"Normally when I'm introducing myself to new associates, I prefer to do so with at least three feet of space between us."
Hiroko was leaning back uncomfortably while Kuri scrutinized him, her body heat radiating against him. The samurai took in his stiff posture, his purple-stained hands and chin, the glowing purple eyes and the obvious eyesore of a golem standing sentinel behind him. Then she stepped back with her hands held back like a commanding officer.
"So this is what the Fourth Dimension coughed up." Kuri stated drolly, walking back to her sister's side.
They watched him. Hiroko was not the least bit intimidated.
"What is this? An intervention? I'm sorry I broke your sword, but that's what happens when you smack blades on the nearest hard surface without skill." He drawled.
"Without skill?" Kakuro snarled, brandishing a fist and taking a decisive step towards the young man.
Kuri held her back. Hiroko scoffed under his breath. Rage-baiting this woman was too easy.
"Sorry, my social skills have withered away under the assault of Modest's taxing seasons." He nodded towards Masaru who still sat like a statue.
Kakuro huffed, but she didn't say anything else. She turned away. Kuri stepped back up.
"Listen, kid, if you are to stand with us then you are to stand by us in protecting this place. We need trust and cooperation."
"But I attacked you," Hiroko narrowed his eyes, tilting his head to the side.
"It's in the past." Kuri declared.
"Why?" Hiroko pressed.
"Because you're Precious— April's older brother."
"Nah, she's older than me," Hiroko crowed, crossing his arms.
"But you have aged five years ahead of her," Kuri insisted, something like exasperation creeping up into her voice.
"Who cares? She was born first!" Hiroko decimated whatever peace was among him and the samurai girls.
"I—" Kuri reached for her sword before she could stop herself, and when she realized what was happening, she moved her hand away from the hilt of her katana. "Oh, you're good. I see what you're doing."
"Like I said, my social skills are very much lacking." Hiroko scratched his stubbled cheek. "And I'm not here to be serious. C'mon. Are you for real? Working for elves?"
Kuri and Kakuro glanced back at Masaru who remained statuesque on the ground. He glanced aside and the women took it as a command.
"Get him!" Kuri yelled.
Hiroko braced before he was manhandled to the ground. Kakuro sat on his back. Kuri pried the sword away from his hand.
"I'm not resisting." the young man mumbled into the dirt.
"Hold him still!" Kuri commanded.
Hiroko groaned. This was some weird initiation ritual.
(∩｀-´)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ. ε=ε=(っ* ´□` )っ
Saka kicked the door open. But he less so kicked than he actually threw his foot and the wing doors fluttered open before he entered with the grace of a thrown brick.
"Can you tell me why you're upset now?" Akka followed closely behind, followed by April who looked like an overgrown toddler on the verge of tears.
"I AM NOT UPSET!" Saka roared at basically no one, storming to the center of the training compound, his ponytail following him.
"He's mad because you interrupted him stepping on me!" April whined. "He said— he said— He said it made him feel good! Oh, what have the Elders paired me with?"
With a toss of her hair and a dramatic flourish, April dropped to the dirt, looking as miserable as anyone could ever get.
If only looks could kill, Saka would've annihilated the green-eyed girl over two months ago—with the exception of the tree he threw—and this sort of thing wouldn't be happening to him. His gaze darted to her, darted away and then immediately landed on her again.
"Get off the goddamn ground!" He yelled.
"Alright alright. That's enough of that," Akka rolled her startling blue eyes before she set down her materializing staff with a firm stab into the dirt.
A bright blue light flashed out and instantly washed over Saka's paper-white skin. Without delay, Saka's foul, heated, probably-going-to-murder-someone-in-a-fit rage evaporated out of him. The fire in his eyes died and the lines between his thick eyebrows softened. He adopted an almost serene expression, with his bared fangs disappearing behind his parted lips.
Noticing this sudden change, April stopped her melodrama and rose back to her feet with a look of intrigue.
"Was that a spell?" She asked, rubbing her hands together, right before an energy washed over her. Her shoulders dropped and her breath slipped past her lips in a satisfied sigh.
"Yes. It is a spell. One that I only cast on special occasions, although this was not one of those occasions." Akka answered, motioning the staff around to make wooden furniture appear in front of them, a trio of chairs and a small round table.
"Then why...?" April yelled in her thoughts.
"I had a feeling your Soul-Tie would share the effects of my magic... calming the both of you down." Akka sat on a chair, and against their wills, April and Saka plopped onto the opposite chairs, looking placid.
The brunette sighed, facing the two.
"So. Tell me why you were fighting."
"This feels like... therapy... Couples' therapy." April dragged her thoughts. "Whoa..."
Saka, despite looking out of it, responded first.
"She was annoying me... so I tried to carry her so that I could find you... but she fell... and I stepped on her."
"Is this, like, a relaxing truth serum spell...?" April murmured.
Akka shook her head at April and turned to Saka.
"Well, I have only one thing to say to you. I am disappointed in you."
Smack!
Akka's palm connected with the back of Saka's head with a firm yet soft smack, slightly pushing the albino elf's torso forward. The girl sitting next to him also reacted the same way, leaning forward briefly before sitting back straight again.
"Why am I getting hit too?" April asked. She was even whinier when charmed.
"Hush, puppy!" Akka hissed softly, shushing the girl before she turned back to Saka. "Now... why were you stepping all over her?"
"I liked it," Saka stated, matter-of-factly.
"You're really sticking with that response?" April scoffed, sizing up the young man slowly. "Don't make me fetch the strap."
