So I'm Trying My Hardest
[Agnes Waterhouse]
"Do you think I don't know that Davis isn't teaching at your association anymore?" the man sitting in front of her asked and Agnes simply stared at him. He wasn't done, for one. For another… "Putting a student in charge of the classes, Agnes? It's ridiculous to expect to keep the same pull you had. Is Davis even an actual part of House of Water anymore?" … It was better to let them bury themselves. He was going to be one of the easiest ones even. Some of these people really needed to learn when to shut up. "Because after that party you threw and all that you have done since then. Makes me wonder if it was a temporary thing and you knew it."
He wasn't the first to mention stuff like that, and he was unlikely to be the last. He was, however, the most blatant and the most insulting. Maybe it was because Agnes had once been at about the same standing as he was and he felt insulted and embarrassed by her quick rise. Maybe he wanted to try and bring her down, find a weakness to poke at in order to bring about the old status quo, maybe use her to push himself up.
Alas, he was wrong, on many accounts.
"I see. Is that what you want to go with, Droiturière?" she asked, eyebrow raised. "Because yes, Joshua's not teaching much these days, but that's because he's too busy with more important things. Also, that student is his apprentice-"
"Do you really expect our community to believe Davis has that many apprentices?" Droiturière asked derisively. Agnes simply laughed at him. It was always fun to deal with people like him, because she knew they didn't have a leg to stand on, even if they thought they did.
"Here's what's going to happen, Droiturière. You're going to give me the information I want and I won't have to tell Joshua anything else about you. He won't even know your name," she said, simply. In any other moment, that would probably have sounded mocking. But the best this man could hope for was to never appear in Joshua's radar. He was too small, in several ways, to garner any attention and if he did at that point, it wouldn't be good for him. "If you don't, then I'll have to tell Joshua that you got in between him and the information he asked me about. I imagine you'll have no defenses within the day after that."
"So you came here to threaten me with power you don't have?"
"Oh do I have power. But you know what? You're right," Agnes said then, grinning wider. "I shouldn't bother Joshua. I'll call Golden Dawn instead. They are still trying to get back in Joshua's good books. I'm sure they'll jump at the chance."
"You think they'll just take your word for it, Waterhouse?"
"You think they won't?" she asked back, still all smiles.
She was actually curious to see if Droiturière's wishful thinking was strong enough to make him do something that foolish. No matter how much he wished that Agnes' good luck had truly taken a turn for the worse, surely he wouldn't go for it. Then again, he'd only inherited his association from his family and he always did have a better opinion of himself than he should.
As it turned out though, he did have two brain cells to rub together and he eventually caved.
Shame, Agnes had been kind of looking forward to knocking him down a peg or ten.
[}-o-{]
[Elizabeth Báthory]
"Well, this is certainly different from your usual questions," the man in front of her commented and she just smiled placidly. She knew that already, after all. She'd also gotten similar responses already.
Before that day, everything she'd done could be traced back to the famous Báthory immortality pursuit. Even when she'd used her contacts in Joshua's behalf before, for Hexennacht and the vampires, it could all be said to be for that. She could have been looking for the association for more contacts and information. She could have been looking into vampires for a number of similar and even other reasons too.
Now though? There was no way she could explain wanting information about the Dimensional Gap with that though. As it turned out though, she didn't need to. Because even if she had to burn a few bridges, Joshua had made it sound like this was the ultimate job for them. If she didn't firmly secure herself a spot beside the man and – maybe, hopefully – the chance of him helping her achieve what she'd always strived towards, then she didn't know what would.
"I know that, but sometimes a few unnecessary steps are required to reach a goal. I'm sure you know this, Julius," she replied, almost friendly. There was no true friendliness with Stray Associations though. They were all out for themselves, really.
"And I'm sure you know that nobody gives anything for free," the man told her, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course. This information is for another of my contacts. Joshua Davis, you might have heard of him," Elizabeth said, relishing the way Julius' eyes widened the smallest bit and his eyebrows twitched up. "He requires this information, he's prepared to pay handsomely for it."
"... So you're a messenger now?" The question made her frown the smallest bit, but it wasn't like she could deny that. "How the mighty have fallen, wouldn't you say, Elizabeth?"
"So, is that a no? Because I'm sure Joshua won't be happy that he was dismissed like this," she replied blandly at the same time that she ignored the taunts with ease. Would Joshua actually care? Probably not that much, but Julius didn't know that and that was what was important. Besides, she wondered if the man thought that was an insult. Being Davis' messenger was probably better than Julius' position as leader of his association, really.
"Are you threatening me?"
