Children of the Lake (Core, Arias, Samba / Invite)

Core would giggle a bit when the wolf-humanoid would complement him about his strength, but he would stay humble, he was strong, but he was far from the strongest even on Earth. ‘’ Eh, I’m not that strong, I’d say I’m more in the average of the galaxy… there is people on Earth that far exceed my strength and could easily stomp on me like I’m an insect… but I’m getting a lot stronger with time so I look forward being even stronger!’’ Core would say before hearing the man’s question about Core mentioning Beryl, the young Arcosian would nod lightly, of course he probably didn’t know him; Earth is a vast world after all, nobody could know everyone, and Beryl wasn’t the kind of guy Core would see simply going around and socializing with everyone. ‘’ He’s my actual mentor, he trains me a lot and a really good guy, he helped me when I first landed her and it got me really strong with his gravity-enhanced training… he owns a ship in the eastern valley, if you’re curious about him a bit more, he’s also the leader of a group called the Galactic patrol.’’ Core would say, nodding to himself with confidence. ‘’ As for his punch, I believe on of his technique could send someone outside earth’s orbit, but I could be interpreting it wrong.’’ Core would add rather amusingly.

When the saiyan answered Core’s offer positively, the changeling would smile widely and look over at the saiyan, Core was really curious about saiyan, he was told they were evil, but he had yet to encounter a saiyan that was really bad deep within, the worst he had seen was Arias, and she was clearly not evil, just probably a bit troubled and lost, nothing that couldn’t be fixed with time and adaptation. ‘’ Well, you’ll see, it’s not that complex, everyone is rather friendly with every race, when you’re nice to people, they are nice in return, when you understand that, you’re ready for anything on Earth really!’’ Core would say before adding in somewhat of a funny rush. ‘’ Also, sweets are awesome, I can show you a café were everything taste like you’re eating a piece of a godly meal each time.’’ The Arcosian added before simply looking at the lake, he was trying to find a way to ‘fix’ their little problem, and he might just had found the way to do so.

The mysterious human, as Core noticed, was much more social than last time Core saw him, he was talking rather a lot to everyone and well, it was kind of refreshing to see that, as he felt the human’s hand on his shoulder, core would doubt a bit, he had seen was his arm was capable of and wasn’t sure if he had to worry about it or simply shrug it off, and he would chose option number two. ‘’ Do not worry my friend, I tend to be quite pacific, but… this man was clearly dangerous and I didn’t wanted this place to be tainted by a person like him more than it already has…I also think I found a way to solve that…’’ Core would say to Alexander and everyone else.

Right after Kay-El said she could maybe help him with his sleeps, Core would smile widely, both the fact that Kay-El was proposing something and that he had found a way to clear the lake was making him really happy of all the sudden, he would look around, and then back at his friend and smiled widely. ‘’ We should totally sleep here sometime, by the lake, right after I deal with the blood of course!’’ Core would say like he was really smart as he turned to the lake and looked intensely at it. Quickly, Core’s eyes would glow red and would send a strong laser-beam in the water, which would taint it red for a moment, even a couple of bubble showing how hot it became. After a moment, The arcosian stopped, the water was clearer and the blood was massed in chunks, the Arcosian clapped in his own hands and quickly removed the chunk of blood and would hover over the lake and smirk. ‘’ Who wants to take a dip?’’ He would yell out as he stopped his flight and plunged into the water, only to emerge near Kay-El, seeing that she was sad that the lake was tainted as he was. ‘’ We can’t let a psychopath ruins our pool day right!’’ Core would say, a bright smile on his face toward his friend. ‘’ Also, the water is rather hot right now, not too hot, it should be comfortable for humans, so everyone should be good!’’ He said more to everyone else.

Alexander watched Kay-El assist the Saiyan woman to her feet, the much smaller child seeming able to do so without much difficulty. That alone spoke to Alex about the strength of the young girl's body. He couldn't help but to be curious about the strength of her form and what a spar between them might end up like. It was a very...curious thought, and he couldn't stop himself from letting it go down that line. It was the same with Core as well, but he had a feeling the young Arcosian would easily be able to best the human. Then again, if Alexander invoked the full power of the Void, he wouldn't exactly be sure what that outcome might be.

