Chapter Text
It was a sad but true fact that Sirina had lived many similar lifetimes. Not a surprising fact, mind, because she was constantly reborn into similar realities and circumstances, even if the fates had branched out by allowing her to be reborn in worlds like her own, worlds like those with Flames, and worlds like those of the Elemental Nations, or some combination thereof. Living such similar things over and over had become a kind of cage to her, one that her Cloud instincts could no longer tolerate. This constant chafing against her nature led Sirina to change things up in odd ways.
This lifetime, Ri was born once more to Sawada Nana and Iemitsu. It was one of those worlds where Iemitsu had, for reasons unknown (the reasons varied between realities), sent a Mist to alter Nana’s mind. In this reality it led to Nana Sawada being incapable of properly caring for a child. Through no fault of her own. Ri didn’t know if her mind was destroyed so thoroughly on purpose, or if it was intentional. Either way, the result was a cold and lonely household. Such a phenomenon wasn’t unusual in her many lifetimes, but this time Nana was so messed up that Ri’s trigger (her life being endangered) woke her full self and brought back her memories at the age of two. Honestly, it was a miracle she even made it to that age.
The next three years were filled with making up for the lack of a proper feeding schedule or proper food, growing her body stronger, and saving up money she gathered from various sources. Most of her ‘sources’ for cash were running small errands for people in her neighborhood once she turned four, or pickpocketing people around town when she couldn’t find odd-jobs.
Pickpocketing was a lot more difficult than it sounded, as her tiny little fingers were not as nimble as those of older children and teens. Not to mention pockets were quite a bit taller than her. When it came to pick-pocketing, she eventually resorted to using magic and flames to take the money.
She also started to build up a ‘network’ of contacts around the world. Even Mammon themself was a part of that network, although they had no idea Ri was the young daughter of Iemitsu. Her online self went by the name Uzumaki Sirina, as Ri would if she had to leave her home. As the existence of Sawada Tsunako, Gokudera Hayato, and Yamamoto Takeshi proved, being of only half Japanese descent wasn’t all that odd. Uzumaki Sirina was, according to her cover, half Japanese and half English. Raised in England, as her accent and fluent command of British slang showed. Supposedly.
When she turned five, Sirina started to raid houses, purses, and pockets for identification cards and passports. She made an exact duplicate of all the cards she found using the Gemino spell. Then she returned the originals to their owners. Now that she had an original to work with, Sirina used magic to alter the pictures and details on the passports and IDs.
She made several copies of each, using different looks. Her two favourite were, of course, her ‘Naruko’ look (in honor of how she looked in her lifetimes as Uzumaki Naruko), and her ‘Sirina’ look (in honor of the lifetimes where she was born Sirina Potter-Black). Technically she’d been named Sawada Tsunako in this lifetime, but since neither of this lifetime’s parents had ‘raised’ her (one because she could not and one because he would not), Ri returned to the name she felt was most truly ‘her’.
The Identification and papers would become necessary if, as she feared, Vongola came to seal or otherwise eliminate the threat she represented to the Vongola chain of succession simply by existing and having Iemitsu for a father.
Shortly before her birthday, three days before as a matter of fact, her fears came to pass. Ri got an alert from her online contacts that her ‘father’ and his boss boarded a plane to Japan. It wasn’t the first time Sawada Iemitsu had visited the Sawada home, though he’d only visited twice since she’d fully awoken, but he’d never brought his boss home with him before. It was unlikely that the ninth Head of the Vongola Famiglia was visiting for any other reason than to seal Iemitsu’s child. Regardless of their reasons, Sirina had no desire whatsoever to deal with sealing. Whether or not she let the seal take, the whole thing would be a pain.
Instead of waiting around for them to arrive for a ‘surprise visit’, Ri packed up all her luggage and sealed it into a tiny ‘tattoo’ seal on the inside of her wrist. After fully cleaning out her room, Sirina raided the rest of the house for valuables and supplies. This included three sets of clothing from both Nana and Iemitsu’s wardrobe. Excepting underwear because… yuck! She also stocked up on canned food, water bottles, and tupperware among other things.
