Ancient Blood [Germany, Closed]

The sun’s rays glimmered through the window as it began to rise to denote morning was to come briskly. The Queen stirred from the light and carefully rolled to another side to get more rest. A sigh escaped her lips and she let out a groan as she couldn’t go back to sleep now. Pushing herself up to sit, she looked about to see if her lover was there. He wasn’t. She gave a frown and ran her hand around the area where he’d normally be, he must be busy lurking around or had to take care of some business but deep down she knew he didn’t like staying with a bunch of people he didn’t know. Wraith only came because she begged for him to come to the gala, and at least they hadn’t been fighting since their time in Karakura.

“You’re alone again.” her mind told her. It was obvious she was and she just shook her head; why did she crave so much attention with all the Quincy surrounding her now? Her hand moved to the center of her chest and muttered in Icelandic irritably. It felt like a knot was twisting inside her soul growing and growing ever deeper that it was starting to be more noticeable. “They hate you anyway, why not just end them all? End those that do not follow a willing cause.” it was a tempting prospect but she would just look like the tyrant Markus. Exhaling agitatedly, Freyleif brushed away the fringes from her face and slid out of bed to get dressed.

Freyleif decided to take a quick shower to fix up her droopy morning appearance and even put on some makeup under her eyes to hide the dark bags. Next, she brushed down her long hair making sure to get all the knots out; that was the most pain in the butt part.

Now dried up from the shower bit, the Queen moved on through her drawers picking out which clothes to wear. Most of the clothing was of royalty and the ones she brought with her after leaving Angeni’s place. The thought of her mentor brought out the tears streaming down down her cheeks and suddenly the weights came crashing down on her shoulders. She spent a moment clutching her chest and tried to pull herself out of the gloom that threaten to take her away into the darkness of her mind. “I miss her.” Wiping away the wetness from her cheek, the blonde proceed to put on a white T-shirt and denim jeans then placed her crown on before leaving the room.

She gave short nods and greetings to those she passed through the halls. It did give her a bit of a smile watching the few Knights act stiffly in their salutes or going for a nod and averting their gaze away from her bulging stomach.Coming towards the kitchen, Freyleif paused as she flittered through all the spiritual energy - it took a few moments until she could lock onto Erek’s own spiritual energy from the clutter of souls in the room. The Queen hummed her way through the door and picked up a plate then moved through the buffet to pick out her favorite foods: a stack of croissants, scrambled eggs, sausage links, some pancakes she put under the eggs. She moved over to Erek’s table and took a seat and smiled at him.

“Good morning, Erek. Ah, Wish I had gotten more sleep,” she answered dejectedly before picking up a fork and cut the sausage links into tinier pieces and ate them. “I hope you had some good nights rest?” this time she slowly picked at her food and took smaller bites than inhaling like a Tasmanian Devil.

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She looked tired, even more than normal, and quite ruffled-- it was clear the poor girl was bothered by quite a bit, her eyes were even read. Crying? Or had she truly just not slept at all last night? His brow furrowed as he examined her quietly, still as he examined the plate he noted that her appetite at least was still strong. That was something, at the very least. Still, it was clear she was even worse than yesterday, or perhaps the fact he'd made her open up a bit to him meant she'd been this bad before: he just hadn't noticed it. Things like that were minor, and half subconscious really. Letting out a breath he blinked as his question was reflected back at him, and he chuckled softly.

"As well as I usually sleep, so decently enough I suppose," he replied with a gentle smile-- sadly he was hounded by nightmares. Such a thing as a "good nights rest" was lost to him long ago-- too many dead hands clung to him in his slumber. Too many faces, screaming as he blew their brains over the walls. To many wailing children, the scent of gunsmoke, of blood, the screaming of suffering on all sides-- his men, his enemies, the innocents caught in the crossfire. People like him didn't deserve a good nights rest anymore, he had adjusted to that-- but Frey was different, the girl needed her sleep, and deserved her rest.

He eyed the way she ate, her appetite may be the same but her actual desire to stuff her face clearly wasn't. Drowsiness, perhaps. Closing his eyes he would contemplate the best way to handle this-- and decided that instead of training he would see about helping the young woman relax first. There was no point in trying to do detailed research and experimentation with energy when one was exhausted, you made mistakes, or didn't think clearly. Leaning back a bit he would take a few more bites, thinking of where she would likely be the most comfortable, the garden came to mind-- but that wasn't exactly private.

His mind wandered, her room was an option but it would definitely be noticed if he was brought up to her personal quarters-- no need to start rumors, it would only cause further grief for the woman. Her coming back to his own was much more acceptable since the likelihood of them being noticed was much lower at this time of day, and even if they were it was much more easily explained away believably as "training". There was no way that they'd have any "interactions" in such close quarters, after all, it would go against common sense considering her status.

That would be the best option it would seem, once they were in he could persuade her to lay down while they talked, and he had little doubt he couldn't persuade her to take a nap. She certainly needed it, and if he offered his lap as a pillow knowing her crush she was likely to give in without too much complaint.

His eyes trailed up to her and he arched a brow, "Mind if we talk in my room this time? I grabbed a few medical books from the library to help refresh my information on the circulatory system and natural healing capabilities of human bodies-- should help me with talking, and I prefer being in private while I work," he smiled gently-- none of that was a lie. He just neglected to mention the fact he intended ot get the stubborn young woman to rest before they delved into any significant details on his specific abilities and how they may be augmented or spread.

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The blonde Queen nibbled on her food and quirked a brow when he replied in resting well; he did mention about nightmares - so that would be normal for him having things haunt him constantly. She had her own demons to deal with that clung to her, too. Her concentration fell to her food than thinking about past stuff following her shadow wherever she went, instead she thought on how delicious the food and spices were hitting her taste buds and smiled.