His gaze moved between the youngsters as they spoke about using Kay-El's power to assist with sleep. He wondered if that was something he might also be able to handle. Without meaning to, his gaze dipped down to his right hand, which clenched in reflex, and while the tattoos were not there, their very presence were burned into Alexander's mind, and he was certain that he might need to see about developing a technique like that on his own. The constant nightmares that plagued him from whatever lay Beyond the Void were not anything that he cared to repeat, if he had the choice. He made a mental note to inquire to Kay-El later about such a thing.

Arias seemed a little out of it, from the technique that Kay-El had used. He supposed he couldn't really blame the woman after that, considering he'd felt a little woozy simply from proximity. Still, as she crashed into Daika, he couldn't help but to wonder if there might be another outlash of violence here...but she kept to herself, simply doing what she could do to regain her sense of self after having it shattered so fiercely by the young girl. The meditation, he could tell, was helping, but he did not attempt to intervene to determine exactly how far out of whack she might be. If she tried to do something more, he would utilize his powers to end her- that much was simple.

Samba and Core's discussion was the one that interested him the most, however. The young man admitted that he was not among the strongest and in fact, was something middle of the road. There were supposedly many on Earth that were stronger than he was, and that made Alex a little wary. He had not sensed any of these people before...but nor had he been looking for them. The Voidsense that he had did not work as well as the sensing of others, he realized, as he had to be knowing what he wasn't looking for, given how the ability worked. He would need to find low concentrations of void, to determine just where the strongest fighters were and that was altogether exhausting to try to work his way through.

The continued discussion on this Beryl character made Alexander curious as well...especially when he'd mentioned the gravity-enhanced training. He had known that there was one of those at his own school- he'd used it a handful of times so far. However, the results that Core was getting seemed to be a great deal more effective than Alexander's own. He supposed that was the luck that came with having a mentor, but he still had nothing of the sort. He hadn't actively looked to have one, but he he wondered if this 'Galactic Patrol' thing that Core was talking about would give him access to Beryl as a mentor as well, or if Core's unique position is what granted him that.

His gaze moved to Core as the boy addressed him, and Alex gave a singular, small nod in return as he watched, the young man moving over toward the lake, then. He watched, curiously as he the boy began to work. His eyes lit up, and burst into the water of the pool. The heat from the lasers seemed to have caused the blood in the water to congeal, forming hardened lumps, even in the water, and he followed with removing them with what appeared to be some psychic energy, pulling them from the water and casting them to the side. He frowned as he watched, curious. That type of lateral thinking was not anything that Alexander had thought to do, before. His own talents would have just created a mess...or perhaps the introduction of Void to the blood would have brought it to life as far as he knew. That type of ki control that Core had was rather impressive.

Alexander glanced to Samba. "Just something to keep in mind if you spend time with the children in the future," he offered, not wishing for the Zoanthrope to be afraid of Kay's guardian who's name he could not recall. It was simply more of a friendly message more than it was anything else. He didn't continue as Samba addressed the children, trying to make Kay feel better, something that Alex simply hadn't bothered to try and do. Though as Samba removed his shirt to take a dip, Alexander noted the number of scars on his form. Perhaps he was a fighter of a sort? Or he had some other hellish experience? He didn't really know, but he felt that it was impolite to ask. But likely one of the children might, and so he'd get his answer that way.

"I'll pass on the swim," Alexander spoke, though he did move closer to the lake to keep in the conversation. He leaned against a nearby tree with his eyes closed for the moment. He was still mostly interested in this talk that Samba was having with Core, and he didn't want to miss out on anything that might be interesting. But even with the warmed up water, or perhaps especially because of it, Alex didn't feel that he should enter the pool. He wouldn't want to make it chilly with how cool he was being, after all.

--

Daika

Arias began meditating and Kay-El looked over at everyone else, watching as they all tried to get past the two strange encounters. Back on Shikk, Kay knew first-hand what it was to be treated like dirt or last month’s shoes, and she didn’t want to witness any more unnecessary violence first hand. The sad truth of her first encounter with human still haunted her, the way the desert pirates tried to kidnap her and sell her as a slave to the highest bidder. On Shikk, ‘slave’ was an almost generous title for what she had been to her adoptive mother, Pea- when push came to shove, she shoved hard enough to kill the crazed thug who lead the whole motley crew.

