Crushing some dreams (Tsubori^2)

"Okay Masaro. Good night. Just come to my place in the morning." Kasumi nodded, sitting in the dressing room and looking around for a few minutes after Masaro left, but when she couldn't find anything, she left the place with a sigh, ensuring everything was in it's place and the door was locked.

The tired zora walked to her house, largely ignoring the events around her. When she arrived, she pulled out her comm shell. "Liraz?" It took a moment for the zora to respond. 

"Yeah Kassie? Is everything okay? It's the dead of night..."

She paced around her pool while talking to him. "Yeah. I'm okay. I just need you to look into where Joy Talouin is staying."

"This certainly sounds ominous. I'm not going to ask why you want to know, just make sure you aren't dropping your ass into the fire with it or anything."

"I know, Liraz. I've got help with what I'm planning." 

"You... Are really not making yourself sound anything less than a person planning murder. But anyway, I was going to contact you tomorrow, but you've got a special announcement two days from now from Shanilan. It'll be at his office. I'd prefer you not be in prison for it, okay?"

"Alright. Just give me that info ASAP and we'll worry about Shanilan's announcement when he makes it."

"Alright. I'm on it."

"Bye Liraz."

Deactivating her comm shell, Kasumi then made a bite to eat in the kitchen while thinking up things for the next day and just how to get rid of Joy in general. When her mind kept on going into really stupid stuff such as "Those really slow conveyor belt things that the Aqua Knight villains use." she knew it was time to sleep.

She climbed into her massive bed, pushing aside the veil, and went to sleep.

Waking up the next morning full of pep and perk, Masaro recounted his dream. It was a whimsical dream consisting of lots of candy and ice cream. The details though, were unknown to all but the strange Mage.

Masaro picked up Jimmy and put his hat on, heading over towards Kasumi's awesome bachelorette pad. He knocked on the door and waited for his friend to answer.

Kasumi heard the knocking from bed and woke up in a daze. Oh damn! Masaro was already here! She jumped out of bed, not bothering to change out of her nightgown and raced downstairs. The problem being that Kasumi's nightgown was often more meant for enticing whomever she was in bed with than actually covering her decently. And as for underneath it, in that wacky alternate world the Scottish may have some idea about it. 

She reached the door and grabbed the handle. "Oh well, it's just Masaro, right?" Nope.

She opened the door and saw Liraz, a piece of paper in hand and two raised eyebrows. "Oh. Liraz... Hi."

"One guy with a camera and you'd have been screwed, Kasumi. Gotta be careful."

She let him in and closed the door behind the Agent. "To be fair, that's exactly who I was expecting." When Liraz gave her a confused glare, she continued with a stammer. "I-I mean Masaro. I was expecting Masaro Otak."

He nodded. "Oh... Alright, so that's who you meant before when you said you had help. So... I found out that Joy's only about a block over from here." He then handed Kasumi the address and walked towards the door. "So. Shanilan's office tomorrow right?"

Kasumi nodded, going up and giving Liraz a kiss on the cheek. "Of course." The man then gave a short wave and walked out the door. Kasumi read the address over twice and then tucked the page away in her bosom.

As she was about to go up and change, the door was knocked on again. This time being more careful, she opened the door, only revealing her head until she saw the Hylian Mage. "Ah, Masaro, come on in." She allowed the man inside and sat on the couch. "Okay, I had Liraz get me Joy's address and he pulled through it well. How are you this morning?"

Masaro was slightly surprised when Kasumi opened the door looking like that. He walked in and sat down next to her on the couch so as to not give himself a... View. He nodded, looking around the living room of her house. It was a really nice place, and a good base of operations. 

He then put his arms fanned into the back of the couch, stretching a bit. "Well I passed the theatre on my way here. That's where she is. The place should be empty. We can go now.... But you should probably get changed. Not that everyone wouldn't be happy to see this wardrobe."

Kasumi chuckled and nodded. "Yes, Masaro, I'll change. You and Liraz seeing me like this is usually enough people for one day. Just wait here for a sec and I'll get changed. She pulled the address out and handed it to Masaro. 

The girl then went upstairs to her room, getting changed into a nice dress. To be fair, she wasn't in a huge hurry. She was well aware that Joy would be at rehearsals all day, and with the house only being a block away, they had as long as they needed. 

Finally ready, Kasumi walked back down the stairs to Masaro. "So, mr Otak, are you ready?"

Masaro waited for about two minutes when Kasumi went upstairs before standing up to get a look at the place. He took out his camera, taking a few pictures of the library and pool, namely. The other rooms had pictures taken too, but not as many as those two. Kirota would love painting that pool... The crystals completed it.

When Kasumi came down stairs he went by force of habit and snapped a picture of her. "Oops. Oh well. It's a great picture. Day two of Kasumi Masaro shananigans!"

He then opened the door for her and swept his arm in a gentlemanly fashion. "Shall we?" he said, following her out the door. Before long, the two had found themselves at Joy's house, and Masaro tried the door. "Damn. Locked."

Kasumi laughed a little, holding out a hairpin. "One of the benefits of starting out as.... A street urchin." She said, opening the door after a few seconds of fiddling. She walked inside, immediately seeing some stairs and a main floor to search. "Let's start upstairs." She walked up, but managed to duck in time to dodge a massive arm swinging to hit her in the face. 

"A bodyguard... Maso, I didn't bring my fighting stuff, you take him." The Hylian was muscular and shirtless, his powerful muscles making him look very intimidating. Kasumi then dashed into a room and began searching while her friend took on the giant. 

