Chapter III
Year 4357, Month of Sigilind (8), Day 08.
00:38
Emile stared at their fridge, an energy drink they found in the back of it in the back of it in their hand, a blank look on their face as the hum of electricity as the fridge worked effortlessly to maintain it's usual low temperature mixed with the soft and barely audible sound of cable TV commercials to provide a good background for Emile to rabbit hole with. Lorika wasn't coming onto Emile, was she? She had to just be using some sort of manipulation to confuse Emile into behaving. It was no wonder that Emile had pushed those memories to the back of their head, they were so damn confusing. The worst part was that they couldn't straight up ask Lorika if she was coming onto them or not because if she wasn't that could, and from Emile would definitely, be considered cocky and prideful to assume someone divine was attempting to court them, and would likely lead to Emile being executed in the most painful way possible. Emile did not want to be remembered as the person who asked a psychotic cult leader if she was trying to bring them to bed or not because they're genuine confusion got mixed up with their arrogance, and therefore made yet another example of what not to do.
"Fuck it," Emile said, chugging the rest of their energy drink, if they were going to rethink their life choices and ponder the implications of their bosses words they didn't want to be completely sober for it, they wanted to be drunk enough that they wouldn't make any stupid and irrational decisions, but would also barely remember what rabbit hole they went down the next morning...or a few hours later, rather.
Emile downed another glass of whiskey, and held their glass out to the bartender as he made another round around the circular bar. Emile took another sip and rubbed their eyes as the warmth of the alcohol filled their body, they sat there, index finger and thumb pinched between their eyes as they questioned their life, and why they were overthinking this in the first place.
"Hey, you're, a Divine Apostle, right" Said a woman who had just walked up and leaned on the counter next to Emile.
Emile blinked and turned their head to look at the woman, the only thought that they could muster was "Holy shit, you're hot." The first thought they could muster out, rather.
The woman giggled and covered her mouth, she twirled a lock of her curly black hair as a warm blush crossed her ebony skin, "Thank you, that means a lot coming from you," She said. She was wearing a pale purple mini dress that was bedazzled with white rhinestones, her hair was let loose, reaching her shoulders, she had purple extensions in on the underside of her hair, and her nails were decorated with rhinestones, reaching at least an inch and a half from her cuticles, she was in purple heels, similarly bedazzled, and her makeup was extra glamorous, highlighting her beauty in exaggerated ways.
Emile felt their face heat up a little, "Sorry, that was inappropriate of me, I'm Emile," They said, "Have a seat, I'll get you a drink." They said, scratching the back of their head.
"Thank you!" The woman said, sitting next to Emile, she looked at Emile, "I'm Nora," She said, placing a hand to her chest, a large smile on her face.
Emile got her a drink of her choosing; a margarita, and she drank like a black hole, she was one heavyweight. Emile could go for quite a couple rounds of drinks, but Nora went for drink after drink with only getting slightly tipsier with each one, but she was good company, she kept Emile's mind off of the overthought rabbit hole they drug themself into.
"So then I said, 'I'm not paying that much for that! I need at least a few more dates before I decide to split the bill.' Men am I right? They are the worst, I'm so glad I decided to look into dating women." Nora said, her hand movements exaggerated, clearly she was now a little more than tipsy.
Emile laughed, "I've never been attracted to men, women are just better," They said, taking yet another sip of whiskey, "Even before I realized that being women was an option I was still disgusted by men."
Nora looked at Emile and lightly touched their hand, "You should really lay off the drinks for the rest of the night, I want you to be able to remember me when you wake up," She said, a giggle in her voice.
"Why would I ever want to forget you, you're cool," Emile said, "One more sip, alright?" Emile said, upon Nora's nod taking their last sip for the night.
"Well, I don't know about you but I'd say this was a productive night, we should hang out more, maybe at your place?" Nora said, brushing Emile's hand with her own.
The sound of an alarm woke Emile up, they sat up and patted their bedside table, finally finding their blaring device and turning the alarm off, laying on their back as they scrolled through their notifications. They tilted their head to look at the woman who was next to them as they heard them yawn and turn over.
