Jove was a simple man.

He worked a job that he liked, but didn't love. He found a sense of passion in his work, and though it was by no means one of his reasons for living, it kept him from hating his day to day life. He found ways to take special liberties in his job which allowed him to tailor his work to his ethics. He collected a hefty paycheck, one which had risen due to his recent rapid promotions, and then he would rest. He never went home, but that was due more to the fact that he did not have a specified home than anything else.

It was unnecessary for someone so constantly on the move. Jove would go patrol entire regions, bouncing from one city to the next, in order to perform his duties. There was, however, one part of his job in which he enjoyed. It was a silent saving grace to an otherwise thankless and oppressive career; peace.

Jove enjoyed the peace of being able to do his work alone. He enjoyed being able to enact his own ideal of justice so long as it adhered to the law. Admittedly, he was far from perfect. There would likely be people within the Knights who disagreed with how he did his job. Due to the fact that he worked alone, however, he never had to explain his methods to these people. It was an agreement which had been made between the Rune Knights that had been granted more autonomy, such as himself, and the powers that be.

At least, that was what Jove had thought.

At the northern gate, arms crossed with a letter crumpled in his dominant hand, Jove stood expressionless. His eyes stared out away from the city, yet still within its clutches. Behind him he heard the oppressive noise of thousands of citizens going about their day. If he focused on the trees, and let the noise form a background static, maybe he'd be able to just phase out?

That was his goal, at least, after having read the letter. The letter itself stated that Jove had been doing exceptionally well, but that his leadership had determined his insistence to work alone had become a problem. In order to resolve this issue, they assigned him an intern. He was to wait for this man to approach him at the northern gate in Oak, and was to help teach and raise this promising young talent into a fine Rune Knight. It was an order, though they didn't state as such. He knew there was nothing he could do, but that didn't mean that he was excited about it. Jove didn't see himself as the teaching type, and had no interest in doing so.

After all, Jove was but a simple man.

Jove looked down at the kid who approached him. He was tiny, Jove assumed under five foot even. His frame was thin, but the contrast between his golden eyes and his tanned skin was what really drew in the eye. He was quite different from the average person one met in Fiore, at least appearance wise. Desierto..? Jove looked the kid up and down once, and then finally spoke.

"You're suppose to salute a superior officer." It was short, a statement made as a matter of fact rather. It worked out rather nicely in situations such as these that Jove's tone always held such a serious note. Few would hear him and think of him as demeaning or acting superior. Rather, he spoke as if it was the most common sense thing in the world.

"You must be Bryson Braxton. Nice to meet you." Regardless of if he had adhered Jove's words and saluted him, Jove's arms uncrossed and casually slipped behind his back, his right hand grabbing onto his left wrist. His feet spread to about shoulder width apart, and without even realizing it he had taken on the stance of the upper brass of the Rune Knights. "So first things first; what brought you to the Rune Knights? What are your goals?"

Jove was no idiot. When it came to body language and facial expressions, he was actually quite adept at following them. He could see the visual tension that formed when he state Bryson's full name, and he felt the discomfort in the boy even now. He was at an age where any traumas or experiences were compounded by raging and unfettered hormones.

Simply put, the boy was in puberty.

For a moment, the knight felt more human. He briefly remembered his own teens years. Even back then he was a practical soul, but one would have never imagined the passion that sparked through at that time. He remembered, in short flashes, multiple events in his life that served to shape him. For the briefest of moments, he wondered whether an adult figure stepping into his life with a guiding hand would have ever made a difference.

As Bryson returned Jove's question back at him, he lifted his sunglasses from his eyes and folded them. "Before I joined the Rune Knights I worked at a family business as an office worker. It was a typical 9-5 job, one that came with a stable salary and stacks of paperwork." His words came out cool and collected, but this was a lot of speaking for a man who usually spent his time listening. "Yet I had always had a talent as a mage, and made sure to keep up with my physical fitness. And so I was encouraged to give the Knights a try. Which I did. And would you like to know what I discovered by branching out?"

Sticking his sunglasses into his shirt pocket, he locked eyes with the young boy before him. "Is that Rune Knights are shit." He said his statement with a seriousness that remarkably contained very little malice if any. "Yet I knew from experience that being a salaryman was shit as well. When faced with two equally shit options, one should pick the one they're better suited for."

Stepping forward, Jove reached out a hand. It was an offer to shake Bryson's own. "The saving grace of this job is that it gives you the potential to make of it what you will. You can be the change you wish to see."

As Bryson spoke, Jove matched the gaze with the child. His voice was high pitched, crackles of a man sprinkled within. He was at the age where so much was changing. Jove remembered his biggest concerns back then being whether or not he had finished his homework, or if his friends would be available. Yet as the kid spoke, Jove saw a sense of exhaustion in his eyes that looked far too familiar. He's far too young to have eyes like that. He wondered, briefly, what sort of life had to have been lived to be so jaded at such a young age.

