Finnick and Igneous
Finnick didn't look all that different in the day light.
He wore a lot black. His hair was black, his pants were black, and his cape was black. The way he wore his hair, tying most of it back into a long ponytail, made it blend into his cape even with the hood down. The only pop of colour were his green eyes, which were strangely highlighted by the scar that ran across the bridge of his nose, the red vest, and his tan coloured boots. Even his personality was a bit on the muted side but maybe he was just shy. He barely spoke three words since he woke up, and while he was eager to eat breakfast, he held his bowl close while keeping his eyes on everybody else.
He definitely wasn't used to being in a crowd.
"So why did you join us?" Igneous asked when he attempted to join Finnick.
"Because you're the oracle," he mumbled. "I wouldn't otherwise. The gold is nice but I'm used to working alone."
Interesting. He couldn't say he wasn't used to being wanting something from him, but he was interested by the fact that the idea of being paid wasn't all that enticing to him. Maybe he didn't trust that he was going to get paid but Igneous wasn't so sure about that.
"Is there something I can do for you, then?"
"For now? No, I don't need anything right now."
Igneous simply nodded. It was a little strange, but if he wasn't needed, he wasn't needed. "Just let me know if that changes, then," he said, jumping to his feet. If he wanted space, he would give the man space.
The Bears
Gerben didn't think he was that old. In human years, he would be in his late twenties, where he was familiar with life and had some knowledge to pass on but he was still had many years left to enjoy. Usually, he was quite comfortable with his age and being adopted by Igneous didn't change that. He watched Igneous grow and helped raise him and none of that made him feel old.
But Tora made him feel old.
Tora was full of energy that Gerben struggled to keep up with and ever since he arrived, Tora was all too excited to finally spar with other ursurines. If he wasn't brawling with Gerben, he was following Orla around asking for a challenge and she was all too willing to indulge him. She probably enjoyed having a young ursurine to teach because they could take a hit. Humans were a bit more fragile.
He could remember being Tora's age. Like human teens, young ursurines were also eager to prove themselves, and they did a lot of dumb things to impress each other and to find themselves. Eventually, they would mellow out as they reached adulthood. Of course, there was still the desire to impress others even in adulthood. The stone around his forearms and shins were, in fact, for show.
Unlike Tora though, he grew up with other ursurine his own age. He had other young ursurines around to wear him out and he had adult ursurines to subtly push him in the right direction. Tora was just trying to make up for lost time, for all of the missed opportunities and experiences he should have had growing up. He just wanted to learn about himself.
Gerben didn't have the heart to deny him any of that.
"You up for another round?" Tora asked, coming up from behind.
"Yeah, let's go."
Saikur and Zahreen
Saikur spat the dirt out of his mouth as he slowly rose to his feet. His entire body was sore and bruised, especially around his eye where Zahreen struck him earlier in their session. He had half the mind to let himself rest in case Brontes contacted them in the near future, but he ultimately decided that the training was better. A rested body wouldn't help if he didn't have the skills to do anything with it.
Instead of kicking Saikur right back into the dirt like he usually did, Zahreen instead just stood there, somehow looking pensive even through the helmet. A metallic finger tapped his helmet, approximately where his jaw would be. Saikur didn't know if Zahreen intended to make the simple action look taunting or if Saikur hated the man so much that everything he did looked arrogant.
"Say, Igneous doesn't have any known family, right?"
"Why?"
"His face looks familiar somehow but I can't place my finger on it."
Saikur blinked. If Zahreen wasn't serious about what he just said, he would have used the opening to strike him, but he just continued to stand there. Saikur didn't think about where Igneous could have come from because that didn't matter to him, but if Zahreen saw someone or knew something... how could he not be a least a little bit curious?
"He was found alone in a forest," Saikur answered.
"I see. You know? I'm going to go think about this a little more. You go clean yourself up."
"What?"
"You heard me," Zahreen hissed. "Go play with someone else."
Saikur huffed but when Zahreen took off, he didn't have the energy to catch up. Oh well.
I didn't realize I spent this long without an update! This is just a small chapter to help connect a couple of things for the future and isn't the update you are all looking for!