Old World Remnants

[Nayt]

Akizetsumei of Terra was throwing a minor fit by the time they were en route to the lake. She was all ready to go, yes-- she had a loose tank top and shorts on over her bathing suit, and she'd brought a towel for herself. Readiness was not her problem. Her problem was tons more important than preparedness!

--After all, wasn't this supposed to be just a trip to the lake for she and Eld alone? Like a boy and girl going swimming sort of thing? She hadn't the slightest clue what all that entailed, but she was pretty excited about the prospect and was looking forward to this weekend all week long. And then Eld asked her if he could invite someone else along . . .

Eld's cousin Etsu walked behind Akizetsumei. She was prepared not only to get into the water, but apparently kill someone. She wore a white shirt over her bathing suit and neither pants nor shorts, she had this blue pair of bikini bottoms on and that was enough for her, it seemed. She carried two fishing spears over her shoulder it seemed perfectly comfortable with how insane that looked. Eld was stuck with two fishing poles and the rest of the gear.

--It wasn't long after Etsu was invited that Eld's friends Sarah and Emily heard about the excursion, and figured it'd be great to join in. And Eld was a nice guy, so he said sure-- then asked Akizets if they could come with, and of course she had to say yes, because he'd already told them yes, and it'd suck to put him in a place where he'd have to go back and nix on some promises . . .

Sarah and Emily walked by Etsu's side. They chatted between each other, sometimes with verbal jabs, sometimes with physical jabs. The Vaerbond girls were much more utilitarian than their companions; they simply did not bring clothes over their bathing suits. Sarah wore a black bikini top and bottom, and had a white towel wrapped around her waist. Emily, on the other hand, wore a red one-piece that matched her hair, carried a maroon towel over her shoulder, and a work of literary non-fiction under her other arm.

--And where the heck did they even come from?!

Maya and Toushikyo were behind the entire group. They walked awfully close. Maya wore a yellow sun dress and a wide beach-hat; she obviously did not plan on swimming today. Toushikyo, on the other hand, wore a jacket over a loose shirt and pants. Little did anyone know, he wore swim trunks beneath-- just in case.

--By the way she was walking, with her arms over her chest and her lower lip pouted, it was pretty obvious that Akizetsumei wasn't terribly happy with the excessive turnout.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld could tell Akizetsumei was upset. She was not exactly good at hiding her mood. He was, in part, responsible for this; he'd invited Etsu along, after all, but when explained the situation to her she'd been understanding. Especially considering Etsu was as likely to ignore him as anything else anyway, when she wasn't actively being antagonistic.

Thinking about how everyone else got here, though, gave him a headache. The whole situation kind of did.

Kyo and Maya were close, suspiciously so, but he had too much else on his mind to be worried about whether they were developing a close friendship or a budding romance. Sarah and Em made him a little nervous, walking alongside Etsu as they were. For one, he wasn't sure whether or not his parents had told Etsu which girl she'd overheard (or if she was able to tell from the voice), and for another he was rather worried that if they all started talking to each other they'd form an alliance out of their love of antagonizing him. The last thing he needed was for Etsu to realize she had allies.

And as for Etsu herself, Eld could not for the life of him figure out where she got the fishing spears, because he was quite certain that his family only owned poles. She'd simply shown up with them at the meeting place.

He shook his head. This day was looking to be a little too eventful for his tastes. "Sorry," he whispered apologetically to Akizetsumei, whom he was walking beside. "We'll have to just come back ourselves some other time."

[Nayt]

Akizets smiled at Eld, but it was kind of a sad and disappointed smile. "Y-yeah, I guess so . . ."

She'd just been really excited for this for awhile, and it was all so disappointing that her hopes were pretty much let down. Oh well. Later, maybe. If Eld felt like it. If she wasn't being so much of a grump that he didn't even want try anymore. Really, who could blame him?

"Um . . ." Akizets whispered, "Sorry. I'll cheer up. I promise."

Yeah, she really didn't want him to give up on her . . .

"Sooooo-- Eld an' Akizets!" Sarah called from behind, immediately before putting her arms around both he and Akizetsumei. She walked between them like that, not at all discomforted by it. "Whatcha both got in mind, huh? You've been chattin' up here for awhile. Plannin' on sneakin' off for some alone time a li'l later or somethin'?"

