Too embarrassed to make eye contact with anyone at the round table, Vanagloria looks down at her hand under the table that still has a small amount of smoke coming off it.
Once the knights came into the house and Vanagloria apologized to everyone again, the knights had to direct everyone to a new room in their house.
Past the living room to a big staircase that if taken down would lead to a basement of grey painted walls with a round table presumably meant for meetings.
The room felt really empty at the moment. There were twelve rolly chairs meant for a real sized team but at the moment was only occupied by five people.
Vanagloria sat near the door of an inconveniently placed bathroom, opposite to the wall with the stairs.
Blair sat in the seat next to her, still not fully awake. She was brushing out her messy hair as quickly as she could.
Vanagloria was used to seeing Blair like this early in the morning. Blair would use that time in the orphanage to look as good as possible for school while Vanagloria typically stayed in bed, listening to music or scribbling in her notebooks. But it was clear Blair did not want to be doing this right now.
At least Blair didn't seem too mad at her at the moment. She told Vanagloria that she wasn't and she usually meant what she said, but her frustrated attitude said otherwise.
It was clear Blair didn't want to make Vanagloria feel bad but it didn't take away how much it stung her to see Blair this way.
Two of the knights were currently sitting at the other end of the table. They seemed to have some sort of resentment towards each other as neither of them were talking to one another. They were just sitting in silence as they waited for their other teammate to get out of the bathroom.
They had put their silver helmets onto the floor, finally revealing their faces.
The knight on the right sitting directly across from Vanagloria had buzz cut brown hair and acne scars all over his face, maybe in his early to mid 20's. He looked around 5' 8, just a little taller than Vanagloria but shorter than Samsara. He had a very cocky attitude about him. Vanagloria also noticed him sneaking glances over at herself and Blair.
The other one had square glasses, extremely greasy brown hair and a slightly taller upper frame. He looked around 5' 10ish if she had to guess. Vanagloria could tell he was a little younger, but looked a little more responsible and nerdy.
To be honest, neither of them looked like knights.
"Thanks for giving me your blanket last night. It was really comfy." Martyr quietly said to Vanagloria in the seat to the right of her, trying to reassure her.
Out of everyone he was the only one of her friends that wasn't mad at her right now. He was super easy going about the whole thing. It made her feel a lot better knowing there was at least one person that wasn't mad at her.
"Look, I know Spectre can be an asshole when he's angry but they won't stay mad for long I promise."
She looked back up at him to see him giving her a warm smile. His chair was extra close to hers. So much so that she could feel a small aura of heat coming off him, like she was sitting next to a fireplace. She really wanted to hug him.
"No… stop." Vanagloria mentally told herself.
The last thing Vanagloria wanted to do is get a crush on Martyr.
It looked like that was gonna be really hard though. Like usual.
"Yeah… I hope so... Spectre really seemed pissed off though." Vanagloria managed.
"Oh he's extra sensitive about his beauty sleep. back in our high school dorms, we had one neighbor that just blasted their TV shows all night long, and you should've seen him flip out on that guy this one night. Oh my god it was so funny."
Vanagloria giggled at the little story. It was a bit relieving to her.
Footsteps come from the stairs in the other corner of the room as Samsara walks down. She was in a new change of clothes. Now in a yellow basketball shirt that had "Bryant" and "24" in big bold purple letters and simple baggy sweatpants. Her black hair looked messy and even puffier than usual.
She looks over at Vanagloria. Her expression was more sympathetic than it was before, surprising Vanagloria.
"Hey I'm sorry Gloria, I didn't mean to get mad at you earlier." Samsara says as she walks over to her side of the table.
"It's not your fault." Samsara softly puts an arm across Vanagloria's shoulders in a weird back hug type thing.
"I-It's ok, I forgive you." Vanagloria said.
"How is Spec?" Martyr asks Samsara as she takes a seat next to him.
