ic Interpersonal Counter Revolutions.

[Brown Dynamite]

The ever appropriately named Lonely Point.  For as open as she was, Thaelia didn't look forward to an assignment in isolation.  It didn't help that Elias seemed to downright loathe her.  No matter how often she pushed and prodded.  It only served to get him to push her further away.  Something that fully came to a head during the winter festivities.  She tired to make amends, but as far as she could tell he kept withdrawing when she did as such.

 

With the Summer fast approaching the Atlantean royal eventually let it be.  Having not spoken to Errant in months.  Not by her choice, that would imply he had given her a choice in the matter.  Her own emotions were mixed on the matter.  If she had been such a bother, why had he not just told her?  But he did tell her, during the party, she knew that much.  It was hard to swallow that she could be held in such low regard by someone she considered a comrade in arms.

 

So, Thaelia was surprised to find that the faculty had assigned them together in the most open space above the water that she had ever set her eyes upon.  But she didn't protest.  No, the demigoddess held her head high.  Whistled an optimistic tune.  And the otherwise social butterfly was left hoping for the best.

[TheAbsurdist]

Of course there was the simple dissonance that Errant's worldview didn't match with hers.  His childhood was more a treatise in Pavlovian responses than normalcy.  Though, once he had said his piece he never showed overt hostility towards her, or Subito, or anyone else.  Rather he avoided them.  Not that it was better.  And Thaelia knew that he did things when no one was watching.  In fact the moment he had any space to run, he did just that.  Slipping whatever leash he could as he ran off chasing whatever trails and ghosts he could see, and others were left a little confused over.

 

Once they were at Lonely Point, he had pulled the earbuds out, looking somewhere between somber and haggard.  Of course it was known he tended to have loud music playing because it mitigate the 'murmur' as he called it of other people's thoughts around him.  Helped him have another stimulus that he could focus on.  Now though, he looked around, and among a bit of hard scrabble, he took off, to kneel down, and start plucking at some of the purple buds of the wild beach pea, eating them then as he knelt there, organizing himself for the project.

[Brown Dynamite]

Soil and various pieces of the landscape were sent flying as Glamazon leapt of the ground.  Sailing towards Errant with comfortable ease.  And almost immediately invading into his space.  As often came with Thaelia the first thought that reached her mind was quickly verbalized.  "How would you like to proceed?"  She of course was speaking of the assignment.  But the unspoken implication lingered in the air.  As if prodding to the unfortunate circumstances that lead them there.

 

In reality, she had no hidden intention with her query.  She never did.  Her thought process was too straightforward for such.  Kneeling down her blue eyes would stare eager to begin their task.  Always willing to rise up to any trial laid before her.

 

It was such drive that didn't always make her the best social companion.  A degree of almost inherent selfishness that came from having the royal lifestyle.  Even in Atlantis, there was a certain difference in the standard of living.  Thaelia never meant to hold her own wants over those around her.  And was always quick to correct herself if an accusation of such was lobbied against her.  But it didn't change the fact that she was dense when it came to fully considering the feelings of others.  Such as the possibility of leaving Errant uncomfortable as she invaded her personal space.

 

Much like the incident during the Freedom League's holiday party.  Thaelia had made great strides since enrolling in Claremont.  Especially under the assistance of her roommate and confidante Giang.  An arrangement that was soon to come to an end.  Great strides were not the same thing as completely curbing a habit, however.

[TheAbsurdist]

There was a fortunate juxtaposition that Elias was that perceptive of others feelings, their intentions.  She invaded his space, and he didn't presume she was doing so with ulterior motives, just that she was brash, and direct in a manner that was insensitive.  He finished harvesting the pods and looked to her for a moment.  "In what?  The obvious attempt to ease some friction that is believed to be between us?"  Of course the whole affair was transparent to him, just like her worry, but he didn't know how to convey to her that he was... confused about his feelings towards her.  He didn't have data to relate to her, he was flying blind, he hated it.

