It Takes One to Know One [Maxine]

[MAXINE FISHER!]

It was a simple question really, yet Max had the hardest time answering it.
She knew of tons of places they could go and speak in private, from cafés to ice-cream parlors. But none of them seemed...well... appropriate. It was rather hard to imagine such a stern figure like Ethereal buying such frivolities like frozen yogurt. Or perhaps it was simply because Max's mind, still wrapped in the arms childhood, was incompetent at understanding that sometimes those of an older age are aloud to have fun too.
Whatever it was, there was a long moment of silence from Max while she thought about possible places they could eat. She was, after all, famished, and the only pictures her brain could conjure up were that of lush restaurants and buffets - the likes of which they could never afford with twenty dollars.
Letting out a sigh, she scratched the back of her neck and smiled.
"I know a places where we can go," she said slowly, "It'll be nice and quite too, 'cos all the kids are in school."

Another moment of silence followed in which Max watched Ether intently, fascinated as he turned away from her. Was it really going to be him? She dared to say the word Meister, but it screamed through her head every time she looked at him.
And the funny thing was... it didn't seem... weird. Perhaps they had a lot more in common then they both thought.
The young girl allowed her self a small, rather nervous chuckle and stuck her hands into her pockets, rubbing the cash between her thumb and index finger.
"School? You've got to be kidding me. Why go back there when there's opportunity for a free lunch?" she laughed, slowly walking up to stand next to the young man.
Once there, she simply shook her head and rolled her shoulders back slightly. "No, no... I'm fine really, just a little...well..."
Max knew she didn't have to continue, no doubt Ether was feeling the same mix of confusion and excitement. An altogether unpleasant emotion, not helped by the fact her stomach growled with hunger.

The awkward silence was then interrupted by the far off clanging of bells, the noise echoing down the lonely back alley.
For some reason, the noise snapped things into perspective.
She had to know. She had to confirm the fact that was on both their minds.

Max's eyes became somewhat glazed as the looked drearily off into the distance, trying to fix on anything that wasn't Ethereal. She swallowed before taking the plunge.
"I... I guess that all this means that... you're... you're my... I mean a... Meister?" Her voice was doused in nervousness and uncertainty, but the realization that this whole situation was ludicrous crashed down upon her and she couldn't help but laugh to herself, albeit nervously. It wasn't like he was (Death forbid) another weapon. Man, if he was THAT would be an embarrassing situation...

[ETHEREAL!]

Ethereal was getting a little bit tired of turning around so much. It was his own fault, really, for doing it so much in the first place. But he did it one more time, with a bit of a sigh, and faced the girl as she thought. He was genuinely surprised to see her giving it actual consideration, since he'd been expecting her to play a back and forth game of Who-Picks for a few minutes. He had to admit, he liked that she could decide things on her own. That'd help a lot of they ever got separated during a fight...

Again, Ether shook his head briskly to clear his thoughts. What was this about fighting? They weren't even assured to be partners, not to mention how the thought of holding someone as a weapon for such long periods of time seemed inconceivable. Maybe... was it the same thing? He'd held a weapon before and hadn't felt the urge to throw it and run. That might have been because those times had been brief, due to how he couldn't match wavelengths to allow him anything beyond lifting them with any of the partners he'd tried.

When Max spoke up to say she knew of a place, Ethereal couldn't help but raise a brow curiously, briefly wondering where she was planning to take him that would normally be noisy with kids when school wasn't in session. Death 'E Cheese's had been fun when he was six, but it really didn't seem like an appropriate place. Funny, but not particularly appropriate. At that point, Ether became quite aware of how much smaller than him she was. His amethyst eyes narrowed as he studied her, lips parted slightly in curiosity. She was young, that much he could tell. Much more than him, at least. Would that hurt their ability to match wavelengths...?

Yet again, he shook his head. What was with all these thoughts of fighting and matching wavelengths? There was still no assurance that such a thing was even possible. Her speaking up again brought Ether back to his senses, the boy nodding simply in response to both times she'd spoken up before he said, "Lead on then." Death E' Cheese's or not, they still needed to talk. The following sound of bells drew his eyes away from her, head turning toward the street, though not necessarily to find the sound, but rather in reverence of it. Bells made such a lovely sound, didn't they? Ethereal thought so.

"I... I guess that all this means that... you're... you're my... I mean a... Meister?"

