tushanshu_logs | Sage Family Matters [Closed]

Entry tags:

Sage Family Matters [Closed]

Characters: Genis, Raine (perhaps Solomon later?)
Date: 9 February
Location: Raine's room @ The Midnight Hotel
Situation: A "nice" homecoming of sibling "fluff," wherein Genis says hello to Raine, and Raine teaches Genis all about the horrors of Tu Vishan. It'll be great.
Warnings: None for now, though relationship discussions may happen at some point?

After the help of several individuals, Genis had finally managed to make his way from the Keeliai University in the centre of the shell to the Midnight Hotel and, ultimately, to Raine's room. Already, from what little he'd learned from both the kedan and from the foreigners, Genis... wasn't going to like this place. Asking questions of the kedan had gotten him some dark looks, and while it had netted a few cryptic answers, the only real answer he had received was that he wasn't exactly welcome in this town. Genis wasn't usually accustomed to biting his tongue, but he had done so slightly better than usual, which is to say that every idea that entered into his head wasn't directly said. But despite this, Genis was doing his best to behave.

Genis trudges up the stairs to the third floor and then immediately finds Room Eleven on the right, which is where he had heard that Raine was staying. With his escort to the Hotel gone, he's all alone for the second time since coming here, and it's an odd feeling being separated from everyone he remembers. The last time that had happened was on Derris-Kharlan when they all had been separated just before the final fight with Mithos. It is made all the more discomfiting due to the sudden new world that he had been thrust into. That couldn't be helped though, and so... he stands in front of the door, just a little out of sorts, hesitating to knock.

But his hesitation doesn't last long. He clutches his kendama forcefully, his knuckles white as he grips it. Once he finally makes up his mind, he knocks loudly at the door, the sound of his knuckles on the wooden frame echoing through the halls. He's not certain if Raine will be in--she could be at the clinic, of course--but he's really really hoping that she's there... if only so that he doesn't have to face the possibility of being lost in this strange new world alone.

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Raine immediately knows who it isn't, at least, as the one person she regularly expects would not have to knock. Her mind's only half-present as she goes to answer the door, though, her thoughts on the healer's guild and how matters are progressing there, but she should definitely know that mana signature...

"Genis?"

Her brother's on the other side of the door. Raine stares at him for a moment, eyes wide, somewhere between horror and delight. She hasn't seen Genis in a year, two if she counts the Dreaming year, and oh, she has missed him, it's the longest they've ever been apart-- but here, now, with the state of Keeliai lately? It's a dangerous place for anyone to be, especially a Foreigner, and she doesn't know if she can protect him like she should.

Then she thrusts all that to one side, so to speak, and practically lunges, pulling Genis into a tight hug.

The door opens, and of course Genis is looking up into the surprised eyes of one big sister. "Hey, Raine," is his very terse reply to her terse greeting, but Genis will just give her a rather shy smile, though it's mixed with a huff of confidence. Unlike him, it's not been long since he's seen Raine, but it has been a rather panicked few hours coming to terms with everything.

There's a moment of paradox when Raine pulls Genis into a hug though. It is precisely the most right and most wrong thing that she could have done to him. It's the thing he needed and wanted most, but it was... also... well, embarrassing. What if somebody saw that?

"Sis, you don't have to be... that... affectionate," he says, but while his words will say one story, his hesitations, tone, and actions will say an entirely different one. Because Genis will bury his face into Raine and throw his arms around her too. He wants to be the strong one, the adult one, but there's still a 12-year-old kid inside him.

Not releasing her from the hug, Genis asks the all-important question: "So... is all of this really for real? Another world outside Sylverant and Tethe'alla?"

Definitely Genis. Definitely not a dream. Raine closes her eyes and holds on tight, just for a bit, ignoring his half-hearted protestations. Genis is here. She's loath to let him go, though she does know he has his pride; once he asks that last question she loosens her grip, indicating he is free to pull away and act like nothing happened whenever he chooses. She's not going to be the one who does, however.

