summonerd | do you want to die together

do you want to die together

Sheena hadn't really expected this whole summoner thing to work.

The temple at Luca is a temple in little more than name only, small and humble in a way that she remembers Kilika Temple wasn't, without even statues of the high summoners. The little statue that houses its fayth is well-tended, but it sticks out like a sore thumb in a building that might have been a little-used warehouse a few years ago. Even the cloister of trials doesn't feel complete, easy enough even for Sheena to figure out on her own, but none of that really matters, in the end - what's important is the fayth itself, and her ability to pray to it to its satisfaction.

She hadn't been able to shake the feeling that it wouldn't work - that no fayth would ever accept an Al Bhed summoner despite her upbringing, that she'd pray for days with no response - but in the end, it hadn't taken more than a few hours before she'd been answered. Let me come with, her new aeon - Corrine - had requested, and Sheena had been so grateful to them for her success that she'd agreed.

Really, the looks on the temple guardians' faces when she'd walked out with an aeon almost as tall as she was at her side had been more than worth it.

It's sunset when she untangles herself from the small crowd that had gathered to see Spira's youngest aeon, and she can see the sun flashing brightly through the gaps between buildings as she makes her way outside. She rests her hand on Corrine's shoulder lightly for a second without thinking, then realizes her mistake and jolts, pulling it away - but they just laugh silently in her head, nudging at her hand playfully.

There's a second building just adjacent to the temple, a more traditional Martelite affair that existed long before the fayth's temple did, and as Sheena gets closer to it she can hear a commotion of some kind, a woman's voice raised in annoyance and a lower voice answering her. She considers just leaving, the tension of her trial starting to evaporate in a way that makes her long for her room at the inn, but there's no way back to her lodgings without passing by, anyway. Might as well see what's happening. So she puts her hand back where it was, asks Corrine softly not to wander too far as they head towards the source of the noise.

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Holy Martel, Sheena, he literally just said Sin talk is a terrible ice breaker.

The air tenses after she says that, Sheena's mental slamming of the brakes nearly palpable and visible. At least she backed down, but Zelos still can't help sighing and rolling his eyes, shoulders sagging a little as he quickly opts to join her in sitting down to hide his taut expression. Look at this mess, he thinks. They've all barely known each other a day and they're already stepping on everyone's toes. And here Zelos was thinking that yesterday was the crazier day.

Oh well.

Sheena gives him a new out, but Zelos doesn't respond right away, opting instead for a noncommittal hum. He goes for eating in silence for a few seconds, trying to pull himself together a little before he even dares entertain such a heavy topic after what Anna just said, but. Well, everyone dies equally under Sin's reign, right? What's talking about that kind of inevitable death gonna do? It's natural.

Let's try to look as nonchalant as possible, Zelos. That means shrug, hum, and look up to the sky. "Just Sin in general, I guess," Zelos says, gaze lost in the clouds. "Which, I mean, I highly doubt there's anyone on this boat not affected by Sin, so. Fair game."

Sheena watches him for a moment, worried she might have overstepped, but whatever he's feeling it doesn't seem like he's mad, at least. She reaches for her own food as he thinks it over, looking up when he speaks.

"Yeah, that's true," she says, and hesitates. He's right; it'd be more surprising for someone not to have lost someone to Sin. And maybe opening up will make up for her misstep...? "I mean, that's what happened to the village I was born in." And her parents, and most of the people she'd known. She doesn't remember that much, but it had been a particularly bad attack, explained away by the church that Sin had been incensed by the machina at use in a settlement composed almost entirely of Al Bhed. Her tone is somber if not as grief-stricken as it would be if the wound were fresher, but she quiets down a little, anyway. Definitely not something she needs anyone else overhearing.

You know what? Sin talk is a terrible ice breaker, sure, but it's not that bad as a 'getting-to-know-you' starting point, it seems. Especially when the ice is already broken in the first place, and when the person telling you about it is an Al Bhed summoner on her merry way to kill herself for a world that hates her and everyone who is like her for absolutely no reason.

