“Cal” Thi Lê | “Male” | “Straight” | Mediumship

M: Aries

“Helluva” and “shithole” are some of the words Cal repeats constantly in conversation, over text, and in essays— even if teachers often take off lots of points for his use of “not polite” language as his freshman year teacher once put it. A “helluva shithole” is how Cal would describe the new place he moved to at the start of summer.

This place, the city of Marbrelle, had to be the worst place Cal had lived in but also the best. For one, unlike his first home or Pency, nature was only found between the cracks or at the one small park crammed and squished between buildings that buzzed and whirred with glowing arcane even after the sun had already set. The buildings were far from skyscrapers, maybe only a quarter of that size or a third if the contractor had extra cash lounging about, but the mechanical structures were constantly alive and Cal sometimes had to stop and look up to admire them. The arcane technology was a lot more prominent than in Pency and much better too. People were a bit more fortunate here and it was nice that the stores and schools and shops all had easier access to arcane technology while Cal knew some places that barely had any. And the houses! Man, the houses— get this!— the houses had ventilation! Brilliant! No more would Cal be forced to deal with his mother’s smoking clouding his eyes, smogging his lungs, and barreling out of any open hole in the house like water gushing out of a dam.

Thanks to Cal’s mediumship abilities, just one of the four arcane abilities that an arcane child could have, Cal was constantly overwhelmed in Pency, a town with more people dead than alive. Here, everything felt fresh and new with barely any dead in sight. This was because there was an initiative a few years ago to move the dead, if they consented, to ghost homes where their family members could better communicate with them through the mediums present. Cal would honestly love to work there, helping family reconnect and be happy, but Cal could distinctly remember his father scoffing so loud that Cal thought his head might explode. His father (oh his dead ol’ pops) said that it was a sin and a middle finger to the Goddess to disrespect the Goddess like that, to move her dead to a place different from where she placed the ghost or something like that. So Cal was pretty sure he could not be one of those ghost caretakers, but it was nice to dream.

There were a few other pros to the area, but they were all dampened and negated by one key thing: his friends, his life, and his world was all left behind in Pency. That Holy Arcane Goddess Camp at the beginning of summer only helped to further the growing crack between his past and present. Goddess, he really missed his friends. Cal hoped they were doing well, but he just did not have the courage to respond to their texts and messages and reach out to apologize, to talk, or to anything. It was not that he did not want to talk to them again but more that he could not as if something was holding him back.

With all the new things that were going on, it was nice to escape to nature where, despite it still being summer, the leaves looked more yellow than yesterday. In the city of blues and greys, the warmer colors were a pleasant change and one that Cal welcomed with open arms. Plus, the park had a lot less ghosts bothering him here. Cal had been running in the park that sat like a weed between the sidewalk for the past month. After everything, he was starting to get better. It still felt wrong to get out of bed or to even leave the house, but before school started, Cal wanted to be back to his old self.

Cal wanted to at least pretend he was happy.

Panting, Cal slowed from a jog to a halt and his hands collapsed onto his knees as his lungs felt like they were failing him. He hated his lungs, he really did. His heart was beating softly in his chest and he was not sweating much through his tank top, but his lungs? No, his lungs were not existent at this point after having withered and wilted over the years.

Yep, throwin’ in the towel until I catch my breath.

As Cal continued to huff, he tightened the leather jacket around his waist before he took his hat off briefly to comb the hair out of his face. His hair was poofy and spiky and messy and there was a good reason why as soon as he pushed hair back, he re-hid it under his blue ball cap, a relic of older times that was older than Cal’s parents and a memento of his first home. While Cal stumbled over to a bench, he adjusted his cap and did not smile until it fit his head just right, stopping when he looked up to realize that someone was already sitting fast asleep on the bench.

With such long and downright gorgeous hair, Cal almost mistook the man for a woman, but on closer inspection he was not only not a woman but most likely a kid around Cal’s age. The man was tall too. Even from a sitting position, Cal could tell the man was at least Cal’s height, if not, more. Cal was pretty tall, always crashing into door frames and low hanging ornaments due to his height, so it was nice to see someone else as tall as him. Although the man was pretty— for a guy of course— he looked like a corpse given electronic shocks so that he could distort himself in motions to look like he was breathing. His skin was pale and his eyes held heavy bags and his face was covered in scars. Cal was not sure if the man was real or not or maybe a ghost so he crouched in front of him, leaning closer to try and see if he was even real before huffing in frustration at his inability to tell.

“Wakey wakey, sleepin’ cutie!~ I would like to know if you’re dead or alive?” Cal asked with a curious expression, poking the cheek of the lively corpse. “Well, you’re real so that’s one thing I guess, but I reaaaally hope you are still alive ‘cause that would not be good if you were dead.” Cal paused, replaying the words in his head before smacking himself. “Well- yeah, duh. Being dead is generally not a good thing. You understand what I meant though, right?” Cal chuckled awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t— ya know— bleh. Glad you’re not though! It’s a huuuuge relief. Honestly, the amount of people that die randomly is not one of those numbers that you want to be high when you just moved, am I right?”

Gwyar ‘Aries/Khorne’ Ariethous Fraoch | Male | Demi(HML) | Blood Manipulation | M; Cal, Chile(Ind).

Gwyar had never really gotten used to how everything seemed to just… Slow down, in the last two weeks before school started. Every day ticking by as though each were a month instead. Especially when the weeks before had gone so fast that they were dizzying. That being said, the sudden change in pace was worse, in a way. He’d gotten too comfortable in the eye of the storm, and now he’d been thrown to a loss in the deceptively slow movement of time. So much so, he almost missed the nauseating speed from before. Almost, keyword. Just because he missed knowing what to do, having something to do every waking moment, that didn’t mean he missed the violence in the storm. A distinction that his friend would’ve been proud of him for making, one he tried to feel proud about now, as he walked solitarily along one of the streets of a bustling city.

--

The keyword there? Tried. He tried to feel proud about the distinction. All he could really muster up was the distinct feeling of guilt and shame. His friend was still busy, still in the violent storm, and yet he’d been allowed to leave early? That wasn’t fair. But, well, his friend probably wouldn’t have liked that and there wasn’t much Gwyar could really do to fix the problem. So, instead, he found himself walking along towards the one place that could actually count as peaceful here in the city. An old, rundown park that no one went to anymore. One of the only places that still held any nature, and the place held a lot of nature.

--

Overall, the park was being watched under a scrutinizing eye to become a historical site, one of the only remaining artifacts left from before magic and technology were used in tandem with one another. As of now though, the site was just under protection of anyone tearing the place down or messing with the natural life that was thriving, growing all over the old playground equipment. The playground was a larger one, nonetheless, which was one of the reasons for the site to become a historical site under even more protection. Frankly, Gwyar was split on the idea. For one, anything that would inspire people to learn more about the world’s history was good… On the other hand outstretched to him by Janus of Roman myth, he still rather liked being one of the only people to ever come by here.

--

Walking through the overgrown vines and various plantlife of the old playground, he was careful not to disturb the wildlife there. He wasn’t a nature expert, but usually disturbing wildlife wasn’t exactly a good idea. And, despite everything, he wasn’t quite yet looking to get himself into any trouble. So, when he saw the bench that was, for the most part, not overrun by nature that he often used to simply sit and… Try not to think. He walked over, careful in his steps to not trip or otherwise disturb his surroundings, and sat down on the bench.

--

The bench wasn’t anything special, the only slightly unique thing about the seating was that there weren’t any vines or other forms of plantlife covering every inch of the bench. Regardless, the seat was just about the best part of the site to him. He sat back, allowing himself to lean back against the bench, and breathed. The area was secluded, as if no noise from the city could actually pierce through the sheer amount of nature around. The only noises to be heard were of birds chirping, of leaves rustling, and of wind whistling through bushes and twigs. The bench provided a comforting sight too, everything seemed peaceful.

