The Month That Passed
Sol's month was, in some ways, uneventful, and in other ways it was busy. With his ankle broken, he managed to talk himself out of most of the training tyranny under Karis -at least the ones involving, well, running or otherwise using your legs- though he still had to meet up for the team classes. Those were... interesting, to say the least. Really not his kind of thing. He did make sure to stay in shape, even sometimes joined Luke in the gym, but he had felt no shame when the others were running around and he could tell the leader it'd fuck up his ankle. Besides, expecting him to preform at the same level as a vampire was useless, he couldn't wish to a star and get super-human abilities.
His normal classes were far more interesting, though in some ways, they were also far more difficult. Luke had adviced him to take 4 or 5 different classes each semester, and he had gone with the latter. Figuring he was good at math, he'd taken, well, math. Calculus, some sort of college introduction to mathematical methods, basic economy, algebra and Japanese. Or well, he had tried to do the Japanese one, but with the other classes already stressing him out -who'd have thought college math was more difficult than the math taught at the beginning of the first year in high school- and the other students already having several weeks on him, it was likely not going to go too well. He had opted to switch to a language he already had some knowledge of, Spanish being an obvious one. He didn't speak it fluently, but he still knew enough words and the way the grammar worked, which meant he could actually do pretty well. Thus far, Spanish, economy and mathematical methods were the only classes he even did remotely well in, with the calculus being on a higher level and algebra being... well, a little difficult to deal with for a high school dropout such as himself.
Seeing as Luke was doing the calculus one for his engineering degree and had done both of the other math classes the earlier year, he was willing to spend some time teaching Sol. They spent a lot of their time together either way, and after Sol had gotten the new bed, Luke spent a lot of his nights there. It was a good thing Luke was a clean, orderly person. It had been during one of these nice sleepovers that Sol had forgotten to log out of his email account on Luke's laptop. Without thinking, Luke had checked the incoming email -he said he thought it was his, and given that even Sol had forgotten he hadn't logged out, Sol believed him- and seen a message from Sam, about that everlasting wedding. A conversation had followed, then a discussion, though Sol already knew most of what Luke told him, that he was a selfish coward if he didn't give a clear answer. Luke had dropped it, but it had stuck in the back of Sol's mind for several days, until Sol finally asked Luke if, perhaps, he could come along to make it easier, promising to cover the cost of travelling.
Luke had said yes, and after a mail to Sam and some phone conversations, a time had finally been set up. Sol and Luke was gone for five days. Because they travelled during the evening from Japan, they attended their classes on the Thursday, and with the wedding being on a Saturday, the weekend was used for what it was. All in all, they only missed two days of classes. The bachelor party had been weird, Luke hadn't come along, Sol was in charge of it, it was filled with Sam's colleagues and friends, most of them cops, and Sam didn't drink. It had been difficult to pull off, and the presence of that much police made Sol a bit nervous, but it had been nice enough. The wedding ceremony had been beautiful, Sol had been the best man -as Sam had insisted he be from the very start-, and the wedding party had been nice, though there had been a rather troubling event.
Sol was happy his ankle had gotten healed before going, because he certainly needed it when climbing up the wedding chapel after his father's new wife had taken it upon herself of telling Sol to talk to his father, even given him a lecture about parents and children and being a good person, at which point Sol had told her to fuck off and used his amulet to disappear in the crowd. Stupid, yes, childish, certainly, but Sam had promised him their father wouldn't approach him. Sam had been generous enough to reach out to their father, even want to have him close, sure, but Sol didn't want any part of it. And he certainly didn't want to get lectured by some new woman in the former drunkard's life. Only after one of Grace's -Sam's fiancee- cousins had gotten himself stuck trying to climb after Sol, had Sol been forced to come down. He didn't think Sam knew, Grace had watched the exchange, and later spotted Sol climb up, and had then asked her climber cousin to help. Of course, he didn't know how to climb a house, so Sol had to help him down, the four of them -Luke had seen it as well- had been laughing quite a bit. It was probably a good thing Sam didn't know, it was quite the ridiculous affair, and Sam had assured Sol anything like this wouldn't happen, so it would make things sour.
Luke was an absolute dear, though. Looked quite handsome when out of those t-shirts of his and into a silver-colored suit with a blue tie. Very sociable, even if some seemed to struggle understanding his accent. At some point Sol's father had approached him, and Luke refused to say what he had told his father, just that he'd made clear that Sol wasn't interested. Otherwise he was supportive and friendly, and Sol was rather happy he had asked Luke to come along. It made everything easier. Sol's relationship with his brother and Grace, his now sister-in-law had gotten a lot warmer as well, and even if he still felt conflicted, it made him feel better. Luke had been happy to know that Grace shared some of his interests, and he now had her email-address, where they discussed, well, probably nerdy stuff.