The question he'd been waiting to hear, or waiting to ask. Still, when it came he was no more prepared for it than when he'd first started anticipating it. His eyes turned back to her, almost reluctantly with their nervousness. By the tone of her voice, she was doing no better. The little laugh did little to change how awkward she seemed at that moment, which admittedly helped to sooth his own worries, if only slightly. At least he hadn't been the only one fretting over it. The sudden cruel thought that he should pretend to be a weapon hit him, but he quickly brushed it aside. Now didn't really seem like the time for jokes, tempting as it sounded. "A Meister?" he began in a slow voice, "Yeah... I'm one of those. But am I your Meister..." He looked away for a minute, face more calm than it should have been in that situation. His mind certainly wasn't the same way, but at least the confliction over what to say next was gone.

"Yeah. I think I am."

[MAXINE FISHER!]

The tolling of bells died down leaving silence to take over. But this time it wasn't uncomfortable or strained. It was simply.... silence. An absence of noise in which both Ethereal and Max were left to their own private thoughts. And private they were, as no emotion registered on either one of their faces. Although the young girl did manage to catch a flicker of surprise on the others face, but like all emotions that crossed his path it was vague and short lived, leaving as soon as it had come. A smile twinged at the corners of her lips, small enough not to be seen by Ether but still there all the same. So that was the type of mask he wore.
You see, in the hour that she had known Ether, Max had come to understand quite a lot about him, even if he was decidedly closed off. She had eventually concluded he was far from shy, he was simply... reserved. And clever too, there was no doubt there. In fact, even though Max didn't know it, the familiarities between them were much more common than the differences.

One thing she did know however was that this was it, there were no thoughts in her head that veered away from that fact. The only thing she could see in her head now was an image of Ether holding a sleek black and white Trench Knife while kicking some serious Kishin ass. Shivering involuntarily, the smile at the edge of her lips couldn't refrain from growing into a grin.

Wait, what the hell was she thinking? God all she was going to do was drag him along to some random burger joint for a nice little chit-chat.... what was it called again? Oh yeah, Death 'E Cheese's. She was fully aware that Ether wouldn't enjoy a place like that as much as she would, but that was exactly the point. If the inevitable did occur and they did end up partners, then they'd have to make sacrifices for each other, right? And hell, if that meant letting a thirteen year old girl with the mind of a two year old run around a soft play area for half an hour, then Ether wouldn't have a very hard job.
Besides... Max had never had that kind of trust before. Obviously she had been in weapon form before but... it was never fun. It was simply school work.
And there was nothing Max hated more then work.

Uncertainly she took a few steps forward before halting, her back turned to Ether. Even though they had gone the bells still tolled in her mind, echoing around her skull. Such a nice noise.

And then he said those words, words that seared their way into Max's memory, and for a moment the young girls cheeks flushed crimson and her smile radiated the suns glow.
Of course.
How could she ever have been scared before?
Her Meister.

Hands still deep withten her pockets, she turned to face the youth behind her and gave him the best answer she could think of.

"Cool!"

[ETHEREAL!]

I wonder what kind of weapon she is...


Now that someone had finally asked and the other had confirmed it, Ethereal was willing to let himself fall into daydreams and thoughts about how things might be. Not knowing what she was made it a little hard, but since he had seen her in partial transformation mode, conjuring an image of them double-punching the hell out of some witch was an easy task. A small grin even broke across his face because of it. Partially from the image itself, but also because that image reminded him that he--They could go on missions now. While he had the power of Soul Purge on his side, that still wasn't anywhere near enough to allow him, a one-star Meister, to take on missions alone. He'd never actually been on one before, despite his age. The thought of accepting one was almost enough to cause him to start sprinting all the way to the academy...

He restrained himself, but only barely, by deciding to run through a list of weapons she might be. He'd already seemed to have made up his mind that her asking him whether she was a/her Meister or not meant she wanted to team up, and not the opposite reaction of aversion that he'd been feeling earlier. Since that feeling had *mostly* left him by now, he didn't even give it any consideration, contenting himself with guessing her weapon form. He'd ask later, sure, but he really didn't feel like pestering her with questions until they got to wherever she'd decided to take him. Speaking of which...

Ether's attention turned back to the girl, noticing that she'd started walking off but had stopped. He was beginning to think she was waiting for him to follow, deciding not to reply, until she turned around and answered with a rather simple yet effective reply. This time, Ethereal wasn't able to fight the smile that curled up one corner of his lips, nor was he able to stop it as it persisted there. He knew he probably should have been egging her on to their destination, but for now he seemed content merely meeting the blue gaze that stared back at him.

