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Sina merely beamed at Soran and River as she kept her chin on her laced hands. The silence at the table was indeed a little odd, but she was doing her best to not let her mouth run as she awaited for either of the two to speak. As she looked closely at Soran she felted the temptation of teasing him again, but she wasn't too sure if he could handle any more of it.
The sound of the door opening in the front could be heard, and then footsteps as someone walked quickly through the house. A few seconds after that, and Kilia's face came into the room. She smiled sweetly, "Oh good, you're all still here," she said, then spotted the plate of food and her stomach growled a bit, "Uh... I'll eat in a few minutes, actually I have something really important to talk to Soran about." With that, she crossed the room and took the chair next to him.
Soran, who had desperately been trying to ignore Sina's wild grin as she sat there, had finished his plate and was trying to figure out if it would be odd to just up and leave the table without a word. He was definitely stuck in this decision for a while, and then Kilia came in. As she seated herself, he looked over to her, wondering what it was she wanted, "Yeah?" was his only word.
"Uh... Soran. You trust me?"
He lifted an eyebrow, a bit of a frown on his lips, "Yes, what is it Kilia?"
"I... I am worried about you. And everyone else is too. Cryio, he's a healer. A healer on all sorts of levels. He wanted to talk to you. Is that okay? He wants to see you."
Soran bristled slightly, "A god wants to see me?"
"Yes. He wants to just, take a look, okay? That's fine right? I'll be right there too, and I trust him. Remember, he's the god of life, Soran."
"So...Kilia." Sina said with a catty smirk playing at her lips.
Kilia looked over to Sina, "Yes?" she asked, thought she wasn't sure what the girl wanted since she was trying to convince Soran about going and seeing Cryio.
"I need to check your neck. Rethyn-kun must have bitten it..." She said in teasing voice as she tried to get up to get closer to Kilia. "Oh..come on where is it..." She added in as she peered closely at Kilia. After a rather awkwardly long moment Sina sighed as she sat back down sulking. "I'll look closer later."
Kilia turned bright red, her hands rushing up to her neck even though she knew there was nothing of the sort, and she stuttered, "W-what d-do you m-mean!?" her voice was shrill as she gazed wide eyed at Sina. She couldn't believe what the girl had just said. Kilia's mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to formulate words that never quite got passed her throat that had tightened.
"A-anyway! Soran... l-lets go, outside... okay? Is that, okay?" she said, trying to regain her composure.
Soran, on the other hand, had not registered Sina's comment as he sat there. He struggled once again, but this time with having to go see a god. He frowned.
"Hey," River's voice came across the table, "It's okay," she said, with a smile to her son. He looked up to her and for a while just stared at her. Finally he gave a nod.
"Alright," he answered and stood up. Kilia followed quickly, her face still red as she skirted around the table and tried her best to avoid Sina. With that, she led Soran outside.
Taking notice of the avoidance of Kilia, Sina frowned slightly. "I guess she's shy...meow..." With that Sina's frown turned into a small grin. Following the others from the room she knew she was going to have to keep tabs now.
Humming lightly she skipped along. She had grown to adore this lot.
Tristan was still outside, but this time he was discussing strengths and weaknesses of just about everyone he could think of. Those he didn't know of like Eveylyn he was hoping Deriea would fill him in one. It was one of the first ways he figured they could see where they needed to start. One god he avoided...was the one who tortured Soran, he knew if he asked about that one...she would get a sense of the amount of hatred he had for him.
He paused to see the others come outside, and he half wondered if Kilia was successful or not. At least Soran had come out the door again, that was a good first step.
"Cryio!" Kilia called as she came down the steps, Soran right behind her. The blonde Seer didn't look very comfortable, but he came anyway. Following behind was River and Sina and anyone else that may have been interested in finding out what was going to happen. The god turned to his name and looked at the little girl as she stopped a few feet before him. Soran on the other hand, had stopped several feet away and did not move an inch closer. Cryio glanced up to the blonde.
"Come closer."
"No," Soran responded firmly.
Cryio tilted his head and glanced down at Kilia. She shook her head a bit, "This was the best I could do. Can you... do anything?"
"If he is closer," Cryio answered smoothly.
Kilia heaved a sigh. Walking over to Soran, she offered her hands to him, "It's okay. I know what you're thinking and I don't blame you in the least. Trust me, okay? I'm right there next to you. I promise. Nothing bad will happen, he just wants to look."
Soran's immediate response was sharp, but he cut off the words before they could fully leave his lips and looked away. He thought about it again for a long while as Kilia offered her hands to him. Tentatively he reached out and took her fingers in his. Kilia smiled and started backwards very slowly, with him sort of pulling on her weight to keep her from going to far. A few seconds later, he was standing where Kilia had stopped. He shook dreadfully, but he managed to stay put despite his wishes to move away.
Cryio stared at him, their crystal blue depths that had no pupil slightly unnerved Soran but he didn't look away. Cryio reached up then and touched Soran's face, his fingers just barely brushing his cheek. In return, the blonde Seer shouted, wrenched himself free from Kilia's grip at the same time slamming his arm into Cryio's and in one move opened his magic system as he backed up. Without even engaging the system like normal, in his hands materialized silver guns which he pointed at the God as he screamed,
"What the fuck do you think you're doing!? Do not touch me!"
"Soran!" Kilia yelled and put herself in front of Cryio.
Tristan didn't even realized that he had moved also and stood in front of Kilia, "Soran," he voice was calm, "put the guns away, no one is here to hurt you." He put his hands up like he was showing that there was nothing there. He had thought about touching but hesitated.