 

He started to offer some of the beach peas to her and then stopped, "...Don't eat these, they have a neurotoxin in them."  He finished his handful, before he pulled the notepad out of his satchel.  "I don't know, I like the quiet here... But an assignment on the ecology of lonely point seems...  Silly.  Rocks,  Sand.  Military base?"

[Brown Dynamite]

"Water.  Do not forget the sea creatures.  I am sure there must be some."  She replied smacking her fist into her palm.  An expression that was perhaps a bit too pleased with herself, for solving a question that was never asked.  She couldn't help herself it was an excuse to feel the refreshing waves dance between her toes if only for a moment.  The water was comforting, and above all it was home.

 

She looked at the beach peas momentarily.  Before looking at Elias once more.  His appearance wasn't something that would suggest an iron stomach. But she doubted he would be careless enough to willingly place himself in harm's way.  Even if spending time with her was so unbearable.  "Should you be eating them if they are dangerous?"

 

Finally Thaelia came back to the first point raised.  The friction that was 'believed' to be between them.  "Do you feel at ease?"

[TheAbsurdist]

"It's a beach, there will be things.  Sand fleas, some shallow water fish.  The east coast is like this, not like the coastline where I grew up... but I was mostly in the interior.  Away from the water."  He said it softly, he shifted, and rose to his feet, moving up to the rocky outcrop next to him, lifting a hand and shading his eyes as he looked out there.  "I have to eat a lot more." 

 

When she asked her question, he didn't respond to her, immediately.  "No."  Came the response, but there was no hate, or frustration, there weas just his flat way of talking.  "I don't hate you."  Looking to her over her shouder for a moment, before he moved along the crest among the dune grass.

[Brown Dynamite]

"The interior.  My childhood included water in both interior and exterior."  She openly observed.  Following along after Ellias as he made his way to look out towards the water.  Her own eyes heading towards the very same direction.

 

"You do not feel at ease.  But you do not hate me.  Forgive me, but this is a sack of Xa-akall."  Loosely translated from Atlantean the word she had used meant something along the lines of Shark intestines which have been hung out to rot.  But the context clearly implied it to be a more profane definition.  And by context one meant the stare in Thaelia's eyes and whatever stray thoughts may have escaped.

 

"I concede that you suffered a grave insult at my hands earlier in the year.  I shall apologize once more if it is of any comfort.  But do not inform the tension did not exist even before the earlier slight."

[TheAbsurdist]

He sighed and closed his eyes.  "You are not from this world there..."  Gesturing to the city, to the susurrus.  "Neither am I."  Letting his arm fall at his side, "So is it easy to understand that perhaps I am uncomfortable because I don't know how to act towards you?"  And he looked away from her.  "I don't believe there is a commonality between us... or where we come from at least.  I've had enough bad luck trying to explain this to people.  There is no friction."

 

He rolled his shoulders in a shrug as he moved along the ridge of the dune grass, parallel to the water, knowing it was distracting her, and hopefully he could more past that aspect of the conversation.

[Brown Dynamite]

Thaelia's eyes followed Elias as he travelled along the water line. "I see."  She could understand it being difficult to express oneself.  Acclimating for her part was smooth but not without issue.  While Thaelia didn't consider herself pampered.  The fact remained that beneath the water she had far fewer peers to socialize with.  Members of the military and royal guard obviously not counting for such matters.  Nor did anyone else who would refer to her as 'your highness'

 

She disagreed on there being no common ground.  He was incorrigible at the worst of time.  Yet, the atlantean considered Elias a warrior at heart.  At least that was what her prior experiences had led her to believe.  It was something, she thought gave them a semblance of potential understanding.  Perhaps there was nothing.  "I see no reason to doubt your words."  Much like how she treated everyone else, Thaelia took him at face value.

[TheAbsurdist]

Elias was not a skillful liar, he was a skillful at omission.  Or more accurately he just didn't say things.  Or said less things now.  It wasn't as if he held the same standards of shame as everyone else, though he often wore clothes over all of his body, but for different reasons.  He sensed something in her response, something that indicated that perhaps she was not believing what he said.  He kept walking, however, to another beach pea plant.  He slid out a phone from his pocket then, and took a few photos.

