Unknown Heritage

[Maira]

The tour was quick and to the point. He just followed Carmine and listened carefully as he was given details about the suite and also how the fallen angels were locked out of the third floor. He thought that was rather curious and stared at the barriers a moment after Carmine had headed back.

Once back in the suite, Rune listened as Carmine explained that his suite would be right across the hallway and to find him if he needed anything. Then, just as he was getting ready to turn into the suite and go sleep off his headache, Carmine reiterated that he would be right across the hall. Just the way he said it made one of Rune's eyebrows crawl up his forehead questioningly. Sparring would be fun, and to learn from Carmine would be an honor, but why did the older Custos emphasize his location so strongly unless....? Nah... Rune was just getting weird ideas because his head hurt. Still, he nodded and answered Carmine, "I'll remember that." Then he asked, "Will you wake me up later when Lord Darius wants me? I've got a killer headache I need to sleep off and I don't want to oversleep and annoy him."

When Carmine answered that he would, Rune nodded his thanks and closed and locked the door once the other Custos had left. Then he headed straight for the bedroom, shucked off the better part of his armor until he was only in the pliant leather pants he wore underneath and crawled onto the bed, not even bother with pulling the blankets up over him. Depsite the miriad of thoughts going through his mind, Rune was out cold the moment his head hit the pillow.

[Demeter]

It had been a day since Rune had showed up on Darius' doorstep. Darius considered a day long enough for the boy to sleep so he sent Carmine to fetch him. Carmine muttered all the way down to Rune's room. He was a goddamned bodyguard, not a servent meant to fetch and carry!

He pounded on Rune's door and when no answer came, he pulled out a ring of keys from the inner pocket of his coat. Being the head bodyguard and the captain of the elite guard did come with it's perks even if he was treated like a servent by Darius at times. He had the key to every room in the house. Carmine quickly found the right key and unlocked the doors to Rune's room. He found the man sleeping, shirtless.

Carmine took a quick moment to admire the finely muscled torso exposed to him and then pondered the best way to wake the man up. Touching him was out. Carmine supposed that Rune was one of this men who'd wake up fighting at a sudden touch. "Hey, Wake up!" When that failed to get a response, Carmine sighed. And then spotted that the other pillow, the one of the empty side of the bed was free. He moved around the bed and picked it up. He kneeled on the bed and used to pillow to whack Rune's shoulder. "Hey, Lazy Bones, get up!" he yelled and hit him with the pillow again. He then scrambled off the bed and moved across the room. He'd woken Darius up out a dead sleep enough times to know what the DeLorme men were capable of.

[Maira]

From the time Rune had closed his eyes, until he was being whacked with a pillow and shouted at to wake up, Rune slept like a rock. He'd had some of the weirdest dreams he'd ever had in his life, but he had slept. When it finally registered that he was being beat up with a pillow, and not just absorbed into his dream, Rune was out of the bed in a flash and was reaching for his sword. Only, his hand stopped its journey to his sword when he saw Carmine smirking in the opposite corner of the room.

He raised an eyebrow at the other man, then wandered over to where he'd set aside his armour and snagged the soft shirt off the top of the pile before asking, "How long was I asleep? Feel like I've slept for a month." Then he pulled the shirt over his head.

Rune wasn't putting the shirt on because of any sense of modesty, but because he actually felt a little vulnerable. This was after all a strange Custos Lord's house, and the man standing across the room from him was that Lord's bodyguard. He had locked the door for a reason. Once he had the shirt on, Rune asked Carmine, "So is Lord Darius ready to see me then?"

[Demeter]

"Youve slept for a day. Darius decided that a day of sleep is long enough. He respectfully requests your presence in his personal sitting room. He also says there is no need to wear armor in the house." Carmine waited until the younger Custos was ready go and then lead him into a different wing of the house and up a few flights of stairs. He knocked on the door.

While he waited for it to open, Carmine tooked over his shoulder. "You'll also be meeting Lord Darius' wife, Lady Genesis. She won't be staying for the whole time but she and Darius and cooing over the latest report for her physican. I swear that man breeds like a rabbit."

