[Euphenia]

(( OOC: This thread happens after the Great Vampire Hunt. ))

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"Just a little bit further," Phen promised her best friend, having long since blindfolded him and led him out of New Alexandria by the hand. They'd been walking for the better part of an hour, and there'd been at least two stops for her to squirt water into Kiel's mouth after giving him a quick snack of some sort or other. "You're going to love it, Kiel! The view is astonishingly beautiful. It really makes you feel alive!"

Euphenia had made arrangements to meet up with Kiel that morning for more than their usual run. He'd professed that he wanted to work on memorizing more Latin for the sake of one day "getting his dragon", and Phen had leapt upon the chance of learning a new language as quickly as Sanna gravitated to cool water. Speaking of the white winged wonder, Phen's angel snake had stayed at home that day, as Sanna had eaten a rather large meal the night before and wasn't yet ready to move.

"We're here!" the nyad crowed before going up on tiptoe to reach around Kiel's head to untie his blindfold. "This is the place, Kiel! What do you think?"

She'd guided the 'vari and his shadowkin, as Shane was to be expected wherever Kiel went, to a tiny copse of trees by the River Cora. One of them was very tall and stout, indeed. "This is where I first met Lazuli," Phen explained as she skipped on ahead to set the picnic basket she'd brought with them by the tangle of the largest tree's thick roots, "It's very peaceful out here, so we shouldn't be interrupted."

[Kiel]

((I'm going to say this happened before Kiel's other river thread, otherwise he'd be nervous about being this close. ))

“Wah.” Kiel had discovered early in his childhood that most people (insofar as his family could be classed as 'most people') didn't appreciate having their eyes stolen, even if it was only temporarily. Like, this one time in particular, he'd tried this out on his dad, only for the dude to totally flip out.

Lesson learned, right? Or not, hahahahaha. But Kiel didn't have the same problem. He didn't see the big deal, like, why his family found it so hard to trust. Okay, like, total strangers, maybe, but, like, you know, Kiel was their son. Did they think he was gonna be all, like, parenticidal or something?

Even when he stumbled a bit, though, Kiel trusted Phenny to get him where they were going in one piece, although Shane seemed determined to lick his ankles raw.

“Hey, hey, I can hear water. I gotta pee. Is that the river? You didn't, like, book a boat or something, right, 'cause I totally told Zeph I'd be at work today. He already got mad at me for helping Aiden with that thief, you know? Like, he was all "you're not ready", blah blah blah.” Even dropping his voice an octave to imitate the big hairball, Kiel still kinda sounded like he was stuck in his teens sometimes. “Like, who gets to say I'm ready, you know? I couldn't let the dude get away with the old lady's purse, you know, and - wah, dude!”

They'd stopped and Kiel got his first look at what she'd been raving over as she took the blindfold away. “Dude, this is crazy awesome, man. Like, hey, hey, you can see the river! That's awesome, it's awesome! Hahahaha, awwww, but I didn't bring my cozzy, man.” Like, well. He didn't have swimming trunks, 'cause he didn't know how to swim. Like, he lived miles inland, you know, so apart from the pond on their land, he'd never had the opportunity to learn.

“Shane, Shane, don't go too far, 'kay?” The 'kin was already exploring at the water's edge, the river streaming around her front paws up to her knees. “Hahahaha, she can swim, that's so cool. Hey, hey,” he called as his attention flitted back to Phenny. “You can practise too!” He giggled, wondering if Phenny was as good with water manipulation as Laz had been with beer. “I want to see, I want to seeeeeeee!”

[Euphenia]

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"There's a bush over there if you really do need to pee," Phen began conversationally. If the prospect of her obviously male best friend peeing by a bush somewhere nearby bothered the nyad at all, she certainly wasn't showing it. "Your Zeph is protective of you because he cares about you, Kiel. From you've told me, only he's allowed to smack you around, and that's just when you're training."

Euphenia sincerely hoped that Kiel wasn't getting bullied about by his significant other, but she didn't ask for confirmation. That was a conversation Kiel would have to start on his own. "Promise you'll tell me more about the whole purse and officer thing later?" she prompted her friend with a sweet little smile. Oh, how she loved his stories!

When Kiel instructed Shane to not wander too far, then commented on how the shadowkin looked like she knew how to swim, Phen turned to look on with longing filling her features. After a few seconds, the winged nymph bent down to unlatch the basket and pull out a woolen blanket. "Maybe I should ask her to give me lessons," she halfheartedly joked, the memory of her near drowning by this very spot haunting her eyes.

"Hm? You want me to practice swimming?" Phen asked, stopping what she was doing and blinking up at Kiel. "B-but, Kiel, I almost ... It's too soon. I haven't made peace with the river yet."

[Kiel]

The part of Kiel's brain that dealt with conversation was so used to jumping tracks mid-sentence that, like, when Phenny misunderstood what he meant by 'practise', he couldn't figure out where they'd gone wrong. Like, he stared at her totally dumbfounded for a second, his mouth half-open and his hand flung out ready to emphasise whatever he'd been about to say next, totally frozen as his brain tried to catch up with his mouth.

