The Mighty Fall [Iris]

Silas

Alone but never lost

 The thumping in his ears was fading now, at first it had been so loud that he had constantly mistaken it for footsteps and would turn around every few seconds since he thought he was actually being followed. Of course, a small part of him was looking back and hoping that it would be Iris following him after the beach incident.

  Silas was starting to slowly understand what he was feeling for her, it was somewhat like what he had felt for his sister, just slightly different. His love for his sister had come from being blood related and having to like her, bit Iris was so different. Just thinking about her made Silas feel flustered and his whole body started to heat up. His hands rose, fingers running through his hair and across his face.

  Things like this were starting to prove troublesome when it came to controlling his powers, he had found out recently. Just now, he hadn't even tried to cast an illusion yet here one was sitting in the river. The whole thing was a little  creepy actually, since it was the Loch Ness monster and it was smiling and waving at him. Silas stared at it before he sighed and sat down alongside the river, his bare feet dabbling in the water when it would spray up against the rocks.

   "Man, I must be falling hard and fast..."

During the past week, Iris had been feeling a bit disconcerted considering all that had occurred recently. She hadn't visited Eris since his fainting in the forest, due to the fact that they'd shared a surprisingly intimate moment together. Had she given him the idea that she was trying to initiate something? That very thought had wracked her mind, causing an uneasiness to linger in the chasms of her subconsciousness. However, for the most part, she'd decided that focusing in on her studies would prove to distract her from any personal issues she may be facing. Iris had decided to travel to the river today for her Biology project, to take a few samples of the waters to investigate the organisms and ecosystem. Equipped with her Biology notebook and a pencil, she'd begun to wander through the forest, searching for the source of the brief sound of running water. It was all she'd honed in her attention on.

Adorned in a light sweater and jean shorts, the girl had been exhaling the beauteous scents of nature surrounding her, a blissful smile planted upon her lips as she strolled along. For once, her studies weren't compelling her to remain trapped inside, and to be honest, she was grateful for the relief. Iris then smelled a faint, yet swampy and unmistakable scent that wafted from bodies of water, smiling as the sound of rushing water reached her ears. She'd begun to walk through a cluster of undergrowth to enter the opening to the river, when a looming figure caught her eye. Casting rationality aside, she'd only noticed the frightening features plastered to the reptilian creature as it waved, not realizing that it'd been a spot of color in her otherwise colorless world. She emitted a mortified scream as she immediately recoiled, staggering backwards onto her butt as she shielded her head with her trembling arms. Her notebook and pencil fell onto the ground unceremoniously as well, flopping against the soggy earth. Quivering violently, the girl peeked at the seemingly charismatic beast, now spotting Silas present as well from his blonde hair, and murmuring in a tone constricted with fear, "U-Um.. S-Silas, wh-what..? I-I mean.. U-Um... Th-Th-That.. Th-Thing.." Since her incident with Lon, Iris had not come across any other monsters, however the younger boy had warned her of more beasts lurking within the forest, thus spurring on her terror as she shook frightfully on the ground. She ducked down her head slightly in a wince, unable to conjure her energy or anything to defend herself as her panic consumed her every thought.

Silas

Alone but never lost

   A scream erupted from behind him, the once peaceful quiet world had been shattered. Silas turned his head around to see Iris on her bum, eyes locked onto the Lochness monster he had created and suddenly the scream made sense.

  Getting up quickly, he spotted her books and pencil, Silas picked up her things. His eyes falling over her as he did so. "U-Um.. S-Silas, wh-what..? I-I mean.. U-Um... Th-Th-That.. Th-Thing.." Silas crouched in front of where she sat, her things in his lap. He felt a blush form when he realized how scared she was of his illusion, so he made the beast into a swan with its babies following behind it.

  Rubbing the back of his neck, he tried to not sound like an idiot, "Sorry that scared you, I lost control for a second and that guy showed up outta the blue."  He set her things on the ground next to her and sat himself down. His eyes focused on the swan that was now floating around on the river.

  Silas had known that the time when he would be with her would come soon, he had just hoped that it would be when he was in control of himself. Not when he was having friendly monsters appearing and scaring the socks off of the girl he was falling for. 

The girl was the embodiment of cowardice, shivering and holding her arms in front of her like a feeble shield. However, once the serpentine creature shifted into a harmless swan, she slowly began to unfurl herself, lowering her limbs to her sides as she attempted to control her fitful trembling. Iris blinked a few times as Silas placed her supplies beside her, hastily gathering them in her arms with a grateful nod, since her voice had grown far too quiet and unpredictably fluctuating to try and respond verbally. With her fingers running anxiously over the binding of the notebook, she listened in silence to Silas's apology, at once feeling the sickening sensation of guilt possess her once more. "O-Oh, n-no, I-I apologize f-for overreacting, I-I guess I-I was j-just.. S-Surprised," she responded, inhaling and exhaling shakily to alleviate the last of her anxiety.

