[MisterOlds]

SAPPY MODE, ENGAGED.
Brandon watched the scene and smiled faintly in relief as Avia's voice reached his ears again.
"Avia."
He embraced her warmly for a minute, then held her by her arms.
"You already know what I want..." He looked into Avia/Matt's eyes with a steady gaze.
"You saved me. Gave me friends." He cocked his head towards Ignis and Aqua, "I was alone in this world, before you showed up. Okay, it might not exactly have been on relaxed terms, but you gave me a lot more than you realize. You gave me something to fight for." He clasped Avia's hand, and sighed.
"I know I'm being pretty cheesy right now, but, after what we've been through, and what you've done and suffered for me, there is...." He shook his head. "No way, I'm going to let you go."

He furrowed his eyebrows and took on a stern countenance.
"You, and Yamiko, have to unite. I don't like the idea of it, or forcing you to do it, but if it means that you live, I'll gladly do it a hundred times over."

[Toki]

((bro you use commas way more often than you need to. also araxie isnt there just sayin but i'll ignore the mention of her))

"Wow, you really are a sap." Yamiko groaned acidly. Keahi heaved a heavy sigh.
"I'm about ready to strike you myself, My Lady. There's nothing left here but your selfish grudge against each other, and that's hardly a reason to stay apart anymore. Saying the Kyuketsuki and Toli have had a rough history is quite the understatement, but that's in the past now. We're at peace now that we're one again, and now a new evil has risen and we need your assistance, both of you, together, to stop it."
"How can you not despise yourselves?" Avia cried. "You have literally become your enemy. We were cursed, kept weak and starved and in pain for centuries, and you just expect me to forgive and forget? This is no mere 'selfish grudge,' Keahi, this was war! This has nothing to do with me, I could not bear to see her live on. She does not deserve forgiveness, and I am willing to let myself die if it means taking her with me."
"Oh, that's just not fair." Yamiko made a face like she'd just tasted something bad. "Yes, we fucked you over. Yes, for many scores, I led my people in fucking you over. I thought that's what they wanted, but now they've betrayed me just by becoming one with you filth. You were powerful, and my people were afraid you would wipe us out if the whim came over you. We had to keep you weak because we knew you would kill us all if we didn't. I don't regret it, because I see now that what my people feared was true. I've witnessed your military; you're ruthless, and you're unfeeling in the face of death. You couldn't understand us because of your sheer lack of emotion, and any who were different you would cast out without a second thought. You shunned even your own brother because he loved a human, and now you seem to think it's totally okay now that you've found someone of your own! You're nothing but a hypocrite!"
"Do not dare mention Terra to me as if you know him."
"Well you don't seem to know him very well either!"

Avia lashed out, her arm changing into a ropey white mass of vines that wrapped around Yamiko's neck. Pain crossed her own face and she lost her footing, as well as her grip, for a moment and Yamiko sucked in air while she could.
"Hey, hey, whoa!" Ghost quickly sketched out a symbol on another long strip and slapped it to Matt's back. She yelped, her hand returning to normal. Yamiko collapsed to her knees and went into a coughing fit.
"What have you done to me?" Avia demanded.
"I interrupted your chakras so you can't use your powers."
She let out a frustrated scream. "I do not care anymore. I will bring justice to my people; Yamiko will die!"
"Hmm, wrong answer. Besides that, your time's up. And considering we haven't come to an agreement, looks like we'll have to make one up."
"Oh, hell no." Yamiko groaned.

The blue-haired fae drew a talisman on his palm and struck Matt's back, right between her shoulders. The same lightning as before jet from her eyes back to Yamiko's. The human toppled, and Djinn jumped to catch her.
He scribbled one more talisman on paper and approached Yamiko/Avia, sticking it to her forehead. She went limp and fell back onto Keahi.

