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 Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 8:01 pm
Alastor trailed after the two Moon Pages, walking in sync with Sessrumnir. Either of them could have led the boys to the distant corner of the park to practice, but Amarynthos had been confident that he knew where they were talking about and offered to lead the way. So far, he’d known exactly where to go, and had explained to Ephesus, “Nobody really goes back here, I don’t know if you’ve been. But past the trees it’s all brambly. There’s an easy way to get through if you’re careful about it, and it’s worth it. There are some fresh blackberries back here, they’re ripe by the end of summer. They might be ripe right now.”
Not that Michael couldn’t have afforded blackberries, but Amarynthos was particularly excited about them just because. There was something fun, something magical, about finding something fresh in nature.
It wasn’t quite as amazing as having a whole Wonder to explore, but it was fun, anyway.
They were almost to the trees, and he started to take a little path around so he could sneak in through a thin area of bushes. He made sure to go first, just to make sure there were no youma hiding out to spook Ephesus.
“Did you know about that, Sessrumnir? Is that why you picked this area to go practice in?”
It didn’t matter if he doubted it; he held Ephesus’ hand in his own and swung it as they walked. He hadn’t slowed down, not even when he looked over his shoulder to smile at the two behind him. And he definitely wasn’t peeking to see how close they were standing, or if they were holding hands.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 8:14 pm
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a blackberry,” Ephesus chirped curiously as he held tightly to Amarynthos’ hand as they made their way through the park to the distant corner. He was trying not to skip, but he was excited. He was happy to be out there with Amarynthos. And with Alastor and Sessrumnir so they could show them how to use their weapons.
Although Ephesus was pretty sure both he and Amarynthos didn’t have weapons. Not normal weapons at least. His weapon would be better on a table with breakfast food, and Amarynthos’ could easily sit on a window sill next to a variety of plants.
Maybe if he’d known there were blackberries hiding in the park, he would have tried eating those than the other less enjoyable options he had. But now he didn’t have to worry about food at all. It was… strange. And he was still getting used to it, but he very much enjoyed being with his new family. Sessrumnir was not holding Alastor’s hand as they walked beside each other, but maybe once in a while their hands would brush together as they followed the boys. Alastor didn’t seem to mind, and maybe Sessrumnir was doing it on purpose. Just a little.
“Maybe,” he hummed, noncommittal of course. He’d lived in the area long enough to have a general idea of where things were. He knew where to go that was a safe distance from houses. And where they could have enough room to practice without calling attention to themselves.
“Make sure you wash whatever you’re going to eat before you eat it,” he reminded them. Or at least Ephesus. He knew that Amarynthos knew better. Maybe he needed to say it as a reminder to Alastor as well.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 8:24 pm
“You don’t have to,” Amarynthos said quietly, almost playfully. “Especially if it’s just after it’s rained. I get too impatient to get home and eat them and I’m fine. Don’t tell my parents.”
Alastor might have been thinking something along the same lines, because he gave Sessrumnir a look that said he had probably never washed anything he’d picked in his life. He was still alive and healthy. He probably wouldn’t change. Unless it was important to Michael, then he might have tried.
“We can get some when we’re done practicing, if they’re ripe. I’ll show you. Here,” he hurried forward and carefully maneuvered into the opening. He wasn’t used to coming out here in shorts but he was pretty durable and a few scrapes weren’t going to hurt him. He pushed the brambles back and smiled so Ephesus could pass through, and he stayed put so Sessrumnir and Alastor could, too.
He was careful and didn’t get so much as a single scrape–a feat he was rather proud of, especially because he could see one of the nearby bushes overgrown and plentiful with blackberries. Amarynthos could have skipped, himself.
“Sessrumnir, what type of weapon did you have when you were a page? Was it like ours or something more useful?”
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 8:41 pm
Sessrumnir drew in a breath and let it out slowly. He knew Alastor was thinking the same as Amarynthos. But he wasn’t going to tell his parents. He wasn’t exasperated just… he worried. Maybe too much. And he knew he worried too much.