"Yes, it's for real," she confirms. "This one is perhaps more truly another world, not intertwined with any other. People from any world that exists may be drawn here-- there are hundreds, if not thousands. However, they may only ever go to or from their own world; there seems to be no passage between." Which is a real pity, honestly, the number of things she could learn, the ruins-- well.

"You can't have been here long," Raine adds shortly after. "What have you learned, so far?"

Well, they were out in the hallway where everyone could see him. Genis didn't want the first impression of everyone in Keeliai to see him as the 12-year-old boy that he was; he wanted them to see him as someone a little older, even if his general whinging about things (not to mention his appearance) already ruined some of that. Sorry, Raine, but that cute idyllic phase where Genis hero-worshipped you is mostly over; he's trying to be his own man now. Emphasis on "trying."

He does pull back a little bit from Raine's hug. He doesn't bother to completely escape her arms, but he is going to put a little bit of distance so he can actually see his sister. After all, from his perspective, it's not been long since he's seen Raine, but he's guessing that it's not quite the same given how she's acting... especially with how much she already knows.

"Well, I figured that was mostly the case, especially since everyone who said hello to me on those monitor things don't look like people I'd recognise from our worlds," he says, alluding to the fact that he'd met a few people already. That, indirectly also begins the answer to her second question, which is the laundry list of things he's proud to already know. "Well, I already know that we're living on the back of some giant turtle, that the city is divided into six sectors if you count the centre part, and that this crazy headache I've got is going to go away tomorrow."

He's going to mostly be smiling now because this is already a good list for him to know. But then it's going to be fall apart when he adds the last details. "Oh right, one more thing: the kedan love to discriminate against us. Something about a war against Malicant and them not really appreciating the job that our side did to get rid of him."

In addition to acting like she hasn't seen him in ages, Raine definitely doesn't look quite the same. Subtle differences, but she's young enough that her visible aging hasn't actually stopped yet, and two years does show.

"You have the basics, then," she says, nodding. "I can fill in most of the rest. We -- the Foreigners -- did defeat Malicant, but it was not without a cost. Two of Keeliai's Emperors died in the process, Tu Vishan may have as well, and directly after Malicant's defeat we were trapped in the place we'd went to fight him, for about a year. To the kedan's eyes, we had simply disappeared, leaving them to clean up the chaos remaining. Further, the first Emperor, Eshai, had done something to their race as a whole. I still don't know exactly what, but it changed them, and not for the better." A faint grimace, as she comes upon an analogy that fits. "Think of the angels in Welgaia. When Malicant was defeated, the kedan returned to the way they had been. While it's not fair, and certainly not right-- I can't wholly blame them for some bitterness, and the Foreigners are the only visible targets left to blame."

It's some kind of ironic that even though being half-elven means nothing to anyone here, they're still facing some of the same problems simply by virtue of existing. All Raine can do, really, is what she and Genis had been intending to do beforehand: work at showing people that it was possible to live in harmony, no matter what.

That thought brings to mind another, though. Raine ruffles Genis' hair absently, fond, and straightens. "Genis-- sometimes people from the same world, here, are from different points in time. What's the last thing you remember before Keeliai?"

He can tell that Raine's a little different than she used to be. After all, if he couldn't tell that, something would definitely be the matter. He can definitely tell the differences within her face; it may look more or less the same, but there are small changes there, just as there are differences in her physical stature.

But nonetheless, Raine starts going into full-on lecture mode about all of the differences here, and Genis just listens attentively. "No wonder they're a little peeved," he says at the end of it, "losing two of their emperors and their Giant Kharlan Turtle." Yes, he's going to make that reference to Raine at least once because it is a little funny that it's actually somewhat similar, a giant thing that's fundamental to life as they know it. "But if that one emperor was so bad, maybe you'd think they wouldn't hold his death—or the things he did—against people like us. It just means they're taking out their frustrations out on us because we remind them of the guy they really hate. It'd be like hating Sheena just because Zelos stole my lunch money!"

In short, yes he agrees with Raine on the principle of the matter, but the actual spirit of the law should be so much more neat and tidy, really.

