“HAHAHA, SO LONG YA FUCKIN’ SNAKES!!!” Iden cackled like a maniac, and once again, Achitha found herself thinking that her and Feather really were similar. They’d been in this snake den for days now, and they’d finally reached the boss’ lair, so of course Achitha was helping at this point. She was wielding poison that could burn through the flesh of anything once they touched, all while she let Iden take control and crush the giant serpent's skull into the ground.
It was a basilisk, a deadly creature that could sense a person’s heat and which had jaws that could open wide enough to swallow an entire house whole. But Iden was far too fast for it, strength piling up in her legs before she shot herself up like a cannon, flipping herself in the air before her feet came into contact with the ceiling, propelling her body weight back at the snake for her fist to make contact with its large, narrow head. Its skull cracked, collapsing in on itself as it smashed into the ground, the deep caves shaking while Achitha defended Iden from any other snake that might try to attack her. She didn’t want to take the glory from the woman, but it was the least she could do. Iden had already made many close calls when she hadn’t been paying attention. But for now, it looked like the dungeon had been cleared.
“Woo-hoooo, we’re amazing!!” Iden cheered, landing on the snake’s neck before gracefully sliding down, rushing herself over to Achitha before she took hold of both her hands, bringing them up to squeeze them giddily. “You were amazing at supporting me back there! I didn’t even have to watch my back at all!”
“Ah, yes, thank you… though I don’t think you would have either way, so I took it upon myself to make sure you could safely focus on the boss and nothing else,” Achitha nodded, almost feeling mechanic as she let Iden lock their hands together. “You, ah… didn’t get injured anywhere, did you?”
“No way, I’m all good! Hehe, and what about you?” Iden grinned, moving both of their interlocked hands back and forth with all of her never ending energy. She kept squeezing and relaxing her grip on Achitha repeatedly, shaking their arms back and forth as she jumped up and down and balanced on the tips of her toes.
She really did never sit still. Her body was always moving, her mind always running, her mouth always talking. Sometimes she could stop one of these things, but the other remaining two would always be going on. Iden could only focus on one thing at a time, after all. She had no sense of personal space, made her feel like a lesser person because she didn’t experience love the same way she did, but still made Achitha feel like she couldn’t get mad at those things since she didn’t mean it maliciously. She was merely upfront and spoke her mind with no regard of its impact on others, because she assumed everyone else was just like her. Over the past five days, that’s what Achitha had learned.
But Iden was also nice, and she did seem to genuinely care about her wellbeing, just as she was displaying now. So Achitha relented a small nod, bringing her hands away from the younger woman before she took a step back. “Yes, I’m fine. I have no injuries.”
“Ah, that’s good!” Iden exclaimed, walking around to be at her side while she pressed up against Achitha’s space. “Hey, how come you didn’t try to fight as much as me? I know it was my test, but you’re so strong, Achitha! I bet you could’ve also soloed the boss!” she smiled, the dark-skinned woman not liking that question at all. This flattery didn’t feel right. She usually didn’t mind being praised, but not about her concepts. It was just something she used to survive, nothing more. It wasn’t anything worth being complimented over.
But… would Iden listen to her if she tried to explain that? She hadn’t listened to much else. Honestly, Iden was a horrible listener, and she more often than not came up with her own reason for things based on her own delusional opinions, so Achitha wasn’t sure it was worth even trying. And she didn’t want to sound too negative, either, since Iden seemed to be in such a good mood after accomplishing something so great. Achitha was happy for her, she truly was. She didn’t want to take that away. Though, before her silence could become too awkward, there was suddenly a familiar man with platinum blond curls right in front of them, his smile ecstatic as he leaped forward and took hold of both their shoulders.
“Good work, gals!” Feather laughed, and before Achitha could even blink, they were back outside of the dungeon with the man looking absolutely delighted. He moved himself over to give Iden’s hair an affectionate ruffle, grin wide on his face as he applauded, “Congratulations Iden, you pass! You’ve definitely improved a lot, and I think you can learn from training with dragons.”
