Surprisingly, Thea sneaks away with Sirius instead of telling the others as they walk down the stairs.
"... So... what were you doing with Sol? Swimming around? What else?"
Sirius raise one of his brows, he chuckles as he nods.
"Nothing much, just some talks, getting to know each other, then we played on the pool. Honestly? We didn't even swim much. I didn't do anything to her if that's what you're worried about."
Sirius speaks, he feels as though as if he is being interrogated by Thea before she looks at him with surprise.
She explodes with a laugh as she stops walking and hold onto the railing.
"..."
Sirius stares at her silently with a poker face as she slows her laugh before looking at him with a smile.
"No no, I wasn't trying to interrogate you or think that you were doing something inappropriate to her. After all, there would've been a red mark on your face if you ever did something inappropriate."
Thea giggles, looking back at Sirius smugly.
Sirius lets out a sigh before smiling at her.
"Can I know what you were talking about with her? Was it about me? Her precious, bestest in the whole wide world big sister?"
Sirius laughs as he hear her sing praises to her own, and Thea merely laughs, cackling like a madman.
Sirius then began recounting to her their talks, he doesn't really mind it since the one he's talking to is Sol's own sister and his friend. At least that's what he thinks, he never really asked her if she wants to be his friend.
But, by how easy-going they are talking with each other, Sirius thinks that they are friends at the very least.
Upon recounting Thea's story about how she trashtalks, a scowl suddenly mar her face as she clicks her tongue.
"Ah, I suddenly remember about those bastards. How annoying. How hard is it to just play a game well?!"
She sneers as Sirius chuckles upon seeing her reaction.
"Huh. I guess you were a hardcore gamer in closet huh?"
"..."
Thea coughs, before redirecting the conversation.
"Anyway, we've arrived!"
Thea points out as she opens the emergency door and walk towards the direction of the pool.
She looks around, smiling as she walk up near the pool before splashing around the water as she knelt down.
"You know, I was practicing here late at night a day ago when we escaped the battlefield. I was supposed to recover and take a rest but I felt restless, felt like I needed to move around or I was gonna die."
Sirius blinks for a few time upon hearing those words as he ruffle the back of his head.
"Well... can't really relate to that..."
Thea takes off her combat boots and her unsummon her white tunic which is actually a Blessing, [Silk Breeze]. While the silver plates of armor is the [Alloy Frame].
Now, with simple black shorts and a sleeveless white shirt, she jumps into the pool.
Sirius watch with surprise and wait, and wait... but she didn't come back up.
Confusion apparent in his, he slowly walks to the edge of the floor before looking down and see Thea sitting cross-legged before looking up to Sirius.
She points down to the floor next to her as Sirius raise one of his brows before dismissing his armor, now back with his wet boxers.
Dropping down to the sea, Sirius submerge as he sits down on the floor of the pool, looking at Thea before tilting his head.
Thea merely smile at him before closing her eyes.
Sirius, albeit confused, decides to follow her.
Minutes pass by, and Sirius could feel himself running short of breath.
Thea looks at Sirius before nodding and swimming upward as they emerge from the bottom of the pool, taking in deep breaths.
After getting their fresh supply of air, Sirius looks at Thea with confusion.
"What was that?"
Thea smiles upon hearing him as she giggles.
"Well, it's a thing I used to do whenever I feel stressed or something bad happens in a day. It helps me relax and just... zone out. I wanted you to feel it, what I love to feel."
"Huh... I see..."
Sirius nods.
He could see the appeal of it, it was relaxing, the feeling of being submerged and just staying down there and just feel the depth of the water.
"Want to go see the view?"
Sirius asks as Thea raise her brows and her eyes wide before smiling.
"Who would've thought you'd been the one asking. Sure, let's go."
Sirius smiles at Thea as they swim towards the direction of the outdoor view.
Upon reaching where he and Sol had once conversed, now he is with Thea, resting.
"Hey Sirius... what would you like to do when you get back to the Post?"