Zelos hums. Okay, he's curious now. Curious, and with a nasty four year old memory still fresh in mind, one that latches onto the somber quiet resting between summoner and guardian. "Luca, for me," he shoots back before he can even think about it, voice just as quiet as he uselessly pokes at his food. "I wasn't in the epicenter, but. Y'know." He clears his throat. "My sister was."

There's something to be said for bonding over shared trauma, even if that trauma is shared across the inhabitants of a whole world.

"I'm sorry," she says, and sounds it. "That was the first attack after the Calm, right?" The attack that had levelled her town had been the last big one, before the Calm. That's just what things are like in Spira, Sheena guesses. She hesitates, not wanting to push too far when they're already on such rocky territory, but. "Can I ask what she was like?"

Yeah, how fucking lucky, huh? The first attack after High Summoner Yuan's Calm, and it takes place in Luca of all places. Fuck Sin. Fuck everything about this world ever.

Sheena asks about his sister, and Zelos just kind of melts into his seat at that, sighing. He's lost his appetite, so he makes no more effort to even poke at his food, staring up into the sky and watching the clouds instead. Honestly, he doesn't really want to share Seles' memory with just about anyone, and he feels a little like a hypocrite telling Sheena about her instead of someone who'd actually met her, like Anna. But...

He crosses his arms. "Younger sister. We lived in Luca most of the time, when my mother wasn't moving her between Guadosalam and Luca Temple. And even if she wasn't gonna be the summoner, she still liked Aeons and guardians." He pauses. Taps a few, spread-out notes of an old song against his forearm. "Her name was Seles. She would've liked Corrine, I think." And that's about all that he's willing to say now, apparently, before he clams up about the subject completely.

Even from the little bit he says, it's clear to Sheena that he was close to his sister. That's so much worse than losing a family you were almost too young to remember. She wonders to herself if that had anything to do with his eagerness to join her pilgrimage. She certainly hadn't been able to face Djose, without her grandfather. (Will she be able to step foot in it without the knowledge that he should be at her side eating her whole?)

"I think Corrine would have liked her, too," she offers him, quiet. She can feel soft agreement from the strange new corner of her brain that is her connection to the Aeon.

"When we defeat Sin," she says. "Maybe..." Maybe it'll stick this time, she wants to say. But that's too optimistic, for a conversation like this, even if deep in her heart she thinks that her pilgrimage will be different, that she'll succeed where the other High Summoners somehow stumbled. She changes tack. "Even if it's only for a few more years... at least it'll be that much longer before anyone in Spira has to lose anybody like that."

Wow, Sheena. Way to be inspiring.

She falls silent, too, after that, eventually picking at her food even though it's grown cold. She should at least take the container and plates back down to the kitchens, she thinks, some time later, and stands to do that, but--

Was that something teal falling from the ship?

Look. Look. Anna is well aware that getting so wasted she doesn't have to think about Sin is first of all a horrible idea and second of all really inefficient, because it never actually works, but. She does it anyway. She's still thinking about Sin, but at least it's kind of numb, and. Look. It's fine. It'll be fine. No one gives a damn about her reputation, anyway. Which is why somewhere in there she decide it's perfectly fine to come out of her dark corner and make a round of the ship's deck.

"You're going to fall~" Mithos sing-songs, as he follows her. Why he's decided to do that, Anna has no clue, and frankly she wants him to fuck off, but.

"I am not," she insists. Does she stagger and have to catch herself on the ship's railing? Absolutely not. (Yes she does.)

"Yes you are, Anna, come on," Mithos continues. She flips him off, and Mithos groans. Is Anna sober enough to remember she's the only one who can see him? Nope! She barely remembers that when she isn't completely shitfaced.

Mithos sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. Being a fayth means he's incorporeal-- at least while he's projecting himself like this-- but he's feeling the edges of a headache, anyway. Why is she the only person on this entire planet who has a chance at helping him? Why couldn't he have gotten Kratos, instead of her? Kratos at least seemed reasonable.

There's a splash. Mithos looks up. And then he leans over to look into the water.

"I told you," he says, deadpan.

Loss is something that every denizen of Spira has known their whole lives, especially now that Calms seem be shorter and shorter, threatening every day with being the last. Wanting to prevent or stop it is nothing new. What Sheena says is a sentiment shared by every summoner-to-be, Zelos thinks, but-- again, Sheena is a special case. Anything coming from her is at least five times even more poignant, considering who she is.

