Once was Happenstance, Twice is a Coincidence [Alastair, Natsumi]

The energy ripple whistled across the room, leaving a moment of silence in its wake, though it washed over Alastair without prompting much more than a ruffling of hair from the Grandmaster. He had imagined that she would get a little defensive, but an outburst like this was quite unbecoming so he could hardly simply tolerate it. His gaze did not soften, those orange orbs focused on Natsumi with the same focus as before.

"Wrong about what? That you put yourself in danger without thinking it through?"

There was hardly a hint of emotion in his tone, a dry deliverance that might easily have been mistaken for apathy though Alastair himself knew that quite the opposite was true. Due process would have been to send this on to her direct superior and have them conduct an interview, but he had chosen to bend that rule for the sake of conveying its importance. A notion that brought him little comfort as he studied the stunned woman.

"There is more to a team than just fighting together; everyone is expected to operate as part of the wider collective."

Alastair could not put it any plainer than that. There was an expectation of both accountability and traceability that he needed every agent to live up to, and he wanted to believe that Natsumi had that capability in her, but if she continued to act recklessly then he would be forced to act in the best interests of her colleagues. They could not make the world a better place if they acted alone as judge, jury, and executioner.

"We can find other ways to support you, but if you continue to view this job as a continuation of your work in the facility then, for your protection, it will not continue. The rules are different here, and so are the people."

Alastair paused as he assessed his approach to this matter. It certainly seemed that all he had managed to do was further stoke the distrust that Natsumi had for any kind of authority, and cemented his understanding of how well her training had been going.

“I think that we tried to run before we could walk with this arrangement. You have a lot left to learn about how the Vandenreich operates, but you also have more to learn outside of that box. Your martial capabilities are certainly at a level that I would consider sufficient for your station, but there is more to this job than how one can handle themselves in a fight.”

Exposure to his world had not provided her with enough worldly enlightenment, so he would look at this as a parent might a child.

“I will be sending you to take some basic comprehension and competency courses. They will be arranged for you, and the teachers made aware of your circumstances for the purpose of filling the gaps in your education. This will not be a straightforward process, but I want you to give it a chance. I will also be monitoring your education personally, so that an Incident like this does not happen again.”

"You do not have to, that is a choice you are free to make, but then I cannot allow you to continue training to join the Vandenreich. This is something I would ask of every person under my command, an expectation to be able to communicate at an adequate level so that information can be properly relayed. If you cannot read your orders then you cannot be expected to follow them, if you cannot be expected to follow orders then this is not the correct fit for you."

Ultimately, that was the truth of it. He could help her if she would let him, but he was not going to drag her over the coals for walking away. This was not an enforced servitude, and he hoped that had been well conveyed, so she could simply refuse him but he did want to believe that she could choose to better herself. That was a core tenet of who Alastair was, an unyielding belief that people would strive to better themselves and that together they could share that with the world. It was a feeling that burned in his chest far hotter than his guarded expression could ever encapsulate.

"Life is more than just what you are good at right now. This could be the path to finding something that you are great at, but you will not know unless you walk it."

"Open your mind to the possibility that you could succeed, and perhaps you will surprise yourself."

Natsumi had been through an entire rollercoaster of emotions in the last few minutes, so seeing her ease up did little to convince Alastair that she had truly heard what he had said. Her follow-up question was evidence of that too, but he could at least understand her drive to see this rogue Shinigami brought to justice. His stance on the matter was unmoved though.

"It is a matter that the Sternritter has already been tasked with resolving. Your rule is to prioritise your studies and trust that I am treating this matter with the severity it deserves. I do not want to see your name in the newspaper for the foreseeable future."