 

"It's native to the Americas, Asia and Europe.   The seed pods can survive being in sea water for five years.  It does contain a toxin, but it takes years of ingesting before it causes a problem.  It was milled in Europe for use as a staple food, where it cause a problem."  Glancing to her, and then he frowned a bit, and looked back at the plant.  it was a metaphor, he was sure of it.  Or he was reading too much into a moment.

 

"The anger wasn't entirely directed at you.  It was... frustration over the belief, the urge to fix me.  As if I was a broken thing.  That somehow because I was not similar to all of you that I needed to be fixed.  That somehow I had to be the one to modify myself, to understand you, and none of you were going to do the same.  I am not broken."

[Brown Dynamite]

Thaelia softly walked to find a different wild beach pea from.  Nodding along as he continued the explanation of its poison mechanism of action.  Cracking it open immediately after and eating it.  Understanding the fact that she was safe to at least eat one now.  Looking up and smiling afterwards and not giving the plant much thought afterwards.

 

"Of course you are not broken.  I would never imply as such.  Though brave Errant.  You are the only one who feels yourself not cut from the same warrior's cloth.  Think not of the trials of your youth.  I have seen through your actions, selflessness.  And recklessness.  The thirst for adventure is not shared, but the honor you display and the sense of justice you seek is not that of one who is broken.  Of this I am sure."  Thaelia stated deciding to simply explain her perspective.  "Not broken...but perhaps guarded."

 

"It is my error that failed to allow myself to view things from your perspective.  And for this, I send my most humble of condolences.  I thought us comrades in arms.  Champions against fiends alike."  Going on to ponder she threw the shell of the pea she had eaten as hard as she could.  Flicking it across the water like someone skipping a stone.  If that stone were propelled at preternatural speeds due to the force generated by her strength.  "But we are different.  I must learn how to express myself, without privilege.  I am a royal, not even that I have divine ichor flowing through my blood.  An embodiment of Mother Ocean, it raises my status amongst my people. Bringing about greater expectations.  All I had to do was ask and even a praetor was likely to honor my petulant whims.  But comrades, no friends, should not make demands of one another and expecting the same level of subservience as their subjects."

[TheAbsurdist]

He frowned a little bit, his hands going into his pocket as he moved and looked around, eyes narrow.  "That is not my trouble.  I am...  am comfortable with who I am.  It is others I have a hard time dealing with.  You can allow yourself to feel, to demonstrate an emotion.  You can have moments of being truly alone.  I don't get that.  How do you illustrate to others that although you are walking on the same ground, it is a vastly different world?  That I can understand your experience, but mine is the one that doesn't translate?  Connected to everything, isolated from it all."  There was a moment, as he started at the ocean, that there was something more, something that he considered saying, it was enough for her to feel, as oblivious as she often could be.

 

Then as quickly as it happened, it was gone, and he was closed off again.  "Let's get the assignment done and over with.  I don't like the clouds."

[Brown Dynamite]

"Weave your tales and trust that others may take heed of your words.."  Thaelia answered a question someone else would have likely taken as a rhetorical pause.  Walking forward she would reach the water.  Splashing water on her face to reinvigorate herself.  Each drop more refreshing than the last.  "The world as you say is vast.  I know not if I can provide an answer you will find acceptable.  However expressing oneself to others is not done from a distance."

 

Stretching her arm out to dry her hands Thaelia sighed to herself softly.  Making sure to replace the exasperation quickly with a bright smile.  Looking up in the direction of Elias.  The discussion may not have been one without issue.  But it was the first conversation the pair had actually struck in such a long time.  That was progress "Let us conquer this labor then."

[TheAbsurdist]

His pale eyes followed after her as she moved to the water.  Not that he needed to do that, but he did.  Following after her shortly, though he stopped before he was standing in the water.  "You can't..."  He looked to her, sighing almost in unison with her.  Not that he was picking up her emotional state... but...  Then  there was a change in his demeanor, his eyes, and he lunged to her, splashing into the water, and he grasped at one of her outstretched arms, before he switched his weight back quickly then, sharply.  Drawing her back to him abruptly as he became off balance, and he pulled her onto him.  