"... Like I said, I want to go back to lazing around I guess... and then play with orphans, teach them, raise them... and also, I have that promise with you guys right? To do some math quizzes."
Sirius grins at her as she smiles back at him before going silent.
"... Hey... you wanna... try going back to the battlefield? Like, stay..?"
Sirius glance at her before smiling bitterly.
"... I'll think about it."
Hearing his response, Thea looks at Sirius.
She opens her mouth but shuts it back and then look at the city.
Slowly, her lips move again.
"... Hey Sirius, can you tell me why you stopped fighting? If that's what happened..? If it turns out that you had some secret stuff to do like a secret training then my bad, forget about it. But... from what I see, no offense, you're weaker than you're supposed to be, far from your potential."
Sirius bites his lip unconsciously as he chuckles before turning to her.
"Weaker than I am supposed to be? What does that mean?"
Sirius ask, tilting his head.
"Father mentioned... that you would've been as strong as him, or even stronger if you had kept up your pace or well, farm more efficiently."
"Oh. Did he tell you about my habits?"
Thea nods before following up.
"But yeah, the point of killing Calamities is to kill them as soon and as quick as possible. Directly either destroying or cutting up their Soul is the best method to weaken a Calamity before killing them or leave it to die."
But there was the downside of not receiving the amount of Soul one was supposed to get.
"Father told me that while you always kill the Calamities as fast as possible and as safely as possible by striking the Soul. In return, it halted your growth when you consumed it."
Sirius chuckles as he nods.
"Yeah... but it was then, and not now... Now with the help of my new Branch from my Rune helps me with it. I can kill them without harming their Soul first. But that's not the point, was it?"
Thea slowly nods as Sirius lets out a sigh, she looks at him with confusion but decided not to press it too much.
But she is still curious.
And she wants to know.
"Father rarely praise people aside from his own family, and... you. To be praised by someone like him is an achievement in itself."
"Though your nickname was known as the Beacon Boy, from what I heard, you were widely respected by everyone of the First Generation."
Sirius smiles bitterly before letting out a sigh.
"Yeah..."
Thea looks at his facial expression, the way his face soften, a bitter smile that flashed his face...
She stops herself from bombarding more questions and stays quiet, waiting for him to tell her... to open up to her, if he wishes so.
"Well Thea... sure, I was one of the cornerstones of the Post... one of the ones being hailed as a hero. But..."
Sirius looks at her with a tired smile before shaking his head.
"I'm forgotten anyway, and it's best that it stays like that. Not Sirius the cornerstone of the Post, the Beacon Boy... let me stay as Sirius."
Sirius looks at her with a sligh tilt of his head and a smile.
"Okay?"
Thea stays quiet upon hearing his response and the look on his face, her heart feels like it has been suffocated, a deep heavy weight pressing down on her as she slowly nods.
"Mmh. Okay... I'm sorry, for pressing on."
"No... don't be, it's fine."
Feeling like the atmosphere has turned heavy, Sirius lets out a chuckle before speaking up.
"Hey princess doll that wants to marry his papa, don't look all down like that."
"Wh-"
Thea's face blush red like a tomato as she looks at him with surprise.
"DADDD!"
She screams, looking at the ceiling as she grabs onto her head in embarrassment.
Sirius chuckles upon seeing her reaction.
"Papa, Thea wanna be papa's w-"
Thea suddenly lunge at him, covering his mouth as they submerge in the pool.
Sirius reaches out and push his fingers against her waist which jolts her body in the water as she lets go.
Sirius reemerge from the waters with a laugh as Thea follows suit.
"Papa! My bear-bear is gon-"
A small fire blast past him as he look at her with a wide smile.
"Don't you dare..!"
"Heh."
Sirius laughs, floating on the pool as Thea grumbles before smiling as she looks at him.
A pleasant warmth fills her up, the warmth leaves her feeling happier and happier as she sees him laughing happily.
She bites her lip, looking at him with a smile.
'Cute...'