Aires

Skylar had decided that she liked Autumn a lot. The girl seemed sweet, her positivity about their situation almost contagious.

She trailed after the others, having to quicken her pace to keep up with Harper’s much longer strides despite his attempts to slow down for her. She plopped herself down beside him, doing her best to wring the water from her soaked clothing. Grateful that her hair-tie was still secured around her wrist, she tied her dark hair into a braid while she listened to Autumn, Harper, and Kwasi share their facts. She had to admit, Autumn’s ruse to get them to get them to know one another was actually a pretty good idea- especially because it was hard to resist her eagerness for them to bond and become a “real” team.

“Ah. I guess I’ll go next?” Skylar started, trapping her lower lip between her teeth. “I’m Skylar and I’m almost nineteen- at least I think I am, I’m not exactly sure what day it is right now.” She said sheepishly. “I’m originally from Florida but go to school in New York City for Communication Studies. I have four older brothers and three younger brothers.”

She paused after saying that, mentally swearing at herself for doing so. For so long she tried to escape from the shadows of her insane family, only wanting to be her own individual person, and now that she was in a completely different universe she was still bringing them up. Why? Her shoulders slumped slightly at the thought- who was she? Her family was the only defining thing about her, always had been and always would be. The thought was slightly unsettling, and she quickly finished up her introduction. “Um. I also really like running. I guess that’s it?”

He was completely shaken.
He had just followed his instincts and helped Harper automatically. Before he knew it he was basically shirtless.
The exposure of his scars for all to see was unnerving to say the least. He felt eyes on him but every time he turned to look, the person had the good grace to look away.

Xabier came to an unwelcome conclusion. Dorian was a pretty decent guy. He didn't like admiring the quiet guy. Something about Dorian made him really pissed off for no reason. Every time he saw him he felt the urge to start a confrontation. It was so confusing since Dorian hadn't done anything to deserve it. It was completely unwarranted. And then he had given Xabier his jacket.
"Thank you." He accepted the jacket and quickly covered up.
Maybe it was pride, maybe it was guilt for even considering choosing his shirt instead of saving Harper, but whenever anyone mentioned the rescue of Harper, Xabier made a point of saying how Dorian had did all the hard work.
He believed every word of what he was saying.

Sitting down on the logs he listened to the others talk about their home lives. He was still jittery over flashing his scar in front of the others.
They seemed to not care which was a massive relief.

And then there was the close proximity of the fire. He could barely sit on the log while fighting the urge to sprint away.
"I'm sure no one here really cares about me. Someone else who people actually like should go next."
He sighed loudly. Idiot. Xabier had basically ripped off his shirt to save the dude and now Harper was saying that no one cared about him. Some people are really dense.
"You can't say that after we have all had to listen to you"

He turned back to the others before he said something stupid.
I’m Skylar and I’m almost nineteen- at least I think I am, I’m not exactly sure what day it is right now. I’m originally from Florida but go to school in New York City for Communication Studies. I have four older brothers and three younger brothers."

"You have a big family? Me too." Xabier smiled at Skylar. He had a huge family and he found so much pride in them. Except his father, but that was a different story.
She also studied in College. That was admirable in its own right.

The fire crackled menacingly at him and almost bolted off of his perch on the log.
Tallyho was sitting by herself and looked miserable. It was a perfect opportunity.
He got up and walked over to her, forcing a smile. The camp fire was making him jumpy.
"Hey." He sat down beside her quietly.
"How are you feeling? I saw that something happened but I thought that you were safe with the others."
He appraised her face. She looked upset over something. He was ashamed that he hadn't noticed earlier.

The flames whipped the air furiously. He had to get out of there and quick. His eyes flitted nervously across the group.
"Do you want to have a walk?" He nodded to the strip of beach left behind.
He wanted to talk to her and escape from the fire as quick as possible.

Tallyho grew ridged when she heard a sudden “hey” jab into her head. It wasn’t like he was really that loud, but at that point every word spoken was beginning to sound like low womp womp womps at the bottom of her head and it was the first lick of real language she caught since Harper spoke.
She glanced back to see a jittery Xabier who looked like he wanted to flee. But his need to run was generally more urgent (and actually way more unexplained) that Tallyho’s. He just helped saved the person; he was a hero for tonight. So why was he trying to leave his party?
When he asked how she was feeling Tallyho awkwardly sat up and crossed her arms. Did she really look that pissed off?
She played and replayed her response in her head.
“I’m fine!” she wanted to exclaim before clicking her heels and dancing around the fire.
“I’m just dandy,” she wanted to yell before doing back flips up and down the shoreline.
“I’m fine…” she actually said, her tone flatter than she intended. She crossed her arms tighter and sat up straighter to make up for her lackluster answer. She wasn’t going to talk about her feelings so that Autumn could sing about peace, Kwasi could tell everyone to “pray about it” and Harper could just not listen.
“Do you want to have a walk?”
Tallyho’s immediate question was why. There were more than 12 other people on this beach and suddenly he wanted to walk with her? Since when do they walk? Though… It did make some sense. Xabier looked like he was about to pee his pants from anxiety (too soon?) and apparently Tallyho looked like she didn’t want to be there anyway—which was true. In that respect they were almost two peas in a pod.
“Okay…” Her acceptance came out more like a question than a statement though. Without warning she glided off of her log and towards the water with her arms crossed.

Kat offered an unceremonious gesture towards the rest of the group.
“Are you people going to eat or not?” she asked sternly as she ravaged through the rations bag with a mouth full of unchewed bread in her mouth.

"Okay, we'll be back soon." He nodded back at the others around the fire.
Following Tallyho across the beach, he quickly matched her pace.
Xabier felt uneasy.

They walked side by side in silence, Tallyho with her arms crossed, Xabier with his hands in his back pockets.
He knew from a glance that she was like a grenade ready to blow at any stage.
And he was the idiot that had thrown himself into the danger zone willingly.

As soon as they had gotten out of hearing distance from the others he turned to her.
"What is wrong?" He knew from experience when a girl was upset. It wasn't always noticeable on the first glance but
spending years with a teenage sister really helped.
"And do not say you are fine just because that is what you think I want to hear. It is under- undermelting (?) my intelligence."
He shook his head flustered by the word. English is a strange language.

Away from the immediate danger of the campfire, he could think slightly clearer.
It was surprisingly beautiful out here. He hadn't noticed before because he was too busy with Harper.
Shit. Harper.
Did he even check to see if he was dehydrated? Serious problems could happen if a person who nearly drowned isn't checked up properly.

Xabier looked over at Tallyho. She had nearly drowned too, but with the suddenness of Harper's incident, her turmoil had gone unnoticed. He barely noticed.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
He knew that she probably wouldn't trust him with her thoughts. Deep down he was unsure that she even trusted him at all.
"If not you could just yell. That's what I do when I need to unleash some feelings."

“What’s wrong?”
The truth was there were so many things wrong. Tallyho had to admit a lot of them were her own personal grievances but certain things the group did really ticked her off. If it weren’t for Xabier’s straight forward request for her not to lie in his face she probably would have just denied her feelings again. And while his suggestion about screaming was…interesting at the very least, she didn’t know if it was the best thing to do for fear of spooking the others.
She had to give him something though. And while she didn’t particularly want to dwell on her growing distaste for Harper it had been a huge part of the problem.
“I’m just not very fond of groups is all. I don’t work well with groups.” She kept her eyes pasted on the sand, waiting for it to disappear. It just kept going, the occasional appearance of a conch shell pressing up from the monotonous texture.
This was an insulting shorthand of her anxiety but it wasn’t false. She really did have a problem with following the crowd. And her refusal to follow wasn’t fashionable in the least bit. In fact it had more to do with feeling suffocated.
“I just want to continue my life as it was,” which was also true. A life of wandering wherever she wanted when she wanted was best suited for Tallyho. Though a life spent in random bars stealing free drinks didn’t sound the prettiest it was what she grew accustomed to and what she grew to like. She hadn’t ever had a formal education—not that the academy was that traditional—but the idea of having to be taught by someone other than herself was a bit of a turn off.
She shared her thoughts with few words, not wanting to talk too much about herself and eventually decided to direct the questions his way.
“What’s your problem? Did you want to walk because you are angry too?”

