Catch Up (Derrick)

So many things infuriated Maria in a single day. There hasn't been an actual day she actually felt this ticked off in a long time if you don't count her personal issues. The recent capture of a Psyche-Terrorist from her own home and the decision to let him into the Cadets gave her reasons to be angry about. Even when time passed, she continued to feel awfully irate. Had it been her as an Executor of the Church, that sniveling excuse of a Psyche-Terrorist would've been dead long ago after putting him through the torturous devices. But she was most importantly a Cadet and she couldn't ignore the obligations and orders she was given the moment she drank the Queen's blood.

Maria sat a bench, fuming in her seat while thinking to herself. She had an awfully angry look on her face as she considered the possibilities of a Psyche-Terrorist in their ranks. But that said, she angrily squeezed her juice box as she sipped from a straw. There was a kind of catharsis from gripping a carton box so tightly. But it wasn't enough. She would have to return to the Church and beat the crud out of the punching bag more. Working out in the Academy's gym did nothing for her.

    "Sorry, they're just...you know, upset about the thing that went down a few days ago..."

    Clicking his tongue for a soft "tch", Derrick kept walking adamantly to the front gates. Well, as adamantly as he could. The case in his hands was quite heavy for him, causing his body to sway with each step, and it didn't help that he had to carry it one-handed, either. It was at times like this when his cane was the most inconvenient.

    "Derrick...Derrick stop!"

    "Why, so I can get berated and talked down to? No thank you." His lip curled back and, despite the fact Liz couldn't see it, he felt a bit better for showing his disgust. "Need I remind you that I got a leave of absence from school for this?"

    The only response he got was the suddenly quiet click-clack of heels on the ground. Satisfied that his point had been proven, Derrick marched on, intent on heading home to finish his outstanding History assignment.

    He reached the courtyard of the academy when the case slipped from his fingers. It clattered onto the cobblestone ground and tipped over, but thanks to its weight did not roll. The boy let out a cry ore from shock than any actual pain (as the case only thunked briefly against his thigh and caused no real damage), but he stopped all the same and immediately inspected the case, searching for dents to its surface. // Please don't break please don't break please don't tell me it broke... // He dropped to one knee, his cane held up by one hand, and used the other to gingerly set the case right-side up. Scanning the box, he propped his sunglasses on his head for a better look, then hesitantly reached towards the latch.

Maria was busy considering the situation at hand. The Psyche-Terrorists, demons, and what happened last night. There's so much going on that she didn't know was going on. After seeing what happened to Sera, it made her feel at most ill ease about the future. Being strong may not be enough, now that she thought about it. Strength can only go so far if you're so blinded from your own surroundings and can't even see who you're supposed to fight.

The sudden noise of something hitting the ground sharply drew her out of her own reverie as the Cadet promptly forgot about her own worries. She snapped her head to the direction of that noise and of that familiar cry. Of all people, it was that orphan she met a few days ago. It had been some time since they last met, another testament to how busy she had been as a Cadet. "Oh! Derrick? Are you alright?"

She hurriedly began to move towards him to see if he was hurt, but from the distance she was moving from Maria couldn't exactly tell what he was holding. But it looked important seeing how he was so absorbed with the case.

    The latch popped open with an almost ominous click. Swallowing to steady his nerves, Derrick began opening the box. This move was cut short, however, when he heard a person--not Liz--call his name.

    He turned and squinted slightly, scanning the grounds until he saw someone who was walking towards him. It took a moment, but he finally recognized the girl, causing his raised shoulders to lower as he relaxed. "I'm fine." The same, he feared, might not be able to be said about his equipment.

    Looking back at the box, Derrick used his free hand to gently begin pulling out various lens and camera attachments. As each one was inspected and put back, he began to visibly calm down until everything had been safely tucked away and the box closed again.

    Liz, now running, came up behind Derrick as he was sorting through everything. She hurriedly leaned over the box, asking breathlessly, "Nothing's broken, right?"

    "...no." The boy stood up, brushing off his pants before readjusting the grip on his cane. "But that doesn't mean I'm going back inside." His hazel eyes bored into Liz's, and he managed a quick glare at the nurse right before he flipped his shades back over his eyes. "Now if you'll excuse me, I-"

    "Derrick, please!" At a loss for words, Liz turned to Maria, gesturing emphatically to the boy in front of her. "Kitty, help me out here!"

The postulant continued to look rather concerned despite his reassurances. Drawing from what she could remember, he seemed to be that kind of person who tried to rely on himself maybe a bit too much. So she waited until he put everything away and to allow him to go on his way. Interestingly enough, there was a bunch of photography paraphernalia. In all of these years after the Divide, did he get into a kind of hobby? "Hm? I didn't know you were into photography."

He certainly had that kind of air to him, now that she thought about it. There was something breath-taking about a photographer's craft. She wanted to ask more, but it looked like he was busy. So she was going to let him go. At least, that was the original idea until Liz showed up to stop him from leaving. Maria quickly hopped to the side to step in front of Derrick's way but also being very careful not to collide with him either. She was confused about what was going on, but certainly something was up if Liz was so concerned about the boy.

