Chapter 108 - Reunion
The Floor of Art is a peaceful place. While most of the Library's corridors and less esoteric floors appear at a glance to be cut and polished wood, Netzach's layer looks like it's been carved out of an actual, still-living tree. Knotted roots weave between thick bark beneath your feet to form a surprisingly stable floor. Thick wooden tendrils wrap around and through bookshelves, which themselves seem less constructed and more just carved out of the walls. Tiny, humanoid things with oddly-proportioned bodies and little in the way of discernible features dot the place, glowing a bright and presumably healthy green. The scattered books and loosely arranged trash scattered everywhere gives the impression of a cobbled-together hideout or shelter, someplace people with nowhere else to go would use for a moment's reprieve before continuing on. And yet, there's a pervasive sense of livedness filling the Floor's halls.
You've been staring at the door to the lounge for at least a minute now. Maybe longer. The upper-layer Department Heads, now the Patron Librarians of the bottom floors of the Library, are resting on the other side. Apparently, it's a common occurrence after they've finished their allotted tasks. Or, in Netzach's case, whenever they decide they're done and want to sneak off somewhere.
Slowly, carefully, you grip the doorknob. You can feel the emotions radiating from the other side. So they're actually here, then. It's be pretty awkward if you worked yourself up just to open the door and find that everyone had left to go do something else while you were on your way down. Of course, that doesn't eliminate the possibility that it's somebody else in the room.
More out of curiosity than anything else, you tune your senses further towards the emotions filtering put from the inside of the room. Instead of relaxation, calm, or anything else you'd expect from a break room, worry weighs down on the people inside. Spikes of anxiety run through the oppressive tension, leaving you with a very unfortunate picture of what's going on. The levels of stress you're detecting aren't more than you'd expect from an ordinary conversation, but it's certainly not a happy talk going on.
Maybe you should just wait for them to finish. After all, it seems like the Sephirot are in the middle of a rather important discussion. Interrupting would just start things off on the wrong foot. You wouldn't want to make a poor impression right away after not seeing them for so long. Then again, jumping in right after a heavy discussion might taint whatever interactions you have next. Maybe you should just leave, and come back l-
"Hi!"
You very nearly tear off the doorknob in surprise at the sudden voice behind you. You turn to see one of the Magical Girls carrying a stack of books nearly as tall as they are, already moving on through the Floor's wooded halls. Seems like Angela hasn't lost the chance to expand her workforce.
Gah. You've been overthinking this. Taking a deep breath, you turn the knob and push open the door.
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"…isn't an excuse for- oh!"
Malkuth, a short, light brown-haired woman wearing a similarly-colored uniform, stands with both hands placed on the large wooden table. The Patron Librarian of History wears a small frown that disappears under an expression of surprise at your sudden entrance. At her side, Hod turns slightly to catch a glance of you. The shorter girl looks more subdued than before, though you suppose she was on that track even when you last saw her. Like her colleagues, the young woman wears a mix of suit and dress that matches the dark-brown color of her hair.
"Manager. We did not expect for you to arrive. Please, take a seat." a new voice says. Your attention is pulled towards Yesod, your former Head of the Information Team. He's still pretty much the same as you remember, cold, a fan of the color purple, and with an unusually high seriousness-to-body mass ratio. Still, he was always one of your most reliable coworkers. The man in green sitting half-drunk next to him, Netzach, perks up slightly. You idly note that he's tied his hair back, instead of just letting it fall all over the place. And that he's been drinking rather heavily, but that's much less of a surprise.
You carefully pull back a chair and sit, scooting in towards the table just a bit afterwards. "Thanks. So… it's certainly been a while. Longer for you than it was for me, I hear."
"Maybe, but we didn't know what had happened to you. Everyone thought you had disappeared into the Light, like Angela almost did." Hod says quietly. You raise an eyebrow at that piece of information.
"Oh? My sister almost disappeared into the Light, you say? How silly of her to forget to mention that to me. I'll have to remind her about it later." you tease. You're not really that upset, even if it's a bit annoying not knowing things. You certainly would've been worried at the time, but knowing that she's alright now takes most of the edge off. That being said, you're definitely going to harass her about leaving things out later.