Soran trembled, his gaze narrowed, teeth grinding as he grit them together tightly, lips pulled into a deep frown that showed his teeth. His breathing was heavy, green eyes a bit on the wild side as he stood there, both guns trembling in his grip as his fingers curled and uncurled around the triggers. He couldn't think really, and there was nothing but an unexplainable anger coursing through him, pushing his fingers to curl on the triggers, but he couldn't fire. Soran couldn't fire the weapons.
He fought with himself for quite some time before it seemed the anger ran it's course and the weapons faded out. His expression became soft and he let out a heavy release of air. Looking up to Tristan, he felt tears in his eyes again, "Tristan..."
Tristan watched slightly nervous but he wasn't scared. He stepped forward and put his arms tentatively around the blonde seer, "its ok," he said softly. He hadn't seen Soran ever react that fast, it was a surprise. Tristan found himself slightly shaking, but he hoped it would be covered up with Soran's trembling
Voices from outside awoke Rethyn as he opened his eyes. He felt groggy in the moment as he didn't exactly register who was yelling from outside. Rising to his feet he stretched briefly before sliding his sheath's strap onto himself and heading for the door.
Walking up behind Sina, Rethyn had quite the bedhead as he stared at the gods absently. "If they were a threat they would of done something by now." Rethyn thought to himself as his eyes gazed over to Soran. Something was indeed wrong, and his gut instinct was to intervene. Resisting the urge to get in the middle of things, Rethyn raised a brow at Sina of which was looking at him with stars in her eyes.
"You alright...?" Rethyn asked cautiously.
"I need to ask you a few things later~! K?" Sina said before she snapped her head back to the gods and Soran.
Soran clung to Tristan again, holding tightly as Cryio came up to the side of them both. The god leaned down a bit, "As I suspected," he said gently. The blonde flinched slightly but he didn't break away from the red haired Seer, or try to draw his weapons again.
"What do you mean?" Kilia asked as she moved to their other side as well. Reaching out she gently patted Soran's shoulder.
"The one who..." he flicked his gaze up to Tristan, "They left something. The blade that was used... it didn't just take energy, it transferred a bit as well. Possibly to get the energy to flow better, like a start up."
Kilia's breath was hitched. This was the most that Cryio had ever spoken before, and the god didn't look happy at all. In fact he looked rather upset, "C-can you..."
Cryio frowned, a rare emotion, "I will try," he muttered, "Give me some time."
Tristan nodded at Cryio as he held the other seer, his eyes held a multitude of emotions. Sadness, anger and maybe even a little fear was present, he hoped the god could help. He wanted Soran back...that was what he mostly cared about, he wanted him back without that anger inside him.
Rethyn looked to his Seer, his own eyes gravitated to sorrow as he wanted to help his Seer but couldn't. He knew he wanted Soran to be okay and he wanted that for him, but he was not able to help. In fact, he worried he had made things worse the other night. Since the event he hadn't really gotten the chance to talk to either of them.
"I'm sorry I startled him. But I needed to see," Cryio said and then stepped away. He looked between the two of them before turning around completely and leaving to disappear into the forest.
"Cryio!" Kilia called.
Deriea made a sound, her arms crossed, "Well... I suppose we should wait then. I can't be training any of you if I'm in danger of getting killed by the mortal with a happy trigger finger," she commented lightly, "Cryio will return, he's just gone to get some things I'm sure. Don't worry about that. If anyone can fix this mortal, then he can. Of course..." she glanced at the blonde who was trembling in Tristan's arms, "Dealing with a God's energy is definitely a little bit different than dealing with a mortals energy..."
"Thanks Deriea," Tristan said, she had been a help to him anyways. "Well will start soon I hope."
"Training?" Rethyn said with a fold of his arms. He cocked his head a little at the god, but besides that didn't say much else. His stance looked standoffish towards the god as he had slightly turned away from the goddess. In the back of his mind he felt a small fear growing. "Does she know?" echoed through his mind over and over.
"Well, I wouldn't thank me yet," Deriea said with a slight scoff. She glowered at the ground, "You can do that when you all survive this war, how about that? Sound like a fair deal? In the mean time, you should probably take him inside for the time being. I don't think he enjoys our presence all that much... or rather, it's probably a really bad trigger for that anger of his."
Tristan nodded, "Come on Soran," he said as he turned back to the house with the arms wrapped around the other.
"Alright," Soran nodded and allowed the taller boy to lead him back to the house, "Sorry..." he moaned slightly, his arm wrapped around Tristan's waist as they went back to the house. River stood on the deck, her eyes wide, but her hands reached out to her son as they passed and rushed through his hair and gripped his shoulder tightly.
"It'll be alright," she whispered as they went. Kilia remained outside, her breathing slightly irregular as she stood there. The explosion of anger had been so shocking and sudden, she was still trying to get over the event.
Rethyn watched Sina follow after Soran and the others. He himself didn't move as after they left his eyes moved to Kilia and the goddess. Taking notice of Kilia's current state of shock he slowly stepped towards her. With an expression of concern Rethyn asked her.
"Are you alright Kilia?"
Usually it was her who asked him, but at the moment Rethyn had taken the lead in asking. Placing his hand upon her shoulder he gently squeezed it. His eyes glanced to the goddess for a moment again before moving to try to find the sky blue eyes of Kilia as he stood behind her.
The hand on her shoulder startled her a bit from her thoughts and she looked up to find Rethyn looking at her. For a moment, she wasn't sure, but was that concern? Well of course it was. He wasn't all that great at hiding it when he thought he had a stony face around her. She gave him a small smile, warmed that he had actually come to see and ask, and show that expression willingly without any force to try to hide it.
"I will be. I just want him to be better. That anger is... scary. Who knows what it could grow into," she sighed a bit as she looked off into the trees, "Cryio should return later so maybe we should go find something to do for the meantime... Deriea will let us know when he comes back, right?" she looked over to the Goddess who had stretched out in the sun again.
The woman lifted a hand, waved it lazily and went back to basking in the sun.
