Chapter 2: A Duelist's Ramblings
Finding herself surprisingly satisfied by the result of the conversation with Fade, Neon returned to her room, bag of banana chips in hand. Admittedly, she'd been dying of curiosity with regards to their blackmailer ever since the sting operation was announced. The information contained in her own dossier struck deep- it was as if Hazal had looked into her very soul and ripped her deepest insecurities towards the surface. Given what she now knew about the woman's radiant abilities, Tala supposed that she had. The dossier, mixed with the vision she endured while at that warehouse in Istanbul, had been in the back of her mind almost constantly since then.
At first, she was determined to prove the anonymous blackmailer wrong. She had control, regardless of whether anyone else observed it or not. Together with Sage, she'd been working on harnessing restraint. Her heightened abilities were useful at times, sure, but they also proved to be dangerous- it was something she was well aware of. It had been hammered into her brain practically as soon as her radiance manifested. Needless to say, she took the dossier incredibly personally. It was clearly meant to incite her temper, and yet, when she'd spoken to Hazal, it felt as though she was talking to a completely different person. She was smug and standoffish, sure, but she seemed civil enough at the time.
She opened the door to her room, haphazardly closing it behind her before turning around and flicking on the light. When she did so, she was met with something rather unexpected.
"Hi." Jett sat cross-legged on her bed, grinning with far too much enthusiasm for someone who was awake at two-thirty in the morning.
Neon screamed, dropping her banana chips.
Jett's expression immediately morphed into something halfway between amused and concerned as she leapt from the bed, arms raised in apology. "아이고! Sorry, Tala, I thought you would've heard me come in!" She laughed, picking up the bag of snacks and handing it back to her startled friend. Neon leaned back against the wall, heart racing as she put a hand to her chest. She didn't know why she was so jumpy, maybe the fact that it was late, but she wasn't particularly keen on being scared for the second time in such a short span.
"No, you're good-" She breathed, at last flashing a smile as she seemed to recover from the initial shock. "-sorry. It seems like everyone is intent on jumpscaring me tonight! My heart can't take it." Readily accepting the banana chips, she pushed herself off of the wall and made her way back towards her bed.
"Oh?" Jett prompted, clearly curious as to what the previous scare had been. "Did Omen sneak up behind you, or something? I swear, he's gotten way too good at teleporting in silence. During last week's training, I was hiding and reloading, but all of a sudden, he just appeared behind me, and bang! I was eliminated! I didn't even feel the wind move- he was just… there ." She shuddered at the memory, flopping onto the bed.
Neon smiled- she'd heard the tale several times by this point. Out of everyone in the protocol, her friend was certainly one of the sorest losers when it came to elimination training exercises. Whether it was a recant of her victory, or a tragic story of her inevitable defeat, Neon got an earful about how things had progressed- even if she was there in-person to witness whatever went down. Despite how repetitive it could be at times, she found it rather endearing.
"Not Omen, no." Neon chuckled, sitting down on the bed beside Jett. "I actually ran into Fade in the common room just now. That's why it took so long for me to get food, if you were waiting for me here. I turned the lights on, and I didn't see her at first." She nodded towards the door in a nonchalant manner, but even so, she didn't miss the immediate frown that creased Jett's features.
"Fade?" She repeated, suspicion creeping into her tone, which instantly made Neon regret mentioning the encounter. Ever since Hazal was announced as the newest member of the protocol, Jett's anger had increased tenfold. The accusations made in the dossier had royally pissed her off, as she'd made incredibly clear through her intolerant treatment of her newest coworker, and in turn, Hazal had made no effort to apologize. It was a cycle of hostility that neither cared to break, and Neon certainly didn't care to be involved in it. "What was she doing in the common room?"
"I dunno." Neon shrugged, much to Jett's chagrin. "I didn't ask her."
"Of course you didn't." The white-haired radiant sighed, dramatically stretching her arms above her head.
"Hey, while we're on the subject of questioning what people are doing where-" Neon leaned over, opening the bag of chips. "Mind telling me what you're doing in my room?"
"Oh, it's simple really." Jett laughed, though her demeanor didn't change. "I woke up after a bad dream, which I'm going to assume is her fault. And then I heard your door open, so I figured that, if you were awake, I'd come bother you."
