Hello all!
Truly sorry for the wait between chapters, I have a bad habit of getting distracted by random ideas and forgetting on the go works a lot. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it! I have fluffs, humour and a bit of serious as well in this chapter, to make up for a bit of angst coming up soon.
hope you enjoy!
Training
Mel-12
It was not a common occurrence to see Spook so distressed. It was flashing all the colours of the rainbow and seemed to be on a constant loop of going back and forth between Mel's new bedroom and the kitchen as an evergrowing mountain of snacks and treats was being piled next to Mel's bed.
Mel was officially moping and poor Spook was beside itself trying to fix the girl.
"Blerp?! WOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!"
Mel who hadn't changed out of her pj's in two days was covered by three blankets, reading and sulking as she refused to talk to anyone, especially Gyendal whom she was quite determinedly ignoring both through the bond and in person. When Spook began to bounce on the end of her bed trying to get her attention Mel nearly waved the little creature away and continued reading her book.
There was a moment of silence, then Mel's peace was destroyed as two tentacles snuck under her covers and grabbed the book in her hands, pulling it away and racing across the room to stick the book on top of the highest shelf where Mel couldn't reach.
"SPOOK!"
The ghost zipped back to her and looked her over before reaching out and wrapping it's tentacles all the way around her several times. It took seconds for Mel to look like she had been tied up by rainbow ropes and despite her raging protests at the blobby creature she was ignored as she was pulled right off her bed. Spook made slower progress then usual as it dragged a wriggling and yelling Mel out of her room and down the candle-lit hall.
"SPOOK! LET ME GO!"
"Blulooo" Spook chirped in a singsong manner as Mel was taken quite against her will to the main room.
Galahad and Te'ijal were sitting in the main room discussing something when Spook entered with Mel who's feet were dragging on the ground. Conversation stopped as eyes turned to the strange duo, laughter being muffled at the string of curses. The blobby ghost ignored it's captive, approaching the kitchen door and then attempting to phase right through.
"OW!"
Mel's head connected with the door painfully and a partially through Spook backed out, moaning out an apology before grumbling at the new puzzle.
"Spook, do you need me to get the door?" Te'ijal asked, amusement filling her words.
The ghost lowed and Te'ijal stood, approaching the door to push it open. Mel could see the vampiress hiding her smile as the door was opened and Mel was then dragged into the kitchen where Spook sat her down in a chair and grabbed a plate with freshly cooked food to hold up in front of her face.
"Meep!"
Mel tried to keep her face irritated and stony, not giving in to the adorable blob. But her plan failed quickly as Spook floated over and plopped down on her lap, taking a small chunk of meat in one tentacle to prod Mel's closed lips with.
"Wooooooh, flerp~"
That was when Mel lost the battle with her laughter, accepting the meat and popping it into her mouth before patting the blobby creatures head.
"Thanks Spook, but I can eat on my own."
The ghost chirped and floated away, leaving Mel to finish her meal hurriedly as she glanced towards the door uneasily. Once she finished eating Mel was faced with a decision, hang around inside the kitchen for an indefinite amount of time until Galahad was gone, or suck it up and go out there to face him.
"Ugh, I need to stop being such a scaredycat." She muttered to herself irritably before standing and striding out of the kitchen purposefully.
Galahad was just leaving the living room when she exited the kitchen, but at Mel's appearance he halted and turned to face her.
Oh look at that, her courage just took a run for it.
Mel met his eyes guiltily, then glanced away as she "casually" edged towards the hallway to the left wing in hopes of escaping.
"Mel."
Or not.
"Uh, yes?"
There was a fleeting hint of amusement on the vampire paladin's face and he approached, easily cutting off her escape route.
"You've missed sparring for the last few days, why don't we catch up on those lessons this afternoon."
Mel blinked in surprise, then eyed the blond male suspiciously.
"But you're mad at me, why would you want to teach me?"
Galahad met her look with a surprised of his own, his expression genuine.
"Mad at you? I'm not mad, why would you think that?"
Mel crossed her arms defensively and wrinkled her nose, glaring at the wall behind him.
"Well...because I chose to go home instead of run away. I mean, you weren't exactly happy about it..."