When Samba tried to cheer her up she gave him a smile. Maybe it didn’t quite reach her eyes this time, but it was a smile nonetheless and it was a start. Today was a good day when no one died needlessly. In all fairness and honesty, she could have used the hug she didn’t know he considered. Despite the forced awkwardness in his words, she appreciated the gesture - that he cared enough to try only endeared him to her more. “Thanks, Samba,” she said and meant it. When he took off his shirt she saw some, not all, of the scars and her respect for him only grew from there. He faced his own demons in the past, it seemed, she was glad he made it out in one piece so they could meet this day.

And then Core did something incredible - something she didn’t know he could do - he heated the lake enough to form the blood into chunks and took them out. While the fish might not be happy with it, who knew if the damage already done by the blood already did a number to them or not? Eventually nature would fix itself, it always did. “Yeah, Core that's so cool!” she said, a full on grin back on her face now, eyes shining with a mixture of happy tears and excitement. The five year old never took too long to ‘bounce back’ to her normal, optimistic self and she just took to the air and cannon balled right into the lake. Not one to wear shoes to begin with or really think ahead much, she just went in with all her clothes on and didn’t really care, much in the way children could be. With the lake restored, anything was possible again and all was right in the world.

As she surfaced, she noticed Alex and Daika both passed on the swim and watched casually as Daika lifted the rock. Half Saiyan, herself, she never understood why they used rocks to train, not really, anyway. Sure, they were heavy or whatever, but lift, rinse, repeat, destroy on occasion - it all just got so boring and repetitive. Or maybe that was just the impatience of youth talking.

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Do we wanna wrap things up or keep going? If anyone’s got any interesting ideas, just throw ‘em out there. If not, we could just start our thread exits this or next round?

Arias stands, looking at everyone having finally decided to depart from the lake area. She felt as if she messed up more than she could fix, and began to hover into the air as her baby blue ki aura flickered around her, licking her body like a chilled flame. "Goodbye, everyone. I feel as if I messed up more than I could fix, and as a result I will not be seen for awhile." She then looked to the blue sky, closing her eyes as she hovered up and then blasted off over the forest, her ki trail soon fading out as she disappeared from sight and ki sense. The Sayianess had left.

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Thread Exit for me.~ (EDIT: Wanting PL)

Alexander gave Daika a nod, though he wasn't as certain about him as he was the others. Of course, that solely came from the fact that Alexander had met the man only just now, whereas Core and Kay-El he'd met on his little expedition where they'd tracked down and beat up a minotaur. Samba too was new, but Alexander didn't feel the same amount of caution from him as he felt from the white-haired Saiyan. He supposed that it might have something to do with the fact that Arias, the only other Saiyan he'd met, had been absolutely off her rocker. He'd seen a few half-saiyans in his time growing up, but never any of the pure...and now that he had, he wasn't so sure that he was fond of them. Especially after watching the man tear a rock from the ground, Alexander kept a quiet eye on him.

He watched too as Samba's comforting to Kay-El seemed to incite within her a bit of happiness, at least. Not quite what they would have liked, but enough that she would at least start to come around. But as she saw what Core had done, that small bit of happiness had jumped into full-blown excitement at the thought of it. Her cannonball into the water brought the barest hint of a smile to his face before it too vanished, the man not wanting to break his mask around these others. He didn't know any of them well enough for him to show emotion around. That was not a lesson he'd been taught by Fudendrenk, but instead, it was something that he had begun to do all on his own. And it was something that he knew kept him distanced from others around him, but he used that distance to maintain his power.

Core's explanation of the cities were right on. "Satan City is where I live," he announced, not wanting to fade into obscurity despite his self-imposed distance. "If you go, you'll want to watch yourself in the outskirts of the North and North-West, but beyond that it's a rather nice place. There's not a lot of crime or anything of the sort. Just don't go causing trouble in my town," he spoke. There wasn't much in the way of amusement or teasing in Alexander's tone, but nor did he sound serious. It was just as it often was with him, and just a rather ominous matter-of-fact, as that was how he generally operated. His gaze flickered to Daika again, almost as if further warning him...or perhaps just out of a way to show that he wasn't being too serious. It was never easy to tell.

As he listened to Core, the male imprinted the name Beryl Roarke deep within his mind. This was someone that he could potentially aspire to. He didn't have a whole lot of need to protect and police the galaxy or universe or whatever it sounded like they did, but he was curious about someone that powerful. Core's strength dwarfed his own, and due to that, Alexander was quite interested in someone that Core considered powerful. He gave a low sound of thought, considering that strength and what he could possibly do to stand up against it. He glanced to Samba who too seemed interested. The wolf zoanthrope was far more vocal about things than Alexander was, but at the same time, he shared many of his common lines of thought.