When doors open, Carmine couldn't help smiling. Genesis was curled on her husband's lap and both were laughing softly. He coughed to get their attention. "Lady Genesis, This is Rune. I'm sure you've heard plenty about him."

Genesis smiled and wiggled out of Darius' possesive hold on her waist. "Glad to meet you, Rune. I'll just leave you boys alone and go down to the kitchen to see if Mrs. Fowly needs any help."

[Maira]

"A day?!" Rune asked incredulously before he could stop himself. It had been a very long time since he had done that and the last time was years ago after a particularly bad beating from Shadis... After that, Rune listened while he continued to get dressed. He had just reached for some of his armor when Carmine told him he didn't need it, according to Lord Darius. He couldn't help but be a bit skeptical at those words, he was a trained warrior after all, but he decided that if Darius didn't think he needed armor in the house then he would go without.

Since he couldn't wear his armor, it took Rune almost no time at all to get ready and he was soon following Carmine through the halls of the house. When they reached a door and Carmine knocked on it, Rune took a steadying breath. He wasn't quite sure just what Darius would want of him to help with Ellen's trial but he was sure it wasn't going to be a pleasant way to spend any amount of time, long or short.

At Carmine's odd comment about Darius breeding like a rabbit, Rune raised his eyebrow in amusement. Then he tried to remember the names of all his siblings and he just couldn't... Yes, Darius did indeed breed like a rabbit.

When the door opened and Carmine entered the room, Rune followed and took a quick look around before letting his eyes land on his father, and the woman he assumed was his stepmother as she was perched in Darius' lap. He supposed the image was heartwarming but like with most things, Rune just watched in silence. When Carmine introduced him to his step-mother, Rune gave a small respectful bow an answered her softly, "Pleasure to meet you too Lady Genesis."

Once the woman was gone from the room and only the three men were left, Rune felt shivers crawling up his spine. At least with Genesis in the room things likely wouldn't have gotten too interesting. Now with her gone, Rune was pretty much at Darius' mercy...

[Demeter]

Darius watched his wife leave the room and then snapped his attention back to Rune. "I see that you are once again with the living. Carma, if you could please get the notebook we've been using, and the camera, we'll get started."

Carma headed over to a side table bad picked up several things. He then sat down behind a desk, picked up the annoying pair of glasses he needed to use whenever he read or wrote anything (one of the many downsides to being Darius' assitant/bodyguard. All the damn research and double-checking he had to do for the man had lead to him needing reading glasses) and looked about.

When Darius saw that his man was ready and waiting, he leaned forward in his chair. "We'll start with a vocal recount of your years with those two witless fools. And don't leave anything out. Absolutly nothing." Darius glared at the boy. He hoped that the boy would tell everything.

Carma sighed. "Rune, sit down. Darius, next time be polite and ask the man to sit down." He flipped the switch on a mini-recorder and nodded to Rune. "You may begin."

[Maira]

The situation was incredibly awkward and more than a little stressful for the young Custos. He listened as the man who was apparently his his father basically ordered him to spill all of his worst nightmares from childhood and he tried his best not to bristle. To help keep himself calm, Rune crossed his arms and took a steadier, more balanced fighting stance.

Rune was just about to start recounting his childhood when Carmine interrupted, basically scolding Darius for his lack of manners. Considering Darius was a Custos Lord, Rune hadn't thought anything of not being asked to sit until Carmine pointed it out. Still, when Carmine told him to sit, it took Rune a moment to do so. He was nervous and was fairly certain he'd wind up pacing eventually if he stayed standing but if he sat down he'd have no outlet for the discomfort... Choices, choices...

Eventually Rune managed to force himself into a chair and he let all the horrid little details spill out. At first talking was difficult but after the first few minutes Rune just became numb to what he was saying. He told them about the beatings, the many many beatings, and about how when he was old enough in his parents' eyes, about the soldiers he was given to as punishment. He even managed to remember a few of their names, so that if for no other reason they could be called upon to testify that Rune was telling the truth.