And there it is again, that small voice that admires her for her selfless sacrifice, for putting the lives of thousands over her own just for a shot at preventing any more death and mourning like Zelos has experienced, like she has experienced. Fighting for a chance at worldwide happiness is certainly a lot more honourable than faking joining a pilgrimage only to end up jumping ship later. And that's... well, now he feels like an asshole. Is he really going to abandon someone like Sheena, a vulnerable Al Bhed, to figure this out on her own like that? Really? Is Zelos seriously that heartless?

He can still change his mind, a voice at the back of his conscious says, one that sounds young and mischievous and so much like his sister. Besaid is just around the corner. All he has to do is make his choice.

He's halfway through that when a flash of teal catches his attention instead, followed by a splash of water.

One, two, three, blink. It all snaps into place like that, and oh, oh Martel.

Holy fucking shit.

"Woah woah woah, guardian overboard!" Zelos shouts, abruptly getting up from his seat and rushing over to where he saw Anna fall off the deck, waving an arm around to catch the crew's attention. Anna can hold her breath, and Besaid is just in the distance so at least the waters won't be as deep and dangerous as they would be otherwise, but something about the way she fell is giving Zelos nervous shivers. "Stop the boat, we got a woman overboard! Anna fell off the boat!"

Edited 2019-10-21 16:08 (UTC)

Day four of his apparent new life in Besaid sees Lloyd form some sort of routine. Colette meets him in the morning at the temple and grabs breakfast with him, sharing stories and explaining things about Spira Lloyd would have had no idea about otherwise. In return, he tells her stuff about home, about Zanarkand, and she listens carefully. Colette's company helps soothe the sharp ache in Lloyd's heart as he talks, not erasing it, but making it easier to cope. He sticks to the lighter things, general stuff, and she doesn't mention it when he gets choked up at any mention of his mother or Dirk or his friends.

Honestly, he's not even sure if she believes him at this point or if she just believes he's so far gone in his trauma he's making everything up, but the listening still helps.

After breakfast and chitchat, they make their way down to the beach to meet up with the Aurochs for practice. If she can, Colette will stick around and talk, but usually, she has to make her way back to the town center to help around the village. Lloyd's not surprised she's kept busy - a white mage is always appreciated anywhere, and Colette has such a big heart she probably volunteers for every chore she can. Something about filling in the gaps that Sin creates, Lloyd supposes. She's here for today, at least, and he enjoys her company as she watches the group play, chiming in with commentary and encouragement from time to time.

The Aurochs are a lively bunch, too. Lloyd has spent the majority of the last few days with them, practicing hard and learning to play with a new team. It's hard, honestly - sometimes he'll look around and expect to see Roisia pulling Yonit into a headlock for a missed pass, or Laru, smirking as he talks shit about the next opposing team. Lloyd had known his team for over a decade, had grown up with them as an extended family, and playing with strangers is new, intimidating. He tries his best, though, refusing to let the grief cloud his ability to play. He promised Alicia he'd help them make the championship, and he's not going back on his word now.

Lloyd stands on the beach, placing a blitzball on the ground and aiming to take a shot at the makeshift goal the Aurochs use for practice, Tyvre acting as the goalie, ready to block the shot. While Lloyd's always been a better offensive player than a defensive one, it never hurts to check the accuracy of his shots, both on land and in the water. Alicia's basically chained them all to land, anyways, their previous conversation having unleashed some sort of demon training regimen that - while effective - takes away the fun of the water until she's impressed with their skill on land. She almost reminds him of Dirk, honestly, the way her eyes gain a sort of manic sparkle in them as she explains how she's gonna exhaust them at the start of practice.

"'ey!" Shouts out Victor - (Lloyd has to take a second to remember his name) - an arm shielding his eyes from the worst of the sunlight as he looks out to the horizon. "Check it out, there's a ferry coming on by!"

Lloyd turns to look out at the ocean as someone else laughs. "Wonda what poor sucka got stuck here this time. No offense, Lloyd."

