Some Eyes Can Eat You
For Kaimana
Peter Pikely


Age: 33 | Height: 5’3” | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 4 - Strg: 11 - Dext: 18 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#15
Good time for a change
see, the luck I’ve had
Peter doesn’t notice how close he’s gotten1, too overcome by concern and wonder both. An uncomfortable mix that is not at all helped by Kaimana’s answer, especially the part about a foundation. ”Is it,  the uh... the mushrooms going to hurt it? Apricum?” That is the most pressing question he needs answered, though he has a dozen more now, about the nature of a boy who makes things grow around him.

When the other moves, Peter does as well, as if he’s just now noticed how close he came in his worry2, and isn’t sure how to do anything more than shift, slightly, when what he wants is to pull away completely. Would it be rude to pull away again at this point?

Reaching out, Peter strokes a finger along the blooming ribs, pressing gently, like he’s checking for weaknesses, as if he’d be able to tell if there were any. ”If it is magic, then.. can mushrooms, and... and anything feed on it? The magic, not... not Apricum.” Truth be told, this was moving a little ahead of Peter, but he was still so interested. A spark of joy left Apricum as it was called fascination, stepping forward to bump its nose against the demigods knee, like a silent thanks.



1. At least not yet.
2. There it is.
can make a good man
turn bad
PETER
Base Code by Sky!
Scientist

Age: 26 | Height: 5'8 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Torchline
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#16
KAIMANA
what is the point of being alive

"Hurt him?" you ask, as though the thought had never occurred to you (it hadn't). Tilting your head thoughtfully, you consider. "Well... They take in nutrients from his body. But he's magically kept in homeostasis. So it'd be assumable that the magic that sustains him as is will also sustain the mushrooms."

Turning to Peter with a bright shrug and an eager look, you grin. "But we'd have to observe to know for sure. Isn't that excitin'!?" You notice the way he pulls away and your expression falters somewhat, a sudden abashment washing over you. You weren't supposed to interfere. You were supposed to just observe.

Apricum's nose on your knee brightens you a little, but you're still quite visibly chagrined. "I can make 'em leave," you say softly, looking at the mushrooms and not Peter. "I didn't mean to make you unhappy. Or him. I'm not s'posed to interfere."

if you don't at least try to do something remarkable?
Peter Pikely


Age: 33 | Height: 5’3” | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 4 - Strg: 11 - Dext: 18 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#17
Good time for a change
see, the luck I’ve had
A soft breath of relief leaves Peter, Kaimana’s words making more than enough sense to be agreeable. With a renewed interest, he leans down more, getting closer to eye level with the bright fungi. ”Homeostasis is just...” He looks up and waves his hand, trying to mime the word1 before it comes to him. ”...like, being stable, right?”

”How long would you, uh... would we have to observe?” He’s not quite sure if he agrees with exciting per se, but it is interesting, and well... Peter is more than intrigued by the idea of Apricum popping with colourful fungus. Maybe it would help it’s first impressions.

It’s not the expression that Peter notices first, but the sudden subdued tone that comes from Kaimana. He looks up, and is hit with the full force of the next words. I’m not s’posed to interfere. Something settles in his gut like a cooling guilt, and Peter finds himself shaking his head quickly, reaching out for the younger man, but stopping himself before he gets anywhere. Apricum picks up the slack where he can’t, bumping it’s nose into the demigods knee again, demanding the excited attention from before.

After a moment, Peter forces himself to speak, to try to fix this2. ”I do like them. Can you um... can you do other kinds? Or just uh, just red?” He tries to force some of his interest to reflect in his actual tone, to not be so standoffish, though he doesn’t move to reclose the distance between them.



1.While he would be the first to admit that he’s generally not the best with fancier words, this is one that he’s actually fairly certain he knows, if only he could force the definition to his tongue faster.
2. It’s strange how certain things will override his own discomfort. But the tone, the slump of Kaimanas shoulders, it’s all so familiar, and to have been the one who caused it in someone else kills him a little bit.
can make a good man
turn bad
PETER
Base Code by Sky!
Scientist

Age: 26 | Height: 5'8 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Torchline
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#18
KAIMANA
what is the point of being alive

"Well..." Still curious and thoughtful, you continue to inspect the mushrooms brightly. "It's hard to say. For it to be a real experiment we'd prolly wanna observe for a while- but we'd also need a control, an' I don't know if there's anythin' else like Apricum for comparison. D'you?" You look expectantly at Peter, assuming that as the only known companion to and thus resident expert on magically animated skeletal creatures he is the most likely person to know where to find more.

