Entering into their humble abode, Raven is seen already cleaning up some of her brothers mess littering the house, old clothes strewn over furniture with bags of garbage long overdue to be thrown out. Along with a few ashtrays spilling over with their contents.
"Blake... Just for once, can you please for me, CLEAN YOUR SHIT UP"! Raven says sweetly with a threatening edge behind her voice, sending small tremors through the floor, her power responding to her own emotions.
"My…..bad sis." Blake laughs awkwardly, hoping to avoid the brunt of his sisters wrath.
"That was just perfect to go through right after the exam no less." Blake says hauling Kiara on his back before dropping her onto the sofa putting a blanket over her finally letting her have a breather.
*Click* Internal mechanics whir and come to live in the inner housing of his Blakes prosthetic arm.
*Zap* The palm of his prosthetic comes to life opening up before sending out a spark igniting the tobacco. Relief starts to flood through him a crutch unforgettable to him.
"You made a new arm. Hopefully you took my advice on board and went for more varied materials this time." Pyre says, pointing his finger toward the arm adorned on Blakes stump.
"You never know what environment you're going to be thrown into, your gear needs to be versatile if you're going to even bother with it." Pyre says, knocking the tips of his knuckles against the material while checking over the whole prosthetic.
"Looks like you had some more time to implement some useful functions." Pyre says noticing the new mechanism inside the palm of Blakes prosthetic.
"Never know when you'll need a lighter." Blake smirks biting on the tip of the cigarette drawing in the calming nicotine.
"I'm sure you can relate." Pyre says rolling his eyes.
"Blake the electric meter still hasn't gone down, what the hell did you do!?" Ravens voice breaks through his bravado with a cold demand.
"You didn't up it again did you or did you hack into it" Raven asks with a false sweetness causing more objects to hover around her.
"No, no, that's the...….. same credit from before. I just put a lot on... yeah." His voice continues to shrink trying to form a plausible excuse as bullets of sweat rain down his face.
"You! Fine, don't do that again Blake, it isn't fair". Raven sighs, the objects around her start to fall back to the ground, her anger dissipating finally accepting the gesture.
"Where am I!? Blake!" Kiara gasps, awakening out of her unconscious state from the simmering anger in the room.
"Where, What happened to the Gene Hunters!?" Kiara asks in her usual blur of speech, stumbling over her words trying to quell the confusion in her mind.
"Kiara. Everything's okay. I managed to get us out of there, relatively unscathed." Blake says, trying to soothe her disorientation.
"We're okay, We're safe now. We're at my flat. For whatever reason Pyres is here as well." Blake says sending a death glare towards Pyre trying to crack a joke in their current situation.
"To answer your question, the reason I'm here is because I was assigned as your sister's mentor for her upcoming exams". Pyres' says cutting through the two with a slight cough before delivering his words.
"We will get to that." Blake says his tone becoming sterner looking at Pyre with anger.
"For right now why don't you just rest. I'll see what i can wrangle up in the kitchen." Blake says, trying to take some space away from Pyre. Ravens green eyes lock with his with a serious glare.
"You're going to cook!?" Raven asks shocked, A sour expression forms on her face her body stuck standing still.
"Please don't Blake." Raven scowls trying not to gag at the thought of Blakes previous cooking attempts.
"Here, why don't I get food for you guys? Be a good way for us to build some trust right break some bread." Pyre offers, a genuine smile forms on his face letting out a hearty laugh depsite Blakes death glares.
"You look like you need it a bite to eat after an encounter with those scum. I don't partially want to call Ravens bluff on your cooking either, Blake." Pyre chuckles to himself patting his hand on Blakes back. Noticing the tears and stitching in his old cargo jacket.
"Pizza sound good to you guys?" Pyre asks, already thinking of the number to one of his favorite local pizzerias.
"Some hot food always helps melts away any of my anxiety or worries." Pyre says through hearty laugh.
"Blake he's being nice don't be a dick accept his offer, he doesn't have to be this generous." Raven says through a sharp whisper sending her elbow into Blakes ribs."
"Kah! Fine..." Blake chokes before letting out a wheeze of agreeance.
"Anything is better than his cooking, it will end up tasting like engine oil otherwise." Raven gags remembering the last time she gave him the simple task of making spaghetti.
A sweat trickles down Pyres temple stun locked by the two's constant seething bickering back and fourth.