Saka's eyes glanced at her briefly before lowering to the ground.
"Release me so that I can strangle her."
"If it's for free, it's for me." April giggled.
...Interesting slogan.
"Relax," Akka sighed. "Why did you want to find me?"
"Because I want you to muffle her thoughts!" Saka yelled in the laziest manner possible, his eyes half-lidded.
April looked at him before she started giggling.
"We so look... like we're in drunk couples' therapy... right now." She lazily slapped her knee. "I don't like this spell, but Saka looks tranquilized, it's funny."
"Akka! I can't sleep at night with her screaming in my head." Saka groaned. "She's having nightmares and she's feeble."
"But you barely sleep," Akka crossed her arms.
"That's not true..." Saka groaned again. His gray eyes shifted to the side. "Every time she thinks, it's like she's right there in my ear shrieking."
Which was because April would be basically shrieking in her sleep, getting ambushed by her own nightmares and scary visions.
"I had to sleep in her room last night."
"I should not be privy to that," Akka muttered.
"He was on the floor!" April added, raising a hand.
"Not the point!" Saka gritted out. "The point is... how do I stop hearing her thoughts when I'm asleep?"
The brunette fell silent for a moment, her hand unconsciously rubbing her belly before she seemed to reach final decision.
"Well... I physically cannot do anything about the effects of your Soul-Tie—I can, however, try to sift through your Auras and compartmentalize the information." She nodded to herself. "Besides keeping me busy, it could lead you two to understanding each other and yourselves now that you are one entity."
April gave a big, dramatic nod.
"Right... Right."
Saka glanced at her with a lazy stink eye.
She continued to nod before she paused.
"So will you do a colonoscope or something?" She narrowed her eyes.
"A what?" Akka blinked at her.
"Oh, thank God you don't know what that is...!"
The girl snorted, slowly wiping invisible sweat off her forehead.
Saka was glaring holes into the side of her face because he had just heard her thoughts.
April glanced aside and immediately went wide-eyed.
"Oh, hey Hiroko!" She yelled.
The group standing at the far side of the training compound glanced over, the only exception being Hiroko, who was pinned to the dirt.
(∩｀-´)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ. ε=ε=(っ* ´□` )っ
Safatore approached the settee where Semacoar laid supine, bandaged arm covering his eyes, his black and green coat open, exposing the layer of bandages over his chest.
He looked asleep.
"Wake up, Semacoar!"
The older blonde jostled the younger blonde, vigorously shaking him by the shoulders.
Semacoar immediately gasped awake with a yelp, his legs kicking up and arm shooting off his face.
"GAAGH! Oh my God, Safa— What in the world?" He propped himself up by the elbows, glaring at his older brother.
Safatore flicked his forehead.
"Get. Up."
"Ugh!" Semacoar groaned and covered his forehead. Even after all these years, he was still waking him up like a child. "You couldn't have chosen a less glamorous way to wake me up! You didn't have to shake me up like that. I already heard your footsteps six hundred meters ago. I literally memorized them! And you weren't exactly being nimble."
Semacoar sat up and crossed his arms.
"Quiet," Safatore hissed, "and listen to me very carefully." He squished his finger against Semacoar's moving lips and stopped them. "We're in trouble. The council has pulled an ace up their sleeves. We're cornered."
Semacoar, still recovering from sleep and mild irritation, shook his face and Safatore's finger off.
"Bleurgh! You're contaminating me! Anyway, what are you blabbering about? What have the sisters and their tag-along brother done this time?"
"This isn't a joke." Safatore stood up from Semacoar's side and walked over to his original seat, across Semacoar, but he didn't sit and started pacing in front of the low lacquered table, his hands crossed over his broad chest. "The Council of Elders plans to awaken the kingdom in three months' time."
Semacoar, who was watching the other man pace with a mildly amused expression on his face, let his eyebrows lower at his words. He sat up straight and set his bandaged feet on the floor next to his Jika Tabi boots. He ran his hand through his strawberry blonde hair, inhaling ever so slow before he exhaled.
"Yeah. That is a joke I do not appreciate."
"...Do I look like I'm joking?" Safatore paused abruptly and jerked his head to Semacoar, his hair whisking along with his sharp head movement.
Semacoar fell silent and looked at Safatore—really looked. He moved his eyes from his tense eyes, to his gritted teeth and then to the drooping ears on the sides of Safatore's head.
Immediately after seeing those, Semacoar's low brows pulled together, and his ears drooped.
"I'm too beautiful to die!"
Safatore's eyes widened as he watched Semacoar fall back on the settee and start rocking back and forth, nibbling on his thumbnails.
Safatore, however wasn't quite as concerned. In fact, he was smiling now. He gently shoved Semacoar's shoulder.
"Relax, little brother! I have a plan~!"
"Oh really?" Semacoar's voice cracked slightly, turning his feverish face to the older blonde. "And what plan is going to keep my beautiful head attached to my beautiful body?"
Said older blonde grinned like a fool and those characteristic dimples decorated his cheeks.
"Simple! We're going to panic."
The silence that followed was like someone had sucked the air out of the common room and left a vacuum. Semacoar gawked at Safatore incredulously while the older blonde practically glowed, grinning his ears off.
"...What."
Safatore nodded with a pure grin.
"We're gonna die." Semacoar turned away from him with a haunted expression, lying back down on the settee, tucking his hands under the side of his face. "I am going to die."
"That's very probable," Safatore nodded with a serious expression. "But me first."
"Go right ahead!" Semacoar yelled.