Ryder nods. “I saw a few on our way here. And yes he goes in sewers. Like that freak clown.” He chuckles and Kissa opens her eyes in confusion.
Gabriel furrows his brow, looking almost sorry. “You can’t.” Be states, his voice a little squeaky from holding back tears, with that he leaps back into the air, turning invisible mid-jump.
Miki frowned. "Like what? Clowns go in sewers? What kind of circus's have you been going to, Mango?"
–
"Gabe–Gabriel, no!" Silver cried, scrambling around to see where he went. She toppled off the branch and only managed to spread her wings and right herself after falling almost halfway to the ground, and by then Gabriel was long gone. "No! Gabriel!" she called, circling the area a few times. She knew he wasn't anywhere nearby though, and certainly not interested in seeing her. Her eyes finally filled with tears and streaked down her cheeks as she turned home, beating her wings hard to lend her speed.
Ryder loosens his grip on Kiss and lets her go, much to her dismay. He walks to Miki for the sole purpose of ruffling her hair and chuckles. “Hey there, grandma. It was a pop reference.”
Cage wipes his eyes, giggling and gives Ben one last side hug. “Thanks, Beni. Imma- I’m gonna go back in now, see what the mango guy is up to.”
Ben gives him a smile. “Alright. Let me know if he’s broken anything.”
Miki blinked at him, very confused, until realization dawned on her and she rolled her eyes. "Dude, how was I supposed to know you watch movies? I didn't even know you knew what pop culture was." she looked him up and down, frowning. "You're like the most humanly un-Kavi Kavi ever. Are you sure you're actually one of them? Were you switched at birth?"
Silver came streaking across the yard, low to the ground, just barely making clearance with each beat of her wings until she tumbled to a stop at the edge of the grass and ran across to Ben, wrapping herself around him and sobbing into his shirt.
Ryder raises his eyebrows. “Nah, remember no human eats fruit the way I do.”
Cage closes the backdoor behind him and jogs towards Miki and Ryder. “Hey! Where’d Gabe and Sil go?”
Ben’s eyes widen and he takes only one wobbly step backward after the hard impact, but stands firm besides. “Sil, what is it??”
"To the sewer." Miki answered Cage instantly, but never took her eyes off Ryder. "You're right. No one could fake your eating habits. That's definitely not natural."
Silver cried hard for a few moments before lifting her head, just barely choking out, "He sad and he wouldn't let me help and he left!"
“Ah, gross. Anyways, is Dio already gone?” He responds, not fazed at all.
Kissa glares at Miki as Ryder again chuckles. She marches over to them and death glares her.
At least he looks good, freak.
“He left?” Ben pets her hair. “Hold on, what happened? Where did he go?
"Yeah, Dio told us the master plan of doom and how Benjamin is the promised child of perfection and then he left. Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Miki yelped, drawing her feet up and pressing herself back in her chair. "What's wrong with you?" she asked Kissa.
–
Silver sucked in deep breaths until she could finally speak. "He's upset because Ryder was asking what happened to him and Kissa. He left and I followed him. He wouldn't talk or look at me and he stayed invisible. I told him I loved him and it was okay to not be okay but then suddenly he got–" tears drimmed again and she wailed, "He got so angry and yelled at me and flew away!"
Cage gasps. “Ben is the chosen one?!?”
“I always look like this.” Kiss claims, giving a small shrug.
Ryder glances back at her, then to Miki. “It’s true.”
Ben furrows his brow. “He yelled?? And left?”
"Well, always look like that in not my direct." Miki shivered and turned to Cage, beckoning him closer. "Come here. Stand in front of me so I can't see the murder child of darkness. Yes, Dio said Ben is the only one who can stop Etzi-what's-his-baddie-dude. Dio can't even stop him and they're like, the original powered people or something."
Silver nodded. "Ben, I just want to help him but he won't let me! I told him it was okay to cry in front of me cuz I cry in front of everyone. He helps me so much and I just want to be that for him but he-e-e wo-o-on't le-e-et me-e-e-e!" she bawled louder and pressed her face into his already wet shirt again.
Ryder laughs and ruffles Kissa’s hair. “Head what she called you, Kiss?”
She beams up at him without answering.
Cage bites his lip, watching the two of them and quickly pulls out his phone to text miki.
You seeing what I’m seeing, Mik?
-
Ben pets her hair and stares off at the forest.
is he coming back?
Miki glanced down when her phone buzzed and her eyes widened. Slowly she looked up at Cage, staring at him with a new light in her eye. Furiously she typed back,
"Kissa's in love with him?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"
Silver reigned herself in again and lifted her head. "How do you and Violet do it? You make being together look so easy and perfect. I don't know what I'm doing wrong."
Cage bites his lip.
Wanna make some trouble??? ;)
Kissa takes Ryders wrist. “Oh! Would you like to see my bone collection??”
He shrugs. “Uuuh, who wouldn’t? Heh.”
Ben sighs. “Silver, we’ve known each other for years. You two have much farther to go. And not all relationships are the same. It may take you two longer to get used to each other especially with all the trauma you both have.”
Why am I giving her relationship advice??
I don’t even like him.