With a sigh, Ghost approached Brandon and pulled him off to the side.
"I've just pretty much knocked her out for now, but I know you were talking about recombining Yamiko and Avia forcibly." He pinched the bridge of his nose and his eyebrows came together. "I don't really think you guys completely understand how difficult-- and risky-- that is. I mean, I can do it, but I've only really done in on humans and fae with identity disorders. Their soul only thinks that it's split. With Avia and Yamiko it's..." He paused to think of how to phrase it. "Even though they're part of the same whole, they're still technically two separate souls, completely separate psyches, that would be forced to come together. I would have to gamble on the fact that they're dependent on each other, but the only way I can imagine doing that is if they became so weak individually that they would compulsively combine in order to have enough strength to keep her body alive. Kind of like..." He thought for a moment more, then shook his head. "Never mind, that's a bad example."
Ghost continued, "Even so, it's still risky. Every living thing has an innate need to do whatever it takes to stay alive, but they could just as easily cancel each other out. Even if it were to succeed, she'd probably take one hell of a psychological beating, considering how much she would hate herself once she realizes what happened. She'll definitely be less of a mess than she is now, but she definitely won't be the same person as she was before. You're obviously gaga for Avia, but you have to take into consideration that she won't be Avia when I'm done."
He took a deep breath and crossed his arms. "If you're okay with that, then I'll go do my thing, but like I said, I can't tell you for sure what the outcome will be."

[MisterOlds]

He crossed his arms and shook his head, he didn't approve of the situation at all. Or Avia's actions towards Yamiko, either. He sighed in exasperation. "Well, I know that neither of them will survive if this goes on, so, I'm willing to accept the aftermath of this."

He sat down against the wall with his knees together, his arms folded across the top of his knees and sighed wearily.
"There isn't any justice in what you're fighting for. You've lost sight of what really matters, because of your hate."

A gust of cold air swept through the room and promptly raised Brandon's attention. Goddamn it, not now.
He stood up and walked towards the back door, where he and Matt had originally came in.
"There's something I need to take care of, go on with the fusion and everyone, stay here." He closed the door behind him and walked into the forest.

Time to see what I'm capable of with my bit of power.He reached into the recesses of his mind and pulled out a flame, and melded it into a thought, of a protective shell.
Instantly, dark black armor, in the texture of obsidian materialized around him. The boots were lightly armored and matched that of leather, with some black plates covering the shin, and the legs were left relatively unarmored save for a belt with two long plates hanging over the thighs. A long, gray rectangular cloth hung from his belt and extended over his groin and rear in similar fashion. The upper armor gave Brandon the appearance of being bowlegged, as the armor was very thick and extended from the belt to the shoulders and stopped there, but extended up the neck as a collar to cover most of his face, only stopping slightly below his eyes. His head was covered by an obsidian hat, which was similar to a mushroom and had two leather flaps extending down the sides. He began to twirl his fingers as he reached the clearing and suddenly, a three pronged black trident materialized into view, ablaze with azure flame emanating from the three blades.

"Mercutone."

"How perceptive, and foolish of you, to come alone."

Mercutone stepped out from behind a tree with the same maniacal visage as before and touched the tree, which prompt froze and shattered into ice covered wooden shards. Brandon leaped to the side as the shards shredded the ground where he stood a moment before.
"Good to see my little stepbrother's not an idiot...Hehehe." Mercutone chuckled jovially as he pulled out a cruel looking blade with no hilt, and an air of ice crystals around it.
"Little stepbrother...?"
Brandon seemed puzzled as he stood up straight.
"Oh, that's right, you were just a wee little lad when our parents died. You don't remember who killed them, do you?"

Mercutone flashed a smile as he lunged with his blade pointed towards Brandon in a manner similar to a fencing dash. "It was me!" He laughed as he spun around, having his lunge attack foiled by Brandon's far reaching trident. The smell of ozone filled the air as Mercutone noticed his crimson armor had been burned. "You're a quick one, having a trident that big and all. Didn't even notice you nicked me." He twirled his blade through the air and sighed.
"I was kinda hoping this would be a slash and go but," Mercutone shook his head in annoyance as he threw a hand up in the air. "Nooo, you had to go and learn how to use the powers bestowed on you."
"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter, you're still no match for me." Mercutone disppeard in a flash, and reappeared in front of Brandon, kneeling down with a victorious grin on his face.
Shink!
He had buried his blade through Brandon's leg, ignoring the long plate that kept him from turning his blade, and leaped back with his blade in hand.
"That leg is good as gone until you break another of the seven remaining seals."
Brandon looked at his leg briefly with a heavy sigh. The blade had pierced him all the way through, and the flesh was turning a mottled blue from the cold blade.