Incredibly enough, it worked. People were actually talking about themselves. Autumn grinned gleefully as she listened to the others, nodding every so often to assure them that she was paying attention. She grabbed a piece of meat, too happy with the situation to even care about what it tasted like.

For a moment, she was about to ask Tallyho to join in. Before she could even open her mouth, however, Xabier offered up a walk. She didn’t know why, but she was a bit jealous. It was fine, though. She didn’t expect Tallyho to open up and her previous threat was weak at best. If the other blonde wanted to walk, Autumn wasn’t about to stop her.

“So, anyone else? Come on, I wanna know more about you guys.” She tried to kick things back up, hoping that at least a few others were willing to share. It wouldn’t be any fun if everyone left. She took another bite of the meat, trying to ignore the chill she felt. If only her clothes would hurry up and dry.

"Like, just how are you guys dealing with this whole thing? The Academy and all. How are you doing in training and what do you think about the powers and how creepy it is that you can see shapes of the people in the room next to you." She shuddered for emphasis.

"I'm curious, I really am. I mean, training for me hasn't been easy. I'm pretty weak so I've been just doing my best. Kit hardly shows up and when he does it's all work. I swear, it's like he spends all day sleeping or something. It's weird, though, since he seems to be good friends with Ryou. Maybe he just doesn't like newbies?"

"And seeing people right next to your room, sleeping and basically living right there except it's a shadow. Super creepy. Couldn't they invest in walls? And the powers, just when will they come? Here we are being told we're part of some great destiny, but all we do is run and haul rocks. That's not really what I had in mind. Is that what being a warrior is about? Hauling rocks? Sorry, I don't mean to leave out non-warriors but I just really needed to complain. What do you guys think? Are we really doing anything? Warriors, not warriors, it's the same training for everyone which is cool and all but I'm not seeing any improvement. At least not for me. How much longer until I get to be strong, huh?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to be a buzz kill." She laughed.

"Just wondering what you guys think about all this. Tell me, tell me, how's your training going? Are you guys improving? Getting any muscle? Learning cool new moves?" Autumn grinned, eagerly awaiting a response.

Kyle lay in the sand for a while to catch his breath and make sure Falke was okay. He seemed to be, and assuming the other boy didn't really like company, Kyle stood up and fruitlessly brushed off his wet pants. He stepped away to give Falke his space, but he didn't go too far before he stopped to look around.

Karma and Dae left to his disappointment. He didn't miss the brat Karma, but he thought he would have more chance to talk to Dae. It may be better this way though. Getting too buddy-buddy with a teacher might make things difficult in the long run, even if one night won't be enough to go from strangers to friends. Autumn seemed to have a different idea with her get to know you game. After two maybe three weeks, he thought they would be past that. If he thought about it, he realized they actually haven't much downtime in those weeks. During their academy free time, most of them went off on their own, including him. He sighed. Even though he wanted to be a team player, he didn't always act on it. This business was harder than he thought.

A growling in his stomach broke Kyle out of his gloomy thoughts. He chuckled to himself. It took him until now to realize he refused lunch. "There's a campfire straight ahead and to your right, where the majority of our group is doing some getting to know you stuff. It would be a chance to warm up and dry off but pretty crowded. Or we could join the quieter company of Kat, who also is carrying all our food supplies." Kyle frowned but there remained a light in his stormy grey eyes. "If we don't hurry, she might eat it all. I don't know about you, but I won't let her." His wet clothes flapped behind him and water-filled shoes sloshed while he half-jogged over to the freckled woman. "I'll have some of that. Thanks for offering." He claimed the bag she held out and peeked inside.
Plain bread and dried meat? The light in his eyes faded a little, but he did pull out one of the rolls and pass the bag around. "So... um... where did you grow up? What are some of your hobbies?" He did decide to participate, and admittedly, he was curious about Kat.

Kat was surprised that someone took the sack out of her hand. It wasn't like she actually asked them to take it from her. And as far as she was concerned she was the only one who actually really cared about the food. The Kyle guy had some nerve... He even had the balls the ask her a direct question. It was one thing if it was Tallyho asking because she was at the very least a fellow Arian. But an earthling? Interesting.
"I'm from Aires. I have no hobbies."
Even though he made a brave move Kat wasn't going to indulge him too much.
Kwasi listened to Autumn ramble on. He retrieved his food form the sack being passed around before choosing to speak.
"I know that I can't speak to the month warrior business but I will say that the academy sure does have an unconventional way of training." He scratched his chin. "I'm not even too positive why I'm still here. I just figure that the goddess takes me where I need to be. I feel in my heart that I have something great to do at this academy. So if anything bad happens I am more than willing to assist."
The conversation was pretty slow anyway so he continued.
"The lifestyle of a monk isn't very attractive to most. You have to be content with living in poverty and begging on behalf of the church a lot. The only perk is that good people will offer you a place to sleep from time to time. But you can never impose. But I am pretty confused as to why our beloved Harbinger lives such a luxurious life. But you might not know who that is would you? The harbinger is the monk of monks. The groom to the goddess--"
"A power-hungry ass with a superiority complex," Kat muttered through a full mouth. That was the most she said all week.
"What?"
Kat rolled her eyes at Kwasi and looked away.
"Anyway," Kwasi began, "I love my harbinger but I do question his decision not to follow the traditional harbinger aesthetic and live in Solace with the great monastery. Instead he lives in the RK with king Rembrandt the Wholesome and his court."

Diligently, the man finished the extra meat and the rest of his own plate without further word, or even blinks of an eye at Ji Na’s mumbled comments in a strange dialect. He was swallowing his last bite, as various groups began filling out of the dinning hall, as his good friend spoke up again beside him – discussing the coming initiation of the new children to the Academy. He took a moment to word a response, and in that time happened to glance in the direction of the table(s) the month warriors resided at currently with a thoughtful, somewhat curious (if only looking at them almost like at how best it would be to take them apart, piece by piece, but still – curiosity, never the less) interest. “No, I hadn’t planned to.” Huan answered honestly. He managed to convey a slight apology in his humming but soft tone, making it clear that he wasn’t against coming, or helping for that matter, but instead had prior duties to attend to before watching the event that night. “The kitchen matron needs two more deer and perhaps a hog to fill her need for the next few weeks, I planned to hunt this evening after basic classes with the little ones… If I finish early, I will come.” He finished lightly, not quite promising anything but making the offer all the same. Huan rose in turn with her, heading to the door together before parting ways; Ji Na back to her room to cool off before the event, and he went to the classrooms.

---

Lillian met Tallyho's sudden attention with an even patience of one knowing that they were being observed. The same look was in her eyes, a curiosity tainted by knowledge, but she remained wordless. Ryou's entrance, departure, and orders to follow along behind, interrupted the moment of contact; Lillian broke off with a blink, and walked beside Haru on the way to the initiation.

Standing in the same place she had been when they had arrived at the top of the cliff, like Ryou, daring the edge, without worry as she glanced with careless indifference to the figures moving down on the island below. No one had asked for her help in jumping, nor was there the need to push another unruly warrior or non-warrior over the cliff, so she had stayed were she was. Silent, and observing, per usual.

"By the one, that was... Eventful." Lillian hummed, lightly. Without any malice, but not without a certain air of annoyance flavoring her tone. Tsking under her breath, she turned away to follow the others' back to the Academy for the night.

---

When they 'arrived', he stopped, uneasily. He was not certain of the footing, which seemed even crumbly (even so far from the edge), and there was a new, odd sound playing at his ears. It was rushing water, he was certain, distant but still moving quickly enough and "falling" through air to make the 'rushing' sound that it did. And as he thought on it, he could only assume it to be a waterfall. He had it described to him how it should 'look' and sound, but he'd never really been able to hear one in person himself. Well, yet another fact of how different this world was from Earth. Earth still had some beautiful places, of course, but this Aires, hesh... It was just another world. He put it at that... As Ryou began talking again, Falke listened quietly, and politely in turn.

“-terrible actors...-jump off this cliff-..."

Falke blinked. What? He wanted them to… Um, no? He took a quick, hesitant step backwards, attempting to assess the situation ahead – and not finding much sense in it right off the bat. Listening to the varying reactions of the others, with a less than hopeful feeling at how few of the number had sanity on their sides apparently. Many were heightened by fear, but most controlled it enough to jump under their own power, or had help in doing so, and who everyone would have guessed to be thrown off something one day - was pushed off by two of the guardians to the watery depths bellow.