"Always???????" Miki texted back but nearly dropped her phone when she heard Kissa. "Wait, wait, bone collection? WAIT A MINUTE. Is that what happens to Gabriel's missing animals? YOU FREAKING DE-BONE THEM???" she looked at Cage. "I'm never going her room ever. Have I ever gone in there? Nope. But it's a double extra mc-freaking nope with a cherry on top now."
Silver nodded and laid her head on his chest, tears still slipping down her cheeks, but she wasn't sobbing anymore. "You and Violet have like a million trauma too though. I just… I know he has issues but dang it he makes me so mad when he doesn't let me help. I mean, I know I can't help, but I tried to hug him and that's when he pushed me away and yelled." Her eyes stung and she pressed them closed. "Hugs are supposed to help." she whispered.
Cages chokes on his own spit. “KISSA YOU CAME FROM A HORROR FILM!”
Ryder starts to laugh and she turns around, bright red and angry.
“I de-bone YOU if you don’t freaking shut up!” She yells.
Cage shrieks and climbs over the couch.
Ben bites his lip. “I don’t think he’s a physical touch kind of guy, Sil. He flinched when touched and has a lot of issues connected to touch. Maybe try approaching differently next time? By giving him his space and just… being there?” He rubs his forehead. “I don’t know. Most of the time I’d rather someone not touch me when I’m hurting too. I’d rather them just sit there.”
"Don't go with her, Ryder." Miki said, staring at him dead serious. "She'll draw you in there with her feminine wiles and then before you know it she'll be extracting your femur."
Silver sighed and pushed away, pacing a few steps away and then turning back. "I don't know? Sometimes he really likes it? Like, usually I don't press him. Usually I just sit there and hold his hand or hug him. Sometimes I've just said I love him or that he's the most important thing to me ever or that I need him and sometimes I just tell him he can cry or I don't mind that he's broken. This time I just asked him to turn visible and not hide." she dug her hands into her hair and stared at the pool. "Maybe I did push him too far. Maybe I just made it worse."
Ryder starts heading up the stairs without Kiss. “Oh dear, oh my, she’s gonna kill meeee.”
Kissa hisses at Miki and Cage, showing them her teeth, the quickly heads up the stairs, shoving Ryder beat she can up the rest of them.
Cage giggles. “Omg, Miki. We have found the most horrible thing.”
Ben runs a hand through his hair, now trying his hardest to understand Gabriel.
“It- it does seem like it might’ve been the last straw, since he was already on edge. I wouldn’t know though.”
Miki made a confused face and then stuck her finger in her ear, wiggling it around. "What was that? I thought I heard you say 'horrible' but I think what you meant was the best thing ever." she leaned forward, mischief written all over her face. "Cage, she has a giant crush on him and I don't think he even knows!"
Silver shook her head, hands still fisted in her hair. "I just don't understand. He helped me so much. He wouldn't leave even when I was afraid of hurting him. Even when I did hurt him. I'm so angry." she whispered, finally lowering her hands. "I don't know if I'm mad at him or me or both or…" she turned to Ben. "Is being mad supposed to be part of a relationship?? It doesn't seem very healthy."
Ben shakes his head, quite sure on this one. “Violet and I aren’t angry with each other for more than a few hours….” his voice trails off as he becomes unsure. “But… I don’t know if it was healthy, but my brother had a girlfriend for a while. They fought all the time and were at each other’s throats. It… yeah it probably wasn’t healthy. Don’t listen to that.” He waves a hand.
Cage giggles. “Goodness gracious imma have FUN. What do we do first??”
Silver blinked at him. "That's not… Ben…" she blew out a breath between her lips. "What about when they give you reason to be angry? Like you care so much you get mad? I just…" she sighed and strode past him, heading for the house. "I just don't understand."
Miki laughed. "Hold on there, water boy. You can't always plan this sort of stuff. You gotta just let it flow. Improv is the be–what if we wrote Ryder fake love letters from her???"
Cage gasps. “HOLY MOLEY, yesssss.”
He takes out his phone. “They should say really weird things cause she’s weird and he’s weird.”
Ben gulps.
“I- I don’t know? You’d have to ask Vi. I’ve never-“
I don’t think I’ve ever been angry like that?
Miki nodded and leaned back in her chair. "'I love you more than my bone collection because you're also made of bones but you're still alive.' Super romantic, yeah?"
Silver flung the backdoor open and stalked into the house, not even seeing Miki and Cage. "VI!" Silver called. "Is it normal to get super mad at someone you love because they don't understand you're trying to help them because you love them?"
Cage giggles. “Super romantic and sounds like Kissa.”
Vi jumps, turning around. “Silver, what? Yes?”
Miki stared at the ceiling, a slow grin covering her face. "She'll murder us, Cage."
Silver dropped onto a barstool and crossed her arms on the counter. "I told Ben that I thought relationships were… not like this. You and he make it look so easy."
Violet takes a few steps towards her, setting her tea down. “Like what, Love? Getting frustrated because they don’t understand you fully is fine. Acting on it or being angry with them for it is not. I’m sure it’s not Gabriel’s fault he doesn’t understand, I know you don’t understand him completely either.”
Cage bites his lip, lowering his voice to a whisper. “We gotta make ryder like us so she won’t hurt us.”