Rain Dance

Kimi mumbled something unintelligible. She remained under Ava's wing, out of Adair's sight.

" 'Taire!" Adair called, with no answer. " 'Taaaaaaaire! What are you doing?"

"He won't answer me either," replied Ava. "Hey, Do you think this is like when he was dancing?"

"You mean you think he's asleep?" asked Adair, his expression halfway between amusement and nervousness.

"I'll go check," said Ava, flying up and leaving Kimi exposed. "Sorry Kimi. Voltaire is doing funny things and I need to keep an eye on him."

Adair turned to Kimi, whom he had just noticed among the weirdness.

"Hey, was 'Taire acting weird earlier? Awake or asleep?"

Kimi shrugged and looked away from him. She hugged her knees.

Adair sighed. If he had trouble conversing with the girl before it was going to be downright impossible now. She probably hadn't seen anything anyway, if she had been under Ava's wing.

"Volty's asleep!" Ava confirmed from above. "And singing, too."

"How the hell does someone fly in their sleep?" Adair muttered. "Not even Ava can do that. Save us a lot of time if she could."

Slowly Voltaire descended in a spiraling motion, Ava carefully following in case he suddenly started falling. Eventually he reached the ground, nearly knocking Adair over as he glided past the redhead. Whatever was left of the song on his lips faded away as he landed a few feet away from Kimi.

Adair and Ava tried to take a closer look at Voltaire's new wings, but they abruptly burst into flame and dissolved into nothing.

Kimi watched out of the corner of her eye. She was still concerned about Voltaire, even if she wanted nothing to do with Adair. "...Is he alright?" Kimi asked

"Yeah," answered Adair, waving a hand in front of Voltaire's face. "...Still sound asleep after all that. He won't remember a thing, which means he won't believe a thing we say tomorrow."

"oh" Kimi murmured. She stood up and moved towards the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Adair, before sighing. "Is it me? Okay, I'll go outside."

"Fiery, you don't-" Ava began to object.

"No, it's fine, it's fine," assured Adair, already walking out. "Someone's got to make sure 'Taire doesn't fly outside and into the rain."

Ava let out a sad warble, and then proceeded to carefully tuck the sleeping Voltaire under her wing.

Kimi frowned when Adair passed her. With a sigh she turned back and walked back over to Ava. She curled up next to her, sighing lightly at the warmth. Between the three of them, she was starting to think she should have left right away, she would never get away at this rate.

(Skip ahead to morning if you want I'm essentially done here.)

(will do)

Voltaire woke up feeling like crap. He was tired (yesterday had been a long day), he had a headache (one too many drinks and not enough water), and for whatever stupid reason his back hurt too (carrying around Kimi could not be that strenuous. She was so light). He did not want to leave the area under Ava's wing...Ava's wing? But hadn't he gone asleep on Ava's back? Maybe he had rolled off or something...

He stayed there telling himself of all the logical reasons to not get up, and then got up anyway.

"Hi Volty!" greeted Ava cheerfully, unaware of the Hunter's crankiness and soreness. "Our match is last today, so you don't have to worry about it until later."

"Good," was all he had to say to that.

Kimi grumbled something in her sleep and rolled over.

Trevor, who had come back at some point during the night after Voltaire's little incident, was perched on Ava's back, watching her carefully.

(warning: long post ahead)

Voltaire took little note of Trevor's presence in his groggy state. He proceeded to walk outside, intent on getting a little food and a lot of water in his stomach. He found Adair outside, still sleeping.

"Hey," said Voltaire, nudging him awake with his foot. "You been out here all night?"

"Yeah," the redhead replied with a yawn. "Somebody had to make sure no one flew the coop."

"What?"

"...Never mind," Adair answered. Now that he was awake Adair seemed uneasy, glancing around at everything but Voltaire.

"Is it Kimi?" Voltaire asked, leaning against the stone wall. "Yeah, she's antsy around you, but isn't everybody who knows you have Chiaroscuro?"

"That's not it," Adair replied, sighing. "We had an argument, I said something I shouldn't have, and she left. I felt like an ass, so I ended up going Chiaroscuro. She never even saw it."

"Huh?" replied Voltaire, caught off-guard. It never occurred to him to question why Adair had gone Chiaroscuro in the first place. Which was stupid, because there was always a reason. Maybe a petty reason, but a reason.

"You two fought? Over what?"

"Family things," Adair answered without elaboration.

"Over who was more royal?" Voltaire asked, slightly amused by the idea.

"Over whose family is more insane," Adair replied dully, before pausing for a while. "...Can you come with me somewhere else for a moment. I need to tell you something."

Back in the cavern, Kimi woke slowly. She sat up with a yawn and looked around.

Trevor jumped off of Ava's back and landed next to her. He purred and rubbed against her cheerfully.

