He really wasn't so sure how he got dragged into this.

There he'd been, sleeping in since he had nothing better to do, when Sylphiel had pushed his door open firmly, stomped up to him, and told him in no uncertain terms that he was going to assist her. A glance at the window showed that it was fairly early in the morning, and Kopii just wanted to go back to sleep.

"Rezo!" Sylphiel snapped and he winced. "Get up now! When you're dressed, come down to the kitchen."

Turning with a swirl of her dark curtain of hair, Sylphiel stalked out of his room. Dragging himself out of bed reluctantly, Kopii bespelled the dresser to give him access to Rezo's wardrobe, which he then rummaged through to find a rust-brown tunic, and pair of pants that were so old they had holes worn in places and were a splotchy brown. Closing his eyes and feeling the cloth, Kopii identified these pants as Rezo's old gardening pants.

Oh, Eris would have thrown a fit to see her copy wearing these.

He put them on.

Barefoot, he headed down the stairs, his brief moment of amusement flying as he reached the bottom step. He didn't have to wear ratty clothes to piss Sylphiel off- he just had to exist to do that, but he was trapped with her, just as he'd been trapped with Eris, only worse because now he didn't just have to feel guilty about the way he acted, but about being in his own damn body.

Why didn't you just pick someone else? You knew Sairaag was going to be destroyed eventually, why didn't you save yourself a corpse sometime before then? Kopii asked Flagoon sourly. In the kitchen, the table was covered with vegetables of all sorts and on the stove was a pot of meat that had already been browned.

The Holy Tree sighed, Actually, I had thought about it, but when you entered the scene, I knew that it was you I needed. I had hoped that your creator wouldn't destroy your body before I could get to it, but you solved the problem by being buried right under me.

Scowling as he came to a stop behind Sylphiel where she was standing at the sink rinsing something, Kopii thought of the nastiest curse he could and hurled it at Flagoon. Shaking water off her hands, Sylphiel turned- and shrieked in surprise, staggering back against the sink behind her. Clutching the edge of the sink with one hand, she pressed her other to her breast and panted, "Don't DO that!"

"What?" he asked sourly, "Stand here? If you don't like it, tell me what you want."

Taking a breath and frowning, Sylphiel pushed off the sink. "Shell those peas over there," she pointed at a bucket set on the table. Her frown turned from disapproving to sad when he turned smartly and went to pull out a chair and start doing what she told him to, taking the bucket and setting it on a chair in front of him to work, though he had to close his eyes to do so, his fingers exploring the bean pods delicately before popping them open.

Turning again, Sylphiel reached into the sink and pulled out the basket of carrots she'd just rinsed and carried them to the table where she had a knife and a cutting board set up and ready. "I didn't mean for you to not stand there," she said without looking at him, "I meant for you to not sneak up on me like that. ...I just wasn't expecting anyone to be there. You startled me."

Peeking at him, she didn't even see a twitch in his expression at her half apology. His lips were set in a grim line, eyes closed, as he went about shelling the peas with a surgeon's precision. He didn't work all that fast, but he worked consistently and Sylphiel couldn't help but think that if she had to be worked on, he would be her preference.

Clearing her throat, Sylphiel added, "We're making stew... For the Spring Fair." To this, he still didn't answer and she sighed, "I'm going."

"Have fun," he stated, though he sounded sarcastic.

Pausing as she selected a carrot and picked up her knife, Sylphiel refrained from sighing, "You're going too," she stated, "I can't leave you here- Lina will feel she has to stay and watch you. She has the right to go enjoy herself too. So you'd better be on good behavior."

"Right. I'll be as saintly as Rezo ever was," Kopii replied in a monotonous tone.

Silence fell then, except for the rhythmic chopping of her carrots and his shelling of the peas. There were some thumps upstairs that brought a blush to Sylphiel's face that suffused up to the roots of her hair. The silence only seemed to make the noise louder, and she hunched her shoulders.

"Rezo," she started, and glanced over when she felt a twinge through her link with Flagoon. He continued to work at shelling peas like she'd asked him to, no sign of his discomfort on his face, though it was in profile to her. "You don't like that name do you?" she asked, forgetting her original idea for a conversation.

For a long moment, Kopii didn't answer, but finally, egged on by Flagoon, he looked up at her and replied between his clenched teeth. "No."

