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 Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 6:39 am
Elliot grinned immediately, partly because he was generally happy to help, and partly because he was just so proud of Atticus. He was asking for things that he wanted! He was letting Elliot dote on him. “You got it.” He kissed atop his head again and was careful not to mess it up before he made his way back to the microwave.
Myles smiled again at the two, and thought that maybe they were a little sweeter together than he’d been with any of his crushes at fourteen years old. Or ever. He watched as Elliot disappeared, but somehow he still had a presence even when he wasn’t in the room.
“How long have you two been Knights for?” He wasn’t sure if he’d actually asked how long it had been, but given how many weird new things had been happening, it was easy for the timeline to all blend together. “I was at the Moon a while ago. Like a year ago. But it was after this big fight, and to be honest I really just wanted to go home afterwards so I was sort of out of it. But a lot’s been going on this past year. Oh, like aliens came to Earth. Have you met any? There are Velencians–I think. I don’t actually know any, I just know that they tried to destroy Earth or something. They had this huge space laser and teamed up with the Negaverse, and–you know, it’s really complicated, I haven’t gotten involved in all of that. And then there are these ancient Senshi, too. We have one staying with us, he’s afraid of cabbages.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 7:31 am
Oh, Atticus loved Elliot’s smile so much, and the way he beamed and kissed the top of his head. It made Atticus’ heart flutter again and he watched as Elliot hurried out of the room before turning back to Myles.
“You know about the Senshi that aren’t from Earth?” he gasped, both surprised and relieved and… oh wow, he had one living with them? “Um, yes, I’ve met… um…” Oh, he didn’t want to just say that Devyn was not from Earth. He’d already told Myles that one of his dads was a Senshi, and it didn’t seem fair that Atticus was spilling all of Devyn’s secrets.
“We’ve been knights for… half a year, almost. Since July,” he shared as he lifted the cup to sip from. “The Negaverse attacked Elliot’s house and a big youma really did a lot of damage to it. I don’t know if you heard any news about a house in the area with a big gas leak and explosion but, um. That was the Negaverse. Elliot and his dads are okay, though. I mean. As okay as they can be.” He was pretty sure there were scars, physically and emotionally, but they were at least alive.
“Elliot and I got magically taken to some strange world where we saw some of those aliens, I think. My dads were with us so we were safe, but there were robots taking starseeds too. It was pretty scary. We were still pretty new so we didn’t wander away from my dads too much. That sounds really frustrating, being afraid of cabbages, though. I hope he doesn’t have to see too many of them,” Atticus finished with a concerned frown. He’d never heard of someone being afraid of food before, but he knew it must be difficult and he felt sorry for him.
“How long have you been a Senshi? You seem really experienced. I think I heard about that big fight, but not much.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 7:51 am
When Atticus took a sip of his drink, Myles did the same, only he downed half of the glass before he sucked in a breath to answer.
“That’s so amazing. And horrifying! We’ve never had a Negaverse agent or a Youma near the apartment. But maybe that’s the advantage of living in a place like we do, it’s not really much of anything. And in an apartment, you sort of blend in with everyone else. Or, maybe that makes it an easier target, I don’t really know. We have kinda crummy neighbors, always shouting or breaking things, or just generally being, you know, bad people. They leave us alone, but probably only because they’ve seen Jeremy in his uniform.”
He shifted positions and looked like he was about to cross his legs, paused to stop himself, and then returned to how he’d been sitting before.
“I’m glad Elliot and his dads are okay, I can’t even imagine. I feel so much stronger when I’m a Senshi, if something like that attacked me at my home?” He shook his head. “I don’t even know what I’d do. I mean, probably turn into a Senshi, but it’s really important that I don’t let the wrong people know who I am. It could be really bad for Jeremy since, you know, he’s sort of supposed to arrest people like me. But we don’t eat a lot of cabbages, so thankfully we don’t have to worry about upsetting our guest. He’s got a lot of crazy stories about it, it’s really interesting. I don’t feel very experienced, in the grand scheme of things. I think I’ve been a Senshi for five or six years? It’s kind of blended together. I don’t feel like I’ve really accomplished much. But I guess I don’t need to be anything special to still help out! I like what you said, that you don’t have to fight to make a difference. Sometimes I get stuck in my head and forget things like that. Anytime I hit someone it feels like hitting myself, anyway. Even if they’re bad. I sympathize too easily. I would definitely be better off with someone who knows a little better than I do and can make better decisions.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 8:00 am
Atticus nodded, trying not to let himself feel guilty for what he knew wasn’t his fault. And he knew Elliot and his dads wouldn’t want him to feel guilty either. But the Negaverse only showed up to harass the Reids because they’d been looking for Chad.
“When we escaped, Elliot and I felt a strange… pull. And suddenly we were on the Moon and the Code was asking if we wanted to help protect the Wonders there, so. Now we’re knights,” he explained, but it was pretty different from what other Knights were used to experiencing, apparently.