"You're right, but who ever said I was changing the system?" Jove posed a legitimate question, but in a rhetorical sense. "The naivety is taking the entire world on such a grand scale. I don't doubt that you've had a hard life, but if you try to see everything from a global perspective you will fail every time." Slipping his hands into his pockets, he'd step forward and stop next to Bryson. His eyes glanced sideways at him, and though the feeling between them felt relaxed and cordial, the Lieutenants face had yet to break into a smile. "One small step. Just focus on the person in front of you."

With that, he began walking. He had not explicitly agreed with his new charge requesting cover, but the dark grey blanket over the sky indicated the young man was right. As Jove walked in silence, the two were encased in citizens from either side. Some ran, seeking shelter, while others took their time and acted as if the weather was not imminently changing. Store clerks began to clean up their displays for the risk of downpour and put up covers. Through this chaos, Jove asked a simple question. This time, he required an answer.

"Are you hungry?"

"Well I am," Jove began, speaking on an exhale that sounded more like he was content than any sort of sigh. "So indulge me." The two of them would continue to walk until they came up on a small restaurant, which Jove chose strictly due to the fact that it had indoor seating. He pushed the door open, sounding a bell, and receiving a chipper "Seat yourself!" from an older gentleman. He stood in a window carved into a far wall, which was there to allow people to see into the kitchen. The restaurant wasn't busy by any means, but enough people were sat to create a homestead atmosphere.

Jove sat down at a table, and waited for Bryson to sit across from him, before he locked eyes with his new protégé. "So, what are your immediate goals? How are you trying to improve currently? Do you have any sort of end goals for your current training and growth?" Before Bryson could even consider the question, a younger lady approached the table. She was approximately Bryson's age, and though just a smidgen taller than he would be standing full height. She reached the table with a smile, glancing at Jove and lingering her gaze on the younger rune knight.

"What can I get you fellas?"

Her voice was sweet, true to her apparent age and upbeat like a girl who found joy in her life. Jove blinked once, the complete difference between her and Bryson reminding him how children were suppose to behave. He said nothing about it though, instead putting in a simple order for eggs, sausage, and a black coffee. Turning to Bryson, he cocked an eyebrow, as if daring him to try and avoid getting food.

Jove listened to the kid speak. He had a sense of maturity about him that wasn't often found in people his own age, yet alone that of a young boy. Jove stared at the golden hues of the young man as he spoke, following the child's eyes as they moved around the menu and table, as if hoping the answers to this question lay hidden in the world before him.

Yet the aspects of childhood were steadfast within the child. Jove interlocked his fingers, and couldn't help but smile lightly. His wrinkled forehead softened, the lines at the corner of his eyes and lips disappeared, and the softness of his expression made him seem a few years younger.

The smile was not due to the fact that the boy in front of him asked if he'd killed people, but rather the clumsy way that he stumbled into the question. "That's not a good question to spring on someone you don't know too much about. It could be a traumatic part of their life; even those outside the knights are sometimes forced into scenarios without a happy ending."

As he said that, his face retook its steely expression, and the seriousness that he was so well known for was back in full view. "I try not to, but I have. It's not a pleasant feeling, but it's not a part of my life I regret or feel any guilt over." As he spoke, he sat up in his chair a little and stared at Bryson.

"Even as a knight, we all have the ability to draw our own lines in the sand. If you understand yourself, and what you stand for, then to regret the path you took is a surefire way to eliminate the chance of progress. When I have had to resort to that, it was due to me seeing no other option. Luckily, it hasn't come to that often."

With that heaviness put out into the world, Jove made the decision to immediately pivot from it. "It sounds like you know what you're working towards, even if you don't know how to get there. I'm your mentor now, so my job is to help get you there. Whatever it is, even if it takes you away from the Knights, I hope it will be something which you can embrace wholly."

Jove was not a moron. He was not naive. There was no indication that Bryson was not who he said he was. There was no underlying reason for him to expect the boy in front of him to be working for the enemy, and of course, he didn't.

Yet he knew the boy had lived through traumatic experiences. He had seen darkness, and by staring into the abyss, it stared back into him. Yet that wasn't for Jove to worry about. His only job was to make sure that Bryson was ready to tackle his dreams, whatever they were.

Bryson had a level of purity about him, despite the obvious signs of hatred and vitriol that had built up over his lifetime. He was still willing to accept fault for his mistakes, and to try to find paths to grow. He took in new information like a sapling took in sunlight, and made life experience the water that fueled his growth. Jove hoped that he'd be the type of person that would be flexible enough to not snap when his worldview got truly turned upside down. The world was a savage place, and would not take pity on even the best prepared. He supposed it'd would be part of his job to help ensure that this child was ready for that.

As he asked Jove a question, the lieutenants eyes slowly raised from the table to meet Bryson's own gaze. The silence hung between them, tangling them up in its oppression, before the server had once again returned.

