𝗧𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹 𝗴𝗶𝗿𝗹 𝗴𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗽
(𝗻.) 𝖺 𝖻𝗎𝗇𝖼𝗁 𝗈𝖿 𝗀𝗂𝗋𝗅𝗌 𝗀𝗈𝗌𝗌𝗂𝗉𝗂𝗇𝗀 (𝗁𝖺𝗏𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖽𝖾𝖾𝗉 𝖼𝗈𝗇𝗏𝗈𝗌) 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝖺𝗎𝗇𝗍𝗂𝖾𝗌 𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗋 𝖺 𝖼𝗎𝗉 𝗈𝖿 𝗉𝖺𝖺𝗅 𝗍𝖾𝖺 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗆𝖺𝗅𝗂𝖻𝖺𝗇 𝖻𝗂𝗌𝖼𝗎𝗂𝗍𝗌.

𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗧
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

(tw: slight mentions of suicide & mentions of kaiser's backstory)

Raconteuse likes Ness....

"...."

"I swear I don't like him!" Maribel denied desperately for the nth time, to which Kaiser stiffly nodded in faux acknowledgment to mask his evident incredulity.

"I actually, really don't, y'know," the girl stumbled on her words with exaggerated hand expressions. "..Like Ale—him..." she whispered to herself, clearly too flustered to even utter his name.

"...." Kaiser could only rigidly nod again with a strained smile, this was the eleventh time she said that. "I—um, believe you.." He didn't, only an idiot would; Kaiser wasn't a fucking idiot.

"Right." Maribel cleared her throat to compose herself.

"Gemma, she's lying through her teeth." Suranika added, clearly unbothered of the consequences.

"I'M NOT!" The calm girl lost all reasoning yet again, the red of her cheeks rising in temperature once more despite her upmost effort to cool it down.

She likes Ness. Kaiser's expression remained unreadable at the previous drop of info, I mean, who would've thought? Raconteuse fancying Ness? Ness? Him? That guy of all people?

"Listen, she's just bored and spouting bullshit." The curly haired girl sighed out her exasperation.

"In denial~" the girl drawled out as if she were singing.

"Whatever, here." Maribel then pointed to the tray that carried a variety of snacks, ranging from different types of biscuits, a plate of freshly fried parrupu vadais and a single cup of hot tea.

Kaiser only stared blankly at the plethora of options, specifically the beverage with intense scrutiny. There's only one... "um.."

"It's paal tea." Maribel quickly caught on to his fixated gaze and responded immediately.

"Paal..?" Kaiser pronounced slowly.

"Oh, milk. I mean, it's milk tea." And upon mentioning the word 'milk', Maribel didn't miss the minuscule grimace that crossed his face. "You don't like milk, do you?"

"Um, I," Kaiser sighed in defeat, "I just have a physiological aversion to white drinks."

Maribel hummed thoughtfully with a nod before bluntly replying, "well, it's not white, it's brown."

"...."

Noticing his unrelenting hesitance, Maribel uncharacteristically reassured his rising worries. "I don't like milk either, but trust me, it's nice."

"Then shouldn't you have it?" He teased lightly, hoping to change the focus of attention off of him and have her drink it instead.

Maribel's countenance twitched in distaste ever so slightly. "You're the guest, plus I don't drink milk tea that much..."

"...." what?

In response to his silence, Maribel roughly explained her reasoning. "It tastes nice," she repeated. "It just, well— personally, it makes my throat feel sticky... but it's still good, loads of people like it too."

Although one may have remained dubious of her illogical words, Kaiser's disgust dispelled almost forthwith. He, for one, believed her. Tough, it was strange. This new habit of his that he seemed to have developed after that whole incident was very strange. Whatever doubt that clung persistently to his mind melted away instantly with mere words. With her words.

Maribel said she didn't like milk too, therefore she must've empathised with his situation since they both, y'know, had a common dislike. It'd be some form of unspoken betrayal to lie about that to a fellow milk hater.

