~ Tнє Pαяα∂σχ Hσυѕє ~ now back to regularly scheduled chaos

Ronan | Why Talk About Feelings When You Can Cry About Baby Animals Instead | strider

Ronan had friends. A few, anyway. He was pretty sure he knew how it worked, though...he’d have a hard time defining it. Friends were people whose opinions you cared about. People you’d die for. People you might even go to class for.
He didn’t know Zuko that well. He didn’t know if he’d ever see him again, and while he wanted to, he wouldn’t be crushed not to. They’d just met, his life would continue without him.
He nodded a little, shooting Zuko an appreciative look. The turtles were cool, and Zuko was also cool. Of course they’d get along well. Besides, if Ronan was a snapping turtle and Zuko was a turtle duck, then it made sense that they’d be such a good team.
He didn’t yet know Zuko well enough to know how well that fit him. He just knew he seemed to be a little bit like Ronan, in that he had walls that could be wrecked by baby animals.
He looked up, torn from his thoughts as the others came out of the water. He didn’t dare move in case he scared them off, didn’t speak as they came closer. He watched with slight jealousy as one hopped into Zuko’s lap, but the jealousy vanished into thin air as the smallest one pecked at his shoe, and he had to stop himself from laughing. He managed to keep himself completely still, but his smile was small and genuine as he watched, half hoping he would get one in his lap, top, if he was patient enough.

Zuko didn’t know what to think about friends. He had never really… had any. He couldn’t count Azula’s friends as his friends. The three of them got along perfectly. Sometimes he wondered if he would have gotten along better with them if he’d ever actually been a girl. He remembered how he was supposed to get along with them. Even when they were very little, though, something had been different. He shook the thought away. He wasn’t going to ruin this moment by thinking about his childhood. Or about Azula.
It seemed that the two of them didn’t need words anymore. There was something between them, a spell cast by the turtle ducks. Something he knew that neither of them was likely to ever speak of again, even if they did see each other. He had once thought that you never saw the same person twice. He’d since learned that wasn’t quite true, but that didn’t mean he’d been very good at keeping friends in the House. He had a few, but he seemed to anger more people than he befriended.
Absentmindedly, Zuko ran a finger down the middle of the shell of the duckling on his lap. It stared up at him with wide, kind eyes, and Zuko could almost imagine it was smiling. He glanced over at Ronan, his smile reappearing as he noticed the smallest turtle duckling desperately trying to climb up onto Ronan’s lap. It seemed the step from the shore onto his leg was too big. He caught Ronan’s eye for a moment, everything laid bare in his expression. No, they were definitely never going to talk about this again.

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Well THAT got Myrnin's attention. While it didn't kick off any survival instinct, he was certainly in pain. His spine bent and he bucked, attempting to get Sol away from him and do so however he could. 
"Bad, bad, bad," he hissed, needless to say not enjoying this anymore at all. "You win, you win!"
He didn't want to be weak and he didn't want her hurting him any more than she already had. Eyes were a bad idea. He hated, hated being blind. Hated. Hated. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated.

Ronan | Just Two Soft Gay Boys Pretending Like One Of Them Wasn’t Stabbed | strider

Ronan didn’t know whether he expected to become Zuko’s friend. Truthfully...they’d just met, and plenty of people who liked Ronan on first meeting him (rare enough as it was) didn’t like him for long. They’d made a damn good team and now they had reached a silent understanding here, which was that they would enjoy this room and never speak of it ever again, even if they happened to meet.
Ronan hadn’t yet made friends in the House. Unless Noah counted, but he’d only seen him briefly, and he was already a friend. Wasn’t like Ronan was blinking in that often anyway...this was what, his fifth blink? Something like that. And he hadn’t yet seen the same person more than once, so it was a bad idea to start getting close to Zuko.
He looked at the turtle ducklings. This didn’t count as getting close...right?
He looked down again, realizing that his efforts had paid off and the smallest one was trying to climb up. He hesitated, unsure he wanted to do anything that might scare it off, then made his decision and very slowly and carefully lowered his hand so it was like a small step. Hopefully that would help? If it didn’t, he might even pick it up for a moment, just to get it where it wanted to be.
It wasn’t often he didn’t have words, but he felt that way now. It’s was like they didn’t even need to speak to understand each other. They both knew the other wouldn’t hurt the small animals. It was a spell he couldn’t seem to quite shake, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. Not yet, anyway.