“Wah! Hahahahaha, naw, man, naw, I can't swim, I can't swim!” His fingers waggled, like he was wafting away the suggestion that she should get in the water. Like, she'd told him what happened that day she met Laz, man. No way he'd make her do that. Even though he was kinda tempted to grab her around the waist and dump her in there, and he eyed her like he was trying to decide just how bad an idea that'd be.

“Too big, too big,” he dismissed out loud. Like, the pond back home, sure. They could both flounder in there and the only chance they'd stand of drowning would be if Tad came home and tried to use them as stepping stones like that time when they were kids and he'd freaked out over a frog touching his elbow or something. But Cora?

No way, man.

“You're a Nyad, though, man.” He didn't mean that to sound like he was judging her and finding her wanting or something. Like, he was a Rut, you know? Labels didn't mean anything to him. “You can practise, practise!” He flapped his hands at the water, making gestures like he could manipulate the water himself. “I want a show, I want a show! Hahahahahahaha, let's forget about studying, okay? Latin's, like, so lame, so lame. Make the river dance instead, okay? Hahahahahaha.”

Like, okay, so studying had been his idea. He'd been talking lately with Zeph and his friends about what his third weapon should be now he was making actual headway with his knives. He'd even picked up a bit of judo from Zeph, almost despite himself. Not that he ever beat the dude, but it was fun trying to best him in a spat. And, like, somehow having Shane had made him want his own dragon even more, and he kinda decided it'd be a good idea to practise his Latin more 'cause he was totally forgetting everything he'd learned for his rituals, but, like, “Today's too nice to stick my head in a book.”

[Euphenia]

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Seeing Kiel with his mouth gaping and his eyes wider than usual brought Phen's hands to her mouth to smother giggles. Only he could take the nyad from looking at the river as if it were going to run over and bite her, to being close to bowling over with laughter.

Then came his declaration, complete with finger waggling, and Phen lost it. Leaning against the nearby tree trunk, she laughed and laughed, letting the bad memory of nearly drowning be pushed back by each peal of giggles that got past her lips.

During her giggle fit of glee, Phen's eyes were closed and her hands were holding her belly. Such was probably why she didn't notice Kiel's intense peering. In fact, she chortled her way through his "Too big, too big", and very nearly missed Kiel's statement about her being a nyad, too.

"Oh, that kind of practice!" she acknowledged while sitting up, even though the occasional chuckle still escaped, "Sure, I can do that ... under two conditions."

It seemed that Phen had recovered enough to collect her wits. "You'll sit here with me and eat some lunch," she began with a pat to her right, "Then we'll play a game. Of course, I get to choose all of the rules for the game. We can't have you trying to wriggle things into going your way, now can we?"

Phen directed a bright smile up at her friend. She would keep her word about the "practice", since that was what Kiel seemed to really want, but she also hadn't given up on their original reason for heading out of the city in the first place.

[Kiel]

“Conditions?” Kiel's brain - or rather, his stomach - ticked into overdrive and a thought occurred to him mere nanoseconds before it would have popped out of his mouth. "Like, can one of them be food?"

Sure enough, he didn't even need to open his mouth and Phenny mentioned lunch. “Hahahahaha, sure, sure!” When she mentioned a game, though, he found himself in seventh heaven and his whole face lit up. “A game? A game, a game! Shane, Shane, we're gonna playyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” Holding out his hands like wings, he "cacaw!-giggle- cacaw!ed" his way around the tree, almost tripping over Shane when the 'kin sloshed out of the river to see what all the fuss was about. “Hahaha, a game, a gaaaaaaaaame.”

Catching his enthusiasm, the shadowkin danced around him as he circled the tree, until he came to a floof!ing halt right beside Phenny, and wiggled northwards until his head was propped against the tree trunk at an awkward angle to peer at the Nymph with a grin. It took him mere seconds, as Shane flomph!ed into the grass beside him, her chin resting on his thigh, to decide “Wah! Like, dude, this is so not comfy, man,” and shuffled on his elbows until he was sitting beside the Nyad properly.

“So, what's this game? I wanna play, I wanna play! And eat, man, I'm starved. Gimme gimme,” he cooed, leaning over Phenny to reach for the picnic basket. “Hahahahaha, you're awesome, awesome.”

[Euphenia]

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Poor Phen was helpless in the face of Kiel's silliness and Shane's adorable tendencies. She found herself against the tree's trunk again, giggling as if she would never stop between peeks at the 'vari and 'kin parade. "Y-yes, a game," she managed between bursts of laughter, "You're s-so f-funny, Kiel! Y-you too, S-Shane!"

She was still trying to recover when Kiel flopped to the ground. With her amusement at the 'vari's antics shining in her eyes, Phen canted her head against the tree's bark to grin down at Kiel and reach out to try and tap her best friend on the nose. "You'll have a hard time reaching the food from there."

He was already moving before she got to say much more, but that was the way of things with Kiel. Others might have dismissed him as more hyperactive than intelligent, but Phen knew better. Sure, Kiel had a lot of energy, but he had an equal amount of smarts. It was just a matter of getting him to focus. "Here," she offered, scooting forward despite his reaching hands to scoop up the picnic basket and offer it to Kiel. "I brought ham and phikeia sandwiches, carrots, some apples, and ilari berry pudding. There's also some chiolen tea in that thermos there. Be careful, it's hot. I hope you like them, Kiel! Lazuli and I made most of this yesterday, but I did the tea on my own. I followed my mother's recipe."