Genis endures the gentle ruffling of his long, wild hair with the patience of an annoyed saint, but that doesn't mean he's not going to take it out in other ways. But he'll answer the question first. "The last thing I remember was the sprouting of the Great Seed, a little after Lloyd named the new World Tree." And then he follows it up with the coup de grâce. "And, in case you're wondering, the last thing I remember here is not yet being invited inside your hotel room."

Edited 2015-02-11 10:08 (UTC)

Giant Kharlan Turtle-- oh, honestly. Raine presses her fingertips briefly to her forehead, like she's resisting the urge to facepalm more definitively. "You'd think that," she says, "but Emperor Eshai was also responsible for setting up the spell which brings us here in the first place. We're the most visible remnants of her work. And-- it was one of us that killed her. That was before I came here; I don't know if Malicant was involved." She sighs, and shakes her head. "It's a complex mess. Frankly, I almost miss Tethe'alla's politics."

When he answers her last question, Raine actually laughs, though just a little. She missed him more than she thought. "Come in," she says, and turns, finally stepping away from him to open the door farther and lead him inside. She'd barely even considered that it would be a question -- they've shared space for so long -- but it is a new and strange place, after all. And the room is not only Raine's, which Genis... may or may not pick up on immediately.

She's going to have to explain and introduce Solomon. Preferably sooner, rather than later. For now she just pulls the chair from the desk for Genis. "That's the last thing I recall, as well," she says, pleased. "Our timeline matches up; good. That will eliminate some complication."

Genis admittedly takes a little bit of pleasure in his cleverness, even more in the fact that Raine seems slightly annoyed by it. Even if it's not a full facepalm, he can read his sister's expression just like one of her books... despite how difficult her books are. "Ooooooh, now I understand why they're not just content to let it all just rest now. Eshai did something to the kedan, maybe to keep herself in power, got surprised by Malicant, and so he used people like us to solve the problem. So even if we killed Eshai—which I guess they should be grateful for—and Malicant—which they should also be thankful for—they just see us as a result of a reign that shouldn't ever have happened and because the way didn't go as smoothly as they would have liked."

It was stupid. They were being completely stupid about it, and they were just taking out their frustration out on the foreigners because they were just whinging about how things weren't super wonderful and perfect. And meanwhile because of those stupid, misguided, biased conclusions, people were suffering. His sister and presumably her friends were suffering. It just made him want to gag a little bit.

But the more thankful note at the very least, is that Genis does come in. It's not that Genis was necessarily waiting for an invitation but that, really, if they were going to talk about things, it deserved to happen not in the hallway. Genis didn't really want the world to see his sister doting on him; that would be all sorts of embarrassing if someone saw it. But as he comes in, he will notice that the room is... much nicer than she would normally keep it. Yes, there are a few open books and piles of papers on the desk, but it's not like everything had just exploded everywhere. But he'll table that for just a second as he takes the chair Raine offers. "Probably will make it easier when talking about things from home, for however much we get to talk about that here. I mean, I guess we're not going home any time soon.

"Though speaking of home, wow, does this hotel come complete with maid service or something? It looks absolutely spotless compared to home."

He's missing a little bit of nuance, she supposes, but his summation is essentially accurate. Raine nods. "Opinions are still mixed on Eshai," she adds. "I wish I'd gotten the chance to meet her myself-- I don't think many of the remaining Foreigners have been here that long, however. Evandau, the Emperor after her, was evidently cut from a very different cloth."

She can practically sense his righteous indignation, which is, very fortunately, not the kind that comes with a smothering concentration of lightning mana. His sense of right and wrong is well-defined, but lends itself to black and white judgment. Sometimes, Raine worries about that. Right now, she can't help but be a little touched.