Before he could get the chance to take his first sip, Suranika's voice stopped him, "d'you make it?"

Maribel turned to face her sister, humming in response, and at her sister's inquiry, she remembered the words of her mother. "There's some left downstairs, amma said to leave some for Udai."

With that confirmation, Udai and Suranika wasted no time running out to acquire their paal tea. Maribel's eyes only rolled in volition at this, Suranika was most likely going to flood it with gem biscuits, make some horrid, swill-like liquid with it and then dash it outside as 'charity work' for the birds.

"Sawri, go. We're gonna work now." Maribel's tone left no room for argument, the younger girl huffed before leaving the room, completely missing Maribel's hidden agenda.

Her irritated thoughts came to a pause with the abrupt intrusion of a sceptical, low voice. "You, made this Mayil...?"

"Yeah, and what about it?" She looked over to him, his gaze seemingly fixed permanently on the steaming cup of tea. A thought came to mind from his hesitation eliciting a nasty scowl on her face. "I didn't pois-"

He met her agitated glare, an illegible glint glowing bright in the kyanite of his eyes, and with a faltering exhale, he inquired, "for me..?"

"...What?" Repulse crawled up her spine with his unusual behaviour. Eugh, creepy. "No, it was for a fucking plant."

"...." He glared at the harmless beverage and resisted the urge dash the drink across the room. Kaiser still— found it difficult to receive goodwill. Recovering quickly from his inner turmoil, he taunted cheekily. "Finally serving your emperor with competency, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah whatever." With a mocking tone, she crossed her arms and nudged at the plate of biscuits with her chin. "You should dip those gold marie biscuits into it, it tastes better that way."

Kaiser followed her movements and stared at said biscuits, they were circular in shape, the engraving 'gold' in capitals a dead give away to her somewhat cryptic advice. "What about those ones?" He pointed to the others, some chocolate cream ones with intricate engravings and another with a bright yellow filling.

"They're nice as well, just eat them by themselves though." Lemon puffs and chocolate cream were certainly pleasant in flavour, even if they were dipped into the tea. However, the texture became slightly off, and Maribel felt it ruined the enjoyment one would normally feel without dipping.

Satisfied with her response, any doubts that may have remained vanquished, and with a pang of anticipation, he dipped the round biscuit into the tea. Being smart enough to not leave it soak for too long in fear of it becoming soggy and falling to the pit of the cup, he took a bite and was delightfully surprised to find that what would usually be a dry biscuit, was quelled and saturated with moisture, making it much easier to consume. The tea didn't overload it with sweetness either. Rather, the aromatic spices from the beverage subtly balanced it out, and created an idyllic harmony of 'sweet & spicy'.

Unbeknownst to himself, Kaiser reached for another biscuit, and one turned into two, two turning into four, before he lost count of how many he'd already consumed. Maribel silently watched as he got himself drunk in the savour of euphoria, smugly biting back the slight curve of her lip, she teased him, "relax, it's not going anywhere."

"...." Kaiser flinched momentarily at her taunt. With his mouth full and cheeks round, he bashfully swallowed his bite, awkwardly chuckling at his predicament. Now more conscious of his surroundings, he took a slow sip of the tea that had cooled a little. The temperature now perfect to consume without facing the consequences of impatience - a painful burn to the tongue.

This time, he noted how much sweeter it was to drink the tea alone compare to having the biscuit dipped in it, and he felt he understood Maribel's nonsensical words. The amount of saccharine within the beverage certainly would leave behind an aftertaste of 'stickiness' to the throat unless washed down with water. By applying the concept of drinking water after having chocolate, it was the same with paal tea.

But by no means did this imply that it tasted bad. In fact, it was heavenly. The froth from the drink collected on his upper lip, and Kaiser involuntarily licked it off, fearing any meagre drop would be wasted if he hadn't. The combination of spiciness and sweetness wasn't like the conventional 'sweet-chilli' flavour that tasted rather odd, but it unquestionably was something that one could get jonesed to. This needs to be scientifically studied.

