Orlain

Aegon turned to look at Asha and gave a nod. "Good," he replied. "One less thing for us to worry about. Hopefully it will not stumble upon someone less able to fend for themselves."

"And hopefully we never see such a creature again," Kerian added bitterly. She still hated how she had reacted to the thing, choosing to flee in blind panic.

"Yes hopefully it doesn't cause any more problems," Asha agreed with a nod.
"There was a lurker?" Rane asked, looking up from the book. "Those are dangerous.. Must have been because of me.." She suddenly felt guilty. She had put every ones lives in danger, not of purpose, but still. They all could have been killed or seriously hurt by the lurker.
"Thankfully our demon protected us from it," Asha just smiled. She had a little bit more of a liking for Malak then Aegon. She treated him more like a pet then a dangerous demon that needed to be controlled.

"Though I am suspicious that he did so for more selfish reasons, considering the girl was there at the time," Aegon said, shaking his head. He looked at the others. "Has she had any more contact with him since? Or tried?"

Kerian could only shrug her shoulders. While she made an attempt to watch everyone under her care, Malak had ways of getting around that.

"No I mean he's been keeping the lurker away from here since then as well. And he actually went with me when I scanned the area, all on his own," Asha explained, gesturing over her shoulder toward the front door of the house.
"He's actually still outside, not sure why."

Rane gave Asha a confused look, "that doesn't sound like something Malak would do on his own."

Asha shrugged lightly, not sure why either.

"And I have certainly not instructed him to do so," Aegon mused. "It's quite unusual, though I suppose it is better than running amok and destroying whatever he sees fit. I doubt he will willingly give answers, though, and I do not feel up to the task of prying them from him, particularly with more important matters to discuss."

"With Rane awake, we will need to leave soon," Kerian said. "Though not for a few days as she recovers, I imagine, and we still need to choose our next course of action."

"Maybe he's just changing?" Asha suggested with another shrug from her shoulders.

Rane couldn't help but giggle lightly at the thought of Malak changing into a good person. Then she instantly saddened from the news. She hoped that they would be able to stay with Aegon longer then a few days, so she could learn more. She would have to make this recovery as long as possible without potentially putting everyone in danger.
"Any idea what the next step is?" She asked after clearing her throat again.

"Unfortunately, no," Kerian sighed. "Much of our time lately was preoccupied with getting you to safety. I have talked with Joey about Rowan. He says the elf was wounded deeply, but it's been several weeks. I'm surprised he has not yet returned to find us. Our last attempts to deal with him were also a failure, as you may recall."

"But we can't just sit around," Taiju piped up.

"We may have to. There's nothing we can immediately do. We may have to return to training."

Rane glanced between everyone, silent again. She had no idea what the next step should be. But training didn't sound like a bad I idea.
Damien had entered the room silently a few moments before Kerian said that training would have to continue.
"Can I train with Malak?" She asked suddenly, her question announcing her presence.

"No," Aegon and Kerian said at once, heads whipping around to face the silver-haired newcomer.

"Regardless of his behavior in the last days, I do not trust him enough to put you in his care," Kerian continued, while Aegon gave an approving nod. "I have let slide the fact you've been around him before only because we've had other matters to take care of. I don't care what he says, he is not to be trusted."

"I'm inclined to agree," Taiju said. "Surely you really don't need him now."

"You have no idea what you are even talking about," Damien snapped bitterly, folding her arms over her chest. "I think that after all this time it's been proven that he isn't going to hurt me. He's not all that bad anyway! I wouldn't trust him with anything, but he has been teaching me for months now, and I'm sure he would still be teaching me is Aegon hadn't specifically told him not to!" She argued quickly, as if she had been planning this argument for a while now.
"I'm not saying to leave me in his care. He can teach me around other people. But face it, he is the ONLY one that knows about my powers. None of you have a clue, and neither do I still. If he can't teach me then I will never learn and I will ALWAYS be the weakest link in the group! Always the one needing to be saved!" Damien hated that they treated her like a child just because they didn't trust Malak. But if he was going to hurt her he would have by now.

