Encroaching Chaos (5)

Sitting in the car while Lucky drove with a happy hum, Bazel was on the phone while he sat next to a shivering Isolda.

"They are extending their reach beyond the organizations that we had identified already, yeah, have DASF come out and clear the nearby stronghold quickly before they figure out what is going on down here. I will meet up with them, we will hit as many as we can today...yeah don't worry she is fine...ok, ok enough jeez."

Hanging up the call with Captain Schwarz, stopping him in mid speech as he was starting to be annoying blabbering on about his daughter again and again, Bazel looked over at who he would kill the remaining time with.

"So, I may have gone overboard in the moment," began Bazel who paused for a moment due to Lucky breaking out in laughter.

Having a shadow go and silence Lucky, it actually hitting thanks to the close proximity and lack of malice in the attack presumably, Bazel continued, "But, the points I made still stand. Living is great."

The shivering Isolda looked over towards Bazel and instead of seeing a man she instead saw an apparition of death itself. Memories of him chopping and slashing, hacking and gashing, as well as remaining completely unfazed even as his shoes crushed the still beating heart of his enemies...

"Wh...at are yo..u?" asked Isolda, struggling to form her words properly.

Scratching his head while somewhat regretting his actions Bazel answered,

"I was just a normal junior prosecutor until recently, but now I am known as Special Adviser Vasa of DASF. Defense Against Supernatural Forces, a new unit attached to the Southern Central Police. Look I even have my own ID card."

Bazel reached into his suit and displayed the ID card that he had been off handedly given by some random officer and dangled it in front of Isolda.

"And...what were those people in there?"

"Ah, those were men and women of House Sanguis," explained Bazel, "they are one of the many noble houses that secretly control the world, apparently, that all have unique abilities like me. Those were just grunts though, seeing as all they could do was create a weapons with their blood.

"I think the last guy was a blooded one, but he was too stupid to make use of his superior capabilities and decided to charge in a fit of rage. Poor guy really."

As the words left his mouth, Bazel realized that everything he just said most likely sounded like a bunch of nonsense to the average person.

Bazel noticed that Isolda's shivering had reached an all time high, so vigorous as it that he wondered if she was suffering from her aliments. As he was about to tell Lucky to head to an actual hospital, Isolda spoke once more.

"Can...I see those...shadows? Again?"

Doing as the woman asked, Bazel conjured two shadows for her and let them hover in front of her.

With an unsteady hand, Isolda slowly reached out and touched each one.

"It has physical form, its soft and springy...how deceptive for something so deadly."

Holding Bazel's most deadly of weapons in hand, playing with it like it was a toy, she looked up towards the owner of that which she was holding.

Her hoodie fell back, revealing a bun of long beautiful dark hair and accentuating her fragile form, with shining eyes that held not fear but excitement she said,

"How exciting, how fascinating, how unbelievable!"

Surprised at her reaction, but when he thought that his woman did just want to literally die not too long ago, he figured that Isolda may be a bit of an odd one out. Capitalizing on her wonder, he urged his partner to come out and play into what he hoped was one of her interests.

Walking out from under Bazel, making room for itself between the human and the seat he was sitting on, it leapt out and landed on the space between Isolda and Bazel.

'Hah, you know how to please I see' thought Bazel as he saw that his partner was smaller than it had ever shown itself to be.

The feline walked slowly up towards Isolda and then stared at her, cocking its head at an angle that made it look like the very definition of adorable as it purred lightly.

"So cute..." muttered Isolda as she reached a hand out slowly, whilst closely watching its reactions from the corner of her eye.

'It seems as I was right, she even knows the behavioral patterns of cats...though I don't think that applies to my partner.'

Seeing that the 'cat' had no hostile reaction to her movements, Isolda was confident enough to reach out and lightly pet its head.

The light pets soon turned into full on scratching as the cat purred louder and even rubbed its head against her hand when she stopped.

"What a docile and friendly kitty, ah im heaven"

Bazel let the two interact for awhile, before asking his partner to make itself a little less of the focus of attention. Obeying the request, the feline walked onto Isolda's lap and laid down like it was its roost.

The creatures purple violet eyes looked towards Bazel and combined with the emotions he was interpreting from it he guessed that it had said something along the lines of,

'This human is good, treat them well.'

