Probation Diary [Rui x Maria]

Rui was sort of looking forward to this. He was supposed to drop off his daily journal of his activities, at least from what he remembered from Julius. There was absolutely no reason that he had to do this in person - in fact it probably would have been easier for everyone involved if Rui just sent it over digitally. But Rui was awfully old-fashioned in a lot of his habits. Not to mention that doing this in person gave Maria an opportunity to question Rui about the contents of his journal.

However, Rui felt that it was important to strike a good relationship with his seniors in the organization. If anything, that was more important than perhaps anything else he did while a Cadet. Hierarchies existed for a reason. It meant that the people on the top had a lot of teach and impart. Rui understood that, even if he didn't really care much about the formality of it all.

He arrived back on campus - for the first time since his actual Awakening. An experience he enjoyed. But that he probably couldn't repeat. He looked around at the familiar campus, which he assumed would vex him once again as soon as his suspension ended. He then tracked down the Class Zero building and after asking a few random passerbys for directional assistance, found Maria's location.

He knocked on the door, "Hello? Cadet Terui here! Just dropping off my journal of trials and tribulations!" His voice was cheerful in a way that made the description of his journal sound largely ironic.

It was one of those days when Maria just didn't have much to do on a peaceful day before heading back to the Church. After that fateful meeting after that tumultuous night, there was a lot to process and to consider. The chaos and mayhem that once plagued Endymion was not something what she first understood and... it bothered her, a lot. Demons were not the perpetrators for Man's suffering, it was Man. Man brought itself low in that moment of tribulation. But why? Why this and why them? Nothing made any sense... Pray as she might in this quiet and silent hall, there were going to be no answers for her. No God was going to give her what she wanted to know. After all, why would He?

But despite this moment to herself, she still remembered there was a duty to be done that was thrust upon her just recently. The Cadet wanted to wish there were others that could be trusted with more responsibilities. Expectation after expectation forced upon her was beginning to get grueling at this rate, yet she made no protest. Class Zero couldn't shine if no one made any effort. Yet, this new recruit seemed rather... odd. It wasn't anything new to have oddities join the ranks. Julius was rather forgiving and inclusive like that. For better or for worse, Maria had yet to see any net benefit of recruiting these risky people. She understood where Julius came from, but sometimes--

She broke from her thoughts when hearing the knock and the greeting. Maria stood from the desk and moved to open the door.


She really wasn't based on what she knew about him back in the Bank. But, as a Cadet and a member of the Church, Maria had to be courteous while gritting her teeth in the meanwhile. The Cadet hid her reservations with a gentle smile. If Julius wanted to give him a chance, so be it. She would also try and help. If Susan was any indication, everyone can strive to improve themselves. "Before I read it, do you have any questions? I'm aware you're new here, so I imagined you would need help getting up to speed in many things."

Rui was a little surprised by Maria's polite greeting. He was expecting a remarkably dour woman from what he had seen in the office. Not to mention that his image of people dressed up as nuns was stodgy and stern. Then again, Rui had always been much of a "low church" kind of guy. Organized religion to him, at least where he had grown up, had always seemed...to rational. Obsessed with the consistent application of first principles. He had always found that tiring. Where was the mysticism? The personal connection? Or in more academic language as he was capable of discussing but rarely did with anyone, totally neglectful of apodeictic knowledge and experience.

Rui shook his head, "Thanks! But naw, not really. Like if I knew what to ask, would I like even be here?" He smiled and knocked on the side of his head like an idol answering a wrong question at a game show, "It's like uh, you know, in Protagoras. Socrates saying no one eers willingly. Not totally like sure bout that, but at least I'm not like willingly retarded." He smiled and winked as if he was half-joking, "But like uh, seriously, I think the on-boarding process could be like uh, slightly longer. Though I guess this technically counts."

Rui continued, "Well, anyways, this is probably what you want!" Rui handed over his journal. The first date, yesterday, was totally outlined.