"I can understand where it comes from, both him and I have something in common." Rethyn said in response to Kilia before glancing over to the goddess then back to Kilia. With his other hand he begun to rub at his eyes briefly as he said. "I tried to do something about it Kilia, though I believe I only helped him with the fear. To be honest I don't know if I even helped."
"No," Kilia shook her head at him, giving him a bit of a frown as her fingers wrapped around his forearm again, "You helped him. If Cryio and Deriea had shown up a few days before, he never would have left that room to come see who it was. I wouldn't have even got him to come out. Dealing with his fear is something else. This anger... this... rage that he has. It's not something we can deal with or help. As Cryio said, it's unnautral, it's a Gods energy that's affecting him. Only fixable by another god..."
"Yeah.." Rethyn glanced away as he thought about last night. As different as they were Soran and him had gained a some common grounds. He felt sympathetic towards the kid as he understood his version of hell he'd dripped into. Glancing back over to Kilia he felt the same warmness as before pulse through him.
So far this day he had seen nothing, the constant hallucinations at every turn had vanished. In this moment of time he felt like he had woken up into a paradise of sorts as the thought of this life became warmer. Kilia had given it to him yet she had no idea of what her protection spell did. In the back of his mind he knew he needed to do something to thank her. He just had not found it yet.
Her gaze widened just a bit as she realized her words. Thankfully, though he didn't seem to be angry with her. Maybe he knew what she meant, and that she hadn't been trying to be mean. Turning, she looked up at him. Stepping up to him, she wrapped her arms around him, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you... I'm just... it's worrisome." Taking a deep breath, she tried not to cry, though it wasn't really working so she didn't look up to him for quite a while as she settled herself.
Finally, after a few tears shed and her heart was a bit more settled, she cleared her throat and looked up at him, "So... what should we do while we wait for Cryio?"
Doing his best to wipe at her tears with his index finger, Rethyn looked to Kilia as his eyes no longer looked hollow, but instead worried. Embracing her gently back he placed his chin on her shoulder as he whispered into her ear. "It's okay, you didn't." He squeezed her gently a little in an attempt to try to help settle her. He was unsure of himself as he did so, he didn't know if he could be warm enough to support her. However, he didn't want to fail her either.
As she looked up to him and asked the question his gaze went towards the house as he said. "I saw you go towards the training room a few days back, I know I usually don't train with the group...but maybe we could burn off some stress." He wanted to smack himself. He was stumbling over his own thoughts and he was hating it. He disliked how easy it was for Soran and Tristan, but so challenging for him. All of his intelligence seemed to fade the moment he caught her eyes.
"Mmn." He murmured.
Kilia blushed a bit, "Oh yes... that. Um, I was trying to see what else I could do with my spell system, and well... I sort of ended up creating an illusion little... dragon?" she couldn't look at him as she said this, "I'm just happy he didn't burn it down, Grayson might have been just a little bit upset with me. But um... I'm... not very good at fighting. I sort of want to, because of recent things, but... I'm really horrible at it," she said still looking everywhere but him.
Soran and Tristan
Taken to the room to calm down, Soran had finally gotten a hold of himself. He didn't like this feeling that coursed through him, and he detested the fact that he'd held a gun up to his boyfriend, thoughts of actually pulling the trigger making him feel sick to his stomach.The sooner this could go away, the better. So, he was huddled in the corner of the room, up on the bed with his legs pulled up to his chest and arms wrapped around them, staring at the floor. He didn't know what to say or how to even express how he felt about what had happened.
Tristan had left for only a second to get the other a drink of water, and well to calm his own nerves. He opened the door slowly and looked across the room to the bed before entering and closing the door behind him. He only locked it after thinking he didn't want any weird people coming in.
He crossed the floor and sat down, "here," he said offering the water to Soran, "its not your fault what happened out there." Tristan knew that Soran might be feeling bad, but he didn't want the other to blame himself. There was something else controlling that part of him, if he understood what the god said. Something left behind in Soran to cause the anger, Tristan never believed that Soran would do that himself.
"I pointed a gun at you, Tristan! I almost pulled the trigger," he said, his voice wavering as he felt another wash of anguish hit him right in his chest, "I could have killed you..." he tightened his arms around his legs and buried his head, "I don't know why... I can't seem to control this anger. It's growing every day and it's all I can do to keep from lashing out at you for the most ridiculous, idiotic, things that I would never do in the first place. Today... today was something I couldn't control and I don't know," his voice shook even more tears edging in, "I don't know if I can stop it next time... that dreadful urge to fire off one of my weapons, no matter who it is standing at the end of the barrel..."
Tristan listened to him, "Soran, you said you couldn't control it, but you didn't fire. You held yourself back. That means you can control it still, you haven't lost to the anger." What could he say, to make the other understand. "And you still have me, I don't care how angry you get, I will still be here."
Sniffing a bit, Soran looked up from where he'd buried himself. He frowned, he wasn't sure if he should believe that he could control it. What if he shot Tristan next time? It wasn't like Soran could miss... he never missed. Reaching out, he took the water from Tristan, took a mouthful and then set it down next to the bed. Moving, he crawled across it and wrapped his arms around Tristan, "Promise me something? If I ever do that again, even if you don't think I'll pull the trigger. You better stop me."
"I can promise you that," Tristan said, what had happened today had scared him enough to realize that standing in front of the guns was the worst idea...of course he was thinking of Kilia and the fact she was there. She was more important to the group, well that was the thought running through his head at the time. "I just couldn't believe you moved that fast, I've never seen you...like that. It was almost like you were possessed in that moment." Of course that could have exactly like that, but Tristan was just making a point.
