[CENTER][h1][color=B3ADAB][b]CATHERINE CORIANDER[/b][/color][/h1][/center][hr]Hair poofy and pink, Mrs. Poppy ran a finger across her face, tracing lines down the wrinkles carved from her worried expression. “This is the second time in just a few days one of you has gotten hurt, what is Coriander doing?”

Sprained finger wrapped in a splint, Verbena pouted, “It’s not like it’s her fault!”

Poppy sighed, “I know, it’s Peppermint. Just be careful for a change. The problem will sort itself out eventually.” Verbena’s brow furrowed over his beady eyes, but he hopped off the stool and headed out without a word of thanks. Stepping outside Mrs. Poppy’s clinic, he found Sorrel waiting for him, Cassia and Rue assembled as well. Verbena avoided meeting their eyes, the boy typically using his weight to push the others around, but now they’d seen his weakness.

“Mrs. Poppy doesn’t get it at all!” Verbena finally blurted out, kicking at a stone as he broke the silence. “Peppermint’s not a problem…”

Sorrel mumbled, “Huh? You make fun of her all the time.”

“Yeah? I make fun of you guys too, don’t I?” Verbena snapped.

“‘Cept me,” Rue giggled.

“I can smack you though,” Sorrel jabbed. Verbena frowned.

“You’re too mean to her!” Cassia cried, his volume a bit louder than needed. As the others leaned away, he added, “If you can’t be nicer I’m not gonna hang out with you anymore.” The kids were quiet, thinking it through.

Rue stopped walking, crouching to the ground. “I still think she’s a goody two shoes, but she’s kinda like my big sister.”

Sorrel mumbled, “It would be pretty lame if she stopped hanging with us, since she’s the only one of us who’s both big and nice. But she’s still a little scary: that floorboard almost hit me.”

Verbena started a course, insisting, “I’m gonna go apologize.”

Sorrel shivered, “I didn’t know you could do that!”

“Shut up! It’s not like I meant to make her that mad!” Verbena wailed. “I don’t really think she’s a monster! I thought she would laugh the other day! She’s one of us, right!?” The kids were stunned to see Verbena with tears at the edge of his eyes. “She never does anything bad! She’s never hurt any of us before. I didn’t want to make her sad: I wanted her to laugh. I’m the bad one! But she’s never bad so she probably thinks she’s bad right now. So I gotta apologize!” The other three frowned, Verbena’s words ringing true.

“I didn’t say anything wrong but I still wanna help cheer her up,” Rue insisted, mouth hidden behind her clutched teddy bear. Sorrel and Cassia nodded along, and in no time, they were on the path to Peppermint’s house. Reaching the door, Verbena stopped, noticing the doorknob was loose, barely hanging in the door. Raising his hand, he moved to knock, but there was a footstep from behind him, one much larger than that of any of his friends. He turned about.

“You her friends?” asked Ryu Burnet, his long hair and trench-coat flowing in the wind.

“AHHHHHHHH,” the kids shouted in unison. Burnet flinched at the noise, but he couldn’t particularly blame them after his attitude yesterday.

“Calm down, I’m here for the-hey!” Burnet cried out as the kids started to scatter, fear supplanting rationality. Reflexively, Burnet reached out, grabbing Cassia by his arm. “Would you all be quiet!” he snarled. Against all reason and logic, this produced the opposite effect Burnet had intended, Cassia bursting into tears, sobbing loudly. “H-hey! Come on now. Ah shit.”

Burnet looked up at the door as it creaked open. The two of them both stopping dead, Peppermint’s hard gaze having a particular aura to it. The girl wore a hoodie, a white cloth stained with red was wrapped on her hand as tightly as she could manage. Peppermint growled, “Let him [b]go[/b].”