Phen always got a little nervous when it came to the people she cared about eating things that she had a hand in making. Her culinary skills weren't the best in the world, but she could certainly follow directions. Putting that aside, she flicked open a latch on the underside of the basket, and opened up a false bottom that contained some Latin textbooks. Gathering the books onto her lap, Phen grinned at Kiel. "Here's how the game works. I'll ask you questions from these books, and if you answer correctly, I'll Shape the water for you. If you don't answer correctly, we review the information until you do. Alright?"

"Let's start now!" the nyad practically cheered. She was so excited to begin learning a new language, especially one that was said to be incredibly old, even older than the language of her people! Possibly even older than Elysia itself! "Let's see ... the exercise on page 129 .. Ah, there! This should be a good one. What is the Latin word for 'white'?"

(( I hope you don't mind me including Lazuli in the food preparation, Skyla. Please let me know if that tidbit needs to be removed. ))

[Kiel]

For the space of a heartbeat, Kiel felt incredibly cheated. Wah, she'd promised him a game and she'd turned it into studying, wah, wah!

It didn't last very long. For one, she distracted him by telling him what was in the picnic basket so his stomach took over driving his body (not that it was ever really out of the driver's seat but it did sometimes let his brain pretend it was steering).

For two, he was kind of used to it. His mom had used similar tactics to get him to settle down for his 'classes' instead of chasing around the kitchen squirting soapy water at his sisters while they tried to study. (She even got it right down to the tap on his nose, hahahaha!)

Actually, having them study at the kitchen table probably hadn't been the greatest idea his mom had ever had. Kiel+Kitchen?

Yeah, no.

“Hahahahaha, you got me, you got me!” he conceded, way more gleefully than he should have felt given that she'd tricked him into sticking to their study plans. He didn't mind, though, really. Like, this whole thing had kinda sorta been his idea, right, and it wouldn't be fair to drag her out here and then ditch the studying part. Besides, he really wanted to see her 'Shaping' in action, man. He'd seen the results of her gramp's Dryadness back at their treehouse, so, like, she had to be awesome with water, right?

“Hey, hey, maybe you can, like, feed me water bubbles when I get thirsty, hahahaha.” He paused long enough to snatch up a meaty sandwich with one hand, and hold out an apple for Phenny as he took a bite. “Albi... Alibi? Albus! Hahaha, I wonder if I'll get a draconis albus, man. That'd be sweet.”

Almost faster than he could keep up himself, his brain flipped back to thinking about Phenny shaping the water, and that inevitably led to Laz's awesome beer display. “Like, I told you about Laz and the beer, right? That was so cool, man! Make a unicorn, a unicorn!”

[Euphenia]

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"Albus is right!" Phen cheered, as happy as if she'd answered the question correctly herself. "Is there anything special about a draconis albus in particular? Besides the fact that they are dragons, of course."

Accepting the apple, the nyad sunk her teeth into the firm red skin of the fruit and crunched into the sweet white flesh beneath. Chewing thoughtfully, she considered just how she ought to bring Kiel's request into reality.

Swallowing, Phen gave her friend a grin that lit up her eyes till the violet within them seemed to grab hold of the blue and insist that they dance. "Listen."

She tried to coax Kiel into leaning in the direction she indicated with a pointed finger by then using the same hand to cup her right ear. "Do you hear them?"

"Come to me," she Called with her mind to the edge of the River Cora, "Come to me on tiny hooves. Come to me on leaves and mist. Come to me."

Envisioning the scene she wanted within her mind, Phen closed her eyes and Shaped what she desired from the river. "Can you hear them?" she asked again as the soft sound of droplets hitting leaves slowly grew louder.

Should Kiel look where Phen had pointed, he would discover a trickle of water rising from the Cora and starting to make its way over to them. At first it seemed to be picking up speed, then it slowed down to scoop up leaves that the trees nearby had already shed. The small stream began to push the leaves along astride itself, making them look more like a never ending floating strip of green carpet. Upon that "carpet" came the unicorns. They were no taller than the longest of Kiel's fingers, but the closer the snakelike water and its entourage got, the easier it was to see that its passengers were putting on a parade. The tiny unicorns strutted their stuff, their bodies formed entirely of water, and splashed their hooves upon the leaves to make the noise that had announced their arrival. It wasn't long before the strange procession started to wind itself around the tree Kiel, Phen, and Shane were underneath. There were only ten unicorns trotting across the leaves, but every detail, down to their itty bitty horns and flowing manes, was easily distinguished.

[Kiel]

“Anything special?” Kiel pondered as he chewed on a large mouthful of bread and ham and seaweed, frowning in concentration. It seemed like one of those questions that must be considered carefully, even though he didn't know why. But then he lifted a shoulder in a limp shrug. “Nah, man, like, they all have their own, like, skills, you know?” Not knowing how much she knew about dragons, Kiel swallowed to continue. “Like, the full-out dragons, the big ones, you know, the bosses, they're all, like, their colour tells you what they can do, you know? Like, they're like us, you know, the 'Vari, how our eye colour tells you what Sept we joined? Yeah, like, their skin colour tells you what Sept they were born into, too. But, like, the drakes are all, like, "we don't want none of your Septiness, man".” He faked a deeper voice, as if a bass could convey the power that dripped off the creatures like it was going out of fashion or something.