--

Almost enough so to keep his mind off of the storm he knew was still brewing and raging where his friend was at. He’d been lucky enough to come out today with just a few bruises, the only one that would be visible being a minor black eye at his right having formed over the course of the few hours that have passed since receiving the blow. He’d still won, of course, with a positive score, and his guardians had gotten the dibs from the game as they always did when there were dibs to gain. He hoped his friend was playing for dibs right now, and he almost wished he’d stayed to watch, to maybe help if in any way possible… There were too many ‘almost’s in his opinion. He exhaled a breath, and allowed his head to fall back in order to look at the nature that kept the sky out of view. Hair fell into his eyes a bit, and he didn’t see a point to moving the strands away; instead, he let his eyes close and stared at the back of his eyelids.

*~*~*~*

A poke to his left cheek had his eyes, or at least his left eye, opening wide and lifting his head to look at whoever had poked him. He was slightly glad that his head had fallen forward while he… Slept..? Slept, sure. While he slept, since that meant the black eye was virtually hidden under his hair.

--

“-Know if you’re dear or alive? Well, you’re real so that’s one thing I guess, but I reaaaally hope you are still alive ‘cause that would not be good if you were dead.”

--

Gwyar blinked, slowly and confused. Red eyes looking at the person in front of him, who was smacking themself. While they seemed to be busy mentally berating themself, Gwyar took the opportunity to look them over. An old cap that he didn’t understand whatsoever, a bit of brown hair poking out from the sides, slightly tanned skin, tall(though perhaps not as tall as him, close though, definitely close). They wore jeans with a leather jacket tied around their waist, a tank top as their shirt(they looked male, so he/him? More stereotypical masculine features too… He always felt awkward asking, he’d go with he/him for now unless told otherwise). The boy’s shoulders and arms were littered with scars, none that Gwyar thought were too similar to his own(which weren’t visible for his shoulders or arms right now, luckily). Still lightly concerning, of course, though he didn’t really have any right to ask given all of his own. He’d leave that be, ignore them, the man would perhaps be thankful towards that. He would be, if he were him.

--

“Well- yeah, duh. Being dead is generally not a good thing. You understand what I meant though, right? Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t- ya know- bleh. Glad you’re not though! It’s a huuuuge relief. Honestly, the amount of people that die randomly is not one of those numbers that you want to be high when you just moved, am I right?”

--

Silence stretched, Gwyar blinked. Was he expecting an answer? He blinked again. “Uhm…’ He cleared his throat, awkwardly, bit his lip, blinked again. “Sure..? I guess… Uh… Thanks for the concern, er…” He blinked again, glanced around at his surroundings. Why was the air so thick? Wasn’t there supposed to be more oxygen in areas with plantlife and nature? “Sorry, what was your name?”

--

Or was that too weird to ask? He hadn’t given this boy his name, after all… Which one to give, though? Definitely not Gwyar, that one hurt too much to say aloud. Khorne was too… Khorne was violent, too upsetting in nature to say, meant for one place alone. Ariethous was odd, but the name could be shortened to Aries, which wasn’t as odd. “Uh, mine’s Ariethous, by the way. But uhm, just call me Aries, that one isn’t as long.” He gave a light chuckle, bringing up his left hand to lightly scratch at his neck with the long, pointed nails he had. He’d painted them recently, a red to match his hair and eyes.

--

They intersected the scar along his neck, though didn’t pierce the skin whatsoever. He was suddenly very conscious of the fact that his neck and most of his face was visible. Hair was still covering his right eye, the black eye, at least. But with his plaid long sleeve shirt, white and red, the top buttons, the ones at the neck, weren’t buttoned. His black pants that, while they were only meant for school, were some of the only pairs he owned at all, luckily were not torn at all. Though, dirt did cling to the knees. He didn’t have on a jacket, at the moment, either. Which was unfortunate, since that would’ve hid more of his neck too. But, as things were, part of his neck was visible, and he hoped his hair(that was down and went to his hips) covered whatever his clothes did not, for the most part. And he hoped, if his hair did not, then his clothes were at least able to hide the bruise on his left collarbone rather close to his neck. He didn’t think the bone was broken, but he’d rather not worry or bother the stranger with any of his problems right now. He shifted, slightly and subtly, so that he’d be able to stand and leave(or fight) should the need arise. The plain black, slip resistant work shoes he wore stayed planted on the ground, showing no sign of his second nature preparation. He hoped that the boy didn’t notice anything he had missed in his silent, somewhat rushed evaluation.

“Cal” Thi Lê | “Male” | “Straight” | Mediumship

M: Aries

The sleeping giant’s eyes slowly fluttered open with an expression of confusion. In part, Cal felt bad for waking him, but in all fairness, he did look dead so Cal was somewhat obligated to at least see if he was alive or not. Cal could feel the guy’s red eyes on him as he rambled on about whatever he was rambling about— even as Cal spoke he was not sure what he was saying. Well, Cal actually only saw one of his eyes, the other hidden by hair. After all his years where so many others had different and interesting visuals, Cal knew not to assume. One time actually, one girl he dated had a— Let us not continue with that train of thought and stay focused before the conversation tumbles more off the rails.

As soon as Cal finished speaking, a long silence grew. Cal bit his lip and instantly regretted starting this conversation with that silence. Maybe it was wrong to do this? After all, Cal did sort of invade his sleeping space and bother him. Goddess, he was supposed to work on his “respecting others’ boundaries” not worsen them! Cal looked nervously away for a brief moment only to see the man blink down at him with what looked like— confusion? Disgust? No, hatred!— pure hatred as if Cal was the sole murderer of this random man’s entire family. Cal opened his mouth to apologize as he shifted to stand up when—

Oh. I guess he doesn’t hate me?

The man conveyed his confusion through a briefly drawn out ‘umm’ before staring, coughing awkwardly, and blinking, but when he finally spoke, the man only sounded as though he felt awkward like someone forced to give a presentation when they barely did the research. Cal opened his mouth again to apologize when the man suddenly asked for his name. Cal blinked in surprise before smiling. Cal normally forgot to introduce himself so he was glad this man reminded him.

“Aries.” This was what the man called himself and Cal smiled at the explanation. Cal stood and sat down on the left side of the man with a grin that only continued to grow and grow. Cal decided that the name Aries fit the man, even though he had only known him for a few seconds now.

“Well, Aries— fuckin’ awesome name by the way! It’s like the- the name of the God guy, right?— my name is Cal and I go by either Cal or Collie, whicheva suits ya fancy!~” Cal smiled as he sat hunched forward, able to see the man’s side profile a bit better before Cal huffed and leaned into the back of the bench, placing one forearm on the armrest and the other on the back of the bench to face Aries better. “Speaking of fancy, your nails look so cool, dude! And uhh…,” Cal paused, rubbing the back of his neck as he leaned more on the armrest, “are you actually a dude? Sorry, I am not really good about this stuff and sometimes I kinda just assume. Your nails are pretty regardless though?” Cal gave an earnest chuckle, hoping that he had not accidentally offended the man— no, the person.

Cal was never up to date on lots of terms and whatnot so he just always struggled when it came to that. Not to mention the fact that Cal had previously hit on a woman who— surprise!— was actually just a really pretty man in a dress. Fucking Peyton— one of the few friends Cal had made in his time in Marbrelle— told Cal that he was a woman so could you blame Cal for thinking that? Cal still is mad at Peyton for that, and Cal apologized profusely to the man whose only response was to reassure Cal that it was fine and flirt a bit with him.

Cal, of course, turned down his advances because Cal was straight.

