Fate has the perfect plan. It can, in no possible way, go wrong in any way, shape or form. With Precia displeased with her and Takashi no longer trusting her, there had to be a means to appease both parties, and she thinks she has it. She thinks she has it ever since that Lost Logia turned up in the stadium and she... Battered that pigtailed girl for it.
It's not a pleasant memory. She doesn't actually like hurting that girl- that girl who's name she's even shoved to the back of her mind. It just makes things a little easier to depersonalize obstacles a little more, as painful as it is to do so.
The doorbell to Precia's apartment rings. Fate is waiting on the other side of the door in a lacy black dress, delicately balancing a box in her hands while shuffling nervously on her feet.
Precia doesn't answer her own door. To do so would be unthinkable. Instead, it is the slender rat-girl, in her shorts and a bodysuit, with a little vestcoat overtop. Her tail is wrapped around one leg, and her ears are hidden somewhere in her mess of hair.
"Oh, it's you," says Ertiga uncertainly. "You should have called," she chides. "Precia-dono is busy. But I guess come in and you can wait for her. What's in the box?"
Fate had almost expected Ertiga to open the door. Though Fate probably should have called ahead, she is here now and that is the end of the discussion she's willing to have with her mother's little spy of a familiar. Nevertheless, Ertiga can probably smell it before the box is even opened, and it smells sweet. But it's not for the lab rat; a fact Fate makes plain as day with a curt "It's for mother."
So Fate enters, thumb playing along the edge of her Device, Bardice waiting in standby form as a golden medallion at the collar of her dress.
Ertiga leans forward just a little sniffing at the box. She sneers at Fate, then rolls her eyes and bounds off towards the stairs, tail immediately straightening out to provide better balance. "Wait here," she calls over her shoulder as she vanishes into the next room.
For several minutes, Fate is left alone in the entry foyer. Time passes, and it almost seems like she's alone in the place.
Then the door opens again, and reality sets back in. "Precia-dono will see you, now," Ertiga states with a sneer. "She asks that you make this visit brief."
Beyond the mahogany double doors is a laboratory in the truest sense. Beakers and burners and chemicals on one wall, along with cabinets and tables and chairs. The other is half-library, half-computer, set up to record and analyze and provide information. At the far end, at an executive desk, Precia Testarossa is seated in her purple gown, hunched over a small notebook, in which she is writing. She doesn't look up as Fate enters.
The lab-rat's scrutiny is met with silence. Silence and all the warmth of a tomb as Fate stares Ertiga down, lips thinning into a hard line at the sneer. She didn't come here to see her mother's pet rat, and she makes it very clear in the way she gives her the cold shoulder while waiting.
It is only when Precia's door finally open to her that the chill in her posture melts away, replaced by something else. Her steps are uncertain as she crosses the threshold, eyes downcast.
Quick. Yes of course, her mother is probably busy; working on all kinds of important research. "H-." She starts, pausing only to clear her throat. "Hello, mother." There. Now the hard part begins, as she goes back to silence, waiting for acknowledgement.
Indeed, despite the invitation, it's still another few minutes before Precia looks up from her work. When she does, it is a brief glance, a beckon of a finger, and then she's back to her notepad. "Hello, Fate," she says, her voice calm and unemotional as she continues recording in her journal. "Ertiga did not inform me you were coming to visit. Why have you come?"
Precia could make her wait an hour, and Fate would remain there, still, and silent as a mouse, if she needed to, until her mother decided to affirm her existence. A few minutes isn't a long time, but to a child waiting for an adult to finish with important work, it can seem like forever. Even to a girl like Fate with an almost herculean patience.
The crook of Precia's finger makes her hesitate at first, a momentary pause, before she steps forward.
"I... Thought I would surprise you." She admits after the span of a breath or two. Everyone likes surprises... Right.
Fate plays her gambit now. She doesn't indicate the box just yet, but simply whispers: "Bardiche."
The Device seems to actually hesitate for a moment. Before the black axe of light pings lowly, the golden triangular medallion gleaming with light from within.
<YES SIR.> A pause. <PUT OUT.>
And there it is. Released from the Device's storage and freed to float in the middle of the room. A singular blue gem; a Jewel Seed, sealed and dormant.
Even sealed, Precia can sense the power of the Jewel Seed. Her attention is drawn to it like a moth to the flame. For a brief moment, the mage's eyes light up, as she looks to the Lost Logia floating in the air. She reaches out with her hands, then stops herself and draws on magic to wrest control.