“Wait, what?” Eve blanched from where she’d been waiting, Achitha looking equally unnerved at such an unbelievable reveal. But Feather paid them no mind, and Iden only began to look even more excited. She didn’t seem as taken aback as the others, but… dragons? Seriously? Feather had contact with dragons? Wait, what planet were they going to train on again? What did he—
“Anyways, on another note… Achitha!” he leaned towards her, snapping her out of her thoughts as the larger woman froze, mossy green eyes wide and startled. Feather looked more sly as he tilted his face under hers, blue eyes blinking up at her with a sneaky little grin. “You, on the other hand, failed.”
“I, what— but I wasn’t being—”
“You’re kidding, right?” he interrupted her stammering, Feather looking absolutely delighted with her shocked features, like seeing her flustered was the most entertaining thing in the world for him. “I was testing both of you, obviously! Iden passed, and you failed. Of course, you’ll both be coming with me and I’ll train you both regardless, but you do need a penalty for failing…”
“I… well, first, you should tell me how I failed and what the criteria was,” Achitha blurted, stepping forward to face Feather and his annoyingly smug grin. This was absolutely unbelievable. She was already one of Cirrus’ personal guards and had been made one of his advisors, and she was often referred to as the crown prince’s right hand woman. She ranked even higher than Jayce! What could she have possibly failed at? She’d followed Iden and been aware of her place, since as far as she’d been told, this test hadn’t been for her! What had she even failed to do? She supported Iden and got her out of tricky spots with monsters, she helped watch her back during the boss fight… what else was there?
But Feather just looked amused. He turned away from her, completely unbothered by her distress, before he raised his finger while clicking his tongue, almost like he was trying to see if he could annoy her further. “Tsk, tsk, I think your penalty will be… that you won’t receive any training from me until you figure out why you failed. Good luck!”
“Good… good luck, but… Feather!” Achitha snapped, but the man merely clapped his hands, teleporting them to a new location all over again. They were in the middle of a town, and for whatever reason, both Cirrus and Jayce were there in front of them, both looking entirely disoriented. Wait, had he teleported them into town, as well…? That shouldn’t be possible! How could someone teleport another person who was out of sight?! Achitha was already feeling so overwhelmed, she really had to hold back and suppress all her turmoil as she watched Feather walk over to greet her two companions.
“Hey! So, I teleported you guys here. Sorry, I know you were busy doing nothing and acting lazy, my bad. But we’re going to be leaving soon, because I said so, so let’s stock up on supplies! Jayce, you’re on food duty, make sure we have plenty of meat. Eve, go restock our potions. Achitha, go look around for us to replenish our supplies like ropes, tupperware, and the such.”
“Wait… you just hold on a minute—” she attempted to get out, everyone in this little circle on completely different pages except for Feather and Iden, who seemed to be in sync.
“Ooh, ooh! What can I do, Feather?!” the bright-haired ginger woman exclaimed, interrupting Achitha once again as she gaped at these two identical creatures.
“Perfect, Iden, I’m glad you’ve volunteered yourself. I want you and Cirrus to go stock up on our clothes.”
“Feather! Listen to me!” she tried again, entirely ruffled as she felt her group’s eyes on her. Cirrus, Jayce, and Eve looked surprised that she was raising her voice, but she honestly couldn’t help it. She needed to know why she’d failed. She hated feeling inadequate. But all Feather did was turn to her with a groan that looked all too flippant and all too dramatic.
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“Ughhhh, oh my fucking god, Achitha, what is it? Hurry it up, we’ve got work to do.”
“Ah… why are you being like this?! You should tell me why I failed your test, or at least tell me what the test was on!”
“Erm, I’m pretty sure I told you to figure that out yourself,” Feather scoffed, walking past her without a second thought, only yelling at her while he walked farther off. “That’s your penalty, remember? No cutting corners on the penalties! It’s for your own good, I tell ya!”
“Oh my god… that man,” she seethed, Iden giving her a sympathetic look as she scooted herself a little closer.
“Ummmm, well… you know, Feather usually does things like this for specific reasons,” the woman tried, her energy cooling off a bit now that she was in the presence of someone who looked so upset.
Jayce was the only one who seemed to be on her side, as he was also very upset at being suddenly teleported away from his breakfast. Hell, he hadn’t even been dressed in full gear, but the moment he blinked and appeared in the middle of town with a madman giving him orders, he was fully dressed. How the hell… that crazy little psycho. “Um, am I the only one who thinks Feather does literally everything he does for no reason at all? The guy doesn’t care.”
