Earths Pawns (reboot)

"Eh...cooking in the kitchen's not really my thing."
When everyone else left the room, Brad thought about joining them for a moment but decided against it. Zillis' rather blunt comment was still stuck in his mind and he walked upstairs to the bathroom, muttering to himself.
"I mean, I didn't really have time to spike up today. It's just been one thing after another! So many people are showing up outta nowhere, windows are breaking and old kung fu masters are running all over the place...what's a bro supposed to do when all that's going on?"
He continued under his breath even after he made it through the door and when he finally got in front of the mirror, he pulled out the hair gel he got from Zillis and began to spike his hair to perfection. After some time, he gave the mirror a wide smile and a thumbs-up as he finally felt satisfied that his hair is as ready for the day-- however insane it might be-- as he is. He made his way downstairs to check up on how everyone was doing and saw that Ella, Zillis, Zoe and now Oswald were all here. He noticed that Adolf and Beatrice were nowhere to be found, but his main concern right now was Oswald who he turned to with a large grin.
"What up, Ozzy!"
He was about to go for a high-five-- whether Oswald liked it or not-- when he finally noticed that the tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife. He silently berated himself for not noticing the mood of the room yet again before saying something. His expression quickly turned to one of concern.
"I missed something again, didn't I? What's going on?"


Terios remained wary throughout this rather...unique encounter. He never drew his weapons, but he made sure that we was prepared to. However, he started to lower his guard ever so slightly as time went on. It seemed that whoever or whatever this...person? Creature? Being? Entity. Whatever this entity was, it seemed to have no ill intentions towards him, which was fortunate since he also began to feel that whoever this was had abilities unlike anything he'd seen before. Her shapeshifting abilities were beyond anything that should even be possible and she made it look so easy; not only that, she gave off an aura that while sickeningly sweet also felt tremendously powerful. So he simply stood still and watched everything she did, going back and forth between looking stoic, bewildered and resigned in equal measure. After the rather strange yet wondrous spectacle she put on, his eyes went wide when she started hugging him from behind.
"My name is...Terios. I'll just tell you now, I don't really do the whole "friends" thing, Laeta."
The hug made him deeply uncomfortable and put him firmly back on his guard at first. It was so alarming to him that he had hardly even noticed Helen approaching. But for reasons that he couldn't explain, he started to relax his stance and lower his guard again, slowly sinking into the hug which now seemed almost relaxing and natural to him.
"How are you doing this...?"
He struggled slightly, but he couldn't put up any kind of meaningful resistance. Partly because he was getting to a point where he didn't want to resist, which seemed even stranger to him. Eventually he gave up and accepted the warm embrace with a sigh.
"This shouldn't feel as nice as it does. What kind of magic is this? That's enough, let me out of this."
He quietly muttered his protests even as his eyelids closed partway and his stoic expression began to look relaxed.


"The runes will hold. The day's business is not yet concluded."
As a low voice echoed through the room that the gods were meeting in, what immediately followed was a flash of fire focused on one point where a tall armored figured appeared. When he did, the runes began to glow red, restoring their power and granting the assembly more time to discuss matters. The armored figured, who was the God of Burning Justice himself dressed for war, sat down with his fellow gods and continued.
"My apologies for my tardiness. I have been preoccupied monitoring events in the human world and much of what I have seen has been disturbing as of late. Why do you give so much attention to Lust and her escapades with her human lover when open war has spread across the face of the entire world? The humans slaughter each other in droves and the blood of the innocent cries out for an end to the injustices that have befallen them. Though war may be a part of their nature, I have never seen it on such a scale as this."
He then turned to Nature.
"You believe that Death and Destruction may be the cause of this? Please elaborate if you would; I have come to the same conclusion and I would like to hear your thoughts."

"Ooh, that does sound quite interesting."
Without warning, in the blink of an eye, Tyche was suddenly sitting in another one of the chairs with a bemused smirk on her face.
"I'd like to hear more about this, too. It's been a while since I've had a really good time in the human world and with so much going on, I might just have to pay it another visit soon."

 

Xia watched her target closely from a top a house. She kept herself close to the shadows, even though she knew, for the most part, that no one paid much attention to who or what could be on a roof...least of all an assassin. Even so, Xia was not in the habit of leaving the slightest detail to chance. She had been following this target for quite a few days now, working out his schedule, and his comings a goings to the busier parts of town. She didn't really care why someone wanted this guy dead. All she knew was that someone paid her fee, gave a description of her target, as well as the name of her target, all else was of little consequence.

