Talyse
Toketsu found his mind captured by the presence of his best friend next to him. While he remained facing forward, he couldn't help but let his mind wander to thinking about the feelings that he had for this boy. What had caused him to move his hand like that? Why had he wanted to hold his best friends hand in the first place? It wasn't like they were little kids anymore...Yori was 18, an adult, and even though Toketsu himself was only 16, his maturity level was far beyond that of anyone his age. So why had he-
His train of thought was cut off as he also heard Kiko's voice, his eyes refocusing on the space in front of him as the doors opened. Joining his own voice in to the mix of yelling, he refrained from bringing his hands up to clap, realizing there was the possibility that he would have to brush his hand along Yori's. It was a simple action that normally would have no meaning to it, but for Toketsu, right now, it was promising to provide a meaning that would only confuse him and make him overthink such a simple thing. Anyway, there was plenty of other hands to do the clapping for him.
As the duo walked in and the sisters embraced, the grin on Aleks' face was obvious that he was enjoying Kiko's pathetic attempt at being frustrated with him, gladly returning her kiss before whispering a happy birthday to her. Toketsu made his way over with his parents out of habit as hugs were passed around, a small happiness springing up inside the boy as he watched Kesiom give the red head a hug, one she returned without incident. Part of Toketsu wanted to believe that the two had simply started to put their differences aside as time passed, but he was also sure that if he asked Kiko, she'd say she was doing it simply out of interplanetary relations. Both were the primary rulers of their planets after all, and often had to speak to each other about various topics and issues. Keiko and Aleks were there for said meetings also, but in the end, it was nice to see the two getting along no matter what was causing it.
Once his turn was up, Toketsu quickly walked forward, giving Kiko a quick hug and one of his rare big smiles. "Happy birthday Aunt Kiko," he said, just as something hit him. Obviously Yori's mother was the source for the young man's fire, why he was always so warm and why his energy was so...lively. Yet, as he hugged his aunt, someone he also genuinely cared about, the feelings that sprang up in him weren't anywhere near the level of what he felt just standing near Yori.
"Something wrong Toketsu?"
The boy just then realized he had stood still after his hug with Kiko, his attention only coming back to the present as Aleks spoke to him. Looking over to the blonde haired man, he shook his head quickly. "Oh no, nothing. Just thinking," he responded, and Aleks kept his gaze questioning before a smile broke out over his face. Sno walked up behind him in the next moment, placing a hand on Toketsu's shoulder lightly. "I was surprised you managed to keep Kiko out for that long," the woman said behind him, and Aleks just smirked, laying his hand across his wife's shoulders. "Well, we didn't only check on the patrols," he said, his voice overemphasized just as Kiko smacked him again.
Sno just chuckled for a moment, her hand squeezing Toketsu's shoulder briefly. "Why don't you go find something to eat Toketsu?" she said, and Toketsu just huffed, figuring out exactly why his mother wanted him to go away from the conversation. Turning back to look his mother in the eye, to argue something along the lines of him not being a child, he instead caught his father's gaze once more, his mouth remaining shut. "Fine, I guess I am hungry."
With a small bow of his head, the boy turned to start making his way over toward the buffet, his eyes landing on the boy standing near the end of the tables. Immediately, Toketsu felt his lips quirk up into a small half smile, just as the same feelings from earlier began to do somersaults in his stomach. For some reason, an oddly nervous feeling started to grow in the boy, and he almost didn't hear it as his name was called to his right. Stopping his current path, he turned to see Aphrodite walking toward him, his eyebrows raising ever so slightly as she approached him and began to talk.
He simply nodded when complimented about the decorations, feeling that the other was probably trying to make him feel better about the whole spurring Yori into setting the curtains alight incident. When she touched him though, his brow creased ever so slightly. The boy knew why Aphrodite tended to make physical contact with people, to read what was on their mind through what their heart was experiencing. The nervous feelings inside Toketsu only managed to grow even further at that thought, hoping that the woman wouldn't feel out the confusion he was feeling over Yori that day. As she spoke about his strength, his powers though, he almost physically sighed, allowing a small smile to cover his lips. "Thank you, I've been doing well. Father has been practicing with me a lot lately, when him and mother aren't training. After all, there's only one Blizare to use," he said. Immediately the boy realized he sounded strained, the last sentence not being something he would usually say. Toketsu didn't point out the obvious unless it was necessary, and obviously Aphrodite knew there was only one water based legendary elemental sword.
Nicholai had been standing with Aphrodite off on one side of the room. The two had been one of the first to greet the two as they came in after Keiko, but as soon as the hello's had been done, Nicholai's attention had snapped back to the younger boys once more. Only after a few more whispered words to Aphrodite, the woman had left to intercept Toketsu, and the man himself made his way over toward Yori at the buffet table. Watching the young man's aura, he couldn't help but smirk as the boy watched his best friend talk with his own adviser. When he watched an aura, there was four layers he looked at. The outermost was a person's powers, elements, energy level, things like that. Next came the person's personality traits, something that almost always remained the same no matter what and often let Nicholai identify someone even in a pitch black room. Light didn't effect someone's aura after all.
The next two layers were what intrigued him most though, being the general mood that person was in for the day, and then emotions that stemmed from that mood closest to the person's body. As he approached the younger boy, he could easily tell his mood was of being happy, a golden yellow color, tinged slightly with dark violet, a color that Nicholai had found meant a person was nervous. Closer to the red head was more of that golden yellow, and the more interesting color, a pinkish-red, the one color Nicholai knew better than any other: Love. From the moment the man had landed on the surface of Mars and had watched his Nephew interacting with Toketsu, that color had sprung up repeatedly.