That night after Nana went to bed and started to snore, Ri sneaked out of the house. Once she’d made it several blocks away, she used a ninja transformation technique (the Henge) in order to look like an adult. In memory of Uzumaki Naruko (her past life where she’d learned the Henge), Ri turned herself into a tall slender half-Japanese and half-English woman with blonde hair and green eyes. Now disguised, Sirina made her way to the train station. It wasn’t hard to get an overnight ticket to Tokyo.
Instead of heading to the sleeping cabin, Sirina made her way to the dinner cart. Once there, she used Mist flames to form a laptop, and also to connect her internet connection to the cellphones of the other passengers on the train. Once connected, Sirina booked a plane ticket for Uzumaki Sirina from Japan to Italy. Not because she thought it would be the last place Vongola would look for the missing Vongola descendant, because she was well aware they may think another Famiglia had kidnapped her. No, she chose Italy because Italy, Asia, and Russia had the highest concentration of people with Active Flames. Not that Ri intended to have anything to do with the Mafia, Triads, or the Bratva.
But people were less likely to notice a random low-powered Cloud or Mist in those places. The circumstances in which she might be discovered as a flame-active child would choose which of her secondaries she would reveal as her false ‘primary’ flame. Most likely it would be Cloud. It was truly amazing how often Cloud flames let her get away with all sorts of things she couldn’t otherwise.
After a hearty dinner, Sirina retreated to her sleeping cabin for the night. The remainder of her trip passed quickly, and Sirina soon found herself adrift in Rome. She didn’t have much trouble blending in, as she still retained the ability to speak Italian like a native. A few days later, Sirina released her Henge and took to the streets in her ‘Sirina’ guise. The black-haired half-British half-Italian, green-eyed child stood out a lot less than the half-British half-Japanese little girl would have. Or even her ‘true’ form of this lifetime.
She could have stayed as an adult, gotten a job, and lived out her life that way. Except that she’d done that before and didn’t want to repeat the same experience this lifetime. Instead she stayed on the streets, learning how to live like the other street kids. It was one thing she’d never done in a world with Flames. She’d lived similarly in lifetimes in the Elemental Nations, but never in this type of world.
Dumpster diving was somehow less intense when one didn’t have to fight off partially ninja-trained kids for edible ‘trash’. Still, she was trying to blend in, so she didn’t use ‘ninja tricks’ to compete. She grew thinner and leaner once more. Eventually she learned of some childrens shelters that wouldn’t report street children to social services.
Her original plan was to live like a street-child for a couple years and then allow herself to be picked up by the system. She missed having a family. But learning about these shelters changed her mind. It was something she’d never tried before, after all. It took her a while to decide on which system of shelters she wanted to utilize. For one thing, she had to watch them and find out if they really didn’t report children without homes. Some of the ones she’d been told about didn’t report children, but most did. Then she had to look at what the shelters actually offered to children.
Most offered only the most basic of amenities: a bed or place to sleep for a night, a restroom to share with the others there, sometimes a toothbrush and toothpaste, and a meal for the night. Then the children would have to leave in the morning. Then there were those that obviously had more funding. A child could get a bed, a meal, a restroom and shower, could wash their clothing, and there may even be a basketball court or something attached to the shelter where the children could play a game together. Those were only two of the variations. There were all different levels of shelters, both better and worse, and Sirina was determined to try them all.
She started with the worst ones she could find, at the end of fall, and worked her way up to the best. It took her a couple years, as she only used the shelters in the worst weather, to have only a couple more shelters left. She was thirteen that year, when she entered a shelter on the coldest night of that year. It was a night that would change her life.
After ‘checking in’, Sirina was given a new coat, some gloves, a toothbrush with a tiny toothpaste tube, a little baggie of candy, and a pair of socks. Then she was given directions to the sleeping room, bathroom, entertainment room, and the dining room. Since it wasn’t time to sleep yet, Sirina used the bathroom and then made her way to the entertainment room. Far from the first person to arrive that night, and actually closest to the last that would be accepted for the night, Ri scanned the room looking for a place she could sit down or join with other kids.
