A Friend Of Mine

Iris did not speak to Amelie again for the rest of the week, though she did not dread the soon-contract. She was plenty busy training Kairos with Olivia, and had been relieved to find it a perfect combination of Phantom & Meteorology.

She had asked around more about Olivia on campus and found that the rumors were generally true; she liked fucking women and she liked fucking women that could buy her things. Had she been asked to sum her casual attitude to sex, Olivia might've shrugged and replied: "I like muscular women and I like when a muscular woman wraps her hands around my neck and squeezes. What more do you need than that?"

But Iris was starting to like Olivia, though still she was wary; she would extend somewhat then retract again. She tried to remember Natasha's advice and how she seemed to have liked Olivia as well; she let her emotions guide her in this time. Given Kairos' ability to repair, they would often train at home, and whenever Iris practiced Meteorology's abilities, she would look to see Olivia staring out of the window, and wonder what she was thinking of.

It was the same home her & Naomi had lived in last year, so whenever Olivia looked out its window it was often Natasha her mind would stretch back towards; Viktoria had banned her from visiting Natasha, so it was always Natasha visiting Olivia when Naomi wasn't home.

Rarely did Natasha think of Olivia in terms of her appearance. She would come over and listen to Olivia talk about her problems, without the expectation of romance or sex; a rare occurrence for Olivia, for she subtly felt she was not really valued by other lesbians for anything but her looks. But it was why what had happened between them galled Olivia all the more, even as she had noted the increasing encroachment of Viktoria into Natasha's life and her subsequent need of rebellion.

Even had she suspected Natasha, she was never adept at disappointing others; it was a confidence she had not yet learned.

"Natasha, what are you thinking of when you look out there?"

"…all these people out there, who don't… you know, they don't understand why they do what they do or what they are, they suffer without knowing why, and... I don't know. I just wonder sometimes whether it's better to understand what you are and be miserable or to not understand it and be happy." She looked back to the kitchen where Olivia was. "Are you making coffee? Can you make me a cup?"

"It's not for you." Olivia smiled and pulled a bag of brown sugar out of the drawer, then poured it into the bowl with the coffee grounds. Natasha was bemused as she came over and saw her adding cinnamon into it. "What?"

"What is it?"

"Exfoliator." Olivia began adding coconut oil into it.

Natasha stared at it. "Exfoliator for what? Did you adopt some small animal recently?"

"No, it's for me. I read about it online. It's even vegan, too, you know."

"That just makes it worse."

"Oh, c'mon, stop it. Haven't you used a body scrub before?"

"Yeah, and the ones I buy don't leave me smelling like a French breakfast."

"Right, instead you just smell like sweat and dumbbells, you big brute." Olivia playfully pushed Natasha off from examining the concoction further. "Okaaaaay, fine. I thought maybe you'd like it, but if you're so insistent, I'll just mix it when you're not here."

"The only thing I know how it's made is bacon and I wish I didn't."

Natasha went back to the window, and Olivia beside her.

"You know, I always wondered how that tree further down the row grew." said Olivia. "By Nathan's house. You see, almost the end? How many generations of students have resisted the urge to destroy that?"

"It isn't a tree. I've been by there before." said Natasha. "It's just a bush, but it looks like a tree 'cuz the way the sun angles against his house. It's, um, an optical illusion."

Olivia glanced to her. This was usually Natasha's poorest trait; her inability to know when to be quiet. She seemed a pessimist, although she often protested she was a realist. But she was still reminded of something. "…well, maybe you're right. That reminds me of when I was younger, I had a window in my room like this once. I would look out and see this tree, a few rocks around it... maybe a bush. But I always had difficulty finding them when I went outside. It's like reality had crushed them smaller than my memory."

"Well, memory creates a lot of things. I try not to think much on whether it matters what is real or isn't."

A few days later, Iris had just finished training with Olivia and ordered some delivery, though she needed to leave Urasaria to pick it up. There is a specific corner outside of Urasaria for this purpose, though why this is needed considering Urasaria's abysmal security is currently unknown.

She picked up her food and tipped well to offset the students who did not, then was back at Urasaria to see Viktoria walking outside of the fourth-year building that housed Kate's office. Whatever Kate's punishment it had been, perhaps it had been enough; Viktoria was covered in injuries and her right arm was broken, hanging loosely from her shoulder socket. Loose hairs were strewn around her mouth, and she was bald. Violence for Kate had again been a professor of philosophy.

Down the street Iris walked and Viktoria did so towards her; they could not avoid the other, although Viktoria's face was poised to speak as she approached Iris. "Y-You find this funny? Like a f-fucking clown? Do I amuse you?"

Iris shrugged. "A month ago, maybe not, but after that contract I think it's only right that Kate handed your ass to you for abandoning it once you realized you couldn't manipulate me."

"I-I never once tried to manipulate you." she grunted. "You betrayed me. You and that fucking whore. I-I extended trust to you and you discarded it for arrogance; y-you have never learned to respect anyone but yourself and you f-fuck only yourself by your idiotic way of thinking. But I had an inkling of this before; that you would turn out to be composed of the same s-shit as her and Naomi. Think well over whether Natasha would do the same."

Iris said nothing for a few seconds. She had trying to better control her emotions of late, but Viktoria truly pissed her off. Her body clenched and she thought she might need to solve this with violence. Maybe if she provoked her... "What's the matter with your right arm? Kate snap it backwards before she sheared you?"