Carefully controlling his expression, trying not to smirk at the fact that his mysterious and extremely powerful partner had been so easily won over by a bit of petting, Bazel addressed Isolda,

"I am in awe of how well you are taking to all of this, but as payment for giving you so much information, and allowing you to pet my friend there, how about you clue me in on what is going on with you?"

Bazel's words brought Isolda back to reality, who had been in her own little bubble whilst playing with the paws of the cat on her lap, and a complicated expression took hold on her face.

"I guess I can tell you, as repayment for the cat. BUT, you must come visit me again and let me play with it."

The request was a simple one and so Bazel agreed easily, then prompted Isolda to speak her tale.

"I don't know what you have been told about me, but I have an autoimmune disorder that is barely made manageable with the massive amount of medication I am on.

"It's not so bad that I can't go outside, obviously, but it slowly wears away at some of the less adaptable organs like my kidneys and liver.

"Eventually even my lungs and heart will start to give way, as my body slowly decides to attack random healthy tissue.

"Because of my sickness, I have been indoors and at home for most of my life. Unable to make friends, unable to go on school trips, unable to do anything social or the things that most normal people can do.

"But I could handle that, I always have, but just by existing I place a massive burden on my family. My younger sister has always often chosen not to do the things a girl her age should be doing, instead deciding to take care of me at home.

"My father makes all decisions with me in mind, not even able to move due this city being the only one where the experimental treatment I use be allowed. Even after the tragedy that happened several years prior..."

Mentioning this 'tragedy' Isolda clammed up once more, as a look of guilt flashed across her face as well as shame.

Breaking her out of the lull that had descended was the cat in her lap, who pawed her face lightly causing her to chuckle and coo lightly as she pet it once more.

"So everything added up, causing you to lose interest and slowly start to beat yourself up for your own condition. I bet you are constantly thinking of the price that your family has to pay, beating yourself up with your own thoughts all day every day, and not even asking for anything enjoyable or fun as you do not want to ask of anything more than you have already gotten."

Isolda's eyes widened, a tell that the read had been completely accurate, as she gaped like a fish while opening and closing her mouth. Eventually she recovered and said,

"You are right...but thanks to that horror scene you showed me earlier I think I will forgo dying any time soon. I am sure I will be haunted by those scenes for many a sleepless nights."

This time she shivered not in excitement but in revulsion as she coughed, trying not to wretch as the scenes of carnage were still fresh in her mind.

Grabbing a napkin from Lucky in the front with one of his shadows, Bazel handed it to Isolda and said,

"In hindsight that may have been a bit extreme, but I am glad that it worked.

"Though you might just fall right back into a dangerous loop of depressive thoughts if you do not change your lifestyle. I know its not easy, and just telling someone to not be depressed is not going to work at all.

"But eventually the shock from today will fade and then with your current lifestyle, you will inevitably fall into the same loop as before.

"So to not become prey before despair, how about we start small and with incremental improvement over time we can get you back to where you need to be.

"For starters..."

Bazel then reached over and gently took one of her arms, rolling up her sleeve slightly and showing off her bony arms from malnutrition.

"How about we fix this diet of yours, and by that I mean eat more of literally anything at this point. How much do you even weigh?"

With a hint of shame, and slightly reddening cheeks, Isolda answered quietly, "85 pounds..."

Now it was Bazel's turn to gape like a fish as he estimated how tall Isolda was based on his own height,

'She is at least 5'3(163 cm), no matter what estimate I use that is grossly underweight. I think I know the reason why she wears such a large hoodie now...'

Rubbing his forehead out of exasperation Bazel said,

"Yeah, that is way too little. Quite frankly, I think a lot of your mental and maybe even health issues could be being made worse by this level of weight and poor diet.

"The mind and body are connected after all....how about this: I will come visit you whenever I can, assuming Captain Schwarz agrees, and so long as you start to eat a normal diet and try out one new hobby. Then you can play with my partner here as long as you please."

While the first half of what Bazel said almost fell on deaf ears, the second half caused Isolda's ears to perk up.

After thinking it through for awhile, Isolda was about to say something but the cat in her lap suddenly rolled around on its back and meow'd loudly whilst pawing the air.

This almost broke her heart, from the extreme level of cuteness she was attacked with, which left her no other choice but to say,

"I agree."

Pleased with the easy victory and in awe of the shamelessness of his partner, Bazel gave Isolda his number and let her enjoy her time with the cat.