I should be packing, but I needed a break. So. Have the results of my break. There's a new Mythos up, too, although that one's been wallowing on my computer for well over a week.
Caladrius
Out of Roman mythology, caladrius are small white birds said to live in the homes of kings. Mostly, they are fairly ordinary—except if someone is ill. If they look into the eyes of a sick person, they take the person's illness into themselves, after which they fly up towards the sun to let the heat and light burn the malady away… thereby curing both the sick person and themselves. If they refuse to look at a sick person, they will not heal that person, and that person is then left to live or die without their aid.
(In Roman times, that was usually 'die'.)
xxxx
Reborn hopped onto Tsuna's infirmary bed, fairly sure the boy was dozing, and stopped short. There was a bird on Tsuna's chest. It was not much bigger than both his hands put together, its feathers a pure white that strongly reminded him of the unicorn's coat, and shaped somewhere between a dove and a small plover.
Tsuna was having a silent stare-down with it, a look of utter exasperation on his face.
A soft hiss from the side provided an explanation, and Reborn growled silently. The first four mythological interruptions had been spaced across months (he refused to count the Vindice on principle), and then the Varia show up and the next four drop in across less than nine days, one of them being hostile.
Reborn turned around and hopped back off the bed with a flat, "Nope."
Tsuna could just stay in the infirmary a while longer. It was too early to deal with this, although the snake's explanation of 'caladrius' was at least something he recognized. The closest the small bird came to being hostile was refusing to heal someone according to the legends, and the only real references to it indicated nothing strange about it aside from its ability to take away sickness. There were even a few warnings against eating it (considering the 'taking sickness into itself' mythology, sensible) which meant it could be killed in some ordinary ways.
(It was also another 'ruler' reference, since they were only supposed to settle in the homes of kings. This was becoming a theme, and Reborn was starting to dread the meaning of it.)
Now to go complain to Xanxus. It was always funny to see him try not to freak out, and it made Reborn feel less like the only one with sense. Reborn was not supposed to have to be the sensible one!
x
Tsuna blinked when Reborn 'noped' his way back out without so much as a greeting, although if he were fair, he hadn't exactly broken his staring contest with the new arrival to say hello, either. The khe-ti had, and it reminded Tsuna that Reborn spoke Reptile, which apparently meant that he could understand mythological snakes.
Who knew?
(Well. Reborn, probably. He had gotten pretty exasperated with a few things she'd said. Somehow that hadn't clicked.)
The bird on his chest chirped curiously.
Tsuna sighed and shooed it off, "I think that was you. And go talk with Venna, would you? She's the unicorn, and she's now the head of the Myth Healing Division."
And the fact that he had to say that wasn't even… And what did that make the others? They were all going to want some kind of position-title, now! (The tóngshī were definitely part of security. Moeru was secure transportation, he supposed. The dragon—well, he might end up ranked in as 'heavy assault'. And Akhlut-san… hm… scouting, maybe? He certainly could fight, and was big, but—scouting and tracking just felt like it would fit better. The khe-ti was definitely security. Was he missing anyone? He felt like he was missing someone. Why did he feel like he was missing someone?)
"… Do I want to know?" Squalo asked warily from the doorway, and Tsuna blinked questioningly at him.
"The bird," he elaborated.
Tsuna grinned, "Reborn didn't, but the khe-ti told him anyway."
Squalo opened his mouth, stopped, and shook his head. "Shit, fine. I'm not asking. You said to let Lal Mirch in today, and she just called—you had breakfast yet, mini-Boss? Boss'll murder me if I don't make sure you're fed before letting you deal with CEDEF, even if it is the mostly competent ones."
Tsuna perked up, "Food sounds great, and I'd be happy to see Lal-san. Um—one moment," he turned his attention to the pale gold of the newest arrival's eyes, "Go on, let Venna get you settled. She's—" he paused to scan for the forest-wild feel of her, "—outside, about two kilometers north of here."
A burst of fire interrupted, and a certain hou-ou gave a cheery thrill.
"Moeru can take you," Tsuna acknowledged.
"Okay, shit, I really don't want to know," Squalo agreed, "You allowed out of here yet or should I send your puppy with food?"
Tsuna waved, "I'm fine, but Reborn hasn't actually said I can leave, yet. He took one look at the caladrius and turned right back around."
Squalo blinked twice and frowned, "I've heard that before. Sh-" he scowled and broke off the curse, "Nevermind, I'll send the puppy and call the CEDEF back. Need anything else, mini-Boss?"
Tsuna smiled, (Xanxus' Rain really was trying, even if he only remembered sometimes) and shook his head, "I'm fine, Squalo-san, although if you would ask Gokudera-kun to bring me my phone, just in case? I'm sure you have enough to handle as it is."
