This conversation, where Alice had opened out to her, made her feel more accepted. Alice felt more like a guide now, a mentor of sorts, the role she was supposed to fill in Aki's eyes from the very beginning. The exposure of vulnerabilities, always made the girl feel at ease, it meant that the person was willing to level with her. She always felt annoyed by the holier than thou variety of snobs, and would automatically repel their attempts to make peace.

Perhaps that is what had happened on their first meet together... That along with the prejudices Akira held towards the Rune Knight organization. The proclivity to delve into the past and attempt to explain how things progressed, had transferred from Alice to Akira, now the dark haired girl needed to explain those moments, mostly to herself.

Akira appreciated the sentiment of care when Alice pointed out that there was a risk of associating with Lacie. 'I'll be on my guard, I can't just stand by and do nothing...' Akira said, surprising herself. She usually could just stand and do nothing, but all this time with Tsuru and working on missions for the Rune Knight had changed things.  Particularly the defense of the capital, which given everything they'd still technically failed.

Akira cleared her throat, feeling the need to put a stopper on all the emotions that were slowly seeping out of her. 'I mean... she's a danger to anyone who knows you, simply because she can impersonate you, with heels and good make-up basically...' Akira added, a little more practically. That list included Tsuru, who would be susceptible to falling for it, even if Lacie was not a twin and just claimed she knew Alice or something. 'What kind of warning signs should I be aware of?'

Akira sighed softly, that didn't change much at all, it was highly likely she could fall victim to Lacie's deception. But at least now she knew that she had to be wary. Akira swallowed a wad of unpleasantness as she brought up the next question, which was seeming more and more important to Akira the more emphatic Alice became about her twin's dangerous ways. 'Erm... Is it one of those dead or alive things?' Aki asked very hesitantly, no matter how far family took it, the decision to end their lives was always a tough one. 'Like... At this rate, I'd probably just shoot her on sight...' Aki mumbled lost and figuring out the possible futures inside her head.

'Only problem is, I'd need to be absolutely sure I'm getting the right sister... Or rather, the wrong one.' Akira mentioned a flicker of a reassuring smile painted her lips just as she angled her head towards Alice. It was apparent, that other than ruining Alice's happiness out of jealousy, the solar magic wielder had no idea what this Lacie woman's intentions were. Akira wondered if it could just be that, there must be something else that the woman wanted, to be pushing so blatantly. 'Who is Judina?' Akira asked the name piquing her interest. It was strange, she didn't have to know every facet of Alice's life, but it never hurt to know more about people, in case Akira was to ever encounter them or work with them. '... Yeah I doubt someone would be so obvious about their craziness, the truly psychotic ones always know how to hide it...' Akira mentioned softly.

It did sound devilish to hear one sister talk about her own this way. to put her out of her misery... that was cold. Especially, since this misery was assumed by Alice, or at least it sounded that way to Akira. Clearly, despite having it so bad, Lacie was milking this drama for what it was worth. Hoodwinking people, generally wrecking havoc. Maybe attempting to destroy her twin's life is what gave her own life purpose and there was a high chance that in her head, she wasn't upset with her behavior at all. The latter, of course, was true... If Alice felt threatened she had the right to do whatever she thought necessary too, although capturing would still make more sense. However, the woman had much to protect, particularly now. What if Lacie pretended to be the mother of the kids somewhere... Akira shuddered.

'I guess that clears that up then.' Aki said shifting positions. 'Shoot on sight if it comes down to it.' She went onto mention that it'd be difficult to tell them apart but Aki merely scoffed softly. 'It's not that I don't think she can fool me, but she'd have to know the...' Akira searched for the words, wondering how to explain why Lacie wouldn't have such an easy time fooling her. '... the nitty gritty of our relationship, if she tries to sweet talk me, that'll be a dead give away.' Akira said, feeling a little safer with that realization. She went on to talk about Judina, apparently a Rune Knight apprentice that had befriended the twins. Aki hadn't heard of her of course, but the Knights were an ever-expanding unit, she hoped Judina would do well in the ranks... 'Interesting... You've got quite a few of us under your wings haven't you?' she mused softly.  

'Yeah, I think so long as the people around you are aware of the threat, they just have to be a little more attentive.' Akira added in agreement. The agreeability between the two seemed to have increased multi-fold, although so far they were sticking to the more black and white topics. Akira was sure, if they delved deeper into things and got into debates, there would be points of contention.

She was carefully steering clear of such an occasion, of course, a heated discussion was not going to aid matters. If things got out of hand, a duel outside the Mercurius would be particularly bad. It would really shake the population's faith in the Rune Knight organization. Probably would get her fired too... And Alice would get a slap on the wrist... Such speculation always fueled Akira's darker thoughts, so she tore herself away recalling what Alice had said about learning to shoot.