When he was finally finished, Rune was shaking a little bit but he managed to hide it rather well. It actually appeared more as an angry twitch than anything. From where he sat, Rune let his gaze drift between Darius and Carma and when they didn't say anything right away he asked, "Was that enough? Thats everything I remember."

[Demeter]

Before Darius could say a thing, Carmine spoke. "Thats enough for today, Rune. We'll continue this tomorrow. You're excused." After the younger Custos left the room, Carma turned and faced the wrath that his overlord was sure to vent at him. When the Custos lord finished his rant about Carma dismissing people, Darius sat back down in his chair and waited.

"My Lord," Carmine began in the most curteous of tones, "That boy just went through the retelling of his rather tramatic, and quite young, life. Unlike the two of us, My Lord, he hasn't yet affected a complete distance from that tramatic life because of his youth. to ask him to go through the second part of this interview, the part where you ask him to take off his clothing so that the scars left the two idiots can be documented and photographed for court records, is just a little much, don't you think?"

When the Custos lord mutter and grumbled before agreeing to Carma's point. He sloched down and waved Carma out of the room. He had much to think about.

Carma shut the doors to the study behind him. He sighed and headed for the training complex. The words that had spilled out of Rune's mouth made him twitchy. He knew that his emotions were tied to his ability to fight and sometimes, irrational things like abusing a child made him want to maim. The only way past that was to take it out on the trainees making use of the training complex.

He passed through the doors, stripped down to his pants and pulled down a blunted sword from the pratice rack. Turned to the huddled circle of trainees and pointed at the closest. He didn't notice when Rune wandered into the complex.

[Maira]

When Carmine dismissed him, Rune nodded curtly and then exitted the study as calmly as he could manage. Once outside, he made himself keep to a slow steady pace until he was out of hearing range and then he ran. He didn't really know his way around thehouse so he just ran until he found an exit. Once outside, Rune let his wings free and took to the sky.

Flying on the hot thermals of Hell was a challenge on a good day, and luckily for Rune's nerves and tempermant it wasn't a particularly good day. By the time he landed again in the courtyard of the DeLorme House he had worked up a nice little sweat. Even though the flight had taken the edge off his nerves, Rune still felt the urge to work out some of his tension. He asked the nearest guard where the training room was and when he was pointed at a seperate building from the main family complex, he smiled wickedly. It was huge. Apparently Darius considered keeping his troops trained a very high priority.

Entering the the training building, Rune was even more impressed. The place just seemed huge from the outside, from the inside it was cavernous. He could tell by the acoustics that there was a pool somewhere and he tucked that bit of information away for later. Knowing that he was in prime fighting condition, Rune wasn't worried about possibly encountering any of Darius's warriors so he resolutely made his way towards the sounds of sparring that he heard.

The sight that greeted Rune was a good one, at least considering his current frame of mind. Who better to let out his frustrations on than a man who would likely kick his ass. Nothing like a good ass-kicking to put things in perspective after all. He walked over to the rack of weapons and chose a blunted katana like sword. He gave it a few testing swings and then he looked at Carmine and closed the distance between them slowly. If the older Custos didn't want to spar with him, Rune wouldn't challenge him otherwise, but he would be dissappointed.

[Demeter]

Three out of the five trainees were flopped over on a bench, panting and dripping puddles of sweat onto the floor. He was about to single the fourth but another presence, one that would provide much more of a challenge then weak-kneed weaklings, made itself know. Carma turned his head and flicked it at Rune, motioning him forward.

He wanted to sweat out the frustation that was inevitably brought around by parents who couldn't care, properly, for their children. Rune would give him the sweating work out he wanted. Carma swung the sword around in his hand, renewing his grip on the blunted, single handed, spanish sword. Shorter then both Talos and Beauty in blade length, the spanish sword, would allow him closer. Allow him to have to use more then just blind attacks. He'd have to think and to use his ability and skill to take down Rune.

When Rune settled into his stance, Carma waited. The beginning was always a waiting game. This would be instructive, he thought absently, for the huddle of trainees watching. He never made the first move against an oppoinant that would challenge him.