"None taken," Lloyd says, a grin taking over his face, "although, I would say the sucker would be whoever was stuck with you -"

He cuts himself off as someone falls off the boat, a familiar flash of teal and purple catching his attention before anything else, causing his eyes to widen. No fucking way. Heart skipping several beats at once, mouth dropping open, it feels like several eternities within a second as Lloyd bumrushes the dock, hardly listening to the surprised cries of Colette and the team, wasting no time in unbuckling his vest and tossing it behind him before diving into the water with practiced ease, using his momentum to propel himself over to the ferry. He catches Anna before she sinks too deep, down to the waters that the fiends Colette's warned him about lay, and, holding onto her waist with one arm, brings them both back to the surface.

Lloyd gasps as they breach the surface, out of shock rather than out of a need to breathe. Though he wants to talk to her now, and even though she is awake and breathing, Lloyd focuses on taking them back to the shore, shifting his grip on her so he can swim back, still in shock. Anna's alive. His mom is alive! Sure she fell off the boat, and sure she kinda smells like alcohol, but a drunk Anna is vastly preferred to a dead one. He just. Well, he needs to find out why she got drunk, and that's a concern, because, well, she's always been drunk to cope with things she hated to talk about, but. She's alive. That's what matters.

Once back to the surface, he plops himself down on the shoreline, a few feet away from where the waves crash against the sand, sitting Anna down so that her head rests, elevated, on his lap. Colette walks up to him, confusion plain on her face, and he mouths "give me a second" to her, lightly flicking at his mother's forehead. "Hey, mom, the secret word is Blitzball. My name is Lloyd, the sky is blue, and you love chocolate. What's the secret word?"

Edited 2019-10-21 22:22 (UTC)

Anna groans, batting Lloyd off of her. She squints up at him. Fuck, why is the sun so bright? Who allowed that? Was that also Martel's dumb fucking idea? Fuck. Lloyd is saying words.

"Blue," she answers. "No, wait." That's way wrong. Fuck, shit, he just said it. She scowls, wishing her brain would work a little faster, even though-- This was exactly the state of brainspace she wished to achieve by getting shitfaced, wasn't it? Embarrassing that Lloyd had to see her like this, though. Normally she's better about that.

But. The first few nights in Spira again are always the worst. Like super the worst. And she had to arrive just as Sin was--

"Ughhhhhh," she groans. She doesn't want to think about it. She doesn't want to fucking think about it. "I'm-- literally going to-- fucking. Murder. Martel."

Lloyd can’t help himself from giving Anna a pitying look as she completely fucks up the test, about to open his mouth and ask his mother just how much she’s drank in the past hour or so when she groans and interrupts his thought. Colette stares down at him with wide eyes and Lloyd glances up to meet her gaze with an equally panicked look. Apologizing silently, he claps his hand over Anna’s mouth and hoists her back up. Anna, you are valid, but blaspheming in front of twenty or so incredibly religious people is not the way to go when their hospitality is kinda needed in this situation.

“Colette, can you prepare a bed in the infirmary?” Lloyd asks, holding Anna to his side and keeping his hand over her mouth, awkwardly chuckling as his team stares. “Um, sorry. This is my mom, her name is -“

“We know who Anna Irving is, Lloyd,” Alicia says, looking equal parts intimidated and awed. “The legendary guardian of high summoner Yuan Ka’Fei. We just didn’t realize she had a kid -“

Lloyd blinks. “Yuan Coffee? Who’s that?”

The team gasps, and Colette takes that moment to run to the shoreline and pick up Lloyd’s vest before running back and grabbing Lloyd by the chain hanging out of his pocket, pulling him forward on the beach. “Let’s go, Lloyd,” she says, a little hastily. “Your mom may need medical attention.”

“Uh, yeah,” Lloyd nods, somewhat dragging Anna along with him, mind spinning. Who is Yuan? What the hell is a guardian, and why is Anna a legendary one? “I’ll, uh, see you guys at dinner!”

He follows Colette’s lead, removing his hand from over Anna’s mouth as soon as they make a bit of distance from the team. “Sorry, mom,” he apologizes. “We need their help, and if you go nuts on the blaspheming here they’ll get pissed. Colette’s cool, though.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Anna,” Colette says as she walks ahead of the two, glancing back over her shoulder to offer a smile. “I’ll be able to cure the worst of your drunkenness as soon as we get to the infirmary. But, uh, please do take it easy around the rest of the islanders.”

