A Song For The Optimists[Solomon, Violet]

Solomon had developed a familiar routine with visiting Violet whenever she required his assistance. Since he had voluntarily chosen to be her teacher, that certainly required a degree of attention that couldn't be ignored. He was an honorable man, after all. To keep his word was to respect his honor, and the genuine belief he held in the woman and her capability as a Quincy. She seemed vehemently stubborn about the idea at first, but each visit seemed to be bearing the fruit he imagined when he offered to assist her at the outset. She was less dismissive, refraining from her usual antagonistic disposition more often than he expected. To him, that was progress. Wearing casual robes as always, Solomon has made the routine trip to her household. He expects several scenarios; perhaps she'll be breaking some piece of furniture in the backyard, or maybe she'll be running off several expletives in abject frustration. Humorously shameful as it was to admit it, he didn't expect an in-between, but he had faith that things might be different today.

His answers await him beyond the knock of a door.

Reishi manipulation was the first step Violet needed to learn in order to succeed at this Quincy thing. Due to past failures and misunderstandings of what reishi manipulation even was, it was proving more difficult than she liked. She kept getting mad at herself, and would yell and kick things and take her anger out on Solomon, which she regretted each time. Even if she wasn’t getting good a the reishi control, she was learning to control her self-hatred around him. She stopped targeting him with her frustration, so it was a form of progress that they both saw, or at least she hoped he did. She wanted him to like her, not just tolerate her.

When he knocked, Solomon heard a loud squeal and what was possibly a small explosion. Someone lost their concentration when the tap on her front door came. The door was unlocked, so if Solomon stepped in, he'd see all of Violet's furniture had been pushed to one part of the living area to make room. Violet was sitting with her back to him and facing the back door, but her hair was an absolute mess, sticking up like a cartoon character who just experienced a bomb. As she turned to see him come in, her face looked similar, with small scuff marks and dirt in random places. The back door was open and there was a scorch mark in the grass.

Violet stared at Solomon in silence, no idea what she looked like. She pointed out to the back yard, where the point of event was. "I almost had it." Violet said, her eye sand voice booming with exchitement. "I made this small ball thing, but it wasn't perfectly round. I used the energy though, the reishi! I did it! Until... it exploded."

Contrary to his belief, his expectations betrayed, Solomon hurriedly stepped through the door. What graced his eyes at the moment was enough to render him speechless; a far cry from the visage of frustration, the expression Violet wore today was excitement, as though she was on the verge of achieving something pivotal just now. For a moment, he held the woman's gaze, blinking dumbfoundedly in confusion. He recognized that he had interrupted her in the process of something.

Her current surroundings were proof of that, yet he still found himself unable to comprehend her expression. Of course, any worry he may have housed was suddenly snuffed out by her excited exclamation. Progress. The one thing he had promised she would achieve when this all began, the result of it was playing out before his eyes. Like a proud friend, Solomon lifted her by the hands, a wide grin forming across his face.

"Progress is progress! Words cannot express how proud I am of you so far."

Violet took his hands and was lifted from her landing zone back to her feet. “If I had made a bigger one, I think I would have blown up the house… I was lucky I left the back door open.” Violet walked over and closed it. It was already warm in the house, and she wasn’t going to let whatever cool air she had left out. She tuned on the air conditioner and poured them each a glass of lemonade. Sitting on the counter were two sub sandwiches: one for him, the other for her.

“Before I forget, I got someone I want you to meet,” Violet said, unwrapping her sandwich and gesturing to the other for him to grab. He should know by now to come over with an empty stomach. She always had something waiting. Last time it was tea and cake, the time before that was ramen, and so on… “There is this guy that started up a ramen shop down from where I work. The food is really good, and he has some questions, kind of like me, but less specific.”

"Once I'm done eating, I'll show you the little ball I can make." Violet said, taking her first bite. Her hair was still wild, her face still dirty, but she hadn't noticed.

Observing their surroundings for the moment, Solomon was inclined to agree with Violet's statement. Even so, what mattered most here is that her efforts were finally bearing fruit, something that filled him with no small shortage of pride. What made it all the better is that she was celebrating her accomplishment rather than finding fault with the minor progress. That, too, brought a smile to his face. His expression shifted from prideful to curious within a moment, following her movement with his gaze as she made her way to the counter.

Solomon took the sandwich in turn, generously biting into it as he settled into the chair. He was hardly the type to reject offered food. There were several questions spinning in his head, each no less related to her progress than the last, but her current activity was proof enough that it felt almost improper to pose a question now. Perhaps it was more appropriate, in all likelihood, to explore something more. As she promised, she would show him how well she was operating once their meal was finished. Thus, he chooses to maintain the current mode of conversation - that is, the identity of this ramen shop man.

"Oh? And who might this person be? Did you happen to get a name?"

“I’ve been there like ten times now; his name’s Aiden,” Violet said, only half-exaggerating. “Don’t remember a last name though.” Violet took a moment to think, but shrugged when she couldn’t recall being told one. “He’s a nice guy; has these dreams of joining the path of heroes, like Quincy and the humans with powers. At first, I was kinda skeptical about it, but he’s determined and I told him I’d try and introduce you two. I did figure that if you’re able to help me, of all people, be able to create a ball of reishi, you could perform another miracle with him.”

