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 Posted: Sun May 12, 2024 6:24 pm
That. Had been…
A lot. And when they were back in the city, Lisse felt just a bit numb, but looked around, hoping that all of Dering’s friends would be close. He kept his eye on Dering, but was trying to give him a bit of space, having finally let go of his shoulder and taken a few steps away, hoping to find the others. Yvonne and…and…the uh. The rest.
He knew that the Squires name wasn’t Yvonne but…that was the only thing that stuck, and…honestly at this point he wasn’t going to ask for clarification, so he would simply never address the Squire by name.
“Hey!” Lisse called, keeping his voice somewhat soft, but still hoping it carried. “...Um. Do you…do you all want to get some food? My treat? I know…that hunger was something else and…I told Dering that I’d take all of you, if you want…”
Shrugging, Lisse looked almost sheepish. He didn’t know…if he would be welcomed, or if this was a stupid idea but…
It was out there now.
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Posted: Mon May 13, 2024 11:54 am
Dering seemed absent upon return, like he was so preoccupied with whatever was going on in his mind that he’d forgotten how to be a person, too. He was little more than a ghost, fluttering behind with no substance or presence. He had a far off look on his face after the battle ended, and some part of him must have been aware of what was going on because he trailed behind his friends and nodded obediently when asked if he was okay.
Amarynthos stood with Ephesus, one arm firmly hooked around his waist as he rubbed his side gently. Ephesus was probably more spent than he was showing; he’d already helped heal Lucien before they left Fang. Sessrumnir and Alastor knew that they wanted to go check on their friends and the two Moon Knights had promised to check in soon.
Though Amarynthos wasn’t particularly hungry, he did want to actually make sure everyone was okay. They seemed in various conditions. His eyes fell on Dering and suddenly he seemed to come to life.
“I have to do something,” he blurted, with such energy that it was like a switch had been flipped. He turned to Lisse and said quickly, “Can I meet you back here in twenty minutes? I don’t need anything. But I’ll be right back.”
Mary didn’t have to know Dering that well to tell that there was something odd about the emotional shift, but he didn’t look too closely. Dering seemed to squirm with eyes on him anyway, so he nodded. “That’s okay. That’s enough time for us to figure out what we want to get? Some of us aren’t comfortable powering down,” he explained to Lisse with a quick smile. “Do you mind if we go up to the Moon and chill? Effie used a lot of his magic, too, so I want to give him a little bit of a chance to recharge.”
He didn’t think he had to explain that between the two of them it was easy to ferry everyone up easily, especially when their Wonders were right next to each other anyway.
And the Moon was peaceful. They could all probably use a little chill after everything they’d been through tonight.
Dering nodded, and though he’d put forth a quick smile, it wasn’t really hard to tell that it was for show rather than anything else. He was trying too hard for it to have been natural. Amarynthos felt drained so he knew Dering wasn’t actually that energetic. Usually, Dering might have waved, but with confirmation that it was okay to head out, he turned and hurried off.
Amarynthos wasn’t really sure where; it looked like he was just heading into a wall of trees, but he tried not to draw too much attention to it. He rubbed Ephesus’ side again. They were still wearing the earrings, so of course he’d checked that Ephesus would be comfortable going out before answering.
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Posted: Mon May 13, 2024 7:29 pm
Reims found it weird to have so many people whose wellbeing he sincerely cared about. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about other people, but to have so many that he felt actually gave a damn about what happened to him was something he was still getting used to.
He was grateful that he ran into Cynthus at the end of the fight, and also grateful that Amarynthos and Ephesus’ summons didn’t maul them by accident.
He’d found Rose and gave her a hug and a look over to make sure she was okay. He went to find Malus and promised he would check in with him, and verified that he would have people he was going home with.
He found Yvoire -- in the arms of a tall Jupiter Knight. Reims was tall! For his age! He was still growing! He’d puffed out his chest and straightened his back some, but it wasn’t like he was jealous. He just wanted to make sure Evie was okay! Yeah yeah, he figured out it was Ganymede’s husband or whatever, but the guy didn’t have to show off by carrying around a teenager perched on his arm like it was nothing. Reims could do that! Probably!
Dering looked so out of it that Reims felt guilty for trying to get his attention. To try and make sure he was okay.
