Patience (Phae. Open to others if they please)

[Feeves]

There was always an issue with shifting, that he had been warned of over and over again. It was that shifting required a presence of mind that was ready for it. One wasn’t just taking an aspect of and then using that aspect to take on the form and powers of a creature. Nay, one was actually becoming the creature. The creature was just another part of him. Thus it also had instincts, a mind of its own. Each form came with one. If one wasn’t worthy of the art, then just merely transforming into the beast would create the beast, not the beast with a human mind. Patience had always been necessary for this reason. One couldn’t expect to take on and beat the beast he was transforming into if he wasn’t mentally ready to take it on.

He had mastered shifting fast. Too fast perhaps. He had perhaps not properly learned the meaning of patience had he taken the time to learn it slower and ask more questions. Instead he was prone to making small mistakes, which could cost him hugely. Had he instead calmly left to take a walk, he probably wouldn’t have lost his mind to his tiger. The dread beast had always been his bane to control… even the dragon had been more cooperative after he had mastered it. It seemed the tiger wanted freedom far more than Fyn could ever give it.

In this manner he finally awoke, choosing to keep his eyes closed. A ruffle of curtains… he was indoors. Where exactly? He slightly opened his eyes to peek.

A white curtain. He felt below him… a soft bed. He quickly rustled, and took a look down at himself. He had lost his robes, leaving his chest uncovered, wearing only the ceremonial silk pants that he had always worn underneath his robes. Like a startled cornered cat, he sat up jerking about. He was in a hospital of some sort? When had he come back inside? He immediately felt his sides. Both seemed to be fine. He seemed to remember pain there… pain bad enough that he had fallen and passed out from it.

The quick steps along the ground caused him to quickly release himself to lie back down, causing the springs on the bed to bounce a bit. He closed his eyes immediately pretending to be asleep. The schwing of the curtain as it was drawn back allowed him a quick glance towards the side.

A nurse. But just beyond her was a red-headed girl, who still seemed to be there. And he smelled a slight scent of strawberries. Enough to startle him to open his eyes.

“Oh good you are awake,” the nurse said briskly, “how are you feeling?”

Fyn, sighing silently replied, “like I’m the victim of some bitter irony.”

“Amusing,” the nurse said, clearly not amused, “Why exactly did you need to be carried in gutted like that last night? Has it not been abundantly clear that you aren’t to be fighting on school grounds?”

“Well… in truth I don’t actually remember what happened last night,” he said, serious, though he doubted she would believe him, “I was just trying to take a walk.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Your name?”

He relented. Propriety dictated that he tell her his name, so she could properly record it.

But he couldn’t. Tradition dictated not to.

“Feeves…”

She raised an eyebrow again, looking skeptically at him, though it was suddenly as though a light bulb went off in her head.

“Your father… is his name Gin? Or not Gin. His real name wasn’t Gin, but he only ever gave out his nickname.”

Fyn nodded, “Yes.”

The nurse nodded, smiling suddenly, “Don’t worry then. Your father and mother both left instructions. Your family’s magic isn’t one we’re particularly familiar with, but since they both left instructions…”

So they both knew he was going to screw up. He sighed a bit. They knew him too well.

[Phae]

Phaedra sighed as she lay in the bed. The nurses wouldn't let her leave without a complete checkup. Something about carrying heavy weight when your pregnate. Apparently it was a bad idea and so they had gone through the ultra sound thing, blood test, made her eat some soup and drink some orange juice because she had lost blood and they were trying to stablize her again so that the baby felt minimal effects from it.

"How are we feeling?" a nurse came up and touched Phae's shoulder gently.

The important people in her life had already been notified and she knew it wasn't going to be pretty when Blacky found out as he was always worrying about her. She rubbed her eyes and opened them.

"Just fine thank you. Can I go home now?" she asked softly.

"Not just yet, we're going to keep you here for observation a bit longer. Phae winced and sighed she hated being in the hospital she had been in them way too much lately.

"You are severely underweight, you lost blood, but your baby is doing just fine." she said as she walked away. It was then the curtain across the room was pulled aside and Phae looked at the man that was lying in the bed.

She sat up and yawned as she hadn't gotten any sleep wanting to go back to her dorm and get sleep there. She had problems sleeping as it was and sleeping in a strange bed was even worse for her. She she sat up and let her long hair down with a swish the strawberry scent wafting for a moment. Phaedra didn't smell it anymore as she had been using that scent for years with her hair. Phae was a very toned and beautiful girl long deep red flowing hair that fell to her hips. It had grown out a lot since she had been here and now it was long and luxurious. She had pale skin and was thin but curvy.