Shit. At this rate, I really will have to use another of the seals as he said.
He grunted and stood up, putting his weight on his good leg. He swung out his arm and opened up his hand. A azure ball of flame erupted from his palm and struck Mercutone with blinding speed, knocking him backwards into the air and slammed against a tree , reducing the tree to splinters.

Fuck...
His entire thigh was now frozen. He slammed his hand against his leg and seared it shut, effectively stopping the spread of ice. He looked up with a look of hate burning in his eyes.

[Toki]

Djinn frowned, cradling Matt in both pairs of arms as he watched Ghost's expression turn incrementally darker. Finally, he shook his head as Brandon went out the back door.
"Ooh, child, this entire situation reeks of bad juju."

"What is it you need to do?" Keahi questioned.
"The only thing I know to do is to weaken both souls to the point where they are too weak individually to keep her body alive and they recombine out of instinct. They're already reliant on each other whether they like it or not. Like I told Brandon, it's extremely risky and they could just cancel each other out, but it seems at this point she doesn't have much to lose."
Keahi sighed. "I understand. Do what you must."
Ghost looked back at Matt and Djinn and gave a sympathetic smile. "Sorry, Djinn, but I need to borrow Tilly again."
Djinn scoffed. "She's gonna be pissed."
Ghost didn't say anything more, but he uttered something under his breath and Matt's eyes shot open, burning with white-hot flames. She sat up, pushing away from Djinn and struggling to her feet. She made her way over to Avia/Yamiko and peeled the talisman from her forehead. It burned away in an instant and Avia/Yamiko blinked awake.

"Sorry about this ahead of time. There's like a 95% chance that this will hurt like hell." Ghost held his hand out and Matt copied him, her palm setting aflame. As soon as Avia/Yamiko looked at her eyes, her own burst into flames and she let out an agonized screech, her back arching in pain. Keahi grimaced, holding her still as best he could. Djinn flat-out plugged his ears.
She screamed for what seemed like forever, and finally Ghost stopped Matt. Avia/Yamiko went still for a moment. Suddenly, she snapped upright (smacking Keahi in the chin on her way up), her eyes intense violet with gold flecks. She lashed out and punched Ghost in the face.
"I definitely deserved that." he grumbled, cradling his jaw tenderly.
Matt shot him a look, then looked outside, then back at Ghost.
"Whatever. Go on. But be back soon, okay?"

She and Avia/Yamiko dashed out the back door and into the woods. Matt's hands and forearms had set on fire, her hair turned a neon shade of red, and she moved with an inhuman speed.
"What's gotten into you?" Avia/Yamiko questioned. Matt looked over as if she didn't understand the words, but kept running.
A gust of air pushed Avia/Yamiko forward to catch up until they both caught sight of Brandon, as well as someone else.

Matt skidded to a stop in front of Brandon, and she began inspecting him fervently. When she saw the wound on his leg, she made a hissing noise like someone had dropped water on a fire and immediately began defrosting him with the flames on her hands.
Avia/Yamiko strolled up to the three of them and scowled.
"Wow, that's hilarious. You're seriously fighting an ice elemental? Looks like you're up shit creek."
Matt glared over at her.
"At least your little servant knew you were in trouble. If you're not careful, he'll get his pretty host killed." She gave Mercutone a once-over. "And what're you called?"