Mary and Effie had disappeared for a bit, but came back when they all returned to Earth. They looked a bit worn down, but it wasn’t like they were doing much fighting! Whatever, he was glad they seemed okay, too.
And then there was Lisse.
A kid was offering to buy them all food. Sure, he knew he was being hypocritical since he didn’t bat an eye at Cynthus using her dad’s credit card, or Ephesus offering them all fair tickets. But this guy was new. To him. To them.
Reims was secretly pleased that he was just a couple inches taller than this guy.
“What’s the saying? Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?” he shrugged. That probably wasn’t the saying, but he wasn’t going to complain about free food. It gave him time to figure out what this guy’s deal was.
And hopefully it would give Dering enough time to collect himself.
Reims almost excused himself so he could go after him, but Dering looked determined and he said twenty minutes.
“What’s your story?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest so he could look down at the brightly colored Lysithea knight. “How do you know Dering?” The Moon was a good idea. But then again, Ephesus would always agree to the Moon. He leaned heavily against Amarynthos, an arm around his boyfriend’s waist in return, and to help keep himself upright.
He was tired, both physically and emotionally. He would have liked to go home and just hide under the blankets, but he had a feeling that doing that wouldn’t have helped as much as being with friends.
‘I’m okay,’ he promised Mary, the earrings they shared in place so he could use a little less energy when it came to communicating. He was worried about Lucien, but he’d made sure to use every last bit of his magic to heal the Mauvian. And his parents promised to keep him updated, and if they had to go to Sessrumnir. Although Lucien seemed ready to protest the idea of getting into the hot springs.
He was worried about Dering, who looked more skittish than usual. If he was affected by the same magic as the rest of them…
“Could we get some bland things, please? Um… maybe waffles or pancakes or breadsticks. Some soup, maybe? Like chicken noodle or… Oh… if it’s too much for you to cover, we can help too, Lisse. Thank you for your offer,” he said with a tired smile, although he cast a wary glance over to Reims who looked like he was a territorial cat or something, ready to start a fight just because someone was unfamiliar to him.
“Dering came to Fang with Lisse. He told me he invited him,” Ephesus said to Reims, maybe in an attempt at getting him to stand down against a non-threat.
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2024 12:52 pm
“Pretty sure you want to look a gift horse in the mouth,” Cynthus said. “You know, ‘cause of deception or whatever. But this guy’s just another one of the spiky croissants or whatever you call them, so unless knights of Lysithea are supposed to have beef with Ganymede or the Moon that we don’t know about, I don’t think—... Wait, what’s your name again? Lisa? Lice? Lessy? We can probably trust him if Dering does. Unless you think Dering’s a bad judge of character…”
The thing about Cynthus was she talked a lot. Sometimes what she said was relevant to the conversation. Sometimes she talked about whatever she wanted to regardless of the conversation. Maybe she liked to hear her own voice when she had a willing audience. Maybe she didn’t know how to shut it off once she got going.
Even Cynthus herself wasn’t sure.
“Anyway, bland food’s fine if that’s what you want,” she continued, switching her attention to Ephesus. “I was kinda craving pizza when all that magic was flying around up on Fang, but now I’m not as hungry. There’s probably a diner around here we could get stuff to go from. I can help too if it starts getting expensive, or if you need help carrying any of it,” Cynthus added, turning back to Lisse. “I don’t mind powering down for a bit if we need to go in some place to get it while everyone else waits. The Moon seems like the safest bet,” she agreed with Amarynthos. "Easiest for us all to get to."- Rose was relieved. Even if she didn’t think she’d been able to do much good, they’d saved another world from Chaos. How many did that make now? Two for her. Maybe three for some of the others? That seemed like an accomplishment to be proud of. So far, she hadn’t heard of any attempt failing.
She smiled in welcome when Lisse approached, but let the others do most of the talking, merely nodding to agree with the developing plan. Rose watched after Dering as he left, then gave a bit of a long-suffering look to Reims when he puffed himself up and started to look down his nose at Lisse.
“He could probably ask you the same thing,” Rose reminded Reims, putting a consoling hand to his arm—not holding him back but definitely trying to keep him in check.- Yvoire still felt out of sorts.
