"You're just bitter that last time we sparred, I knocked you flat on your ass" Jeff coughed out as Ares smirked at him. He may have said more, but at least the God was going to go get Ever. Besides, he and Ares more or less got along. Sort of.
The look he saw on Ever's face when she walked in only made his guilt all the worse. Her blue eyes were wide with worry, but she didn't say anything.
Oh shit. Jeff thought to himself. She didn't yell at me. She always tells me off when I do this. She must be really worried if she's waiting. Or really angry.
He let Lucy rest her horn against his shoulder, allowing her magic to flow through him. He could feel his insides repairing themselves, his flesh knotting together. It was a warm, itchy feeling, and left no trace of the wound that had been gouged into his stomach.
As Lucy walked off, he ran a hand along her flank, murmuring "Thanks Luce..."
It was only when Lucy had gone that Ever showed just how angry she was. Jeff was tempted for a second to call Lucy back, but didn't. Lucy deserved to rest, and besides, Ever was going to yell at him sooner or later.
She was angrier than he'd ever seen her before, but he was expecting as much. But she called him babe instead of Geoffrey, which was a good sign. Although she'd been using it so long that he didn't think anything of it, it let him know that she was glad he was alright. If he remembered correctly, it was something she had picked up from a movie she'd been obsessed with when she was a little girl, and she'd kept calling him it ever since.
Jeff was grateful for the medicine Ever had mixed for him. It was a vile, bitter thing, more so than usual, but it slackened off the pain. Jeff relaxed a bit as the medicine did it's job, his muscles no longer so tensed up. He was still bloody, dirty and sore, and his clothes stung as they stuck to his cuts, but he could deal with that. More important right now was trying to soothe Ever.
He propped himself up on his elbow, looking her in the eyes. He spoke as gently and soothingly as he could. "Look, Ev..."
Ever looked at him as he started to speak, though she quickly cut him off. "Don't Ev me!" she said, raising her voice. "I'm sick of hearing all your excuses, it's bull shit!" she said as she rubbed some of the medicine over his smaller wounds. It probably burnt a lot, but at this point she figured he deserved it.
Ares went slightly wide eyed when Ever had yelled let alone cussed. "Oh kid your in trouble" he smirked.
Ever turned to Ares, giving the god a small look "Shut up, like you have any room to talk, throwing fits all over the place today, we don't need your two-cents Ares!" she rolled her eyes before looking back to Jeff.
"Damn Ever, relax. I'm out, good luck...Babe." He mocked Evers nickname as he headed up the stairs.
Ever was borderline ready to kill Ares. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself, yelling wasn't something she liked to do. "I have enough on my plate and you of all people should know that better then anyone else." she sighed
"How am I suppose to focus on any of that when I'm always worried whether or not this will be the last time I see you?" she frowned.
"I stopped asking questions a long time ago, I just don't understand why you don't trust me enough to tell me what's going on" she said looking to him.
Jeff lay back without complaint as she rubbed a salve into the cuts and scrapes along his arms. It burnt like hell, but he didn't complain, and when she'd finished his arms he took off the tattered remains of his jacket and shirt. There were a couple of larger scratches on his chest, but for the most part the cuts were the same as the ones along his arms. His back had escaped unscathed. He'd been facing his opponents when it all happened.
Jeff was ready for a lecture, but then Ever changed her tone. She stopped yelling, and sounded more... hurt. Dammit. Angry I could deal with, but this...
"Ev... look Ev, I want to tell you. I hate doing this to you, making you drop everything so that you can fix me up. I hate making you worry and wonder like this. But I know you. If I do tell you what's going on, you'll just worry even more. Either you'll try to stop me, or you'll try to get involved somehow. I won't let either of those happen."
But Jeff couldn't leave it at that. Not with the way Ever was looking at him. He needed something to reassure her, at least a little bit.
"Ev," he said hesitantly, not wanting to make the promise in case he couldn't keep it, "I can't promise you that I'll stop all together. But I promise that I won't do it again until the solstice meeting. And then I'll try to work something out with the Gods, to get some help. Is that alright? For now?"