"Keep your pithy taunts to yourself." Viktoria started walking past her and Iris turned, yanking the broken arm hard; Viktoria shrieked in pain and shoved Iris away with the other. "Y-You miserable f-fucking-"

"Oh, you can say what you'd like about me and Olivia, but I'm not allowed to respond? I thought Kate would've beat some sense into you, about how if you talk shit you get hit and that you can't run your mouth without expecting punishment. I'm not about to allow you to insult me and not get back a proper response, you ugly bitch."

"G-Get the fuck away from me, you miserable l-little ingrate. Natasha would be ashamed of how you act towards me."

"Don't you fucking dare use Natasha to guilt me. I know what she would think of me. I spent-"

"You spent four months with her and I over a year. I was her mentor and you merely her protege. And now you act as if you have any reason to grieve over-"

"I spent enough time with her to remember when she told me that she only tolerated you because she had no other options."

Viktoria seemed legitimately hurt, and Iris realized that Natasha likely had never indicated such to anyone but Iris herself. It brought a sense of satisfaction to Iris, yet sadness that this resentment could now only be kept score of in a singular mind. "I-Iris, leave me alone."

"You never thought why we always avoided you?"

"N-Now."

"She told me when you would wake up, and we changed our sleep schedules and when we would eat specifically so we could avoid you. Natasha Flagg was a friend of mine, yet from the time I've entered Urasaria I never saw you offer anything to her but your bitterness and criticism. We didn't need you, and she kept me from you as much as possible."

Viktoria started to walk away; her broken arm hung from her shoulder in a way that angered Iris. Why she did not know, but it brought to her an instinct to destroy. She grabbed at Viktoria's arm and tugged at it hard, dislocating her shoulder; a slime tendril shoved her away as Viktoria screamed at her: "GOD D-DAMNIT, WILL YOU-"

"Have I got your attention now? You wanna talk about Natasha being ashamed of me? You've got a lot of fucking mouth for someone who was nothing but a contagious tumor on her. You're that type of sack of shit who usually feels pretty safe running her mouth because nobody's ever smacked some respect into those two putrid little lips of your's. I've beaten people up in the past, Viktoria; I've whipped them until they listened to me."

"D-Do not dare lay another hand on me, you stupid brute."

"Maybe I am a brute. Maybe I am a monster or a villain; I certainly can never be accused of being a proper lady. I've been trying to improve lately, but you know what? When I encounter someone like you, I just get overtaken by the urge to beat some decency into them. I'm not gonna let you leave until I've gotten out all I've got to say to you. You can try walking away from me again -- hell, you can run all the way back to your house -- but if you want to turn away from me and run then I won't let it be with that goddamn arm still attached."

Viktoria glared at her, yet seemed to be tearing up. Iris could not tell if this was further manipulation, but she wanted to wedge further this image in her mind; to make her hatred outwardly known and a thing of physical existence. Again she felt that urge for creation. She thought to smack Viktoria, then reminded herself that she needed to not risk expulsion, even as she raged against this constraint.

"I loved Natasha, Viktoria. I despise you. You can't understand that because you only viewed Natasha as an extension of yourself."

"Get a-away from me. I-I am not going to warn you again, you despicable rat. You and that f-fucking whore you call a mentor and think to replace her with. If Natasha were here, she would smack you for your stupidity."

"Olivia's not my mentor, but for you to use Natasha's death to advance your own personal vendettas is more vulgar and shameful than anything you've ever falsely accused me or Olivia of being guilty of." Green lightning coated Iris's hands. "I'll step outside with you, Viktoria. You think it's a big deal for me? You can go get your broken arm healed and I'll wait outside so I can show you exactly who Natasha would smack upside the fucking-"

Iris felt someone come up behind her. It was Olivia. "Come on, Iris. Let's go hunting."

Viktoria glared at them both once more, though her ire seemed softened for Iris now; Olivia acted as a reservoir into which all of her hatred could leak and be transferred away. She walked away. Iris was still heated, but she realized Olivia was right. That she had hurt Viktoria kept her ego satisfied. There was no friction, only disappointment. "…alright."

Olivia took the delivery, led her to the trains and put in a random destination, then sat down with her. "What happened?"

Iris wiped her eyes. "It's alright. Just Viktoria b-being a miserable bitch as usual. God damnit, she riles me up. She just riles me up."

"Okay. Hey, that sounds about right, huh?" She rubbed Iris's shoulder. "Let's talk about something else. Did you get any news about your Revenant back yet?"

Iris shook her head, her breath still a little hot. "No, not yet... I'm starting to doubt this Dr. Yuruko exists."

"She does: she was in Swarm's squadron. I thought she dropped out, or... no, but then she came back? I don't know. But she actually does exist -- she's dating Serena."

Olivia talked about a few other things, though Iris was distracted. She had been trying again lately to shed her pointless attachment to violence, to use her intelligence to hone her emotional reactions so that she might form a better angel of her nature. It was difficult, for a grimly admitted fact about herself was that she just enjoyed violence; she was still attempting to realize it was better to be right than righteous, a distinction lost on many. Time, not logic, would be needed to remedy this.

The train moved and the outside world became arrayed in her reflection, as if to find in the passages between the buildings an interstice to her present life.