When Genis sits, she leans against the desk, preferring to at least half stand for the time being. Raine's staff, sleek brown wood capped with concentric brass rings, leans in a corner; some of the papers on the desk have the angelic language on them. What there is of a mess is definitely her doing, the product of jumping between subjects rapidly with little actual need to focus on one thing at a time. "We likely aren't," she says. "No one seems to know how or why the spell that brings us here is malfunctioning. Sometimes, people just vanish, returned to their homes for no apparent reason. A few friends of mine have gone that way." She'll remember them. "But there doesn't currently seem to be a way to go home intentionally, no."

And then his other comment sinks in, and Raine gives her brother something like a dirty look. Solomon's tidier than she is, yes, but it's not that pronounced a difference, is it? Clearly Genis cannot be that disoriented, if it's taken him so little time to slip right back into form. "You're the first other person I've seen from our world," she says, instead of dignifying the jab with an actual answer.

Genis hasn't tossed around any indignant spells quite yet, Raine. Granted, a contributing aspect of this happens to be that he can't; his mana is blocked by whatever spell that happened to bring him here. However, that said, he's been in a little bit more control of himself than the spell has governed him despite being ill and with a headache. But that said, he's not entirely disoriented; he may still be coping with a brand new world, but this isn't exactly something he hasn't experienced once already, even if it is still somewhat different here than it was from home. There's one outstanding question, of course, though he already knows the answer to it.

"Oh well of course there are going to be people who supported the guy who did horrible experiments to them," Genis says, his voice in complete deadpan. "I'm surprised we didn't actually run into someone in Sylverant who was actually giddy about the Desians." Whether or not he actually fully believes this or he's being truly sarcastic is completely up in the air. "If this Evandau was any better though, then at least the kedan have something on us for killing him." It is a him, right?

Still, that's never going to take the edge of annoyance from Genis' voice. He's still one of "them." He didn't even do anything to the kedan yet other than ask a few questions and maybe sneak out of a console café without paying—was he even supposed to pay for that? he doesn't even know!—and already the kedan were treating him with dirty glares. The kedan have already categorised him, and Genis, for better or worse, embraces that categorisation. In one way, it's perhaps just as perverse as fighting a lost cause against it, if not less so.

But now is the time to ask the one question that he's already figured out. "Well, by the looks of things, you've been here a little bit longer than I have. I'm kinda guessing that you didn't just get here yesterday or anything." Genis gestures with his right hand, eyebrows raised. "So... I'm taking you've been here for a while. Which is kind of strange because you haven't been gone from our world at all. I don't know if the spell is malfunctioning or doing exactly what it's supposed to, but it certainly seems like it would be a hard spell to cast right given how powerful it is."

As for the dirty look, Genis just shrugs it off. She didn't smack him on the head, so that's actually a plus for him. He may be drained and a little tired, but his brain is still functioning. Which means he's definitely going to notice that she didn't deem his comment with any sort of recognition. "Well that rules out Colette being your maid then."

"Genis," Raine says, and now it is a little sharp, reprimanding. It's not the same, it really isn't, as a systematic cycle of abuse and oppression set in place over thousands of years. Things here are rawer, more volatile in some respects. "It was wrong to change them, yes. But Eshai also seemed to have dedicated herself to saving Tu Vishan, this city and the people in it. We can't know her mind for sure, but it's almost certain it can't have been a simple situation on any side." A sigh. "Evandau was Malicant's fault, but there are those who would assert that the Foreigners contributed to his death, and I can't wholly disagree."

She might see if she can track down one of the people who's been here longest for him, in the hopes of a little more clarity. While Raine has a good chunk of the puzzle, so to speak, she's aware she's missing vital pieces where Eshai is concerned.

She does soften a little, moving on to the next issue. "When I was first brought here, I was told that we would be returned at the same point in time we left from, which seems to be accurate. So in that respect, it's still working. I've been here twenty-three months, chronologically. A year of that we spent in the Dreaming. Time ran strangely there; it didn't feel like more than a week till we had woken."

What is his newfound fixation on the maid service. "There are no maids," Raine says, utterly resigned. "The proprietor, Anton Shudder, handles the majority of the work that needs to be done around the Hotel, but I don't believe tidying is among his priorities."