---
<3 <3 <3 Rui's Narrow Road to Deep Remorse <3 <3 <3

Day The 1th

11:51 - Wakey-wakey! (￣︿￣)
12:00 - Community Servicey Stuff? (＋_＋)
12:32 - More sleepy! lollll (＾• ω •＾)
15:03 - Free at last, thx god almighty, free at last  ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ
15:21 - Run to work early, some fire drill w/ acceleration of stock conversion (°ロ°) !
15:30 - Work! Tiem to wolf of vista street it up!  ∪･ω･∪
20:31 - I think we finally closed the deal, but I'll keep my phone on until the banks close.
21:07 - work ogre, afterwork networking w/ other side, yay! ＼(≧▽≦)／
21:11 - karaoke, sing sing sing!!!  (￣▽￣)ノ
22:27 - i actually think hostess clubs are dumb (＾＾＃)
23:34 - do all schoolwork  [ ± _ ± ]
23:48 - malt liquorrrrer chuggg ヽ(*⌒▽⌒*)ﾉ
00:30 - its someone's bithday! happy tanjoubi to u ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ
00:57 - lolll i tink he was trying to hit on me, nice try bro (¬_¬ )
1:27 - wowww food is tasty   (⌒▽⌒)♡
2:01 - gross he puked everywhere lolololol w(°ｏ°)w
2:39 - shiet im lsot  (￣ヘ￣)
3:10 - SECOND WIND YOOOO (`Д´)
3:55 - having very interesing cnvo abut idea o total depravity, calvinists v. arminians FINAL FIGHT
5:01 - wtf everything close???
5:47 - its a laundry time???
6:52 - (－_－) zzZ

"I... see. Well, most Cadets before you learned much on their own. Trial by fire, as some liked to say. But with more people joining in, the need to help the newcomers was necessitated. Even so, I think it was about time. It would help a lot of us on the field if we received the proper know-how and training." She wasn't exactly sure what to say to that. He seemed awfully friendly enough, though his inability to understand social norms was something Maria knew. Even then, this didn't quite prepare her for what she was about to read. She was very quiet while trying to even decipher what was even going on in this increasing odd hellscape of emoticons. Community service, work, drinking, partying, and sleeping? That's the most of what she could even understand at least. Nothing seemed to be off from what she could decipher from this odd tome. "I... Nothing seems off, but you do seem to have quite the irregular sleeping cycle... But since most of our more important operations take place in the evening, it might suffice. Regardless, please be sure to have enough sleep. Nodding off during operations is not recommended for obvious reasons."

Sleep was really important for this kind of job. Nod off in the midst of battle and you were just asking to get your head chomped off as a nice snack for a ravenous demon. It's not like they had such an issue in the field yet to her recollection, but she didn't want it to be a first and a common problem. It did give her something to talk to Julius about in the future. "A-anyways! We'll be having periodic classes and lectures. Please attend them. If you cannot, please call me by this number."

She handed him a business card. On it was the title of the establishment, "Sunlake Palms Church". There was the phone number and the address listed on the piece of paper.

Rui was actually shocked that the process wasn't more formal. Even generic clerks at corporations were given orientations and training. The idea that they just threw people into the field and let them flounder...no wonder the public sector was so inefficient. He nodded in agreement with Maria, "Oh yeah, you're totally right. Fires like, kill people to death!"

Rui seemed honestly surprised to see that the only thing Maria commented on were his sleeping patterns. He didn't think they were that strange, but he did share her general value on sleep, "Oh! Great! Don't mind if I do. Sleep! Yay!" Rui briefly raised his arms to celebrate getting official go-aheads on sleeping even more.

Rui nodded at Maria's recommendation to go to classes, largely because he still thought it was a silly and bad idea to send people into combat without intense training. A few classes seemed like even below the bare minimum of what Rui thought would be prudent.

He took her business card before eyeing it rather curiously, "Yup! Got it! ....whoa, wait a second, you're like a real nun?" The first thing he saw Maria, Rui just assumed she was cosplaying as a nun. Because it was like cool or something. He gave her a quick look-over. It didn't actually look like she was wearing what Rui thought was typical Roman dress. And it certainly didn't seem Eastern, since they tended to cover their hair. He thought about it a bit more, "Or maybe like a pastor? Are you married yet?" In the denominations Rui was more familiar with, it was not entirely uncommon for the wives of pastors to become pastors themselves. And hey, some people get married early. Probably most family associates of Rui's, really.

She wasn't really sure what to say to that comment. He wasn't exactly wrong, they dealt with fire-using enemies from time to time. They were hot enough to cause third-degree burns if you weren't paying attention. Never mind how uncomfortable it was to deal with a weirdo like him. Maria still remembered she needed to try to deal with him with kid's gloves on or at least to a reasonable extent. But at least, he was cooperating with everything. Really, it shouldn't be too bad. Right?


She was flustered with her cheeks beginning to turn beet red. Maria struggled to keep composure despite her current temporary state. Man, just when the Cadet thought everything was going alright, he had to throw in something like this in the mix. But it took her just a moment to quickly realize it was merely an innocuous question for a religious profession. Honestly, maybe around now is the time to ask Julius for a raise for having to handle with all these 'special' people. "Well... priests in the Catholic Church can't marry. But a deacon can, but they must've been married before becoming one... Um, forgive me for this forced segue. Did you have any kind of prior combat training before joining the Cadets?"