She listened as the nurse spoke to the man that she had sliced and diced. She sighed feeling bad but it was either slice or be eaten by a giant furball and neither had been appealing. But she had a daughter to protect even though the doctors swore she couldn't possibly know the sex of the baby just yet it mattered little she knew deep down she knew already. He was going by the name of Feevse apparently and she smirked for some reason it was like the name out of some scifi movie or book. Crazed lunatic or something blowing things up and taking names. Regular badass.

When the nurse finished questioning him Phae slid off the bed she was on and crossed to him slowly. She smiled as she sat down on the edge of his bed and placed her hand in his.

"Hey there, I hope you're feeling allright. Sorry, I kinda cut you up badly in our fight. My name is Phae, it's nice to meet you." she said with a soft smile as she looked down at the man that was in the bed.

[Feeves]

“Cut me up?” Fyn was a bit confused, as the girl approached to talk. Her statement confused him, “What do you mean exactly?” She didn’t look to be much older than he was. In fact she was probably younger. He noted her red hair, and her soft voice, far different that what he thought he had heard last night. He didn’t notice the rest of her looks, merely the scent of strawberries that seemed to overpower him for a moment. What could she possibly mean by cut up? He noted her hand as she placed it on him, and traced it back up. What was she here for anyway?

Wait wait… hold…

Had the dread tiger been beaten by a girl younger than it? He dug a bit deeper into his mind, to find the tiger, who had been skulking about in the corner of his mind. A quick peer was all he needed, to see that it had been fighting against a sword and fire. So… it had been beaten by someone who was using a fire sword. It seemed he had at least wounded her a bit though. Nothing to major. A wound to the arm.

So to recap, his tiger had been defeated by a mere elemental swordsman. It reduced him to shame nearly. Or was it that he had caused their defeat? He wasn’t certain. The tiger insisted that he probably would have been able to beat her, a low set of mewlings and growls telling him so. But nonetheless Fyn felt a sort of shame wash over him, though he didn’t let his emotion show on the outside of his mind.

Merely he gave a quizzical look straight into her eyes with his own pitch black ones. He didn’t want to give her the impression that he knew what was going on yet. He tended to be rather secretive, and he had had years of practice feigning ignorance to better assess a situation before reacting to it. Patience after all.

But… he loathed the thought that he lost. Somewhere in him it just made him ill.

[Phae]

She chuckled softly as he didn't seem to know what was going on and she wondered if that was a hazard from shifting back and forth from a human to an animal. Certainly she had never done that but it was still really neat to see that someone could because .. well it was. Besides Phae had a deep love for magic like nothing else and she loved to see new magic and learn about it. Probably a quirk but it tended to be a good one.

"Well, when you attacked me in the training grounds as the tiger I fought back. And so.. I kinda sliced open your arm and your leg. But don't worry the healers fixed you all up." she said with a smile.

He seemed so quiet it was unusual. Aside from Phoebe her twin and Xeryth her twins' boyfriend she really didn't know many people that were quiet. Though her best friend Jonathan had been but he was gone now having passed most recently. It was hard sometimes for her to get along with quiet people, or at least it had been until recently when she had become a bit more quiet herself. Where once she had been cute and happy with no weight on her shoulders she was now a full woman and bore the weight of her own world.

"I did think your magic was neat though. Changing your body into a tiger.. well that's just neat if you ask me. I mean.. I only can do things with my sword I can only cast one spell without them but changing your whole body into an animal, I think that's neat. Can you do anything else but a tiger?" she asked truly interesting in both him and his magic.

Sure her arm hurt to hell and bak but she was used to pain though she was used to emotional pain more than anything she wasn't scared of the physical. It made her feel alive in the moment as odd as that might sound to some people and she smiled at the man. She didn't know what else to do but wait for his answer. She wondered if she would make a new friend by the end of the day.

[Feeves]

So it had been her. An elementalist swordsman. Sounded like a fairytale to him: a hunter of demons, a flame-haired hunter wielding a katana of unimaginable strength of flame given by the flame of heaven. He hadn’t been wrong to ask his tiger. But at the same time, he seemed to slip a bit from his attitude, into a more thoughtful and raw state. What if he hadn’t snapped back into reality? Could he have died? Could he have killed her? What would have happened.

“Ah… I apologize for the trouble I caused,” he finally said politely and firmly if not a bit absentmindedly, “It seems my powers aren’t quite up to par.” Admission of this… weakness… it truly caused him to feel pain, even more than the physical pain he had to have endured. He had just chosen to ignore generally his own shortcomings whenever he could. But he had hurt someone last night it seemed. Had he met someone more of his own strength… the outcome may have turned a bit in his favor. His favor would have meant… Well it seems he couldn’t make excuses anymore. That’s why he was here right? To better learn control? Still even this thought didn’t particularly cheer him.