'Oh yeah... completely forgot about that, I have terrible aim... Probably should've gone for a different weapon' Aki muttered guiltily. It was like she held herself responsible for buying a weapon she couldn't appropriately use, but she was sure she wouldn't have had better luck with a sword or anything, plus like she'd said to Tsuru, if someone was that close to her, she was probably dead meat already. 'I'm working on it though...' she added, in an attempt to assuage her feelings. Akira had probably misunderstood what Alice meant to say, it didn't strike her that the woman may have a gun too.

When Alice mentioned she had five others under her, Aki's eyebrows rose in amusement, that was quite a number to manage. She wondered how the others were progressing, but she wasn't competitive enough to feel the need to ask. 'That leaves a lot of people vulnerable to your twin, probably we should have secret codewords or passwords or something...' Akira mused.  

'Yeah... Bought one recently, Tsuru protests went through the roof...' she replied, eagerly letting the conversation slip into a lighter zone. The memory of Tsuru and him dropping the shield on himself when Aki mentioned wanting a gun, instantly painted her thoughts in brighter colors, stealing away from the dark and dreary palette that the talk of Lacie had offered. When Alice went on to empathize, Akira's eyebrows rose, she finally made the connection. 'Oh wait! You have a gun too?' Aki asked, betraying more excitement than her usual self would allow. Guns were still a rarity as far as the girl knew, she had not run into anyone else with one. 'How did you get better?' she asked, awaiting some tips so she could learn faster too, she was under the assumption that Alice would probably have more experience.

When the weapon was revealed, Akira widened her eyes even more. 'Oh my god! That looks so much like mine, except yours is silverish white and mine is darker'. Akira said, quickly pulling out her own gun and holding it out so that Alice could witness what Akira meant by the comparison. 'See!' she exclaimed. Initially, when she pulled it out, the barrel naturally was pointed towards what was in front of her, which was Alice... 'Oh sorry...' she muttered quickly changing the grip before her intentions were misunderstood.

She no longer gripped the gun by its handle, instead, she held her gun out, in the palms of her hand, her finger far away from the trigger. Shooting Alice with her spell accidentally had led to enough friction, now shooting her with a gun... It would probably land into some grievous danger, especially with Jupiter around. She warily eyed him and smiled to highlight her pure intent. 'Sometimes the silliest sounding ideas actually work.' Akira added, still quite brightly, she liked being able to provide solutions and be noted for them. 'Maybe ours could be.... guns and roses or something like that.' Akira added, her eyes flitting from one weapon to the other.

In her eagerness, she quickly asked for another thing... Wondering if Alice would be interested in such a venture. 'Can you show me how yours works? I have a few funny explosive things in mine...' Aki explained her interest. Maybe Alice would stall it for another time, but if not, they could surely find an empty ground nearby...

'He freaked out and dropped a shield on himself...' Aki said, managing the words in between giggles, glad that Alice asked because she did want to share her experience in dealing with the healer. 'But he came around.' Akira added after heaving a few long breaths and curbing her laughter. Alice mentioned that she had to change fighting style altogether and that she used to be a close combatant. Akira was lucky she didn't have to relearn.

The lunar mage did share that the gun was her first weapon ever. Akira reckoned that it was probably more than beginner's luck because some basic principles of fighting remained the same across the board.  'I've used it a couple of times, mostly I kept my distance and used the exploding shots, because I'm so unsure of my aim.' Akira admitted, a little sourly.

'They've probably made their rounds... I'm definitely sure that my gun is not brand new...' Akira added thoughtfully, she nodded though, in agreement with Alice that their beauty was still intact, she wasn't going to be ungrateful about her new and handy weapon. 'Don't know any?' she went questioned Alice when the woman mentioned the prospect of locating a gun trainer. Akira assumed Alice would have better contacts and would probably know someone.

When the solar mage recommended Domus Flau, Aki considered it but then shook her head. It was the first place she'd gone to when she was trying her gun. But the open space would mean she'd be tempted to use her explosive bullets again, she had to train herself to stop relying on those. 'Maybe we could find a bunch of trees nearby or something, aim for one try to take our shot in between the others...' Akira suggested. It was a skill the two would have to learn eventually, it was rare to always get a clean shot on their enemies.  

'New buy for you too...? That's pretty neat.' Akira mentioned Alice let her in on the fact that she hadn't had many occasions to use it. 'I'd hope that it stays that way, but considering we're Rune Knights, that may not be the case...' The lunar mage added with a soft sigh. While she liked having the option, Akira too was a little wary of just pulling out a gun on people, it was a weapon one had to be very responsible with. The dark haired girl sure intended on taking that power seriously. She may appear to be a careless sixteen-year-olds, but she had her moral obligations and the duties around it ingrained in her.