"Possessed..." Soran repeated the word as if the thought had never crossed his mind, "I... suppose that's right. I didn't even draw off of the magic system... they just... appeared in my hands," he released a heavy breath, "All the more reason to stop me, no matter what it takes." he breathed heavily as he rested his body against Tristan. He was happy that the other boy didn't mind it as he did it often. Sometimes he wondered if it was uncomfortable, it wasn't like Soran was as light as a feather, he had muscle... just not as much a the other. He blushed a bit.
Pulling away, he frowned at Tristan, "You know... you really suck. How did you get all of this anyway?" he said, changing subjects as he poked at Tristan's sturdy frame.
Tristan quirked an eyebrow, "Probably cause of my dad, he wouldn't let me be the lazy computer geek I wanted to be, he'd force me to do something everyday." Tristan sometimes had to be dragged...but well that was a little embarrassing to admit.
"I do stuff everyday too... must be because of my genes..." he muttered the last bit to himself, "Well, whatever. You still suck, but I like it," he said with a grin. Then he sat back and gazed at Tristan for a long while, eying him carefully, "Hmm," he hummed gently.
"You know... I still owe you from earlier, don't I?" he gave a small, wicked little grin as he looked up and met the boy's gaze, "All that laughing this morning. Traitor. I have some serious plans for you," he said and lunged forward.
Tristan grinned, "I have no idea what you are talking about...who was laughing," He was though caught by surprise as the other lunged at him. He fell back on the bed with the other on top. "So...what plans, I am seriously curious."
Soran sat up on him, not bothering to ease his weight as he put himself right on Tristan's stomach, leaning forward, both hands on his chest he grinned right back, "Oh, see, now if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, because well.... I said it was," he stumbled a bit but quickly pressed on. His fingers inched their way down to Tristan's sides and once he was in place, he poked the boy, hoping to find the red head's sensitive, ticklish spot.
Tristan watched the others hands and they went to his sides, when he was poked though he looked up at the other, "Was that...suppose to do something," he asked with a slight grin on his face. He had a sensitive spot...but it wasn't there.
"Ah!..." Soran blushed as he pulled back, expecting to be attacked in the same manner. Not only was Tristan bigger, but he wasn't ticklish either... which was really bad since Soran was very ticklish, "U-uhh... shit... you have to have a spot... there's no way," he started muttering to himself as now it was a rather important challenge that he find it... If there was one at all. He moved, wiggling down Tristan's body and then started poking him randomly, trying to figure it out, "You really suck..." he said. After a while, he finally decided since that wasn't working -or didn't seem to be-, he would try something else.
"Fine... how about this then?" his fingers went under the shirt and then trailed all the way back up, lifting it as he went, "Mm, hot. Too bad that if we wrestled I'd probably win," he threw out, sticking his tongue out at Tristan.
As Soran went poking, Tristan was biting his lip, trying not to laugh. He only slightly flinched when the other got to the back of his knees. But Soran must not of noticed it, he went to say something but the other decided to run his fingers under his shirt. Soran's words made him curious, "Why did you want to wrestle Soran." Tristan was trying to be casually, because he didn't really know what the other had on his mind.
Soran grinned, moved so that he was in the right position and promptly bit Tristan's side, just above his hip. When he released his teeth from the warm skin that he'd nibbled on, he laughed a bit, "So I could do that. Oh, and here too," he moved up a bit, bit him again, "See? I'd win simply by distraction. And it would be fun. So there."
Tristan closed his eyes for a second after the other bit him, before he could say anything the other did it again. "You..know, I think biting is against the rules," but he had to agree, it would be so much fun. Tristan was blushing now, and he really wanted to turn the tables on the other. Oh he would wait, he just needed the other to come up a little bit more.
"Mm," he hummed as he bit him again, working his way up without even looking at Tristan, probably too absorbed in what he was doing, "Well..." he said as he pulled away, "You should know by now. I make the rules up as I go... more fun," he said. He was up to Tristan's chest now, nibbling away, and then up to his throat. The ear was his last destination. He giggled a bit.
"Oh really...," Tristan said trying to keep his voice level. "You make them up as you go along...so does that mean I can change them." He didn't let Soran get to his ear, or he might have just changed his mind again. He had the other on his back the next second, "Hmm, so where shall I start..." deciding without a comment. He began on the others neck, doing the same thing Soran had been doing to him.
Soran, taken completely by surprise, was one second looking down at Tristan, and then the next, looking up at him. Hu?... How'd... he thought and then blushed furiously as Tristan spoke, "Ch-change! You can't...Ch-ange!" he gasped as he felt teeth bit his neck. Reaching up, he automatically wrapped his arms around Tristan's neck and shoulders without thinking. "You...." he breathed out, "Really... suck," he said with shortened breath.
There was a soft knock on the door to their room, Kilia stood outside of it. It was only a few minutes ago that Cryio had returned and it was already pretty dark outside. She waited patiently for one of the boys to open for her. Well, semi-patiently. She was actually rocking back and forth on her heels, eager to get things going. Cryio said he'd found something and needed to see Soran as soon as possible. Kilia was happy to hear that, and very hopeful. Thus she found herself running through the house and then ending up at their door, trying not to knock too hard, or too rapidly, or knock again. Her fingers wiggled around each other as she stood there.
Tristan opened the door a crack, "Kilia...what is it," he asked a little groggy. He ran his fingers threw his hair, hoping that maybe it wasn't to messy. He didn't look back at the other, who seemed to be still sleeping.
"Sorry for it being so late..." she said, "Cryio returned. He wants to see Soran."
Tristan straighted, but still didn't open the door wider, "Ok, where."
"Outside, right in front of the house. He has a couple of things... said something about having to have Soran eat a few things before he could do anything. Medical stuff really, I didn't get the gist of it, but Deriea can explain better." She gave a small smile and then turned down the hall to wait for them by the front door, as she went, she paused a moment, "Uh... he said to sort of... hurry..." she said, hoping not to make Tristan mad or anything, then quickly went to the front of the house.