Genis knows Raine's tone well. Yes, maybe he's got a few details wrong here, but how complicated could it be? "Okay, so maybe Eshai wasn't a bad person necessarily, but what you're telling me just doesn't make sense. If the kedan hate us so much because we remind them of Eshai, it's seems doubly silly to hate us because we got rid of him. And if the kedan like Eshai because he tried to save Tu Vishan, and we were a part of that plan, it doesn't make sense to hate us when we're a reminder of that." Raine might notice that Genis is already using the word we when talking about it; he's already conflated the issue of the past to something in the present, something he has to deal with. "Sure, maybe it's complicated. But you still can't have it both ways."

And it probably is much more complicated and subtle that Genis is making it out to be, but that sense of subtlety is lost on him. Yes, he's going to need to have someone to ask more in-depth questions to. And besides, he completely dodges the comment about Evandau because it doesn't fit the narrative. In fact, it might just break the narrative he's trying to make.

"So you've been here for two whole years? No wonder you look older than I am!" Genis' eyes just go wide at that, but almost instantly later there's another realisation that's kind of depressing. "Aw, that means I'm less than half your age again," he says with a dejected tone. He had been so proud to surpass that last year when his 12 broke half her 23, but 25 puts him yet one more year behind. "I'm never going to catch up at this rate!"

Genis pauses for a moment to look at the room though. He had been sort of joking about maids here for a while, joking about why the room was so tidy. But she had just ruled out practically every possibility that someone was keeping the room tidy other than one. After all, it wasn't going to be Raine that cleaned her room day in and day out. "So, if the hotel isn't cleaning up after you, then you must be staying with someone else who is, huh?"

"And Zelos shouldn't be able to hate half-elves and still consider us among his friends," Raine points out. "People are complex things, with the potential to be internally inconsistent. And the entire population can't be wholly painted with the same brush. Opinions vary outside of the broad generalities: keep that in mind." She's happy enough to let it rest at that, though, hoping it will be enough for Genis not to do anything rash when she doesn't have eyes on him.

She can dream.

Raine doesn't even have to run the calculations for years. "Next year you'll be half my age again," she says, absently reassuring. Which maybe says something about how permanent she considers this situation, that 'next year' here is a thing she considers possible. "And if we return to our world at any point, the original status quo will be reset, of course."

She's a little more focused on his other question than the matter of the numbers. Because if Genis has picked up on that much, he cannot have missed the fact that there is only one bed, as well, and now Raine has to figure out how to explain Solomon to her brother in such a way that Genis does not take offense to his existence, which is a possibility she deems more likely than is optimal. She still remembers how long he carried a grudge against Regal. Raine starts with "Yes, that's correct," and in a moment adds, "I'll introduce you, when he returns." That's a solid enough place to begin.

Internal inconsistency? Don't tell Genis that one; he was willing to hate all humans... except for Lloyd... and Colette, and Presea... and Zelos... and you get the idea. He sighs a bit, knowing that he's certainly beat from a logical bent, but that doesn't mean he still doesn't feel like it's still just a bunch of hogwash. "Yeah, yeah. When I finally meet a kedan who's actually nice to me, I'll make sure to give them a second chance." But again, he's not exactly certain that such a thing exists. But it is only fair.

"Yeah, but I've grown up so much! You know how much it meant." It's a weird thing for him to be so caught up over, but he's only 12, and there's such a large age difference between them. Besides, it was him trying to bond with his sister. But at least he'll take a slightly more positive angle with her reassurance. "Well, you just wait for next year. It'll sneak up on you... again..."

However, Raine's standoffishness for answering his question only brings out the more playful side in Genis, and he just grins a little bit. He's already starting to get the hang of this place, and Raine is (of course) the primary reason for it. She's familiarity in the throes of insanity. And so of course his teasing side is going to come out just a little bit here. "Introduce me? To your roommate? Your guy roommate? What is he your boyfriend or something?" Yeah, no way. Not even a chance. Raine has always been more interested in books than men. And if that changed, Genis would... he didn't know what he'd do, but it would never change; he was convinced.

