lili & kaoru need less money

[coastal]

Comments

[twinsightful]

Yes. [And he'll shut the door of the house and potentially on that conversation because he's spent the whole day not knowing where Hikaru is and that really has not been Great.]

Others have recognized people from home. Lea, and this other girl.

[coastal]

Hm...

[ . . . she's thoughtful about that - ]

I suppose that there are people here who would make me feel less nervous if they were near...

[not that she's been acting very nervous but.]

... well, we'll be returned to them soon.

[twinsightful]

[That's not really reassuring but he can a.) acknowledge that's bratty and b.) realize he has to figure stuff out on his own at some point. That doesn't mean he's not completely out of his depth here. Still, he simply nods as they walk toward the library.

With very little prompting, he speaks.]

Almost all of us are from different planets entirely. None of us remember how we got here, or why. Not all of us are human, even if we look human. The scrolls in the main hall have some degree of truth to them. And they can't be removed. There's a fail-safe instilled to ensure they remain hanging.

There are thirty-two of us here. [Apparently to make up for Lili "not learning anything useful" he's just sharing what he learned? Sure.]

[coastal]

[she was thinking of what else she might have to share but there's one thing that she's curious about - ]

What's the fail-safe and how did you learn it?

[twinsightful]

It burns your hands if you touch it for too long. [Haha, and his hands are tucked into his pockets? Convenient!] The burns don't physically show though.

[coastal]

[ . . . . . ]

Show me your hands.

[twinsightful]

[...

Fine. He'll pull his hands back out and hold them up. As he's said, they aren't burnt but they do look red and he's still handling them with care.

I lied this is a bad partnership because now he'll actually listen to her to placate her for a while.]

Axel tried, too. [He also apparently can't decide if he wants to call him Lea or Axel since he didn't actually ask.]

[coastal]

Did he also get burnt? Moron.

[for the record kaoru is ALSO A MORON but he's injured so she's not going to say it out loud she'll just imply it

you know

small victories

anyway she'll pause in their walk for this and seem to think about something]

Hold still for a second.

[twinsightful]

I don't think so. His hands looked okay. [He is blatantly aware he's a moron but look, he was trying to help!! Still, they're stopping and suddenly he looks a bit wary when she says that.]

Why?

[coastal]

I learned something. Don't be difficult.

[this

coming from lili

and the fact that she's not giving any more detail is awful]

Hold out your hands. Palms up.

[twinsightful]

You could tell me what you learned first. [He holds out his hands but he's not flipping them palms up yet.]

[coastal]

Something helpful.

[her hands are by her sides now? in tiny little fists?]

Palms up!

[twinsightful]

Okay, fine! [Jeez. But sure, palms are flipped up and he's giving her an expectant look.] But they don't hurt that much.

[coastal]

[he should like

not let himself be steamrolled

the look on her face is definitely still annoyed but - it's not directed at him.]

I don't care. You shouldn't be hurt at all. You didn't do anything to deserve it.

[dumb stubborn princess... but well, at least her heart is in the right place.

but anyway she can't help but feel like the righteous anger is especially easy to tap into now - and she'd found that her powers that she has no idea how to control really were more easily accessible once she let herself just get angry. she'll try to be more focused now as she has her hands hover over his, palms down, so that the cold can start to radiate from her own palms

... it's not perfect, of course, because lili doesn't know anything about magic. the air around them gets a little bit colder in general, too as a sort of spillover

but most of the cold at least seems to be coming from her hands]

It's not a fix or anything... but it sounds irritating to deal with.

[so she's trying to help him cool it, even for a little. she couldn't just like. say that though.]

[twinsightful]

[He should, give it a day and he'll be back to being catty and argumentative. Still, there's a surprised noise as soon as he notices what's going on and while his fingers try to curl in on his palms he doesn't move them that far. Unlike Lili, he hasn't figured out a secret to tapping into his own powers so he's simply watching.

There's a shiver because cold isn't always welcome, but he doesn't pull back as he's monitoring her movements.]

...thanks. [He stumbles on the word a little, but he flexes his fingers finally.] How did you figure it out?

[coastal]

I got angry.

[ . . . ]

Angrier than usual.

[but at least she thinks that explains the weird steam in their room???? yeah,,

she'll pull her hands back though, because she doesn't want to freeze him over instead. hopefully it'll soothe the burns a little... but she assumes that if he's not protesting then she didn't do a bad thing? maybe?]

Axel knows about magic... so he tried to help me focus. I'm not very good at it yet but... I will be.

[she's so sure of herself??]

[twinsightful]

[There's something akin to understanding in his features that signals the fact that yeah, that tracks. If he's stuck with fire and Lili has ice, then that would explain several things.

He's also getting the sense that Axel knows a lot more than he let on? So cool. His hands feel better given that they're not disappearing into his pockets again, but he's not walking away until Lili moves.]

Sure. [That's not too encouraging, but he's also not sure he wants to stick around long enough for them to get good with these abilities. Magic isn't real? Magic shouldn't be real!]

Is he going to keep teaching you?

[coastal]

He knows nothing about teaching. [they've both? said this? she's going to keep saying it? he's no good? but.] I'll take what I can get, though.

[beggars can't be choosers.... oh how the rich have fallen]

If it's something I have to teach myself, so be it.

He has fire... if you want to bother learning more about yours.

[she also won't blame him if he doesn't want to?]

[twinsightful]

[That's a thought, but that also implies Kaoru wanting to figure out what he's doing. He looks at his own hands, snapping his fingers a little and bringing up a baby spark that's immediately snuffed out. Hm.]

We shouldn't be here long enough that our powers matter. [The goal is to leave, after all.] You haven't met someone with ice yet?

[coastal]

You're not wrong - but if answers aren't appearing, I'd rather be productive.

[... well, and also the fact that this is the first time in her life where she feels like she has the power in her own hands.

that's a little too real though.]

I haven't been asking - I only found out that I could do this toward the end of the day.

[twinsightful]

[Productivity is admirable, which is perhaps why he's a little more than willing to start taking notes and digging around for information. It's what he's good at, truthfully, or at least good enough.]

I started getting the sense this was why we were brought here after analyzing the scroll in the main hall. Along with a scroll for each of us, there's the one with all of those powers listed. I don't entirely understand what they're for, but there are four elements. It wouldn't surprise me if all of us were capable somehow.

[...] Did you meet a woman named Milla at all? She claims she's someone who was once able to control all four of these elements.

[coastal]

The mighty and obtuse lord of spirits? [this could be sacrilegious?] Who can really call themselves that seriously? The things she can say with a straight face...

[she doesn't sound mean about it? just

fucking exhausted]

[twinsightful]

She doesn't know a thing about humanity. [It's said with a bit of amusement.] But she did claim that she doesn't have access to her abilities anymore.

[coastal]

I know.

[said in the tone of "the NERVE"]

And she was so cocky about it! Ugh. Why even boast about all the powerful things you can't do anymore? Did they take her sensibility with her powers?

[twinsightful]

[The worst part is that he laughs.]

She seemed nice even if incredibly oblivious. [Which is still fair game as far as he's concerned.] And naturally she can boast when there's no way for any of us to dispute it. Who could prove her wrong?

[He likes Milla enough but also she wanted to fight him and that was Terrifying.]