It was early one Saturday morning that Carman and Ryuzu walked through the gates of Fontaine and out into the fields surrounding the capital city.
"Are you sure this is a wise idea?" asked Ryuzu.
"No, but honestly it's not like I have much of a choice, she is already doing her best to maintain surveillance on me despite the chaos caused by Clervie's escape. It is only a matter of time before she makes a move, so to be honest I would prefer to get to know her strongest asset, and the one who will eventually kill and replace her." Said Carman.
He had been thinking about the request from Crucabena to tutor Peruere for a while now, weighing the pros and cons of accepting or denying the request. On one hand she was likely going to send operatives to spy on him no matter what he did, and with how Ryuzu forcibly redirected any people sent to spy on them, it was likely that Crucabena was going to try something drastic to get him under her control like when she tried to kill Livre when she got over the incident with Clervie.
By giving in and playing ball with her on this matter he would give her some sense of control over the situation. With how old Clervie was it seemed like it was soon going to be time for the title of the Knave to change hands, so if he drag out the clock it was likely she would die before actually being able to do anything.
Carman and Ryuzu followed a paved trail, soon coming across a small settlement of buildings. Walking up to them, he went up to a person there and asked casually. "Hello there. My name is Carman, I was invited to visit the Emberheart manor, which building would that be?"
The stranger looked at Carman a bit nonplussed, as he pointed at the mansion in the heart of the settlement.
"Ah I see, thank you, I was unsure whether or not that was the correct building and did not wish to pester the occupants in the event I guessed incorrectly." Said Carman as he waved and stepped away.
The woman continued to look after the duo as they progressed towards the manor, carefully taking note of their appearance and mannerisms to report to her superiors.
Carman walked with Ryuzu up to the front door. It would be a lie to say he wasn't nervous, this was the home of the former/current Knave of the Fatui, and the title of harbinger was not one given to weak or incompetent individuals. However, he and Ryuzu were well armed. Carman was not going to underestimate their opponent, he had Ryuzu geared with bugs to collect visual and audio recordings in case Crucabena decided to try anything. The Recordings would be presented as proof that Crucabena or one of her subordinates had initiated the conflict so she could not threaten to create an international dispute between Fontaine and Sneznyah. He too had a hidden audio recorder, but his outfit was ill suited to hide a disguised camera even with how much he could shrink it.
Once they reached the door, Ryuzu reached out and pulled a rope hanging from the ceiling of the overhang shading them from the sky. Inside she could hear a large bell ring as a mechanism shifted with each tug on the rope.
After a few minutes, the door opened revealing a man in a butler's outfit.
"Bonjour, Mademoiselle, how may I help you?" he asked.
"I am here with my charge, Carman Lepaute, per the request of the Director of this orphanage that he tutor one of the children in his field of study." Replied Ryuzu as she gestured to Carman.
"I see, you must be the guest we were anticipating today, Young Peruere has been preparing for your tutoring session for a while now, please follow me, I will lead you to where you will be instructing her." Said the Butler.
Carman and Ryuzu followed him into the entrance hall, taking off their shoes so as to not track dirt into the halls. The butler lead the way through many rooms and corridors until they reached a door.
"Please step in, Peruere will arrive in due time." said the butler gesturing to the door.
"Thank you, and my apologies but I never asked your name." said Carman.
"Dmitry, vice chief of the servants here, should anyone give you trouble, you may confide in me." said the man with a warm smile that didn't quite reach his eyes before he walked away and disappeared around a corner.
Carman glanced over at Ryuzu who shook her head slightly, indicating the butler haddnt actually left, shrugging, Carman and Ryuzu cautiously opened the door and entered the room.
Inside they found several tables and shelves, some holding books and blueprints others an assortment of mechanical components from old models to designs that haddnt even been publicly released yet. Carman looked over them all, being careful to avoid the ones he did not recognize, he did not want to risk being charged with corporate espionage after all.
After a few minutes, Ryuzu clicked her tongue once, indicating that she had found bugs but only of the auditory variety. Soon after the door slowly opened, and a young girl with short white hair entered the room.
It was still an adjustment to see the young teenage Arlecchino, or Peruere as she is known now. While she still had the intimidating aura her older self has, her overall appearance was more of a cute tomboy than beautiful businesswoman.
