Welcome to Gaia! ::

Zekiel felt the prickle to the air before he saw its results. A ripple of heat, but more than that, too—raw energy, like an invisible sheet unfurling and expanding outward from Finn at a rate that threatened to fill the room. He saw the embers just moments before Finn rounded on him.

Nothing said was anything he hadn’t heard before in some fashion. The gods aren’t real. He was even on some level aware that his teachers — many of those higher within the Sanctum structure, for that matter — took issue with such dispute and attempted to quiet it out. ‘Blaspheme’ was not for the ears of young, impressionable priests-in-training. Besides, from their perspectives most people were ‘reasonable’; he didn’t need to listen to those scorned by the gods’ punishments for it would only fill his ears with nonsense.

But Zekiel thought it all important and good to hear, so long as each speaker spoke their own truth. He dipped his lashes, lowering his gaze with nod of concession as fire licked at Finn’s knuckles, and it was beautiful, if entirely beyond his power to do anything but witness.

“Perhaps you are right,” Ze said. “Perhaps I know nothing, and there are no gods. Or perhaps they are cruel, or perhaps they have abandoned us. But if there are angry gods, or gods who have left, or no gods at all, I still found you upon the steps of our church, and I have brought you to my friend and your brother because you asked. I am sorry if that displeases you…but it seems a great magic that you are here, and a strange thing that you could spend so long apart only to be hurt with each other that the world has given you both burdens while you were alone. Burdens which were no fault of the other…”

His gaze flicked briefly, hesitantly to Tacrith at the snap—Be quiet about your gods! He could not recall the boy seeming outright cross with him, but after looking he folded his hands in front of himself and dipped his gaze again.

“I apologize for speaking of them. I never will again to you if you do not wish it. Would it please you for me to leave?”

Tac closed his eyes and forced himself to breathe. Snapping at Ze wasn't what he wanted to do. Being snarky would do little good, either. He couldn't give that too much attention though. That would come later.

Pressing his lips, he looked over briefly at Finn. "Healer? Yes. Expert? No." If he had been an expert, he would surely not be walking around with a cane anymore... but his leg was nothing. His eyes watered again and he brushed them away. He still couldn't believe that Finn was alive and- not exactly well, but alive. The skeletal image he'd gotten out in front was only half of it... Yes. His silly leg was nothing. "Finn.." Stay calm.. Getting worked up did no good. Basics. Basics. "..would you like some food or better fitting clothes?"

[7/10]

Finn's tremors didn't seem fit to go away, no matter how much the boy willed them to. He looked away from Ze when he noticed the other coming closer, and was...somewhat grateful that the older man hadn't commented on it. The boy may have been exhausted, but he wasn't about to admit it; not when he was trying so hard to keep it all together.

"It's not...my magic isn't always hot." He added indignantly, as if irritated that Ze may have thought that was the extent of his abilities. He could do more; he just needed to try, that was all.

Honestly, though, the knowledge that he had been using magic without knowing it....that was a little scary for Finn.

"Got a coat now, don't I? And pants. Don't need more than that." There were no boots to fit him, anyway, not unless they were those expensive ones and wasting money like that, that could be better spent on food, was stupid.

"...what'cha got to eat?"

Zekiel blinked, glancing down at Finn’s initial rebuttal, ‘…my magic isn't always hot…’ and he tipped his head before smiling. “Oh.” It was good information to know, he supposed, though he couldn’t have been certain why the smaller man seemed distressed about it. It seemed at least likely that it was a good thing to have more options than hot.

But the topic was quick to move on, and Zekiel did not dwell on it.

Instead, he said, “Shoes go well with pants and coat if they’d please you, and your feet might be thankful not to make so much contact with all that litters the earth where you go. Particularly if you wish to travel about places outdoors again.” Though, from the looks of the rest of him, it was entirely possible his feet were especially suited to enduring whatever it was the earth underfoot had to offer.

Food, though, did sound like an immediately promising idea all around, and Zekiel realized with a rumble of his stomach that he hadn’t eaten breakfast. He’d intended to do so after his mini excursion with Eqniz—but of course, that had ended in other ways than planned. “Oh, oh, they have wondrous herb tintural soup. I have smelled it and tasted it once when I visited over the luncheon hour. It is easier for some here to swallow, but also has great flavor.”

