Of course, of course something like that would happen. Didn't she warn them? "I tried to bloody tell them..." She huffed as she turned around to follow the small crab who had been kicking them out mere minutes ago. They would help, of course they would, Ariel was a princess of heart, and there was no way that they were going to be getting Luna to leave this alone after she already turned around on her own wanting to head back. "Alright we will see what we can do to help. Perhaps now you and your so called king can learn how to be someone decent." Karina huffed her insults as she started following everyone.
Around her, the new guy was shoving food in a bag, and Qamar scolding him for it. Tinarah turned away not even wanting to get involved in that. While she didn't approve she was in no mood to argue. Purposely turning the other way, The masters were talking among themselves, but Take and Chrono sat a couple seats down from her. She didn't want to interrupt their conversation, but nor did she enjoy being the only one at the table not conversing with others. It made her feel more out of place than she usually did. She over heard Take mention something about example not starting with an X and that left her wondering how well he was schooled. Tinarah herself never finished school but she managed to do some work at home after she left school, and then again Stamatis had taught her a great deal. She perhaps would not ever be considered a graduate of even basic levels of school, but at least she knew how example was spelled. It did however leave her suddenly not wanting to jump in on the conversation where she felt she was missing context and it was more clearly aimed for just Chrono to hear.
His gentle words of understanding almost made Tinarah feel worse about rejecting him for another teacher. Choma was kind and understanding, and still willing to train her for small parts of her continued lessons, but that could only happen for so long. What happened if they managed to win this war? What happened when Choma had to go back to his own castle. Would she be allowed to stay? If she did then Choma couldn't train her. If she couldn't then she would have to go back and didn't get the pleasure of having Stamatis train her. It was a bridge to cross when they came to it though, since there was a chance that they wouldn't even survive this endeavor the way it was going. "I have grown perhaps more that I would have liked to." Tinarah admitted. She had been forced to grow and learn a lot through unfortunate circumstances, and while the idea of maturing wasn't bad, she would have wished it was on her own terms. Tinarah finished up the bacon, then started to place everything on trays, taking it to the dining hall, before returning to the kitchen, helping Choma move the hash browns into a serving dish, then addressing the slowly rising number of people waiting in the kitchen. "Breakfast is ready, you all may help yourself." She informed them before making her way back into the dining room and placing down the hash browns. It almost didn't seem appetizing to her to eat at that moment, but it took a mere glance down at her rail thin body to know that she would have to force herself, even if she didn't feel like it. Sitting down Tinarah was actually surprised so many of the Masters had shown up. Atmos has joined them, as well as Selene, who Tinarah still needed to apologize to for the shape that her clothing she had lent her was in. Skia, Aster Kidemonas, Varos, and Thyella had also all shown up for breakfast, however that left one person that she had wanted to see gone, Stamatis. He hadn't been in his room when she awoke, and he rarely missed breakfast. Perhaps he was just late, but it made Tinarah wonder what was going on. Perhaps more to do with the reason that Gero was in his room when she had returned. More plotting and planning, or whatever they did here in this castle. She supposed that only time would tell what was going on here.
As they cooked, Take wandered into the kitchen, though keeping to himself. "Morning Take. I am making breakfast for everyone, if you want to take a seat in the dining room, it shouldn't be too much longer." Tinarah informed him, leaving him alone besides the comment, turning her attention back to Choma, who was trying to make pleasant conversation with her. "It is okay, you had other things to worry about." Like trying to get Tinarah out of her room and heal her a bit before he could jump into cooking lessons. Choma then brought up the books and music books he had found. Tinarah waited until she had a reason not to look at Choma before she responded. "Oh that is great, I would love to see what you found. I wonder what kind of music that old master liked." She didn't want to look at him because she didn't want him reading the lie all over her face, the fact that she could not read sheet music. Chrono was only able to teach her the basics of violin, and from there she taught herself everything else that she needed to know. Self teaching didn't really help her read, it just meant that she could listen to a song and figure out how to make her violin sound the same. It was never a skill she had thought of learning, but now she supposed that she would have to learn, for his sake. "So... I-I might end up training more with Stamatis, if that is okay." Tinarah finally blurted out as a way to get off the topic of the music that he found that she could not actually appreciate. "But maybe... The other Stamatis taught me mostly magic, my combat skills came from... well... him. So maybe I could train with you for combat still? Would that be okay?"