Well, Rui's question was answered. And he distinctly made that clear, "Oh! I was wondering about denomination there. That clears it up! Just curious though, don't worry, ecumenism is like all the rage today."

Rui was rather surprised by her reaction. He wasn't sure why she seemed embarrassed. It honestly seemed like one of the first things to ask someone in a religious setting. Contrary to popular opinions, Rui had always seen the religious from quite a different perspective. After all, his experience was that many of the fervently religious viewed marriage and uh, "very active" procreation as a religious vocation in itself. Rui uh, had a lot of siblings. And at this point, a decent number of nephews/nieces.

Rui always found priesthood celibacy to be strange. "Anywhoo, yup, you're right. Though, me, I'm, not like a fan of the celibacy thing. Makes too much of what y'all call like 'temptation.' Like you know, Thomas Aquinas makes a good Catholic argument for having more hookers. In like Summa Theologica. Also like Augustine too in De Ordine. Yay Catholic hookers!" Rui was almost about to crack a joke, suggesting to Maria that she should consider a valued side-job as a Catholic hooker. But just as he was about to make the joke, he imagined an image of a very unhappy, scowling Julius appearing, floating all the way down from the roof like the Persona in his awakening.

Rui coughed as he shifted instead to actually answer Maria's question, "Also oh, yeah, of course not. Why would I? Do I seem like a cool beauty warrior or something?" Rui moved into a faux fighting pose that resembled more a magical girl than any pose an actual fighter would ever take. He gave a frown at his weird stance, "Eh, naw, no way, that's more like you."

"...Good argument or not, things like prostitution shouldn't be encouraged in anyway. Nowadays there should be better vocations than... um, selling yourself like that." Maria furrowed her brows while shaking her head. Her disapproval was evident on her face. This was getting to be a very uncomfortable turn of discussion for her. But, after hearing and knowing what kind of person he was, at least this time she had to be the Cadet that knew some of his problems. Susan had... issues, but that didn't mean Maria had that luxury to be shocked like the older Cadet did. Try as she might to steer the conversation again, she could barely stop the flush from going any bright red than it already was.


The flush on her face abated when she couldn't help, but crack a smile at that ridiculous pose he took. Was that a joke? It was hard to tell, but at least the conversation was gearing away from less than savory topics. But, it really was a wonder how many of the Cadets never had much experience or training prior to joining their forces. You would think there was some kind of requirement, and yet the Queen allowed anyone to join as long as they didn't have any kind of criminal history. And even then, that was conditional as seen with this Maverick newcomer.

"Rui, if you don't mind me asking, what was the reason you joined the Cadets?" Her curiosity got the better of her. For a weirdo like this guy, even he needed a reason for joining this crew. Out of all things, why did he want to join them?

Rui honestly thought it was actually hilarious how helpful she remained despite the absolutely absurd red flush on her face. Rui didn't think he had ever blushed in his life. And considering his current state, he probably wasn't ever going to do so...involuntarily. He did remember faking it rather recently, but was rather just in order to disturb an associate.

"Help me at what? Being cool and beautiful? Yes please. I need the guidance of a big sis!" Rui gave off a smile while coyishly putting his pinkie up to his lip,

"Unless uh, you're like talking about killing stuff. Uh, help there is good too! Yay, killing!"

Rui seemed to think very seriously about the next question. Not about the true answer - but whether how much he should be telling Maria. Rui remembered giving Julius a correct, albeit incomplete explanation. He wondered whether it was a good idea to give Maria the same explanation. Rui had actually judged her rather quickly to be like a "pretty cool lady" willing to roll with the punches, which was not a thing he said about well, almost everyone he met. So maybe he could be a little more forthcoming.

"Why I joined, huh? Well like, duh, I like the current way we run things, our current order. As to why I'm here, well, I figured like I'd be good at it."

Rui gave off a beaming smile as he seemed to explain that statement, "Like you know, most people give off Shonen manga reasons like 'I want to protect everyone!' or 'for great justice, launch zig!'" He giggled a little at his weird faux voices, before continuing, "But that's like, kinda unreliable you know. It's like having two sovereigns. What if you've gotta pick? So I figure we needed someone to keep everyone on track. Someone who won't pick the rules over the sovereign. Not rules of law, not rules of morality, not rules of reason."