Sylphiel sighed, "Back to one word answers?" she continued before he could answer- though his mouth was already open to do so- "Why don't you like it?"

His mouth clicked shut and he looked away, remaining sullenly silent for a long- very long moment, and she feared he wouldn't answer. Finally, Flagoon forced him to speak, "Not my name," he grunted, "It's his name. I hate him."

Pausing in her work to think on that, she replied, "I see."

"No, you don't," Kopii replied immediately, "Don't say things you don't mean. False pity is the worst kind."

Stopping her work completely this time, Sylphiel set down her knife and stared at him, watching him work with far more enthusiasm than the peas deserved.

Finally, Kopii stopped and sat up to look at her, expression irked, "What?" he demanded, exploding at her with all his suppressed hurt and frustration which she could feel echoes of through their link.

Tipping her head, she let her gaze drift off to the side as she replied, "Just trying to see things your way, that's all." His bluster abruptly faded at those words and he stared at her in return, then ducked his head down when she caught him looking, going back to shelling the peas and peeking at her occasionally through his bangs.

Smiling faintly at his antics, Sylphiel continued, "I think I understand. It was Eris, wasn't it? She tried... very hard to make you what you weren't." He didn't answer, but his hands slowed and were visibly shaking now. "She didn't realize that you were a fine individual on your own. As a copy you failed, but as a new life..." Sylphiel looked back at him to find him peeking expectantly at her.

Suppressing her smile, she turned back to chopping the carrots.

Heaving a sigh and sitting up, Kopii turned to face her fully, "Will you please finish your sentence?" he requested, expression a mix between serious and pleading.

Glancing at him, she paused briefly to push her hair back over her shoulder, "Well, I didn't think you really wanted my opinion..."

Expression falling, he sighed again and looked back down at his hands, "Fine," he muttered, "You were probably just going to say that as a person I failed too."

"Nope," she replied cheerfully, "That wasn't what I was going to say at all."

Glowering at her, Kopii folded his hands together and leaned his elbows on his knees, "Well, oh great shrine maiden, would you be so kind as to inform me?"

Looking towards him, she smiled once more, "If you're going to get sarcastic, than no, I won't."

Kopii sputtered at her, then huffed and looked away, "didn't want to know anyway," he lied and picked up some more peas to shell.

"I was going to say you succeeded- up to a point."

Again, he stopped, but this time, did not look up at her. "Up to a point," he sighed, "I can guess what point that was," he muttered.

Coyly, Sylphiel replied, "Maybe."

This caught Kopii's attention and he looked up at her once more. "If not Sairaag, then when did I fail?"

"There you go again, using that F word. That's a four letter word, you know, not the kind of thing you should say to a lady," Sylphiel glanced at him from the corner of her eye as her hands swept the carrot bits together and dumped them into the pot beside her. "But more, I was thinking that your belief in what Eris said was where you messed up. She had her reasons- love like that is hard to come by, but she handled her grief wrong and she pulled you down into madness with her."

Turning away, Kopii began savagely shelling the peas again, "Trying to find redeeming characteristics in that woman is a wasted effort."

Stopping her work, Sylphiel turned to face the copy completely, "I don't believe that," she replied, "She was a white mage to begin with, there's no way she could have been so cruel at heart- not the whole time."

Again, Kopii's hands slowed their work and finally stopped. He looked up at her in return, looking at her, but gazing inward. Though he didn't answer, Sylphiel suspected that he'd found memories that supported her claim, and he went back to work in a thoughtful silence. Though she was right back where she'd started on the conversation issue, Sylphiel could stand the thoughtful silence rather than sullen brooding silence. And the noise upstairs had stopped, which was a blessing as well.

After a bout ten minutes of this, Sylphiel looked over at him, then shook her hair to get it out of her face, "Well, since you don't like 'Rezo', what should I call you?"

Looking up as he finished the last of the peas, he stared at her for a long time, then shrugged, "Flagoon's fine, or Rezo if you want. It hardly matters."

"But it does!" Sylphiel protested, putting down her knife firmly, "Isn't there anything you want to be called?"

Staring at her blankly for the longest and most awkward time, Kopii finally answered, "Flagrezo?"

Torn between laughing and rolling her eyes, Sylphiel settled on snorting and turning away, "Fine! You don't want to take it seriously, then I'll just name you and you'll have to deal with it."