OTT: I'll make an intro post for the Goddess of Tranquility/Chaos another time

 

Laeta smiled as she felt Terios relax. "Hey, no falling asleep standing up!" She lightly bonked him on the head with her knuckles, rousing him from his dazed state.

"Hello Helen," She said with a warm smile at the librarian in blood soaked clothes. "I'd say red is your color, but I don't think that outfit is very fashionable. And those glasses... you humans never know what looks good." With a snap of her fingers, Helen's glasses began to crack and reshape into a stylish pair of modern day glasses. "Much better. And this one, what are you supposed to be, a ninja or something? Anyways, what's more important is why you were heading to the library in this town? Seeking an interest read? I doubt someone as covered in blood as you would care much for philosophy."

Helen took her glasses off after the woman Laeta changed them. She stared at the newly designed spectacles in a mock awe. She knew that forms of alchemy had been proven as true... but to see it done with so little effort when every report she had read spoke of constant loss of human life. What was this woman? If she knew of Terios's thoughts, she'd have readily agreed that Laeta certainly wasn't human. But if she wasn't human, then what could she be?

"I'm a god, silly willies. Laeta, the God of Joy, Happiness, Horses, and really bad jokes," she took on the attire of a military general astride a tall stallion and gave a crisp salute to them. "At your services."

Helen simply blinked at this sudden outburst. A god. Goddess, love. They were in the presence of a psychopathic goddess. Well that's just mean. She felt the tomb she'd left on the pew beckon to her. It's whispers crawled into her head speaking words of languages that were long forgotten or had never existed on this planet.

When she heard that Terios had been headign for the library, she had unconsciously placed herself between him and her tomb. Interesting. Lord Umbra must be up to his shenanigans again. That stupid stage magician is such a bore! He always does everything in the darkness where no one can see it. BOOORIIINNG! Helen wasn't sure what Terios had been planning, but if this god was getting involved, unless it was just for fun as she seemed particularly unbalanced, I am perfectly sane! then something serious was brewing.

"What were you looking for in my library, assassin?" She asked him.

 

The moment he was hit in the head by Laeta, Terios felt his mind clearing up and his muscles tensed once again, as he still ill at ease with this goddess who as far as he could tell was toying with him. He felt a slight tinge of annoyance when Helen addressed him as "assassin."
"Already, this isn't going well. How far into my mind can this goddess reach? Will she give away my identity as part of the Night Watch?"
No matter how much he wanted to take it back, that thought came to mind and he immediately regretted being so careless.
"I'm starting to get the feeling that she's going to be the death of me."
He looked to Helen and answered.
"If you're the librarian, that should make things a lot easier. I'm looking for an ancient tome, the 8th book of the Song of Perinel series. I guess you could call it a hobby of mine; I like to spend my off time studying ancient legends of the past."
That much was true, as he had come to enjoy his research into ancient myths and legends. But he kept his other motivation a secret.
"And hopefully by studying the past, I can learn more about what's happening now."

 

Lunara smiled happily at the girl, "I'm Lunara! Lus- Cassandra's younger sister!"

Nejat waited patiently, watching the ground as it rumbled.

The runes began cracking, the newly bestowed power being sucked out. The black mass on the ground began growing higher and higher.

 

Always making such a noisy entrance, Existence thought without amusement.
Tired of the rumbling, Existence shouted "You know bloody well it does not take that long to appear! Hurry the Hell the up!"

Lust stiffened at the near slip-up Lunara made.
"Sisters? That must be nice, though I would have expected you two to look a bit more like each other. Why are you two here?"
Beatrice was still confused by the situation. Lust decided to enlighten her.
"We need to leave here. I have a premonition something bad will happen, and my sister Lunara has been gifted with the ability of fast travel. Once she has been somewhere, even once, she can instantly travel there with her magic. Just point it out on a map and she can take us there. She might even be able to get somewhere without knowing where it is. By the way, Lunara, do you have a place in mind?"
"Hold up, something bad is coming? Adolf, I did not think you were the gullible type to believe anything, especially from strangers."
Beatrice was getting skeptical, thinking that Adolph had been seduced by Cassandra (Lust),
"Trust me, they are telling the truth."
"You just want to be with her, for her... looks."
"Not true."
"Is too!"
"Your'e wrong."
"Am not!"
"What makes you think that?"
"Intuition!"
"Sheesh!"
Lust tittered at Adolph's show of annoyance towards Beatrice's accusations.
"It is the truth, Beatrice. Something, I don't know exactly what, is coming and we must leave. You two are fortunate we decided to bring you both along. Besides, this would be so much faster than walking to the next town."
I need to make it sound premeditated.