Of course things take a turn for the slumpier, as we've established, though Apricum's gentle bump on your knee does much to brighten you up again. You feel terribly guilty for interfering like this, but at least the luxere doesn't seem upset by it. And Peter actually likes it. So it must be a little bit okay.

Still dimmed from your earlier vibrancy, you begin to work your jaw in thought. "I don't really... really do anythin'. Things just like to grow around me, prolly cus'a bein' Rae's kid an' all." You say this suuuuper casually (like, maybe too casually - you're hoping that it will just go by unnoticed without becoming a Big Deal, but you're not very good at subtlety), your hand pressing back to Apricum's nose. "I could try to coax s'more to grow, though, an' maybe they'd be another color? But I hafta hold really still for a little bit." As though to demonstrate this you stop moving, hands falling in your lap, a daisy immediately springing up beside your knee while the grass around you thickens.

if you don't at least try to do something remarkable?
Peter Pikely


Age: 33 | Height: 5’3” | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 4 - Strg: 11 - Dext: 18 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#19
Good time for a change
see, the luck I’ve had
”I actually um... I don’t know, not for sure, really...” There is a decidedly sheepish tone to Peters voice, like he knows he should maybe know a little something more. And, well, he does. Just nothing really useful. ”I found it in, or... during Longnight. Outside. So... maybe there’s more?” He looks at Apricum, silently willing it to open its jaw and speak again like it had in the deep cold dark. ”It can uh... can do this.” He offers, dark spilling out from the undead luxeres antlers surrounding the both of them. It fades as quickly as it came on, just a quick example after all.

The sense of joviality is still gone from Kaimana’s general vibe, a fact that Peter is still deeply uncomfortable with. He tries his very best to be interested, and engaged, and so it takes a moment for Kaimana’s words to really reach him. And then another moment for him to realize why the name Rae is familiar. Oh. Oh. Well that does explain some things. ”I-I um... met a girl who was... who said she was from an acorn. It’s.. it’s like that, right?” He offers, trying to make it seem as casual as the demigod did and not realizing how right he was.

”Could you... could you please try?” Peter asks, whispering, to try and minimize the disturbance of his voice. He wants to reach out and touch the grass, the flower, just to see if it’s really real.
can make a good man
turn bad
PETER
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Scientist

Age: 26 | Height: 5'8 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Torchline
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#20
KAIMANA
what is the point of being alive

Well, if there is one surefire way to bolster your mood it's by mentioning your twin. Visibly brightening once again, your eyes light up as he mentions a girl who can only be Oia. "You met my twin!" Nodding, you continue to work your fingers over Apricum's smooth bones. "Oia'i'o an' me were incubated in an acorn. Dama - Rae - didn' want us to be biased 'cus'a maternal bonds." This might seem horrifying to some people, but you say it like it's nothing. And really, it doesn't bother you at all. You have Oia. What more could you need?

Smiling at Peter, you nod obligingly. "'course!" You close your eyes and reach for Apricum, breath slowing to a meditative state. You don't really have any control over the life that grows from you, but you know how to stimulate it into existence. As you still yourself the life around you begins to bubble and thrive, plants and flowers shooting to life both on the ground and on your body-

- and on Apricum, a new patch of mushrooms springs into life.

if you don't at least try to do something remarkable?
Peter Pikely


Age: 33 | Height: 5’3” | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 4 - Strg: 11 - Dext: 18 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 14 - Int:
Played by: Johnnie Offline
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Posts: 695 | Total: 4,183
MP: 87
#21
Good time for a change
see, the luck I’ve had
The news that Oia was related to Kai was somehow both incredibly surprising, and not at all surprising. It set things in place in Peters head, slotting together like a puzzle he’s finally found the kissing piece for. Of course Oia is the child of a god, of course Kai is related to her. ”I liked her. She... she’s simple.” Peter offers, trying to stoke the new brightness, keep it alight. And he’s telling the truth. Their conversation had been interesting, had made sense, and he wanted to talk more with her, if he got the chance.

Though Peters never been one for familial bonds, even he recognizes that a lack of maternal bond isn’t quite right. It’s how you get people like him after all. But he tries to move past it, and ask something else. ”What is.. dama?”

