Finn let out a small sigh at the question that Lily asked. He heard the teasing note but there was something under her tone that he knew prompted an actual answer.

"... not really, no. I want an apology from Florence, not excuses," he stated shortly. "I want her to start acting better and less bratty. I don't care how old she is, she's way too old to be acting like some stuck-up pick-me from high school--from old millennial high school."

He scowled sharply. "She needs to apologize to you. I don't want excuses, I don't want pathetic mumbles. I want an actual apology and I don't want to hear it, I want to see it. Instead of owning up to her actions, she goes and runs off to pout," he threw his hand in the air, gesturing toward the sky.

"I'm sorry for getting so... so heated but I can't... I just can't," he admitted. "The entire way she acts--just is--it infuriates me."

----

Xevon's feathers rippled with surprise at the fact that the goddess had responded. His mind swirled with thoughts, fishing for what came next.

What had Alma done?

"Who took Vedea?"

Xevon focused on that. His eyes studied the way the woman moved, keeping pace with Renissa. There was something still ethereal about the former goddess. She seemed like the reflection in a mirror, the type seen out of the corner of your eye. A whisper of snow caught on the breeze. The swirl of mist in the air.

It was haunting and beautiful but Xevon was worried they'd lose her if they went too fast or said the wrong thing. It was like skating on thin ice, hoping it would hold long enough to get to the other side of the river.

Finn shook his head lightly, tossing the strawberry blond hair. Act normally? Like they had done every time and she had just gone and screwed it up? No. There was no way. His scowl deepened.

"Whenever she shows back up, it'd better be with an apology, Lily. I'm not letting her walk over us like we're some sort of doormat," Finn replied tartly. "We did act normally and she can't handle it. If she wants to get out with our help, she'd better shape up and take responsibilities for her own actions. If she wants to go sulk like a petty child and then come crawling back thinking we're gonna forget it ever happened, she's in for a treat. She gets to come back and apologize--and do better."

He huffed and shook his head clear of the subject, focusing on the scorpion.

Alma looked less than impressed with the writhing creature. "You gonna call it quits soon?"

The little beast snapped at her, trying to catch her fingers in his claws. Clearly, he wasn't going to quit soon.

---

Xevon held back lightly, watching her arms drop. He kept back slightly, still following the ghastly form of the woman.

"Renissa," he spoke the woman's name, "where are you?"

If he could keep asking questions, it got the woman to pause and think. He didn't have to talk at her, just ask subtle little questions that would trip the world up. Make her think, make her have to actually... focus and force her to do something instead of wander in the memories.

Alma scowled lightly, bouncing the scorpion in her fingers. Mostly for her own amusement. There was no way she could've done this if Onas wasn't tiny and she was never going to let him live it down.

Ha.

"It's likely he will until he figures out how to turn back into a man. Not that he was a man to begin with, a pesky preteen maybe," she could see the way the words irritated the little beast.

Maybe, if she got him angry enough, he'd access that power and shift and then they could have an actual conversation.

It was then she realized why and who the winged young man had learned the quips from. It was her.

Oops.

"Always whining about this and that, terribly hungry all the time but never ate enough to look good and muscled..." she leaned closer to Lily with a daring smile, "always smelled like man too," she whispered just loud enough to let the bug hear her.

The wriggling increased in ferocity, clacking at her fingers.

"What're you gonna do about it?" Alma teased. "You're stuck aren't you?"

----

Xevon froze for a moment, looking to the horizon. Vedea. The name again.

His mind swirled with questions but he kept himself calm and poised, listening to every single word that the woman said. Every movement she made was noted and put together into a puzzle that he was building.

"Renissa, where are you?" He repeated the question, a bit more firm in his delivery. "We're trying to find you, where are you?"

Hopefully it wasn't too much but he hoped it would be something for the woman to think about.

He didn't dare lie and say Vedea was with them. He didn't know what had happened and he knew that if that had been said... he'd have lost his mind. He knew.

She had to focus on where she was. Hopefully himself as well.

Alma tipped her head lightly. "Nah, you just haven't seem him after he comes home from the gym."

"Madre!" Finn protested.

Alma let out a warmer laugh and turned to Onas again. "Can't even defend himself, what a little loser--"

The squirming adjusted, in the blink of an eye and the man gripped her wrist, his eyes blazing with fury. "How dare you--"

"You're going to let go or I'm throwing you down," Alma stated firmly, watching him drop his hands to his sides. "That's what I thought. Welcome back, Onas. Let's go get Renissa."

"No."

Alma glanced back. "... no?"

----

Xevon paused for a moment, watching her stare at him. Their gaze locked in a silent stare between each other. It was fast, he hardly had time to blink before she had hold of his arms, staring into his eyes and then crumpled.

"Renissa, we're still trying to find her. We need your help. We've been looking for you, where are you, Renissa? Where are you?"

He repeated the question again, trying to hold onto the misty form of her arms. There... wasn't much to hold onto, unfortunately.

"Renissa, what's going on?"

He added the secondary question, hoping desperately that it wasn't going to screw everything up. But he remembered Alma's voice cutting through the fog and he asked himself the same question.

Perhaps, if he voiced it, he'd get a response.

Finn tilted his head. "No?"

Onas swept his gold eyes toward the pair of young adults.

"No."

In the recesses of his voice, there was guilt and remorse. A deep embedded sorrow that had his voice barely over a mumble. Deep in the whisper of his tone was a grief he couldn't put into words.

Alma took in a slow breath. "... Onas, what happened?"

The man's jaw tightened. "... I lost control."

Finn glanced over the man. Sure... he had some size on him but even still, maybe it was because he was in awe of the absolute mountain that Xevon was... this man just wasn't... terrifying.

---

His red eyes scanned the woman's face, focusing on her.

Onas.

He wasn't--no, he'd hold onto it for a bit. He couldn't hold onto her, his hands passed through her arms.

He--who was he? It wasn't Onas. At least that was good. But someone had fell.

"Renissa, who is it? Who is going to kill us?" Xevon pressed, quietly. He hoped it was Veles so he could say that he had killed him. Hopefully that would help but he had a deep underlying fear that now... now he knew who left the daggers.

Now he knew ... who's pen-knife that was.

Vedea.

Tia.

Oh bloody hell, he was conjuring up unfortunate conclusions. This was not going to be a fun conversation to have. Not again.

He struggled to hold onto his calm demeanor. He had to be there. But Renissa's face was blending from the woman with brown hair to a ginger with hazel eyes. Fair freckled skin--

No!

He had to stay there. He had to stay there.

"Renissa, Veles is dead. He's gone," Xevon pleaded, his voice shaking. "He's gone. He's gone. He's not going to hurt anyone anymore. He's gone--" the desperation reached into his voice, trying and begging the woman to hold on and come back so he didn't have to worry about messing up.