Who: Locke and Takahashi What: Debriefing Where: Takahashi's Office When: Wednesday, November 22nd, 2009. 6PM Rating: PG Status: Complete
A long day even though very little had technically been accomplished. Takahashi practices with his powers, small things that would be hard for people to see even through his open door. Hidden behind a large book on classical Japanese literature which has been propped up on his desk, he concentrates on the movements of the pen which moves on his desk, his fingers to either side of the paper. Using his mind, he writes out what's in his mind, carefully focusing on each character. Locke will be coming soon, he knows, but it's not a hard thing to set down. For once, Takahashi isn't looking forward to their sessions, but it's hard to see on his face. The pouch that he had taken off Locke earlier sits in his desk drawer and even though he wants to look at the items again, he stops himself. It is a strange assortment, motley even.
Locke traipsed down the hall towards Takahashi's office, stopping a good ten-yard away from his door. Though it really hadn't been so long since their last session, it seemed so far away, like he missed a week of classes. He had hoped his self study was along the lines of what his teacher set out for him, but he had to admit, he was mentally preoccupied. The unsettling event in the village did gear him toward redoubling his efforts, but it was squatting on his mind, like a poisonous toad. Yes, Touya understood him, yes, Liadan assured him, yes, Emma vindicated him, but a trace of that...guilt, wasn't going away. No. Maybe guilt wasn't the right word, but he just felt..off. Locke sighed and cast it out of his mind. He would dwell on it later, but right now was more important as these lessons were what he needed to stop making those mistakes. Striding towards the door, Locke knocked twice lightly. "Good afternoon, sensei."
"Good afternoon," Takahashi placed the pen down on his desk before reaching up to close his book and place it to one side. It was the first time that he had seen his student in what seemed awhile and he smiled gently, his lips curving very so slightly as he bowed his head. "Please come in, Lamora-kun." He waited for a moment, gesturing toward the chair before he folded his hands together on the desk, watching his student. "I thought that we might talk for a moment before we began today's lesson."
Of course he wanted to talk. He did have to hold you down. Locke nodded in compliance and sat down in the aforementioned chair. Locke had wanted to speak with Takahashi earlier, but he had been incapacitated since the mission and was unobtainable. "Firstly, I do wish to apologize for the trouble I have caused. I hope you can see my intentions are pure, though my actions were...less than kind." Locke sat up straight in his chair. By his teacher's demeanor, it did not seem like he was going to refuse Locke anymore guidance, but regardless the consequences, Locke was determined to take his reprimanding with obsequious stoicism.
There was something unreadable in Takahashi's eyes as he listened quietly to his student's words. It wasn't Locke who had caused the most trouble on the mission strangely enough. "I have very little doubt about your intentions that night, Lamora-kun," Takahashi reached into his desk, pulling out Locke's pouch and placing it on the edge of his desk. "I believe this is yours."
Locke starred at the bag on the desk. The bag that was taken away from him. The bag that, if his hunch was correct, held an item or items that attacked his mind. He eyed it with the same suspicion one would eye a coiled snake, before slowly retrieving it and searching it's contents. Locke starred at three objects: a coin, a broach, and a tarnished silver knife. "...which one was it." Locke did not move his focus from the bag. "The emerald or the triangle." he was trembling slightly. "Or both." The questions came out flat like statements, because he wanted them to be true, he needed it to not be him. "Please. Tell me."
Sometimes Takahashi regretted that he did not have an Empath's gift like Tsukasa and Emma have. Surely, if he did, he would be able to soothe his student in some way, but with his limited gifts, the most that he could do is stay calm, his gaze clear as he watched him look through the pouch. "It was the emerald, although the triangle was also magically imbued." For a long moment, Takahashi paused, running the words over in his mind before he continued. "Even I would have had a hard time resisting the emerald's magic, Lamora-kun. It was a strong spell, strong enough that the residues from it lasted for days afterward."
Locke stopped shaking. Stopped thinking actually. It was as if he had fallen inside himself and passed through the last few days. All the events, all the emotions that he had pent up inside could finally be released because of that answer. The answer he had been waiting for. And what did he feel? All the joy from the knowledge that he was free from an evil that attacked him, all the sorrow from the pain that he caused absolved, all of the feelings he couldn't qualify, but only quantify as an oppressive miasma, became...anger. Locke's began to tremble anew. His hands tightened around the edges of the bag, emitting high-pitched squeaks from the cured leather, holding on as if letting go from the bag would cause him to berserk. He was completely absolved from the sin, yet he almost felt worse. Cheated. Played by some higher power. Strung along for days by the whim of a stronger force. Fancy that.
"Unacceptable," he whispered finally, the sound of his voice breaking the fugue that was building. His grip slackened and he dropped the bag to the ground. *Whirr...rrr...rr..r..* The coin rolled out, bounced off his shoe and revolved in small circles before settling noisily on the floor in between his feet. He reached down and collected it, studying the faces intently before closing both hands around it. He looked up into Takahashi's unreadable eyes. "Thank you. Sensei."
"I will understand, of course," Takahashi murmured, his voice softer as he watched as the information sank in. One didn't need to be an empath to realise some things and when it came to things like this, he had never been one to push. "If you want to postpone tonight's session until a later date." He left the offer hanging between them, giving Locke the power to choose when he continued this learning. This wouldn't work if there were emotions running through the other man to make his hands shake, especially since he had always seemed (to Takahashi at least) mostly in control of himself. There is no hell, but the hell we create. The mantra repeated itself in his mind, a useful talisman and one he used once in awhile.
Locke lowered his forehead to his clasped hands, covering his eyes and thought for a short moment. A slow smile spread across his face and when his hands opened, the coin was gone. "Perish the thought, sensei. The day is young and the night too old to care. I shan't run from this."
"Will you be able to empty your mind?" The question was asked quietly, but the concern was real. A willingness to continue was admirable, but the human mind sometimes refused to listen when one wanted it to.
Locke leaned back and looked towards the ceiling. "My mind will be more empty now that it has been days past. Frankly, it would be too exhausting to summon another thought path so complex." Locke even tried to focus on the precedent events, but they flitted away from him like birds. Then he attempted to whip up more temporarily expedient desideratum and got nothing. He couldn't even scheme. It was so odd, Locke couldn't help but grin.
Takahashi's only answer was to shut the door with his powers, not even looking toward it as the outside world was shut away. A small smile graced his own lips as he leaned forward, placing his palms flat on the desk. "Let us begin," his eyes sharpen, smile widening slightly. If Locke was willing to keep going with this, then Takahashi would make sure that he learned.