Tristan nodded and closed the door again. He walked back over to the bed. "Baby, you need to wake up, someone is out front waiting to heal you." Tristan picked up his shirt off the floor and put it on.
Soran rolled over, a moan of protest falling from his lips. Grabbing the sheets he jerked them up over his head for a minute, "Too comfy..." he mumbled. Then with a sigh he sat up, tossing the blanket back and giving a slight glower at Tristan, "Mean," he muttered. That was more in regards to Tristan having actually gotten up and moved the blonde Seer from his comfortable spot across the other boy while they slept. With a yawn, he stretched and got up.
Stumbling around a bit, he dressed as quickly as he could, hoping to have whatever this was over soon so he could go back to snuggling in the warm bed. Once he was dressed, and Tristan was too, he rubbed at his eyes as he walked into the hallway. Running a hand through his hair, he tried to brush it out a bit, but pieces of it stuck up no matter what, "Man... so tired... this is your fault," he said with a sleepy grin back at Tristan.
Tristan was about to remind him who started the whole thing but he was interrupted by the pink-haired seer.
"Jeez, took you long enough, come on," Kilia said as she bounced near the door. Soran sighed, dragging himself there with a childish pout that said he really didn't want to be up and about. This was not his 'playtime' hour at all.
"Kilia... let me sleep..." he complained.
"Nope," she said and grabbed his hand to hurry him to the door. Once outside, Cryio stood on the dirt just at the edge of the porch, silver beams of light stringing through the trees. He was standing in one of those beams. An earthen mound was before him and upon it were a couple of items, some of them looked like berries that Tristan hadn't ever seen before, and one was a root of some sort.
Tristan inspected the items on the mound, he was curious also as to what they were, he have to ask later.
He paused a bit, pulling back on Kilia's hand. She turned, "Hey. It's okay. He's going to fix this. Here, sit here, okay?" she said, pointing to the end of the stairs from the porch. He did as he was told as she went to the mound and picked up the items.
"Okay, eat these, in order, here," she said handing him a purple berry first.
He eyed it, "What is it?"
"It's to keep you calm. Since he has to touch you, he doesn't want you to freak out and shoot him."
Soran blushed a bit, "I... suppose... that might be bad," he looked down at the ground, "Is this really going to help?"
Kilia nodded eagerly. With a sigh, he glanced to Tristan and then popped the berry into his mouth. It was really sweet, "Not bad," he said as he swallowed and took the next that she handed him.
He watched for any kind of adverse reaction, not that he didn't trust Cryio, well actually it was more like he trusted Kilia.
"So," Soran said between eating the berries that were handed to him, "What is he going to do?" Oddly enough he was starting to feel rather comfortable on the stairs. Looking to the God, he didn't feel all that apprehensive anymore, "Wow... these things really work."
Kilia stiffled a laugh as Deriea walked over to him arms crossed as she peered at the blonde Seer closely, "Jeez, what a light weight. I bet he couldn't even handle any alcohol that you mortals like to drink. A few berries with natural relaxing agents and it's almost like he's high."
Tristan looked at Deriea....was she being serious, oh well maybe it didn't sound serious. Oh but that might be funny to watch, Soran drunk or high.
Kilia rolled her eyes, "That's not true," she said with a giggle.
"Oh, fine. So he's not high, but seriously, look at how close I can get to him now. He's not even affected. Guess Cryio was right. Well, that's useful. Anyway, the berries do more than just make him relaxed in the presence of a God, it's sort of suppressing that energy, and it's going to make things a lot smoother," she looked up to Tristan, "Don't freak out, but a touch from Cryio... hurts like hell. Doesn't matter if he's healing. Too much power. Don't worry though, these will keep him from feeling a thing, I promise."
Tristan was surprised at Soran, especially since his earlier reaction to them. He looked at Deriea, really wishing she wouldn't tell him not to freak out.
"Now, onto the fun part," Deriea smiled as she reached out and poked Soran's cheek as he ate another berry. He stared at her, tilted his head off to the side and continued eating, the Goddess giggled a bit, "You're going to see something really cool. Cryio rarely does any healing on mortals. Mostly plants, animals, that kind of thing, but when he heals a human. It's kinda special."
"Okay, he's ready," Kilia said as she brushed off her hands.
Deriea offered her hands to Soran, "Here, come here little mortal, you are going to lay right there," she said, pointing to the dirt mound. He allowed her to help him and once he was laid out on it, he stared up at the dark sky with the trees and the stars filtering through. Cryio sat up next to him and leaned over, the ray of light seemingly making the God look like he was glowing a slight silver color. One hand hovered over his chest, the other was planted firmly on the mound to keep himself upright.
Taking a breath, Cryio blew outwards and a wash of what seemed to be dust fell over Soran's frame. He took a breath of it and his eyes closed. The hand over Soran's chest glowed brightly. The light extended down to Soran and twisted around his body before it sunk down into him. Soran took a breath, a deep one and Cryio breathed again, the same strange dust floating over him.
Deriea glanced over to Tristan, "So. How much stamina do you have, mortal?" her grin could have been categorized as mischievous.
Tristan blushed really red, "What kind of question is that," he asked the goddess. He tried to cover up his reaction rather quickly. He looked at her, "I suppose just as much as a regular human." What was she trying to get at anyways.
Deriea grinned at him even more, "Oh my... well then. I hope you've had enough sleep. 'Cuz he," she waved her hand at Soran's whose frame was slightly lifted off the mound now by Cryio's power, wrapped up in silver light, "Is going to be wide awake" she said with a laugh, "If only you were a god yourself, you might be able to keep up with him," she laughed again. Obviously this was highly entertaining for her.