L | Pit Fight | strider

L’s hero was, he thought privately, better than the heroes Orpheus traveled with. He didn’t like them. They hurt Orpheus, they made him play when it was painful, and they were violent. If they were in his world, they sounded like the kinds of people L would have tried to stop. He shook his head a little, wondering whether they did any good at all. He didn’t know, he only knew that he didn’t like them at all.
His eyes widened a little as his push worked a little too well, and he drew his hand back. He hadn’t intended to catch Orpheus off guard, he’d just never taught anyone before. And apparently he wasn’t the best at it.
He watched with some satisfaction as Orpheus got back into position, a little better this time. He walked around Orpheus, considering his stance, noting the things that could be improved.
He stopped when Orpheus shifted out of his fighting stance, tilting his head a little until he caught on. “Oh, yes, good thought,” he agreed, looking at the guitar for a moment before he focused on Orpheus again. He paced around him again, then looked up and p reached out to push him very lightly again.
“Yes, that’s closer,” he confirmed, sounding pleased. “You’re harder to knock off balance that way. I don’t know how long we’ll have before the House blinks one of us out, so it’s probably best not to spend too much time on any one thing.”
He shifted into a fighting stance again. “Now...try to punch me.”

Ronan | Look, They’re Still Not Talking About Feelings But They’re Valid Anyway | strider

Ronan looked distraught for about half a second as the turtle duckling scampered away, staying still in the hope that it would come back if he didn’t seem like a threat.
His efforts paid off. The turtle duckling came back and managed to climb onto his hand, and he stayed very still, letting it stay there, expression frozen and soft at once. It was a cute, tiny thing, and Ronan felt fiercely protective of it, the way he was of Chainsaw. If the House hurt these things, there would be hell to pay.
He didn’t intend to speak. He didn’t have much to say at the moment, since everything seemed to be being said for him. Actions spoke louder than words, or whatever. And neither of them seemed to want to break the moment. Ronan wouldn’t be the first to speak. Ronan wouldn’t be the first to break the calm between them.
He wasn’t used to this anymore. This gentleness, calmness, peace...it was gone from his life. What was he doing? Letting the House pretend to give it back? As if he even wanted it back. As if he wasn’t fine as he was.
He was torn from his thoughts by the small animal making it to Zuko’s head, and he almost laughed, but he managed to stifle it in time, avoiding disturbing the baby animals. He met Zuko’s eyes and his eyebrows raised in an almost teasing question mark. What are you gonna do now?
He could relate to the feeling of being chosen. He felt the same way, with the smallest turtle duckling resting on his hand. His expression seemed to be permanently stuck on gentle now.

Orpheus hadn’t minded being pushed – it proved that he wasn’t quite as stable as he thought he was. He probably wouldn’t have understood the importance of it quite as quickly had L not very nearly pushed him over. He gave the detective a small smile, adjusting himself back into position. When L tried to push him again, he was ready for it. He wasn’t completely solid, but he was better. At least he didn’t nearly fall over this time. He would count that as a success, if a limited one.
“That makes sense,” he added, looking to see what L would want to teach him next. He assumed it would mostly be ways to keep himself on his feet. Ways to avoid getting hurt. Well… he already had a way to avoid getting hurt. It was sitting a few feet away, safely out of the danger zone for their self-defense lessons. Music was his best preventative measure for ending up in a fight. They needed him because of his music. And even for people who didn’t, they tended to be thrown off guard when he started to play. He was better than he looked, it seemed.
“Punch you?” Orpheus’ thoughts splintered off entirely as the weight of L’s request hit him. Even if L dodged (and he had experience with this, he would dodge), he could still hurt him on accident. He didn’t want to do that. Still… Orpheus’ hand curled into a fist, his expression making it clear that he had never done such a thing before. His thumb was tucked inside his fingers and he very gently aimed his fist at L’s collarbone. If it hit, it would be more like being hit with a stuffed animal tossed across the room than anything else.

(no worries!! It's always good to see you on the thread no matter how long it takes!)