Squalo made a grumpily agreeing sound and left, apparently having used up his knowledge of courtesy. Tsuna tried not to think it was cute. (He mostly failed. Squalo's attempts at being polite were almost as adorable as Xanxus' in their ineptitude. Also, he was never saying that out loud. Neither of them would appreciate it at all.)
He also tried not to get too wound up—Lal-san's Flames were so broken, but it had felt like the kind of damage that could be shored, if not exactly healed. He hadn't gotten a very good grasp of it, though, having been focused on other things at their first meeting. He hoped he could help… it wasn't like Xanxus had been, unstable and deteriorating but not diminished. No, hers had seemed almost… cracked, like ice dropped in hot tea, breaking and dissipating all at once.
And thinking on it was having the opposite effect of his intent. Tsuna firmly put thoughts of Lal Mirch and Flame-damage out of his mind and turned his attention to feeling out his Elements instead. And he'd have to arrange something for I-pin and Lambo to come, and Ken and Chikusa if they were willing. Maybe Ryohei's sister, too—and when had he started thinking of Kyoko more in the sense of kin-of-my-kin than as Kyoko-chan, class idol and crush?—and Kaa-san, if she wanted. He'd have to tell her what Iemitsu was either way, and he wasn't looking forward to that for all that she'd taken it in stride when he'd told her about being the heir to a mafia group and taking over the Momokyokai. (And then the Sora. And the First Triad. And then all the Triads. Oh, gods, his life, why?)
… but he had told her himself, and hadn't been lying to her for years. Sure, he'd hidden it for a while, not wanting to worry her, but once he'd taken over a Yakuza group it just wasn't something he could have hidden for long, because Sawada Nana was more than a bit airheaded but she wasn't blind. Cheerful Yakuza calling him 'Juudaime', 'Oyabun', and variants of his name or titles suffixed with '-sama' or '-dono' would have been a little hard to miss.
Agh, he was stressing himself out again!
(Gokudera's arrival was a welcome distraction, and there was a conversation he'd been meaning to have with his youngest Storm for a while…)
xxxx
Xanxus kept a straight face as he escorted the semi-Arcobaleno and her colleague through the halls, said colleague carrying a tank full of snakes that were probably the ones that the creepy Mist had set on the idiot Iemitsu. Which meant two things: one, they had been real, and two, at least one of the CEDEF trash thought they'd want them back.
Which would have been hilarious under other circumstances, but now was only mildly funny. Because the Brat might be okay—which was half dumb luck and half the fact that he had more Flame to throw around than Xanxus and his Elements combined—but he was still in the infirmary and Xanxus was leading two people he barely knew ('allies' didn't mean 'friends') to see his Sky in a position of relative weakness.
That part rubbed Xanxus about six types of wrong, and if he wasn't relatively sure that Tsuna actually wanted to see Lal Mirch he would have chewed out the Shark and booted the CEDEF right back out the door, snakes and all.
Still, the Brat did want to see her, and the other was obviously playing servant for the trip, so Xanxus simply pushed open the door to the medical wing and gave the two warning glares before gesturing them into his Sky's temporary room. He could sense Tsuna's own three minis already in there, and he felt a little better with the CEDEF stuck in the middle and hampered by a glass tank full of things he was reasonably sure were on their side.
Turned out the unicorn was in there, too, laying across the tile at the foot of Tsuna's bed with Reborn idly skipping tiny flicks of Flame off her mane from where he sat on the edge of the bed.
Lal Mirch stopped dead, staring, and the male trash did the same.
Xanxus snorted and ushered them forward again, nodding to his fellow Elements and Sky, "Tsuna, Lal Mirch and Turmeric. Trash, the Decimo. If you don't know the other three, you haven't been doing your jobs."
There was a soft snort and a somewhat baleful whirling-wild glare.
"… and Venna's the unicorn." he conceded, remembering what Squalo had said about that thing's horn.
Tsuna smiled a greeting at them, his eyes going warm and fond as they landed on Xanxus, who kept his expression neutral despite the fact that was still a little staggering, that the kid actually cared. Then his gaze skipped down to Lal Mirch and his expression flickered a little, darkening with something undefinable as his eyes settled on the twisted grey strands tangled inside an otherwise clear Pacifier.
(He notably ignored the tank of snakes.)
"I'm sorry, Lal-san, but it is somewhat uncomfortable to feel your Flames as they are. Do you mind…?"
Her shoulders stiffened a bit, but her voice was polite as she said "Of course not, Decimo."
