stop goofing off you idiot this is war -Holli$-

Tamar should have been in a good mood. She had met the boy who would settle as the new Deilig overloridian soon, signalling the end of Kole's psychotic regime. She had spoken to both Holli$' mother and the doctor who had delivered him as a baby, a now-retired woman with no ties to Deilig. Both corroborated Holli$' claim of being born with a black wisp. Though it may not have been ironclad proof, it was good enough for Tamar to take Holli$ under her wing to prepare him for what was coming.

However, Tamar was not in a good mood. Not at all. Though she had known worse overloridians, Holli$ was not the disciple she'd been hoping for. He had talent, she'd give him that, but he wasted it, always goofing off instead of training properly. He never took his situation seriously, always making jokes. A war was starting, why couldn't he understand that?

At the moment, she was on her way to collect Holli$ to take him to a training session. She wanted this boy to know how to fight, to defend himself, in case Kole ever found out about him. She strode down the hall to the suite where she had allowed Holli$ to move to and knocked on the door. "Holli$," she called sternly. "Are you ready for your training today?"

When Holly D came to Tamar to start training and preparing, he didn't think she was going to be this strict. Sure, he had heard stories about her, but when he actually started living with her, now that was  a different story. In all honesty he thought he was already trained enough. Although he looked scrawny-ish, he was actually a lot stronger than he let on. He had also self taught himself how to use a bow and arrow, and how to fight with knives and swords. He wanted to be ready to fight, if he and Kole had ever crossed paths.

Mostly, he wanted to learn what it was like to be an Overloridian. How to rule an entire Eilemaiden, how to be there for your clio, and how to kill Kole without having an Eilemaiden of your own. Either way, the shit that Tamar had him doing was uninteresting, and truthfully he felt that she needed to lighten up.

"Tamar, help!" Holly D shrieked. "It's Kole!"

Obviously, Kole wasn't in the room with him. Instead, Holly D was literally standing on his bed, with a look of utter horror on his face, staring at a piece of coal he was holding in his hand.

Jasmine was in the form of a chimpanzee, sitting in the corner with her face buried in the palm of her hand.

In 0.003 seconds Tamar had burst into the room, formerly-concealed knife in hand, only to be faced with Holli$ standing on his bed with a literal goddamned piece of coal in his hand. Should she have known it would be a prank based on what she knew so far of Holli$? Probably. Was the pissed as hell anyways? Oh yes.

This little shit.

She threw her knife at him, then used her fine control to make it miss his face at the last second. It embedded into the wall about a centimeter from Holli$'s right ear. "You listen to me," she snapped, as if she were a stern teacher lecturing a lazy student rather than an overloridian speaking to her future colleague. "You. Are. Not. Funny. You need to stop these idiotic pranks and start focusing on becoming a halfway passable overloridian, do you understand me!?"

Holli$ was already laughing before Tamar burst into his room, but his laughter was cut short by a knife being hurled straight toward his head. He watched as the knife barely missed his ear, and embed itself into the wall. He turned back toward Tamar, wide eyed.

Wow, what a woman!

All Jasmine could do was roll her eyes.

Tamar wrote:"You. Are. Not. Funny. You need to stop these idiotic pranks and start focusing on becoming a halfway passable overloridian, do you understand me!?"

"I thought I was being funny," Holli$ replied sheepishly, while dropping the coal to his bed. His demeanor changed immediately though, and his stupid grin was back on his face. He hopped off the bed and walked toward her. "Alright boss, what do you have planned for me today?"

Tamar narrowed her eyes, but Telpin spoke up to her. He's just a kid, Tamar. Maybe cut him some slack?

He is not 'just a kid', he's a future overloridian. And one who's going to replace one of the most dangerous overloridians to ever rule over an eilemaiden.

"Your battle training is coming along adequately, but there's always room for improvement," she told him. She knew he already thought he was good enough at fighting, and admittedly, he was pretty good. But she wasn't convinced yet that he was good enough for Kole. "You don't want to become complacent, or rusty. So we're going to run a few drills today, and then have you spar with one of my soldiers."

Holli$ groaned immediately. "We did that yesterday," he whined. "Can't you teach me something different?"

You're lucky she's teaching you anything at all, Jasmine remarked, now in the form of a miniature Australian shepherd. You need to show her some respect!

He rolled his eyes. He knew his daemon was right, like she always was, but he was getting bored.

"Let's just go to Deilig right now and kill this bastard!" He said, while pounding his fist into the palm of his other hand.

Tamar rolled her eyes. "Kole is an overloridian, meaning he is gifted with a natural talent for controlling his eilemaiden. On top of that, I happen to know that unlike certain other overloridians, he actually trains and practices to enhance these talents. You," she continued, glaring at him out of the corner of her eye, "are an unsettled child who can't even use his eilemaiden. We are not going anywhere until I'm confident that you can survive. And we're a long way from that."

Holli$ sighed and for once had nothing to retort back. Of course he knew she was right, but he never did well in serious situations or during serious conversations. It was his coping mechanism. It was easier for him to laugh and joke when he was feeling paranoid about who could be watching or waiting around the corner. Making light of the situation was easier than thinking about whether or not he was going to make it to next week. Sometimes Jasmine felt as if her clio was overreacting. He had been safe and in hiding all these years, but his overprotective mother had a lot to do with Holli$' paranoia.

"First things first," he finally said. "Can we eat some breakfast?"

There he was again. Dumb, goofy Holli$.

"Well, I suppose it is reasonable for you to eat before training," Tamar said coolly. "Although if you hadn't been so lazy this morning and had been up at a respectable hour, you would have already eaten and we wouldn't have to waste any more time."

She turned away from her intended path and instead headed towards the dining hall. "Come on. There should be some leftovers for you."

"Pretty young boys like me need their beauty rest," Holli$ replied.

The two of them headed to the dining hall together. There was plenty of leftovers for the young Overloridian-in training, and he stuffed his face full of eggs, bacon, and toast. When he finished eating his weight in breakfast foods, he was ready for his day of training.