Of course, the Quincy eyed the table the Queen and the new recruit and gave envy stares before moving on. Freyleif cringed being overwhelmed by all the green jealousy passing her senses; even so, it became hard to block out other people’s emotional shifting through the energy she felt crushing her. The blonde shifted a bit uncomfortable and lightly placed a hand up to her ear to cup it to block the sensations clotting her, and quickly brushed a strand behind her ear making sure not to look too dis-comfortable.

Thankfully, Erek finally decided to speak up and her eyes focused on him and his words. His room? Well she did ask to join his once before and she gave a nod before replying, “Sure, let me finish up.” she quickly sped up her eating a moment until she stopped herself knowing he would probably tell her to slow down.

“Mmm that’s not one of the forbidden books you got from the library, is it?” she asked lowering her tone. He just mentioned the library but not the forbidden one as there were so many library floors in this castle.

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He noticed her expression, the way she slightly covered her ears-- and the glances around them. In return, his own piercing glare would match many eyes-- his meaning was clear. The reason they weren't sitting with her right now was their choice. He didn't know the girl, he didn't have some past deep tie with her. He was with her because he didn't place her on some unreachable pedestal because he knew the pain of how lonely being a commander could truly be. This girl was far too young to suffer through that-- she didn't need another knight. She needed a friend.

Erek's gaze was so intense that despite his obvious weakness, many were cowed away from them, jealousy turning to embarrassment due to his intensity. Others would stubbornly try to meet his gaze, before admitting gruff defeat. Eventually, those around them would settle, and they would be left alone. He was certain he didn't make any allies in those silent interactions-- but he didn't care. He had no interest in being friends with fools that couldn't see how fragile a single young woman was, fools had no business being in his inner circle. If they wanted to earn his trust, then that had to prove they were worth that trust.

So far, none of them were even worth a second glance.

His brow arched as she started to shovel food-- when he had said nothing about needing to rush. Thankfully, the woman seemed to realize this and slowed down once more. Instead, he would lean back a bit, finishing off his own plate and motioning for her to take her time as he sipped his coffee. However, as she commented on the Forbidden Library, his brow arched-- she only just now mentioned that? Releasing a sigh he would arch a brow at her as he rested his chin in his palm, talking in a calm, controlled voice.

"You should probably have mentioned that before you let me in-- if I didn't have as much sense as I do that could have ended badly you know. But no, the place looked pretty restricted so I didn't take anything from it, I just read on the Quincy Ancient lore, Markus, the original powers and major clans, older techniques-- things like that. Actually at some point I'd like to go down there again and see if there's anything related to Blut, I seem to have a knack for it, and once my body is strong enough learning some of the more limited techniques as trump cards would be handy," as he stated this afterthought he would then glance down at her meal.

"The books are from the central library-- the basic one I have access too with that card you gave me. They're just standard medical books, really-- though I did nab one that had some information on blut, however, it's nothing special, just standard information to help both of us learn a bit more about it," with that he would patiently wait for her to finish her meal.

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“Ah, sorry about that.” Freyleif frowned as she did not mention about taking books out or the implications that the Nidhogg Library was a ‘special place’. She turned her head to curse in her native tongue for her own slip-up - thankfully he had reprimanded her on that flaw in a calm voice. In her excitement, Freyleif wished to see what was down there anyway as she couldn’t really read the mumbo jumbo words through those books anyway, it was made by masters of intellectual minds and great details of explanations were too grand to read in one day - perhaps even months to fully understand.

“We can go down there again...this time I won’t leave your side,” she said and nodded. She was the only one that had access to the place anyway and her most trusted Sternritter. With a yawn, the blonde stabbed down on a sausage link and shoved the whole thing in her mouth before chewing with puffy cheeks. “Mmm alright.” she said before swallowing.

Next, she moved onto her pancakes at a slower pace in cutting them in a tiny square with her fork before taking a bite and applying more butter and jam on the next stack. A maid refilled the teen’s glass of orange juice and asked Erek if he wished a refill of coffee or such. Humming, Freyleif downed the OJ and let out a breath before giving Erek a grin and return to eating her pancakes.

“Je t'adore, t'adore,” she hummed out. “ Ah Ah, Je suis en amour.” her singing came out more scratchy and drowsy as she still was waking up. She repeated the few lines softly again and waved her head side to side slowly letting her hair sway with the motion as she stuck another piece of pancake into her mouth and smiled caught in her own head. Finally, minutes later, she had finally finished her breakfast and pushed her plate ahead with the other dirty ones. “I’m ready!” she said, cheerfully pushing herself up and letting him lead still humming the song now.
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"It's fine, just be more careful in the future," he doubted she just drug anyone she met down there, but still. Someone needed to scold her a bit for it. He would instead remain patiently watching her as she ate, content to relax and wait. Though, as she commented on going down again, he would nod his head slightly in agreement.

"I'd like that then and look into it together, I'm sure whatever we can uncover would be far more understood with both of our heads together," he stated in an amused tone, before he would arch a brow as her cheeks puffed out, before chuckling softly in amusement as he tapped his chin in the approximate section of her mouth that was now dotted with sausage link juices.

"Napkin," he commented idly-- he wondered if anyone had ever bothered treating the girl like her actual age. From what he had seen thus far the answer to that question was no, and that was a depressing thought. Without pressure, guidance, and input from others around you, there was no room for growth. Emotional, or otherwise. Blinking as the maid stepped forward to refill his glass he offered a slight smile of appreciation before he would allow her to do so-- sipping it quietly as he watched Frey act surprisingly childish.

