paixaorpg | Being Injured is Incredibly Boring [Completed]

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Being Injured is Incredibly Boring [Completed]

Character(s): Tris and Xellos
Content: Tris is bored. Thankfully, this doesn't last too long.
Setting: Gayle's house in the Promenade Terrace, near Niflheim
Time: Mid-afternoon
Warnings: ...Tris is grumpy, and Xellos... I dunno. XD

"Ow."

Tris closed her eyes, leaning back against her pillows. She grit her teeth. She'd been attempting to walk around the room, only to feel the stitches and her back protest. Her eyebrows knit in concentration as she slowly eased her way down. Gods above, that hurt like fire. The mage took deep breaths- as deep as she could manage without pulling on her stitches. It was amazing how one never took notice of how their back moved in such ordinary circumstances until it was hurt. She pulled her glasses off. The weather-mage was still shutting Briar out, and had even managed to block Sandry out. She'd deal with them later.

Still, that left the very pained Tris in a situation she couldn't stand. She was stuck in bed, with no books in sight. The journal had amused her for a while, but the entertainment value of that venue was wearing thin. She pondered just going back to sleep. Gods knew she was exhausted from controlling the quake, but, honestly. She did not enjoy being stuck here, did not enjoy having only two options: stare at the wall or ceiling, or sleep.

Tris closed her eyes, sighing lightly. She also hated not being able to breathe deeply for fear of pulling her stitches.

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Wandering around the city hadn't yielded much information, unfortunately, but then Xellos hadn't really expected it to. There wasn't much information he could find out anyway, not after Raven't post on the journal's message board gave him all the secrets he could possibly learn from just looking about. All that was left now were the more difficult ones, and they had so few leads that they might as well have none at all. Sure, he liked the challenge, but this was getting rather ridiculous.

Pestering the city folk hadn't been very helpful either. Oh, sure, he had gotten some enjoyment out of annoying them to the point of hopeless rage, but that still hadn't clued him in on what was wrong with them. They seemed so utterly fake somehow, but he couldn't for the life of him trace their origins back to... wherever it was they came from. It was baffling. Where had they come from? If they were so fake, what had made them?

Eventually, he decided to just track down the person who had given him a tantalizing glimpse into at least one of the secrets he had come across. The woman immune to lightning, why had she been with those "Nobodies?" Xellos didn't know, although he had his suspicions, but maybe by meeting this "Tris Chandler" person, he'd finally get more of the facts he was looking for.

Which lead him here. How he had found her, exactly, was of course a secret (in other words, he had just asked her), but it hardly mattered once everything was said and done. Smiling at the door on general principle, he reached out and knocked three times.

No answer.

Shrugging, he tried again. When still nothing happened, he tried the handle and, finding it unlocked, let himself inside. He was more or less expected after all (sort of), so where was the harm in it? At the worst, he'd get hit over the head with something blunt for breaking and entering, but he'd faced more than enough abuse in his life that the prospect didn't bother him. Besides, getting hit usually was accompanied by a healthy dose of negative emotions, and what Mazoku could say no to something like that?

He was actually a little disappointed when nothing of the sort happened and he was allowed to infiltrate the residence even further and reach the door to the room Tris was staying in. Maybe next time, right? Smiling just a little wider, he knocked yet again. "Miss Tris~? Are you in?" he asked innocently, somehow resisting the urge to start laughing hysterically. Would she even pick up on the pun? He hoped so~

Tris paused at the knock, eyebrows raised. Was that who she thought it was. The call after that made her face heat, and it was only by merit of magical drain that she didn't start sparking too horribly. Her back reminded her of the stitches as she tried to sit up straight, causing a mix of a startled splutter at what she'd thought she'd heard and a pained yelp at pulling on her stitches. Taking as deep of breaths as she dared and easing herself into a seated position, she tried to clear her throat and her mind.

"Yes I am," she responded, trying to will coolness into her cheeks. She could feel the heat of her face, and that meant she was blushing. She cursed her fair complexion, mentally, in all the languages she had picked up from the Pebbled Sea to Thairos. "Come in!"

So she did catch it. Xellos kept his amusement carefully hidden as he opened the door and stepped inside, waving at her cheerfully and saying< "Hello! I was worried you might not be here after no one answered! It's a good thing I decided to check for myself, isn't it?" Well, it was if you completely ignored how very illegal that was. Or did Paixao even have laws against that? Hmm, that could come in useful later...