((ughhhhhhh my writing is horrible right now ughhh sorry))

[MisterOlds]

Mercutone laughed and shrugged. "Ask your lover." He raised his hand as his eyes glowed crimson. Avia? Matt? Shit! The wheel blazed into existence alight with azure flame as Brandon grabbed Matt by the shirt and, seemingly imbued with extraordinary strength, flung her into Avia with enough force to knock the two to the ground, just in time for a massive wave of ice to shred the air they occupied a second ago. Brandon wasn't so lucky.

The wave of ice slammed into Brandon's armor and shattered it, sparing his chest the brunt of the blow, but the wave had sliced cleanly through his left arm and encased the wound in ice, leaving the arm dangling uselessly. "Arrgh..." He groaned and looked up with a gold/black eye just in time to see Mercutone move again.

Mercutone disappeared in a flash and appeared in front of Brandon and made a long deep cut across his chest with a smaller blade hidden away, this one left no ice and the blood flowed freely.

"Well, I think I'm outnumbered. I don't really make it a point to fight the King of Eidolons and the High Priestess at the same time, and whoever you are." He nodded towards Matt. "I'll take leave of you, ladies and gent. Exeunt! He bowed and disappeared into a reddish rift which closed with a thunderous clap.

Brandon lay on his back, drawing jagged breaths. The wheel had disappeared when the wave struck him. Blood oozed freely from the wound in his chest as his chest heaved unevenly.

[Toki]

Avia/Yamiko pushed Matt off her and got to her feet, looking 12,000% done with his attitude. Matt scrambled over, kneeling over Brandon, the flames on her arms diminishing to just her palms. She frowned, concentrating them then to just two fingers, which she dragged slowly across the laceration on his chest in an attempt to cauterize the wound. When that was finished and the bleeding had stopped, she got to work on his arm. Avia/Yamiko stood beside them with her arms folded across her chest.
"I didn't know fire fiends were smart enough to know how to give medical attention." She smirked.
Matt held up one flaming middle finger for a moment before attempting to lift Brandon.
"No, don't even. Let me help." Avia/Yamiko knelt down and lifted him up princess-style, armor and all. Even Matt looked surprised. "Hm," Avia/Yamiko arched an eyebrow. "This is new."

At that, she shrugged slightly and they started back towards the house. Matt started to become sluggish along the way, but they made it back.
"Oh, honey, what happened?" Djinn exclaimed. "Um... I'm sorry, I don't really have anywhere to put him, um... I guess on the floor so I can clean it later? I'll get a pillow or something."
Avia/Yamiko set Brandon down and Djinn tucked a throw pillow under his head.
"Sorry, I really don't like getting blood on the furniture. It's such a bitch to clean."
"I don't really care about his comfort right now, so it's fine, really." Yamiko/Avia shrugged indifferently.
"What about you, though? I mean, are you doing okay now?"
"No. I hate all of you."
"Mm, fair enough."

Matt found her way to Ghost again and she coughed up a puff of black smoke and orange embers before falling forward on him.
"Hey, Djinn? I need a little help, here."
"You should go talk to your brother, sweet cheeks. He's really worried about you." Djinn mentioned to Avia/Yamiko before turning away to assist Ghost.
"Ugh, I don't care." She huffed, sitting down next to Brandon with her knees pulled up to her chest.

[MisterOlds]

He groaned as Avia/Yamiko set him down on the floor. "Look at me, whining like a little bitch." He chuckled sourly and drew a ragged breath and exhaled haltingly, blood seeping down the side of his mouth. Geez, bitch much? No. She's being pretty nice considering what I just put her through. Hell, I'm surprised she didn't finish me off. He cast a half-lidded gaze over in Avia/Yamiko's direction. He only saw her legs and arms, her head was obscured from his perspective. "Sorry." He managed to choke out a word before returning his blank gaze to the ceiling and closed his eyes.

His mind wandered to when they first met, what they did together, and the circumstances under which they parted, and the painfully long year he spent in Nirn. Well, it's been hell of a day, hasn't it. She's back. Kinda. I don't care. She's alive, that's all I need to know. Yeah. Not sure what's going to happen after this. At any rate... I don't need the armor anymore.

