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

The first day of February was warmer than the past couple of days, but still, Pacifica didn't have the luxury of complaining about the weather. She was an otter on a mission, and for that, she slipped out of bed before anyone else.

Bundled up nice and tight in her winter clothes, she stepped out of the room with her water bottle affixed to her as always. She didn't want to believe things would get physical, but she didn't want to be caught off guard.

Only Vince and his two Resonators awaited her outside--not who she was looking for.

"Morning Pacifica! What's up?" greeted the Maestro.

"Rare to see you out in the cold like this," added Mila.

"Morning!" the otter paid back the greeting in kind. Her head bobbed to and fro as she found no one but Vince's party.

"What's up?" asked Vince again, his tone carrying mild concern.

Pacifica didn't see a reason to lie about what she was doing. "Oh, I was looking for Kaira. I wanted to see how she was doing after everything." They didn't need to know the full extent of it, so she hoped that was enough to satisfy.

Mila shot a glance back at room four. "Haven't seen any of them," said the cat.

"You all did get back yesterday, and then we did that whole demonstration. They're probably tired," Vince chimed in.

"Surprised you're up in all honesty," Mila added. "Zephs won't even get up for the end of the world."

Vince placed a hand gently over his jacket's inner breast pocket. "She chewed us out bad for leaving her one time; but Mils is right, we can't wake her even when we go out on our morning run," the Maestro told the otter.

"I take it she doesn't like the cold?" Pacifica guessed.

"Not one bit. From what she told us, fairy groves stay temperate all year round thanks to their solar magic," Vince confirmed.

It made sense. With such tiny bodies, fairies probably didn't generate all that much body heat. It also explained why the tiny girl was so clingy. Either way, that wasn't the train of thought Pacifica wanted to get on.

"I'll leave you to your jog then. If they're still sleeping there's not much I can do. " Pacifica playfully stuck her tongue out. Perhaps she was over-selling it.

Thankfully, neither of her fellow guild mates seemed to notice.

"Yeah, have fun!"
"See ya!"

With the (technically) trio off to run the property, that left the sneaky otter to figure out what she could do. She desperately needed to talk to Kaira--she knew the jackal wasn't doing well. The poor girl was writing it in the sky and Colette was as oblivious as a rock.

Why didn't Nina say anything?

Surely, an Ethereal would pick up on those kinds of social cues with ease.

… right?

For the whole morning, Pacifica kept her focus entirely on room four. She took frequent walks around the guild hall, using the excuse that she was antsy and needed to clear her head.

There was part of her that hated her stave.

The lies were so effortless, she scared herself with the ease at which they passed her lips. What was worse was because of who she was, her loves believed her unflinchingly.

Rebecca took the day to chill, relaxing in bed and enjoying their huge TV they barely got to use before today.

Taika was back in the books. She assured Pacifica and Shouri that she'd take a half day, and planned on joining Rebecca for movies later.

Shouri, on the other hand, was looking into potential replacements for Elijah. It was something he said they should address sooner rather than later.

None of them needed to worry about this. As the PTRS member with the strongest emotional stave, this was Pacifica's battle to fight. They had their strengths and this was hers.

Finally, around the mid-afternoon, Colette emerged from her room, Nina in tow.

"Morning Colette!" the otter greeted the Maestro.

"Oh--hi Pacifica." By the measured surprise on her face, Colette hadn't expected anyone to be out and about.

"Hello!" Nina returned the greeting, brighter than the winter sun.

The little phoenix girl was a truly powerful Resonator; just her mere presence warmed the air to a noticeable degree. However, Pacifica couldn't sense any malintent from the bird. Perhaps she could stoke the flames so to speak.

"Where's Kaira?" asked the water element.

"Uh, sleeping, maybe?" Colette looked to Nina who shrugged back.

"I see," said the otter. That reaction was so plain and ordinary--neither girl lied to her; they had nothing to hide.