[Maira]

The subtle gesture of Carmine's head was enough for Rune to know it was his turn. Stepping out from the circle of remaining trainees, Rune faced off with Carmine. He watched the older man swing his sword and admired the play of muscle on his arms, there was no doubting that Carmine was also in prime fighting condition. Once they were both ready, Rune waited only long enough to realize that Carmine was not going to be the one to start their excersize then he moved in.

As they both took swings at each other, both defended themselves, and twisted in a dangerous dance, Rune could feel himself being pushed to his limits. The last time he had been this challenged in a fight had been when he was young and still in training. He learned new forms on the fly just from observing Carmine and he in turn used them against the older Custos. The first time he turned one of Carmine's moves back on him, Rune watched with amusement as approval flickered through his opponent's eyes even as he didn't miss a beat.

[Demeter]

Carma felt the beginning of a grin tugging at his lips. When Rune turned one of his own attacks on him, Carma chuckled. Rune hd the skills to go far if he wanted to. Shadis may have been completely incapable of raising a child but he could teach a child to fight.

Time to finish this, Carma thought. He ducked his sword under Rune's guard and smashed the blade against Rune's wrist. He was able to spin into a thin opening and thrust his elbow back into Rune solar plexius. "There is always room for improvement. Don't always expect sword play when using swords. Though I am impressed that you managed to stay on your feet" he said over his shoulder with a quick glance up and down Rune's body.

Carma backed away from Rune and racked his sword. He gathered his belongings before turn to the trainees. "You three, get better. The elite guard doesn't take anyone but the exceptional." He pointed at Rune. "You, follow me."

[Maira]

The moment Carmine's sword slipped inside and smashed into his wrist, Rune knew it was over. He didn't even have time to pull his wrist away from the pain the sword caused before there was an elbow connecting with his chest and the breath went out of him in a whoosh. He staggered with the impact but managed to stay upright, all the while glaring mildly at Carmine. He couldn't be too mad after all, he had hoped to get his ass kicked and Carmine had done just that in the end.

He finally got his breath back just as Carmine pointed at him and told Rune to follow him. Curious to see what the older Custos had in mind, Rune nodded his head and followed him out of the training complex in silence.

[Demeter]

Carma led Rune through the main house to the pool room. Different from the pool in the trainroom, the average sized pool allowed for relaxation rather then training. Enclosed in a glassroom and surrounded by Bella's non dangerous plants, the heated water steamed up the glass panes and allowed for a rather obsured view for anyone trying to look into the room...if they could get through Bella's hybrid rosebushes...

"You need to relax and not fight out your frustrations. I know this afternoon caused some frustrations. People rarely come in here during the day so you should be alone." Carma dropped his stuff on one of the lounge chairs on the room. "Except for me, that is." He glanced over at Rune and calming undid the laces to his pants. He perfered jeans to the laced trousers but when on duty he was requred to wear something that atleast looked like the standard uniform.

He'd worn underwear that morning, a pair of boxer briefs but underwear none then less. He flashed a grin at Rune and dove into the deep end, the 12ft portion of the family pool. He broke the water with barely a spash, sliding through the water. He remained under for a while but he knew that Rune could see his moving shape from above the surface. He surfaced in the shallow end and smiled at Rune. "Come on in, the water is nice and warm" he said while slapping the surface of the blue water with his hand.

[Maira]

Following Carmine out of the training complex and into the main house, Rune couldn't help but wondr just what the other man wanted with him. Surely there wasn't going to be anymore sesions with Darius, so he honestly had no idea what to expect.

When Carmine finally led him into a steamy, glass enclosed room filled with plants and a pool, Rune was more than a little confused. What house in Hell had such a lush place as this in it? Apprently Darius' family life had made him soft...

He was looking around at all the plants when he heard Carmine talking and he turned his attention to him. He was being told he needed to relax, not fight away his frustration and Rune couldn't help but stiffen. Who was Carmine to tell him how he needed to handle everything going through his head? What made him think he knew what was best for Rune?