“Like, they're born with their colours, too, but, like, I dunno, it's different. If you ever meet Tad, man, you gotta ask him. He knows, like, everything about dragons, man. I just kinda think white's pretty sweet on a dragon, you know? Especially wyverns. I dunno if they're any good in battle, though, all they got is, like, blowing air or something, hahahahaha.”

Truth be told, Kiel wouldn't really care what colour his dragon was, or even which species. He knew, probably better than anyone, that personality didn't always like colouring inside the lines, you know? Kiel certainly never had.

“Listen.”

“Huh?” Kiel paused mid-bite, most of his sandwich gone, to look at Phenny wide-eyed, following her gestures until he was leaning in the direction she was pointing. Was she gonna ask him another question? Had she heard something creepy? Shane was fine, like, licking her butt and resting heavily against him contentedly, so he didn't think there was anything dangerous out here, but, like - “Ooh.”

Sandwich forgotten, Kiel slowly got up onto his knees. He was vaguely aware of Shane, roused by his movements and whatever sound Phenny was pointing out, licking the ham out of his bread where the sandwich dangled against his leg, but then he saw the stream of water moving towards them.

“Can you hear them?”

“Wah!” Kiel dropped his sandwich altogether, completely unaware of Shane's greedy attempts to scoop up his leftovers now that his focus was entirely on the water. He scrambled to his feet, his hands waving excitedly as he hopped up and down. “Phenny, man, look! Dude, look, look!” It hadn't particularly escaped his mind that Phenny was actually responsible and that she didn't need to see what he was so excited about, but he was too excited to not share it. “Shane, look! It's awesome, it's awesome!”

The tiny unicorns were completely made of water, like, kind of folding in on themselves as they moved to circle the tree. Kiel hopped along with them a little, side-stepping and crab-walking so he could keep them in sight. His hands waved over the top of them, literally itching to touch but afraid to damage them, wishing he could pluck one up and hold it up for closer inspection. But, like, water was so delicate, you know, he daren't glomp them like he wanted.

So instead, he flopped onto his knees and sort of scrambled around on his haunches, trying to keep pace and get a better look. “Dude! This is awesome, awesome!”

Shane seemed to think so too. With a throaty 'rrrrrr', she took a swipe at the water stream with a paw, her claws out and a look of utter confusion on her face when her foot went straight through the water unicorn she'd swatted instead of smacking it down.

“Hahahahahaha, it's not real, it's not real!”

[Euphenia]

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Though Phen didn't say anything in response to Kiel's outburst of what she could only describe as "pure glee", if Kiel glanced back to look at her even once, the wide grin on the nyad's face would make it plain that she was soaking up his enjoyment like a flower's petals drew in sunshine.

Guided by Euphenia's bond with her element, and by the imaginings within the winged nymph's mind, the water regathered where Shane had swatted it, and the unicorn that had momentarily become scattered droplets reformed to speed up its cadence to try and avoid another paw-to-water incident. In fact, all of the unicorns adopted the recovered one's pace, and their once stately trot became an all out gallop. The sound of rain on leaves grew from a light drizzle to a downpour as the stream at last separated itself from the river. It's first act of so-called independence was to wind its way around the grand tree nearby a few times, then make a mad dive straight down to spiral into a medium sized ball of water and debris that absorbed the unicorns as they neared it. The water-ball was larger than some people's heads, and it stayed suspended in midair not three feet from where Phen sat. Soon the leaves that had been the unicorns' terrain shot out of the round mass as it spun faster and faster, though somehow each wet projectile missed smacking into Phen.

Only then did Phen open her eyes and look up at Kiel with her grin gone cheshire. "I'm glad you liked them. This is great practice for me! Alright, on to the next question," she decided, opening up the same book as before and puzzling over the first few pages. The ball of water kept spinning, though it did slow down some. If Sanna had been there, she would have likely been hovering nearby and trying to figure out how to swish her tail into the water without getting sucked into the thing. "I think this one will work," Phen said with a nod, then grinned over at Kiel before saying, "What are the words and proper pronounciation of the meaning 'to witness'?"

[Kiel]

Kiel was in danger of getting over-excited to the point of hyper-giddiness and potential, totally girly, fainting. He was almost hyperventilating in his giggling as he chased after the unicorns, keeping pace with them even when they sped up to avoid Shane's continued swats. The poor 'kin looked so funny, man, like, totally confused and determined to squish the water-creatures (probably just so she could, like, give him another present, so he didn't have the heart to stop her).

They only stopped when the unicorns spun into a ball of water the size of Zeph's big hairy head. Hahahahaha, maybe Kiel could get Phenny to turn her water ball into an imitation of Zeph's face! Hahahahaha, except she hadn't met him so he'd have to describe the dude. Imagine the look on Zeph's face if Kiel took pictures with his COM and showed them to everyone, hahahaha.