He shrugged and she smirked, "Rocky, pass those peas over here if you're done with them." She peeked towards him just in time to catch his dropped jaw. "You said you didn't care!" Sylphiel burbled around her infectious giggles.

Pressing his lips together, knowing he'd been had, Kopii finally gave in and laughed softly, shaking his head even as he passed the pail of peas over to her, "Pick something else, please? Rocky sounds like what Gourry's dog would be named."

Laughing harder, Sylphiel shifted her hands through the peas, then poured them into the pot with the carrots, "I suppose," she admitted, "So you don't like Rocky."

Pouting at him, Sylphiel turned and grabbed another knife and some potatoes, holding them out towards him, "Peel these, Jeffery."

Looking up at her, Kopii quirked a brow, "I really don't think I'm like a Jeff at all," he pointed out and took the potatoes and knife. "I'm far more distinguished than a mere Jeff."

"Frederick!" Sylphiel chimed with.

Pulling a face as he selected a potato and packed the others in his lap while he peeled the one, Kopii shook his head, "That's still far too common." Tipping his head with a sly look towards her, he offered, "How about ...Gomez?"

It was Sylphiel's turn to look at him in shock, then giggle, "You'd need a mustache for that."

Twitching his upper lip, Kopii thought on that, "I could grow one," he defended, then peeked up at Sylphiel's wrinkled-nosed expression. "Or not. You don't like mustaches?"

Looking down at him as she peeled some potatoes of her own, Sylphiel laughed, "No, not that. You simply wouldn't look right with a mustache, that's all." Looking down at her hands abruptly, she hissed and quickly set down her knife and potato.

Hurrying to find a place to set his own aside, finally settling for his lap, he reached over and grabbed her wrists, bringing them down to look at, quickly locating the cut she'd given herself by the blood welling from the slice across her thumb. "It's alright," Sylphiel protested faintly even as Kopii stuck her thumb into his mouth to suck the blood off, then concentrated briefly to cast a healing spell.

"Nothing got in it," he told her, then swallowed and looked up at her, eyes wide as he realized what he'd just done.

Sylphiel was flushing quite pink, but wasn't withdrawing her hands from his hold, though he realized that may have been because he was holding them so tightly. Flushing brilliant scarlet, he dropped her hands and turned away, shoulders hunching as he tried to hide his face. Turning away as well, Sylphiel washed her hands and looked at the pink line that had been the cut she'd given herself. "...You're really a good Healer," she told him, "It's a shame you started off so badly..."

He didn't look up at her and instead littered the floor with potato peelings, concentrating on his task instead of answering. "When you're done with those, Rasmus, cut them into quarters long-ways, please?" she requested and he paused, looking up, but not at her. Finally, he nodded. Setting her work down, she leaned on the table towards him, "Do you like 'Rasmus' then?"

Licking his lips, the copy hesitated, then nodded, "It's good."

Sighing, Sylphiel pushed back again, "Alright, I'll think of some-"

"No-" he looked up, eyes wide, "I really... mean it. Rasmus is fine. I ...like what it means." When she tipped her head curiously, he continued, "It means 'loved' or ...'wanted'..." Flushing, he looked away again.

Smiling finally, Sylphiel nodded, "Then it fits you," she replied and lifted her potato again to continue carefully peeling it, aware that the newly named Rasmus was watching her once more, and pretending not to. "Careful you don't cut yourself," Sylphiel warned with a soft laugh, "like I did."

Lips twisting upwards at the corners, Rasmus replied, "If I do, you can Heal me."

A moment of silence fell between them and Gourry padded in, barefoot and looked around, blinking in confusion. "This going to be enough?" he asked.

Smiling, Sylphiel blushed lightly and nodded, "Yes, There will be enough," she told him, "I'm not cooking everything for the festival after all. You're not wearing that are you?"

Rasmus winced and peered at Gourry's clothes, finding the man to be wearing Eruk's old clothes still. Looking down at himself, Gourry laughed softly and scratched the back of his head, "No- uh, guess not." Rasmus tucked his head down and smirked. So the blonde wasn't dumb enough to say 'why, yes! I am!'.

Lina snorted as she entered, wearing Sylphiel's old dress and brushing her hair, "Don't worry, I'll get him presentable. Our clothes from the day before dry yet?"