Tristan looked at her and wondered just how 'wide awake' she meant. In fact in the way she said it, he knew his mind went in various directions. "So...we talking major sugar high awake, or...like awake that he is really going to be really aware of everything."
Kilia covered her face, turning a bit red as Deriea looked at him, leaned in close and said in a soft whisper, "So innocent. Really? Aware of everything... more importantly, you, mortal. Enjoy what's rest of your night. We start training early tomorrow. Try to wear him out a bit would ya? Don't want you all falling asleep on us," the Goddess said as she moved away from him, her wicked grin still in place and settled herself in a stream of moonlight.
Soran's body slowly was uncurled from the silver light as Cryio pulled back. He'd stopped blowing in his face whatever magic or power that was to keep him complacent. Taking a breath, Soran opened his eyes which were now large and heavily lidded, stretching he sat up, blinked several times and then looked to Cryio.
"What did you do?" he asked gently.
"Healed you. Everything."
"Everything?"
Cryio smiled a bit, a very very small upturn of his lips, "Everything."
Pulling his legs off the mound, he dropped to his feet, brushing himself off. His gaze settled on Tristan and he smiled, "Hey," he said cheerfully.
Tristan was still trying to get over what the goddess had just said...when he heard Soran's voice. It really sounded like Soran, before the attack. "Hey yourself," Tristan said smiling at the other.
Soran paused for a moment, a few feet from Tristan. His gaze dropped down, then rose up again, "Wow... you're really freakin' hot right now... why is that," he muttered to himself, one finger tapping his lip gently.
Tristan's look turned slightly...fearful. He was blushing also, "um...ok," he couldn't help but back up a little. That goddess...she was kidding right.
"What's wrong Tristan?" Soran asked, taking a step forward as Tristan took one back. He smiled sweetly at the other boy, "Jeez, all I said was you're hot," he grinned then, "What were you thinking?" he asked oh-not-so-innocently.
"I..." damn he just squeaked, "I wasn't thinkin anything." He took another step backwards, hoping he was at least heading toward the door.
Soran stopped, and let out a noise, "pfft..." he tried to cover his laugh, but it didn't work and then he laughed again, giggling, "You... you squeaked!" he doubled over, laughing so hard he was crying, "I've... never heard... that before," he side between giggling fits and trying to breathe. He wiped at his eyes as he straightened up.
Shaking his head, he took a deep breath, "Why are you running away from me, come here!" he said and lunged forward, laughing as he went after Tristan.
Tristan straightened as the other laughed, and took the opportunity to get to the door and open it before he heard the other. "Nope...you'll have to catch me first," he said as he took off in the direction of Soran's bedroom.
Giggling, Soran followed after him rather quickly. The little Seer was quick on his feet, "I know where you sleep! You can't hide from me, baby, besides, this house is rather small," he said, the last part more of a muse than anything else.
Kilia, who was stunned on the front steps opened her eyes finally and glanced around. She heard some rather loud sounds in the house, Soran's laughter a few times and then possibly Tristan right after. She was afraid for the poor boy who was clearly under attack of some sort. She looked over to Deriea.
"So... uh... what you said..."
The Goddess was laughing rather hard herself, "I... couldn't resist, oh... the look on that boys face!" she laughed again, hardly able to speak, "Okay... okay.. maybe I exaggerated a little bit... oh but it was well worth it."
The following morning, some looked well rested while others not so much. There were perhaps a few irritated parents at the loud noise from the night before, but other than that, breakfast was good and done shortly. Both Gods outside, requested the younger Seer's and Guardian's presences, with the adults watching. Cryio stood off to the side, his eyes closed as he seemed to be sleeping in the sunlight... whilst standing. Deriea, was just as energetic as the night before and crossed her arms in front of her her with a wild grin plastered on her fair face.
With a flick of her hand, she sent her long locks flying back and then leveled her gaze at the group, "Alright little mortals, before we get started, show me what those spell pads of yours can do. Anything, make it impressive, please," she said with a wink that was directed mostly at Tristan.
Tristan looked at her glad she was having some sort of laugh at his expense. He opened up his pad, slightly thinking he would love to make her pay for that wink. He had a special category for revenge spells...well he did have four sisters. He decided to combine a few things, in all seriousness though...he really didn't know what she wanted to see.
Soran glanced to Tristan, he watched the boy for a moment before for he gave a bright grin and then went to work on his pad. He wasn't sure what the goddess wanted either, but he was certainly going to try for something... impressive he guessed. When he finished the spell, dragged it from the pad and released it, in his hands one of his favored weapons materialized. The sniper rifle had a long barrel, a scope and looked to be rather heavy as well as something that could pack a punch. It probably didn't look like it fit the small Seer's size at all. He happily held it against his shoulder, barrel pointed up at the sky.
Kilia, on the other hand was biting her lip and looking a bit frustrated as she stared at her pad, fingers hovering over the spell that she had there. Finally, when she pulled it off, all that appeared in her hand was red sparks that swirled around for a moment and she frowned. The spell slowly twisted around and then her tiny little dragon popped into her palm. Though she was a bit pleased to see Dino, she was still unsatisfied that she'd summoned the illusion and not a fireball. Deriea laughed a bit.
"Alright, what about the rest of you," she said, looking between them all.
Tristan looked at Soran's gun, it was an impressive weapon. He pulled a spell off his pad and a black ball appeared in his hand. "Here Deriea catch." he said as he tossed it at her.
Deriea eyed him carefully as he threw the black ball at her. Instinctively she reached out and caught it, and it immediately sucked in her hands. To which the goddess screeched, "The hell is this?!" she pulled one hand, then the other, and then did something very comical as she tried to wrench both hands free.
