Coffee And Conversation [Diana/Meninas]

Diana was somewhat comforted by Meninas' admission that mastering the Quincy arts took time. She thought that she was just not "getting it" when she had struggled with Steigen and Gebet despite the best efforts of her family to teach her those vital arts, but knowing that someone else had experienced difficulties comforted the blonde. If Meninas could overcome those challenges so could Diana... in theory, anyway. Diana had long ago reached the limit of what she could learn by herself and likely needed someone able and willing to help her advance her knowledge to the next level.

When the topic of the Vandenreich came up Diana took a swig of her drink before lowering the cup. The subject she had wanted to learn about had come up and now was the time to focus on what was being discussed.

"I do not know very much about the Vandenreich other than that it exists." Diana confessed that her knowledge of the organization was almost non-existent. She had first heard about it from her parents, but they could not tell her very much other than it was a real group and not just the stuff of rumors. Maybe Meninas could fill in the gaps in the blonde's knowledge... if she were inclined to do so, of course.

"To be honest, I was looking to make contact with the Vandenreich before I considered joining. I would like to know exactly what it expects out of recruits because I doubt that it tolerates dalliances. I suspect that the Vandenreich wants a wholehearted commitment from anyone looking to join." Diana informed Meninas that the thought of joining had crossed her mind more than once. The blonde had to admit that the prospect of getting access to people who could help train her skills to the next level was appealing, but even with her limited knowledge she had cause to believe that the Vandenreich was not a social club. It would likely expect a lot in return for what it offered and Diana needed to know what it wanted so that if she joined she would go in with both eyes open.

Diana listened with her undivided attention when Meninas began to describe what the Vandenreich's purpose was and what it wanted out of prospective new members. The requirements sounded reasonable enough and the different departments with different responsibilities was a surprise because it sounded like not everyone had to be a skilled combatant to find a place in the organization. She paid particular attention to the mention of training facilities and multiple trainers being available for all of the organization's members... that was certainly appealing for a Quincy looking to improve their skills, but those amenities were not enough to convince Diana to run straight to the enlistment office. Diana kept her mouth shut and her ears open as Meninas continued to speak.

The fact that the Vandenreich possessed a city was news to Diana, who had not heard anything about that in all of the fragments of information she had heard before today. Unlike the first two amenities the city was not as big a draw to her because she was used to life among ordinary people and had not encountered any prejudice that would compel her to seek a refuge that was far away from them. Diana also had reservations stemming from her belief that everything she had told sounded a little too good to be true.

Keeping quiet about her reservations concerning the Vandenreich so that she did not run the risk of alienating Meninas, Diana chose to focus on the topic of the pink-haired Quincy's social skills.

"I could not tell that you had difficulties socializing." Diana commented with complete sincerity. The other Quincy had spoken so smoothly and naturally that the blonde had not picked up on any problems the former had, but Diana had not been specifically looking for them either. The blonde had a little bit of difficulty socializing herself... it was a product of both her sheltered home life and her to-the-point way of speaking. As a result Diana could relate to Meninas having a hard time interacting with new people.

The blonde heard Meninas explain that her problems tended to arise most often when speaking to a stranger. She also heard the pink-haired Quincy state that she had a small social circle to interact with in her early years, a situation that Diana was familiar with. She too had had a small circle consisting of her parents and a single-digit number of real friends she had at school, which were hard to gain and even harder to keep because of how overprotective of their daughter the Remingtons were. They were not the only reason Diana had difficulties making friends and socializing with people, but the "contribution" of her parents certainly could not be overlooked.

"I grew up in the woods outside of a city in western Georgia in the United States." Diana told Meninas that she was also of rural extraction. The Remington family lived in the woods outside of Columbus, Georgia and tended to keep to themselves when they were not at school, at work, or shopping for groceries in town. Diana had mixed feelings towards where she lived... on one hand the isolation sometimes got to her and it often felt like the trees were trying to close in, but on the other hand her parents could train her in the Quincy arts without worrying about nosy neighbors. There was also a degree of freedom in the woods that just could not be found in the busy city streets of Columbus... for example she could see the stars in the sky at night and she could hear herself think thanks to being away from the noises of the city.

However, from time to time Diana found herself wishing that she had lived in Columbus so that she could have been around people other than her family and be more able to fit in with people her age.

If Diana had to guess why her parents chose to live in a rural area it was to try and teach her self-sufficiency. It had worked in the sense that Diana did not need to constantly be around other people to function and she knew how to hunt and forage for food in the wilderness if she absolutely had to. Living in relative isolation also made her feel disconnected from other people and hampered the development of her social skills. From time to time Diana wondered if what she had gained from her upbringing was worth more than what she had lost.

"I came to Japan to learn what I could about the Vandenreich." Diana replied with the reason she had traveled from America to Japan not too long ago. Her purpose was no big secret she needed to protect at all costs. As far as she knew she had not made any enemies while in the country, so she did not need to look over her shoulder while talking to Meninas about her interest in the Vandenreich. Diana was still interested in learning more about the organization, but she was uncertain as to whether or not membership in it was right for her. She was certain Meninas had told her the truth about what was expected of people looking to join, but she did not want to sign up on a whim only to learn the hard way that she did not like what she had gotten into.

Diana wanted to be absolutely certain that she was willing to commit to being part of the Vandenreich for better or worse before darkening its doorstep. Unless the other Quincy told her that there was a limited time in which to join the blonde was going to take some time to think the matter through before deciding one way or the other. In the meantime she had coffee to drink and a conversation to listen to. Her right hand moved towards the cup of coffee sitting just slightly to her right and gripped the styrofoam drinking vessel.

Diana carefully raised her coffee cup to her lips for the first time in awhile and took a drink from it while waiting for a response. The blonde noted that the contents of the cup were still warm and lowered it for a moment to take a quiet breath before drinking more of her coffee. Once this conversation was finished she really needed to learn the name of this coffee shop because she found the blend she was drinking to be very much to her liking.

The blonde Quincy set her coffee cup down and listened to the advice that membership in the Vandenreich came with the expectation that one would follow the organization's numerous rules to the letter without complaint. Diana did not have a problem with rules... although quite a few of her teachers had complained that she did not speak very much in class she had never gotten into any sort of trouble and did not have any disciplinary referrals to her name. The real issue was giving up her independence and the right to travel where she pleased when she pleased. Diana had gotten used to being free and giving it up to anyone was not something that she could do right away.

However, Diana was not going to completely rule out joining the Vandenreich. One reason for keeping her options open was that she did not know any members of her race who were unaffiliated with the organization and willing to train her. Another reason was that she was currently alone in the world with no support network of any sort... she had no friends, no family, and did not really know anyone who could help her if she got into trouble and needed a helping hand in a fight or medical attention after a fight. The Vandenreich sounded like it could provide all the support she could ever want and it would provide a roof over her head, but ultimately the decision to join would boil down to "risk versus reward."

A even simpler way of putting it was: was Diana willing to trade her freedom for security?

She would have to answer that important question later. Right now she needed to address Meninas' question, so that was what she would focus on. It did not take long for the blonde to give her answer because she did not need to put much thought into it.

"I would prefer not to talk about my family." Diana calmly requested of Meninas. The blonde was concealing the truth that her parents were no longer among the living and were thus unable to approve or disapprove of her decisions. Diana did not want to take the risk of Meninas passing said information up to her superiors, who might take that as an invitation to try and abduct someone who would not be missed. If she were unlucky Diana might find herself being forcibly conscripted into the Vandenreich to serve as a disposable asset, but "asset" might be too generous a term to use for a novice Quincy like her.