Ruminations of a Parenscidal Nature (Bow)

Bow had had a nightmare yesterday. Today she just couldn't get it out of her mind. It had been about two months since her birthday and last night was the first time she had a scare as bad as that. Her entire bed was charred and when she moved to the couch, it didn't fare so well either. It had caused her to spend the whole day thinking about it, blackening most items of furniture in her home. It was becoming a major problem and she didn't know who to talk to about it.

Then she remembered something. A man at her birthday that had given her a card... She immediately ran around her home to locate it and gave him a call. He said he would be right over, she could have never expected it would be so quick.

A girl with fading brown hair that had pink peeking through answered the door. Her eyes were also crimson, rimmed with a crystal blue from crying. Her hair was a mess as were her clothes. A simple tank top and cotton shorts with her hair up in a ponytail declared that she was hot. When she saw him she actually smiled lightly. Her voice wispy and soft. "H-hello there... I-I didn't think you would be this fast... I'm not even fully dressed... B-but, come in. It would be rude to keep you waiting outside..." She stepped aside and let him enter. He would immediately be able to smell the burnt furniture.

A light blush swept over her pale cheeks as he teased about her not calling sooner. "S-sorry about that... Things continuously came up and... well... I'm still honestly not sure how well I'm going to handle this conversation..." The girl sighed and went to the kitchen as he looked around. When he mentioned the fire, she bit her lip and looked away. "...I-I was... umm... practicing and didn't think about it?" It was a total and obvious lie, but she hoped that he still wouldn't catch it.

Immediately she tried to change the subject. "W-would you like some tea or anything? I'm sorry if I interrupted anything important... I didn't really expect you to come so quick..." But she was thankful he did. This problem needed to be resolved. And soon. If something didn't change to where she could control her powers better and stop having these nightmares, she was going to be in big trouble.

Bow smiled gently when he said that she could make the tea, for it provided her a small distraction from the main subject of conversation. She nodded when he introduced himself and responded before he could continue. "It's a pleasure to finally formally meet, Kyte. Your sister, Glut, has told me much about you... For the embodiment of Wrath, you sure do have a sweet spirit. But, then again, so does Glut. *giggle*"

That's when he said anyways and made her redirect her attention to why she actually called him in the first place. The girl bit her lip in nervousness and anxiety before coming to sit down at the table with him, pouring them each a cup of tea as she sighed. "Yes... I did lie. The burns that you see around the house happened while I was sleeping last night... I-I've had nightmares for the last week or so and they finally have manifested physically... They haven't been like this since, well, right after my parents' death. I-I'm scared..." Her eyes had morphed from two toned to a solid sapphire blue.

It took her a minute to calm down again before continuing. "A-anyway... I have so many questions that I don't know where to begin... What were they like? D-did they really love me like everyone tells me? I don't remember them at all, Kyte... I have nothing to go off of... Only their screaming faces. That's the only parents I really remember... Burning. Crying. Hurting."

Rain finished pouring the tea and sat down to listen to him talk of her parents. A soft smile trickled across her lips and her eyes began to grow a gentle lavender, starting from her pupils and working its way out. When he finished, she just took a sip of her tea and thought for a moment, questions filling her mind once more.

But now the questions weren't as focused on her parents. Rather, they seemed more concentrated on Wrath's affiliation with them. If they weren't good friends, then where, when, why did they ever meet?

"So, you and mom and dad were all just acquaintances... Where did you all meet? When was the first time you met them? Why was I with them? How many times did you see them? ...Did it have anything to do with my father, Mal? He's probably around the same age as you, isn't he?"

Her eyes were shifting colors like mad, mixed emotions coursing through her veins. She was unsettled, curious, hurt, happy, upset, tormented, struggling...

Kyte went deathly silent as Bow asked her questions. It wasn't really anything about her foster parents that unsettled him, and it wasn't like he had been making anything up about them. It was that Bow not only mentioned her patriarch, but knew his affiliation with her. How curious.