Until, of course, he impulsively stepped forward to place himself alongside her, eyes staring up the hill at the academy with her to his immediate left. That smirk persisted on his lips as the hand on her side drew itself from his pocket to pat her on the head again. His hand tingled uncomfortably every time it made contact with her hat, but he didn't seem to notice. He was a little too busy gazing up at the DWMA, probably lost in some vision of granduer.

"We should probably get going. Where did you have in mind?" he finally asked, hand returning to his pocket, though his eyes didn't leave the academy just yet.

[MAXINE FISHER!]

So this was how it was going to be. Ethereal and Maxine. Heh, she could see that working. Of course there was still going to be the technical stuff like reporting to Shinigami-sama and telling... her father. At this thought the young girl barely repressed a shudder. Her father was far from a bad guy, but the two were complete polar opposites and their relationship wasn't exactly the best... and what the hell was she going to tell him?
Oh hey dad, here's some random guy I mugged this morning who's also now my Meister. Just thought you'd like to know.
Yeah, that wasn't going to happen.
But the weird thing was... she didn't really care much. It wasn't like her father was constantly prying into her business. In fact, ever since the move into Death City he'd hardly ever taken interest in her at all. And while this might alienate some children from their parents even further, it was the opposite for Max. She couldn't have been more thankful.
Pushing these thoughts aside, the young girl tried to focus on the task at hand. She barely knew this guy after all, and yet here they were, walking down the street like old friends. The urge to ask questions, however, was relentless. This was to be expected though, as Max was constantly pushing her nose into affairs that really didn't concern her. Yet... she couldn't help but feel that he was holding back a little too.

Removing her hands from her pockets and rubbing the back of her neck, she couldn't help but feel a worm of worry dig it's way into her stomach. What was he going to expect from her? Something powerful like a gun? Or something sleek like a sword? The worm buried it's way deeper still as Max's mind replayed the disappointment on previous Meister's faces as she showed her true colours. No, nowadays people didn't like such close range combat. And while Max was considerably bigger than your average trench knife, it didn't deter from the fact that such a weapon would need some practiced handling so as to work right. Would he really want that type of Demon Weapon?
And while the doubt was still there, the rationale part of her said yes. Ether wouldn't share the same look as every other Meister she'd been in contact with. She just... knew.
No one else could say otherwise.

Her train of thought was soon broken though as the tingling sensation was back, making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She hardly noticed though, as the feeling of Ether's hand was oddly reassuring... if annoying. However, she made no move to brush him off. She simply flashed him a smile of sharp white teeth and determined blue eyes before starting into a rather flamboyant type walk, hands resting on the back of her neck.
Hah, she'd gotten a grin out of him. That made her day.


"Yeah, I know where we can go," she said, barely repressing a smirk as she repeated herself, " Death 'E Cheeses sound fun?"

[ETHEREAL!]

Ethereal's thoughts on what weapon the girl might be turned a bit grim. He'd only been running through melee weapons, but what about the possibility that she was a gun? The jagged knuckles he'd seen could have symbolized some specialized addition to a long range weapon, or even the ridges found on the barrel of most guns. Bladed bottom of a pistol for better pistol whips, maybe? He shuddered a bit, wondering if fate would be so unkind as to pair him with a long range weapon. Nothing would have sucked more than to find out she was some sort of crossbow.

His hand fell back to his side, the discomfort of touching her finally reaching his brain. "How the hell I'm going to force myself to touch someone long enough to fight with them is beyond me..." he muttered, in a tone only loud enough for his companion to hear if she strained to listen. He walked otherwise in silence, lost to his musings. At this point, he realized that he'd made almost no observations about her as a person. What was her personality like? Why had they been paired? There was no doubt in his mind that they shared some strong similarities, but what, exactly, was that supposed to be? Other than her admitting that she disliked being touched too, he hadn't seen anything.

Unless you counted the fact that he, too, had been a thief back when he was about her age. Maybe that was the similarity? Was she just a female version of a younger him? Ether shuddered again; what a terrifying thought. The world didn't need any more arrogant little super-human thieves and troublemakers running around, even if they did liven up the place a bit. No, she probably wasn't like that. Perhaps the similarities had more to do with his current state than his past one. Ether liked to think he'd changed quite a lot in recent years.

With that, he decided to dedicate himself to studying this girl who was to be his partner a bit more. Understanding was one of the ways you matched Soul Wavelengths with another, right? And Death knows he needed all the help he could get in that department. The faint tuggings of worry that he wouldn't be able to match with her lingered in his mind like a bad girlfriend. Not that he would know about that...