He'd noticed it before, but it was quite endearing. Almost like a little sister, but not quite-- there was a lingering sense of maturity to her, but it was also clear just how young she could seem when she allowed her guard to lower, even just a bit. As she began to hum a soft song, he had to allow a smile to form on his lips, how absolutely adorable. It sounded like a tired child humming as she brushed her teeth in the morning, the soft swaying of her head certainly didn't help. Resting his chin in his palm as he sipped his coffee and watched her before his head would incline in agreement as she stated she was ready. Rising, he would place the empty cup of coffee down and move toward the exit to the cafeteria.

Leading the way as she drifted back a bit, he would move through toward the knights quarters-- once they got to the door, and his card slid through the lock it was clear that unlike last time there was no rambunctious redhead in his bed. The lights were off, and as he flicked it on he had clearly made himself a bit more at home, the desk was piled in books-- from textbooks to personal reading material. Notebooks filled with notes written in multiple languages scattered about, several pens and pencils dotting the area as he shrugged out of the leather jacket, hooking it by the door as he moved forward into the room. Hitting the red button on what appeared to be a military based heating pad with an old metal pot on it, before pouring in water to it and letting it start to boil as he grunted and examined the lack of extra chairs.

"I suppose I could move everything to the bed," he pondered idly-- before grasping the important notes and textbooks and moving them to the bed, setting them down before he removed his boots, and sat down lightly on the bed with his legs crossed, patting the bed lightly for the teen to come up with him.

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Freyleif lagged a bit behind him as they walked towards his room. She really hated these long corridors except the beauty of decor to surprise her around the next corner, the maids really kept the place clean and tidy as usual. The blonde let out a yawn, a thing she couldn’t help, and placed a hand on her back and straighten somewhat as the gravity of her stomach added discomfort like a ton of bricks. She let out a sigh of relief when they finally made it to his room and quickly shuffled in. She stopped herself from b-lining to the bed and took a cursory look around his room - looking towards the military heating pad with a pot on top curiously.

When he said they could use the bed she immediately joined him without complaint. She took a seat next to him once he moved the books and took off her shoes before wriggling back to get comfortable to lay down. “I’m going to lay down my back is killing me,” she said grabbing a pillow to hug and let out a satisfied exhale. “So what did you learn so far from those books?” half her face was already buried in another pillow and she pushed it down some more so he could hear her than mumbling.

Her toes wiggled on top of the blankets, free from those accursed shoes and stretched out her legs before relaxing. Drowsiness threaten to make her eyelids heavy but she kept awake to listen and hopefully process the things so she could help out without falling asleep on him. The covers were comfortable; she wondered if they were made of velvet, cotton, or silk materials - maybe all the Quincy got comfortable rooms, well unlike her's of course. Even with a full belly now, Freyleif wondered if she could even stay up now even the twins were less active with the nourishment. No matter how much she tried to hold it back, the Queen let out a loud belch and quickly covered her mouth with her cheeks turning red.

"Excuse me," she giggled out and moved her long hair away from her face with a flick. He probably didn't mind much but it embarrassed her greatly from her lack of manners - it also didn't matter as no one else was around to hear such horrendous sound from a young lady. Shrugging softly, she then waved her hand for him to continue. "If anyone heard that, we can just say it was a dragon." she jested.


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Erek would sit back on the bed idly, the first book-- specifically the one that held basic information on the circulatory system of the human body. Leaning back, he watched as the blonde flopped onto the bed, arching a brow slightly before he would simply raise his hands-- ruffling them through his hair as the pot began to steam, but not quite boil just yet. Once she had settled on it, he would allow his gaze to trail toward her, she was already looking drowsy. Did the woman even sleep?

The bench didn't even get a blink out of him-- he had spent the last twenty-odd years with bearly men and rough women that bled, fought, drank, and died with him. He'd gotten used to such bodily tasks a long time ago-- it was nothing worth his concern any longer, he simply waved off her embarrassment and words about it being a dragon-- clearly not even thinking about it. Arching a brow, he would rest his chin in his palm as she inquired what he had learned, and shook his head slightly.

"Not much, it was mostly something to help me remember what I already knew-- but what did make sense was researching into how the natural healing process of the body works, technically it does naturally start with the veins. All healing does if it's physical-- in theory, that means that basically what I'm doing could be done by any Quincy," as he commented on this his eyes trailed down to the book. The body started the healing process with the blood-- by clogging the blood so that bleeding out was halted, before new tissue began to then develop over the wounded damage. Effectively, all his actual "ability" was doing was using reishi to speed that natural process up.

His original theorem had been correct-- his control over the energy, and fueling it on a cellular level, would have a significant impact on the ability itself.

"If I can learn more minute levels of reishi control, to the cellular level specifically-- then I could theoretically allow my body to instantly regenerate wounds as long as I had the reishi required to fuel it," he stated this idly, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"On the other hand, since this ability basically only enhances natural human healing, I'm not entirely sure how far it goes-- for instance, reattaching a lost limb should be possible, but completely regrowing one from scratch seems unlikely. I would have to find a way to not only use the reishi to amplify the bodies natural healing-- but also transfer the reishi itself directly into--" his words halted, as he glanced at his notes, a finger trailing through the terms that listed it. Most of them were spiritual terms he was obviously dedicated to memory, as well as their translations, and the cultures they likely stemmed from. He was doing his homework if nothing else.

"-- Kishi," he finished as he allowed his gaze to trail toward her. "That's an ability that, theoretically any Quincy could have with enough reishi control-- I'm sure you could do it if you tried. However, I imagine it tends to be non-living matter, weapons, furniture, things like that. Turning reishi into living kishi-- actual human cells would take much more concentration, as well as an exact understanding of the human cells in order to properly mold the limb to the body," his eyes trailed toward his own hand, flexing his palm a few times as he debated these discoveries.