“Hmm?” Burnet replied, not seeing the issue. Peppermint huffed, door getting blown open as she backed up, disappointing into the darkness of her house. There was a rushed patter of footsteps, and Burnet was glad he reflexively let go of Cassia’s hand. Peppermint shot out of the doorway like a missile, her pale green shock of hair making fast friends with Burnet’s ribcage. Momentum transferred, sending him hurtling across the dirt road and into a fence on the opposite side, where he plowed through the wood like it was made of toothpicks, crashing into a thick tree, wood splintering.

“Unnnnnnn,” Burnet groaned, vision swimming. He’d heard she was strong, but not in his wildest imagination did he think it was something like this. His vision came into focus as he noticed Peppermint charging at him. Rolling out of the way, her fist smacked into the tree, splinters gushing out of the back like flour from a ruptured sack. Burnet didn’t think the blood could rush out of his face so fast. “Holy [i]hell[/i].”

“No-” Peppermint began, turning her gaze on him, leg going up, “[b]SWEARING[/B]!” Burnet pulled himself back a bit, her stamping foot going right between his legs, the quake shaking him to his core. Sweat was coming, and fast. The man of a hundred battles felt his rusted survival instincts creaking into place. A fear gripped him, the realization coming that if he didn’t do something fast, this girl could [i]kill[/i] him. Pulling his leg back, he pressed it against Peppermint’s torso before pushing off, hurtling her back. The girl stumbled, losing her balance and planting into the dirt, giving Burnet time to stand, against the will of his sore joints and creaky bones.

“Are you done?” Burnet coughed. But Peppermint pushed herself up, nostrils flaring as the steam of anger billowed out. Burnet felt his heart shrink under the girl’s anger. With a roar, she charged at him, and Burnet, in all his wisdom, could only think to turn tail and run like fucking hell.

Streaking through the buildings in the midday, they drew a number of heads. It was an unusual sight: Burnet wasn’t out and about often, let alone running for his life, and Peppermint was a little green hellion on his heels. He was wise enough not to turn back and lose speed, but he could sense that she was still gaining on him. While from the outside, the old man running from Peppermint sure looked funny, he’d seen visions of a nine year old harbinger of death, and wasn’t in much a position to take it lightly.

[i]How long has she been this strong? The whole time?[/i] Burnet realized, the spats of life flashing before his eyes taking him to his numerous rampages as a child, a young Burnet not even just breaking things on accident, but because he could. Peppermint could break anything on this island, but from what Burnet heard, she barely had. The dread in his heart started to wane. The potentials this girl was capable of, yet straying from, all because she wanted to be a Marine? [i]You’re not a good fit for the Marines at all![/i] he realized. He thought back to his first mission with the 16th Patrol Division, where they tore through a lawless land taking things as they pleased, the villagers helpless to resist for fear of true retaliation. Burnet’s heart burned to stop them, but they were his own comrades, one’s he’d been laughing and training alongside just the day before. He burned to act, but instead repressed himself.

And it didn’t stop there, it never had. He’d kept his men in line too, claiming it was for their safety. But just because he could hold himself back forever doesn’t mean everyone could stay that way. Truuni had chose to act rather than be held back. But here, Peppermint had been holding back her whole life, and she couldn’t manage that forever. Her dam was finally breaking, and god knew what she was going to take out before the flood subsided. Coriander was right: she did need help, and Burnet was the only one who could give it to her. A life of being told ‘no’, of telling himself ‘no’, of telling others ‘no’… To that, he decided to say ‘no’, planting his foot in the dirt. Whipping his quarterstaff off his back, he turned about, giving it a good, underhanded swing. “Sorry kid,” he grunted as the wood met Peppermint’s torso. Following through, Peppermint was launched skyward, onlookers gasping out. Verbena and the kids pointed in the sky as Peppermint flew. Cicely wiped sweat from his bald head as he watched, fearing the possibility of having to make good om his words about rebuilding the leveled town for Peppermint’s sake. A distance away, Coriander saw the airborne girl and let out a cry, eyes bulging out, feet going into motion as she sped over.