Tsuna gave her a smile that clearly bewildered her and Xanxus had a half-second to realize where this was going before the Brat's pure Sky surged, going from a light breeze to a roaring wave undercut with riptide, and there was a sharp sound like breaking ice and Lal Mirch staggered, Fon blurring to steady her as Reborn gave a startled growl and Xanxus shouldered past Turmeric, snatching the snake-tank from his hands to discard to the floor in a way that wouldn't end in snakes and glass everywhere before stopping at the bedside, but Tsuna's Flames didn't feel strained.
Reborn checked him with gold-glowing hands before snorting and shaking his head in clear exasperation, waving dismissively at Xanxus.
They'd chew the kid out for that stunt later. Xanxus turned to see what the Brat had actually done and blinked. The Pacifier around Lal Mirch's neck had cracked down the middle and the previously grey threads were blue, a soft shade that was spreading its way throughout the rest of the formed crystal, and the flickering tang of Cloud and Mist was quickly being eclipsed by Rain.
Also, that still-shifting Flame was reaching back to the Sky that had freed it and Xanxus turned a halfhearted scowl on a clearly pleased Tsuna. "Damn it, Brat, that is not a Lightning."
x
It had been a long time since Lal had been anything beyond mildly surprised—up until meeting Sawada Tsunayoshi. If Reborn claiming him as his Sky hadn't been stunning enough, the boy had claimed Xanxus as a Guardian and Xanxus hadn't refuted it. Add in his clear disdain for his father (and, worse, for valid reason), and the range of allies she later found out he'd managed to acquire (Triads were astounding as they were, but Vindice?), and the trained attack-snakes she'd been pretty sure she'd run out of shocks.
(She knew he had at least one very talented Mist, so the unicorn—while exceedingly strange—was at least not shocking. Although Xanxus introducing it had been a little weird.) Then… well, she'd assumed the apologetic comment on her Flames was a really polite way of telling her to leave.
Obviously, she'd been wrong. On multiple counts, because the boy had done something that—shocked. On more than one level. It had felt like a shock, a connection long broken being jolted back to life, her Pacifier cracking and grey shifting to blue as her Rain, her Rain that was the core of her, the thing she'd had to learn how to go without, the piece of her soul sundered apart and leaving her foundering on Mist-streaked Cloud was suddenly there again.
What had he done?
And did it even matter? There was warmth, there, the Sky that had felt intimidatingly wide against her senses suddenly a sheltering presence, and her thoughts reeled as her body did the same.
Fon, seeming pleased despite obvious exasperation, braced her upright as she tried to adjust to a world suddenly stabled after so long on sea-storm tilting. "Tsunayoshi-sama does have a way of changing things," he murmured, amusement hiding in his voice.
Lal laughed, half-hysterical with desperate relief, more confused than she'd been in years but too happy to care. Good God, this kid was more than Iemitsu could ever wish to be, and his Flames were warm and strong, vaster than the sky and heavier than the ocean, but curling around her own with a gentle welcome that felt like home.
Was this Harmony?
Skull's bright, "Welcome to the club, Lal! Tsuna gives the best hugs!" was probably the answer to that. Which meant she had decisions to make, things to arrange, people to inform and… well. This was going to flip her life on end.
Tsunayoshi smiled at her, "Breathe, Lal-san," he instructed, amused as he patted the edge of his—suddenly where they were clicked, and she jerked away from Fon's supporting hold in alarm. What had happened? Why was he in a hospital bed?
Tsunayoshi huffed, sounding exasperated as he rolled his eyes.
Lal found herself picked up by the scruff of her shirt and dumped onto the bed even as Xanxus turned to glare Turmeric out the door and close it with only a curt "Wait there," as orders.
"I'm fine, Lal-san," Tsunayoshi informed her, "I'm only still here because all my Elements are twitchy."
Reborn hopped onto his shoulder and pointedly thwapped him, far more gently than she would have expected from Reborn… which kind of proved the kid's point.
"There was an incident," Fon informed, very uselessly. "Tsunayoshi-sama ended up using a great deal of Flame, and it was deemed a better idea to have him in a place where he could be easily monitored until he regained consciousness. I believe Reborn left him here this morning as punishment for bringing in a new myth."
"I don't bring them in," Tsunayoshi complained. "They show up on their own!"
Wait a minute. She turned to look at the unicorn, then up at a toothy grin from Xanxus.
"I don't want to know," she decided.
"Ain't gonna have much choice, mini-Rain," Xanxus informed her with a vicious sort of cheer. "Just be glad the dragon's still in Japan."
Someone was having her on.
(It turned out that, no. No, they weren't. Also, Tsunayoshi told her she didn't have to make any decisions just yet, and should probably take a day or so to rest and get her thoughts in order before they went over her options.
… that alone might make it worth following him anywhere, that he would give them the choice.)
xxxx