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[ He had personal issues with people knowing what he is completely fine living without. Humans have a thing, sometimes, about what they can get away with. Strong work that doesn't need rest or food? Why do they have to give it to them? Sans wouldn't really do anything with it, but humans... Other humans, silly, marvelous, dumb-as-shit humans..

Zaveid takes a moment to watch her. Really watch her, sleepy half-closed eyes very keen and a lot older than that face of his. ]

I already have a pact. He's just elsewhere, it's not me who needs the vessel.

[ That's, uh, something. right there. What does that say about what he thinks of this 'vessel', that that's what he thinks she's offering when she says a normal, sane human would think twice about. ]

I'm protectin' the one who does. [ And on the word 'protect', he reaches out to tap her - and for an instant, she feels like she's where ever she's most comfortable, most at home. A sense of security, of not-quite calm, but... she's safe, she's around friends, she's not being pressed in by the world.

Of course, that might have been a mistake on his part. His eyes flutter and he slumps. There's where his energy is going. ]

[He speaks her language, almost. Pacts and familiars, these are terms Rin has grown up with. Indeed, since she was seven years old, it's what she's spent her life training for.

It's not me who needs the vessel.

Her brow creases, failing to catch his meaning. But before she can ask, he reaches forward and taps her. And then...

Then it feels inexplicably like mana all around her; a static discharge of energy against her skin, but softer. A sense of comfort and no worries, even as Zaveid's body starts to slump forward. There's no danger here, and no matter how it looks, everything will be alright.

Just as quickly as it came, when Zaveid drops it sizzles out all around her. Rin's breath catches, but she doesn't lose her composure. She doesn't really understand what it is he just did, but she gets the feeling it wasn't to harm her. If anything, it seems like the reverse.

Stepping around the bed, she utters a mental command to one of her familiars, an amethyst bird that flies from out of her bag. It perches in her hand when she holds it out to it, and Rin folds its wings in, closing her fingers tightly around the gem.

She gave it life, with her own mana, and now she'll take it back — not for herself, but for the seraph slumped on the bed here. Rin holds her hand over Zaveid's chest, and in her grasp the bird begins to melt: not into liquid, but pure, crystalized mana that flows into him.

It's not as much as she had been willing to offer, coming from such a small familiar, but a pinch from Rin contains a surprising lot. While he might not wake now, when he does, Zaveid will feel a slight, but notable spike in energy.]

[ He's asleep, definitely, a drained exhausted sort that results in unflattering expressions from where face presses against bedding.

And even with the mana slowly glinting green like the ends of his hair and vanishing, it still takes him a good minute to stir.

But when he opens his eyes, he's definitely more.. aware. A bit closer to the guy who'd studied her a moment ago, than the half asleep mess he'd been on the video. ]

Huh.

[ He should make sure to eat more. Seems like it would help a lot. ]

... That's what you were getting at, wasn't it. Mana.

[She'd taken to sitting after all. Might as well, since she wasn't sure when he'd wake up. Rin answers him without looking.]

That's right.

[There's no trace of the bird that was her familiar; the gem she spent her favor on, poured her literal blood into to create. Better that there's no evidence of such for Zaveid to know about, to be honest.

This isn't the first time she's spent such a precious thing on someone she barely knows — not even the second or third — and she can't help but wonder if her father would be cross at her for it.]

[ Zaveid studies her for a moment. She seems kinda put out? How does she give mana to others? Uh. ]

... Please tell me that it isn't like. Some kind of intimate thing for you to do that.

[ He's.. mostly teasing, as he sits back up. Girl he just told you he's thousands of years old- ]

[She huffs, cheeks flushing but not uncomposed for once — and smacks him (lightly) in the face with a pillow.]

Don't get your hopes up. I wouldn't have offered if it were.

[ Zaveid just laughs through the pillow whacking, barely raising an arm to defend himself. He totally deserved it. ]

Oh, good. [ He's a lot more lively sounding, which is probably good, even if the current context... ]

No offense meant. You're a pretty girl. [ Which that last word is probably why he's worried. Remember? He's Old?

... So moving on. ]

... I think I mentioned something about vessels. But you were talking mana... [ That's what the topic had been before his silly interruption, right? ]

[Yup. Moving right on.]

Mm. I could have given you more than what you did, if you hadn't passed out. However, I'm just glad it seems to have helped.

[She looks over her shoulder at him now, finally. She doesn't think she's imagining it, no. He does sound much more 'here'.]

I was worried it wouldn't. The way you spoke, it seemed you needed something else.

[The aforementioned vessels.]

[ Zaveid has a look like he's debating saying anything. ]

... Yeah. Usually, when someone does... [ He waves his hand, and this time the wind stirs with it, sort of curling about Rin. Yep, he's doing better. ]

It's called blessing, short for a blessed domain. It's usually done over uh... cities and their surrounding countryside. And usually the seraph doin' it has a vessel. Mine's ... still at home. That might be what's bitin' me in the ass. [ He doesn't exactly sound convinced, though, that that's the problem. ]

[That it does seem to have worked has her relaxing some. She's glad for that, and that he didn't actually try this vessel business on her without her permission (that had been the other thing she was mildly concerned about).

Apparently it was a blessing instead? She listens to that explanation with sharp eyes, and it's clear there are questions forming behind them, but something else he says makes her put that on hold.]

That's all? Wouldn't you have felt the effects before now, in that case? You've been in this castle at least as long as I have.

I've only been doing a very small blessing for that time. Probably would'a been fine for a while, but I ... might have done a very big blessing... three or four days after the cages. [ Look, when you count your age in centuries as the small number, you... kinda get iffy on hours and days. It was actually closer to a week after the cages. ]

[There's a pause, and then Rin's eyes narrow — just slightly — as something clicks. She speaks crisply.]