"That's such a stupid reason Babe, honestly, if you didn't want me to get involved I wouldn't." She paused. "Okay, I would, but it's only cause I care. I would do it for anyone, you of all people should know that" she sighed.
She listened to him talk as she went to the small dresser in the room, grabbing on of his spare outfits and setting it on the bed next to him.
"No it won't do for now." She frowned "that doesn't give me any solace, but I guess I'll just have to trust you'll come back...even if it's only to say goodbye." She smiled. She knew that being any kind of tamer was dangerous, just cause you were a tamer didn't mean you were invincible.
"Now get dressed, I have guests that I have to get back to," she smirked "and you'll scar them looking like this." She laughed "and don't argue your coming to dinner." She smiled.
Ever smiled, and Jeff was off the hook. He was even getting dinner. His day had just gotten a whole lot better.
"All right, I'm coming." Groaning, he hauled himself up, and swung his legs off the side of the bed. Granted, he was still a mess, but Lucy and Ever had worked wonders on him. What the hell would I do without them? That wasn't really a thought he wanted to dwell on.
"Besides, how could I possibly refuse the chance to taste your fantastic cooking? Just try not to burn anything this time." She hit him with a friendly punch and he laughed. "Beat the cripple why don't you? I'm just going to have a quick shower, get some of this mud and blood off. Gotta be presentable for the guests."
He stood up, and his leg almost buckled under his weight. He limped off into a side room, where there was a small, functional bathroom. Normally he would just warp to his own large, lavish one, but he was way too tired to be warping anywhere now. Still, the water was hot, and though his shower was quick like he promised, it was some of the most amazing three minutes he'd ever experienced. Stepping out he felt like he'd been reborn, entire worlds away from the state he'd been in when he'd warped into the room. Clean, refreshed, his pain more of a dull throb. More importantly, he was alive.
He threw on the clothes, a pair of jeans and a shirt, and stepped out of the bathroom. He'd never been a fan of the traditional clothing so many of the trainers opted for. So inconvenient when warping back and forth between Earth and Reendria.
He smiled at Ever, and followed her out of the room, closing the door behind him. She started leading the way towards the main house. Jeff thought of the guests, and forced himself to walk normally, despite the pain in his leg. Ow. Shit. Aah. Fuck. He couldn't wait to sit down and tuck into some food. He was famished, sore, and tired. But if he couldn't tell Ever where he'd been, he certainly wasn't about to tell some randoms. What could he say instead? What could he and Ever have been doing that would have left him sore and tired?
He grinned to himself mischievously, and chuckled. Nah, I'll just tell them I was putting some of the regents I had fetched for her with the rest of her collection. That would explain why I was in the barn. And, in a moment of sheer stupidity, I tried one, thinking it was mint. Knowing the kind of things Ever works with sometimes, that could easily explain just about any ailment you could think of.
She gave Lucy a small pat as they passed her in the barn. “Thank the gods, I was starting to think he was taking advantage of you down there.” Ares voice boomed through the barn startling the Unicorn a bit catching her off guard, but Ever didn't make any movements, as if she hadn’t even heard his voice. “Ahh, come on pigeon don’t act like that.” Ares rolled his eyes as he followed the two teens out of the barn.
“You know I hate when you call me that.” Ever said calmly as she led the way back into the house. She smiled as they entered the house once again, everyone seeming to look at Ever. She hadn't realized she had gotten Jeff’s blood on her own clothing, she looked down to see where everyone’s eyes were focused. “Shit.” She whispered under her breath. “I mean…” she wasn’t exactly the type to cuss in front of anyone and before Geoffrey had a chance to explain what they were doing she blurted out something that actually made more sense then she thought it would.
“I’m sorry I had to run out like that, the demons and one of my Pegasus’s were not getting along very well needless to say Ba..I mean Jeff and I had to break it up. My Pegasus got a little scraped up in the brawl.” She let out a breath of relief. “I’m just going to go change.” She smiled before quickly making her way up stairs to her bedroom.