Rune nearly turned and left but the sight of Carmine unlacing hs pants stopped him in his tracks. He watched as the other warrior stripped down to his boxers and then dove into the water smoothly. The sight of Carmine making his way powerfully under the water caused one of Rune's eyebrows to raise. Luckily, by the time Carmine resurfaced, Rune had his face under control.

When invited to join Carmine in the water, Rune stood still for a moment suddenly feeling uncharacteristically shaken. He had grown up essentially idolizing this man and now he was being casually asked to join him for a swim? It was just a bit much for his already frazzled nerves. Instead of turning around and walking out like was his first instinct, Rune nodded before he too stripped down to his boxers. He didn't do anything nearly so showy as dive in to the pool, instead he just took the stairs and let the warm water creep up his tired, sore, stressed body. Okay, so maybe Carmine had been right, this was a good idea.

[Demeter]

Carma waited until Rune was waist deep in the water before he floated backwards, content to just drift for a few minutes. He'd seen the scars that crissed and crossed Rune's flesh. Reaching now would not help with the relaxing. He'd seen to many finely trained warriors break down from stress and over-working their bodies when spending time away from the sparring ring and the battlegrounds would worked wonders.

Carma dipped his head back into the water and let his body follow him under, in somewhat of an inverted dive. Carma was sure that if he'd been born a magic user, water would have been his element. He felt right at home in any body of water. He enjoyed how weightless he felt when floating. He came up right next to Rune, tilting his head back to keep his blonde hair out of his face.

"You really don't know much about relaxing, do you. You're also probably confused about why Darius' home, especially the house he keeps in hell, seems so...un-Custos-lord like. The one thing Darius is always about is family. Which is why he is so pissed off at Ellen and Shadis. You should just loosen up, Rune, if your going to spent any amount of time."

Carma glanced him up and down. "Probably do you some good to just loosen up. No one will attack you, unless you ask for it, of course, within the walls of this house. That's what the Elite Guard is for and I'm sure that you can imagine just what an Elite Guard trained and captained by yours truly can do."

Carma then slipped back under the water and swam down to the other end of the pool where he flipped around and just hovered under the water. He'd gotten a good look at Rune's upper body but he wanted to see if the bottom matched the top. Though he knew nothing of Rune's preferences, being forced onto soliders meant nothing, Carma still liked to know. Deciding that the lower half matched the top half, Carma bobbed up and rolls his shoulders.

[Maira]

The water was doing its job and when Carmine commented on him not knowing how to relax, Rune just ignored it. He knew it wouldn't be worth the frustration it would cause for both of them if he bothered to argue or make smart-ass comments. Basically being told he didn't know how to relax was annoying and hit too close to home. He honestly hadn't had a childhood and he supposed that probably had something to do with his work-a-holic attitude.

At the mention of Ellen and Shadis, Rune's hackles raised. If Carmine wanted him to relax, mentioning those two was certainly -not- the way to get him to do it. And then Carmine went on to tease him about feeling paranoid. His icey blue eyes went red and he was having to force himself not to react. Finally, just to get away from Carmine's words Rune dunked himself under the water. The water muffled all sounds and the warmth of it soothed some of the tension that was in his shoulders and neck. When he sighed with relief, a stream of bubbles made their way to the surface of the water.

When he couldn't stay under water any longer, Rune finally surfaced, his silvery white hair slicked against his head. After pushing the water off his face and away from his eyes, they opened and were once again blue. Carmine had apparently stopped talking and was now down at the other end of the pool acting like he was part of the water. When he dissappeared under the surface, Rune just waited for him to come back up. Now that he was in the water he honestly wasn't sure what was expected of him. Sure, he knew how to swim but this pool wasn't big enough to really get in any good laps, and somehow he thought that wasn't what Carmine had brought him here for.

[Demeter]

Carma cringed. Rune probably didn't know what to listen to but he knew the sounds of a small herd of children heading towards the pool room. He scooted over to Rune, grabbed a hold of his upper arm and dragged him down to the deep end of the pool. When he made to protest the rough treatment, Carma shushed him. "Trust me on this one. Its gonna be safer down here..."

