Shake it off!

[Lieve Averesch]

RIGHT?! At least they agreed on that one--eww! Lieve felt somewhat vindicated, especially since Cori had actually met Rip so his opinion on the matter held more water than Lieve's did. But... it turned out that it might not have been a good thing to admit to that part of their relationship(?)--if it even was one. Because now poor Cori was jumping off the deep end.

Lieve grasped onto Cori's shoulders to try and calm him down. The water and the herbal mixture could only do so much. And Cori was getting himself real stressed out over this. Ah, Lieve regretted it now. He should have kept it to himself. But Cori would find out eventually, especially if the subject came up around Mik, who couldn't stop talking about Rip this and Rip that.

"Hey, hey, love. Calm down, all right? I'm sure there's... reasons for him leaving." If he even was his father. But if he was, yeah. There was the gay thing. Rip was supposedly in a relationship with another man, an abusive man. And now he might be sweet on Mik, so there was that... So yeah... Complications abound!

"And honestly, Mik's feelings could be one-sided, you never know. Right? We'll get to the bottom of all this, I promise. Just... calm down. Okay?"

[Cori Viera]

Guuuuhhhh it was too weird to think about Rip and Mik! Rip! And Mik! RIP and MIK! Dating! Holding hands! Getting lovey-dovey the way he saw Lieve sometimes get with his boyfriends! (Again--that tiny twinge of something not-so-nice in the chest, every time he was exposed to that.) The mental images were horrifying, admittedly.

Individually, Cori liked them. Rip had been gentle and sweet and kind to him. Fatherly, even. Mik was his best friend (next to Lieve though--Lieve was number one in Cori's eyes for sure). Mik was the person he went to when Lieve was busy; they hung out and played with the animals and Mik was always on his side. He counted on Mik to be there when Lieve wasn't or couldn't be.

But together! NO!

Cori did calm down once Lieve told him to calm down, reminded of the fact that he was kind of naked and kind of swimming in a tub full of warm water that was supposed to soothe his frazzled nerves. He fell back, breathing hard from his sudden outburst. "Let's go find Mik right now! And see if he knows where Rip is so we can talk to him again!'

First things first--finding his dad. And then--dealing with his dad. And Mik.

Eww.

[Lieve Averesch]

"Right now?" Lieve hadn't actually planned on going anywhere. It was getting dark out, the storm looked like it was coming back, and he really just wanted to get Cori fed and rested. (Was he his best friend or his mother?) But Cori was the type of person who wouldn't let go of something once he'd decided to hang onto it. Unless Lieve slipped him a sleeping potion, Cori was going to lie awake all night, tossing and turning and wondering about Rip.

"Okay," Lieve said with a sigh. "But at least eat first before we go."

He still thought Cori looked a little on the pale side. Maybe it was the ordeal or it could be the magic. Although from the sounds of things, Cori barely had to flick a wrist and magic just... happened. Impressive, especially for somebody new to magic. Lieve generally had to incant his spells.

Moving back up and away from the tub, Lieve went down the hall to grab one of the big soft bath towels from the linen closet. "Here," he said, holding it out for Cori. "If you get dressed, I'll whip up some stir fry. How's that sound?"

[Cori Viera]

Impulsive, impetuous, spontaneous and definitely easily riled up, that was Cori in a nutshell. He was very excitable; anything that happened seemed to happen with more... with just more emotion for him than for other people. Even very extroverted friends thought that Cori could be a bit much sometimes; they ragged him about drinking too many energy drinks or having too much sugar all the time, neither of which was true. Cori was simply... sunny. Optimistic. Incurably optimistic, as a matter of fact.

"Okaaay," he sighed good-naturedly, knowing that Lieve was right. Lieve was always right! Now that food was brought up, he did feel a little rumbly in the tummy. Then he recalled that he hadn't eaten since that morning, shortly after finding out that his fingers were cursed fingers. In all the flurry of action and things happening, food had been the last thing on his mind!

Cori accepted the towel with a big grateful smile. What would he do without Lieve?! "Sounds good!" He wrapped the towel around his shoulders, then leaned in and pecked Lieve on the cheek. "Thanks Lieve. You're such a good friend..." Was what he said, but. Well. Not that Lieve wasn't a good friend! He was a great friend! The best friend! It was just... the word friend...