He released his hold on the flame within his mind, and with a flash of azure flame, the armor disappeared into thin air.
"Lot of good this armor did me..." He rasped hoarsely as the scars slowly began to shrink.

"So." He turned his head back over to Avia/Yamiko and sighed. "How do you feel?"

[Toki]

Avia/Yamiko took a deep breath and let it out sharply.
"If you have to ask, I'm not going to bother telling you because the answer should be obvious." Her gaze flicked down at him. "You are the biggest idiot I've ever met in the entirety of either of my lives. If I had my way, I wouldn't have rushed out there to find you but unfortunately there's still a part of me that cares for you, and that part is just enough to keep me from allowing myself to let you get yourself killed even if it might teach you some semblance of a lesson on how to not be fucking stupid, but then I realized, 'no, Brandon will always be a complete moron, it's just who he is.'" She spoke quickly and precisely, then huffed once more. "There aren't words for how much I hate you right now, but I'll have you know, that is miniscule compared to the hatred I feel for myself. You've done nothing to put my mind at ease. You thought I was having an identity crisis before? I don't even know what to call myself now! I don't know my own name, I don't know what kind of repugnant being I've become, I don't know if I can trust my own memories because all of them seem familiar and foreign at the same time!" Her voice cracked and she raked her fingers through her hair, her bottom lip trembling and her face flushed.
"I just-- I hate you so much, but I love you as well, and I would protect you with my life but I want to wring your fucking neck. You couldn't possibly fathom what I'm feeling right now, so just don't even ask." She pawed at her eyes, not looking at him, and stood, striding away from him. Djinn caught up with her, handed her a mug of hot chocolate, and took her back down the hall.

It was Keahi's turn to come over and sit. He sat down next to Brandon and placed a glass of water down for him.
"I'm still trying to convince myself that what we just did was right. I have a bad feeling about the coming days. If Araxie is right, there's no way you stand a chance against whatever evil is coming the way you are now. You must hone your skills further, Brandon. But more importantly, I need you to look after my sister. You will need her help just as much as she will need yours." He stood once more, leaving the glass of water. "There is a place for you at the complex if you wish, but it may be wise to make amends with the individuals you met today first. Especially the beanpole girl with the blue hair. She's going to be pissed."

[MisterOlds]

He watched Avia/Yamiko calmly as she yelled at him and watched her storm down the hallway.

"Keahi." Brandon sighed, breathing laboriously. "I know what we did was right. I might not know nearly as much as you guys do, about the world and the way it works, and yes, I'm a moron, but, I know what we did was right. It'd be wrong to just let her die, after how hard she fought for us. This...was for her own good."

He shook his head. "I appreciate the offer, but no. The complex isn't safe for me. You haven't seen how Mercutone gets around, but I do. No place in this world or the next is safe from him. And you're right, I need to get stronger, much stronger."

He looked up to the ceiling again, and appeared to be lost in thought for a minute before looking back to Keahi. "When I was a kid, my parents were religious. I never thought much of it then, but maybe it's worth a shot. My parents, once a month, took me to visit this...church, if you want to call it that. It had to do with the Eidolons. I think there might be something there that I can benefit from. It's in the human world, obviously... I want to go there, and see if it's still there."

"As for amends...I don't know what I should do. I was never really one for making amends, or apologizing for that matter." He muttered and closed his eyes. "It's nighttime, let's get some rest and figure everything out in the morning. I'm useless as I am now."

[Toki]

((ok well my reply was deleted because the page expired ugh))

Keahi nodded once. "If you're not good at apologies, you might as well start practicing. It is a necessary skill for the coming times. I need to return to the complex for the night. Don't forget that you're always welcome there, regardless of danger." With that, he walked away, making a flame portal by the front door and stepping through.

Djinn went in to the kitchen nearby and started making himself a pot of tea.
"Your girl's asleep, and Ghost is with Matt. Where'd Ke-hottie go? I'm making jasmine tea if you want some. Oh yeah, and I'm thinking of going back with Ghost to train as a shaman." He spoke casually, as if none of that information was shocking.