"He's taking a shower in the kitchen bathroom right now. He'll be fine once he's done. He's not even really that mad at Gloria, it's more of the one-two punch of being abruptly woken up and then being told he can't go back to sleep and has to… y'know." Samsara motions towards the knights only a few seats away from her. The nerdier one seemed to be trying his best to look like he wasn't listening in.
"Okay well let's keep him separated from Vanagloria for right now. You guys should probably go out shopping for some supplies for the next trail." Martyr said.
"Yeah that sounds like a good idea. I can get the disguises out. Wait, who else would be going?"
"I was gonna stay here with Vanagloria to help train her with some weapons and element moves, I don't know if you wanted to stay and train Blair."
Blair looks up from a knot after hearing her name being mentioned.
"Uh… I think I'll probably go shopping. I'm not the best fighter. I was mostly planning on being a healer and maybe using like a ranger weapon like a bow or something."
Samsara and Martyr stop for a moment, taking in what she said.
"I mean…" Martyr pauses, not knowing how to continue.
"Blair, we've all gotta train at some point. It doesn't matter what position we're in." Samsara says upfront.
"I mean I want to get better to help you guys, but I'm not much of a fighter. I was just barely ranked with the A-class students at our school. I would feel more confident being in a position behind where I can just support you guys."
"Okay… I guess I'm fine with that." Martyr said, pondering. "I'm still gonna try and train you for a little self defense at some point though, just in case."
"Yeah that's fine." Blair said, going back to her hair.
'Fluuuuushhhhhhh'
Vanagloria heard the clanky footsteps of the third knight behind her after the flush.
"Sorry about that." A very tough boyish voice as he walks into her vision.
He had short blonde hair and a crazy defined jawline. He had perfect skin too, completely smooth and without even a speck of any sort of acne or unneeded hair. He stood at around 6' 1 and looked around their age, maybe just slightly older.
As he walked by Vanagloria he glanced back at her. Instinctively she looked away, not wanting to get caught staring.
He takes a seat to the left of the greasy knight, only a few seats away from Blair who was completely unaffected by how pretty this guy was.
"Aight, let's get down to business." He said with a perfectly white grin, while putting his armored elbows on the table.
"So first of all..." The buzz cut knight puts a hand to his chest with a grin and leans into the table, letting his 5' 8 presence be known. He has a strong tough guy accent.
"My name is Bartholomew, this is my partner Belmont…" he points to the middle knight
"…and this is one of the many sons of Styrmir, Vitalis."
Bartholomew points his thumb to his right at the pretty knight. Vanagloria looks over just in time to see him glancing at her before he darts his eyes away with a cocky grin, clearly pretty full of himself.
"Yes, we are the three lightning knights of Styrmir." Belmont said, very formally.
"What?" Vanagloria was suprised. "He doesn't have any other lightning knights?"
"Nope, you'd be surprised how little our population is. It's just Styrmir, Belmont, Vitalis, you and the big guy." Bartholomew said with a weirdly flirty feel to it.
"You missed one." Belmont corrected.
"You missed uh…"
"…"
"huh… I guess they slipped my mind. Nevermind then, it's just us five then. The rest of the 15 air knights don't have any sort of lightning power." Belmont says. Honestly a pretty small amount of knights for a champion to have recruited.
"Wait, so you're saying that there are only five people on the islands with lightning powers?" Martyr interjected.
"Yup, y'girl right there is actually the only girl on the islands that's got lightning powers." Vitalis says, leaning back in his chair, making unwavering eye contact with Martyr.
"In fact, Martyraveli, you are looking at the only female in history to have a lightning element." Belmont said, pushing up his glasses.
"No shot."
But that also means that Vanagloria's mom couldn't have had lightning powers, meaning she was from earth. That also meant her dad must have had lightning powers.
The idea made her feel warm and bubbly. This was the first thing she knew about her parents. Even with details as little as that, it felt like for the first time she could get a more accurate image in her head about what they were like.
"Oh wow." Blair said, she seemed to start to ponder the same thing, the brush getting stuck in her air for a moment.