“I’m glad people leave you alone. This neighborhood is pretty safe. Usually the closest anything will get is the park.” And then with Michael, it was easy to make sure nothing snuck up on them.
“Five or Six years is a long time, Myles,” Atticus insisted, reaching over to give his arm another comforting pat. He understood what it was like to not want to hurt others. He was lucky that his magic seemed to be healing for the most part. He had his baton to protect himself and anyone else, but he didn’t think it could stand up against a Negaverse officer.
“Maybe we can both figure out better ways to help that isn’t fighting. My dads tried teaching me how to punch, but,” he made a face and rubbed his hand against the knuckles of his other hand. “I want to get stronger, but I also don’t want to waste anyone’s time if I’m better at… learning first aid than I am at punching. But that’s really nice that you’re helping someone who isn’t from Earth. It must be pretty strange to come here after being somewhere else for so long. And yeah, we’ve been really careful about who knows who we are, too. I don’t want to change my name again, either.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 8:07 am
“Well, I’ll do everything I can to keep your secret,” Myles promised. Atticus had too much to lose, and too many people close to him for Myles to risk compromising any of that. The Code had specifically chosen him and Elliot, so he was already impressed–and he had parents to look out for him, and who wanted to make sure he could be safe.
“I hope you can tell me about your Wonders sometime. It might have been five or six years ago, but you know? I’ve only been to Caia a handful of times. The first time it was snowy, and I had this really powerful, like, I don’t know. It was like a memory but it felt real? Like it was in the past but in the present, too? I was in the middle of a blizzard and I couldn’t breathe, and I thought I saw blood, and–well, to be honest, I thought I’d hurt myself in the blizzard and I panicked and came back to Earth but I was crying. I was fine, though. Just. I don’t know, it’s weird. And I hear all these stories about how amazing everyone’s worlds are, but I’ve been pretty scared of mine. I hope I can be braver. I thought, maybe I could convince Jeremy to go, but he doesn’t like the snow at all.”
It was enough to make Myles laugh, mostly because he was trying to imagine his brother dressed in a parka, scowling as they stomped through the endless snow.
“I heard that sometimes just spending time on your world can make you stronger? But I don’t know. I need to find someone strong to ask. I think–and even if I don’t like fighting, or hurting people–I think it’s good to just be safe. Just because I don’t want to hurt someone doesn't mean they don’t want to hurt me.” He sighed as he leaned back against the couch.
“Or the people I care about. I don’t need to be good at fighting, just good at making a distraction so someone can get away, or good at running so I can get away. If I can hold my own, less people will worry about me, so. I mean, it sucks, because I don’t want to do it, but I get it. I’d rather not fight at all, but. Well, you make me want to be at least a little better at it. Jeremy showed me how to punch, but he says I hesitate too much. I thought I’d grow out of it, but–you know. Five or six years later and I haven’t changed. But, it’s important, so I’m not going to stop trying.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 8:16 am
“I’d be happy to tell you all about them! They’re right next to each other, so if you ever wanted to visit, I’m sure Elliot would be okay with that. Oh, I mean, I should ask him, but I don’t think he would mind. It’s very pretty. No snow,” he added with a sympathetic cringe at the thought of being stuck in a blizzard.
“Jeremy would be welcome too! I mean, we’re still trying to clean everything up. We want to show our dads. There’s a lot of flowers and I think there were supposed to be bees for honey. If you ever needed company to visit Caia and Jeremy didn’t want to go, I mean. I’m not trying to invite myself, oh, and it’ll probably be very cold so maybe I’d need a better outfit to wear, but I think you’re very brave and you can do anything you set your mind to!”
Myles seemed to be hard on himself, and Atticus could tell he really was trying to be better about things. Or he at least sounded really sincere. And if he was Jeremy’s brother, well… of course Atticus would like him.
“You’re right though. It’s important to get stronger so we can protect ourselves and others. I want to keep learning, but I know I should also focus on things that I can do in the meantime to not lose confidence in myself.” Because if he only learned how to punch and was really bad at it, he would have wasted all that time when he could have been learning how to stitch up a wound. Oh, as gross as that sounded. Maybe he’d be bad at that, too.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 8:28 am
“Oh, I wish I was as clever as you when I was your age, that’s a very smart way of thinking about things. You should definitely do a balance of things you are good at and passionate about getting better at in tandem with things you aren’t good at so you can keep a good balance. And you should reward yourself for trying, even if you don’t meet your expectations. It’s harder to do things you aren’t good at, or aren’t as passionate about. But I think you’ve already figured that out, and you’ve got so many nice people, it seems. I’m really excited to meet them. Nervous! But excited.”