“Hey, uhhh….” Cal held his tongue as he began studying the guy next to him, seemingly analyzing him for a moment. Frowning with puzzlement, Cal tilted his head as he looked at the man. “Do you go to the highschool near here? I really hope so because it’d be nice to have another friend at the school there, ya know? You seem pretty chill so it’d be nice to have someone helping me out since Peyton— ugh! I swear to the Goddess!— is probably going to throw me to the sharks and every other friend I have here—” Cal’s eyes drifted away from Aries as he waved his hand around in a lax circular motion at the wrist before stopping after a few rotations so that his open palm faced the sky— “doesn’t go to the school but somewhere else. One helluva way to start the year right?” Cal smiled at his frustrations over having no one but Peyton before looking back to Aries. “Soooo? Are you willing to keep me company in that shithole?”

I might have just called his school a shithole. Straight to his face. I am such a—

“Sorry, I’m a bit of an idiot! I meant a… a uhhh- non-shithole…?” Cal chuckled nervously as his body went tense. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult your maybe-school. It sorta just slipped. Honest to the Goddess I did not mean to— you know! I am probably just digging myself more into a shithole, but I want to let you know that I would never walk out of the blue, find someone who goes to a certain school, and just insult their school in such a—” Cal cut himself off before laughing softly to himself, scratching harshly at the back of his neck. “Actually, I don’t even know if this is your school or not. I should- I should probably give you a second to talk and answer my questions one at a time, huh? Heh… sorry. I kinda get ahead of myself a lot if you can’t tell. I’m a bit of a chatterbox, but I am working on— aaaand I’m doing it again. Oops?” Cal smiled sheepishly at Aries as he forced his hand to his side so he would not reopen a scab or make himself bleed.

This was such a great way to meet someone new! This guy probably thought Cal was a total creep.

Gwyar ‘Aries/Khorne’ Ariethous Fraoch | Male | Demi(HML) | Blood Manipulation | M; Cal, Chile(Ind).

Gwyar was rather glad when the man smiled, most people didn’t smile when he did something wrong so chances were he was alright for now. Which was always good. The boy stood, and Gwyar shifted subtly again, trying to make sure to not make his preparation too obvious while still making sure he’d be able to move should the need arise. He hoped that the need didn’t come up. He didn’t really trust hope nowadays though, only with his friend, so he prepared anyway.

--

The guy took a seat next to him, on his left side, so he shifted a bit, minutely really, so that he could still look at him. They were still grinning, he tried not to tense too much.

--

“Well, Aries- fuckin’ awesome name by the way! It’s like the- the name of the God guy, right?- my name is Cal and I go by either Cal or Collie, whicheva suits ya fancy!~”

--

Cal… He held back on nodding for the moment, instead trying to focus on just looking interested. Engaged. Obviously, Cal was a bit more fidgety than he was at this point. Though, the poor guy also seemed fairly relaxed. An odd combination, one Gwyar wouldn’t be questioning.

--

“Speaking of fancy, your nails look so cool, dude! And uhh… are you actually a dude? Sorry, I am not really good about this stuff and sometimes I kinda just assume. Your nails are pretty regardless though?”

--

And that was about the most sudden question he’d ever faced… Okay, perhaps not, he could think of quite a few times there had been more sudden, more… Serious questions… But still, the question caught him off guard. And a compliment to his nails. Deciding to try and ignore the question for a moment, the only thing he could think to do was glance at his nails. The simple, sharp red nails.

--

He glanced back up at Cal, the question tugging on his mind immediately. Cal had asked him if he were actually a… Dude. Which probably meant… Meant… Something he really didn’t want to think about. Ever. How had this guy even heard about him already? He’d never seen them at one of the games. Maybe he was wrong? Maybe he meant something else? But- What else was there to mean? Especially with him…

--

“Hey, uhhh….”

--

A scrutinizing stare, analytical and sharp, gazing at him. Had he taken too long to answer? He didn’t know what to say to that! Was he supposed to thank Cal for the compliment and then answer, or answer and then thank him for the compliment, or just answer? Was the compliment true or just a lead way to the question?

--

“Do you go to the highschool near here?”

--

And… Gwyar hadn’t taken too long to answer. Cal just had another question. Which definitely didn’t make sense in the scheme of the other question, if that one meant what he had thought the question had meant. His head hurt, maybe that was just from the right black eye though.

--

“I really hope so because it’d be nice to have another friend at the school there, ya know? You seem pretty chill so it’d be nice to have someone helping me out since Peyton- ugh!”

--

He hoped he didn’t flinch at the words. He hoped that if he did, Cal hadn’t noticed. Gwyar wasn’t sure just what he was talking about, or who. He tried rewording the sentence in his mind- Cal kept talking before he even got close to figuring out what the words were in reference to.

--

“I swear to the Goddess!- is probably going to throw me to the sharks and every other friend I have here- doesn’t go to the school but somewhere else. One helluva way to start the year right? Soooo? Are you willing to keep me company in that shithole?”

--

And wow, was the world too small? Because he couldn’t contextualize the sentence, and his friend would be so disappointed in him- Where had that pride gone? Why couldn’t he keep up in the conversation? What was this even about?

--

“Sorry, I’m a bit of an idiot! I meant a… a uhhh- non-shithole…? Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult your maybe-school. It sorta just slipped.”

--

He felt himself tense that time, he hoped he didn’t flinch though. What slipped? Was this word the same as the last two? Were the last two even in reference to the same thing as each other?

--

“Honest to the Goddess I did not mean to- you know! I am probably just digging myself more into a shithole, but I want to let you know that I would never walk out of the blue, find someone who goes to a certain school, and just insult their school in such a-”

--

Gwyar sucked in a breath as Cal paused, seemingly cutting himself off, to try and get some oxygen to his brain. He needed to figure out what this conversation was about. He needed to figure out what had happened so far. What required answers, answers he hadn’t given because he was too slow to understand anything.

--

“Actually, I don’t even know if this is your school or not. I should- I should probably give you a second to talk and answer my questions one at a time, huh? Heh… sorry. I kinda get ahead of myself a lot if you can’t tell. I’m a bit of a chatterbox, but I am working on- aaaand I’m doing it again. Oops?”

--

Silence, silence, silence- What was he supposed to say? What was he supposed to answer? There had been a compliment about his nails, asking if he was a dude(a person? What had that meant if not that?), did he go to highschool, and… Was that all? Other than the words that he didn’t understand the reference of… There’d been something about friends and friendship and someone named Peyton that Gwyar didn’t know… He blinked, trying to think, trying to figure out what all Cal was waiting for an answer on…

--

His nails scratched absentmindedly at the right side of his neck, he blinked and swallowed. Cal had mentioned an apology for speaking, that of which should be dealt with first… Right? “Uh… You’re fine..? Doesn’t bother me much, I prefer listening usually anyways. I do go to the highschool nearest to here, but no worries on the insults- I don’t think anyone really cares too much, though don’t quote me on that, haha.”

--

Gwyar paused, nails shifting closer to the back of the right side of his neck, scratching and snagging a bit more insistently as he thought. “Company may not be too bad..? Though, that would mostly depend on schedules, right?”

--

A nail snagged the skin, barely breaking the top layer. He didn’t really notice, so he continued scratching, not like Cal would’ve noticed either, based on the guy’s own nerves and where he was scratching at. What else was there to say? Wait- Right. The compliment Cal had given him and the question, which he resolved to answer vaguely and with what he hoped, wished, was true.

--

He glanced at the nails on the hand that weren’t scratching, looked back at Cal, and spoke. “The nails are rather nice, hm? And, uh, yeah… I’m totally a ‘dude’, as you put that. What about you? Are you a ‘dude’?”