Peter is silent as Kaimana agrees to try again, and all but holds his breath as the demigod concentrates again. He can’t help the soft gasp as more mushrooms begin to bloom, can’t help leaning in to look at them. He turns to Kai to say something, and is instead stopped short, finally noticing the bloom of growth across the boy himself.
can make a good man
turn bad
PETER
Base Code by Sky!
Scientist

Age: 26 | Height: 5'8 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 3 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 17 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 15 - Int:
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#22
KAIMANA
what is the point of being alive

To someone else the descriptor of simple might be met with offence or indignation, but you simple nod in understanding and agreement. Oia is simple, moreso than him, driven by instinct and curiosity without the burden of insecurity or doubt. You love it about her; even now it makes you smile just to think about your twin.

Closing your eyes to invite the mushrooms once more into being, you answer his question quietly. "It's what I call Rae. Since they're like a Da an a Ma. Though Oia says that's not really accurate, but..." shrugging lightly, you let your eyes flutter open, a pensive look once again on your face. The value you put on familial bonds is higher than it should be, but it's your human side coming out.

Turning back to Peter, you raise a hand up to gently remove a daisy that has sprouted from your curls. "Do... D'ya have any family here?" Gently you place the flower on the ground, coaxing it off your hand with the tender patience and wonder if a child.

if you don't at least try to do something remarkable?
Peter Pikely


Age: 33 | Height: 5’3” | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 4 - Strg: 11 - Dext: 18 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#23
Good time for a change
see, the luck I’ve had
The explanation for Dama is far simpler than Peter had expected, the idea behind the term familiar, even if he’d never heard it before. He shifts, sitting on the ground properly, instead of the uncomfortable crouch he’d been sitting in. ”Sometimes... making you happy is more important than... or, just as important as accurate.”

Peter is still distracted by the growth covering Kaimana, the way the flower was coaxed into the ground with the ease of relocating an insect. It gives him a moment of leeway before he answers the question asked of him. Then he took another moment to chew on his lip, more thoughtful than anything else, at least on the surface. ”I do... kind of. But... no blood family. Not anywhere, anymore.” As he answers, Peter reaches out a gentle finger to brush along to cap of a newly bloomed mushroom, quiet awe on his face.
can make a good man
turn bad
PETER
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Scientist

Age: 26 | Height: 5'8 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Torchline
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#24
KAIMANA
what is the point of being alive

Peter's comment earns a warm, genuine smile from you, because while you know you're supposed to care about facts and certainty and what is accurate, it's nice to be told that sometimes you don't have to. That you can just do things to feel happy, and feel things without having to worry about the implications in the broad scheme of things. "Thanks, Peter."

Found family, frankly, isn't something you're particularly familiar with. Oh, you know the concept well enough - all things build colonies and social structures, and humans don't need blood ties for them. But for so long all you've had is Oia (for as long as you can remember, at least, which is really not that long), and though you have never felt that she was anything but enough, well...

You can have enough and still want more.

And on that unsettled note you rise, offering Apricum a final scratch behind his ears. "I oughta go observe s'more stuff before it gets dark," you remark, smiling at Peter. "It was nice t'meetcha, though! We should climb trees again sometime if you want. Bye!"

And with that you turn to make your way into the woods, your thoughts jumbling just a little as you try to make sense of these new emotions.

{-kai out}

if you don't at least try to do something remarkable?
Peter Pikely


Age: 33 | Height: 5’3” | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 4 - Strg: 11 - Dext: 18 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 14 - Int:
Played by: Johnnie Offline
Change author:
Posts: 695 | Total: 4,183
MP: 87
#25
Good time for a change
see, the luck I’ve had
Peter is not quite sure what he's done to earn the thanks, but he smiles back just the same, glad to have offered something, some comfort, some reassurance. It's not something he's too good at, and considering the dip their conversation had taken earlier, not something he'd thought would happen.

Though, whatever his words have brought, it doesn't seem to be entirely good, judging by the strange look on Kaimana's face as he rose, and excused himself. Peter looks up after him, reaching out to also rest a hand on Apricum, and offers a rare, true smile. "I think I'd like that." He says softly, watching the demigod disappear into the trees again.

What a strange encounter.

Done
can make a good man
turn bad
PETER
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