Petal 03 -- Open to Action

[shylyintrepid]

[When the feed starts, Jehan is clearly not in his cabin. He's down by the shore.

And he's been crying. His voice is hoarse and when he speaks, his accent is a bit thicker than usual]

If...if anyone else knew Zane, son of Venus, he...

[He wants to say "died". Died would be so much easier than the truth]

He was a...he was an agent of the Red Room. This entire time. He...he was here to spy on us.

[And he cuts the IM. As he does, you can see him break down yet again. It's going to be a long time before he recovers from this heartbreak]

Comments

[serenesuccessor]

[Naomi's been crying too - though for different reasons. Tai had sat her down before he'd sent out that camp wide message to explain everything to her. She's spent the morning talking to Kou via rainbow sobbing her head off while her older brother promised it would all be worked out.

She was still crying in the amphitheater when she sees Jehan's message and...

And suddenly Naomi is wiping her tears and running right to the shore.

When she arrives her eyes are still puffy, she still wants to cry.

But right now she can't cry, so instead she goes right up to Jehan, throwing her arms around him and giving him the biggest hug she can muster.]

[shylyintrepid]

[Jehan has no time to react to Naomi. He sees her, he realizes she's coming towards him, he finds himself wrapped in a hug.

He's her counselor, her older brother, and he shouldn't been this much of a wreck in front of her. But godsdammit, he hurts and had his heart broken by a boy he thought he might have loved a little. When Naomi hugs him, Jehan just sobs.]

Je--ah, I'm sorry, Naomi.

[serenesuccessor]

[Naomi shakes her head, squeezing him tighter and rubbing his back like her family always does when she cries.]

There's nothing to apologize for!

D'you want me to kick him in the shins? 'm really good at that. Kou says it's probably my actual demigod power.

[That's because he has so many shin bruises he use to think they were permanent.]

[shylyintrepid]

[He laughs a little through his tears at that]

The next time we see him, if we ever see him again, you can kick him in the shins all you want. Maybe even the ribs.

[serenesuccessor]

I might need a boost for his ribs, but yeah! I can ask Kou to teach me that tornado kick and then BAM!

[She releases him from the hug, running forward a little bit so that she can demonstrate her attempts at said kick. her attempts leave her on the ground though, but Naomi's quick to bounce up and return to Jehan's side to hug him.

Naomi is trying her best to cheer him up, though she really doesn't know how too.]

[shylyintrepid]

[Jehan claps, impressed, and holds her close when she returns]

You kick him hard enough in the shins and he'll fall to the ground and you can kick his ribs then. But only if he really deserves it. I'm not so sure he does.

[serenesuccessor]

[She puffs her cheeks out.]

He totally deserves it! He made you sad. Nobody's allowed to make my big brother's sad!

[shylyintrepid]

I'm sure he didn't mean to, Naomi.

[He has to keep telling himself that]

Titans are evil, lying creatures for the most part. I'm sure Gaea has him magically convinced that this is good.

[He hopes]

[serenesuccessor]

'm still kicking him in the shin and ribs.

[She gives Zane a no-nonsense look too. Then she returns her attention to hugging him with all her might.]

[shylyintrepid]

And that, I'll admit, he probably deserves. The shins at least.

[More hugging!]

Boys are stupid.