ShadowSong [Book 1 & 2: Complete] [NaNoWriMo16/17]

Chapter 41 - Forcing Involvement

NOTE - Due to 'Dark' having was more meanings than originally intended, I made a minor alteration to the terminology. 

To clarify: 

DIM = A Luminary drops their transformation and returns to their civilian identity.
DARK = A Luminary's bond with their Ascended is broken. They are no longer a Luminary.
CORRUPTED = Something is Other-touched. Ie, a 'Dark Fragment' is now a 'Corrupted Fragment'. 

Hopefully that helps clear things up. 

Happy reading! <3 

*+*+*+*

Olivia didn't think she'd ever been happier while on temple grounds, and that included both sides of her identity.

It was past lunch time by the time they arrived at temple grounds, her medical stuff now sorted and completely out of the way. For whatever reason, Jason treated her to lunch before they left for the temple, and Olivia wasn't complaining. With everyone else already going about their day's duties, they went by relatively unnoticed as Jason picked up their own assignment for the day. It wasn't anything special or exciting, and yet, Olivia found herself enjoying it.

She still couldn't believe the turnaround. The Jason Frostsong she'd come to know in the past two weeks would never have been caught dead crouched by a pond to feed the fish. Now inside temple grounds, his ridiculously formal way of speaking had returned and his posture rarely changed, but despite all that, he was actually talking to her.

Not just polite small talk, either, like most of the temple seemed to deal in. As they went about their work, they talked, and Olivia soon found Jason to be genuinely interesting. He actually listened to whatever she said, asked questions, and not only that--he was a goldmine of information about how the temple and other Luminaries worked.

It was still weird seeing Jason's friendlier side, but she found herself well adjusted to it by the time the end of the day drew near.

"Honestly, it was the funniest thing," said Olivia as she finished up her story. "Ericka's face was priceless. Not to mention I'm pretty sure Ariel had nightmares about it for the next month. I don't think she's forgiven me for it yet."

"I can imagine she might be more than a little mortified by the ordeal," said Jason, the slight curve of a smile resting on his mouth. "Did either of them ever attempt to even the odds afterwards?"

"Nah," said Olivia. "They know if they did that, I'd have to get them back again and I'm way more stubborn than they are. Well, except maybe Ariel, but she's more determined than stubborn." She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I think my fingers are about to fall off. Why are we doing paperwork stuff anyway?"

"The Speakers often don't have enough time to complete these more menial tasks throughout the year," said Jason. "As such, they utilise the flood of volunteers they get during the Festival period to catch up and ensure everything is organised and up to date for the following year."

"Would you be doing this stuff if you hadn't been assigned as my guide?" asked Olivia. Seeing Jason finishing up with his half, she added, "I'm finished with my pile of paper, too. Is there more?"

"I may have been doing Luminary-specific paperwork, but it would still likely be paperwork," said Jason, picking up Olivia's pile. Like the previous day, he began to rifle through it to ensure she hadn't screwed it up--but only a few papers in, he stopped and stacked his own on top of hers. "We've completed our day's quota with that. Good work, Shadowheart."

"Thanks, Frostsong," said Olivia with a grin. She pushed in her chair as she stood up and grabbed her bag, trailing after Jason with his newly organised stack of paper. "So, with the paperwork, do you mean you'd be working on stuff for Cryo? What paperwork would he even have?"