Skylar and Serafina Reduex

[Psychofish]

"Is that my trouble?" he considered that for a very long moment, and found that it almost made sense. It wasn't quite right, but it was certainly true. He lacked a task, objective. Something to fight against or requiring tight maneuvering. For all of his training to be prepared for such, he was conditioned to conquer and then left making idle studies. He still considered them of great worth, but somehow he'd been derailed into twiddling his thumbs, plodding through the damned system so he could finally make progress worth making.

He smiled, a long, sharply thin line of teeth, and slowly turned his coffee, still not raising it.

"In comparison, I find this rather disappointing and bland."

He'd wanted her opinion, not the Prince's, but if she hadn't stated it there was no point in asking. He knew in many ways, they would be near enough the same. If they weren't already, they would become so. It was a part of her nature. She could be a guide, but ultimately she served one man absolutely.

If she'd declined to answer, either she agreed, or refused to voice disagreement.

"So. What now?"

He knew. Perhaps that changed nothing. But, on the other hand, it changed everything very much from where he sat, gazing out the window over the university. It drove him mad with boredom, stale and going nowhere. And now that feeling was more than justified, it made it seem like he had no reason to be here except the goal he was pursuing.

"I suppose this does not come with some new task, or purpose. Too simple. So then, what comes next? Is this the part where I decide I must become different from the rest, unique? Futilely rebel in some other manner? Or do I study the old lives, perhaps quest to reproduce tokens of them?" He looked at her, lost expression warring with something else as he realized with pained pangs of sympathy how many times she must recall having this very conversation with him.  

[Tei Kae]

"Your trouble?", her head tilting to look at him curiously, as if not quite understanding.

"You have always been a scholar as well as a warrior. I think you are simply restless." An opinion of her own finally voiced. She lifted the mug to her lips, inhaling gently before taking a measured sip. "Now, as always, you make a choice. As you do every day. If you wear that piece, some memory or feelings will come back to you. I do not know if it will be mournful or joyous but it will become harder to reconcile the lives you lead. It will be that vivid." Her eyes were tearful but at the same time resigned. "Each life seems to be different. But you are the one who wove the magic into that piece. I can not describe the full depth of each you may go through, and you may never recover all of your memories. You once woke begging for me to bring your son and wife to you. A son who had chosen to be human very early in his life, and had died. Your wife who had been buried a hundred years. You never recovered from that, and it was less than 10 years later that you asked to be reborn again, that the pain of that memory was too much."

"Your trouble as you call it, is...I think..that you feel too deeply. The prince is very similar. He buries his pain until it is no longer his pain", she reached over, lightly caressing the metal. "This will bring that back. But it is a choice. You can keep it and never wear it. But it is a promise to you that I would offer it once each lifetime."  

[Psychofish]

Skylar stared at the pendant hard. He didn't even see his coffee, but watched the pendant, sitting on the table, the curiosity and wonder he'd felt about it earlier now tinged with dread and hate as well. It was pain. It was truth. It was covering himself with old memories, old lives. That he could carry into the future, to build something greater, and empire- his father's gamble, only it held with it such a great risk of losing himself to it instead.

The future?

The past?

Somehow, standing at this crossroads, the normal marvel each held shriveled up, died and rotted. Either way, it was the same cycle. And so very little he could do about it. And his mother bore that burden regardless, seated across the table, no matter how her nature and his father had equipped her to deal with it. He was not often tender, but even as the taste of each turned to ash on his tongue, it seemed to him he had two particular means to offer some mercy.

Instead, for the moment, he rose and circled the table, bending far down until he could wrap his arms around the tiny seated woman, lightly kissing each cheek before simply laying his head into her.

He felt tears in his eyes, but he didn't shed them.  

[Tei Kae]

She said nothing, one hand reaching up to gently stroke his hair as she was often fond of doing. There was not much to be said that had not already been so and so they remained until he chose to stand, or to drop onto his knees, holding her as a child might until he regained enough of his composure to allow himself to be seen. Either way, she remained, patient and pliant as he needed.  