The room, despite its large size, was fairly packed. This wasn’t unusual, the shelters like to take in and help as many kids as they could. The entertainment options for this shelter included a foosball table, a small two-lane basketball ‘arcade game’ (the type that had two hoops above sloped fabric to return the mini-basketballs to the shooters), and a large area with couches surrounding a television. Her eyes paused on the large group surrounding the basketball shooting game. Specifically her gaze stopped to admire the two buff teens, who looked about sixteen or seventeen, which were currently shooting.
“Move it, shrimp!” Someone growled from behind her, and Sirina squeaked and skittered to the side. Unfortunately, unlike in ninety-nine percent of these types of altercations, moving out of the way and mumbling an apology did not defuse the situation. The tall teen, who looked to be about fourteen and feeling his oats, followed her into the room and to the side. He then proceeded to yell all manner of nonsense at her. Sirina was starting to think it might be worth it to punch the boy in the face, whether or not it got her thrown out, when someone else interceded.
One of the downsides to being a Sky, even if she contained as much of her Sky Attraction as she could, was that nothing that involved her really went unnoticed. She just naturally drew attention, and not always positive attention. Most of the room had been watching the argument from the corners of their eyes. Now, they were outright staring.
“Nock it off. You want to start a fight then take it outside. None of us want to get kicked out. Especially tonight.” The speaker was one of the teens who’d been shooting hoops earlier. He was the tallest person there, and had more muscles than most street kids could build. He was also unfairly attractive, in Sirina’s opinion. The boy who’d been yelling at Ri paled and basically fled with his tail between his legs.
“Don’t mind that idiot, he’s always causing trouble.” The teen offered, holding a hand out to shake. “I’m Dante.” He added as Sirina cautiously accepted the handshake.
“Ri.” She responded shyly, looking up at him through her long black eyelashes. The boy really was good looking. His eyes were green like hers, but more an emerald green to Sirina’s bottle-green (or Avada-green, for the magic-inclined). He also had black hair, and warm olive-toned skin.
“I haven’t seen you here before, first time?” He asked once they’d released hands. She nodded shyly. “They’re about to serve dinner. Come on, I’ll show you the way.” He offered, to teasing from the other teens his age. They’d trailed after Dante when the boy came over to break up the argument and just sort of … stuck around. Now the entire group, plus Ri, made their way to the ‘dining room’. Honestly it was more of a cafeteria than a dining room. There was a place to line up, along the right hand wall, and then a long counter where kids could pick up a tray and food, with drinks at the end. The rest of the room was taken up by a series of long tables and benches.
Once the entire group settled in at the tables with their food, Ri listened shyly to the older teens, mostly boys but a couple girls came to join them. Strangely she didn’t feel out of place, despite the large age-gap between herself and most of the others. Anyone else near her age sat together in other places. The one who looked closest to her age in this group looked about sixteen. Despite teasing Dante earlier, none of the older teens made Sirina feel unwelcome or otherwise gave her a hard time. When she made a quiet comment, they still didn’t make fun of her.
Later, when everyone headed to bed, the girls from that group saved her a spot with them. Right in the center of the other girls. It was the nicest evening she’d had since being born into her current lifetime. Unlike with previous shelters, she thought she might return to this one more often than strictly necessary. If only to see if this group of teens was here. Living on the streets didn’t leave her a lot of time to socialize.
The next morning, after breakfast, Dante’s group started to break up. Ri assumed she too would have to go her own way. Unless one was part of a gang, or blood family, kids didn’t usually stick together outside of shelters. Of course, Ri hadn’t counted on her Sky Attraction.
“Hey, Ri!” Dante called after her, jogging down the street to catch up. Politely Ri turned and paused to wait for the teen. With his longer legs, it only took a few seconds.
“What’s up, Dante?” She wondered.
“You’re pretty young to be out here on your own. Got anyone to watch your back?” Dante asked. Sirina tilted her head to the side as she considered him thoughtfully.
“No. It’s just me.” She replied after a moment while Dante fidgeted slightly. At her words he nodded, likely having expected that answer.
