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 Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:28 pm
Eli's resolve to keep any of the horrible events of the recent past quiet had slowly crumbled since that first perfect night she'd first returned home. Part of it was due to Seth's visit to heal Kamiko--while he absolutely appreciated it, surely something may have come up in their conversation about things?--and part of it was simply the kuppy's own worrisome temperament. They had Donab and Haiaen now at the Cottage, Nevreso had to have an idea of the culprits who'd snatched the so-called "sibyl" back right under her nose, and really any day the fragile, tentative peace could collapse with the arrival of the Praetorate on Gaia. He had to at least give Kamiko proper warning...
He found her in the kitchen, industriously at work. "Kamiko-chan...is this a good time to talk?" What he had to say was, potentially, somewhat appetite-spoiling...at least, it would be for him. But Kamiko also wasn't as prone to stress as he was.
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:34 pm
Kamiko had been rather domestic in the last few days since she had returned to the lair. After Krypto had come back and told her of his coversation with Dacj she spent some time reassuring the little deer lyte that she would never make him leave. They practiced together like old times and soon her little sidekick was back to his cute helpful self. Though now he was asking to help out at "Mrs. Seth's" house. Kamiko couldn't deny him the request and had sent a little note to Dacj asking if she could give Krypto some chores to do at her home or homes. He enjoyed helping, a good trait in her opinion.
After a blissful night sharing her first kiss with Eli then snuggling in for a good relaxing sleep she had pretty much recovered from any stress she had endured during her undercover work. Her shoudlers were relaxed, her face was soft and light, even her hair seemed more relaxed. Now she was making lunch for the two of them, BLTs to be precise.
She felt the presence of her dear kuppy as he came into the kitchen. She smiled at him and went about making the sandwich when he asked her that question. In all truth the Shiba Inu had been waiting for Eli to spill the beans on whatever had happened while she was gone. Pushing him only made him more upset so she waited patiently for him to come to her. He always did in the end so she wasn't too surprised.
"Of course love. What is on your mind?" she was slicing tomatoes.
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:43 pm
He wished he knew how she did it--could just be so relaxed and peaceful as she worked on lunch. Then he felt a pain of guilt at the thought that she was only in such a state because he hadn't broken the relatively blissful ignorance yet, and maybe telling her everything was a bad idea... But no, he needed to. If he didn't well...she'd be just as upset with him as he'd been with his mother and all the rest, wouldn't she? "You may want to put the knife down," he said wryly. Whether it would be hurting herself in shock or tempted to take it with her on a rampage of righteous fury on his behalf, he was pretty sure nothing good could come of it... He waited for her to finish slicing anyway, gathering his thoughts. How to start, how to start...
"I don't know if Seth spoke of any of this to you, or if you've seen Dacj yet..." He figured they were the two most likely to have even attempted to broach the subject; Melisande he hadn't really seen since the wedding. "But you know how his magic from the drugs my mother made is permanent now, and how Dacj's got shoulder length hair?" Worst lead in ever. But it would have to do.
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:48 pm
Kamiko had to smirk a bit. She knew more than Eli was starting with but she understood his concerns. She finished slicing the tomato and began putting the sandwiches together. All in all she knew something bad had happened but was sketchy on the details. Frankly she thougth the short hair had been something for the wedding.
"Yes I know. Seth was surprised to find I have natural shields to telepathy and empathy when I want. The hair I wasn't so sure about though. But he did mention she had been kidnapped," she put a sandwich infront of Eli with a handful of healthy potato chips. The she went about getting them some drinks.
"I knew something had happened but I've just been waiting for you to tell me," she poured them each some juice.
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:06 pm
Well, at least he wasn't starting from...out of nowhere? Though the shielding bit was something he hadn't heard. "Oh really? I didn't notice," Eli admitted. Not that he typically went prying for people's shields. He'd been able to read Kamiko well enough the other night, but if it was "when I want", she probably just had been relaxed enough she wasn't trying to keep them up. "That sounds like quite a handy thing to have." And probably something she'd developed before she left to go undercover, most likely. His own shields were up more often than not, so that was probably why it had escaped his notice...