Zuko shifted, seeming to get a little bit more comfortable with Scarlet now that he was sure she wasn’t going to immediately hate him because of his past. Well… she didn’t know who he was, yet. But that probably wouldn’t matter, because it wasn’t like she knew what the Fire Nation was either. Why would him being the former prince of it matter? It felt… nice… to be anonymous. Like he had just a little bit of freedom to be something other than what people expected of him. As if here he didn’t have to worry about proving himself and regaining his honor, because it wasn’t like he could be looking for the Avatar here. He had nothing to prove, he could just… be a kid. It was more of a relief than he cared to admit.
He managed a small smile as Scarlet explained a little bit more about the monsters. He was grateful he didn’t have to deal with classifying certain animals as monsters – he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do that. Animals were aggressive for a reason, just like people were. Just like Zuko himself was. If they were treated kindly, maybe they wouldn’t attack. It seemed right that Scarlet had spared the fennix. Zuko may not have known her very well, but it seemed like the kind of thing she would do. After all, she hadn’t been put off by his own rough demeanor.
“I don’t think we have very much like your healing salve,” Zuko admitted with a small shrug. “We have bandages and medicine, but… maybe we do. I don’t know what the medicine is made of.” He resisted once again the urge to touch the skin around his eye. “Nanowrap isn’t like anything we have at home, though. It sounds hard to get, if it can heal people instantly like that.” Zuko shouldn’t have been considering it. He knew that his scar was well past the point of being able to be healed. It had healed as well as it was ever going to. He didn’t know if it would ever fade, but he doubted it.
“You’re right,” he said, hands clenching into fists in his lap. He wasn’t actually planning on hitting something, but he needed something to ground him and take him out of his own head. “I wouldn’t just tell you. Sorry.” He didn’t sound very sorry, although he was trying his best to mean it. “But… thank you for thinking the best of me.”
The words were a moment of vulnerability, something Zuko would learn to get rid of as he grew older. For now, though, there was a part of his heart that was displayed more openly. The part Scarlet had already managed to touch.
His eyes widened as she went on, and he was struck speechless for several long moments.
“You would… do that?” he asked hesitantly, searching her face as though he’d be able to read it by some miracle. He didn’t say thank you, but the feeling was evident in the widening of his eyes and the tiny ‘o’ of his mouth.
Zuko settled down a little bit at the opportunity to ask more questions. He had a lot of them, but to start…
“Does your fennix have a name?”

Hook | Pit Fight | watching w shade

Hook continued to watch the vampire and the unnamed child with a grin, his weight still partially supported against Shade’s shoulder as she mutually leaned into him. “Myrnin certainly looks uncomfortable,” he agreed, rightening himself to attention when the vampire suddenly called the fight.
It was obvious that the other blinker had been perturbed in some way beyond what could be seen at a glance - but unfortunately the pirate couldn’t care less about the bastard’s deep fears and insecurities. Instead, his laughter ensued as he elbowed Shade eagerly. “Thank you,” he hummed happily, tucking his (riskily still open) flask underneath his left armpit as he extended his open palm to her; expecting his payment.

Hook | Pirate Ship | @/stri

Hook nodded as Nico confirmed his suspensions; a bit impressed that he’d been on point with his assumptions. “Well no shit,” he commented after a moment longer of thinking on the matter, raising his eyebrow at the kid. It would be irresponsible to expect anything less if he were waltzing around with divine blood; but seemed the demigod was well enough aware of that fact so the pirate didn’t scold him. “Greek?” He asked after another pause, a second educated guess, “Might’ve heard of ‘em,” he added with a shrug. Funnily enough, he’d grown up hearing stories of Greek and Roman mythology similar to how Nico seemed acquainted with tales of piracy; the primary difference was he was raised to respect and fear the beasts and gods of myth while Nico possessed only a romanticized idea of what a sailors life was.
He gave an offended glare to the teen’s response, letting out an agitated sigh as he forced himself to think deeper on the subject. “If my men can keep a good head on ‘em, sea serpents make for a, eh, satisfying victory. Other than enemy ships, they’re typically the only thing we’ll want to hit with a canon. Can be a bit costly if we ain’t careful, but nonetheless, the risk makes for a thrill.” He raised his eyebrows with a hint of a grin at that.
His mischievous smile broke into a hearty chuckle when the lad finally realized he’d been scammed, but his amusement was brief as the presence above deck was a bit foreboding. The pirate held his breath as more shuffling and the additional sound of landing boots could be heard overhead. There was the lingering trace of a smirk on his face as he processed the situation in silence, mouthing to himself as he counted a rough estimate of how many bodies they could expect. “I think that’s our missing crew,” he muttered to the other blinker, eyes passing to the entrance to the level they were on. He was considering similar strategic possibilities, seemingly leaning towards the latter as he brought his weight to his toes with a few ginger steps towards the entryway.