Cori eased back and busied himself with drying off. He was tired and emotional, that was all. His dad came into the picture today—he was in shock! All the feelings ran into one another so... yeah. That was what that was. Probably.

[Lieve Averesch]

"You are very welcome, love," Lieve said with a pleased smile and a twirl of the hair. It wasn't just the smile. The cute little peck to his cheek put him in a good mood; he turned back toward Cori with a sassy smile as he went to the bathroom door. But Cori's expression had changed from great big grin to something more pensive.

"Are you okay?" he asked, leaning against the bathroom door.

Cori looked smaller than ever, wrapped up in his big towel and that expression on his face. Did it worry him? Meeting his father again? Rip might not even be him. It was just a hunch and Lieve wasn't going to pretend he knew all the answers. (Part of him kinda wanted to be wrong on this, but part of him wanted to be right--for Cori's sake...? It depended on whether this Rip guy was as nice as Cori and Mik claimed he was.

"Is it... Rip?"

[Cori Viera]

"Hm? What?" Cori let the tub drain out, lifting the plug with his big toe. The green-tinted, scented water swirled all around him. "I'm... yeah. Kind of." He was worried about Rip, too, and the possibility of him being Cori's father. Their resemblance was too much to be a mere coincidence. And the way that he instinctively knew to trust Rip, that said a lot about their connection, too.

But... it was like having this kidnapping scare... something inside of him finally turned over. Like a switch flicked, turning on all the lights in his brain, and he was seeing something within himself that he had never noticed before. It had always been there, but he only just now recognized it for what it was. Cori looked over at Lieve, standing by the door, worried about him because he had gotten suddenly quiet. Lieve was so good at reading his moods. Lieve knew more about Cori than anyone else on Earth, with the exception of his mom.

Slowly, Cori shook his head. He smiled again, slightly more subdued than his usual dopey smiles for Lieve. "I'm okay! Hungry!" The water finally drained out and he was able to wipe off his feet and step out. No wet footprints out of the tub! Cori was conscious of etiquette—his mom taught him quite well in that regard. "I'll be right out after I find some clothes! I can help chop veggies!" He paused. "Unless... they'll grow too if I touch them...?"

[Lieve Averesch]

"Don't worry too much. It'll all work out. If he is your father, then we'll know. And if he's not... this is always home."

He gave Cori a playful thumbs up sign to let him know it was all good and then realized he was standing in the doorway, blocking Cori's exit.

"Sorry! I'll get out of your way. And you touched me, remember?" They held hands, skin to skin. Nothing happened to Lieve and he was a plant fairy. Created out of a seedling, he was only a step up from a plant itself, a guardian of trees. And nothing happened to Lieve--that was the important takeaway from that. He walked backwards out into the hall, jerking his thumb toward the kitchen.

"I'll start that stir fry so take your time~"

Then he spun around and headed into the kitchen. Again, plants, plants, plants everywhere. He hoped they wouldn't make Cori too nervous. He thought about removing them all but there were so many in the kitchen; Lieve used them for dinner--herbs, vegetables, fruits, you name a plant and he probably had it somewhere in the house. And he could make just about any kind grow anywhere if he wanted to.

The powders, too, were ground up from plants. And they still worked to calm Cori and release some of his stress. Of course, there was a difference between a dried and ground up herb and a living plant, though...

Lieve pulled out everything he'd need for a quick stir fry. He'd chosen this for a meal because it was quick, easy, and tasty. And they always had ingredients on hand. Choosing vegetables, he set them on the counter with a chopping knife. They would only know if it would do anything if Cori had a chance to try.

[Cori Viera]

This was always home... Cori's smile brightened at that. Yes. Yes! This was always home! This house but also... Lieve. The moments they shared together, preparing meals or working out in the garden or at the shop, these were all irreplaceable. The memories, like the seeds that Lieve planted in the soil, took root and sprouted. Today, they blossomed and bore fruit—and it was only too bad that there was so much else going on in their lives.

He executed a quick change back in his room, picking out clothes at random and slipping into them heedless of pattern or color. Cori usually left that to Lieve since he was so good at fashion and makeup and all that. The only times Cori paid much attention was when Lieve practiced 'looks' on him, and even then there was very little work involved. He only had to sit there and try not to wince when Lieve's hands came too close to his eyes.