"Good morning," Emile said as they looked at Nora, who was staring at Emile with almost hypnotic siren eyes, the smeared makeup on her face somehow not taking away from her beauty.
"Good morning," She said back, closing her eyes once more.
Emile internally shrugged and grabbed their undergarments, putting them on, and stood up and stretched, the satisfying popping of their bones made Emile sigh in relief as they grabbed their work clothes, and a towel and went into their bathroom, placing the folded clothes and towel on the counter top, then left to turn their coffee maker on, then retreated back to their bathroom, took a quick shower, dried off, dried their hair and styled it, put their uniform on and walked out, and poured themself a now fresh cup of coffee, which they were quick to add several sweetening products to, then prepared their morning pills, and downed them in one swell swoop, and a lot of coffee.
Emile's eyes naturally drifted to Nora, who was wearing her mini dress, the only article of clothing she had that she could use to cover herself, "Can I have a cup?" She asked, her face wet and now makeup-less. Emile shrugged, and gestured to their coffee maker, which she was quick to attack, "How's your head, you drank a lot last night." She said, trying to fill the silence.
Emile looked over at her, "Oh, just a light headache, not the worst I've had." Emile said, smirking as they looked at Nora's reaction.
"How much do you usually drink?" She asked, a look of concern on her face.
Emile thought for a few moments, "A...few bottles, and not to mention shots." Emile asked, sipping their coffee.
"You're not reported to be much of a partier, but I guess you don't have to party to drink a lot, but geez, I didn't expect someone you rarely hear about being out and drunk to be y'know, so tolerant of alcohol." Nora said, taking a sip of her own coffee.
Emile shrugged, "Divine Ordainment, I guess," Emile said, a small smile on their face, they took another sip of their coffee and sighed, "I actually tend to drink a lot, just in private, or with a few buddies," Emile said, taking a sip of their coffee, "Though, the things I say while drunk are a completely different story." Emile said, taking another sip, only to find it empty.
"Yeah, well no one really thinks before they speak when drunk, right?" Nora said, looking Emile up and down, "You look good in uniform."
Emile shrugged, "Thanks, I guess."
Nora smirked and looked around Emile's quarters, "Y'know, I would've thought that someone with 'Divine Ordainment' would live in some fancy mansion, not an apartment."
Emile frowned, "Ha, ha, very funny, I don't want a mansion, that's too much space to fill with to many things I don't have, I like my own little space." Emile said, and looked at the automatic feeder in the corner as more cat kibble spilled out, and Nocturne came running from underneath some surface in the living room, quickly eating up a large portion of fresh food.
Nora gasped as she looked at the black cat, "Oh it's a witches cat!" She said, rushing over to Nocturne and quickly making it her personal goal to give her all the love and attention she could ever want.
Emile smiled, "Yeah, she's pretty evil, if I leave any amount of meat out she'll be quick to eat it." Emile said, making themself another cup of coffee.
Nora awed at Nocturne and continued petting her head, "She's a little demon isn't she? She says 'I want to eat the flesh of living creatures in honor of Dahmah, Demoness of Evil and Corruption.' Doesn't she?"
Emile nearly spit their coffee out, "Yeah, no she doesn't, don't say stuff like that, King has eyes and ears everywhere, I am not trying to get blacklisted as a Dahmah worshipper." Emile said, slightly irritated.
Nora looked up at Emile and nodded, "Yeah, sorry, I don't wanna...y'know get you in trouble." She said, a small apologetic smile on her face.
"Yeah, it's all good," Emile said, taking a sip of their coffee, "You can grab something of mine to wear from my wardrobe," Emile said, "Just not my closet, I keep my favorite clothes in there."
Nora raised an eyebrow, "Really, you must do this often if you've separated the clothes you do and don't care about into separate areas, and not to mention but are just letting me choose what I want from your wardrobe."
Emile shrugged, "What can I say, I like women," Upon a quizzical look from Nora, they sighed, "Okay, I don't do this often, but I am very possessive of things that I like, and happen to get paranoid quite often, that's why I separate them, just in case."