"You've learned enough, have you not?" Kerian countered. She glanced past Damien toward a figure passing by the door; Joey had come inside, and now he stood, listening with an indescribable emotion on his face. Kerian returned her attention to Damien with a shake of her head. "We have no reason to trust him. He has ruined Jack's mind. He has nearly killed us all multiple times. He used you when he met you, destroyed my home, and worked for the very enemy we are trying to destroy and has shown lament for the fact he no longer has that position. He has given us no reason to trust him for anything. I do not want you to see him again. You can practice without him."

Damien was still for a moment, not responding. Anger boiled inside of her unlike it had in a very long time. She wanted to scream and throw things, but she just furrowed her brow into a hard glare.
"Fine... I will just find some one else who knows how my powers work... And I'm sure not going to do it here stuck with you." She growled before quickly turning around and heading back toward her room, brushing roughly past Joey as she went.

Rane sighed lightly, wishing she could do more to help them, and wishing she could calm Damien down.

Kerian just glared after Damien. She was tired of trying to reason with the girl. Sometimes it was tempting to lash out, but a mentor couldn't do that in good heart.

Joey was quiet. He scowled as Damien passed.

"Fuck you," he muttered, just loud enough to be heard. The thought was supposed to stay in his head, but as it passed his lips, he felt an impossible surge of gratification. No, he wanted her to hear it.

Damien heard Joey clearly and she paused, turning her glare back over her shoulder at him. She seemed like she was about to start screaming. That seemed like something Damien would do. But instead she narrowed her eyes more mumbling "I knew it..." and turning to walk away again.

"Knew what?" Joey spat. He took a few steps after her, ignoring a low warning from Kerian not to escalate it. He was surprised by the ferocity of his own tone, but weeks of anger and frustration could only be pent up so long. The feelings boiled over now, and he found himself more than happy to let them go. Passivity only got him so far. "That I'm tired of dealing with this shit just like everyone else? How goddamn astute of you."

"Leave me the fuck alone Joey!" Damien turned around and screamed at him. "Can't you do one goddamn thing right for once and take the fucking hint!"
They were close to Jack and Zakuro's room and Jack nearly jumped off the bed when he suddenly heard Damien scream at was he assumed to be Joey. He gave Zakuro a worried glance and started getting out of bed, still a bit beat up from the wall incident.

"I"m leaving so you wont have to fucking deal with it anymore! So just shut the hell up! No body wants to hear what you fucking have to say anyway!" Damien continued to yell. She didn't mean what she was saying, but she was so mad. And nobody was ever on her side. She just wanted to leave and not think about any of these people every again.
Her hands started to unintentionally glow lightly with energy.

Joey's gaze flickered to the glowing energy around Damien's hands. He felt a tingle of fear, which was then overpowered by a different emotion: satisfaction. Good. He wanted to see her pissed. If it got physical, all the fucking better.

"If you really wanted that, you would listen!" he shot back. "You would listen to what everyone's been saying since the beginning! You wouldn't keep walking away and ignoring everything we've said!"

"Oh god," Zakuro whispered when she heard Joey shout. She got up and took Jack by the arm, making sure he wouldn't fall as they started to the door.

Damien started to grit her teeth in between yelling. "I have been listening! I have been listening to all you guys fucking hold me back! None of you are about how I feel. OH! Everyone feels bad for poor little Joey.." She spoke as if talking to a child. "Oh poor Joey had to be mind controlled and live with Rowan. OH I'M SURE THAT WAS SO HARD. And I'm sure he fucking helped you with your powers while you were there! AND I'M TOTALLY CONVINCED THAT YOU TIRED TO FIGHT BACK!! CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I'M CONVINCED." She yelled, tear breaking into her blue eyes.
"Fuck you Joey! I wish you had fucking died!" The glowing surrounded her hole hand now and the worst thoughts were going through her head.