And then to top it off, you blessed me?

Edited 2016-11-15 06:41 (UTC)

For like, three seconds!

[ He's gunna get yelled at, isn't he- ]

And I stopped when I fell asleep, too!

[ ... Well, all wouldn't be right in the world if he didn't get yelled at for something or other, so, well. Maybe here it is for the week. ]

[YUP, he's getting smacked on top of the head with the pillow again. What a dope.]

If it cost enough energy to make you fall asleep in the first place, you shouldn't have bothered at all!

[Huffing a sigh, she bops him one more time for good measure, then drops the pillow and folds her arms under her chest.]

Honestly! I couldn't have done anything to have had it be worth it.

[ And he's laughing again- ]

Well, maybe you'd have figured out what I'd meant by words, but it's still easier to do. [ Because he is terrible at this staying still business. ]

But I'm willin' ta guess it wasn't what you'd have first thought of, hearing of being 'blessed' by a guy like me.

[ He know how he looks, even if its tricky for him to really see it. ]

[Well, it's not like she can deny that. Out of fairness to that, she does half-nod. But:]

Geez, you really were bad off, weren't you? [She mutters this, and it doesn't come out nearly as caustic as it could have.] To think I needed a demonstration for what had made you so weak, your brains must have felt like scrambled eggs.

[She's trying to be frustrated with him, and a part of that rings true, but the fact that's a genuine possibility breathes real concern into the statement. Shaking it off, she looks back at him.]

That big blessing you mentioned performing; is it still in effect?

[She didn't miss the important point of what he said, when he was defending himself. Zaveid can control the duration of his blessings as well, it seems.]

Edited 2016-11-15 07:11 (UTC)

Tasty tasty scrambled eggs.

[ ... this doesn't actually mean he's having trouble again, this is actually entirely similar to some other things he says when... perfectly fine.

Unless the secret is that he's never actually fine, but, well, that's a completely different problem. ]

Nah. I passed out. Kinda lost the both of them then. [ He'd been much worse off from that one, would be the other translation. ]

[She raises an eyebrow. A lesson to be learned with him, for sure. But then he did sound much more like that the first time they met.]

I'm having a hard time understanding. Are the blessings worth it, if they cost so much from you without a vessel?

Well, passin' out is much better'n dying, so. [ Yeah, he's thinking its worth it. ]

... Does negative emotion - rage, fear, the all consuming thirst for revenge - have power where you're from?

[ Seems like random curiosity, but he'll get to it. ]

Of course they do. Little good comes from when humans act on such things.

[If only she were from further along her own timeline, she could even give him a very specific example more akin to what he's looking for. Alas not.]

Although I suspect you mean that in a different way.

Yup.

[ He puts his head on his hand, chin on his knee. ]

It's.. visible, to me. This inky purple stuff floating about. A human who looses himself too much to, lets say, his love of killing and hurting things? I don't see a human anymore. It's kinda like... they're an ogre in their hearts, so that's what I see, and.. gotta deal with the reach and hunger of.

[ He shrugs. Ogres are small fry. ]

I was chasin' something off that was gunna make me turn into somethin' like that. Only, well, probably wouldn't have been an ogre. If a bloodthirsty human grows twice, or thrice their size from what we call 'malevolence', home... imagine what a spirit - a seraph - like me would be. Or an earth seraph. [ He tilts his head toward the mountain. The power to do that, but gone mad and warped into a monster. ]

[Due to years of training and pouring over mythology, she has a healthy appreciation of the things he speaks of; if not in exact terms and the way he means, then in her imagination.
It might have been nice to have had someone like him around, in those years growing up with Kirei.
As he is now, it seems like a small problem, but she can remember the energy she faintly felt off of Zaveid at the festival. If what he describes were to happen, and he went out of control... Yes, she can agree that would be problematic. Maybe even disastrous, given the way he speaks; the way he looks over the mountain as he tells her of earth seraphs.

All this time, she thinks she's underestimated him.]

I see... [Trailing off, Rin tucks her hands under her armpits for warmth and looks out across the sky.] Then it would appear thanks are an order.

[ And that's without mentioning that he'd literally become a dragon - ruled by the power and hunger he has.

He's happy, right now, there's no stink of scales and malevolence to the air. It's Reyfalke as he knew it, not how it is now. Thanks, Ozuma, even if it was really confusing..

But he blinks at her, staring blankly for a moment. He hasn't mentioned that he usually hunts these kinds of monsters - humans giving into their problems, other seraphim who'd fallen. ]

I don't need thanks for keepin' my own skin in one piece. [ ... Although if, for some reason she does actually feel thankful about ... whatever it is that she thinks he did, she might notice a tiny, tiny uptick in his energy. A drop, and he seems to be a leaky pail. ]

'nless you're thankin' me for keepin' the kid safe, in which case, again, didn't do it for thanks. [ He's doing it so the kid has a chance. So he doesn't lose him again. ]

[She smirks. The placement of his name on the door makes a lot more sense now.]

Could it be you're a softie, Zaveid?

[Fufu. Laughing, she cuts him off before he can respond, if he tries it.]

I don't know which kid you're talking about, or what your reasons were. Even if they were purely selfish, simply put, it worked out as a favor to everyone in this castle by proxy. The things the Queen sends our way are annoying enough without throwing in a shirtless ogre.

[So of course she feels grateful, even if just by a little. It's a passing thing, like when she's grateful someone made enough dinner for everyone, or when the person ahead of her in the shower left some hot water for her. "Thanks where thanks is due", she would say.

As she wasn't there to know what it was like, nor is she emotionally tied to this situation, it's the best she can afford, but it comes naturally to her. Sometimes Rin is so selfish herself, she loops back around to being unselfish.]

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