Even if they’d won. Even if the Chaos had gone from Fang. Even if the magic had faded and his thoughts were no longer stuck in a miserable loop.
At least no more than they normally were.
He stood back a bit while the others talked, almost regretting that he’d left the calm, sturdy support of Valhalla. Both Valhalla and Ganymede had offered to make sure Yvoire got home safe, but when Reims came over to fetch him Yvoire let himself gravitate back toward his friends.
Then Reims was confronting Lisse and Rose was standing close to Reims and Yvoire didn’t want to get in the middle of that. He almost went after Dering, both to make sure he was okay and to get some peace and quiet before they went up to the Moon, but he didn’t want to bother Dering either if Dering would rather be alone. It was a constant struggle never knowing quite when or where he was wanted, and by whom. Yvoire ended up half behind Ephesus and Amarynthos, not wanting to stray too far but not wanting to intrude on them either.
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2024 3:21 pm
Lisse almost jumped when Dering suddenly said he was going to leave, and he opened his mouth to say something, but then just nodded. If he needed some time, so be it…Lisse didn’t like it but…he trusted Dering. And he wouldn’t not get him anything, that was a given but.
“I…yeah no…no the Moon is fine…I had wanted…to see it anyway and if we can go up there…sure. I’m…” He glanced back to where Dering had run off to and chewed his lip for a moment. “I’m comfortable powering down and if anyone else is I could use an extra pair of hands to help with the food?”
He looked at the dark haired Moon Knight gratefully and then at the others, though he paused on Dering’s angry boyfriend.
“I’m his roommate…we go to school together.” He kept his words short, but worked hard not to sound upset or angry with the sudden interrogation, and moved his gaze to the pale haired Moon Knight and smiled. “I was thinking that…I…hang on.” He hesitated, glancing around and then powered down, not caring if fellow Knights knew who he was. If they knew who Dering was out of uniform, they’d most likely meet him anyway.
Pulling his phone out, he began searching for a food delivery app and opened it. “I was kind of thinking breakfast? So that’s a good idea…I don’t think Ihop has chicken soup…but do you think tomato would work? They have like…family meals we can get a few. And don’t worry, I got this. I’ll just tell my mom it was for like…a study party or something. She lets me have this for things like that, and I’m sure she won’t mind.” He gave the Knight a small smile and then looked at the girls, and Yvonne. “Do you have anything specific that you’d want to eat? There are a couple family meals with waffles and eggs and stuff, or I can just…get everyone what they want separately…whatever you all think is best…I just…I just want to help. I’m.”
He shrugged and looked a little lost without Dering there. He was good at making friends but…
“I’m not the best with things but…I try?”
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2024 3:54 pm
Amarynthos was doing his best to keep tabs on everyone. Some of them were easier to read than others but he wasn’t so bold as to assume he knew how any of them were doing after tonight. He liked Cynthus’ perky attitude and her offering to help carry food meant that it might have been a little quieter for a few minutes. No offense! He liked that about her! But he knew Ephesus could probably use a few minutes of quiet, and Yvoire looked like he might have benefitted from it, too.
“I’m good with anything,” Amarynthos insisted. He didn’t say it to be polite, he was good with anything. “I’ll go with whatever’s easiest. Effie and I can split some waffles or whatever you want to get. I appreciate it, it’s really generous of you. Please tell your mom we said thank you! Maybe we will actually study up there. I mean, I figure group meetings have to count for something. We can review how tonight went or plan for future shenanigans.” He shrugged; he wasn’t going to split hairs about it. “I dropped the ball a little bit, I couldn’t find some of you. I’m sorry about that. Lisse–it is Lisse, right?–you looked like you knew what you were doing out there, nice weapon. Reims–”
He turned to face him. “Was your sword flying? What did you do? And Cynthus, I could hear you even when I couldn’t see you. I know you were giving someone a hard time. Effie, you’re perfect,” he kissed atop his head. “Healed me so well I feel better now than when we left. Rose, Evie. I know you two did a great job, I just didn’t get to see what was going on.”
Oh, but–
Right, they were planning food.