  Derrick let out a derisive snort at Maria's question. "Yes, I should be in class. I should be at my school. Yet I'm here, because someone requested I be here to take photos of ingrates who are too self absorbed to show a little common courtesy!"

    Liz drooped, both in body and in mood.

    "So if I seem on edge, you know why." Derrick glared at Liz one more time, although it was hard to tell through his glasses.

Maria blinked in surprise at his response. He wasn't a student here? She was confused at first, but it became clearer with the next explanation. She frowned at him as she tried to get a better look of his face. But then found herself raising an eyebrow at Liz for bringing him out of classes for something like this.

"C'mon Derrick. I know you're angry. But you should show a little more respect to Liz. She's still your guardian, right? It can't have been easy, y'know," Maria pouted with displeasure as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. She knew a lot about having to watch over a bunch of kids. They were balls of energy and excitement that each wanted to pursue what they wanted. For all of their innocent nature, the chaotic manner of their pursuits made it difficult to keep them in one place for their safety and growth, "And what's this about photo shoots during school hours, Liz? Couldn't you have scheduled it in the weekends or after school? He shouldn't be missing out on his education like that. Not at that age."

As much as she really liked Miss Manry, to have the boy miss out on school didn't exactly win her any points. Education was important and seeing the wonders of the Research and Development Building five years ago taught her that. But maybe she had a good reason for this, so she'd let her explain herself.


Remembering how he wanted to act like an adult, it was probably the best time to remind him what being an adult entailed. She tried to be gentle with him about it, knowing most kids of his age had that knee-jerk reaction to refuse meaningful help. She turned her head towards Liz so that Derrick couldn't see her winking eye at the woman.

    "I can't really...schedule these..." Liz toed the ground with one of her shoes, shaking her head lightly. "Injury documentation and all..."

    "Injured or not, the derision is highly uncalled for."

    "They're...they've just been through a lot lately, Derrick. And they're hurt, and it's different when you're not a student from here-"

    "Oh, so elitism is to blame?" Derrick scoffed. As if it wasn't good enough that he was taking his time to come here and help; no, if he wasn't one of the stupid students, he was an outsider, not good enough? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!

    The boy forced himself to take a deep breath and unclench the fists he'd made. As much as he didn't want to hear a single atom of reasoning from anyone at Seven Stars, Maria had a point to where he couldn't show so much anger. It was unprofessional, like she said. ...childish. The word came unbidden to his mind, and it took all he had not to blush with shame. Snatching the case from the ground, Derrick turned to Maria, looking up at her. "No. Kissing someone twenty years younger than her--that would be unprofessional and very irresponsible. Besides, I have no desire to do so."

    "Hey, I'm not even fifteen years older than you!"

    "...who's being childish now?" He cast a brief glance back at Liz. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have real work to do. Good day." With that, Derrick would side-step around Maria and head for the front gates of the school.

    Maria could stop him if she wished, and doing so would prompt Derrick to stare at her, awaiting her to say something.

    If Derrick was allowed to leave, Liz would sigh and shake her head. "I was hoping he could get a part time job out of this...you know, helping me out or something, but I guess that's not an option anymore..." Sighing again, Liz watched him go for a moment before looking at Maria with a weak smile. "I'll call him, apologize. ...Are you out of classes right now?" The question tumbled from her mouth and her eyes widened, but rather than stop talking, more words came/ "I mean, ifyouare, then, maybe you could, kind of, walk him home? I mean, if not, fine, just--even with, you know--he's good on hisownreallytruly, uhm, just--I'm worried, you know--?"

On one hand, it was really trying her patience to address the boy. But on the other hand, she knew it's what it took to give him the kind of help he may need and after all, she was the older and responsible one, right? But in the end, the rest of the conversation ended before she could even continue as the boy turned to leave. The Cadet scratched the back of her neck in displeasure about all of this. She raised an eye at Manry's motivations, but perhaps it was to give him something to do aside from studying like any good student. After seeing how he acted, maybe Derrick really needed this after all. Maria's lips flit into a grin, "I was planning to anyway, Liz. Don't worry, I'll watch over him. I'll see you later."

She gave a light wave to the caretaker before briskly walking towards Derrick's direction. Maria was careful to give him some distance as she followed him and didn't bother to say anything. She didn't try to hide or anything, in fact she was just waiting for him to talk or to take notice of her.

    He was aware of the woman behind him. He'd sensed her early on, heard her footsteps, had even glanced behind him to confirm it wasn't Liz. He figured she'd either get closer to try and talk to him or drift off if he kept ignoring her.

    Two blocks later and she was still at it, just silently following him, and he was sufficiently creeped out.

    His anger died away. Annoyance sprinkled with a dash of discomfort took its place, and he was starting to get a shiver down his spine the more he thought about it. He considered running--he knew the streets well enough not to trip--but with his heavy case slowing his movements, it wasn't a good idea. Besides, what if she chased him? He had his phone on him so he could call the cops, but he wasn't angry enough for that.