[Psychofish]

It was a rare moment. He remembered, it had been like that more when he was very young. It hadn't lasted long, but there had been times when it wasn't rare. Those were behind him. It was weak, but he allowed himself it. Allowed it until he felt strong enough to stand again, the numbness leaving his limbs, so he could come to his feet and take a small step back.

"Thank you, mother."

He lifted his head and looked over at the pendant, sitting on the table. For some reason he still very badly wanted to touch it, pick it up. But it represented two different decisions that he was far from ready to make.

"...I will need time to think. But thank you."  

[Tei Kae]

"Tsk tsk... you know how I feel about that, darling", she smiled. It was a quirk of his that he never seemed to get over. "I am however going to take this cup of coffee. It is ever so cold out there today", she smiled standing up and offering her hand; after all she was not merely his mother, but also his queen and some formalities must be paid.

"I shall see you next month. You both know the way." And as easily as that, she moved to the door and outwards where a car would be waiting to whisk her away to her next destination,wherever that would be. Leaving Skylar alone with the pendant.  

[Psychofish]

He smiled ruefully and nodded, taking her hand and bending low at the waist to kiss it, giving her hand one short squeeze in parting before he released it. There might have been a great many things to try and say, or squeeze in a final question, but he neglected most of those options. They weren't correct. Skylar led her to the door instead, holding it open for her.

"I pray it keeps you warm."

Once she departed he stared at the door for the moment, and then went to sit down, folding his hands at the small table and staring blankly at the pendant across from him.

Finally, he raised his head, focusing a moment before he spoke to the empty room. "Braern. Braern. Braern." He sat in silence for about a minute and a half, before the door to the apartment shot open, slowing and shutting again smoothly, to admit a darkly tanned young man. He cut a sharp contrast to Skylar, as while he might have looked perfectly arranged enough for a magazine cover, it was in very common clothes (the most expensive brand of course) and his hair was a tossed black mane that sat just right. It might have been taken as a miracle, or extreme poise and charisma. It was, of course, neither.

"Hey-- where's the party?" He looked around uncertainly, one hand flicking his shirt out of the way and fiddling with the pommel of a dagger. Despite his looking about, no threats materialized, and he frowned in disappointment, standing up straight. "What gives, cous? The grills are all fired up in the other quad, and some of the ladies have already been getting into the beer." He all but quivered with eager energy and impatience for a few moments, before slowly toning it down and becoming much more reasonable, toning it down in reflection of Skylar, though he treated the matter as more inconvenience than empathy.

"Braern, histories on Kymru, starting from just before the expansion of the empire. Roughly 2000 years ago. Old ones, good volumes, not textbook nonsense. You can go back to the party after."

The second man rolled his eyes and swept a precise bow, elegant except for holding it too long at the bottom, before straightening. "Oh, right away, your miserableness. Your loyal errand boy is on the task," earning him a scowl as he slipped, grinning in mischief, out the door. A nuisance, but he'd get the job done quickly if it was within his realm. Braern was no scholar, but Skylar was going to be very disappointed if this proved to be beyond him somehow.

He was simply glad that he'd gotten him an adjacent room, instead of sharing this year. He carefully hung the pendant, putting it up on the wall where he could see it, but not have to decide if he was meant to wear it or not yet. Just because he wan't going to commit to becoming a product of lives past didn't mean that it wouldn't be prudent to educate himself on what had come before. It seemed that he'd have plenty to do after all.

He'd never of gotten it done with Braern trouncing women in and out, drinking and reveling over the weekend. Besides, the place would have gone to a complete mess and then he'd have had no time to do all the reading and lab work he needed to do after cleaning up after him.

A brownie, he was not.  

[Tei Kae]

Okay, so that hadn't gone according to plan...

Serafina had been joking when she commented about being home if things didn't go sour. But the joke was on her and here she was Sunday morning after all, collapsed into bed in what she was pretty sure was a fractured rib, more than a few bruises and a new scar on her shoulder from a bullet graze.