Nora raised an eyebrow, "And how would you describe 'often'?" Nora said, a smirk on her face as she stood up, and put her hands on her hips.
"What? Did I say something about you being special or different last night? Is that why you're being oddly...interrogative of me?" Emile asked taking a sip of their coffee.
"Yes, actually you did," Nora said, "I'm assuming you say that to a lot of girls then?"
Emile shrugged, "More or less, but I think I can confidently say, since I'm sober now, that I just might mean that."
"Emile! Come on in, lay down, sit down, stand up, whatever you're comfortable with," Ciel said, sitting down at a seat near a sofa chair, grabbing a clipboard off the side table and taking out a paper and pen. Emile sat down on the couch next to the sofa chair and listened to Ciel as they spoke, "So, let's start simple, how was your day yesterday?"
Emile looked up at Ciel and sighed, "Just the usual, the day before Lorika was pissy about some transcripts of me saying she could do better, and then yesterday she started acting weird around me, which brought up some bad memories, and then I went drinking."
Ciel raised an eyebrow, "So, excuse me for being harsh, but you seem to be finding yourself stuck in a cycle, you go out drinking, say something you'll regret, and then get in trouble for it, which causes you to go drinking to cope with what happened and as a result, because you're still angry, end up saying more things you'll regret, which will lead to you repeating the same cycle. Your coping mechanism leads to you needing to cope more," Ciel said, "It sounds like to me, that perhaps we should find other ways to cope with stress rather than getting drunk to said point and then saying something you regret later. Do you have any other ways of coping?"
Emile stared at Ciel for a moment before they sighed, and laid down on the couch, "I don't have any methods other than that, drinking just makes it all better, I guess."
Ciel sighed, "Well, let's talk about that, why do you think that drinking 'makes it all better'?"
"Well, if I drink enough then I won't remember what I did the night before and will be more angry about my hangover than whatever Lorika is on my ass about."
Ciel raised an eyebrow, "Well, maybe we could start with you trying to mend things with King?" Ciel asked.
"Nope,"Emile said, "I'll just piss her off more, and then...y'know I'm in worse shit than I was before."
Ciel frowned, "Maybe you could try and see her side of things instead of taking it as something personal, trust me, King favors you, if anyone else did the things you do they'd be headless by now. You've gotten off easy, and you're taking it for granted."
Emile groaned, "I can't see things from her perspective, if I look at myself for too long in the mirror I get narcissistic and my brain wanders to thinking I'm better than her and everything, it's like this separate voice." Emile said, getting frustrated.
"A 'separate voice'?" Ciel asked, "One that sounds like you or not?"
"It's more of my brain involuntarily goes on a tangent, and then I get brought back to reality when it gets bad, like I zoned out my thoughts, and they just went haywire."Emile said.
Ciel blinked for a few moments, "Well, that is...unusual, perhaps that's because you have some mental barriers you put up, especially when you're looking at yourself. Does this only happen to you when you look at yourself in a mirror?"
Emile shrugged, "Kind of, whenever I'm being berated by Lorika it also happens, kinda making me zone out."
Ciel thought for a moment, "That's not something I've heard of before," Ciel's eyes narrowed, "Do you think it has something to do with insecurity? You instinctively gas yourself up in response to being put down, or potentially being put up as a defensive mechanism."
Emile looked away, crossing their arms, "Why would I have any insecurities? I don't have any." Emile said, looking back at Ciel.
"Emile, you know that's a lie," Ciel said with a sigh, "Okay, so like I said, try and talk to her. You should try and push those thoughts back and talk to Lorika as yourself."
Emile opened their mouth to say something when Ciel stopped them, informing them that their thirty minutes was up and that they needed to go back to work, which Emile begrudgingly agreed to do. Emile was quick to call a cab and get back to their department, quickly making their way to their office.
Emile grabbed the pile of overdue paperwork that they had forced themself to do to try and not stay on Lorika's bad side, they signed the documents that required a signature— and Emile felt like signing, they put everything they didn't want to sign to the side to do the lengthy process of writing a letter why they didn't sign it —and sorted the papers that needed to be locked in the records department.
