The Forgotten Zodiac

"I can." Titus sighed. "But doing so would show favoritism. Ophile...Lu attacked you. This is true. But killing is illegal, not fighting--"

"He attacked with the intent to kill," Ophile interjected.

"I cannot know this for certain. In order to get your powers back, you must proceed alone..."

"S-so...you're saying I should just walk up...and request my powers back?" Ophile said, sounding unhappy.

"There are a number of different approaches...but esentially, yes. To maintain the balance of what little peace there is, I cannot show favoritism in a time like this. That would bring more hatred upon you, Ophile..."

"I understand..." Ophile looked down again, his heart heavy.

"Alright then!" Seria said, planting her paws firmly and standing tall. "Ophile, you need to buck up!" She turned to face the Tartaran, smiling at him. "You'll never get your powers back until you can throw your shoulders back and make Lu return them. If you ask all quiet and soft like that, I highly suspect he'll laugh at you. You are Titus' right hand and most trusted companion, and a dear member of our mismatched family! I'm going to help you, so buck up and let's go. Come on, Ophile!" She rubbed under his chin, saying "You are a Tartaran, tried and true. Nobody can ever take that from away you. Ever."

Ophile slowly straightened himself up, lifting his head up slightly. "Right. We can do this..." He swallowed dryly again, then nodded. "Yes. I believe we can do this."

"Just don't kill anyone," Titus settled back into his throne, sighing a bit. "And if you want to arrange a private arena fight, that can be done in an instant. Say the word, and it will be done."

"Yes, Titus. Thank you." Ophile dipped his head again, then turned and padded away, nosing through the door. He took exactly three steps away from the throne room and promptly sat down, lowering his head again. "I can't fight him," He said quietly.

"Why not?" Seria said, sitting down in front of him. "Ophile, please. Why can't you fight him? Don't you want your powers back? What happened to our friend?" She pushed her muzzle against his head, closing her eyes. "Are you going to let him ruin your life?" she asked, her voice pleading. "What happened to the Ophile I knew? The one that never let anyone boss him around, yet was always so kind and gentle to all of us? Where are you?"

"He'll kill me, Seria..." Ophile shook his head. "He's too dangerous..." He sighed, shaking his head. "Even if I do manage to beat him in the Arena, if I kill him, my powers will be gone. Gone forever, taken away with him." He whimpered. "There's no way to make him give them back. He has no one he's attached to, so we can't even play the bad guy in order to get it out of him..."

Seria sighed, stroking the side of his face with the side of her own, then said "Alright then. I have an idea, but you are coming with me every step of the way. I'm not going to let you suffer like this alone. Get up!" She flitted around behind him and nudged the large wolf as hard as she could, which wasn't much due to her small frame. "Come on, follow me," she said, standing on her back legs and pushing at him with her paws.

Ophile didn't budge for the longest time, his hulking, fit frame like cement that Seria was attempting to move. But after awhile, Toro stepped out of the throne room and put something in front of Seria; it was a bit of jerky that smelled rancid. "Titus said to give you this," The Rabbitzen said softly, then headed back into the room with Galai and Titus.

Ophile's ears suddenly shot up and he turned his head, eyeing the bit of meat. "Cacklegoat Jerky?" He inquired, referring to the mindless goats that inhabited Tartarus. Their braying echoed off of the rocks, which made it sound like cackling. They were an incredible delicacy, but only meant for Tartaran taste buds. In anyone else's mouth, it would taste like old socks. Very hard to like.

((-holds very tightly- Are you okay?))

Seria snatched the meat up into the edge of her mouth, trotting around in front of Ophile and saying "If you follow me, you get this. Come on!" She cantered off down the hall, her tail flowing like red water behind her. She paused at the end of the hall, the strip of meat hanging from the side of her jaw, held only in her teeth, then she gestured at him to follow.

((I'm a little better.

I love you too.))

Ophile seemed to debate it for a moment, but then he stood and ran after her, his eyes locked on the strip of dehydrated goat meat. In a time like this, he wouldn't normally be after such simple things, but he was in need of comfort. The very taste of the meat would help him get back on his feet. He realized this; this was why he followed.

Also the fact that Cacklegoat jerky was absolutely delicious. That too.

((I have to go get two shots, though. :< Which means I gotta go now. But I has my phone, sooo...))

((

Chzy told me you cried.

I'm scared now.

I love you very much.

I hate hurting you, and I feel like I did.

What happened?

I'm so scared...

...scared this has tainted our relationship.

If it had...I would physically die.

I'm sorry...))

Seria plunged down the hallways, cantering along and making sure that Ophile followed closely. She kept going, finally stopping once she had reached the guest house. She approached a door and lunged onto her back legs, clawing at the door until it opened.

