Cold Trails [Minerva]

After that rather abrupt end to her meeting with the other Quincy, Minerva had decided to simply stick around for a bit. After all, Phoebe had promised to come back and continue all this, so it was the most logical choice to not make it any harder to find each other again. After all, it had already been established that Mina was kind of lacking in the sensing of other beings, no matter how strong their presence actually was. A weakness her maybe mentor had expressed desire to fix, yet had not come around to do so.

And it was that weakness that was on display here once more. Having been left there, she had inspected the gift a little more, only to realize she had been given something fairly important: a Quincy cross. And a Schneider, yes, but she was not good with these things. Nevertheless, it was fused with Phoebe’s Quincy cross, so it had left Mina somewhat puzzled. After all, as far as she knew, each Quincy needed that to focus their energy. An integral part of equipment, given to her at what appeared to be random. Despite not really getting what it meant, she’d realized it was important, so it was automatically important to her. When she took a room for the night, she had even placed it under her pillow, only making sure that it would not activate at random. Yet, it was too new a thing to her, when something did startle her from her sleep, she clearly forgot about it.

Instead, she found herself jolting up slightly for the second time over such a short period. Only this time she had woken from a deeper sleep, and thus taken a few more moments to eventually rejoin the waking, not even having heard anyone entering. Thus she was wholly surprised to not see some angry policewoman, but….some other kind of angry woman. But more importantly, she also noticed a weapon. Granted, she did not know this kind of weapon, but she deduced it was one, right away.

Then again, she was too sleepy to really get shocked by that. Instead, she blinked a few times, as if trying to discern whether she was still dreaming or not. After all, this whole situation did not compute, so she just spent a few seconds there, leaning on her elbow in a half upright position, sheets slowly sliding down to reveal the pajama she was wearing. Mina also tried to remember what had been said to her, in order to wake her up. It was one of those situations where a person did not consciously listen to something, due to sleep, but still catch it somehow. So with a little prodding, she found it, only it did not really make any sense. Pretty much anything after loyalty did not compute, so she kind of ignored it.

Still, dream or not, she decided to reply to that person, while she suppressed her urge to yawn. That would have been rude, after all, but it got into her voice a little, when she said something.

“Good morning. I am Minerva Alanis, and I am travelling around to learn things. I don’t really get what you mean by the rest, but I am a Quincy, if that helps. Is something the matter?”

She only added the Quincy part, because now that she was a bit more awake, she felt a certain pressure. Not enough to identify that person, but hey, at least she noticed something odd about someone when they were pointing a gun in their face. That was better than noticing nothing, at least.

At least Minerva was not the only one confused about all this. That other woman repeated the greeting, as if it was a weird thing to say after waking up, and the more Minerva woke up, the more she thought she’d understand that. After all, it was not morning at all, but rather still at night. Why would someone come and wake her like that? It confused her more than it frightened her, at least right then, but that was only a temporary thing. Things changed quite a bit when all of sudden, she felt a hand grasping her hair harshly, prompting her to wince. She was about to give a confused complaint, but did not get the chance to, as quickly as that had happened, she found herself out of the bed already, pulled via her hair, which was not just painful, but also utterly confusing.

Her thoughts could simply not keep up with what was going on there, so she only stumbled around a little, trying to retain her balance, before she found herself involuntarily moved again, this time much more brutal and forceful. Making an “Oompf” like sound, she hit the chair with the side and would have toppled it over, had it not been at the wall already. Really, she did not grasp the situation at all, could barely react to what was happening. After all, despite the formal training she had, the ones doing had been her parents, kind of pampering her. She knew nothing of combat, and even less of pain, so this overwhelmed her, caused her to just kind of sit there sideways, panting somewhat.

Then came the water. She got some into her mouth and subsequently had to cough, but it did get her finally awake. Sadly, that was not in time, and she found her head pressed onto the wall by virtue of that gun, causing a first flare of panic to come up. This was where her training kind of came in handy, though, as she remembered her lessons. Panicking would not help her one bit, trying to calm down would. So she tried just that, with limited success. Not just because she wasn’t used to it, but also because she had no clue what this was about.

“Spiritual signature? What do you mean? That woman? And why are you doing this? You are one too, aren’t you?”

There was resent in her voice, but also a slight hint of panic and utter confusion. She had to cough a little, still, but had the water out by now, allowing her to concentrate some more on her surroundings. She knew them. This was still the same hotel room, with only that woman. She was close, although not easily visible. Wearing something akin to Phoebe, Minerva had just assumed there was some kind of connection, although this person definitely smelled differently. A bit herbal, not like thick perfume or anything. More like whatever she must have been using to keep that long hair smooth.

A deep breath? That was not easy, not at all in such a situation. If anything, her breath was going as fast as her heartbeat, yet somehow, she really tried to follow that advice, order, whatever one might call it. It reverberated in her head, and for a few moments, she could not think of anything else, so she put all her capacities in just that.


Inhale. Exhale.


It did not make her the least bit less scared, but it did help her to listen to that woman, especially now that she was asking more direct questions. Mina still did not know just what this was about, but those were things she did know for once, so she gulped and tried to answer.

