Meeting The Mechanic (Diana/Elara)

Diana did not own a motor vehicle of any kind, so she would not know about the durability of old models versus the newer ones. She would have to take Elara's word for it because the latter made a living from repairing vehicles and was thus equipped to give a knowledgeable opinion on the topic. The blonde glanced at the motorbike for a few moments, then looked at Elara again.

The dark-haired mechanic's method of transportation certainly looked like it had been in use for quite some time. Diana could not recall seeing a motorbike that looked as well-traveled as Elara's, but then again the bike was clearly an older model from quite some time ago. Diana could not recognize the make or model, but that was to be expected since she did not own a vehicle. The blonde did not feel compelled to own one for numerous reasons; one of the most important of them was the fact that currently she did not need one because she could get everywhere she needed to go on foot. Another was that her current financial situation did not allow her to spend the money necessary to buy an automobile.

"I work as a hunting guide." Diana replied calmly.

"I guide people to areas where they can find game animals to hunt such as deer and wild hogs." Diana quickly clarified that "hunting guide" was not a codename for a less savory occupation like "human trafficker" or "contract killer." The blonde did not know Elara's stance on the ethics of hunting animals for sport and/or food, but she hoped that she had not offended the mechanic by calmly telling her occupation. She would have to wait and see how the other young woman reacted and go from there.

"I share your stance on Hollows, Elara. I consider hunting them to be doing the world a favor." Diana stated calmly. If the mechanic were paying close enough attention she might be able to tell that even though the blonde had not raised her voice the blonde had a dislike of Hollows. Her stance had not changed from the one she had held during the conversation with Sabriel... just because she did not scream her hatred of that type of creature from the rooftops did not mean that her animosity towards them was not strong. Diana detested them and would gladly eliminate one whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Not wanting to drag the conversation down by discussing how much she loathed Hollows, Diana kept quiet and focused on what Elara was telling her about herself. The dark-haired young woman was from the state of Texas and her father was the person who had introduced her to vehicles and taught her everything she needed to know in order to restore them to working order when the need arose. That situation had parallels to Diana's own father, who had taught her the finer points of hunting and how to be a hunting guide so that the blonde always had a way to put food on the table. Preferring not to think about her family for too long, Diana quickly focused on what Elara was talking about again.

"My father taught me how to hunt and survive in the great outdoors, but he was adamant that I go to school every day. My mother was a teacher and she was just as adamant as my father, so there was no skipping school even if I wanted to." Diana informed Elara that her father did not consider hunting a valid excuse for skipping school. The goal had been for Diana to study hard and get good grades, then attend a college or university after graduating high school. However, the combination of being unable to earn a scholarship to help pay for studies at an institute of higher education and the Hollow attack on her home had derailed that plan for good. Now the blonde was getting by the best she could... at least her father had given her a fighting chance by teaching her both the Quincy arts and an ordinary trade that would give her a way of earning income.

"I was fourteen when my parents started teaching me the Quincy arts." Diana gave a brief but accurate summary of when she learned how to use her powers. There was no dramatic element to the summary like awakening her powers during a crisis or having a dream where she got hints of what she could really do. The day she turned fourteen her parents told her about her Quincy heritage and began training her in the Quincy arts and that was that.

"My parents cared about my education a lot. My father was a high school graduate and my mother was a college graduate who went into teaching. My father wanted me to be better educated than he was so that I could get a job that was stable, so he pushed me to study harder than my mother ever did. I know that sounds strange, but it is true." Diana told Elara about her parents and their views on education. She found it funny that her hunting guide father was much stricter than her mother, who was a teacher. However, any humor to be found in that situation was tempered by the knowledge that in a rare moment of vulnerability her father had told Diana that he wanted her to be able to get a steady job that was not dependent on so many variables such as the weather, the population of game animals, and other relevant details. That was sound logic that the blonde could not dispute, but she still wished that he had toned his strict attitude down just a little bit. If Diana was not studying academic subjects she was studying or practicing the Quincy arts and the constant studying had gotten to be exhausting on more than one occasion.

"I have the powers of a Quincy. They are not very strong, but I have them nonetheless." Diana replied that she was capable of defending herself against threats. She would have shown her spirit weapon Altes Gewehr as proof, but there were two things that prevented that. First, she was in public and brandishing a weapon in public without a Hollow or multiple Hollows nearby would likely get her in deep legal trouble. Second, she did not want to startle the mechanic and possibly start hostilities by suddenly producing a scoped bolt-action rifle out of nowhere without announcing what she was doing first.

"I am not as good as you think I am, Elara." Diana replied calmly. That was dangerous information to give out, but she doubted that she would have to fight Elara today... or any time, really. The dark-haired Quincy seemed like the friendly sort who would not fight anyone without a very good reason and Diana did not plan on giving her a reason.

"It is true that my training started earlier than yours did, but it was... unfocused. I had to split my time between academics and learning the Quincy arts, so I could not learn the latter as well as I should have given the early start I had that you did not." Diana explained why her skills were not where they should have been. Her father was of the opinion that his daughter needed a solid education with which to get a job since the Remingtons needed to pay the bills like everyone else. That was sound logic that could not be easily refuted, but he also insisted that Diana master the Quincy arts despite her attention being split between that and academics. Her mother agreed and the rest was history.

"What you said about your mastery of Steigen applies to me too, Elara. However, my knowledge of Gebet is even worse. I can only piggyback off of spells that others have prepared and I just cannot seem to make any progress when I train it." Diana confessed that Gebet was easily her weakest art.

"I agree with you. However, my parents thought differently and since I lived under their roof I followed their rules." Diana agreed with the other Quincy but stated that her parents held the opposite view. They wanted their daughter to be both a top student and adept at the Quincy arts, so Diana did not get to do much else beyond those two things. Unfortunately for Alvin and Anna Remington their daughter was not a prodigy, so she ended up being good at academics but mediocre at the Quincy arts.

"From the time I started training I had plenty of time to do so because my parents trained me at night after I was finished with homework for my classes, but my progress was slow because my parents wanted me to excel in all of the arts and would not tolerate any of them being weak. Unfortunately I could not do as they wished because I had some trouble with Steigen and serious trouble with Gebet. That led to them thinking I was deliberately not performing as well as I should have and that led to them getting mad at me." Diana went into detail about how her mother and father had unrealistic views of her potential and thought that any shortcomings were due to deliberate underperformance instead of Diana just not understanding the lesson right away. The blonde did not like to think about how she was berated for "failures" like her spirit weapon being a scoped bolt-action rifle instead of a bow and her ineptitude at Gebet. At times it felt like she was never going to live up to their expectations and by the time they had met an untimely end at the hands of Hollows she doubted that she did.

"I understand the benefits of being well-rounded, but my parents pushed me in that direction way too hard. They acted like I was a once-in-a-generation prodigy when I was only an average Quincy. They had a low tolerance for failure or mistakes and refused to change their minds when confronted with evidence that did not support what they wanted to believe. They thought that longer and more frequent training sessions would make up for me not understanding certain aspects of the Quincy arts, especially when it came to Gebet." Diana summed up how she had been unable to advance very far in the arts despite starting training four years earlier than Elara.