Galahad sighed, his expression tired and slightly melancholy.
"No Mel, I'm not angry about that. I'm not angry with you at all. I'm worried for you, and frustrated with the situation but in a way I do understand. This is your home, of course you wouldn't want to leave."
"...oh."
Galahad shifted so that he was standing fully in her line of vision, blue eyes solemn as he met her eyes.
"Listen to me Mel, you couldn't do anything that would make me so angry or resentful that I would stop speaking to you or doing things with you. You're family now, and family never turns on their own." He said firmly, clearly sensing her thoughts.
Mel hesitated, and Galahad placed a heavy hand on her shoulder.
"Trust me on this, you're not getting rid of me that easily."
That got a laugh out of her and he smiled, shifting to face the same direction of her and guiding her towards the halls.
"Now, lets go work on your bladework!"
Mel was walking into her new wing of the house, glancing around at the wall decorations in boredom. She felt a sudden brush of a magical aura from in front of her and looked up only to see Gyendal striding purposefully towards her. Instantly Mel turned and started back in the direction she had just come as quickly as possible.
She didn't get far before she felt a breeze behind her and a hand grabbed the back of her vest.
"Nice try lamb, but you aren't going anywhere."
Mel stopped walking and slumped, glaring ahead moodily.
"Hello to you too Raven." She snarked under her breath.
He turned her to face him before releasing her vest and pointing towards the back door wordlessly.
"Let's go."
Mel shot him a startled look but obeyed, opening the door and exiting the house with the impassive vampire Mage behind her.
"What do you want?" Mel questioned, confused.
He reached up and unclasped his cloak, removing and setting it down on one of the chairs a few feet from the door before crossing his arm and turning to face her.
"I'm an enemy coming to kill you and you have no weapons to use, how are you going to incapacitate me long enough to get away?"
Mel stared at him, deadpanned.
"If you're trying to kill me I haven't got a hope in heaven to survive so why would I bother?"
His eyelid twitched at her statement.
"Allow me to rephrase my question. Do you have a remote clue about hand to hand combat or are you utterly incompetent in this area as well?"
Outrage lit Mel's face and she planted her hands on her hips angrily.
"I'm not incompetent at anything! Just because I'm not an all powerful vampire doesn't mean that you have to be such a jerk!"
He snorted, irritation filtering through into her mind.
"Stop blathering and answer the question."
She glared at him but reluctantly obeying, hoping that if she answered his stupid question he'd leave her alone to do what she felt like and go back to ignoring her which suited Mel just fine.
"I know enough to survive on the city streets, I can last long enough into a scrap to get away but that about sums it up. It's hard to learn fight tricks when the only time you really end up needing it is when half the homeless teen population is ganging up on you." She ended bitterly.
"So you know nothing." He sighed. "A blank slate I suppose. Come here."
"No."
He raised a brow, the look in his eyes dangerous.
"...no?"
"Not until you tell me what this is all about. You treat me like the plague, why are you suddenly wanting to talk to me now?"
"I hardly want to talk to you lamb, but if I must be bound to a human I refuse to be bound to a useless creature. Until I find a way to sever this bond I will train you until you are capable of matching myself, Te'ijal and Galahad as much as humanly possible in every physical skill we have."
Mel gaped at him, he was going to train her?!
"Now get over here. I will start with teaching you the basics of hand to hand combat, you are weak with only fighting option being that of a blade. Today is about stance and basic attack."
She eyed the vampire Mage warily but approached nonetheless. She may not like her bond, but if he was willing to teach her how to be strong she would take it.
...provided it didn't kill her first.
Mel grinned as she ran after the fox, her hunting dagger unsheathed as she vaulted over bushes and fallen branches in her way. Taking advantage of the thick underbrush she managed to steer the animal into a thicket before quickly and cleanly making her kill.
"Dinner~" She singsonged to herself cheerfully as she lifted her kill and started back the way she had come.
When she got to the main path she saw Te'ijal skinning several rabbits and setting the pelts aside before packaging the meat together to bring back for Mel's meals. They would have Spook freeze it until they needed it for Mel's meal.