Masaro cracked the knuckles on one hand against Jimmy. "Now I wanna see a clean fight okay? No groin shots, hair pulling, in my case that includes me not being able to pull your mustache, and most of all, no grabbing my hat. I like this hat."

The man crossed his arms, speaking in a strange accent. "I accept your terms little man." He then followed with a powerful lunge punch, which Masaro blocked with Jimmy. He was mentally prepared to launch a counterattack, but a flash of light from jimmy blasted him back. 

A light feminine voice reached him. "The lives of thine foes becometh thy strength..."

He sat up, shaking his head. "That felt like some quality foreshadowing." He tuned back into the fight just in time to evade a warlock punch launched towards him that he rolled away from. Masaro got into his fighting stance and waited for the bodyguard to make the next move. 

When he dashed forward with another lunge punch, Masaro deked to the side and slugged the man across the jaw with melee magic. This was usually pretty standard, but this time a strange black orb popped out and bounced off the wall into Masaro's hand. "Oh, fuck yes candy." He backed off and ate the orb, his head snapping to attention when he did so.  "Hmmm... warlock punch flavor." 

Dashing at the large man, Masaro found himself dodging to the left and casting Ice, freezing the thrusted hand against the wall. He took his enemy's stunnedness to place a hard elbow to his shoulder, making the guy fall back against the wall. Ice once more, and both arms were stuck. Masaro then brought his fist back, gathering energy, and let loose a dark punch that slammed the now unconscious man through the wall he was against. 

Once he was sure the man was unconscious, he walked into the room Kasumi was in. "Hey Kassi! I won!"

Kasumi was searching when she heard a bizarre explosion. She was going to go see if Masaro was okay, but he soon sprang into the room, a bit of wall on his sleeve. "What the hell HAPPENED, Masaro? Nevermind. I don't want to know. I've been looking around and I feel like I'm getting close." She looked at a few more things. In the closet. In the dresser. At least there she found ten rupees. Between the mattress and bed. And that was where she found it. A neatly folded piece of paper that was meant to be hidden. "Well what have we here?"

       "Dear Breydon, my dear brother,

This has to stop. You've gone too far this time and people will catch you. I say this because I love you. You're my brother, and I'll protect you till the end, but murder in Ganon's name is too much. I've never supported this and you know that... While I'll never reveal your secret to anyone, I implore you, please stop. As your sister, if there's anything I can do, I will... Please contact me. 

                                          ~Joy

PS: I met Kasumi Gallota today. She's your favorite, right? She's really nice. Maybe if you sort things out I could introduce you to her?"

Kasumi smirked. "Jackpot."

"The bed. I called that. You heard it" Masaro heard Kasumi read out the letter and took out his pictograph box. "Well. We'll need copies." He then took a couple dozen pictures of it, tucking them into a small bag and handing them to Kasumi.

He then got a pit in his stomach. "Is this... Too much Kassi? This is life changing. It could hurt her for life."

Kasumi shook her head, smiling. "It's not too much. It's perfect. Now let's go, before someone comes in and sees us." She then led Masaro back to her home. Upon getting inside, she read over the note multiple times, smiling broader every time. She'd done it! Now to just confront her on it. 

"Masaro. You've done a lot for me in these past two days, and I never forget those who have helped me. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to contact me. I'll help you any way I can. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some dreams to crush."  The woman left her friend in her home, going towards the Theatre.

She caught Joy just at the end of rehearsals, heading towards her changeroom. "Hey. Joy." Kasumi said casually, walking towards her.

"Oh! Miss Gallota! What a surprise! How are you?" The girl asked happily.

"I'm pretty good actually. Though... I think this conversation should continue in there." The zora stated, pointing at her dressing room. Joy looked confused, but opened the door, letting Kasumi in, who immediately took out the note and handed it to her. Confusion gave way to pure terror as she found out what the letter was, and she started tearing up. "O-oh goddesses no... Where did you find this?" 

Kasumi leaned against the wall casually. "I have a friend who's good at that sort of thing. And I have about a half dozen copies of it elsewhere."

Now actually crying, Joy pressed the letter against her chest. "Please... Please Kasumi, don't tell anyone... I'll do anything..."

Exactly what she wanted the girl to offer. "Anything, eh?Leave Zoras domain. I don't like other people having success in my field, in my home. You understand, right?"

"You... Want me to stop acting?" Joy said, nearing a total breakdown.

"Well... Let me just say that I have a friend with contacts to one of the most elite guard squads in Hyrule Castke Town. I notify her, your brother won't last a week. As for the acting itself, I don't care if you keep doing it, just not in Zoras domain."

Joy stayed silent for a long time, looking around nervously. She then swallowed hard. "Okay. I'll.... I'll leave tomorrow..." 

Kasumi put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Good. I'm glad you're cooperating. You're a good actress, you can make it in Castle Town."

Her compliments held no influence over Joy though, and she sat down on the ground, her legs becoming too weak.

"I'll leave you to change and such. Good luck, Miss Talouin." Kasumi then walked out of the dressing room and soon the theatre. 

The next day, word spread of the departure of Joy Talouin. This left the play she was in scrambling to replace her. Kasumi herself was contacted, but she turned it down. When they finally found someone, she didn't live up to the spot Joy had left, and the play fell apart opening night, about a quarter of the audience leaving midway through. Her job was safe though, and that's what mattered. Now then... Shanilan's meeting.

________________________________________

FIN