"Don't worry, me dear. He'll be more interested in getting him paid than testing the wares...", normally her 'uncle' Charlie was pretty right about about reading a gig but he'd been way off this time. No sooner had she met the man, hoping to find the smugglers hideout had she found out that he liked to test the wares, and liked to have others watch as well. In this case, 2 brutes who looked like they might kill him after he was done to have their own way with her. And no matter how much she enjoyed the adventuring, that just wasn't happening. She'd managed to get out, but barely with Charlie making such a fuss about how her mother was going to kill him, she didn't have the heart to tell the old biker that she probably needed some treatment of her own.

It hadn't helped that her head hadn't been in the game since her 'meeting' yesterday with Skylar and that strange woman outside of his office. Something about the woman niggled at the back of her brain but wouldn't come forward. Times like these, she wished she had her mother's eidetic memory and ability to cross reference herself.

"oh...owww ...www", wincing as she sat up in the bed, falling back only to hit her head on the wall. "...owww. Shut up", hearing the dragon laugh in her only made her head feel worse. This was not going to be a good day. "Great...and that's bleeding again too. Ugh.." pressing a hand to the shoulder once again to slowly make her way to the bathroom to change the dressing. "What time is it anyways," glancing at the clock and wincing again. Had she really slept through the whole day. She needed to get food, and not the type she kept in the apartment. Luckily, smartphones were a thing. 4 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon. Dapper Dandy Delivery was awesome like that. Wrapping her bandage, she typed in her order and crawled to the living room to wait. Hopefully the place wasn't too busy.  

[Psychofish]

Sunday delivery might not have been the wisest choice, particularly from a service renowned for its quality of food, and which relied on exceptionally fine looking young men whom owned tuxes and other dapper clothing and were still willing to run deliveries. It was the better part of an hour, only a few minutes to five when two sharp raps came on the door.

When the voice called it would crack open- then pause, male voices conferring for a moment, followed by only quiet shuffling, the smell of pizza and sandwiches floating through the door.

A moment later the door opened and then closed, admitting a single young man in an immaculately pressed and fitted dark suit, baring a pizza box and two sandwich bags balanced atop one arm. Skylar stuffed his wallet back into his pocket, taking a short look around (the dark color under his eyes not helping the blank, critical stare he seemed to wear in private so often) the room only to stop sharply when he found her off to one side, spread across the couch and covered in stained bandage and looking miserable.

Minutes ago, his head and been full of too many things and muddled, his spirits unbalanced. Now, he simply stared for one very long moment as one eyebrow gradually climbed his forehead. If he'd had words for a question, he'd have asked them, but no one seemed sufficient.

He might have simply stared however long it took to get a proper reaction and explanation out of her, if he hadn't suddenly felt a small painful pang from his breast. Skylar quickly moved to set the food down, adjusting the weight in his shirt pocket before he stepped sharply back over to the girl and paused standing over her. His eyes went over her bandage carefully, noting how it was wrapped, the slight stain, lack of the lump form gauze beneath the bandage.

"Your doctor was a hack," he said (apparently the new hello) and came to one knee to test how tight the bandages were with a finger.  

[Tei Kae]

"Money's on the table. Keep the change." It was a generous tip but it was simple math and the pain throbbing through her body at the moment wanted absolutely nothing to do with math, no matter how simple. So the guy was going to give an almost $50 tip. As he stepped in, she opened her eyes enough to stare at the silver and skin toned blob for a moment before turning her head away from what seemed an awfully bright light. Since when did they wear sparkles?

The room itself was rather warm and inviting, non stuffy tapestries draped on windows, fluffy pillows everywhere and an extraordinarily large beanbag pillow over in the far corner. Lots of vibrant colors, and cluttered, but not messy, surprisingly. It was ...not tasteful, persa, but comfy. Laid back. Much like Serafina, with all her trappings of upscale clothing was also very approachable if a bit intense.

"Huh...wha?", shielding her eyes with her good eye as she tried to get more focus into her vision. "Sky...could you grab me that bourbon over there", pointing vaguely in the direction of the coffee table that did indeed have a bottle of bourbon...a half empty bottle of very good bourbon sitting on it, as if it was perfectly natural he was there. And promptly giving him a nickname, which he would likely hate and never escape.