Civilian-Lisse was wearing a Hillworth shirt, which was weird, because he didn’t seem like the sort to go to Hillworth. And Julian definitely wasn’t, but now that he thought about it they hadn’t really talked about where Julian went to school. He was so quiet and private about most things that Amarynthos kept his questions few and far between–enough to be occasionally curious and invested but not so much to be interrogative and pushy. The outfit was interesting but Amarynthos had already gone off on enough of a tangent that he didn’t ask about it. Yet.
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2024 4:47 pm
Reims shrugged heavily at Cynthus’ comment about gift horses. Whatever, he was trying to be conversational. He also didn’t want to point out that Dering probably wasn’t the best judge of character if he considered Reims a friend.
Then again… they all apparently considered him a friend. Which was strange, but he supposed he could get used to it.
He clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth when Rose placed a hand on his arm. He shrugged again, but not so much that he shook her off.
“Yeah, but he didn’t,” Reims pointed out, not caring that Lisse could obviously hear him. He welcomed the questions. But maybe Lisse just wasn’t interested and was just trying to be nice for Dering’s benefit. Which Reims could appreciate but that made him question the guy’s motives even more.
And then Lisse powered down.
Reims bristled, and he wasn’t entirely sure if his face blanched a little in color or not. He couldn’t recall anyone advertising they went to Hillworth. It wasn’t exactly the greatest place to end up. But if this guy was Dering’s roommate…?
It took everything he had not to glance in the direction Dering went.
For a moment though, he was distracted by the suggestions of breakfast foods. He bristled again, but wasn’t about to start complaining or whining now. Not with Lisse there. It was fine. If he got itchy he just wouldn’t eat it. Restaurants like Ihop used cheaper oil anyway, probably. Not that he actually had any idea.
He had no comment for Amarynthos. Now wasn’t really the time for him to start talking about things he wasn’t really sure about.
Reims clicked his tongue again. “Well, if you’re going to get food then hurry up. We’re going to draw attention if we keep standing around here.”
Just because others were comfortable with showing off their identities didn’t mean they all were. Or it was probably just him, but whatever. Ephesus just nodded along in agreement. He’d given his request, but it didn’t seem like it was going to be possible, so he wouldn’t worry about it. It wasn’t really for him, anyway. He wanted to make sure there was something for Dering to eat.
He knew Evie was nearby, so while he turned to rest his head against Amarynthos’ shoulder, he offered Evie a smile.
“Is there anything you wanted to eat? Did you need to let your dad know where you are?” he asked, knowing that Evie lived with his dad, and that he would probably be worried if they were out too late. “Or will you need to go home soon?”
While Amarynthos spoke to the others, he gave his boyfriend a grateful squeeze, although he couldn’t help but watch to make sure he could spot Dering when he was on his way back.
‘You’re going to make me blush, saying those sweet things,’ he couldn’t help but think, content in Amarynthos’ arms, but ready to move if he needed to.
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Posted: Sun May 26, 2024 8:27 am
Having offered to help with the food, Cynthus powered down too. As Maisie she still wore her Crystal uniform. After being in Destiny City for a little over a year now, Maisie had heard a great deal of gossip about all the different schools from the Crystal girls, so she knew Hillworth was supposed to be where all the disadvantaged or troublemaking boys were sent. A lot of the girls at Crystal liked to pretend they were too good for Hillworth boys, but Maisie also suspected many of them liked to slum it with them on the DL.
As Maisie wasn’t native to Destiny City, she didn’t particularly care about any of that (except where it made some of the girls she didn’t like into hippocrits), so she gave Lisse’s uniform only a quick glance before pulling out her own phone to text her dad that she was safe and staying with friends for a while.
“Okay so… breakfast food and the Moon,” Maisie said. “I’m Maisie, by the way,” she offered to Lisse, or whatever his name was now. If him being Julian’s roommate meant Julian went to Hillworth registered with her, she didn’t show it. She doubted it was because Julian had done anything bad. Probably he was just poor.
“Come on, let’s go. Between the two of us, we should be able to handle all the food.”- Even if Reims wasn’t trying to shrug her off, Rose still removed her hand from his arm, only to drop it, grasp his hand, and give it a quick squeeze.
She wouldn’t have ever had an issue with powering down, too, but she still didn’t want Reims to feel like the odd one out. Lisse’s Hillworth uniform didn’t really take her by surprise; despite its reputation, she knew a lot of the boys who went there probably weren’t that bad. At most, she gave Lisse a briefly curious look. He seemed earnest and friendly, and Dering had always seemed quiet and sweet.