“You can call me Sess if that’s easier. I know the name is kind of a mouthful,” he admitted and then pulled his current weapon out of the subspace pocket he kept it in until it was needed. It wasn’t his first choice to use. Not when he had Princess, but it had been useful over the years.
“It was still a stormglass like this, but much smaller. Not very useful either. I actually asked your parents about some research I was doing on stormglasses. I put together an experiment for my class and wanted them to test it out for me, first,” he said as he thought back to when he’d first discovered he was a knight. “You were… three or four at the time.”
He was careful to get through the brambles and lifted a hand to ruffle Amarynthos’ hair affectionately with a quiet thanks, but let him run off once they were through. “Thank you.” Ephesus was so grateful to Amarynthos when he helped him get through the brambles, but he made sure to wait for him to get through as well, and then took hold of his hand again.
He was worried about being too clingy but Amarynthos didn’t ever mind. Or if he did, he was too much of a sweetheart to comment about it. But Ephesus had a feeling that it really was okay to hold his hand and remain close.
“Are our… weapons supposed to get big like that?” Ephesus stared at the stormglass Sessrumnir was holding. He tried thinking about his little honey dipper being any bigger than it was but… if it was bigger, he would need a lot more honey than a normal sized honey jar.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 8:57 pm
Amarynthos couldn’t help but laugh when Sessrumnir ruffled his hair; when everyone had passed through, he put a little effort into fixing it. Not too much, though. He knew it was just going to get messed up in a few minutes, anyway. And, he wanted to hold Ephesus’ hand while he still could.
“I can’t believe you’ve been a Knight for so long. Your stormglass is really cool. Amarynthos is kind of long, too. I told Ephesus he can call me Mary, I don’t mind. I can’t believe you got your whole class involved, that’s so cool. I definitely don’t remember that.”
Alastor was smiling, even if only just to himself; he was wrapping his sleeves up to make sure they didn’t catch on anything. He didn’t have a weapon like the rest of them, so he didn’t have anything to compare to. Unless having very long sleeves when he was a new chibi senshi a thousand some years ago, but he doubted that was useful in this conversation.
“How long before we get magic? How would you fight with our weapons?” Amarynthos asked, presenting his glass mister. Combined with Ephesus’ honey dipper, he supposed they could make some noise, but he didn’t really see how much they could get done in an actual battle.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 9:09 pm
“I got my magic when I became a Squire. It’s what the… level between Page - where you are now - and Knight. You’ll get there soon enough. Your starseeds just need to get used to the new power, and once they do they should be ready to take on more,” Sessrumnir explained, although even he wasn’t sure how it all worked. He’d never had an in depth discussion about it with… anyone. Although he supposed the boys had the Code to talk to if they really wanted someone else’s advice. When he was new, Sessrumnir only had himself.
“Your weapons might be a little difficult to fight with. I didn’t use my stormglass much when I was a Page, but I’d also had training on how to fight.”
They’d both reached the clearing -- well, at least most of the clearing. He was sure the boys would still be distracted with the blackberries. He replaced his stormglass in the pocket for safe keeping, and made sure to put some distance between themselves and the bramble.
“I’m going to teach you how to punch. If you end up throwing your weapon to protect yourself, don’t worry about losing it or breaking it. When you recall your magic again, they should return to you, fixed. Just try not to need them immediately after you’ve lost them. Here, hold out your fists -- this is just to defend yourselves,” he insisted, because he didn’t want them getting into fights they couldn’t handle, but if they were caught in a fight, they should try to protect themselves. “You can call me Effie, if you’d like,” Ephesus offered to both Sessrumnir and Alastor, hoping they wouldn’t think it was weird to shorten his already kinda short name, but he thought Mary was really cute, so he wanted to make it easier for Mary to say his name as well.
He nodded along to both everything Amarynthos said and everything Sessrumnir answered. At least until he was asked to hold out their fists.