He smiled. "You must forgive me, Rain. While I haven't been lying to you, I must admit that the fact that you are Malan'tai's daughter was, last I checked, sensitive information. Did your father tell you stories about me too, then?"

"The fact you know that information means I have to backtrack a bit. It is amazing, Rain; you've been around the three major wheels of power on this world. Impressive. Shivering Jemmy of the Shallow Brigade, the Doom of Malan'tai, and now Wrath, the Acrimonious. You should consider yourself a rarity among rarities, Rain."

"Right, but I'm getting off track. Your parents. Again, for a better explanation, I need to go back. I met your patriarch on this world in ancient Rome. After having our fun, we decided to make a deal. I get the Eastern hemisphere, and Malan'tai the West. However your father became so distant over the years to the point where I no longer received any word from him. I never thought him dead, mind you, though the thought did occur to me. So I came to the West to do some research. I found out he was now in Jump, and that's how I found you."

"But rest assured, it was mere coincidence I bumped into you and your parents. I made sure you were safe in Jump whenever some threats sprang up, but beyond that my interaction with your family was circumstantial at best. Specific dates and times aren't prominent, but places included the grocery store and your neighborhood."

He waited for her thoughts while he sipped some tea.

As he began to speak, she smiled in awe. When he asked if her father had told her stories about him, she shook her head. In all honesty, it had just been a guess. She didn't actually think that they had any affiliation with each other. Though the fact that they did made her all the more intrigued with him.

Then he brought up the fact that she was a rarity. Though that was lost on her. The girl thought of herself as nothing more than ordinary. In a world full of super powered teenagers, she was mediocre at best. Her view of herself was extremely distorted. Anyone from the outside looking in could see that.

She was about to say something in response to him, but he continued before she could get a word in. A smile played across her lips and she nodded as he spoke of him and her father's time together. Wrath and her dad in Rome, that was an interesting thought. Her mind began to wonder of what that would have been like. What would have happened had she been born in Roman times. It could have happened too. But then her mind was once again redirected to his story when he mentioned her.

When he said that he had made sure she was safe, she wanted to know more. Her eyes lit up but then she blinked, wanting to speak of other things before bringing up those questions.

The girl shook her head and sighed. "First off, it is only by luck that I have been in contact with... well, any of you three. Jemmy mistook me for Amythest when we first met... And then I became a mother figure for her. Malan'tai is my father. And you, well... You just kind of appeared in my life. I know your sister well though, she's one of my very best friends... So do not mistake me for a rarity, Wrath. I am merely a fortunate child to have been graced with truly miraculous individuals such as yourself."

Bow knew her way with words when she felt like being sophisticated. It was a talent to be able to shift from the 17 year old child that she was to an elegant lady fit for the race of Ixoran.

"Now. What I really want to know is... What threats sprang up that involved you having to keep me safe?? Were my parents ever in danger? What did you do? How did you protect my family? Why did you protect my family?"

After he had finished his rambling, she said that it was only by luck that she had encountered any of them. She and Jemmy meet by happenstance, Malan'tai was her father, and had only met him through random circumstance as well. She asked him not to "mistake" her for a rarity. He glared at her, seemingly upset.

"No. Quit selling yourself short, Rain. Besides, you actually just agreed with me even in your attempt to disagree with me. This universe is full of probabilities, and you've ended up with the most fortunate hand not once, not twice, but three times. You do realize that probabilities, when accounted for together, only make them even rarer probabilities, don't you? So quit lying to yourself about not being special." He became silent after that, collecting his thoughts.

"I apologize for being overbearing. Nothing sets me of more than when people are... Well, in my favorite river of Egypt, if you catch my meaning."

"Let's move on. The threats that sprang up in Jump were the usual attacks by villains, giant monsters and what have you. Your parents were rarely ever in danger outside of potentially. There was once when a monster had found its way into your section of town, and it, uhm..." he cleared his throat gently before resuming, "Was spontaneously hacked into bits and mutilated, I believe the newspapers said."

He grinned a bit mischievously.