"That phrasing isn't entirely correct, Hod." Yesod cuts in. "While one could say that we believed that the Manager had dissolved into the Light, but we were mistaken regarding the person that the Manager was and the person we believed them to be."
"And that's exactly my point!" Malkuth says suddenly, apparently having circled back around to whatever she was talking about before you came in. "We were working with Manager for thousands of years, and we never even realized they were a different person! Not even once!"
"To be fair, it's not like we ever remembered much of it at a time. Besides, the Manager doesn't seem too worked up about it." Netzach interrupts, setting aside his bottle of what looks to be a very expensive brand of wine. Somebody's been taking full advantage of their Light construction, it seems.
"Netzach's right," you confirm, to the surprise of anybody who heard he was debating against his fellow Sephirot about a matter other than mind-altering substances. "There wasn't any way you could've known about me. You had to project some of your issues with my father into me so you could deal with them. That's just how everything was set up. It'd be illogical to hold you responsible at all. The only fault in what he's said is the fact that I'm not your manager anymore. If anything, that title fits Angela better than me now."
Malkuth sits down, letting out a weighty breath you didn't know she was holding. Hod rests a hand on her shoulder. Were they really worried you were going to be upset with them?
"Oh? Then what title do you hold now?" Yesod asks. You resist the urge to roll your eyes at his theatrics. Is it really that difficult to just ask somebody's name?
…Well, if you'd known that person for years, that would actually be pretty awkward.
"Legally, I go by Alexandra Thrones now. That's just lack of creativity on the forger's part, though, so I'd rather you not use that name. I'd prefer you just call me X, since it might as well have been my name the whole time."
"X, then. While we are on the subject of you, we have some questions regarding your current state of being." Yesod continues, now taking much the same tone he'd use when requesting your analysis of a new Abnormality.
When you don't respond immediately, Hod decides to clarify. "It's about… well, you being an Abnormality. We're just wondering if you're still okay after something like that."
You're not certain what your expression is at this point. In all likelihood, it's completely blank. After all, there's not much you can really say to that. "It's been alright. I haven't had any breaches, except for that one incident. I can't sleep anymore, and while I haven't gotten the chance to try I don't think I can get drunk. Aside from that, things mostly feel the same for me."
A bit of the tension leaves the room when you finish your diagnosis. As long as your container isn't breached, becoming an Abnormality hasn't affected you much. Not needing sleep has been a net gain, really.
"Now, enough with the serious discussions!" you declare boldly. "My kids need bedtime stories, and I don't know any that don't involve dismemberment at some point or another. Anyone got anything they can share?"
For a moment, there's an awkward silence in the break room as the Sephirot absorb what you just asked. Then, after taking a short breath, Hod speaks. "When I was younger, my uncle would visit for winters. He always told us a new story every year. I think it went something like…"
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Der Freischütz's Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
Porccubus' Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
CENSORED's Sapling - Observation Level EXPUNGED/REDACTED
On the subject of fighting Distortions, beating a person into submission isn't a fast track to solving their mental issues. Most of the Distortions we've seen just die when they're defeated. That being said, fighting a Distortion does typically require you to engage with them emotionally in some way. I think my favorite example of this is the Crying Children's second fight, which involves repeatedly forcing Philip's emotions back to the surface and breaking down the emotional barriers he's built up. In the end, Philip loses his immunity to Burn and literally burns himself to death in his final phase, dying not just in battle but because he never actually got over any of his feelings, and when faced with them one last time he can't stand it.
: Sometimes I wonder what are you trying to achieve by such childlike behaviors, until after hearing from your old colleagues then I realized, that you cannot live without the attention of everyone. Also, for your knowledge, I have already concluded my business with your lover. He violated my still living corpse for my knowledge, I almost destroyed every part of his corporation multiple times. Unless he plans to reignite his almost religious hatred towards me, I simply do not care more about him than this cup of tea in my hand
: Again? How many times did this happend? 8? 
: I'm afraid they simply do not have better things to do. How tragic.
:Close your eyes and block your ears, I'm going to use some countermeasures... It was supposed to be used on that Arbiter but I do not care anymore.