Not long after Nini pratted out of the room, another figure appeared in the doorway. Tinarah looked up expecting it to be Choma, though her message just sent, but instead found Qamar standing there, offering to help. "Toast would be great if you want to get started on that. I am trying to make enough for everyone, so that means... lets see." Tinarah started quietly counting just how many people were in the castle at the moment. "21. We need to make enough for 21 people... well 22 if Uncle Fost decides to show up this morning. So I suppose that just making toast for that many people would keep you busy." Tinarah mused as she continued with the eggs and bacon she had started, realizing how much more she would have to make, especially because she was feeding mostly people with much larger appetites than hers. As she fell into a stead rhythm of cooking once more, another figure came to the door, again not Choma just yet. "Morning Boreas." Tinarah mumbled, still slightly uncomfortable with the man. "Breakfast won't be ready for a while yet, sorry." She added on not sure what else to tell him. She just assumed he had come for food and not to help or anything, so she didn't want to tell him what to do. Thankfully before things could get too awkward the person she had been waiting for had appeared at the door and greeted them. Choma immediately started talking about training again and Tinarah felt guilty, how was she going to tell him that she planned to do a lot of her training with Stamatis? For now she focused on the other conversation at hand. "Master Stamatis taught me a lot about cooking, it was part of my chores to help him with the meals during the time I trained." Tinarah informed Choma. "But he wasn't around when I woke up... and... well... I guess... I needed to talk to you." Tinarah rubbed the back of her neck not sure how to go about it. "I thought that maybe if you helped me with breakfast it would be a good time to catch up a bit. So if you want to help you can make some hash browns. Qamar is working on toast, and I have the eggs and bacon handled." Tinarah found herself skirting around the real topic of conversation that she knew she should bring up, instead choosing the easy route, figuring Choma was smart enough to figure it out for himself.
Of course things with Triton didn't go well, and he reacted way too harshly for the actual situation at hand. At least he wasn't going to smite them anymore, but that made things only marginally better as the small yellow fish started to lead them away. "Well this isn't helpful, we still don't know how to get to the place that we are supposed to meet up in, and knowing teenage girls, that one will do something equally as stupid to retaliate and make things worse." Karina mumbled as she swam along, very tempted to turn around. The girl was apparently one of these princess things that they had to protect, so just leaving didn't seem like a good idea, but neither did messing with the god of the sea more than she already had. The entire situation pissed her off, but as she glanced over at the necklace that she gave Beuce, she forced herself to calm down a bit for her friends sake's, not wanting to put them in more danger. "So what do you suppose we do now?"
She didn't mean to flinch, but it happened so fast, and then the world moved on as she watched Hector gain health back. Oh now she was pissed off and actually wanted to pick a fight. He was not going to get away with that so simply, so Raelyn rallied her magic once more, this time going a bit over the top. Following after Inna's lead there was another tornado of water that rose up under Hector, not giving him a moment to breath until it subsided just enough for Raelyn to jump in and punch him once more. "If we are bring our A-game, then I suggest you do more than get ready to protect your face." Raelyn suggested over her shoulder to Inna, not bothering with defensive measures, instead going right in for the strike. Raelyn used Water Tornado and Strike.
