r e - T I R E D

 “Ie. No. It is my first time here, I had just arrived in this island.” Slithering coils drawn in to save on space, mama looks at the rain and shivers a bit, her ill dressed outfit making it awkward to move around in the cold without getting a sense of sleepiness. Biology dictactes this should be impossible, but being this weak and cut off from the otherworldly energy… “It is the firs time I have been so far away from my children. I wonder if they are eating well….”

   “...Hm. Well, if it’s any consolation, I’m sure they’re fine.”

At that last remark, Willard gave the woman a wry smile, tinged with an ever-so-slight, gentle touch of melancholy. Of course he understood what she meant, what she must have been going through...after all, it was frightening to leave the only world you know and be brought, all alone, into an unfamiliar one. The most the angel could do was alleviate a bit of that worry.

   “...This city is like another one I’ve been to...it’s outside of time, as you perceive it. Eventually, you’ll go back...and it’ll be like you never left at all. Well...don’t think too much about it, or you might get a headache -- what I’m saying is, you don’t have to worry about them. They’ll be okay. You just worry about yourself.”

Speaking of said young man, he was currently leaving a bookstore with a pile of books on his hands. Looks like they released a bunch of interesting mysteries this month, so he had to rush and get his hands into them! Surely Beato would enjoy discussing these with him, just the two of them on their bed~.

As he walked down the street, though, his perverted thoughts were cut short by a familiar man appearing before him. “Yo, Willard! Welcome to Spirale!” He greets nonchalantly. Whether this Willard is one that recalls them meeting in the old city before or not, Battler feels like the other is used to this sort of scenario enough not to despair over it.

Ah, and there was a familiar face to greet him. Though his gaze wasn’t particularly warm, Willard still managed to lose the disgruntled grimace, instead settling on his typical, surly expression. Removing his hands from his pockets, he slowly raised an arm in greeting, continuing to survey the area while approaching the young sorcerer.

   “...Ushiromiya Battler. Spirale, is it...? It doesn’t feel too different from the last city I met you.” Will’s voice maintained its tired, brusque quality, even when greeting an old acquaintance...which was likely to be expected. When his golden eyes fell on the pile of books the young man was carrying, however, he cocked an eyebrow.

    ▐  姫  “Aha! Doesn’t that just make you a better bodyguard? You died doing your job, so you must have a lot of determination, no?” At least going by her logic, which is based on the one braincell she still has left – and completely ignorant of the fact that she doesn’t know any of his circumstances or backstory at all.

“The reluctant cool hero, is that it? What kind of story was it? I’m sure I can draw you in an amazing action pose if you give me something to work with. While guarding me, of course.”

   “Determination...yeah, I guess.” Will shrugged at the comment, finding no fault in her words, even if she might have been imagining something completely different from the truth. It really had been determination, and a good amount of stubbornness, which got him into that situation...and in general covered the way he operated pretty nicely. He took a long drink of coffee, drowning bitter thoughts with bitter water.

@truthswedges

 “Oh.” rain pours down like a waterfall and Echidna nearly becomes drench but manages to find cover at the last second. There was another person there and she gives a gentle smile. 

 “I’m sorry, I take too much space here, don’t I.”

   “Ah, no, don’t worry too much about it.”

Willard gently shifted his position in the gazebo, moving aside in his seat to offer the large, serpentine woman more room. He’d been caught in the rain, too busy reading to notice that it had started to come down, and had been sitting there, waiting for the storm to subside. He wasn’t surprised to see someone else running for cover in the garden, but he hadn’t been expecting a being such as this -- nevertheless, his expression did not betray any surprise.

      A SCOFF ESCAPES PRISTINE LIPS . “ Now, now, now …What a naughty boy you’ve been . Why is it that you killed witches ? Do you have a problem with powerful women ? ” Evie teased as a finger danced around the rim of her glass .

   “...Not in particular. Only when they have tasteless hobbies...or find enjoyment in kicking puppies, or something.” Unabashed, Will took a deep sip of his coffee, not showing any reaction to the deep, bitter flavor. Perhaps he wasn’t paying attention...or perhaps he’d simply dealt with her kind so many times, it had grown tiring.

