The soul of a King

"I think a coffee sounds like a good start, if you ask me," you said, looking Victoria up and down. "Let's talk, just you and me, about who Emilia--I mean, Victoria King is." As beautiful as she was, this was still Tori on the outside, so going right to bed without having a connection to the driver inside would be a missed opportunity--that could've been anyone on the inside at that point. A lesson about King Enterprises and an understanding of Emilia's business ventures seemed fascinating, but also fairly disconnected from the person.

Flashing a smile, Victoria motions forward with a finger. "My kitchen staff makes some of the best mochas in the city, which I know you'll enjoy. Seems like I get the pleasure of knowing quite a bit about you already, Pete. Always a mocha, your cat's named Sabel, you're quite a talented architect. Your hair in grade school certainly was a lot curlier, as well." With a giggle from Victoria and a sigh from yourself, you and she entered the elevator to return to the main floor. "It's... enlightening, to have a life's worth of memories to call upon that isn't full of doctor's appointments."

Victoria led the way, letting you get a good look at her from the back. It was kind of funny to think that just this morning, you'd dressed her. The jeans and henley look was meant for a sort of casual adventurer's appearance, to run around outside and explore things not unlike the heroic archaeologist that doubled as Emilia's grandfather. And so today, his granddaughter, in a way, matched that style, capable of such adventures for barely under one day's time at this point. She stopped at one of the doors to the kitchen, knocking in a pattern and whispering something to a young man that answered. You could hear only a couple words, but it sounded like each word you heard came from a different language. French? Italian? German? You quirked an eyebrow as the man led you and Victoria to a private table just up the stairs on the second floor.

"What was that?" you asked. "I know you're rich, but you're not flying in breakfast direct from Europe, are you?"

Giggling, Victoria sprawled out in her chair, somewhat like how Tori sits on the couch when playing games. She was used to proper posture both for appearances and for protecting herself from further injury usually, but she seemed ready to revel in Tori's personality--at least, enough of it without forgetting who she still was. "I've been at this a long time, you know. I learned very early on that there are times when I don't exactly look like my usual self, so I need ways to prove my identity to some on my staff that others wouldn't easily replicate, if they even know that there's anything to replicate at all." She nodded to the waitress that brought to the table a mocha and hazelnut latte.

You rubbed the back of your neck, before you took a sip of your mocha. "Wow, this is good... of course it's good. Why wouldn't it be good? Sorry." You cleared your throat a little, tapping on the table. "I know you've got my friend's help in there with you, even if she doesn't really know it. But even then, it is at least a little intimidating to be sitting across the table from someone so, uh, high-profile. In a way. I think a lot of people would envy being in this seat."

"If you want to really know? I envy what your friend has, curse and all. I have to spend a literal fortune to manage my curse, but she found a way to make it work for her profession, traumatic as it may have been at times. But still, even before that. My curse kept me from doing even the simple things like riding a bicycle, though if I were healthy enough I'd have been likely traveling the world on archaeological digs, not studying the symbols and texts to decipher from my hospital beds. My brain's the one thing that has never failed, I suppose."

The two of you sipped your drinks in silence for a moment. "Well, I've heard about your family adventures. I used to watch one of the TV shows as a kid, A King's Journey... the one where your dad gave those history lessons about the pyramids, or the ruins in Cambodia, or the catacombs in Paris. And..." You smiled, as a thought came to you. "I bet we could recreate that, if you're interested and are okay with carving out some time of the day for it."

Victoria quirked an eyebrow, her own smile starting to form. "How do you mean? I'm listening."

"Well, you've got the Vertical Zone climbing walls on the other side of town, that escape room place we passed downtown with the Curse of King Tut scenario, we 'borrow' one of the props from the room and then, uh... we go to the paintball range where we have to get the cursed artifact across the map while escaping from Baron Von, uh... Byron. Or whatever."

Almost grinning, she rest her chin in her hands as she fluttered her eyelashes at you. "Peter, are you asking me on a date that replicates a cheesy action story? You know that's not how basically any of that happened with my parents, that was a bit exaggerated for the TV shows back then."

