The Dragon's Vessel

Ryujin made his way downstairs with the tray of empty dishes from breakfast. He gave them a quick rinse in the sink before walking into the living room and spotting only Gajeel and Erik, gaming on a console.

"How do you suck this bad at a game?!" Gajeel questioned with a disappointing groan as Erik sighed and handed him back the controller.

"Platform games just aren't my thing." Erik retorted, noticing Ryujin and turning to assess him.

"Hey, you two, nice to see you guys bonding," Ryujin said, understanding that Erik was reading him like an open book, seeing him feed from Kimi minutes earlier to him deciding whether he was going to bother getting out of his pj’s today. Ryujin shifted his thoughts to more pleasant matters, trying to think of nice thoughts for Eric with the understanding that he couldn’t help being invasive in the first place.

Gajeel rolled his eyes, "sure, "bonding"," he frowned, clearly still pissed about last night.

"Look Gajeel about last night," Ryujin didn’t know where to start as he took a seat in an armchair and watched the dark-haired man pause his and Erik’s game and shift uncomfortably in his seat.

"I'm still new here. I don't know everyone and I've put a lot of trust into you guys so to hear about Laxus being related to the person who makes our lives a living hell is super shit." Gajeel cut-in, crossing his arms.

"I understand but Laxus and I have a past far greater than anyone else and I believe we have deserved the right to have everyone's trust and respect by now ...as you said you're new here. I know you don’t know how things work around here yet... but trust is a very important trait in this Weyr."

Gajeel grimaced at Ryujin’s wording, he had been with them for like a month now and was obviously still struggling with adjusting to this Weyr. He chose to stare down at his feet, avoiding eye contact with both Ryujin and Erik. Finally, he found the words he wanted to say, "I was raised believing that respect and trust is earned, if we went around trusting everyone straight off the bat, Vorpal Agents would have wiped us all out a very long time ago," he explained.

"Laxus has never had any intention of betraying us, never once has it crossed his mind. I have no reason to mistrust him or you Ryujin, however, keeping this from us was a sucky thing to do. Though for it to never have crossed either of your minds must mean it's a pretty horrible memory." Erik rambled in thought.

"From this point on I give you my word I’ll keep no more secrets but I need you to trust me and when Laxus gets back we can talk this out in a calm matter," Ryujin tried to reason as Gajeel sized him up and then visibly relaxed, Ryujin’s reasoning seemed to have worked.

"That's all that can be asked for at this stage," Gajeel responded, feeling a bit better with Ryujin's response.

"Laxus said he was leaving for a few days so we could all cool off. I'm sure if we let him know we've talked about it and are fine he'll come back, we just need to make sure everyone is on board." Erik spoke up, indicating that what they've decided also needs to be shared with Andrei and the rest of the Thunder Legion as well as Natsu and Wendy.

"That alright I'll go talk to the others, also Gajeel since you’re going to stick around then we need to spend more time with each other. Tell me, what are your hobbies?" Ryujin asked, tried to ease the tension.

Gajeel blinked in surprise and then flushed bright red with embarrassment. "My... my hobbies?" He felt put on the spot for a second but answered quickly. "I uh, I like dirt bike riding, I also like to build stuff I guess and tinker with shit." He concluded.

"Alright, I’ve never been dirt bike riding before but you’re family now and I want us to all be that little bit closer… so let’s go bike riding...all of us." Ryujin suggested, looking at Erik who responded but rolling his eyes.

"I can't even imagine you getting 'down and dirty'," Erik scoffed playfully, amused with the idea.

"Oh uh sure, I know a great place I go to all the time," Gajeel replied, really taken aback. "What hobbies do you have?" Gajeel replied.

Ryujin shot Erik playfully mean look before turning back to Gajeel, "I like making many things but one of my favourite hobbies is spending time with others. Sounds cheesy but when you lived for as long as I have you quickly learn that being alone sucks," he explained with a smile.

The room fell into a silent agreement, though Gajeel and Erik hadn't been around for nearly as long as Ryujin; they had spent a large portion of their lives alone and afraid. That was until they had met their vessel.

"Sounds like the arguing has stopped, are we all okay now?" Kimi asked, popping into the living room and tilting her head as Gajeel and Erik gazed at her with silent appreciation. Before Kimi could ask if there was something on her face there was a knock on the door and she sighed in relief, feeling slightly thankful at having a distraction. She went to answer the door but Erik got up and opened the door instead, using his speed to beat Kimi there. It seemed he also wanted to get out of the room, even if it was just momentarily.

“Yo.” Erik greeted, giving Benkei a fright as the door was suddenly thrown open and Benkei leapt back a little in surprise.

"Oh! Hey, Erik was just stopping by to check out the new place and see how everybody is doing. Also a thank you gift for helping me out yesterday," Benkei held up some bags and Erik sniffed the air, smelling a mix of different aromas and opening the door wide enough for Benkei to step inside.

"Only a few of us home, feel free to come to the lounge but be warned, we’re kind of having a family tiff at the moment.” Erik led Benkei into the lounge area. “Benkei was nice enough to bring food over, let’s enjoy his cooking,” he finished, nudging Gajeel as he started clearing the coffee table.

Benkei nodded, wondering what they were fighting about and pictured them fighting with their supernatural strength. "Fair enough," he stepped his way inside, noticing the shoes scattered around the entrance and took off his shoes, "who’s in today?" He called out to Erik as he came in with the bags of food and saw for himself.

“Just us, I’m afraid,” Kimi answered, coming in with six plates and placing them on the coffee table.

“I made enough to feed an army so there should be plenty of leftovers.” Benkei answered as he set the bags in the middle of the table and sat down next to Kimi, “So family fight? That’s not like you guys.” He stated, since he’d known the Weyr he’d never known them to fight amongst themselves, sure they’d bicker and play fight but it was never anything serious to his knowledge.

Kimi helped Benkei take some containers out of the bag and open the dishes up as she started to explain. "We found out some pretty upsetting stuff about Laxus," Kimi answered nervously.

Benkei raised an eyebrow as he placed a variety of portions onto each plate and handed it around, noticing that Ryujin was tense but silent. He returned his attention to Kimi, “What's that? If you don't mind me asking,"

"His father is the founder of the Dragon's Bane," Gajeel stared down at his plate of food for a moment before digging in.

"But his father will also be long dead by now, we're talking hundreds of years." Kimi quickly added.

Benkei rubbed his chin, trying to absorb all the information he was being given. "Dragon’s Bane... are they related to the guys who are after you all?"

"They're the main organization that poaches our kind," Erik answered shortly.

Benkei let out a low whistle, "okay suddenly this makes a whole lot more sense." Benkei stated with a nod, slowly getting the big picture of why this secret was such a big ordeal.