Jack and Zakuro emerged out into the hall behind Damien, in time to get the full front of Damien yelling that she had wished Joey had died. Jack's heart raced, he didn't know what to do, and Damien was mad enough to use her powers.
"Why don't I just finish the fucking job!" She lifted her hands and started to move forward but Jack quickly darted to her and wrapped his arms around her body tightly, pinning her arms next to her side.
"No Damien!" Jack shouted as he grabbed her. From being the main person to spar with Damien she knew what kind of damage she could do.
"LET ME GO!" Damien screamed, flailing wildly.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Joey demanded, advancing forward. He curled his hands at his sides, the pose for summoning flames, but caught himself. A little voice in the back of his head--you can't really hurt her. The thought was doubled when Zakuro pushed past, grabbing him by the arm.

"You really fucking think I enjoyed it there? That I wanted nothing more than to live with a man who had me wrapped around his little finger, who convinced me I was worthless and that I should kill everyone I care about? You really think that badly of me?!" He shook his head and jabbed a finger to the side, pointing outdoors. "And yet you'll go crawling back to that asshole despite that he's done a hundred times more than I ever did, and enjoyed it, and never once tried to make it better!"

Damien stopped struggling in Jack's grip long enough to yell back at Joey, "I'm not crawling back to him you jealous asshole! HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN HELP ME!"
It was pretty obvious that Jack was having a hard tie holding with his state and how much she was thrashing. Her colored energy started to crawl up her arms when she couldn't free herself from the redhead.
"AND I WASN'T EVER IN FUCKING LOVE WITH HIM!" All at once Damien suddenly broke her arms free Jack and whipped around to him, hitting him as hard as she could, with her powers fully behind her. The force sent Jack flying back, once again through a wall, then two, and then outside. He skidded and tumbled several times before his limp body came to a stop. As the dust settled he remained unmoving.
"STOP TRYING TO CONTROL ME!" Damien screamed toward Jack, the glow reaching her shoulders and engulfing her body now. She shook with anger, fists clenched tightly at her sides.

"YOU DON'T FUCKING NEED HIM!" Joey screamed before Damien lashed out. Zakuro gave a shriek and released her grip on Joey's arm, sprinting through the wreckage to Jack. He heard blades hiss against leather behind him as Taiju stood and drew his swords.

Joey turned back to Damien, his voice coming out as a growl. "Look at that," he snarled. "You really think you need him now? Looks like you're perfectly capable of beating the shit out of everyone to me. Did you learn that from him, too?"

Kerian moved forward, seizing his arm, but he yanked away. He opened his mouth to yell again, and the words never left his throat. Binding magic squeezed around him, lifting him bodily into the air, snapping his arms to his sides and sealing his voice. Aegon stormed into the room, magic crackling around him as he worked the spell on both Joey and Damien.

"That is enough!" he shouted. "No more! You will not destroy my home and injure others for your petty grievances!"

Rane felt she needed to help, but when she tried to stand she couldn't. She felt so helpless and instead just watched from where she was.

Malak felt the need to come see what was going on since someone had been thrown through the house again. He appareard next to Asha and Aegon, seemingly shocked by what he saw.
Damien struggled frantically to break free of the healers grasp. "LET ME GO! I JUST WANT TO LEAVE!" She screamed, tears streaming down her face.
Malak swallowed hard and started taking a few slow steps away, hoping Aegon hadn't seen him there. He seemed a little scarred.
The more Damien thrashed around, the more her powers covered her body and the harder she became to hold.

Jack didn't move when Zakuro ran up to him, he was completely unconscious.

Joey initially struggled, spitting and cursing at Aegon, but almost as suddenly as it came, the rage was gone.

What was the point?

The healer was infinitely stronger than either he or Damien.

He slumped, feeling suddenly more ill than enraged.

Aegon scowled at Damien. "You are not being freed, until I can be assured that you will not continue this destruction," he said darkly. He glanced over his shoulder at Rane. "Could you check on the boy? I would if it would not require letting this one go. I apologize for making you do so so soon after waking, but in light of this . . ."

Rane blinked a couple of times and then nodded quickly. She grabbed Taiju's arm, since he was still standing next to where she was sitting, and use him to try and pull herself up. It was much harder then she had expected, as if muscles all suddenly locked up and refused to work. Asking them to work just made them ache. Once she was standing, with Taiju's help, she had to pause, leaning on him as her head spun wildly for a moment.

