Aemilio wants to talk (08-29-2011) - Keoki & Aemilio

The night of the welcoming party was in the past now, and after a less than comforting night of sleep Aemilio could’ve sworn it was all just a bad dream – if not for the pain and tiredness in his body. Mentally he didn’t feel quite like his usual self either, though that may be blamed to shock from the previous night and possession.
He slowly walked through the Meinior hallways, in his way to Keoki’s room. He needed to talk to her, at least he wanted to… despite not knowing exactly what to say… that’s how fuzzy his mind was at the moment.
Normally he might've waited for his mind to clear up a bit but somehow he couldn't wait - perhaps a very restless night had something to do with it.

He knocked on Keoki's door.

Keoki stirred a little when she heard a knock on the door, but hardly felt like getting up. At least she'd locked her door, since hadn't felt like cleaning up the mess of photos laid out over the floor, mostly plucked out from the binder sitting around the middle of the photos. All were strange little things, sometimes with her or Anna in the frame. She ended up avoiding Aemilio all day, actually since the party had ended, even though she felt a little bad about it by now. She'd spent some time with a few of the others, but most of the day she'd been trying to figure some things out about the forest. After spending a lot of time on the phone with Anna, she ended up too tired to continue, or clean up, and just went to sleep a little early.

"Hold on," she eventually muttered, getting up and kicking most of the photos and the binder under her bed, and pulling the covers low enough to hide them. She tried to be quiet, hoping she didn't wake anyone else up, as she moved over to the door and unlocked it, opening it just enough to see who decided to bug her in the middle of the night. When she realized it was Aemilio, she opened the door a little more, pausing for a moment before asking, "Feeling better...?" Keoki wasn't even sure what else to say, but stepped out the way, figuring she might as see what was up since he was visiting so late. Hopefully he wasn't just angry that she hadn't really spoken to him all day.

"Feeling worse actually," Aemilio replied with an unhappy smile. His mind calmed down though at the sight of Keoki, something he found a really pleasant experience after waking up from semi-sleeping nightmares every time his eyes closed.
"How are you?" he asked, honestly interested and a little concerned.

She couldn't hide a small frown when she heard that, "Maybe you should see if Lugh can help? Even if you don't like his methods. Or... believe in them." That worried her almost as much, the idea that he'd still try to reject anything unnatural. "But I've been alright," probably better than him and Axel, at least. Speaking of which, that deal with Axel back when Aemilio was possessed still concerned her. Hopefully she could bring it up, because she wanted to find out why the widow was so violent as soon as it spotted his stepbrother. But for now, she just moved back to her bed, sat down and waved him over, "I guess we might as well talk? I doubt you just came here to say hello."

Aemilio didn't like the way Keoki reacted to him stating he felt bad; even with her making a good point in him needing help, Aemilio didn't like being treated as a victim, or a diseased person.
But he didn't let that feeling get the best of him and keep his cool and walked in. He sat down next to her quickly, still feeling weak in body and mind and eager to rest his body as much as oppertunity allowed him, before replying: "I'm glad to hear you're feeling better."
He looked down, then went on in a smaller voice: "I- I just... I was worried about you."
He planned to add a further explanation about what he was sorry and apologising for, but he didn't like saying out loud that he'd choked Keoki, even though both of them knew it happened - and at least he knew it hadn't been his intention.

"Worried? Heh, you're the one who was possessed. You know how scared I was when you didn't even respond? God, if you hadn't still been breathing, I would have thought you were dead... and that terrified me," she got rather quiet at the end, not even sure if she should say that out loud. But, that was what she was thinking when she found him, and then he, or rather, the widow, just suddenly lashed out at her and it escalated from there. "Hell, it's my own fault anyway. I hesitated, you're not supposed to do that," she was talking about when the widow choked her, sounding a little harsh towards herself as she remembered some of Anna's old lessons. "Hesitation creates openings." she quoted from her old friend and leaned back, propping herself up with her arms behind her and added, "But, I couldn't help it, I guess. Anyone else? I'd have knocked them out as soon as they so much as reached for me."