And then came the trip back to Gato. Elizabeth had dropped by the airport to hand off some tools she believed Sol would need for his training, as well as assured him that she was taking good care of grandpa and his car. She'd also leaned over to Luke and whispered something.
Sol hadn't given it much of a thought before they had gone to bed a few days later and Luke had asked him where his "cave of wonders" was. At first he had assumed it was some sort of innuendo, and had taken it with a chuckle and a suggestion, but when Luke had mentioned Elizabeth's name, everything had gotten quite awkward. Elizabeth was sure that Sol had a secret stash of stolen items too valuable/rare to be sold through a common fence, because, well, Sol had mentioned it once when drunk. So, not only was she sure, she was right. He got why she had brought it up now, because of Luke, but Sol had no intention of mentioning his past, and certainly not that thing. He still kept an eye on it, he would be notified if anything happened to it, but he was content just sending in some money every now and then to make sure the storage unit was still his. Once in a while he checked up on it, made sure the alarm was working as it should, but it wasn't that important to him. Even so, he certainly wasn't going to tell Elizabeth where it was.
He'd assured Luke Elizabeth was playing a joke at him, and gone to sleep, classes awaited, and, with a month gone since the last mission, he was sure another one was just around the corner. Better to get some decent sleep than to have this sort of discussion.
In the meanwhile, Lenah left a few days after the others' big mission. She had been informed of that her father was Dionysus, and, upon being told her father was an actual god, she decided to go find him. No one really knows the exact time of her escape, and she didn't tell anyone else about why. If the Gato intel department has been looking for her, they've not found out where she is, as there has been no sound from her in almost a month, at least not officially. Sol's confident enough that she's fine, though other may not share that thought. She did send him a mail a couple of weeks after leaving, but he's not told anyone that she wrote to him, nor what she wrote about.
Sol's month was, in some ways, uneventful, and in other ways it was busy. With his ankle broken, he managed to talk himself out of most of the training tyranny under Karis -at least the ones involving, well, running or otherwise using your legs- though he still had to meet up for the team classes. Those were... interesting, to say the least. Really not his kind of thing. He did make sure to stay in shape, even sometimes joined Luke in the gym, but he had felt no shame when the others were running around and he could tell the leader it'd fuck up his ankle. Besides, expecting him to preform at the same level as a vampire was useless, he couldn't wish to a star and get super-human abilities.
His normal classes were far more interesting, though in some ways, they were also far more difficult. Luke had adviced him to take 4 or 5 different classes each semester, and he had gone with the latter. Figuring he was good at math, he'd taken, well, math. Calculus, some sort of college introduction to mathematical methods, basic economy, algebra and Japanese. Or well, he had tried to do the Japanese one, but with the other classes already stressing him out -who'd have thought college math was more difficult than the math taught at the beginning of the first year in high school- and the other students already having several weeks on him, it was likely not going to go too well. He had opted to switch to a language he already had some knowledge of, Spanish being an obvious one. He didn't speak it fluently, but he still knew enough words and the way the grammar worked, which meant he could actually do pretty well. Thus far, Spanish, economy and mathematical methods were the only classes he even did remotely well in, with the calculus being on a higher level and algebra being... well, a little difficult to deal with for a high school dropout such as himself.
Seeing as Luke was doing the calculus one for his engineering degree and had done both of the other math classes the earlier year, he was willing to spend some time teaching Sol. They spent a lot of their time together either way, and after Sol had gotten the new bed, Luke spent a lot of his nights there. It was a good thing Luke was a clean, orderly person. It had been during one of these nice sleepovers that Sol had forgotten to log out of his email account on Luke's laptop. Without thinking, Luke had checked the incoming email -he said he thought it was his, and given that even Sol had forgotten he hadn't logged out, Sol believed him- and seen a message from Sam, about that everlasting wedding. A conversation had followed, then a discussion, though Sol already knew most of what Luke told him, that he was a selfish coward if he didn't give a clear answer. Luke had dropped it, but it had stuck in the back of Sol's mind for several days, until Sol finally asked Luke if, perhaps, he could come along to make it easier, promising to cover the cost of travelling.
Luke had said yes, and after a mail to Sam and some phone conversations, a time had finally been set up. Sol and Luke was gone for five days. Because they travelled during the evening from Japan, they attended their classes on the Thursday, and with the wedding being on a Saturday, the weekend was used for what it was. All in all, they only missed two days of classes. The bachelor party had been weird, Luke hadn't come along, Sol was in charge of it, it was filled with Sam's colleagues and friends, most of them cops, and Sam didn't drink. It had been difficult to pull off, and the presence of that much police made Sol a bit nervous, but it had been nice enough. The wedding ceremony had been beautiful, Sol had been the best man -as Sam had insisted he be from the very start-, and the wedding party had been nice, though there had been a rather troubling event.
