Lucifer continued to fiddle with his pencil. He really didn't like the feeling he was getting off of the man. He just didn't feel right, and his soul was a good indicator of that. "It-it's not right," he muttered, switching the pencil from one hand to the other. He hesitated. The pencil remained steady in his left hand. Then he went back to fiddling with it, because his newfound friend obviously wasn't going to believe him. So he just had to sit there and hope that the man didn't happen to look in his direction.
xXx
He nodded. "Sure."
His voice sounded unsteady, but Orrin wasn't going to question why. Thytes could tell him later if he felt comfortable with that. If he never did, then so be it.
xXx
"Could I help?" Maahes asked, looking down at the sleeping Jaron and then back up at the very much awake Kendrik. "If you're not comfortable with me carrying him, I could try carrying some of his tools."
xXx
Kartiel looked over at her. "So how does it work for people like you? Do you guys have school like humans do, or do you go the endermen route and have education be up to the relatives or friends of the person?
Kendrik looked down at Jaron, thinking for a few seconds. He rubbed one of Jaron's ears; Jaron smiled in response. "Eh," Kendrik finally said, staring up at Leo. "He's gonna be mad at me if I move his tools 'round, but I ain't carryin' him like this." He reached into the pockets of Jaron's overalls and started to pull out wrenches, screwdrivers, a couple odd gears, and an assortment of other things. Including a sphere, which he handed to Leo with the instructions, "Don't press the button, whatever you do."
When that was complete, Kendrik tentatively grabbed Jaron around the waist and started to pull him up. Light enough. He pulled Jaron onto his feet, stood in front of Jaron, and let Jaron slump against his back. Draping Jaron's hands over his shoulders, Kendrik grimaced at the weight, but nodded to Leo. "Thanks."
******
Thytes stumbled away. His cheeks stung, and he couldn't help but be angry at himself. He wasn't normally so clumsy or awkward or shy. Those were other people's problems. Why was this so complicated?
He sat down a short distance from the grumpy man and the artist, mainly because they seemed least likely to get annoyed at him for showing up. Thytes leaned over to look at the sketchbook. Blank. The artist had a pensive expression and a pencil in one hand.
"Having trouble?" Thytes said to the artist, never moving his eyes from the sketchbook.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
Adeline's face remained blank, and she tried to piece together her experience and compare it to her vague knowledge of the word 'school'.
"Well.." she started quietly, "if I remember correctly, my- village. It had mentors that were assigned to newly created beings, kind of a parent-figure. They and the chief were the ones who educated us about practical things and survival skills. We mostly learned through stories of our people that were passed down."
She stared at a spot over his shoulder, her gaze growing wistful and sad as she reminisced.
"My mentorship had just ended when... when I left." She bit her lip, her eyes tearing up a little.
"Oh," Kartiel softly said. After a moment of hesitation, he asked, "Do you...do you want a hug? You look like you need one right now, and my sister has told me that I'm very good at giving them."
xXx
"You're welcome."
Maahes glanced down at the odd assortment of tools and things that had been thrust into his hands, wondering how Jaron used them. He would have to talk with him about his technology when he woke up - it looked absolutely amazing, and he'd love trying to somehow work it into The Lotus.
But there was other things he had to focus on first. Looking back up and over at Kendrik he asked, "So where are we carrying him and his stuff to?"
xXx
Lucifer looked up when he heard the two approaching, then promptly ducked his head back down again. It was Reyes Eberhardt and that strange lion man. The lion man actually wasn't a problem, but he really didn't want to deal with Reyes. He didn't know how to deal with someone who conned people into believing that he was filming ghosts when he wasn't.
"Uh, not really!" Lucifer squeaked, mainly because he didn't know how he was supposed to address the whole situation with the terrifying soul and Reyes on top of it.
Kendrik looked around. "We're supposed ta go over there," he said, raising a chin in the direction of the town hall. "But it looks like Thytes got other plans." The lion had sat down next to a kid with a sketchbook. The hound was happy to see Thytes wasn't hanging around Reyes, but that raised questions of its own. Had something gotten to Thytes? Had Thytes actually taken Kendrik's advice? The latter was pretty unlikely, so Kendrik guessed Reyes had either kicked Thytes to the curb, or Thytes was freaking out over something.
******
"Oh," Thytes said. "Then why are you sitting there? Do you need a subject?" He tried not to look back to see if Reyes was standing behind him.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
James remained silent as the lion man approached, and quietly sighed as the guy took it upon himself to initiate and carry conversation. With the burden of conversing lifted, he was content with just listening and watching the others.
He took a step forward and pulled her into an embrace, not caring if anyone was watching. He wasn't sure if people like Adeline could cry, but he wouldn't mind if she started to cry into her shoulder. He could deal with a little water if it meant making someone feel better.
xXx
Reyes had lingered a short distance away to look around the town for ghosts. He had suddenly been reminded of the fact that ghosts tended to be more active when there were large groups of people present. After all, no one liked loud noises when they were trying to rest, especially if they were used to a relative level of calm.