Personally, Tallyho had hit the nail on the head with her early comments in an attempt to get them out of jumping off a bloody cliff. While it had been a verbal slap to his face, more so with the fact that this was the first time anyone had actually admitted that he was blind since coming to Aires - and thus likely couldn't even remotely swim because of his disability. He'd paused momentarily to glance in her direction with a raised brow, but shortly had given her a short nod - not quite a thanks for stating the obvious, but acceptance of her use of words, even if it hadn't worked in their favor in the end.

It was true that he couldn’t remotely swim. Honestly, did you think his mother ever thought that he would have needed to be taught how to swim? He was blind. Being blind and learning how to swim and enjoying being in water in general (that wasn’t like a shower, or rain, anyway), just didn’t go hand in hand, period. Being able to know where the shore-line was to even swim to, yea, right, forget it...

While he was mentally freaking out, Falke remained stubbornly silent and still. His face hardly twitched with the raging of various emotions going on beyond the curtains so to speak, remaining carefully blank and neutral. Only his eyes seem to look perchance a little wider, with a faint hint of his relative unnerved-ness lurking in their depths, but hardly noticeable in the scheme of things. He wasn't trying to be defiant, or anything of that ilk. But, yes, he was quietly refusing to jump, or even for that matter state why jumping just wouldn’t be happening. Just… Anything wasn’t likely to be happening for him in a while. He wouldn’t be doing nothing. It was just, nope… Oh, he needed to quit being such an Angsthase.

”Falke…”

It was simple comment, pausing for a visual or verbal response that he had heard them, which broke through his silent mental freaking out, caught his attention, and made him focus unto the person who had uttered it – it was Kyle, if his memory hadn’t faded and/or had happened to misplace someone’s name with someone else’s voice. Falke hadn’t even heard him approach, considering his mind had been inwardly focusing on other things, and his senses obviously weren’t exactly keeping him up to speed.

If his memory served, however, Kyle, was frankly one of those in the group that happened to lack some logical version of common sense in his honest opinion. He was impulsive, quick of temper in one direction or another or both at the same time, and seemed to enjoy their training like only an muscle-bound exercise nut would. He was the perfect living definition of the common idiom, Blinder Eifer ist Feurer ohne Licht. And to be truthful, he was almost weary of him just because of that.

Falke hadn’t even connected with him, or really anyone, since they’d arrived there. Why would he now want with him? Fei… He gave him a brief moment of his full attention in response. Polite as always, but leery seemingly in turn. Tilting his head slightly in Kyle’s direction, but his eyes, trying as they might, never did meet the general direction of the other’s eyes.

”I can help if you want it.”

Ah. Well… To be honest, no, he didn’t want his help; nor did he even want to jump for that matter. But for Harper’s fresh, spectacular failure at running away, and ultimately tossed off the cliff by the two Guardians, alone and out of his mind, it was doubtful they couldn’t get out of it by being unable to swim. However, his offer was honest, genuine even, and having someone make sure he didn’t drown wasn’t exactly a pleasant highlight, but perhaps something to begin putting trust in. Hah. Not bloody likely anytime soon, but for now, it would work well enough.

“Fine.” Falke grated out finally, the English mildly mangled by his harsh German accent (but mostly better than any other times he had spoken), in answer to Kyle. His tone clearly echoing his train of thought, not really distasteful of the situation at hand but not thrilled about it either, and perhaps a faint, very faint, thankful note buried in it.

But that thankfulness was buried further, when Kyle took his hand as if to lead him to the edge. His blearily listless eyes hardened abruptly, flattened, and glinted with dangerous intentions. Over the years, his mother had been the first and only one to start and continue holding his hand or guiding him around, and Otter, had taken her place when his individualism started to shine through as he grew older. Kyle was neither. Impatiently, Falke twisted his wrist and jerked his hand free with Kyle’s grip, and repeatedly swatted his hands away if and when he reached over to resume a better grip on him.

Falke stalked forward under his own power, toward the edge. Not without fear, but perhaps the mildly annoyed, clear anger he had felt since arriving with destiny shoved down his throat, and Kyle’s ‘honest’ attempts at helping, gave him a rain check on those feelings right now. He raised a foot in time with Kyle’s count, scuffling hesitantly until he found the edge, and was about to make the leap, and… Froze.

Kyle jumped ahead, by himself; and Falke, waited, standing on the edge alone, quietly. Putting his own anxiousness at the back of his mind, before making the ‘leap of faith’ on his own. Brother/sisterhood be dammed… Reluctantly, after a steadying breath, he let a steely tension appear in his shoulders, and leapt off the edge - alone, on his own, and by his own choice.

Argh! He didn’t expect the fall to be so far, and that he would gather so much speed before ultimately crashing into the lake. Then the pain of impact, water might have been better than bone-breaking ground or rock at that height, but it still hurt. The cool temperature of the water as he plunged into it shocked him enough to take in a startled breath of the same water surrounding him, and not the blessed oxygen he’d been hoping for. After a brief moment of struggle, finding that if he kicked his legs he moved, and by luck, he found the surface.

He gasped laboriously a breath of fresh, mountain air, spitting out the water from the first failed breath, and nearly sunk under again. He kicked his legs a little more strongly to keep above the water level, but it was such a disorienting struggle. Could he do this? Maybe. Now where was the shore? Kyle? Falke suddenly felt someone grab the collar of his shirt with a harsh tug in what he supposed was the right direction…

"We made it!" Falke barely heard Kyle’s exhausted exclamation, because he was out of breath, not terribly so, but enough that he hacked and coughed for minutes after being out of the water once they could stand and walk to the shoreline. He was fine, really, maybe a little oxygen deprived, because he’d gotten too much false-oxygen lake water. He had survived, and didn’t drown, whoppie. But Kyle’s over enthusiastic words of ‘making’ it, made him feel almost sick to his stomach after feeling like a nearly lost a lung. ‘Right’, ‘they made it’.

Finally, the coughs left him, and he focused on breathing slowly, perhaps a little heavily while trying to ease deeper breaths in. He was too tired to do anything else but wordlessly sit down where he was in the fine, grainy sand, while he resumed proper, healthy oxygen levels again he supposed. He felt soggy, inside and out. Huh, and very much like Otter on bath day’s for the poor mutt. Even, unfortunately, he noted that even wet people had a slightly unsavory scent to them as well. Or maybe it was just the lake water…

Falke raised a hand, wearily wiping away the streaming rivets of water off his face, and then moving on to ruffle through his hopelessly tangled, and very wet, hair in an attempt to make his hair fall down somewhat normally (and down, more or less) and squished out some of the water. And then rubbed with a wince to the red line his collar had left around his throat being dragged through the water, already beginning to purple with bruises to his fair skin. Great.

Focused mostly inwardly, he had not pay attention much to the goings on around him, or frankly cared much really. He had happened to notice the voices of others leaving the washing up unto the shoreline area, and heading toward somewhere that someone, Kat likely having been the first one to have jumped, had begun setting up a fire or a place to camp for the night; and Kyle had stayed beside him, catching his own breath, but also seemingly giving Falke company while he recovered as well the same time. It was odd for a relative stranger to even consider doing it, but not feeling abandoned or left behind was a nice feeling, he would admit inwardly to himself.

He caught snippets of the conversations going on further away: A couple potential drownings had occurred apparently, food rations left by the snot-nosed youth of the elite, and dreaded small talk seemed to be the topic between a couple of those from Earth, with Kwasi hesitantly but happily joining in.

Back home, small talk was generally reserved for the 30 seconds one was potentially stuck in an elevator with a stranger, and even then it was only used via a question and an answer basis; and even that was an annoyance he seldom, if ever, took or preferred to take part in. Now talking about his whole life story, or even a summary of it, was definitely not on his bucket list. He would imagine himself pressing his thumbs (or crossing his fingers, as English speakers knew the phrase) for Autumn in her effort to get to know everyone, if he remotely knew her in the first place, but… He wouldn’t be participating, that’s for sure.

Kat’s call was a welcome distraction, and Kyle too finally broke the silence between them both, long winded like he had always been. Falke had to narrow his eyes further, focusing intently on the jittering English dancing through the air, to be sure he understood what he was even saying completely, or likely just a close enough as he could. But the gist seemed to be directions, and a will not to allow the native Airian to eat all the food.