You know what's really fucking annoying? How long it takes for the ferry to dock, and then how long it takes for the crew to give everyone a green light to disembark. Honestly, Zelos can understand why the captain would stick to protocol after that random fucko dove in and dragged Anna all the way back to shore, deeming her relatively safe, but can't they hurry it up anyway, holy shit, that's their very drunk guardian they're watching get kidnapped by a total stranger! How do you just trust someone you don't know like that!

So, when they hit the shore and get to looking for her, Zelos is completely unsurprised when Anna is nowhere to be found.

"Damn it," he grumbles. He kicks a handful of sand on the beach, sets his hands on his hips, growls. This is so frustrating! Why couldn't she have just, not fallen off the fucking boat! "Well, there goes Anna. Taken by the islanders to goddess knows where." He turns to Sheena and sighs. "I suggest we go looking for her before someone sacrifices her to some underground cult or something stupid like that."

There's no cults on Besaid," Sheena says, though she doesn't sound as certain about that as she wishes she did. "But anyway, neither of them looked shady to me. Maybe they just recognized her?" From what she'd been able to see of Anna's rescuers, they'd looked like a blitzball player - not in any colors she recognized, but it's not like she's ever cared about blitzball long enough to learn which teams are which - and someone in nicer clothes. Not what she pictures when she thinks about cults who'd sacrifice somebody.

She sets her hands on her hips, looking around. No sign of Anna, or her rescuers. There are a few islanders milling around, waiting for the others on the ferry to disembark, and they could ask, but...

"Hang on, I'm gonna summon Corrine," Sheena says. "Maybe they'll be able to tell where she got taken." With that said, she takes a few steps away to give herself the space needed, stretching her arms out in the shortened prayer to summon her Aeon. Corrine comes running, as always, and sits down in the sand in front of her, cheerful.

"Anna fell off the boat," she tells them, and they don't look surprised but they do let out something like a sigh at the news. "Somebody rescued her, but we couldn't see where they took her. Can you track her?"

I'm not actually a fox, you know, they tell her, with something fond in their voice anyway, but then they pause, attention fixed on something that Sheena can't see. (Smell?) They cock their head and get to their feet, leading back towards the main path into Besaid proper. I think she went this way, they say. Come on!

Sheena pauses, remembering that oh yeah, Zelos can't hear Corrine. "They said she's this way," she translates, before she follows, breaking into a jog to catch up with the Aeon.

Oh, there is definitely a cult in Besaid, Sheena, and it's called Martelism. But okay, not the point. Luca's Aeon stands proud before the duo when they're summoned, and Zelos is quiet as Sheena makes her request. Honestly, he doesn't really know what summoning Corrine will do to help, and he almost says so, but then Corrine seems to pick up on something and Zelos just about eats his words. Well, damn, huh? Guess there's more to summoners than what Zelos had been originally taught!

In your face, Mylene.

He shrugs, then breaks into a jog behind Sheena, following Aeon and summoner as they guide him through the island. For a few seconds Zelos briefly wonders if anyone recognizes him, keeping an eye out for any people staring or whispering, but the waters seem clear enough; really, it seems like they're more interested in the fact that he's a redheaded Guado than his status. Ditching the outfit before arrival was a good idea.

Nice! Alright, then. Let's find Anna. Still, force of habit dictates that one can never be too careful, so while Sheena's distracted, Zelos keeps himself on the lookout for any oddities, fiends, priests, etcetera etcetera. Just in case, alright?

Just in case.

Edited (Will I ever not mistake the usage of in and on) 2019-10-24 21:19 (UTC)

Colette leads Lloyd and Anna back to the temple, but rather than attempting to go in through the front entrance, the one that faces the main street of the village, she takes them in through the back, pulling moss and vines away from a rusty old door with squeaky hinges and pushing it open. "Come on in, the infirmary will be on your right, this time."

Lloyd follows her direction, waiting on her as she pulls open the curtains dividing the infirmary from the rest of the temple, more worried about keeping his grip on Anna, the stumbling, drunk mess she's shown herself to be. She's muttered the entire walk over, half intelligible comments about killing god all Lloyd can really catch before she stops. Well, at least she's walking.

