Heart within the beast

[Ricia]

Rhea frowned, "I've been attacked a lot as of late.... but you've saved me both times... I think maybe I need to move to a safer neighborhood... I've been also thinking about graduating early. I can do it with my grades but my brother always insisted I should stay in school and enjoy my highschool years. I am scared to be honest..."

 

[Ixidor92]

Kurgan looked down at her as she spoke, hesitating a bit as his arms moved. Then he put them around her in a hug.


"Rhea, you pulled me out of the fire. Even if I was hiding, you gave me a place that felt like I belonged . . . like a home. I won't let anyone hurt you. So please, don't be scared . . ."


He seemed to tower over her, but he kept his grip gentle

 

[Ricia]

"I am trying not to be.... I am glad you feel safe here. I will be honest, I did not feel as lonely.." Rhea tense a bit when he first approached her but she relaxed a bit when he did not seem forceful or rough.

 

[Ixidor92]

Kurogan smiled and went over to the stove, pouring out whatever he had been working on into a bowl. It was some manner of stew, cooked up using vegetables.


"Here, it's not fancy but it should at least taste good."

 

[Ricia]

"Thank you... you would eat too?" She asked him quietly. She did not really want to eat and he not, it would be rude.

 

[Ixidor92]

He poured another bowl for himself, walking over to the table as well.


"Rhea, I have to ask this. Are you going to tell anyone?"

 

[Ricia]

"Welll not if you don't want me too... but really... who do I have to tell? Besides Sage..." Rhea said, taking a bite. It was hot... but good.

 

[Ixidor92]

"I would honestly prefer if my identity remained hidden."


He remembered Sage the last time she had visited


"Though I think it might be best to not hide from Sage. It fact it would probably be impossible."

 

[Ricia]

Rhea blew on her meal a few times before looking at the man who use to be Hikaru. "Why do you say that?"

 

[Ixidor92]

Kurogan looked up at her


"Have you ever attempted to keep a secret from that girl?"

 

[Ricia]

Rhea thought about it then laughed, "You can't.... Sage knows. She is stubborn... She keeps a lot of secrets herself though."

 

[Ixidor92]

"I thought as much. Do you mind if I ask how you two met?"


He was legitimately curious as to how two so different minds came together

 

[Ricia]

"Umm... well my past has a little something to do with it. We actually meet before I was in my brother's cousty. I was buillied a lot because I don't talk or anything... and Sage was actually my crush for a long time until I found out she was a girl... and that she was a player... but I guess we meet first because Sage wanted to make me cry..." Rhea though about it taking another bite of food, "She ended up becoming my friend.... We have been through a lot."

 

[Ixidor92]

He listened with interest. He actually didn't find too much of it surprising. From Rhea being bullied to Sage initially wanting to make her cry. Though he was curious about what exactly had occurred.


"I'm curious about how she got from wanting to make you cry to being your friend . . . but you were in your brother's custody?"

 

[Ricia]

"I don't know if I really have a right to tell that part of the story because it is more of Sage's reasoning... I am just glad we could move to how we are now. And... yeah, my brother took my parents to court and got custody of me... I don't know if you are familiar with things that happen in this society that much." Rhea shifted uncomfortably with the question being asked.

 

[Ixidor92]

"I . . . remember that. Sage said something about going back to your parents. I understand if you don't want to tell me. Especially seeing as I didn't tell you about my circumstances . . . I'm just curious as to why you left your parents."


He finished off the soup and leaned back, watching her expression. It was clearly a painful memory.

 

[Ricia]

"I was really torn... I did not want to... I am actually disowned. My brother was as well. He was 12 years my senior." Rhea said quietly, playing with her soup a bit.

 

[Ixidor92]

One of Kurogan's fists clenched underneath the table. They could actually do that? A parent could choose to leave their child?!


"I . . . I see . . ."


He struggled to not let his anger show to her. She didn't need to see any more of his rage

 

[Ricia]

"Thats why Sage said what she said. She said it to be mean because I would not do what she told me otherwise." Rhea took a deep breath before taking another bite of her food, "You actually cook well.. you do sometimes?"

 

[Ixidor92]

"Trial and error. It was usually over campfires and with whatever I was able to hunt, but I learned."


He was grateful for the change in tone of the conversation. If it was so painful, the last thing he needed to do was be bringing it up now.

 

[Ricia]

"What did you cook?" Rhea asked, a bit more interested now in his life lessons, "How.. old are you?" She asked again suddenly.

 

[Ixidor92]

Kurogan was a tad taken aback by her second question


"Well, I've lived twenty winters. I believe in your terms . . . I'm nineteen, twenty come winter."


He leaned back a bit


"As for what I cooked . . . it was pretty much whatever I could get my hands on. Any edible plants alongside what I had caught during the hunt."

 

[Ricia]

"I seee... So what did you do all day while I was gone at work and school?" She asked, moving back to playing with her food again.

 

[Ixidor92]

"Mostly exercise."


He looked over at her


"I couldn't let myself sit around getting fat because I wasn't in the forest anymore."

 

[Ricia]

"Exercise? In the small apartment?" She asked looking at him with wide eyes.