“Wery vell…” He muttered softly in answer to the other’s question, wariness dragging raggedly down on his attempts at English. Falke wasn’t very hungry himself at the current time, however, Kat was better, quieter company than the group crowded for small talk around the fire, if for a small moment. Reluctantly, he shakily stood, arms wind milling as he resumed and fought for balance; before making his way carefully over the shifting sand, under his own power, a few minutes behind Kyle.

As the pack was passed to him, he managed to grab a couple pieces of dried meat, like jerky, from the bag for himself, before passing it back to Kat as not to incur her wrath for Kyle taking it from her in the first place. But as Kyle started the same small talk with Kat, who Falke had a feeling didn't appreciate it all that much either, he stepped away from them both. Still close enough near the fire to enjoy it's warmth against his goosed flesh, but apart from either 'group', so as to not be included in any conversations as he silently chewed the food he'd pulled from the bag. Idly he sat down - wet, covered in sticky sand, and looking bedraggled - attempting to enjoy a few moments of peace.

Autumn nodded as she listened to Kwasi. “That does sound rough. I don’t think I would be able to do it.”

It did seem strange, the head monk living such a lavish life. However, Autumn knew next to nothing about Aires. It wasn’t her place to make assumptions. Though, she did suspect some corruption. Not that she would ever say it, of course. Kat's comment only further aroused suspicions. “Well, I guess things will become clearer in the future.”

She yawned as drowsiness set in. Again with the exhaustion. “Maybe we should get some sleep soon. There’s probably going to be more training tomorrow.”

Watching the fire with tired eyes, she couldn't help but wonder if she would get anywhere in this world.

Well, thank God(dess? Should he be getting used to that? ) for Tallyho, Dorian decided as he nodded in the affirmative and followed behind. He was sensible enough to take any offer of guidance that he could find, memories new and old of losing his way on both Earth and Aires still fresh enough to guide him away from any pride-based refusal. The way back was oddly talkative and bizarrely Dorian-based- he'd never been one to willingly offer up information on himself, but he recognized it as the small talk it was and supplied the answers necessary to keep any awkward silences from befalling them. He lived with his father, a chef, he was currently a student but dabbled as a musician… It was all quite nice, really, until the silence he'd so avoided before set in on them in an instant as they stumbled out of the forest and were in sight of the camp. Kat, for her part, had done an amazing job single-handedly putting the camp together from the supplies available to her.

He only gave an affirmative hum at Tallyho's announcement, all of the mild friendliness from before dissolving into thin air, before following behind to the fire. The heat was welcome if only to dry his still damp clothes and the crackling flames were familiar enough now to almost be soothing. It was quiet, blessedly so, until the near silence was effectively broken by Autumn. While he was glad she was taking charge because, honestly, he'd prefer Autumn leading any sort of getting-to-know-you exercise over half of the usual suspects, he'd never been fond of conversations like these. It was partially because he'd known these people for a little over two weeks at this point and just now hearing about them humanized them in a way that made it very hard to put them back into the narrow categories he'd already mentally placed them in, and partially because it was awkward, like the first day at a new school where you dug your grave with the information you chose to initially divulge and were then forced to lie in it.

It was all quite basic as promised, with Autumn beginning, revealing herself as a Californian and shocking absolutely no-one with her tarot card revelation. Then it was Harper's turn, starting off with a ramble about New York and slowly falling into Harper Fun Facts before he trailed off with a bizarre show of something akin to humility. But that wasn't what was bothering Dorian. Something else entirely was tugging at his thoughts, begging for his attention, but he couldn't quite figure out what was wrong yet. It continued to try to garner his attention as other people spoke, Kwasi unsurprisingly being a good sport and attempting to join their little Earth game, Skylar seeming as much of a loss about what to say as himself, Xabier ushering Tallyho away(and Dorian couldn't quite figure out if that was to avoid the fire that the Spaniard had been looking at uneasily or to try to have a heart-to-heart with the Airian girl), before Autumn took the reigns again and Kyle attempted to start up an entirely new discussion with Kat, ignoring the one currently going on and- wait. Wait, he knew what was wrong. Dear God. He hoped that he was wrong.

"Harper," It was maybe the first time in his entire stay on Aires that he'd said the other boy's name, much less to him, and his tone sounded tired and more than a little foreboding. "Does your sister go to LaGuardia? Sadie Fields?"

Harper zoned out after a while, distracted by the food that Kat and Kyle had opened. He snuck a hand into the bag nonchalantly, pulling out bread and jerky, and feasting on the food while the others talked, hearing but not listening.

He did notice Xabier and Tallyho leaving together. Which didn't make him feel too hot.

Despite holding the crush for a decent amount of time (or rather, since he first laid eyes on Xabier), it was in that moment that he fully realized that he, Harper, had a crush on another boy. Which had never happened before. And he never thought it could happen. Why was it happening? And why NOW?

He'd had a similar realization about a week ago, when he was trying to sleep. The thought had kept him up all night, but only because he was in denial. He'd somehow convinced himself then that it was some sort of physiological thing, like an allergic reaction, or just coincidence that he always felt queasy around him. But now, lately, especially today, tonight, seeing him above him, so close...and shirtless...

Damn, he was blushing again.

Dorian's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. When he heard mention of his sister, and then his sister's name, he could hardly believe it.

Instantly his eyes narrowed on the boy, suspicion high. "Yes..." he answered, "Why...do you know her? How do you know her?" As he asked the questions, his mind raced, searching and recalling every discussion he'd had with Sadie, trying to figure out if she'd ever hinted at a Dorian. If he remembered correctly, she'd rarely had many guy friends. She usually hung out with girls!

Unless...unless....

Dorian...Dori...an....Dor.....

NO!

"DORY?" Harper exclaimed in disbelief.

It was all Dorian could do not to let out a groan because of course this was happening, this was his Sadie and not just a random Sadie who just so happened to play Orchestra elsewhere and have an older brother who she complained about and exulted in equal turns. Yes, he knew Sadie- they'd met a few years ago in New York's Youth Orchestra and, while there were a few people closer to his age in the program at the time, the two had become fast friends. Well, relatively fast- it started with simply chats about the pieces they performed, shifted to actual conversations about shared interests or school, turned to ice-cream after practice, and was now on the level that he considered her one of his best friends. He'd admired the bright younger girl for her talent and the handwork she put into everything that she did, and the resolve she held because, nice as she was, he preferred to stay on her good side.

They attended LaGuardia together now and that was rather nice if only because she was one of the few fellow students that he deigned to talk to on a daily non-class related basis, even if it was just at lunch or before and after school since their classes didn't quite overlap given their slight age difference. He was fond of her in so much as one is with arguably one of their best friends, his dad enjoyed her company which was always a plus in Dorian's book(although Avery Roberts was the sort of man who tried to remove "hate" from his daily vocabulary and insisted on using "strongly dislike" even after being yelled at by an irate and rather drunk customer for around an hour), and Dorian had even met her parents a few times, the first to make sure the older boy wasn't a creeper, and then afterwards on a more pleasant and less frightening basis. So, yes, this was his Sadie, which made Harper…

"Spielberg, I presume. I guess I can put a name to a face now," He deadpanned, hardly believing it. Or maybe it wasn't too difficult to understand. He'd heard so many stories about Sadie's older brother- nicknamed and only known as "Spielberg" up until this moment- but had never met him. Was this guy really Sadie's headache/beloved older brother? And had he really just used Dorian's far too embarrassing nickname(only Sadie and his father got away with it and it sounded just plain wrong coming from Harper)? Fantastic. Really, just great.

No. No, this couldn't be happening.

Dorian...no...he couldn't be Dory!

SADIE HAD HUNG OUT ALL THE TIME WITH DORY!!

"YOU'RE Dory??" he shouted again, jumping to his feet. "YOU??" he pointed a finger at him. "I thought you were a girl! She never told me you were a guy...I'd just assumed...Oh my God! And don't call me Spielberg! Not you!"

She'd never told him...she was fifteen, he didn't expect her to tell him everything but still...

What else hadn't she told him?

He stalked over to Dorian. "How close are you two? Exactly how close??? I swear to God, if you ever touched her..."