"Basically, theoretically-- this ability could allow you to regrow limbs, tissue, even possibly allow you to regrow lost organs with enough knowledge and reishi control-- but it would be difficult. It's not something an average Quincy could ever learn to that degree," his eyes trailed toward Frey, before he would then tap a paper on his notepad.

"But that doesn't mean it's useless to the average Quincy. Even if the ability itself seems unique to me-- and most likely, my clan, the power itself could be learned by any Quincy as a more active technique. Access to the higher levels like limb-regrowth may be impossible, but from what I've read, the Quincy's greatest weakness is our "fragility" compared to the spiritual races we fight, correct?" his eyes would trail toward the book on Hollow and Shinigami, and how they were so difficult to kill with wounds due to their heightened endurance. His eyes trailed back to Freyleif.

"If we can find a way to turn this into a technique to teach others, using their Blut as a medium, any Quincy could theoretically learn to instantly regenerate large lacerations, broken bones, even re-attach lost limbs. We could give the Quincy their own "Combat Medics", for lack of a better term, easing that great weakness of fragility-- especially combined with Blut Vene," his little miniature speech done, he would lean back-- figuring he had the girls attention. She was drowsy, but he couldn't enforce the idea of a "nap" just yet. He suspected her reaction to this would be sleepiness, excitement mixed in with an obvious lack of focus.

That would then give him the leverage to encourage her, politely, to get her ass into the bed and sleep while he continued to work on the theory itself.

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Her eyes lit up as he mentioned that healing could be used by any Quincy which she had been researching herself with ginto. The blonde pushed herself into sitting but found her strength depleted and flopped back down with a grunt. Dismissing the weakness she pondered a moment before speaking, “That’s interesting - I should really start reading some books myself,” she chuckled nervously. “I’m more at experimenting than trying to follow a book.” even though she liked to read he thought of sitting around to try theories left her itching to try her own ideas without an instruction book. What he read though did make sense on how blood clotted and the reishi sped up that process.

“Then you will be harder to bring down - not many Quincy are tough as you.” she grinned. Learning about this theory made her excited enough to want to try it one day but for now, she had to take it easy.

“Kishi? Ah yeah I’ve used ginto to experiment on healing on a few people,” she pondered back on when she healed ‘Ichy’ when he was nearly dying on a bench - there were a few snags in the process but she managed in the end if only taxing. “That never really crossed my mind.” she scratched the side of her head - even the tiara remained glued.

Of course converting reishi into atoms or Kishi as they called it would be quite difficult, why didn’t she read this before going off haphazardly trying to heal people, ah well now she knew such things required Kishi conversion or whatever. It seemed Fate had guided Frey the right person to really focus and work together on the theories.

Freyleif’s eyes twinkled as he went on to explain and she grinned toothily. “You’re really someone unique then.” she said with sincerity to her tired voice. “Ya, mankind's weakness is our fragility but I guess that’s what makes spiritual aware special.” she let out a yawn and giggled at the idea of teaching the other kin how to heal and become effective combat medics. The idea made her tingle all the way down to her toes. “That would be pretty awesome. I hope I can do it with Ginto, too” she switched to her native tongue as the drowsiness washed over her.

“Hey, Erek?’ she peered over at the man curiously. “Do you think you can practice on that more? I wanna watch!” she wouldn’t let a little tiredness bring her down when something interesting as healing caught her attention like a cat waiting to pounce on a mouse.

“Maybe I can tell you a story, only if you're interested in me rambling.” she giggled and pushed herself to sit up; this time with some oomph to it. Her hand moving to her stomach when she could feel the ‘fluttering’ in her stomach and couldn’t help but laugh softly at the activity of the little ones moving about with the spiritual link she had with them.

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Erek would nod slightly as she explained she was better at experimenting.

"Some people learn better through action, not study, but I tend to prefer going over as much information as possible for the best chance of success at whatever it may be before I jump into experimenting," he would explain idly as he glanced at his notes-- as if they didn't make that painfully obvious enough. Glancing at her as she commented about "bringing him down" he tilted his head, contemplating that idea-- it was true that the idea of him being fragile was a bit amusing. He also seemed to have a natural aptitude for Blut as a whole-- if he could learn to properly focus his reiatsu on condensing through his body naturally, he'd be able to shrug off many serious blows with the combination he didn't doubt.

"Perhaps I'll make that my goal then-- becoming a wall for the rest of the Quincy to hide behind," he murmured, and it made sense. It seemed idiotic to waste an obvious talent-- if most Quincy weren't as durable as he was, then the answer was simply not to allow himself to waste that talent. He would emphasize it instead, focus everything he had into his defense and power so that he could stand on the front line where other Quincy weren't comfortable doing so. A fortress for his fellows to take refuge.

Glancing at her as she commented on experimenting on turning reishi to kishi, he would make a noise of curiosity in the back of his throat.

"From your tone, it didn't go too well?" he arched a brow, though she didn't look completely downtrodden-- probably had gone "not as planned" but not "badly" then. He'd continue after a moment of consideration-- she'd said she had used ginto to experiment, and experimenting without knowledge in the medical field was beyond dangerous-- even without supernatural effects mixed in.