    Finally, arriving at a pedestrian stop light, Derrick turned and frowned at Maria. "Stalking is a felony, you know."

She wasn't wrong on that part. This just happened to be on a similar route to where the postulant would take to meet with a certain Brittany who she promised to meet later. But seeing how the route so far seems to be the one that she would take to reach their meeting point, Maria didn't have to worry for now. She continued to keep an eye on the traffic light as the boy had his on her. So what if he called the cops on her? She was a Cadet, and for the most part they would trust her word over his while she had Manry's word as well. She turned apologetic as she spoke, "I'm sorry that Seven Stars wasn't quite receptive. Can you please tell me exactly what happened? Do you want me to talk to those students? I can do that for you, if you want."

She was rather hesitant to use any kind of authority. But since apparently a lot of her classmates lauded her station highly, especially since she was a Class 2 Cadet, at the least she could get them to apologize to the boy. And seeing how she had some kind of status there as a Cadet, she can't exactly ignore any kind of foul play on the part of the school.

    Derrick murmured under his breath. Perhaps it was true that Maria took this path, but the timing was too convenient. She was following him, he was pretty certain of it, either at Liz's request or her own idea. The latter bothered him. If she decided to follow him, it was either because she wanted to calm him down, or.... He glanced at his cane and immediately his teeth started to grind. // I swear to God... //

    ...No, it was the first.

    He immediately relaxed slightly, rolling his eyes at the suggestion. "Please don't bother. They will most likely deny it or make excuses for their behavior, and I don't feel like dealing with it anymore." The pedestrian light had changed. After a few steps, Derrick began talking as he walked. "Some were just in pain and didn't want to listen at that point, which was understandable. Some were on edge. They kept asking who I was and what I was doing there. Neither I or Liz could make them calm down for a while, and even when they did stop talking, they kept glaring like I didn't belong." Sighing heavily, Derrick shook his head. "Do they think signing up for a government job makes them special? Because it doesn't unless they do something with it, and so far, they haven't."

She was wondering who Derrick was talking about. But it was becoming clearer the more he described what they did and how injured they were as they both began to walk at the command of the pedestrian light that flickered to the sign of a walking person. Her mind was already reaching towards the memories of Maverick. When she finished her errands, Maria would head back to make sure to ask the dormitory managers of this guy's activities. at least But seeing how Derrick had no wish to pursue this any further, she wouldn't either if Maverick wasn't one of such people.


Unlike many of the Cadets, Maria used a Demon Weapon. One would've thought that Persona Users would be able to act more effectively as Cadets, but it looked like that wasn't entirely the case since her team was the only one that succeeded last night while the others were entirely Persona Users that couldn't succeed in their given tasks. Though after seeing Athena transform into some kind of fearsome beast, it made her begin to doubt something about them. "When you said that they haven't done anything, are you telling me they're being... lazy?"

Laziness on the job shouldn't be tolerated. After all, they were given an important task to keep the city safe. And with Maria being a higher ranked Cadet now, it's something that she really can't ignore at all.

    "I thought you attended that school?" His frown now was a different kind, born of confusion rather than annoyance. He thought the way it worked was you decided being a plain old secretary at the court house wasn't enough, applied for the academy, trained, and got whatever the cadets used to hunt the demons that prowled the streets. "Don't you have a...'persona'?"

    He'd listen to Maria's response before shrugging his shoulders. "I only saw them in the infirmary, so I can't say really if they're being lazy. But all the stupid ones could show was a school ID, like that made them automatically important." His features curled in disgust. "Any idiot can get accepted anywhere if they know what to say." Derrick paused a moment to reposition the case in his hands before continuing down the street.

At first she remembered being jealous of the Cadets with the ability to use them. Where Maria had to rely on a demon's power as a Forgotten, at least these people were able to rely on their own natural potential. But after seeing a Cadet transform into a demonic appearance, she was beginning to feel rather doubtful. Hearing about what Derrick had to say about the students was rather disconcerting. Maria admitted with a sheepish smile at him before continuing, "Mmn, that is a little worrying. But in the end, if you can't prove yourself useful to the Cadets, you will eventually be kicked out of the force for not holding up to their standards. You can at least take peace in the fact that many of them probably won't last very long if their big mouths are any indication."

This morning's debriefing made her aware of the fact that there was indeed a ranking system that also served to facilitate a Cadet's  tenure or dismissal from their ranks. In many ways, it was a meritocracy. If you had results, then you advanced the ranks accordingly. Failure was punishable by demotion and eventually expulsion from what Julius said. Some may call it harsh, but given the nature of their work, it was necessary.

She eyed the case, noticing that he was still holding onto it. Maria was rather curious about the practice. It seemed all too simple when it just took some positioning and a press of a button for a picture. But evidently it required skill enough to warrant it to be an actual job.  Her index finger and thumb held her chin as she thoughtfully asked him, "Is it fun? Taking pictures, I mean."