Back out in the hallway, he padded towards the kitchen and nearly had a heart-attack when he almost stepped on a stray leaf. One of the bathroom plants that Lieve carried out earlier dropped it; he didn't want to collapse the roof in plant leaves so he gave it a very wide berth, eventually edging into the kitchen looking shellshocked. Lieve had already gotten the ingredients out, so Cori went to his usual station and tentatively picked up the knife.

He stared at a bell pepper. Lieve was right—they touched and Lieve didn't... explode and grow into a hundred foot tall human. But Lieve was also a magical being, whereas a pepper was not. Cori stabbed it with the knife first... as though if he committed an act of murder on it, maybe it wouldn't multiply. If it was dead. Then, gingerly, he touched it.

And it ballooned. Into a giant pepper. But it stopped when it was approximately the size of a basketball, while Cori yelped and stabbed the knife into it (in self-defence?) and ran over to Lieve.

[Lieve Averesch]

Lieve smiled encouragingly as Cori picked up the knife to begin cutting the veggies. All seemed well... if stabbing the bell pepper was doing well. But then... Cori touched the bell pepper and right before their eyes, it ballooned to triple its size. Even Lieve stared, half worried it would just keep going. He started forward to intervene but thankfully, the pepper stopped growing... when it was big enough to be mistaken as a pumpkin instead of a bell pepper.

Despite himself, he laughed as Cori stabbed it, like that would somehow tell it to stop.

"It stopped, it stopped," Lieve said, but he still put his arms around Cori when he came running for him in sheer shock over his fears coming to life.

"Look, see? It stopped." Whatever made those other plants grow like Cori said, this time it wasn't so bad. Cori managed to stop it... somehow. Stroking the back of Cori's head, he added, "How did you make it stop? That was you, wasn't it?"

Because it wasn't Lieve. He intended to interject but he didn't have to, in the end. And now they had a bell pepper big enough to make ten stir fries if they wanted to.

[Cori Viera]

YIKES!

That was too much pepper for one pepper! Cori hugged Lieve around the middle, fretfully looking over his shoulder at the giant monstrosity that used to be an orange bell pepper. It gently toppled over onto its side, but didn't fall to the ground as the handle of the knife sticking out of it stopped it from rolling off the counter. Cori had never seen a pepper that big! There were giant pumpkins, sure, at the harvest festival—grown by the Duffy farm—but those were all-natural. (Or so he thought.)

This. There was nothing natural about this!

Cori turned and buried his face into Lieve's shoulder, not wanting to keep looking at the monster he had just created. "I dunno." His voice was muffled; he held on to Lieve tighter, as though he wished to merge into one being with him. "I told it to stop. In my head." He supposed that it... listened? Honestly he didn't know how things worked around here no more! He didn't tell it to start growing! Why would it listen to him when he told it to stop?

Although—back at the apartment when that other plant kept growing, he didn't tell it to stop either. His inner monologue sort of was just one long terrified scream... Maybe his panic or fear set the thing off. Or maybe he was finally getting his long-time wish of having a magical green thumb like Lieve! Who knew! Who on God's green earth knew how magic worked?! Or why!

"We can't eat that much pepper, Lieve..."

[Lieve Averesch]

"Well then, you have the power to stop it!"

Which was good news. Cori could grow things but he could also stop them from growing. (And kill them but that was a different problem.) Kinda strange he could do both. Normally, it was one or the other. Cori's powers weren't anything that Lieve had experience with. Maybe in his life before but now? He had no clue what to make of all this.

"But if you don't want to, I'll cut the veggies. No big deal."

He eyed the giant bell pepper. Honestly most people would have been pleased to have that power but Cori was definitely afraid of it.

"We won't eat that one, though."

He doubted there was anything wrong with it as such but better to soothe Cori's worries than insist they eat it. There were plenty of other peppers and veggies to add to the stir fry. Giving Cori a gentle squeeze and a rub on the back, he finally let go of him.

"Now let me get this done so we can get over to the shelter, yeah? Shouldn't take long."

[Cori Viera]

"Okay. Sorry Lieve." Cori released Lieve from his death grip, only because he didn't want to accidentally do something to his best friend too! He went to a corner of the kitchen and sank down to sit on the floor with both legs sticking out in front of him, and both hands firmly trapped under his legs. If he couldn't touch anything, he couldn't make it grow big!

