New Game+

"I can't believe it!" Lara added while Charm continued to gasp.

The crowd went back to their meals and ignored the sudden shout.

"Act normal will you?" Seeker pleaded in a low tone.

Lara's expression was just exuding joy, delight, and excitement.

"I've managed to convince Harker to get out of that dump. So I have to wear this disguise. Don't ruin it, girls!" Seeker whispered.

"So-Sorry!" Lara had was stammering in excitement.

It took a while for her to actually calm down. Charm was surprised as well but she had no trace of the same fanaticism in Lara's eyes.

After a few minutes of Seeker motioning Lara to calm down, Seeker finally talked again.

"Ok. Looks like you're calm now. Relax ok? Oh yeah… Just to throw off all potential awkward discussions, I've been listening at your conversation for a time now. So I know Lara likes me. I'm flattered. To think a Diamon likes me!" Seeker gave a smile.

Lara was blushing red. Her previous squirming movements all disappeared and were replaced by rigid petrification.

Charm started to laugh hard. She tried containing it to draw lesser attention but she continued to laugh it all out.

Lara however, was frozen stiff all throughout the time that Charm was laughing.

"Right. Anyways… Cliff's been doing the Eeyore to you, Charm. You haven't noticed?"

"The Eeyore?"

"It's in 'A Game of Attraction.' You know… That about the origins of Veil Cruz? In that , Veil Cruz determined that there were four general styles of courtships to be used by the Fishermans and the Farmers."

"I think I remember that…" Lara wondered. The topic that was revealed drew her attention.

Seeker's eyes caught Lara's amazement and joy at the emergence of the topic and gave a small frown.

"If I'm not mistaken… Veil divided suitors into two categories. The Fisherman who would court showing their obvious intentions, and the Farmer who would court using subtly and would not reveal that they like someone during the courtship process."

"Oh? Only a true fan of Piercing lore would know that little love story. Yes. That's exactly it."

"Veil Cruz? Isn't that guy an Impact?"

"Yes. But the origin story of Veil isn't as action-packed as the rest of the books. In fact, the was a love story. Usually, only hardcore fans of Piercing know about this story."

"What's the Eeyore?" Charm asked again.

"In that , Veil theorized that the process of falling in love could be broken down into its most basic form. Communication. He first divided the two distinctions of how a person could court." Seeker explained. He gave a quick glance at Lara.

"Lara, why don't you explain?" Seeker smiled.

"I-I…" Lara was surprised. Seeker's smile mesmerized her once more.

"I do." Lara gave a blank answer.

"What the Nutterballs?" Seeker was surprised at her answer.

"I mean- I do want to explain! I do want to explain!" Lara immediately continued.

Charm continued laughing.

"Nice save, Lara!" She gave her a thumbs up.

Lara hastily began to avoid embarrassment.

"Veil's Tactician's Guidelines to Courtship reveal two possible routes a person may court. Basically, there are two kinds of people when courting. The one who prefers to court someone openly, not hiding his or her own intentions about the guy or girl is known as the Fisherman. Since Veil was a guy, he usually would explain the Fisherman's as the stereotypical cute and confident guy who would sweep a girl off her feet with his charming words, his corny lines that will drive a girl's heart to beat intently and the so on."

"So… basically… Danny of the Covenant?"

"Yeah! Exactly!"

Seeker's eyes continued to stay at Lara. Somewhere deep inside Seek was more and more disappointed.

"The other guy, is what you call, a Farmer. When these guys court, it subtle. It's slow. And they wouldn't dare make their intentions obvious. They hide themselves through a variety of means, creating instances to communicate with a girl."

"So like Lynd? I mean… If he were to court? Awkward and cute?" Charm laughed.

"Sorta. I guess." Lara gave a glance at Seeker looking for confirmation.

"You do realize you need to say something for me to get what you're saying, right?" Seeker laughed.

"I was just asking… I mean… you're a guy. Maybe you can explain the Farmer."

"I don't think he can. You just said that the Farmer is a shy guy. This is… Casual Carlean." Charm lowered her voice at stating Seeker's title.