 

Lunara sighed deeply. "You don't believe I can bring you anyplace, anywhere? Well then."
She raised her hands, the air behind Beatrice shimmering. "Go ahead. Turn around and take a step. All you need to do is visualise where you want to be, and I mean anywhere." She thought momentarily, "Oh wait, please make sure it's on this planet. I don't want to fish your body out of space..."

A small beam shot from Existence's shadow, shooting through the lightbulb illuminating the room. The black mass grew outwards. Next it formed limbs - long disfigured arms and legs, both ending in sharp talons. The left shoulder was positioned higher on the body than the right and the mass seemed to have a forward hunch, bringing it to eye range with the others. It's face was, simply put, a skinless goat skull. The eye-sockets had churning vortexes within, seemingly sucking out any remaining light in the surrounding vicinity and plunging them into darkness. As he spoke his voice was gruff, "Believe or not, it has taken me many millennia to build up enough power to reform. All because of you..." The being peered directly at Old Man Nejat, another dark beam detaching itself from its lumbering body and colliding with the Deity of Wisdom, pinning him to a wall.
Before he had a chance to react, Darkness sunk into the ground, ripping out of the wall of whom Nejat was connected to. The beam holding him to the wall expanded, trapping his entire body. "Did you think that you could trap me, and then hide me all these years without me getting out?" He chuckled, "I will kill you but first I have more concerning issues."
The darkness holding Nejat on the wall seeped into the Deity's mouth, causing him to choke.
In between the choking, he managed a single word. "Run."
The being of darkness melted into the shadows again, fleeing the scene for the time being.

 

Existence was no coward, but neither did he feel like dealing with the new arrival.
"Well, I'll follow your last wishes and be gone. Have a good time."
With that, Existence faded from existence.

"Anywhere? In case it works, let's try for my hometown, Greenforge."
At this, Lust's eyes widened at the name of the town.
"It's not going to work, but oh well. Hmph!"
With that, she let go of Adolph, spun around, and took a step.

 

With this new arrival, Soverain knew that this conversation had come to a close. Dealing with this creature would take more time than he had to spare and it seemed that the other gods were just about to leave, so he chose to oblige Nejat as he stood up from his seat.
"There is work to be done; if our meeting has been concluded, I will take my leave. Though before I do, I must insist on this one thing. If Death and Destruction are in some way responsible for these recent occurrences then we should not hesitate to pass judgment on them."
Just as he appeared, a flash of fire signaled Soverain's disappearance from the assembly. It burned brighter and hotter than when he first arrived; this was the only indication he gave of the frustration he felt from the lack of any meaningful progress they'd made during the meeting.


Tyche couldn't help but laugh at the predicament that Nejat found himself in.
"Well, I guess I should take my leave, too. I wouldn't want to end up like poor Nejat, would I? So scary!"
She snapped her fingers and disappeared from sight just as suddenly as she'd appeared.

 

"The Song of Perinel," Helen said putting a finger to her chin and looking towards the ground in thought. "I am familiar with that title. I believe I may have read it but I am unsure. I could assist you with finding it if you like."

Laeta beamed at the two of them as friendship bloomed. Or was it really friendship. She saw the ties of aura between the two of them changing colors and realigning. Something had changed before her and she watched as strands of fate severed entirely. A grin spread across her face and was quickly replaced by her warm and friendly one. The brief flash of emotion on her lips was one of utter cruelty.

"Well if that's how it's going to be, I suppose we should get cracking!" Another snap of her fingers and the trio was standing in the main foyer of the decrepit library. There was a tugging at her mind and she frowned in annoyance. With a quick thought she answered the summons and was on her way, a second line of sight appeared in her mind.

"Alrighty tighty then. Let's go find this moldy old book!"

Helen gave the goddess a dark look on principle and set off without a word.

