Supernatural Taxes

37) An old man seeks closure through reminiscences with my haworthia retusa.

Getting within sight of her flat didn't cheer her either. Because mulling around, tapping his foot was none other than Adelard Basel, the conman-executor who had started this string of events almost a month ago. Last she saw him was his car speeding out of the driveway.

"I'm glad you're here Atalanta and Thanos, that fellow next door has been shooting me glares through the curtains this last half hour..." Was what Adelard used to break the ice when they were close enough to speak to each other. Adelard looked a bit nervous but not scared, had he looked scared before? She supposed that as someone who knew Ruth he must have a stronger backbone than people gave him credit for.

"What do you want?" She was tired and didn't have energy to decide on her attitude towards this man who had swindled her in the most apologetic way possible. She unlocked her flat and walked in, not inviting him in but not closing the door either.

"Oh, well," Adelard slipped in and closed the door, "...Sorry for intruding," her impassive stance caught him off guard, "Well I came to apologise, I don't want to deny that I wronged you, but please believe me that I didn't think being a magician would be so dangerous when I... "

"Tricked me?" Atla supplied, arms crossed.

"Yeah, I knew you would have some growing pains but with the way things are now I couldn't convince myself to leave this alone." Adelard bumbled along.

"You shouldn't have tricked me in the first place if your conscience was that prickly," commented Atla, which made Thanos laugh and Adelard smile.

He looked back to Atla, "That was Ruth's request, one of the instructions that she left for me was to get you to accept Thanos through whatever means necessary. I owe her far too much to refuse but please believe that I didn't want to endanger you, so even though this goes against Ruth's wishes I've come to offer you a way out." Adelard replied to Atla but the last He spoke the last sentence looking directly at Thanos, not in his usual apologetic tone but seriously and decisively.

Thanos had stopped laughing and quipping too, "Atla, can you tell Adelard it's fine, really, it is. He has done more than enough for both Ruth and myself, there is no debt. Ruth would surely agree... Although it wouldn't stop her from selfishly using Adelard."

Atla conveyed that, which cleared some of the cloudiness in Abelard's expression.

Adelard smiled but then got back on topic, "So Atla, that's why I'm here to apologise and tell you that there is still a way out stipulated in the contract. Thanos appears to agree with my decision so if both of you agree to the unlinking then those, uh, 'penalties' that I imposed will be lifted leaving only the usual processing fees for the department of Supernatural Affairs.

"You don't need to stay partnered with Thanos anymore, it must have been tough, especially the last few days, so..."

As he spoke Adelard began breaking out in a cold sweat as Atla glowered more and more at the general environment.

"Why..." Atla muttered to herself quietly.

Adelard frowned and strained his ears, "Sor—"

"I said why does everyone suddenly want me to unlink from Thanos! Blah blah blah, it's dangerous to be a magician, it's for your own good, I know that! You and Thanos and my crazy grandma were supposed to be forcing me into this, what happened?" Atla was incensed but she didn't know what at.

"I didn't have a choice before, why are you suddenly telling me to walk away from all of this huh?"

Thanos spoke first, "Atla, we did do that, we tricked you into signing a contract and I led you into thinking you had to cast spells and experiment. But, believe it or not, we were on your side and still are.

"Ruth left messages for Adelard and me after her death, I don't know what was in old Adelard's but mine told me too look out for you, to try to re-ignite some passion, for anything; and to 'force myself on you' if I had to."

"You've certainly done that," agreed Atla, but not spitefully.

Thanos continued unabashed, "But Ruth also made sure to include a postscript that, if, 'after a while', you still absolutely don't want to be linked with me, then I should give up and respect that determination. Well it's been 'a while' and II want to do that too," he added.

Adelard saw that she'd calmed down. "I probably agree with Thanos, I don't want to force you to do anything, I'm sorry that I did do that in the beginning, but I won't now. Sorry if you felt that way, I'm merely making sure you have another option"

Atla breathed a few times, "Alright, thanks for caring, both of you. But I can't... think? I don't want to think about this right now, so please, let this go. Okay?"

The other two nodded and Atla went to warm up some supper from the fridge. She turned back and found Adelard still mulling about, obviously he wanted to talk to Thanos some more so Atla set up a Thanos's holographic keyboard and a word processor for them before beginning to therapeutically chop and caramelise some onions. She offered Adelard some but he said, "No, no, I don't want to impose."

Atla nodded, then warmed two portions of stir fry anyway. Adelard opened his mouth, closed it, then smiled nostalgically.

Atla sat back down at the counter with two steaming bowls of stir-fry, topped with caramelised onion.

Between bites Atla asked the question that had been brewing since her mom called, "So.. about that spell my gran used, is it true?" This question left Adelard out of the loop but Atla wanted to know what happened.

Thanos replied by typing: more or less yes. Ruth and I were designing a spell, Fireworks, we thought it was perfectly safe so far but then we were wrong. I can only apologise for that incident Atla, our hubris almost got you killed.

"You apologise, but my gran never did?"

Ruth was complicated. She may never have apologised through words even if she was allowed to see you again. However she certainly regretted what happened.

By this point Adelard's mystification was cleared up, "I remember that, she was moping around for months, dragging me to any pub that our tab wasn't full at yet, but that was only after she got out of hospital—" he stopped short, Atla glanced at Thanos who'd made some movements in her peripheral vision.

"My gran was hurt too?" Atla asked Thanos pointedly because Adelard had shut his mouth. Thanos just typed, indeed neutrally.

Atla was about to press further but Thanos kept typing, that's why, grimoires and being around magic can be dangerous, nowadays more than ever. So I need to press you for an answer and can't make this decision for you...

Atla brisled and stood with her empty bowl, "Excuse me I'm tired, Thanos will show you how to lock up."

Atla closed the door and lay on her bed, she tried to study but never got further than five words before her mind wandered to events earlier today. Castlemania didn't work either, her fifth rerun of the game in the last month was so instinctual that her mind wandered anyway.

Atla's first rerun failed horribly because she forgot Castlemania's cheap hidden boss gimmick. The hidden boss was one of the only ghost monsters, meaning he couldn't be attacked unless you had levelled up a very inefficient skill tree. That meant several hours of skill potion grinding. Nora had sent a few messages too but Atla didn't have the capacity to deal with what she assumed to be comforting words right now.

Adelard stayed surprisingly long, speaking with Thanos. Occasionally Atla caught his replies through the door, recounting stories like when Ruth and her coven butted heads with the mafia. Adelard laughed a lot and chuckled sadly even more.

Atla felt a bit jealous of how much fun thosestories sounded, then felt stupid for feeling that way and tried to ignore theconversation through the door. The two spoke for several hours after Atla fellasleep, it was the first time that the friends could speak to each other directly.