Kaiser blankly stared at the now empty cup, fuckin' hell. He didn't blame Udai and Suranika for running downstairs as if their life depended on it to drink this, liquid gold. "How do you make this..?" he questioned, an unsettled expression on his face.

"Secret." Maribel bluntly shut down his query with a finger to her lips before sitting down in a chair identical to the one he sat on, "we'll carry on our work whilst you eat the rest."

"...right." Damn, Kaiser might've already become immutably dependent to this secret formula. 

They didn't waste much time after that, Kaiser set up whatever stationary was required whilst Maribel attempted to remember the wifi password to log Kaiser in. In then end, she had to resort to regretfully asking Suranika for it. Nothing could compare to the utter humiliation felt.

Though that feeling didn't last very long.

When Maribel switched on her ipad on, it revealed the tab that was previously opened on one piece's latest chapter, and another round of intense shame pervaded her system. Kaiser had seen. Of all people, it had to be him. Albeit much to her surprise, he didn't say anything about it. He was unusually tight-lipped, not a single remark of disgust was uttered from his constantly running mouth, which only puzzled Maribel further. Leading to her current sate of intense rumination.

I thought for sure he would belittle me for it... it's so— confusing.

There was no point dwelling any further into this, she'd only be wasting time and she for one didn't want to be subjected to Kaiser calling her out on it. Brushing the matter of his strange behaviour off, she looked over at the previous notes she made in the library.

Hitler.

The mention of his name left Maribel a little indifferent.

"...." Just because he got rejected from art school, huh? Pursing her lips in thought, her eyes blankly stared at the numerous words that filled the page. He's a bit of sore loser..?

Maribel couldn't wrap her head around such manner of thinking. There was so much flaw in it, a fucking hypocrite. But she supposed this partially explained the reason for his narcissistic personality disorder. Even though he himself didn't fit perfectly into the image of the 'aryan race', he was self-centred. An infamous dictator that refused to listen to the criticism of his people, the voice of others insignificant when compared to his.

Did bleaching hair exist then? The curious girl pondered, leaning her elbow on the table as she rested her chin on her palm. If it did, why didn't he bleach his hair? Then he would've fit perfectly into the whole, pale skin, blue eyes, blond hair, German racial purity bullshit.

Hmm? Maribel's brows furrowed. It's like she was missing something. She replayed her previous thoughts: pale skin, blue eyes, blond hair, pure german. Furtively counting with her fingers, she repeated those words once again.

oh.

Somehow, Maribel's gaze had shifted to Kaiser, who appeared to be so busy with the contents on his phone.

Pale skin. Blue eyes. Blond hair. Pure German.

The guy who adamantly went on and on about being an emperor. The same guy who perfectly epitomised narcissism. The guy who was also entertained with the art of theatre. That guy, was the very same guy with german blood. The guy who was the picture perfect definition of an 'aryan'.

Hitler would've tried impregnating him...

A pang of pity was felt, even for a man as horrid as Kaiser. But fear was quick to replace it. The guy beside her, in her home, at that moment, had a few traits that eerily resembled Hitler.

SHIT! WHAT DO I DO?! OH MY GOD WHAT DO I ACTUALLY DO????!

Maribel glanced at the preoccupied Kaiser, biting her lip as she acknowledged their uncanny similarities, is he gonna finally reveal his true nature..?

Hmm, didn't Hitler commit suicide though? With that thought in mind, she did remember reading off somewhere that people with 'npd' often were suicidal. Looking at it from a broad perspective, it did make sense. A narcissist wouldn't be fond of their death being out of their control, so suicide, were they themselves were the cause of their death, was a suitable ending. Paradoxical, but undoubtedly suitable.

Every human will face death eventually, and not even those who 'believe in the impossible' could attempt to change this cruel reality. It was just, life.

Then, a pang of something, something unexplainable rooted deep within the depths of her weak little heart. Then would he also meet a similar fate...?

Suddenly, for reasons she refused to bother acknowledging, her vision blurred. It stung, her eyes stung. Her throat tightened, I didn't even have paal tea and my throat feels sticky.