Luen was standing there, his hair dripping with water and a towel wrapped around his neck. He was wearing a, surprisingly for once, black shirt with more than a few tears in it, and it was obviously one of Forin's. "Yes?" he said, watching as Seria tore the meat stip in half and gave part to Ophile. She took human form and put the other piece into her pocket, then said "Where's Forin?"

Luen blinked at her, then turned his head and leaned back into the large room, saying "Um, Forin? Ah, Seria's here to see you."

((Come on, Trin; you know me. I'm like rubber, I always bounce back. It's not the relationship between you and me, it's the rift between you and Chzy. You don't talk to him unless he makes you talk, you rarely pay attention to anything anymore...it's just...different. It hurts Chzy and makes him sad, and sometimes mad. I've said it before, I don't want to be the reason you two become close again, but seeing you drift further and further apart...that's what made me cry.

I'm okay. Really. I'll get on the mumble later and be just as cheery as usual. I promise, this has done so little to our relationship, it's yours and Chzy's thats tainted. Please don't do anything to yourself, I would physically die or something. :c

Sorry I can't post right now. I really have to go. -hugs tight-))

((Why are Luen and Forin such adorable little friends? Holy cow. nun))

She smiled brightly at him, then said "We have a bit of a problem. Well, a lot of a problem, actually. I know you remember how Lu the naga and a few other Tartarans were attacking Ophile here." She moved her hand down and gently pushed Ophile's nose away from her pocket. "We found out that Lu stole something that does not under any circumstance belong to him. Ophile's powers. Could you perhaps give us a hand in getting them back?"

"Ah, yes...Lu the copycat. Wait, your powers are gone, Ophile? Completely?" Forin blinked, water droplets dripping off of the torn skin on his chest. "He must have developed his skills...that's pretty harsh. Taking them back won't be easy, though...you must realize this. I have to dig pretty hard to get anywhere close, and he would have to be held still for...at least five minutes. At least."

((AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAnd off to the shower! -glomp-))

Seria thought for a moment, then nodded and said "I believe we can accomplish that. I have sources." She smiled, stroking Ophile's head gently. "We can catch him," she said, her smile disappearing. "I promise, we'll get him."

"I'll help," Luen suddenly said. He rested his chin on Forin's shoulder while he stared at the half-cat healer and Tartaran wolf. "If you could subdue him for only a little bit, I can form freezing bonds over him. It's tiring, but...I can manage."

"Yes, I should think--Luen, that's my shirt." Forin realized suddenly. "Eh...it has a bunch of holes in it...do I seriously not have any clean clothes?"

"You could wear one of Diana's dresses," Ophile tutted, resting his head on his paws.

"Jeez, you really aren't okay, Ophile." Forin blinked. "It's fine. I'll just wear one of your shirts, Luen." He smiled, then thought of something. "...do you have any clean shirts, though?"

"Yeah, think I have one," the kirin said, turning and rifling through his bag. "Aha. My last one." He tossed the white shirt to his friend, and Seria had to hold back a smile. Luen wearing slightly torn-up black and Forin wearing white? It seemed a complete reversal of their habits. But she could see the way Luen occasionally paused to take the collar into his hand and sniff it quietly. It comforted him, so bathed in his best friend's scent it was. The story of how he had come about Forin's shirt was simply, really; after emerging from the hotsprings to find that some sort of animal had taken Luen's regular shirt for nesting material. Stunned and self-conscious, Luen had refused to go anywhere. Until Forin gave him the shirt from his own back, of course. They had scurried back to their room, then, and only a few minutes after getting there, Seria and Ophile had come, and...there they were.

Forin was quick to pull the white, clean shirt on, taking the towel off of Luen's shoulders and using it to dry his hair a little more. "Alright," He said, looking at Seria again. "We'll get the shirts washed later. Let's get your powers back, Ophile." He smiled slightly, reaching forward to pet the wolf. Ophile barked and chomped down on Forin's hand, growling. Forin ripped his hand away, wincing as blood dripped to the floor. "What the heck?" He frowned.

Seria quickly snatched his hand, healing it before bending down to hug Ophile. "He's very stressed out right now," she explained softly. "He's afraid you're going to hurt him. He did it to me too, and Toro." She held Ophile's head in her hands, looking into his eyes. "Hey," she soothed. "Calm down. You know Forin won't hurt you. You can't keep on biting everyone like this."

"I...yes...I know..." Ophile said glumly, shaking his head a bit and moving away from Seria. "Sorry, Forin..."

"It's fine, I guess." Forin shrugged, rubbing his hand a bit. "Just try not to do it again."

"I'll try." The wolf sighed heavily, shuffling his paws unhappily. "We...we should go, then. I'll feel better after my powers are back."