'Well, when the time is better and you find someone, maybe I could tag along?' Aki asked a little hopefully. She wasn't sure where the future was going to take her and when she and Alice would run into each other again... But in case they did, Akira could probably use a teacher. Once it was established that the two were going to find a place to shoot around a little bit, Akira took the lead. In her excitement, she barely noticed the reservation that Alice had towards the idea. As they strolled away from the castle, Akira maintained her chirpy demeanor.

'So what got you to use the gun four times?' Akira asked, wondering what moments had transpired to get Alice to relinquish her weapons and how many of those were like in the context of training. Mostly she was curious about any occasion that wasn't training related, just to assess in what kind of circumstance did Alice deem it valid, to use her gun. Akira was pretty certain the same question may be reflected back to her eventually, so she began preparing her mental list for times she used the weapon. Of course, it was a rather quick list to muster.

'For sure...' Akira responded softly as they walked on. The gun was capable of doing more and from further away. Additionally, its an easier weapon, so to say. The other close range weapons require more skill and patience to learn, which hopefully tempers one's mind, teaches them discipline, requires their persistence. With a gun, you could pretty much just pick it up and shoot and hope for the best. 'How long did you stick with the spear?' Aki asked simply, but there may have been a testy note in her head, she wondered did Alice just give up and turn to something easy, she wouldn't judge the woman for taking a shortcut, this was a practical one, given everything.

'That'll be great!' Akira responded to her offer to send her a letter, her voice was enthusiastic, about the prospect of being able to get better with her gun, it was a safe bet. Akira didn't have much faith in herself when it came to combat, she knew she was gifted with magic, two elements and all now... But she just wanted to do enough with it to assuage her feeling of duty. The dark haired girl felt like she owed this world something just because she was a mage and yet, that conflicted so deeply with how the world treated her, for that same magic... Aki often wondered whether she'd ever have clarity.

'Oh!' Aki said, with wide eyes, when Alice explained the victims of her gun. 'You shot sick people?' the second question just sort of slipped out, granted they could infect others, but there had to be a better way, she did, after all, possess magic, perhaps even the beasts could have done something... How did she manage to make infected people get worse before they got better... The fact that the infection was treated within the hour made matters worse, they'd practically be out within just that much time, but instead were probably bedridden for weeks to come, till their legs healed. Not to mention, if it was her first time using the gun, she could have easily missed. Just when things had started to get better, Akira had to find something to disagree on. She stopped in her tracks, as the information she'd just gleaned settled in, the longer it stayed in her head, the crazier it sounded, she hoped Alice had a good explanation for this.

Things had taken a turn for the merry, till Alice's absurd explanation about shooting the ill people, and the situation seemed to have taken a sharp u-turn. Akira bit her lip and narrowed her eyes, but it wasn't Alice who spoke, it was Jupiter. Aki shuddered at his tone, which she deemed unnecessary. If they were so sure they were in the right, they wouldn't have to defend themselves like this. Jupiter seemed to be busy trying to explain the severity of the situation, of course, if the plague was dangerous and messed with the nervous systems of the target, they'd appear that way to him, his loyalty would mean he had to protect Alice first, but he wasn't the one who shot the bullets. Akira opened her mouth to argue but closed it as Alice interrupted her pet. It cheesed Aki off that while having such care and possessing such loyalty and perhaps concern, he still didn't see the value of others.

She swallowed, turning towards Alice, hoping she'd offer a less impulsively defensive explanation. 'Right.' Aki said simply. She didn't want to press for details, simply because things she said could be easily misconstrued, not to mention this little outburst had made things a little tense. Aki had tried to ask with an even tone, sure it may have been tainted with a little incredulity, but she didn't need such a talking to. She sighed softly and holstered her gun, which she had removed for the purposes of training. The initial plan was to try things betwixt the cluster of trees, but she suddenly had a sinking feeling that she couldn't trust herself around the woman especially when they both were armed with guns.

Last time Aki's accidental loss of control was punished with a counterattack, she didn't want to risk bullets flying this time. It didn't make sense that both Jupiter and Alice believed that Alice's magic was worse than a gun... The fellow Knight had to have some spells that rendered the opponent useless without necessarily harming them, even knocking them away or into a closed space, even Akira could do that... Shooting seemed like an overreaction, much like her companion's defense of it. But Akira didn't want to risk another confrontation, as tactical as it may seem, she didn't have Tsuru to back her up, for once she was sure even he would have taken her side. 'It was nice meeting you Alice and you Jupiter, but I'm afraid, I forgot I have other engagements.' She said softly, trying to minimize the slightly cold tone in her voice, she doubted she could wipe it as entirely from her eyes though.

Perhaps it wasn't nice of her to just leave, but she doubted her capability and that of the other two, to have this disagreement with any modicum of maturity. 'I guess we will see each other around...' she muttered as she turned and walked away, she doubted that Alice would care enough to stop her, the woman would probably assume Akira was a lost cause and she'd rather have it that way...

~Exit~