Arias moved to stand, before she announced her departure. Alex frowned as she seemed to simply up and leave without a second thought, leaving the rest of them here at the lake. It wasn't that he minded, the solitude was something he generally preferred over most other situations. It was more the abrupt nature- had she truly caused more problems than could be fixed? He glanced to Samba, who did indeed seem to be oblivious that the woman had even left. His gaze followed the Saiyaness as she took to the skies and then eventually vanished, and he gave a small sound as he looked to Daika, curious if he would follow at all to either seek revenge or recompense...or if that was the end of their time.

Samba then announced his own leaving, needing to get back to training. Alexander had a hunch that he might be curious about gravity training in the future and as such, he felt that he should at least offer that his own school had some, in the event that he wasn't able to meet this person. This Beryl Roarke. "If you're ever in Satan City, there's a school in the South-West. Morning Star Academy," he said, just so he knew what to look for. "We've got a gravity chamber there as well. Even if you're not a student, I can probably convince the student council to let you all use it, if you need to," he said, giving a light shrug.

He glanced over to the children, then. "I'll stick around til you two have had your fun. I feel like leaving you unsupervised would get me in trouble with your guardians," he said, merely watching as the two played in the lake.

((Not exiting yet, waiting for the kids))

Daika

Arias left and Kay frowned, unhappy she was unhappy, but maybe it was for the best. When Core splashed her she squealed in both delight and surprise, splashing him back in the way young children ought to behave. Honestly, when Daika left, the girl was far too distracted to even notice. Not being self-absorbed, but he didn’t exactly speak with them all that much and now he seemed to actively be trying to slip away - it worked as Kay-El ducked under, resurfacing as Core and Samba spoke of the Galactic Patrol for a bit.

If Kay knew the sorts of things she’d get into sooner than she ever imagined, her fun would have dampened so perhaps this brief period of peace for the girl was well needed. Although when Samba mentioned going off to train she realized that if she didn’t leave soon, she’d be late for her sparring session with Nana. The two never missed a day regardless what planet they were on. Well, perhaps a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt...right? Even Alex seemed to get into the conversation which was nice. Sometimes having a day where no one got hurt was the the nicest one, today hadn’t happened like that yet she still found enjoyment of the simplest things. Like how the water supported her weight, or being surrounded by all the now clean water making her feel like the world were a little further away. Down below the surface it didn’t matter that she was small or weaker than others, or more powerful for that matter. She’d seen some of the looks she got when she was forced to let loose, and it always made her feel...uncomfortable. It wasn’t long before she went back under, loving how ti felt to be surrounded by deeper waters.

But down here surrounded by underwater life of various kinds, she didn’t feel the pressure to conform or be the girl everyone expected her to be. And even those varied from person to person. On Shikk, Sam expected her to be fierce and strong, Pea expected her to be quiet and obedient and out of the way. Nana just expected her to be herself, but Kay didn’t know yet who that would be. Who knew what Pin would expect of her once they met, if anything? If she cried down here, no one would know, perhaps she should start coming here when she felt homesick instead of going to the forest. It was easier to find places to be alone in the woods, though.

If she knew then how limited her remaining time on Earth would be, would she have made the most of it? Perhaps so...or maybe not, who really knew? The thin, clear set of eyelids came down automatically in the water and she looked around, taking stock of things at the bottom of the lake. Nothing new, nothing special, and so Kay-El Coliflo swam back up towards the surface once more. “Thank you,” she said, looking over at Alex. She’d tell Nana about him, that he didn’t leave the children without supervision even if it were entirely possible the two could roll him over individually. Respect for Alex only grew and she wondered about him even more, thinking him the type of fine fellow that would make a good friend to have. He showed respect for others and an evidence of strong values, or morals, which only told Kay that buried under all that mystery was the grounds for someone special.

“I should go, too,” she said to them both. “When it’s time to train and I miss it? Well, Nana tends to go extra hard on me and I’m supposed to be preparing to meet my new teacher soon. Anyway... “ she lowered down and kicked, springing into the air and taking off, showering anyone nearby with droplets of water as her wings sprouted from her back. “Bye guys... “ she said before giving them each a hug and taking off back toward the small room she rented with Nana in the city.