She emitted a soft sigh then, "I-I'm sure th-that my s-scream didn't h-help y-you control it a-any better.. S-Sorry.." However, her gloomy statement was countered by a sudden rush of urgency, causing Iris to turn to face the boy quickly, noting his flushed features but disregarding them, "A-Are you f-feeling better s-since we l-last talked? I-I'm sorry th-that I didn't m-meet with y-you again to e-ensure y-your safety, E-Eris and I-I encountered s-some complications o-on th-the way back t-to the school. B-But, a-are you a-all right?" Her tone retained its hushed quality, but it was filled to the brim with concern. Iris hesitated for a few moments, before shifting her materials into one of her arms so that she could gingerly reach out her hand, and, with an incredible sense of caution and gentility, touched her hand on the edge of his shoulder. It was just enough to convey the worry she'd been feeling, but nothing more, since she was always nervous about initiating physical contact, which was displayed by just how lightly she'd touched him, as well as her quaking hand.

Silas

Alone but never lost

   Silas observed as she took her things from the spot where he had set them,  "O-Oh, n-no, I-I apologize f-for overreacting, I-I guess I-I was j-just.. S-Surprised. I-I'm sure th-that my s-scream didn't h-help y-you control it a-any better.. S-Sorry.."  He only smiled and shrugged, knowing that seeing the Lochness would scare someone no matter where they were.

   Her body relaxed as the horror of seeing a monster slipped away, her expression still bore a worried look though. Then he understood why she wore that face still, "A-Are you f-feeling better s-since we l-last talked? I-I'm sorry th-that I didn't m-meet with y-you again to e-ensure y-your safety, E-Eris and I-I encountered s-some complications o-on th-the way back t-to the school. B-But, a-are you a-all right?" Silas turned to her and nodded, "I'm fine now, a bit flustered, but I'm alright. But how are you? These 'complications' didn't hurt you, did they?" His eyes locked onto hers as her hand lightly fell upon his shoulder, the motion went shivers down his spine. Even if it was a way for her to just show concern for him, he still felt his powers shifting irregularly now that his emotions were going so  out of whack.

   Her hand shook slightly as it settled on his shoulder, his eyes fell away from her and to the water where the swan had once been. In its place sat the Lochness monster again, his powers literally laughing at his dismal state as the beast crookedly smiled at them and waved a flipper. Silas prayed that this time Iris wouldn't scream at the sight of it.

Iris was relieved to hear that Silas was doing all right, but hearing his comment about being flustered, she frowned, a bit confused as to the context of the adjective. "U-Um.. I-I'm sorry i-if.. I-I'm making y-you.. U-Uncomfortable," she began hesitantly, unsure if she was the one eliciting the emotion or not. But, it was better to be safe than sorry, so of course she would apologize to him. The instant her hand had come in contact with his shoulder, however, she felt his body quiver with a sudden wave of vibrations, causing her to squeak out a soft apology and retract her hand almost immediately. She'd assumed that this trembling was a result from her perhaps hitting some sort of sensitive nerve and bringing him pain, not even considering his true motives behind the action. It was then that she returned to reality, focusing on Silas's question about the 'complications' that she and Eris had encountered on their journey from the beach. "O-Oh, n-no, not at a-all," she responded, biting her lip briefly in thought as she tried to formulate a coherent explanation of what transpired. But, at this point she'd noticed that the reptilian illusion had returned, warranting another squeak from her lips. Her arms flew over her head, crossing over in a pitifully defensive position as she instinctively huddled towards Silas a bit. Yet, it wasn't as malicious and solemn as she'd imagined the creature to be. Instead, it appeared to be laughing at the two of them, giving Iris a reason to unfurl herself from her condensed stance, as well as pulling away from Silas's shoulder, which hers had been touching, "I-I'm v-very sorry..! I-I f-forgot th-that.. That y-you created i-it.."

She chose to resume her story then, since Silas deserved some sort of explanation after she'd abandoned him at the beach, "A-Anyways.. Wh-When Eris and I-I were g-going through th-the forest t-to get back t-to the school, th-there was this b-bear, and I-I guess w-we intruded on its t-territory.. A-And then, E-Eris used h-his souls to f-fend it off, but I-I tried t-to help too. B-But using h-his powers w-was v-very taxing on h-him, a-and h-he passed out a l-little while after.. L-Luckily, I-I found s-some people a-at the b-beach t-to help m-me t-take him b-back to the s-school." The girl fell into silence, having deliberately left out the specifics of the event, before murmuring, "I-If it h-hadn't been for h-him, I-I don't think I-I would've been a-able to e-escape without a-any wounds, so I-I am v-very grateful f-for what he d-did, e-even though I-I do not th-think he sh-should've pushed himself th-that far.." Realizing that she'd fallen into her habit of rambling, Iris sealed her lips shut, wringing her hands together anxiously as she glanced occasionally at Silas and the Lochness monster, now more at ease with the comical apparition.