--

He hoped his tone was defensive at all, he hoped his tone wasn’t venomous. But, well, truth be told, he hadn’t ever heard anyone refer to a person as a dude unless they were talking strictly about masculine figures. Though, given that this was the same person to say shithole and helluva plenty of times already? Gwyar wasn’t sure what to expect in answer. Maybe he’d get some of that clarity he hadn’t had while answering.

“Cal” Thi Lê | “Male” | “Straight” | Mediumship

M: Aries

Aries seemed hesitant to respond. That or confused. Cal had a tendency of leading those who enter a conversation with him to confusion so Cal could not blame him. In fact, Cal would probably feel overwhelmed if he heard himself talk too. Cal used to have a friend who, as soon as he opened his mouth, your ears would bleed from the sheer speed of his words. Not to mention whenever you got him started on his most loved topics such as astrology. The guy could talk for hours. He remembered sitting on the rooftop of Victor Pency Highschool with him as he gushed and gushed about the stars even as only the brightest among the stars were visible because of the foggy sky. Cal could distinctly remember the gleam in his eyes that were locked on the stars above, his red hair falling in his face as he stopped talking briefly only to glance at Cal.

Aries looked so much like his friend.

Cal blinked himself back to reality, seemingly forgetting where he was before looking back to Aries as he answered his questions, smiling at each of his answers.

“I am glad you don’t find me too annoying then,” Cal muttered with a chuckle, quickly shutting up so Aries could finish his statement so Cal would not interrupt and be rude. Cal gave an over-dramatic sigh of relief in hopes of getting another chuckle out of Aries. “Thank Goddess you don’t care. I could have been a dead man!!”

Schedules? Oh right! Schedules! Cal had completely forgotten to look at his schedule let alone buy any of the books needed for class. Staring off in the distance, Cal instantly began mentally screaming at himself for forgetting. “Yeah… right schedules… Good point!” Cal chuckled awkwardly and patted his lap awkwardly as he rocked back and forth. “Yeaaaah, about schedules and whatnot… where do I go to look at my schedule for the year? I still have yet to figure my schedule out. Or look at all…”

That was when Aries finally responded to Cal’s complimenting of his nails. Somehow, when the topics of nails were brought up, Cal only then noticed how Aries kept scratching the back of his neck, quite viciously too in fact. Cal tended to scratch the back of his neck when he got anxious, but this man was practically clawing into his own flesh. Did Aries even realize the damage he was doing? Before Cal could question it, Aries was asking him a question. Cal’s eyes lit up at the slightly higher pitch that signified the end of a question before Cal realized what Aries actually was asking.

“Yeah, of course I am a guy!” Cal huffed, suddenly feeling a bit self conscious as he involuntarily puffed up his chest and spread his legs a bit more to have a more “masculine stance” to prove he was male. Cal paused and realized that he raised his voice a bit louder than he intended. There was no anger in his voice, of course, but Cal did seem to speak defensively. Cal was generally the loudest person around and he often raised his voice without realizing. “Sorry, I thought that was obvious… I just wasn’t sure if you— I thought— You— Ugh.” Cal bit his lip, biting his nail for a minute as he organized his thoughts. “I’m trying to get better at making sure I know other people’s pronouns and whatnot so I don’t look like a huge jerk? Frankly, I don’t understand the whole pronoun thingy— do I just say he/his or is it like something else entirely?— and I am trying to learn and be better about it.” Cal smiled before playfully punching Aries’s shoulder only after realizing he might not like prolonged contact so a brief touch was all Cal did. “Glad I have another dude-friend though!! Not that it would be bad if you were a gal-friend— again, that is totally cool with me so don’t be afraid to speak up about that or anything— but I am just glad I have someone else to talk to!”

Gwyar ‘Aries/Khorne’ Ariethous Fraoch | Male | Demi(HML) | Blood Manipulation | M; Cal, Chile(Ind).

While he’d been speaking, Cal had responded to each statement. Something that Gwyar had taken to ignoring, storing for later, in order to answer all of the questions he’d already been asked previously. Something his friend would’ve been proud of, no doubt, not that Gwyar really understood why. But, well, who was he to complain? Especially when this was supposedly something positive, something good, instead of terribly negative.

--

After he’d finished talking though? He listened to what Cal responded with, and started thinking back to what else had been said and what they had been in response to. A very important task in order to keep a conversation going. Probably… Looking back though, he probably had been a bit too defensive with what he’d said, judging by how defensive Cal had gotten. Should he apologize? He should. Right? Was he supposed to apologize here? Or would that be on Cal? Why was he even wondering about this? Of course he had to apologize, he was the one that always apologized! But, then again, his friend had told him that that wasn’t supposed to be the case and- Curse you and your apology exercises, Chile!

--

Okay. Maybe he was getting a bit worked up, a sting and something warmly fluid against the back of his neck seemed to agree. He stopped scratching, switching to rubbing his neck, hiding any visible damage and keeping any blood from really flowing. He needed to take a step back, breath, and think about this. Cal had asked a question, one that Gwyar did in fact seem to have misinterpreted, and because of that misunderstanding he had asked the same question back rather defensively. In response to his question, Cal had then answered defensively… Which would put the blame on… Him. For assuming and getting defensive, not Cal. Chile would be proud, perhaps not of the scratching, but of his ability to work this out. Objectively. He resisted the urge to nod triumphantly at himself, he was still in public and- Alright, he still needed to respond to all of what Cal had said. He hadn’t even gotten to think about all of the other man’s words! He really hoped he wasn’t making Cal too upset, he didn’t want to make the apparent move he’d gone through recently worse. So, he thought back to all that had been said and began to replay the conversation in his head.

--

Gwyar had said something along the lines of preferring to listen and that he did go to the highschool nearby. That no one cares about the school enough to care about someone insulting said school. Cal, in response, had said ‘I am glad you don’t find me too annoying then. Thank Goddess you don’t care. I could have been a dead man!!’ Which, thinking back, Gwyar was glad he hadn’t tensed at that, given that interacting with him tended to cause that to happen just in general.

--

After that, Gwyar had said something along schedules mattering before they could decide upon being company for one another. Cal had replied with a ‘Yeah… right schedules… Good point! Yeaaaah, about schedules and whatnot… where do I go to look at my schedule for the year? I still have yet to figure my schedule out. Or look at all.’ Which was almost funny, he’d definitely have to answer that one though.

--

And that had been when Gwyar had responded to the nails, Cal had said anything to that though. The answer though, to the dude question… He should probably go over that in his head again real quick, right? Make sure he hadn’t missed anything? Cal had answered with ‘Yeah, of course I am a guy! Sorry, I thought that was obvious… I just wasn’t sure if you- I thought- You- Ugh. I’m trying to get better at making sure I know other people’s pronouns and whatnot so I don’t look like a huge jerk? Frankly, I don’t understand the whole pronoun thingy- do I just say he/his or is it something else entirely?- and I am trying to learn and be better about it. Glad to have another dude-friend though!! Not that it would be bad if you were a gal-friend- again, that is totally cool with me so don’t be afraid to speak up about that or anything- but I am just glad I have someone else to talk to!’

--

That had all had a punch to the shoulder following, something that as he looked back on, Gwyar had definitely winced at, way too close to the collarbone for him not to do so. He hoped Cal hadn’t noticed. After all, the punch had been light, almost playful? So wincing definitely didn’t feel necessary, but an already present injury made that slightly harder to go by. Nowadays, at least. He really needed to work up his skill at not reacting again, though Chile perhaps wouldn’t be proud of that… Well, he also needed to actually respond. He’d worry over everything else later. He just needed to respond for now.