“Stick with me kid. Me and my friends’ll look after you.” Dante half-offered half-ordered. The words could have been a trap, girls who lived on the streets had to be extra-careful, but her intuition told her he felt only protective and worried.
“I won’t join a gang.” She warned him, and Dante huffed a half-laugh.
“We’re not a gang. We just make it a point to watch out for each other, and sometimes we help each other out if we can. You met most of them last night.” He corrected, and Ri thought the offer over. It wasn’t a terrible offer. And she had technically experienced living the solo street life already… it wouldn’t be terrible to try something new.
“I’ll go with you for a little while.” She finally agreed. A smile bloomed across his face, making him even more handsome than before. He practically glowed, and a small glow of almost-active green flames showed her why. The lightning flames were still inactive, so only those with active flames would be able to see the glow. Likely Dante didn’t even know about them. Not that it mattered, at the moment. It did explain why he felt the need to take care of her and protect her, though.
Choosing to join up with Dante would prove over the next year or two to be one of her best choices. Somehow, despite her continuing troubles throughout many lifetimes (with very few exceptions), it seemed she’d managed to find herself an excellent Lightning Guardian. Even better, he was still inactive, even if it was almost on the edge of going active. Being around Ri so every day only brought him closer to that edge. Still, despite her best efforts to keep him inactive and thereby avoid drawing attention to them both, their third year together the pair of them got caught in the crossfire of two gangs fighting.
Being her guardian (even if he didn’t realize it), naturally meant that Dante threw himself between Ri and the bullets. As he took two shots that would have hit Ri in the back, another came at her in the front. Dante saw the shot just before it would have hit her, the realization lighting his eyes in horror before hardening in determination. He exploded in the first awakening of Active lightning flames, the flames streaming out from him to form a bubble around both Ri and himself. No longer having to worry about bullets hitting either of them, Dante swept Ri up into his arms and ran from the scene. The dome stayed around them until they were hidden down an alley.
Then Dante collapsed. Ri hid the both of them with her Mist flames, summoned the bullets out of Dante and then used her Cloud flames to fix the holes caused by the bullets. A simple cushioning charm on the ground beneath them and Ri settled in to wait. It took until the next morning for Dante to wake up, and Ri knew she would need to explain flames to him. As soon as he woke up, Ri spoke.
“Morning, Dante. I need to explain some things to you quickly, before anything else. Here, eat this while I talk.” Ri ordered, handing him a granola bar. He began to inhale the bar while she spoke.
“Do you remember the green power you used yesterday?” She asked, and he nodded. “Good. Then I won’t have to waste time convincing you. They’re real, the particular type of flame you have is Lightning flame. Lightning Flames are characterized by their color and their ability to harden. There are three categories of ‘sets’ for Flames. There are Flames of the Sky, which lightning flames are a part of. The second set is Flames of the Earth, and the third was Flames of the water, although they have been thought extinct for a long time. Anyways, the ‘Sky set’ has seven flames. Foremost and most rare are Sky flames. They are the rarest. Next rare is Cloud flames. Then are the more normal flames: Storm, Rain, Sun, and Lightning.”
“Cloud flames multiply, Mist flames create. Mostly they create illusions, but the really strong ones can create ‘solid illusions’. Storm flames disintegrate, Rain flames tranquilize, Sun flames activate, and as I mentioned Lightning Flames harden.” She added, watching to make sure he was following along.
“What about Sky flames?” He asked, showing that he had indeed been paying attention and absorbing everything.
“Sky flames property is harmony. They are different than other flames in that they enable those with Sky flames to draw in and form bonds with the other elements of the set. Those with Sky flames are known as the ‘royalty’ of the Flame world. From what I’m told, every regular element wants to bond with a Sky of their own. It is said that for a regular element, not having a Sky is to have a hole in one’s soul. A missing, aching need. To become a guardian is to have a home to belong to, a family, to be complete. So it’s said.” She explained.
“So it’s said? You mean you don’t feel it yourself?” Dante wondered. Ri grimaced and lifted her hand up. Above her palm she allowed a lick of her Sky flames to manifest.