He took the offered plate of food with a faint smile, gravitating towards the small table in the kitchen to sit. "Well, yes, the kidnapping has rather a lot to do with both things. But...it was rather more than just a simple holding for ransom. And, so far as I can tell, it actually didn't have to do with me...but rather my sister's past? A previous lifetime. Her soul was born on Phanes, and she was something...of a priestess, from what I can tell, and she was called the sibyl. She was born to wake Eltimion from dreaming--my Ti'ama from dreaming. An echo of the sibyl's...consciousness remained in Dacj in this lifetime, and that was why she had all that trouble ages ago, last year really, with fitful sleeping and waking up calling my name. My full name." It still didn't quite feel like 'his' with how infrequently it was used, but when it was...it always did catch his attention.
"At any rate, Dacj was kidnapped because she was the sibyl reborn, but her captors...were the Praetorate, Nevreso's finest. The Empress Nevreso herself, the one I'd promised to overthrow...she tortured my sister. For fun." He remembered what Dacj's emotions relating the experience back to him had felt like, and he couldn't help but be slightly emotional again now, if only out of shock. "One of the greatest badges of shame in the Empire is shorn hair. Contractors, Blossoms, they always wear it long because it's believed to be a symbol of our power. To make someone defenseless enough to take even their hair away from them...it's what Nevreso did to my grandmother as well, when she cast her out in exile." He shook his head slightly, troubled look clear on his face. "And cutting Dacj's hair was the least of what happened to her."
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:26 pm
Kamiko listened quietly to what Eli had to say so far. Well Dacj being reincarnated and all didn't surprise her. Not much in Eli's family did at this point. She just went with the flow of whatever happened. After all it wasn't something they could control or asked for. Well maybe except the magic. And now Seth's magic was quiet useful as she could atest to. She also knew her annoucement of her shields would surprise Eli. While the Shiba Inu refused to have magic put in her she knew of more natural ways to protect herself. Coming from the Japanese batch she had a good understanding of chi and how it worked.
What she didn't like was the idea the girl had been tortured. Kamiko had been through her fair share of initiations and all were very painful. But she was trained to withstand it, Dacj wasn't. The hair bit was a bit out of her understanding, after all she had ALWAYS had short hair. Long hair just got in the way. She put a hand on Eli's, she shared her own strength with him like she always did.
"I'm sure that was hard to deal with. But at least she had you and Seth to help her," she patted his paw.
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:37 pm
"...That was only the first part of it they told me," he admitted, sighing despite the rush of reassurance conveyed through her touch. "Because when Dacj was taken--we're linked, somewhat, through Eltimion... What I felt from Elti--she's a world dragon, and she was terrified. Through Dacj to Elti, from Elti to me...our enemies could do a lot with those connections. But I didn't know any of that at the time, Elti wouldn't tell me anything at all. That's not like her. I went to the Cottage, to see if Shimy or my mother knew anything, and..." More surprises, had been what. He pushed the plate in front of him away towards the inner table, giving him space to prop his elbows on it in what was probably a horrible display of table manners. Did that kind of thing matter, with the subject at hand...?
"First of all, my mother told me she's a Blossom--those're the proto-Contractors--of my Ti'ama and has been for ages. Hiding it from me, from everyone. 'Genetic manipulation' and 'technopathy', she said, it was why things stopped blowing up on her. I mean, once she could talk to the tech, I suppose that made it much easier..." He was beginning to feel sympathetic for Seth and Dacj; it wasn't often Eli was the one ranting and rambling and even if it was to Kamiko, it was still difficult to get the words out. Did his being an empath at least make it somewhat easier for his friends to confide in him? He hoped so. "But that was just what she told me to distract me. That was before I realized she was delaying me, waiting for Seth and Melisande and my grandmother to return from Phanes with Dacj. Not that Dacj being kidnapped was the reason they were there in the first place either..." It just got more and more convulted, didn't it?
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:43 pm
Once again, letting the surprise slip riiiiiight off. It did no good to be surprised at anything in that house. But Kamiko could tell Eli was really troubled by all of this. As much as she wished she could have been there for him what could she have done? She wasn't magical like the others and wasn't a reincarnation of some sort of other wold being (least as far as she knew). She was a fighter, a warrior; she used her brawn and brain to defeat her enemies. So when it came to this stuff she could be rather useless.
The Eli mentioned Mena has been distracting him. Why? Eli was the one who knew Phanes better than the others. And apparently they hadn't gone just to rescue Dacj. This was getting rather complicated, poor Eli. She stood up and stood behind him, wrapping her strong arms around his shoulders and hugging him back into her.