Of course, once he noticed Tris's blush, it was practically impossible for him to avoid immediately walking up to her with an expression of utmost concern, placing one gloved hand against her forehead and frowning as he asked, "Oh dear, you don't have a fever, do you? You're so very flushed, Miss Tris! Are you all right?"

Tris nodded, still red in the face. "Yeah, it is," she replied. Oh, good he'd decided not to call her that. She spluttered and jerked away from the gloved hand, hissing as her back protested once more. She began spluttering all over again as he called her by that gods-curst name.

She did start swearing under her breath, burying her face in her hands. "I'm fine, it's just that- what you're calling me! It sounds like something else," she groused quietly, trying not to pull on her back anymore. Damn that hurt.

This was so much fun! She didn't react nearly as dramatically as Lina did, of course, but then she was wounded. Considering she wasn't as powerful as the red-haired sorceress, though, maybe she couldn't necessarily react the same way. It would be interesting to try and push her to her limits to find out.

Xellos pulled his hand away, though, waving it placatingly at her before sweeping into a bow. "My apologies! Is there something wrong with being called 'Miss Tris?' I thought it was quite clever, you know, with the rhyme and all." No way was he admitting he knew exactly what it sounded like. Tris could tell him that all on her own. She might not tell him certain implications the word had, but a little nudge here, a hint dropped there, and she's just have to do it.

Tris's hair, at this point, was making a mildly interesting lightshow. She groused in all the tongues she could think of, shaking her head. He was determined to make her face into some kind of roasting surface, wasn't he?

Time for some of that famous Tris magic- and not of the weather variety. She quirked a brow. "You do realize that 'Miss Tris' sounds like 'mistress', which is a term used for an illicit lover or something even more base and obscene?" she asked, voice low and dry. Her face was still beet-red. Really. Calling her that.

Oh, so more nudging wasn't needed? Xellos was more disappointed by the fact that he had misjudged what her reaction would be than that fact, but he would get better at it the more he spoke with her, he supposed. The sparks in her hair were fairly interesting as well-- she hadn't mentioned those when he spoke to her over the journals. Hmm.

Assuming an appropriately worried and embarrassed expression, he bowed lower for a moment before slowly rising, one hand going to scratch at the back of his head awkwardly. "Ah, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Miss-- Chandler then? I didn't think of that at all! Oh dear, I hope you weren't too offended by that..."

"Just drop the 'Miss' and call me 'Tris', would you?" she asked, rubbing at her temples. The sparks faded with Tris's heated emotions. She forced a smile at Xellos, pushing the loose hair that used to be a lightning braid behind an ear. She chuckled.

"Believe me, I've dealt with outright nastiness from other mages because of the combination of my age and power. A slip of the tongue wouldn't make me hate you."

"Tris, then," Xellos agreed, miraculously recovering from his "embarrassment" and giving her his usual cheery grin. He had been getting a little bored with that game anyway. "Do forgive me if I slip up occasionally-- I have a very bad memory." Quite the opposite actually, but no way was he going to let such a perfect way to annoy someone slip so easily.

Pulling up a chair-- "You don't mind if I sit, do you?"-- he settled himself down and... continued smiling at her, as usual looking like he never did anything else. It may have been almost disarming at first, but after this long, it was quickly approaching unsettling instead. "And your age and power? Is that unusual?" She looked around the same age as Lina did, honestly, and while she certainly didn't qualify as the average sorceress, there were still others in the same age bracket that were nothing to sneeze at... well, to other humans, at least. Not to him.

Tris shrugged. Sure. Bad memory. She smiled back at him, shrugging at his question. "Yeah, a weather-witch of my caliber, level of control, and age is a pretty uncommon thing. My sisters, brother and I are all unusual for something we managed when we were kids, and for the fact that we..." She shrugged, pulling her medallion out. "We were certified at fourteen for something that is usually only handed out to mages who are twenty or older. We're so powerful that the credential to practice magic outside of the heavily-warded city was more a way to keep us from, as Briar put it, peeing on their bushes."

She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the breeze coming in through the window, playing with her hair. Go away, she groused at it, shoving lightly with what little magic she had left. She frowned.

"...The weather here dislikes me," she commented idly.

"My, my, my... that is impressive." On her world, maybe. Xellos wondered just how long she'd last in his, especially with all those dreadful monsters lurking about. "I'm honored to be in such esteemed presence, then. You must be well-respected where you live, right Tris~?" Respected or feared, one or the other. He was willing to bet it was quite a bit of both.