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld hoped Akizetsumei was good on her word. She was cheerful normally that to see her depressed brought him down as well.

At least until Sarah called out, at which point he suddenly had something else to focus on. "No!" he protested, turning around so that he was keeping pace while walking backwards. "W-We're just...chatting, that's all." Somehow, he suspected that telling her that they weren't going to sneak off alone, but probably spend a different day alone wasn't going to help his case any.

He glanced a bit nervously at Etsu. It occurred to him that having her think he was some kind of pervert was especially bad if she was holding long, sharp objects.

[Nayt]

Akizets was a bit surprised when Sarah through her arms around she and Eld; she even ducked down a bit as if she were anticipating a blow or something to that effect. Sarah let them both go as soon as Eld pulled away and started walking backwards, though.

"That right?" Sarah asked with a grin.

Sarah clearly did not believe him. Neither did Etsu.

"He r-ries," Etsu declared as if stating a fact, "He wir-rr sneak off with her. But he wir-rr not say so."

"Yeah, see-- I was thinkin' the same thing," Sarah nodded.

"Uh, I-- uh-- eh-- heh . . ." Akizets scratched the back of her neck nervously.

They thought it was Eld's idea to sneak off? Well-- she hadn't gotten the idea until just now, but it was so totally not Eld's idea. He hadn't said a word to her about sneaking off! It was Akizets that was thinking about the possibility now, not him. But she didn't like the idea of sneaking. Sneaking from Tou, maybe, but not from everyone else. They were friends, not family.

Fortunately, Toushikyo hadn't (yet) caught wind of what they were talking about . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld gave Sarah a special glare, as it was partially her fault Etsu had such a bad opinion of him, and now her joining with Etsu seemed like the ultimate insult. Of course, Sarah didn't know this yet, but that didn't stop him from glaring.

"I will not. Jeez, can I at least talk to someone without you getting suspicious?" He directed the last part more to Etsu, as while Sarah just enjoyed giving him a hard time, she was actually serious. He could only hope that if she was proven wrong enough times she'd change her mind about him--or at least stop vocalizing her doubts all the time.

[Nayt]

"Iie," replied Etsu as she turned her nose up to Eld.

Sarah had to restrain herself from laughing, and she tried for a solid few seconds, but she couldn't keep it up. She broke into laughter and edged away from Eld, moving closer to Etsu, instead.

"I like her," Sarah reported proudly.

This surprised Etsu more than a hand on her shoulder would have. She looked over at Sarah with wide eyes and a lifted brow. Of course, Sarah could only see one half of her face, but that didn't make Etsu look any less surprised and confused.

"Er, don't look so surprised," Sarah cleared her throat, "You know the phrase, right? The enemy of my enemy is my friend. That'un."

Etsu had to think on this one for a second. Truth be told, she actually hadn't heard of the phrase before, but it made perfect sent to her, regardless.

"Sou desu ka?" she looked up to Sarah again, "Then we are friends?"

"Yup!" Sarah put her hand out for Etsu to shake.

Which had Etsu staring at Sarah's hand blankly for a moment. It took her a second or two to remember that custom. Where she came from, people didn't do that, but she'd learned about it in school, at least. Inevitably, Etsu shook Sarah's hand. An alliance had just been forged.

Erstwhile, Emily looked over Sarah's shoulder and upon Eld, specifically. Her expression befit the emotions of wary and bemusement, as if she were trying to wordlessly communicate to Eld that his life was probably going to become ten times worse than it ever has been-- and probably in the near future, to boot.

[Zach Kaiser]

Understanding Emily's sentiments in an instant, Eld shot her a look of helplessness in return. One hand, he wasn't going to object to Etsu making friends, least of all his own. There was a large problem with this, however...

"Sarah, s-stop, she's going to take that literally." He turned to Etsu, hoping he could clear up this little misunderstanding. "Sarah's my best friend; we're not actually enemies. She just likes giving me a hard time."

Not that the average person would be able to tell this, since Sarah was usually only overtly nice to him when they were alone, but it was nevertheless true. Alas, if he knew Sarah, she was going to deny this right now--hopefully, somewhere down the line, she'd explain.