--

But what to respond to first..? Did Cal even care about which he responded to first? The guy probably just wanted an answer at this point. His nail started to move to scratch, he recalled in time the small injury and went back to rubbing instead. He’d just answer everything as seemed best while speaking. Connect the topics if possible, that would make speaking easier in the long run.

--

“You’re fine, honestly, I think I misunderstood your question anyways. Still the same answer though, for me. Sorry about that, and I think you’d say like, he/him. I think. That’s how that was explained to me, at least. Honestly though, the fact that you’re trying at all makes the idea you’re not a jerk pretty damn obvious. Speaking of, I don’t tend to find people annoying unless they're huge jerks, so I don’t think I’ll be getting annoyed by you anytime soon. Just don’t go around beating people up for no reason and we should be good, haha.” Gwyar tried not to think about the irony of his statement, and kept going. “As for schedules… I think you just go to administration at the school and they’ll give you your schedule. They also give them to people on the first day of school if they didn’t get them beforehand. Again, you just go to administration for that. I usually get mine a week before school starts, we could grab them together, if you’d like. That way we can look over them then and see if our schedules match up at all. Having a friend on your side when school starts is pretty fucking helpful, in all honesty.”

--

That should be everything. Right? Hopefully. He had mentioned the schedules, mentioned friendship, mentioned the questions… Yes, he’d answered everything. Had responded to everything. That was good. Thank Mnemosyne and Mímir for that, at least. Always a good day when he managed to remember words he’d heard instead of read. Words read were so much easier to remember than those he’d heard, so anytime his audio memory didn’t fail him? Definite cause to thank the powers above and below this realm of being.

--

He shifted slightly, just as subtly as he had prepared to stand and bolt if needed, he now relaxed into a less prepared position. Cal was tall, but based on the conversation he supposed he would perhaps be fine. Plus, he could probably win against him anyways should a fight start… Most likely, as long as Cal wasn’t hiding a weapon or secret martial skills that Gwyar didn’t know counters to. Both of which were unlikely anyways, he didn’t see any signs of a hidden weapon, no outlines or bumps or ridges, even while taking into account the jacket tied around his waist. As for a type of martial combat that Gwyar didn’t know counters to? Well, that was just unlikely due to the sheer number he knew how to use and counter.

--

The only ways Cal could possibly win against him right now, and perhaps ever, was if Gwyar allowed him to or if Cal landed the first hit somewhere vulnerable, such as his left collarbone(purely due to the injury already there), jaw, throat, nose, chin, right below the ears, kidney, knee, temple, eyes, ankle, or neck. But what were the chances? Especially that Cal even knew this information? After all, the man’s posture and position was all wrong to even lead into an attack anyways! At least one that would actually matter. For one, the chest puffing out that Cal seemed to be doing was actually terrible for posture, the stance would cause back pain, overworked muscles which meant less strength in any swings, and could even harm the spine in the long term! The leg spread wasn’t as bad as the chest puffing, but that too could lead to problems in initiating a fight. Balance would be off, he’d have to shift seconds prior to any attack or risk a fall. If not for the instance of starting a fight, ‘manspreading’ as the stance had been coined, would actually be great for posture. With this circumstance though, the knees shouldn’t be more than shoulder-length apart, and definitely not the much wider spread Cal seemed to be utilizing.

--

Point he was getting at? Gwyar didn’t need to worry about Cal initiating combat with him anytime soon. Probably ever, judging by the conversation alone. But that was kind of… Well, that just could be wishful thinking. Not like Gwyar really knew Cal. For all he knew, Cal might be a serial killer that just moved to the city looking for new victims and utilizing methods such as intentionally bad posture in order to make him feel safe… Gwyar doubted that idea, simply not likely. Besides, why would Cal target him and ask for pronouns? That seemed a bit… Well, odd at the very least.

“Cal” Thi Lê | “Male” | “Straight” | Mediumship

M: Aries

As Cal spoke, he could see Aries scratching at his neck, a bad habit Cal had known all too well. Cal had only started scratching at his skin a few months ago— maybe half a year now— and Cal hated himself for continuing it. Cal could be doing anything and yet he chose to tear at his skin, only adding more marks to his skin. Although Cal barely scratched as hard as the other man, Cal would not be surprised if he started to scar soon with how often he did it. Cal would need to stop before anyone at school thought it was weird or strange which left Cal with only a short amount of time to correct himself.

Something Cal noticed about Aries though was that he sure felt like Aries took a while to respond. Like, a long while. Cal almost felt as though he should continue to talk just to fill the silence, but he did not want to give Aries more needless dialogue to respond to that was unimportant and had no real meaning other than being whatever randomness his brain concocted.

After defending himself and having to explain his masculinity, his chest slowly deflated as his mind drifted away from the topic and his eyes drifted away from Aries. It was not that Aries was uninteresting, it was just that there seemed to be so many little things that demanded Cal’s attention with the arrival of the brief silence. For one, the leaves— these end-of-summer leaves— that dangled in the tree above them clung onto each of its leaves like a child attempting to hold all of its toys in its tiny, chubby hands. One leaf, however, was on the verge of falling, the yellow toy slipping from the hands of mother nature’s child. Cal studied it intently as, all of a sudden— Oh! There it goes!— the leaf disconnected from the tree due to a strong gust of billowing wind before swaying, swaying, swaying down to the ground. Its gradual swinging decline almost reminded Cal of those old pendulums on ancient clocks that are only seen in horror movies with loud booming rumbles to signify the change in hour. Cal had never seen one of those old clocks in person, but he hoped one day to see one. Maybe when he was searching for ghosts to talk to, he might find one.

What was I supposed to be doing?

Cal paused for a moment as he realized he had become so distracted by waiting for Aries to continue speaking that he had forgotten to listen for when Aries actually began to speak. Panicking, Cal tried to remain calm— or at least appear calm— as he nodded along to what Aries was saying. Although Cal had not heard Aries’s first sentence or so, Cal was able to mostly piece together what Aries had said based on the context, internally sighing in relief that he would not have to have the awkward “haha, I did not hear anything of what you said because I was not focusing on you but this really fucking interesting leaf. Yeah, a fucking leaf caught my goddamn attention and not you. Whoops!” talk.

“Man, you apologize way too much!” Cal chuckled with a warm smile before thinking it over. “Alright, I will keep he/him in mind and uh…,” Cal paused, looking down at his hands for a moment before looking back up at Aries with an even warmer smile, “I’m glad you don’t think Ima rude jerk despite you just meeting me!! I promise I don’t randomly start beating up people. Unless they deserve it! Man, there was this one guy and— Tôi thề với Nữ thần!— he was one helluva jerk and he totally deserved anything I did to him!!” Cal huffed, continuing to grumble under his breath as he kicked a few pebbles at his feet before remembering to stay focused and continuing to respond to what Aries had said.

“Do you really not mind me tagging along to go get my schedule with you?” Cal asked with a big smile, the imperfect brilliance of his grin being revealed with his dimples. “If you don’t mind, I’d love to come with ya! Hey, maybe you can give me a more in-depth tour of the school while we are there too. Like nice quiet spots to chill, places to avoid—” Cal leaned closer and nudged Aries playfully with a flirtatious smirk as he lowered his voice a bit— “aaaand the best make-out spots of course!~” Cal chuckled as he leaned away again, making a waving motion with his hand. “Đùa thôi, đùa thôi! Your expression was priceless though.” Cal leaned back so his head hung over the back of the bench. Breathing in the fresh air, Cal smiled and glanced over to Aries. “Glad I have a friend like you to count on for getting sorted out in this new school.”