Vitalis didn't seem to notice her though. He seemed fully focused on Vanagloria.
Normally Blair always got that male gaze, no matter what. And honestly, as pretty as Vitalis was, it was kind of making her uncomfortable.
But whenever Vanagloria would start liking a cute guy through school, track, basketball or combat, they would always end up having a crush on Blair.
Blair tried her best to always help out Vanagloria with getting guys. It's not like Blair would try and seduce them, it's just that the moment any guy caught a glance of Blair was the moment Vanagloria lost them.
It sucked.
And it's exactly why she didn't want to like Martyr.
She felt like it was a matter of time before he started liking Blair.
So it was extremely weird to see a guy focus on her when Blair was in the room. Honestly it made her miss not getting it, Vitalis's stare was really intimidating.
"So anyways." Belmont cleared his throat.
"Styrmir would like to inform you all that Monday of the week after your first trail will be the best day to see him in the castle of Aether, in the northern air capital, Asgard."
"Oh that's what this is about?" Samsara says, a little annoyance showing itself in her voice.
"Yes, it is a short visit." Belmont said, carrying the conversation for the other knights.
"I've got nothing to do. I could stay longer if you wanted." Vitalis said.
Vanagloria looked back over at him. He was still leaning back in his chair, looking at her with a dangerous grin. It seemed like he wanted a response specifically from her. Her ADHD was making it impossible to think of a coherent response on the fly like this, hitting her with a wave of anxiety.
"I… uh…"
"Absolutely not!" Belmont interrupted, unnecessarily slamming the table.
The sudden outburst made Vitalis take his stormy grey eyes of Vanagloria and calmly over at his fellow knight. Vitalis looked slightly annoyed but still had a laid back attitude.
"T-That is un-unnecessary! Y-You have… k-knightly work to do!"
Belmont's face was red, he kept looking back and forth between Vanagloria and Vitalis. It seemed like he couldn't keep any eye contact with Vanagloria for even a second, despite the fact he looked like he wanted some sort of thanks from her. Like he had just saved her.
"Why not? Oh… it's because you don't want Vitalis to hang out with the only girl with your element." Bartholomew said, making fun of him.
"N-N-No, I w-would never. Women are a d-distraction from my work." Belmont said like it was some sort of knightly phrase they had rehearsed before.
"Belmont you can go back up to Styrmir and tell him they can visit on Monday. Me and Vitalis are gonna stay down here."
Vitalis didn't respond and just looked at Bartholomew, trying not to laugh.
"I'm sure they only want us." Bartholomew stood up and looked over at Blair with all the confidence in the world.
Blair took her gaze off her work to the much less desirable knight like she had sensed him looking at her. Her expression turns to disinterest as she looks over at Bartholomew.
Blair looks him up and down and lets out a small laugh.
"No thanks."
Before Bartholomew is even able to react to his rejection, Belmont turns in a perfect 90 degree angle and karate chops his head like he's from some sort of anime. The silver armor clanging against his head.
"Dude what the fuck!" Bartholomew screams. His cartoonishly cocky grin immediately wipes off his face and turns into pure childish anger.
"That was absolutely inappropriate behavior to be displayed to a female! You must apologize at once!" Belmont waves his finger in his face like a librarian scolding someone.
"This is why I don't hang out with virgins like you!" Bartholomew says as he shoves Belmont, making his chair slide across the room, almost hitting Vitalis who is unfazed by their behavior like this is normal.
"Virginity is simply the first step to becoming a giga-chad." Belmont gets out of his chair and starts moving his arms around like a robot, which Vanagloria soon figures out is his battle stance as Bartholomew gets out of his chair as well, steaming with anger.
"Ay kid, can you stop this?" Samsara says to Vitalis while she gets out of her seat.
"Nah, why would you wanna miss out on a fight like this." Vitalis casually swivels his chair to watch the impending duel, pulling out a phone to film it.