He'd been too distracted before to check if Phenny was having fun, but now he had nothing to chase, he dropped to his butt in the grass with a solid whump, sprawling onto his back and then tilting his head back to peer at her. His hat had flopped off, but he was still busy giggling.

“Wah, hahahaha. To witness, to witness. Like, like.” He sobered a little, his face screwing up in concentration. “Sandwiches!” Lunging for more food was an excuse to give him time to think. Like, he didn't know this one. Like, he had to know it 'cause it totally came up in pretty much every ritual known to 'Vari, but dude if he could remember. “Here, here, Shane, yumyums.”

On his belly now and rummaging around in the picnic basket, Kiel held out a hand holding an apple and ruffed Shane's ears while she ate, winking at Phenny like she wouldn't know what he was doing. “Is it, like, you know.” Faking a totally upperclass accent, he gave her the word he thought was right. “Arbitro?”

((Disclaimer: I don't actually know any Latin, so please forgive the fudginess. ¬_¬))

[Euphenia]

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Phen's lips twitched, but she held in her giggles that time. It didn't seem right for her to laugh at the sight of Kiel flopped onto the ground like that. Her twilight gaze did smile directly into his red, though, which gave her a moment of pause. The memory of azure blue eyes replaced the red, and left Phen staring longer than she should have.

When was the last time she'd looked into those reassuring blue serpentine eyes? A month? Two? Had he forgotten about her completely? For a long minute, Euphenia had herself the pity party to beat all pity parties, feeling the pain of rejection and disappointment move somewhere into her middle and start arranging furniture. She'd had to deal with the disappointment before, when Dante hadn't shown up for her birthday celebration, but it had been easier to dismiss the emotion then. She made up a million and one excuses for why he hadn't contacted her, but there, under the tree with her best friend, the loneliness and fear that she wasn't good enough came crashing down about her ears.

Kiel went on talking, but Euphenia, for once, wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. She'd tuned out everything in existence but for her own misery. A part of the nyad's mind was trying to remind her that she had no real cause for distress. It wasn't as if she and Dante had been an actual couple or anything. Yet that fact only worsened her mood. She had not been given the chance to see where she and Dante could have gone and what they could have done. He'd come into her life, stirred up her awareness of the opposite gender with his intelligent sweet smile and delectable smell, and then he was ... gone. Dante was gone.

Returning to reality, Phen dragged her eyes away from Kiel's and made herself focus on the book in her hands. The words on the pages blurred. The nyad stubbornly refused to let the sob bubbling up from her chest escape. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she tried to blink away tears. Dante was gone. She needed to remember that, to accept it. He was never coming back. He didn't want her. He had never wanted her. He had toyed with her emotions, and-

That was when the ball of water exploded.

"Oh no, no, no!" Phen cried, immediately asserting her will over her element. She concentrated too hard and changed things too fast, because the next thing Phen knew, the splatter from the ball froze into solid ice and thunked into the picnic blanket.

She sat there, looking more distressed than ever at the spidery icicles that had broken off when the frozen mass crash landed. Then, slowly, Phen looked up and over to Kiel. "I'm sorry. I'll fix it," she promised, then remembering to close the Latin textbook and carefully set it to the side. A corner of one of the pages had gotten torn when she'd panicked. Phen frowned at the sight and tried to convince her hands that they needed to be steady. They weren't listening, of course. "I'll replace the book," she added, her lovely voice wavering between its normal tones and notes sorrowful enough to serve as a dirge.

[Kiel]

“Wah.”

Kiel had three sisters and boundless female cousins. He'd learned, if only out of self-preservation, to figure out when something was up, and Phenny was giving off all kinds of "dude, you're doomed" vibes. Like, she was ducking his gaze, for a start, and Phenny was totally the stare-for-stare type.

All levity washed away as Kiel stopped messing around, pausing to look at her for a second. Like, he had to be sure this wasn't a "if you notice, I'll slip poisonous toads into your bed" type of sniffling, you know? He was pretty sure, though, or he wouldn't have reached out to pet her, except he never got the chance 'cause she totally freaked him out when her ball of water exploded.

“Wah!”

Kiel jumped a mile. Like, he'd swear he swallowed a bug, too, on the way back down, then had to jump all over again when the ice came crashing down where his foot had been. Shane totally thought it was another game or something, un-clawed paws batting at the chunk playfully, but Kiel was way more concerned with Phenny. He'd never seen her like this, man, and it made his heart hurt when his friends were sad.

“Dude. Like, dude. Dude.” He was trying to get her to stop, patting at her arm, her shoulder, not really sure she was listening. “Like, I don't care about a book, man. You know? This is me, hahahahaha, you can burn it for all I care, burn it, burn it!” Like, he kinda did care, but only 'cause his mom gave him that book. Well, like, actually it was a hand-me-down but it wasn't like it was a first edition or anything. And he was pretty sure Zeph must still have his somewhere, or he could totally 'borrow' Tad's since the dude had his own stash. Actually, Tad's stash of books was kinda like Kiel's collection of hats, so he'd totally be all moan-y about it, but he only wanted to borrow it for a little while, you know?

Besides, “I don't think, like, one torn page is a big deal anyhow.”

He was only focusing on the damage - which wasn't even that much so he just knew she was, like, diverting or something - 'cause he didn't know how to react to seeing her so close to tears. “Like, Phenny, man, what's wrong?”