Ephesus would rather just hold Mary’s hand. He glanced over to him and gave it a little squeeze before letting go. He wanted to learn everything he could, so he held up his hands after balling them into fists as requested.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 9:23 pm
For a few seconds, Amarynthos just looked at Sessrumnir’s fists. He didn’t really have anywhere to put his mister, but it wasn’t really practical for him to set it on the ground and he was pretty sure that if he dismissed it to subspace he might accidentally power down.
He’d never punched anyone before, and after a second he looked at Alastor. “Can you hold this for me, please?”
Alastor looked like he could have shoved any number of things into his sleeves to hold, and he had so many little things on his outfit that Amarynthos was sure he must have had some pockets. Thankfully, Alastor agreed and opened his hands to catch the weapon. He caught it easily, thanks to a skilled toss, and fastened it to the beaded chain at his waist.
Amarynthos was quick to bounce back; he balled his fists to mimic Sessrumnir’s.
“Do my dads know you’re going to teach us how to punch?” he asked, but it sounded more mischievous than anything else, like he was amused at the idea even in its necessity. He smiled at Ephesus, reassuring and obviously trying to have fun with this. He didn’t want him to worry or be self conscious, so he thought if he treated this like something fun, maybe it wouldn’t be so intimidating.
He wasn’t afraid or nervous; Sessrumnir was a good teacher. He just wanted Ephesus to be comfortable.
And, safe.
“I hope we get our magic soon. We’ll train hard,” he promised. “Do we get to pick our magic or does it just happen?”
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 9:44 pm
Ephesus watched Mary bring his mister over to Alastor, and he looked down at the little honey dipper he still had -- he just balled his fist around it -- and figured it was probably a good idea that he wasn’t holding it, too. So he quickly followed Amarynthos’ lead and held up his honey dipper for Alastor as well.
“Can you hold this too, please?” he asked. And then because it was nice of Alastor to hold both of their things for them, he reached out to put his arms around Alastor’s waist to give him a quick hug and then skipped back over to where Mary was standing with Sess.
Oh right, he needed his hands in a fist.
“What’s your magic, Sess?” he chirped curiously, because he knew about the Springs but not much else. “You have magic too, don’t you, Alastor?” He bet they had really cool magic. Sessrumnir paused in trying to show the boys how to form a fist as they both went over to give their weapons to Alastor. He took a moment to glance helplessly at Alastor, because he really didn’t know what he was doing with kids. Well, at least outside of a classroom. But this was Elliot and Atticus, so he was just going to have to figure things out because he wanted them to be safe.
“Some kind of illusion magic. If I see someone through the stormglass it will make them feel like they’re caught in a really bad storm,” he explained. It wasn’t as useful as Princess. Not as lethal, but he imagined Percy preferred something that kept people distracted over hurting them. Not that Sessrumnir wanted to hurt people, but the Negaverse was often trying to hurt him and the people he cared for.
“I told your dads I was going to make sure you knew what to do to stay safe,” he said, trying not to sound too exasperated by it. It wasn’t Amarynthos’ questions, just his own stress at hoping he was doing everything right. He didn’t want to fail them by forgetting about something.
“I don’t know if you’ll get to pick your magic. I didn’t get to pick mine, but if your Wonder is new, then maybe. Here, hold your hands up like this. Make sure you keep your arm and knuckles in alignment, but when you hit something, use these first two knuckles,” he explained pointing to Amarynthos’ hand, and then reached out to gently correct how he was holding it.
“Try punching the air first, and make sure you bring your fist back close to your face to protect yourself.”
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 9:56 pm
Alastor couldn’t help but smile, maybe a little bit at all of them. Ephesus was so sweet, and he hadn’t known how much he missed such open displays of affection until he’d first wrapped his arms around him. It was nice, if only because he was so honest about everything that it was impossible not to appreciate the gestures. He fastened Ephesus’ honeydipper to his belt as well and crossed his arms over his chest so he could watch.
Of course, he couldn’t help but smile again when Sessrumnir looked at him like he didn’t know what to do. Alastor suspected he might have been overthinking things, because Amarynthos immediately listened to anything he said and seemed to be taking it seriously despite all of his questions.