“I have Sky flames, so it’s different for me. Ah, actually I have three flames. It’s rare to have more than one type of flame but it does happen. Flames are fueled by willpower. Their ‘full name’ is Flames of the Dying Will. They’re called that because you have to use will strong enough to overcome dying in order to activate and use them.”
“So Sky flames are amber, and Lightning flames are green....what are the other colors?”
“Cloud flames are purple, Mist flames are Indigo,” She said as she allowed her two secondary flames to hover above her palm. She extinguished all her outwardly manifested flames as she continued “Sun flames are yellow, storm flames red, and rain flames are blue.”
“I don’t feel a hole, or like anything’s missing…” Dante mused. Ri shifted slightly guiltily.
“Ah, that’s because you already have a Sky.” She admitted, and Dante’s eyes snapped to her face instead of looking at her hand where her flames had been.
“You are my Sky?” He asked, and Ri nodded in confirmation.
“Yes. We harmonized – that’s what the process of bonding between a Sky and Element is called – the first year we were together. That winter when we both came down with that terrible Flu, you remember?” Ri explained.
“I do. I remember feeling like I was going to die, but still being more worried about you than myself. You looked pretty awful, no offense.” He agreed. Ri blushed.
“Yeah, that’s the guardian instincts.”
“Guardian?”
“Ah, a regular element bonded to a Sky is called a Guardian. You are my Lightning Guardian. Typical Guardian instincts include protectiveness, the urge to care for the Sky in question, loyalty that mirrors that of the Sky to the element, among other things.”
“The most important thing you need to know about flames, though, is that they’re tied to the underworld. If anyone learns we have them, they’ll try to make us join the Mafia. Most likely as part of a famiglia. That would be very dangerous for both of us.” She warned, and Dante’s eyes went from awe and wonder to serious and worried.
“Why?”
“Because the Mafia are idiots and basically they try to make Lightnings their meat shields. Front-line shock troops in all their fights. There are very few lightnings who escape that fate. Well, few known Lightnings, anyways. As for me…Skies are known as royalty, it’s true, but they are also highly coveted. If anyone else knew I am a Sky…they would either try to force me to join their famiglia keep me in a pretty cage or they would kill me so no other famiglia could have me.”
“One of my secondaries, Cloud flames, are almost as rare as Skies and also coveted because Clouds are extremely hard to control. If they aren’t born to a famiglia, it can be very hard to convince a Cloud to join that famiglia. To be both…I cannot explain how hunted I would be. If I have to show my flames, I prefer to show my Cloud flames and keep the other two hidden. It would be best if we avoided the Mafia altogether, though. Especially since my no-good sperm-donor is part of a very strong famiglia. He doesn’t know I know, though, and I ran away a long time ago. He wouldn’t even recognize me now. Thankfully, because he and his Boss were going to hurt me. I got warning before they came to my home and fled. If they learned of me and my whereabouts, I have no doubt they would try again.” She warned, and Dante growled at her words.
“We’ll stay hidden.” He agreed, determination lighting his eyes. Ri smiled sadly at him.
“We’ll try. But other flame users can often sense whether someone is ‘active’ or not. I’ll try to show you how to hide your flames, but it isn’t easy.” Sirina warned.
True to her words, Ri did her best to teach him how to hide his flames. Unfortunately a lot of people got a good look at his face when his flames first activated, so learning to hide his flames only helped somewhat. Not even half a year later Dante had a local famiglia breathing down his neck, pressuring him to join them.
Since they believed Sirina to be inactive, their efforts took place while the two were separated. Dante returned from one such meeting to their current shelter (an abandoned building they shared with other homeless people) to find Sirina pacing ‘their’ room angrily. No one else was close-by, so Dante knew it was okay to talk. He approached cautiously. Not because he thought she would hurt him, he knew Ri would never harm one of Her Own. No, he approached cautiously because her eyes were glowing Cloud purple with her outrage.