Raine nods approvingly at the first, taking the concession for what it is. Genis has been here less than twenty-four hours, he doesn't have reason to hate all the kedan yet, and she hopes this will head the worst of it off. The nod turns tolerant, her smile softer at his note on their age. "Yes, I know," she agrees. "You'll be taller than me before I know it."

This is a guess. Virginia was about Raine's height; she doesn't know if their father was tall or short or somewhere in between. It's reasonable to assume Genis will surpass her in both height and intelligence eventually, however, and she looks forward to it. Her job is to keep him safe that far.

She's expecting Genis to tease; she's not completely expecting him to have outright dismissed the possibility that she might be seeing someone, but his tone rather makes it sounds like he has. Raine hesitates very slightly over the answer. Not quite nervous, but not sure how he'll take it, either. "Yes," she says, giving up any pretense at subtlety. "I... suppose that's the term for it." Not one she prefers herself, but she's drawing a temporary blank on other terms.

Although the Healer's Guild wasn't exactly a well-paying occupation, it was something for Raine to do, something she obviously found fulfilling. It would have been a lie to say Solomon didn't envy her--the fact that she still had a purpose with her magic and could put it to good use. More and more, the fact Solomon was growing comfortable without his magic was the part that made him uneasy.

He had been intending to ask Raine about the possibility of putting the laboratory's Dreaming entrance somewhere in the guildhall, but hadn't quite managed it yet. Still, possibly it was something to bring up today, now they were both home. They'd barely managed to cross paths at the stairs, on Solomon's way down to the kitchen for something to eat.

Solomon came to their door bearing a tray with two mugs of tea and a plate full of Shudder's biscuits, manoeuvring through the door without dropping or spilling anything. He looked up with a smile which turned into vague surprise at the fact that not only was Raine not alone, but accompanied by a boy with features far too similar to be anything other than a relation.

Genis? Was this Genis? Solomon hadn't pictured someone so young--but perhaps the timeline was different between the two of them.

"Good day," he said, taking only a second to cover his surprise with a charming smile. "Should I be getting another mug of tea?"

There's a brief moment that Genis is excited by the prospect of the future. He's got a long way to catch up to Raine before he'll ever be as tall as her, but he's been not-so-jokingly threatening that for a long time, even if he's still thoroughly entertained by things his human peers his age might have surpassed long ago. "I keep telling you that. It's only a matter of time before people start mistaking you for my little sister."

But then his house of cards come tumbling down. Or perhaps the more apropos metaphor is that the ball failed dramatically to catch in the cups of his kendama. Finding himself alone and lost within the grand expanse of a new world had been a little frightening and terrifying, though he'd adjusted okay when he knew "others like him" were here. Knowing his sister was here had become the thing he had latched onto, just as he had latched onto Mithos as a friend in their extended "Journey of Regeneration." In a world as inconstant as this one, Raine had been that source of constancy, an anchor firmly planted in the old world that he could trust as a fixed point, a reliable guide through uncharted waters.

But Raine's admission... made it pertinently clear that that wasn't the case. She hadn't ever had time for dating; in all the years they were in Sylverant, Genis had felt safe and secure—even counted upon—Raine's perpetual attention towards Genis. She wasn't just a sister; she was a surrogate mother, though Genis would never voice that aloud. But the Raine of his memory no longer aligned with the Raine of reality. And he didn't know her.

"What? For real? You..."

And as if on cue, suddenly, who else would show up but the boyfriend himself. Or at least that's whom Genis was more or less presuming it would be. This was a hotel; he didn't knock. That spoke volumes. This is no casual visit; this presumed some amount of intimacy.

And if Raine had someone else, what did that mean for him?

Genis stares at Solomon with some look of trauma behind his features. Sorry, but even with that charming smile and an offer to be kind to him, this 12 year old has already had a pretty full on day.

He just remains speechless.