“Oh, they’re great,” Elliot chimed in, this time from the kitchen and before he came back to the living room. He held an ice pack, a few small chocolates, and two plates. He set the first plate one out for Atticus and the second for Myles. He didn’t give him time to protest and said, “I’m getting my plate, too. I figure, since we’re all friends, it would be nice to eat together, too. And I won’t feel bad about eating Michael’s food if we’re all eating it!”
He wouldn’t have felt bad about eating it, anyway, but he smiled. “And you’re chocolate and ice, to make sure you heal up well. I’ll be back in just a minute. Did you say something about your world?”
“I did,” Myles said, and set the plate carefully in his lap after a quick word of thanks. Even reheated it smelled delicious, but he waited until Atticus had taken a bite before he even thought about taking his own. “I would love to have company, if you two want to come with me you’d be more than welcome. We could bundle up. I haven’t been able to explore much. I don’t know what I’m supposed to find but I feel like I should at least be looking. Oh, I haven’t even thought about actually going up in so long! I’m still nervous, but I’m excited, too. I want to be able to talk about my world without, you know, having to warn everyone about the snowstorms and how scary it is.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 8:33 am
“Maybe your world was just having a bad day,” Atticus suggested as he smiled after Elliot, already missing him. But he’d taken the plate and ice and chocolates with a cheerful thanks. He felt bad about eating without Elliot, but he wanted to make sure Myles knew it was okay to eat, so he carefully picked some of the food from his plate to pop into his mouth to chew, before trying to pull his leg up onto the couch so he could work on getting his shoe off.
The swelling was still there, but it didn’t hurt as much. He struggled a bit to get the ice pack to balance on his ankle, and then laughed sheepishly when it toppled onto the floor. “Oh, that’s no good,” he laughed. He ignored it for the moment. He would have to move the plate off his lap, so he would just eat a little first, instead.
“We’ll make sure we bring everything we might need. I think my dad might have some snow gear.” And if he didn’t, he was sure that Michael would buy some for them. “And it’ll be safer to go with a couple people. I can’t wait until we’ve gotten things cleaned up at the Moon a bit more. Then we’ll have people over all the time. Well, maybe not all the time,” he hummed as he picked at his plate. He would like some time for them to spend together, not working on things.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 10:22 am
Myles couldn’t help but look at Atticus’ ankle, even as he picked at the food in front of him, and–
“Oh, this is good. It’s like something you get at a fancy restaurant. This is much better than what I was going to have for dinner, thank you for sharing.”
He took another bite and then stretched to pick up the ice pack off the floor. He was tall and long-limbed, so it didn’t take much effort, and he placed it on Atticus’ ankle again for him. His hand hovered above it for a second, to make sure it wouldn’t fall off, and then he settled back into place.
“I’d like to think my world was just having a bad day. I went back once after with a friend and it was still snowy but it wasn’t bad. But I haven’t gone often enough to know if that’s the normal or if the blizzards are normal, or if it’s just fifty-fifty, have an okay day or a bad day. I’m so scared of like–you’re probably too young for this, but there was an old pixel computer game, and you would ski down the slopes, and even if you were doing great, eventually this yeti monster would come running out of the treeline and attack you and gobble you up. I don’t know why, but I’m always waiting for one of those to come out of the trees up there. But I think it’s just–snow is kind of scary, you know? Like, it’s nice, if you’re inside where it’s warm, or if you’re just in town, but once you’re out in the forest or something with it, it’s so creepy. But I’m a city boy, too, so I guess too many trees makes me feel weird and lost, anyway.”
Elliot didn’t chime in that he didn’t think nature was very scary because he respected that new things in general could be scary, but he loved getting out and doing things outside of the city as much as in it. Maybe a little more. He kept his promise and hurried back quickly, settling in next to Atticus–he leaned forward to adjust the ice pack to make sure it wouldn’t slide off, and then when he didn’t trust it, he put his foot up next to Atticus’ to help balance it before he started sampling the food on his plate.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 10:38 am
Atticus glanced up in mild surprise, which quickly melted into great appreciation when Myles went out of his way to get the ice pack for him. He was not going to cry, but he could feel his eyes burning a little. He knew Myles was kind and helpful, but he didn’t want to have him feel like he needed to do anything while he was there -- especially as a guest.
“I don’t think I’ve played that game,” he confirmed, but listened intently to everything Myles had to say about it. Atticus’s expression shifted to something of worry, not sure he liked the idea of a furry creature charging at anyone in the snow when it was already dangerous, and he nodded enthusiastically in agreement that it did sound scary.
“I haven’t been out of the city much. I wouldn’t know what to do in the forest,” Atticus admitted, but perked up when Elliot finally had the chance to join them. He smiled fondly at him when he put his foot up to keep the ice pack from falling off, and Atticus took a few more bites of his food in the meantime to make sure Elliot knew how much he appreciated him. He still had the chocolates, but that was going to be for dessert.
