Huddled up on the loveseat in her room with her knees drawn to her chest, it would've been easy to overlook a little thing like Lethe. But Sei knew where to spot her by now, either snuggled in her bed or curled up on the couch. True enough, Ethne was there, too, in the chair opposite of her and also quite easily unseen from the doorway.
"Yes," she said, before taking a long sip of her tea. Chamomile. The kind that Lethe only drank when she wasn't sleeping well. The leaves weren't suitable for reading.
Sei was a little early, but Lethe wasn't too terribly surprised. He'd been on his best behavior since he learned... It concerned her a little. While Sei was doing his best to avoid suspicion, in doing so, he could draw attention. It was a good thing her sister was the one with mind-reading powers. Had it been any of the other oracles, they would know quite quickly that Sei's behavior wasn't because of a simple teenage shift in hormones.
"Hi, Sei." Ethne wasn't having any tea today - in fact she hadn't been much in the mood for tea since the incident with Taranis. Yes, it still bothered her, though to most she would appear fairly normal. Lethe was probably the only one who could tell there was something wrong, and even still she would have denied it when asked.
Ethne wondered to what extent Sei's change in behavior was beneficial. He seemed more... focused now, but... almost disenchanted? It did seem to have a much greater impact on him than Taranis, at least. Thankfully it didn't seem to be attracting as much attention as one would think.
Sei had a lot on his mind. It was almost disconcerting, at times.
"Sweet, convenience is always the ticket." He shut the door behind him with a wide grin, moving over to the two oracles. Affectionately he mussed up Lethe's hair with his right, while patting Ethne on the head with his left. And of course, he then rotated the action the second time through, patting Lethe and mussing up Ethne's hair. "How are we this morning?" He took a passing glance at her tea.
Now. Sei knew nothing about tea. He did know, however, Ethne always had fucking tea, and Lethe never drank stinky tea, so the fact that one was drinking stinky tea and the other wasn't drinking tea at all -- "I take it we're not doing well."
Had Lethe been the mindreader here, she'd be defending her tea as not being stinky. As it stood, though, he was right. Something was bothering Ethne, Lethe knew it, but also respected her sister's privacy enough not to pry. As for her own issues, well... There were times when sleep wasn't easy to come by. Especially when you saw rather vivid yet confusing images of the future soon as you closed your eyes.
Lethe was simply happy that Eiran had made enough cake for all the circles in his last batch of baked goods. She was working on a particularly rich brownie at the moment. Not even insomnia due to impending doom kept Lethe away from sweets.
She shrugged, shook her head a little, choosing not to elaborate further unless asked.
Sei paused, eyed the two quiet girls over, then gave up, sitting crosslegged on the floor. He rested one hand on his left knee, and the other held up his chin. "We've got a lot of training to do." He answered matter-of-factly, sighing. "And there's a big issue with Lilith, and I think we ought to start practicing Union, and you know, you can't DREAM people to death, and there's the factor of Taranis, and I've got a few practice drills I think we should run -"
And of course, as was typical of Sei, he was saying the exact opposite of his mental track. You know, it's really rough on me, but I'm going to do my best, I've got to focus. I think if we do these things we have a chance at living. A chance... I mean, Arden knows about Arunafeltz helping Midgard... and Lilith, poor Lilith. Why can't we help everyone? Because not everyone would - " - and you know, some things about protocol."
Lethe was silent through the lecture, continuing to consume unhumanly amounts of tea. Perhaps enough would give her some dreamless sleep...
She nodded a little. "Okay."
Sei was trying so hard. If she was the type of person to do so and he was the type to receive the gesture well, she'd have hugged him. She kept to her safe spot on the couch, though.
"Of course she should know." Sei responded in midsentence, freeing his chin from his hand and turning to face Ethne as if she'd just said Lethe's tea was not stinky. "There was this time..." He paused, and then cocked his head. "After Sigyn got me for the second time, I talked to Lilith about the whole damn mess because I was sick and tired of it, you know? I was hurting all over. I got really mad at her for being so inconsistent and picking on me all the time.
"She told me about how much she just wants... she just wants to go free, you know, over the railing and just out into the world, and we talked about... how cruel this is, you know?" Sei paused. She has no idea just how bad it is, though. "I don't see. I don't see why we have to leave anyone here to be tools! We should save as many people as we can! There's saving the world and there's saving as many people as we can, and I think we should be striving for the latter! It might be more dangerous but it's better than letting someone who -
"What... really?" Sei, despite it all, was still in the habit of thinking of himself as "the bad guardian." He was the one who was a screw off, who didn't follow the rules, who wasn't trust-worthy, who wasn't worth the time. He believed he was necessary, and then doubled that belief when he was trusted with the information, and now being trusted with Lilith's telling... you know, he was happy. Even despite it all, those little things made him happy. Yeah, he could be trusted to tell Lilith! Yeah, they did need more people!
He caught Lethe blushing, and gave her a toothy grin. "Awww, Lethe, c'mon, don't hide like that!" Heh-heh! "It's true about the protection thing. You guys need to start working out, I want to see you running miles by the time we're in the winter... it's for your own good. I mean, you read these posts in Midgard, right? They're...