Sylphiel nodded, "They should be- I meant to fold them- they're in the bathroom."

Flapping her hand, Lina turned and entered the bathroom, returning a moment later with a pile of clothes. Gourry took his from off the top, and together, they took themselves up stairs once more. Rasmus stared after them- with his eyes closed and sighed. Peering at him, Sylphiel tipped her head and asked, "You afraid of her?"

"Of her? No. I could have killed her if I'd wanted to," Rasmus replied, sounding far too casual about it, and he looked back down at his potato peeling, "I knew she wasn't going to use the Giga Slave on me," he added, "But that hardly mattered. What I really wanted was an end."

Letting that sink in for a moment, Sylphiel mulled over the various meanings of his words and finally asked, "What will you do with this beginning?"

Rasmus still refused to look at her, and didn't say anything. She almost thought of requesting Flagoon's assistance in prying an answer out of him, but stopped herself. Perhaps Rasmus simply didn't have an answer? Sylphiel decided that she would ask him again later, which was a good thing because Lina and Gourry reappeared, Lina stealing the seat Rasmus had been using earlier as a place to put the bucket of peas. Gourry took another chair and turned it backwards to straddle. "So," Lina stated cheerfully into the silence, "whatcha two been talking about?"

"Going to the festival, names..." Sylphiel replied.

Gourry yawned and stretched his arms above his head, then dropped them back down over the back of his chair, "What about names? Mine's Gourry."

Everyone looked over at him, then Sylphiel sighed and shook her head, "We decided to call him Rasmus," she pointed at the copy who... actually flushed slightly and ducked his head down to avoid looking at them as he peeled his potatoes and quartered them like he was told to, placing the pieces on the table beside him.

Lina nodded firmly, "Well, good," she stated, "About time we let Rezo rest in peace."

This time, Rasmus sat up straight and looked at her for a long hard moment, which she turned right back on him.

Finally, he nodded, "Yes. It is."

Sylphiel smiled, "Lina, I have to say that you've gotten rather calm lately."

Rasmus glanced over and sighed, "Maybe it's because she's pregnant?" he offered, setting down his last potato and the knife on the table.

"WHAT!"

The shrieks drove Rasmus to cover his ears, and once silence had fell, he scrubbed at them, hearing ringing still. When he opened his eyes, he found Lina on her feet, Gourry fallen over backwards from his chair, and Sylphiel sitting on the floor.

"How did you find out!" Lina demanded, eyes blazing even as she pushed her sleeves up.

"You mean you knew!" Sylphiel asked at the same time, blushing as she looked from Lina to Rasmus- then to Gourry, who looked confused and lost as he picked himself up off the floor.

Gazing over at Lina candidly, Rasmus straightened and replied in an authoritative Rezo-voice, "I notice things, and Flagoon is rather interested in the functions of human bodies as its life currently depends on them. Even if I hadn't noticed the decrease in your usual power levels as well as the change in your aura, I would have still noticed the change in your body- which was where I was heading in that short conversation about powerful magic users and weight-gain the other day."

Scowling, she lifted a fist, "You saying I'm fat?" she demanded.

Far from amused, Rasmus replied, "No, I'm saying you should cut out with the Dragon Slaves, otherwise you'll hurt the baby and yourself. Hormone fluctuations will cause a massive decrease in power, but right now it hasn't affected you much." Lifting a finger, he continued, "AND I'm saying you should eat better- not more. The weight will come off after your powers come back, but stuffing yourself with things you shouldn't eat will cause both you and the baby harm, and you won't have your usual metabolism to counter the amount of weight you gain. Let's face it, Lina, you're just not built to be three-hundred pounds. So just watch it."

"Well, thanks, Mr. Midwife, for that lecture," Lina huffed, folding her arms under her breasts as she dropped back into her chair.

Grinning, Rasmus leered at her, "If it makes you feel better, you'll likely have tits the size of watermelons!"

Flushing bright red, Lina turned a demonic expression on him and Rasmus leapt to his feet and dashed out the back door, laughing.

Shrieking, she headed after him, "I'm going to KILL YOU!"

Putting a hand to her cheek, Sylphiel sighed. "I didn't know he was that suicidal," she murmured, hoping Lina would just settle the score with a punt and not a Giga Slave.