When she started speaking again, Ethereal was pulled from his thoughts to give his his undivided attention, amethyst gaze straying down from the turrets and towers of the academy to watch the face of the speaker. And whaddaya know! He'd made an observation already. "You have pointed teeth." There was a good chance she already knew that, but he decided to tell her anyway. He was about to pat himself on the back for the first success in what would surely be a long mission when he heard the name of their location. But... surely he must have heard her wrong. There's no way that wasn't just his worrying mind playing tricks on him, causing him to hear that which he was dreading most.

The look on her face made it pretty clear he wasn't hearing things though.

He stopped walking, froze altogether. The only motion on his entire body was his eyes as they followed her in disbelief, widened eyes giving away his shock (and fear). That expression lingered there longer than most before he could hide it away behind a mask. Bear with it, Ethereal... he told himself mentally, you're going to have to be a glorified babysitter for a little while. No big deal. With that, he started walking again, saying nothing more than a simple, "Okay."

[MAXINE FISHER!]

The tension gone and the barrier between them lifted, Max lapped into a comfortable pace, waltzing along side Ether's undeniably taller form.
The height difference was really quite comical; Max was so small that she was just a little bit taller than Ether's waist. Although in her life, height had never been a big deal. The kids in her old school had known all too well that bullying her about it meant an early grave. But hey, big surprises come in small packages, and never was this more applicable then to Maxine Fisher.

Once again she felt Ether's hand tear away from her hat, leaving only the tingling sensation that comes after loss and the wondering of whether he'd make a habit out of this. Just as she was thinking about it though, the mutterings of Ether made her glance up at him, just in time to catch his lips moving but not the words they formed.
However for once Max had no desire to hear what he was saying, she simply wanted this to continue - the warm sunshine on their backs and the faint atmosphere of anticipation that hung in the air. Ah yes, perfect in Max's eyes.
But then, quite suddenly, a rather unpleasant image popped into her head.
She'd never really seen the monsters that Shibusen were there to exterminate. The constant goal of Shibusen was to eradicate Kishin eggs, zombies and witches but... she had mostly been oblivious to that kind of stuff.
Until now.

What if they failed?
What if they couldn't resonate again?
What if they got themselves k-

When the panic was at the brink of hyperventilation, it was broken into pieces by Ethers voice.

"You have pointed teeth."

At this she couldn't help but giggle, hand instinctively moving over her teeth to feel the sharper than normal edges.
"Heh, so I do. Never noticed that before!" She answered, replacing her hands back in her pockets. Max knew he was trying to make an effort, she really did. But her teeth? Really? For some reason she found his statement hilarious, but was polite enough so as to not laugh too hard.
Ah, what had she been thinking before?
Nightmares are nightmares, right?
She was sure even Ether had his fears, as hard as it was to imagine...

Her train of thought was crashed though by the expression on Ether's face. Priceless.
She laughed heartily before blatantly sticking her tongue out at Ethereal, once again reverting back to the age of a toddler.
"Don't worry," she assured him, "It won't be that bad". And while she might have shown mockery on her face, she was, in truth, delighted with the simple reply he'd given her. Yup, if he could bear going to probably the most annoying place on earth then he really was going to be a --- Her Meister.

But she still needed to give him something in return, and if she was truthful she really did need to know what he thought of her.
And thus she stopped, dead in her tracks, with the kind of seriousness on her face that only a child could produce.

"So, you're... probably wondering what kind of weapon I am right?" she said, the edges of her cheeks crimson with blush, " I mean... I could tell you or... I could show you".

[ETHEREAL!]

Ether immediately felt just a little bit stupid for pointing out that she had sharp teeth. It was made a little better that she played along with his observation, but he still released an inner sigh at his stupidity. Not that he had any intention of changing that part about him; his obvious observations usually worked to release the tension in an atmosphere, and people that knew him didn't really seem to mind them.

People that knew him, at least.

How many people were there like that? He knew he could certainly count the number on his hands. One hand, actually. But maybe that number would increase by one soon. For some reason though, that prospect wasn't exactly comforting. He liked keeping people at a distance. It wasn't some scarring childhood memory or a psychological disorder that caused him to be that way, he had merely decided that self-sufficiency was the way to go. Relying on anyone else, even a little bit, would make him weak. It would put a hole in his armor, and while that hole didn't amount to much on normal occasions, and no one could destroy him based on one fracture in his armor, that hole would be more than enough to drown him if a flood started.