This wasn't the Spielberg that Sadie had described for the entirety of their friendship, or at least the Spielberg he'd come to know through secondhand sort of way. No, this was quite comfortingly Harper who, given the way he was acting, Dorian no longer felt the pressure to apply all the nice things he's heard about to the stark reality he'd come to know. Harper, who was about as excited as one of those little dogs that are set off by the most minute sort of surprise. If they'd gone about this like civilized adults, he might have had a heart attack. The surprise on Harper's face morphed into shock followed quickly by denial and then, and Dorian was quite sure he recognized this emotion having lived in New York his entire life and having seen rush hour traffic on the streets and in the Subways, anger.

The older boy sprang to his feet, accusation saturating his tone and a finger pointed towards Dorian's face as if he needed to be singled out for the faux pas of knowing Harper's sister. Was this a multiple child family thing? Was he speaking a language that no only child could understand because Dorian was mildly confused as to where the anger was coming from, particularly considering that he'd saved Harper's life not even an hour before. then again, the first time they'd spoken, as he was never pleased to recall, Dorian had similarly saved his life by killing a Cyclopean, so maybe this wasn't all that bizarre of a scene for Harper. He was moving closer now, threats tumbling from his lips and most likely unconsciously(or maybe consciously- Dorian didn't presume to know what was going on in Harper's thick skull) trying to intimidate him.

It wasn't that Doria was particularly angry at the outburst, but maybe this was more of a long-time-cmoing sort of thing. Really, he was more upset that someone who didn't even really know him was making assumptions about this relationship with arguably his best friend. Also, Harper was something of a prat and Dorian really, really didn't want to take that right now after such an (un)pleasant evening. And it had all started out so nice once they'd hit the beach-,well, not really. Nothing had been "nice" in a terribly long time.

"Then don't call me Dory," He replied, rising to his considerable height and scowling(really just frowning, but it didn't take much to make Dorian's face look like a scowl). "Sadie is one of my closest friends. Friends. We hang out together, we're part of the same orchestra, we go to the same school, and we're friends. That's all we are and all we ever will be." He finished with a great amount of finality, sharp, gray eyes awaiting either a further confrontation(expected) or something calmer(less expected by far).

It was good that Dorian and Harper had something in common. It was also very, very bad. Before she knew it, Harper was already yelling again and making accusations. Not that she expected it to take long for him to be loud again, but she was hoping that he would be a little nicer after being saved.

“Why don’t we calm down a bit, huh?” She chuckled nervously. Her hands were now in the air defensively as she hoped to get hold of the situation.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m exhausted. We should rest up. We’ll all probably feel a lot better in the morning.” Autumn could only hope they would listen. She didn’t think she would be getting any sleep with Harper yelling.

He was tempted to lie to her. Maybe say something about being tired from jumping off the cliff. It wouldn't be a full lie.
He was physically tired from the jump and what had came afterwards, but his body felt exhilarated.
Maybe just a little half lie....

In the end he decided against it. The whole exercise was to build up trust between the month warriors. Lying would only get him caught out.
"No, I'm not angry, just a little nervous s'all." He shook his head slightly. "Fire and me..... do not mix together."
He didn't want to think about the memories linked with fire. So he pushed the thoughts away.

He shuddered quickly and turned towards the water, hoping she didn't see.
When he regained his composure, he stopped and looked straight at her. Even when she was angry, she looked pretty. Little wisps of her hair had come loose in the light breeze and swayed gently. He wanted to laugh.
A slow smile grew on his face.
"You-" the compliment didn't have time to leave his lips when Harper's voice echoed across the shore.

The moment shattered.
Putting his hand through his hair, he turned to look over across where Harper and Dorian(?) were having a tiff. Harper's voice was loud, as usual. Xabier was just surprised that Dorian was involved.
He sighed silently and turned back to his walking partner.
"We should probably get back"
He held out his arm in an mock-gentlemanly fashion.
"Shall we?"

"Interesting."
She thought back to her her experience at the clearing. Her palms frisked across her thighs in search of a singed hole in the fabric of her dress.
"I guess fire... Isn't the friendliest." Her words were slow as the event replayed itself her mind. An expression of critical thought pushed through her features and even Harper's howling from across the beach couldn't break her out of what looked like a trance from the outside. It wasn't until Xabier mentioned that they should get back that Tallyho returned. She looked over in a slight startle. Xabier's arm poised towards her invitingly. Now Tallyho wasn't too keen on gestures, even the ones on Aires. Maybe you could say that she was a bit of a brute? Nonetheless she wasn't going to let the earthlings know that...not right off the bat anyway. She confidently raised her arm too, careful to mimic his form and bumped her elbow with his. Tallyho did good. Tallyho did real good. And while She might have looked extremely awkward to some third party, or even Xabier himself, she was preeeetttyyy sure she was doing this the right way. Or maybe she wasn't? She forced a straight, tight smile to hide her embarrassment as she lowered her elbow.
"Okay... Goodnight."
She broke off into a brisk walk across the beach. Her arms swung as hard as she stepped. She swept the back of her hand across her forehead to get rid of the cold sweat that was beading upon her brow, stopping just before she reached the fire. She paused at the nearest palm tree and without much hesitation or attention given to Harpers newest outburst, tucked herself against it's trunk in an attempt to soothe herself to sleep.

"Actually I meant where in Aires did you grow up. I'm absolutely certain that this academy, and Solace, and the Rose Kingdom aren't all of Aires. I grew up in a big city with tall buildings made of glass and metal, called New York City." Kyle responded to Kat. Why did he pick such hard people to spend time with tonight? After Falke got some food, he left both Kyle and Kat alone to eat it, and now Kat was agitated. "oh... I'm sorry." When Falke handed Kat the bag back, Kyle rubbed his neck and stared at his feet. "That was probably rude too," he mumbled. For a few minutes he sat in silence, half-listening to the conversation around the campfire.

Kwasi seemed to take over talking about monks, and his goddess, and the harbinger. Kat disliked this harbinger enough to break her common silence to insult him, and Kyle raised his eyebrows. What Kwasi said about the harbinger didn't sound right to him either, but he didn't know enough to comment. Neither did he have a chance to ask for more information, because Dorian asked a simple question and just like Harper, the drama king, started making threats. This was a team, and that was not allowed!

Autumn stepped in to stop the potential fight, but Kyle knew she wasn't strong enough to make an impact from training with her these past two weeks. He knew he could, and so did Harper. Even though, the shorter blond didn't like it, the jerk did overhear him tell Ryou he'd never lost a fight. Kyle wasn't exaggerating about his record then. It was the complete truth. He stalked up beside Dorian and crossed his arms over his chest with the wet shirt tight over his defined pectoral muscles. "Back off or I'll make you," he growled low and dangerous. Without any fear, the shorter boy met Harper's angry eyes and the older boy could see why they were oft-described as stormy. In his anger, they darkened and swirled. One could even imagine they heard thunder when looking into them.

Now Kyle was in the mix, threatening Harper if the man continued his behavior. Autumn sighed. Well, her little activity had gone downhill fast. Still, she had learned a bit about the others and she was happy with that.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but i'm going to bed." She said, hoping it would calm things down.

With that, she curled up near the fire. Her clothes weren't as wet as before, but she was still so cold. Cold and tired. Finally, she fell asleep.

He couldn't believe this. Couldn' believe this!

Everyone was jumping on him, (or at least, Dorian and Kyle) and for what?? Because he was worries about his sister?

"Really? Really, Kyle?" Harper asked incredulously, "You're going to fight me because I'm reasonably concerned about my sister? Of all the stupidest things to get mad at me about."

He was getting angry now. Like, really angry. "You know what? Fine. Lets everyone beat up on Harper. Clearly thats the only reason any of you bothered saving me. Who else would be your scapegoat? The guy you all love to hate? Well I'm sick of it now. All of you can go fuck yourselves!"

And with that, he stormed off to the beach, angrily stripping, and dove into the water and swam down, mad as hell.

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago(well, not quite that long- Dorian had only had cable when he'd turned ten and he and his father moved out of their dinky, technology-phobic apartment) Dorian had seen a particularly disturbing report on one of those nature shows about coyotes. As it turned out, when one stepped in a bear trap or was similarly stuck in an impossible situation, rather than face starvation or wait for someone to kill them, coyotes tended to chew off the trapped limb in order to live another day. At the time he'd found it ridiculous, sure in his child mind that he would surely have found a more intelligent and less painful way to escape if he'd been trapped in an impossible situation. At this very moment, with two out of line young men acting like, well, idiots, he began to reconsider that thought and, really, at this moment, attempting to chew his own arm off seemed like the only viable option. Not because that would actually help him physically escape- unless he happened to bleed out and die, but that was a morbid thought altogether and, really, he had too much to live for- but because if he started to do so, he'd surely make both boys uncomfortable, they'd leave him alone, and hopefully never speak to him ever again.