Maybe sensing Kiel's concern, Shane abandoned her new toy in favour of trying to climb into Phenny's lap. “Hahahahaha, you got a new skirt, man, haha.” Figuring she had the right idea, Kiel scrambled to sit next to Phenny and put his arm around her. Hugs always made him feel better, you know, so it had to work on her too, right?

[Euphenia]

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"A-are you sure?" she asked, looking at the torn corner of the page instead of her friend.

Focusing on the book gave Phen something to think about that didn't involve Dante, but then she remembered that Dante was always toting a book around. She closed the suddenly offensive volume and set it aside, just in time to avoid it being crammed between her legs and a lapful of shadowkin.

Phen never had a teddy bear, or a stuffed animal, or a rag doll. She wasn't the kind who wanted or asked for toys. Yet she'd had pets, or rather, animals that she'd rescued and nursed back to health. The nyad knew what it meant when something cute, fuzzy, and warm crawled into your lap. Between Shane's earnest attempt to comfort her, and the worry in Kiel's voice, the tears Euphenia had been holding back suddenly broke free.

"He's never coming back!" she bawled, throwing her arms around Shane's neck and burying her face in the shadowkin's soft fur. "N-never," was hiccuped soon after, as her dancer's body trembled with the outpouring of her supressed stress and loneliness. She'd found someone who had been interested in her, someone who she had liked in return, and then he'd disappeared without a trace. She'd been given hope, and then it was snatched away. Euphenia wept for her lost chance. It was the most selfish act of her life, and once started, she simply couldn't stop crying.

"H-he never liked m-me," was sobbed into Shane's already damp ruff, "I'm s-so s-stupid."

Then she felt the warmth of Kiel's arm, and for a moment, she wished it was someone else. If only Dante was there to comfort her and say that it wasn't true. That he did like her, and wasn't going anywhere but where she wanted to go. Yet she knew who was really there for her, and the feeling passed. Kiel had always been there for her. He was better than anything she could have ever asked for in a friend.

Straightening some, Phen practically attacked Kiel with a fierce hug, wrapping her arms around his middle as she buried her face against his chest. She stayed there, still rocking with her sobs, for as long as he let her. Little whimpers escaped her lips as she cried, short mockeries that the younger nymphs of her village had tossed at her while she was growing up. She was a "freak". She was "unnatural". No one would ever want her. They bubbled up from where she'd hidden them deep down inside, flowing from her lips like venom from a wound.

It was so easy to believe the bad things, but Euphenia had been fighting them for years. She had the nymphs that were nice to her, her family, the dancers at The Birdcage, Kiel, Lazuli, Sanna, and of course, her faith in Xanth. They were bright gems shining in the crown of her declaration of independence and worth. When Dante left and stayed gone without a word, her crown slipped. It hadn't fallen. Kiel had somehow caught it on its way down.

[Kiel]

Kiel didn't do much. Like, he was pretty sure there wasn't much he could do, so he just kinda sat there with his arms around Phenny and his back pressed to the tree trunk and half of Shane's butt in his lap as she nuzzled against Phenny's shoulder. Like, it was probably a good thing she hadn't brought Sanna out today; he didn't think his 'kin could get that close without trying to eat her, you know?

“Dude, man, you're awesome, you know?” It wasn't the greatest start to a pep talk, but he wasn't exactly sure who "he" was. Like, she'd mentioned Dante a couple of times, but she'd never really gone into detail about how she felt, you know? She could be kinda sly that way, and Kiel wasn't too great at that whole "subtext" thing. He kinda figured that was who she meant, but he didn't want to be all assuming and conclusion-ing, and then get it wrong. “Like, every guy what sees you's all, like, "woah, dude" at you, you know? You're just kinda too dumb to see it, hahahahaha.”

Ack. That probably hadn't been the best thing to say under the circumstances. “But, like, I dunno if he is coming back or something, but I know for a straight-up fact he liked you, man. Like, remember that time at the grotto, how he couldn't take his eyes off you? For sers, man, that guy was totally into you.”

There he went assuming. It had to be Dante she meant, though, right? The pair had been all "eyes only" and he'd felt kinda jealous and cut-out, but also like he was a kid who'd been let up to the adult's table for a special occasion.

“And if he's too dumb to come back for you, then, like, he's the stupid one, you know? Like. Want me to beat him up or something? I can totally sic Zeph on him, hahahahaha. I gotta find him first, but, like, there can't be too many guys like him, you know, and I totally know a guy who can track him down 'cause he's a Therian and a guard, right, and like, Zeph'll prolly be all, like, "I'm not a guard dog for you to let loose when you need a thug, Kiel, do it yourself", but then I'll be all puppy-eyes at him and he'll totally do it, and I dunno if you know this but Zeph's totally wicked in a fight and has these really sharp weapons to poke people with, you know?”

Oxygen suck.

“So you want me to beat him up for you?”

[Euphenia]

PB · DaFont · Aethereality · rcr · Obsidian Dawn· Beyond Tonight · Dreams Time

Phen didn't want to listen, but Kiel had helped to bring her back to herself, and once there the nyad couldn't turn a deaf ear to her best friend. He said that she was "awesome", and a part of her thanked him for it, even if she could not yet speak. Her throat had closed up sometime during her downpour of tears, so intead of replying, Euphenia sagged with the weariness only a long bout of crying can bring and snuggled into the comfort that was Kiel and Shane.

