The Ranch

Slumber Party (3)

(Warning: The Slumber Party Arc will talk about some dark and disturbing things. You've been warned)

The others will need some time to disperse their foggy minds. In the meantime, Victor stares at Tih as if staring at something that shouldn't exist, an anomaly.

"You-!" Victor coughs up a mouthful of blood, splattering Tih's and his own clothes. He wipes his mouth with his sleeve, knowing that he'll have to change clothes anyways.

Victor's words come out gritty," For now, are you okay?" He places his hand on Tih's shoulder, dragging his numb body closer.

Tih's eyelashes flutter. He looks around, not understanding the situation. Something happened again. A part of his time is gone from his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He seems to be fine...that's good. But that...why is it here. How does he know about it-no, it's more like it's instinctual for him.

Is he like me? No...I don't sense anything from him, his power stems from something different than mine.

Should I tell them about it...I need to. This might happen again in the future and we'll need some way to protect ourselves. I won't be able to create that on my own.

But just why does he have it...think about it later. Tih is probably confused.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You don't seem to remember what just happened now."

Tih shakes his head. He looks at Victor. Dried blood is swiped across the side of his mouth and he looks pale.

Tih offers himself as a support beam, letting Victor lean on him.

Too tired to resist, Victor continues," They'll be fine in a couple hours, I also need some time to recover. If you don't mind," he nods slightly in thanks before closing his eyes, seemingly preparing to sleep. His body relaxes as he leans all his weight on Tih.

A couple minutes after, Tih feels an almost imperceptible coolness radiating from Victor's body. Strands of wind are circulating around his body.

This continues on with Tih in blood soaked clothes, unmoving. He watches, waiting. No thoughts could be heard going through his head, as if he has no questions and has already moved past the blank in memory.

At hour two, Victor's eyelids slowly raise. He coughs and swallows hard, a dry throat. He moves to find water he packed and chugs it not-so-elegantly. Checking his condition to see he's halfway healed, he considers whether it's good enough or if he would continue for a little longer.

His plans are decided when the others groan awake. Draped in cold sweats, it looks as if each of them have awoken from nightmares.

"T-that, what was that?" Sherlock's voice is slightly shaky.

"What happened to you two." Basile is the first to notice the blood on Victor before also spotting Tih.

Only now does Victor remember spilling blood on his boss. He looks at Tih with sincerity," I'm sorry." He tries to wipe off Tih's hoodie with his sleeve, but the bloods already dried.

Kai pulls out a hoodie from the bag he packed for both him and Tih. He hands it to Tih," Here, get changed."

Seeing Tih's problem get solved Victor focuses on his own bloody clothes. He reaches for his own bag, planning to rummage through it before remembering that he didn't pack extra clothes.

Kai notices his actions," If you want, you can borrow a pair of Tih's."

"...About that, is it just me, or does Tih wear a different hoodie every day?" Theodore asks, not completely in-the-know on the latest gossip.

"If Tih wears a different hoodie everyday, he'd never wear the same hoodie twice."

Tih's unknowing extravagance elicits a few chuckles, relaxing the tension.

Tih pulls off his hoodie, revealing his pale, thin body that shows no signs of muscle.

"How can you be so strong when you look like this?" Theodore grabs his arm, measuring the circumference with his hand. His hand can wrap completely around his upper arm with room to spare.

"That is questionable." Sherlock admits.

Tih's focused on putting the new clothes on to bother the other's test. Theodore looks around. No back muscle, nor abdominal muscle, thin wrists, and a small frame. One could hardly believe someone of his muscle mass could do the things he's done.

Tih pushes the hoodie through his head, ruffling his hair. He puts his arms though both sides of the cloth.

Victor has long changed clothes, he changes the topic, seeing that they've gotten off track," Shall I go next."

Remembering what they're here to do, the tension returns. As Victor has offered to tell his story next, no one would feel like volunteering.

Sitting in a circle, Victor meets eyes with the people around him, a hint of hesitation enters his mind before ridding himself of it.

He speaks, determined,"My name was Ling Dao and... I was born in a world of cultivation. My father, the sect leader of Heaven's Path, the top righteous sect in the realm.

I carried our family's legacy with pride as a top talent born with a once-in-three-thousand-years single lightening spiritual root.

Our sect was prosperous, filled with righteous and talented people, and the world maintained peace. That was...until he started appearing around me.

Using confounding words, calling himself the "new protagonist" and me his "final boss" and constantly provoking me. At first I'd ignore him, but everywhere I went, he'd come to snatch the treasure around me.

Next, he stole my fiancé along with a multitude of other women, calling them his "harem". I should have killed him when I had the chance..." Victor snarls.

Blood starts dripping from his tightly clenched fists. " But it was already too late. While I was in closed door training, he-" He paused to calm his emotions, also letting the others the time to process his words.

After a while, he proceeds,"My friends killed, parents slain under mysterious circumstances, and soon enough my entire sect fell to ruin by the demonic sect.

...I only found out it was all his doing right before I was killed under his sword."

He pauses absentmindedly thinking about his next memories before continuing,"It wasn't until after I was born in this time that I found out what all that nonsense he'd always spouted meant, and what He was."

Victor comes back from his memories, looking up to see scrunched and confused faces. As expected, he's the only one-wait. Looking closer, two of them, their expressions are more like that of surprise than of confusion, though it's very subtle. He makes a mental note. He glances at Tih, but there's no change in his expression. It's undetermined.

He gives everyone a few moments to calm their minds before speaking,"Aside from that, I believe I have some info on Tih's "condition"."

He pulls everyone's attention over," What was used should be something similar to demonic language. Before you ask, I can't translate it. Only those of demonic origin are able to understand it...or speak it for that matter." They simultaneously turn to look at the unaware boy.

"Well, there's not much we can do with that info for now." Pierre sighs.

"we'll have to look into it at another date." Kai makes eye contact with Victor, they nod.

Tih in garbled static: W̴̖̯̌͑̓͑̿̚h̵̫̭͉͉̻͙̖̦͓̍̊͊̿̍̐a̶̺̲̒͂͊͑̈́̅̇͌̎͜t̴̢̙͗̌͑̅̽̿̓̚ ̵̡̨͔̼̩̩͛̅̾̅ą̶͈͉̩͉̩̘̙͇͚̉ ̶̡̗͇̗̪͈̅̈́́̆̚ͅc̸̳̹͉̪͝ḩ̶̱̰̠̙̱̀͜ͅu̴̫̬̮̺̥̥̍͌̊̀̃̿ͅn̵͔̬̩̰̣̙̭̞̰̼̑̋̇͑͝ṉ̵̹͂̈́͌̿̑i̸̯͔̼̹͍̦̠̪̘̇͌̿̉͘̕b̸̛̛̺͎̩̱̣̫̈́͂̈́̌͗͠͝ỹ̷̨̥̻̠̻͕̞͈͇́͑̂̌̚ͅớ̶̢͓̻̜̭͒̒̓̐́̓ͅu̴͙͐̉̂̾́̆̈́͂