"My doctor wasn't a hack. I didn't have a doctor. They tend to report things like gunshot wounds and that wouldn't really help the situation at all." The bandage was well placed, but not securely tied, and she hadn't changed from her outfit from the previous night so she was what looked like really old school silk bloomers, with garter belts and silk stockings, with a multitoned corset top and bare sleeves, she'd ripped the jacket the night before during the fight.

If he actually gave her the bourbon, she'd take a swig, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand if she thought she missed any. "So what are you doing here? I'm pretty sure I haven't missed class yet."  

[Psychofish]

He ignored her request at first, examining the bindings and making a sound of disgust in his throat as she told the story, brows forming a very straight line as he tested it and didn't like that the blood was still damp, and reacted visibly when she mentioned gunshot- he jerked, but his lips quirked upward, making for a very thin, sardonic smile.

"At least you're too dense to have gone into shock," he said, carefully taking a look underneath the bandage. Not as bad as he'd feared when she mentioned bullets, only a graze, but it still should have had sutures. He put it over the wound again and stood up, grumbling about how she should have had the sense to plan better before getting into something illegal and dangerous, walking off briskly to see what other medical supplies she had.

When he returned with what he'd been able to scrounge up he'd pass by the bottle on the way. "Aren't you a little young to have..." he picked up the bottle, paused, and amended the end of his sentence slightly. "...good taste?" Returning to the couch, he took a small swig before handing her the rest, setting her injured arm and keeping it very still as he carefully undressed the wound.

"You extended an invitation, and I found myself in need of a distraction." He said it very simply, tone dry and removed as he carefully checked the wound for anything he had to remove and swabbed it with disinfectant, looking to make sure that it hadn't nicked the bones or ligaments in her shoulder. Neither, nor had the bullet lost any visible fragments, which was all turns of good luck. Finally, he put the disinfectant across his own right hand. "I'd planned to simply ******** you through the bed, but this will do."

His hands moved around the wound much more tenderly than his touch had been yet, voice and demeanor shifting likewise for a moment as he let himself attune to the energy of her body again, and drew in from the air around them, siphoning bits of aid from what energy there was. Little, besides their own, but even in closed off residences like this there were bits of life in the air.

"This will hurt."

And placed his finger into the wound, just before his hand began to radiate heat and glow faintly, energy moving into her body, localized carefully but leaking tiny waves of life rippling through her, if she had the sensitivity for it. Besides that he was literally prodding her wound the area would tingle and itch terribly, slowly growing into an uncomfortable pain... as the flesh began to stitch itself, flesh growing, oozing blood clinging to flesh and mending. He pinched the edges slightly to help it seal as the wound slowly grew shallower, until finally it was nothing more than a bad scrape and thin layer of scab atop it. No white magic of undoing harm- he'd accelerated her body's healing process many fold in a localized area.

Skylar sat back and wiped his finger off a second time, cleaning the blood from it.  

[Tei Kae]

"Good taste has no age...", she grinned wildly, stretching practically from ear to ear even as she took a good sized swig of it, shot glasses be damned. "Distraction, huh? Ha!", laughing as she cradled the bottle to her chest. "What the hell is that bright thing on your chest, Skyboy? I feel like it could give me a headache just looking in your general ******** ******** initial yelp mellowing to a repeated mantra as he stuck his finger inside the wound and wiggled it around.

"Ah ********, the ribs...forgot about 'em", she muttered trying to squirm away from the pain until she lifted the bottle again. "Be careful there. I'm fragile and delicate like..."  

[Psychofish]

He ignored some of the initial comments, wiping his hand, but as she mentioned ribs he quickly removed his other hand from her side, where he'd been restraining her from thrashing overly much. He let her drink, but even the squirming earned a careful look now as he looked at the spot. "What bright thing?" He glanced down at his dark shirt and vest, seeing not glow. Appraising her in general.

And, for the moment, determined to simply ignore her little nicknames until they went away.