"He's like the definition of confidence. He's a Fisherman if anything."

Seeker laughed.

"I'll take that as a compliment although I'm sure you meant it negatively. Well… basically, Farmer's don't show their intentions. It doesn't really mean if a guy is handsome and good looking that he'd be your generic Fisherman. A Farmer simply wants to court a girl without being obvious. There are a lot of ways to do that. And this brings us to the next part of Veil's theory." Seeker glanced at Lara and smiled once more.

"Um… Um…"

"Take your time." Seeker laughed

Lara took a deep breath and clenched her fist.

"Alright. Veil believed that the concept of courtship or you know… dating has to do with communication. While modern dating uses a lot of apps and means to force one to communicate, in real life, the courtship process between two people who personally know and see each other is different."

"Wow. You sound like you really read the book. You must be one of those hardcore Piercing fans."

"No. I'm just a fan of Veil. Other than his origin stories, I haven't really read the s and other stories about Piercing lore."

"Well, continue. You're doing a fantastic job."

Lara smiled and turned back to Charm.

"So anyway… since courtship at its most basic form is simply a process of maintaining and improving communication between two people, the two categories, the Fisherman and the Farmer would simply determine whether or not the guy or the girls make his or her intentions known to the other party. Let's say, Seeker… if he's um… courting… Kristine…" Lara paused at the mention of LordChokeMeSenpai's real name.

"Er… If Seeker is a Fisherman, he'd flat-out say to Kristine that he likes her and would you know… ask her out on a date. If Seeker is a Farmer, it's more complicated. The most common strategy is that Seeker would approach her as a friend. Ask her to come to play a practice match together and slowly build a consistent channel of communication with Kristine." Lara then turned to Seeker for confirmation.

"That's right. And that brings us to the different routes that people use to establish courtship. One of which, leads to the Eeyore." Seeker then glanced at Lara implying her to continue.

"Ok. So Veil said that usually, guys mainly follow four common routes to communicate with these girls. These become the foundation of how they communicate with the other person. The first is the Knight. Basically, it's your knight-in-shining-armor routine. The guy goes out of his way to help the girl in any way he can. Both Fishermans and Farmers can do this. Of course, the Farmer would try to hide his intentions as he helps the girl."

"So basically… it's those weird nerds that do the girls homework in the many post-modern love movies?"

"Sorta… But Veil implied that they weren't effective or were unskillful in courting the girl."

"Next we have the Guardian?"

"I thought Cliff was the Eeyore?"

"Well… you need to know the others first before perfectly understanding the Eeyore." Lara replied.

"She's right." Seeker nodded.

Seeing that Charm also nodded in understanding, Lara continued.

"Right… The Guarding is different from the Knight. It's the classic, Big-Brother routine. Or the Best Friend routine that most guys use."

"So basically… the friend zone? Isn't this a Farmer's trademark move?"

"Yes and no." Seeker took the initiative to answer back.

"These four sub-categories; The Knight, the Guardian, the Natural and the Eeyore are simply means of communication. A Fisherman can court a girl and his main method of communicating is using the Knight. A Fisherman's Guardian is simply a guy who is very obvious in telling the girl that he likes her and uses the best-friend routine to get the girl. A Farmer's Guardian is the typical Best Friend routine. But you read the , you'll see that Veil has been employing all of these strategies switching it up from time to time. As these four are only methods of communication, guys can switch from one style to the next. They can start off with a Knight, then move to a Guardian and so on."

"Ok. I think I get it." Charm pondered.

"So it's like my high school friend. This guy liked me and told me. But he was very casual about it and we continued to be friends. So he was courting me using the Guardian…"

"Yes. Guardians tend to be very protective, extremely worried about your well-being and so on. A Guardian could even go to the extreme of using their status as a friend to be a shoulder to cry on or to listen to the love woes of the girl."

"That sounds… desperate…"

"Hey. It works. The guy has a solid reason for communicating. We all know how people love their pity parties when it comes to this. Both guys and girls usually want to share their woes with someone. Some people even have the need to go over their stories and woes over and over again. Anyone who's had a guy or girl friend who got busted would know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah…" Charm gave a long sigh. She recalled how her friends in high school kept on and on about a certain guy that broke their hearts.