"Set her down over here," Colette instructs, walking over to a cot near the rear left side of the room. She pulls the chair from the desk, the same one she sat at when she was healing Lloyd, and waits as Lloyd fights Anna into sitting down, gently pushing at her shoulders until she gives up and lies down. Colette giggles at the grumbled "this is for your own good, damn it," that escapes Lloyd and then gets to work, raising her hands over Anna's abdomen and closing her eyes, sighing deeply as she begins to work her magic. Lloyd stands next to her, arms crossed and head cocked, watching in awe as Colette works, perking up as she begins singing the same song he caught her singing while she healed him. What's that song even about, anyways?

It only takes about a minute or two of what is otherwise silence before Colette opens her eyes again, blinking a few times and lowering her hands again. "Alright, that should be it for you, Lady Anna."

"How are you feeling, ma?" Lloyd asks, brows knitting together in concern. "Any better -"

And then the curtains are drawn open, their attention pulled to the entrance of the room.

Edited 2019-10-25 01:38 (UTC)

Anna doesn't think she just grabs the cup of water on the table next to her and throws. Which... was a mistake, seeing as the water spills on her then Lloyd (even as he ducks out of the way of the oncoming cup) and passes straight through Mithos before clocking Zelos in the head and sending him sprawling.

"Wow," Mithos says. "A thank you? That's what I deserve for bringing you the summoner you ditched but no you throw something at me instead, huh? And now look. You've killed Zelos."

Anna ignores him, shooting as upright as Colette will let her as she peers at the fallen guardian. "Oh fuck. Zelos are you okay??"

Edited 2019-10-25 15:25 (UTC)

As the Aeon leads them both to Besaid's temple Zelos starts to wonder if following Corrine really is best course of action. Like, the idea of being recognized and dealing with religious nutcases again? Not very fun! But, hey--if memory serves him right, then there should at least be one person in this horrid place whom they could go to for help and safe passage through the temple itself, without needing to go through the hoops of hiding Sheena's eyes. Hopefully she hasn't left the island yet.

But, alright. Whatever. Corrine leads them to the back of the temple, over where the infirmary is, and that's when Zelos starts to relax a little. He can hear some murmurs from behind the curtain in the middle of the room; two he recognizes, another he does not. Well, makes sense that they'd bring Anna here, at least. And there's a single white mage around these parts that Zelos would think of that'd help a drunken guardian fallen overboard. Anna should be good as new soon.

Well, then! Might as well go for it. Fuck it.

He pulls the curtain open--

--and promptly falls on his ass as a cup hits him right on the forehead, the force of the impact causing him to see white hot pain behind his eyelids for a second before it spreads. Zelos yelps, then groans and whines and swears under his breath, both hands flying up to press against his hurting forehead. "Son of a bitch!" he shouts, curling into himself. "Augh, fuck! Not the face! Fuck, whyyyyyy!"

Pretty much the last thing Sheena expects, when Zelos pulls the curtain aside to reveal where Anna must be, is to see something shoot through the air right at him, followed by two thuds from it hitting him and him falling on his ass.

"Shit, are you okay?" she asks, worried, bending down to try and see where the cup had hit him. There isn't much she can see with his hands over it like this, so she glances up at the other people in the room. At least Corrine was right - Anna's here, and so are the two people she'd seen helping her.

She hadn't realized, from the ship, that one of those two was also the cutest girl in existence. Sheena flushes a little, ducks her head down as she remembers that staring makes her eyes more obvious and looks back to Zelos instead.

Lloyd has enough awareness to recognize exactly what Anna is planning on doing as soon as she grabs the cup, ducking as she winds up her arm and sends it flying across the room. Though the cup misses him entirely, water ends up splashing all over the front of his shirt, leading him to glare at her. He had just dried off after diving into the ocean to save her!

And then there's a thump and someone wails in pain. Lloyd turns to face the curtains again, catching the sight of a redhead flattened out on the floor, hands cupping his forehead and hiding his face. A dark-haired girl in some weird robes seems to have him handled, and there's some weird looking kid with them with a shit-eating grin on his face, so Lloyd turns back to his mother. Obviously, the dude will be fine. "Mom, what the fuck," Lloyd asks, hands on his hip, "what was that for?"