[Nayt]

That was an odd revelation. Etsu looked from Eld to Sarah, back to Eld again-- and repeated the process a few more times. They weren't enemies; they were friends, in fact, but Sarah still antagonized Eld? Or something to that effect.

"A . . . hard time?" Etsu asked, not quite understanding the phrase.

Sarah found it a little difficult to explain. She didn't expect Etsu to take her literally, after all. "Er, uh-- y'know, when you trip someone up; pull pranks, make life a li'l more difficult-- stuff like that. Emily and I can be pretty brutal with Eld sometimes, even though we're not really, uh, enemies? You know what I mean?"

"Wakatta . . ." Etsu trailed off. This time, she'd said something that Sarah didn't quite understand. Etsu thought for a second before speaking up again. "Are we stir-rr friends?"

"Yeah, 'course we are!" Sarah exclaimed. She had nothing against Etsu, here, and would have actually enjoyed plotting against Eld with her.

Etsu sighed in relief.

Akizets passed a confused glance over at Eld. She hadn't the slightest clue what the heck was going on behind her, but it was at least nine and a half kinds of crazy!

. . . it was kind of funny, though.

[Zach Kaiser]

"She gets it," Eld helpfully translated for Sarah when Etsu spoke Cizokian. In an amusing twist, Sarah (along with Toushikyo) was one of the only of his friends who didn't speak Cizokian. Both he and Maya spoke it fluently, and Emily had studied it on her own time (along with anything else that caught her interest).

He smiled at little; even though Etsu still disliked him, at least she wasn't automatically hating his friends by association. He knew she could use some friends of her own while she was here.

Seeing as the situation was under control, at least for the moment, he turned so he was facing front once again. "Would it alarm you if I said this is actually pretty much what I expected?" Eld asked, seeing Akizetsumei's confused look.

[Nayt]

Akizets was amongst that group of Eld's friends that did not speak Cizokian. She didn't even understand a word of it. The most common words, the words for agreement and disagreement? Nope. She hadn't a clue how to say them or what they were. Of course, the language was cute. She thought so, at least. It sounded very endearing whenever someone spoke it. She just didn't understand a word of it.

The little event going on behind her may have surprised and confused Akizetsumei, but for some reason, when she looked back on it, she knew she shouldn't have been too surprised.

"I-its weird, um . . ." Akizets trailed off with a bit of a nervous laugh, "B-but, um, no? I don't think that'd be strange at all."

Already, though, Akizets seemed a bit more relaxed and a lot less upset. She might not have been energetic or cheerful yet, but she at least seemed to stop minding the company so much. They were at least a lively bunch!

"So-- Etsu?" Emily began as she walked a little faster to catch up with Etsu and Sarah, "It's been bugging me for awhile, but-- uh, do you seriously fish with spears?"

Etsu looked to her left, at Emily, and tilted her head curiously. "Yes," she said, "Why?"

Emily scratched her chin, "It's just . . . man, I don't know. Are you any good at it?"

"Yes. I am very good at it," Etsu replied as a meekly put fact, "I wir-rr catch twice more than Tsukimono Er-rdridge-san, even though he wir-rr use a por-re."

"That's . . . kind of badass," Emily observed quite frankly.

"Kinda?" Sarah said on the other side of Etsu, "Just kinda? This just might make her the first girl I'd never fuck with."

Etsu looked ahead confusedly.

[Zach Kaiser]

It seemed like Akizetsumei was already getting used to the group at large, which was good, as it was pretty much a choice of joining the chaos or being overrun by it, he figured.

Eld turned around again, having been listening to the conversation, this time translating for Etsu's benefit. "Sarah is intimidated by your ability to wield sharp, pointy objects," he offered helpfully. "She not one easily intimidated."

He may have been embellishing Sarah's feelings a bit, but after her proposed alliance against him he figured it was fair game.

[Nayt]

Sarah was immediately flustered. Here she was, admitting something that may have flattered Etsu, and what does Eld do? Make a mockery of her, that's what! The nerve!

"I-- I didn't say that!" Sarah protested.