It was her last, slightly pathetic little comment however that made him draw up sharply and toss his head back.

"Hhhah!"

The first peal of laughter came like a bark, dry and unusually rough from his throat. The following sounds were definitely meant to be a laugh, but where his voice and polite chuckles were usually very smooth sounds it almost seemed scratchy, like somehow his body had nearly forgotten how to really laugh naturally, and let that part of his throat collect dust.

When he recovered from the fit of laughter, he reached a hand up and pushed hair away from her forehead without thinking about the gesture. "Fragile and delicate indeed. Now, what else have you done to yourself? Bruised ribs?" Something was strange. His natural inclination was to be sharp, precise, quick and nevermind if he was abrasive, so long as he wasn't putting on a show. For some damnable reason though, he felt inclined to take his time and go easy on the girl. Even if she had earned her injury, so far as he could tell.  

[Tei Kae]

Fingers slipped from the bottle to jab right at the breast pocket, drawing back with a sharp exclamation. "That thing, there.", she wasn't at her most eloquent, nor at her sharpest mind, between the pain and the alcohol. Not that she had many inhibitions, but between the two, they were lower than usual. Like keeping somethings secret. But her hand went back to cover her eyes once more, the pained expression on her face sincere.

"Might be a fracture. Bruised at least. Also if you stick a finger in any hole in my body again, I'm going to shove this bourbon bottle up your a**...after I'm done with it...", she was far from the best patient ever, but she was entertaining at least. "Where's my food anyways? I'm hungry..." She scowled at him. "You better not have eaten my food", she grumbled, her voice already drifting off much like a child forcing itself to stay awake but not really able to.  

[Psychofish]

"...this?" He paused a moment, utterly confused at how she'd located the pendent so precisely from a small lump in his shirt pocket. Certainly didn't seem to realize what it was... strange. He sensed the energy from it of course, but it was his. She seemed almost overly sensitive to it, and she had shown no other signs of having any sensitivity at all for ambient energy. Pulling it out of his pocket, he carefully set the thing to one side and continued.

"Heh. I doubt that very much," he said briefly allowing himself a purely pervy tone and expression, smoothing over the leer before he was even sure she'd catch it. "You rather liked the last time I was shoving them into holes," he said in a much drier tone, placing one hand over her side and the other on her exposed cleavage- the largest span of exposed skin at all close to the supposed wound. Between the two hands he let energy pulse back and forth, feeling her out and trying to locate the injury. The hand overtop the clothes slowly homed in on the break until it was directly over of it, touch light. The faint rippling of energy being sent echoing through her body continued a moment longer, then died away.

"Two fractures. Probably worse if not for the corset. But now it presents a risk. I'll have to remove it."

Which was meant to be a warning about what came next as he stood over her, wrapping his arms very carefully around the girl and turning her over onto her back before collecting a very sharp pair of scissors from her medical kit and slowly clipping through the strings. It was the only truly safe way to remove the thing, and he'd go through any layers beneath it as well, until he could splay the clothing open and get direct access to her ribs.

She was drifting though, and muttering about the food. The healing would do that- it was tiring for the patient, and no doubt she'd be left hungry and thirsty too. He'd have to keep that all for on hand. But what came next with the ribs was going to be easily as disconcerting as the other wound, and if she thrashed it could hurt her worse. Normally he'd have done something to numb the area or relax her, but none of his normal tools were about.

So he improvised. Leaning over her, Skylar placed one hand on either side of his face, focusing on her head, her blood, trying to imagine the way the alcohol would be mixing with her blood. Turn that into the sedative agent. And so, energy tickling through his hands and into her body, he spoke one gentle word with a small force of command behind it:

"Sleep."

And then sealed the matter with a kiss.




When she awoke, she'd find herself naked but for dressings on her two noteworthy wounds, laying in her own bed. Beside it, a large glass of water and an object precisely wrapped in tinfoil that appeared to be a sandwich.

Skylar was not in the room, but her door was open and if she stopped to search he'd be within her line of sight, holding a tiny, beaming object high aloft by a chord, watching it slowly spin, face thoughtful.