"I take it you were not thrilled to be delayed?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:58 pm
"No, I was not," he said, placing a hand atop her arms around him as she held him close. "When they got back, Seth explained the rest of it to me--mostly, anyway. All I could handle then. They'd been going to Phanes on missions for ages...months...planned to ever since my mother started giving Seth and Melisande her temporary magic drugs. Because they thought...they thought my dad and Zane were there. On Phanes. For at least six months, they believed that, and they never told me." Yes, the lack of trust still hurt. But how could he punish them? The rest of them had been through so much... "Of course, apparently it was all some stupid trap, and that's why they never told me before, because they worried I'd run off to the Empire early and get myself hurt or killed doing something stupidly reckless to get my dad or my twin back..." He would have been tempted to, of course, but surely they'd known he was more rational than that?
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:05 pm
Kamiko was shocked that Seth and the others would just out right lie to Eli about their whereabouts for so long. It was dangerous enough that they were going but when they thought it was Eli's family? She had heard the stories of Eli's twin, the joy they shared together up until he disappeared. As well as Eli's dad. She remembered his talk of more puppies as there were two dogs now.
Eli was hurt, she could tell. She kissed his temple and nuzzled his hair. She couldn't offer more but she would definately be having a talk with a certain Cheetah and Kracken once she had the chance. Kamiko understood their reasons for not wanting to tell Eli but she also realized they could have been slightly more honest with him. They were a team and keeping secrets only destroyed teams. It built suspicion and distrust. Both of which could lead to a great deal of trouble in the future. Oh yes, there would be discussions had if the Shiba Inu had anything to say about it.
"While I understand that in the beginning I would have thought after at least a month they would tell you," she spoke softly. And to top it off it had been a trap. If Eli at been in the loop he could have seen it or at least been able to stop it. Kamiko knew Dacj had suffered for their mistakes but it didn't change the fact they had now seeded discord in the group. A battle loomed and there needed to be unity or they would all fall.
"So what did you say to them?" she was curious as to the kuppy's reaction.
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:19 pm
He could understand why they had kept it from him, on some level. It didn't change the fact it was painful to know they had felt they'd needed to. He didn't need to be protected, or coddled--what would they have done, all of them, not just his family, if he'd gone into the Empire blind of Mayameer's plight? How was he supposed to be a 'pathfinder' or show her a way out if he didn't know he was doing it? Or was ignorance to his aid, and now that he knew, he could ruin things somehow? It was all too confusing and, honestly, too frightening to dwell on for long. Why was everyone depending on him, and, in the same breath, spurning his aid?
"What could I say to them? They'd just gotten home from a disaster of a mission, Seth had just burned his magic channels wide open and into permanence, and Dacj was barely holding herself together...and my mother had just been told the one thing she thought she could hope for, some vague promise of seeing her husband and son again, was all in vain. That she was sending Missy and Seth into enemy territory and it was all for naught. They didn't need me to punish them, not after everything else..." And he couldn't honestly bear to stay angry at any of them for long, not when he could feel their guilt dampen any fury he might rouse. "Seth and Dacj had to come see me again a few days after they got back, and they were still torn up inside, from all of it. I thought dealing with my mother's depression this winter was bad...walk in the park compared to trying to make Seth stop feeling guilt or pain," Eli finished wryly, leaning against Kamiko.
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:29 pm
"Ah my love, you are right to feel anger at them. Just because they suffered for what they did does not mean you cannot admonish them for their lies to you. We are a team, teams don't treat their members like that," she spoke softly. Kamiko knew the others had suffered. She couldn't imagine having go through torture like Dacj or burning a permanent magic path inside her or even having the hope of finding lost loved ones be crushed. But they gave Eli pain and disappointment just as bad by excluding him. It was also true that Kamiko left Krypto behind when she had went underground. But Krypto knew the situation, understood the dangers were beyond his abilities, and accepted his being left behind. He would worry for her and fear for her but he was still a part of the team.
"Those lies have hurt you more than any blade could," she kissed his cheek, "and they should have known that. Lies are some of the worst weapons, especially when weilded by those you trust and love."
Kamiko was rather angry at the lot of them. She had left Eli's side thinking he had a strong base ready to help him and work with him while she was gone. Instead they lied to him, with held information from him, then he had to clean up after them. While she knew Eli would have helped Dacj and Seth despite all this it seemed rather unfair of him to clean up their mess when they kept him from being able to help. Had Eli been there he could have done something. The kuppy was not useless and had great reasoning skills. It just upset her that they would distrust him so. Her shields were up, keeping a soothing and calm feeling for Eli's sake.