Or, maybe he really was just trying to learn.
“I have magic,” he answered, when Sessrumnir was helping shape Amarynthos’ first. He didn’t want to speak over him or disrupt his lesson, but he didn’t want Ephesus to think that his questions weren’t worth answering. “All Senshi do. Usually it’s something related to their sphere of power. Mine is despair, so my magic typically makes people pretty miserable.”
He didn’t mention that it was a little unstable–and had been, for a while. He could still fight. He hadn’t relied on his magic when he was younger, when his world was healthier, and now that his body had time to heal he felt a bit more like his old self.
Amarynthos seemed to be doing his best to pick things up, and he was a clever, dedicated boy so if he didn’t get it now he was going to keep practicing until he did. Thankfully, nothing seemed too hard right now, and he punched at the air before drawing his hand back.
“Oh, I don’t like despair magic.” That one seemed pretty straight forward, at least. “Does your magic hurt, Sess? Can you show us some time? We don’t have to if you’re worried about us getting hurt, but I think it would be neat to see. Do you get to control what type of weather? Like, a thunderstorm, or a tornado, or a blizzard? Or is it the same every time?”
He punched again, trying to find a more comfortable position. He didn’t apologize for his questions; he rarely did. Michael had known him since he was very small and he couldn’t help but be curious–especially about something that could be so dangerous.
Briefly, he glanced at Ephesus to give him a reassuring smile, but then he wiggled just slightly and tried punching into the air again.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 10:02 pm
Ephesus followed suit in trying to punch the air, and then paused to let Sessrumnir correct how he was holding his hands. It was harder than it looked, and he didn’t think he was going to do very well with it, but he wanted to try! He wanted to make them proud, especially after everything they’d done for him.
“The magic doesn’t affect you too, does it?” Ephesus asked sadly, looking up at Alastor with wide eyes. He didn’t want Alastor to feel despair magic. That sounded horrible. And Alastor was so nice. “I can decide when thunder and lightning strikes, but I haven’t tried changing the seasons,” Sessrumnir admitted. He wasn’t upset by the questions. In fact, their curiosity was somewhat amusing. Maybe he would have to give his magic another try one of these days.
“We’ll see. Right now let’s worry about you throwing a punch without hurting yourself,” he said as he pulled out a pair of padded mitts from his subspace. They had a smooth front to focus on practicing punches. He had another set that he pulled out and held up for Alastor. He might have purchased them with the thought in mind that they needed to teach the boys how to punch properly.
“Here,” he said as he put on the gloves and then held the flat part up for Amarynthos. “Practice hitting my hands. Effie, you try with Alastor,” he said, knowing that Alastor would be happy to help.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 10:41 pm
Naturally, Alastor was happy to help, even if he gave the gloves a somewhat distasteful look. They were not very fashionable, but they were practical. He wasn’t afraid of getting hurt, but he was already sure this was more for Ephesus comfort than his own.
“You can do it, Effie!” Amarynthos said; he didn’t waste any time following through with instructions and, as soon as Sessrumnir was ready, he aimed for his gloved hand. “Oh, I think I like throwing a ball more, that’s so much more comfortable.” Still, he wasn’t going to shirk on his practice, no matter how much he needed.
…Although, he really couldn’t help but glance at Ephesus to make sure he was doing okay, too.
Alastor was more gentle with Ephesus, and once he had the glove on he held it up. “My magic’s not supposed to affect me. Sometimes it does, so I don’t use it. I used to have much better control over it, so I need to practice more, too. I just don’t want to use it when anyone I care about is around, I don’t want to accidentally hurt someone. Here, go ahead and hit my hand. Hopefully you’ll never have to hit someone, but maybe we can work on teaching you defense soon, too. What do you want to learn how to do?”
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2022 7:30 am
Ephesus smiled bashfully when Amarynthos cheered him on, but he made sure to turn his focus to Alastor so he could prove that he was taking all of this very seriously. He scrunched his eyebrows and focused hard on the mitt and hit his fist into it as hard as he could. Which wasn’t that hard at all, but he was trying!