Raine's a little concerned; it's rare for Genis to be completely speechless. She reaches over to clasp his shoulder, part reassuring, part wordless request for his attention. She isn't fully sure what he's thinking, but can guess it's not entirely positive. "Yes, for real," she confirms, a little dryly, as Solomon has now quite by accident driven that point home.

She could wish his timing had been better, but the issues will need to be sorted out, and sooner is better than later. "Genis," she says, quite calmly, "this is Solomon Wreath. We've been -- courting -- for some time now." Which is probably the best way to put it for now.

To Solomon, she directs a little smile. "Perhaps in a moment," she says. "Solomon, I'd like you to meet my brother, Genis Sage." She's aware Solomon has almost certainly deduced that much by now, but there's a form to these sorts of things, and the established formality of introductions is a stable point in an otherwise unstable meeting. "He arrived here earlier today."

Given the boy's state of speechlessness, Solomon was acutely aware that his timing was, in this instance, most likely extremely inconvenient. He put the tray down on the nearest bureau which didn't require him to approach Genis, in case that would--well, if not frighten the boy, then make him react badly. The fact that it meant he didn't approach Raine either was probably of benefit.

What, Solomon wondered, exactly was the policy here? Though he was hiding it, he was himself somewhat discombobulated. He knew Raine had a brother, had even known she had practically raised him, but the thought of Genis arriving in Keeliai--let alone at such an emotional age--had never even occurred to Solomon as a possibility.

"It's my pleasure to meet you, Genis," Solomon said directly to the boy with a bow--a proper one, the sort usually only reserved for people Solomon genuinely respected. (It was a short list.) "Raine has spoken of you most fondly."

In all reality, Solomon didn't seem all that bad. He seemed genuinely charming. And he seemed gentlemanly to boot. There shouldn't have been much to dislike about him.

But this is in some ways an even worse nightmare to face than finding out that Regal had some rather dubious history with Presea. That was his crush; this is his sister. He hadn't been there to get accustomed to this. He didn't know who this guy was. But his presence—or perhaps not his presence but more the mere knowledge that there was someone else in the picture—had transmogrified this rather familiar and homely place into something that is as foreign to him as the foreigners are to the kedan.

And in a world that's as uninviting as this one, it just made him want to push it all away.

There's a shake of his head. "Actually, don't bother with the tea," Genis says. There's some force behind his words. It's not necessarily anger, but there's definitely a strong sense that he's not at peace with this turn of events. He hops up from the chair, unable to sit still there while the room suddenly feels like it's practically suffocating him. There really isn't space for him here, is there? "Don't mind me. I don't want to be an interruption."

And with that, he just starts to head for the door.

"Genis," she says, sounding startled, maybe a little bit lost. "You're not--" She straightens, half-reaches after him, then lets her hand fall to her side.

Incineration threats she could handle. This just hurts, not least because Raine has no idea what to do about it. She's had her brother back for less than an hour, and now she might very well miss him more than she did previously.

Ah. This was rather terrible, wasn't it? Solomon had never had any siblings, but he remembered acutely Raine's request that he not abandon her, and saw the look on her face, and for a moment of clarity saw their own situation as if from an objective observer.

Including the fact that he was far closer to the door than Genis was. He was practically still in the entrance.

"No," he said firmly, reaching for his coat on the rack by the door and grateful for the fact he'd been wearing his shoes on this particular run down into the kitchen. "Raine hasn't seen you in at least a year. Please, stay. I've some more errands I can run." Possibly one of them should include arranging to use another room for the night. He stepped out the door before Genis could, meeting Raine's gaze over his head. "I'll be by again tomorrow."

That ought to be plenty of time for the two of them to talk, yes? Yes. Hopefully. Maybe he should ask Skulduggery--no, no, that was a terrible idea. Hm.

Regardless of exactly what he meant to do with the rest of the day, Solomon left to give Raine and Genis some privacy.

Raine's feeble protest falls on deaf ears. Right now, it just isn't... something Genis wanted to deal with. Genis is more or less heads down, not looking up at either of the two adults. It's ironic that Genis is just drowning with internal inconsistency when he practically lambasted the whole of the shell for suffering the same affliction. All he wants is out, out of the room, out from the stifling walls, out where he can just curl up into a ball in a corner with his kendama to help ease the pain.