"Here!" She called, dragging it over and taking a seat next to Te'ijal as she laid out the fox in front of her.
"Good, that will give some variety in your meals." The vampiress observed.
Mel nodded eagerly and grabbed a skinning knife from in front of Te'ijal, flipping it in her hand for fun before getting down to work. The two females worked in silence for a little while before Te'ijal glanced over.
"I noticed that my brother has been training with you. I questioned him on it but he can be astoundingly stubborn when he's caught in a foul mood and thus I got nothing."
Mel groaned at the thought, glaring at the fox carcass in front of her.
"He does't want to be "stuck with a incompetent human" so he's trying to train me into this super strong fighter. He never cuts me a break, I have to do the same manoeuvre over and over until he's satisfied until I can move onto learning something new! I thought that learning how to fight would be fun, leave it to him to suck the entertainment out of it..."
Te'ijal laughed at her words.
"My brother is a perfectionist at heart. You should be glad he hasn't given up already, the fact that he's stuck to it over a month is testament to the fact that he clearly sees something promising in his work with you."
She sighed at the vampiress words.
"Well at least I'm learning something useful." She muttered, her knife snagging when her movement became a little to rough.
They finished off the remaining animals relatively quickly, Te'ijal deciding that it was time to return back to the manor despite Mel's protests. She had barely gotten the chance to run and hunt, but Te'ijal claimed that Galahad was muttering about leaving again and she had things she needed to take care of with the council so she didn't have time to chase him at that moment.
They were just packing their things to leave when there was a rustling in the trees and they turned to see Gyendal step out of the trees, glancing dismissively over the meat and pelts they were carrying.
"Sister, your husband is packing his things as of when I left. You may want to hurry back and deal with that little situation."
Te'ijal laughed slightly and moved to crouch down for Mel to climb on so that the vampiress could run at her preferred speed.
"No. Leave the little lamb, I came out here for her."
"What?! But you said that I didn't have to train in combat today cause I was going hunting!" Mel protested.
"I'm not here to work on your combat skills, stop whining." Gyendal snapped irritably. "I want to assess your endurance and ability to navigate forest terrain at a run."
Te'ijal grinned at Mel's squawk before vanishing into the forest and abandoning Mel at the hands of her bond.
"Why do you always have to squash my fun! You're like a walking twister, you suck the enjoyment out of life wherever you go!"
His expression was less then amused and he pointed in the direction of the trees that led behind and overtop the entrance to the catacombs.
"Start running lamb, or do you need some motivation?"
Mel instantly took off in the direction he had pointed without further prompting.
"Nope! No motivation necessary!"
Motivation meant chores and when it was Gyendal piling them on they were sadistically creative. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye as less then a second later Gyendal was slowly jogging across from her as he shadowed her progress.
"You are appallingly slow." He sniffed, sounding irritated.
"Terribly sorry for not training to be a top runner while I was homeless." She muttered under her breath.
"You are not forgiven, now shut up." Gyendal snapped, Mel twitching at his response to her comment she believed had gone unheard.
She then shot him a black look, goddess she hated him sometimes.
"Yes Raven."
Mel sat in front of a chess game set out between her and Galahad, studying the board intently. Her fingers hovered over a piece for a moment before her eyes brightened and she grabbed another piece and moved it on the board.
Galahad made a small noise of triumph and captured her knight with his bishop, adding his piece to his collection.
"You've lost most of your pieces Mel, careful or you're going to lose to bad moves."
Mel glanced up at him for a moment, then she smirked and picked up her queen, moving her across the board and snatching up his king to dangle between two fingers in front of his flabbergasted face.
"It doesn't matter how many pieces I lose in the game so long as I win in the end." Mel said, setting the piece down in the centre of the board before leaning back with a grin.
Galahad exhaled a laugh and shook his head only to still for a moment to looking at something behind Mel in mild confusion.
"Is there something you nee-"
"Good."
Gyendal's cold voice echoed through the space and Mel jumped, only belatedly registering his presence in the air. She turned to face him, blinking when he met her eyes and gave the barest hint of a nod before striding away.
Mel gaped after her for a moment before turning to face Galahad again slowly, pointing half disbelieving after where her bond had vanished.