"Why yes, yes I am," she answered, her lips pulling up at the same time that a handful of blood red circles appeared around the room. All of them pointed at Julius' advisors around along the walls to Elizabeth's side. She'd hardly ever heard them talk, so she was half convinced they were just an intimidation tactic. It didn't matter one way or another though. "Maybe you've forgotten who I am after so long making regular deals with me," she added, whatever was left of her smile vanishing entirely and being replaced with something… apathetic.
Because she needed that information, and she'd get it one way or the other.
That's how, a minute afterwards, the room was painted in the color of blood… even after Elizabeth and her circles had long since disappeared.
[}-o-{]
[Kunou Davis]
She wasn't pouting.
She wasn't.
…
She wasn't!
…
Ok, so maybe she was pouting a little.
It was so unfair though. Why couldn't she do something? Ravel was doing a lot of stuff for her dad. And Koneko was always draped on his back using senjutsu to make him feel better. What about her? What could she do? All Joshua had told her to do where to play with Friday and the other familiars but… Friday was doing much better already.
What could she do then?
Kunou had no idea, but what she did know was that she was frustrated.
She knew he didn't want to make her do anything at all, really, but that didn't really help. Once upon a time, it would have made her happy, she supposed. She'd have been ecstatic that someone wanted her to enjoy herself and even made time to make sure that happened.
Those days though, she wanted to do something for her dad. Joshua had done a lot for her, so seeing him struggling and not even being able to help a little was driving her mad. There wasn't even the excuse of helping him relax because he hardly took a moment off from work those days, even if he tried to. Even when he did, Kunou felt like maybe he was doing that more to keep his word to her than anything.
He'd never admit to seeing time with her as a burden – and that wasn't the case at all, she hoped –, but she could see that he couldn't really have fun or relax. His mind was always at least half on whatever he was working on at the moment, it seemed. And that was fine!
… Honest!
But Kunou felt bad, she felt like a burden. And she hated it. So, she was trying, really trying to find a way to do something. Surely there had to be something, right? Her current idea was making illusions for him. He seemed to like watching them, at least – when they… well, worked –, but maybe there was something else she could do for her dad?
'If only I knew how to do that,' she lamented, watching Koneko using senjutsu to help. She was a senjutsu user too! She should be able to do that! She was even the heir of a faction. That should count double for her being able to do that!
Instead, she was stuck learning how to defend herself… which she knew was important, but it wasn't really helping her at the moment. Besides, she had illusions and the Sacred Gear the lady had brought for her from Grigori. Surely she had enough for the moment, right? Besides, her mom and dad were crazy strong. They could keep her safe.
She'd tried to convince her mom to teach her some other stuff, but that hadn't really gone anywhere. She would have tried with her dad, but Kunou felt like that might just make things worse. She was trying to make things easier on him, not add stuff for him to do, like teaching her. So, not only was she frustrated, she was also jealous that Koneko not only could do what she couldn't, but also because she had someone to… teach her…
"Dad," she asked softly and Joshua looked up. She took a split second to relish the fact that, tired and busy as he was, he immediately looked straight at her, focused. Maybe if she were to ask something silly, his attention would drift a little, but he always made sure to listen just in case. "Do you think I could ask Kuroka to help me with my senjutsu?" she asked and Koneko turned rather sharply towards her.
"I thought your mother helped with that, and don't you have a teacher too?" Joshua asked, taking a deep breath in and straightening a little. All the while, the white-haired reincarnated nekoshou clung to him.
"She does and I do, but I thought she could… you know, help me with other aspects of senjutsu," she answered, her voice lowering to a mumble the more she spoke. That earned her a raised eyebrow from her dad, but he didn't immediately say no, so Kunou took that as a win.
"You can, but you have to have all your homework done before going to her."
"But dad!"
"And you have to go when Koneko has her classes," he added and now there were two pouts directed at him. Kunou never thought she'd ally herself with Koneko in such a way, but the world was full of surprises. "That way, maybe between the two of you you can keep that woman on track enough to teach properly," Joshua finished and she considered that for a moment. It sounded very likely that she'd be silly and have fun while teaching, which was all well and good… but Kunou actually wanted to learn this time.
She shared a look with Koneko and they both seemed to be of the same mind.
It was a necessary sacrifice.
She told herself that it was satisfaction at getting what she wanted that made her happy. What else could it be, after all? It wasn't like she wanted to spend more time with the other girl. She didn't like her! She took up Joshua's time! Time that should have been spent with Kunou!
Although, it was fun to play cards with her, when she wasn't summoning all the cat cards in the game, all of them.
And she could annoy Ravel, which was often very funny.
"Homework," Joshua said, snapping her from her thoughts and she straightened, getting to it. Right, she needed to deal with the boring stuff so that she could help. She wasn't going to like it, but that was a necessary sacrifice too.
