Folie à Deux [JT, NDE]

[Luke Clyburn]

"This is the last one before you are going to make me run. Have you actually been able to keep up with me?"

That would be what a smug and confident Catherine Noir would ask the man she would discover was actually sitting at one of the rest tables, scrolling through his phone. There wasn’t a drop of sweat on him. It would seem that Luke Clyburn, despite Catherine’s orders earlier, hadn’t worked out at all. Not even a little. And she would be 100% right. Luke didn’t touch a single machine or weight in this entire gym. ”Hmm… that seafood risotto looks good. Wonder if she’d like that..” Luke murmured to himself, resting his cheek on his hand, as he scrolled through a variety of Italian recipes in the hopes of finding something new to try and cook that he thought Shizuka might like. Before taking his dirt nap Luke had started dabbling into trying to cook more often and actually found that he liked it. Was certainly better than eating takeout and frozen meals every night. The worry of course was if he cooked something Italian how would the actual Italian rate what he made?

”What is arborio rice? Never heard of it..” Luke murmured to himself. Finally, the man would look up to see that Catherine was trying to get his attention. ”You’re doing great! Keep at it!” Luke would say in the most dismissive way he possibly could, giving her a thumbs up as well. In truth, while he hadn’t been working out at all and seemed to have been fucking around on his phone the entire time he had been keeping a close eye on Catty. Well, not his eyes so to speak. It would be rude to stare at a woman working out even if she was pretty and fit. Luke had been keeping an eye on her reiatsu the entire time she had been working out with his mind's eye.

As Catty had been working out throughout the hour, Luke had been carefully studying the reiatsu that was inside her. What the woman failed to notice as she exercised was that her reiatsu was instinctively aiding her. Luke had felt the energy inside her moving and reacting as she exerted herself. What’s more, Luke was rather surprised by just how much reiatsu she had. As he watched her work out he couldn’t help but think to myself, Has she really never been taught anything at all? It just didn’t seem possible. What Luke had found was a staggering amount of reiatsu was sleeping inside her. Like a hidden trust fund for a billionaire's child.

What Luke had said earlier was no lie. Learning how to use reiatsu would come remarkably easier for her than it would for other people. That was the benefit of being a Bount. But Luke had been expecting Catherine to have a smidge of reiatsu. Just a bit more than the average person. Catherine didn’t even seem aware of just how much power she had sleeping in that remarkably toned body of hers. As he watched her exercise, amber eyes locked onto her back, the Bount couldn’t help but smirk a little bit. She might just be worth my time after all. Luke told himself. He would never openly admit this. But this woman, without any of her abilities awakened yet, was already leagues ahead of where he was when he was at her level.

There was the chance that Catherine Noir might be a sleeping giant. Someone with potential. That’s what Luke had concluded. But he needed to water this seed before it would grow into a great fruit-bearing tree. Looking up from his phone at the undoubtedly fuming and annoyed Catherine, Luke pocketed his phone and got up. ”Listen, there’s a chore I need to run real quick. Once you’re finished up with your routine go ahead and do what I told you on the treadmill, alright?” Luke explained in a bit of a hurry. When he had been looking for food ideas he had decided to check out the prices at the local markets nearby. Lo and behold there was a sale on salmon that he wanted to get in on before it was too late. Today was the last day after all!

[Catty Noir ♦]

Catty groaned and stomped over to Luke who was so busy with this damn phone that he didn't even pay attention to her one time throughout the exercise. She'd been getting more attention from the boy she upstaged on the weight floor than the Bount who had said he'd train her. His dismissal was enough to set her on edge, making Catty seriously wish she'd chosen someone else. He was looking up ingredients for food. And why? There was no reason to be so distracted when he had woken her up before she ever wished to be awake and taken her to a gym in a place she'd never been before. Just when she was about to give him a piece of her mind, Luke instead broke the brief silence.

”Listen, there’s a chore I need to run real quick. Once you’re finished up with your routine go ahead and do what I told you on the treadmill, alright?”