"Zelos?" Colette asks from Lloyd's side, eyes wide. "What are you doing here?"

She walks over to them, reaching down to who Lloyd presumes is Zelos to offer him a hand up, and then glances back at the girl, interlocking her fingers and placing her hands at her front. "Oh! Are you a summoner by chance? It's a pleasure to meet you," she bows, a smile wide on her face. "My name is Colette."

"My name is Lloyd," he adds in, walking over and inserting himself into the conversation. He kinda wishes he wasn't introducting himself in a wet shirt. "I apologize for my mom, she can be like this. Sometimes. It's mostly harmless."

Colette squints up at Zelos' forehead, and Lloyd can't help two things: one, the acknowledgement that this guy is kinda cute, and two, the fact that the bright red mark on his head left by the cup is really funny, but he tries to tamper down the mirthful grin that appears on his face.

"I'm afraid that I've used up most of my mana already," Colette says, pouting a little as she tries to assess the bump. "But I can get you a potion if it hurts too bad."

"Thanks, darlin'," Zelos grumbles out as he gratefully takes Colette's hand to stand, still rubbing at his forehead with his free one. It sounded petulant and Zelos knows that, so next he gives the priestess a sweet, charming little smile, letting go to set a hand on his hip and flap the other about. It does hurt, but it should fade with time; he just hopes it doesn't bruise. "Eh, don't bother for now. I'm not dead, right? And if it bothers me I'll just heal it myself."

Colette laughs, nodding before stepping aside so Zelos can assess the room. Sure enough, Anna's still there sitting on the cot and leaning over to where Zelos is, looking like she has just killed someone with her stunt. Zelos lets that go and decides not to bitch about it right now. He should probably clarify to Colette that he's here as a guardian to Sheena instead, but something catches his attention before he can even formulate the thought.

It isn't really the legendary guardian herself, but rather the wet shirt guy who walks over, interrupts the conversation, and declares himself to be Anna's son.

Just like that.

Woah woah woah, what? Hold on. Is that even legal? "Hold on there, bud. Your mom?" He snorts, grin growing as he looks Lloyd up and down. He's a looker, and the wet shirt doesn't leave a lot to imagination, but still, what the hell? "You're telling me that Anna Irving is your mom?" He steps a little closer, squinting, and. Okay, there's definitely a resemblance there, mainly in the eyes and the facial shape. Still up in Lloyd's space, Zelos directs his attention to Anna next, gesturing at her son with one hand, adding, "Real funny. How come I never heard of this?"

Edited 2019-10-27 21:46 (UTC)

Well, Zelos is going to survive, at least. Sheena takes a step back when Colette offers him a hand up, getting out of the way.

"Ah, that's me," she says, when Colette introduces herself, trying for "cool" rather than "awkward" but not quite getting there, and she bows in return, grateful for the way it gives her an excuse to look down and maybe make the way heat just rose in her face a little less obvious. "It's nice to meet you, too. I'm Sheena."

Lloyd introduces himself, too, and -- okay, did he just say Anna was his mom? That's unexpected enough to pull her attention away from Colette, and she looks over to Lloyd, unintentionally mirroring the way Zelos searches for Anna's features in Lloyd's appearance. She doesn't interrupt Zelos, who said pretty much what she was thinking anyway - if a legendary guardian had a son, how was that not the talk of Spira for the last decade? - but the noise of surprise she makes, not to mention her expression, probably make her thoughts on the matter clear anyway.

Look, as fond as she is so far with Zelos and Sheena, they are still essentially strangers to her, and the last thing Anna wants to do is bring up the whole 'accidentally abandoned my son because my husband and I were wisked away to Spira against our will' debacle. It's nobody's business! Especially not the church of fucking Martel.

"You really expect me to tell the church everything?" Anna laughs, with a roll of her eyes. "My life ain't none of their fucking business, legendary guardian or no. Why do you think no one's been able to find me for the past ten years, huh?" Is it way more than that? Yeah. Does Zelos need to know? No. So she wraps it up with an eloquent, just short-of furious: "Honestly, the church can get fucked."

