Oliver stared in confusion at Aelin. He was pretty certain that The reason he was confused was the same as why Aelin was frustrated, mainly the fact that there seemed to be some mistake in their communication even with the ability everyone had.
Vernacular of vastly varied worlds
The single most common ability in the universe, granted to anyone who can speak any languege, the ability lets
the user be understood so long as they wish it to be so.
Their friendship had started out well, at least, he thought it started well when they worked together and both made it to level three after killing that fox. It was even quite exciting, fun, even, although, he may be biased, after all, he wasn’t the one to get his calf mauled by a monstrous fox. But even so, it was certainly exciting, and in his defence, Aelin didn’t seem to mind too much either. Aelin had then finally had time to give himself first aid, he had tried to help, of course, but he was very inexperienced, while Aelin was very experienced… and very short-tempered with people who weren't. Aelin had then explained to him that this place was very likely to behave like a mountainous area, if not worse, in relation to how rapidly night would fall, so they immediately started searching their surroundings for some kind of shelter after he found a stick that worked as Aelin’s emergency crutch. he wouldn’t lie and say that it didn’t hurt a little when he was sneaking ahead so Aelin wouldn’t get caught in an ambush while wounded, and Aelin told him to ‘stop mocking the art of unseen movement and just walk literally any other way, because even if you skipped along it wouldn’t be as noticeable as whatever that is. I mean honestly, why do you keep walking slowly for a bit and then suddenly dash for cover? The constant shifts in movement speed is probably the single most eye-catching way to move’ but, even if he was a bit harsh, he was definitely right.
Eventually, they found their way to a very nice place where the branch they walked crossed underneath another larger one, the larger one also happened to branch off right after the point where their branch crossed under, giving them some simile of a wall on two-thirds of their sides. Their own branch even branched off a little ways before the crossing point, going underneath with just enough room for them to squeeze under, giving them two ways of escaping. Aelin just grumbled about them not being able to see if anything came from the other side of their branch, before using the fallen sticks and twigs they picked up along the way to easily start a fire. At least, he was pretty sure it was easy for him, but he had no idea.
All of this eventually led them to this point, where Aelin was finally open to a conversation around their fire after ‘not wanting to attract predators in an unknown forest, idiot’
“Just what is it you can’t understand about the question ‘why did you help me?’” Aelin asked, rubbing his temples in frustration.
“I understood your question! I answered your question! Why do you keep asking me the same question I’ve already answered?” Oliver said, speaking loudly not out of frustration but simply out of confusion.
“Your answer isn’t an answer! It’s the framework for a reason, not an actual reason, you said that ‘I saw that you needed help, so I helped’ but that is missing the middle part of what you want from helping” Aelin said.
“I don’t understand what you mean,” Oliver said, gesticulating wildly as he tried to explain his confusion.
Aelin closed his eyes, breathing in deeply while running his hands through his inky black hair, bringing his long pointed ears into the light of the fire in the process, before he opened his silver-coloured eyes which stood out like moons against the night sky of his dark, chocolate skin.
He breathed in and out deeply once again, before twisting his lips into a very strained and unnaturally big smile and speaking in a manner far more friendly than before “Okay, how about we go through the three phases in deciding to help together? Okay? Let's do it with an example, shall we? Now, Olaine has a bag filled with caramelized fruits, and is getting it taken from him by bullies-“
“What are they named?”
“They don’t have names”
“Why not? Olaine has a name”
“Because they are just random stand-ins for any random challenge” Aelin growled out through gritted teeth.
“Well so is Olaine, he is any random thing that needs help, he could be a cat, or a dog. Besides, if they had names i would be more invested” Oliver said, continuing the argument not because he cared, but simply because he was annoyed at Aelin for patronizing him.
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Aelin looked as though he would hit Oliver for a moment, before repeating his newfound ritual for calming down. “Okay, Urel and Aelil are taking Olaine’s caramelized fruit-“
“Thank you”
“-And Aelil wants to strangle Olaine for interrupting him, now a random third party stumbles over this scene-“
“Why doesn’t-“
“The third party is named Ylin. Now Ylin knows that if he helps Olaine, Olaine will give him half his caramelized fruits, and that is why Ylin helps” Aelin says, looking relieved to finally be done with his story.
“… I’m sorry, I think I got all of those names confused, could you go through it just one more time for me?” Oliver asked, smiling innocently.
Aelin slowly grabbed the rock Oliver had given him, one of the two they had recovered from the battle, before moving to stand.