It was a weird sensation waking up after not remembering falling asleep in the first place. What was even more confused to find a blanket rapped around her and something moving in it. Tinarah jumped the moment she realized something was moving under her blanket, getting ready to throw it off, until a small fluffy head poked out from under the blanket and looked at her curiously before shaking the blanket off and climbed onto her chest, sitting down and staring at her. "Alright alright, I will get up, you needy cat." Tinarah mumbled, slowly sitting up looking around the room. From what she could see, Stamatis wasn't around, but the dishes from the night before still lay on the table. "Come on lets get you some food and clean up... then maybe find some clean clothing." Tinarah offered as she got up and started to pile the dishes on the tray and starting towards the kitchen, Nini pattering after her. Upon entering, Tinarah put the dishes in the sink, and then found a small amount of food for Nini before turning back and washing the dishes. Perhaps she would make breakfast this morning for everyone, even the masters. While she didn't know what most of them would like, she was sure that they would like whatever they could get for free. Once the dishes were done she started to prepare food in mass. She hadn't had to cook for that many people before, but she could at least try. Nini sat on the table the entire time as Tinarah cracked dozens of eggs and started trying to fry up bacon in mass amounts. "Hey Nini, why don't you go and try and get people in the dining room for breakfast?" She didn't know if Nini would understand, but she hoped it would work. After she said that she remembered her former master. She hadn't seen him since she had come back, spending the entire night with Stamatis, it hadn't crossed her mind. Summoning her keyblade she planted it in the ground and thought for a moment, "Master Choma." She spoke, when it connected she started to speak. "I am sorry I didn't stop by yesterday, I am making breakfast for everyone if you want to help." Not knowing what else to say to him, she left it at that.
The town was quaint and lively, a nice break from the last he had gone to. Everyone seemed friendly and there was no clear sign of problem so far, which only mean that things wouldn't be as cut and dry as he would hope, not that things ever were with this guild. "Well asking around can't be too hard." Everette pulled out a few jewels from his pocket and spun them in his hand before walking over to one of the many market stalls, this one seeming to be selling candy. "Excuse me, may I have a bag of toffee bon bons, and one of salt water taffy?" Everette handed over the money and while the shop keep got him what he had asked for he continued with casual conversation. "While I am here, my friends and I were asked to come here and take a job, but we don't know where to find the guy who has the job for us. You wouldn't happen to know where we can find a Mr. Levimu Drove, would you?"
Tinarah played through the first song with Stamatis, then the second and third. It was relaxing, and after playing several songs, she found the exhaust weighing on her, but Tinarah didn't want to return to her room just yet. She settled back onto the couch, taking up another cup of tea. She curled up and continued making small talk with Stamatis, telling him about their adventures in the other worlds. She explained some of the struggles and some of the good points. She then listened to him talk a little bit, and accidentally started to fall asleep. Without realizing it, Tinarah was fast asleep on the couch in Stamatis' room, Nini curled up next to her, cuddling into her chest. Her violin discarded in the open case beside the couch.
Karina couldn't help but blush slightly as Beuce chuckled at her attempt for words. It was embarrassing, and yet she didn't totally hate it. He then brought up what it was for and Karina had to look away for a moment, especially when Beuce added that he might have to do something in return. "No... You have... you've already done more for me than any-" Before Karina could finish Beuce warned her of Triton's approach. He went rushing to tell Ariel, but part of Karina was torn whether or not she should actually drag the princess into this any further. That being said, the crab thing probably already reported her involvement in it all, so perhaps it was best they all be there to defend her. Turning Karina swam after Beuce, taking up a spot near the entrance of the grotto. She would at least be able to slow him down a bit before he could yell at Ariel, given Triton didn't like her one bit. Or at least that was the hope. Doing this however did something Karina hadn't realized and fully showed her scar back to everyone else in her party, something very few of them had actually seen, and no one knew the full stories of. At this moment however, Karina was too focused on bringing the tension towards her to think about what else she was doing.