Kiel's words, even when he fumbled them, fell upon Phen's emotional wounds like a comforting light drizzle of rain. The old and the new hurts were soothed, her friends' caring and nearness washing away lingering doubts. They weren't gone, not entirely.

She carefully released Kiel from the hold of one of her arms so she could use it to pet Shane wherever she could reach. Then Phen sat up some, so her cheek rested near Kiel's shoulder. "Girls notice you, too," she rasped, her throat still too sore and swollen for her to speak fully.

Phen opened her eyes to look up at Kiel with tears shining like diamonds on her long eyelashes. The blue of her twilight gaze was the predominant color, as it tended to be when she was feeling down. "So we're both oblivious."

She tried a tiny smile then, though it didn't get very far. Phen did feel better, but she hadn't been prepared for the sudden realization of Dante's absence being permanent slamming into her like a shadowkin's paws upon a field mouse. She was off kilter, and more than a little woozy. "So this is what a cracked egg feels like," she mumbled, "Maybe if I wait long enough, everything will drain out and I'll only feel numb."

Letting up her stroking of Shane's fur, Phen slowly brought her hand up to cup Kiel's face. She caressed his cheek with her thumb. "No, you don't have to beat him up for me," Phen murmured, her voice improving slightly each time that she used it, "I'm better now, thanks to you."

She'd meant to say "Thanks to you two", but it didn't come out right. So a corner of her smile curled up higher. She felt sheepish, so Phen elected to not talk for a bit. Surely whatever she had to say could wait.

[Kiel]

Wah!

Phen was way too close, man. Like, she was right there, right there! Way past kissing distance, and, like, he was a guy, you know? Totally loyal to Zeph (and not just 'cause he was scared the dude would turn him into egg fried rice if he caught him cheating), but still a guy!

“Wah!”

Her voice was husky, too, and even though he knew it was 'cause she'd been crying it had a totally weird effect on him. Like, he hadn't just been saying that to Phenny about how Dante was stupid, he'd really meant it, but now he really meant it, 'cause in that moment he didn't see her as just a friend. He didn't see her as just anything. And she was totally hot.

Grossed-out crying face and all.

“Hahahahaha, yeah, totally oblivious.” He wasn't sure what he was oblivious to any more, and he totally had to find a way to extricate himself here without making her feel like he was ditching her. He loved her, you know, but as a friend, a friend! He didn't want to lose her. And, like, maybe if he weren't dating Zeph things would be different, but this was a pretty sucky moment to hit on a chick anyway, you know?

So he grabbed at her shoulders and tried to shove her back and away from him, using that whole thing about being numb as an excuse to distance himself from her physically. He could look her in the eyes at arms' length right now and tell her off for that without it seeming weird, right?

“Numb's no good, man. You're not built for numb.” He might have even shaken her a little. “Like, okay.” He threw his hands up and shook his head. “I know it sucks, okay? He sucks. Like, I totally will beat him up, hahahaha. But, like, okay, so like, I kinda think being numb sucks worse, you know? I mean, okay, so I know some day Zeph'll get bored of me, or I'll get bored of him, or he'll turn me into a fire poker 'cause I bug him too much or something, but I wouldn't trade this time with him for anything, you know? I dunno, maybe it's 'cause you guys don't live so long, but you gotta embrace what Xanth gives you, you know? Good and bad.”

Being all wise and stuff didn't sit well with him; it sounded stupid. But he hated the thought of her closing herself off, the way Zeph had, and shutting people out just so she wouldn't have to feel bad. “Besides, man,” he told her, puffing out his chest like he knew what he was talking about, and winking at her, “if you shut down like that, how will you know when you find your lifemate, you know?”

[Euphenia]

PB · DaFont · Aethereality · rcr · Obsidian Dawn· Beyond Tonight · Dreams Time

(( Super long post, ahoy! ))

It was one of those moments in time that everything slowed down.

Phen's eyes widened in surprise when that "look" came over Kiel's face. She'd seen it before, when she'd brought her head closer to Dante's when they had spoken last. It had sped up her heartbeat then, and made every part of her that had touched Dante tingle as if painless lightning was dancing across her skin. What surprised her was that there, with Kiel, she reacted the same way.

The violet of her eyes flared up and pushed at the blue, till it and the gray was almost nonexistent. Phen's hand cupped Kiel's cheek, and her eyes slid to be half closed. Inside, she was torn in two. One half was screaming "No! We'll lose him! Stop this! Stop!" and the other was urging her forward, partly opening her full lips to prepare for the kiss it was sure would come. Her first kiss ...

Suddenly she was no longer cradled against Kiel. His warmth was gone, and with it the tingle from earlier. Her friend shook reality back into her, and horror bloomed. She'd nearly kissed him. Kiel. Her best friend. She would have hurt not only him, but his boyfriend. She would have hurt them both. Maybe not Zephyr right away, but Kiel was an honest man. Zephyr would have found out, and then who knew what would happen?