Aemilio felt flattered when Keoki said she'd been worried about him, but it also made him feel extra guilty.
"What happened really wasn't your fault, you shouldn't say that... it's only natural you'd be caught off guard by the whole situation..." His voice died out at the end of that sentence, and he hessitated to say the next: "I know I'm being a little selfish right now but I have to know... do you blame me for what happened?"

She wasn't even quite sure what to say when he asked if she blamed him, "You weren't in control, so, I don't blame you for attacking me." But, she couldn't say the same in Axel's case, "But when the others got there, you recognized Axel. Or, that thing did. It said it knew you didn't like him, and, attacked him, for you..." It was difficult to just say she did blame him for that. She didn't want him to feel bad over something he couldn't really control, but in the end, Axel was attacked because of Aemilio. At least in her case, it just because she was interfering, so she had to ask, "Is there some problem between you and your step-brother?"

Aemilio looked away when Keoki asked him about Axel. He'd seen the question coming but wasn't sure how to anwser; there was no point in denying he disliked his stepbrother... a simple talk with Axel and Keoki would find out they were far from best friends. But sharing his true feelings about him might be a little too much of a 'good' thing.

"I guess there's no point in denying I don't like him..." he said reluctantly, "but please believe me when I say I didn't mean for him to get hurt."
With a sigh he tried to give a short explanation: "Axel and I don't get along all that well. I can't explain why exactly but... we're just not compatible."

"Alright. I won't pry, but I do believe you. The thing that possessed you did seem quick to turn violent," she replied, glad he at least told her that much. She certainly was curious about the details, since Axel hardly seemed like he'd cause a problem for anyone, but now probably wasn't the best time.

"Anyway. How're you doing now? Heh, take in some of the details back at the party yesterday, or did we all sound insane?" she asked with small smile, though she didn't admit it would hurt if he did think she was crazy for what she said back there, about fighting things that weren't always human. But she couldn't quite blame him if he didn't believe it either, given how skeptical he was.

Glad and relieved Keoki believed him, Aemilio let out a weak chuckle at her question; "well no, you all sounded... I wouldn't call it... actually yes, it sounded insane to be honest..." Then he thought about the previous night, something he'd been trying not to do as much as possible, and anwsered more seriously and with some hessitation in his voice; "but I suppose crazier things have happened..."
As he said that he couldn't resist but ask to something he'd been wondering about for a while now; "but you're used to things like that right?"

"Well... I suppose that's a calmer reaction than most would have," she replied with a bit less confidence, since wasn't great to hear that he might not exactly believe it. But, he didn't outright reject it, yet, and that did make her feel better. When he asked if she was used to these things, well, even she had been surprised to find out just how many people weren't as normal as she thought. "I will admit, I thought most here were normal humans. But, I am used to stranger things than most of you."

She paused after that, having a bit of an internal debate about even asking her next question. If he paid any attention at all, it would give away what she was getting at. Eventually, she figured she might as well ask, "Would you ever believe it, though? That... perhaps, humans can be something more than just human? Or, well, maybe less than human, in some cases."

As Keoki asked her question, Aemilio automatically put one hand on his other arm, for the first time since he got to Meinior suddenly very aware he was partially mechanical.
"M'yeah, I myself was a little confused about everyone's 'superpowers'," he said a little absently, meanwhile cursing at himself for possibly drawing so much attention to his one arm - the only body part of him that was completely robotic.
"But yes," he went on, trying to draw attention away from his involitary action just now, smiling at Keoki a little uncertainly, "I think it might just be like that."
He let out a sigh before he asked: "why d'you ask?" with his smile turning a little more challenging but also warmer and friendlier, anticipating why she wanted to know.
At this point it would actually be easier for him to hear she was some kind of inhuman being, some supernatural creature he believed to be inexistent up to now, even if just to be able to place her comments about high pain tollerance and strenght and speed a bit better. Realism had little to do with it now, his brain nearly melting and his body in agony over his last touch with supernatural phenominoms.

She glanced over when he seemed to move over to his arm, almost defensively, but she didn't say anything. Keoki was a little more focused on just how to tell him she was a werewolf without it coming off like some bad joke. Who the hell believed in werewolves after they'd been turned into some casual horror movie monster.