"I think your lack of medical knowledge is the issue there. Ginto from what I read is pure liquefied and processed reishi, correct? That would likely be even more complex to transform-- it's not even in its natural, neutral state of matter-- particles. Instead, it's been forced into a liquid state by our powers, already having been altered once you have to change it back to raw energy, and then change that specifically into kishi-- specifically, living cells that are compatible with the individual you're healing. It's no wonder it didn't work to well, honestly," he allowed his fingers to lightly drum on the book as he debated this-- blut seemed a much more natural way to go about this. It would allow for far less concentration to be required to manage it.

Shaking his head slightly, he would seem to disagree with her as she commented on him being weak-- as well as them being special.

"Considering ourselves overly special is probably a bad idea. We're obviously an evolved form of humans-- but that doesn't mean we're actually special. That's like calling a human special just because they evolved from an ape-- how many humans do you meet that you'd really call "special"? Most aren't, they just practiced, studied, or have enough experience to seem that way in comparison to the masses," his eyes trailed from the papers to her as he offered a slight smile.

"There's a line between pride and arrogance. Calling oneself 'special' just because we may have evolved differently, is stepping into the range of the latter-- and one can give you strength. The other will get you killed," shrugging, he would then blink glance down at her as she commented on wanting to do it with Ginto and he offered a slight smile.

"Using ginto may put too much strain on you-- but if you were to find a way to use pure reishi in the atmosphere instead, I think you could figure it out, you're much more skilled at that than I am after all," he would then glance over his shoulder as the pot began to hiss. Grunting as he pushed himself from the bed and moved over to it, lifting the pot and pouring the steaming water through a filter full of coffee grounds-- unlike the coffee served for breakfast it smelled far more pure-- and far stronger. The air around the cup itself was practically bitter.

"I'd offer you a cup but I doubt you want it," he chuckled idly, moving back toward the bed with his coffee as he sat down with a grunt, blinking as she inquired practicing the usage of the blut-- and arched a brow slightly.

"I think a story would be a better idea-- experimentation should be done in a controlled environment since it will require me being injured. I'd like a bit more time before that," he stated in an amused tone before he would sink back against the wall, placing the book on his lap to read as he motioned for her to go on as he sipped his drink.

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She giggled at him becoming ‘the wall for the Quincy’, to think having a tanker taking all the hits and the enemies being confused why a human isn’t going down fast enough.

“Well yeah, my medical knowledge isn’t so great..I just took experiments and tried it from the notes my clan gave me, honestly,” she explained further. “But that does sound like a better explanation - you think magic would just do things you will it to. Honestly didn’t think of the kishi and spiritual particles, I wonder if Shinigami have to heal the same way?” it was an interesting question to think on.

“Evolved humans?” she tilted her head somewhat. She thought maybe the old Gods had gifted the humans as she grew up in such fairy tales. “Wait, we came from apes?” she looked completely clueless on that. She shook her head as he mentioned a drink; most likely not wanting to have to go to the bathroom really.

He moved towards the wall and had her tell a story instead of an experiment which made her give a sullen expression for a moment. “Well…” she pondered a bit wondering if he’d enjoy her silly fairy tale stories. “There was a stone troll named Icky, he loved sneaking out of the cave at night to cause mischievous deeds in a nearby village.” she cupped her hands together while gathering the spiritual energy inside. A few moments later he opened her hands to reveal a tiny blue lumpy troll with long dangly arms and wart nose.

“One night while Icky was rummaging through some trash, an old man happened upon the creature. At first, Icky was scared as these kinds of trolls were scared to be seen by the human. Well, you see the old man didn’t have a very good sight and thought it was just a beggar on the streets.The old man offered creature his apple pie he had saved from a party.” a spark flashed beside the troll in her hands and formed into a slice of pie with an apple half through the crust. “Icky didn’t speak but took the pie with his lanky long arms and gave a grateful grunt before running off into the darkness. The old man just laughed it off but swore he had seen a troll before heading home.” Freyleif started humming a cheerful tune.

“When Icky headed back to the cave, he showed off a gift from the human to his siblings saying not all humans were bad and scared of trolls.” as she continued the story, reishi littered around her hand like fire flies and three other trolls formed staring at the pie with bewildered faces. “ “Humans not so bad?” the short troll, Lily, asked. If humans were nice to trolls maybe they would give them more food, they thought. Some of the other siblings disagreed and warned Icky not to get too involved with humans.” the two trolls flailed their arms as they surrounded Icky and moved their mouths as if they were shouting.

The reishi then poofed into many particles until they reformed back to Icky. His shoulders slumped and long lanky arms dragged along the ground while looking like he was walking alone. “With his own siblings berating him, Icky wandered back to the village hoping to prove them wrong by befriending the old man. Since he couldn’t travel by day he had to go at night to search for him.” tiny houses started to sprout up around Icky.

“Icky went to the same spot he had found the man and waited. Some time passed and an old man was crossing by - it wasn’t the same old man like icky met but he was bald as well.Icky approached the old man and was met with screams of horror. This confused the troll and he tried calming the old man down but the screams alerted the other villagers awake. Brave Icky stood his ground asking for “old man” but the villagers were too scared by his horrid appearance and chased him out thinking he was just looking for a meal.” the reishi formed into many of the villagers with torches in hand and chasing the poor troll out of their village. The scene then changed with Icky alone sitting on a boulder staring out at the moon having escaped the hatred of the villagers. “Icky was so sad and didn't understand why the old man had chased him out - being very dumb and unable to distinguish who the old man was. He sat there broken hearted he didn't have any friends and cried until the sun peaked over the ocean’s horizon and he became completely frozen.” she gave a frown as she watched the troll figure disperse into many particles.

“It’s a pretty bitter story,” she then laughed softly and shook her head. “My mother always told me weird stories and I haven’t figured out their meaning. Perhaps I shouldn’t judge a creature by their appearance? Or remember not to become the dumb cowardly monster? What do you think? ” she quirked a brow and looked towards Erek. “It could just be a silly story, but I'd to hear your ideas and theories.”