"And that's the Guardian. He becomes the shoulder to cry on, the ever-attentive ear, the ever weeping eye. He becomes a brother to the girl, to always be understanding, and to always act like this girl's guardian." Seeker summarized.

"Lara, please explain to Miss ty-Blastoise what the Eeyore is."

Lara smiled brightly.

"The Eeyore is a style which was based on the same classic Winnie the Pooh character of the Post-Modern era. It was a style that followed the depressed, sad and very lonely appearance of Eeyore that strangely made him look cute and adored by girls." Lara repeated as she recalled the description given by Veil in the .

"And you're saying that Cliff's doing that? He's been intentionally acting depressed and all to get Charm's attention?"

"It worked, didn't it? How many hours did he manage to spend to talk with you? And it is a solid reason for communication. While the Guardian, the Knight, and the Natural forces the guy to create a scenario with the girl, the Eeyore is the opposite. It traps the girl and makes the girl communicate with them by looking like a mess."

"So… He's been lying to Charm?"

"Not necessarily. I know what the poor guy's been through… So a lot of what he may have been telling you was true. What did he say?" Seeker asked.

"A lot. His responsibilities… the deadlines you gave him… the experiments…"

"He actually told you of those experiments?!"

"They're real!?"

"Yes. Man! That Cliff is breaking military protocol just to get a girl!" Seeker frowned.

"I mean no offense… I'd probably do the same to get Lara… but I mean… wow."

Lara was blushing red once more.

Noticing her blush, Seeker finally concluded that this isn't Zeraphine of the Presiders.

Seeker was both relieved and frustrated.

Charm's expression turned grave as she heard about the experiments.

"The experiments against the law! You'll get-"

"Actually, No. Remember the clause the World Governing Powers gave in experimenting on people? Anything that doesn't disrupt or change the biology of a person to a state of making them weaponized is not allowed. But what Cliff had… which I'm sure he told you is…" Seeker motioned at Charm to finish his sentence.

"Adrenaline enhancement?"

"Yes. Man! Did he tell you that? Boy… is he in trouble."

"But you can't put adrenaline enhancement! It's illegal! The only enhancements allowed to a Pangean Citizen are similar to everything Royals have! Also, Lara said that she can erm…"

"I heard what you two were talking about earlier. I know Lara has some ways to determine whether or not someone is experimented on. But the answer is quite simple. Cliff is technically a soldier. Which allows him to undergo those surgeries and have been through human enhancement programs." Seeker added.

Charm was stunned at Seeker's revelation.

"Cliff is a soldier!?" Charm almost screamed.

"Yes. And he did that experiment willingly. I mean, the benefits of being a soldier were practically his salvation. I mean… he had a rough life before."

"I know he was a drug dealer." Charm continued.

"Wow… Just wow. Cliff likes you that much, huh? Since you already know that, you have to understand for a Regular, being a soldier whose job is to babysit a celebrity is a high paying and low-risk job. So he agreed and just so he can do his best to protect me he too experiment."

"So he willingly took that experiment?"

"Willingly? Yeah. He volunteered for it." Seeker answered back.

"Those operations were worth millions of Sydians and he got them all. In fact, he has more experiments that most Royals now. This was Cliff's change of life. He now has the genetic potential to be on equal standing with Royals. Of course, the demand for him skyrocketed as well."

Lara remained silent and looked at her friend.

Charm's expression turned angry.

"Again. He didn't lie." Seeker added noticing Charm's expression.

"It was true. He did suffer because of the surgery. Maybe everything he shared with you about his hardships was real."

"He would cry every time we meet! Was it real?" Charm confirmed.

"Yeah. I've seen the guy cry. So it must have been true. I'm simply saying that he used his own dilemma to draw your attention, your sympathy, and he is actually aiming for your affection. The Eeyore. A powerful weapon for the sympathetic and kindhearted." Seeker gave a wry smile.

Charm was silent.

"If it's any help, it really shows he likes you. But if he's been making me look like the bad guy, then he probably was lying. The last thing I want is a ty-Blastoise and a Diamon to have poor impressions of me." Seeker grinned.

