A Casual Talk

//Hehe. Bet you ain't expect another chapter today did ya. Jokes on y'all, I'm making two chaps a day now. Love or hate the story, it shall continue.

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"Training?" Ais questioned, tilting her head slightly. She didn't even bother to note that Revan had broken his fictitious memory loss, going to show how little of it was actually believed. Either that or she hadn't even put much thought into it.

"Well, I use the word training as loosely as possible," Revan admitted, pushing up into a sitting position. "It was mainly me avoiding arrows, dodging throwing axes, and weaving through an old fool with a katana dipped in poison. Wasn't really much training as it was fending for my life, something that I was quite used to at that point."

"Then why?"

"I let my guard down. If only for the briefest of moments."

The teen could picture the scene as if it was yesterday. A large, empty, white checkered room, various traps and gizmos designed to kill hidden behind panels embedded into the walls, floor, and ceiling, and a dodgy white haired man with a bloodthirsty look on his face. Out of all the sinister stuff put into the room, including the poison gas traps, the poison tipped arrows, and the spinning axes, that singular man was the worst of them all. Relentless and tricky, Revan was forced to fight in that room for many days with little food or rest, to the point where he was about to collapse from exhaustion. It was during his final days within the confines of that hellhole that he managed to get sliced open, his own father dealing what should've been a fatal blow. Even to this day, some 5 years later, he still wasn't sure how he had managed to survive the combination of blood loss and circulating poison.

"This wound is probably the closest I've ever gotten to having Plot Armor." Revan noted it bitterly, feeling a sort of rising anger that he quickly crushed before it could rear it's ugly head. "Such a shitty way to use it, but at least I survived."

"What's plot armor?" Tiona asked, jumping into the conversation before Ais could speak up.

Revan hadn't even heard her approach, her footsteps as light as the air surrounding them. Even when she appeared in his line of sight and trekked across the grass to plop down in front of him, he heard absolutely nothing. It was quite disconcerting, especially since one of Revan's only strong points were his acute senses, his instincts and ability to sense others having always been top notch.

The young woman seemed just as chipper as when the youth had first met her, boasting a large smile filled with a gorgeous set of pearly whites. This time though, instead of empty hands and a boisterous personality, she held a comically large weapon in one hand and a palm sized vial of liquid in the other one. Revan didn't bother to analyze the weapon she stabbed into the ground before sitting. It seemed far too impractical for proper combat, at least to him, someone who was part of a world where monsters came in much different forms.

He had absolutely no room to judge it nor anything to compare it to, save the plethora of anime he watched such as Berserk and Bleach.

"Plot Armor is pretty much doing something that shouldn't have been possible for the sake of continuing the story." Revan answered Tiona's question as best as possible, ignoring the fact that she had just appeared from who knew where. "Such as a hero learning a new technique in the middle of battle in order to defeat someone who should have killed them ten times over. Plot Armor usually, for the most part, focuses on the main character."

"And you think you had this?" Tiona queried, pressing a fist to her chin. She had chosen the most unladylike position to sit in, sitting criss cross without a care.

"Just once," Revan affirmed. "Though I don't really feel comfortable explaining my full story to a bunch of strangers."

"Thought you couldn't remember anything," Tiona teased, eyes filled with amusement.

"That's right. Don't recall a thing."

"But you just said-"

"Not a single thing," Revan insisted, cutting Tiona off. "Can't even recall how old I am."

"Which would be?" Tiona pressed.

Revan rolled his eyes as he leaned back, making himself comfortable. "I'll be 15 in about two weeks. Give or take a day or two."

"You're older than me?" Tiona asked, a surprised look on her face. She was the complete opposite of her friend Ais, the Amazon being much more expressive and easier to read than any of the people Revan had met so far. "But you're so short."

"We're the same height," the youth shot back.

"No." Ais chimed in, not missing a beat. "Tiona.....she's taller."

"Yeah, by like 5 centimeters," Revan muttered. "Can hardly count that as 'taller'."

"What can I say. Taller is taller." Tiona laughed, clearly enjoying the conversation. Lifting her hand, the tanned girl gave the vial she still possessed a small shake. Giving it an underhand motion, she lightly tossed the bottle towards Revan. "Here ya go short stuff. I got this from one of the tents."

Snagging it out of the air, Revan snorted at her lame attempt at a nickname. He hadn't known her for a full 24 hours and she was already giving him trouble, getting far too chummy far too quickly for his liking. Granted, Revan had never had a firm grasp on how to deal with people in the first place, and he could've definitely found far worse people to converse with given the fantasy like setting. The conversation seemed to be going along pretty well, but he hadn't thought it was 'give each other nicknames' kinda well.

But he was probably just overthinking everything and she had merely been teasing him.

"Thanks," Revan held it up, using the crystal light to glance over the object. "I've always wanted a vial of mystery liquid. I'll be sure to cherish it."

The vial was made of a clear glass tube, like the ones scientists would use in chemistry. Inside was a small dosage of a pale orange liquid, reminiscent to that of some orange flavored drinks. Sealed tightly with a cork, Revan felt like he was some guinea pig for some kind of shady potion, someone on the verge of being turned into a random animal or bizarre creature. For all he knew, it could've been brewed by Severus Snape himself and he was about to be turned into a rat or weasel.

"It's a Potion," Ais said helpfully, noticing Revan's hesitation. "Heals both mind and body."

"Figured you would need it since you got tossed pretty badly." Tiona crossed her arms. "I said it was from me but it was actually from Tione."

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"If anyone is gonna beat the shit outta him, it's gonna be me."

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(("Huh,")) Revan gazed at the vial curiously. (("Guess I understand less about her than I initially thought. People truly are difficult to read."))

Biting on the top of the cork, Revan ripped the stopper from the vial with his bare teeth, spitting it away. Without giving it a second thought, he chugged it in one swoop, letting the liquid slide down his throat. It tasted like lemons, an off-putting feeling since the drink had made him think of oranges, but Revan was just glad it wasn't something super foul.

"Well? Feel any better?"

"No."

"Makes sense. There was nothing wrong with you in the first place." Riveria strolled up from behind him, announcing her presence. Just like before, Revan hadn't been able to sense crap until the very last second when she was right up on him. "Question is, why make up such a lie."

Revan leaned back fully, his black hues glancing up at the new arrival. Holding up the vial, the young man gave a nod of greeting. "Hey Rivira."

"Riveria," the elven woman immediately corrected. "What are the three of you doing out here? It's been over two hours."

(("Has it really been that long?")) Revan mentally scratched his head, very much confused. It had only felt like an hour at most. (("Where the hell did my perception of time go?"))

"Talking about how nice the weather is," Tiona lied, smiling wide. She seemed genuine and if Revan hadn't actually known, he wouldn't have guessed that it was a huge fib. "We gave Revan a potion to see if it would help his amnesia. No luck however."

Riveria looked towards Tiona for a few seconds then over at Ais, of who added nothing, instead just picking at the grass by her crossed legs. After a half minute of staring at the three of them, the jade elf let out a small sigh, one that was filled with a barely concealed frustration. It was almost as if she was a mother with how she was acting, disappointed at her kids for lying directly to her face. Whether or not she actually believed Tiona's story though, Revan wasn't able to fully tell as Riveria turned around and motioned for them to follow after her.

"Come on. Finn needs you all at the tent." Riveria glanced back, eyeing the black haired teen. "Even you Revan Knox."