“We all deserve a little celebration,” Rose said in agreement with Amarynthos. “We won, so… Even if parts of it were difficult, or some of us couldn’t do as much as we would’ve wanted, we still helped save another world.”
That had to count for something. Rose knew she was probably in over her head when it came to a lot of things about this magical war, but she hoped her own earnestness made up for it.- Yvoire shifted from one foot to the other when Ephesus spoke to him directly. He shook his head at first, certain he could find something to nibble on out of whatever they ended up getting, even if it was just a waffle. Then he shrugged weakly and went a bit pink in the cheeks.
“I told Dad I was staying the night with you,” he mumbled, embarrassed for it since he hadn’t asked if it was okay to do so ahead of time. “I figured since your dads knew we’d be there, they’d cover for me if mine tries to check in.”
Yvoire dropped his gaze and picked at his nails. He probably shouldn’t have assumed he could do that, but… he was running out of excuses for why he had to be out late sometimes. He just… knew it made Dad feel better to know he spent time with friends, that he wasn’t always alone.
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Posted: Sun May 26, 2024 3:00 pm
Luke gave a small, relieved sigh when someone else powered down and offered to help him with the food. “Great! It’s nice to meet you, Maisie. Let me get it ordered and we can hurry up, I don’t want anyone to get in trouble for…” He glanced at Reims “I just don’t want anyone to get into any more trouble. We’ve had enough for the night.”
Swiftly, he ordered several of the family meals offered by the restaurant. Eggs. Breakfast meats, waffles. Hot chocolate, some juice and water as well. It would hopefully be enough and it would hopefully be good enough…
“We’ll be back soon…uh. I’m really excited to see the Moon, so I appreciate you taking me up there with you. We’ll be quick!”
He flashed Maisie a smile and nodded towards the soft glow of the street in the distance.
He would be back soon. They had twenty minutes for Julian to regroup with himself…and…and everything would be okay. It had to be. He would do everything in his power to help, if he could.
Glancing at Maisie he gave a quiet. “Thank you for coming with me. I was afraid I would have to get it all myself…so thank you. It’s really nice to meet all of you too…I’m sorry if I’m throwing things off…I really…It wasn’t my intention…”
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Posted: Mon May 27, 2024 1:51 pm
There were a lot of people involved in the conversation and for as well-versed as Amarynthos was at keeping up with crowds, it was still a lot to process at once–especially after the night they’d just had. Reims had heard him, he’d met his eyes when he asked about his sword, so it was a conscious decision not to answer.
Amarynthos didn’t push for attention on the subject; if Reims didn’t want to tackle it, he wasn’t going to deliberately agitate him. He already seemed prickly enough. That wasn’t surprising; he was still careful about his identity. Mary respected that.
He just also did not want Dering’s friend to feel like he wasn’t allowed to be here.
Ephesus was comfortably pressed against him and Mary showed no desire to move. ‘Oh, only blush? That’s not so bad.’
“Good plan, Evie. That’s smart thinking. I told my parents I was staying over with Effie, too.” Except, their backyards were touching and it took less than a minute to walk from one house to another. And his parents knew what he was doing, but he didn’t want to just announce that in front of a newcomer, just in case. He had no reason not to trust civilian-Lisse! Mary just wasn’t going to info dump unnecessarily. He smiled encouragingly at Evie.
Maisie and civilian-Lisse looked like they were getting ready to go, so Amarynthos offered them the next smile. “You’re not throwing anything off. I’m glad you were there to help Fang. It’s been nice to meet you, too. Maybe we can do proper introductions up on the Moon.” Unless civilian-Lisse wasn’t comfortable, they could just keep calling him Lisse. Or–honestly, Amarynthos wasn’t entirely sure it was his name. He thought he’d gotten it right but Lisse hadn’t corrected anyone or clarified. Must be nerves. Mary smiled extra warmly to try and reassure him. “Thank you both. Send us a message if something comes up or if you need more help. ”
Then, they could relax on the Moon, take a breather. Celebrate, eat.