[MisterOlds]

"Yeah....." He looked off to the side as he admitted Keahi was right. "Hey Keahi?... Thanks." He squinted as Keahi opened the portal and disappeared back into the Otherworld.

He stared at Djinn for a second as he offered Brandon some tea.Are you for real? I've got one leg and one arm, and a lacerated chest, and you want me to get up for tea?!His eyebrow twitched as he rolled onto his side. Eh, not like I'm going to get any sleep in this condition. Fuck it. He sighed and clumsily began to rise from the floor with his left leg and right arm on the ground. He gave himself a push up and grabbed onto a couch to keep his balance, then proceeded to hop over to the kitchen. "Yeah, actually, a cup sounds nice." He sighed wearily as he pulled himself a stool to sit on.

"Listen, Genie. I'm really not good at apologizing, so I'm just gonna try to say it. I'm sorry I got you and Matt into this mess to begin with, but I couldn't have gotten to the Otherworld in time if it wasn't for you, so... I really appreciate it. I owe you a few."

He blinked at Djinn's comment. "A shaman? Really?" He suppressed a snicker at the idea of Djinn bitching about shaman garb. "Go for it!"

[Toki]

"Yeah, I might as well make myself useful somehow. Ghost, even though he's totally sweet on Matt, is getting real tired of our bullshit." Djinn poured two cups of tea through a little metal strainer. "Though I'm gonna have to do something about those outfits. Speaking of stupid-looking, we need to have a talk about that armor of yours." He handed Brandon one of the cups. "First of all, it's impractical as fuck. More importantly, it makes you look fuckin' dumb. I'm just gonna have to design something a bit more practical (and stylish) for you." He sipped his tea quietly.
"And... it's no big deal, really. Like, I guess I'm just a totally nice person." He smirked, and gave a little one-shoulder shrug. "Besides, if and when whatever shit hits the fan, you might want someone there." Djinn sat down on the stool next to Brandon and sighed. "What are you gonna do about your wounds? They look pretty well cauterized but you might want to wash up before they go septic. I can help you get to the bathroom, if you need it, and I've got a really nice mineral soak somewhere around here that'll jump-start your healing. Besides, once you've got all that blood off, I can set up someplace other than the floor for you to sleep."

((ugh))

[MisterOlds]

He raised an eyebrow as he took a swig of tea and sighed appreciatively. "Aaah, that's nice." His eyebrow twitched. "Look, it was the best I could do with two minutes and that wave he shot out went through a foot of obsidian!" He took another sip and added, "You know that the armor is created by visualizing it in my mind, right? It's not like you can just design it and throw it on, and I just pull it out of my ass at will. You're going to have to teach me how to visualize it, so to speak, and it's gotta be made of obsidian, cuz that's the only thing I can work with." He set down the cup and drew a figure in the air. "It has to be able to give me a lot of upper chest protection without restricting my mobility. That upper chest protection really came in handy against Mercutone."

He gave Djinn's offer some thought and shook his head. "I think a shower will suffice, but thanks for the offer. I don't exactly heal at the normal rate, you know. Otherwise I'd have gone Azuronni by now." He shrugged and took another sip of the tea. "I won't need any help getting to the shower, and I think I'm going to have to get used to being crippled multiple times if Mercutone's that strong."

[Toki]

Djinn's expression went deadpan. "It's refreshing to see there's still someone left in the world who doubts my abilities." he grumbled flatly. "Newsflash: obsidian shatters. It's fucking volcanic glass, it only has a hardness of about 5. I'm surprised you don't have shards of the stuff embedded in your chest from whatever blow you took. I mean, it looks completely fabulous as a rhinestone, but it makes for some shitty armor."
He downed the rest of his cup and lifted Brandon up princess-style, as Avia/Yamiko had done before. "And talkin' smack to me ain't gonna give you an advantage in this household. You can barely support yourself right now. You're taking a damn bath, and you're gonna use some of that mineral soak; I don't care how fast you heal. It makes your skin really soft and you need more than just looks to get back on your girlfriend's good side. Let me fucking be nice to you, I know what I'm doing." He opened the bathroom door and set Brandon down in the tub.
"Now, unless you want to get your clothes wet, you'd better take 'em off." Djinn opened the pantry and searched around for a moment, taking out a small jar of coloured flakes. "Don't talk, just strip."