“I’m sorry, I understood your story the first time, but honestly, you were acting so patronizingly that I practically had to annoy you a little” Oliver said with a laugh, raising his hands in surrender “and yes, I understand what your story was trying to teach. But sadly am going to have to inform you that I disagree, there can be those kinds of cases, in fact, most help is probably given with the expectation of something in return, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Sometimes, the only reason needed to help is the simply the act of assistance itself, and the opportunity to create hope” Oliver said, smiling as he looked up.
“Why are you looking up, we can’t see the stars through the leaves, and even if we could I highly doubt that either of us can recognize any signs wherever we are now” Aelin grumbled.
Oliver tore his eyes down to meet Aelin’s piercing silver gaze, as though he was analyzing how probable it was that Oliver had a way to see through the leaves, and Oliver simply smiled in response “I wouldn’t know any star signs either way, but look at the leaves, look at the sublime dance of shadows they create as they fall through the darkness of the forest, lit only by the light of our fire. The incredible bleeding of colour as the bright leaves illuminated by our light fade into greys that meld with each other in their graceful dance on the winds of the forest. Don’t you think it’s beautiful?” Oliver said, as he once more looked into the swirling sky.
He was so entranced that he did not notice as Aelin looked up for a moment, before looking back at him. Aelin studied him for a moment, before glancing once more at the leaves and shaking his head, then laying down to sleep. Oliver meanwhile, stayed up long into the night, staring at the beauty of the forest and thinking of the adventures ahead.
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“Where did you get these rocks? I think it would be worth gathering more of them even if we have to retread our own steps to get back and collect more” Aelin asked, standing next to their burned-out fire and tossing the rock Oliver had given him up and down to get used to its weight.
“AHA! I knew it!” Oliver said, turning from where he stood looking out at the forest with a triumphant smile on his face.
“It’s alarming that you are this happy about remembering what you did yesterday,” Aelin said as he quirked his eyebrow in a distinctly unimpressed manner.
“I’m not talking about remembering things, I’m talking about rocks!” Oliver said, grinning in excitement. He knew there was some drawback to the undecided class, of course, Aelin had refused to tell him his class even after Oliver shared his, but it was clear that if he didn’t know about the rocks, then that had to be because he was unpredictable. well, the brawn class could not have gotten anything, but these first classes seemed to be made to be balanced, to give everyone an equal start in the tutorial. Hence, the brawn class had to have gotten something if the brain class did, since both of them traded adaptability for equipment, apparently.
”Okay, ignore what I said earlier, it’s far more alarming that you thought I was talking about something other than rocks,” Aelin said.
Oliver quickly explained his theory regarding the balance between the different classes and how his rocks were the cornerstone of that theory, and while Aelin didn’t seem happy about his class being deduced, he did seem slightly interested in the theory.
“Okay, while your idea about the classes and such is interesting, I just have to get one thing straight. You gave up the benefits of versatility and adaptability for the sake of rocks, as in, the things all over the ground? I’m not saying that your choice was wrong based on what you knew at the time, but you have to admit that the unpredictable is the better class” Aelin said, his little smirk and raised eyebrows showing his enjoyment over having the ‘better’ class.
”Alright, fine, I can accept you viewing us rock-throwers as second-class classers, but you can’t be judgmental about our rocks and wield one at the same time,” Oliver said, holding his hand out for his rock.
”Sure, I’m level three, I don’t need rocks anymore,” Aelin said, shaking his head as he walked past Oliver and handed over his rock, before going out on the offshoot branch of the one they came from and ducking gracefully underneath the one blocking them from simply continuing, his leg having healed over-night.
Moments later, Loud swearing was heard from the other side.
Oliver’s eyes widened and he ignored the safe path of going over to where their new path branched off and instead jumped down to the smaller branch, stumbling precariously for a mere moment, before regaining his balance. He quickly ducked beneath the large branch before standing up with a rock in his hand, ready to throw it and himself into battle. The sight that greeted him was not what he expected. Because for all the things he may have expected, it was not an angry, hissing, sputtering, bright orange house cat trying to scratch the eyes out of Aelin’s head.
“Help me get this creature off of me!”
”Are you sure? I mean, you are level three, and I just couldn’t imagine a level three, especially one with the clearly superior unpredictable class, needing help from a lowly rock-thrower. Someone who wields something you find all over the ground” Oliver said, walking up to Aelin where he was struggling with removing the house cat after it dug its claws into his shirt, He could have easily killed the cat, but he was clearly just trying to get it off. So, after watching for just a little longer, Oliver pulled the cat off.
Aelin glared viciously at the cat. The cat hissed violently at him. Oliver looked between the two.
”I like it, I think I’m going to keep it”