"Alright, have you ever heard of lycanthropy? The werewolf curse. The scar on my arm isn't from a dog," she pulled up her sleeve again, "It's where Anna bit me. Before you call that insane, yes, Anna's a werewolf, too. This bite? That's why I left home. Because if I stayed, I was at risk of killing my own parents one night."

There, if he even listened to half of it, that was the basics. After that, she just turned away, letting her sleeve drop back down and waiting for some remarks about how crazy that was, or just how stupid of a joke it must be. She'd already heard all that the last time she actually told someone, so she didn't have high expectations for this time either.

As Keoki explained her situation in a manner Aemilio would later refer to as 'subtle as a blunt axe', he stared at her blankly.
"Ok," he replied in a calm voice, so calm it was obviously forced to be that way, then said nothing for a short while, his eyes seemingly scanning Keoki as if he was trying to find something that hadn't been there before.
"That's... Uhr... well..." he muttered, trying to get out at least one coherrent sentence after this piece of information but not succeeding - what he didn't quite realise was that he was starting to hyperventilate. His body and soul were still somewhat disconnected from the possesion he'd suffered and he wouldn't notice until later but he was still quite unaware of what was happeninig to him physically sometimes.
He managed to catch himself in time though, for this moment, and warned Keoki not to panic but to let him calm down for a moment. He hated carrying his emotions on his sleeve like this but as he appeared unable to change it, he figured he might as well learn to deal with it.

"Ok," he said slowly, in a small voice, when he'd gained his calm again, "so you're... a werewolf?" Then he couldn't keep to perfect cool anymore (again) and asked her in a fairly frustrated and overcome voice: "how...?! What...?! Where...?!" only to let himself sink desperatly into the matrass afterwards, realising he wasn't making sense.

Keoki turned back to look at him when she realized he might actually be considering all that. It all seemed a little dramatic to her, but then, she'd been used to this for years now. Maybe she should have thought back to how she felt at first before just saying it, but she hardly felt like dragging out something that she partially didn't want to say at all.

Not exactly sure if she should try explaining anything until he calmed down, all she could think to say was, "I'm still the same person, you know. I'm just, a person who's not entirely human anymore." It was nice that he hadn't just denied the whole thing, at least. But he still wasn't taking it well, "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything..."

Keoki's disappointement in his reaction actually caused him to relax a bit, and after a deep breath he was able to function normally again; he smiled at her, warmly as he put his hand on hers and said; "I'm really glad you told me... Really, I am! It's just... It's just a whole lot to come to terms with."
After a brief moment of silence he replied in a small voice, a small smile added: "why did you decide to tell me now?"

Keoki smiled back, glad to see he managed to calm down, but she sounded a little nervous when he asked why she told him, "I don't know, I just... wanted to see if I could tell you," She smiled a bit when he moved a hand over hers, but that faded when she continued, "I've only told one person before. And it went horribly. But, I guess after what happened here, I just hoped maybe... you'd be more willing to believe me?" More than the last person, at least.

Aemilio looked at her with a slightly tilted head; he realised she wouldn't want to talk about it but even so, he was extremely curious to the person Keoki tried to share her secret with before. Finally he decided he would let it rest until later.
So he took in a deep breath, let out a long sigh and with a small, curious smile asked her something else he found himself eager to learn: "so... with you being a werewolf... how exactly does that work?"
He felt insane as he spoke those words; was he seriously talking about werewolves?! As if they really existed?!
Though he may not have let show on the outside, he was terribly conflicted on the inside. He knew for a fact mythical creatures and supernatural happenings were reality, but even with that in mind he found himself falling into one of his bad habbits, namely denying anything he found difficult to believe.

Surprised that he would actually ask more about that so soon, but she nodded and took a second to think of how to put it without seeming too crazy, "Well, I'm human most of the time, just with some physical abilities above that of a normal person. But, like the stories usually go, I change every full moon... into the actual werewolf," and there was the crazy part, she already knew that. But then she thought of something else, "I'm sure it's not something you want to remember, but recall how it was when you were possessed. I have no control over myself when I change, and I don't always remember everything that happened. But... when I change, it's not that someone else takes over as much as an instinct takes over, an instinct to hunt."