"What do you think? Would you mind meeting him? He closes shop around eight." Violet sounded sort of hopeful here. She found Aiden's wish endearing in a way, and definitely relatable to her own problems. In a similar way to Aiden feeling hopeless, she often felt that way too. However, Solomon brought back a sense of hope in Violet. His faith in her made her want to try; she never experienced that before. "And I don't mean today, but one day when you're free. You could even drop in without me. Just tell him that you're the one I wanted to introduce him to..."

"I'm flattered you think so highly of my capabilities, but I'm no miracle worker by any stretch. Even so, I'll gladly see what I can do. I can't recall ever eating at a Ramen shop before. There might well be a mutual benefit here."

Solomon didn't recognize the name at all. He considered himself vastly familiar with the people of this town, which made him wonder for a moment whether or not he was someone he may have met in passing and simply forgot, or someone who recently acclimated to the City of Lights from a foreign country. It was most likely the latter, but due diligence never hurt, and Violet seemed genuinely intent on assisting the man, which was certainly a far cry from something he would have expected of her when they first met. Progress in multiple realms, he mused.

"When I'm free, I'll definitely give him a visit. In any case, I think you downplay yourself just a little. There wasn't ever a doubt in my mind that, with enough effort, you could apply yourself well enough to manipulate reishi. Turns out, before I interrupted you, my theory has been proven correct. And I am overwhelmingly proud of you."

Reaching out to express that, he playfully ruffled her unkempt hair, smilingly warmly to express his happiness. He had to admit that, despite his initial annoyance with her personality at first, Violet was someone he was genuinely rooting for to succeed. Her background alone had endeared her to the man, and he genuinely vowed to support her no matter how much she pushed his buttons.

Violet rolled her eyes. Yeah, right. He was definitely a miracle worker. No one else got her to actually summon reishi. Her own father, her mother, nor any tutors could figure it out over the course of years. A couple of weeks with the angelic one over here, and suddenly Violet was almost blowing up her new house. Someone (Solomon) was in denial about his miraculous-ness. He'll have to learn.

Violet turned red. The last time someone was actually "proud" of her, was likely when she said her first word or walked to her mother for the first time. There was nothing in the memories she could recall of ever doing something right enough to be proud of. It was sad, really. Putting down her sandwich, Violet placed her hands over her cheeks to hide the blush. At the same time, Solomon ruffled her hair.

"Hey." Violet looked away from him, grumbling under her breath about being treated like a child. Instead of letting that embarrassment stick around, she hurried to the back yard. "Let's see if I blow up this time!" Violet returned to her original training spot, standing over scorched grass. She held out both hands in front of her and closed her eyes, taking in a calm breath and relaxing to focus on reishi.

It took a fully minute before a spot of lavender appeared in her hand, falling like flitter from a tube. Trying to focus for a bit longer, she began to form what was a rather unstable sphere in her palms. While the sphere was almost perfect in shape, the energy was not as solid as a more experienced Quincy would be able to produce. Still Violet was pretty proud of it, and the joy in her eyes proved it.

However, what Violet did not know was that the more she got excited about it, the more she was losing focus. The reishi in her hands was quickly becoming unstable, and would likely blow up in a second or two. "You see? I finally made something!"

Solomon finished what remained of his sandwich, washing it down with what remained of his lemonade. It was a nice meal to whet the pallet, a fulfilling meal to hold him over until later certainly. Of course, at her request, he followed her to the backyard. Amid all the uncertainty, it would be spiritually satisfying to see Violet's progress in real-time. Actions did speak louder than words, after all. To see physical proof would likely enliven his spirits exceedingly more than hearing a firsthand account. With no hesitation in his stride, he followed the woman outside, azure blue eyes locked on her from afar.

When they reached the open air, Solomon gave her every minute of concentration necessary to absorb the reishi around her. Those observant eyes displayed both awe and curiosity, observing the phenomena with a genuine smile. In the span of a few moments, a sphere of lavender flowed into creation. Naturally, since she was a work in progress, the sphere was not entirely perfect in shape. But that was hardly anything to find fault with, even more so when one considered her humble beginnings.

The sphere of lavender faltered in tandem with its creator's wavering attention, leading Solomon to approach her carefully. Displaying a warm smile, he gently extended his hands forward, consuming the ambient reishi from her palms. A myriad of praise was in order. This was no small achievement. Contrary to everything she had proclaimed before, she was achieving the first steps on a path she was once discouraged from following. Ever so softly, his hands rested on her own as he maintained that warm smile, proud beyond measure.

"Once more, words cannot express how proud you've made me. That was a fine showing of absorbing and manipulating Reishi. And I believe that is only the beginning. Do you think I'm a fool now?"

He posed an impish smile at the end of those words, partly to elicit a reaction. After all, she had been quite adamant that this path would lead to nothing. What he saw now was proof that she had been incorrect.

Violet was surprised as she both watched and felt her reishi leave her and go to him, the vibrant sphere quickly vanishing. Blinking in confusion, it took her a minute to remember old lessons about reishi absorption. Right, that was normal. She may not easily understand the real world application of all these theories, but she was recognizing them from her studies. Either way, he did steal her ball.

That wasn't important though. What was important was his hands not leaving hers. Violet's smile softened as she looked up at him and wrapped her hand around his, though the gesture was almost instinctual. "No, you're no fool," she said softly, her eyes lowered in shame. "I'm so sorry for that, for the way I treated you when we first met. It's a stupid excuse, but I'm not used to people being so nice to me..."