"No-- no, I'm pretty sure you did," Emily replied with a hint of gleefulness.

Emily and Sarah's personal alliance was fickle at best. Often times, they worked together to trip Eld up and give him a hard time. Usually, Emily was the thinker and planner and Sarah was the actress of these plans. However, the two siblings had a habit of turning on each other, one that occurred so frequently that they may as well have been considered as bitter of enemies as Eld was to Etsu. They each took joy in giving the other a hard time and often with equal brutality. For instance: about a year ago, Sarah-- when riding with Emily --had shouted a verbal command to Emily's horse, prompting him to dart as fast as he could back to the barn. This was a particularly powerful horse, and the whole event literally made Emily experience a fear of death. And yet, whilst shaking and upset, her thoughts were less on the psychotic nature of Sarah's prank and more on the equally, if not more, psychotic nature of the way Emily was going to get back at her.

These girls were probably going to kill each other someday. That being said, were there not a young girl with sharp, pointy objects over her shoulder walking between Sarah and Emily, Sarah would have probably done some level of harm to her little sister just then.

"I~'m gonna kill you both," Sarah sang just then.

That was the point that Akizetsumei actually got involved in the conversation. First, she walked a little closer to Eld. Second, she took his arm in both of hers.

Third, she looked behind her at Sarah and insisted, "Please don't. I-- I like Eldridge a lot better alive."

[Zach Kaiser]

The corner of Eld's mouth twitched into a small smirk. He knew well of the tenuousness of any alliance between Sarah and Emily; sometimes the best way to get heat off of himself was to put it on someone else.

Of course, this vanished as soon as Akizetsumei grabbed his arm. It was funny; she'd probably done this any number of times since they met, but it was only now that his friends were watching that he got embarrassed. Or even really noticed it.

"T-Thanks, but I hope I don't have to explain to you too that she doesn't mean that literally," he said, hoping his face didn't look nearly as red as it felt.

[Nayt]

"I-- um, I dunno," Akizets replied, a little meeker in embarrassment.

Eld was embarrassed. She was embarrassed. Both for the same reasons. Akizets didn't quite let go because of that, though. It just wasn't reason enough! Even though Sarah and Emily were both giving them coy smiles, as if they knew something that she and Eld did not . . .

"She probably could if she wanted to bad enough," Akizets admitted. "Sarah's super tough."

No, really. Sarah was, like, ultra super mondo tough. Akizets could perfectly imagine her breaking bricks with her bare hands and thinking nothing of it! This wasn't actually too far from the truth. Sarah knew a bit of karate, and she could break boards and even a couple of bricks, provided she had the chance to concentrate.

It was a weird and fun little fact that half of Eld's friends were easily capable of defending themselves to the death. Sarah knew karate. Toushikyo (apparently) knew kendo. Etsu was a tiny little tank with a penchant for sharp pointy objects and an intimate knowledge of pressure points.

Even the youngest of them, Emily, knew a little something; or, well, she was working on it-- she was interested in taking up kendo, herself. She was going to have to learn something one of these days. There was a family heirloom she had her sights on, and the only way to get it was to physically beat the crap out of Sarah in a fair fight sometime after Emily turns fifteen. It was just an old wooden sword, but Emily's mother and father (Mrs. Vaerbond was currently the owner of the weapon) always said it was unbreakable, which, though that sounded way too mythological for it to be true, sounded completely badass. It also dictated who in the Vaerbond family was the established "alpha" of that generation, and Emily would be damned if she was going to be Sarah's "beta" for the rest of her life.

Of course, the right could always be contested at a later date. That's how Emily and Sarah's mother got a hold of it. Further establishing that she wears the pants in the family, she beat her husband 4-3 in a drunken-extreme-arm-wrestling competition, yet another staple in the Vaerbond dynasty. It entailed two liters of hard liquor, no chasers, two hot plates, and two brains so equally damaged that the act of slamming another person's hand upon a burning hot plate-- and risking the same damage oneself --was not at all a bad idea. It also guaranteed a hung-over hospital visit the next day, but that was a constant in all Vaerbond family competitions.

"Yeah," Sarah replied confidently. You know, not to brag or anything. "I could really fuck his day up if I tried."