Walk away, walk away. Slowly make your way over to their camp, where everything else lies gathered, and inhale, exhale. Calm down. Hum a little, keep your voice steady to make it seem like it's natural, walk about looking for something to do. Make yourself useful. Make yourself useful. Spot the fire, unlit and half-assed, and set yourself to the mind-numbing task of fixing it up and lighting it if only to escape everything that just went down.
Don't think about everything you just did. Don't think about how you ruined everything, just focus on fixing something else instead.
Better to be useful than a menace, right?
Ah.
Intent on ignoring literally everything around him but himself, Zelos reaches the gathered wood for their fire tonight, kneeling down in front of it and examining it, humming still and keeping his face as cheerful and unbothered as he can. It's a show, it's a dance. It's falling apart, but--but that's fine. It's fine. He can pick up the pieces and try to keep it afloat. The Aegis' back is to the commotion, dead-set on ignoring the fallout of his meltdown if only to make it go away faster. Because maybe if he doesn't pay attention to it then it can't come catching up to him at all. The last thing he wants is for this to escalate and blow up in his face any further, so Zelos keeps the whirlwind of emotions trapped in his core, hands shaking, all that shame and rage and dread singing a cacophonous song of fate in his veins for him and him alone. He breathes it in, rearranges the wood. Breathe in, breathe out. Fix up the wood.
Fix it, fix it, fix it.
"Hey."
He blinks.
Sheena's voice is an unwelcome addition to the situation. His smile falls for a second at the sound, but Zelos at least manages to catch himself before he lets go of the emotional bleed in his surprise, before he truly reacts, and quickly so he plasters that smile on his face again like nothing's happened. Then Zelos twists to look at her over his shoulder, all smiles and friendliness, definitely a stark contrast against the last she's seen from him. He's not stupid, he knows that she's going to be suspicious, but. Still, he keeps up the charade, rising to his full height after she stupidly asks him how he's doing, if he wants to talk.
No, Sheena, he doesn't want to talk. He wants to put this behind as fast as possible, in fact. Wants to pretend it never happened. Wants to pretend he's not a fucking menace to the world.
But he can't say that, he knows. He can't lash out again.
So he laughs instead.
"Talk about what?" he plays dumb, tilting his head. He blinks innocent eyes at his driver, hands on his hips for a second before he grins, decidedly not giving her any time to react when he immediately speaks again, saying, "Hey, you wanna see something cool?" while removing his right hand from its spot on his hip, channeling ether into his palm and linking it to the ambient ether around the wood. Palm up, he raises his hand slowly, heating up the air around the wood until a flame flickers to life on it, growing, growing, growing. Once it's lit Zelos laughs again, snaps his fingers and lets go of the ether in his hands. The flames crackle with the snap of the connection, a strong and powerful release, before settling back down.
Look at his handiwork, he thinks. Look at what he can create, instead of what he can destroy. Sparing one look at the fire Zelos puffs out his chest, smirks, and gestures to it with his free hand.
no subject
Don't think about everything you just did. Don't think about how you ruined everything, just focus on fixing something else instead.
Better to be useful than a menace, right?
Ah.
Intent on ignoring literally everything around him but himself, Zelos reaches the gathered wood for their fire tonight, kneeling down in front of it and examining it, humming still and keeping his face as cheerful and unbothered as he can. It's a show, it's a dance. It's falling apart, but--but that's fine. It's fine. He can pick up the pieces and try to keep it afloat. The Aegis' back is to the commotion, dead-set on ignoring the fallout of his meltdown if only to make it go away faster. Because maybe if he doesn't pay attention to it then it can't come catching up to him at all. The last thing he wants is for this to escalate and blow up in his face any further, so Zelos keeps the whirlwind of emotions trapped in his core, hands shaking, all that shame and rage and dread singing a cacophonous song of fate in his veins for him and him alone. He breathes it in, rearranges the wood. Breathe in, breathe out. Fix up the wood.
Fix it, fix it, fix it.
"Hey."
He blinks.
Sheena's voice is an unwelcome addition to the situation. His smile falls for a second at the sound, but Zelos at least manages to catch himself before he lets go of the emotional bleed in his surprise, before he truly reacts, and quickly so he plasters that smile on his face again like nothing's happened. Then Zelos twists to look at her over his shoulder, all smiles and friendliness, definitely a stark contrast against the last she's seen from him. He's not stupid, he knows that she's going to be suspicious, but. Still, he keeps up the charade, rising to his full height after she stupidly asks him how he's doing, if he wants to talk.
No, Sheena, he doesn't want to talk. He wants to put this behind as fast as possible, in fact. Wants to pretend it never happened. Wants to pretend he's not a fucking menace to the world.
But he can't say that, he knows. He can't lash out again.
So he laughs instead.
"Talk about what?" he plays dumb, tilting his head. He blinks innocent eyes at his driver, hands on his hips for a second before he grins, decidedly not giving her any time to react when he immediately speaks again, saying, "Hey, you wanna see something cool?" while removing his right hand from its spot on his hip, channeling ether into his palm and linking it to the ambient ether around the wood. Palm up, he raises his hand slowly, heating up the air around the wood until a flame flickers to life on it, growing, growing, growing. Once it's lit Zelos laughs again, snaps his fingers and lets go of the ether in his hands. The flames crackle with the snap of the connection, a strong and powerful release, before settling back down.
Look at his handiwork, he thinks. Look at what he can create, instead of what he can destroy. Sparing one look at the fire Zelos puffs out his chest, smirks, and gestures to it with his free hand.
"Ta-dah!" he goes.
Pride is easy to fake.