Ether caught back up with his new partner wordlessly, a rather solemn look on his face. His eyes drifted down to her just once before returning to face straight forward. Relying on someone. Wasn't that what being in a partnership was all about? Luckily for him though, Ethereal was the Meister. One who'd trained himself to fight even without a weapon. All he had to do was use her, just another tool to add to his arsenal, an increase in power.

To her though, things were very different, a realization that brought a bit of a frown to his face. She had to rely on him completely, didn't she? With select few exceptions, weapons had to put their complete trust in their Meisters during a fight; there was absolutely nothing they could do except wait, sometimes helping in what small way they could. And hold out their hand too. They had to connect with their Meister, always offer the ability to heighten their power into something greater; complete resonance of the souls. But... they were completely dependent, weren't they. No self-sufficiency at all. Ethereal had seen a Kishin Egg once before, and the thought of something like that facing off against the lone figure of the girl standing beside him armed with nothing but the same jagged knuckles he'd seen before wasn't a reassuring sight.

How did she feel about that? About having to rely on him to fight for her, to trust him with the wheel? Maybe there was some aspect of it he was missing, but Ethereal just couldn't figure out how a weapon could stand it. He'd have to ask later. Or maybe observation would be good enough. He almost felt bad for having these thoughts, but before he could offer a mental apology, she tried comforting him about their destination.

To that, he offered a slight smile again, and a bit of a sigh. "Probably not." She was going to have to rely on him, so maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to go along with her hunt for entertainment this time. Then she stopped, with one of those looks on her face that caused him to do the same, facing her with the slight upward raising of his brow. With the face she was making, he was almost expecting her to tell him that she had some terminal illness, and that she only had seven months to live. Wouldn't that suck. But, when she did speak what was on her mind, Ether's response was to nod gratefully, the speed in which he reacted betraying his eagerness to see what she had to show. "Actually, I'd love to see it."

Ethereal's right hand instinctively began to rise before he caught himself, look of mild surprise on his face as he glanced down at it. Would it be necessary for them to touch for this? Maybe. He left his hand half extended just in case, tilted slightly upward, almost like he was expecting a combination of a handshake and an offering at the same time.

[MAXINE FISHER!]

There was a frown on his face, but Max had figured out long ago she'd have to get used to that. Not that she minded terribly, in fact she found herself starting to enjoy taunting him every now and then, just to see that trademark grimace. But... the last thing she wanted to do was see him mad. No, not in a million years. So maybe she'd give him a break once in a while... maybe.
Wait, what was she going on about? When had she ever given people "breaks" from the relentless torture that was Maxine? This wasn't like her at all. Under normal circumstances she would have taken his money, maybe beaten him up a little and then have been home in time for dinner. So how had they come to this? To both connecting and repelling each other? To resonating? And... to trusting one another? Ah. Trust. A sticky subject at the best of times and Max could sense that, like her, Ether wasn't one to rest his hopes on others.
Yet... really, she couldn't help but trust him like she'd know him all her life. Now why was that?

Was it because she was a weapon? After all, they can't do much else but trust their Meister's. True, they played a part in battles, but what kind of position was it? Were weapons simply tools to Misters? The question hurt her, and deep inside her chest she flinched. No... no it wasn't like that at all.
Weapons guided. They resonated.
They protected.

And it was at that exact moment that Max decided to make herself a secret little pledge that would never reach the light of day. Those three things were exactly what she would do, so at the first contact of metal on skin she would never, ever let Ether down.
Max was now totally out of character. This arrogant, purple-eyed stranger had turned her life upside down and kicked it out the nearest window, and here she was, sympathizing with him.
But she didn't mind.
How could she?

The smile on her face was different from the others previously. It was warm, not impish, and carried a sense of duty about it. This smile wasn't simply some gesture she'd slapped on her face, this really meant something. The young girl sniffed and briefly cast her eyes down at her shoes, scratching the back of her neck. She wanted to speak. To say something that would surely make this situation more exciting for her than it already was.
No words came however, 'cause what could she possibly say? Instead she looked up to see the hand outstretched as if the young man was going in for a polite handshake, a rather awkward look on his face. Max laughed again, the noise echoing around the tight cobble stone alleyway. Of all the Meister's in the world, it was going to be him.
Perfect.

Her palm came down on Ethers in one smooth motion, and at once it happened. There was no pain, no feeling to the process. She was simply herself but... she also wasn't.
She was the blade. She was the knuckle-duster. She was the cold hard steel that rested in Ether's hand, the faint orange hue of transformation still clinging to her form. The black blade shimmered in the evening light, and deep whiten her inky tomb Max smiled.
The bells had started up again.