Pruned Trees Re-Sprout!! ~ Ragazza Volpe Magica ~

"What are we gonna do today?"

"Kinda wanted to see if Lina and the others were free."

"Oh?"

Rebecca's eyes slowly cracked open. Not that they'd be of any use in Pacifica's cavern of darkness.

"I thought you two could like talk in your mind…" the fox groaned.

"Sorry," Shouri and Pacifica said in tandem.

"We get feelings," Shouri clarified.

"Like when you read the room with your rhythm, but more intense," Pacifica added.

Rebecca did understand the concept. It was wild to think there was a way to make that feeling stronger--knowing what Shouri was going to say before he said it. It almost made her want to just rip the bandage off, and try it for herself.

But every time Rebecca opened her mouth to try to say "let's do it", she remembered every dark lonely night, every minute she stressed, every time she took in the gaze of an owner.

She couldn't do that to him. Not to the boy she loved.

"You want to see Lina again?" The fire fox returned to the pair's original subject.

"Yeah, figured we could tell them about everything that happened," said Shouri.

"You sure that's a good idea, bossman?" asked Rebecca.

"I was thinking they could possibly be a branch of PTRS if we ever grow that big," he revealed.

"Oh."

Sensing the confusion, Shouri elaborated. "Lina, Amika, and Leo would fit in with the guild. They treat their Resonators well. Probably helps they didn't come from the best households."

"What do you mean?" asked Rebecca.

"They all partnered with their Resonators out of necessity. They lived in a bad neighborhood, so they had to rely on their partners for protection."

"Oh."

That wasn't what Pacifica or Rebecca had expected to hear.

"I met them in school and they sort of influenced how I looked at Resonators," he told them.

"Next to Mila," Pacifica added.

"Well, Mila towers over them in terms of influence, and it's no contest there," Shouri chuckled. "Anyway, yeah I want to see them again. I'm sure they want to see us too."

It wasn't too much longer before Taika joined the ranks of the conscious, and the group rose for the day.

"Uhg, it's getting colder," Pacifica complained. She sat at her computer desk with a weather website up.

"It was getting colder yesterday," Shouri noted.

"Didn't notice, didn't have to go outside," the otter snarked back

"Supposed to get even colder next week." He pointed to the ten-day forecast.

"Uuuuugh!"

While the otter complained, Rebecca stood at the window, black-out curtain drawn. Snow covered everything in a thick blanket. The roads looked fine, but she remembered her schooling--looks were deceiving when ice was involved.

"Maybe we're not going anywhere," Rebecca spoke up.

Shouri and Pacifica joined the fire fox at the window. Pacifica immediately returned to bed in disgust, as if gazing upon curdled milk.

"Regular winter wonderland out there," Shouri commented.

"Are we just trapped here until the snow melts?" asked Rebecca.

"Nah, look." The Maestro pointed to a small crew of Resonators that worked the roads. It was a squad of fire and earth elements. The fire elements were just walking around chatting up one another, the piles of snow visibly melting in their wake. Behind them were the earth elements, spraying what looked like sand all over the road.

"Wait," Rebecca realized, "that's not sand."

"Yeah, it's Raccogliere il Sale, the salt spell," confirmed the Maestro.

"That usually just clings to Resonators and causes residual damage--why would they use it here?" wondered the battle veteran.

"Salt lowers the freezing point of water, and makes it harder for the water molecules to stick together to form ice. Apparently, it wreaks havoc on the metal parts of cars though, if you don't wash it off," he explained.

"Ah, I guess the fires are using either the spell Foschia Calorifera, or have the Corpo Fuoco ad-Lib," Rebecca scrutinized her fellow elemental brethren. "Definitely Corpo Fuoco," she nodded.

"How can you tell?" wondered Shouri.

"If it was Foschia Calorifera, the air around them would be wavering--it's meant as a deterrent spell, not only from how hot the Resonator gets while using it, but it makes attacks less accurate against the user," Rebecca now explained.

Shouri checked Rebecca's tuner. "Huh, you don't have that one yet," he noted.

"Nope. Also missing the sun spell Raggia del Sahara--unless you wanna tell me something I don't know."

"Nope, that one is also missing. No melting ice for us, I guess," shrugged the Maestro.

"Lanciafiamme works just as well," snarked Rebecca with a smirk.

"Yeah, no--that's how we end up on RVU for burning the house down."

Thanks to the efforts of the snow clearing crew, the roads were good to travel on by noon.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Pacifica quizzed with a suspicious lilt.

"Yeah, Aiden showed Rebby and I what to do if the car starts slipping on the ice," Shouri replied.

"He made us practice it like four times," Rebecca added.

"It'll be fine Paci," Taika rubbed the shoulder closest to her.

"Just like use your telekinesis if we start to spin out or something," Pacifica grumbled, bundling up in her jacket more.

"Wow, ye of little faith." Rebecca rolled her eyes as she threw the car into drive.

"I don't think I can move a car like that," Taika chuckled.

As they left the neighborhood, it was immediately apparent it was the day after a major holiday--the roads were sparsely populated, only a few other cars braved the freezing weather.

"We couldn't have picked a warmer day to do this?" Pacific complained.

"What warmer day? We're only going to be here for a few more days, and it's not getting better," Shouri replied.

"Uhhgh…"

Rebecca allowed her mind to wander as she drove--it was interesting how disconnected they were when they disagreed. It made sense though, à deux appeared to be a power that relied on a certain level of synchronicity; as if they were marching to the same beat. Shouri didn't mind the cold and Pacifica very much did--the disconnect came naturally.

