetsu’s complaint has scared it away completely. It’s likely the knight - as he so wishes to be called - would not have seen it at all.
“The answer to your question has already been made clear,” he continues. “For you to have enough idle time to be yelling my name across the monastery is enough proof to me that I have made the correct decision.”