“Hey, Tesoro” he murmured. “It will be fine. No need for all this fuss. If worse comes to worse, we can always move away. There are plenty of places to live. Both in Italy and elsewhere.” He soothed. Ri glanced at him and continued pacing.
“Maybe, but you are a very strong Lightning. Most elements have a very hard time using their flames outside their body without a conduit. You can do it easily. You may be the second strongest Lightning in the world. They won’t give up such a strong element easily.” She huffed. “I won’t have it. You are mine. I won’t share you with them.” She growled lowly. He gathered her into his arms, despite her slight resistance, and rested his head on top of hers.
“Then I won’t accept. Don’t worry, Tesoro.” He murmured into her hair. Ri grumbled but leaned back against him.
“I’ll think of something, Dante. Believe it.” She insisted. “I’ll find a way out of this without having to change our identities and flee the country. Believe it.” He smiled at her words.
“I believe it.” He assured. Then he let her go back to pacing, as she claimed it helped her to think. She didn’t come up with an answer before they went to bed, and Ri was up half the night pacing. It was shortly after midnight when an idea struck her. Unfortunately she couldn’t put her plan into action until daytime, so Sirina was reduced to sitting and fidgeting until Dante woke up.
When he finally woke, the two of them split up the day’s jobs. Dante, who was more than old enough, had a part-time job as a custodian, so he left to go to work to earn food money. Sirina left to pick some pockets. Once that was done, she used a cellphone she’d lifted to call one of her contacts.
“Time is money.” Mammon answered.
“Hello Mammon, this is Uzumaki. I need some information.” She greeted in turn. Mammon, as usual, was silent as they waited for the request. “I want the phone number of Verde.” There was a deeper silence on the other end for a moment.
“All the Arcobaleno’s information is restricted. For what purpose do you wish to contact Verde?” Mammon demanded.
“I have a request for them. And possibly and offer. No strings attached. I’m not stupid enough to think Verde can be tracked down by their phone number, so it’s not like it will endanger Verde. Not that I would.” She persuaded, and with a huff Mammon gave in.
“Very well. I will text the number to you once I get confirmation of payment. The charge for this information is the highest price I charge. You have the most recent price list?” Mammon’s gruff inquiry made Ri smile.
“I do. I’ll send the money over shortly.” She promised, then hung up. It took her only a few moments to download the banking app for the bank of the famiglia who kept bothering Dante. It gave her great pleasure to see how much of their funds the payment would take. In preparation for acting, Sirina had stolen their account information a week ago. Now she transferred the money through several hundred different countries banks and systems. Some more than once. Finally she transferred the payment to Mammon. Seconds later the phone number was texted to her.
With a grim smile that was more a bearing of teeth, Siring tapped on the number, and put the phone to her ear. The dial tone sounded three times before an impatient voice answered.
“Who is this? I do not recognize this number.”
“My name is Uzumaki. I have a request for you.”
“I’m not interested.” The man denied instantly. Ri rolled her eyes, but she honestly hadn’t expected any less.
“Just hear me out.” She protested. “I have a friend who is an extremely strong Lightning, and a Mafia Famiglia is trying to force him to join them. He’s pretty smart. Not to your level, obviously, but he would make a good assistant. And I happen to know your last assistant no longer works with you as of a couple months ago. I’m not asking you to help him for free, he’s a hard worker. He’s also young and strong.” She wheedled.
“Still not interested. I work best alone.” The man denied. Mentally Ri grumbled to herself, but she did have a trump card.
“I’ve heard you wanted Cloud flames to work with, but you haven’t been able to convince a Cloud to work with you. If I provide you with my Cloud flames, will you hire him and give us a room?” She bargained. There was a grudgingly excited feeling in the Lightning’s pause.
“Very well. I will meet with the both of you. Where shall I meet you?” He finally agreed.
“How about outside St. Peter’s Bassilica? We’ll wait for you between the two pillars that are closest together on the right-hand side when one is facing the building from the front. They are the second and third pillars from the center.” Ri suggested.
“Agreed. I will meet you there tomorrow morning, nine o’ clock. Do not be late, or I will leave.”
“We’ll be there.” Sirina promised.