"I can't believe his been manipulating me!" Charm scowled.

"Manipulating you? Not really. What he did with you, was just choosing to cry at a specific and right time. The only lies he gave you… well, not you… there must have been some half-truths in what he said. If he did lie, he lied to Pangea by telling you the operations he had. Which, by the way, is illegal."

"All manipulative plots!"

"Just like Veil in the . But let me ask you this. Did he really have a choice?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"If it was an ordinary situation, how would Cliff talk to you? You're a Royal. And one with a complicated background. If he wanted to maintain communication with you, how was he to try? If we go over Veil's theories… we would cross out the Knight. It's impossible to try that. He can't do the Guardian as well. Walk up and ask to be friends? Not on his life, it's going to work."

"What about the Natural?"

"The Natural is as its name states. The guy uses natural circumstances that allows you two to have a chance of communicating. It's the most diverse strategy. But guys using the Natural take advantage of whatever circumstances that naturally arise. Either they make the opportunity to communicate with you or wait for that opportunity to arise. So it's diverse. In a school setting, manipulating things to get you to become groupmates at work so he can start talking to you, casually walking over to the water dispenser when he notices you heading for that direction… and so on. Cliff forced an event that started you to talk. He used the Nartural. But his follow up could only be the Eeyore. Remember this, he is a Regular. Even if he is a special one, most Royals assume that he's just our little errand boy and would scoff at the thought of building a relationship with him. His only option was to make a way for you to know what his true value is. Would you have talked to him now? Even if you did, he still wouldn't have a shot. Because he's a Regular."

"Charm's not that closed-minded."

"I noticed. But Cliff didn't know that. So he made up a way. He used Veil's steps in creating contact. The A and Four I's."

Charm's eyebrow rose and turned to Lara.

"Attention. Get the person you want to court's attention. Make him or her know you exist. Next is Impression. Build a good impression on that person. Impact. You leave an Impact on that person which becomes a viable reason for communication. And I guess Cliff's already succeeding in Interest. You are interested in him. Only the last step remains. Intention. The step where Cliff lays opens his intention to you. This is a Farmer's route. Fishermans put Intention right before or after Impact."

"Just as Lara explained. He had the perfect scenario and pulled off quite an effective courtship routine. As for his use of pity? Heck, even I pity him with all the things we've been making him do. What's else would a Royal girl feel in that situation?"

"You mean, that day he went in to cry… he knew I was already there?"

"I don't know."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to tell this to Charm? I mean… he is your bodyguard and you kinda sold him out."

"Well, he's been such an expert user of the Tacticians Guidelines of Courtship, he doesn't need to keep up with this. He already has a new method of keeping constant communication. I'll just tell him." Seeker shrugged.

"Tell him what?" Lara grew curious.

"That Charm obviously likes him. Problem solved. He's been hesitating with Intention but now that we know Charm likes him, this should make things a little more interesting." Seeker immediately took out the comm device.

"WHAT?!" Charm panicked.

"What's wrong?!" Seeker frowned.

"What's wrong?! What's wrong with you?!"

"Don't you like him? I mean… come on… I've been right behind you all the time. I heard you admitting to like him." Seeker smiled.

"Well… well… I do like him! But thing's would get awkward!"

"Not as awkward as it can be…" Seeker shrugged.

"What do you mean?" Charm asked angrily. If Seeker had more plots to tell Cliff and makes things worse, Charm wouldn't know what to do.

"He's on the other line right now. I already called him. He just heard you confess." Seeker gave a cheerful smile.

"WHAT?!"

"How deceitful of him." Lara couldn't help but laugh.

Charm was silent but her expressions and actions of pointing at the phone and making figurative signs at Seeker told the exact opposite of calm silence. She kept making signs that a normal person wouldn't do towards his or her own mother.

Seeker frowned at Charm's barrage of actions. Suddenly, Seeker smirked and held the comm device near his mouth.

"Yo, Cliffy. You there?"

Silence.. Stunned and time-stopping silence gripped Charm and she couldn't even breathe.