Letting out a shaky breath, she spoke "the footballer," her voice unsure but resolute. "The footballer who played for Germany."

This caught Kaiser's elusive attention. In fact, his ears seemed to perk up instinctively whenever she had something to say. "Hm?"

"Um, he's not actually German, but he was born here. I mean, y'know," Maribel paused with hesitancy, she couldn't remember his name, "I think his name began with a 'w'..? He retired I heard!"

"D'you mean Özil..?"

"Uh.." Özil, it didn't start with the letter 'w', but it sounded more correct. "Yep, I think that's his name!"

Upon confirmation, Kaiser straightened up his posture. A drop of elation adorned his silvery tone as he turned to face her, mirroring her position with his chin resting on his palm, his elbow supported by the desk, "what about him?"

"Uh," Maribel hesitated, she didn't know exactly how to bring this up. "He's kinda cool." AHH!! THAT'S NOT WHAT I WANTED TO SAY!!!

Truth be told, Maribel felt a little guilty for Kaiser, especially with the possibility that he may have suicidal thoughts. In short, including football into their project of 'German National Importance' was her way of making it up to him, specifically after her initial reluctance on incorporating it in. It'd be one reason for him not to give up on life. Maribel didn't want to feel guilty later on if he did end up in such state, so she supposed she could be patient for now and do as he liked. That way, her name wouldn't be found on his suicide note. I canNOT be counted as an accomplice!

Maribel was still young, she couldn't afford to be put behind bars simply because she wanted a high grade for some stupid assignment. My life doesn't depend on this... actually, no wait, it kind of does.

"Well, obviously." Kaiser nodded seriously, his tone becoming somewhat boastful. "Özil was the face and pride of German football. With his technical skills, creativity, passing skills, and vision, he was widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders and playmakers of his generation. blah blah blah.. blah blah.."

Maribel tuned out on his glazing rant. Kaiser had completely misunderstood what she was trying to say. "Oh." She finally let out once Kaiser had the initiative to finish, "I didn't, really mean it like that."

"Huh? If it's not his performance, then what's cool about him?" Kaiser bluntly inquired, raising a brow in confusion.

"...." Maribel eyes momentarily widened at his heartless words, before she cut off the uncomfortable eye contact. "He was the pride of German football, huh?"

"Yes. Prime Özil's talent was nonpareil, second to none. It's a shame people don't recognise—"

"He's not German." Maribel interrupted him, her voice low and unfocused.

"He is, he's born here."

"He's an immigrant." She quoted with a deep sigh.

"You mean his ethnicity? Well, yeah. But he's still of German nationality."

Glancing at Kaiser, Maribel noted his inability to read the room. "The Germans of today hate the nazi party, right? The political movement that practiced apartheid, the ones that committed mass genocide." And when she received no response from Kaiser, she repeated her words more firmly. "Am I right?"

"Right." As if possessed, Kaiser answered her immediately.

"So from that, you'd expect them to speak about the genocides happening today. But no, it's the immigrant that does."

"He's not an immigrant, he's German."

"But he's an immigrant when they lose."

Football is undoubtedly the most popular spectator sport in Germany. Meaning with its large audience, it could very well be the most influential group of society. So why did German football remain silent when Özil spoke out? What point was there being 'all mouth' and preaching about your distaste towards an oppressive movement when you comfortably supported another? What logic was there behind that?

Vile hypocrites.

"Özil was a German who spoke out on the ongoing genocides of today. Why?" She questioned rhetorically before answering, "because he wasn't fond of the nazi party that plagued his country's name, he embodied 'German National Importance' better than anyone else here in Germany. The pride and face of your flag was an immigrant and yet he was the one who spoke up whilst his German teammates remained quiet. Germans are all mouth, each and everyone of them." She curtly insulted.

"Football's just... just football." Kaiser started off wearily after processing her words, "Özil merely faced the consequences of mixing politics with foot—"

"But it's