Telling Dante about her plans went smoother than she thought it might.
“But you won’t let him do any unethical experiments on you, right?” Dante demanded. She rolled her eyes.
“Of course not, Don. That famiglia can’t force you to work for them if you’re working for the Lightning Arcobaleno, you see? It’s perfect. It gives me some protection, too.” She soothed. That seemed to be enough to reassure Dante, and the pair of them settled in for dinner.
The next morning they got up before dawn and headed to a local sports center. They paid the fee and took quick showers and washed their clothes. There was a dryer, meant for swimsuits, in both the mens and womens locker rooms that they shamelessly took advantage of. Dressed in clean dry clothes, they met up outside the locker room entrances and headed to the meeting place. Thankfully it was close enough to where they lived that it only took them half an hour to reach their destination. By that time it was seven o’ clock.
They waited impatiently for the two hours. Exactly at nine o’clock AM, Verde reached the meeting place in the shadows between the two pillars. He took in the twenty year old Dante and the sixteen year old Sirina in a single unimpressed glance.
“Proof of flames, please.” Verde requested calmly. Immediately both Dante and Ri lifted up one hand and allowed a single lick of flame to manifest. Dante’s being the sparking Lightning Flame and Ri’s her Cloud flame.
“Thank you. I am prepared to offer room and board, as well as fourteen Euros and hour for your Lightning friend. As for yourself: I will offer room, board, and a salary of two hundred and forty euros a day. I don’t offer sick pay or paid vacation, but I do have an acceptable amount. I allow twenty sick days, and will authorize more if I or a doctor deem it necessary. All vacation must be approved in advance. Are either of you religious?”
Verde began to outline. Both Dante and Sirina shook their heads.
“Excellent. I don’t stop working for holidays or weekends, and I expect my assistant to do likewise accepting specific circumstances or pre-approved vacations.” Verde instructed.
“We look forward to working with you. I’m Sirina Uzumaki. My friend is Dante Uzumaki.” Sirina offered. Dante looked startled at the surname she’d given him, but as Dante’d never given her a surname before (in fact seemed to not want to talk about it), she’d given him her ‘family’ name. He was her Guardian, it was her right.
“Yes, yes. Come along, I have a car waiting for us.” Verde waved off the introduction. He didn’t bother to introduce himself, probably (rightfully) assuming they both knew his name. They followed Verde to where a car was waiting, and both hopped in. The car started itself up, driverless, and began the smooth process of leaving the city.
Ri snickered a little to herself as Dante watched the car operate itself. He looked rather pale and lightning flames kept sparking off him here and there due to his worry. Ri, in the seat next to him, ignored the sparks. It’s not like they’d hurt her. Verde sat across from them, on a bench that faced backwards, working on his tablet.
After awhile when they didn’t crash, Dante eventually calmed down. Ri turned her attention outwards, watching the countryside and cities pass through the darkly tinted windows. Dante copied her example, as there wasn’t much else to do. They’d been travelling for about two hours when a thought occurred to Sirina.
“Dante, you should probably text your old boss.” She pointed out, handing over the phone she’d swiped yesterday. Almost as though he had a radar for technology used in his presence, Verde’s head popped up from looking at his tablet and he frowned. Before Dante could take the phone, Verde swiped the phone out of Sirina’s hand. Naturally, Sirina squeaked. He’d moved so fast that even her eyes hadn’t been able to see him move.
“This phone is five years old. It’s inferior even to the inferior models on the general market. I can’t have my minions seen with such outdated inferior equipment.” Verde growled while the part of the bench next to him melted away in a fabulous display of Mist-powered technology, while a small workstation built itself up in front of him and over his lap. Next trays of components came out from the seating and hovered to the side. Verde’s hands flew over the materials, tools, and his desk. In five minutes he had two brand new phones. Well, she assumed they were phones. In reality they just looked like flesh-colored stickers. There were two rounded rectangle shaped stickers and four little dots.