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865+2157=3022

Erek would nod his head a bit as the girl stated she had little medical knowledge-- before he would glance down at her and blink a few times, magic. Well, he supposed that made sense, but--

"Honestly, limiting it to just being "magic" may be what's holding you back-- combining science with that magic may allow you to evolve well beyond your normal means," he stated idly before he glanced down at her when the mention of the shinigami came forward. He contemplated that information, tapping his foot slightly. His lack of knowledge in the area meant that answering her was impossible, he didn't like making uneducated guesses-- he would have to learn that information. The more he knew the better he could counter his enemies, and from what he could tell the so called "Death Gods" were, at the least, not their allies.

"I haven't read any details on the shinigami's detailed powers just yet, so I can't answer that, but if you give me some time I can probably find that out. There are hundreds of years of history in this place-- letting it waste away would be terrible." Information was power-- it allowed you to counter your opponents, clash with those in your way with an innate advantage of knowing how the opponent's powers worked. It was partially why he knew this unusual blut ability of his was useful-- because it could allow him to catch an enemy that even had knowledge of Quincy completely off-guard.

Her lack of information when it came to the evolutionary chain of humans made him blink slowly, and halt for a brief moment as he rested his chin lightly in his palm and examined her.

"How far did you get in standard education, Frey?" his tone was not mocking her by any means, he was simply curious. If she was lacking a solid education then he could help-- he was certainly no teacher, but he could at least help her a bit. He'd learned that his way of doing things wasn't something everyone did in the Military. Many of his men had barely managed to get out of Highschool, some of them barely made it past Middle School. He didn't mock anyone for that-- but he was driven. He had poured everything into bettering himself and studying-- he wasn't some super genius, he just dedicated himself to doing nothing but learning.

He'd always been that way-- because from an early age he had known that if he wanted to get anywhere he had to be able to do things no one else could. He had to know how to defend himself, then defend others, then communicate with others, and eventually-- heal others that were suffering when he failed to do his second job. Other children were out playing tag or making friends, he was in the library studying or practicing his boxing in the gym.

Then-- her story began, and he quietly listened as he halted his reading so that he could give her all of his focus. His gaze sliding to the pulsating reishi that she formed into a little storybook, listening to the tale of the sad little troll, his eyes watching with neutral eyes as it tried, failed, and instead of continuing to try-- fell into misery.

His lips turned upward slightly at the corners, and he glanced down at her as she asked him about its meaning, and he would shake his head a bit in disagreement with her assessments and instead speak.

"I think the lesson is that life itself, can be cruel-- things will almost never go your way. Born an ugly troll. Hated by humans. Berated by the family you trust. Misunderstandings caused by a rare moment of kindness-- when that's likely all it was. All of those are common things that happen to everyone, but you can't be like the ugly little troll and give up. The lesson here is that life is cruel-- and if you want to make progress you can't just accept that you're too dumb, too ugly, too hated. You must act to change those things if you want them to be "fixed", and part of fixing can often include first accepting aspects of yourself that others hate," his gaze watched the little particles float away from the troll that had turned to stone.

"If you don't, then one day you'll die sad and alone-- just like the poor little troll," he murmured softly, his eyes softening-- his words clearly bringing back memories of past losses. Many soldiers that put a gun to their head, or completely broke down unable to go on after the things that they had done. It was only a sparse few, but it happened-- especially when they returned from the battlefeild, and no longer had anything to distract their thoughts from the screaming inside their minds.

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Freyleif just stared over at Erek as he asked of her education and smiled without a word. Even if she did study science and history she had little belief in humans evolving from organisms; after all, the Old Gods made them - or so she believed. Science was just a confusing subject to her when she flopped into the spiritual world at a young age; then again the Quincy life became more embraced over time even with all the chaos she experienced day by day.

When she had finished her story, she listened to him intently and watched his facial expressions mainly. There could be a lot of meanings in stories and some with just entertaining values. Erek’s response to the question brought a smile to the Queen and nodded to his own view, even that smile grew into a grin.

“That’s a good way to view it,” she finally commented once he had finished. “The troll shouldn’t have given up just because he finds the wrong person, and even if ridiculed by his siblings he shouldn’t have given up hope and let that weight pressure him.” Freyleif waved out her hand towards the ground. With her command, an icy sheet of spiritual energy paved long the carpet, moved around his heat pad, and the reishi moved like a tidal wave until it reached to cover the floor, except the furniture, with a snow like a field. Freyleif giggled and concentrated on the spiritual energy once again and forming it to breeze like effect but there was no coldness across the landscape. The particle ‘winds’ curved up along the wall before looping around then molded together to form into snowflakes fluttering back down.

“Sometimes I feel alone, too, but I struggle so hard with how the world beats back.” she somberly said before gazing back to Erek. “Do you ever think that people should never be alone or should they be in solitary life?” she wondered if it was best to be alone so no one would have to worry about her or she not having to hear the loudness of people’s souls. Their faces concealed who they truly were but deep down everyone wore a mask- it didn’t matter if they were Hollow in the end people generally had negativity growing like grains of sand in glass stacking until it was full.

“I don’t want to become that troll either,” she stated with a sullen face and pulled her eyes away from Erek to the landscape she had made. She reached out her hands to catch the little snow particles and watched them ‘melt’ away one they settled in her palm and closed them. “I feel like the whole world is against me just because I want to help our people with kindness..but kindness won’t be enough.”

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467+3022=3489

The slight smile she offered him made it relatively evident that the answer to that question was "limited" at best. But, since she clearly wasn't concerned by that he would let it go, commenting simply instead.

