gaillia was aware her captin wasn't what you could call normal; what's said and done was strange and violent things. But to think he refused to remember people because he received that as a way they could win. "Seriously, where did you get this kind of idea."
"My mother," Aero's eyes narrowed, daring them to say something about her. Inna didn't see that, looking towards the sky, wondering if the zaltess were watching them. Maybe they were laughing a bit, too, "How did she give you that idea?"
"the other half of my bloodline," that caused the two girls to pause. It wasn't his tone that told them they had treaded into the fragile ground; no, it was their common sense. "so what are you thinking for dinner," Gallia said, not so subtly trying to change the topic. Inna immediately jumped on board," I'm not sure, but I'm currently thinking of something bitter."
At that, both Aero and Gallia made a face," You want medicine for dinner?" cause that was the only time Aero ate something bitter." well, now, but I've been on a sweet streak lately, so I'm thinking something bitter would be good for me."
"How does that work?" aero asked; if there was logic here, he could see it. Inna smiled and started walking aero, and Gallia argued against her. It took a full flower for them to figure out she was messing with them. Aero was as annoyed as he was impressed.
"Okay, so putting that behind us," Gallia said, taking charge of the conversation," if you couldn't be a hunter, what would you have done? Personally, I would have been some kind of artist. I even brought a scroll for sketching with me."
"ah," Inna said," really, I haven't thought about it. I guess I might have followed after my family or that woman who offered me an apprenticeship as a seamstress."
"I'd be dead?"
"WHAT!" Inna and Gallia snapped towards Aero at his bizarre answer." the only way I wouldn't be what I want to be is if I'm dead!" aero simply explained, but the girls were taken back.
"You're mad!" Inna stated before slapping a hand over her mouth; while this thought wasn't known, she had hoped it would stay a thought. It was rude if possible true. Instead of getting made like she expected him to, aero started laughing.
He laughed for a good two petals," I was wondering when someone would say thought.. the look on your face says you're surprised I'm not mad! wanna know why." Gallia silently nodded, though she had an idea of why. "so many people have said this. Maybe they were gentle, maybe they weren't, but so many people think I'm strange and weird that I can't possibly be right in the head."
"so you know I'm glad I don't care, cause no matter what anyone will say, cruel or kind, I'll be me!"
"I'm sorry." the gentle words knocked the steam out of Aero as he turned to look at her. "what?! Why are you apologizing?" she did her best to keep the pity off her face, burying deep in her heart, "People's words have hurt you. You don't care because to care means to be hurt, right? I'm sorry that people's words have been so hurtful."
Aero gaped and tried to come up with the words, but nothing came out. Her words were touching something deep, causing more emotions than Aero was comfortable with. So he did the most reasonable thing he could think of.
He stood up from the table and walked upstairs, closing himself in his room, pulling his quilt over his head so he could see what emotions he was expressing. 'my lord, this is not a recommended way of dealing with your emotions," grumbling something that back. The helper decides to leave their lord to calm down.
Instead, they expanded their reach and senses; currently, the limit wasn't too far. Since their power was limited by their lord's ability, still, it was far enough to look around the town themselves. They didn't expect anything of interest or use.
They knew when their lord was calmer by the hormones and blood rate. 'that really isn't a good way to deal with your emotions,' the helper repeated. Which annoyed Aero, but he swallowed the helper had done nothing but help him. 'I wonder if they even know how to do something else.'
"You're right, but the zalts and zalts, from the stars and black holes! How did her words hit so hard? I have taken softer bites and hits!" for a moment, the helper was quiet as they debated how best to break this to their lord, 'because it's a truth that no one has ever said to you. I know you take pride in how you turned out.'
'but your growth is also affected by your environment and the people. You avoid people on habit because people have made you uncomfortable and unsafe. You distrust because people have shown they weren't worth the trust. You are just as responsible for how long your environment affects you. It is up to you to change, break these habits, or just them.'
The helper's short speech went around Aero's head a few times as he disgusted the words and meanings. "I don't think I want to break most of these habits, so you're going to have to settle for adjusting them."
'Very well, my lord, what habits would you like assistance in adjusting?' they spent half as flowering going about setting personal goals for the young lord; the helper didn't push how to come to these goals, instead letting their lord think on these goals for a while.
He went to bed with them in mind after adding spiked chains to the breast cage. He dreamed of gray that night, so he wasn't in a good mood when he woke up. His first thought was the talk he had with the helper, 'I walk out on them." he should probably apologize to the two of them. With a groan, he stood up and started stretching.
Someone knocked on his room door while he had his foot above his head," who is it?" he asked as he lowered the foot, moving to a more ready stance." Galia, are you coming down for the first meal?"
Aero relaxed his ready stance and started teaching his other leg, "Yes, I'll be out after my morning exercises."
"Alright," she responded. Aero could faintly hear her footsteps through the door. After bringing his foot above his head, he moves to other body parts. A few petals later, he was dressed for the day and heading downstairs.
The dining room was busy as the inn workers took orders and served people drinks and food. Aero moved through the morning rush, avoiding physical contact with anyone. Taking his seat, he joined the girls at the table, where Inna was sipping a bitter and strong-smelling drink. gaillia had something much sweeter smelling.
Aero decided to start with water and some bits of fruit; since he felt like doing intensive training in the forest, he was going to wait for a gell. He found it settled better after a workout, especially his usual routine. "are either of you willing to train with him this morning?"