Laeta grumbled as the orders came across her telepathic link. She felt the pulling in her mind, clearly coming from Lunara at the bidding of the Old Snooze. She wasn't very interested in going, who would be honestly? I mean he's always smells funny and doesn't even like bad jokes. What kind of an Old Man is he that he doesn't like bad jokes! It's insanity! So Laeta bummed around in alleyways, smoking a pipe in her fine top hat and suit coat. After a while of this she finally followed the tunnel into the Old Man's basement.

"Hello my dear siblings! Your favorite sister... brother... sisrother... cousin! Yes Cousin! Your favorite cousin is here!" She said in a chipper voice aided by a cartoonish fanfare and streamers coming from nowhere. She stood there in a showgirl outift and top hat

Spoiler: Wink ;)

as a spontaneous spotlight - of course there is a pair of spotlights trained on Laeta's entrance. It would be silly to think any other way. - allowing her to make a rather stunning entrance. Of course she soon realized that all of her siblings had recently vacated the small chamber except for the Old Man and... and... is that. GASP! IT IS!

"Voidy!" Laeta shouted and flung herself at the god of darkness. "It's been so long since I saw you last, Big Brother!" She shrunk herself down into a little girl's body as she hugged the oily shadows that made up Voidy's corporeal form.

"I like the deer skull look, it really gives you that creepy look. It makes you so much more adorable!"


After maybe an hour and a half later, Helen brought Terios to the particular book he was looking for. Unfortunately due to the war the library had been left to rot as fighting and survival took paramount positions in local people's lives. They could see some mostly decayed skeletons sitting around the remains of bonfires fueled by burned books. If Helen hadn't been in her current state, she would have been blind with rage. However she could only feel a dull ache and emptiness inside her as she felt that she should be feeling that emotion.

Setting the moldering volume on the table in front of Terios, she apologized for the sorry state her library is. "I just don't know what went wrong. One moment I was in the back, reading from a hidden tomb, and the next everything was in ruins. I hope enough of the book survived for you to find what information you need."

 

A harsh cracking exploded from around the dark space, glinting silver sweeping through what little light made it around the bulky form of the figures' pursuer. Sharp ringing and vicious scratching sounded as a web of metal weaved through now split and shattered wood, creating a maze of chain and hoop that seemed to expand further unto the shadowed halls ahead. Quite how far was the attic space? With such limited vision it was difficult to tell but one would make out from the distanced ringing and bare-light sparkling of each metal hindrance that it seized to cover the entire width of the building beneath it.

Gold.

A glitter of sparkling gold made itself present at the end of the distant room, distorted and partially hidden amongst each light-touched and shadow-hidden chain ahead. It was moving, perhaps not as fast, but none-the-less with an appreciable speed, the almost silent pattering of dull carpeted stairs breaking into low age-ridden creaks as one could assume the mysterious girl had begun to make her way down to the floor beneath upon disappearing behind what seemed to be a rather solid wall at the far side.

From the outside one could tell the building was old and suffered almost as much as any other building around, it's damage and survivability both a tribute to it's immense size. It's lower sections had been severely weakened through raiding and fire damage but the higher levels stood mostly intact before giving away to the weather torn wreckage that one could assume was once a sturdy roof, it's flooring providing the only solid darkened cover into the attic which it sat upon. Most the windows were bordered up, the lower floors torn off or broken whilst the upper floors were without all but a few awkwardly placed wooden planks to keep any who managed to reach that far from falling through where glass once stood. At 6 stories, the building was tall and wide but left barren inside.

(Personal Reference) https://justanimeforum.net/threads/earths-pawns-reboot.12692/page-2#post-140381

 

//Excuse my tardiness in attending this party late. I shall start somewhere and nowhere where it is easy for me to merge in.//

Spoiler: Neji Kazehito - The Wandering Samurai of Visions

Name: Neji Kazehito
Age: 26
Eye: Red
Hair: Black
Height: 5' 7"
Weight: 160 lbs
Race: Human

Weapon: Katana set (Katana, wakizashi, and tanto)

Power:
Visions - Periodically receives visions of the future. Visions happen both while awake and asleep. Cannot always decipher visions. Visions are not an absolute since time is immaterial and constantly changing with variables too numerous to quantify. (A "gift" from a certain deity. However the deity refuses to show)

Chi - The natural energy of the human body. Neji has learned to channel this energy to subtly enhance his physical abilities. He is slightly faster than any normal human and is capable of sensing things. Especially those with hostile intent.

