As punishment for previous misdemeanors including (but not limited to) arson and theft, Kai and Bonnie are sent to a disciplinary camp that seems to be actively trying to kill them, what with the overzealous mean girls, cruel camp counselors, food i...
Kai walked into the dining hall filled with round tables and teens all shouting and laughing at each other, and took a deep breath to steady itself. Marie left it alone to join the other counselors and Father at a long table elevated above all the rest at the back of the room. It was taken hold by the terrible notion that this was just like St Eligius', what with the ruckus and the counselors and having nobody to turn to or sit with, then tried not to focus on that. It looked out at the dining students and noted that most were human... Still, though, there were more zmei than there were at Eligius'. They looked like humans, but had jewels embedded in their flesh that gave them life and magic to cast. Though sometimes magic from one's gem wasn't enough and a spell drew life from a zmeu themself, hence why most had patches of shimmering multicoloured scales all over their bodies, from their arms to their chests to their faces and in any colour from bright, verdant green to a deep blood-red. (If one casted too many spells or a spell that they didn't have the energy for, their entire body would become shrouded in scales and they would become a child of the rot- a shambling, ravenous husk of the magician they once were.) Some had big wings like that of a dragon's on their backs or smaller wings on their ankles. Kai even saw a zmeu shapeshift their face into a grotesque scowl to the amusement of their friends, and it couldn't help but feel a bit plain, and perhaps a bit jealous as well. It had no scales or wings and couldn't shapeshift. I guess everything else about me is so strange that it makes up for what I don't have? It thought, still trying to stay positive. Kai used to be a rotchild, but... Mama brought it back. Not that a rotchild getting revived as a zmeu was odd, the medical procedure had been invented a century ago. But everybody thought it was too far-gone, too decomposed, that it ought to have been put down. But she found a way. She always could. And the stone she used to keep it sapient... Kai wasn't worth the relic. Though apparently the line of succession that deemed it theirs begged to differ. It spotted its sister at a table with other kids their age. Harmony had straight brown hair she got from Father that almost reached her tailbone, and freckles she got from Mama. She was about a year older than him and due to start her senior year of high school once the holiday was over. She was swathed in her favourite pink dress- knowing her, she always wanted to look her best when meeting new people- and around her wrist hung the Spring Saphhire: What was once their mother's relic. The stone had become a thin, finely wrought gold bracelet studded with pink sapphires for her. A regular bracelet of that quality would have costed a small fortune. It had only been able to admire the form the Sapphire took in her hands a few times, as it hadn't seen her very often since... Everything went to shit, Kai supposed, what with Mama dying and itself becoming the Mainland's most notorious pyromaniac. The Gemstones changed whenever they got a new holder, to better suit them. The Midwinter Moonstone turned into a hairtie for its holder. The Summer Serpentine hadn't changed for Kai, though, and the Autumn Amber hadn't changed for its holder either- The two of them were zmei, and so the ancient relics were embedded in their bodies. It considered sitting with Harmony, but hesitated. Shouldn't Kai try to make its own friends? Harmony would still be angry with it, she wouldn't want it there, would she? Besides... What harm could come of simply picking a table and sitting there? "Holy shit. Kai?" It whipped around to find somebody it hadn't seen in months. "Bonnie! Oh gods, hi!" It gasped, half-laughing, so glad to finally see its closest friend. He hadn't changed a bit since it had last seen him- Black hair with red streaks fluffed up to make him look like a rockstar, fluorite gravel scattered across his face like freckles, limpid blue eyes and bat-winged heels.
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"Hey! Are you okay? Did-did they hurt you? What happened? Where'd they send you?" He asked almost frantically, clutching its face in his hands and looking it up and down as though through that alone he could glean what Kai went through and where it had been the past nine months. "Nowhere too bad! Just... Some reform school off the coast." It said, to which Bonnie made a face. "Are you alright? Did your mom do anything?" "Heh, nah. Now she's just ignoring me. Guess she hasn't realized I'm a lost cause yet 'cos I'm in this dump." A moment went by in silence, then a look of horror dawned on his face. "Oh- Oh, fuck, I am so sorry, man! I-I forgot you lived here-" "No! No, it's alright. I don't find it very homey nowadays either." It reassured him, chuckling. There was one person who made this place its home, and she was gone. "S'alright for a dump, though. You're here." Kai's response was cut off by somebody else. "Oh, there you are! We were wondering about you! How was the trip?" Harmony smiled. It found itself getting steered away from Bonnie by the arm. He glared at her, and she returned his look in kind. "Uhh. Long." It tried to pull away from her, but remembered its rabbit. It hesitantly waved goodbye and tried to swallow down the feeling that there was no point to this. I need to talk to Father anyway.
"It's gone." He told it bluntly. "What? No, you couldn't have! Mama made her, I-" It whispered to him, voice breaking. "I'm trying to help you move on, boy. You're so close to becoming a man, yet you still need a stuffed toy to sleep at night? It's not healthy." Though Kai kept its voice low so others wouldn't hear, Father did it no such courtesy. The people sitting near him at the counselor's table were staring at them now. "What's done is done. It's rotting in a trash heap somewhere just like everything else that'll do you no good, so there's no use crying over it." "How am I supposed to move on when you've given me no chance to mourn?" It snarled at him. He stared for a moment and then opened his mouth to speak, but Kai was already headed for its sister's table, its face buried in its hands. It regretted allowing that much venom into its voice. What happened to convincing everyone you were alright now?