Phen's experience with what had just occurred was severely limited, but she knew that to let something like that fester would be a horrible idea. The reason that she and Kiel got along so well was simple, they didn't keep secrets from one another. Not a one. Sure, she hadn't told him about her crush on Dante, but that was because he'd guessed it on his own.

She tried to listen to what Kiel was saying, during and after he shook her, but the parts she picked up threatened to tumble her back into tears. Words like "bored" and "lifemate". Phen placed both of her hands on Shane's fur as if grasping at the firmament of the earth for support, and then made sure to start petting the shadowkin before she answered Kiel's attempt to make her feel better.

"I care .. cared about Dante a lot," she began in the tone of a confession. "I've never felt that way about anyone before him. He made me wonder what it was like to kiss someone. To be held by them."

Her cheeks were bright red by the time she said "kiss". "And .. other things. Things I thought I'd never get to experience. We never did those things, and I'm still curious ..."

Oh, now that wasn't going to work. Clearing her throat, Phen tried again. "Kiel, I'm sorry. I didn't mean ... I wasn't thinking," she attempted to explain, then made the mistake of looking at him. Her heart did a flip when their eyes met, and swiftly she looked away. "No, no, no. I'm just missing Dante. That's it. It's misplaced feelings. Nothing more. I will not ruin what Kiel has."

She took in a deep, steadying breath and let it back out, slowly. Then Phen dragged her head up and forced herself to meet Kiel's eyes. Her heart beat faster. Again. That time, she didn't look away. "Deal with it," Phen's inner voice scolded.

"I appreciate your advice. Really, I do. I don't agree that Zephyr will get bored of you. How could he? You're wonderful. I won't say perfect, because you aren't, but that's the best part about you, your imperfections."

Phen realized then that her hands had stopped moving, and had been still for some time. She willed them to pet Shane again. "When we met, you saw me for who I am. Just me. Afterward, you didn't tease me about my wings, or that I'm a halfbreed. You accepted me. You sought me out later. You w-wanted to be around m-me ... Sorry, I just need a moment."

She sniffed, and didn't bother trying to stop the renewed flow of tears. Another deep inhale and exhale, and she felt more calm. "I won't close myself off. I can promise you that. I've seen what it's done to my mother. She thinks I haven't noticed who she becomes when she isn't with me. I let her believe that. Normally, I try to be truthful about everything, but she tries so hard to hide it ... She must suspect that I've realized it by now."

The nyad shook her head, and pale gold hair flew. It settled about her like a cloud, and as it did the colors of Phen's eyes equalized. "Anyway, we can't ignore what happened, Kiel. I ... I almost kissed you. What should we do? I want you to be happy, Kiel, so .. so tell me what you think is best."

Phen braced herself. She suspected there was going to be a "Just forget it happened" and a "We won't tell Zeph" in her near future. Then again, there was the fear of hearing "Maybe we should stop being around one another". The other two would be euphoric when compared to that. What was she hoping for, anyway? No matter what, she was going to feel guilty.

"Of all the things to happen," she groused inside her head, "I had to suddenly notice that Kiel is desirable."

[Kiel]

“Hahaha, it's okay, it's okay.” As much as he tried to wave it off, though, he was still a bit red in the face. "Kissing and other things"? Wah! “I think it kinda happens sometimes if you're needing a hug or something, you know? And, like, I'm a guy so, like, you know. But it's fine, it's fine! For sers, man.”

His face got hotter when she said all that nice stuff about him, and he felt like a total jerk. “Well, like, 'course I wanted to be around you, man, you're awesome, awesome!” He patted her shoulder again, scooting a bit closer to put his arm around her again and rub her arm as if they hadn't just had a near-disaster. “Come on, man, don't cry. You'll find some dude who isn't a total stupid-head and he'll be all, like, wrapped around your finger and stuff, okay? It's okay.”

He didn't say anything about her mom. Like, for once he kept his mouth shut, you know? Enyo kinda scared the pants off him in that "ohmygod so cool!" kinda way, but she'd made Phenny and Phenny loved her, so there must be something good about her, you know?

“I ... I almost kissed you. What should we do?”

Kiel opened his mouth to answer, then shut it again. “I dunno. Like, you're totally hot and way awesome, man, but I'm totally into Zeph, you know? And, like, all the chicks back home agree I make a better friend than a boyfriend anyhow. Maybe I am gay, hahahahaha.” He ignored the fact that he must be at least bi-sexual given his relationship with Zeph, even though he was still more than a little bit convinced he was totally straight despite evidence to the contrary.

He was still rubbing Phen's arm, but, like, looking out at the river instead of her, confused and worried, and his chin slumped into the palm of his free hand. Like, no way he could keep something as big as this bottled up, you know? It'd totally explode all over Zeph next time he saw the dude, so he had to be honest. He didn't like secrets anyhow, and neither did his boss. “But, like, how'm I meant to keep you out of it? I wanted you guys to get along, you know, but if he finds out I nearly kissed you even though it wouldn't be a real kiss 'cause you're crying and it was just 'cause you got close and stuff, he'd totally steam us both alive and feed us to the fishies.”

Pause to remember he was mean to be comforting Phen, instead of scaring her, and then he jerked upright to yell out “But it's okay, it's okay!”