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“So, Elaine Auclair, yeah?”
Van arced an eyebrow in Kevin Graham’s direction. The man had that look in his eye like he was both teasing and gauging, which Van would know quite well given about half the people in his life were just like that.
Bermotti, Dingo before his passing, Renne, Aaron, and now Kevin, Rufus, and more than a few others.
And, perhaps most notably, he himself did the same thing, too.
“If you’re here to bug me about my lack of a love life, please, save it for another day.” He half-begged, groaning as he leaned back in the ‘hot springs’ of the Grim Garten. “I’m way too relaxed right now to want to get real.”
“Hey, in my opinion, there’s no better time to get real than when you’re relaxin’!” Kevin Graham spoke with that familiar accent of his. He had to be from the same place as Mirabel. “Course, I’m not quite the sauna savant you are, so what do I know?”
Van didn’t comment on that.
“I only ask because I’ve got some connection to her myself; Auclair, I mean. She’s the daughter of the Quincy Company’s CEO, yeah?”
“Yeah. Her mom’s the current head.” He answered, before scrunching up his face. “Wait, why am I answering your questions!?”
“C’mon, I’m a priest! Confess all your sins, buddy! Take a weight off!”
Van groaned. This guy was going to be persistent, wasn’t he? “Fine, fine. What did you want to talk about?”
“Honestly? Nothing major.” Kevin smiled over at him. “Seriously. Just shootin’ the shit with another guy in the hot springs. You've never bonded while naked?”
Van knew more than a few people who liked that sort of thing – Shizuna, perhaps most notably of all – but he’d always preferred to actually relax in places like these.
“Well, kind of.” Kevin cleared his throat. “Suffice it to say I had a bit of a troubled childhood. I imagine you can relate?”
Van snorted. “Yeah, a bit.”
“Anyways, My old… mentor… Rufina–”
“Thousand Arms chick?”
“Oh, you know her?”
“She was a pretty big deal.” Van nodded his head. “Died… little more than ten years ago, now?”
“…Yeah.” Kevin said it with such a faraway tone that Van just knew the man had something to do with it. He didn’t suspect the guy of murder or anything, to be clear. Just thought he’d probably been there when it happened. Had seen her breathe her least. “Anyways, I was a starving little kid on the side of the road, nestled in an alleyway. Rufina and her sister–”
“Ries Argent, your childhood friend?”
“Does everyone know about my damned backstory!?” Kevin huffed. “Man, c’mon, leave a little intrigue, or the ladies won’t nothin’ to do with me!”
Van couldn’t help smiling. Kevin had a contagious sort of energy, despite that he was still 50/50 on whether or not the guy was grilling him for information to help his case.
“But yeah, Ries and Rufina, they found me. At the time, I was pretty content to just lie there in that alley and die. Wasn’t doing much thinking. Rufina saw that, called out to me. When I didn’t respond, when she could tell that I wasn’t going to go back with her as I was… she took drastic action. Force-fed me Quincy Company chocolate. She kissed me to do it.”
Van shot the man a look, and Kevin just laughed. “It was a shock to the system, but it was supposed to be. She made me eat something and turned my brain back on in one fell swoop. Honestly… Rufina could be like that. She’d just do things that wouldn’t occur to anyone else, and when you questioned her on it, she’d act like what she’d done was the only possible way the scenario couldn’t gone, even if it was weird as shit. On that particular one, I can forgive her, given she was a kid like us, too, at the time.”
“Sounds like a headache.” Van said, but he was smiling.
“She was.” Kevin’s fond smile held a twinge of regret. “But anyways, yeah… the taste of Quincy Company chocolate… that unique flavor… it’s been stuck in my head for years and years. Ever since then.”
Van’s eyes widened, even as he looked down and away. He’d only ever admitted this to Elaine recently. Was he really about to tell this guy? “…Same here.”
“Hm?”
“When I was a kid, I got taken in by the D∴G cult.” The man would’ve known this already if he’d done any research, and being a dominion, he likely had a full team that had done all of that for him. “They experimented on me day in and day out. It got to the point where I was barely even there anymore. But… the thing I used to keep myself sane… was that same memory. The memory of Quincy Chocolate. The sweets Elaine would bring both me and René.”
Kevin’s lips were curled up when he glanced at him.
“Y’know, I never did develop that same crazy sweet tooth you have. But then, I think that was more my guilt acting on me than anything.” Kevin admitted, raising his hands and linking them behind his head. “I’ve had Quincy chocolate… I think I can count the number of times on one hand since Rufina died. All of them have been at Ries’ insistence. It’s one of her favorites.”
Guilt.
“…Yeah.” He said offhandedly.
They sat in silence for a while after that.
“…I’ve started to realize that I’ve been fucking up, of late.” Kevin said. “Been trying to keep Ries out of all of this, but in doing so, I’ve been robbing her of the chance to make a choice. Going back to some of my worst habits. Here I thought I got better, but I just bet Rufina’s up there with the goddess shaking her head and sighing right now.”
Van wanted to smile, but… “…Mm.”
“You feel similarly?”
“What, you a mind-reader or something?”
“Hey, c’mon! I’m a priest! Like I said, you want to make any confessions, I’m right here!”
“You’re persistent as all hell.” Van shook his head. “Fine, fine. Can’t hurt. …Recently, René’s been leaving Elaine and I out of stuff. Keeping everything close to the chest. He’s the President’s aid, and a member of the CID, so that’s not all new, but it’s never felt like this before. Something stinks. Bad. I’m not a fan.”
“And?”
“And it’s making me realize what a bastard I was when I was younger, disappearing on the both of them without telling them a thing.” Van admitted, and, now that he’d said it, he did feel a bit better. “Cause all of a sudden, when I’m on the receiving end, I’m pissed.”
“Life… can be like that.”
“Wow. Wise words. What would I have done without your council?”
Kevin barked out a laugh. “Oh, shut it.”
The two of them leaned back in the hot springs, which were still just as soothingly warm as they’d been when they got in. The silence that pervaded the area was far more comfortable than it had been when they’d entered.
“You and Elaine,” Kevin muttered. “You know half this place has a bet going about when you two are getting together, right?”
Van glared at the man. “Yes, I am aware.”
“…You don’t plan on doing anything about that?”
“We kind of have bigger fish to fry at the moment.”
“…”
“…You bet on us getting together, didn’t you?”
“I’m a priest. I don’t gamble.”
“Uh-huh. And if I had to guess, you’d stand to profit rather heavily if, say, Elaine and I became a couple before the rocket launch happened?”
“…You’re a sharp one. You remind me a bit of the SSS’s leader. Kid was like a damned tack–”
“Nice try on changing the subject.” Van smirked. “So, mister priest, should I start a betting ring on when you’re going to get with your childhood friend?”
“Heh…” Kevin grimaced. “Touché, Arkride.”