"We are so sweet aren't we sis." Blake says, sarcasm oozing from his voice.
"Sweeter than those cookies you burnt. Could use them to fuel a fire." Raven says matching his tone sticking her tongue out.
"Fair enough." Blake says, remembering his so called attempt at making cookies and stops before the hole he's in gets any deeper.
"I'll show you who's bad at cooking". Blake smirks leaping off the couch bringing his sister into a headlock rubbing his knuckles into her scalp. Messing up her orderly black hair as much as possible.
"EEERRRRR! You always mess up my hair Blake!" Raven growls, trying to break out from the headlock.
"Is it always like this?" Kiara asks still shaking off her disorientation, shifting her gaze to Pyre almost half expecting an answer.
"Don't know it's my first time seeing it myself." Pyre chuckles, not really understanding what to do with the two siblings another trickle of nervous sweat goes down the side of his temple.
"Does pepperoni sound good to you?" Pyre asks, looking towards Kiara the only functioning person in the room.
"I'd just order it or we will be here all day with those two." Kiara says encouraging the process along.
Pyres fingers swipe against his holo-watch displaying the pizza place with bright bold letters 'Starlight's Cosmic Pizzeria' themed entirely around sci fi, punching in his payment details and the address.
"Done, there was a good offer on too. I think you guys will like this place. Its a favorite of mine." Pyre chuckles smoothing out his red beard.
"I just hope its not like the last pizzeria i went to the whole base of the pizzas dough was like cardboard only blessing was the pepperoni. Hope it gets here quick we can only pray that food will break them out of their bickering." Kiara sighs, her hazel eyes going an awkward wide watching the two continue barely break out of their arguing.
Forty minutes pass by, the two continue their back and forth with little to no break in-between. Finally their arguing ceases hearing knuckles knock against their front door.
Receiving the food Pyre is already handing everyone their own food. A little shock forms noticing Raven and Blake scarfing it up almost immediately like starved wolves.
"Leave my hair alone Jerk!" Raven scowls through a mouthful of cheese and dough.
"Leave my cooking out of this!" Blake retorts sticking his tongue out a piece of pepperoni firmly stuck to the surface.
"Thank god food showed up. Here i thought you two would never let up, you barely are now." Kiara says, giving an awkward side eye towards the two with the end of her sentence.
"Pizza is the olive branch for you two. I'll remember that, I'm quite fond of it myself". Pyre chuckles biting down on the afterburner special loaded to the brim with spice and jalapenos. scoffs back another slice.
"So Blake did you manage to pass the first part of the Retake?" Pyre asks, exhaling through the heat of his pizza.
"How do you know about my entry in the retakes?" Blake says the slice dangling a few inches away from his mouth.
"Because i was the one that asked them to give you the second chance." Pyre explains with a with a wide grin giving Blake a thumbs up. Trying to bury any hard feelings.
"What!? It was you. But why would you do that!?The slice is slurped up in an instant. Causing him to cough up half of it all over himself.
"Because you showed a lot of potential sometimes we just need a hand, so i thought i would offer mine. I may be a rookie crusher, but the goal isn't to make you quit its for you to get better to not be a rookie anymore." Pyre says rising from his seat wiping his hands sending Blake a smirk.
"I didn't expect that, you didn't have to... Pyre, thank you." Blake says, his voice filling with gratitude. His previous burning feelings starting to calm down seeing a different side of Pyre.
"You'll be happy to know I did pass." Blake smiles, confidence brimming off of him.
"Not without spilling half your blood in the process." Kiara giggles through her pizza, recalling the exam feed she saw.
"Well, I will leave that part out," Blake pouts turning away a little embarrassed.
"You, You did it" Ravens chokes on her pizza having to hit her sternum a couple of times, the slice falls to the degradable plastic box.
"Thank god Blake!" Raven cries bringing her brother into a hug the grease on her cheek wiping off on him. Her green eyes well up with tears.
"I'm so happy for you. I thought...i thought that it would only get worse...that you would have to suffer more than you already had." She looks down before catching her brothers eyes noticing a subtle change in his demeanor.
"I'm not fond of all the blood you apparently spilled, but still I'm happy." Raven says, chuckling through her tears.
"It looks like you've finally been given a horizon." Raven smiles an innocent expression almost foreign to her usual self. Her pizza stained smile becomes infectious, lighting up the room in the process.
*Knock Knock Knock*