“That’s not true!!” Iden protested, looking upset by that comment as Jayce glared at her, crossing his arms to tower over the poor woman.
“Oh yeah? Then explain what happened here. I’m aware that you were being tested, so what the hell is Achitha being tested for? She’s not even his subordinate!”
“Ah… I don’t know! I don’t know what Feather’s thinking!” Iden protested, puffing herself up to get in Jayce’s face right back at him. “But I know he’s super smart, smarter than you, and that he definitely has a reason!”
“Well, let’s not argue about it,” Cirrus waved them down, an awkward smile laced on his features before Jayce suddenly turned on him with just as much intensity.
“Of course we’re gonna argue about it! Cirrus, choose a side!”
“Um, no, I don’t feel like doing that…”
“Then stay out of it!”
“But I will also add that I have no problems with Achitha being tested by Feather. He is reliable, and I trust him to do that, so I don’t see anything wrong,” Cirrus clarified, Achitha wrapping her arms around herself as she looked down.
“Hah?! I thought you weren’t taking sides! What’s your deal?” Jayce growled, Cirrus’ smile twitching as he leaned himself closer to his best friend.
“I’m saying I understand both sides, and that neither is wrong. I understand Achitha feeling like she has the right to know why she failed her test, but I also understand that Feather might actually have a reason for it. If you like, I can ask him, and see if I can figure out the details.”
“Oh, and you think he’d tell you? How laughable,” Jayce snapped, Eve looking back and forth between the group and Achitha’s frown.
“Uh, I think you guys are overlooking something,” the snowy woman spoke up, reaching a hand out to place it atop Achitha’s shoulder. “This is Achitha’s problem, not ours.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“Eve, I think you should stop hanging out around that psycho… he’s rubbing off on you,” Jayce spoke after a moment, Eve shooting him a glare before shaking her head, ignoring him.
“Why does this make you so upset, Achitha?” she turned to her instead, blue eyes serene and delicate while the woman with her dark burgundy hair stopped to listen. Eve oftentimes had good insight, and her views always felt refreshing. And this time was no different. “He was testing you, so what? You failed, so what? He’s saying he’s refusing to train you until you figure out why you failed, but again, so what? The solution is simple. All you have to do is just figure out why you failed. Should be easy enough,” Eve expressed, Achitha’s brows furrowing as she let that simmer. “I mean, the only reason I’m saying this is because I believe Feather is trying to help you. He’s helping me with my concepts right now, and he’s willing to get injured just so I can learn. I don’t believe he’d be keeping this from you unless he wanted you to do some deep self reflection. That’s why I’m saying it’s your problem, not ours, because that’s clearly how Feather wants you to treat it. He wants you to reflect on yourself. If you can’t figure it out in a couple days, I think he’ll be more receptive to you asking for hints, because at least you tried, y’know?” she sighed, taking her hand off Achitha’s shoulder to walk away and do the task she’d been assigned. “Anyway, I’m gonna go do what he told me to do. He was talking about leaving as soon as possible, so we might be taking off today, if he has his way. I would prepare for that.”
“Huh? Today? Is he crazy?” Jayce frowned, Cirrus giving him a slight stare.
“You’ve already called him crazy like ten times in the past five minutes. Why are you making it a question now?”
“Ah, you’re right, my bad. The dude’s a psycho and I should say it.”
“Uh huh. Okay… well, for the record, I agree with Eve,” the prince ignored his friend, Jayce crossing his arms and lifting his chin high with a haughty little grimace, before Cirrus turned to Achitha. He gave her a gentle smile that somehow made her feel a little better just seeing it, and he took a step closer to her so that they could see each other face to face. “If you need help thinking about what the answer might be, I’ll gladly help you brainstorm later. He wants you to reflect, because he clearly didn’t like something you did, so I would focus on actions you took or words you said in the dungeon that you think Feather might not have liked. Remember that while he’s unpredictable, he’s got high standards and values self expression above most things. So, in his eyes, do you think you might have done something to limit yourself?”