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hey all, please edit into your last posts what you want from the thread and when it's done I'll put it up in t2g.
Arias Core Stold Samba Daika levias @alexandervoss
Thread exit | TWC: 3414

Alexander's gaze drifted away as he closed his eyes for the moment after he'd heard the others begin to leave. This was...pleasant, oddly. Alex hadn't really lived a life of hardship, but being able to just kick back and relax wasn't something he got to do very often and that was, at the time, exactly what he was doing. He was watching over two children and a saiyan as they made their presence known here at the lake to all those who might look upon it. It was a nice little environment, and he enjoyed seeing things how they were when conflict wasn't anything they needed to worry about.

His gaze flickered over to the Saiyan who was now setting the rock back down from where he'd been training with it. He wondered if the man had any social grace or not. It seemed to be in the negatory, given that he had shown up, promptly been attacked and had seemed to suffer no really ill for it. Afterward, he had participated a bit in the conversation but had mainly begun training. He supposed that made sense as the man was, in fact, a saiyan, but he had to wonder if he had any other difficulty in social situations...or if that was how all Saiyans were.

The man lifted off, heading up to the sky. Alexander followed him up for a moment but it didn't seem like he was going to be coming back down. He frowned slightly, before glancing over at the kids. He was left here with them, which he didn't particularly mind, but it was rather odd to be the one who was in charge of them. He didn't really fancy himself much of a babysitter, but even though these children were relatively strong, neither of them were quite adults. He couldn't in good faith just leave them alone, though it would take someone of tremendous strength to take either of them away- especially Core.

The male watched as suddenly Kay seemed to thank him for what he was doing. “Don't worry about it. I don't have anywhere else to be,” Alexander spoke, trying to play it off, as he often did. He was genuinely fond of the children, but he couldn't make that known, of course. He looked at them as younger siblings, something that he'd never had, and he wanted to do the very best that he could in order to help them, however he could. That, today, was simply watching them and allowing them to have their fun in the water without needing to worry, as children tended to do, what they should do without an adult present.

Kay hopped out of the water then, the girl sprouted wings shortly thereafter, something that he certainly hadn't expected. He blinked then as the small girl gave him a quick hug (another thing that he wasn't expecting) before she took off into the sky. She was likely heading to where she and her guardian were staying. Alexander would have offered to escort her, but she was already gone, leaving him alone with the arcosian boy.

“I do,” he agreed, nodding in response to him living in Satan City. “If you stop by, I'll show you around sometime,” he offered, before they had watched Kay leave, creating something of an awkward silence. His gaze slid to the boy, and he wondered, being so close in age, at least in the way of maturity, if Core had some feelings for the girl. He wondered if such were even compatible or not, but that wasn't really a question for children. They could have crushes and appreciation of one another in any way that they wanted- they didn't need to confine themselves to social norms.

After the girl had gone, Core too seemed ready to depart. “See you around, Core,” he offered, waving at the Arcosian. His voice seemed off, but Alexander couldn't place why- he seemed to be just as normal as he often was. He wondered if he was simply just upset at the parting form his friend, but the Void user got the feeling that there was more to it than that. His gaze darted over the young man as he took to the sky, also heading to wherever he was living at the time, leaving Alexander alone out here, the lake now placid without the others in it.

His eyes closed for a moment as he exhaled, wondering if he truly was the one that should be watching over the children. The pain in his right hand began to flare up as the Void echoed out from it, pervading its body. The Ethereal flames licked up his arm, as if they were consuming his body. He gave a low growl, as he forced the void to his shoulder blades. He had seen what Kay had done, and now he was...curious.

With a low sound of pain, two wings of Void emerged from his back. He gave an experimental flap, but nothing much came of it. He wondered if he could learn to control wings of this nature much like Kay did with hers. Hers, however, seemed natural, whereas his were anything but. A small grunt of pain followed as he let the void wither back into his body before he dismissed it. If things continued in this fashion, he would be among the least eligible candidate to watch the children. He could feel his humanity slipping away, daily, and yet he did nothing to stop it.

The power was too much of a draw.

He shook his head, moving to place his hands into his pockets, the bizarre energy framing his upper body as he moved into the shadows of the forest, taking himself away from this place of peace and serenity. He did not deserve such.

[[PL + Heavy Weights]]

Kay-El (All set for grading)