What she did with the wind caught his attention, though. He opened one eye for the briefest of moments, sensing something magical with what she had just done but completely missing anything visible much less flashy about it. Very different from his world, but maybe the differing power levels had something to do with it?

That comment she made gave him the perfect opportunity to probe further on this point, and with both eyes fully closed once more, he asked brightly, "Why would the weather dislike you? I can't think of any reason why~" He let just the tiniest hint of teasing (maybe even flirting?) creep in his tone; people were much more likely to let something slip if they were kept off balance.

Tris shrugged. "Well, between what we had done in the quake, the pirate attack, the forest fire, and the pox, we four as a group are fair talked about among other mages. I'm not sure I totally enjoy being the topic of rumor. Most mages that Niko, my main teacher, and I encountered disliked me immensley. They were jealous. It's not respect, Xellos. It's fear."

She frowned. "I'm still a bit..." Tris didn't feel like articulating. Instead, she took her glasses off. "Question, Xellos. Can you see magical power on your own?" She pulled her glasses off, on the pretense of cleaning them. However, the moment they came off, seperating the spells that dampened her magical sight from her, she started screaming in agony.

Xellos had no small degree of magic on his person- it was darker grey than the silver she associated with other mages, but he was agony on her eyes. Dropping her glasses and clapping her hands over the afflicted area of her anatomy, she bit her lower lip in an effort to minimize the noises of pain she was making. She'd instinctivley jerked away from Xellos, and that had hurt her back. "Holy... gods above, below, and any other direction--!" She scowled, wondering where the hell that power had come from. She hadn't seen it when she'd had her glasses on! "I hate Niko so much right now," she growled in Thairan, proceeding to rant about her teacher and what, exactly, she would do to him when she got back home, still in the language of the far southern city-state.

Eyes squeezed shut, she felt for her glasses and shoved them back on her face. Her hair was once again sparking. "...Okay, the weather here doesn't feel right." She ignored the flirting tone with a sort of callous disregard, though some far corner of her mind was reminded of the two boys she'd fancied on her way north.

Stop that, she informed herself. It's not like you would have stayed in those cities anyway. There was no use crying over spilled milk, especially milk as sour as those boys. "I don't know. I've been working mainly with the weather I store in my braids, but the weather around here isn't as... malleable to my will as the weather back where I'm from is. If I felt like it, I'd get firm with it, but it's a minor thing anyway." Although I probably couldn't as much as force the breeze away until I've recovered, regardless.

Xellos simply shrugged back in response to that, not saying anything. She might think it was fear, but from his experience there would always be those who respected power in addition to those who feared it. Usually those who had no reason to be scared fell into the first category, but that was either because they were more powerful themselves, controlled the power of the ones they "respected," or were too stupid or insane to see the need for caution in the first place. Xellos didn't really qualify for any of those himself; he was more the type who respected only the ones who deserved it and otherwise shamelessly taunted or lied to those he didn't respect at all. As for fear? He was careful no matter who he was dealing with. Wariness might not be the exact same thing as fear, but it was close... sometimes.

That question, though, sent his eyebrows shooting up into his hair. She wasn't really going to-- oh damn. He jerked backwards and out of his seat the instant she pulled her glasses off, sending it scraping across the floor before toppling over. The noise it made wasn't anything compared to the noise she was making, though, and, wincing slightly with both his eyes opened from surprise, he held his forefinger up to his mouth in the tradition shushing gesture, not wanting to attract anyone else's attention. It may well be a lost cause continuing the charade for Tris's benefit, but he still had yet to see many others in this city and didn't want his cover to be blown so quickly. How was he supposed to have known she had that ability.

Once she seemed to calm down, he kept his finger up for just a moment longer before letting his hand drop, plastering his usual smile back on his face with practiced ease and righting his chair, very slowly beginning to sit down in it again. "Feel right?" he asked softly, deciding that now would maybe be a good idea to reinforce the idea that he had anything if ill-intent towards her (even if that was really only temporary) and thus doing something like, say, giving away whatever it was she had seen (worst case scenario, she had seen his true form) would be a very bad idea because he was her friend. For the moment. "Care to explain that~? This city does seem to be quite cut off from most if not all natural things, so that might have something to do with it." It was enclosed in domes after all.

"Maybe not so minor," he said thoughtfully, taking a moment to examine her braids. "If the weather here isn't malleable to your will, well, I wonder to whose will is it bending to?" He was just thinking out loud, of course, but it gave him the added bonus of appearing more knowledgeable about this city than he really was. He didn't even know for sure if someone or something was behind this place anyway, but working on the assumption that there was would get him much farther faster. Especially if he had several people working for him thinking the same thing.