"...did he just approve of something I did? Is the world about to end?"
Galahad muffled a snort laugh at Mel's words.
"You shouldn't be so surprised. I know very little about Gyendal even after all these centuries of living in the same manor as him, I don't work well with people who look down on humans the way he does. However I have learned that above all strength of physical attitude he respects the craft of magic, and intelligence above everything else."
Mel shrugged and helped put the board back to it's original state. Either way, she was pretty sure that he would rather gnaw off his own right arm then be stuck with her as his bond.
Mel narrowed her eyes in concentration and lengthened her stride, her feet making virtually no noise as she raced through the forest. Her steps were so light that the branches on the ground never cracked under her feet and she finally came to an abrupt halt in front of a massive tree that sat on the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean.
"Did I do better then last time?" She asked breathlessly as she recovered from the near sprint.
"You are improving." Gyendal merely answered, leaning back against a tree a few feet away with his arms crossed.
His face was blank as ever but the lack of irritation with her performance today told her that he was satisfied with her work today which made Mel grin slightly.
"Will I ever get the chance to run somewhere other then Shadow Woods South? I'm so sick of running in this forest, I know everything here like the back of my hand." She complained, glancing up at the Moon above before turning her attention to Gyendal.
"Perhaps." Was his eventual answer that meant anything from never to one day soon. "Now start running, it is time to return to the manor."
Mel let out an overdramatic groan and slumped down the tree, flopping her arms out in a show of laziness.
"I don't wanna..."
Booted feet suddenly appeared in front of Mel and she forced herself to look up at Gyendal who was glaring down at her.
"Stop whining and get going. Alternatively I'm sure Te'ijal has plenty of chores you could do."
"Fine! I'll do it, I'll do it. You're such a jerk." Mel muttered, dragging herself upright and starting off again.
She knew she needed to cool down her muscles with the slow jog back, he wasn't being needlessly frustrating. But she wouldn't mind him taking it easier on her for once in his lifetime.
Mel's breath came in short bursts as she threw up her arm as a block before dancing sideways and feigning a strike. Gyendal picked up the pace and Mel was forced to speed up as she moved to dodge and block the mock blows while attempting to land some of her own.
"Watch your defence on the right." He barked as he struck out carefully, his flat had making contact with her arm without actually striking her hard enough to bruise her.
He was a merciless trainer when it came to how much he worked her but she had to give him the fact that no matter how aggravated he would get with her, the force of his practice blows never became harder or wavered. He never hurt her, the only bruises she had acquired is when he would sweep her feet out from under her and she would be dropped onto her butt on the ground yet again.
Mel danced back from his downward cut and with a sudden grin used his momentum to slam his arm out of it's protective position in front of the vampire Mage and land a careful blow just above one of the pressure points he had taught her. Gyendal faltered and Mel cheered, jumping back and pumping one arm in the air.
"HA! I knew it, I knew you would eventually underestimate me and I would be able to land a blow." She laughed, sticking her tongue out at him as she hopped about.
He let out a hiss of irritation at her reaction.
"If you are quite done...?"
"Are you kidding?! I will more then likely never be able to declare that I have managed to actually land a proper blow on the pompous Gyendal! This is a monumental occasion!"
"Stop being overdramatic." He snapped, but for a split second Mel could have sworn that he had smiled. "You are dismissed for today."
Mel's eyes lit up at the thought of having her afternoon free to goof off with Spook and she mockingly saluted before taking off to the back door to enter the mansion.
"Lamb."
She stopped as his call reached her and turned to meet his unreadable gaze.
"You did well today."
His words made her eyes widen before she broke into a large grin.
"Yeah. See you later Raven." She called over her shoulder as she turned and entered the manor, leaving the vampire behind her alone in the back of the manor property as she went on her search for Spook.
As she walked his comment played on repeat in her mind, making her smile slightly to herself.
She knew that her improvement was huge, but it was nice to hear confirmation from Gyendal. Especially since he never recognized things like that.
So what did you think? Reviews are welcome! Flames shall be laughed at, posted for others to laugh at, and ignored as I continue the story.