 

This was not quite From Here to Eternity, but the image bubbled up in his head as...

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

 

 

THOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

 

Came the sound of the cannon.  And a metal something whizzed past the space she had occupied, flying over them both at a high rate of speed, the chain tailing after it, until it struck the bank behind them, embedding with a dull thud.  There was cursing, loud cursing, before the men made themselves apparent to her, and her friend.  "Despot Thaelia!  Submit to most righteous justice!"  One of the helmeted Atlantean plebian's ranted in their native tongue, shaking his fist at Thaelia, the other arm was modified with a crude looking metal thing, where the chain went back into.  He was flanked by three others, and he then waved his hand from them towards her and Errant.  "Get her!  If the other interferes, kill him!  We will bring down the oppressive regime!"

[Brown Dynamite]

It took every ounce of restrain to not flail her arms forward and push away out of pure shock.  Enough of Thaelia's wits remained to instinctually not want to hurt Elias with her strength accidentally.  Thaelia was not easily embarrassed, however, her face quickly became flushed at the unexpected turn of events.  There was nothing in their discussion that would call for an embrace unless she misunderstood some surface dwelling social intricacies.  Running through a gamut of emotions she eventually settled on bewilderment.  Staring Errant directly in the face.  "What are-"

 

Then came the loud crash.  Boasts in her native tongue with it soon after.  "Despot?  Who dares slander the name of the Daughter of the Seas?"  Thaelia's eyes narrowed as she moved her head to the helmet slanderers.  Realization quickly set in as the barbarians surrounded them.  She wasn't the first royal targeted by the organized rabble with eyes on the throne, nor would she be the last.  Her head tilting back towards Errant's.  "What say you?  Shall we present them with the gift of battle?!"  Making no secret of her intention to resist, Thaelia looked downright excited.

[TheAbsurdist]

Errant rose to his feet then, his hands going to the top of his head, and his chin, twisting at his head sharply.  And without saying anything further, he ran at them.  She knew he would charge, and given that the largest threat was off balance, but that didn't matter, because he wasn't going to hit them.  Well, not with his fists.  Once he drew close enough, he let it out.

 

Doubt.  Self-Hate.  Despair.  It just poured out, and while it didn't strike Thaelia, she could feel it.  The first time in their team ups, she felt his power.  It was like the ocean they were standing in, crashing, roaring.  Flooding and eroding over the conscious minds of the men before them.  It worked, on all of them.  He pulled up every moment of hesitation in their lives, and he played it like a fiddle.

 

Errant wasn't a warrior.  He was a weapon against the psyches of others.  It was something he had never really said with her, because he was scared of her reaction, but he didn't have time for that.  As one of the men just dropped to the ground, and the confidence of the others was shaken.

[Brown Dynamite]

Thaelia bent her legs back and kicked forward.  Returning to a standing position with an acrobatic kip-up the loose environment making it difficult to immediately gain her footing.  Once upright, Thaelia charged forward speeding off to the center of the mass of opponents.  Giving them the advantageous position of being able to surround her.  Not that she was worried in the slightest.

 

"A princess of Atlantis challenges you fiends to battle.  Prepare thyselves for a punishment most foul!"  Her confident boasts didn't alert to the fact that the Glamazon was also surveying just what Errant had done.  All she saw was him place his hands at the top of his head.  And the aftermath.  They were disheartened.  Their spirits broken before combat had begun.

 

The lack of obvious flash made it difficult to ascertain how he attacked them.  But ultimately, she didn't have anything against the method for him personally.  But due to her honor, Thaelia would play no party to taking advantage of foes in such a state.  Leaving the man cowering on the ground safe from further retribution for the moment.

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

 

The two that were still standing lunged forward then towards them, well more accurately Errant.  The lead one swung at him, backhanding the young telepath across the face.  Then the other grabbed the doubled over Errant, and threw him back onto the rise on the beach.  He landed in a heap.

 

The leader smirked and then the heavy black chain started to real back the metal pincher towards his hand, while roaring in Atlantean.  "Now that your little weak surfacer friend is taken care of, it is time to end your selfish, decadent claim to an outmoded rulership of our people!"