Tris shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's just because it's in the dome and has to be tampered with to stay in the dome, or something. I'll poke at it when my back doesn't hurt so much," she replied. She had been open to him- more open than she usually was to most people. Pain had made her irritable and more like a snapping turtle. One of her sisters had said, in reference to her, than not all four-fingered girls had horrid knife accidents- some had just tried to talk to a snapping turtle. Tris, in that situation, was the snapping turtle.

She raised her eyebrows. "A breeze in my face is minor, Xellos. It's not destructive- the worst harm it could do would be to me, and that would be if I chose to- oh gods," Tris nearly rolled her eyes as the offending breeze so helpfully proved her point by throwing a vision in her face.

Her total demeanor seemed suddenly out there, distant and ignoring Xellos in favor of the fantastic scene playing for her eyes alone. She closed her eyes, slowly turning herself away from the breeze. "...Like I was saying, the worst it could do is throw something unwanted at me, and those unwanted things are minor, aside from the headaches they give me."

"Most breezes, I don't even have to use a hair's worth of magic. Do you know you burned my eyes when I took my glasses off? I couldn't look at you. You glow with that much power." The comment about someone else's will controlling the weather gave her food for thought.

That would easily explain her difficulties bossing the weather around- a mage around Thairos had blocked the natural cycle of storms and had probably paid his life, but to so casually command a whole city's changing weather? It wasn't a highly perceptible change, but Tris paled.

The thought of encountering someone stronger than her, in her own ballfield? Tris did not like that thought. She'd already been royally trounced once. She didn't want to repeat the experience.

"The breeze itself isn't harmful, no, but whatever's behind it..." He trailed off significantly, smiling. It was a miracle his face didn't hurt from smiling so much, really, or maybe what so many mothers had warned their children about was completely true: keep it that way long enough and it will stick.

He raised his eyebrows again at her peculiar actions, sounding curious as he asked, "Throw something unwanted? Headache? That may be minor, but it still sounds inconvenient." Hopefully that was either understatement enough or ill-informed enough that she'd feel compelled to add more to it, but she seemed talkative enough on the subject of her powers that she didn't really need his constant nudges.

The subject of his power, though, wasn't one he really wished to discuss. Thinking fast to come up with a way to distract her from it, he tried asking, "If I may ask, how did you become so injured?" Again, the concern in his voice-- he was very good at faking it.

Tris eyed Xellos. She wasn't totally fooled- she set her jaw in a line, hair sparking a bit more. He was hiding something about his power, that much was clear to Tris by how he changed topics so suddenly. She gave a mental shrug.

"I was stupid and forgot to protect myself," Tris offered bluntly. "I was too busy concentrating on controlling the quake I'd used to try and shake the blond cockroach out of her hiding spot and forgot to watch out for her knives."

She was starting to regret sending Briar off- they would have done better together, and Briar would have told Tris to watch out for the knives. Still, she wasn't going to open back up to him quite yet. She already had a minor headache, she didn't want to suddenly have to deal with her brother yelling at her to boot.

Blond cockroach? Lots of animosity there, and Xellos found he rather liked the fact that one could tell her emotions just by checking the state of her hair. It wouldn't work for the subtler ones, of course, which were usually more what he wanted to unlock the secrets of, but this suited him just fine as well.

Something clicked into place in his mind, and, eying those sparks closely again, he said, "Would this 'blond cockroach' happen to be the one you mentioned to me earlier? The one immune to lightning?" That explained how she knew she had been immune to lightning, since he had already gathered they'd been fighting, but narrowing it down to one person instead of one woman who was immune to lightning and possibly one more woman (or maybe just female?) who resembled/was a cockroach and used knives helped his search for answers considerably. "What more can you tell me about her?"

Tris grit her teeth in annoyance, hair sparking with more intensity. She nodded in affirmation of Xellos's question. "She was wearing a black, shiny coat and she had... a bunch of knives."

She snorted softly. "She's blonde, and she likes to fight from a distance. She has a distinct sadistic streak- she seemed to like it when I got beat up." Tris abruptly shut her mouth, taking slow meditation breaths. She forced herself calm until her hair's sparking eventually stopped.

Blond, shiny black coat, knives, woman. That should be more than enough to base a search on. He had to wonder how exactly that description led to "cockroach" in Tris's mind, but maybe it was simply that this woman couldn't be killed? Or was just despicable in general. That would make more sense to him, since he knew of course there was no way the former could be true.