((djinn did u mean perfect

he's my favourite uwu))

[MisterOlds]

((I was about to turn in for the night, and i decided to check this. If you were on, shoulda let me know on skype. :I))


He sighed and put out his hand. "It's the only element I'm capable of materializing out of thin air, maybe I might be able to increase it's density. Wha- Hey! What're you doing, put me down!" He kicked his good leg in the air to little avail. I don't believe this! I'm being forced to take a bath by a 7 foot tall and four armed blue fruitcake. "What makes you think you kn-" He stopped in midspeech, remembering Keahi's words and sighed mentally. Fine, we'll do it his way. His face a shade of deep red, he stripped down and pulled his converse off, putting them in a pile next to the tub, and covered his groin with his right hand, looking away with a grimace on his face.

[Toki]

((i'm running a virus scanner right now which takes up a lot of speed, and ive been working on cosplay stuff all day = 3= ))

"Aww, he's modest. How cute." Djinn said, his tone highly patronizing. He turned on the water, setting it to lukewarm-- he knew the burns would hurt like hell under hot water-- and put in two heaping scoops of the mineral flakes, which dissolved and started to turn the water a pale pink colour. He took a large cup from the cabinet above the toilet, filled it with some of the pink water, and dunked it over Brandon's head, then drizzled some peppermint-smelling shampoo into his hair and started scrubbing.
"You don't seem to be the type of person to let people help you. You're a loner; you don't build relationships; if you can do something alone, you will. Am I right?" Djinn shielded Brandon's eyes with one hand and poured water over his head again to rinse the shampoo. "But you like Avia. I know y'all have a lot of history, and I know she likes you, too, even if she wants to rip your head off right now (but that's y'all's issue to sort out). She's got a soft spot for chocolate truffles, did you know? And the smell of warm vanilla. Yamiko likes a stiff drink every now and again. Her favourite is Dwarven ale even though she gets smashed from one pint. She likes the spiciness of it." He took a small washcloth and dipped it in the water, then started blotting gingerly at the laceration on Brandon's arm.
He was silent for a few moments, and then spoke up again. "But, you know, that's your problem-- you seem to have so thoroughly convinced yourself that you're fine to do everything alone when you're obviously not, I mean hell, look at this shit. But you don't want to hurt anyone, right? You don't want to drag them into your bullshit. You're a downright moron, but you've got a good heart, I can tell, but you still have a lot to learn if you want to beat the fuck out of whoever sliced you up like this. It's about more than just strength and skill, you know."
Once the water was high enough, Djinn leaned over and shut it off, then got to work on the cut on Brandon's chest. It looked like it was healing all right on its own, but there was still quite a bit of blood and bruising around the wound itself.
"Now, I might be completely wrong about all that, but from what I've seen outta you today, I feel like I'm at least half-right. Maybe like three quarters right." Djinn stood, handing the washcloth to Brandon. "I'll let you wash yourself up more. I'm gonna go find something for you to wear, 'cuz you sure as hell ain't puttin' those rags back on."

With that, he left, going into Matt's room and grabbing a pair of green plaid flannel pajama pants and a plain grey T-shirt out of her dresser before slipping out and crossing the hall. He went ahead and grabbed a fresh towel from the linen closet before knocking quietly on the bathroom door and letting himself back in.
"These are Matt's, but y'all seem to be about the same size, and half her stuff is men's clothes anyway. If you're done, the shower head detaches so you don't have to stand up to rinse off." He reached up and took said shower head down, resting it on the ledge of the bath tub. "Let me know if you need any more help, okay? For real." With that, Djinn left the bathroom again and went to the kitchen for another cup of tea.

((djinn is the official "everyone's mom" character ok))