“We were talking about maybe seeing Caia. It’s very snowy and might be dangerous, though. And maybe one day we can bring people to see the Moon?” Other than their parents, of course. They’d already planned on that.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 10:57 am
“I like that idea. The snow is really pretty in the forest,” Elliot said, “But it can make everything slippery. And you can’t see what’s on the ground, so it’s easier to trip on things. I’d like to go visit Caia, so I’m sure we can work it out so that you can visit the Moon, too. I’ll show you what to do in the forest, Atticus! You too, Myles. If you want. I like to hike, and go camping. I’ve done some races that are through the forest, too. It’s neat, but it can definitely be scary. And it’s easy for your mind to play tricks on you, especially when you’re alone.”
He took a bite of his food and nodded approvingly, but he knew anything in Michael’s house would taste delicious.
“I think it’s a good idea to go with friends if you’re nervous. It’s best when you have someone you trust with you if you’re doing something new or scary, because then you know they’ll have your back and it makes things less scary.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea. I have an easier time scaring myself when it’s just me,” Myles agreed. “You two are so level headed and mature!”
At this, Elliot laughed. “Well, no, not always. I was kind of wondering how hard it would be to hide in the trees on Caia and jump out to scare you. But I wasn’t going to do it! I was just thinking about it. My dad’s really easy to spook. I can’t help it, I always want to jump out and surprise him. Sometimes he screams or does this funny dance, but he always hugs me afterwards. I try not to jump out and scare people though, I just can’t help it sometimes,” he sighed–dramatically, in such a way that even Devyn probably would have been proud.
“But I promise I’ll keep an eye out for any yeti, and if I find one of them up there, I’ll scare him instead.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 12:35 pm
Oh, Elliot was so brave and talented and knowledgeable. Atticus didn’t realize he was staring, starry eyed at him until Myles’ comment about them being level headed and mature made his face flush.
He was still smiling! Because Elliot’s laugh was wonderful, and Myles was so sweet, but it wasn’t as though Atticus ever had a chance to really be a kid before now. Any time he tried something childish he would get in trouble.
But now? He felt more comfortable being silly and doing things other kids his age might. Although he didn’t know if he was brave enough to climb trees. He would probably scare himself in the process.
“We’ll make sure to be careful and not do anything scary,” he promised.
He’d somehow managed to eat most of his plate, which meant he could hand a chocolate over to Myles to share. Then he went to work on the wrapper for one for himself (and for Elliot, of course). Despite having small fingers, he could never seem to tame wrappers, and it took him a little while to carefully find a place to start peeling it back.
“I’m really excited. I think it’ll be a lot of fun. I’ve never been hiking, so I hope you don’t mind telling me if I’m doing anything wrong,” he requested of both of them. The last thing he wanted to do was to slow them down.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 2:00 pm
Elliot kept an eye on Atticus as he worked on the wrapper but he lit up when the plastic tore. He knew it was something that Atticus struggled with, and he would always help if he needed it but he didn’t want to prematurely offer. He was proud of him and smiled when the package opened.
“It’s a learning experience, I’ll share all of my expertise,” Elliot promised.
Myles had cleared his plate quickly and had mumbled a ‘thank you’ while his mouth was full; he set his empty plate down on the table before he started tugging at the plastic wrapper. He was a little less coordinated that Atticus and he tugged the wrapper in the wrong direction twice before he seemed to remember what he was doing and opened it. “I have no expertise. The only hiking I’ve ever done is up and down the stairs to the apartment, and I don’t always even do a good job at that.”
Elliot laughed again and smiled as he shook his head. “I promise, it’s not that hard! I think going up and down the stairs is much trickier. Hiking isn’t any sort of rush, you can go as slow as you want. And part of it is about appreciating nature. And if you don’t know how to do that, I’ll teach you. Even if it is all snowy. But there’s probably not any yeti up there,” he insisted, whether or not he actually believed it. “And, if there were, between the three of us? It wouldn’t stand a chance. But then, if there’s a yeti up there, maybe it’s lonely. Being up there for a long time without anyone else? Maybe it’s just looking for a friend?”
“Oh,” Myles said, visibly considering this. “Oh, you’re right. I was too busy thinking about it being scary and wanting to eat me. Well–maybe we can just bring some extra snacks.”
“Perfect. We should schedule a trip sometime soon. Well–when your ankle’s feeling better.” Elliot gently bumped his foot against Atticus’; he was careful not to hurt it or dislodge the ice. “If there’s anything we can do to help you clear it up or make it more comfortable with you, I’d like to help. We could put lights up or something, or–we can ask Michael when he comes home. And Devyn, too. I bet they’d have lots of ideas. To be honest, I’m kind of surprised they’re not back yet. I was so sure they’d have rushed home to make sure we were okay. I’m proud of them for taking the night to themselves.”
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