"Hey there! So sorry for the wait!" This girl was a true child. In a way, she encompassed what Jove had expected before meeting Bryson. A young soul with no worldly experience, naïve in approach and deaf to the situation at hand. Instead, the boy felt aged beyond his years, and the older rune knight was left trying to figure out the best approach to his newly assigned protégé.

The girl placed their food down, continuing to eye the younger of the two as if he himself were on the menu. Then, as the food was settled and drinks were placed, she left. Jove looked at the orange juice she had brought for Bryson, though it was never ordered, and finally answered the question that was posed.

"My duty is to ensure that you're ready to step into the world and strive to achieve your goal, Bryson. If that goal goes to any end of the spectrum, that doesn't change anything." Jove lifted the steaming mug to his lips, sipping at the dark brown, freshly brewed liquid in his cup. "I can't promise that won't force us to work against each other, but that also means ensuring that you're as prepared as you can be to resolve that as well. A teacher isn't suppose to mold your ideals, but help you identify the ones that speak to you and pursue them"

Jove began eating, and as he did so, he thought about how he could help explain the point he was trying to make. Using his fork and knife, he slowly worked around the food on his plate, mixing perfect mouthfuls as the lesson bounced around his head. Realizing that nothing came to mind, he decided to grab a real world example.

"I don't like enforcing blindly." He started abruptly, continuing to look at his food as he took bites between sentences. "Usually, I am afforded a certain level of freedom in my activities. I don't think bounties, or titles, or reputations equate to how a person really is. It was why I was able to befriend people like Venus Rose." He intentionally chose a well known individual of the world, to highlight the point he was trying to make. "However, that freedom also sometimes comes with me needing to be willing to make exceptions. So when the Council reached out to me about Erebus the Unavoidable, I had to arrest him without taking the time to get to know him."

He didn't get into the details of how it happened, as in his own mind, it wasn't a part of the point he was trying to make. Yet the way he said these things offhandedly hopefully made it clear that he was willing to field questions about both instances, should Bryson choose to inquire.

The surprise on Bryson's face was something rather eye catching. He knew who the villain was, to the point where he emphasized the individual as being a person larger than life. "You mean the Erebus?" Perhaps, had Jove known more about the boy assigned to him, he could have read between the lines. He would have been able to take that pause, and that emphasis, for their actual meanings. Yet this boy was still completely new to Jove, and their interactions thus far had painted him to be a young man with a desire to grow within the knights. Any form of doubt was non existent, and instead Jove just continued to cut into his food.

As the boy questioned Jove, he nodded his head in understanding. Perhaps he was wrong, but he believed he had pinpointed the place in which Bryson was coming from. A sense of anxiety, perhaps even fear, at the concept of taking on major names who appeared bigger than life.

It makes sense... As Jove lifted a napkin to his mouth and wiped at the corners of his lips, his answer was perhaps surprisingly nonchalant. "Alone, yes. And he was-" Jove paused, tilting his head up slightly as he thought of what to say. "Well, he has the foundation and the potential to grow into a strong fighter one day. I can understand why he was considered a priority to the council." His words were polite, and by no means shaming the opponent whom he had faced. Still, it was up to Bryson to interpret these words however he liked.

"Absolutely not." Jove placed his fork and knife down at the table, his plate left with only crumbs and scraps. He lifted his napkin to the corners of his mouth, dabbing at the residue that remained. Bryson would have likely reacted to his words, but rather than address them, Jove raised a hand to grab the servers attention. As she looked to him, he'd simply gesture at his coffee. She would offer him a nod, and a light "Sure thing!" that barely made its way to their table. With that done, Jove would interlock his fingers over top of the table and rest his arms against the edge.

"I'm sorry Bryson, but I try to keep strictly to my work schedule. The Rune Knights don't offer any overtime benefits or bonus pay; I have checked." His words were as matter-of-fact as always, carrying no indication that he was being anything other than genuine with the younger knight. As the waitress hurried over with a refill for his coffee, Jove fished out his wallet and handed her some money- A bit more than was required for the meal. "We can train any time tomorrow between the hours of nine to five. Just let me know when you're available."

Jove nodded as Bryson posed a new time for them. "Sounds good." Standing from the table, Jove fixed his shirt and then glanced around the cafe. "I think that pretty much concludes what we needed to cover as an introduction today then. It was a pleasure meeting you, Bryson." Jove politely poised their meeting to end, and with a nod in his younger counterparts direction, he made his way out of the building. He made his way out of the building, glancing either way on the street, before heading back in the direction of his hotel.

It was quite an interesting meeting. Bryson seemed to be an intelligent young man, and he was going to do his best to support the young mans growth. Still, part of him grimaced at the idea of beginning work at 5AM. He glanced at his watch, and after doing some quick math in his head, he looked ahead once more. He would make sure he was off the clock by 1PM that day. After all, he was never one to do overtime when it wasn't specifically required by his higher ups. He would mark the calendar when he made it back to the hotel, and then take a nap.

[EXIT]