Welcome to Gaia! ::

Instead of going to the beach with his cousin and sister, Arkadios had spent the day practicing his craft. He'd learned a few years ago that cooking was generally a stress relieving hobby for him and since it was something that also happened to help out around the house Ari was happy to do it. That being said, he got bored of cooking the same thing day after day so he'd been trying out some new recipes.

In fact, he was eagerly waiting for Siofra to show up so he could have her try them out...except she never came by. He knew they were home, but since neither had stopped by Ari just thought they were tired. A big day out probably meant the pair would sleep like the dead. Still, they needed to eat~

Leaving Zohra's dish to his siblings, Ari gathered some food for Sio and a glass of fruit juice. Blissfully unaware, he made his way to her room and knocked against the door with his elbow. "I've got supper."

Ari turned so that he could leaned his ear up against the door and listen. He was used to picking up whatever signs he could from Siofra, especially if she wasn't willing to make things easy for him. Unfortunately for him the door was too thick to pick up much more than some shuffling so while he knew she was inside he couldn't figure out why she wasn't letting him in. Huffing, he shifted the juice to the crook of his arm and reached for the knob. It wasn't locked and there wasn't anything blocking him so he took that as a sign to come in.

"You should have stopped by, I made these sweet crisps that just melt-" As soon as he saw his sister on the bed Ari closed his mouth. Was she really that exhausted? Maybe he should have just brought her food back downstairs, then...but what if she woke up soon? The meal itself would be find to eat cold, same with the desert, so as quietly as he could Ari made his way to her desk. When he had her meal all situated the teen moved over to his twin's bedside.

"Sheesh, Sio," He murmured and reached across her for a blanket. Getting it around her without 'waking' his twin was hard work, but once he had the fabric free he draped it over the other teen. When he was sure she was covered he placed a hand over her head, just like he'd seen their mother do and smiled. "See you in the morning."

"Sio?" At first Arkadios hoped he hadn't woken her, but now he was glad he did. The noise she made worried him, as did the way she was reaching for her hip. "What's wrong?" He crouched down near her bed, ignoring the urge to simply sit on the side out of concern that anymore movement might hurt her. "Is your leg cramping? I can go downstairs and get something for it. It might also help if you can get up to walk it out."

He kept one hand on her head, but the other balanced on his knee as he did his best to lean over for a look. While he couldn't see anything from that angle he could see the tears on her face. The sight immediately made his heart drop into his gut. "Hey hey, it's going to be okay. Your brothers here; no tears now."

If it wasn't a cramp then what? Raising an eyebrow, Ari waited patiently for her to tell him what was wrong, but what he saw stunned him. The teen's mouth gaped, his eyebrows shooting up and for a moment it was all he could do to process.

His sister - his dearest sister - had stitches?!

"What in the he-?!" Catching himself, hearing that his voice was getting loud and not wanting others to hear he quieted down. For a moment he looked as if the words would just burst out of him until Arkadios calmed. When next he spoke his words may have been strained, but they were quieter. "What happened? Is Zohra hurt too?"

Because he had to be, right? He had to be so absolutely mangled beyond all belief if Ari's sister had such a wound.

In all honesty if she hadn't started crying again Arkadios might still have been trapped in his initial anger. He'd been too busy in his burst of indignation to see how his attitude was affecting her, but those tears gutted him. "Hey hey, shhh, I'm sorry." Leaning forward, Ari rubbed Siofra's shoulder and gave her a half hug. Or as close to one as he could.

Some bruises, but no stitches? Arkadios bit back on the snarky response that wanted to worm it's way out. He'd have a chat with his cousin later, but right now he needed to focus. "What did you get in a fight over?" Thinking for a moment, he added, "Do you want anything for the pain?"

Arkadios did his best to get settled on the floor by the bed as his sister seemed to calm. She still wasn't in the best position, but this was going to be the best he could get for a while. At least if he was close then he could offer comfort. Still, hearing that about his Aunt...Ari's hand instinctively clenched around the fabric of his pants and his teeth ground against one another. The woman was basically a second mother to them and hearing the least little bit of criticism about her made him defensive. More so when it came at a physical cost to his family.

"That's stupid," He snarled. "Uncle's half shifter, three of our cousins have silver hair, three have silver eyes and Zohra has blue crystals. Where did they think that came from? Tale?" Even though his voice was barely above a grumble there was no lack of venom in his words. How stupid did you have to be to think that someone was cheating based on that kind of information?

It was just so...so...so stupid! Arkadios felt like he could deck every single one of those brats right across the mouth. "I know why we can't, but I wish we could tell them the truth...just shove it down their throats 'til they choked." Not once had he ever been able to say aloud who his actual parents were and some days were harder than others. Most of the time he found ways around outright saying it, but right now...Right now he wished they could have said 'screw it' and be done with the whole hiding business. Siofra was being hurt and his aunt's reputation would be damaged because of it!

Hearing the way she was talking, though, caused him to whip around and put his hand over hers. "Don't." Lowering both the volume of his voice and the tone, Ari sighed and gave her hand a squeeze. "Don't say that. None of this is your fault. You're perfect just the way you are and if you were any more perfect then the Gods would come down to snatch you up."