"ah, looking for someone to spar against," Aero shook his head." I wonder if you want to accompany me for training. You don't have to train...I'm wondering if you want to hang out while I'm training if that what you would like to do?" for a moment neither of them said anything.
"Does this have anything to do with last night?" Inna gave Gaillia a look; Aero ignored that and answered." sort of; I have to apologize for my abrupt departure. I got emotional."
"Why?" Inna asked. Aero immediately shut the path of conversation down, returning attention to his question," After a bit of back and forth between the girls, they both decide to come, not like it would for them to get in a little training, and the forest was nice.
After finishing what they ordered and paying for it, they headed out; it wasn't a long trip into the forest. So, the moment Aero found a suitable spot, he started training. First, he did a little muscle work, and then he started practicing with his staff on a street branch.
"Is he showing off, or is this just some high-level training?"
"It's both," Aero replied from the tree branch that he could hear them on," there are too many creatures capable of claiming trees. To now know how to fight on a tree branch. A bit behind him, a kind of creature leaped from one branch to another. It ignored them.
"Plus, this is a great way to work on my balance," he demonstrated by performing a roll. That opened to a series of climbing kicks. This action overstepped his balance, causing him to titter off to the side.
Inna and Gaillia were on their feet in a moment. Their help was proved needed as Aero caught the branch and swung himself back up. Taking a moment to steady himself. "I'm good," he still took a few steps back to the thicker part of the branch, which wobbled less as he practiced his attacks.
Slowly over the flower, he moved back and forth on the branch, unleashing a few melodies to practice with their recoil. Sometimes, he fell off the branch, but most of the time, he managed to catch himself. Other times, he landed in a roll. One time, Gallia and Inna had to catch him. He thanked them while looking anywhere other than their faces.
After the flower, they returned to the inn, and Aero immediately ordered a gel to eat along with water. The girls headed up to their rooms, for what he didn't know. Aero was taking a moment to relax after training. He was pleasantly sore, "now, what do I do for the day?" frankly, he might go up to his room and meditate, practicing some energy manipulation. The spheres were getting decent-sized again.
'They'll probably be used for more chains for the beast or for the staff I use to knock down some overblown pride.' Thinking about that thing he hadn't done in a while, he headed up to his room and started meditating, letting his pride reach out and feel the pride of others. Even used the spheres to reach across the entire town.
'no one I should be overly concerned about,' he thought, retracting his pride. Frankly, he was amazed he didn't see anyone at the level of danger; oh, there were people close. Who he was going to knock down, but now one beyond that. 'good, these people aren't arrogant.'
Stretching out for a moment, he returned to his mediation, sensing people to confirm his targets. Well, as much as he could at this distance. Then, he worked on his energy manipulation, shaping the power born from his pride.
Around midday, he left the inn, doing his best to draw no attention. With the help of the energy, he tracked down a guy wearing some bodily high-quality clothing, obviously from all the decorations sewn into it. "ugh," Aero thought when he laid eyes on it. It just seemed too much to wear, plus how much was that?
Shaking the thought away, he focused on the energy, prodding it deep, getting a feel for how great and large it was. The guy seemed to notice something as his guard went up a bit, but that didn't change his lack of ability to prevent the attack. Aero launched until it hit his pride.
The spine he put on the staff caused it to drill into the stone hard pride, drilling into it. Softening it up for the sound strike. As the staff came out the other side, aero directed it upward, then down with ferocity. The guy definitely notices something, and Aero thinks the guy briefly blacked out from the attack.
'Is he in tune with his pride, or did I hit him too hard?' Either way, the guy was back on his feet easily, so Aero moved on to his next target, a female businesswoman. Peering through the window, he watched her argue something for her. 'let's give her a moment.' sticking her would interfere with her personal life.
Taking a seat under the window, aero listened in; his target was running some kind of food company. A series of merchants were working together to supply food to several places, and she was currently arguing about the use of transport in the town. She was arguing to keep the price it's been for the last six years, 'oh wow!'
Aero wasn't impressed by the woman who was trying to increase the prices, even less when he didn't have any great reason. If Aero was understanding her right, she was doing it because the other women had the money to pay the up prices. 'sounds like greed and nothing more.'
'my lord, would you like me to contact the lord of greed?' aero felt this was a more serious question than he thought, 'What exactly would she do?' the helper calmly said; the lord would scan the planets and deal with an over the top greed. 'as was her job,' aero bit his lip. he wasn't against the idea of her doing her job, but the level of the action.
'something I'm going to have to replicate in their future,' but he gave the helper the go-ahead. Three breaths later, he felt it. Power and presence wash over him. It wasn't oppressive or strong, but it felt like it was gazing at every part of him. he could tell it was reaching far, further than he could reach, probably even covering the entire planet.
Then, it was retracted, and Aero could hear the girls asking for a decreased price raise. His target wasn't looking to surrender to that either, but Aero changed that quite quickly. 'okay, that's done, let's go get something to drink.'
He quickly found a place to get a drink where he downed a glass of juice, 'by the Zatls and zaltess, I knew I'd feel the power, but that was something else,' the strangest part was while he felt you, he couldn't tell you much other then it wasn't pride.
'Man, I wonder if that' how I'll feel when I reach that level,' cause he would or die.