Emile hadn't even realized that hours had gone by when a knock on their door startled them from their productive trance, they looked up, It's unlocked, come in," Nora's face peaked out of the crack that was now in the door, "Nora? How did you manage to get through the staff?" Emile asked, their surprise apparent.
Nora opened the door and walked in, shutting it behind her, "I just told them that I was really important and you needed me immediately, and how mad you'd be if they wasted their time by having them verify me, and they let me through."
Emile blinked, "I have to give you props for that but you could've just messaged me, you didn't have to go through all these hurdles."
"You never gave me your number," Nora said with a shrug, "And even if you had it's still more fun to see you in person so I can get your response immediately."
Emile stared at her but relented, "Give me your PortComm, I'll put my info in an empty contact," Emile grabbed her PortComm and inputted their name and number into a contact, "And next time you want to see me give me a heads up or I'll have my staff kick you out,"Emile said before sighing, "So what do you want?"
Nora walked around Emile's desk and walked behind the chair they were sitting at, slinging her arms around Emile's shoulders, "I was bored, plus I want your opinion on something."
Emile turned their head to look at Nora, who's face was closer than they had initially thought, "What is it?" Emile said, feeling a light warmth rise to their cheeks as Nora's warm chocolate colored face inched closer to theirs.
"Should I get braids? Curls are good and all, but they're really hard to maintain, but if I did get braids they'd probably have extensions, and I"d bleach some of them to dye them pink and then have bleached curls to add volume, and that would cost a lot to just keep them in for a month, maybe a month and a half-"
"I'm going to stop you there, I don't care what hairstyle you get, and why are you asking me? You met me not even a day ago."
Nora shrugged, "Because you're fun, I like you," She said poking Emile's cheek, "We should be friends."
Emile sighed, "Sure, just please don't bother me anymore?"
Nora nodded, "Sounds like a plan." She said before leaving the office.
Emile had been texting her for hours now, mainly since she wasn't picking up any of Emile's "Let's end this conversation" cues. She was cute, and sweet, but she had way too much energy.
Emile sighed and took a sip of their water, reminding themself of how they'd need to get more liquor tomorrow, they were mid-message when they got a call from Lorika, nearly spitting out their water before collecting themself and picking up the phone. "Hello?" Emile said, slightly nervous.
"Good evening, Emile, do you think you have time to come to my office?"
Emile sighed, "Yes, I'll be there in a few."
Emile hung up and grabbed a dress shirt, and some dress pants, slipping into their combat boots after quickly changing they put a belt on, attached their PortComm to it and walked out of their quarters. Going to an elevator and quickly going up to the 3rd top floor, collecting themself before knocking on the door to Lorika's office.
"Come in." Said the voice on the other side of the dark oak door.
Emile slowly opened the door and closed it behind them before bowing, "Good evening your majesty."
"You can drop the formalities, I'd like to speak as equals." Lorika said, her usually perfectly neat high ponytail now being a messy low ponytail.
Emile nodded and sat in the plush chair across from her, "What do you want to speak about then?" Emile asked, crossing their legs.
Lorika looked up, "Emile, I have received orders from NIKE," Lorika said, clearly having not slept the night before, "Troubling orders."
Emile frowned, "I see, what were these orders in specific?" Emile asked before watching Lorika pull out a cigarette dish, several packs of cigarettes and a bottle of hard liquor from a compartment in her desk, "You just have those at your desk?" Emile asked as Lorika grabbed two champagne glasses from the same compartment.
"Don't complain, and help yourself," Lorika said before following that up with, "I'm stressed."
"I can tell," Emile said, pouring a glass for Lorika before themself, and a cigarette from a pack. Lorika pulled a lighter from another drawer and lit Emile's cigarette, "And I can tell that you have everything in that desk of yours. What's next, candles and roses, steak dinner?" Emile said, feeling their face warm up as they said that, Lorika had said to speak as equals, and this was how Emile spoke to their friends, but it felt different when with Lorika.