Sol was happy his ankle had gotten healed before going, because he certainly needed it when climbing up the wedding chapel after his father's new wife had taken it upon herself of telling Sol to talk to his father, even given him a lecture about parents and children and being a good person, at which point Sol had told her to fuck off and used his amulet to disappear in the crowd. Stupid, yes, childish, certainly, but Sam had promised him their father wouldn't approach him. Sam had been generous enough to reach out to their father, even want to have him close, sure, but Sol didn't want any part of it. And he certainly didn't want to get lectured by some new woman in the former drunkard's life. Only after one of Grace's -Sam's fiancee- cousins had gotten himself stuck trying to climb after Sol, had Sol been forced to come down. He didn't think Sam knew, Grace had watched the exchange, and later spotted Sol climb up, and had then asked her climber cousin to help. Of course, he didn't know how to climb a house, so Sol had to help him down, the four of them -Luke had seen it as well- had been laughing quite a bit. It was probably a good thing Sam didn't know, it was quite the ridiculous affair, and Sam had assured Sol anything like this wouldn't happen, so it would make things sour.
Luke was an absolute dear, though. Looked quite handsome when out of those t-shirts of his and into a silver-colored suit with a blue tie. Very sociable, even if some seemed to struggle understanding his accent. At some point Sol's father had approached him, and Luke refused to say what he had told his father, just that he'd made clear that Sol wasn't interested. Otherwise he was supportive and friendly, and Sol was rather happy he had asked Luke to come along. It made everything easier. Sol's relationship with his brother and Grace, his now sister-in-law had gotten a lot warmer as well, and even if he still felt conflicted, it made him feel better. Luke had been happy to know that Grace shared some of his interests, and he now had her email-address, where they discussed, well, probably nerdy stuff.
And then came the trip back to Gato. Elizabeth had dropped by the airport to hand off some tools she believed Sol would need for his training, as well as assured him that she was taking good care of grandpa and his car. She'd also leaned over to Luke and whispered something.
Sol hadn't given it much of a thought before they had gone to bed a few days later and Luke had asked him where his "cave of wonders" was. At first he had assumed it was some sort of innuendo, and had taken it with a chuckle and a suggestion, but when Luke had mentioned Elizabeth's name, everything had gotten quite awkward. Elizabeth was sure that Sol had a secret stash of stolen items too valuable/rare to be sold through a common fence, because, well, Sol had mentioned it once when drunk. So, not only was she sure, she was right. He got why she had brought it up now, because of Luke, but Sol had no intention of mentioning his past, and certainly not that thing. He still kept an eye on it, he would be notified if anything happened to it, but he was content just sending in some money every now and then to make sure the storage unit was still his. Once in a while he checked up on it, made sure the alarm was working as it should, but it wasn't that important to him. Even so, he certainly wasn't going to tell Elizabeth where it was.
He'd assured Luke Elizabeth was playing a joke at him, and gone to sleep, classes awaited, and, with a month gone since the last mission, he was sure another one was just around the corner. Better to get some decent sleep than to have this sort of discussion.
Sol is skipping out on parts of physical training cuz ankle, he thinks Karis is a tyrant, he's doing okay in school, takes mostly math and economics classes, as well as switches from Japanese to Spanish, Luke helps him out with math because Luke is a decent student. Sol and Luke goes to Sam's, -Sol's brother- wedding in US, wedding goes well, but Sol also gets upset at a point and climbs a wedding chapel because of course he does, Sol becomes closer to brother and brother's fiancee/wife. Elizabeth hands some stuff over at the US airport, Elizabeth is a troll and tells Luke Sol has a secret place where he's stashed valuables, because she wants Luke to make Sol say where it is so that she can burn it down because she thinks Sol's holding onto it because he's still a thief at heart, and has decided that the moment it's gone, Sol will be a fully dedicated hunter.
Then a month has passed. Also, Sol got that new bed of his, and it's comfy as fuck.
Then a month has passed. Also, Sol got that new bed of his, and it's comfy as fuck.
In the meanwhile, Lenah left a few days after the others' big mission. She had been informed of that her father was Dionysus, and, upon being told her father was an actual god, she decided to go find him. No one really knows the exact time of her escape, and she didn't tell anyone else about why. If the Gato intel department has been looking for her, they've not found out where she is, as there has been no sound from her in almost a month, at least not officially. Sol's confident enough that she's fine, though other may not share that thought. She did send him a mail a couple of weeks after leaving, but he's not told anyone that she wrote to him, nor what she wrote about.