"So, you have finally learned your lesson after all," Precia says quietly as the Jewel Seed tumbles through the air towards her. When it finally draws near, Precia's device makes a quiet pinging noise. Precia tilts her head back just a little when it begins floating over her. "Serial number seven," she observes quietly. "A holy number, wouldn't you agree, Ertiga?"
The little rat chitters quietly from the doorway, still as a girl. A moment later she rmeembers to add, "Yes, mistress. If that's all, I will go begin preparation for the meal."
Precia flicks her wrist towards Ertiga, and the rat-girl flees the scene. Her gaze lingers on the jewel seed a few more quiet moments, before it disappears into the same pocket dimension where she keeps the rest. "Well," observes Precia quietly. "It is progress."
It's a start. Seeing that look in Precia's eyes results in a strange mix of apprehension and excitement within Fate's breast, heart fluttering for a tense beat, daring to even hope maybe for a smile.
No smile though. And that's okay. It is just one Jewel Seed. She relinquishes control over the gem's orbit without fuss, letting Precia take it and take it into her Device.
But she waits- at least until Ertiga has been shood off, before she attempts to speak again. What comes out is a stifled noise at first, before she manages to force herself on. "-One more thing, mother." She says softly, while she has Precia's precious time and attention, gingerly setting the cake box at the edge of the desk, before folding her hands together behind her back and awaiting results.
Precia actually retains her attention on Fate as she places the box down, then stares at the box for a moment as if expecting something. When nothing happens, she waits another moment, clearly puzzled, before looking back up at Fate.
"It is a box," she notes calmly. "Fate, I do appreciate that you have brought me this jewel seed, but there are fourteen more. I trust you are not foolish enough to keep them in a box." A pause, and then she motions towards it, "What am I supposed to do with this?"
It's a box. It sure is a box. Yep, that is definitely a box.
So why does Fate look so painfully stung when Precia points out the fact that she has just placed a boxon the table?
The child remains stock still, doing her miserable best to keep a neutral expression, hands quivering behind her back. A slow breath and she rehains composure.
Precia appreciates the Jewel Seed. It is as much praise as she can expect, and quite frankly, a good amount of praise considering her mother's temperament over the past year. Now there are no words as the small blonde reaches for the box once again, tugging tabs and easing it open to reveal the contents. No she was not keeping Jewel Seeds inside the box, when she reveals the dark frosted cake within. The frosting job is surprisingly good despite not being a master baker's hand. It's still a dark flowry motif. And it smells fresh, too.
Preciae stares at Fate as she opens it. Some part of her can tell that the girl is disappointed, but that doesn't seem to affect the old mage. Her eyes are drawn to the box as it is opened, and she blinks in surprise. "Is this ... a cake?" she asks confusedly. "Did you bring me a cake?"
rThere is a moment's pause, before Precia shakes her head, "Fate, I haven't time for this. I'm sure the cake is delicious, but I have work to do which I must complete. Take the cake to Ertiga. Have her cut it and serve you some on your way out."
That was. Not quite as planned.
It's a cake. It looks like whoever put effort into decorating it really gave it their all. And Precia apparently wants none of it.
Shoulders nearly sag, before Fate catches herself, maintaining perfect posture, albeit with the injured expression of a soaked kitten. Precia doesn't have time for the cake. Take it to Ertigam have a piece and be on her way.
Fate lingers a beat longer, as though struggling on whether or not to attemp saying anything further, but no bright ideas come. And with nothing further to say, hands settle on the sides of the box to gently lift it. "Alright, mother."
She should have known better than to assume she could barge in on Precia and her research like this anyway, and already starts for the door. She's not quite inclined to really let Ertiga touch the cake, but where else is it going to go, now?
"Fate," Precia calls when the girl reaches the door. She waits until Fate has stopped, and then considers her another moment. "If you would like to have cake with me, bring me the rest of the Jewel Seeds. When I have all twenty-one, I will be happy to have a slice of cake with you."
With that, Precia looks away, back to her notes and her research, dismissing Fate without another word.
It's so much easier to cross that threshold on the way out. And Fate is almost out the door before she hears her name. It stops her in her tracks, head turning to peek one scarlet eye over a shoulder, wide, waiting, and curious as to what her mother has to say to her on the way out.
Get all 21... And she can have cake with her mother. Her eyes widen; that little flutter making her heart jump again.
"Y-yes mother." She replies, just a touch too quickly, completely failing to hide just how that new tidbit of motivation has affected her, as she slips out the rest of the way to leave the grand mage to her important research.