After a second, the ball began to change shape, and scales started to appear, now it was a giant snake holding her hands together. The head of the snake peeked out and hissed at the goddess. Of course her being a goddess of earth, she had to have ties to its living creatures. Tristan wasn't really expecting a hugh reaction.
Deriea watched the ball that was sucking at her hands and tried to remove her hands, all to no avail though and then she watched, slightly fascinated as the ball began to chance shape. However, once it had finished, she gave a bit of a shriek and dropped to both knees, "Get it off... get it off... get it off..." she cried, pouting and waving her hands up and down in a vain attempt to throw it from her whilst keeping her arms outstretched as far from her body as possible. She looked quite funny with the strained look on her face, her arms waving up and down as she turned her head to the side with only one eye peeking out at the thing every so often.
Soran covered his mouth as he let out a soft laugh and then turned, fell against Tristan and tried to hide his laughter. Kilia stood there with her hands covering her mouth in first... shock, and then a slight giggle. Turning to Tristan, she tried -but failed- to look like she was disappointed in him, "A-alright... now... you can...release her," she managed to say without laughing completely.
Tristan was grinning, but he hadn't actually done full on laughter. "Oh my bad, I thought it was suppose to explode." He whistled, and the snake released Deriea's hands and while it slithered toward the woods it faded.
"You... cruel hooligan," she hissed, tears at the edges of her eyes and she gave him the most pitiful glower on the planet.
Rubbing her hands as if to get rid of the awful feel of that scaly... thing that had attached itself to her, she stood up. Taking a breath she attempted to get her dignity back together and with one finally puff of her cheeks and glare at Tristan, she released her breath and pointed in a random direction.
The ground trembled and a solid rock wall rose up from the dirt. Grinning again, she looked at them, "Break it."
Soran looked at the wall for a moment, then back at her, "Break it... like... in half... in a couple pieces...?
"
"Break it. Destroy it." she said, with an encouraging nod of her head.
With a quick glance at the others, he shrugged a bit and then lowered his weapon. He didn't lay on the ground, or anything like that. Simply shifted his body sideways, with his hip helping to support his arm that held up the weapon. He aimed for the center of the rock wall and squeezed the trigger, "Might want to cover your ears," he said and gave them all one extra second to do so before he fired the round. Air exploded from the end of the barrier, a visible ripple and the kick rocked him back just a bit, but he reset, lowering the barrel back to the position it had been at.
The bullet, whatever it had been made of, hit the rock wall, and made a tiny crack, "Seriously?" he moaned to himself. He'd thought he'd put a lot of power into that.
Tristan looked at the goddess, she was trying to prove some kind of point. He really wished he had his father's ability with elements sometimes. He glanced in the adult's direction for a second. "Maybe we need to kick it up a notch."
He looked at his pad, pulling off something silver. He started changing the shape right there in front of him. When he was done, it looked like a bullet, "Here fire that," he said as tossed it at Soran. He just hoped it could withstand Soran's gun, he tried to make as sturdy as possible.
Reaching up, he caught the bullet that was tossed to him. It felt heavy in his hand and he weighed it up and down, a look of wonder on his face, "Hmm... this will be interesting," he said and opened the chamber to the gun, "You're lucky I'm really picky about how I make my weapons, fully functional," he said with a grin up at his boyfriend. Putting the bullet in the chamber, he pushed the bolt forward to load the round. Locking it down with an expert swipe of his hand, he reset his position and aimed for the wall.
"Cover," he said and pulled the trigger again. This time, though, the crack was very loud, the recoil had Soran stumbling, the weapon dropping from his numbed fingers and the bullet hitting the wall with a deafening thud. It went straight through it, but didn't break it.
"Holy... shit... What the heck did you make that thing out of?!"
"I don't know..." Tristan said, smiling slightly, "Still not powerful enough though." He also half expected the bullet to get stuck in the middle of the wall, and now that it had a hole in the middle...
"Seriously?" he looked up to Tristan, astonished, "That has to count as breaking.. right?"
Deriea shook her head, "You put a hole in it. You didn't break it. Now break it."
Soran sort of pouted.
"We can get closer right," Tristan asked wondering if it was a valid question. If this was a real battle they wouldn't be standing in one spot. It had worked like that in every other battle
"Sure, you can get closer if you like, but let me ask you this," Deriea crossed her arms, "How close do you really wanna be when you're up against Oni or Eveylyn? Wouldn't you rather destroy them, or slow them down really, from a greater distance?"
Tristan thought about her question, it was a little strange to think that rock out there was probably farther away then he had actually been to a god. "I understand your point, but some of us don't have the ranged skills like others.
Deriea nodded, smiling at him, "Perceptive. Aren't you glad you have a good shooter though? Makes things a lot easier. Look at that rock, mortal. Seriously look at it. When you're ready, break it."
Tristan did exactly what she said, and really looked at the rock. In his own understanding, he thought about what rocks were made weak by, water certainly...maybe even wind. Yet a big giant wind machine would look rather silly in the middle of the yard. He sort of had an idea, he just wondered if he had the right spells.
"Soran can you make something smaller. Just with enough kick to land something right in the middle of the base.
Tristan started to work on something. It had a rather new idea, so he knew it was going to take him awhile.
Soran tilted his head a bit, looking thoughtful for a moment, "Yeah, I can try," he responded and promptly dropped down to the dirt with his legs crossed and crouched over his pad. He started working, his fingers moving in all sorts of directions as he started building this new weapon. Kilia on the other hand frowned at Dino who hopped around on her arms and shoulders, puffing out black billows of smoke randomly and making small happy sounds as it went.
She sighed, "Why can't you be any help," she said with a pout.
"What about you, little pink mortal," Deriea asked as she stood there idly waiting for the two boys.
"Uh... I only heal... I can't do anything else."
The Goddess lifted her eyebrow, "Now now, that's a lie. What about what you did for the dark haired Guardian the other night?"