Solomon's offer, however, doesn't quite have the same effect. He looks up briefly, though he doesn't give him a full gaze; he's only looking at him from the corner of his eye. But before he can even reply, Solomon is already out the door, leaving him and Raine alone. But it doesn't help the environs at all; it's still just like that trap he fell into up on Derris-Kharlan. But nonetheless, Genis pauses for just a moment, not reaching for the door.

Without turning back to Raine, he just just stands there, head down. "He can do whatever he wants, but I can't stay here. I can't be here right now. I swear I'll burn the door down if I have to."

Yes, she's his sister, and he still does care, but he just can't. He just can't.

Edited 2015-02-14 01:33 (UTC)

Solomon's choice was probably the wiser one, and she makes a note to thank him for it later. Raine takes a deep, purposeful breath, and folds her arms across her chest, watching her brother. She knows that set to his shoulders; that's not something worth contesting. "All right," she says, back to something approximating cool and even. "You shouldn't be alone in Keeliai right now, however, especially if your magic hasn't returned. Either I'm coming with you, or you should keep to the Hotel. I can arrange a place for you to stay with Anton, if you like."

Does he know the Hotel rules? That's another thing to make sure of, but right now Raine isn't sure he'll listen to her on much, if anything. Instead she presses her lips together, waits there. She just wants him safe; he has to know that much.

Genis knows the Hotel rules, and while there is a little vagueness about exactly the strict letter of the law about violence, no one ever mentioned burning doors, just ~~burning~~ harming the constituents of the Hotel. But he knows Raine well enough that she wouldn't let it come to that. Yes, there were times when Genis needed to be corrected sooner than later, but there were other times when Genis' anger wouldn't be cooled that easily. This is, unfortunately, the latter case, and Raine thankfully knew as much.

As upset over everything as Genis is, he knows deep down that Raine is right. He knows just from the experiences of the last few hours that Keeliai isn't safe. As big as he wanted to seem some days, there's something of a terror out there with the huge glut of people that could conceivably have it out for him. And he is... weak, deep down. He masks it well, but he knows, and it gnaws at him. No, she's right. She's looking out for him. She's there to help him. Raine is still his sister.

But she's a sister that's just unfamiliar enough to keep the hair at the back of his neck tingling.

"Fine," he says. It's a slightly softer voice that he uses now, but he's not back to the openly familiar self that he was just minutes ago. "I won't leave the Hotel for now. But whatever you want to do is fine."

"Thank you," Raine says, and there's a hint of relief in the previously neutral tone. The fact that her brother will not be wandering the city disempowered until all hours of the night is a greatly reassuring one, even with the evident strain. "I won't stop you."

He knows where to find her, now, if and when he wants. Raine is reasonably sure Genis will settle down eventually, but... until then, she's going to worry about him. She still doesn't understand exactly why he'd react like this -- has she changed so much? -- but when he's cooled down, they'll sort it out. Raine settles back against the desk in her initial position, and makes no move to follow, though it's difficult.

It's perhaps best that Raine isn't going to follow Genis out the door. Even if she had, Genis would have been either shockingly quiet or boisterously upset, and even he didn't know which it would have been. But with the headache starting to fall down upon him, perhaps it's best to actually not just bypass what's left of the Welcome Centre downstairs and actually talk things over with the management of the hotel.

Genis reaches for the door and opens it, but before taking his leave, he does look back. There's a solemn look in Genis' eyes as he looks at Raine. He lingers for a few seconds, obviously touched and obviously in great need and want, but eventually his fist tightens around his kendama. It's space and solitude he wants; he needs focus, and everything in this room is just chaos.

He turns away from Raine and closes the door behind him and heads down to the common area on the second floor. He doesn't even want to deal with the rest of humanity right now. He doesn't even want to deal with finding his own room. He just wants to be alone and to shut the world out.

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