[}-o-{]
[Joshua Davis]
Even after some time, it was still an awkward transition to go from using daggers to using a spear.
He also had a feeling that it didn't help that it was True Longinus instead of a normal one. Neither did the fact that he hadn't used normal daggers for a while by then. Speaking of, Carnwennan was used to being the secondary Holy weapon, by the looks of things, but Setan Kober wasn't appreciating the sidelining. It was what it was though, and they would have to deal with it.
Much as he tended to humor them, Joshua just didn't have the time nor the energy to bother at the moment.
'I think that might be enough,' he thought, after one last stab forward with True Longinus, deciding to finish a training session for the moment. So, with the weapon still in hand, the moved to the side and took a bottle of water. Through the break, he glanced aside, pulling up screens and wondering…
[Spear Mastery – Lvl 30/100
Determines the user's ability to fight with a spear.
Increases damage output when fighting with a spear by 30%.
Increases Dexterity when fighting with a spear by 15%.]
… would it be enough by then?
He didn't have enough time to fully master the thing. Not even close. So, he might as well start testing. He had gone to gamble and try to take True Longinus for a reason. Joshua supposed it was about time to try, at least a few times, during his training sessions. Surely he'd be able to at least tell if he was far or not from his goal… or if it was even possible.
So, pausing, he entertained that thought for a moment, his eyes moving to the spear.
'Wonder what that's about…' the stray thought crossed his mind idly as he looked at the thing from the tip to the end of the shaft. The thing had, apparently, slowly started to change ever since he took it. He hadn't noticed it at first, but every time he summoned it, it was ever so slightly different.
No longer was it the ornamented weapon that Cao Cao had wielded. Now, it was almost indistinguishable from a normal spear. Not shoddy or dull, but like a perfectly fine, minimalistic creation. If it weren't for the presence that the thing was basically flooding outwards, then nobody would be able to tell that it was probably the strongest weapon in the world.
According to Gabriel, that was how the Sacred Gear normally looked, instead of the sub-species Sacred Gear Cao Cao had. In a way, that helped reinforce that True Longinus was his though. After all, even after getting it, he always felt like it was still Cao Cao's weapon, something that he'd just stolen. It wasn't though. It was his now and he was free to call on it and all, which…
'Going from no Sacred Gear to having one is odd,' he thought, making the spear disappear and then bringing it out again. It was like there was something connected to his soul that hadn't been there before. Similar to how his connection with the Egyptians worked, or maybe his familiars, in a way, but also very different. It stuck to him, wrapped around him, and then dug down, like a tree taking root. No wonder taking a Sacred Gear out could destroy someone and outright kill.
It made him wonder why Cao Cao was alright after True Longinus went to him, however.
Was it because the Gear left on its own accord? Walburga had also been fine, for a definition of fine. So, maybe that changed everything. Joshua supposed that was the case, but he was really curious about that. How did that happen? Was there some way he could induce that and be able to take someone's Sacred Gear without-
'Focus, Joshua,' he told himself, taking a deep breath in and massaging the bridge of his nose. He really needed to get a hold of his mind. It'd been a while since he'd been focusing on Project Silence and he could admit to being a little restless. He couldn't afford to get distracted though, no way, not with all that was at stake.
Gripping the spear a little harder, he found a spot away from everyone else in the training facilities.
"Georg, come here," he called, not really loudly, but the guy jumped from where he had been, sitting off to the side and reading a book. Joshua had gotten tired of seeing the guy just stiffly standing or sitting around, so he'd decided to give him a few things to keep himself entertained. Nagini and Friday were happy enough keeping an eye on things just in case anyway.
"Do you need me, Mr. Davis?" the man asked and Joshua nodded.
"I need you to keep an eye on things in case anything happens, alright?"
"... What are you going to attempt, sir?" The deference wasn't new, but it was not any less odd than when the man had started, Joshua would admit. All the same, he couldn't be bothered to correct that. He knew from experience how hard that was. He had better things to at that moment.
"I'm going to use True Longinus to try and pierce between dimensions," Joshua explained, watching as Georg's eyes widened. Not that he blamed him. The idea sounded insane to him too, but it had crossed his mind and he'd wondered.
The same way he'd gambled on partial knowledge and theories to get True Longinus, he was going to gamble on one thing. The fact that True Longinus was supposed to be a spear that could pierce through anything… If that was true, and considering the somewhat wacky logic of magic and the DxDverse as a whole… Well, he thought it wasn't too crazy a theory.
So, that's what he'd attempt.
He'd try and stab into the Dimensional Gap with True Longinus.
[}-o-{]
… So that had been a disappointment.