Kilia took in a breath, "You... know about that?"
"You're power's a bit on the potent side. Sort of strange seeing as you only summoned a tiny little illusion with no bite."
"H-he bites!" she said in defense, thinking back to when it gnawed on her finger happily. She blushed a bit, "But.. what am I supposed to do with that sort of spell? I don't even know what it does."
"Do you think healers are all about healing wounds? How about preventing them. Try that girly," Deriea said, "Well practice later, but think about something. Your own protection spell, use it on someone else. Modify it, make it stronger. Make yourself productive, jeez," Deriea waved her hand at Kilia with a roll of her eyes.
Kilia puffed up, crossed her arms and then finally decided that the goddess was right. She opened her magic system and started working on... something. Meanwhile, a few minutes later, Soran finally finished his gun and pulled it off the pad. The black weapon had a somewhat larger barrel than most of his weapons. It looked like a flare gun if anything. Happy with the creation, he handed it to Tristan, "Hows that?"
Tristan was trying not to get distracted, especially when the goddess mentioned his guardian...what had happened the other night and what did Kilia have to do with it. He continued cursing once or twice, oh finally he had it.
He turned and looked at the weapon, "that's fine." He produced two things in his hands. One was a clear bullet shaped object, "That is for you, don't fire it yet."
"Eh... Uh, okay," he said and took the bullet from Tristan, holding on to his new gun with the other hand, he inspected the clear bullet.
He hoped this worked like it did in his mind. The other object was black in color. Tristan blew on it and it started to float. It floated toward the rock and picked up speed as it went. As it hit, it splattered, but it didn't disappear, it seemed to lodge itself inside every nook and cranny it could find. It probably only made a few cracks at most physically.
"Ok Soran, aim right for the middle of the base, and fire at will."
Soran grinned, "Oh baby, you should order me around more often," he teased with a laugh. Raising up the weapon as he put himself in a kneeling position, it took him about a second or two and he fired the weapon. He couldn't even see the clear round that he'd fired. The gun gave a soft 'pop' as it propelled the bullet.
Tristan smiled at the blonde for a second, he could see the round, or at least the path it took. It hit perfectly and exploded sending a geyser like spray of water up. Now the real trick would begin. The water began attaching itself to the black substance, which made it expand, it would continue throughout the rock.
"Oh... interesting," Deriea commented as she watched the strange event. Looking to Tristan, she lifted an eyebrow, "What kind of weapon do you prefer, mortal? Swords, knives, throwing weapons, guns, staff... spears? Why don't you show me that and give me an example of what you can do up close and personal," she said with a grin.
"Weapon...," Tristan said, wondering why now she was asking. He looked at his pad, and back up at her. He looked back down and turned to the rock. He walked slowly, cause well he was still trying to decide on a weapon in the first place.
He finally pulled a katana from his pad. It had never really been used in battle, but he decided to give it a go. He usually didn't pull weapons, he liked tricks instead. He stood before the rock and looked, he would have to hit it at the weakest point. He found the widest crack and with a slight yell, shoved the sword inside. He just didn't just shove, he twisted a little too. To be cautious he stepped back, and watched.
"Ooh, a sword hu? Very nice," Deriea said as she watched him shove the weapon through the widest crack. Pieces of rock shuddered, breaking off and crumbling to the dirt. There was now a rather large hole through the wall and Deriea seemed fairly pleased with the result as well. Soran watched with a bit of a smile on his face. Although, he was curious as to why Tristan chose a sword rather than his staff which he had beaten Soran with during one of their smaller training sessions.
Perhaps he would ask later. Even so, some of that wall still stood and though it was now with a very large hole in the middle and pieces of it still falling apart from Tristan's last trick, Soran wasn't sure if that was considered 'broken' to her. Maybe Rethyn and Sina could have a shot at it. He glanced at those two and propped his head up on his lap with his hands. This was definitely interesting to say the least.
Stepping forward, Sina begun to bounce from toe to toe as she lifted up her left arm and spoke softly into it. "Jayce? You ready?"
A sudden voice then became apparent from the device as the magic system seemed to speak back to the girl. The voice came off as a pleasant one as it spoke back to Sina with high energy. "Good to have you back once again Sina. What shall I -"
"Maximum strength." She interrupted as she dashed forward. Suddenly the pleasant voice became replaced by a much grittier voice as it repeated back. "MAXIMUM STRENGTH!" Flashing red, Sina brought back her arm as she launched herself forward. With her flying punch she collided her hand into the wall.
Deriea lifted an eyebrow once again as she watched the girl fly at the wall. Her entire frame pulsed a deep scarlet color and then she slammed her fist into the rock. There was a pulse of dirt that rippled out from where she hit, and then the side that she'd hit crumbled. Deriea smiled, "One more side left," she said cheerily as she beamed at them. Looking over to Rethyn, she motioned to the wall, "And you? Can't let everyone else play around can you?"
Rethyn had already had his blade drawn, but as the goddess spoke to him he raised a brow to her. As he begun to turn away to leave the training area he said with a smirk to the goddess. "I don't break walls."
Bamf!
In a loud crack and a flash, Rethyn appeared behind the wall and Goddess. With his blade out and inches away from the goddesses neck his pleasant mood seemed to beam through as he said to her. "Boop. Got you."
A smile was stretched upon his face. Grinning a toothy grin it seemed Rethyn's mental state had quickly improved with the gain of Kilia's protection spell. The paranoia had faded and with it too all of the fears of which had been eating at him and attacking him constantly within the mind.
"Oh... my," Deriea commented lightly as she eyed the flashing steel, "Well. I thought there was someone in there with a little... specialty. This makes things a lot more interesting, little mortal," Deriea turned around to face him, "Your training just got a whole lot harder," she said with a grin.