Background: Neji is a wanderer of sorts. Since attaining his Journeyman status from the master of his School, Neji has been wandering until he can fulfill the sacred duty that was bestowed upon him. That duty has yet to be revealed. For not only is this a physical quest, but a spiritual one as well. His master has told him "Your eyes will guide you. Trust them, and you will succeed."

Neji has been wandering for years and yet has not fulfilled his quest. But his eyes are starting to guide him. Every night he sees a land torn of war. Things appearing that should exist. And a Mad King who wants it all.

Neji now has a where, a who, a possible why, but he doesn't have any clue how to get there.

Clothing: Generally Neji will wear a simple shihakusho, a loose combat uniform meant to disguise the body's figure. On occasion he will remove his large pack, and remove a well oiled and kept set of armor that he will wear into deadly battles. Everything he wears is traditional of Old Japan. Sandals on his feet and everything.

He stood on top of a branch in a tree overlooking what was in front of him. He had no idea where he was nor what land this was. Only that the visions had told him to come here. He closed his eyes and felt outward with his senses. 'There isn't anything around except the wild life. This is supposed to be the place.' He thought to himself. The land definitely showed that it was barely capable of supporting anything except the few weeds that grew up from it. Further testament that he was getting closer to the source of the corruption.

Absentmindedly he rubbed his temples. Along with the visions of late, had come a splitting headache that only receded after chewing on a leaf with medicinal properties. He stopped rubbing his head as he finally realized that he was and pulled out one of the leaves and placed it in his mouth. 'I thought that if I finally came here that the pain would go away. I guess I was wrong... Oh well. Better check things out.'

He slung his pack over his shoulder and dropped out of the tree. Landing safe and easily, he simply stood and started his way towards the small town, or what was left of a small town. In hopes that some one would be there. He also hopped that they could understand on another. He doubted that they spoke the same language.

 

As the monstrosity attempted to sink into the shadows, he found himself to be unable to. Upon further examination, he saw that he was being hugged by a small female figure. "Laeta... I see you're as cheerful as ever." He looked around, seeing the rest of the Gods leave, "Well, since you're too busy hugging me to let me go, I guess I can take care of business here." The ground beside the still constricted Nejat bubbled, flinging upwards and slamming into the ceiling of the room. When it came down, Vox was also constricted to said wall. An exact duplicate of Darkness also leaped up from the ground, clutching its taloned fingers around her throat. Its head shifted and contorted until it was similar to that of a human's. It had smooth, delicate features with glowing violet eyes and pearlescent teeth . "Hunger... I am pretty hungry about now except it's a more materialistic hunger. It's a shame Lust isn't here." It produced a sound which sounded like a chuckle. It moved forwards, their faces almost touching, "There's a new order now, and you will work for me."

Vox spat out at him, "Never." Her sphere was nowhere to be seen - however she had been kidnapped she was unable to figure out. Her jaw unhinged as she attempted to bite at the figure's face.

Darkness' reactions were much faster than hers. It grabbed her unhinged jaw and pushed it back into its place, moving in swiftly and roughly connecting lips. Prying her's open with its open, its forked 'tongue' moved forth, flicking around before reaching down the back of her throat before melting into a black mist which poured in, travelling through her body. Darkness pulled away, "You still taste the same as before." It smiled, watching her writh in pain.
Vox screamed out as soon as the deadly kiss was finished. NO! Not again... Anything but this! The pain seized her entire body, causing her to buckle as the darkness constricting her peeled away. She lay on the ground, curled into a ball.

 

Beatrice did not realize that she had stepped into a space with shimmering air. In the next instant, she was in a tunnel. She jumped in surprise from the sudden change of her surroundings.
"... This isn't Greenforge! But I am somewhere, so the magic must work, sort of."
She had no idea where she was at, but she came to the conclusion this was part of travel magic. She looked behind her to find that the way she entered was not there.
"I guess I can only go forward now."
She began to walk through the narrow tunnel. Although there were no light sources, somehow the tunnel was illuminated. After walking for some time, with no change to the tunnel, she began to wonder how long it would last. As she walked, a thought came to her mind.
In a place like this, I won't be able to know if I am coming or going. I had better not get turned around.
As she thought about not turning around, she looked over her shoulder expecting to see what was ahead of her, the same, long tunnel. However, instead of seeing an endless tunnel like she expected, Beatrice saw a shimmering space in the air.
I never noticed that there. Must be the magic.
She walked into it, and with a change of her background, she was somewhere else, much to her excitement.
"Greenforge! I'm home now!"