With the new found angle, Cal noticed something on the back of Aries’s neck: blood. Cal tensed briefly as he saw it dripping down Aries’s neck, an involuntary reaction that Cal did not understand because he had never been startled by blood before but for some reason it caught him off guard now. This peaceful moment, no, dream, in the park, with a warm sun, fresh air, and a comfy bench, was suddenly interrupted by an embodiment of violence that Cal only saw when something was wrong. It was almost like being in the desert and seeing a snowman or being at a summer carnival and spotting people doing schoolwork there or a pleasant dream turning sour and bitter with pain. Cal had taken his pills earlier so the blood was real, right? Half tempted to reach out and touch it to verify his concerns, Cal opted just to instead sit up and search his pockets.

Patting down his short pockets, Cal huffed in disappointment before searching his leather jacket pockets. His leather jacket had pockets on the outside, on the inside, and— Ah ha!— the sleeves. As he searched his sleeve pockets, Cal was grateful to discover that he had left a small alcohol packet and a colorful band aid for emergencies only. Of course, Cal normally kept bandages in his backpack, but since Cal didn’t want to take his bag on the run, the one band aid would have to do.

“Hey, looks like you got yourself cut and you’re kinda bleedin’ a bit,” Cal muttered before smiling as he held up the alcohol pack and band aid. “Buuuuuut lucky for you, I have a little something called… uh… pockets! And even luckier for you, these pockets had useful shit in them! Do you want me to patch you up? And let me tell you: I look damn good as a nurse!”

The colorful bandage that Cal had produced from his sleeve jacket pocket (boy what a mouthful that is to say) looked similar to the bandages on Cal’s fingers and especially his knuckles, all vibrant and bright with small patterns on it. Maybe it was childish to wear them, but Cal liked the blue and purple band aids the most since the blue one had dogs on it and the purple was really a subtle purple to pink gradient. Meanwhile, the red one that Cal held out for Aries had small white daisies decorating it. Cal wished he could have offered the man more of a choice but unless he wanted one of the bandages that were currently on Cal, there wasn’t much Cal could do to provide more colorful options.

Gwyar ‘Aries/Khorne’ Ariethous Fraoch | Male | Demi(HML) | Blood Manipulation | M; Cal.

“Man, you apologize way too much!”
--

And… Had he? Gwyar hadn’t noticed. Definitely wasn’t what he’d been expecting Cal to start with… What had he even expected though? At least Cal seemed to think that was funny, given the chuckle and smile. Or was he being condescending? He wasn’t sure. He didn’t want to think Cal would be condescending though, so he tried to believe he was just amused.

--

“Alright, I will keep he/him in mind and uh… I’m glad you don’t think Ima rude jerk despite you just meeting me!! I promise I don’t randomly start beating up people. Unless they deserve it!”

--

Gwyar almost lost track of what Cal was saying there, pushing down his inner questioning of, did he count for that?, to make sure he heard everything Cal said. Context was helpful but given his track record? He’d rather not risk not knowing what he’d said.

--

“Man, there was this one guy and- Tôi thề với Nữ thần!- he was one helluva jerk and he totally deserved anything I did to him!!”

--

Gwyar did tense up then, he felt himself do so. Which he scolded himself on immediately because, well, he shouldn’t be tensing at all. Frankly, Cal didn’t know about the games, didn’t know about the storm, so Gwyar didn’t need to worry. Besides, as he’d already concluded, Cal couldn’t actually win in a fight against him.

--

“Do you really not mind me tagging along to go get my schedule with you? If you don’t mind, I’d love to come with ya! Hey, maybe you can give me a more in-depth tour of the school while we are there too. Like nice quiet spots to chill, places to avoid-”

--

Okay, and why was Cal leaning in closer and smirking now? A nudge, playful? Maybe. What was this? The smirk almost felt familiar too…

--

“Aaaand the best make-out spots of course~!”

--

And despite Cal chuckling, leaning away, Gwyar couldn’t quite wipe the look that had taken hold of his face. Not even as Cal waved his hand dismissively with a barely heard “Đúa thôi, đùa thôi! Your expression was priceless though.” that Gwyar sparsely processed. His nails threatened to rake against the back of his head again, to claw and scratch, he tried to ignore that, rubbed at his neck more insistently instead. Quincy used to have a similar smirk, loved to joke about that kind of stuff… He wondered where he was, if he was doing alright… If he ever thought about him…

--

He forced himself to come back with a small, “Maybe…” as he saw Cal lean his head back out of his peripheral vision.

--

“Glad I have a friend like you to count on for getting sorted out in this new school.”

--

Friend seemed a bit much, if he were being honest. But, well, who was he to tell Cal that? But then Cal was tensing and sitting up, patting down his clothes. Pockets? Gwyar immediately took interest, somewhat subconsciously. Knowing where someone’s pockets were meant knowing if they had well hidden ones and other places to hide weapons and- Well, he didn’t think Cal was going to attack him but… Eh, you could never be sure.

--

More importantly though, was that Cal was silent. Which seemed odd, despite having just met the guy. And how Cal had been tensing up… Was Cal okay? Did he lose something important? “Are you alright? What are you looking for? Didn’t lose something, did you?”

--

No answer as Cal kept patting down, he didn’t think he’d be getting one. Not with how focused Cal seemed to be. But as Cal patted the sleeves of the leather jacket around his waist, he opened a rather well hidden pocket and pulled out… A bandage and alcohol packet. Was Cal injured? How hadn’t he noticed? A quick, subtle check said that Cal wasn’t injured but then, what was that stuff for? Cal couldn’t have possibly seen his neck, right..? But as Cal looked at him, holding the two small supplies, that seemed more likely than anything else…

--

“Hey, looks like you got yourself cut and you’re kinda bleedin’ a bit.”

--

But, well- He was fine. He didn’t need Cal to worry, didn’t need Cal to waste a bandage and alcohol packet on him. Especially not a colored red with white flowers bandage Cal was holding, that quite honestly was pretty nice to look at but that wasn’t the point- Cal needed to keep that for himself, right? That was why he had them on him.

--

“Buuuuuut lucky for you, I have a little something called… uh… pockets! And even luckier for you, these pockets had useful shit in them! Do you want me to patch you up? And let me tell you: I look damn good as a nurse!”

--

Gwyar tensed up a bit, a nail snagging despite his insistent rubbing at the last word. And before he could really think of what to say or do or even think, his mouth was moving on autopilot. He really didn’t mean to say no, he didn’t particularly like saying no, but he wasn’t thinking and he hoped Cal forgave him, despite knowing how worthless hope truly was. “Thank you but- Uh- Sorry- I’m fine. Sorry for worrying you and making you get those out, but uh- I’m fine, completely. Some blood isn’t too important, I can close all that myself. So, uh, really not necessary, haha. I’m sure you’re a great, uhm… Yes, a great… Nurse… But I’m perfectly fine so there’s no need! Yeah. Sorry.”

--

His throat felt tight, he felt sweaty and hot. He muttered, mostly to himself to try and calm down because most people didn’t get this upset over the word nurse, “Was the heat turned up or is that just me? Probably just me, haha.”

--

He shifted somewhat uncomfortable, trying to swallow down the lump in his throat and fear in his heart. Why was he getting so worked up about this? He shouldn’t be, he really shouldn’t be. There wasn’t any reason for this. His nails insistently snagged and scratched, trying to ground him as he struggled to figure out what to do, what this even was.

--

He bit down on his tongue, forced his hand to still, and closed the wounds with his abilities. He balled up the hand he’d just stilled, forcing said hand to come down and rest in his lap. He needed to stop worrying someone he just met. He was fine, nothing was even happening! He shifted again, biting down on his lip instead before speaking. “See? Wound’s all closed. Easy fix. You mentioned getting schedules and a tour, right? I wouldn’t mind giving you a tour of the school, I do have quite a few shortcuts worked out. Thank the gods for that, I probably would’ve failed so many of my classes just due to tardiness if I didn’t have those shortcuts. Not to even mention my grades, haha- I am not Mímir nor Daskalos, that is for sure. Especially not when looking at my grades in science… Or any fine arts class I have ever taken…”

--

Gwyar gave a slight chuckle, realizing he was probably starting to ramble and that he should probably stop talking soon. So he bit his lip, clenched his fist a bit tighter. “Uh… What about you? Any classes you particularly suck at or hate or love or, uhm… Anything else..?”

