Adessa & Enobaria's First Meeting.

Adessa & Enobaria's first meeting.

Well this idea popped up in my head and thanks to @randomfacter I am not the only one who thinks these two have sort of a connection. Other than coming from the same Victor-branch, of course.

Enobaria is mad.

She is so, so fucking mad at Nero that she might tear his throat out.

For the starters, her mentor is not so bad. Obviously he has his faults. She has them too, like how she just let him send her to her Grand-Mentor, The Pantsuit Lady or whatever the heck people call Adessa nowadays.

She does not remember much about Adessa; except for the fact that she was an Offering, very smart, and almost killed Snow, her 'frosty ex', for Nero.

Also she dissected a person, which Enobaria can appreciate, unlike her fashion choices.

Walking towards her house beside Nero, makes her nervous a bit. The rosebushes surounding her garden-all red, a contrast to Snow's whites- are oddly intimidating.

"Everything about that woman is intimidating, Bari." Devon said to her once.

She grinned at him, showing her pointy teeth which are currently protected by a plastic. "And yet you recorded porn with Callista."

"It was not supposed to be pornographic!" he yelled with a horrified gaze. "That was supposed to be a working out video!"

It will always be a mystery how Devon can talk with Callista, but freezes while describing briefly about Adessa. They cannot be so different, their names almost sound the same. When she was a little girl she always thought that words meant the same thing if they sound similar.

As they walked towards to door, she convinced herself that it won't be so bad. Everyone here is a family, regardless of their backgrounds and personalities, there is no need to panic, Nero would say as if she is a child. But maybe she is one to his eyes.

She was so deep in her mind, she had not noticed the woman who opened the door for them.

The Pantsuit Lady stands in front of them with a slight smile on her face. The previous thought about her and Callista's possibility of them being the same, completely vanished from Enobaria's mind. Adessa, who is standing in front of her is smaller than she had imagined and standing so straight that her own spine ached. If she looked closely there was something underneath the collar of her vest.

Was that blood?

"...as I said, it will only be a day. Just make sure she is comfortable." said Nero.

"Of course, dear." regal looking woman says and really? Who uses or need to use the word 'dear' or 'darling' when you can just simply kill them. Is this the same woman who feared by everyone years ago and still to this day? "Come inside, child."

And she does.

Adessa's house is grand and clean, way too clean that it makes Enobaria wonders how can she will spend a day with her?

They sit one of the couches, in front of them there is a table which has a drawing book and several colour pencils on it.

Nero. Of course her sweet, gentle, and hug- crazed mentor clearly had a vision about her getting bored with an old person.

Adessa can take the offence.

"Do whatever you want. I will continue to work on my recent project. Tea time is not that far from now. So be a dear and stay here until I come back." With that the person who was told to be her babysitter went away.

She does not like it but at least she can draw something. Pantsuit Lady choke on her own death, perhaps.

___________________________________________

It pasted an hour or more than that, or time is just an illusion and she is actually one of those dolls who stucked in their plastic pockets.

Where was Adessa?

Enobaria knows nothing about tea ceremony, despite her parents being rich and hired a nanny to help her become a lady. Well she is not a lady, and she does not have proper manners; therefore it is natural for her to go around and explore someone else's house. She is sure it is late for tea time.

Not sure about where to go, Enobaria followed the hall she saw while coming in. For a moment, she can feel the Arena's artificial breeze and how nice it felt to slaughter the targets.

But, but, but. They were not targets Enobaria, they were people like you. Why don't you just take that knife and-

"Shut up!" she yelled at top of her lungs. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!'

"Oh, dear. Are you alright?" and she is there. Looking down at her with usual unemotional face of hers.

"Do I look like okay? Well, I never am! You know I'm mental! I mean who thinks about tearing someone's throat out with their fucking teeth, no one-"

"I did." says Adessa and what? She doesn't looks like mental. Apparently Enobaria does not needs to say anything, her traitor of a face reflects her brain thoughts, or Adessa's Talent is mind reading, maybe both, shit, who knows?

"Well, when I was young, I started with dissecting dead frogs. They were interesting but not as much as a human. After years, I eventually went to 'Residental' or 'Final' for me, since the system was different. It was my first human kill and the trainers do not allowed us to go brutal, that was for the Arena. So I did the next best thing; I grabbed my dagger and ripped the corpse's vocal chords off."

Enobaria gulps. Admiration and fear starts to make out in her head and she cannot stop it. "Then what happened?"

Embodiment of Elite Manners grinned, glad to got her Grand-Victor's attention. She bent down and made Enobaria stand up.

"Obviously, it was not enough. Nothing is ever enough when it comes to human bodies. I was curious, way too curious for my own good but can you blame me? I did not done what you did, child, but I did wonder about what human teeth's capacity of damage would be. And in 29, well, you know the rest."

"So, you don't-you don't think that I'm a monster?"

"Not completely," she said with utmost honesty. "Each one of us, except some exceptions, has monsters inside us, however, it does not erase the fact that we are also humans. What you did was an act of surviving, a true spirit of a Victor. Do people thinks it's wrong, yes. But you survived in the end and that is all that matters."

"You care?"

"Not in a way most people do." she admits and it makes sense. "My advice for you is do not show how truly angry you are to them. They are vultures who wants to make you suffer, and it is not like we are in peace. They ruined my Nero and they should pay."

Adessa said this words with such malice that there must be deeper than this. She must planning something, a want she cannot reach yet.

"So in public eyes, we must be killers, not at home though." she says and seeing her elder nod shows that she is right. Then something suddenly flashes in her mind and she asks away without thinking. She will die because of this. "What was your recent project? Was the blood on your vest related to that?"

Adessa's expression darkens. "Don't mind that at all, dear. We all need our secrets and you are also way much young for this."

"Will you tell me in future?"

"No. But I do hope you will see one day, child. Let's go to kitchen, we still have so much time."

Enobaria nods and lets Adessa to lead her to kitchen.

(Somewhere dark in the house, one of Nero's potential cougar screams until she cannot anymore.)

___________________________________________

Nero comes back and takes Enobaria back to home, with a exhausted look in his eyes. "How was it?" he asks as they putting plates on the dinner table together.

"Surprisingly good. I am not a complete monster, I just look like one. Same for you. You look like a wild wolf but you're just a puppy."

Nero smiles and months ago she would throw the plate on her mentors head, but now, she really likes him. "Glad that you enjoyed."

Enobaria looks at her food, some mash she cannot identify. She had a flashback about the dinner she ate with Adessa. It was a calm moment, neither of them talked much; perks of disliking socializing. After dinner Terrfying But Admirable Lord of Pantsuits tried to teach her chess.

It was hopeless when Enobaria tried to itch her teeth with a bishop.

Regardless she liked the time she spent with her Grand-Mentor.

"Bari?" Nero's voice is soft and careful. "Bari, are you alright?"

She played with her food with her fork. "Adessa and Enobaria sounds a little similar too. Like training and maiming, you know." she says in a thoughtful voice.

Nero looked absolutely confused.