 

Oswald got up, put on his glasses, and immediately looked at Zoes bite and got to making a remedy out of herbs running it on zoes arm he hoped to see progress in a few days.

"She should be okay it didn't pierce the skin however what I spread on her should prevent infection." He smiled at Ella and pat her shoulder.

"Everything been okay? You seem a bit stressed. Wanna talk about it or is there anything I can do to help?" turning his head to brad he said. "Sup."

Zillis was happy to hear her decision and almost immedately started packing food, water and clothing.

 

Laeta let go of Voidy and did what was only natural at this point, she poked Vox with a stick. She giggled as Vox grunted in pain.

 

Xia watched her target from a nearby tree...her chance was about to come. She crawled slowly, and quietly to her chosen 'perch'. 'One,' she counted in her head, as she pulled out a small kunai(sp?); 'Two,' she continued her count, as she readied her strike; 'Now!'
Suddenly, Xia began to hum softly, as a mother would hum to a fussing baby. Everyone within the town began to feel a slight 'sleepiness'- unexpected, and unexplained- however, before anyone could react, they all had fallen asleep...as if they had not slept in days, nor stop themselves from sleeping where they stood. Xia continued to hum, as she killed her target from her 'perch', and until she was certain her target was void of life. When the pool of blood had spread from her target's body, lapping at the feet of those nearby the body, Xia crawled back towards the trunk of the tree, and ceased humming her sleepy tune. Seconds later, the sounds of the town began to erupt once again...followed by a sudden, bloodcurdling scream.
'Done.' Xia thought to herself, as she stealthily left the tree, then the town. She would be long gone, before the 'authorities' would even arrive to the body's location.

Tranquility sat upon the edge of a creek, her feet dipped into its soothing water. She had felt the same pull as the other Gods and Goddess'...however, she decided to keep herself from such pressing matters...they only seemed to pull at the Chaos within her. Her long dress began to soak up the water from the creek, as Tranquility laid back on the grass, and stared up at the clouds in the sky. Her crystal blue eyes reflected the light from the sun, as she stretched out her legs into the water. She closed her eyes, as she felt a gentle breeze upon her face.

 

Brad had a look of deep concern on his face as Oswald and Ella talked.
"Pierce the skin? Infection? What are you talking about?"
He got a little closer and finally saw the bite mark on Zoe, which made him recoil with a gasp of horror.
"Wha...what happened?!"
He knelt down to Zoe's eye level.
"What did this to you? It's okay, you can tell your big bro Brad. I'm gonna find it, then I'm gonna give it some new holes!"
He got up, looking frantically around the room.
"Where's my guns at?! I need my guns! I need all my guns!"
His panicked and sweaty overreaction was probably as much fun to watch as you'd think.


Terios took the book and began studying it right away.
"Thanks. I hope so, too."
He quickly scanned through the first few pages just to make sure he had the right book. He had to check because he could hardly believe his luck at finding it in this wreck of a library.

The Song of Perinel Vol. 8
The life and story of Perinel Silverstake, a mortal man who gained power enough to contend with the gods.

When he read that line, he took even more of an interest in the book and pulled it closer to himself.
"This is it. This is the one I've been looking for."
"You must really like books, huh?"
Terios stopped reading immediately and shot an annoyed look towards Laeta.
"Whaaaat?"
"I'm trying to focus. Could you get out of my head?"
"Come on, don't be such a gloomy gus!"
"I'll have you know this is important research. Would you mind?"
"Maybe I can help!"
"I sincerely doubt it."
"Aww, don't be that way!"
While this mental back-and-forth was happening, Terios kept glaring at Laeta, hardly breaking eye contact. It must have looked somewhat ridiculous to Helen but Terios didn't particularly care at this point. Still, he could tell that he was getting nowhere so he let out an exasperated sigh and went back to reading.
"You can help by staying quiet while I read. Since you're in my head anyhow, I guess you can...follow along or something."
"Cool! Can you catch me up on who the characters are and what's been going on so far?"
Terios' only answer was another exasperated sigh as he hit his head on the table.