She blinked more slowly than she ever intended to as her irritation so clearly grew. He was ignoring her. Maybe he knew how to use his abilities better than she knew how to use hers, but that didn't make him so much better than she was that he could just refuse to help after already agreeing. Catty started feeling embarrassed for ever asking him. Already, she was thinking about another alternative. Maybe she'd stay in Japan for a year and move back home, admitting defeat to her parents and asking them to help instead. Her efforts hadn't led to much up until now, but at least they wouldn't throw her away on the first day.

Without saying a word, Catty would watch Luke ultimately get up to leave once he decided to do so and didn't want to waste time saying anything to him. It wasn't worth the struggle, and she didn't want to expend energy on anger more than she already was. What she'd hoped he wouldn't necessarily realize was that she planned on following him. She may not have been totally perfect at being able to tell whether or not he could sense her from far away, and she had zero stealth to speak of, so she had to hope she would be able to find him using what sensory ability she had. She'd just smell him out if it came down to it.

Until then, she'd wait and watch him leave.

[Luke Clyburn]

What are you doing?

Came a voice within his head as Luke stared down at the fresh fish on display. Street shops were a common thing in Karakura, and Luke enjoyed getting his fresh from such shops. Looking for fish. Luke replied. No, idiot, you know I’m referring to the girl. Are you actually going to train her or are you just fucking with her? his Doll asked. Lifting up one fillet and comparing it to another one, Luke could only sigh. You know as well as I do that I can’t train anyone. the Bount would reply, selecting one cut of fish finally and bringing it to the stall owner. ”So you are just fucking with her.” Wrapping the salmon up in a bag, Luke paid and began walking off.

Wrong again. I can’t train her because I wasn’t trained myself. I’m a natural genius. People like me make horrible teachers. What I can do, though, is what I can to recreate what I went through when I first awoke Jager. Luke explained as he began making his way back to his apartment. ”Recreate that experience? What do you mean by that?” he was asked as Luke entered the elevator. ”Frustrate her. Make her mad. Upset. It should be easy. She’s got that type of personality. She’s starting further than I was when I was at her level. So build up some pressure emotionally before forcing her into a situation where she pops.

”You make it sound like you’ve thought this out. What are you going to do to make her pop?” his Doll asked, though to that all Luke did was smirk. He had an idea. A plan. He thought back to when he awakened his first Doll and the attitude he had back then. The situation, the stress, the sight of seeing his coworkers attacked by those two Bount. Whatever that had been about that night had never come up again in all the years Luke had been in Karakura. But either way, Luke still recalled his first release. That’s what he would do to Catherine. Force her, in an already agitated state, to get pushed to her limit. That’s why he was forcing her to exercise and ignoring her. Frustrate her physically and emotionally.

”Well, looks like you’re still here.” Luke expressed with some surprise when he finally returned to the gym to find the french woman. Without even waiting to hear her response, he turned around while beckoning with his finger for her to follow him. Outside, parked on the curb, was his motorcycle with two helmets resting on it. ”Since you didn’t run off, we can get the real thing started now. But we’re gonna go somewhere where there won’t be many people. And before you complain, yes, everything I’ve had you do up till now was important. So if you have any questions you want to ask, get them out now.” Luke explained, throwing himself over the seat and waiting for her. ”I don’t ride bitch, so I’m driving.” he commented as he put his helmet on and waited for her.

[Catty Noir ♦]

Several minutes had passed and Catty was getting ready to search for the man who had just left her at the gym. With an angry pout on her face, she heaved a sigh and made her way back to the lockers where the rest of her things had been stored thanks to one of the attendants. Rather than waste time any further, she was going to simply tell him herself that she was done and he didn't need to worry about training her anymore. Luke clearly didn't respect her. That wasn't going to fly very well. Catty slammed the locker shut with a frustrated growl and didn't even care that it had gotten bent and stuck in its place because of her tantrum. She had gotten played.

With her bag strapped over her shoulder, she exited the locker room and noticed that Luke was headed back inside the gym. She felt a fire burn within her soul as she stared at the Bount in front of her, wondering if she should break his legs or neck first. The legs would make things difficult on him for a while until he fed to heal himself - something Catty realized she didn't know how to do. If she broke his neck, on the other hand, there was a good chance he'd die immediately and that would give her a sense of satisfaction in knowing that he couldn't bother her anymore. Although, if she did that, she knew her landlord would be sad. That lady was nice.