"Well, either way-- you should look into learning some things about modern medicine and biology, it will likely help your goals of creating healing "magic", that much more," he stated this with a slight smile, they were two very different spectrums. Someone like him, who had never believed in higher powers really-- and his experiences had only amplified that, relying on science, study, and knowledge that he could prove with his sight. Compared to her, whom seemed to believe quite heavily in higher beings-- well. It was impossible for them to completely agree on this, he would simply offer his advice and let her decide what to do with it as she wished.

Instead, he would lean back a bit after the story was told-- and glance down at her once more as she agreed with him, and he could tell that just s his words had brought back memories of his past, it seemed to strike a few chords in the young woman as well. This thought was proven when she brought up that, quite simply, she didn't want to become the troll either. He listened quietly to her words as she played with the reishi, commenting how she felt like the world was against her. He leaned back a bit, resting his weight on his palms as he let his gaze trail toward the window-- debating how best to answer the young woman. He had felt the same way countless times-- what had he wanted to hear, when it had happened to him?

Reality. That's what he had wanted to hear-- reality, so he could prepare properly. Was that the right thing to do? To say? It was impossible to know, they were completely different-- but the similarities were clearly there as well. Slowly, he let out a sigh before he focused on her.

"Everyone feels like that, I think, some more than others," he finally stated-- before he would lightly rest a hand on her head, eyes softened a bit.

"The fact is that the world won't let you be completely kind all the time. You'll either die before you can be beaten into submission by the world or learn that kindness simply isn't always the answer and change. What's important is to not forget that just because kindness alone won't change anything-- it doesn't mean you can just drop kindness altogether. If you do, you'll be just as hollow as the troll anyway." As he murmured this he gently ruffled the girls hair, before he would lean back a bit.

"Don't let the world beat you down, Frey. Each time it tries, stand back up. If someone you love dies, if you fail someone-- or if you simply fail yourself. It doesn't matter what it may be, get back up. No matter how much it hurts. That's all you can do, and if you get up enough times, you'll find that you start falling down much less." He shrugged a bit and smiled, it was a sad smile-- a tired one. He knew better than most how much the world could crush your dreams, your hopes, those that you cared for, trusted-- and he knew how hard it was to get back up. He also knew that, eventually, getting back up just became second nature if you dedicated yourself to it. Getting knocked down eventually became nothing.

"You should nap," he finally stated, patting her head softly-- "I'll make sure you don't sleep too long. But you need more rest if you're expecting to study into developing an entirely new branch of a thousand-year-old technique," he stated this gently with a slight smile, before he would keep his hand on her head, petting her lightly as he used his other hand to work on the pages of the book, and occasionally take notes. Figuring even she was against it, eventually with it on her mind-- her exhaustion would start taking over no matter how much she may initially resist the feeling.

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"Yeah, yeah..I'll study into biology and "science" stuff." she grinned before looking away for a split second then back.

Emerald eyes met his as he placed his hand on her head again and let out a dejected sigh. She wasn’t anything special either; being pitted against the world - against Fate- that threw every obstacle at her at she barely got over that thread without wounds. The scars on her skin were testament she also fought back against the perils but her eyes held a deep ocean full tribulation.

She had no words to offer back as he spoke the reality of things. The thought of losing someone close to her made her heart tighten, her hand reaching up slowly to her chest to clutch it, what if Wraith was lost to her? What would she do if she wasn’t there for him? She would blame herself for never breaking away his weakness he held in his heart and soul too - yet at the same time, he had changed - more than her. There had to be some belief, not doubt, that he would push forward, but what if he did die?

Her inner soul screamed, vibrating out like a rattlesnake, and slowly thrummed down as spiritual energy leaked from her being with dusty rose tint on the edges of misty blue. Her eyes gave a downcasted appearance and then, realizing her situation, quickly sucked back that energy from engulfing Erek. The snowy landscape ‘melted’ away like Surtr’s great fire had washed over the lands. The mighty Jotun appearing with his great flaming sword in hand before he gave a silent bellow through the land and cleaned the wintry landscape with hellish fire to consume all until the room returned normally.

“B-” she began but the man insisted she rest for now. “But I want to learn.” she let out a shaky breath before lying back against the soft pillowy embrace. Eyelids suddenly feeling clamped down with weights and she slowly drifted off into darkness with one hand around her stomach and the other over her head. Most of her fringes covered her face as she slept with a sort of serenity and turned her head to the side.

+++
367/3489=3856

The girl was clearly having dark thoughts-- which hadn't been his goal, but what it did mean is that the girl was very much what he had assumed. Too young for the shoes she was currently trying to fill-- emotionally unstable, and when it came to negative emotions that were a serious danger. He'd have to keep a close eye on the poor girl to help her try to find proper emotional footing, if nothing else, or she'd suffer far more than she ever needed too down the line.

"I know you do," he murmured to her simply as she fell into a slumber, continuing to gently pet the girls head lightly as he let his gaze trail over the information of the book. It wasn't that he really needed to-- he was fairly certain that he could have worked on some tests as it was. But he wanted to make sure the girl got to sleep-- this was the most effective way to ensure that, and it did mean he got some extra time to consider the different options for the ability itself. It would be a way to pass the time if nothing else and ensure she got at least a four-hour nap-- though longer would certainly be nice, he was sure she'd pout if he let her sleep longer than that.

Continuing to pet her through her slumber, just to let her know subconsciously she wasn't alone and hopefully encourage good dreams-- he would wait for the time to pass as he read patiently.

