[Training] [se] I wanted them to fear me

Melita

Eating fire is your ambition
to swallow the flame down

Melita hadn’t expected death – not so soon. When one had escaped it for so many years, perhaps they’d thought themselves infallible. Or at least, in her case, every bit of a gritty, determined, steadfast survivor. Helovia hadn’t killed her. Neither had the Rift, though both lands had taken something she cherished and beloved. Caido, up until recently, hadn’t robbed her of life either.

And the funny thing about it all was that it made her think. Gave her pause. Reflection. Something very few moments did.

Once she drifted away from the tournament, to the screams, shouts, confusion, victories, and defeats, or gave over to the coddling aspects of Ru and Jata, she sat upon the nearest rock, using her toe to trace lines in the sand. Quiet, contemplative, uncertain, unsure, she felt like an unsteady wave in a realm of currents. Fangorn sat curled in her arms, his vines enveloping over her skin, as if lost too or perhaps afraid he’d lost her, with Sila hovering nearby. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to both, but couldn’t name the reason for the apology. For her arrogance? For her inability to see it coming? For the loss they had to endure and then rebury?

She had no name for that either, but it felt a lot like regret.

to be lit up from within, vein by vein
to be the sun

Words hung above but never would form
Like a cry at the final breath that is drawn

The Tournament had been riveting beyond even Koa's wildest dreams, but very little could top the flip-flop of collective panic as Melita the Honeybee appeared to die - only to pop up minutes later, like some kind of revenant daisy. Slack-jawed and transfixed, the young Dragoon could do nothing but watch as his heroes swarmed the arena, mounting rescues and rushing to aid. Mel had risen, and the fights had gone on, and the participants had done an incredibly job of demonstrating their collective worthiness to be considered demigod (or adjacent).

It left Koa feeling a little breathless, and a little bit bereft.

Maybe that's why he skipped the initial afterparty, choosing instead to set off down the beach on his own. Normally he would have basked in the revelry and reverence, in the living legends and beaming smiles. But in a post-Yeet world Koa finds it hard to be around that much strength, to be reminded of all he is not. It's a lot of Big Feelings he isn't ready to parse, and he thinks it best that he's alone until he can swallow them down. Because that's the answer, right? Suppress the trauma? Bury the fear?

Anyway.

Of course, the world has other plans. Because immediately after settling on his night of solitude does he spot Melita sitting on a nearby stone, her companions held close as they watch the sea. And though it seems rather apparent that she, too, has not come for company, it would be heckin' rude not to say hi now, right? With Pip at his heels Koa approaches the demigod, a hand raised in greeting as he calls out, "Hey, Miss Melita!"

And then, because he feels suddenly rather awkward and doesn't know what he is supposed to say to someone who died earlier, Koa adds a bright and boyish, "It's good to see you looking so alive."

Koa Carpenter

Mama said, burn your biographies
Rewrite your history, light up your wildest dreams

Melita

Eating fire is your ambition
to swallow the flame down

Eventually, Melita knew she’d have to carry on about the day. Pretend as if nothing happened. Maneuver around the stares, stories, and stanzas more so than ever before, make her way through plazas and markets, back to enthrall over latest victories and whatever else happened at the tournament. For now though, her mind was in a flux, and sitting and stewing silently on the rock was all she had left in her.

Fangorn nudged her though, and Sila hovered out a tune, and her head raised to see Koa and Pip approaching. She wouldn’t lie, the notion of visitors right now made her feel slightly ill and willing to retreat back into herself, the forest, or the sea, and the words thereafter clambered and itched down her ribcage more than once. “Oh, hey,” she called back, rather unenthusiastic, uncertain how to react when one has died, then lived, all within a few moments. “Thanks,” came on a half-smile, because she didn’t know what else to say, and her eyes thought about drifting back to the shoreline, or concentrating on something Ludo had said.

To not be so serious.

Mulish at herself, her head turned back to Koa instead. “Did you see it?” How she’d perished within a single god damn bolt of electricity?

to be lit up from within, vein by vein
to be the sun

Words hung above but never would form
Like a cry at the final breath that is drawn

Yeah, turns out there's not a standard guidebook titled Conversations With Recent Dead People For Dummies. Or maybe there is, but we all know Koa isn't much of a reader. Clearly Mel is Going Through Something, and a more emotionally evolved human might leave her to do so in peace.

