Cut From A Tattered Cloth

Deleted Scenes: MoT Ch 2

Oyaji was already eating by the time Melia got there. He was in his usual spot, smack-dab in the middle of the counter at Nakamachi's Ramen. His tattered Mage's cloak was crumpled up on the stool next to him, marking Melia's spot, and there was a bowl of hot ramen waiting for her. There was no one else at the shop, but Melia appreciated him saving a seat for her.

"Omatase," she said, yawning as she came up to the counter. Sorry for making you wait.

Old man Nakamachi smiled politely. Oyaji merely grunted, his bowl tipped up as he slurped down the rest of his broth. Melia lifted his old cloak and shrugged it on, her shoulders relaxing under the familiar fabric as she sat down.

Most Mages kept their cloaks pristine; maintaining the dignity of the rank and status they represented. But Oyaji's cloak frayed at the edges and had eighteen inches shaved off of the bottom, leaving it to hang at his knees when it was supposed to go down to his ankles. And while it should've been cream-colored to identify him as a Cloth Mage, this cloak was pitch black. The better to hide the millions of stitches that zig-zagged across it from all the times it had been ripped and sewn back together.

The gold ribbons on the sleeves that marked him as an Honored Mage First Class were gone, too. Another casualty from Oyaji's habit of tearing his own cloak whenever he needed more fabric to fight with. Melia ran her fingers over the stitches that peppered the shoulders of the worn material. Some of them were big and clumsy, others microscopic and precise. She stirred with pride at her own handiwork; her sewing had come a long way.

She picked up her chopsticks and tucked them under her thumbs, pressing her palms together as she bowed her head. "Itadakimasu," she murmured, pinching a clump of noodles with her chopsticks and slurping it down.

As she ate, Melia felt some of her disappointment ebb away. There were a lot of things she didn't like about Zaram, especially when it came to being a Mage. But this--eating ramen with the old man--was something she would never get tired of. From what she had learned about it, Oyaji's culture had very little in common with her own. But one thing they both believed was good food could fix a lot of problems.

"That cloak looks good on you," Oyaji said.

Melia shrugged. He always said that. "Black isn't supposed to be my color though, is it?"

Oyaji cracked a smile. "It's not supposed to be mine, either."

An unkempt man nearing his fifties, Eijiro Tokuda shared his pupil's talent for scaring people off. With his broad shoulders, pockmarked face, and roguish black hair that refused to turn grey, Melia's teacher was widely feared and considered unapproachable.

Melia, however, had never been afraid of the man. She liked him ever since he put that cloak around her shoulders when she arrived in Zaram fourteen years ago. So much so that she started calling him "oyaji" after he became her teacher. She found the word in some of the old comic books he'd given her, and thought it was pretty fitting for him.

Eijiro had hated it at first, saying the slang term meaning father was too masculine for her to use. But, he wouldn't let her call him "uncle," and "Special Mage Tokuda" was too formal for both of them. There just was no helping it; he was her oyaji.

"Suppose we'll have to pick out a color for you when you finally let people start calling you an Honored Mage." he said as old man Nakamachi slid him another bowl.

Melia wrinkled her nose, slurping her noodles noisily. "I can't let people give me a title I haven't earned." she said.

The Cloth Mage grunted. "You know you've earned it."

Oyaji was doing that more often now, pestering Melia about the fact that she wasn't a full Mage yet. In her time with the Zaramian Mages, Melia had quickly climbed the ranks under Oyaji's tutelage, becoming a 5th class Senior Mage in less than a year when it took most people three. But, for all her years with the Mages and all her successful missions, Melia was only a Senior Mage 1st Class. Bellhart, who had started training the same time she did, was a Grand Mage 3rd Class. Melia could've easily been at his rank or higher if she had trained someone, but she hadn't.