Where Pacifica felt fine telling someone like Vince what she was up to, she was more guarded with Colette and her bird. Based on how they reacted, she didn't think they were doing anything malicious. Even so, Colette didn't exactly know what the word "tact" meant. Pacifica still maintained her plan of talking to Kaira directly before anyone else.

"Come on Colette, let's go practice. We need to get you in shape," Nina urged.

"Okay!" Colette smiled and giggled in a way Pacifica had never seen before.

"See you later!"

As soon as Pacifica was alone again, her expression clouded. This was bad. Very bad. She looked around, confirming no one else was about. The plus side about winter was that most people wanted to stay in their warm rooms; a fact she capitalized on.

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With no peering eyes, Pacifica made her way to Colette's room. Rather than knocking, she employed her water. She had a superficial understanding of how locks worked, and they hadn't sprung for vatonium based security measures yet--so it took the untrained otter about a minute to pick the door lock and slip into the room.

Yeah, she'd bring that up to Shouri the next time they talked--that was too easy.

"Kairaaaaa," Pacifica called.

There was no response.

Unlike the other rooms in the guild hall, the king-size bed was split into two twins. The red feathers around the unoccupied bed told the otter where Nina slept last night.

The lump under the covers of the second bed painted a pretty good picture of how the room's occupants settled sleeping arrangements last night.

This hurt. This hurt so badly. There was a brief moment where Pacifica put herself in Kaira's shoes; loving someone so deeply and being shunned for the shiny new girl on the block. It was awful. This was awful. This wasn't what PTRS was supposed to be. They were supposed to be a safe haven where Resonators could express themselves as people.

And yet, here Kaira was, in worse shape than ever.

With a determined glare, Pacifica approached the bed.

"Hey, come on, get up," Pacifica urged the jackal.

"No," she replied.

"You can't give up!"

"That's not for you to decide."

"I'm not going to watch this happen, get up. We're going to talk to Colette."

What happened next was all instinctual. Sand whipped from the nightstand at Pacifica's face. Water barely blocked the blow, forcing Pacifica away from the bed.

The water element panted hard, her heart racing. She counted her blessings for all of her training, but she hadn't expected to be attacked so harshly--that sand had been aimed to incapacitate, perhaps… kill.

It took a lot to stay calm and not snap at her. Kaira was the victim here. She was lashing out because she was upset. Getting mad at her would only make things worse.

With her emotions grounded, Pacifica approached again. "Seriously, come on, we can talk this out."

Water and sand met once more, though this attack was much more intense, lashing out and attempting to strike the otter from several angles. A lesser Resonator would have been torn to shreds. Even so, Pacifica was forced away from the bed once again.

She tried to quiet her racing heart but found it difficult. The cacophony emanating from Kaira was intense, yet familiar. She couldn't quite place where she would have felt such a strange emotion before.

"Leave me alone." Kaira was firm, her voice carried a threatening edge.

Pacifica's breath hitched as a new sound interrupted their standoff (well half of a standoff, Kaira had refused to come out from her hiding place under the covers).

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

It was the distinct sound of a tuner alert. There was something in Pacifica's heart that told her she needed to go look at it. The air in the room felt wrong somehow, and she had a sneaking suspicion that whatever the tuner was trying to say would help puzzle out the mystery.

"Fine," said Pacifica, as she edged around the bed. "I'll leave you alone."

The otter stepped as lightly as possible to Colette's night stand. The water element held her breath as she tiptoed to where Kaira's brown tuner lay. She regarded the lone device with pity, abandoned in favor of fiery reds.

Pacifica kept her emotions suppressed, lest Kaira attack with renewed sandy wrath. Pacifica scooped the device up and woke it from its slumber.

She wished she hadn't looked. This cruel joke. This horrible joke. This waking nightmare.

Pacifica didn't know how long she stared at the screen. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry. This wasn't happening. This wasn't real.

Why this? Of all things, why THIS?