“Cal” Thi Lê | “Male” | “Straight” | Mediumship

M: Aries

Cal often got so focused on minor things, small details or things he suddenly remembers, that he just tunes everything out. Such was the case when Cal was looking for bandages. It was an odd and rare phenomenon that might happen anywhere once or twice a week to every day. Though it was often very random, it was very useful. Whereas normally he would not be able to sit through a single worksheet without somehow getting distracted and zoning out, Cal would be able to crank through page after page of homework with steely focus that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. As Cal searched and scavenged for these colorful bandages, Cal blocked out all other sound, the wind not wanting his attention, the leaves letting him be, and whatever Aries said was heard but Cal did not take focus away from his forage to find bandages. Luckily, he found a bandaid quickly before Cal went on a long winded and slight search for more.

Despite Cal’s agonizing search for more bandaids, Aries only looked confused at the bandaids at first before suddenly looking anxious. Scratching at his neck again and tensing like he had seen he saw all the souls Cal did for the first time, Cal narrowed his eyes at the man and the bandaid and alcohol pack was slowly lowered into his lap as he no longer presented them so meaningfully, wondering what was wrong. Was it something he had said? Cal could not even remember if he said anything necessarily bad other than “shit.” Aries did not seem to be that germaphobic to hate the mere mention of the word though so what could it possibly be? Was it the nurse thing? Maybe Aries hated nurses or loved them too much (though it seemed odd that if Aries was that into nurses he would give that kind of reaction)?

“You’re apologizin’ a lot again…,” Cal said with a more forced chuckle as his expression was more worried than amused this time while Cal still fixated over trying to figure out what he did to upset Aries. Aries basically choked out the word ‘nurse’ as he looked like he would have a heart attack on the bench. Cal just nodded with concern pushing his smile up-side down and tight as he forced his lips shut. “Are you alright, Aries? You don’t sound okay.” Cal chuckled as Aries complained about the heat, hoping to make light of the situation. “Aw don’t tell me you’re getting all hot and bothered because of me!~” Cal’s laughter faded and was replaced by some semblance of gravity. “Okay, but uh— In all seriousness, I-uhh… you don’t look too good so do you need anything or…?”

Although Cal was worried about his new friend’s well-being, Cal was immediately distracted by Aries healing himself, Cal gasping softly as he watched. Though Cal had surrounded himself with physic, elemental, and sleep manipulation users, Cal never spent much time with blood magic people. It’s not that he did not want to, it was just that any blood magic friends he had never did the healing in front of him.

~~~

Red eyes, bleeding knee, and quivering lips. Olly’s eyes were bubbling with tears as he choked back sobs while clinging onto Cal’s muddy sleeve with desperation and for support. His whole body shook as the only sound he gave was a soft whimper every time he used his left leg going as his feet clunked down the stairs. Cal held onto the rickety handrail with sharp, jagged wood as they descended down the creaky wooden stairs, worriedly looking between Olly and the door at the bottom of the stairs.

“It hurts…!” Olly sniffled as he gripped Cal’s dirty shirt. “I need Carlos to heal it!”

“Shhh! Olly, you gotta be quiet!” Cal grumbled as they reached the base of the stairs. “I don’t want Carlos to get mad at us again! Do you remember the last time this happened??” Olly only nodded solemnly.

Last time, Carlos almost banned them forever from their favorite place, their sacred junkyard of pirates, spaceships, and other childish wonders they dreamed, after Olly got scrapped with metal across his palm and went crying back to Carlos. With Olly in tears from pain and Cal in tears with worry, Carlos scolded them till it was so late that Carlos had to walk Cal home, mainly due to Cal not wanting to walk at all in the dark and Carlos having to carry him home because of his fears. For a full week, Carlos did not allow them to go to the junkyard— a whole week! Sure, Cal and Olly could just ignore him and carry on with their fun, but they feared Carlos’s harsh words and cruel judgment more than they loved their dreamland.

This time, however, Cal was determined not to have Carlos steal away their precious time.

The plan was this: keep Olly calm and tear-free before talking to Carlos and delicately asking for his help to heal Olly without letting him get mad. Simple right? Totally. What could possibly go wrong?

“Are you sure Car—” Olly’s words broke off only when he gave a weak sniffle to hold back his tears— “Car-Carlos won’t be mad?” Cal nodded. As they reached the bottom of the steps, Olly cowered behind Cal, pressing his dirty, tear-stained face into the back of Cal’s shirt even as one side of it was caked in mud. Cal drew in a big breath, puffing his chest up to look like the big boys Carlos hung out with before grabbing the handle to the basement door, creaking it open to look around, and gasping softly.

They had guns out.

There were five guys in total on the couch, the bean bags, and folding chairs all surrounding a table with money, some vegetables, and guns. Carlos was lounging on the floral, random-fluid stained couch, his legs across the lap of some guy as he leaned back into the arm of the chair puffing smoke. While Cal was oblivious to what the “vegetables” were, he knew Carlos was smoking as the man looked like an angry dragon with smoke pooling from his lips. Cal could not tell what the money was for, but he knew the sight of a gun was never a good thing and quivered at the sight. Cal threw out his whole plan when he gasped because as soon as Carlos heard him and snapped his head towards the door, Cal knew he would be scolded.

“Shit…!” Carlos said in a hushed whisper, quickly hissing at the other men before they began quickly scooping the money off the table, stashing away the vegetables, and hiding the guns. Cal paid close attention to what the men did with the guns. As soon as they were all hidden away under couch cushions and in bags, Cal’s honey eyes flashed to Carlos as he stomped to the door, only causing Cal to instinctively close the door a little in hopes he would be spared of Carlos’s wrath. “Cal, why did I tell you before? I told you to knock before you come down here!!”

“I-I know, but—”

“Do not—” Carlos shoved a finger into Cal’s face, causing Cal to instantly shut up as if he was being held at gunpoint— “try to cut me off before I am not done yet, Cal! I have told you time and time again that it is bad— it is dangerous— to come down here without knocking and what did you do?”

“I forgot and I—”

“Oh,” Carlos began to laugh, “you forgot? Oh well that just makes all of this better doesn’t it?? Well, there better be a good goddamn reason you forgot, Cal!” Cal flinched at his volume and shrank, words, thoughts, everything failing him.

Sniffle sniffle.

There’s no way Carlos heard—

Carlos stopped, his red eyes briefly going wide before narrowing. Carlos did not even stop to question Cal, give him the benefit of the doubt, or even give a final statement before shoving the door open only to see Olly standing behind Cal with tears in his eyes.

“Olly, why are you—”

“I fell!!” Olly burst out loudly enough to make the other men look over to the door even as his voice was muffled by Cal. “We were playin’—” sniffle sniffle— “playin’ superheroes and-and I wanted to do a really cool jump but I feel and I- and I—”

“It was just an accident!!” Cal insisted as Olly ran around Cal to run and hug Carlos’s leg. Carlos scooped Olly up in his arms and glared down at Cal so much that Cal could no longer look anywhere but his feet.

“I told you both not to go to that fucking junkyard anymore!” Carlos barked loudly as Cal squeezed the end of his shorts tightly and pressed his eyelids as tightly together as possible.

“Carlos, don’t you think you are being a bit harsh on little guys?” one dude piped up as Cal’s eyes built up water. “They’re just kids.”

“Oh yeah, Lee?! Well maybe I should be harsh on them ‘cause I don’t want my baby brother and his friend to keep getting themselves—”

Sniffle, sniffle, sniffle.

This time, it wasn’t just Olly crying.

Carlos’s eyes softened as he looked to the other teens before looking back to Cal. As Olly pressed his face more into his brother’s chest, Carlos got on one knee, opening his mouth to speak before closing it and opening it once more. “I’m really sorry, Cal, I didn’t mean to yell at you, I just—”

“It’s fine,” Cal hissed, standing rigid like a statue as he angrily wiped away his tears. “It’s whateva…”

“No, it’s not fine, I—” Carlos looked like he had so much more to say but he just shook his head and gently grabbed Cal’s face to brush away Cal’s tears with his thumb. “Look, I promise I will not yell at you as much. I was being too harsh and I know I should not have but- Well- I know this doesn’t make up for it, but you can watch me use my magic on Olly next time he gets hurt? I know you’ve been asking to see that a few times now.”