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"Looks like we're here," said Shouri, pulling Rebecca from her thoughts.

After a couple tense moments of figuring out how to parallel park in real time, they arrived.

"Lina said they'd be waiting in the lobby for us," Shouri told the rest of the group.

"Yeah, we just have to brave that." Pacifica's attention was locked on the snow-covered sidewalks between them and the high rise.

"You'll be fine." Rebecca waved her concern off.

"What if I slip and fall?!"

"You'll get wet?"

"Exactly!"

"You're a water element!"

Shouri watched the back and forth between the two girls. "Famiglio Incendio, Presto," he called.

"Huh?!" Rebecca yelped as she was suddenly forced to create a flame fox. Rather than paying mind to its summoner, the familiar looked to Shouri.

"In her jacket," he ordered.

With a short nod, the flame beast hopped into the back and after a surprised yelp from Pacifica, the fire summon poked its head out of the otter's jacket.

"It's warm…" cooed the water element.

"Problem solved, let's bounce." Shouri threw his door open.

"That was easy," Taika tittered.

With the caviling water element pacified for the moment, the quartet exited the car and the three Resonators rushed into the lobby while their Maestro paid for parking.

"It's nice," Rebecca noted as she took in the lobby. It was small, but there were a couple of seats and couches to sit in. To their left was the leasing office, walled off with glass so visitors could see inside (though currently it was dark and locked up.)

Directly ahead was a long hallway that led deeper into the high rise. And to the right, was the front desk, currently unmanned. The desk itself was impressive, held up by huge blocks of granite, as well as having the computers hidden by a granite overhang. Crystal lights hung decoratively from the ceiling, while sculptures of hands were embedded into the wall.

"It's nice," Pacifica repeated, also spinning around to take in the sights.

Shouri joined them before not too long, on one of his tuners. "Lina said she'll be down in a moment," he told his curious trio.

"'kaaaay!" the three sang.

Sure enough, the woman of the hour showed up only a couple minutes later. "Shouri!" she beamed upon catching sight of her friend. She rushed over and embraced the other Maestro, which earned suspicious stares from the three girls behind him. However, any budding hostilities were extinguished when Lina then hugged Taika, Pacifica, and Rebecca in turn.

"Come on up, everyone is waiting!"

As the bubbly Maestro led the way, the three girls behind their Maestro continued to allow their curiosity to run amok.

They made their way down the center hallway and down one of the residential corridors. They all piled into an elevator and went up fifteen floors before ending up in another quiet hallway. The five-strong group quietly crept across the floor and found themselves at room 157.

"Here we are~" Lina sang on a whisper. With a wave of her hand, the scanner by the door beeped and released, allowing the five into the apartment.

"I'm back!" Lina announced, putting away her inside voice.

From the entrance, there was a room to the right. Efigenious poked his head out. "Oh hey." The wolf waved to the visiting quartet.

"Hey Efigenious." Shouri waved back.

The solar element studied his contemporaries, his brows pinching together. "Huh?" he uttered.

"What's up Effy?" asked Lina.

He shook his head. "Nah, still waking up." The wolf retreated back into his room.

As they passed by, into the main part of the apartment, Pacifica noted Lina's things were in there with Efigenious--they must have shared rooms with their Resonators.

Speaking of the other inhabitants--Amika, Leo, and their Resonators were all on the couch, watching TV.

"Oh hey Shouri," Leo greeted.

"Finally made it back up here, you punk," Amika smirked.

Like the wolf, Andi and Chena studied the visitors, though their warm expressions of welcome quickly fell to open befuddlement.

"What's up Chena?" asked Leo.

"What did you do?" uttered the stoat.

Lina hummed, noting how all three of their Resonators sensed something off about their guests.

Shouri looked to Pacifica, who smirked. "Fine." The Maestro couldn't fight the upward curl of his own lips.

With one synchronized breath, the two tapped into it--à deux.

"Woah, what?!" Andi stood up. "What did you just do?!"

The poor uninformed Maestros were beyond confused.

Rebecca elbowed Pacifica. "You freaking show-offs," she said with a laugh.

"What can I say? Seeing is believing."

Shouri and Pacifica's shared speech and motions got the point across loud and clear. A moment of silence gripped the apartment.

"So uh, I guess we should start from the top, huh?" said Pacifica and Shouri.

"Bro, how is your life THAT interesting?" Amika questioned.

"I never thought you'd manage to get yourself in that much trouble," Leo commented.

"Not our Shouri, never," Lina agreed.

Shouri ruffled Taika's hair. "She's a hell of a drug." The tousling turned into a hug, one which made the little lunar element beam with pride.

"I wanna fight you," Chena suddenly spoke. Her eyes were locked on Pacifica, a yellow glow scrutinizing the otter.

"Huh?" Everyone turned to the stoat.

"Chena?" asked Leo.

"I have to know." She rebuffed her Maestro's concerned gaze, her focus refusing to leave Pacifica.

"We have a battle court here," Lina spoke up.

"And a healer." Efigenious pointed to Taika.

"As long as they're okay with it," said Shouri and Pacifica.

Leo hummed, his lips curled down.

Chena finally broke her glare to face her Maestro. "Please, Leo."

The man sighed. "Fine," he gave in. "I guess I'm a little curious about how much stronger they are given all the shit they told us about," he added.

"Then it's settled," said Pacifica with a smirk.