Tac felt the tiniest hint of a smile unsuccessfully attempt to rise. He could remember Finn having a bottomless stomach before. He had to wonder how the boy had gotten through.. whatever it was he had gone through. Clearly, it had been rough and lacking...

While he preferred to keep the situation contained, even he could tell that staying wasn't the best idea. The cafeteria would allow more space.. and less delicate and flammable items... "Come along then. We'll get food for the both of you."

When he reached the cafeteria, he went up to one of the lunch tenders and leaned in. "These men need to eat. Please allow them whatever they wish. I will take care of it."

The tender nodded with a slightly confused expression, but looked to Zekiel and Finn, holding out two small menus. "What can I get you?"

[9/10]

As Tacrith led the way to the cafeteria, Finn trailed behind him and watch his brother limp. A flare of concern sparked up inside of him, something that hadn't been there in so long that he immediately brushed it aside. So what if Tac had a limp? Look at what it got him; an apprenticeship, food, a safe place to sleep...So what if he hobbled a little when he walked?

It didn't take him long to put that out of his mind when the scents of food assaulted him. Finn lifted his nose into the air, taking in as much as he could as quickly as possible. When he turned to look at the vendor, his eyes took in the list being handed to him...which he refused. It wasn't as if he could read very much of it anyway. A few of the words jumped out at him; things he remembered from his youth, where his father actually spent time trying to get a hyperactive boy to sit still and learn.

"One of everything." When one of the staff made a comment about how it would likely only make him sick, eating so much, Finn openly snarled. "Fine. Then give me what he-" He canted his head to Ze, "-got." Have some food, they said, but no, not too much food; what kind of place was this?! Did they think this was some sort of a game, to torture people like that?!

He bypassed his brother and Zekiel both in favor of finding a place to sit - one where his back was to a protective wall - and start consuming his meal. He looked up once as if to say, Well? You gonna sit?, before returning to his food.

“One of everything.”

Zekiel watched Tacrith’s brother as he puffed and snarled, and he was reminded of those beasts tamers would ‘punish’ with food deprivation. After Finn finished his order and strode by to take up his spot, Zekiel blinked, and then glanced to Tacrith. “Good.”

Because Finn had in the end asked for only ‘what he got’, but seemed very hungry indeed, Zekiel took a moment’s detour back to the head of the line, and managed to return with two extra slices of jellied bread. As he came up on the table the brothers had settled at, he set his tray beside Tacrith’s, and took up post beside him, sliding the smaller platter of jellied bread slices across the table to Finn.

“If you like sweet, they use berries from about here to make it, and the flavor is wondrous.” After the remark, his gaze flit to Tacrith, observing him in silence before taking up his spoon to begin eating. There was no doubt the two men had much to say to each other and exchange, but even Zekiel, who sometimes found himself out of touch with the way others communicated, felt that it might be some time before the damage rendered by their time apart healed. There was a strange and palpable rift, and Zekiel wondered how many words and days it would take for the bridge across it to reforge.

Tac glanced over at Zekiel as he sat, but turned his attention back to the stranger sitting across from him... His gut clenched slightly at Finn's sharp opinion, and he simply shook his head. "Perhaps it doesn't matter in the long run," he replied. He looked down at the table, voice going soft. "I appreciate being able to see all of you again though." Part of him hoped his statement had gone unnoticed, lest another coarse reply be snapped at him. Part of him just assumed it hadn't been heard, considering how Finn had just nabbed Zekiel's plate and retreated to the edge.

"There is no need to steal around here, Finn," Tac sighed and waved over an attendant walking by. "You can see this man is starving. If he gets a stomach ache, it will be up to him to handle it. Let him eat what he wishes." Besides... he couldn't have someone stealing from the patients' meals.

He had thought for a short time that his brother had returned... but the Finn that Tac remembered was gone. He was not this man's big brother. It seemed that he was only as a familiar face from long ago. Too much time and too many trials had grown between them. Surely, he wasn't the Tacrith that Finn remembered either... Perhaps, with effort, they could come together again. Perhaps.