"How very kind." Neon rolled her eyes, but she smiled nonetheless. She was practically wide awake at this point, so it wasn't like Jett was intruding on her slumber, and in all honesty, she was grateful for the company. She rolled onto her stomach, aligning herself so that she and Jett were opposite one another. "What did you dream about?"
"The restaurant." Jett sighed, the anger melting away from her expression. "I keep dreaming that I go back and see my boss, and my family… but next thing I know, everything's gone. It's the aftermath of what happened in Venice, and everyone thinks I did it. And no matter how hard I try to tell them that it wasn't me, they don't believe me." Her gaze grew downcast, and Neon herself looked away.
"I'm so sorry, Sunwoo." She murmured, attempting to gauge her friend's expression. "I know how difficult it's been for you since Venice. I wish there was some way we could convince them that it wasn't you." As much as Tala sympathized with Jett, however she wasn't totally sure if this particular dream was Hazal's doing. She was kind of hard to miss, after all…
"As for whatever caused your dream, though-" she pressed on. "I might be able to help. Did you notice anything… weird?" Jett scrunched up her nose.
"Elaborate." She demanded, clearly wary of whatever Neon was asking.
"Like… weird, black shadows, whispering, cats…"
"Cats?"
"You heard me."
"No, none of that." Jett yawned. "I don't think so, at least. Why?"
"I don't know if it was Fade, then." Neon frowned, rolling up the bag of banana chips and clipping it shut. She'd been intermittently snacking on them throughout the conversation, but her appetite was beginning to wane. "I mean, we can always ask her tomorrow, and tell her to stop if it really is her-"
"Pfft, yeah right." Jett interjected, scoffing. "As if we'd actually get an answer from her."
"I wouldn't be so doubtful." Neon shrugged. "She was… actually surprisingly civil in the common room. And I got one answer out of her, so it wasn't a total waste of time-" At the mention of information, Jett seemed to perk up, rolling onto her stomach so that she could face Neon.
"잠시만, really?" The duelist's eyes grew wide, her tone becoming incredulous. "What did you ask her?"
"I just asked her name-"
"And she told you?"
"Very reluctantly," Neon added pointedly. "But yeah. I said it was only fair, since she knows so much about us. And… then, I maybe threatened to ask Sage to delay her training clearance…" The second part of her statement was said a bit more sheepishly, but it earned a malicious grin from Jett. She smacked Neon's arm, clearly impressed.
"Dang, I'm surprised! I didn't expect that from you." Jett laughed. "But, I'm glad it worked! What is her name?" Neon stole a glance at the door, seeming a bit wary now that her secret knowledge was called into question.
"I… don't know if she wants me to say anything about it. She seemed kinda annoyed when she told me, I don't want her to get even angrier if she finds out I told you-" The duelist absentmindedly picked at her nails as she spoke, but halted as Jett sat bolt upright.
"Wait- you don't think she can like… hear us, can she?" Both girls made a face.
"I don't think so- at least, I hope not." Came Neon's reply, and Jett seemed to relax ever so slightly, laying back down beside Neon. The electro radiant rolled over onto her back, sighing as she stared blankly up at the ceiling. She was still very much awake, and now her mind was racing even more so than when she'd first entered her room. A moment passed in comfortable silence, and then she decided to speak again. "Everything in the protocol is changing so quickly." She murmured, voice becoming surprisingly hesitant. "It seems like we can barely catch a breath at times. I want to trust that Brim has a plan, but…"
Neon turned to face Jett, expecting her feisty input as per usual, but instead she was met with the sight of her friend sound asleep.
Grabe siya, that girl could fall asleep quickly…
Neon herself was not so fortunate. She turned back to the ceiling and sighed again, supposing that her existential queries would have to wait for another night. As she closed her eyes, she hoped that time would pass relatively quickly. If Hazal had decided to invade the protocol's dreamscapes once more, she'd certainly get an earful from Tala once she woke up…
But that was a problem for tomorrow.
Notes:
More Poor Translations:
아이고 - An exclamation equivalent to 'oh my!'. (Korean)
잠시만 - Hang on. (Korean)
Grabe siya - Unbelievable. (Tagalog)
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