eidolonic | (no subject)

There had been a mutual, though unspoken, agreement after the Pyramid of Moore that Lenna should take it easy for a while. She had apparently acceded to this sentiment, summoning and time maging in the back... at least, for a few days.

Today she had intercepted an attack meant for Faris, taking the full brunt of one-foot spider fangs. And that had earned her a well-deserved scolding, because even if they hadn't almost lost her to the Void, it was still insanely reckless. But Faris had taken exception, in a strange way that was hard to define, because she had started with "hell's bells" and then rounded sharply on Bartz when he had added his voice, and then stormed off.

She'd stormed back after a while, looming around camp like a volatile cloud, looking for reasons to snap and shooting many distressed glances at Lenna.

Krile didn't know what to say to all of this. It was too much like Faris' temper after the Void took Tycoon, as unpredictable as a squall at sea, and she'd thought it wouldn't be seen now that Lenna was alive and well. She didn't know what to say to it. Maybe Grandpa could have calmed her down, maybe he'd have just started a yelling match until they tussled it out all the bad mood and that was why Faris kept trying to make Bartz lose his temper. Krile could see that, too, but Bartz's response time was just to leave.

It would be better tomorrow. Krile told herself that. There had been days like this before. But she'd never known what to do and the hours to sunset crawled like molasses. She knew that Bartz stormed off to be alone--it was hard to understand how that helped him, but she had gradually stopped following him when he did and found something else to keep her hands busy, but Lenna had given herself all the sewing in a remorseful way and Krile knew that trying to share it wouldn't really be good. She just sat in the middle of the taut silence with a growing feeling that Faris wouldn't stop sparking until Lenna talked to her, and Lenna wouldn't talk to anyone but her sister just now, and--and that meant Krile really ought to follow Bartz, because if she left, they could talk and then it might be over with sooner. So really it'd help everyone.

And even if Bartz didn't want to be around anyone else, she wanted to be around him. Krile had to admit that as she picked up her lance and went off into the woods to find him.

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Bartz didn't storm off, he liked to think. It was something that- well, he didn't take pride in much, but he liked to think of himself as able to extract himself from situations that he didn't much care for with enough grace to keep from making things worse.

He had stormed off. He had absolutely stormed off. He hadn't even had the presence of mind to shrug and mumble something about fetching firewood first, which was unusual for him - if there was one thing that he liked doing, it was making excuses to get out of social situations.

"She kick you out?" He asked at the sound of footsteps behind him, making a big deal of pretending to be looking for something instead of turning around. Even without turning, he knew it had to be Krile. There was only one set of footsteps, and Faris wouldn't have let Lenna out of her sight.

It was a bit of a relief to find Bartz messing around unhurt. Not that he couldn't take care of himself; he'd been doing that for years, but all it took was one slip and then it would be rushing back to camp in a panic for potions or a phoenix down. With the mood they were all in, it would be easy for a monster to get the upper claw.

"No, she didn't," Krile said, though without much certainty. Neither of the people she could apply to had dropped a word or a look to hint at it. "I just... I figured it'd be better to leave them alone. And make sure you hadn't got caught in a spiderweb or something."

“Oh, the spiderwebs. They got me, sure enough. Cut myself down, mind. Amazing what you can achieve with three pinecones and a few gyshal leaves.” His tone was jovial enough as he set about telling the fantastic and absolutely untrue tale of what had happened before Krile got here, but he still didn’t turn to face her.

He sighed, sitting down in the dirt.

“Probably for the best. Leaving them to stew a while, I mean.”

On a better day, Krile probably would have interrupted him two or three times to point out any logical faults in his story, but though she giggled at the more absurd turns in it, she let him tell it without commentary or correction.

She hesitated a moment as he sat down. But she wasn't about to stand around awkwardly, even if he wasn't looking at her. She sat down next to him, though she didn't lean on him just yet. "Were they ever like this when, um... when Grandpa was around?"

It wasn't that Krile felt she was somehow to blame... and with Bartz knowing them from the start he'd know best about leaving them to it. But it would be nice to know if there was something else to do besides just waiting for the Tycoons to come to their senses.

"Never this bad. But then- things were never this bad before."

It was rare, for Bartz to acknowledge just how dark the situation has become, even if only for a moment. And it was only for a moment. He shook his head and talked about something else. "Old man couldn't for the life of him tell when he wasn't wanted, else maybe didn't care. Caused Faris no end of grief. Always burned herself out trying to get anything out of him, in the end."

He did turn, then, not quite smiling, but making a valiant attempt.

"Exdeath wasn't the first to find out that you can't fight a man like that with anger, you know? Can't imagine Faris was the first, either."

It was rare, enough that Krile had to stare at him for a moment. At first it made her want to curl up more--but then, there was also a sense of relief at having someone actually say things straight-out. As determined as they all were to stop Exdeath, it was hard to think about all that he had taken already. But talking about it--admitting it--was almost impossible. Hearing Bartz say it, she could stop feeling that little sense of shame for being unsure and afraid.

And she did smile, a little, to hear Grandpa described that way.

"He didn't care," she said. She hadn't seen it in action, but even without Grandpa's stories Krile could answer that question. She'd seen, or eavesdropped, enough to know how it was when Galuf had the bit in his teeth. "Kelger and Xezat knew it too. And neither of them were good at backing down."

She looked up at Bartz, and then at the light coming through the forest canopy. "If Faris isn't careful, he's going to come back and haunt her."