Damien noticed Malak behind Aegon and stopped straggling for a moment. She breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath. "Malak! Help me!" She yelled, a tiny bit less mad.
Malak gained a expression that said he felt bad for Damien, "I can't. You know he controls me..." He said to the girl. This made her start thrashing again. And he turned to look at Aegon, "it's not her fault. She has had a demonic parasite in her for some time... Just don't hurt her..."
"A what?" Asha asked in shock.
"It's a parasite that feeds off of emotions... She's had one in her for a couple months. But I didn't think it would actually cause her to go crazy mad like this.." Malak admitted.

Taiju held onto Rane, making sure she didn't fall. He mentally cursed Aegon for asking Rane to do anything, but it couldn't be helped. Jack was hurt and Aegon was busy making sure nobody else suffered the same.

Aegon looked at Malak from the corner of his eye, then back at Damien. "That might explain a lot," he murmured. "Though telling me earlier would have been extremely helpful. We could have gone about getting rid of it before now."

Aegon released Joey, who just slumped against the wall in defeat, and set down Damien without releasing the binding magic.

"That's the thing... She's the one who put it there and she wouldn't let me remove it.. I figured it was useless to bring up." Malak shrugged lightly, looking at Joey and then at the ground.

Damien was starting to grow tired from all of her fighting and her glow flickered a couple times before vanishing all together. She fought the bind for a moment longer until her strength gave out and she slumped over, panting as sweat dripped from her forehead.

Slowly Rane and Taiju made their way over to Jack where Rane knelt down to him and placed both of her hands on his chest. She was a little nervous about healing again after being so sick, but she had no other choice. Luckily Jack was just hurt pretty bad and wasn't dying.

Aegon frowned. "In all my years, I do not think I've heard of someone doing something like that," he said thoughtfully. He turned to Asha. "You know where my poisons kit is, yes? Please fetch it for me."

"Poisons?" Kerian repeated.

"Parasites of this nature are not easily removed by magical means. When they feed off of emotions or anything to do with the mind rather than the body, they become immensely more complex to remove. As such, they must be killed directly. Unfortunately, this is often at the expense of the host. She will be ill for awhile, but it is necessary, whether she wants the damned thing or not."

Asha nodded and quickly ran out of the room to do as she was told.

Malak let out a deep sigh and vanished into the air, not wanting to be around to see Damien be sick.

Damien was still struggling to catch her breath, and so couldn't fight back. Asha quickly came back into the room and opened the kit for her father since he only had one hand to worth with, the other still holding Damien. She looked over at Joey and Damien, still not understanding what was going on between them. It was so confusing.

Joey watched quietly, his emotions conflicting. He wanted to be angry, but he couldn't anymore, not when everyone was promising Damien was about to be forcibly made ill. He couldn't excuse her actions, either. He was upset but not, and all he wanted was for it to simply end.

Aegon picked through the kit before selecting a vial full of pale, translucent liquid. He popped the stopper off with his thumb and approached Damien. "I would advise you not to fight with this," he said lightly. "I have dealt with patients much more childish and unruly in my time, which is saying something, and I know precisely how to deal with them."

Damien didn't bother look up at the healer. "Just kill me with it..." She mumbled tiredly, "I'm just done... " Damien sounded broken and like her heart had been torn out again. Tears were still dripping down her pale face slowly, wetting her shirt and the hair around her face. "Please..." She begged quietly.

After a few moments of healing Jack started to wake up. He blinked once and furrowed his brow in pain. "Ow.." He grunted, "why me..." He chuckled but cut himself off with another grunt of pain.
Rane smiled, glad to see Jack was doing better then she thought he was.

"Oh, stop it," Aegon sighed. He tilted Damien's chin up with one hand, lifting the vial to her lips with the other. "I have no idea how emotional you are without the parasite, but hopefully, the dramatics will dim and you can spend the next couple of days being nursed back to health with your lover continually getting in my way, as seems to be par for your group."

Joey tried to glare at Aegon but could barely summon the effort.

"And afterward," Aegon finished, "you can all move on to much more important matters."

Zakuro laughed weakly. "You just get in the way, I guess," she said.