[Brown Dynamite]

Errant was a lot of things.  Someone who was built to take on the blows of Atlanteans directly was not one of those things.  She trusted that he was able to brace himself in some way.  Not that it sated her anger any in that they ignored her to attack him.  "I care not for your insolent claims at decadence and selfishness.  The words of fiends willing to harm an unrelated first are of not import.  Know that by harming my comrade the spirit of the Glamazon calls for vengeance!  I shall not be denied."

 

She kicked off backwards moving in a haze of speed directly in front of the Goon whom had thrown Errant.  Thaelia didn't even try and get a proper stance.  In a blind rage just swung.  Sloppily enough that the Atlantean goon was able to easily lean his head back out of reach.  A confident smirk as perhaps he expected that collecting his quarry would now be a simple matter.  The look on her eyes remained focus on the attackers.  Never letting a single one escape her line of sight.

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

 

The two of them turned to her in time for the one she was attacking to lean back out of the way.  The one there, scarred, and sneering, lunged back towards her, moving artlessly.  Allowing her to evade easily the first attack, and then the next.  And even the large black metal pincher that once more sailed at her, and missing the mark, before it went into the sand behind her.  "Then perhaps we will need to employ leverage to silence a spoiled cur of a princess like you!"  He looked to one of the men, "Go, take the witchboy!  We'll see how much fight she has when her wormling friend is held!"  One of the men dutifully broke from engaging her, and he started to run headlong at the wounded Telepath. 

[TheAbsurdist]

Errant waited, letting the man approach him, before he pushed himself to his feet, and his eyes locked onto the Atlantean charging him.  There was no sound, no gesture.  Nothing really. Apart from the breathing of Errant and the Atlantean going in sync, and the momentum of the would be attacker stopping, resulting in him skidding to his knees, and coming to a stop before Errant.  He murmured softly to the man before him, not caring if he spoke the same language.  Errant made it universal.

"You thought you were a shark? And I was a bleeding victim? You like hurting people? You like to victimize?"

Fingers gripping at the Atlantean's mind, dragging him down like a leaden anchor, even as blood ran freely down his chin.

[Brown Dynamite]

Thaelia turned her head just in time to catch the sight of Errant doing something to his assailant.  Again she couldn't quite get the nuances in his powers.  He was doing something marvelous for sure, but it appeared as if he was simply daydreaming while his opponent reenacted what pain felt lie.  Thaelia did however, know that he was safe for now.  Cracking her knuckles together she would begin to boast on her comrade's behalf.  "Lo and behold.  He is no wormling, but a snake in the grass.  Feast upon the venom of Errant!"

 

"Or would you rather, feast upon the fist of the Glamazon?!"  She jumped forward and sent out a front kick which directly collided with the face of the Atlantean whom had launched Errant earlier.  There was a loud crunching noise as her feet covered by scaled leggings decidedly broke his nose.  His body skidding across the ground.  "I learned that one from the Tiger Most Crimson!"  Thaelia exclaimed this time towards Errant turning around to give a thumbs up.

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

 

The leader of the quartet lunged forward, swinging overly large metal claw not so dissimilar to a crabs.  He struck her as she was looking at Errant then, battering against her form.  And actually hurting her.  This one was a zealot, and clearly unwilling to sway from his belief.  

 

Of course the one who had been felled by the telepath initially rose to his feet then, shaking his head and shaking off the after effects of the power, a haunted expression on his face.  Even as his compatriot was getting hit hard by Glam, spinning with the blow, and falling insensate to the surf.  The one held by Errant struggled, but couldn't get out of the inexorable mental coils the psychic held him in.

[TheAbsurdist]

Errant looked up towards her as she was hit, and there was a pause, as the other man's head turned, and craned to look at her as well.  The breathing still in sync.  Abruptly the man spasmed, and collapsed to the ground.  Errant winced as this happened, as he was looking directly at the man, water around him started to ripple, and then pulsate violently around him, as he started to moved towards Thaelia, and the two that where there with her.  Though it was a bit of a jog for him.