Wolfenium wrote:Charmera wrote:Jyn smiled back, comforted that they were both comfortable in this line of conversation. "I suppose it is nice to have family around. We haven't seen each other too for some time before we came here..." Jyn commented, when they had got the summons for the accademy, Vyna had just happened to be nearby and so they went together. "Though considering how many of us popped up I half expected to see brother Alris to show up too..." She shrugged.
Jon noticed Mehran's discomfort with a degree of empathy. If Vyna was here, Jon was sure he would be more than a bit embarrassed, and not just because of anything Vynaria had to say. He honestly hoped the source of that discomfort never came up in conversation. Pushing that from his mind for now, he looked at Niloofar. ""Indeed, apart from somewhat recently we've been a package deal... I suppose our lifestyle and the rest of our family encouraged us to form tight bonds."
"Lifestyle," wondered Niloofar inquisitively, "I always assumed noble families cared about nothing about that. There are many who were willing to kill just about their entire clan just so they inherit their fortune and castle. It's a rather scary thought compared to how austere our society is."
"Greed," Mehran mused, "there's little else that could drive men to depravity more. At least it's good to hear that you're not adhering to such twisted mindsets. Travesty will come the day kinship is worth less than gold."
"Ah, I just recalled," blurted the girl out of the blue, rushing off to the side of the kitchen out of the blue. Returning with a marker and a small card folded into a prism, she scrawled a sign onto one of the faces as she displayed it in front of the pot. Returning with a satisfied smile, Niloofar appeared oblivious to her brother's strange looks. A quick glance back showed that she had written the name of the curry on the card, on display in front of the pot like a buffet item.
"You should put a warning on that," Mehran nervously alerted, adjusting his shades with a trembling hand, "I don't want to be the next person who gets a helping of it."
Defensive, Niloofar growled, "how rude. Don't blame me for your weak stomach, brother."
Grimacing quite clearly, Mehran was clearly more concerned than before. Shifting his eyes back and forth at the pot, he seemed very disturbed at any sign of people lining up in front of it. But with Niloofar just as attentive at the reception, he was quite torn at how to act. Should he try to stop anyone from eating her instant hellfire, or should he just let them take the risk?
But as he pondered over his options, a figure mysteriously popped into view beside him. Shocked, he watched as a pale-faced young man in long flax hair* silently scooped up a bowl of curry with a ladle, swallowing a piece of beef with an almost robotic expression. For a moment, the Xorshid was not sure if the lad was going to burst in panic at the searing spiciness like he and Jon did. After a few seconds, the sullen lad uttered a monotonous praise, "tasty," walking off with the bowl as if he had only drunk chicken soup.
Equally astonished as her kin, Niloofar wasted no time to mock the guardian, chiming, "see? And you said no one could take it well."
"'Well'? He was practically inhuman! A man of steel! He didn't even as much as bat an eyelid eating that! That can't be normal," Mehran yelled in a startled tone.
"What does it matter if someone could take the pungency that calmly," Niloofar retorted, "he said it was tasty."
"He hardly sounded like he liked the taste, though," mused the disturbed lad, still eyeing Eamonn's back as he walked off, "it's like he's dead inside for some reason."
A second look at the lad, Mehran could recall him being part of their class. He had not heard much about the results of the arena battles, but he did recall that he was chalked up for a loss against an Aspirlacial. Eamonn did not look excessively bitter, however. In fact, he did not look like he felt anything about it. Something bothered the guardian about that lad, a sense of brooding that he dared not fathom about.
*Eamonn
Jon and Jyn both gave each other and odd look when Mehran mentioned the word greed. It would be hard to read exactly what they could be thinking, but there was fear in both their eyes. Fear and a mounting, creeping paranoia, which threatened to consume the both of them if left unchecked. However for now, Jyn merely cleared her throat in an attempt to dispel the awkwardness.
"What Niloofar says is... true unfortunately... Our parents tried to keep us away from that and arm us for such eventualities. It's an especially concerning thought." Jyn replied, then her voice hushed slightly and her face looked somewhat uncomfortable. "Especially since..." Her trail of thought stopped there and Jyn clammed up. Biting her lip nervously.
Jon breathed a sigh of relief as he noticed Eamon coming over to the pot, distracting the other pair of siblings. But then his eyes widened as the man took from the pot with no reaction. "How... what...?" He stammered in confusion. "How is he not exploding from the inside out? Maybe it's just a delayed reaction?"
Jyn contained her own surprise. "I... don't see what the big deal is." She lied. "I liked it... It was nice." Jyn said in half truth, her smile becoming more rigid as she wondered of he was really human.
"You have the constitution of a Rhidox. And even you could detect something." Jon replied.