Once all of the vial was down her throat Damien coughed several times at the taste. The coughs soon turned into full out gags of her stomach trying to puke up the liquid. But no matter how many times she gagged, nothing would come up. It was almost like it immediately soaked into the lining of her stomach so there was nothing to come up.
Asha made a face and had to look away, covering her mouth quietly.

Jack smiled at Zakuro, "what happened? Is Joey okay?" He tried to lift his head to look but it hurt to much to move like that.

Damien groaned in pain between her gags, it felt like all of her organs were suddenly on fire.

Aegon sighed heavily and finally let Damien free of the binding, catching her under the arm. "Come on, then, let's get you to bed," he said, sounding sympathetic for the first time as he guided her back toward her room. "Asha, get some extra blankets and a bucket, please. I don't want her vomiting on my floor."

Joey made a face and looked away.

"I think so. I think Aegon was pulling them apart when I ran out here," Zakuro answered, squinting back toward the house. "Doesn't look like anybody else is hurt."

Damien could barely walk as Aegon lead her back to her room. She couldn't even see straight, everything just felt wrong.

Asha quickly did as she was told, putting away his poison kit first. Once Damien was in bed Asha returned with the things she was asked to get. She handed them off to Aegon and quickly left the room again. For the daughter of a healer, she had a very weak stomach.

Rane had to stop healing Jack and pull away tiredly. "I can't do anymore... I'm too weak," she sighed. Jack just gave her a smile, "I'll be alright. Someday I'm going to be so used to going through walls that you wont have to help me at all.." He slowly rolled onto his side to try and get up.

Aegon quietly draped the extra blankets over Damien and nudged the bucket to the side of the bed. "You'll be miserable for the next couple of days, but you'll recover," he said. "And you'll be much better off for it. I don't know how or why you put that thing inside yourself, but I imagine it has been nothing but trouble since you did." With that, he left the room. There were walls that needed fixing. Again.

"Here, I'll trade you," Taiju said to Zakuro, moving to help Jack to his feet. Zakuro nodded and went to help the much-lighter Rane.

Eventually, Joey found the energy to stand and walk out. Kerian tried to stop him, but eventually he left with her blessing. He just needed a walk.

Jack and Rane both did their best to try and help stand themselves. Jack was just glad that Jayce was still dormant. He usually liked violence, so this would be a prime moment to come out to annoy everyone. In fact, Jaye had been completely dormant sine he was thrown through the first wall.
As they all got back inside Jack pulled away from Taiju to lean against the wall, straightening out his back and very hurt ribs, wincing and closing his eyes.
Rane paused to watch him, feeling bad for not being able to heal him more. "I'm sure Aegon can finish you off..." She reassured.
Jack just forced a pained smile.

As promised, Aegon did come by to help heal Jack; this time, Aegon hadn't been the one to cause the injuries, so he was a little more sympathetic.

"I know little of what happened between those two," he said as he worked, "but for everyone's sake, I hope they figure it out soon. I can only accommodate so much destruction here."

"You are not the only one," Taiju said dryly.

"I know Damien has anger problems, but this just wasn't her. She's been acting stranger then usual for a while now..." Jack mentioned as he held still for Aegon. He almost didn't think that he would heal him, but he was very thankful for it.

Rane moved from Zakuro's help back to Taiju's and motioned that she needed to sit down. She was more pale then before and dark bags were forming under her eyes. She was very tired, and needed to rest. It was much too early to heal someone. This was going to slow her own healing down.

"It did seem odd," Rane agreed as she sat back down.

"We will know more in a couple of days," Aegon said, moving to fix the broken walls. "In the meantime, you should rest. I apologize again, Rane, for asking you to heal another so soon. With luck, that will not have to happen again."

Taiju felt another twinge of irritation as he helped Rane to sit. He was most concerned about her.

"What do you mean we will know in a couple days?" Jack asked after letting out a deep sigh after Aegon had healed him. They had missed the whole conversation about Damien having a emotional parasite inside of her.

"It's alright, I understand." Rane spoke softly. She grabbed Taiju's hand and pulled on his to sit down next to her, wanting to have his near again. "I'm just glad I could help, even if it was so little."

