forum Monsters? These are my children -Ben (o/o with lisapickle)

Started November 05, 2019 by @chickenfrogman group

tune

Violet stands and slowly strides over to them. She takes the scissors. “You’re not going to try, Dear?”

Cage giggles. “Good! That means the bacon one won’t ruin something you like. Grab the bacon one!”

Silver shook her head. "Not… not after everything else. Gabe said he doesn't like scissors so now I'm more nervous that I'll hurt him with them." she dug one of her hands into her hair. "I just… he looks dumb right now and I want his hair to be even."

Dio opened his mouth again, confused. "I… don't eat ice cream at all, Cage. It's unpleasant for me."

Miki stared at him, slowly tipping her head. "It's unpleasant? How is ice cream unpleasant?"

Dio swallowed, nodding. "I'm anemic. I'm basically allergic to anything cold."

Lackey suppressed a grin, looking down at his bowl. You mean you whine like a baby about it.

Dio turned a withering glare at Lackey. "You can hush."

Miki glanced between Dio and Lackey, growing more perplexed by the second. "Wait, how can you be allergic to cold and… he didn't say anything?"

Vi gives Silver a gentle smile and shoulder rub. “Alright.” She turns back to Gabriel and finishes clipped his hair, doing her best to make it even and less choppy looking. Because his hair is dry, is just seems to all blend together in the black waves.
Kissa gives Dio and Lackey both a decent once-over glare then turns to Ryder.
“You lived with them?” She whispers.
He smiles. “Eh, they’re not as bad as they look.”
Cage shrugs. “Just try some of the bacon ice cream, it won’t hurt you.” He insists. “C’mon.”

"Thank you." Silver sighed in relief as Gabriel's hair became more normal-looking. She ran her fingers through it to assure herself it was alright and nodded to Violet. "Thank you so much. Now I can see his eyes and he's not dead or scratched."

Dio sighed, unable to tell Cage no for a third time. "Very well. One taste."

"But you're ICE. And WATER." Miki cried, still hung up on his dislike of cold things. "How can you be 'allergic to cold' when your powers are all about cold???"

Dio closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes. The universe and I have still not come to terms with how that happened."

Lackey glared at Ryder. You ate all our peaches, idiot. We're the victims here.

Violet gives Silver a smile and Ryder rolls his eyes.
“Ruby, I told you we’ve done it a dozen times before.”
Cage beams, pulling out the ice cream and getting a scoop for Dio. “This stuff is worse.”

Silver opened her mouth reply but froze when her brain registered what he had called her. She turned an icy glare on him and said, "I know that, Skipper, considering he's still alive. It's not that I mind his hair getting cut with a sword it's that you are a crazy manic holding that sword. And Gabriel admitted that you have cut him a few times."

Miki stared at him, still confused, as Dio took the spoon from Cage and tried to bacon ice cream. Again he shivered as it touched his tongue, but this time he actually gagged when he tasted it, barely succeeding in swallowing.

"Dear goodness, Cage, whatever possessed you to want to make that?" He cried.

Cage giggled. “Because I discovered I can make ice cream but we wanted to be original.”
Violet looks over her shoulder, raising an eye brow. “By original he means ‘disgusting’.”
Ryder grins. “Ryder. I’m Ryder. And what’s your problem? Vamp, you said I cut you?”
Gabriel sighs. “Don’t bring me into this.”

Dio helped himself to a glass of water and rinsed his mouth out, spitting the water in the sink before taking another drink and swallowing. "Of all the things you could do with your powers and you figure out how to make ice cream?"
"It's amazing!" Miki said. "We can have ice cream whenever we want. It's glorious. Totally what I would do it I had powers. I mean, if I had fire I'd just make burgers all the time. Water powers? Ice cream, yo. Earth powers? Grow fruit trees instantly. Air… um…" she turned to Silver. "Hey can you do anything with your powers relating to food?"

Silver ignored her sister, still glaring daggers at Ryder. "And my name is Silver. Not Ruby or Emerald or Gold or Diamond or Pearl or anything else you might come up with. It's Silver." She brushed the remainder of Gabriel's hair back to expose his ears and pointed to a few tiny scars on the tip of each. "And how do you explain these?"

Ryder shoves her hands off of Gabriel playfully. “Aw, c’mon. I was like seven when those happened. Gabriel, c’mon.”
Gabriel turns himself invisible. “No.”
Cage sits back down on a stool. “How often do you use your powers? I don’t use mine much cause I’m not great at it. Ben only uses his to… roast things.”

Dio set his water glass down on the counter and studied it for a few moments. "I probably use it more often than I realize. It's convenient when making sushi." he shrugged. "It's also convenient for making people stop doing things I don't want them to do." He glanced over at Miki and ice grew on the counter around her hand, freezing it in place in an icy glove. She shrieked and he withdrew it, glancing up at Cage. "But I hate it too because it's so dang cold." he shivered. "There's a lot you can do, though. How much do you practice? It takes work. It's not very natural."
Miki shook her hand and blew on it, then tucked it into her armpit even though the ice had been dry and only touching her for a second or two. "Darn it, Cage, you could kill someone just be freezing them to death in two minutes. That was cold."

Silver glanced between them again and slipped her hand around Gabriel's arm. "You've been cutting his hair since you were seven? However did you decide Ryder cutting your hair was a good idea?" she asked, alternately addressing them both.