“But… but I thought I was supposed to limit myself,” Achitha protested weakly, all too confused as she stared at Cirrus’ patient smile. “I thought this was Iden’s test of power, not mine. Feather already knows how strong I am.”
“Then the test he gave you probably wasn’t about power at all,” Cirrus offered wisely, Achitha’s eyes widening as she felt her jaw run slack. “Anyway, we can talk about this later, and I think you should do some thinking on your own for a bit. For now, let’s just go ahead and get our packing done, okay?” he smiled one last time, before turning to Iden, who was suddenly tugging on his hand with a bright grin.
“Eeeeee mister prince! Your name is Cirrus, right? You’re with me! I’m glad we’re on the same team, it’s so great to have some time to talk with you! I hope we can all be best friends and get to know each other really well!!” Iden exclaimed, taking Cirrus’ by the arm as she hooked her elbow with his, dragging him along and deeper into town as he hopelessly stumbled after. “I know all the best clothing stores around here, they’re amazing! Also ooh, ooh, please tell me how close you are to Feather! Isn’t he great?! And amazing?! And he’s super attractive too, right?!”
“...um. Yeah, he’s pretty great… and, and handsome,” she heard her friend mumble, Achitha snorting as she turned to go find wherever the rope might be. Elray had ruined what she had, so she needed to buy more, anyways. She could only wish Cirrus luck in handling that woman. Though, if they both had feelings for Feather… would that be an issue? Neither of them seemed to be the type to get aggressive over stuff like that, but she didn’t know Iden well enough yet to cross it out completely… though Iden was being touchy and chattery with him for now, so it should be fine. She should focus on what Cirrus had advised…
So the test wasn’t about power at all, then? But besides that, what could she possibly have been tested on? She’d let Iden take the lead, like she thought she was supposed to. Was Feather actually wanting her to be more assertive and kill more monsters instead of letting Iden show off? But that didn’t sound quite right, because the reason she’d stayed to the back so much was specifically so Iden could be accurately tested. If she hadn’t, that would’ve been extremely selfish and ruined the results Feather needed to evaluate her… so what had she done that was wrong? What had she done… something that didn’t include her power… that was wrong… what about something she hadn’t done…? Or was there something she’d missed?
Wait, what had Cirrus said again? Ah, it took only a moment, but his entire miniature speech came flowing into her mind word for word, even the tone of his voice highlighted in perfect memory as she ran through everything he’d said and analyzed it. And one thing that stood out the most was… Cirrus had mentioned that Feather valued self-expression above all else.
Achitha felt the way her eyes widened, even if just slightly. Because that’s right, Feather did value self-expression. That’s why he’d despised Cirrus so much in the first place, because he thought her prince was a pushover who couldn’t assert himself. Had… had Achitha reflected some of that behavior? Iden had upset her a little bit, but she hadn’t stood up for herself or tried to express what she was feeling at all… she’d just pushed it all down and endured. Had Feather not liked that? But what else was she supposed to do in that situation? Starting a fight or disagreement with Iden would have just been immature and would’ve hindered everything… that couldn’t possibly have been what he’d wanted to see from her, right? Ahh, this sucked…
She wasn’t… she wasn’t a pushover, was she? Achitha had always just viewed herself as stoic. She didn’t like creating messes or being dramatic. She didn’t like it when her feelings got in the way of things, especially work. Surely Feather wasn’t trying to say she’d failed because she hadn’t been expressive enough? Should she… should she try asking him if that’s why she’d failed his test? But that sounded so embarrassing, she didn’t want to suggest it… she was so sure he’d just laugh at her and tell her to try again. Unless… she was right? It was the only thing she could think of. Feather liked people who were assertive with their sense of self, and the truth of the matter was that Achitha had not displayed those qualities in the dungeon with Iden. Ah, man… that was so humiliating to realize… what should she do now?
MBTI and enneagrams! I take a lot of interest in that, so I wanted to share it with you guys as well. Give me your opinions on it if you like, I'd love to debate or discuss their types!
Cirrus: ISFJ 9w1
Leocadies: ESFJ 2w3
Kyavir: INFJ 1w9
Achitha: ISTJ 9w1
Jayce: ISTP 6w5
Eve: ESFP 3w2
Iden: ENFP 2w3
Do you also think Achitha should've been more assertive over her sense of self?