While civilian-Lisse and Maisie were gone, the rest of them stayed in the area and talked. Mostly not about anything important, they were just passing the time. Fifteen minutes after the two had left, Julian returned. If he was trying to look like he hadn’t just been off crying, he failed miserably.
Amarynthos just pretended like he didn’t see it. Julian was quiet, as per usual, but he didn’t seem like he was upset to be with them. He was trying to put up a friendly front, even if it seemed like things were weighing particularly heavy on him. He was invited to the conversation but wasn’t forced into it, and though he spoke a bit here and there, he was more reserved than usual.
When the rest of the group returned, Amarynthos and Ephesus were quick to get them up to the Moon, and though they had a very short tour–as most of them had been there before–there was a promise that they could go visit or explore more after they ate if they wanted to.
Ephesus and Amarynthos had continued to improve their little meeting room; there was a table and chairs, and a stash of some generally useful things–paper plates, napkins, hand sanitizer, cups. The bottled water they kept up there was cool, though didn’t quite qualify as chilled.
The stars seemed particularly bright and the sight of vibrant tonight, and there was a good view of that and the flower fields from where they were seated themselves. If they’d wanted, they could have eaten outside, but Amarynthos explained as he held the door open for everyone, “The bears on Amarynthos are super friendly. There are a lot of cubs, they like to climb all over and try to eat your food. So it’s best if we eat here so you get some peace, but if you want to play with them later, we can go visit. They love to be picked up. But there’s nothing to be afraid of up here, not on my Wonder or Effie’s.” Or anywhere, probably, but he didn’t know everything about the Moon.
Julian trailed behind the group, comfortably towards the back. The Moon was always beautiful and he did feel safe here so he hadn’t felt the need to power up once he’d returned to the group.
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Posted: Tue May 28, 2024 6:25 pm
Ephesus was quick to reassure Evie that he thought it was a great idea, and he was welcome to say he was spending the night any time he needed to.
Time passed quickly enough, and while he wanted to make sure Julian was okay, he didn’t want to crowd him. Especially not when he looked like he was trying to pretend like nothing was wrong.
Thankfully, everyone was back together and they were on the Moon quickly enough. He smiled at Mary’s introduction for the cubs, and he very reluctantly pulled himself away from Mary’s embrace, at least for the moment, so he could help with setting everything up.
And power down. He knew Rose and Reims didn’t feel comfortable revealing their identity, or at least not Reims, but maybe this way they would slowly get used to them. He hoped if maybe Rose or Reims saw him, or any of the others, as civilians, they would feel more comfortable approaching them. Even if they didn’t know who they were in return.
“I’m Atticus,” he introduced as he reached over to help get some of the food spread out on the table. “If you see a tiger wandering around, it’s okay. She’s mine. She’ll probably be trying to keep the cubs entertained. Evie, Julie, can I help you get a plate together?” he asked, wanting to make sure they were all included. Reims kept his arms crossed over his chest as they arrived on the Moon, even though he would have liked to keep holding Rose’s hand. He clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth and frowned as he glanced from one to another.
He didn’t like feeling as though he needed to keep his guard up. Everyone was still raw and vulnerable from whatever happened to them on Fang. How some of them could even think about eating now was beyond him.
Not that his stomach wasn’t growling. It had been a while since he’d eaten last, but that was just because he was busy.
He wanted to check on Julian, who looked like he’d been having a rough time, but he was sure his roommate would be fussing over him. He wanted to check on Evie, who was standoffish as usual when in big groups. He was glad Rose looked okay, and was staying powered up with him.
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Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2024 8:15 am
Maisie had spent most of the journey to retrieve the food rambling about how weird Destiny City was. She didn't find it difficult to talk to strangers and wasn’t nervous at all being around civilian-Lisse, even if they’d only just met. He was a dude. He was her age. He went to Hillworth. He was Julian’s roommate. That was all she needed to know to be on speaking terms with someone. (Actually, she probably would’ve done the same while knowing less.)
Up on the Moon, she helped sort out the food. She didn’t bother powering back up since there wasn’t much of a point. She’d been here as a civilian plenty. Sure, every once in a while she still found it weird that they could breathe up here without a spacesuit and could walk around without bouncing like an astronaut, but that was probably part of the magic.