"Well, I mean. You just never know what's gonna happen. We're talking to assasins for crying out loud. If it ends up just Taranis and I you guys have got to be the toughest cute girls
( ... )
Lethe held her tongue and let her sister make the decision. Ethne was typically a better judge of character than she was, for obvious reasons. Not that she didn't trust Sei, she trusted him with her life, but she worried about him, too.
His observation of her hiding caused her to snuggle in even further, hoping the frills on her night dress would cover how pink she was turning. She managed a nod to his instructions, and while she couldn't see herself ever running miles at a time, she could see why he was concerned. She'd always been fairly weak, defensively. Possibly the weakest of all the Oracles.
She snuck her brownie over her knees and nibbled on it a bit. Her sweet tooth trumped her embarrassment.
Ethne was a little iffy about the training idea. Sure, he did have a point - but wouldn't it be strange for them to be training together, all of a sudden? Worse - for two Oracles to even be doing physical training?
"I don't think training is a good idea - it would be especially odd, for two Oracles to be training physically with a Guardian. Sudden, too. We'd have to be more subtle about it... I'm not saying we shouldn't train, but we definitely shouldn't meet you every morning to train."
She paused.
"They're assassins, but they're more reliable than you'd think. I know this."
"They're assasins, and I trust Arden with my life. What I'm saying is, they're assasins, and that ought to illustrate the depth of the problem we have gotten ourselves into by choosing this pathway. Their sheer identity is like, fuck - it instantly says you have got a twenty-five percent chance of living!
"...you're right, the training's suspicious. When it's my shift, Lethe, we'll do basic physical workouts in your room. It'll be up to Taranis to train you during his shifts, Ethne."
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"Yes," she said, before taking a long sip of her tea. Chamomile. The kind that Lethe only drank when she wasn't sleeping well. The leaves weren't suitable for reading.
Sei was a little early, but Lethe wasn't too terribly surprised. He'd been on his best behavior since he learned... It concerned her a little. While Sei was doing his best to avoid suspicion, in doing so, he could draw attention. It was a good thing her sister was the one with mind-reading powers. Had it been any of the other oracles, they would know quite quickly that Sei's behavior wasn't because of a simple teenage shift in hormones.
She made to pour a third cup of tea.
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Ethne wondered to what extent Sei's change in behavior was beneficial. He seemed more... focused now, but... almost disenchanted? It did seem to have a much greater impact on him than Taranis, at least. Thankfully it didn't seem to be attracting as much attention as one would think.
Sei had a lot on his mind. It was almost disconcerting, at times.
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Now. Sei knew nothing about tea. He did know, however, Ethne always had fucking tea, and Lethe never drank stinky tea, so the fact that one was drinking stinky tea and the other wasn't drinking tea at all -- "I take it we're not doing well."
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Lethe was simply happy that Eiran had made enough cake for all the circles in his last batch of baked goods. She was working on a particularly rich brownie at the moment. Not even insomnia due to impending doom kept Lethe away from sweets.
She shrugged, shook her head a little, choosing not to elaborate further unless asked.
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And of course, as was typical of Sei, he was saying the exact opposite of his mental track. You know, it's really rough on me, but I'm going to do my best, I've got to focus. I think if we do these things we have a chance at living. A chance... I mean, Arden knows about Arunafeltz helping Midgard... and Lilith, poor Lilith. Why can't we help everyone? Because not everyone would - " - and you know, some things about protocol."
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She nodded a little. "Okay."
Sei was trying so hard. If she was the type of person to do so and he was the type to receive the gesture well, she'd have hugged him. She kept to her safe spot on the couch, though.
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...And Lilith.
"You think Lilith should know."
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"She told me about how much she just wants... she just wants to go free, you know, over the railing and just out into the world, and we talked about... how cruel this is, you know?" Sei paused. She has no idea just how bad it is, though. "I don't see. I don't see why we have to leave anyone here to be tools! We should save as many people as we can! There's saving the world and there's saving as many people as we can, and I think we should be striving for the latter! It might be more dangerous but it's better than letting someone who -
"Who I know hates this not have the ( ... )
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He caught Lethe blushing, and gave her a toothy grin. "Awww, Lethe, c'mon, don't hide like that!" Heh-heh! "It's true about the protection thing. You guys need to start working out, I want to see you running miles by the time we're in the winter... it's for your own good. I mean, you read these posts in Midgard, right? They're...
"Well, I mean. You just never know what's gonna happen. We're talking to assasins for crying out loud. If it ends up just Taranis and I you guys have got to be the toughest cute girls ( ... )
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His observation of her hiding caused her to snuggle in even further, hoping the frills on her night dress would cover how pink she was turning. She managed a nod to his instructions, and while she couldn't see herself ever running miles at a time, she could see why he was concerned. She'd always been fairly weak, defensively. Possibly the weakest of all the Oracles.
She snuck her brownie over her knees and nibbled on it a bit. Her sweet tooth trumped her embarrassment.
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"I don't think training is a good idea - it would be especially odd, for two Oracles to be training physically with a Guardian. Sudden, too. We'd have to be more subtle about it... I'm not saying we shouldn't train, but we definitely shouldn't meet you every morning to train."
She paused.
"They're assassins, but they're more reliable than you'd think. I know this."
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"...you're right, the training's suspicious. When it's my shift, Lethe, we'll do basic physical workouts in your room. It'll be up to Taranis to train you during his shifts, Ethne."
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