Her cold tone broke the silence. "It is a pleasure to see you again Mr. Lepaute, shall we get started in the session? I have reviewed many materials prior to this meeting."
"Yes, of course, please take a seat Ms. Peruere." Said carman as he met her eyes.
As he looked into her eyes, he felt something similar to a Legilimency probe as described inhis book be launched into his mindscape. It did not seem to be targeted and it got lost in the fog of his Paracosm, not anchoring onto anything and disbursing harmlessly.
Keeping a straight face, Carman kept looking Peruere in the eyes, watching as her face changed to show a small amount of surprise as he did not break eye contact. Her face changed back to her poker face soon after, and she looked away towards a pile of parts on the table.
"If you would not mind, I would like to start with discussing this project I am working on, I seem to have hit a snag in connecting the control unit to the rest of the device." She said,
"I'll see what I can do." Replied Carman.
[3 hours later]
It had been a few hours since the start of their session, despite her indifferent attitude, it was clear that Peruere had prepared extensively prior to their meeting, having read several books on Clockwork constructs and drawn up a few rudimentary designs based on publicly available designs.
The design she had presented to him was a mechanical spider, one that could serve as a multitool, storing various blades and tools in its abdomen that could attach to either of its front legs. Since it was designed to be the size of an adult's hand, she was having trouble configuring the logic center to allow it to follow simple commands and getting energy to the rotating parts on the end of its front legs.
This proved a challenge to Carman, while he could theoretically design a power system for the spider that would allow it to work as intended, none of the materials he had on hand, that he was willing to share, would be able to withstand the torque needed to make the drill and driver bits rotate when miniaturized, each one was more likely to break. As for the logic center, with how small it would need to be, new specialized cogs would have to be ordered. In the end, after explaining the problems making her design impractical, he advised her to make a prototype the size of a cat or medium sized dog as a proof of concept, later, as the manufacturing and metalworking industries advanced, the ability to mass produce the parts needed would make the design more efficient.
They stopped then, and enjoyed some refreshments offered by the butler, Carman grateful for the tea as it helped with his dry mouth as he had spoken so much during this interaction.
"For an orphanage, this place is rather extravagant." said Carman.
"Indeed, that is mainly due to the fact that this orphanage is privately run rather than being funded by the government. Mother is quite wealthy and has high standards." Said Peruere
"Would that not create unrealistic expectations for how her charges will live after leaving the orphanage?" Asked Carman
"Indeed, it normally would, however, due to the way we have been instructed, and Mother's connections, most of the children who age out either stay near to the mansion, as you can see from the surrounding settlement, or are hired to well paying positions in various companies, government offices, and Noble households." she replied. "As for those that are adopted, due to the prestige of the House of the Hearth, and the requirements Mother has to adopt one of us, it is mostly nobles and wealthy merchants who adopt from here."
"Do all of you call the director Mother? Or is it just you?" Asked Carman
"It is what she prefers to be called, she says that everyone here is one big family, the only person biologically related to her was a girl named Clervie, whom has recently disappeared." Said Peruere.
"Oh my, what happened? What do you mean "disappeared?"" Asked Carman feigning shock.
"It is exactly as you can imagine, one evening, she vanished from this building without a trace, possibly kidnapped, or running away, all we know is that the dragonfly we hired you to build was used as a vehicle to escape." She said.
Carman's eyes widened in foe surprise, "Is that so? My apologies, I had theorized that the design you submitted could be used as a means of transport, but due to the fact it was being given to a child, I had installed limiters to prevent it from carrying people, with the design it should not have been able to lift her off the ground no matter the engine your mother had ordered."
Peruere raised an eyebrow at the small boy in front of her, "You too are a child are you not?
"That I am, but you would be surprised by the stories you hear when your father is a toymaker, and the rules that resulted from those events." Said Carman.
"Is that so." She said "may I ask who your companion is? She has not spoken much all this time."
"I am Ryuzu," said Ryuzu, "I am an adventurer who is currently looking after Carman as his father's current residence would not be able to accommodate him. As for my silence, I do not have much expertise in Clockwork Engineering and saw no reason to contribute in a discussion where one is trying to learn."