That was actually just about all the information Xellos needed at the moment, but it just wouldn't be polite leaving ~~Miss~~ Tris here all on her own. He was more concerned with the fact that might damage their future working relationship (ie., how well he could fool her into doing things for him later) than her mental well-being, truthfully, but oh well. She didn't need to know that. "She sounds like a dreadful person," he said soothingly, observing the way Tris calmed herself with some interest. Brightening as though he had just thought of something, he added with his best stern look, "If I ever come across her, I'll be sure to give her a firm talking-to!"

Tris eyes Xellos, frowning at that comment. "I'd prefer for her to be slowly disemboweled and have lemon juice, onions, and salt rubbed in the wounds- I mean, beat up." For the oddly vindictive snarling, she had switched to a nice, violent-sounding tongue she had picked up on the way to Thairos. It was satisfyingly hard-sounding, and she had thought that the language made everyone who spoke it sound angry.

"She threatened to kill my brother, so I'm sorry if I seem a bit... ah... okay, very vindictive. Nobody threatens my family." Once again, she was sparking. Again, she took meditation breaths to help calm herself.

Even though he had no inkling of what the things she had just said in that language could possibly mean, Xellos might be able to guess. Rather than do that, though, he just smiled (some more) and enjoyed the fact that she kept making herself angry. And all he had to do was mention the cockroach woman! Less work for him~

"You have every reason to feel vindictive!" he said reassuringly, waving his free hand as though dismissing the matter entirely. "No need to apologize, or bottle up those emotions! She hurt you and threatened your family. You're allowed to vent." Now he was sounding more like a typical Mazoku, wasn't he? Or like friend providing counsel, one or the other.

Tris shook her head. "When I vent, the weather turns sour. I can be angry, but working myself up badly would... not bode well." She sighed, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "I once sank my father into the ground, when my magic and my emotions weren't in control."

She popped her neck, slowly and carefully. "I don't suppose that your world has healer-mages, do they?" she asked wistfully. She wanted to get her back healed so bad.

Xellos had a feeling it would be something like that, but that had been one of the reasons he had urged her to do so in the first place. Or was it? Rather than say something like that, though, he merely gave a small laugh and scratched at the back of his head again, as though sorry he had suggested it. "Maybe not then! Oh dear, I hope you were able to get him out in the end..."

Her question made him pause for a moment, his hand lowering as he took on a thoughtful expression. "Hmm, yes it does, but I'm afraid I have little to no skill in that area. Unless you want an extra arm growing out of your back, you should ask someone else." Which was... mostly true. White magic wasn't exactly the sort of thing good little Mazoku boys and girls got up to do in the morning, so he was essentially useless in that respect. That just meant Tris would be suffering for a little while longer, and oh what a horrible tragedy that would be. "If you like, though, I may be able to find another healer in this city...? I'm sure there are plenty to choose from." He smiled at her reassuringly, secretly wondering just how long he could convincingly drag that search out. "What do you say?"

"He could get himself out," Tris offered, voice cold.

She raised her eyebrows at his comment, offering a wry grin. "I think that's for the best, Xellos. I know academic mages back home can learn healing magic, but I can't heal. It would be a bit like trying to operate with a sledgehammer."

"My, my, my... such animosity." He shrugged, then rose to his feet. It wasn't his business, and while that was usually enough of an indication that he should make it his business, just to be annoying, he decided to leave it for another day. Wouldn't be any fun learning all the secrets at once, now would it?

Nodding, Xellos gave her his brightest smile yet and said, "I'll be back as soon as I can, then~ don't wander off now!" He wagged his finger at her jokingly, gave her a wink, then promptly disappeared.

With any luck, she'd be so surprised she'd end up tearing her stitches open.

Today was not Xellos's lucky day, then. She jerked forward, but stopped herself the moment her brain processed that her back was in pain.

She rolled her eyes, leaning back against the pillows slowly. "Of course there's such animosity," she muttered under her breath. "It's not like the man didn't kick me out of his house and turn me over to the temples. It's not like he didn't give me a chance to ever be a proper Chandler." Her hair was sparking. Again. It's not like he told complete strangers he never wanted to see me again. It's not like he did anything to wrong me. Of course not. ...Stop that, it's useless and stupid, Tris told herself.

Frowning, she opened her connection to Briar- just a hair. Enough to talk, enough to not share that her back was in pain. I'm sorry I shut you out, she told him.

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Being Injured is Incredibly Boring [Completed]

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