"I guess if I last till summer, we could grow giant watermelons!" He said with would-be cheerfulness, though inwardly he wasn't giving himself that much time. Somebody would come for him, surely. The cops or the government. Cori had a stark vision of being locked in a holding cell, and studied and experimented on. (He may have watched a movie about that, and he might have gotten spooked by it.)

Also Lieve didn't really need him to grow things since Lieve grew things very well already! He didn't make bell peppers expand to the size of a pumpkin! Cori stared at the pepper hard. He wondered... if it would shrink, if he told it to. A lot of what Rip told him to do back at the apartment involved visualization. Imagine a cloak around him; imagine he was looking at the barrier, to find the weak point. Imagine taking the goop off his hands.

He kept staring at it and imagining that it was a small, normal bell pepper, while poor Lieve had the burden of doing everything to make their meal. But unless they wanted onions the size of Cori's head, he didn't know what he could do to help! So he stared at the pepper and he imagined it being normal, envisioning the way it used to be, telling it to shrink. And—it shrank! It went back to normal size!

Cori edged right back up against the wall. "Lieve? Lieve I did a thing..."

[Lieve Averesch]

"Eyy," he said with a smile and a wave of a hand. "Don't worry about it."

There was nothing to apologize for. It wasn't like Cori was growing vegetables to unbelievable sizes on purpose. It was just all that power--it was probably hard to control, especially to somebody that had just awakened to his own power. Lieve always sort of knew about his own powers and so controlling them had never been an issue. But he had probably lived several lives before this one. That was how a dryad lived; without ever really dying, immortalized by a single seed that kept them moving into the next life and the next.

And with that, came innate knowledge about certain things.

Cori, however, whatever he was, didn't have that same innate knowledge. He was fumbling with this insane amount of power literally at his fingertips. Of course he was going to have some mishaps! And for that, Lieve really didn't think he needed to apologize.

"And you'll last until way beyond summer," he said sternly, looking over at Cori as he prepared the pan and cut a good pile and variety of veggies, working deftly. He was tossing the contents of the pan like an expert chef (he was... kinda) when Cori spoke again, this time in a small voice, looking nervous. Lieve held onto the pan and turned to look where Cori was looking.

Seeing that the once giant pepper was now a normal pepper, Lieve blinked in surprise and then laughed. Lowering the heat, he set the pan down and dropped down in front of Cori.

"See! I knew you could do it! You just need practice, that's all!"

[Cori Viera]

Cori swallowed. "We—we'd better eat fast and get outta here... in case it decides to explode later!" Reassured though he was by Lieve's smile—and it was a very nice smile to go with the rest of Lieve's very nice face—he didn't trust himself or his abilities. If he thought about something the wrong way, it was liable to blow up! Cori smiled back nervously though, not wanting to be a downer. Lieve was right—he needed practice!

Good thing they had a whole garden out back for him to practice on!

"But I think I kinda know how stuff works now!" He said more brightly, getting to his feet. "So if I'm careful not to touch too many things... and even if I do, I can sorta put them back to the way they were!"

Cori stuck his hands into his pockets. He sniffed the air appreciatively. "That smells really good though! Is it ready? Can we eat?" His stomach rumbled pointedly; he looked down at it, then up at Lieve, and laughed. It was a liiittle bit of a delirious-sounding laugh, but it was a laugh nonetheless. Cori didn't know if this was all a bad dream or if he was hallucinating, or if this was real life getting a whole lot weirder... But he had Lieve, and Lieve would take care of him the way he always had.

[Lieve Averesch]

"Shit!"

Lieve scrambled up and went for the pan to turn off the heat. Luckily, it wasn't burning. It was cooked to just the right temperature. He had to admit, his mouth was watering for stir fry, too. Grinning, he turned back to Cori. Best to not feed the beast when it came to Cori's fears. Better to move on. Feed him, meet this guy, find out if he was his father...

"Let's eat~!"

Lieve made them each a bowl and handed one over to Cori. Hopefully a little nourishment would wipe away that awkward laugh and the nervousness that Cori was exuding ever since Lieve got back. The bath had worked for a while, but now it was definitely wearing off.

Once they were finished eating, Lieve knew there was no more stalling. They had to go. Cori was antsy and it seemed like he was only going to get worse the more he dwelled on all these mysteries. After a hasty clean up job, Lieve grabbed their coats, giving Cori his before he slipped his on. He flipped his hair over his shoulder and took in a deep breath, then reached out and took Cori's hand.

"Time to get some answers."