When the man reached Yori and caught the younger one's attention, the pink-red color became tinged with a bold yellow, signifying a more friendly, family type of love. The Venus man had his theories, and that simple change in colors as the boy in front of him changed the person he was looking at confirmed it whole heartedly. "Hey you little punk, what'd you do with my nephew? Last time I remember, he was a lot shorter," the man commented, stopping a second before pulling the red head into a hug.
As he pulled back, a smile came across his face. "It's good to see you Yori. It must be nice to see everyone in one place like this, especially Toketsu. You haven't seen him for a while, have you?" As the man spoke the Mercury son's name, he kept his eyes trained to take in any color changes around the boy. None the less, if there was one thing the Venus King had never found himself to be proficient in, it was being subtle about what he said. He figured any situation that others deemed was appropriate to approach it that way, they only deemed it that way because they were too sensitive. Taking his brother's throne those many years ago had taught him that if you were too sensitive, you often got trampled or left behind, something Nicholai wasn't up for having happen to him or any of his family, those he held closest to his heart.
Shigatsusan
Kiko actually embracing Kesiom had become almost second nature by now, Yori had a hard time seeing the action as something rare or forced. It had been a long time since his mother snapped at his Uncle for anything other than stepping on her foot, or something. Back when Yori was still just a child, he could vaguely remember the two arguing over nothing here and there, but the more his mother warmed up to the man and noticed his ability to be a father and a husband and a ruler all at once, she slowly but surely let go of whatever grudge she had. Kesiom had always been a great Uncle, though maybe a little lost sometimes with earth-ish customs (he still had to ask one of his children which remote turned on the tv), and Yori wondered just what the man could have done to have his mother be so stand-offish in the first place. When he’d tried to ask, Aleks waved off the question and told him it was in the past.
His heart beat just a little faster when Toketsu embraced his mother, seeing the woman hug him in return. Despite knowing they all grew up together and were all practically family, it still made Yori happy to know his mother genuinely cared for Toketsu, as he did. Well, maybe not the same sort of care, but still…he shook the thought away with a single move of his head and took a large sip of his soda just to give his body something else to do. Hearing Nicholai, Yori glanced over at him with a smirk, thankful for the distraction of conversation. He hugged the man back on instinct, excited to see his Uncle,”He had a growth spurt about a year ago, remember?” Yori joked with a sly grin.
He got to see Nicholai more often than the Mercury family, but still not as often as he would have liked. They were the closest in age aside from the other children, and Nicholai’s free spirit matched very well with Yori’s goofy personality. He was always encouraging and helpful, and Yori would often opt for talking with Nicholai rather than his father about slightly awkward or embarrassing topics. Like, the birds and the bees speech, or the differences between boys and girls…for some reason, his Uncle managed to make awkward conversations a lot easier to have. Some would consider his bluntness just the opposite, but Yori took comfort in it; Nicholai would never lied to him or told him what he wanted to hear, and would always tell you exactly what he was thinking.
For once in his life though, Yori wished his Uncle suddenly became proficient in beating around the bush, because as soon as he heard Toketsu’s name from the others mouth, the mars child had a feeling where the conversation was heading. Nicholai’s ability to read aura’s could not be matched, and he could probably see all the weird colors around him associated with thinking about your best friend in a…confusing light. He understood what he was thinking and why he was thinking it, but was denying it adamantly since the feelings had begun to arise over the last year. Not being around Toketsu helped him ignore the longing he had to be closer with the other boy, but actually seeing him now made it almost impossible to ignore. Something he was certain Nicholai would have noticed. He swallowed thickly and nodded once, ”Yea. Haven’t seen him in a couple months.” not since the last time they all gathered to celebrate a birthday; it had been Jirou’s if he remembered correctly. He couldn't think of anything else to say, fidgeting slightly there as he rocked back on his heels.
Aphrodite’s small touch had two purposes, as they usually did, the main being a simple show of affection for the Mercury child. It had been a long time since they were all gathered together like this, and it was nice to see him. Of course, there was the part of her that had reached out to touch him to gain a better understanding of his heart, but Aphrodite already had an inkling as to what was written on it even before she placed a hand on his shoulder. She gave nod, smiling proudly as Toketsu explained training with his father, ”It is invaluable, your training time together. I imagine he was been teaching you better sword-play. Maybe soon you can finally beat Yori in a duel?" she smiled warmly. Yori and Toketsu were practical equals when it came to raw power, but there was no doubt Yori was a better swordsman, and Toketsu the better mage. While he wasn’t awful at wielding the Blizare, and Yori could handle a few spells here and there, it was obvious one was more proficient than the other.
She caught the nervousness in the boy, as if he was already aware of what Aphrodite was going to begin talking about with him. Her smile remained, calm and sweet while she placed a hand gently between his shoulder blades, ”Lets take a walk, hmm? I want to see the lilies in bloom." she waited for Toketsu to oblige before following the boy outside. Maybe it would make him more comfortable, having their conversation become strictly one on one.
Once outside, she wandered over to one of the decorative hedges set up along the walkway, a fire lily perched atop it, open and fully bloomed. She sniffed the beautiful flower once before glancing over at Toketsu, ”Your heart has opened like these lilies since seeing Yori today, did you know?" of course he realized something was different, but Aphrodite still wanted to make the boy feel as if he controlled the conversation, or at least had a say in it. It tended to make people more comfortable when their hearts were being read to them like an open book. ”I have watched you two grow into strong young men your entire lives, and you two have become very close.” she paused here, watching the boy’s eyes before continuing, “Your heart’s desire to be even closer to his is only natural. That’s what happens when you love someone.”