Peruere hummed and nodded.
After some more discussion, Carman glanced at a clock on the table. "Ah it's getting late, we should start heading back home.
Looking over Peruere saw the clock. "Indeed, thank you for your time today I hope we can continue our discussion at a later time. I will show you to the door."
Walking down the corridors once more Carman and Ryuzu could feel something in the air. There was tension, gazes from shadows and hidden places, and something neither could quite identify.
As they reached the entrance hall and put on their shoes, the opened the doors to see the sky painted in the colors of the sunset.
"Hmm? How is the sun setting? It should still be a few hours away." Said Carman
"Ah you are still here? How was my dear Peruere?" Asked a mature female voice.
Peruere turned placed a hand over her heart and tilted her head forward slightly in greeting " Good evening Mother."
"She is an excellent learner, it was interesting discussing her project with her, unfortunately, it seems the clock in the room was off so we accidentally spent more time than I intended talking over concepts and designs." Said Carman
"I can see that, I will have one of the children replace the clock in there, it has been a while since that room was used, whoever tidied it up for today must not have noticed it. Since it is getting dark, you and your companion might as well stay here." Said Crucabena.
"No, no need, we would not want to intrude, we can get into the city just fine, I brought a coat so the cold shouldn't bother me, and I seldom get the opportunity to see the stars. If we were to run into any monsters or hostile animals, Ryuzu is more than capable of ensuring our safety, even without taking this into account," Said Carman as he pulled out his fake vision from one of his pockets, forcing a bit of hydro energy into it with his elemental manipulation in case someone could use elemental sense, hopefully the relatively low amount of energy in the fake would be interpreted as him being young or inexperienced with the vision.
"Hmm. I am afraid I must insist, I have heard rumors that lawlachurl overpowering the Gardes's forces is in the area around the city."
"I have confidence in Ryuzu's abilities, I have seen her in action first hand, thank you for the warning. We will keep it in mind on the way home, worst case scenario, Ryuzu will just have to carry me and flee to the walls of the city where defenses are strongest." Said Carman, "Now ms. Director, it had been a pleasure and you have been a most gracious host, but there are projects awaiting me back home that I must make haste to return to."
Curcabena put on a fake smile that sent slight shivers down Carman's spine. "Very well, please take care, it would be quite unfortunate if something were to happen, I shall reach out to your father soon to schedule another tutoring session with Peruere if you would be interested."
"I would, thank you and good evening." Siad Carman as he and Ryuzu walked out of the door and into the crisp autumn evening air.
They followed the path they had walked on the way to the mansion in the morning and headed back to the city, the sky still painted hues of red blue and purple, the sea of stars slowly making their presence known alongside the moon.
They made it back into the city without much fanfare, Carman using a transformation circle to reveal a hidden passage blocked by a previously smooth stone wall.
After making it back into their apartment and doing a full sweep for recording devices, Carman lied on the couch with a sigh of relief. "I'm surprised you didn't notice anyone following us."
Ryuzu humed in response as she heated up a simple dinner, "I am surprised as well, however perhaps it is because they believe they know most of what they need to know about you already that further probing during your way home seemed unnecessary."
"Whatever it is, we still need to keep our guard up. She isn't the only threat from the Fatui at the moment, she is in cahoots with Dottore, a sicko who regularly experiments on children. And who is very capable in information gathering in his own right." Said Carman, "until Crcabena is disposed of and the Hearth no longer welcomes him under it's roof, we should prepare to be attacked by two high grade combatants with many footsoldiers and fodder to use to wear us down."
"It seems that we should excellerate your training then." said Ryuzu, a small smile making its way onto her face as a shiver went down Carman's spine.
"It does seem that way. I should also develop more tech to safeguard this place, and Livre in case they target him again." Said Carman. "But that is something to worry about tomorrow, right now I just need to sleep."
-To be continued.
A/N: and with this we will now enter the timeskip, the next chapter will be about 1 year into the future, unfortunately we will be skipping over Carman and Camile's first meeting, but there will be a flashback at a later time.
Carman will be training in combat, Magic Circles, Shadow Clones, Elemental Manipulation, and many other things. Progress in his other projects will also be made as well, so expect more from Ravenwatch.