His face gave a slightly off-center smirk, before he returned to a more normal expression, "And well, I like the monarchy. Yay! And I don't like rules. Like totally booooring. Booooooo." Rui gave off a rather faux-boo, more akin to an idol character than a serious boo.

"Um, well... Yes... That is good, well, if you need any kind of training you may feel free to call me on my card. Maria had what appeared to look like a pained smile when he called her a "big sister". Though she finally stopped being blushing and hesitant about the whole thing. At least, he got the idea that combat training was open? The Cadet even wondered if someone so skinny-looking and shorter than her could be ready for combat. But if he passed the test, he was ready for the night. That ought to count for something, right? Though the more time she spent with him, the more she was slowly realizing and wondering why this guy was even a Cadet. No wonder this guy was in so much trouble! Maria cleared her throat and adopted a more serious expression to address him with. "I see. I'm afraid you'll have to follow them now that you're a Cadet to serve as an example for everyone to follow. That includes not causing trouble, Cadet Rui. I hope that won't be a problem?"

She had to regain her bearings right away. The way how this recruit kept unbalancing her was disconcerting for the higher ranked Cadet. Eccentricities can be tolerated, but even then, they had to be wrangled in to the fold under Julius' wings. There were expectations put upon every Cadet once they joined. Would Rui be able to meet them? "There will be a patrol tonight with some of the other Cadets. It may be a good opportunity for you to gain some experience and get yourself situated with your peers. Will you be coming?"

Rui flashed her a quick smile, "Yay! Thanks! And please tell me if you have anything else to teach! I'm all um, like ears? Is that what they say? Hopefully? Yay!?"

Rui was almost certainly not that ready for hard physical combat. In fact,  unlike most anti-shadow suppression weapons, his body was designed for flight and reconnaissance, not for physical hand-to-hand combat. As a result, he had to be lightweight enough to fly - in almost the same manner of a bird. This meant that he was light. Very light. Agile, but also very light. He was good at landing blows in bad places, but he couldn't really put any force behind it. And god forbid someone smacked him in the face. The biggest nightmare was to get caught in a small enclosed area with a violent enemy. And speaking of that...

Rui purged those memories from his mind just in time to give Maria a mischievous smile, "Oh, do you mean the rules? Or the orders from up top? I mean like, if the orders are to follow rules, like duh. But like, what if the orders say we need to break them? All of them. Even the ones in people's motive rants. We'll like totally need least one cadet who doesn't hesitate, lol." Once again, Rui literally said LOL in actual human speech.

His eyebrows slightly went up, "Oh yeah! Sure! Like I have to, right? But even if I didn't, sure! It's like hands-on practice. Yay!"

He seemed willing to learn, at least. Though like many of the Cadets before him, he didn't quite seem physically ready. But that didn't really matter here. Eventually with time and training, anyone can be combat ready. There were no exceptions when effort was involved. That said, it made her begin to quickly think about what kind of lesson plans to use for him. While there was the basic training Maria went through, everyone had their own strengths and weaknesses that may require some degree of tweaking.

"Orders are orders. We'll follow them to the letter by whoever is our superior during a given situation. Like a Cadet I know said, it's better to follow them and let your betters take responsibility. You're just doing your job and they're doing their's." Maria replied while raising an eyebrow. LOL? Was Rui one of those flagrantly loose young people who didn't take anything serious-- okay, maybe he really was and that was obvious from the start. Or at least that's what Maria hesitantly came to the conclusion. "We'll be meeting up in several hours by night fall. Please do not be late. If you don't have any other questions, then you may be dismissed for the time being, Cadet Rui."

Rui smiled, "Sounds good. Exactly what I was like thinking, yay! Though I guess until I'm off the shit-list, that superior is basically you? Order away, my lady!"

It wasn't clear whether Rui was being entirely serious with the My Lady comment, but he did give Maria a knightly curtsy, which suggested he wasn't. However, he showed no indication of actually disobeying any order, since he seemed to actually be agreeing with Maria on everything and affirming everything she said. At the very least, he was showing that he was going to both follow Maria's order and do so rather cheerfully, although sometimes with a few juvenile jokes added in.

"Anyways, will do! Don't be late! Got it. Don't be late. Don't be late. Don't be late. Alright, I repeated it three times like the Amida Butsu, which means it'll come true for sure. Yay! Read that in a fashion magazine once. I can lend it to you later! We could read fortunes together! Anyways, looking forward to seeing you again at nightfall! See ya!"

With another smile, Rui waved bye to the nun and cheerfully followed her order dismissing him, gliding out of the room.

[EXIT]