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:46 pm
It should have occurred to Eli that Kamiko's words were somewhat at odds with the soothing and calm presence he felt, but he was just relieved to be able to speak to someone about all of this honestly, without having to worry about sparing feelings. Being cruel with words was a double-edged weapon, because Eli would feel the emotional wound just as surely as whomever he intended to punish. It usually wasn't worth the trouble. He wasn't sure either how to admonish them now, though he agreed they had a way to go together before they could honestly all work as a team. As they would have to...as they would need to. He knew better now than to claim he could handle all of this on his own, and Seth and Missy had become very skilled in their magic. His mother too, he was sure could be of aid. Dacj...with everyone else, there was no way she'd sit back on the sidelines either. And Kamiko had promised him long ago she would stand by him to help...
He closed his eyes for several moments when she moved to kiss his cheek, and sighed once more. Yes, lies were weapons of great power; he already knew that from his grandmother's betrayal of his trust long ago. The kekesmaphai's betrayal of his trust... He was still adjusting to that fact. "I know. I remember. Did I ever tell you why I first left the Cottage? It was because of my grandmother. Refusing to let me contact Aikatyrine, or find out too much about her past on Phanes...I'd wondered what she had to hide, and it was that my family was just the most recent in...I don't even know what to call them, experiments? She toys with mortals for her own endgoals. But I didn't know then it wasn't just her. That the sibyl could name me before my birth, and my Ti'ama knew I was to be her camellia... I can't outrun my fate; I can't even try. And for some reason, the universe thinks that I can show a frightened little girl who, by all rights, should've died thousands of years ago rather than be preserved in the arms of the Chaos that destroyed the Old Empire...that's what all of this is about. I'm some 'pathfinder', and even though I am the furthest thing possible from a kristi'os, the only ones who ought to be able to purify that level of corruption...despite that, somehow it's up to me to bring her out of the darkness." You know. No pressure. As if overthrowing a mad, precognitive Empress wasn't going to be difficult enough...
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:57 pm
"Once things have settled down enough, I think we all need to have a talk. This can't keep happening, Eli. We have to be honest with each other, even if it hurts," she turned his chair so he was facing her, "We have to trust in each other that we will do what is good for us all not just our own selfish gains. Thats what a team is."
Kamiko by training was a loner, a single fighter against the world of crime; but as a person she was still very much a pack animal. A pack had to trust, had to depend, had to provide for all its members or it would be destroyed. Kamiko knew Eli had a fate that would play out but it didn't have to happen in a certain way. They could still decide the plan, so long as the outcome was the same. She hugged him then gave him a soft kiss.
"The universe claims you can do something, but you are not just you. You are my love, you are Dacj and Missy's brother, you are Seth's best friend. You are more than just you; you are a part of a whole. That is why you can do it. Because you have us," she smiled wisely at him. For someone much younger than Eli she had a lot of wisdom and she saw the situation that way. Eli could not be defined as just a Contracter. He had many titles and many parts of himself. Kamiko just had to remind of that.
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 9:09 pm
"I agree," Eli said softly, with a nod, looking Kamiko directly in the eyes. He was fairly certain most everyone's cards were on the table already but...well, he had to be honest with himself. He still felt hurt. Donab and Haiaen...he hadn't even bothered trying to speak with them yet, and the fact that Shimy had gone to such great lengths to bring them here (out of a parallel dimension) meant they were important too. They were part of the team, and he needed to set aside his own petty jealous regarding his grandmother's beloved brother Donab. They all needed to train together, likely; needed to be able to trust each other enough to put their lives in the others' hands. A pack wouldn't be a bad word for it.
He reached to hold her as she hugged him; kissed him--how glad he was still that they came so easily and naturally now to both of them as an additional source of affection and comfort. "I know I have you all to rely on. I just don't want to be the one who leads you all into danger...or worse..." The worry of the fear Seth had confided in Eli still remained. What if they believed they needed to sacrifice themselves for him? How could he ever live with himself, if one of them were to die for him? At least if anyone needed to perish, let it be him. He was a Contractor, he would return soon enough...
Just because you can does not mean you should feel even the slightest bit tempted to throw your life away so easily, Eltimion scolded him mentally, across their link Ti'ama to Contractor. I will brook no foolishness in my Camellia, Elias.
He smiled faintly, despite himself. Shouldn't you have warned me before you accepted my Contract? he asked back silently.
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