Placing down her tea and trying to hide the slight tremble in her hands, Tinarah pulled out some papers from her bag, Nini jumping out with them. Tinarah passed the papers over to Stamatis then held the cat close. "My story there... And these are very similar, right down to Uncle... I mean the connection with Master Fost." It felt strange and distant calling him Master. "The only difference is here you had more students. So, who is A then. I haven't seen him around here yet. There I failed to save him, but here he seemed to have survived." Stamatis took the torn pages Tinarah gave him and looked them over, his expression stiffening as he looked through the writings in his hands. He sighed and placed them down. "I can't imagine how you even got your hands on these..." He took them up once more and turned them over but the backs of the pages were blank. Stamatis stared at it for a while longer and raised an eyebrow. "There seems to be...some kind of magic concealing a message behind these. I do not know how to reveal whatever is there, however." "As for the identity of A...the boy you know of my that name is no more. But you have met him. He...he is a reminder of our greatest shame. The result of our failures. The Light Chaser." Stamatis spoke those words with great sadness and pain in his wavering voice. It struck her... harder than it should have hearing his identity. "He sent me into his own life..." She spoke quietly. "I don't understand then.. why he is like this, why he tried to harm you so. You weren't only a great teacher, but like a father should be." She tried not to sound too judgmental about her own father who never had the guts to stand up for anything, it was always her mother... then Chrono after that. "I don't want to go back out there yet... I-I know I am not ready. Would it be okay... if I stayed here and trained with you for a bit?" Tinarah chewed her lip. She didn't know if Stamatis would want another student, but she wasn't ready for the worlds beyond yet. "And... do you think Uncle Fost will ever get back to me. He said he would but... I haven't heard yet." She didn't care if it wasn't the right title, she wished that it could be so she would hold on to it with everything she had for as long as she could. "There are some things better left unsaid." Stamatis spoke quietly. He gave a slight nod towards Tinarah and smiled faintly. "Yes. It would be good to watch over your training. As for Fost, I believe he will be arriving tomorrow. I sent word to him that we would need more assistance from here on out and he agreed to come when he settled some matters of his own." Tinarah couldn't bring herself to smile fully, but there was a hint of light in her eyes when he said that Fost would be coming. She didn't know how it would go over however seeing him again and that worried her a little bit, but it was not something she really wanted to worry about then. She just wanted to relax first, it had been a stressful day. Tinarah looked to her violin that was on the floor beside her, then moved Nini off of her lap. "Will you... play with me?" A small request that felt so large to her, but she wanted to hear their music again, for real, not just the memories of it that shined through whenever she went into her drive form. Stamatis tilted his head unsure of what she meant at first. After a moment he seemed to catch on and nodded. "Of course. Though I must warn you, I have not played in a long time." "That's okay. I just... I need the familiarity." Tinarah admitted. They both were aware that she was not doing well, there was no use hiding it. Grabbing out her violin, she tuned it while Stamatis got set up at his piano. The music they made at first was a little off, it took time to get into the flow of playing together, but when it did, the sound it made brought peace to Tinarah's heart and some tears to her eyes as she realized how much she was needing this and how much she longed to stay in this moment, hold on to what she had before with the other Stamatis and not let go.
Tinarah is putting 6 points in MP (because no raise in cost will stop me!) and 3 in health 3 in defense
Well that was no fun and now Yukyo was walking away from her, heading for Nagata after she turned out of her form that looked like Thea. Letting out a sigh Thea marched over. "Nagata stop distracting him. Come on Yukyo we have to talk to Master Midarah and get approval to go on this mission. I don't want to wait around any longer." Thea nagged as she grabbed Yukyo's hand and tried to drag him away despite her much smaller form. She was getting impatient and didn't want to wait for the only person going on this mission with her to flirt with the girl who was way out of his league.