He wasn't sure how it came to this; he never was with these loud personalities. One moment he'd been firmly assuaging Harper's paranoia that Dorian was some kind of predator despite having been perfectly fine with "Dory" until figuring out "her" gender, and the next Kyle was by his side, arms crossed like a wannabe bouncer, chest puffed out and a threat growled. Which, of course, Dorian hadn't asked for at all. Even if this had been going the physical confrontation route- and it really hadn't been because Harper was, to beat a metaphor to death, far too much like a tiny, yappy dog in that he was all bark and no bite- Dorian, who was taller than both boys by far and an actual third degree black belt in Tae-Kwon-Doh didn't need someone rushing to his side to defend him. Not only was being treated like a particularly dim damsel in distress(dim in that even the sweetest damsel could probably take Harper on in a fight at this moment) something that Dorian didn't take kindly to, but the whole creations of sides was wearing on his last nerve as well. This wasn't a fight that anyone needed to be involved in- Hell, this wasn't a fight at all. Kyle had made it an altercation with an unspoken but very clear threat, escalating this situation to stupid proportions more likely than not to focus his anger-issues in what he saw as a constructive way- threatening his own teammate, especially since it was Harper.

And Harper, well, Dorian was halfway to a Pavlovian response in that every time he heard the other boy's voice, he'd get a headache, nausea, or both. The only halfway pleasant thing he'd ever heard Harper say to him was a quick thank you after saving his life today. After he'd jumped off a cliff, dove into a lake, and dragged the other's body to shore. Now he was being howled at and, to top it all off, Harper was playing the victim. Woe is Harper, the eternally disliked character, kept only to be harassed and harangued unfairly by the big bad teenagers who'd saved his life because no one wanted to see anyone die, who'd checked on him afterwards, who'd started a completely pleasant conversation with him despite the fact that he best communicated with swears and yells. Right. They were all the bad guys because it couldn't be Harper's fault- never his fault. It was Dorian's fault for being vaguely offended that he went territorial big brother on him. That was it, quite obviously. This was Dorian starting a fight.

This was Sadie's charming older brother? Well, Dorian sure as fuck would never be recounting what happened on this trip to her because he never wanted her to know how her beloved "Spielberg" acted when she wasn't around. No matter what Harper seemed to think, he wasn't that cruel.

Now Harper had vanished into the water, every part a tragic character except for the part that his tragedy was as fictional as could be. But Dorian wasn't in the business of arguing with idiots. He wouldn't shout and rave and rant because that would give Harper the vindication he so desperately wanted. He'd been done with Harper since literally day one, however long ago that had been. What he hadn't mentioned tonight, or any night before, was how he'd arrived in the group, gaunt and injured and scarred far too much to have just been separated from them for a day or two. It wasn't that anyone particularly cared and he didn't really expect them to- they had their own worries for the most part or were too busy living in their own little them-centric worlds. What Dorian wanted to do was to go home, to crawl into bed until his father came in to check with a cup of hot tea and something he'd whipped up in the kitchen. What he wanted was to be in the dojo, thrashing a punching bag until his muscles ached and his anger was satiated. He wanted his cello, to distract and express what he'd rather not with words in the privacy of his own home or practice room. He wanted to sit in the ice-cream parlor with Sadie, listening to her talk about her day until the cheerful or irritated chatter lulled him into complacency. He wanted long walks in Central Park, visits to local restaurants, orchestra practices, school, cars, cellphones, laptops, his own clothes, his own bed, his own life. But he wasn't like Harper, couldn't escape into a comfort from home like a regular Aquaman. He was left to stew in his wants and desires and- oh, God. His eyes weren't wet were they? They were and that just wouldn't do.

He ignored the prickling of tears and turned to Kyle, the only one from the little drama still present.

"I can take care of myself," blunt, never harshly so, but brutal honesty tends to hurt sometimes more than a hissed out insult. "So don't pick fights using me as an excuse. Don't talk to Harper, don't apologize to him. He'll be back when he wants to be and it's not your or my job to make sure he's happy because you know he wouldn't do the same for us. Just… Just go to sleep and we're going to pretend this never happened in the morning." With that, Dorian turned on his heel and moved further up the beach, closer to the forest. It was further from the fire, but, unlike everyone else, he didn't exactly want to sleep on sand and the further he was from the rest of them, the further he was from a complete meltdown, which was for the better. Someone had to be mature around here, even if it was just by keeping his mouth shut, a talent so few of the Month Warrior group seemed to have. God… Maybe those coyotes had had the right idea.