Now normally Keoki completely accepted what she was, but in this case, she wasn't scared of the fact that she hunted humans, but that she could easily end up attacking him and hardly even remember it. But she didn't want to admit that out loud, at least, not just yet. She wasn't sure it was a good idea to show him any images of the transformation, either, seeing as just all this would be hard enough to take in. She tried not to let those thoughts get to her, and at least act like she still was fine, despite being so worried inside.

Much like Keoki expected, Aemilio pulled a face when she mentioned his possesion - though possibly for other reasons than the ones she had in mind... Either way, he got the point she wanted to make and nodded slowly and thoughtfuly as she made clear she wasn't in control anymore when she changed into a werewolf.
"That... really sucks," he replied with a small nod and a serious face, adding in thought that it very possibly sucked more for him than her if they should ever face each other under those circumstances. No need to say that out loud though; firstly because she surely was aware of that already, secondly because he didn't want to make her feel bad.
"But wait," he then started with a confused frown, "how is it no one around here noticed you going furry?"

She felt a little bad when she noticed his reaction to bringing up the possession again, but she really couldn't help but laugh at the way he phrased his question. After a moment, she regained enough composure to reply, "Furry? Hah, well, that's a nicer word than usual." Standing back up, and feeling a little better after that, she moved over to her camera bag and pulled out her bottle of pills. It was the same he might have seen before, with the label still missing, "These are why," she started, shaking the bottle lightly before walking back over.

"They suppress the transformation by sort of using it up ahead of time. It takes a damn lot out of me when I change, but constantly builds back up until the next full moon. Two of these pills bring out some of that energy but only enough for internal changes, nothing visible to a normal person. Taking that a few times before the actual date, I can use up all the energy so to skip the transformation. Until next time," as long as it worked that was. She already expected that he'd figured out how badly it could end if she did change. Maybe that was why she didn't want to mention how even the medication wasn't full proof, most likely by her own fault of not taking enough doses.

Aemilio smiled when his question made Keoki laugh; he realised they were still talking about a serious topic but it was nice to have a little bit of the tension out of the air with a bit of laughter.
His smile faded a little when she took out the pills and explained how it worked; it all made sense now, much more than the story surrounding the mysterious medicine she'd given him before. "I knew something was up...!" he muttered, to himself as well as her as he watched the unlabelled bottle.

He thought about it for a moment, then smiled back up at her and said: "I know I already offered this once but... I think I should again, now that I understand what you're going through a little better than before... if you ever need help with the pain... with the pills, anything...! I'll be here, please don't hessitate to ask?"
As he said that he squeezed her hand a little, softly, ensuring.

"I don't know much about medicine, if that isn't already obvious now," she pointed out with small shrug before she set the bottle on the night table, "Anna just gave me a story to use in case people noticed the pills or anything. I probably didn't even remember it all correctly." All she knew was how to patch herself up when she got hurt, any other medical talk would go right over her head. But that made-up story was certainly more believable than telling everyone she was a werewolf.

But what he said next was a little surprising, seeing as she'd just explained that her medication actually drew up the transformation on a small level. Either he was denying that part, or he wasn't letting it get to him that much. "Thank you. I'm not really used to turning to someone for support with that." Mostly because no one had ever offered before, either. She didn't feel right just relying on him if she couldn't help either, though. After a moment, she turned to him, and added, "I don't really know how to return the favor... but if there's anything you need, I'll be here. And trust me, I can handle some strange stories." She didn't exactly expect him to have any odd secrets like her case of lycanthropy, especially given his trouble believing in all this paranormal stuff, but after what already happened at the party, she might at least be able to help explain what's going on.

Unable to prevent himself from chuckling a little as Keoki pointed out she didn't know much about medicine - something that would appear an extremely obvious flaw in the plan of keeping her true nature hidden. Then again, he'd be a hypocrite for commenting on it.

When she started about returning the favor, he contemplated sharing his secret with her for several moments of silence, in which time he stared at his knees. But finally he decided not to tell her - not sure why he didn't himself. Perhaps there was a favor he wanted much, much more.
"Well... if you want to return the favor...?" he started with a slightly hinting but also embaressed grin; "I know something you might do for me?"