A little flying robot approached. Verde instructed them to offer up the back of a hand to the robot, and when the duo did so the little robot pressed one of the rectangular stickers to the back of a hand. Sirina offered her left hand, and Dante his right. When the sticker was smoothed down to their skin, it seemed to ‘melt’ into their skin, going first clear and then invisible. Sirina could barely even feel the thing was there. It definitely didn’t feel like a sticker or bandage. More like wearing a feather ring, it was the tiniest bit of weight and pressure, but not painful or tugging.
While she’d been examining where the sticker sat, another flying robot approached. It had a long metal arm with a slightly bendy metal portion on the end, topped by one of the flesh-colored sticker dots.
“This is the ‘speaker’ portion of the ‘phone’. The robot will place the sticker far down in the outer ear canal. Please don’t move while the robot works.” Verde instructed. Dante went first this time, looking highly skeptical. The sticker was placed without pain or complications, and Dante allowed Sirina to be ‘fitted’ next. She felt a weird sensation not unlike having the disillusionment charm placed on her, except only in the small spot where the dot in her ear was. She assumed the tiny speaker dot was doing the same thing as the sticker on the back of her hand. The bot flew back to the tray and took the next two dots.
“Please place this microphone dot on the back of your lip, in the very center.” Once placed, the same feeling as the ear dot occurred, except in her mouth. Though this one was a bit more like ice melting than an egg dripping. Curiously Sirina examined the stickers with her flames, and found high concentrations of Mist flames in them.
Sirina turned her attention back just in time to see Verde finish a last set of stickers.
“These ones go on your temples, one on each temple.” Verde instructed. These stickers were no bigger than the dots inside their ears or mouths, and likewise ‘melted’ into invisibility. Or, at least, the ones on Dante did. She only assumed her own did, as she couldn’t see her own temples without a mirror. Or inside her ear, or her inner lip.
“They run primarily off mist flames. Simply direct your thoughts to calling or texting someone, or saving contact information, and it will. If you, for some reason, require a keyboard or visual screen, either the device on your hands or temples will display a keyboard and or screen for you. No one else will be able to see anything displayed by the ‘phone’, either. Unless you choose to share it, of course.” Verde finished explaining. “It also has phone and address look-up and internet browsing features, as well as the ability to play apps on the illusionary screen.” He added absently as he put away his tools and workbench.
“Thank you, Verde. These are marvelous.” Dante expressed, flexing his right hand in wonder. His nose wrinkled cutely as Dante (presumably) looked up his old boss’s cell, or else saved it to his contacts. She left him to texting his old boss about quiting.
“That’s pretty amazing. Couldn’t you just use the dots on the temples to transmit the impression of sound to the brain, and words directly to the caller, though?”
Sirina wondered. Verde grunted.
“I’m still working on that feature. For some reason everything tends to be in monotone when the microphone and speaker are eliminated.” Verde explained, going back to his tablet.
“You’ve probably already realized this but…it might be because the Mist flames that are helping to power the ‘phone’ aren’t directed. It feels like the Mist just donated flames, without willing them to a specific function. If you could have the Mist who donates flames to make these will the Mist flames to help with communication, specifically connecting the mind to normal speech and hearing, it would probably solve that problem…” Ri offered hesitantly. Verde looked up, interested once more, and frowned slightly.
“How can you tell the Mist flames aren’t directed…?” He wondered. Sirina shrugged.
“I have more than one flame. I just happen to have Mist flames as well. And…like knows like, as they say.” She hedged. Truthfully it was only partially the Mist flames. Most of her conclusion was drawn from her Sky flames and Intuition.
“Then that will be one of our projects together.” Verde announced. “We will try your idea and see if it works. I can see you will be a useful minion indeed.” He added a little happily.
“Not a minion. I’m a paid contractor.” She corrected immediately. One of Verde’s eyebrows rose in surprised question.
“It’s a Cloud thing.” She added, a little defensively. Verde shrugged, curiosity satisfied, and gave in to her demand.
“Very well, you will be a useful paid contractor.” She beamed at him, and Verde looked both startled and a little dazed. With an internal wince, Sirina regained her grip on the Sky Attraction that had slipped out because of how happy she was. Besides that little slip, it was a very auspicious beginning.