After a few minutes of just stabbing air, he surmised that either it couldn't be done or he needed more skill… and more power. Now, power could be obtained. His training might not give him a lot of stat increases those days, but there were other ways. He could use spells to boost himself, for one. There was also the Egyptian pantheon, who would gladly give him a push if it could potentially increase his chances of survival.
Ophis had spooked even them, it seemed.
He'd tried a bit of that and it hadn't worked though. There were other things he could try though. Either way, he'd work assuming it wasn't that. That left him with the issue of skill and maybe his connection with True Longinus not being what it should be. Sometimes things could get a little abstract. He'd know, as a magician.
There was a chance that he was still lacking in any of the three things.
Which was why he was revisiting a somewhat old project. It wasn't necessary for him to be able to get to the Gap himself, but it could help in a number of ways. For one, he wouldn't need to trust Georg's self-preservation instincts, even if they seemed reliable. For another, it could offer him different data than Dimension Lost's way into the dimension limbo.
So, the short of it was that it'd be nice if he could manage to get somewhere with True Longinus.
With that in mind, Joshua was reaching out to sources of power he might have otherwise ignored or left aside. Because, while power was great and all, he had much more important things to work on most of the time. It was a little surprising, at least considering the world he was in, but it was generally easier to approach a problem sideways with some trick or specific effect than trying to brute force it.
That was why he'd kind of started ignoring pure-power stuff.
Joshua was back to it though, it seemed, which was a little ironic. Still, options were available to him that he could explore, even if they might take a bit of time. It wasn't like he could work on the Gap stuff all the time. His mind didn't have that kind of laser focus, much as he'd have liked to.
So, instead, he was taking up tangentially related projects like True Longinus and what he was about to pick up in a moment. Maybe he'd look for a few others, because he could feel himself becoming less productive the more he tried to focus on a single thing. His brain just wasn't built for that, apparently.
"Didn't you say something about not coming back here?" Walburga hissed as soon as he stepped into the dungeon and Joshua just turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow. Did she somehow get the impression that she could complain or something? He almost wanted to spare her some time, but that was probably his general annoyance and frustration with the currently ongoing projects.
"I'll be gone in a moment," he said with a roll of his eyes, walking up to one particular cell and looking at the man inside.
"You need me for something?" the fallen angel asked, a smirk on his face. Joshua wanted nothing more than to erase the guy from the face of Earth, he really did. He was the reason what little remained of his original family was off somewhere, not even knowing he existed anymore. He was the cause of a lot of his grievances and he'd been a thorn on his side…
But he was also the most reasonable test subject he had at the moment. Who else was he supposed to take, Katerea? Yeah no, fuck that bitch. He might hate Kokabiel, but at least the fallen wasn't annoying. The last thing he needed at the moment was someone irritating to work with.
Maybe he'd kill the bastard once all was said and done, but he kind of needed him now.
"I do," he answered, taking a deep breath in as he calmed his emotions as best he could. Which wasn't saying much, but something was better than nothing. "You can stay here rotting or you can come out and help me better figure out whatever Khaos gave you to make you stronger."
"Don't you have a vial?" Kokabiel asked, frowning, and Joshua almost wanted to ask him what difference did that make for him. Alas, he didn't, because he knew the ancient fallen angel likely wasn't going to just cave and ask to be let out like the others. It was part of what made him reasonable… even if it also made him inconvenient at that moment.
"I do, but I want to see what it does to those that take it. So far, there's a lot of work to be put into things if I don't want to kill myself with it," he explained, because there wasn't much point hiding that. If he stayed, it would make no difference, and if he followed Joshua, then the fallen would learn about it sooner rather than later. "So, you in or not?"
"... Gee, I wonder. Do I stay in the damp, cold, stone cell and suffer or do I go out in the sun with a bit of freedom and suffer? Really tough choice, Davis, I gotta say," the fallen commented flippantly and Joshua briefly pondered actually taking Katerea, because maybe he'd been wrong and she'd be less annoying and he didn't hate her so- "I'm definitely going," Kokabiel said then, a definite touch to his voice as his expression became serious and his entire posture shifted, even without getting up from the floor.
Then he did stand up, walking up to the cell bars and looking through them at Joshua.
"When are we leaving?"
Joshua took a deep breath in, wondering if he'd regret not picking Katerea, but ultimately snapping his fingers.
Less than a minute later, he left the dungeon with Kokabiel following right behind.
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How's it going?
People seemed to want a look into Agnes and Elizabeth's efforts… and they made the Muse and me curious on the matter. So, I turned my eye in their direction and it did seem a little interesting, so I gave them a mini-section each.
From there, some more Kunou – because we can never get enough of the lil' piece of fluff, can we? – and then progress being made… or attempted, at least. We'll see if any of that goes anywhere. Surely all of Joshua's efforts will pay off somehow, right?
… Right?
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.