Carma pushed Rune back against the tiled wall of the pool and joined him. "I truly hope you don't mind being splashed. Because that is going to happen." Carma turned his head away just as four children rushed into the room and jumped.

Rowan spashed down first, followed by Sebby and Gareth. Lani rushed up to the edge of the pool, balanced on her tiptoes and then jumped in, giggling with the inflatable arm bands around her arms kept her from going under. She may have been an excellent swimmer but she didn't quite have the art of breathing while swimming down yet. Rowan doggy-paddled over to the deep end and peered up at Carma...who was dripping from the spash that three five year old boys could create. "Hiya, Carma. Auntie Bella said she'd watch us but she's gotta put the snake away first." He floated around in a circle and looked at Rune. "Hi, Who are you? I'm Rowan." He turned and identified each of the other children in the pool. When Lani bobbed her way over, she stared at the strange man for a moment and then launched herself at him. She wrapped her arms, complete with floaties, around his neck and squeezed.

Carma stared at Lani and then laughed. He should have warned Rune about Lani's habit of jumping random people. When Bella walked into the room, she dropped her plant care supplies and laughed. Seeing Carma surrounded by the kids wasn't nothing new but she'd heard about the rather stiff personality of the new guy and seeing Lani cuddling up to him was just to much.

[Maira]

He heard the noise just before Carmine hauled him off to the other end of the pool. He wanted to protest but was quieted with reassurances that the deep end would be safer than the shallower end. When it got closer, Rune realized that the noise sounded like a heard of hell horses that were charging down the hallway and when they manifested into four children he stared in shock. How could things that small make -that- much noise?

When Carmine looked away from the three flying boys, Rune hurried to do the same. The mini tidal wave the trio created even reached the far end of the pool where they both were. After the initial splash, Rune turned back to look at the children just in time to see a young girl balancing on the edge for just a moment before she too jumped in.

Once all four children were in the water, Rune looked at Carmine begging with his eyes for an explinaton of just who and what the children were and who they belonged to. The little girl may have had whiteblonde hair but her eyes were the same violet shade as Dion's so he figured she was somehow related... The three boys though, none of them looked like anybody he knew so he wasn't sure if they were family or not. At least, he wasn't sure until the little redhead paddled over and started talking about Auntie Bella.

As his attention was taken up by the boy, the little girl had made her way through the pool. When he looked in the direction of the other children he was surprised to see her staring at him. Then she got this look in her eyes and a disarming smile on her face and she launched herself at him. When the small arms snaked around his neck and squeezed it made the floaties squeak against his skin and he couldn't help but smile a little himself.

Before he had a moment to collect himself, Rune heard a crash and laughing. He looked up from the girl hanging around his neck to his sister Bella standing in the entrance to the room and he glared at her for just a moment before carefully removing the little girl and putting her back in the water. When she swam off after the other two boys, he turned his attention back to the redhead. "My name is Rune," he told the boy in answer to his earlier question.

[Demeter]

Rowan looked at the man, one eyebrow raised. He circled around for a moment and then peered up at his Uncle Carma. When the older Custos nodded to him, Rowan grinned and paddled away. Halfway to the shallow end of the pool, Rowan shifted. He preferred to be in his tiger form when swimming...he just moved better. He moved down under the water and used his powerful paws to move along.

Lani squrimed out of her floaties and shifted as well. She couldn't do the breathing thing when swimming in her human form but she could swim quite well while a kitty. She dove down after Rowan, intent on chasing him around the pool. The twins couldn't shift but they could swim so they acted like spotters for the kitties.

Bella sighed at the sight of lani-less floaties. 'I really don't know why I try." She walked around the edge of the pool and stared down at Carma. "You are wearing something, right? I do not want these impressionably young children to catch sight of anything."

Carma looked up at Bella. "You know I don't swim in the nude in this pool. Thats the training room pool when no one else is around. I'm wearing underwear. I wasn't planning on having the rugrats join us. Speaking of which..." he grinned and then slid under the water. He swam after the two cats, pulling on Lani's tail and tweaking Rowan's ear.