“Tigers and bears are cool and all, but one day we should totally go looking for one of the American flags,” she decided. “The selfies would be amazing. Unless the magic, like, blocks out non-magic stuff. Or if they’re on separate planes of reality or something. That would suck. I need that selfie.”
Maisie scooped some eggs and bacon and a waffle onto a plate for herself, munching into a piece of bacon almost immediately.- Rose was quiet, not necessarily because it was in her nature to be so, but because she didn’t want to overwhelm anyone. Reims was tense. Julian looked as if he’d been crying. Civilian-Lisse seemed nervous at times, probably unsure of his place within the group. Even if there was cause for celebration, they’d all had a stressful night. Rose would hate to add to it.
She put two plates together, one for Reims and one for herself, piling her own with a little bit of everything, but sticking with proteins for Reims, since she figured those would be the least likely to have been cooked in something he couldn’t tolerate.
Not that he’d ever told her he had any sort of food allergy, but Rose was observant. She’d seen him avoid enough things at his mother’s parties and events that she could make an educated guess.
“Here,” she said, offering him the plate. She paused after to pass him something to drink, too. In a near whisper, she added, “Try to relax. We’re fine up here. And Lisse seems nice. Even if he wasn’t, there’s more of us than there are of him. We’d be able to handle it.”- After arriving, Yvoire waited to see who else would be powering down before doing so himself. As Énna, he looked a bit less substantial, probably because he liked to hide beneath oversized shirts and baggy sweaters. He picked at a spot of chipped polish on one of his nails (lime green this week, without any extra decoration).
“Thanks, um…” Énna looked over the food at Atticus’ offer. “A waffle, and… some of the sausage.” To Civilian-Lisse, he added in a low, shy mumble, “Thanks for getting the food. I’m Énna.”
Not wanting to feel useless, Énna set about getting himself a drink. Back on Earth the weather was quickly warming, but that didn’t stop him from sipping at some hot chocolate. He poured a second cup and made a slow, quiet approach toward Julian.
“I always feel kind of cold after,” he tried to explain, voice barely raised, not wanting to draw too much attention to Julian’s demeanor if he didn’t want the attention on him, even if it was kind of obvious. “Hot in the moment, and sweaty, but then when the adrenaline wears off I get shaky and…” Énna shrugged awkwardly.
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Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2024 3:37 pm
The trip with Maisie had been nice, she was a talkative girl, and he honestly wanted to introduce her to Almere, thinking that those two could be friends, and talk up a storm, but when they returned and went to the Moon, he was a little stunned…and the talk of…bear cubs? Tiger cubs? Was this real life?
He swallowed and nodded. “Luke. I’m Luke. It’s really nice to meet all of you, and I really do get about the not wanting to power down, nothing wrong with keeping your identity a secret!”
It made sense. It was safer…but when you had family in on this and your roommate…sometimes it was just easier to not have secrets when you knew for sure that the others were on…your side of things.
“So this is the Moon?” He looked at Maisie, eyebrows raising. “Do you think that’s possible? I know that like…magic keeps things…breathable…wouldn't we need suits and like…science things to go and see the flag…?”
Honestly though…
Now that the idea was in his head…he really kind of wanted to try.
To Atticus and the other Moon Knight with the bears, he gave a little smile. “It’s beautiful here. Thank you for brining me.”
His eyes flickered to Julian, but he didn’t want to do anything to upset the other boy…and his other friends were reaching out, right now…Luke would simply keep trying to make new friends and…hopefully figure out how to help Julian when they got back to the dorm.
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Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2024 8:16 pm
Amarynthos laughed pleasantly at Maisie’s creative suggestion. “I don’t know if the Moon works that way, but the Code didn’t tell us that we shouldn’t explore. Maybe we’ll have to take a trip and see how far we can get. I’m sure we’ll be fine as long as we stay powered up. While were out, we should figure out where Cynthus is, too. In case we ever want to walk over and pay you a visit.”
He didn’t mind waiting to eat; in fact, he seemed keen to wait until everyone had a plate. There were a few people in the group who seemed shy so he wanted to make sure they got whatever they wanted, especially if they didn’t have the means to ask for it.
“It’s nice to meet you, Luke. Thank you for dinner.” It wasn’t really a fair trade; Mary loved showing off his wonder and would have done it freely, anyway.