”Well, looks like you’re still here.”

Catty furrowed her brows with indignance, holding back every urge she had to roll her eyes at this American idiot. To make matters worse, he was beckoning her to follow, and she hated following people like that. Another groan escaped her lips that she barely made any attempt at hiding as she begrudgingly went after the man, curious to see what he was trying to get her to do despite her growing irritation. To her surprise, she saw the motorcycle he somehow had with a couple of helmets. There was no doubt in her mind now that he expected her to ride on the back of that thing, especially since he mounted it with ease and offered her a seat while attempting to convince her that leaving her by herself, completely ignored, was somehow necessary and planned.

”I don’t ride bitch, so I’m driving.”

Without saying a word, Catty grabbed the helmet that wasn't atop Luke's head, held it in her hand for a moment, and then slammed it against the ground. It bounced off the pavement with a loud crack that immediately clued the woman in on the fact that it had been broken. Good. Clutching the strap of her bag in her hand, she eyed Luke with a ferocious glare that could have frightened even the bravest of children. Her bright blue eyes were cold with rage. She had completely lost her patience and will to continue on this venture, and the only thing she could think about was finding someone else to help her.

"I did not know what I was getting into, mon cher, but I can promise you that I do not require your help anymore. Take your stupid bike and go. I will find someone stronger who can actually help me rather than make a fool of me."

With a pivot on her heels, Catty turned and started off towards the direction they came in. The apartment wasn't too far out of her reach for a brisk walk, and the exercise she'd just done needed a resting period anyway. The walk would do her good to clear her mind. Deep in her gut, though, was a feeling she couldn't ignore quite as well. She felt embarrassed but did her best not to show it. She felt silly for believing he was the one she was looking for when she came to Japan. She missed her parents and wondered if they were right to have reservations that she so blissfully avoided. Maybe it was time to go back to Paris.

[Luke Clyburn]

It was fair to say that this was a predictable result of how he had been treating her. Promising to help her, making her exercise, and then leaving her alone. It certainly did seem that Luke was just taking Catty for a ride. Watching her smash the bike helmet onto the concrete with a rather emotionless expression, Luke lifted his eyes gaze up to her as she started to berate him. He was silent the entire time. He simply looked at her. Waiting for her to get done. She didn’t require his help anymore when the real training hadn’t even gotten started. Luke was getting what he had set out to achieve. She was frustrated and pissed. The jab at him was noticed but it didn’t phase him at all. He simply sat there, on his bike, with an expression that didn’t betray any feelings. And so she turned and began storming off.

”Catherine.”

One word. Just her name. Something as simple as her name escaped his lips. Yet a word that she had to have heard countless times in her life had never before now carried with it such a coldness. Catty would feel as though the heat of her body was sucked away. The man said her name with such authority. She’d feel it. It wasn’t as though the day suddenly got cold. No, what Catherine would instead experience was a feeling so familiar and yet never as intense as now. Fear. Luke released what one would describe as a murderous intention. It was as though Catherine was suddenly put in a cage, with no weapons, with a hungry tiger. Or as though a thousand assault rifles were pointed right at her by a firing squad. Fear that would paralyze her in her tracks.

”You ask me for my help and then bitch and moan about my methods? If I’d known you were such an ungrateful brat I’d have sent you back to where you came from.”

Luke never got up from where he sat. Instead he simply allowed the multiple abilities he was using on her to take effect. Luke didn’t just use a portion of his spiritual pressure to weigh down on her, making it incredibly difficult for the French woman to breathe, but he was also utilizing one of the lesser used aspects of Willpower. Using Cog, Luke was broadcasting an intimidating aura so intense that the moment he had said Catherines name he’d have stripped the girl of her will to fight him.

”Now get on the fucking bike, Catherine.”