Silas

Alone but never lost

   When she spoke another apology he felt guilty for making her feel like it was all her fault, even if it did have to do with her. Pulling on a smile he replied casually, "Oh no, it's not your fault. I'm just tired from the... run I took before I came here." His hand flew up to the back of his neck, uncomfortable with lying to her. Even if it was a simple white lie.

   Iris spoke up again, he couldn't help but notice on how much better she was getting at speaking now. Even if she stumbled across words now and then she did, he was happy that she was doing better with it. "O-Oh, n-no, not at a-all," He sighed a breath of relief, just because she didn't have anything serious showing he still had the faint worry that she had a wound hidden somewhere from this complication.

  Just as he lost control again, Iris cried out again in shock before she calmed down once more. He muttered an apology for making it show up again just as she apologized. "I-I'm v-very sorry..! I-I f-forgot th-that.. That y-you created i-it.."

  Iris spoke and he listened, even as his eyes wandered around to the monster and to the sky, Silas listened to her speak. Her voice sent him into a calm state of mind before she got quiet and stopped mid sentence. Silas turned his attention back to her, mildly confused by why she stopped. Silas decided to fill in the empty silence with a somewhat random story of his own, "When I was back at home, I would sit in our barn with my sister for hours upon hours, just making illusions in there until we both passed out." He paused at the memory of doing this, he hadn't seen her in a couple months now. "One night, I was doing it for longer than I ever had and my vision became blurry, I got a nose bleed, a migraine and could barely walk." Silas laughed and rubbed his neck again, not sure why the memory even mattered at all at this particular time. "Sorry, that was really random." 

Iris listened politely to Silas as he spoke of having gone on a run, nodding in acquiesce. If she'd had more time, she might've been inclined to run as well, however she had no incentive. After her story seemed to have abruptly halted, she paused to absorb her friend's story with a growing sense of apprehension building inside of her chest. The fact that he would become injured once he used his abilities frightened her to no end, especially since he was in the process of conjuring an illusion as they spoke. And, although she was tempted to ask about his sister, she was growing all the more concerned with his well-being at the current time. "N-No, that's all r-right, I-I liked th-the story," she responded instinctively to his apology, anxiously opening her binder then, without warning, ripped one of her papers out of its rings with a sense of urgency saturating all of her movements. "U-Um, if y-you feel l-like you're g-going to h-have a n-nosebleed o-or something of th-the sort, y-you can u-use this," she offered, placing the piece of paper on his lap. To be truthful, she didn't want to have to deal with him falling unconscious as Eris had, for she wasn't quite sure how she'd go about finding others to assist her swiftly.

In an attempt to avoid that situation, Iris set her binder and pencil down very carefully beside her, and crept to position herself directly in front of Silas. "U-Um, it helped E-Eris wh-when he c-could lay d-down, so m-maybe y-you should too, i-if you're f-feeling tired," she suggested quietly, leaning forward to gingerly place his hands onto his shoulders and apply a very gentle sense of pressure upon them. Eris had willingly laid down, but if Silas was attempting to keep himself awake for her sake or being polite, she wanted to reassure him that this was needless, "I-I d-don't wish f-for you t-to fall u-unconscious, s-so it's o-okay if you r-rest. I-I can i-imagine th-that conjuring th-that l-large of an i-illusion c-can be t-tiring." Her voice had grown incredibly anxious and worried at this point, afraid that at any moment, her friend's eyes would roll into the back of his head and he'd succumb to some sort of illness, or some other irrational idea.

Silas

Alone but never lost

   Silas looked back towards Iris as she spoke, "N-No, that's all r-right, I-I liked th-the story." Strangely enough, Iris didn't seem to mind his little story. Though knowing her, even if she didn't like the tale she would have said she did. Iris's expression suddenly changed as she plucked a piece of paper out of her notebook,  "U-Um, if y-you feel l-like you're g-going to h-have a n-nosebleed o-or something of th-the sort, y-you can u-use this," Silas nodded, understanding her not wanting his blood all over her stuff if a nose bleed was to occur.

   Silas watched silently as Iris positioned herself in front of him and gently pushed him into a laying position. He willingly moved onto his back, but propped himself up on his elbows so that he could still talk to her. "All that stuff is for one of your classes right? Fun times." Silas chuckled, he hadn't gotten any of his work done but he was an amazing procrastinator. Always had been and sure wasn't about to change any time soon at this rate. 