Blinking wide eyes as the two strangers get up in his grill, Lloyd leans back just the slightest, sticking his hands out to make distance. He’s not unused to people being in his business, but he doesn’t know these two, and he would prefer to get an actual introduction before they start observing him like some he’s new phenomenon. He does tense when Zelos brings up his absence from anything that occurred ten years back, only relaxing again when Anna somewhat changes the topic. The two don’t seem offended, at least, so he assumes that it’s fine that she just blasphemed, and that they’re both at least somewhat familiar with her mannerisms.

“Uh, yeah. I’m her son,” Lloyd confirms, again, wondering how the hell his mother ended up in the company of two people around his age. “How do you know each other...?”

He takes some time to glance back at the little kid that’s been silent since after Anna threw the cup. Squinting, because he looks familiar, Lloyd asks, “and you? What’s your name?”

Colette blinks. “Lloyd? Who are you talking to?”

He gestures over to where the kid is standing. “This guy. Blondie over here.”

“There’s... No one there?”

Lloyd gapes, expression turning to one of confusion. He turns his head back to where the kid stands, grinning mischievously, and then back to Colette, at a loss for words, before he puts his head in his hands. “Just one normal day, that’s all I’m asking for.”

Edited 2019-10-30 13:29 (UTC)

Anna gets a little defensive, and--alright, Zelos will give her that. What she does with her personal life is definitely, 100% not the church's business, and Zelos isn't enough of a jackass to miss the fact that he is technically still part of the church, so. Point taken. He laughs at the crass way she vents out her frustrations though, finally straightening up and getting out of Lloyd's personal bubble as the other steps back. "Alright, alright! I getcha. Super valid."

Okay. With that out of the way, now he kind of wants to ask about Lloyd, actually. What brings him here, why, perhaps some good ol' 'who the heck is this guy' getting-to-know-you stuff that doesn't involve breaking the ice with Sin talk, for once. However, before he even can ask something stupid like 'so hey cutie where you from', Lloyd asks how they know Anna, and then goes ahead and glances over at the entrance, asking someone else to introduce themselves.

Zelos glances over his shoulder, eyebrow raised. There's no one there, and Colette says so.

When Zelos turns back to glance at Lloyd again, he's already put his head in his hands and groaned his piece. Oh, aw. Aww. He feels like he already knows what's going on here, and, honestly? Poor fuckin' guy. "There there," Zelos says, chuckling under his breath, one hand patting at Lloyd's shoulder. "It's probably Sin's toxin. Just get some rest, plenty of meds, and you should be fine. Happens aaaaall the time."

Sheena balks at Anna's outburst, not-quite freezing up as she wonders just how to take it. She's a legendary guardian, so in any other case Sheena would take her word for just about anything, but saying that about the church? She wants to ask just what she meant, because maybe it's just her not understanding, but - alright, she's pretty sure Anna's not quite sober yet. (Maybe that's all it is.) maybe this should wait. She laughs instead, anxious, as her gaze darts over to Colette again, hoping it's not enough to get them kicked out before she can get Besaid's Aeon.

But alright, she doesn't seem too upset about it. And then Lloyd manages to drive the whole thing out of her head by talking to someone who isn't there.

"I don't see anyone either," she says, uncertain. "Zelos is probably right. Things get weird if you get too close to Sin, but it'll pass."

[Zelos voice] [Leaves the party early]

DON'T ABANDON YOUR SUMMONER???

BUT THAT'S EXACTLY THE PLAN!!!

AND JUST LET HER DIE?

LISTEN

I AM LISTENING

LISTEN HARDER

LISTEN TO YOUR HEART BEFORE SOMEONE VORES IT

hey has anyone tried the chicken salad

yeha it tastse like ass

Maybe i should add some updog

I personally prefer upsexy

This is bofa erasure??

Well ligma was erased too but you don't see me complainin'

damn, y'all are some serious henweys

not now I killed zelos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZGlaAxB7nI

WASTED...

this is the worst meet cute

What are you talking about it's clearly the best

This party is a disaster

your wlecome for my servcie

Lloyd is so tired

We're off to a great start everyone!

SORRY I GOT KIDNAPPED BY SIN