~~~

Carlos never did show Cal how he healed the wounds despite the promise he made that day. Why? Who knows. It was just nice to see that in action now with Aries.

“That was super super cool!!” Cal giggled excited, leaning closer with unending fascination. “Can you do that again?? Actually, no, sorry, I take that back. That would require one of us getting hurt.” Cal paused and seemingly went into thought for a moment. “Well I could…” Cal stared blankly at his hand. Cal opened his mouth and moved his hand toward it before stopping himself and gently slapping his face on both sides of his head. “Bah!! Intrusivities!! We are not biting my hand please!!”

“Ah, sorry, I- I should have been focusing more on the more important things you were saying,” Cal chuckled softly as he internally forced himself to remember what Aries had said. “Well if it comes to science and art, I really don’t mind helping you at all!! Okay, maybe not in the art department since I am not great at art, but I can definitely help with science! And don’t worry about grades. Grades are just letters and numbers and shit to label a student on how one teacher sees you.” Cal had to stop himself from going off on a long tangent about that to reply to Aries’s question on courses and what not. “Well, I really like math and science and English, but I suck at grammar so I tend not to do well in that class. I like history a lot too, but I suck at the names. I am terrible with names.” Cal gave a nervous laughter as he scooted a bit closer to Aries. “Sorry, I just realized that this was the most I have heard you talk so far! Do you have any other passionate things like courses that you want to talk about?”

Gwyar ‘Aries/Khorne’ Ariethous Fraoch | Male | Demi(HML) | Blood Manipulation | M; Cal.

“That was super super cool!!”

--

And Cal was leaning in closer as Gwyar blinked in confusion. Hadn’t he just been talking about classes..? Or- Probably the healing thing, huh? Yeah, that would make a lot of more sense.

--

“Can you do that again??”

--

Gwyar almost immediately unclenched his fist, he’d said no once already and he didn’t want to push his luck so he really should injury himself again so that Cal could see his ability and-

--

“Actually, no, sorry, I take that back. That would require one of us getting hurt.”

--

The already beginning to raise hand stopped in place, having only gotten an inch off of his lap. He forced his hand back down, raising an eyebrow at Cal.

--

“Well I could… Bah!! Intrusivities!! We are not biting my hand please!!”

--

And… That was kind of odd. If he really wanted to see the whole healing thing again, Gwyar could easily injure himself so that Cal could see. Not like he wasn’t oftentimes injured anyways. In fact, he was injured more often than not. There wouldn’t be any real harm in adding more.

--

“Ah, sorry, I- I should have been focusing more on the more important things you were saying. Well if it comes to science and art, I really don’t mind helping you at all!!”

--

Gwyar was almost certain he flinched then, a minor one if he truly did, but still there. He hoped Cal didn’t notice. Besides, the sentence made sense and that whole structure was accurate… Though, why did Cal think he would skip? He still needed to go and try to pass.

--

“Okay, maybe not in the art department since I am not great at art, but I can definitely help with science! And don’t worry about grades. Grades are just letters and numbers and shit to label a student on how one teacher sees you. Well, I really like math and science and English, but I suck at grammar so I tend not to do well in that class. I like history a lot too, but I suck at the names. I am terrible with names.”

--

And suddenly, Gwyar was hoping they had a history class together. He’d be able to help Cal then, which if they shared a science class too would definitely help with paying him back for the help there. Which, frankly, if Cal wasn’t in an honors class for history then sharing the class was probably likely… He wished he’d been able to take an honors class for history… But, well, no time to worry about that now. Or ever, really. He had other stuff he had to focus on.

--

“Sorry, I just realized that this was the most I have heard you talk so far! Do you have any other passionate things like courses that you want to talk about?”

--

Truth be told? Gwyar blinked at him for a few seconds, hoping his confusion didn’t show on his face. Was this just Cal’s way of working Gwyar into debt for that healing stuff? Cal was going to let him talk about whatever he wanted to talk about so that Cal could then ask to see the healing again? “If you’re wanting to see the healing again just say so, I really don’t mind.”

--

Ah, but assuming that was also rude, right? What if Cal was just being nice and letting him talk about something he was interested in? Then Cal would think he was being rude and selfish and- “Sorry, didn’t mean to assume that’s what you wanted there.”

--

But if he’d been right then the apology may seem counterproductive or like he’s saying no and then Cal wouldn’t just be upfront and honest about that. Or he’d get mad that he’s saying no and being selfish and- And- “Not that you can’t still ask if you do. Duh. You can totally ask, I don’t mind at all.”

--

That… Should be fine. Yeah, that was taken care of now. Right? Probably… He hoped so. Though… He should probably actually answer so that if Cal hadn’t been trying to use this as an opening then he’d get an answer and all… “But, uh, sorry. Let me just answer your question. Any courses I like in particular? I mean, other than history… Not uh, not really… I like training, I guess. That can be fun. Survival trivia is neat too, probably… I know some swordsmanship, which is kind of cool. I enjoy writing, sometimes. That one kind of depends though. History’s really the most interesting to me, I guess. Uhm, I like reading a lot. Mostly non fiction, history books… Sorry, trying to think of something other than history to talk about since I already said that I like history and all… Uhm…”

--

Did he really not have enough hobbies to keep up a conversation? What did he normally do after school or on weekends or during his free time? Read history books, come here, or go to the arena. Was that really all he did? There had to be more. Right? What about those nights he couldn’t sleep? What did he do then? Read more history books or stargaze. Did stargazing count? Could he talk about stars? Cal had said courses but… “Stars are uh… Stars are cool too. They have a lot of interesting trivia and history about them…”

--

Was he seriously incapable of liking anything except for history? Why did everything go back to that?! At this point he should just talk about training and different types of swords and techniques and strategies! “Training can be fun. There’s a lot of different types of strategies and techniques, even just with hand-to-hand combat stuff. I mostly enjoy swordsmanship, but even that has a ton of information to learn and study. There’s a ton of different types of swords out there, and so many techniques that can be implemented for each. Not to mention the strategies and trivia for everything. But uh, training’s fun. You get to work up some muscle mass while also learning useful skills, which is nice. I uh, I play a sport too… Which is… Well, the sport’s something, I guess… Not a huge fan but I’m good at playing and my parents like watching so… Not really that interesting though, just some really obscure sport that only interests really old people.”

--

Okay, maybe he was leaning too much into the arena now. But there really wasn’t much else for him to talk about. He didn’t really have hobbies. He just read, fought, enjoyed nature, and went to school. He should really just let Cal talk, he seemed to like talking more and had more to talk about. Plus, this way Cal could actually ask to see the healing again if he wanted to. “But uh… That’s about all, if I’m being honest. Not much else to say. Anything you want to talk about? Or ask to see? I really don’t mind.”