Iris couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as Silas laid on his back, filled with relief. She hated the thought of another one of her companions falling into the clutches of some sort of illness due to her, even if it was practically inevitable. Slowly, she leaned back and sat beside the blonde-haired boy, smiling now that the weight of worry had been lifted off of her shoulders. As if suddenly reminded of why she came here, she perked up, nodding quickly, "Oh, y-yes! Biology, a-actually," she responded softly, gathering her things again and peering about the forest in thought on how to proceed with the assignment. From one of the pockets inside of her binder, she extracted a couple of slides and slowly approached the river, dipping them into the water and placing them together to seal the drops of water in place. Once she finished, she returned to his side, slipping the slides into her binder and murmuring, "Do y-you h-have work f-for one of y-your classes?" It might've been an odd question, however she decided that it was worth a try to dig deeper into the way he was wording his statement.

The girl wrote down a few notes concerning the layout of the ecosystem of the forest that she could view, her neat and slightly shaky handwriting swiftly writing across her paper. However, not wanting to be rude to Silas, she attempted to try and spur on the conversation a bit longer, going back to the beach as a reference point. "I-I recall y-you saying th-that y-you didn't have a-as many f-friends a-as you'd l-like here, b-but now that y-you've met E-Eris, have you b-become friends w-with him? H-He's a l-loyal friend." Little did Iris know that the two weren't necessarily on good terms, but she still chose to try and instigate some sort of companionship between the two boys.



(I'm so sorry for this taking so long omg)

Silas

Alone but never lost

   "I-I recall y-you saying th-that y-you didn't have a-as many f-friends a-as you'd l-like here, b-but now that y-you've met E-Eris, have you b-become friends w-with him? H-He's a l-loyal friend." Silas felt his mood swing as she mentioned Eris. One of the few people who had instantly disliked him and now Iris, though she did it as a kindness, wanted him to befriend him.  Silas felt like becoming friends with Eris would make things between Iris and himself even more confusing, since it seemed like Eris was falling for her as well. The three of them would definitely make an awful love triangle.

    Silas tried to his his distaste for the idea as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, again. "I was hoping to meet newer people now, but I'll keep Eris in mind."  He glanced down at her homework and wondered if he should be doing the same... or actually going to class. Silas was sure that his grades were on a sinking ship now but wasn't sure, things were too confusing now a days.

    As he was about to shift positions, he felt a coldness drip down his nose. His hand flew up to his nose just as the blood started to flow, using his other hand he grabbed the paper that Iris had ripped for him and put it against his nose. Silas sighed, irritated by the fact that he was getting these kinds of things from pushing himself with his powers. He was starting to fear that worse things were to come if he wasn't careful with his powers.

Iris certainly didn't skip a beat when she detected some sort of new emotion wafting off of Silas. It wasn't pleasant in the least, and she felt herself gradually permit guilt to swell inside of her chest. Had she said something to bring him discomfort? Or perhaps her presence was growing pestilent in some manner or another? Paranoid, she glanced over herself in a subtle manner, as not to appear too out-of-the-ordinary, and combed her fingers anxiously through her hair. The once blithe yellow that stained the young man's body had turned a momentary, darker amber hue, indicating agitation of some sort. Of course, this could've been caused by a plethora of things, but the timid girl was inclined to think that she inflicted it. She bit back a swift wave of apologies as she watched him reply slowly, wondering why he preferred 'newer' people when he'd practically just met Eris. Thinking that he was too tentative to reach out to him, she continued in a quiet but encouraging tone, "E-Eris is really q-quite a n-nice person, I-I think y-you t-two would get a-along very w-well. I-I think th-that I-I could o-organize something f-for the th-three of us to talk o-or something.." This was a momentous occasion for Iris, but she was hoping that she would only have to instigate this once, and then she'd never have to put herself out there again, since the boys would become companions. Little did she know that her logic was completely off-kilter.

The young woman didn't have much time to dwell upon this as Silas's nose began to bleed, causing her to squeak instinctively. "O-Oh my g-goodness, are y-you okay? I-I certainly w-wouldn't m-mind taking you t-to the nurse o-or something, I-I mean i-if you can't w-walk or anything I-I can h-help you w-with that t-too!" she exclaimed rising up like a cork and held her hands out in a panic. Just the sight of blood always gave her an eerie sense of both satisfaction and fright, having correlated the sticky substance with her own release. Her fingers instantly traveled to her necklace, but, remembering Silas's fear, she pulled them away before any blood could be drawn, instead digging her nails into her palms to inflict some sort of pain. She gathered her things then, holding out one hand towards him as terror riddled her tone, "T-Take my h-hand, I-I can show y-you to th-the nurse.. Sh-She's really n-nice, I-I assure you, a-and I-I don't want you t-to f-fall or anything.." At this point, she was borderline frantic, her anxiety and concern for her friend's simple ailment having been amplified to a nonsensical amount.