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Feeling slightly dazed from your discussion with Master Tomoe, you return to the dining room and slump down into one of the empty seats. Snatching up your unfinished wine, you empty the glass in a few gulps.
“I know that look. He showed you the skull, didn't he?” Juno groans, “He's so full of shit... you know, it's probably not even real.”
“I don't know,” you argue, “It looked pretty real to me.”
“Well, yes, it's a real skull,” she admits with an irritated scowl, “But I highly doubt that it belongs to the Summer King of whoever he's claiming now. It's probably just some pig farmer from a particularly grim hamlet somewhere.”
“You don't know whose skull it is,” you point out, grinning slightly to yourself, “So it could, potentially, be the Summer King's skull.”
“I can't believe you're taking HIS side,” Juno complains, looking across the table to Ariel, “Can YOU believe this?”
“Sorry, I'm obviously still playing catch up here,” Ariel says, looking between you and Juno, “Did you just say that he's got the Summer King's skull upstairs?”
“It's not-” Juno snarls, her hands clenched into fists, but your laugh downs out anything else she has to say.
-
With dinner over and done with, you withdraw back to the archives – to discuss Master Tomoe's proposal. You leave a few things out, mostly his last few words about Juno, but you cover all the important points. You know fully well that Ariel won't like it and she doesn't disappoint you.
“So let me get this straight,” Ariel says, grimacing softly to herself, “You're working for the Tomoe now?”
“I'm not working for him,” you explain, “I'm just carrying out a little bit of an investigation. In all likelihood, I'll just be bringing him some bad news. Not much work, but the reward could be well worth it. You know how important this is to me.”
“I know, I know,” the pale girl concedes, throwing her hands up in the air, “But sometimes, I look at myself and wonder what I'm doing with my life.”
“You know, Miss Teilhard” Juno purrs, “I sometimes get the feeling that you don't like my family very much.”
“That's funny,” Ariel counters, “Because I sometimes get the feeling that you don't like your family very much either.”
A sudden tension stiffens the air, silence descending as you wait for Juno's retort – either an outburst of laughter, you're guessing, or a frightful display of violence. But in the end, it's neither. Juno simply glances away and studies the rows of books with a cold aloofness. “This man that we're looking for,” she says, her voice hard, “What was his name again?”
“Armin Leigh,” you remind her. She knows his name perfectly well, of course, but the question gives her a nice neat way of bringing the conversation back towards matters of business.
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