Retreating to the kitchen, Tinarah found herself a small snack, taking her time to eat just in case someone chose to follow her, namely for Take's sake. Nini paced round the kitchen, picking up Tinarah's scraps, taking a break in the mean time. She still wore the little cape that Tinarah had put on earlier, and Tinarah just watched for a little bit before finishing off her snack. When she was confident that he was not coming to talk she started to search the kitchen for teas, especially ones that she knew that Stamatis would like. Selecting the tea and a pot to make it in, Tinarah made the tea and grabbed a couple cups, as well as the fixings for tea. With it all set up and on a tray, Tinarah found her way up the stairs searching for Stamatis' room. Eventually she found the room, nervously Tinarah balanced the tea on one arm and lightly rasped on the door with the other hand before waiting patiently for an answer. "Another time perhaps. You appear to have company." Gero's voice came from the other side of the door. A few moments later the door opened and the elder man stepped out of the room, giving a slight glance towards Tinarah. "So you've returned. Good." He gave a slight nod towards Tinarah before heading out down the hallway. Stamatis stood up, looking to be in perfect health now, as he turned to look at Tinarah. "Please. Come in and have a seat." The man spoke softly, motioning for the girl to come over. Tinarah watched quietly as Gero left. She waited a moment to be invited in before she entered. "Thank you...." Tinarah came in claiming a seat before setting down the tea. ".. I brought tea... Um your favourite... I think." She sat down unsure if both versions of Stamatis had the same taste. "How are you doing? Healing alright?" "I am well, thank you." Stamatis motioned took the tea in hand and gave it a quick sip without even hesitating to sniff it first. "Mm...yes. I suppose that is my favorite. I guess some things are the same in both realms." He commented. "And what of you? Are you well? You look like you could use some rest." Stamatis spoke with some concern. "It's... Hard. Recovering and all. My body hasn't been lasting as long, exhausting easier than normal, and... I am not the most, um, mentally sound." She admitted. Talking freely was easy with Stamatis. She almost forgot that this one didn't really know her. "I tried to attack him... Like I thought suddenly I stood a chance." Tinarah stared off into her tea just using this moment to think and figure out what was going on in her head. She was thinking about so much, it was hard to put it into words. "Attack...who?" Stamatis looked at Tinarah with confusion as he took a seat in front of the girl. "What happened out there, Tinarah?" "Light chaser showed up... I don't know what happened but I lost it. If it wasn't for Illiana... I don't know what would have happened. Torrin... I think... Got us out of there and here before he could take Take, but... I lost it completely seeing him again as he said he did me a favor doing that to me. The experience I had .. it wasn't even my own was it? I was living out someone else's life." She thought about the papers that she tucked away, feeling a little more useless. "He...what?" Stamatis placed the tea back down and clasped his hands together, his brow furrowing. "I see...so then he knows of all Seven. But if he could anticipate your movements then it is just as we feared..." Stamatis shook his head slowly and looked up at Tinarah when she mentioned something about living out another's life and blinked at her in confusion. "What do you mean by that? Whose life?"
Torrin handed over the piece of paper and sat down studying it closely. The words on it shouldn't have struck her as hard as they did. She almost felt, in a strange way, betrayed. She knew that she didn't belong in this story, but it felt like she did and to read that Fost got close to anyone else like he did to her, but now didn't know her it hurt. She read the sheet over and over again, hoping that it would bother her less, but it never did. It did however make her wonder where A was now. Maybe she should ask, she was in the right place. So zoned out on this she caught only bits and pieces of the conversation at hand, but finally she looked up and saw Take crying. Aria and Qamar were there trying to help, so Tinarah didn't feel like she needed to go up, but she also didn't want to completely leave him. "Take if you need anything... I am going to go make myself something to eat. If you want food and company come find me." She wasn't entirely planning to go eat, she was considering making tea so she at least had something to offer when she went to see him, but she figured a break to focus her mind would be good too. With that offer hanging Tinarah left the group, happy for the solitude for a moment heading to the kitchen to start getting herself a snack and making a pot of tea.