Ryder shrugs. “His mom only shaved hair so she said she’d shave it if it wasn’t cut by sunrise. So there we sat in a dark attic at 2am, chopping hair with my dads sword.”
Cage hugs himself, a little uncomfortable now. “I don’t really… want to be powerful. And I definitely don’t want to hurt somebody.”

Silver laughed. "She shaved him?? Oh my goodness, that would be awful. Why with a sword though? Why didn't you try a knife or scissors?

Dio pursed his lips, watching Cage. "It's good to have control and learn to use it. You are powerful, Cage. This question isn't whether or not you are, but whether or not you have control over it and know how to use it. You don't have to hurt people, but you should master it. It's dangerous to have an unstable power."

Ryder shrugs. “I had the sword on hand since I’d already stolen it to hunt. Why go through more effort to find something else?”
Cage sighs. “I’d… rather not. It’s okay to use for silly things but I don’t- I’m gonna go outside with Ben. I’ll see you later.”
He hops off of the stool and hurried out the backdoor.

Silver blinked. "You stole it? You cut Gabriel's hair as a seven year old kid with a stolen sword?" she glanced down at where Gabriel's face was, though invisible. No wonder you have so many issues, she thought, stroking his hair. It felt strange to feel its short ends after it being so long.

Dio watched him go, eyebrows raising, and then looked at Miki. She picked at the fingernails on the hand he had frozen.
"If my fingernails fall off from frostbite I'm blaming you." she said.
"He doesn't know how to use his power, does he?" Dio asked.
Miki shook her head. "He can freeze stuff; make ice or ice cream. But he can't make it out of nothing like you do."
Dio sighed. "It's not nothing. You–he has to learn to feel the water molecules in the air. Just like Ben actually lights the oxygen in the air on fire, he has to manipulate what's already there." He clicked his tongue. "Do you think he would let me teach him?"

Ryder nods, then ruffles Gabe’s hair. “What’s wrong with that?”
Violet leans on the counter, facing Miki and Dio. “I think he’ll let you. You’ll have to get Ben in on it though, because he won’t do it without knowing Ben backs it up.”

Silver shoved Ryder's hand away, just like he had done to her a minute before. "I just… it's fine. Yeah. This just… explains a lot about Gabriel."

Dio nodded. "I would love to teach him. He has a lot of potential and I think he would enjoy being able to control it and use it, even if it's just for fun. Violet, would you be willing to bring it up to Benjamin? I doubt me talking to him about it will grant us the approval we need." he grinned wryly.

Ryder takes Gabriel’s arm and pulls him up off of the stool, hugging him again. “Ugh, I’m so sorry you had to live with these nuts for so long.”
Gabriel leans his head on Ryders shoulder. “It’s only been two years.”
Violet gives a small, approving nod. “I don’t know what he’ll say about it, especially since he had such a hard time himself, but I’ll bring it up.”

Silver took a deep breath, her eyes burning as Ryder pulled Gabriel away from her, but she restrained herself from murdering him. Instead she slowly lowered herself onto Gabriel's empty barstool, still glaring at Ryder, her lips pressed together into a thin line. "Yeah, and it's been the best two years of his life." she snapped.

"Thank you, darling." He gave her a little bow. "I believe we shall take our leave now. Thank you for helping Ben and me come to terms and I do apologize for the frustration I know we've caused you all."

Ryder furrows his brow. “Wait, only two years? Where were you before?”
Gabriel clenches his jaw, shoving his face into Ryders shirt and staying silent.
Kissa sighs, sitting on the back of the couch behind them, “lets not talk about that.”
Violet gives Dio a smile. “No problem. We’ll message you tonight or tomorrow with plans of when you’ll probably have the kids, if that’s alright.”

Silver swallowed, casting a glance at Kissa and then at the floor. "He… we all…" she paused and looked up at him, frowning. "Wait. How much do you know about Dio and Ben and the whole elemental thing?"

"That sounds delightful." Dio said, beaming. "I can't wait to have them over. If I may say so, I believe you and Benjamin are due for a much needed break to take some time for yourself."

Ryder shakes his head, “like, nothing? Bad guy did experiments and everyone escaped?” He gasps, “Gabriel, did he experiment on you guys?”
“No.” Kissa answers. “No, he just used us.”
Violet chuckles. “I’m not sure ben agrees.”

Silver pressed her hand over her mouth. One glance at Kissa showed she wasn't going to get any help from her. She looked back up at Ryder, her face contorted like she was going to cry.
He doesn't know what happened to them.
He doesn't know anything.
"They… they wanted the Kavi to use in the experiments to create us. The elementals. They kept Gabriel locked up." Silver shook her head. "Kissa did… jobs for them or something. They used Gabriel and Kissa against each other, I think. They hurt him." she ended in a whisper, eyes finally filling with tears. "A lot."

Ryder slowly wraps his arms around invisible Gabriel in more of a protective gesture. “What?” He demands, his voice lower. Kissa stands, touching his arm.
“Don’t worry over it. We’re fine.”

Silver wiped her eyes, glaring at Kissa before looking back at Ryder and mouthing, They're not fine. "I don't know much else." she sniffed. "A lot of his scars are from there." They haven't recovered as well as the rest of us.

“What scars? This kid has like two scars.”
Kissa purses her lips, “it’s a little more than that now.”
Ryder looks down to Gabriel, who is still refusing to participate in the conversation.
“Hey, what happened?”