     A GIGGLE ESCAPED CERISE LIPS ; THICK BLUE EYELASHES FLUTTERED IN HIS DIRECTION . Playfully she tapped his nose , before took a sip her of appletini . “ You are dangerous , I can sense it . ”

@truthswedges  ♡ ’ d for a mini starter 

Frowning a bit at the unprompted contact, Will shook his head, his hands firmly closed around his cup of black coffee.

If the sudden shift in atmosphere, as transient as it had been, was noticed not a comment was made in regards, the brief animosity sliding off like water off a duck’s back. Ever impervious, was she. She was helpless at holding back the excitement that burst forth like a broken dam though, gushing outwards at the similarity that’d been deciphered in the midst of all that philosophical jumble that’d taken an unanticipated religious turn.

“Aiyah! You’re just like Jun-chan! You’re the big guns that get called in when nobody else is up to snuff. But Jun-chan is more like a demon than an angel, heehee.” She snickered mischievously, surreptitiously focusing on only specific keywords rather than the overall depth of the man’s response. It was all a matter of personal interest, really. “Ehehe. I’ve done my time too. Put on a hard cap and went to work. Solving mysteries in a jiffy is a piece of cake if you’re determined.”

The profound direction that the conversation had been edging towards had been carelessly obliterated, all but ripped to shreds by a radiant smile; the single-minded focus on the original issue lived on. “But. Uhm. If nobody’s called you then you’re just useless right now, right? What’s there to stress about? Or are you stressed because you’re useless? Thinking about how useless you are is pretty useless. You just gotta accept it, m’kay? Then everything will be a-okay.” And to top off the copious usage of the word ‘useless’ was a reassuring thumbs up.

   “...Yeah, I guess that’s a good enough description. Still, you’d think that after a man retires, they’d be willing to leave him alone.” With a defeated shrug, Willard simply shook his head, a bemused smile dancing on his face. Of course, he knew better than that -- it took a kind author to allow someone like him to rest, and the world was thoroughly lacking in those, at least for the genre he’d been born into.

   “That’s the question, isn’t it...? I know the way it works for me -- if I’m retired, that means I shouldn’t be here in the first place. There’s that Raven again; since I’m here, it means someone decided I’ve still got a use. Some sorry bastard has called me here to fulfill one duty or another...which means I can’t let my guard down.” Once again, the angel turned his gaze skyward, gazing into the grey soup of clouds which loomed above the cityscape. He had a searching expression on his face, as though he felt that if he looked hard enough, he’d be able to see the hand above the game board, ready to pick him up and place him somewhere else, signaling the end of his turn and the beginning of someone else’s.

Her head see-sawed thoughtfully at the assertion of an extraordinary origin, the postulation that had meant to help the man’s case falling incredibly short. “That’s a rhetorical question. The most rhethorically of rhethoics. It’s so rhetorical it shouldn’t even qualify as a question. You should take it back before the scholars come after you too.” It was a light-hearted admonishment, a necessary one to stop him from looking silly.

“What’s made by humans are made for a reason. They have one purpose. It’s more mindless than any human being could be. Objects can’t think for themselves, y’know. They can only do that one thing that they’re made for.” Without an inkling of delicacy was the individual characterized as a simple tool, a clearly defunct creation if his inability to live simply was any indication. “You shouldn’t have a problem at all.“

   “...”

For a moment, Will’s gaze turned to steel, the light reflecting off of his golden eyes with a harsh glare. In that fraction of a second, which lasted perhaps as long as a blink or a beat of a hummingbird’s wing, the air was so cold that it may well have frozen...and then the angel let out his breath, shoving his hands deep into his jacket pockets -- in that moment, all tension went away, replaced only by an aura of worn-out resignation.

   “That’s not quite right either, I think, though not everyone would agree. Angels like me ain’t made, we’re born -- we’ve got hearts like anyone else. We’re like witches in that regard...but unlike those beings who only exist to sow doubt for others, doubting itself is in our nature. We’re only called when there’s something that needs to be solved...which means we’re useless in places that don’t seek a solution, if you ask Carl Gustav Hempel’s bird.” Shaking his head, Willard offered a defeated click of his tongue.