When he finished his lecture on her being special, the girl opened her mouth to rebuttle, but found herself at a loss for words. He was right, in everything that he had said. She was honestly a rarity among humans. It made her blush lightly as she thought about it. She might need to give herself a little more credit every now and then.

When he asked if she caught his meaning, she tilted her head and had to think. 'Favorite river in Egypt? The nile? ... oh... I get it... de nile...' She giggled softly to herself and smiled up at him, her eyes sparkling as he spoke of how he saved her.

But then she cocked her head to the other side, almost pouting. "That was a great story, Kyte, but... You didn't answer my most important question... why did you protect us?" She thought about it herself for a moment and came to the most likely reason. "...It was another deal you had made with my father, wasn't it?" Her voice was slightly voided of emotion, seeming to have something against people protecting her for her father's sake.

Truth be told, even she knew that she was never completely alone. Ever. Her father always had a way of making sure she was never in any fatal danger. Especially after her step-mom had died. The girl sighed and hugged herself gently. Sometimes she wanted to just be able to sacrifice herself and die nobly. But even if the opportunity arose, her father would step in and stop it.

He smiled at her as she seemed to be at a loss for words, and his smile brightened a little when her cheeks gained a shade of rose again even chuckling a little.

He thought he was in the clear, but had hoped in vain, as she realized he hadn't answered one of her questions. She clearly wasn't going to let him off without a clear answer, and he pulled out his phone, finding something. She finally concluded that he only did it as another deal with Malan'tai. She would be met witha loud buzzer sound, the one that sounded when a contestant on a game show got a question wrong.

He smiled. "No. As I said, I didn't meet with your father here until recently. Don't get me wrong, Mal always pays good for a job well done. But protecting a friend's daughter... That only comes naturally to a good friend, doesn't it?"

"Though... I am Wrath, after all. I'd be a liar if I said I didn't enjoy a good fight every now and then."

The girl jumped and blinked in surprise when the buzzer went off, bringing her out of her mini depression spiral with a giggle. Then he answered her question in a way she wasn't expecting. But it didn't really help. So, they were friends. Great. She had a crush on one her father's friends.

Wait. What!?

She blinked and blushed brightly as she realized she just thought that about the man in front of her. The girl quickly shook her head and slapped her cheeks a few times to keep them from getting too rosy.

When she calmed down from her little spaz attack, she looked at him and blinked, wondering if he had caught any of that. Hoping to the gods that he hadn't. She cleared her throat and thought for a moment more. "Hmm... Yes, I guess those are both very valid points..."

More questions. Redirecting back to her parents. "Did my parents know that you were protecting us? Did they know who you really were? What did you tell them?? And... I wanna know more about the grocery store incident, please..." She looked up at him curiously.

Kyte watched her curiously as she contemplated everything that he had to say, and then in a bit of surprised interest as she blushed brightly and started slapping her cheeks. He didn't know what she had thought about to make her so...humbled, but he was curious nonetheless. If she was looking at his face for some sign that he didn't see her doing what she did, a wry smirk and a raised eyebrow probably weren't too reassuring.

She moved on, though, saying he had very valid points, and then asked some more questions about her parents. Specifically she wanted to know if her parents were aware of the protection he was placing over them, if they knew who he was, what he told them, and finally she wanted to know about a grocery store incident. He blinked at that last one, having no idea what she was talking about.

"Well, no. Your parents never knew I was protecting them. It would have conflicted with my protection in the first place. As I've mentioned, Mal didn't know I was in the city at that time, and I had to keep it that way."

"Your parents never knew who I really was, either. At that time I was known as Tanner Richten Mantel, and they only ever met me as my human alias."

"I didn't tell them much of anything. I only ever asked how they were doing and maybe discussed ongoing events with them."

"As for the grocery store incident, I'm not quite sure what you mean. There was never an incident at the grocery store, I merely met them often there, as it was near your neighborhood and in a public place." He shrugged. "When you came around to the grocery store I'd ask how you were doing and see how you were."