Koa plops down into the sand, casual as a basking seal.

He considers lying and then thinks better, because what's the point in that? "We did," the younger man confirms, sweeping a stick into calloused hands. "Wasn't very fucking sportsmanlike. " Theres exaggerated disdain in his voice, the way he rolls his eyes. "I've been in more spars than I can count, and the first rule is to be respectful. Have some give and take, y'know? Nobody wants to fight a one-hit wonder twice." He shrugs, raising a hand to shield his eyes as he looks to Mel for a response.

Koa Carpenter

Mama said, burn your biographies
Rewrite your history, light up your wildest dreams

Melita

Eating fire is your ambition
to swallow the flame down

He plopped down nearby, and she didn’t know what to do with it – other than perhaps sink into the notions of someone close. Of either having to be strong, put on a brave face, or fall apart all within arm’s reach of another. She wasn’t certain she liked any of those options, and instead took to glaring at the back of his head, fingers restlessly combing over one another or toying with a pebble between her palm and digits.

So she waited instead, knowing multitudes had seen, having no recollection of her family racing out or the constant stirring of apologies. There’d only been fragments of souls she’d known and then the return of the living world – stirred in facets of sudden grief and the weight of loss.

Her eyes went down to the sand, then along his shoulders, to where his eyes were shaded and watching her. She couldn’t help but laugh, and shrug, flicking the tiny stone away from her. “Well, he can go fight Hadama now instead.” She wasn’t even certain if she had hard feelings towards Sah now, struggling to analyze the portions. “Did he use something else? He’d never been that potent against me before.”

to be lit up from within, vein by vein
to be the sun

Words hung above but never would form
Like a cry at the final breath that is drawn

"Yeah, then go pound sand." Mel's laugh has his grin widening, the boy clearly pleased with his (so far) positive effect on her mood. Pip rolls over, wriggling worm-like in an attempt to get Silas or Fangorn's attention, her dark body a river of oil in the sand. Prodding the dragon's stomach gently with his stick, Koa feels his smile shift to a frown. "I mean- just the lighting, far as I could tell. But I can't say I know much about his capabilities outside of that. Maybe mageglass?" he adds, recalling some snippet of information learned long ago. "Heard it makes magic stronger, though I've never actually seen it used."

Pip, who has been fighting gleefully with the stick, now snatches it to turn into an undersized kicker toy. Shaking his head ruefully, Koa shifts his attention fully to Mel, brain straining to sort out what else he can say. The obvious things - I'm glad you're alive, what did you see when you died? - feel too near to look at closely, too personal for him to touch without being invited first. So he chooses something lighter, if not less earnest: "Honestly? The biggest bummer was how quick it ended." Ok, second biggest. "I really wanted to see what you were gonna do. Y'know, now that you're a demigod and all."

He winks, perking up as a thought occurs to him. "Oh! Hey! You know what this means?" With the sort of shit-eating-grin that can only precede something awful, Koa pauses pregnantly before announcing: "Now your legend title could be The Honey-zomb-bee!"

That's your cue, Melita. Go ahead and kill him now.

Koa Carpenter

Mama said, burn your biographies
Rewrite your history, light up your wildest dreams

Melita

Eating fire is your ambition
to swallow the flame down

She laughed again; a wild and raucous thing out of the melancholic void. Fangorn and Sila found Pip’s antics amusing too, though Sila slid herself closer to the Honeybee, rather than participate. The vampire gourd snaked his vines around, clearly trying to entice some form of play, but Melita’s attention was focused on words and potentials.

Mageglass pissed her off, and she’d keep that in the back of her mind for when she confronted him at the next available opportunity. Whether or not it was true didn’t quite matter to her – but rage did, and it lifted her up from all the parallels of death and straight into defiance.

Koa even went so far as catering to her ego, and though it was fragile at the moment, her head tilted with a wry smile. “Yeah, it could’ve been something,” was uttered wistfully, as if she’d missed a great moment of warfare, rather than a very brief skirmish.

The joke though made her grimace. “Gods, just for that, watch this -,” which should’ve been something really neat and triumphant and bitchin’. What she received, as she unfurled her fist, was a rather loud round of applause from nowhere and everywhere. Then she sighed.

to be lit up from within, vein by vein
to be the sun