Vincent | Loop Room?? | @/mint

Vincent didn’t say anything for a moment, focused on the surrounding area as he searched for what exactly was putting him off. It was so eerily similar to a space he was so comfortable with, he supposed it made sense that even the smallest changes would make him uneasy. Still, there was a noisy problem somewhere within the room’s atmosphere rather than in it’s physical condition - and such an intense sensation of paranoia was something he couldn’t easily brush off.
The smirk of his face was unwavering, though a bit tense before he remembered that he wasn’t alone. “Do you need me to answer in a limerick?” His dry humor presumably an affirmation to the alchemist’s question.
Beyond the small living space that they’d entered into - which had nothing but a singular couch, television, and appropriately placed shelves - the apartment extended to a Pullman style kitchen that was partially separated from the living room by a counter that extended the majority of the way across it. To the left of that was a short hallway with two doors, one at the start of it and one at the end. The first door was open, leading into the bathroom, while the final door, which would be his bedroom, was ominously shut. He nodded towards it, giving Arthur an expectant look.

Zuko, too, was different in this room. Perhaps they recognized it in each other. They were practically strangers, they’d only met for a few brief moments in the living room. Perhaps that and the fight they’d shared was enough to show they kind of person they normally were. This… well, this room brought out a very different version of both of them. Zuko didn’t know if it was a bad thing, though he was grateful it had happened with someone that not only didn’t mind, but also wasn’t going to question it. The last thing Zuko wanted was to have to explain to someone why he had such a soft spot for the turtle ducks, why holding one felt like a gift, why he couldn’t quite look away from them because there were memories running through his head of a time he couldn’t have back.
He wasn’t thinking that the House could flip the room on them. He knew it was possible, but maybe their silence had two effects – they didn’t scare away the turtle ducks, and the House turned its attention away from them. He could hope, at least.
It was hard to stay completely still. He didn’t want to even tilt his head for fear that the turtle duckling would get scared. He felt the gentle breeze around them pull at his ponytail, but the small creature didn’t seem to mind.
The other one, the one on his hand, huddled down even closer to his hand, as though trying to soak in heat from his body. Very, very carefully, Zuko raised his other hand to gently cover it, creating a small cave that might be able to trap heat better. How much longer could they stay here? Zuko frowned at the thought. He didn’t want to leave. Looking at Ronan, he had to believe the other boy didn’t want to leave just yet either.

“Yeah, Greek,” Nico replied, shrugging a little bit. He didn’t actually care whether or not Hook knew the mythology, though he did at least seem to appreciate that Nico was practically bait for sea monsters. He looked out onto the water, a little bit of nervousness rising in his throat. If there were sea monsters out here… well, they might have been fun to defeat if there were more than two of them there. No matter how great Nico was at fighting or how well Hook knew how to sail, they were going to be killed if it was two of them against one of those. Especially if it was a big one.
He allowed himself a small smile as Hook finally admitted to the thrill of the fight, to at least not being entirely boring and clinical when it came to taking down sea monsters.
“I’ve never fought a sea serpent,” he said after a moment, “but it seems rewarding.” He didn’t say that any excuse to use the cannons sounded fun. At least a sea serpent couldn’t fire back (even if it could take the entire ship down by other means…) perhaps using the cannons wasn’t as exciting as it seemed. It was still frustrating to have lugged this one all the way to the porthole without being able to fire it. Maybe an enemy ship would appear. Then they could fire.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the enemies weren’t going to be across the water. The footsteps up top were enough of an indicator of that. As sad as it was that they weren’t going to be able to do any actually piracy while on a pirate ship, a good old-fashioned battle might be fun. Or at least… it might be a good way to destress.
He followed Hook’s lead, grateful that he was small enough he didn’t creak the boards of the ship. It was hard to hear, hard to tell where the enemy was. They could take them, whoever they were. Although… being outnumbered in a small place like this seemed like a good way to lose a fight. Nico’s fighting style relied on having a lot more room to spread out. It would be best to face them on their own terms.

Shade | Pit Fight | confusing tf outta a pirate

"You're not wrong, probably ought to go check on him in a minute or two.... Don't wanna get in the middle of that, though," she mused, glancing over briefly at his hum and allowing her attention to be pulled away from both the fights for just a moment. Shades eyebrows furrowed for a minute, then popped up as she realized he was waiting for her to pay up and she snorted, then grinned. "Of course, of course... where are my manners..." Reaching to her waist and under her shirt a bit, she fiddled with an unseen pouch on an unseen strap going across her body and unfastened it, producing a small wallet. She shuffled through it momentarily, then pulled out one five and one ten dollar bill, setting both neatly in his hand then returning the pouch to its place on her side. "There you are, as promised," she said, daring to briefly look in the direction of Myrnin and his new friend-ish, then back at Hook.