"Well, I mean I know it's kind of silly, we don't have--"

"I'm in. But we also need walkie-talkies."

You grinned. "Agreed." You sipped at your coffee again, looking around at the mansion for a moment to remember who you were sitting with. Thoughts of curses returned to the fore of your mind, since it seemed so weird to think of the owner of a whole mansion like this as truly cursed in any way. "You called it the, uh... what was it? Kurosawa Curse?"

"Kurushimi curse." Victoria stared down into her cup of coffee as she watched the foam art in it spin and distort. "My grandfather unleashed it when he was younger, while traveling with his business partners through the northern part of the Kansai region in Japan in 1924. You may have heard of them? Hideki Hasegawa and Daisuke Yabusa."

The names nearly caused you to **** on your mocha. "Wait, wait! Archie King knew the founders of Hideki Labs and Yabusa Motors? Holy... if there was a secret society of people that ran the world, I would have those names at the top of that list. ...Wait, is there?"

Victoria chuckled. "No, I promise there isn't. At least, not one that ran the world... the curse I guess counts as a sort of secret society. Deep in an ancient shrine practically lost in a thick forest, they each rang a ritual bell, called a doutaku. Usually they're meant for good harvests, but this one had a curse inscribed on the inside with blessings on the outside that promised immensely good fortune. Each rang the bell, and the curse connected the three of them. My grandfather of course went on from then to become a world-renowned archaeologist, he practically stumbled over artifacts wherever he went; Yabusa became one of Japan's biggest automotive innovators. Hasegawa, however, was the first to suffer the curse, with unexplainable ailments almost constantly from then on. He founded Hasegawa Medical Research, though there wasn't much money in his search for cures to his rare illnesses so he barely broke even. When Yabusa had his first child some time later, he suffered the curse as well, and in a few short years, Yabusa's revenues plummeted as it became a niche automaker while Hasegawa Research rebranded to Hideki Laboratories and began pulling in money with incredible medical breakthroughs. My father did those educational TV shows for a while about archaeology, that's how he added to my grandfather's fortune. Riiiiight up until he had me, and the curse found a new generation. Not only was I constantly injured, but TV deals dried up and my grandfather and father turned almost all their attention to looking for artifacts to add to our collection with real enchantments, things that might one day counter or end the curse."

You looked into Victoria's eyes for some time. You could feel Emilia's sadness radiating from Tori, but she still managed to talk about the family history with a casual ease, even if she didn't often speak on this much detail to others. That was likely Tori's influence again, urging Emilia to trust you. "So if the curse rotates with each generation, then the Hasegawa family will get it again? Does that mean you get to go back to normal?"

"That's what we presume," Victoria said as she finished her latte. "Reiko Hasegawa, if she has a child, will assume the curse if it continues the loop. And no, that will not cure me, but it will likely end my drought of business opportunities while business for Hideki will face sudden losses. I only inherited the fortune, things like running a 'museum of the occult' doesn't net much money even if it's quite popular. Of course, I would like to outright end the curse so Reiko doesn't have to endure all the nightmares of a cursed child, but I've not yet found much luck other than temporary reprieves, nor have the other families. And there are... other complications when it comes to trying to end the curse that don't help either, especially as we're nearing a century since it began."

Before you could ask about what those complications might be, Kel-AI steps up to the table, setting down a variety of documents before Victoria. Fake birth certificate, driver's license, credit cards, and images of the social media accounts that the robot had implanted into search results, including altered images and thousands of fake followers.

"I think that's enough about curses for one day, yeah?" You stood, holding your hand out to Victoria. "Let's just treat this like a normal day. I want to hear all about Victoria King's hobbies and dreams and favorite ice cream flavor while we do some indoor rock climbing."

Victoria's face turned a little red as she reached out to take your hand, as your gesture suddenly reminded her that today was about doing something she'd not done before in any real way. She took your hand, rising up to meet you, kissing you on the cheek. "I guess I'll have to think fast on our drive over, then! I can at least say I like orange-vanilla swirl, that one's easy."