But, when he found nothing, he went a little closer to where Thytes and Lucifer.
xXx
Maahes thought for a moment. Bringing Jaron to the building that was probably a town hall seemed like a good idea, but then there was the matter of him not being near his other companion. To make matters even more complicated, James and that man were near where the other man - Thytes, right? - was. The man somehow knew the truth about him, and James was probably still angry.
He couldn't help but let a groan slip out of his lips.
Still, he knew that they had to go over there. He couldn't keep avoiding James forever, and they had to stick with the rest of the people in the group. "We should probably bring him over to your friend, then," Maahes said, already regretting the decision before he had even finished saying it.
xXx
"Right now I'm working on a drawing of this town, but I would like a person to draw-" he started to say, only to quick fall silent and turn incredibly pale when he saw that the man - monster, whatever he was - with the terrifying soul look in their direction. He dropped his head back down and started to frantically sketch more of the town going from memory alone.
Adeline felt a burden released as she was held tight. Her shoulders shook with dry sobs. Of course, no tears left her eyes, but they stung as if in sympathy with her emotions. Little whimpering sounds escaped from her, and she pressed her face into Kartiel's chest to muffle them.
This was the first time she had allowed herself to grieve over her family, her people, and mostly their forgotten stories. Was it selfish to run and hide rather than retell their legacy? Maybe. But it was all she could handle to keep living.
She carefully pulled her arms out from where they were being crushed and wrapped them around Kartiel's waist.
Thytes propped his chin on his hand and leaned back. "Would I be a suitable subject?" he said, after the angry man had said something that had bothered the artist. "I could happily stay around as long as you wish." He didn't want to mention that meant a longer amount of time he didn't have to look back at or focus on Reyes. That both Thytes and the artist needed a distraction almost made the lion smile.
Then came the others.
"We've got other things ta do," Kendrik said with a scowl, sitting down on the other side of Thytes. The lion noticed that a sleeping Jaron, holding one man's jacket, rested on Kendrik's back. The way the fox's chest rose and lowered gently was almost mesmerizing. It reminded Thytes how we wanted to feel - calm, relaxed, at ease.
But that couldn't happen at the moment. "I merely would like some rest," Thytes said, never taking his eyes off of the artist - Kendrik and Jaron were too close to Reyes. "I doubt either of you have had the opportunity in quite some time."
After a few seconds pause, Thytes heard Kendrik sigh. "Fine," the hound said. His voice faded into a whisper. "But keep it up for too long and I'm tellin' 'im."
"Noted," Thytes quietly growled.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
It felt nice to be on the receiving end of a hug, even though he knew that wasn't what Adeline had intended. Levi Quinn wasn't supposed to be one for hugs. The only person who might have given him one was his sister, but Juniper had been acting so strange around him lately. He just didn't get it. But, at least right now, he could enjoy this hug and the comfort it undoubtedly was providing to Adeline.
xXx
Had he said something or done something wrong? Now that he wasn't trying to find a ghost, he was quickly noticing how Thytes was avoiding him. It had been hard at first. He had just thought he was engaged in the conversation with Lucifer - which was a completely different can of worms - but now he saw that he wasn't even trying to look in his direction.
He wanted to apologize for whatever he had done to offend him, but he didn't even know where to start. And from the way he was whispering with Kendrik, it was probably something really bad. He adjusted the strap of his bag and took a few steps back from the rest of the group. Maybe Thytes was just freaked out by everything he had told him. Even if he had been accepting, it had probably just been because he was too shocked for the words Orrin was saying to really click. Once they had, he had left. It was as simple as that.
He slipped off of the porch. He would wait for the others before checking out the town hall, but there was nothing to say that he couldn't explore other parts of the town. Besides, it would provide the perfect distraction from the slew of worried thoughts that were running through his mind.
xXx
The man was coming closer, and Lucifer didn't know what he was supposed to do. James could try comforting him all he wanted to, but it would never be enough to truly convince him. His soul was just too different for him to be even remotely normal. Normal didn't mean human. Lucifer had been around for a very long time, and had run into all sorts of people. But all of them had followed the same basic rules - their souls all had the same original shape. It looked like a multidimensional heart, with textures and colors and extra additions that depended on the person and what they were.
But this man didn't have that. His soul had barely any structure, and he guessed it was only contained because the man wanted it to be. It was a swirling mass that took up the entirety of his body, just shifting about as he appeared right in front of them. Lucifer gave a startled cry when he realized how close the man was, bumping into Thytes as he recoiled in his terror.
The man didn't meet his eyes. He didn't even meet the eyes of anyone sitting beside Lucifer. He just stared down at the ground, a guilty expression on his face. Lucifer didn't know what to make of that. "Hi," he said, standing in front of James. "Did you, uh, sleep well?"
James looked up at Maahes, who was looking at the ground like a kicked dog. He knew that Maahes meant well, and while he was still pissed that Maahes had brought him down below without even asking, there was no reason for Maahes to look so... ashamed. James sighed and stood up, putting a hand on Maahes's shoulder, letting whatever anger that still resided within him hide under the surface as he looked at Maahes in the face. He spoke with a controlled tone, attempting to sound as gentle as possible.
"It was short, but it was fine," he responded quickly, pausing for but a moment. "And though I wish I could have rested longer, I do not resent you for bringing me here. But next time - if there ever is a situation so similiar - wake me. And ask."