He didn’t even want to think about it, and his face began to show visible signs of being slightly upset. He didn’t pay much attention to her final statements, except showing a sort of smile, with a little pride swelling within him. To be told that his magic was interesting… it wouldn’t have been something he could have admitted in a hundred years.

“Of course,” he said, careful not to allow her to pierce the veil. In general shifters were expected not to reveal their various forms besides the bear which had become so iconic of them unless in combat, “But you’re a swordsman right? Or Swordswoman perhaps,” he said shifting the subject away from himself, “I would say that I probably have as many forms as you have ways of focusing your sword.” A bold statement. And in chance, probably true. With the ambient form, he could literally take on as many forms as there were stars in the sky.

He was troubled that he couldn't remember naught but the red and black vortex of flame that swirled endlessly about her sword.

[Phae]

Phae smiled at him and chuckled. Trouble? Oh Lord he causing her trouble? that wasn't likely really she got into enough trouble on her own. Blacky and Alastin were going to be mad now but she didn't really have a choice. But she knew if she came off with that then one or the both of them would tell her she shouldn't have been out there at night to begin with and then none of it would have happened at all. She sighed softly.

"You didn't get me into trouble. I do that enough on my own. I'm sure when certain people are notified I'm down here I"m going to hear my full name several times and then be carted off somewhere and babied for the next few days. Honestly it's just annoying but .. they take care of me and at least someone cares enough to do that. Right?" she said with a soft half smile.

He then answered her question from earlier and she thought about that. He could be right she didn't have that many spells truthfully but it didn't matter. She thought it would be neat to see him transform into all the different kinds that he could and maybe one day he would let her see. Because then that would be really interesting.

"What else can you turn into? Just.. name a few. I have to stay in here anyway the nurses wanna make sure I'm okay. My baby is okay though and that's all I care about. She will be born in July and.. I can't wait. Guess it's kinda silly being a mom at seventeen but.. I really don't have a choice and even if I did I would chose her still. Because.. well it's a nice feeling to think about becoming a mom. Anyway.. kinda got off on a tangent, I tend to talk too much for my own good. So I''ll be quiet now so you can answer my question." she said with a smile her hand had still not moved from his.

[Feeves]

“A mother huh?” he contemplated for a second, “Congratulations,” he said at last with a smile. He had been beaten… by a pregnant, elemental swordswoman who was younger than him. If he could have cried in shame he would have.

But there was still conversation to attend to.

“As for my forms, I can become a bear and a tiger as you’ve seen,” he said a matter of factually, “But as for the rest, that you’ll have to witness them.”

Well she was married too huh? Or at least has a boyfriend. Too bad. No doubt if her boyfriend got wind of this they’d both be in some amount of trouble. Her for being out while pregnant fighting… and him for being the damn tiger that did it. And damn him for being a tiger. It was supposed to be a form only unleashed in combat, but rumors would spread and soon he’d be turning into a tiger everywhere. It would no doubt cheapen the very form itself.

[Phae]

"Yeah! I will be in July. I can't wait though. I'm not sure what I'm going to name her yet but I can't wait to meet her. I guess it seems silly being excited yet so young but I can't help it." she chuckled softly

And it seemed he did have other forms besides just the tiger but he was only going to tell her about the bear at the moment saying she would have to see the others. She chuckled and nodded. She would too because she was truly interested in what other things he could turn into and could assure him she would be visiting him often until he showed her just what he could pull off.

"You can count on that!" she said happily. "I'm annoyingly perisistant so I assure you that I will be coming by often or looking for you on the training grounds even if I'm not supposed to. Because I'm curious as to what you have hidden up your sleeves." she chuckled softly.

"So you must not have been here long if I haven't seen you. When did you arrive and where are you from?" she asked interestedly.

[Feeves]

“Sleeves, huh?”

Dammit. His robes were probably bloody. He didn’t know any cleaning spells either. In any case she was saying something else. Something.

So she wanted to see the rest of them. He still had his ambient forms left, his swallow, and of course his dragon. But those forms… for now they would be silent. They were still sacred creatures, and as such would remain hidden until he met with someone worthy of showing them to.

There had been quite a pause now between her question and his lack of answer. It was such a simple question. It dictated a simple answer. Yet such simplicity was boring. They weren’t going to let them go for a while. So why not play a game?

“I do hope you come up with a name soon then,” he said at last, ignoring her question, as though he hadn’t heard it..