TIMESKIP
It had been three weeks since the camping trip and in that time Tallyho’s opinions of the others hadn’t changed so much. Every day was the same routine with very little chances to interact the same way again. Sure she might have eaten a meal with who ever made it their business to sit at a table with her but there was never anything new in the social sphere.
However, there was one new ritual that Tallyho actually liked. Two days after diving off the falls Haru gathered all of the warriors and told them about meditation. Tallyho liked it because she could be a fair distance away from others while also being given thinking time. Haru even made an effort to take certain warriors on fieldtrips to their respective elements outside of the given meditation time. Some days he took Harper to the beach lower down the mountain, Dorian to open spaces higher up the mountain, or Skylar to the forest. He made his rounds in an extremely calm fashion and spoke to each warrior in an attempt to help them realize their powers. They did this twice a day every day. Once in the mornings before running rocks on the mountain and once in the afternoon before dinner. Haru remained diligent and punctual, attempting to give each person a meaningful dose of one on one encouragement. But because of his constant running around it was harder to find him when it wasn’t your turn for meditation.
The blonde sat up from her rest. Her room faced the east so the sun rose against the walls, its hot light pressing through paper panes and heat grating against the wooden planks like a sick cat who just wants to be held. Through the paper walls she could catch the shadows of miscellaneous girls rising.
The night before, Haru asked them to get a good night’s sleep. The warriors would be starting the first of a very important series of training and he even asked them to bring their weapons. Tallyho reached over and pulled her sword from the corner. She clutched its leather sheath and sighed. It would be pretty awkward eating while armed.
Meals repeated themselves now and again. They were having rice and beef with a side of fresh milk. And while it wasn’t the most quintessential or elaborate breakfasts it was still breakfast and Tallyho never had time to eat it on a regular basis. They had it the first day they came back from the woods. And Tallyho remembered appreciating it because she forgot to eat the rations that night.
She ate her food but felt a little shameful. Of all the month warrior girls, she found her style of consumption a lot less…domestic than the others’. Her first instinct was to dive into her meal but she felt like a bit of wolf so she held back and approached her fork with a calmer hand. The first time she ate this meal she ate the meat first before scarfing down the rice. This time she tried to balance things out, her fork occasionally dancing around the meat in order to steal spoonfuls of gravy smothered rice.
She ate her meal in silence before heading out to the courtyard where a team of students was working diligently to raise and connect iron cast gates. Tallyho walked over to Haru who was overseeing the project.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“It’s a part of the training, don’t worry.”
Haru was basically shooing her off. Tallyho took the hint and went to the central fountain were she sat on the edge and watched them work. The gates were placed around a large, rectangular area. They were high too which, to Tallyho, meant no escape.
She wondered if they were a part of some resilience project. Place the group behind the bars and let them starve until the strongest, hungriest warrior is left alive within the gates. She wouldn’t be surprised if it was something like that—something ridiculous and dramatic and extremely painful. She watched as the other’s trickled into the courtyard and she wondered if they were thinking the same thing.
Haru called them over once the work was done.
“You’re going to be doing this often,” he said. “In order to truly defend yourself against cyclopean, you must have experience fighting them alone. I know this is scary and a lot to ask of people who haven’t been exposed to them before. But this is the most effective way to teach you and allow you to become more comfortable with your weapons. Know that while we will not let you die in these sessions, injury is hard to prevent…”
Tallyho swallowed. Soon enough Haru was gesturing for them to follow. And she did. He led them to another side of the gate where there was a door. Tallyho didn’t know it was a door until Haru opened it.
“Every time you go in you enter here.”
Then he pointed to the opposite end of the fence. Two students worked together to pull back an even larger door.
“Remember the cage that first cyclopean was wheeled in with? This is where the cages will come through. They will only be let out of the cage when you let us know that you’re ready. After that, the students will pull the ropes to lift the gate and then you are alone.”
Well this was intimidating.
“We will work you up to stronger cyclopean later. For now you will be battling a lot of average ones.”
“So what time do we start?” Tallyho asked.
Haru pointed to the other end of the courtyard where a group of cyclopean was being wheeled up the mountain path by a caravan of cages. A small line of people was moving beside cages and the first one up was Ji Na who gave a happy wave.
“On behalf of the elite students we bring you the first of many dozens!”
If it weren’t for the fact that the cages had the metaphor of death contained in them, the gesture would seem pretty grand.
“So who’s first?” Haru asked.
Tallyho didn’t really expect anyone to step up to that plate first. She really wasn’t too sure if she wanted to. But she felt like because she chickened out at the falls initially she had to redeem herself… for herself.
“I’ll go.” She said.
Haru nodded and the first cyclopean’s cage was wheeled in from the other end. Tallyho frowned as she studied it. Its jaws snapped with loud cracks.
This one was restless and she could tell by the way it thrust its body against all corners of the cage, eager to eat whoever was foolish enough to face it.
Tallyho was a fool.
She wasn’t thinking as herself when she started walking through the smaller door. Haru held it open for her and closed it when she was far enough away then he secured the latch.
“This is gonna be easy kid.” Haru didn’t know that, but what else was he supposed to say? “This is just a small one.”
Tallyho started feeling a bit light headed.
“Are you ready?”
Tallyho didn’t respond. Instead she squeezed her sword’s leather sheath. Why was it so heavy all of a sudden? She bit her lip and held the sword so that the sheath could slump off of the cloudy blade. And she realized that she sort of regretted not spending more time with it. The weapon sat in her room since she arrived.
“Are you ready?” Haru asked again.
“I think so…”
“Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
Haru raised his arm and the students at the other end of the cage nodded. The two thick ropes that laced through the gate and connected to either side of the cyclopean’s door tightened. The cage split through the middle, each door sliding out to release something unforgivable. And the cyclopean assisted them—firmly planting a palm on each splitting door and pushing outwards. It. Was. Free. And Tallyho was not.
“Step back,” he told the others. He wasn’t looking forward to any missing finger surprises.
“Good luck!” Kwasi waved from the sidelines. Though he wasn’t participating in this lesson he still found it appropriate to attend seeing as the warriors were the only people he knew.
Tallyho took a few steps back as the cyclopean stumbled out of its caging. Once it regained its balance it threw its head back to let out a horrendous roar. Fingers clenched, claws raking into the meat of its palms. Thick saliva drizzled from piercing teeth. Tallyho only had a moment to honor its ugliness before it was suddenly charging towards her.
The blonde couldn’t help but let out a shrill squeal as she threw herself to the side. The cyclopean crashed into the wall from which she entered and Tallyho looked over at Haru who stood back with a grim expression. As the creature regained it’s bearings it caught sight of the other warriors and began to harass them— shaking and trying to reach through the iron bars. Tallyho rose to her feet and she attempted to remember everything Haru said about fighting cyclopean.
Something about approaching from the back?
She wished that she had paid more attention instead of reveling in how much more experienced she was in these endeavors than the others. She squeezed her sword and approached on her toes attempting to be as quiet as possible as she tried to figure which side the heart was on from the back.
She was almost close enough… But she needed to be closer! Just to be sure she could take it out in one whack and be done with everything. At the moment she felt like she should have been screaming—a war-scream right before she bore her sword down into the monster’s person.
But a sudden thrust of force slammed into her torso and suddenly her feet weren’t touching the ground. She felt like she was diving off of the cliff again, her back turned to the water, arms outstretched in preparation. She hit the ground.
Flat and hard and on her back and she screamed, the sharp pain shooting through her system before dulling into an ache. She struggled to keep a tight hold of her sword because letting it go would be the end.
Even though Haru told her that she wouldn’t die Tallyho still couldn’t trust that the cyclopean wouldn’t get to the punchline faster.
She stood up faster this time and the cyclopean was already barreling towards her. Tallyho scampered back. Swinging her sword haphazardly, shots of black blood springing from the cyclopean’s wounded head, shoulders, anything the blonde managed to hit. It just kept trudging forward, long, lizard-like tail whipping this way and that.
It swung its great hand again and Tallyho was back on her back squirming under the weight of inhuman rage. This wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair. She thought back to the cyclopean encounter on earth. She survived because she had space to outrun the vicious monster. But in this cage… Tallyho just didn’t feel free enough. There was only one thing between her and the monster straddling her with intent to kill. And it was the sword that was pressed firmly into each hand, her left palm, the one rested against the blade striping with her own blood as she pushed the sword farther into the cyclopean’s neck, its teeth nearly grazing against her nose. It roared and saliva cruised onto her face with entitlement. Tallyho was nearly to tears as she turned away not wanting such an impurity to touch her face, let alone fall into her mouth. Its breath smelled like copper.

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Copper. Copper was the scent of blood and somehow Tallyho got a high from it. It reminded her or adrenaline, fight or flight, life and death. The young woman squirmed her way into the upper-hand, slowly sitting up and pushing the cyclopean back, her sword pressed deeply into her palms.
With a sudden burst of energy Tallyho grunted, and pushed forward. The sharp and sudden force exploding from her body and pushing the cyclopean’s body into a bounce against the cobble stone. It landed with a soft skid. Tallyho wasted no time. The woman rolled herself onto her feet and straddled the cyclopean, her first contact being a sure pierce into the chest. She did it again and again. Jabbing until she was sure the job was done, a wild head of hair masking her face until there was nothing under her but a pile of fine black shards.
“Alright good job, go ahead and get that blood off before it crystalizes! Who’s next?” Haru’s congratulations were rushed. It was as if he had gone through this drill a dozen times before. And he had. The past three years were a busy three and Haru was just pleased that there were still cyclopean in the area for the elites to trap.
Tallyho offered a tight smirk as she tossed thick hair over the back slope of her shoulder. Another successful run. As she knelt down to pick up her sword, the young woman, now toner and tanner nodded a brief good luck to the others before meandering through the large door through which the cages entered, rolling her eyes and taunting the cyclopean that still remained.
Rinsing in the fountain became a regular thing. The black blood would willow away to the bottom before hardening. By the time it crystalized, grounds keeping would be ready to fish the shards out. It was almost lunch and Tallyho was starving. She hoped that the others would hurry so that they could grab a bite to eat. In the three years they’d been there they hadn’t really gotten food remotely close to what the elites got but things got better. Some of them got to know the lunch staff well enough to sneak a dessert from time to time.
A lot of the characters they met at the academy remained the same however. Ryou was no more serious than he was the first day he appeared and Karma hadn’t even grown an inch. It seemed like every time she had a birthday party they were congratulating her for accelerating to the same age. But like the pigment of her hair and her bad attitude no one really questioned it. Ji Na was still extremely polite but was often seen with a gruffer man called Ben. Tallyho hadn’t had too much contact with him but from what she gathered he wasn’t one to mess with. When Ji Na wasn’t with Ben she was often in the academy’s public medical lab with Xabier and whoever else was interested teaching them the effects of grinding different herbs. Though she was three years older her looks hadn’t changed much. The knight, Dae was still the main trapper. He wasn’t one that Tallyho had too much contact with either but she saw him a lot more than his two friends Mori and Liam. Unsurprisingly, Kat fought her way through the ranks and finally made it to the edge of the elite table. Her looks hadn’t changed much either but she seemed stronger each day. Kwasi wasn’t quite as lucky but he did move up. He kept his head shaved and still wore thick robes. But the blonde noticed that the monk found his niche teaching a religion class. Not that Tallyho took it. Though she did learn a lot of things at the academy. Haru forced the warriors to take classes on an array of useful things whether it was politics, geography, or war strategy. Some days were filled with tests about monarchs and military matters while others were filled with back breaking work.
They still had meditation time but it was nothing like it was in the first year they began. Haru stopped going with them and prompting them. By now he trusted the kids to learn on their own.
Tallyho wasn’t sure about the status of the others but she felt like she had the most trouble progressing. Sometimes it was a timing problem. Water conducted electricity and for some reason or another most of the times she sought to go practice near water Harper or Kyle were occupying the areas already. But for the most part it was a conditional matter. She just couldn’t pull lightning out of nothing. When storms came she made it her business to stand out in the rain until she felt something.
After rinsing the blonde collapsed onto a seat at the fountains edge, waiting anxiously for the others to finish.