“She…told me about Quincies and hollows and shinigami. What they are and why we fight. That is all, really! She told me how unrefined my skills are…that I had potential….”

It was then that she was gripped by another wave of realization. Phoebe might not have told her everything. This woman here, she clearly was different from the dark haired woman she met earlier. Much meaner, much direct, focused on something far, far away, instead of what was right in front of her. Obsession, was that the word? It was dripping off of her, right onto Minerva’s lap. She could almost feel it. Along with that, there was the obvious hostility. This woman clearly was an enemy. While she did not exactly understand why, at least she could tell it was directed at Phoebe, and, by extension, herself. That thought alone made her avert her eyes from the woman for a few moments, glancing over towards the bed, where the Seele Schneider was still under the pillow. She did not think about trying to use it to fight back, but thinking about her would be mentor just drew her attention there for a moment.


It also fuelled her strength, just a little. She did not know if what she said was betraying anyone, no. Betraying meant one had to know what the conflict was about in the first place. She was simply stating the facts, just like that woman asked, due to, well, that gun to her head.

“And she said she wanted to refine that potential. To come back to me, and take me in to train me. Then she left. That is all.”

She returned her eyes towards that woman, and for a few moments, tried to hold her gaze. Only to then quickly wince and look away again, for she could not compete with her fire, her conviction.

That was so much better. Minerva allowed herself to take a deep breath and recuperate a little, while her assailant took the time to do something. She hardly knew why this person would go to the window or anything. There was no point in asking, at least to her, and she surely did not want to try to stop her, either. Mina was not sure if she could take another Quincy in a fight, and she had just lost the presences of a gun aimed at her head. She did not want to get to that point again right away.
She did laugh dryly when that woman, who was quite easier to see with the moon illuminating her better, actually had the audacity to say such a thing. Minerva shot the otherwise pretty lady a sharp glance, before she answered to any of that.

“Oh, yeah. Dangerous. You mean like someone who throws me around and threatens me? Because she sure did not do that.”

Was that bitterness, brattiness talking? No. Yes. Maybe. Mina obviously would not be able to tell, but her words and whole attitude right then were clearly marked by what she had experienced in the last few minutes. That unnamed person trying to convince her of anything would have caused such a reaction, even if it was about the earth being round. Mina held a rather angry gaze, as she watched her do something to the TV, inserting some kind of chip. Then she turned it on, to show some weird images she’d stolen from some kind of action movie.

Mina might have grown up in a somewhat secluded environment, but she wasn’t that much of a hillbilly. She’d had a TV, too, just did not bother to watch it most of the time.

“Do you really think this will work after treating me like that? Good cop and bad cop is a strategy for two people. Why should I believe something you conjured up with some kind of technological mumbo jumbo? Phoebe was nice to me, she didn’t even talk your side or whatever down. If the so called keepers of orders are those who attack first and justify themselves after, then I can see why someone would rebel against you.”

This time, there was a certain Zeal in her eyes, too, for she deemed herself quite just in defending another person against such accusations. This all just looked so much like a setup, and she did not trust that woman one bit. She might have looked nicer, now that she put her mind into it, but she had already shown how brutal she could be. Mina was not going to fall for that.

That woman sure was talking a lot, but Minerva was not listening. Okay, she was half listening, but there wasn’t really anything of value. The arguments were weak and one sided, obviously primed to work only in absence of any other party. She didn’t bother to reply to any single one, but instead kept sitting there, waiting for that person to finish. After all, this discussion was rather pointless, it was obvious that she could never convince her to just let her go, and that person was not doing herself any favours by continuing on like that.

“It is not about being nice or not. But if one person is friendly and impartial to me, without trying to convince me that someone is a mass murderer, that person stands better in my book than the brutal one who does.”

For now, this was all she said. Really, she did not see any further point in discussing, as it would only endlessly repeat the same old rhetoric. She had heard her father do discussions like this, and had never really been able to stand it. Mina simply allowed her stern gaze to do the talking, and utterly ignored pretty much anything else. It was only when she was told to get dressed and going, that she perked up. For a few moments, she stayed utterly silent, not making any noise, as she debated her options.


She did not want to go, obviously. By now she was sufficiently awake to at least put some of her training to use, and had recuperated somewhat from what had happened to her so far. The only question was: could she take her? Minerva had never fought a real enemy before, least a Quincy who knew much more than she did. To a Quincy, knowledge was power, and she was definitely intimidated. Yet at the same time, she was also agitated, defiant. Those two natures were fighting inside her for a while, but in the end, she did not see herself any chance. And she really did not want a body bag.

“I am not doing this because I want to. So get out! I don’t want some witch to watch me change, understood? Just get that stick out of your behind and actually pretend to treat me like the person you claim me to be.”

In order to say that, she got up for the first time in the conversation. She had not been given explicit permission for this, just assumed it, with the get dressed and all. But she wanted to put emphasize on this, to show that she did not want to be pushed around. And to make her get out, because she really did not want anyone to watch her.