As expected, Julian had shook his head to politely decline food when Atticus offered. Amarynthos suspected it was far more because he was just bad at accepting kindness than it was that he wasn’t hungry. He was sure if Julian had a plate in front of him, he’d eat.
He was aware of Énna nearby but it wasn’t until he started speaking to him that Julian even seemed to snap back. He swallowed the lump in his throat but it did little to ease the pressure and his voice sounded strained when he spoke. “Thank you,” he said when he realized Énna was offering the cup to him.
He held out his hands instinctively to receive the hot chocolate, and then he seemed to worry that he was being demanding about it and had to force himself to relax and try not to look too enthusiastic.
Julian felt like he was falling apart and he was burning through all of his energy just to pretend otherwise. He couldn’t really meet Énna’s gaze but he did try. When he failed, he stared at the bright green of his fingernails instead.
His voice was soft after that, not quite a whisper but certainly not his normal speaking voice. “I am a little cold,” he admitted. He was ashamed of what had happened earlier, and for as much as he’d like to pretend otherwise, he was grateful that he had good, patient friends. He and Énna hadn’t gotten to talk much, but such was the nature of being the quiet ones in a large group. He’d always felt safe with Énna, and even without words he found himself gravitating to the back of the group with him often enough.
“I think I’m too tired to be shaky right now,” he mumbled. He didn’t want to admit how much energy he’d gone through earlier, and even his adrenaline had been quick to give out on him. He was looking forward to sitting down, though he didn’t want to take up any space while the others were eating. “Um, but I mean. I really appreciate it, Énna. Thank you.”
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Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 11:04 am
“Why bother?” he scoffed at the other’s chatter about trying to find one of the American flags. “They’ll just be white. Bleached by the sun. I mean I guess it would be interesting to see but,” he paused to shrug. There were more interesting things, in his opinion. But then again, he was used to his opinion not being the one most gravitated towards.
He hadn’t planned on eating anything, probably out of defiance. He didn’t like changes in what he considered normal. The group there was what he was used to. They were a comfort, and once he figured things out with Yvoire, he would likely be fine powering down, too.
But now there was a new person to disturb the peace. Even if Luke seemed like he was a decent guy that Julian hadn’t said anything bad about, it was still a disruption and it put Reims on edge.
He knew he was the only one who felt that way. Everyone else was so welcoming, and maybe he was just a jerk, but he needed time to adjust to change.
Rose seemed to know how to read his mind to a degree, and he glanced down at the plate she was offering him. He sighed and uncrossed his arms to take it from her, along with a drink, and mumbled quietly in thanks.
Whatever. He could try to relax, but he was still anxious and pent up from everything before.
He knew he was being difficult. He didn’t want to make his friend uncomfortable. It wouldn’t be the first time he had to put aside his own discomfort for others’ benefit.
“Are you okay?” he asked her, because even though she looked okay, they’d still been separated for a bit. He didn’t know what she’d experienced.
It looked as though Énna was keeping an eye out for Julian at least. That was good.
He would just roll his eyes at all of the niceties Amarynthos showered on everyone. Atticus suspected that Julian was declining out of politeness as well. He cast a glance up at Amarynthos, but went about collecting a plate for Énna, but in doing so he purposefully put more than what Énna had requested. Two waffles instead of one, and a little extra sausage as well.
“Oh, I’m sorry, that’s more than I realized,” he said quietly when he approached Énna and Julian with the plate. “Julie, would you mind holding onto this? I bet the cubs will eat whatever we don’t, but. Oh, I have an extra plate under this one by accident,” he shared, carefully pulling out the one he’d stacked underneath.
“Here, would you mind moving the extra off your plate onto this one?” he asked Énna, not even having to give him a look to know that he probably knew enough to catch on. “I have forks too,” he offered, holding up the set. Okay, maybe it was obvious that he’d done this for Julian’s benefit, but that was okay. If he really didn’t want to eat, they did have the cubs.
“If you’re tired, you should sit,” he suggested as well, pulling out two chairs from the table they’d set up. He didn’t want to linger. Both Énna and Julian seemed to like their space. He did as well, but he could easily hide against Amarynthos if he needed a few moments to breathe.
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