"Malak claims that Damien's had a sort of . . . emotional parasite in her for a few months," Kerian said slowly, still trying to fathom the idea of it. "And that she placed it there herself and refused to allow him to remove it. He says it would explain how she's been acting, or at least partially, such as attacking Jack."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would she do that?" Zakuro asked. She looked down the hall, toward Damien's room, wishing she could go now to talk to Damien and find out why.

Kerian shrugged wearily. "If I had to guess, I would say that she hoped it would help her to be emotionless, to cope after Joey left--if it was a couple of months ago, it would be right around that time," she said. "She told me a few days ago that was . . . a goal of hers, in a way. But I do not know for certain, and it doesn't seem to have done that."

Jack frowned and nodded "that sounds like something Damien would do," he sighed. "She's not good and handling any emotion but anger. Even whens she's happy it scares her." He would go and try to talk to her later. Jack was closer to her then Joey, so he figured that Joey would be best left for Zakuro to talk to. Or maybe he would try Joey too. But knowing his friends, neither one of them would want to talk about it.

Rane sighed, "that would make her actions make more sense." Once Taiju was sitting next to her again she leaned on him and closed her eyes tiredly.

"Well, I'm just glad she attacked me and not Joey. I can let it go, but I think it would be much harder for Joey to not let it bother him." Jack added in thought.

"It might be." Zakuro propped her chin in her hand as she thought. "There's a lot going on in his head. Any other time, maybe he would have ignored it, but now . . . I don't know. I'm just glad they didn't end up hurting each other. I haven't really talked to him since before we left to come here. I don't really know how he's feeling now or what made him want to fight that badly."

Taiju listened in silence. Every time an incident like this happened, he was grateful for the innocent simplicity of his relationship with Rane. God forbid anything happen between them.

With that thought, he turned and pressed a kiss to the side of Rane's head, hoping that he hadn't inadvertently jinxed them.

((*flails* Awwwww Taiijjuuuu~ <3 <3 <3 <3))

Rane smiled lightly when she felt Taiju kiss her head but didn't open her eyes. She was just too tired, all she wanted to do was go back to sleep. She let herself quickly slip off into blackness, knowing that she was safe there with Taiju.

"Well looks like we have our work cut out for us," Jack teased Zakuro lightly, a half faked smile forming his lips. "I'll try talking to Damien tomorrow. Maybe we can talk to Joey when he gets back from wherever he went."

"I think I saw him going down the beach," Zakuro said with a little nod. "He'll get bored eventually and we can interrogate him then." She thought about Jack's comment and couldn't help an inward sigh--sometimes it really did feel too much like work.

Taiju shifted a little, sensing he wasn't going to be permitted to move for awhile. That was fine with him.

"Sounds good to me, hopefully he will be up for talking," Jack agreed with a short nod. He glanced over at Rane and Taiju and couldn't help but smile a little. He was glad to see Rane awake and Taiju not drinking. Having another person in their group getting drunk always made Jack want to drink so much more. And he probably would have. If it weren't for him being a little too sore to just be walking around looking for ale.

((Your turn to time skip! ahahah!))

((Goddammit. Well, where to? Joey can angst if we need it, but then there's Damien waking up and I've nothing else.))

((I was thinking till Joey came back?))

((That works. :3))

It wasn't for a couple of hours that Joey returned, looking tired but more composed. Sand clung to the leather of his boots and the edge of his cloak; his walk had taken him far down the beach, and now he wanted little more than something to eat and a bed.

Most of the others had retired to other business; Kerian and Aegon were discussing matters in his study, while Taiju had resigned himself to the couch and dozed off with Rane. Zakuro remained with Jack, watching for Joey, and as soon as she heard him return, she went out to greet him.

"Feeling any better?" she asked.

"Not really, no," Joey answered, shrugging off his cloak and pack.

"Definitely calmed down though," Jack said after Joey, smiling lightly to try and help his mood. He wasn't sure where to start, he wanted to talk to his friend and know what he was thinking and try to help him feel better. But he just wasn't sure what to say first.