Lorika raised an eyebrow but brushed past it, not even acknowledging it, "NIKE has instructed me to fall into a marriage treaty with the current heir of the Kuma family, and to do this in order to secure ownership over the Kumatan Island."
Emile took a sip of their liquor before taking a drag of their cigarette, if Lorika wasn't stressed Emile would've considered this a perfect date, a thought they immediately regretted having.
They cleared their throat, "Well, I mean, it certainly wouldn't be that hard to do, that old windbag has been rejected by every noblewoman across the world, no matter how much he offered to pay their families. He's desperate enough to take any opportunity to get with a woman, no matter how suspicious the deal is. I can't say I blame NIKE for telling you that, all you have to do is tease him and he'd be satisfied."
Lorika cringed and shivered, pushing her glasses up her nose, "I'd rather not, he seems...rather creepy from what I've heard." Lorika said, taking a long drag of her cigarette, presumably to calm herself.
"What virgin in his mid fifties isn't creepy and perverted? I just want to know why you decided to come to me about it, isn't Asha super statistical and logical, as compared to me. I'm biased, a robot isn't." Emile said, feeling a bit of pizzazz as they spoke, using jazzy hand movements.
Lorika frowned and took a gulp of her drink, "I'm glad to see you find this amusing, Emile. And if you must know it's because I want to learn to respect you as I wish you'd respect me." Lorika said, taking a drag of her cigarette.
Emile smiled, leaning forward halfway over the rectangular wooden desk, "I do find it amusing, dare I say, entertaining, and I respect you to an extent, I'm just glad you're learning to give me the respect I deserve."
Lorika rolled her eyes, taking another swig of her drink, getting up and walking around the table to the small lounge in her office, "Oh yes, because the orphan from a religious institute who got lucky deserves more respect than the lack of respect they give to a literal God's direct descendant, makes sense," Lorika said, "I tried, and failed, to remind you how to respect me properly, so now I have to pretend like I give two shits about an immature and arrogant lady like you."
Emile smiled, taking that as a challenge, "You know, you were never reminding me if I had no respect for you in the first place." Emile said, putting out their cigarette before standing up as well, holding their glass in their left hand tightly.
"Splash that on me and I'll have your head mounted on my wall," Lorika said-- seemingly having read Emile's mind that had flooded with the intrusive thought --watching Emile from the corner of her eyes, "And when I first recruited you you were as respectful as could be, I even considered you my favorite," She said, grabbing Emile's chin, "I guess I spoiled you too much."
Emile smiled and tipped their glass, nudging Lorika in the chest with the edge of it, "With how much you've put up with me being 'disrespectful' I would've thought you'd fallen in love with me, cut the crap, I'm still your favorite and you know it." Emile said, leaning their head against Lorika's hand.
Lorika stared down at Emile and frowned, "I see your little therapy session with Ciel has only made you more delusional than you were before," Emile's face immediately dropped, to which Lorika smiled, "You should know better than anyone that I have eyes and ears everywhere, I expected more of you, my favorite girl."
Emile grimaced at the nickname, tipping their glass over, spilling liquor onto Lorika's dress shirt, "Oops," Emile said, a smile crossing their face as Lorika's calculating gaze met their defiant one, "My bad, your highness."
"You're dismissed, Emile." Lorika said firmly.
Emile's mind shot back to the memories of Lorika's treatment of them, especially how Lorika treated them when they first came to New Kah-O', Emile decided it couldn't be a coincidence, why would Lorika be so forward with Emile, clearly she wanted the greatness that was Emile, and Emile had to admit that they wanted some of Lorika.
"Oh, come on, I just got here, King, surely you want to spend more time with me, I am your favorite after all." Emile said, wrapping their arms around Lorika's neck, warmth rushing to their cheeks as they realized how stupid of a desicion this was.
Lorika stared at Emile for a few moments, clearly dumbfounded, before shaking her head and lightly pushing them away, stepping back, "Emile, you've clearly had to much to drink, go back to your quarters and rest up, that's an order."