Oh right, and then he had to bring his fist back up near his face to protect himself. Or something like that. He glanced over at Mary to make sure he was copying him.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. There were a lot of things he didn’t know, so that wasn’t surprising. “I just want to help people. I like doing art, but… that’s not going to help with defense or punching. Maybe I can learn how to clean cuts and things. Could you teach me?” he wondered, because if Alastor could mend his clothes and clean his wounds, then maybe he could learn that and be useful too! “Me too,” Sessrumnir agreed. He would much rather be playing catch than trying to teach teenagers how to punch. He hadn’t properly learned until he was a bit older, so maybe this would give them a decent advantage that would help keep them alive.
“Just like that. You’re already good at being able to hit the same spot. Another reason for you to keep playing baseball,” Sessrumnir said with a small grin. He was proud of Amarynthos, and was happy he got to see him grow up. Even though he didn’t like them being pulled into a magical war, they were at least there to keep them safe.
“So when you have to defend yourselves and you do have to hit someone… make sure you aim for places like their nose, chin, throat, solar plexus…” Sessrumnir explained, pointing to each area as he did so. “We’ll get into more details later, but just keep that in mind.”
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:44 am
“You’re doing very good, Ephesus,” Alastor said, without an ounce of dishonesty. He could see that he was trying. He was less athletic than Amarynthos, and still had a little bit of catching up to do before he could be called healthy. “I can teach you to clean cuts and things. Sessrumnir is very skilled at that, too. We’ll make sure both of you know everything we do. Better to be over prepared than under prepared.”
Amarynthos had been trying to eavesdrop with Ephesus and Alastor but he couldn’t help but laugh at Sessrumnir’s comment. “Well, I’m not going to give up baseball. Are there punches that rely on using the same muscles as throwing a ball? I might be better at those. I’ll learn this, though. I’ll learn all types of punches,” he promised, speaking between swings. He was doing his best to hit quickly, as on point as possible, and draw his hand back to his face rapidly. He had a bit of force behind the punches, but it was clear that he was getting the motion down and gradually putting more force into it.
“I don’t want to hurt someone, but I guess if I have to hit them, it’s probably because I didn’t have a choice. So that probably means they deserved it. But if I hit them too hard, Effie can patch them up. I want to be well-rounded, too. So we can help people no matter the situation. We promised the Code we’d do our best. We have a lot to clean up on our Wonders, too. I hope you can come up with us and help us figure out what we can do. But we have a lot to clean up first. I can’t wait to see Sessrumnir, too. I’m just. Really excited about all of this. Not the fighting.”
He was still diligently throwing his punches as he spoke. “But the magic. And the helping. And getting to spend time with you.”
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:03 am
Ephesus perked up a bit when he was told he was doing very good, pleased that Alastor seemed to think so. He wanted to get stronger, and he wanted to learn everything.
“Oh, yes please. I would like to know all of that. Oh, I don’t know how I’ll do around blood though,” he cringed, because that was something he really didn’t like. “But I’ll do my best!”
Amarynthos was doing his best, so Ephesus had to as well. There was no other option because they had to protect each other. “Sometimes hurting someone is the only way you can stop them from hurting someone else,” Sessrumnir said, although there was nothing in his voice that indicated that he liked that. If they could get away with not hurting anyone, he would prefer it, but some people knew nothing but violence.
“I hope you don’t have to hurt anyone, but if you have to, I want to make sure you’re able to stop them quickly so you can prevent them from hurting anyone else,” he explained. He just hoped the boys were prepared for what the war threw at them.
“We’ll help you clean up your Wonders, and I’ll take you to Sessrumnir,” he promised. He was proud of Amarynthos, and of Ephesus. They were both doing so well, and they both deserved the blackberries that they’d been wanting to get. Although Sessrumnir was going to make sure they washed them first.
Or at least that was the plan.
Suddenly, the four of them were pulled somewhere, and they disappeared from Earth.
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