She was ready, she was going to kill him for everything he did to her and to others. Tinarah's eyes burned as she brought up her keyblade ready to strike. Before she could she felt a slight sting followed by a firm tug. Tinarah went stumbling back landing on her butt as the figure of a woman stood in front of her. It took more than a couple moments to realize that the woman was Illiana, and she had been the one to stop Tinarah. She wanted to fight it. She wanted to push past them all and run back finish him off but her strength was failing. The battle was long and had left her dry. Her body ached and as the Light Chaser spoke, she knew she didn't stand a chance. That didn't make his words sting any less though. "I will make you pay for nearly killing him, and using me as bate. Mark my words." Tinarah threatened from the ground as she started to push herself back to her feet, barely registering the prince comment towards Torrin. The Light Chaser then turned his attention towards Aria, counting. It took everything for Tinarah not to run and try and stab him again. That didn't stop her from preparing a blizzard spell, ice swirling at the tip of her keyblade, ready for any move he made to take her friend. When Light Chaser did move she released the spell, but it missed complete as he turned his attention from Aria to Take, something that she was not prepared for. There was nothing she could do to stop him but she couldn't stand the thought of losing Take, as much as she couldn't stand the thought of losing Aria. He spoke like he did her a favour taking her away, she wasn't about to let him extend that favor to anyone else. Tinarah moved, ready to push past Illiana, but got a matter of steps before the building cracked and a shot of light came down on top of the Light Chaser. Closing her eyes against the light, Tinarah braced for the worst, however when she opened them again she wasn't standing in a destroyed building with a broken hunk of metal. No she was somewhere a little more familiar. Not sure what happened, Tinarah first surveyed who was there. Everyone seemed to make it back okay. Take still stood among them, that was a relief. She then noticed a piece of paper fall and hit the new guy, and Tinarah couldn't help but wonder if it was the same as what she had been collecting. Everyone was a mess, Take was yelling Boreas was pissed, but Tinarah couldn't help but focus on that paper. Hearing Qamar offer to show Boreas somewhere to vent however, Tinarah figured she needed to try and do something, no matter how numb she was feeling. "Boreas.... When my... well Chrono's keyblade shattered... from Torrin's power.... well someone told me something. A keyblade can't just be destroyed like that. If you want it back, perhaps there is something in your own heart you need to look at." Tinarah suggested knowing that was what she had to do. She then turned to Enzo, her feet moving themselves, but she felt so tired and dead in her soul that everything felt distant to her. Almost like she was watching from a distance instead of doing anything herself. "Can I see that paper?" She asked holding out her hand. If it was indeed another part of this journal, then she would want to know.
Just to screw with you, that's why
Despite Torrin's best efforts to push her aside, Tinarah stood her ground. She wasn't about ready to let Torrin do something incredibly stupid and likely get himself killed. She wasn't okay with that. So she stayed put as the conversation swirled around them. Take and Aria called for help of different kinds, neither of which proved helpful. All the while Ardyn was preparing to strike them down. Tinarah braced for impact but instead of more pain, a blinding light filled the room. At first she thought maybe Fost had come for her at last, but as the man who appeared from the light spoke, she started thinking otherwise, especially when his voice became clear. Take's words about him controlling everything that went on in the other realm circled her mind, followed by the last time she had seen the man, attempting to kill Stamatis after luring him out using her. A blinding anger filled her mind, enough so that her hands shook as she gripped her keyblade hard enough that her hands hurt. Torrin moved away to protect Aria, so there was no one in her way. Tinarah felt a scream rip from her lips as her legs moved almost invulinatily. He was right there, back exposed, so easy to take out. Tears streamed down her face as she thought of all that happened with Evil Torrin. All the pain and suffering she went through because of him. She couldn't often say that she wanted someone dead, but at that moment the feeling was overwhelming. "This is for Master Stamatis." She mumbled to herself before attempting to driver her keyblade into his exposed back.
Any excuse to get out of that before she started to sing or something was a good one. The girl clearly knew nothing about the land and Karina didn't feel like ruining her dreams of what it was like. She might not have been the most kind of person ever, but at least this girl was nice to them unlike literally anyone else that they had met here. She could at least keep her mouth shut. That was made easier however when Beuce invited her to go outside and keep watch for Triton with him. Steel was probably right. The crab was going to tell on them and eventually there would be trouble. So Karina swam after Beuce outside the grotto. As she did she noticed a glint in the light from her wrist and remembered what she was carrying. "I don't know how long we will have this moment of quiet for, but...." Karina suddenly started feeling nervous, not sure how to address all of this. Holding up her wrist a flame shaped pendant dangled from a golden chain. "I... go this for you... As a..." What was the right words of gratitude. It should go beyond just a thank you, but Karina barely knew how to say that. "A... gift." She finished cursing herself for not being able to put anything into words. It was embarrassing really. Generally she wasn't afraid to say what she thought, but when it came to emotions, she supposed that she wasn't all that good with them.