He commanded, his amber eyes glowing furiously, as he stared her down like he would an opponent far beneath him. There was no joke here. Catty would feel how deathly serious this was. If she somehow still didn’t listen, there was always the next step to this plan. The one Luke really didn’t want to use. He didn’t like doing this at all to be honest. But he needed this woman to go along with him. This was, as much as it sucked playing the bad guy, part of his plan. He just didn’t expect to get to this step so soon.

[Catty Noir ♦]

"Catherine."

Huh? That was strange. Everything looked completely normal until just a moment ago when she'd heard her name. The world around her was moving as she walked forward after telling Luke off, but somehow it froze. Could everything simply stop moving at the drop of a hat like this? Catty attempted to look around but soon realized she wasn't able to. Her own eyes wouldn't work. It felt as if she was in a cage, trapped and helpless, with no hope of ever escaping. She bit her bottom lip. Hard. She didn't understand anything about the situation she was in. She thought she had the last word, only to hear this man spit her full name out as if she were in trouble.

"Lucas."

Drip.

A quick glance down - all she could muster at the time - revealed an oddly-placed rain drop amongst a seamless, cloudless sky. Strange, again. There was no forecast for poor weather, yet there it was, staining the pavement beneath her only briefly before it dissipated within the stone. Her surroundings were still frozen in place, striking her as entirely too supernatural, especially since she was in the middle of effortlessly walking away. Effortlessly... or so she thought. And why was there only a single rain drop? Only a single one, until she witnessed two more drop within close succession of each other.

Wide eyes covered the Bount's face when she finally pieced together what had been happening. Her heart was racing so quickly because of her irresistible urge to get out of there; rather, it would have been irresistible had she not been unable to move. As soon as she felt her heart start to beat out of her chest, she noticed her feet hadn't moved since he spoke her name out loud. Her back was still turned to him, but she could have sworn she sensed his piercing gaze daring to shoot a hole through her back. It wasn't the world that was frozen around Catty. Catty was the one frozen. She was terrified.

"You ask me for my help and then bitch and moan about my methods? If I’d known you were such an ungrateful brat I’d have sent you back to where you came from."

Suffocating... She couldn't breath. Catty started to panic. She tried her best to resist the overwhelming pressure she felt coming from behind her, knowing who was causing it but not understanding how. She wasn't able to form any words and wouldn't know what to say even if she could. She was simply prey to him. She was some piece of meat he could tenderize before throwing it to the wild dogs of power that barked and howled to be released from their kennels. She was hyperventilating. Not enough air. Not enough time. Not enough distance. He would kill her. He was going to hurt her. She didn't have a chance in hell of running before-

"Now get on the fucking bike, Catherine."

Common sense hit her before her ability to properly move again did, but the latter followed soon after. Despite her survival instinct screaming bloody murder at her from the inside, Catty's previously-frightened face contorted into something much more angry. Her teeth clenched down as a frustrated growl seeped out from behind them, not too dissimilar to a teenager having a tantrum after being told 'no' by a parent. She pivoted again, threw her bag on the back of the bike with more luck than skill since it somehow landed on the back, and faced the man who threatened her. In just a few steps, she marched herself back to stand before him, ignoring the height difference, and grabbed his arm.

"My name is Catty," she started, speaking harshly through her clenched teeth. "And you have no business ordering me around." She squeezed his right arm with half her might, knowing that he may have the spiritual advantage over her, but her physical strength would still hurt him. "I will get on the stupid bike. But it is purely because I want to! It is not because you told me to do it!"

Letting go of Luke's arm as dramatically as possible, her sharp gaze locked with his. She may not have any intimidating abilities the same way he did, but he would still see the fury behind her stare as much as any other person would. She didn't hide her feelings. In this moment, though, she knew the smarter decision would be to do as she was told. Catty just didn't want to let Luke think he could control her like that. She mounted the bike with a light sneer and held on to the seat with her hands, avoiding any reason to touch this man at all. She also chose to let him lead her to a new place, deciding one last chance was warranted. Still, she wished she could have at least punched him.

"Never let anyone see that they got to you, Mère. You are strong, too."

"Eh? Did you say something, Lucas?" Catty ran her hand through her bangs and over the top of her head, letting the pieces of hair fall back into place above her eyes. "Or... never mind. I mentioned nothing."