How to Train Your Channeler

[Zephyr]

Zef hadn't been truly prepared for having an unwilling channeler. He couldn't do anything to hurt her with the power, it flowed through her -- or rather the dial that was also embedded into her skull.

It was completely unintended but it is what it is. The fucking creatures didn't explain anything and they were learning. She could make him hurt. And she did that often because of his unruly behavior. She had to resort to other punishments like a small cage and no food.  He would learn to obey if she had anything to say about it.

And when he did they finally were able to start training. Eido was less than happy with her, but it was the price of having this pet.

Zef had no idea how to do this, how to use the power, how to force him all she knew right now was she controlled the flow and could cause him pain. They were still learning and it was trial and error.  The boy wasn't completely cowed, but he was behaving for the moment as they entered the underground and found a quiet and mostly try tunnel in which they could let his raw fire power loose without destroying anything of importance.

She stood before the darkhaired godling and gave him only a trickle of power. "Show me a ball of light." Surely anyone could do that.  She'd seen the youngest of godlings do that.

[Eidolon]

None of this sat easily. Enforced servitude was barbaric, and not kinder than death. Sasha Petrova fought like a frightened animal. And had he been a caged animal, Eido knew Kōta would have acted to free him. In her silence there was a complicity she warred with eternally, and which drew her into more quietness than was usual, even for her. She felt the wedge grow between her and Zephyr where once there might have blossomed friendship, and yet it did not diminish the oath of protection. For her, and for whatever life she might one day carry into this world. Eido wondered at the future of a child with so formidable a mother. What they might one day become. And in that uncertainty she found another reason she could not walk away. Complicity was like that; a tarnish on one’s soul. Some small part of Eido believed that one day she might make a difference. That she bore responsibility which would not disappear simply because she turned away.

She reminded Zephyr frequently that fear and pain were poor tools. When she spoke any further on the matter it was with some quiet authority – some lived experience she did not deign to share in detail. She missed the hunting birds of her youth, and did not want to confide her past – or any sense of the true woman behind her oath. Eido was a shield, nothing more. But Zephyr was often impatient, and pain brought quicker results than the partnership Eido tried to steer her towards.

His eyes haunted her. His screams and howls. She dared not speak to Kōta about it. Her thoughts strayed frequently to Kiyohito, but she did not wish to bring only her burdens to his door either. Instead she trained harder, sinking herself into the physical prowess when her inner conflict would otherwise unravel her. The power had never returned, not since she healed Zephyr.

The most painful truth was that without the device embedded in both their skulls, Eido knew they would both be dead. Sasha Petrova had killed hunters before, perhaps simply in uncontrolled frenzy and fear, but it still made him dangerous. Now he had a face to hate, and Zephyr only stoked those flames trying to mold him to her liking. Release wasn’t an option now, she knew that. She followed in silence, and remained in the shadows while Zephyr began her session.

[Sasha]

Things had gone from bad to worse in 0 seconds flat. Sasha didn't know what way was up or what way was down by the time he found himself in the underground city dragged by a leash and collar like some dog, though it was not a physical leash. But the pain from the thing embedded in his head made him put one foot in front of the other. It was worse that the worst withdrawal he'd ever faced. It was worse than burning alive he suspected -- Or may that was what it felt like. He wanted to burn her alive. Watch her flesh roast, her skin peel from her body. What that pretty little face burn. He wanted to so badly, but everytime he even thought that pain coursed through his body and he howled in pain stumbling to the ground.

She snickered at his pain and then turned to him "Show me a ball of light."

Sasha shrugged. "I can't do that. I don't know how."

She growled. "What do you know?"

There was the faintest hint of the power floating at the edge. He had no idea how to capture it. She took the shard from him. It was back at the place she held him. Her home, he was doubtful but if it was she was stupider than he thought. "I can't. I don't know what I'm doing." There was a lot more begging in his voice than he intended. He wanted to flay her alive and burn her too. He craved that feeling that power. He wanted her dead. "I don't know anything. You picked wrong." Sasha laughed in her face. Which was followed up with searing pain but it was worth it to see the look on her face.

[Eidolon]

Eido’s expression paled, though she stifled the grimace. She remained half in the shadows as though wishing she could simply melt away there and spare herself the witness, and yet she did not look away. These heinous acts were her burden to share, and it would be dishonourable to pretend she was not complicit. The pleasure Zephyr took in the pain filled her with shame, yet she could see no solution which did not end in death or the shattering of her oath. Petrova stoked the animosity even as desperation filled all his words unbidden. She believed he spoke the truth. No sane man would withstand the torture just on principle. Only she was not sure Zephyr cared.

“Is there another way?” she asked quietly, a question voiced not for the first time. Petrova was doubled over again. She swallowed her discomfort to speak without emotion. Zephyr knew Eido was also unable to touch the power at will, that it was not simply an excuse Petrova was using to make her angry. Loyalty spared Eido the same measures to make her useful but it amounted to the same deficiency. “You have contacts that can remove names from the databases, and there is only one reason someone might have to do such a thing. Surely you have someone you could ask for advice. He does not deserve this pain.”

[Zephyr]

Zef growled in frustration. She should have just caged Durante! Free will be fucking damned. Though she might have a fight on her hands if Jacob heard that thought. But Eido was right, she couldn't touch the power at will, what made her think this boy could? He'd destroyed everything he'd touch up until this moment.

"I know someone who can help. Though unlike you, Eido, he is not as loyal. We need leverage." Durante would try to save her creature. He knew of the boy already. Knew because that was where she caught him, running from Durante's home. Durante had much leverage to use against him. But he'd kill her if she tried. Perhaps Jacob could reason with him. She couldn't free him even if he wanted to, she had no idea how it had all happened to begin with. The creatures had not left an instruction manual with it. It was all trial and error.

Sasha pleaded. "Just let me go. I can't help you." He clawed at the back of his head and then doubled over in pain again as the device defended itself. The howling pain made Zef smile a little. He was dangerous, this would teach him to behave if anything else. But she was at a loss of what to do. If he could do nothing, then they might as well give up.

But there was always the danger card. Put him in danger, see what he did. That might lead to damage on her end, if he had control he might try to hurt her, or Eido. She couldn't have that. Not until he was leashed properly. Zef didn't know what to do. This day was a bust.

[Sasha]

Sasha pleaded. Not that he thought it would help, it just sorta came out. The pain, the hell. But his mind focused on taking this woman out. The way she'd burn when he was free. She thought she was caging an animal, but instead she was just making one. She would die for this. It was the only thought that got him through things.

He wondered who the bitch knew that could help him. And why they weren't already dead if she was one of these hunters. The tattoo on her arm clearly resembled the others he'd faced off against. She would die! He would see to it.