--
Four hours later, like a standard military man, Erek would lightly halt his petting and instead would glance at his beeping watch. He had several new pages of notes, so the time hadn't been wasted by any means-- mostly on theorizing how the ability could be taught to others. Grunting, he hauled himself up a bit from his position and would gently pat her head, jarring her slightly each time as he called to her in a louder, but gentle voice to rouse the small girl.

"Frey, up you get sweetheart," he would state in standard southern habit-- lightly poking her cheek to rouse her from her slumber.

Once she managed to get awake, he would place a mug of coffee in her hands with an arched brow-- though assuming her specific tastes, this one had plenty cream and sugar in it (that had taken a bit of coaxing out of a maid, but it had worked out fine) in order to make sure it was drinkable for her. If she wanted to wake up then his coffee was definitely that much.

"If you don't like it just chug it down. It'll give you a nice wake-up call," he stated idly with an amused tone, leaning back once more against the bed as he sipped his own umpteenth cup-- watching her curiously before he finally spoke once more.

"Sleep alright?" he inquired curiously, resting his chin in his palm as he stretched his legs a bit-- allowing his body that had been stiff, not moving beyond the bare minimum required to keep his limbs awake, or the short moments that he'd risen to make coffee. Though she seemed to of slept well, it was an earnest inquiry-- he wasn't exactly the best judge of what a "good nights sleep" was like, let alone a nap-- something that he hadn't done for many, many years unless the short slumbers in the field counted. He'd been used to his set schedule for so long now that it didn't really occur to him whether he got a "good night sleep" or not anymore- he slept the same amount of time whether it was restful or not that night.

Habits were just that-- and they came with their fair share of benefits, and negatives.

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The Queen moved to a different position to find something of a comfortable place, and careful not to lay on her stomach to also bring harm to the twins. She was out like a light as soon as her eyes closed and didn’t stir much and slept soundlessly away. The dreams came briefly and became muddled with one's overlapping - and then she found herself in one cave then suddenly in a field of flowers with a fractured sky with many glass like shards floating about. Then found herself falling through darkness causing her outside body to jerk a bit.

Other than random movements, Freyleif slept still around the second hour and curled up with a pillow to keep comfort even with Erek’s insistent petting to let her know he was still there. Her right leg twitched while the petting went on and she began to drool all over the pillow.

The sound of Erek’s voice stirred her a bit and the jarring caused her to place the pillow over her head in protest in wanting to keep snoozing. ‘Mmm, harder.” she muttered in her native tongue, obviously whatever she was dreaming she didn’t want to wake up from. Finally, after a few more minutes, the blonde awoke with a yawn and pulled the pillow away and slowly sat up stretching out her legs. Before she knew it, her hands were already holding a mug noticing the puffy cream on top and took a sip; then the sensation of coffee and sugar hit her taste buds. “Mmm,” she made a happy sound before taking another chug.

“I slept pretty well. Wish I could sleep some more.” she giggled tiredly then let out a yawn covering her mouth in the process. Tentatively she held the mug and looked down at the half filled liquid inside dazedly and peered back to him pulling the cover up her belly.

“Learn anything new or did you just enjoy watching me sleep?” she asked curiously still wearing her tiara. She had forgotten to take it off but it didn’t seem to get in the way in any discomfort. She gave another yawn and finished off the rest of the coffee, normally she didn't drink such things but her carvings must have been on the high lately. Then it hit her; maybe it is too much for the twins? She eyed the mug like it was some disease but it was too late to over worry and it didn't taste that bad anyway. "Is coffee okay to drink while pregnant?" she asked a bit late and then giggled and smacked her forehead.

+++
435/3856=4291

Erek would watch the girl slowly jerk awake, after quite a bit of persuading through the usage of a mixture of force and coffee-- a dual attack front with a sweeping finisher, one could say. Though as she managed to rise up and sip at her drink he would make an amused smirk at her happy noises. Leaning back a bit as she clarified she slept well but wanted to sleep more, he arched a brow.

"I only woke you because I figured you'd be angry with me if I let you sleep too long," he stated simply before he would idly flip the pencil around his fingertips, watching her as she sipped at the liquid before he would nod a bit at her question as she inquired about any progress he had made. Nodding his head a bit as he lowered his hand to tap the papers he had filled out.

"I've refreshed my knowledge enough to feel comfortable trying this, if nothing else," he explained simply before he would lift the papers up and set them beside her to read as she sipped her drink. The papers themselves were filled with varying levels of knowledge-- from the circulatory system, to how the body heals wounds, down to the idea of stem cells and how they properly function. He'd even dug into information on limb transplants, or reattachment surgeries that had taken place in the past as examples found in his books.

Erek would lean back and arch a brow as she smacked her forehead suddenly with a palm.

"I wouldn't have given it to you if it was bad for the twins. When pregnant you can have up to two hundred milligrams of caffeine, which is basically what's in a standard cup of coffee," with that he would then shift the papers a bit as he glanced down at his arm and flex it a bit.

"That said, all of what I looked into won't help with creating a technique that any Quincy can learn-- since I lack any real information in that area it makes it impossible to do so," he explained this simply as he rested his hands around his own cup and glanced upward in thought before his eyes trailed toward Frey.

"What about you? You said that you had tried to heal another-- how did that work? Have you built anything from that as a foundation?" if she had anything, even a basic idea of it-- then combining their knowledge to maximize its efficiency would be the best call. Though of course, it wouldn't quite be that easy, he had little doubt months of research would be required in order to truly make it worthwhile. Still, if they had a starting place with her own knowledge-- that could then be enhanced and built on with his own, producing the technique became much more real.

Though he still would need to figure out the exact limitations of his own ability before he went and started trying to teach a diluted version to those around him. One step at a time, and all that.

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