(Just going to delete this and re-post below.)

Meditation, Autumn decided, was her favorite part of training. It gave her a chance to relax and breathe. She never had to go far, for spirits could be contacted anywhere. Though, she still wasn’t very good at contacting them. Actually, she couldn’t contact them at all yet. Still, she remained hopeful.

As always, meal times weren’t the most extravagant. The food was bland at best and there was never much discussion among warriors. As much as she wanted the group to connect, it didn’t seem to be happening. Autumn poked at her rice and sighed wearily. It was too early and she kept bumping into her war scythe that she had propped up against the table. Somehow, she had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be a good day.

Seeing the fence in the courtyard confirmed those feelings. Autumn gulped, gripping her weapon tightly. Whatever this training was, it couldn’t be good.

She was called over far too soon. She still wasn’t prepared to fight a cyclopean. She still wasn’t ready to get injured or even bruised. At that moment, she felt very much like a toddler holding a gun. Dangerous only to herself and likely to be killed.

Her chest felt tight as she tried to breathe. This was no good, panicking was no good, she had to calm down. She closed her eyes instead. Just for a second. But before she knew it, Tallyho was already fighting. And before she knew it, it was already her turn.
She wasn’t ready. She wasn’t ready at all. So why did she step into the arena? Why did she squeak out a pitiful “yes”? Why was the beast in the cage ready to rip her throat out?

She couldn’t close her eyes this time, no matter how tight her chest was.

Behind, she had to get behind.

The cyclopean lunged out of the cage and Autumn shrieked.

Behind? Behind what? She couldn’t remember in the slightest.

All she wanted to do was run far away. Run and survive. Run away from the cold mountain air and never be tired again. And yet she stood still, too afraid to move. It seemed nostalgic. She had done this before. Of course, her first near death cyclopean experience was on earth where there were hospitals and ambulances.

Perhaps she had learned a little, because her pause was very brief. She managed to jump to the side, which was a lot more than standing there shaking in her boots.

She just needed to stab it, right?

She gripped the handle of her war scythe tighter, not caring that the splinters were digging into her skin. The blonde charged forward, hoping that her act of bravery would somehow kill the monster. Her weapon, of course, wasn’t really meant for stabbing. She might have pulled it off if she was skilled, but the heavy blade only slowed her movements. She had no idea what she was doing.

The cyclopean was too fast. She could see its hungry jaws just waiting for her blood and flesh. This was it, this was how she was going to die.

~~~~~~~~

The cyclopean was fast, but not fast enough. It had weakened considerably, its energy almost completely drained. Autumn had no time to be proud. She had to move in quickly.

The blade was no burden to her. It was a welcome friend. She swung, letting gravity work it’s power into her strike. It wasn’t enough, not yet. The screams of the monster proved that it wasn’t dead yet.

Autumn dashed to the side, stealing just a bit more energy from the beast. It was almost too much, a foul restlessness ready to burst out of her at any second. It was now or never.

She got back into position, not allowing the cyclopean the time to attack. With a powerful strike from her blade, she watched it shatter into obsidian.

Thank the stars that was over. She quietly divided the energy she had collected to the spirits she owed, thankful that she no longer had the burden of it within her. It always felt disgusting.

With a heavy sigh that was more comical than complaining, she left the arena to go rinse in the fountain. As much as she hated getting blood on her, it couldn’t be avoided.

The previous three years were a difficult time. Whenever she wasn’t training physically, she was training mentally. She soon learned that the spirit world was not as easy to communicate with as one might have thought. The woman didn’t even control the spirits, she simply communicated. Or, rather, traded.

The greatest thing a spirit could desire was energy. It allowed them to appear and move objects. A spirit with enough energy could move mountains from beyond the grave. Naturally, it was in high demand. As the November Warrior, it was her duty to give them energy in exchange for their services.

Most of the time, such services included spying. Though, if she gave a spirit enough energy, they were capable of minor physical attacks. She had yet to pull off anything major in the offensive department.

Luckily for her, she was also capable of energy manipulation. She could steal energy from others and give it to the dead, or simply keep it for herself for later use. Though, when it came to cyclopeans, she preferred not to hoard it. The energy was much too vile for her tastes. Whenever she took it, she made sure to quickly get rid of it. The spirits, however, seemed to have no problem with it and took it gratefully.

After three years, people were bound to change. Even she had changed a little. The fat that clung onto her body as a teenager was no longer present, instead replaced by lean muscles from training. Her sense of fashion hadn’t changed that much, however. She still wore the same looking dress and apron combination. Though, these days, she chose to wear her cloak even in the summer months. She never put the hood up during those months, and even then the garment didn’t cover her completely. Her front was still exposed, allowing others to see her dress. Which was exactly the way she wanted it. It was enough to keep warm and be questionably fashionable at the same time. The cold of trading energy with spirits never really went away.
One thing she could be grateful for were the friendships she had made.

Some of them were easy to befriend. Lux and Skylar, for example, quickly became good friends of hers. She enjoyed talking with them, even teaching Lux some of the basics of tarot.

Even the stoic Dorian was her friend. She wore him down, she was sure of it. They were more like brother and sister, there for each other when the other needed it. She took care of him and he took care of her. Though, honestly, she always thought that his actions meant a lot more.

Falke, however, she was never able to become good friends with. They just never connected. Perhaps it was that they both were best used for information gathering. Her competitive edge certainly drove her to be jealous of him. Or perhaps it was the fact that whenever she tried to get along with him, he didn’t respond positively. Whatever it was, they just never really sparked.
Kit, though, became a good friend. It was a relationship of respect between Guardian and Warrior, one that she was grateful to have. They would never be on the same level that he and Ryou were on, but that was fine by her.

In time she soon learned that he was actually a rather good person. On his good days he was a curious sort, the type who was constantly amazed by the world around him. He was clever, a puzzle solver, the kind of person who liked it when there was something that could be solved. He was also a cook and a musician, though he hardly had time to do those things. He spent most of his time either training her or reading something in the library.

His good moods, however, only ever lasted about two months maximum before he was back to being grouchy. It was like it came in waves. She didn’t mind, though. She was well aware by this point that it wasn’t really something he could control. If he was tired and grouchy, he was tired and grouchy. There was nothing she could do about it but be supportive.

Still, he had vastly improved. When Kit first arrived at the academy he was rather solitary, only really getting along with Ryou and occasionally Lillian. However, as the years passed, he branched out and began to befriend others. He often visited Kwasi and even formed some sort of a friendship with Xabier. Though, by the way he acted, it was most likely one based on respect rather than desire to be around him. She wasn’t quite sure where it came from. Perhaps it was due to the fact that they both had scars. Xabier seemed to have been burned at one point, and though he kept it a secret Kit had some scar tissue on his neck.

At least, Autumn thought he did. She never really saw much of it. The redhead always wore his turtleneck, so she was only able to learn this information from the spirits that spoke to her. They insisted that the scar went all around his neck, like a ring, but she never saw it. Nor would she ask. If Kit wanted to cover it up, it wasn’t any of her business. No matter how curious she was.

She, too, often spent time in the library. Though, her reasons weren’t so much for of learning as they were an excuse to catch a glance of Liam. Somewhere along the line she had developed a bit of a crush on him. She wasn’t exactly sure why. Maybe it was simply the fact that he knew magic. Whatever it was, she was fond of him. Romantic pursuits, however, were not her strong suit.
Then there was Xabier. She had developed feelings for him as well. It certainly complicated things. She was hardly in the position to choose. After all, both of them were far too good for her. Even if she were to approach one of them, she was positive that they would turn her down. That was how it went on earth, and there was no reason for it to be any different on Aires. She tried not to let it bother her and continued onwards as always.

She sat down near the fountain, wringing out her cloak.

“I swear, Tallyho. One of these days I’m going to consume too much cyclopean energy and then BOOM. I’ll turn into a monster or something.” She complained.