Peppermint landed with a crash, bouncing into a set of barrels left by the dockside, smashing through them. Sitting up, she looked around, all eyes on her. Lifting a hand, brushing away a piece of wood that stuck to it, fear and guilt crossed her face. Burnet saw her beginning to retreat into herself yet again, the release small and fleeting. Her world was one made of paper, so easy to tear, yet she navigated it so carefully. But the stress of that was something Burnet couldn’t imagine. Peppermint was an amazing talent, and the more he watched her in action, the more he felt his heart well up with something he thought was long gone: burgeoning hope. Peppermint was too good for the Marines, but she had goodness, and she had power. Burnet lacked both, and couldn’t make the change he’d never even considered. Truuni had all the goodness, but despite her skill she was just one above average solider. Peppermint didn’t have to be strong enough to move the world, she just had to be strong enough to protect what she cared about, and in a lot of ways, she already was.

But she couldn’t protect herself, and her heart. Not alone.

Quarterstaff jabbing against the ground, Burnet shouted, “On your feet, soldier!” Peppermint gawked, scrambling to a standing position. Putting his front leg forward, quarterstaff aimed at her, he said, “Battle position!” Peppermint squeaked, raising her fists awkwardly.

“I am Commodore Ryu Burnet, and this sparring match isn’t over. Your enemies aren’t going to give up because of a couple broken barrels. No matter what breaks, you have to keep going until it’s over!” The words came easily, moreso than they ever had, Burnet's own dam finally breaking, even though their weight he still felt on his back. For a moment, he felt as though Truuni’s eyes might be watching him, the eyes of a girl who could only go forward. Burnet didn’t turn back: he couldn’t face her, not yet. Instead, he let that push him forward, the man finally moving into motion after 12 years. “If you want to protect what you care about, you give it your all! Understood!?”

Peppermint gave a nod, still hesitant. The itching Burnet felt on his face, wind biting through the trails of his tears, was more than enough explanation as to why she was holding back, but if she kept that up, she was going to be in a world of hurt. Quarterstaff flashing, he knocked Peppermint about without remorse. He didn’t need to feel bad: she broke it in two within 5 minutes, and he was taking his own licks. Even with two separate halves he was still able to knock her about, but her anger had melted, exchanged with a grin. Bouncing back from being launched, she laughed like she’d been playing with a bubble wand. And honestly, as Burnet fought with all he had to keep Peppermint from crushing him, the pitched conflict had somehow become fun in its thrill. He remembered that look Truuni had given her when she defended her men from his aimless blow.

She was smiling. During their spars, their debates, their leisurely moments. He’d tried to compartmentalize it as a quirk of hers. Who’d find hanging out with an old geezer like him enjoyable? But as he came to enjoy seeing this raw talent blossom, getting more agile as the fight went on, his time with Truuni kept resurfacing. He’d acted like a father to her, but even that was something he held back on. He couldn’t apologize to her, he couldn’t make it up to her, but there was one thing he could do.

As the sun started to set, the town full of onlookers, gashes in the dirt roads and splintered trees strewn about, Burnet and Peppermint lay on the ground, bruised and exhausted. “Hey girl…” Burnet panted.

“Y-yeah?” Peppermint returned in kind.

“You still wanna become a Marine?”

“Yeah!”

[i][color=2596BE]“I wanted to be a Marine because of my dad. He died as one when I was little. He didn’t even get to officer rank or anything, so I think I wanted to join to, like...not surpass him or anything, but more...make sure his death wasn’t in vain. He never accomplished much, but if he could inspire me to be a great Marine...”[/color][/i]

[i]You couldn’t inspire me to be a great Marine, Truuni. No one ever could. But god dammit girl I’ll make it up to you by making the greatest Marine in the fucking world.[/i]

“Well, you got yourself a mentor kid. I’ll make you the best dang Marine there ever was.”

Peppermint’s eyes widened, her face shifting to shock, then breaking into tears, her arms going to cover her face. Burnet’s hand found her shoulder, the smile on his face hurting his cheek muscles for its rarity. “Me too kid, me too.”