Normally the place Voltaire and Adair would talk over something would be at the bar. However, both agreed that their hangovers were bad enough as it was, so they decided to go to the hot springs instead. It wasn't like they got to enjoy hot springs that much.

Not that Voltaire was fully able to appreciate the hot pool's relaxing effect at the moment.

"Rape?" the Hunter hissed. "By her dad? Are you sure?"

"She ran out of the room crying when I mentioned it," said Adair. "Can't be more sure than that."

"...Shit," Voltaire replied, swimming around in the torrid water. He used to swim a lot, before being in most water caused him acidic pain. "...I still can't believe you said that, by the way. 'Were you raped or something?' That's the kind of dumbass mistake I usually make, not you."

"I was drunk!" Adair objected.

Kimi looked to Ava groggily. "Is Voltaire up?" She asked softly, rubbing at one of her eyes. She wasn't even going to try to leave until they were all at the match, that way they would be thoroughly distracted when she decided to slip away. Besides, Adair was probably still outside.

"Volty got up just before you," Ava informed her while she preened her wing feathers. "He's probably out getting food. Volty tends to wake up hungry. Fiery probably went with him. They should be back soon."

------

At the moment, Voltaire was thinking about anything but food as he waded in the hot spring. How could someone rape their own kid, all for spite? He still couldn't understand it. But the more he thought about it, the more things about Kimi were explained. The way she was so awkward and timid around others, the sudden sadness during their discussion about intimacy, the way she freaked out when Ava cuddled them too close...it made sense now. Too much sense. Now he wanted to burn the bastard that was her father, burn him to ashes and cinders.

Adair had hoped the trip to the hot springs would keep Voltaire from getting too riled up. Now, as the watched the Hunter make furious laps around the pool, he saw he was sadly mistaken. He hoped Voltaire wouldn't do something stupid in his anger, which the fair-haired Hunter was prone to do.

"Oh. Okay." Kimi murmured. "I guess I'll wait here then." she absently pet Trevor.

Trevor purred and nuzzled her hand at the attention.

"But why would she want to leave all of a sudden?" asked Voltaire, still swimming around the pool but not as briskly. "Does she think we're gonna rape her?"

"No, I don't think it's that. I mean, we have Ava and she had Trevor," Adair answered. "It's more like...she knows that I know, and that upsets her to the point that she doesn't want to be around me. I guess she thinks I'll blackmail her with it or something."

"Well she knows about you, so she could just blackmail you right back," replied Voltaire. "Probably more worried about you blabbing about it, kinda like you are now."

"I felt like you should know why she was acting so strange," Adair replied a little defensively, though he saw Adair's point. He wouldn't be too happy if Kimi told someone else about his family, even if it was for a good reason.

"Hey, it's not like I don't appreciate it. It explains a lot," Voltaire answered casually, finally tired of swimming laps and wading in one place. "It's just that no one likes to admit they've been raped, which makes it really damn hard to talk about it. But I feel like I need to talk to Kimi about somehow without her running off into the rain again, and I don't know how to do that. Any suggestions, Mr. Hero?"

"Well...not really."

"Thanks for the help," Voltaire said sarcastically.

(next post will fast-forward to Voltaire going back to the cave room)

(aight. will do)

Kimi sat with her back to the wall. She had her eyes closed as she meditated. She was trying to remember about her 'mother' and all the advice she had given. It always seemed to help and calm her when she felt overly stressed.

Trevor laid by Ava a few feet away, so as not to distract her.

Voltaire blew out steam as he entered the cave room, still a bit flushed from the long stay in the hot springs. Maybe he shouldn't have soaked in it so long. It wasn't like he usually had trouble staying warm.

He noticed Kimi sitting against the wall calmly and halted. That's right, there was a reason he came back here without going to breakfast first. But how was he going to talk about this?

Ava, who was contemplating grooming Trevor because he looked so cute and furry, lifted her head up when she saw Voltaire.

"Oh hello Volty!" she chirped.

Kimi was so deep in her meditation that Ava's words didn't even register.

Trevor lifted his head to look at him pointedly.

"Hey Ava," Voltaire greeted back distractedly, still glancing over at Kimi. Was she asleep?

He walked over, sat down next to her, and gave her a poke in the shoulder.

"Hey, you awake?"

"Yes." Kimi replied without opening her eyes. "I'm awake. Just meditating."

"Oh. Uh, okay," Voltaire replied awkwardly. Did that make this a good time or a bad time to discuss the current subject? Meditation was used by people to keep calm, so maybe it was good, or maybe it would make her hypersensitive. He sat in silence as he tried to figure out how to broach the subject.

"Is there something wrong?" Kimi asked softly. She sat up and opened her eyes to look at him. "I'm not in trouble am I?" she looked up at him through her lashes.